Transcripts For CSPAN Politics Public Policy Today 20130719

Say the city of detroit needs to work it out with their creditors, are you then ruling out any federal aid of some sort . People and others ask the question of are we going to solve this problem, it has been made clear by local leaders and that leaders, and by us, the broader issue is one that needs to be resolved between the city and its creditors. We will, of course, as we would with any city in this country, work with that city and have a policy discussions with leaders in the city and make suggestions and offer assistance where we can. I think it is important to that the broader issue say, i have as i have several times already today, when the local leaders say the matter of insolvency is one that has to be resolved between the city and its creditors, we concur with that. We are going to work with detroit, moving forward, to help it move forward, but i do not have a specific idea to present to you today. Pensionederal guarantee youre asking the wrong person. Maybe you will need to ask pat to treasury. [inaudible] ok, let me take these in relative order. Maybe i will start with the second question first. With regards to secretary carey and his travels, he is in the middle east this week as part of our effort to bring israelis and palestinians back to the negotiating table. Those meetings are on going. I do not have anything to say at this point that would get ahead of those discussions. I believe secretary carry kerry will address the issue later today but i do not have anything from here to say about that beyond noting that he has been working on this issue very hard and try to get the two parties to return to negotiations. , wehe matter of the taliban have said all along, we absolutely believe reconciliation is the ultimate pop forward for afghanistan, to achieve peace. Have thesee to negotiations with afghans. The doha office is a means by which that process could move forward, but the taliban has to decide that it wants to move forward. If it does not, if they do not, then we will continue to look for avenues and means for pursuing reconciliation, but ultimately, the taliban has to decide to make that choice themselves, so i did not have any updates on new on that for you. As a longterm proposition, reconciliation is essential, and that is an opinion we share with afghan government, and will be strong partners with the afghan government, going forward, in that effort. But the taliban has to decide to participate. Under the conditions that we have discussed. [inaudible] moredo not have any details on that. The president , Prime Minister speak and meet with some frequency and discuss a range of issues of both bilateral and related to the region, but i do not have any more specifics about that phone call. Hook, why wasnt [inaudible] this was meant to be a comprehensive look at gun violence around the country. I can see your point that there are other issues that go in addition to the president s comprehensive plan to do with gun violence addresses. As we have seen in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, that this is another issue that can be looked at, we believe, not just in florida, but around the country [inaudible] are am not sure that you trying to make some kind of pressing point. I think you have for the president and i talk about the fact that it would be a good idea for states to review laws like that and make assessments about whether or not they contribute to or reduce gun violence in their communities. And if they do not, they should be reexamined and perhaps changed. Is there any reason we are hearing about it now and perhaps not necessarily before the martin case was resolved . Think it is pretty evident. That case raise the awareness about this issue. Ahead one week. Can you give us details on the president s travel plans next weekend . Even the economic message that he will be giving while out in the midwest . On monday, the president will attend meetings at the white house. On tuesday, the president will will come n. C. A. A. Champions of louisville cardinals to the white house to honor the team in the 2013 mens basketball championship. This visit will also continue the tradition begun by president obama of water sports teams for their efforts to give back to the communities as part of the trip to washington. On wednesday, the president will travel to illinois and missouri for events on the economy. On thursday morning, the present will welcome the president of the and not to the white house. The president welcomes the opportunity to discuss how to further strengthen our partnership unoriginal and Strategic Issues and enhanced cooperation. The president also looks forward to discussing human rights, the emerging challenges such as climate change, and the importance of completing a High Standard Transpacific Partnership agreement. In the afternoon, the president will travel to jacksonville, fla. For an event on the economy. Thursday evening, the president will host a dinner celebrating ramadan at the white house. On friday, the present will attend meetings at the white house. Beyond the announcements of that travel, i do not have any more details, except to say that the economy and the things that we can help it to grow and secure and expand and grow the middle class, has been, and will be, the central focus of day president s policy. [inaudible] have any more details for you, sorry. [inaudible] a lot ofaw that has blacks and hispanics upset [inaudible] is that the type of law that the president would be concerned about . On the personnel issues, youre getting ahead of yourself and the process. Let me leave that there. I have not had a conversation with him or anyone hear about that particular law. In general, we have had discussions about the stand your ground law, because of the relevance to the case put it on the consciousness of so many people. Broadly speaking, this would be something that we would encourage all states to look at, in terms of voice that we can reduce gun violence in our communities. Was reported today that he was going to talk about immigration on the midwest trip. Can you confirm that . I am not sure where it was reported. I just reported that he would talk about the economy. Is immigration part of the economy . It is. This is of interest to at least one reporter. It would submit a bid to reduce our deficit, expand economic growth, would raise wages, and ofld enhance the creation innovative businesses pyle entrepreneurs. Thanks very much. Wrapping up todays white house briefing, in case you missed it, earlier, barack obama making a surprise appearance at the briefing. The ap reported his remarks as he says black americans feel, after the Trayvon Martin verdict, pain, because of a history that does not go away. Mr. Obama went on to say that africanamericans viewed the case through a set of experiences and a history that does not go away. He says black men in particular are used to being featured feared. We will have the entire remarks for you tonight at 8 00 eastern. You can of course see them on our website at cspan. Org. Representatives have wrapped up work for the week. Next week, the house will take up the military spending bill for 2014, and a couple of bills dealing with it are the protection agency. One would regulateburned at coal power plants. Theother bill would prevent epa from finalizing regulation that would cost more than a billion dollars. The house convenes at 2 00 eastern on monday for legislative business. Live coverage on cspan. Jackie was raised as her mother was raised, the same kind of wife and hostess. The home, children, the entertaining with style and panache, that with her heritage and she did that in the white house. Right after her administration, during the johnson years, the whole world erupted like volcanoes. We had the women who went to work and got the horses and demanded equal rights, we had flower children and pre laws at free love and free sex. Boy, was a great for the young. I missed that. The whole world changed and it became a holder concept of women. I think mrs. Clinton today represents a new woman. As we continue the conversation on first ladies, the social secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy reports on a recent president ial wives and the role of the first lady and how it has changed along with the nation. Congressman adam smith is the top democrat on the House Armed Services committee. He spoke of the u. S. Institute of peace today about Foreign Policy and the role of military diplomacy in foreign aid. He was introduced by tim marshall, president of the u. S. Institute of peace. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] good morning. I am tim marshall, president of the u. S. Institute of peace. I see some of our employees but most of you are unfamiliar to me, so let me tell you what you u. S. Institute of peace does. Essentially, we stop fights. We do the globally. All of you are familiar with stopping fights. The techniques we have to use globally are very different than trying to keep friend from getting into a fight in a fraternity or sorority house. Important is terribly to the country and to the United States success in furthering its Strategic Interests globally. Our batting average is a good but when wen. 500, get a hit, it is a big deal. Having mentioned batting averages, i have to first say that adam and i have been teammates for years. Not only were we members of congress together, democrats on the Armed Services committee, but were also on the democratic baseball team. 1. 000 in this years games. He went two for two. He played center field and had no errors. We had a great picture pitcher this year, so they could never get it out there. He is a great piece of clear and a great member of congress. I have known him for a few years. I kind of describe congress as a highschool, different abilities, interests, a lot of different folks. Is a fella who is extraordinary thoughtful. He takes other things, notes. So you see, he has a tablet with him. I do not expect him taking notes during todays event, but he is always writing, with the intention of ultimately writing a book, and i will read it. This is a thoughtful guy that has had an interesting perch as a member of congress, and then he has been taking notes, so he will have an awful lot of interesting things to say about his experiences in congress. I am just hopeful that he does not cover some of the stupid things that i did or said as a member of congress. With that, i will introduce a adam smith, a Ranking Member on the Armed Services committee, a good friend to me, and to the institute. [applause] thank you very much. It is great to be here at the United States institute of peace. The mission that jim and all of you do here is incredibly important. I got to meet with jim and his colleague yesterday and got to hear more about network. Incredibly important. I am honored to have the opportunity to speak to you today and take your questions and learn more about the subject i am focused on, which is how development, diplomacy, and the defense is to Work Together in u. S. Policy to create greater stability throughout the world. Yes, i do appreciate having played baseball with jim all those years. In my first 12 years, we always lost, because the republicans were better, and then cedric richmond, who i did not know, was elected to louisiana, he is young, and can throw over 80 miles per hour. And now we win. 220, as a matter of fact. Issuely, i came at this for a variety of from a variety of different angles. I have been on the Armed Services committee for 17 years. I got to travel or around the world to ever write a different complex zones. Obviously, iraq and afghanistan, many places in africa, the philippines, and others, to see what the department of defense was doing to keep the peace, move forward with stability. At the same time, in the state of washington, we have an incredible presence of Development Agencies, the Gates Foundation among the largest, and they pulled me in and i started to see what was going on in developing places like latin america and africa. What really struck me was the intersection of the two. The more time i spend with our special operations guys, the more they told me we need to fund development. We need to find that to get stability. It is far easier to build a society that has opportunities so that you do not get to conflict, than it is to have to bring in 100,000 u. S. Troops to try to restore stability. The two go hand in hand and have to Work Together. I think we learn that lesson. You heard secretary gates in the years before he left talk about how important a state department was and that it was not enough to fund the department of defense. They have to work closely together to achieve stability. I believe the lessons have been learned. Now we just have to implement the policies that reflect that because there are still many challenges to fully funding and fully supporting the Development Diplomacy arm of this. You can look at the budget right off the bat. The department of defenses budget is enormous compared to what we spend on diplomacy and development. And we could certainly use a shift in that to help those elements. And then there is a trust issue as well. The relationships are improving, but there is still a general feeling, i think, with many in the department of defense, that on the diplomacy and Development Side, they do not understand why security is important, and on the Development Side, they feel the military shows up and underlines our mission. One of the important things i usaid. Een is he is meeting regularly with the admiral, who has special Operations Command, to figure out how they can Work Together to use the best of all three elements of our ports policy, defense, diplomacy, and development, to go forward. The easiest way to think about it, you look at iraq, the amount of money we spend, the troops come alive we lost going in there in what was initially a militarydominated of operation. We were not prepared for what came after the fall of saddam hussein. The defense department, to some extent, tried to take over in an area where they did not have the expertise put that we had underfunded the state department or the expertise was supposed to reside, so it was very difficult. That was enormously costly. One of the most interesting trips i took while on the Armed Services committee was a trip to the philippines, where we had not problems as large as iraq and afghanistan, but they had various terrorist groups and insurgencies there. What we did there was a combined effort, and we are still there. Special operations and usaid are there. Our troops have not fired a shot or have not been involved in direct conflict, but they have trained local Security Forces and how to provide adequate security, and worked with u. S. Aid and other Development Agencies to build schools and drill wells, and create the atmosphere where people do not want to be part of an insurgency. One of the greatest misunderstandings, misstatements i have heard in a long time is, it has become popular to say that poverty has nothing to do with instability and terrorism. People make that argument because they look at people like Osama Bin Laden and others and say, these people are middleclass or way above middleclass. It is the intellectual that tend to start terrorist movements. I think that is unquestionably true. Through the world we have a seemingly and the supply of people that believe they have developed the one, true philosophy that will free us all, and they feel the obligation to jim it down our throats. But the question is, do they find people that will follow them . Are they just some crackpot in the corner spouting off ideas, or do they build a movement that begins to cause damage . And that happens when you have people who do not have a feeling of opportunity, of freedom. Roadyou look across the where hawkeye that is improving recruiting, you see a lack of government, lack of jobs, lack of freedom. We have to put in place those broader Building Blocks of a just society in order to stop terrorists. I have no illusions here. Even if we do that, there will still be challenges, still be a need for the military, still people that rise up against that, but it will be a much more manageable problem if we properly implement the parts ofnt, diplomacy the stool to the world. I think things are getting better. I am the cochair of the caucus for effective for assistance, and i look at the Lessons Learned and how we implement Development Policy. It is getting better. We are understanding that it is not really Effective Development to simply spend u. S. Money to hire a bunch of contractors to go into a country and build a bunch of stuff that they then leave. It has to be bottomup. The Millennium Challenge Corporation was an inspired idea, the notion of working with a country to develop their own Development Policy and implement through their own government structure with our help. Instead of a topdown approach. I thing we have made improvements in those areas and can continue to do so. I think the other Big Development in the last 10 years in this area is the private sector. The aids foundation is the largest element of this. 35, 40 billion. Some unbelievable amount of money. But you see it a ton of other groups rising up to get involved in Development Policy. I think they have taken an approach that has helped spur the government side of it to greater efficiency and effectiveness. There is a bill that was introduced in the last congress that i cosponsored to measure outcomes of foreign assistance. What is working and what is not, so we can get a better idea what we should find and where we should direct our dollars. You are moving in that correct direction. I still think there are improvements that need to be made. My biggest argument in u. S. Development policy is that we need to elevate the importance of u. S. Aid and concentrate the money. Right now there is Something Like 35 different pockets of Development Money running by a whole bunch of different agencies. If they want to impact development, there is only a tiny sliver of that money to do it. Modelys hold out as the the department for International Development in great britain. They have concentrated first of all, they have risen to a cabinetlevel department. It is its own cabinet level. And they have concentrated the money. If you are in charge of Development Policy, you are actually in charge of Development Policy. You are controlling the money and where it goes. Move theike to see us u. S. More in that direction, to elevate the importance of u. S. Aid, to begin to consolidate some of those programs. The problem with that, of course, is that everyone has their own program. In the u. S. , we tend to like to protect our own program, particularly in an era when the budgets are being cut and challenged, there is the tendency to never once focused to say, i care about education for women in africa, so i will make sure there is a line item for the program. We have to spend a certain amount of money on that. In doing that, you tie the hands in charge of Development Policy and make it more difficult for them to make the type of flexible decisions that are necessary. Another example of this is we made an effort to reform the food for peace program. That is an excellent program, u. S. Agriculture and u. S. Ships taking food to places in the world that need it. The problem is, we have written into law a requirement that 85 of our food aid has to go through that program. And there are times when it makes more sense to simply buy the food closer to the source of the problem and get it to the people who need it then. It is a more costly and expensive and more time consuming program to go through the food for peace program. You need a balance. So the state department has proposed closing that gap. You can and a 55 of that goes to food for peace. The problem is, a lot of this is bent on u. S. Interests. I cannot blame them. It is an Important Program and they need it, but it is a block to our ability to have the flexibility to be as efficient as we need to be. But if i had one overarching goal as someone on the Armed Services committee, someone interested in development, it is to bring defense, diplomacy, and development together. The military spent a lot of its own money on development programs. They do health care. In afghanistan and other places, they have even built schools and drilled wells. We need a Greater Partnership and make sure the people with the right expertise are doing the right jobs. At the same time, the people in the Development Side the two learned how important security is. Yes, there are a lot of places in the world that when the u. S. Military shows up, it can undermine the confidence of the local population. I get that. But they do not have security as a starting point, you do not have development. We have seen that in iraq and afghanistan, where you have seen people pull out of Development Projects because it has not been safe. You definitely need to work with the people to make sure that you have a secure environment. That being said, there are steps being taken by people at dod, u. S. Aid and others to strengthen the partnership, but we need to take every opportunity to make as strong as possible in order to have the proper National Security posture. In order to the best we can to bring stability to the world. At the end of the day, you could sum up defense policy as stability and security, and that it is the steps to get there. Economic opportunity, diplomacy. All that is critical to security. We have the elements within the u. S. Government to do that policy. We need to make sure they are working as well as they possibly can together. Thank you for the opportunity to at least outline those ideas. I look forward to your questions and comments. Are also welcome. I will put forward those questions. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible] those of you have questions, line up behind these mics. That will make it easier on us as far as actually getting you heard. On the television cameras. Is not so much a question but an observation. In National Intelligence committees report estimates that by 2013, half the worlds population will be middleclass. That means, of course, at the other half of the worlds population will be mostly still quite poor. Are we heading in the right direction . What do you think of the affect of this trend of more people climbing out of poverty and into the middle class, what will this have how will this affect things like violence . The more people with economic opportunity, the better off we are, but it is a stark reminder of how many are still left behind i think it is a great challenge to make sure that you pull as many people up as possible. We are not going to eliminate poverty. We are not going to eliminate people who struggle. We can certainly reduce the numbers. There have been a number of places that have made progress in that area. You can see the difference. If you had a broad the scattered middleclass, so that the entire globe was essentially covered, then you have got individuals who really invested in not having violence pop up, so they can work with those individuals who are feeling disenfranchised, feeling as if they have the opportunity, lack of freedom, that sort of thing, in their community, which lessens the past that we have globally try to keep peace. That is a good way to put it, that they are invested in stability. There are a number of people who are in a logical, they are going to be violent, but most people are forced into that, when he read about countries that have fallen apart. These are people, as i like to put it, that just want to get through the day. They want to feed their family and get through the day. If you give them that, they will not consider pilots for a second. That is the direction we need to go in. I am pleased the congress has people in it today as thoughtful as adam about these kinds of issues that are critically important to the by the states and the world. With that, lets begin over here. Congressman, first of all, thank you for your leadership on for assistance. That means a lot to the community here. Internews. Troops drawdown in the coming year and in afghanistan, what can be done to protect women, journalists, human rights activists, and other good folks that have put their faith in the west, in the good work that has happened in the last 10 years, so it is not in vain . It is difficult. What we are doing is we are working very hard, and have been, particularly since 2009, to train the Afghan National Security Forces. I spoke with the general yesterday. They are now in the lead in all military operations throughout afghanistan, except for counterterrorism. They have significantly improve the quality of that security force. I am not going to kid you. There will continue to be challenges. When you look at development, particularly, protecting women, you could look at a society, and a society that educates women are far more prosperous and far more successful than those that do not. It is, i think, the old measure of whether or not you are headed in the right direction. That is part of the reason why countries like afghanistan and pakistan have struggled. We are going to rely heavily on the books that we have trained. Hopefully, we can get a bilateral Security Agreement so there will be some u. S. Presence there to help with that, but it is an enormous challenge. The one thing i was sick about this, and this has come up in the context of syria and elsewhere. We can not kid ourselves that the u. S. Military can protect everybody. That is why i say this broader threelegged stool approach, we have got to get to the point where local populations are responsible for their own security. We simply cannot do it all, and we are not in the position. As george w. Bush said, nobody likes to be occupied. You see the military showing up, it will create a certain amount of hostility. Countries have to become responsible for their own security. We have to help them in the best way we can. Here at the institute, we are convinced the political transition is important, that the United States and all g nation need to be focused on helping afghanistan get the right kind of political transition. If the government falls apart as a result of turmoil, por president ial elections next year, and in provincial elections the following year, if the government falls apart, it will be difficult to keep the afghan Security Forces together. They are well trained and we could see one heck of a civil war, and there would be a terrible retrogression of women rights and other things concerned. We are really very focused on the political transition, trying to get that right, try to hold afghanistan get that right. A former Foreign Service officer. A followup on the last question. We are disappointed to see that of has descoped the programs training women in the Afghan National Security Forces. It seems shortsighted to me. Been in debate in the in the contract communities, over whether it is more effective to use Development Money for aid to hire contractors to do work in various places, or whether they should give that money to local governments and local ngos pier their arguments on both sides. Ngos. There are arguments on both sides. The corruption factor is pretty high. Where do you and representative crenshaw come down on this . We are more proponents for the local approach for a couple of reasons. No. 1, we were so much on the other side of it for so long. One Development Advocate said in response to the criticism, we have spent so much money on foreign aid, giving this money to people well, we have not really spend that much money on foreign aid in that sense. We have basically given the money to ourselves, given the money to contractors. That is not the same as giving the money to them. No. 2, it is common sense. Sustainability does not just happen if the local population the same is true in security. You can come in and do everything for everybody, but you cannot stay there forever. When you are gone, what is left . There are these stories of all these projects being built, we leave, and then three years later, it sits there in this repair. But it is going to be a balance, too. You have to have the people with expertise to train the local population. You cannot just throw it at them if they do not know how to handle Different Things. It is a balance between the two, but where we have erred in the past, i think acceptably, doing it ourselves, and not truly training. You talk about agriculture, rule of law, governance, health care, education, what ever it is, we need to focus on that point where we are not going to be there anymore. Are the people that we are working with and training going to be capable of doing that . So there will always be a role for experts to come in. I was in kenyan not long ago. There were folks from dupont talking about agriculture. They have made enormous progress based on some u. S. Expertise to build more resilient crops, and this is without genetically modified. This is just doing it the way that you are supposed to. It is going to be a balance, but we have erred on the side of too much some of that is money. The groups want the money, obviously. I think we would be better off trading the local population, which is why the corporation is such a good idea. Congressman. Career with of my usaid. If we had more like you in congress, we could go a long way to fixing things. I think there are a few key issues in the development, the big picture development. Number one, you just alluded to it. Public understanding of how much we spend on foreign assistance and what we do with the money, these famous surveys where we ask people how much they spend on it, and they think it is 10 . It turns out it is 7 10 of 1 . So there is a problem of getting that message out. The second issue is the politics, which you talked about, in terms of food aid programs. I wonder if you see any way of getting around as issues . You did not talk about alluded to the question of accountability for our assistance programs. Years,ed it, over 25 where accountability became head end, rather than a way to check on what we were doing, and another resources that usaid puts into measuring things, the kinds of silly things that we come up with to measure it so that we can show results, have gotten a bit out of proportion. I understand that we need to show impact. I understand we need to start from the bottom of, but even started from the bottom of means institutionbuilding. Human Resources Development in the countries that we work with. Those are very hard to measure. It can take a decade to build the kind of government institutions that will sustain the work we have been doing on the ground. I wonder how you think congress and the American Public can ever deal with that kind of an issue . I will take the last part first and talk about Public Opinion second. I agree with you. I am an enthusiastic supporter of the private folks that have got involved in development, but there is a downside. There is a tendency to assume that everything can be met. This is something that i have always struggled with. Public people say, why can they do elect a private sector . Here is the problem. The private sector is try to make money, period. Either you are making money or not. If you have five departments and three are making money and two are not, you better get rid or fix of the other two that are not. It is not the u. S. Governments job to make money. If it was, we would charge you a hell of a lot more to drive on our roads. We would charge you more when your house caught on fire. All but a Different Things that we would do. Why the private sector cannot get that into their head and i have seen privatesector assistance. It is all about the process. They spend all their time trying to come up with perfect process. There is a Human Element to it. It is more art than science. You may now be able to measure something. You have got to have that balance. I completely agree with that. I think some of the private sector folks get out of balance. They imagine there is some algorithm out there that will partly show whether or not a dollar spent on food aid is worth as much as a dollar spent on tuberculosis. Not really. As far as Public Opinion is concerned, i often wonder actually, there was an article 20 years ago entitled everyone is entitled to an opinion. He said, no, they are not, actually. If they do not know what theyre talking about you could ask me in a poll with the best way to fix the car engine is. And my answer would be utterly and completely worthless. I do not know what im talking about. And then you thenthe poll then you have 60 of people did this but they did not know what theyre talking about. There is this pew research poll. The budget,alance but we need to do that while providing goods and services for every dollar in taxes that people have to pay. By the way, that is impossible. The pew research did a poll of people concerned about the deficit and asked what they wanted to cut. They listed basically the 20 areas where the federal government spends money. They were asked, do you want to keep it the same, increase, or decrease . If you added up the people who sit keep the same or increase, the American People want to cut the literally nothing. Even foreign aid. That was at the absolute bottom. Even twothirds of the people said not to cut. Victoryaid eked out a to not cut it. But i think the broader argument we need to make is why foreign aid is so important to our domestic interests. Population, responsible for 20 of the world consumption. Nobody on earth has much of a stake in global stability as we do. Increasingly, we are dependent on exports for our businesses. Even small business. Someone down into, who has five people. 75 of his products art exports. He does stuff with security gates, and most of it goes to mexico. From that. Forget the moral argument that there are 3 Million People living on less than 2 a day, while we have a lifestyle that we have here just in terms of our own interest. I have given many speeches bring it is pure and simple, here is why foreign aid is important. And i will keep doing that. That is all we can do to make that case. Instituteghes, u. S. Of peace. Your focus on diplomacy, development, and defense is a very important perspective for this city to take into account. You are really touching on the whole of government kind of argument commack and in 1996, under president clinton, he issued a president ial decision thattive, which mandated there be Interagency Training to tackle these kinds of issues. Yet, it fell apart because nobody was willing to fund it for support it. Do you think it is time again for Something Like that to be crafted, and if so, who would be the lead on organizing the training . I will say two things about that. In order for this to really happen, the best model is how they tried to get the services to work Better Together within the military. Goldwaternichols too Much Division a bunch of other things. It has been, i believe, successful. You will still have the air force, army, but compared to where it was jim, when youre in the military, they worked much Better Together. And the way they did it, they mandated as part of your promotion, if youre in the army, you have to spend a year on an air force base working with them. So he built an understanding of the other culture and build relationships. In order for what were talking about to work, you need military guys to spend a year at the state department, state department folks spend a year in the military. We have seen some of that within the Intelligence Community. The National Counterterrorism center certainly, they have their critics, but you go in there and you have fbi, and as a, cia, all these guys working sidebyside, and they build relationships and work Better Together and we miss less because of it. Now, the flaw in all this, what the state to permit will tell you, we do not have enough personnel to do our jobs now. We cannot take our people and send her to the pentagon. We do not have the room. That is an inhibitor to that. If we are really going to get that type of interagency, that is what you have to do. People from one Agency Working with others as part of their advancement up the chain. It is also very personality driven. General mcchrystal was the guy that sort of pull together the counterterrorism effort right after 9 11, we came up with the notion that it takes a number to be a network. He pulled together all the different elements of our security and Intelligence Community and got them working together. They are doing a pretty darn good job. But a lot of that comes down to individuals as well. From atq what is quotes girls. To africa and they were talking about the military liaisons for socom to go in and begin to work with the state department. In 70 Different Countries and they wanted to be there. Refer to it as preparation of the environment. The point was to make sure that things do not happen. I went to one country where it was working really well, and then another country i will not name them but the ambassador could not stand them, they had no clue what their mission was, there were calls and all kinds of problems. So i said, we have to fix this, what can we do about this . He is a very deadpan guy and said, if you have seen one mle, you have seen mle. So it comes down to individual personalities. Are they working together . You have to find the right person who is not just a subset obsessively focused on getting credit for everything. You can change the structure, but it comes down to the individuals involved, who know how to engage process agency to build a culture. Have are about to special Operations Command liaison here at the institute of peace, and it is in part because we work globally. We are a small institute, but we were to stop fights. The military of all people understand the value of stopping these fights. That is one of the reason why socom have people scattered across the globe try to help with development. Better that we help these folks help themselves than we have to step in at some point and help them on to the mess that has been created there, in order to further our Strategic Interests. It is true that we benefit economically, as adam has said, from stability globally, but then there are other threats. The proliferation of that the weapons and viruses and things like that is really quite remarkable in the modern age, so we have the economic benefits of stability, and then stability can lessen the likelihood that we will have problems with these threats that we have. As a former member of the commission, i want to follow up on that last question. We had a model that it was good to have good leaders and in that regard, it has been frustrating to watch the dissipation a lot of Energy Behind reform, moving into the first term of the obama administration. It is good to hear there is attention in congress to the matter and interest in this. I would like to ask about the with president clinton. It is incredibly difficult to get real interagency cooperation in a strategic way, unless you have something you can count on for a longer period of time to feel those capabilities. Could you comment on where that is, what level of interest there is in that . I am not sure where that will go. I think it would be enormously helpful if we found a way to consistently analyze the role of government approach. I do not know that the qddr really was backed. It was more the state departments view on the world. In fact, even as it was coming out, it was kind of competing with the National Security council effort, putting out its own findings under development was at. I guess what i would say is, i think that would be great if we have something that was an interagency analysis, just like the qdr. Which lookedqddr, at things all development. But you would have to have more than just a state department doing that. If we could pull that together, that would make sense. I think we are stalled at the moment, but your question has prompted me to look into that more closely to see if we cannot move that. For the benefit of the audience that is not familiar with washington while ago, qddr means absolutely nothing to anybody out there nine and 9. 9 of americans. [inaudible] there has been one that has been done, correct . Wonder maybe we could head into the direction of defense,dddr diplomacy, development. We are about to go through the qdr for the defense department. It would be nice to maybe do all three at once and maybe blend the two, since we are talking about a whole of government approach. Center for international policy. Thank you for your time in answering our questions here. Earlier, when you were talking about building closer links emulatedevelopment, i thought about africa. They try to be different from other combat and command, and corporate and more people in the structure, having close links to usaid. I was wondering if he thought that was an effective way to build closer ties between the fence and development. In a broader sense, would reduce aid to people who think there is too much Mission Creep at the pentagon and defense people should do defense, Development People should do development, and they should focus on what they are good at. Say those people are wrong. There is too much crossover between the two. If you want to say that you need to be careful not to get out of your lane, and make sure you pick the right people to do it, that is fine, but defense people have to know what is going on in development. Development people have to know what is going on in the fence. It depends on how you put the question, i guess. You are saying that they should just divide. I do not agree with that. There is too much crossover. A lot of times, the reason dod gets involved in development is because they are in their first providing security, and there are the ones who are there, they have the money. So it is part of providing security is providing medical care to a village, they do it. What i would say is, they need to view that as temporary. Get the security in place, but then get the Development Experts in. I am also one of the few people who feel this way, but way,africom has done a pretty good job of doing when it was set up to do. A good example of that is the horn of africa. Part of the way that we take full the advantage of a 3d approach to our National Security is capacity. Building the capacity of friendly nations to do a variety of Different Things that are in their interest and our interest. That is what has happened in somalia. I am always struck about how people talk about afghanistan, we cannot possibly reduce the troops levels below whatever number, we have to keep those numbers there. Afghanistan and pakistan are significant challenges to the region. I the most would agree that between somalia and yemen, that would rival in terms of chaotic violence. The official number is classified, but it is a triple digit number of u. S. Military personnel. That entire area, they are doing a reasonably effective job of containing the violence in yemen and somalia from spreading out, purses the still, i think, close to 100,000, counting nato and everything, and afghanistan. How did they do it . They build the capacity of ethiopia, kenya, uganda, burundi, to help us. It was their local population. They cared about somalia being chaotic as well. Youre not just paying them to do our bidding. We have mutual interests, built the local capacity, and theyre doing most of the work. And by the way, it is vastly more effective if you have a population do it than a military officer. That partnership, and at the same time, the military has trained those folks that i mentioned, but you have Development Projects. In kenya, that mix is working well. We have the challenge of trying to make it work in the mali, niger region. We have also had not much success in the eastern drc, where chaos continues to rain. But we have seen the model that we can use our alamance to buildout local capacity and mix the fence and development effectively. Couple ofn oslo a months ago participating in an awards process, and part of it was a seminar where you could not say who was there, who said what, but i gave some remarks internationally, businesses need to be more involved in pursuing peace. But the response i have from one of the participants is, we have to be careful about roles and missions. It is our role and mission to do that, and that is why business should not be doing it. So i could not agree more with adams an initial comment. That is just dumb. Clearly, you do not want whoever going out there trying to further peace, in an incompetent way. But all of us have an interest. Back to the horn of africa, part of what has helped rwanda is the huge u. S. Business involvement. Few others got involved, how can there are some some nidal companies. A Small Company in seattle, that is beginning to source some of their coco from the eastern d. R. C. As part of getting that business going. All of those elements are key to getting to the Development Place you need to be at. We have been talking about maybe having a catch phrase here, and one of the things that somebody came up with is we stop fights. Join us. Who wouldnt want to join people in trying to stop fights. Everybody has an interest in this. Yes, maam . Thank you for being here. I would like to turn the conversation to how we can help other countries, friendly threed promote this strange who may or may not be doing precisely what we want them to do. Our company has a very large defense interest, and have a great relationship with, and they are not fulfilling their obligations for development for all citizens. Oftentimes people say when i ask this question, they say we have behind the scenes conversations, or we can pressure our friends in the government. But i think there is more to be done, and i would be interested to hear was think can be done both in congress, and in the private sector. I am actually a seattle resident. I am a big fan of the work they are doing, a lot of the n. G. O. s and private sectors there. I think there is a role for them. I am curious to hear your opinion. That is a great question and one of the local challenges in looking for partners in the way i just described. There probably isnt a single local partner that we have had that there isnt some group of people that we have said yes, their government is awful. I have heard that about ethiopia. I have a substantial ethiopian population in my drention. Baurain is there, and now we are wrestling with egypt. It is a very, very difficult question to answer, and it has to go case by case. I do think there has been a tendency for us to overreact spite off our nose to our face by spite our face by saying this government isnt doing what we like, we are out of here. I dont know what you do about it. I certainly thing that human rights, and in the case of pakistan, the presler amendment. Most americans dont know what that amendment was. I think every pakistani knows exactly what it was. It cut off all aid to pakistan because pakistan was developing a nuclear weapon. It was bad that they were developing a nuclear weapon, and certainly it has led to greater instability and all manner of problems. But it also meant there was a lost decade in relations between pakistan and the u. S. While there are many reasons why the pakistanis dislike us as much as they do, that is one of the biggest ones. Did that help us more than hurt us . Lehey amendment. It says we cannot continue to train units if there are humanity Rights Violations in that unit. We need to have that forcing mechanism. The question is how broad it has been applied. If there is humanity rights abuse, then you have to pull completely out. The argument that the admiral makes to me is we need to be there to help fix this. Our military is not what it was in the 60s, 70s and 80s. We have decided that human rights is an enormously important par of training security properly. When i mentioned the philippines and training their Security Forces, the biggest part is how to get the population on your side. Spoiler alerts, kicking in doors and things like that . The way for do it. So if you have these human rights problems and then we pull out, does it make it better . I am not going to suggest that means no matter what, we stay in, that we never draw the line. I just think it is a difficult balance to strike. Do things get better if we simply completely abandon the situation. That is why it is always easiest to not be the decisionmaker, to stand back on the outside. What you ought to do is maintain the relationship, but you ought to force them to do what you want them to do. Yes, that is what we would like them to do. I think of parenting as i think of this. But it is a delicate balance that we always have to strike, and i am never going to be one of those who is self righteously saying how dare we do business weather them . Yeah, but how much better what they be if we werent doing business with them. We have to balance all that out. As you can tell from my answer, i havent figured out how to balance that out yet. It is something i am going to think about. There was a desire to close the school of the americas. There were problems with officers and acts they committed in south america. The assertion was that somehow they were better at brutality and human Rights Violations because they were trained by us. So consequently the school of the americas should be closed. A lot of protests. A lot of people here are familiar with. That the the change was changed from the school of mcshays to the school of the person hemisphere. We should have a school of the world. In other words, we should continue to do this. We have got to have these relationships. We have to build this kind of capacity. But at the same time we at the same time need to train, teach and educate those who come through our schools, that the best course is the one that respects human rights, better for the individuals who have the power and better for the individual who dont have the power. We also need to be mindful that we have not had the best record in the past on this. We have in fact, when you go back to some of the people that we were doing business with in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, and we have to communicate to the world that we have got it and we have changed the way we are approaching this. Good morning. I work at department of the army, and prior to that i was at u. S. Africa command. I just have one observation since there were a lot of references to that and then two questions. The observation is the u. S. Africa command when i was there up until about april of 2012, they had a staff of approximately 2,000 individuals. They also had components and what not for the marines, special operations, army, et cetera. From that staff, we only had 21 individuals from the interagency communicate, usi dickerson and what not. Of those 21 peoples, there was only one individual from usaid, and she was extremely valuable in planning and all that. It was difficult to get around to all the command, subcommand, working groups and what not. I am a proponent of having more interagency cooperation through embedding Staff Members throughout. My first question is over the last decade with iraq and afghanistan, the department of defense has either expanded and or developed capabilities. Specifically, civil affairs, the provincial reconstruction teams in afghanistan, for example. Is it your opinion that the department of defense should retain those capabilities, or should those capability somewhat migrate along with resources to isaid . It is my opinion that they should retain most of those capability, but that they should do so in close cooperation with usaid so that t is not the permanent responsibility of d. O. D. To do that. They were the only ones there, who had the money and in the position to do it. That is good going to do it. You are going into an area that is not zero, and the u. S. Secures it. You need a transition period after that. It also improves the cooperation between the two. Now it is really tough because the d. O. D. Guys have got to have greater respect for the development in the other people , which as you know in iraq and afghanistan did not always happen. We were like hey, we are doing this, get out of here. I think that has changed a lot in the last decade, that your average d. O. D. Person has developed a great deal more respect for what development and diplomacy people do. That is going to be the key element. I wouldnt say that is something that d. O. D. Should stop doing. I think it is too integral to a listeningterm mission. If i could disrupt. You said that was your first question. Yes, sir. We really dont have time for more than question. Actually, you can fire off a second one quick. Really quickly, because we need to close this probably in about a minute. What is your view about d. O. D. s expanded authorities for conducting Foreign Security assistance to build Partnership Capacity of foreign Security Forces. I think it is great. Very helpful for us. Very quick question. What is it going to take to restart the peace talks with the taliban . Announcing the zero option, at the height of the surge we were never able to clear phadungsil strongholds in several areas. It is really more the media that announced the zero option than it was us. There isnt really a zero option. In fact, it is not the same situation as it is in iraq. En if we dont get a bilateral Security Agreement, we have the ability to stay in some numbers. That is complicated, and my staff knows better, but that is true. It all comes down to the election. Do we have a reasonable transition from karzai to what comes next . That is fingers crossed, but you need to get through that election, show what next government is going to be, and you will have a better chance of restarting that conversation. That has to happen. We have to have negotiations with some elements of the taliban. Thank them for inviting you and your speech. The point i have, and i will come to it very quickly. Doesnt foreign aid encourage dependence on foreign aid . It depends on how do you it. If the on aid is helping you build a Better Health care system, no, it doesnt encourage dependence. If you are building schools and things like that, no. That is why we need to shift from saying get out of the way i am going to do it, to working with the local population, youre going to do it, but if we have a little bit of money to help you do it, then we are headed in a better direction. That is the way we have to do it. Thank you. I think we need to have a big round of [applause] of these big round applause for these guys. [applause] thank all for coming. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] the house today approved a rewrite of the no child left behind education law. Next week the Chamber Takes up a military spending bill for 2014. Two bayless dealing with the Environmental Protection agency are always scheduled. The house returns on monday with live coverage here on cspan. At the white house, president obama made and unscheduled appearance at the Daily Briefing to react to the Trayvon Martin case. During his remarks, the president said, it is important to recognize that the Africanamerican Community is per receiving this issue through a set of experiences that doesnt go away. He said if a white male teen would have been involved, the outcome and aftermath may have been different. He wrapped up by saying Race Relations are getting better. Ryan zimmerman was acquitted of second George Zimmerman was acquitted of Second Degree murder charges. We will have the president s entire remarks tonight at k eastern here on cspan. Also, secretary of state john kerry said israel and the palestinians will meet soon in washington to finalize an agreement on relaunching peace negotiations for the first time in five years. Secretary kerry told reporters if everything goes as expected, israeli and palestinian negotiators will hold talks in or so. T week i as an immigrant to this country, this country is the greatest country on earth. I was never apologize for america. It is the light to the world. We have freedoms and opportunities here that people dream about abroad. I certainly did. With regard to that quote, one of the things that had moved me , i had as some have mentioned, written critically about the clinton response to the rwanda genocide back in 1984. President clinton himself had come forward and expressed his regret that the United States didnt do more in the face of the genocide. When i traveled two rwanda, having been very quit cal, i was stunned to see the degree how ich the clinton visit, it had resonated with rwanda dans. They take up the nomination of Samantha Power to be ambassador to the i. U. On cspans book table, lunch coverage of the harlem book fair. Your calls, tweets and facebook comments. On cspan 3, American History tv, lectures and history, and a lecture of u. S. Political parties. Sunday at 1 00. General counsel to the director of National Intelligence talked today about the n. S. A. s Data Collection and surveillance perhaps. The harkless at the Brookings Institution came after both parties said the n. S. A. Exceeded their authority in collect collecting the phone records of millions of americans. This is just over an hour. I want to thank wells and brookings for hosting this speech, and i want to thank all of you for coming. I just want to note that the blog is really a terrific source of balanced commentary. It is something i try to check in on periodically. I want to apologize in advance for the length of this speech because i have a lot to cover. I hope i dont get into fidel castro territory. I wish i were here in happier times for the Intelligence Community. The last several weeks have seen a series of reckless disclosure of classified information. These disclosures threaten to cause longlasting and perhaps irreversible ham to identify and respond to threats facing our nation. Because they were made by people who did not under what they were talking about, they to sensationalized and led mistaken misimpressions. My speech today as mentioned is prompted about disclosures about two perhaps that collect intelligence that has been used to protect our nation and alleys. One is the bulk collection of telephone date and the prison program. Some claim the disclosures about these perhaps were a form of whistle blowing. I want to be clear about this. These perhaps were not illegal. They are authorized by con impress and overseen by the intelligence and Judiciary Committees. They are conducted with the approval of the foreign intel ajinca surveil Surveillance Court and under their supervision. In short all three branching of government knew about these programs, approved them and ensured they operated in come plipes with the law. Only time will tell us of the extent of the damage of the disclosure of these perhaps. I appreciate it is not enough for me to stand here and assert that our activities are consistent with the letter of the law. They must reflect and reinforce our core democratic values. Those of us who work in intelligence profession share these values. But security and privacy are not zero sum. We have an obligation to give full meaning to both. To protect security while at the same time protecting privacy and other constitutional rights. While values are enduring, the manner in which we reflect those values has to change to technology, ging societal expectations and nowheres. So we in the Intelligence Community are constantly evaluating and improving the sandoval guard we have in place to protect privacy while tame carry out our mission of protecting National Security. That is going to be the focus of my speech. I want to discuss and lay out briefly the lascuna that lay out intelligence checking. I want to talk about the changing impact of changing technology and the need for us to adapt in collection. Third i want to bring these two strand together and explain how some of these laws and Technology Changes play out in practice, how we structure the Intelligence Communitys collection activities under fisa in a way that remains faithful to democratic values. I want to discuss the legal framework. It is a bedrock concept that those activities are bound by the rule of law. This is a topic that others have well addressed, including the councils. I will make this brief. We begin with the constitution. Article 2 makes the president the commander in chief and gives him extensive responsibility for the conduct of foreign affairs. The ability to collect intelligence derives from that source. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech in association. And the Fourth Amendment protects unreasonable searches and seizures. I want to make a few points about the Fourth Amendment. First, under established Supreme Court rulings, a person has no legally recognizeded expectation of privacy in information that he or she volquez tears gives to a third party. From aining those records a third party is not a search as to the person. Second, the Fourth Amendment generally does not apply to foreigners outside of the United States. And third, the Supreme Court has said that the reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment of searches without a warrant depends on balancing the intrusion on the individuals Fourth Amendment interests against the searchs promotion of legitimate governmental interests. So that is the constitution. There are also a variety of statutes governing or collection activities. First, the National Security act and a number of lascuna relating to specific agencies such as the c. I. A. Act or the n. S. A. Act, limit what agencies can do so that for example, the c. I. A. Is prohibited from domestic Law Enforcement activities. We are governed by the Electronic Communications privacy act, the privacy act and fisa. It was passed by congress in 1978 and significantly amended in 2001 and 2008. It regulates electronic surveillance carried out for intelligence purposes. There is one final important source of legal restrictions on intelligence activities, and that is executive order 12333. This order, which is the founding charter of the Intelligence Committee provide limits. It defines each agencies responsibilities and authorities. One particular provision is very significant. It is section 2. 3, and it provide that elements of the Intelligence Community, and i am quoting here. Elements of the Intelligence Community are authorized to collect, retain or disseminate information concerning United States persons only in accordance with procedures approved by the attorney general after consultation with the director of National Intelligence. These procedures have to be consistent with the agencys lafell authorities. The procedures also have to establish strict limits on collecting, retaining or disseminating information about u. S. Persons unless that information is of foreign intelligence value or in other circumstances spelled out spelled out in the order such as a threat to life. These rules are basic to the operation of the Intelligence Community. They are among the first things that our employees are trained on, and they are at the core of our institutional culture. It is not surprising that our legal regime provide special rules for activities directed at United States persons. So far as i know, and i am not and expert in this, every nation in the world recognizes legal distinctions between citizens and noncitizens. As i hope to make clear this morning, our intelligence collection procedures also provide protection for the privacy rights of noncitizens. Now i want to turn to the impact of changing technology on deck knowledge. Prior to the end of the 19th century, you would find very little discussion about a right to privacy. In the absence of mass media, technologies of the industrial age, the most serious pardon the interruptions were gossip or peeping toms. And Samuel Warren grounded that idea on changing technology. Recent inventions and business methods this is 1890. Recent inventions and business methods call for the next step that must be taken for the protection of the next person and the individual of the right to be let alone. Ips cutaneous photographs and newspaper enterprise have invaded private and domestic ife, and numerous mechanical devices could make good what is whispered in the closet can be proclaimed from the mountain top. Now each of us shares massive amounts of information about ourselves with third parties. Sometimes this is obviously as we post pictures or transmit credit card numbers. Other times less obvious when stores have reports of every call we make. There is little the amount of data changed would astonish them now. This lead to the key question. Why is it that people are willing to explosion large quantities of information to private parties but dont want the government to have that same information. Why dont we care very much if the Telephone Company keeps records of all of our phone calls, but we feel differently about the prospect of that same information going to n. S. A. This is not difficult. We care because of what the government could do with the information. Unlike a phone company, the government has the power to audit tax returns, grant or deny business and many other concerns. So there is concern that the government may abuse this power. I dont mean to say that private companies dont also have a lot of power over us. The growth of corporate privacy policies, and the reaction to the release of personal information by those companies, reinforces my belief that the concern today is less than who has the information than what they can and do with it. But the governments powers is proper ily viewed in a different light. Just as consumers around the world make use of modern tech to go, so, too, do hostile organizations. We need that terrorists and weapons proliferators are using Global Information networks to conduct research to communicate and plan attacks. Information that can help us id if i and prevent terrorist attacks is often hiding in plain sight among the vast amounts of information flowing on the globe. The new Technology Means that the Intelligence Community must continue to find ways to lowell d analyze intelligence information. We need to be able to do more than connect the dots when we find them. We need to be able to find the right dots. One approach to protecting privacy would be to limit the Intelligence Community to queries looked for specific information about identified individual based on probable cause. From a National Secure perspective, this would not be sufficient. The business of foreign intelligence has always been funneled mentally different from the business of investigation. Rather than attempting to solve crimes that have happened already, we are trying to find out what happens before it happens. Area have fragment information. We may get information that is useless to us without a store of data to match it against, such as when we get the telephone number of a tristan want to find out who he has been in contact with. Or we may learn about a plot that we were previously upaware of, cause ugh to revisit old connections, connections we would never know about if we hadnt kept it for some period of time. We worry all the time about what we are missing in other effort to protect the nation and alleys. On the one hand you have amounts of data that contain intelligence needed to protect us not only from terrorism, but as cyber s such attacks, weapons of mass destruction and espionage. Given the information, it has obvious privacy implication. We achieve that by a framework that establishes appropriate controls over what the government can do with the information it lawfully collects and appropriate oversights to ensure it respects the quiros. They depend on a variety of factors such as the type of the information we collect, where we collect it, the scope of the protection and the use the government intend to make of the information. In this way we can allow the Intelligence Community to acquire necessarily spell generals, while looking at things that take aof modern technology. In showing this morning that this approach is the way we deal with intelligence collection, i will use fisa. It is an important mechanism. It covers a wide range of activities and voffers all three sources of law i mentioned earlier. Constitutional, statutory and executive. And third, because several previously classified examples of what we do under fisa have been did he classified and people want to learn more about them. It is important to know that by 12333 of executive order all collections have to be directed at the acquisition of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence. Our nations intelligence priorities are set annually through an interagency process. The leaders of the country tell the community what information they need in the service of the nation, its citizens and sps, and we collect information in support of those priorities. I want to emphasize that the United States is a democratic nation. We take seriously this requirement that these activities have a valid intelligence purpose. We do not use them to steal the trade secrets of Foreign Companies to give American Companies a competitive advantage. We do not sweep up and story the contents of americans or the citizenry are any country. We do not use our abilities for the purpose of repressing the individuals of any country because of their political, religious or other beliefs. We connect metta data, information about communications more broadly than we collect the actual cognitive communications. That can provide us information that helps us more narrowly focus or collection of content on appropriate foreign intelligence targetsd. But it simply is not true that the United States government is listening to everything said by the citizens of any country. Let me now turn to fisa. I am going to that you can about three provisions. Traditional order, the Business Record provision and section 702. These provisions are related to the acquisition of different kind of information and provides limits on how it can be collected. Require procedures restricting what we can do and how long we can keep it and oversight to ensure those rules are followed. Protections are afforded at the front end when information is collected, in the middle when information is reviewed and used, and at the end to protect National Security and privacy. The rules vary depending on the factors such as the type of information deflected and whether we are collecting the content. The nature of person or persons being targeted and how narrowly or broadly focused the focus is. They are not identical in respect to rules that goff criminal investigations. They hope to persuade you are reasonable and appropriate in the context of foreign intelligence. Lets talk about traditional fisa collection. Prior to the pass annual in 1978, the collection of foreign intelligence was unregulated by statutory law. It was viewed as a core function of the executive branch. When the criminal wiretap provisions were enacted in 19le, congress put a rule in there that these provisions did not limit the constitutional power of the president to obtain foreign sbl generals deemed necessary to the security of the United States. Wever, 10 years later, because of abuses congress did choose to impose some things. This is what is codified in title one of fisa. Fisa as most of you know by now established a special court to hear applications by the government to conduct electronic surveillance for foreign spell generals purposes. Because traditional surveillance, it is intrusive. And because it can be directed at individuals inside the United States, including american citizens, it directly implicates the Fourth Amendment. In fisa, congress required that to get a surveillance order, the government must establish probable cows that the is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power. If the target is a United States person, he or she cannot be deemed an agent of a foreign power based solely on activity pro teckeded by the First Amendment. You can nato be the subject of rveillance merely because of what you think. It must be subject to minutization procedures. Those are procedures approved by the court, quoting from the statute here, reasonably designed in light of the purpose and technique of the particular surveillance, to mississippi lies the ackzicks and retention of nonpublicly attained information consistent with the need of the United States to obtain, produce and disseminate foreign intelligence information. Inute myization procedures prevent the identity of a petersen unless it is in reference to a crime. The purpose and technique of the particular surveillance is important. Procedures can and do differ depending on the purpose of surveillance. These minutization procedures are an important way in which we do provide appropriate protections for privacy. Let me explain how it works in prafment lets say that the f. B. I. Suspects someone in the United States of being a spy or tristan they want to conduct electronic surveillance of that person. While there are some exceptions in the law, as a general rule, the government has to present an application to the court, establishing prison cause to believe that person is an agent foreign power. That application is reviewed at several levels in the f. B. I. And department of justice before being submitted to the court. If the surveillance is approved, the target may have a conversation with a u. S. Person that may have nothing to do with the surveillance, such as talking to a neighbor about a dinner party. An analyst who license to a conversation that has no foreign sbl generals value cannot share it. Even if the conversation does hat foreign intelligence value, a terrorist talking to a confederate, that information may only be disseminated to someone with an appropriate need to know the information pursuant to his or her legally authorized mission. In other words, summing up, electronic surveillance under title i indicates well recognized privacy interests in the subject of communication. It has the requirement that it be narrowly targeted and have a basis approved by the kurt and limitations imposed on the use of that information. Let me turn to the second the ty, which is collection of Business Record. After fisa was passed, it became apparently it left some significant gaps. While the government had the power in a criminal investigation to compel the production of records with a grand jury subpoena. It lacked similar authority in foreign intelligence investigations. A provision was added and amended by section 215 of the patriot ought act passed shortly after 9 11. It allows us to applies to the the court for an order for production of document when they are relevant to a National Security investigation. It is records that can be owe contain through a grand jury or other court process. Whether there is no statutory or other protection to obtain them. In some respects this process is more restrictive. It is snow record obtained to the Business Records are subject to Court Approved procedures limited to the retedges and dissemination of other u. S. Persons. This one does not apply. Of course the Business Records provision has been in the news recently because of one particular use of that provision. The fisa court has repeatedly approved orders directing kelly Communication Companies to produce certain categories of data. Numbers called and the time, date and dur ace of the call. It is important to emphasize as we do every time we talk about it, that under this program about do not get the contents of any conversation. We do not get the identity of any party to the conversation, and we do not get any cell site or g. P. S. Locational information. This has important legal consequences. As i mentioned earlier, the Supreme Court has held that if you have voluntary provided this kind of information to third parties, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Ll of the meat of the metta data we between is from information the Telephone Companies keep for their own purposes. As a result the government can get it without a warnte. I recognize there is a difference between getting data about one telephone number and getting it in bulk. From a legal point of voo, section 215 allows us to get records for a National Security investigation. From a privacy perspective, the government could apply mining techniques to a data set and learn new facts about them even when the underlying set of records is not in the set. We are not allowed to do that sort of natural of these record, and we dont do it. On the other hand this information is useful from an intelligence perspective. Can help identify links between terrorists overseas and their potential confederates in the United States. It is important to under the problem that this program was intended to solve. Many will recall that one of the criticisms made by the 9 11 commission was we were unable to locate the connection between a hijacker from cal and an al qaeda safe house in yemen. Although n. S. A. Had collected conversations from the yemeni side, they had no way to determine that the other end of the connection was in the United States. This Collection Program is designed to help us find those connections. In order to do that, however, we need to be able to access the records of telephone calls possibly going back several years, and we dont know in advance which calls those are going to be. Telephone companies have no legal obligations to keep this kind of information, and they generally destroy it after a period of time that they determine. The Telephone Companies have separate data sets in different formats, which makes analysis of possible terrorist calls involving several providers, slower and more cumbersome. Hat could be critical in a plot that is moving quickly. The way we filth intelligence gap while protecting privacy illustrates the approach i outlined earlier. The difference between a Telephone Company keeping records and the Intelligence Community keeping the same records is what the government could do with the records. That is an entirely legitimate concern, and we deal with it by limiting what the Intelligence Community is allowed to do with the records. First we put this information in security databases. Second, the only information for which this information can be used the only intelligence purpose for this which information can be used is counterterrorism. Third, we only allow a limited number of specially trained analysts to search these databases. Fourth, even those analysts are allowed to certain the database only when they have a articulate nd and suspicion. The basis for that suspicion has to be documented in writing and approved by a supervisor. Fifth, the analysts are allowed to use this information only in a very limited way to map a network of numbers calling other numbers. Sixth, because this database if the y metadate, even analyst find a number that warrants further vegas, all she can do is disseminate the number. Any further investigation on that number has to be done so by lafell means. It would have to be done using another Legal Authority such as fisa title i. Finally, the information is destroyed after five years. The net result is that although we collect lamar volumes of data under this program, we only look at a tiny fraction of t, and only for a specific purpose. The collection has to be broad to be operationally effective. But it is limited to nonconcept data that has a low privacy value and not protected by the Fourth Amendment. It doesnt even identify an individual. Ly the narrowest rule is permitted. Some have questioned how the collection of a large volume of data could comply with the statutory requirement that Business Records obtained be relevant to an authorized investigation. We are working to see what addition information we can declassify about the program, including the actual court papers that have been filed. But i can give a prod summary of this legal basis here today. First, it is important to remember that the authorized investigation that the statute speaks of is an intelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation, and i talked about difference between these before. Statute says that an authorized investigation has to be one conducted in accordance with guidelines approved by the attorney general. And those guidelines allow the f. B. I. To conduct an investigation into a foreign terrorist entity if there is a factual basis that indicates the eptity may have engaged in terrorism or other threat to National Security or may be planning or supporting such things. And y be investigating organization if there is a factual basis to believe they are involved in terrorism. They have identified the particular entities that are the subject of the investigations. Second, the standard of relevance required by this statute is not the standard that we think of in a civil or criminal trial under the rules of evidence. The courts have recognized that in or contexts, the term relevance can import a broad standard. In the grand jury context, the Supreme Court has held that a grige subpoena is proper until there is no reasonable pocket that the category of material the government seeks will produce information relevant to the grand jurys investigation. Investigationings, it is information that could bear or or lead to information that could bear on the case. The meaning of relevance is sufficiently broad to allow for subpoenas or requests for information that encompass large volumes of information in order to locate within those records a smaller subset of material that will be directly pertinent to or used in further ransom of the investigation or case. It it is not limited to obtaining to only those record that he or she can identify as incriminated or pert inept to establish liability. But a much broader set of records that mayberry fruit leading to material that could bear on the issue. When it passed the Business Records provision, cop gress made clear it had concepts in mind in rnches to those. This program meets that broad standard. As i scomplaped earlier, the effectiveness of the queries allowed by the court under strictness of the program, they are based on suspicion. It is dependent on collecting and maintaining the data again which the queries can be made. The concept of relevance is broad enough to allow for the collection of information beyond that which ultimately turns out to be important to a terrorist related investigation. While the scope of the collection at issue here is broader than might typically be gather through a grand jury request, the information is similar. The information is relevant because you need to have the broader set of records in order to identify the information that is actually important to a terrorist investigation when you make that query. It is reinforced by i by all of the stringent limitations, that the data is only used for that purpose. I want to repeat that the conclusion that the bulk mateData Collection as authorized is not that of the Intelligence Community alone. Applications to obtain this data has repeatedly been approved by the judges of the fisa court after determining they comply with all legal requirements. In 2009 and 2011 after the commess had been briefed on the program and after information describing the program had been made available to all members of congress. All three branches of government have determined that this collection is lafell and reasonable in large part because of the substantial protections we provide for every person whose telephone number is collected. The Third Program i want to talk about is section 702, part of the fisa amendments act of 2008. Shist in order. Generally speaking as i said before title i of fisa governs electronic surveillance conducted in the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. When it was passed in 1978, congress did not intend it was regulate the targeting of foreigners outside the United States. This was carved out by way congress defined foreign intelligence. Most communications in 1978 took place via satellite. To congress excluded internal Radio Communications from the definition even when the radio waves were intercepted in the United States unless the target of the collection was a person in the United States. But over time that Technology Based differentiation fell apart. Communications, most International Communications traveled over fiber on take cables. At the same time there was a dramatic use for the use of the internet for communications purposes by terrorists. As a result, congress orangal intentions were frustrated. We had to go to fisa court to get individual warrants to conduct case by case versions of foreigners overseas. After 9 11 this burden began to degrade or ability to collect the sbungses of foreign terrorists. Section 702 created a new procedure to accomplish this surveillance. Section 702 was not as such have suggested, a defanging of the fisa courts traditional authority. Rather than it extended the courts oversight for Things Congress had placed outside of hat intelligence overseas. Supervision of this kind of foreign intelligence collection directed at citizens of other countries is a unique limitation that goes beyond what other countries require of their services when those services collect against persons who are not their own citizens. The privacy and constitutional interests implicated by collection under 702 fall between tradition fis a m etaData Collection. We are collecting full content of communications. On the other hand we are not collecting that in bulk and only targeting persons outside the u. S. On the other hand the information involved is unquestionably of great importance for National Security. Collection under section 702 is one of the most valuable sources of foreign intelligence that we have. Here again the statutory scheme and the means by which we implement it are designed us to allow us to collect this spell generals while maintaining protections for privacy. Collection does not require individual judicial order authorizing collection against each target. The Court Approves annual certifications submitted by the attorney general that identify categories of foreign intelligence that can be collected, subject to Court Approved targeting and minimalization procedures. We target only nonu. S. Persons reasonably believe to be outside the United States. That we do not intercept wholly domestic communications, and that we do not target any petersen outside the United States as a back door means of targeting someone inside the United States. These procedures must be reviewed by the court to ensure they are consistent with the statute and the Fourth Amendment. In other words, the targeting procedures are a way of minimizing the privacy impact of this collection both as to americans and not americans by limiting the collection to its intended purpose. W the concept of minimiization procedures shoor familiar. We may incidentally acquire the communications of americans even though we are not targeting them. For example if they talked to nonu. S. Persons outside the United States who are properly targeted for collection. Some of these Communications May be pertinent, and some may not be. But the individual collections of not pertinent communication is hardly unique to 702. It is common when you collect information whether a criminal wiretap, where conversations with friends or family may be intercepted or a terrorists computer, which may contain not pertinent information. Congress recognized this and required us to pass procedures to minimize this impact on the privacy of persons. How does section 702 work in practice . As of today there are certifications for several categories of foreign intelligence. Lets say the Intelligence Community gets information that a terrorist is using a particular email address. Analysts look at the available data to assess whether the address would be a valid target. Whether the address belongs to someone who is not a u. S. Person, whether the person is outside the United States, and whether targeting that email address is likely to led to the collection of foreign intelligence. Only if all three requirements are met and validated by supervisors will the mahimni address be approved for targeting. We dont randomly collect all foreign email sunday section 702. We target specific accounts bus we are looking for information. Even after a target is approved, the courtapproved procedures require n. S. A. To continue to verify that its targeting decision is valid based on any new information it acquires. Any communications that we do collect under 702 or placed in secure databases with limited access. Trained analysts are allowed to use the data for valid Foreign Intelligence Services. But procedures require if they review communication that involves a u. S. Person or information about a u. S. Person, and they determine it has no surveillance value, the information must be destroyed. In any case, conversations that are not relevant are destroyed after a maximum of five years. So we have a regime that involved judicial approve of procedures that are designed to narrow the focus of the surveillance and the use of the data. I have outlined three different collection perhaps under three different provisions of fisa. I think they all reflect the framework i have described. In each case we protect privacy by a multilayered system of cronl not only on what we collect, but how we use it. We take into account the ways in which that collection is useful to National Security. But we do not simply set out a set of rules and hope that people will them. There are substappings safeguard in place to help ensure these rules are followed. They operate at several levels. The first is technological. The same technological revolution that has enabled this collection and made it so valuable has allowed us to place relatively stringent controls on it. Agencies can work with providers so that they do provide us the information we are allowed to acquire under the order, they dont provide Additional Information modern Information Security techniques allow us to create an audit trail tracking who uses these databases so that we have a record that can enable us to identify any possible misuse. There is no indication that anyone has defeated those technological controls and improperly gained access. Documents such as the Business Records secondary order are kept on other nsa databases and do not contain this type of collection information. We do not rely solely on technology. Nsa has an internal compliance officer. Addition, decisions about what telephone numbers we use as a basis for searching are reviewed within nsa and by the department of justice. Decisions about targeting are reviewed first by the nsa and then the department of justice and then by my office. It has a dedicated civil liberty officer. The department of justice regularly conducts reviews to ensure that information collected is used and disseminated in accordance with the Court Approved minimization procedures. Independent inspectors general may operate review the operation of these programs. As you have more and more people from more and more different organizations overseeing the operation of the programs, it becomes less and less likely that unintentional errors will go unnoticed or that anyone will be able to misuse the information. In addition to this oversight by the executive branch, there is considerable oversight i the congress. By the congress. To ensure that these procedures comply with the statute and the Fourth Amendment. In addition, any compliance violation has to be reported to the court. Improperly collected information must be deleted, subject only to some exceptions. Corrective measures are taken and reported to the court until the court is satisfied. I want to correct the erroneous claim that the fisa court is a rubber stamp. The exact opposite is true. The judges review every application carefully. Asked extensive questions, seek Additional Information from the government, or request changes. Approve the great majority of the applications at the end of this process, but before it does so, the process ensures the application does apply with the law. Finally, there is the congress. We are required to keep the intelligence and Judiciary Committees informed about these programs, including detailed reports about their operations and compliance matters. We engage with the congress and discussed these authorities to provide information. As i said before, when congress 200 215 ed section 215, information was made available to every member of congress. Short, or in summary, the procedures by which we implement collection under five that are protectsa privacy by imposing appropriate limits on the use of information. Much is collected, but access, analysis, and dissemination are subject to stringent for seizures. Stringent procedures. It is applied throughout our intelligence collection. Our intelligence collection is help protect both our nation and its allies from a variety of threats. We have robust intelligence relationships with many other countries. These go in both directions, but it is important to understand that we cannot use Foreign Intelligence Services to get around the limitations imposed by our laws. We assume other countries 6 expect their services to operate in compliance with their own laws. By working closely with these countries, we have helped to ensure our common security. While many of the details are being classified, we have provided the congress a list of hasases in which the data provided us information to help set help us understand potential terrorist activity and to disrupt it. 41 of these 74 cases involved threats in other countries, including 25 in europe alone. We were able to alert officials in these countries to these events and help them fulfill their ocean of protecting their nation because of the and fulfill their mission of protecting their nation. Our approach to achieving security and privacy is effective and appropriate. It has been reviewed by all three branches of government. It is not the only way that we could regulate intelligence collection. Even before the recent disclosures occurred, the president said we welcome the discussion about privacy and National Security and we are working to declassify more information about our activities to inform that discussion. The Civil Liberties oversight itrd has announced that intends to provide the president and congress a public report on the section 215 program. The board met recently with the president , who welcomed the review and committed to providing all of the material they will need to fulfill their oversight. We have been doing that. We look forward to continuing to work with the board on this project. The discussion about the authorities can and should have taken place without the recent disclosures, which are brought into public view the details of sensitive operations that were previously discussed on a classified basis and with the committees that were set up to oversee intelligence operations. The level of detail in the current public debate, the moretive nature demanded a limited discussion. Whether or not the value of the exposure of these details outweighs the cost of National Security is now a moot point. As the debate goes forward, i hope my remarks today have helped to provide an appreciation of the efforts that have been made and will continue to be made to ensure that all of our intelligence activities comply with our laws and reflect our values. Thank you very much. I will be glad to take some questions. In this areawe do remains classified, for good reason. I will not be able to talk about other goodies that have not been put other activities that have not been publicly disclosed. We are working to declassify it Additional Information. I will be restricted in what i can say. Thank you very much. [applause] i will asked a question or before turning it over to the audience. If you plan to oned bob to blow the whistle the apollo moon landing, i suspect he will politely declined to answer, but i may not be so polite. I have a few quick questions. I think both of them bearing mostly on 215. Standingrred to a long wideranging buyin about the executive branchs position on the relevant standard. The judges endorsed it. Congress has endorsed it in various ways. There has been controversy in the public about how this drives relevance about disagreeing with that view. I understand that having that by hand and having those remarks, that puts forth one position. Disagreement,ill why not proceed on the basis of a bulk collection statute . With clearer language. That would be one option. You would have to make sure that enables the kind of flexibility and operational agility that we need to conduct the collection. We do not think the statute is necessary, and we think we have the authority. On that point as well, you , thered to the opinions papers underlying that interpretation. If you are not changing the law, everyone agrees there should be as much declassification as possible. I think you mentioned the other day, a comment by one of the judges, he noted the intertwined nature of a lot of the facts and legal analyses for these. Making sure the governments application as well. Witnessves us with this be nice . It is going to be hard wouldnt this be nice . I would be curious to hear whether you think how much progress could really be made in that regard . I hope we can make a lot of progress. One of the hurdles was the existence of the program was classified and it is hard to think about releasing the data. Now that the program has been declassified, we are really looking at these opinions. I am hopeful that we will be able to release Court Documents that will provide a greater visibility into exactly moreu think that will be in the metadata neighborhood, so to speak . We are looking across the spectrum of our activities. Considerable less concerned about the 702 program. We are looking at all of our programs to see what can be declassified to inform the public debate. But i will take a few now. I will take a few now. [inaudible] president other precedent, which is not subject to review . Spies understand that there are phone calls will be intercepted anyway . What is the real harm to National Security by the snowden revelations . Let me take the first one. It is important to go back to the history. This is not a court that exists betweenicate disputes individuals. It oversees the executive branchs acquisition of our intelligence information. The court is unprecedented in that sense. The fact that the secret is a there consequence are plenty of Court Proceedings that take place in secret in a variety of context. The fact of the matter is that we collect a lot of very valuable information. The fact of the matter also is that without going into a lot of detail, our adversaries have noticed these revelations. It is too early to tell whether they will have an impact. They have set up and taken notice of what has been released. If you do have any institutional affiliations, please identify yourself. Alan friedman, the Brookings Institution. I wanted to talk about oversight from a policy perspective. You can help us appreciate the process. Reports that these companies are forced to compel data. These are Large International companies. There is this broader impact question. I am wondering whether there has been a discussion as these programs expand. Ways ofind new gathering intelligence . Is there some input from the economic unity or the trade community . The programs are classified so we do not generally discuss them. Always reassessing, is this program sufficiently valuable to continue it in light of the cost . We are doing that again right now. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. A question in terms of the use of the information outside of the intelligence area. In terms of the enforcement, it is that something the doj can if there isand aske an idea of overseas bribery, can they use some of these powers to gain that information . If the services, cross that kind of information, can that be . Hared with the doj generally speaking, we can not cask the collection of information for those purposes. The department of justice cannot asked us to collect evidence of that kind of a crime. Terrorism is one thing, but other sorts of ordinary criminal act committee, we cannot be tasked to collect that. If the Intelligence Agency uncovers evidence of any crime, theyg from sexual abuse turned that information over to the department of justice. Shane harris, foreignpolicy magazine. When nsa analyst are trying to determine whether they can target a particular email address, they attempt to find out if it is a valid target by looking whether it is sent by a u. S. Person and whether that person was outside the u. S. Can you explain technically how they do it . How do they actually do that . It is technically very challenging. One of the things i am not at liberty to do is talk about in s analytic trade craft. They do have a variety of databases they can check. Ways to learn whether an email address is located. Them to checkire a variety of databases to make that determination based on standard analytic trade craft. [inaudible] it depends upon the contents. [inaudible] in eachnot know what is of the databases. You mentioned with regard to the collection of business thinks that you do not individuals have a legitimate expectation of privacy. Techso many of these companies have a monopoly on the services they provide and when individuals cannot receive those Services Without agreeing to all the terms, would you consider that meaningful consent as far as providing that information to a third party . The relevant issue is whether the courts would. And the courts do. Likeases involve things anka records. Most of us need to have a bank account. Canbpoena to the bank generate those records. Telephone Companies Used to be a monopoly. Werehone calling records subject to a regional expectation a reasonable expectation of privacy. It is the same principle. At least one extraordinary assertion in your speech, and i wanted to make sure i understood it right. There is an audit process and that is triggered to see if they have violated some of these internal controls. Theounded like you said internal controls have never found an instance where those programs have reached beyond those authorities. One of the skepticism is about internal controls is they often just like internal Affairs Department and Police Departments, they may not look as hard as they should. If you could tell us how many andts are done last year reaffirm the fact they have never found any misuse of these authorities. But i do not think that is what i said. The compliance violation has to be reported. That led youething to the conclusion that i was saying there is never been a violation, that is not what i meant to say. Fisa audit, wem have different regimes for different programs. There is an audit regime that is required for the 215 program, one for the 702 program, and so on. I cannot sit here and give you exact statistics on that. I do know the senate Intelligence Committee, last year, or the year before, they in connectiont with the reoperation of the section 702 program and in that report, they noted there has never been a finding of a willful violation of the law. There are occasions where people make mistakes, technological problems that lead to errors, but there is not been a finding of someone going and willfully trying to evade the restrictions. Maybe one more. But [inaudible] [inaudible] times have the providers objected or challenge some of the court orders to turn over the metadata . There isceedings one Court Proceeding that has recently been in the news where the court has ordered us to review documents for declassification. In terms of other proceedings come a those are still classified. In terms of other proceedings, those are still classified. We are trying to prioritize the infant of the greatest public interest. Things thate the are the greatest public interest. Are those things the highest priority . To a certain extent, the highest priority is getting out information fuller information about the programs. Bob, thank you very much. [applause] House Veterans Affairs subcommittee heard today from former military Service Members who were the terms of Sexual Assault. I spoke about the health care and Treatment Options available to the aims and their experiences dealing with the va. Imagine a male survivor being block withke a nerve a doctor. You are in an ob gyn share and your legs are up and you are having something inserted through your rectum and pushed into a nerve in your prostate to remove your pain. That is the kind of pain i live in. My psychologist would not step in knowing what that procedure would do. This is contraindicated. Congressman, do you know who was there for me . It was not the va. It was not anyone at the va. It was my partner that got me and he getsbuilding no recognition for that effort. They need it badly. You can see more of this hearing on military Sexual Assault in about 20 minutes on cspan. I decided that he was a delicious subject for a biography when it dawned on me that he had been not only at butham lincolns bedside, also at the bedside of William Mckinley. Who could this fellow be . Of course, when i opened the archive, i realized what a rich subject it was. Has two book ends. There is lincoln on one end. He was Abraham Lincolns personal secretary, lived in the white house for four years. On the other end of his life, he mckinley, only under but after his assassination, he was secretary of state for teddy roosevelt. When you look deeper, you realize all of the chapters in ,etween in the American History he is a presence in each one of those chapters. In many cases, he has written those chapters of American History. The life of john hay at the white house this afternoon, president obama spoke about the Trayvon Martin murder trial. His remarks from of 20 minutes. Were almost 20 minutes. James, is this the kind of respect that you get . Television, it looks like you are addressing a full room. It is a mirage. Sorry about that. Do you think anybody elses showing up . I want to come out here to tell you that j is prepared for all of your questions. He is very much looking forward to the session. That overlet you know the next couple of weeks, there will be a whole range of issues, weimmigration, economics, will try to arrange a folder press conference. The reason i wanted to come out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that has a lot of attention over the course of the last week. The issue of the Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave a preliminary statement after the ruling on sunday, but watching the debate over the course of the last week, i thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts. I want to make , i sent mygain thoughts and prayers to the family of Trayvon Martin. Incrediblerk on the grace and dignity with which they had dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine what they are going through and it is remarkable how they have handled it. Say,econd thing i want to there will be a lot of arguments about legal issues in the case. I will let all the talking heads the dress those issues. The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly case such that in a this, reasonable doubt they rendered a verdict. Once the jury has spoken, that is how our system works. I did want to talk about context. Have responded to it and how people are feeling. When Trayvon Martin was first shot, i said this could have been my son. Is,her way of saying that Trayvon Martin could have been me. 35 years ago. Why u think about there is a lot of pain around what happened here. Thes important to recognize community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesnt go away. There are very few African American men in this country who havent had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store, that includes me. There are very few African American men who havent had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before i was a senator. There are very few African Americans who havent had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often. And i dont want to exaggerate this but those sets of experiences inform how the Africanamerican Community interprets what happened one night in florida. And its inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear. The Africanamerican Community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of Racial Disparities in the application of our criminal laws. Everything from the Death Penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case. Now this is not to say that the Africanamerican Community is naive about the fact that africanamerican young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, that they are disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence. Its not to make excuses for that fact, although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. We understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country. And that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history. And so the fact that sometimes that is unacknowledged adds to the frustration. And the fact that a lot of africanamerican boys are painted with a broad brush and the excuses given that there are statistics given that show that africanamerican boys are more violent. Using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently causes pain. I think the Africanamerican Community is not naive in understanding that statistically someone like Trayvon Martin was statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else. So folks understand the challenges that exist for africanamerican boys. But they get frustrated if they feel there is no context for it. And that context is being denied. And that all contributes, i think, to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario that from top to bottom both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different. Now the question for me at least and i think for a lot of folks is why do we take this . How do we learn some lessons from this and move in a positive direction . I think its understandable there have been demonstrations and vigils and protests. And some of that stuff is just going to have to work its way through as long as it remains nonviolent. If i see any violence, then i will remind folks that that dishonors what happened to Trayvon Martin and his family. But beyond protests or vigils, are there some concrete things we might be able to do . I know that eric holder is reviewing what happened down there. But i think its important for people to have some clear expectations here. Traditionally, these are issues of state and local government, the criminal code and Law Enforcement is traditionally done at the state and local levels, not at the federal levels. That doesnt mean though that as a nation we cant do some things that i think would be productive. So let me just give a couple of specifics that im still bouncing around with my staff so were not rolling out some five point plan, but some areas where i think all of us could potentially focus. Number one, precisely because Law Enforcement is often determined at the state and local level, i think it would be productive for the justice department, governors, mayors to work with state and local government. When i was in illinois, i passed racial profiling legislation and it actually did two simple things. One it collected data on traffic stops and the race of the person who was stopped. But the other thing was it resourced us Training Police departments across the state on how to think about potential racial bias and ways to further profession lies what they were doing. And initially the Police Departments across the state were resistant but they came to recognize if it was done in a fair straightforward way it would allow them to do their jobs better and communities would have more confidence in them and in turn be more helpful in applying the law. Obviously, Law Enforcement has a very tough job. Thats one area where i think there are a lot of resources and best practices that could be brought to bear if state and local governments are receptive. And i think a lot of them would be and lets figure out ways for us to push out that training. Along the same lines, i think it would be useful for to us examine some state and local laws to see if it is designed in such a way to cause potential indications like we saw in the florida case rather than diffuse at indications. The stand your ground laws in florida were not used as a defense in the case. If we are sending a message as a society in our community that is someone who is armed potentially has the right to use those firearms even if there is a way for them to exit from a situation. Those who resist that idea that we should think about Something Like the stand your ground laws, id like people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk . And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting mr. Zimmerman who had followed him in a car because he felt threatened . And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems we might want to examine those kind of laws. Number three, and this is a longterm project. We need to spend some time in thinking about how do we bolster and reinforce our African American boys. And this is something that michelle and i talk a lot about. There are a lot of kids out there who need help who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. Is there more that we can do to give them a sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them . Im not naive about the prospects of some federal program. Im not sure thats what were talking about here. I do really as president i have some convening power. And there are a lot of good programs across the country. There are a lot of celebrities and clergy and figure out how are we doing a better job helping young africanamerican men feel that they are a full part of this society and that theyve got pathways and avenues to succeed. I think that would be a pretty good outcome from what was a tragic situation. And were going to spend some time working on that and thinking about that. And then finally, i think its going to be important for all of us to do some soul searching. There has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race . I havent seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations. They end up be politicized and folks or locked into the positions they already have. On the other hand, families and churches and workplaces, there is the possibility that people are a little bit more honest and at least you ask yourself your own questions about am i bringing as much bias out of myself as i can . Am i judging myself as much as i can based on not the color of their skin but the contents of their character . That would i think be an appropriate exercise in the wake of this tragedy. Let me just leave you with a final thought that as difficult and challenging as this whole episode has been for a lot of people, i dont want us to lose sight that things are getting better. Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesnt mean were in a post racial society. It doesnt mean that racism is eliminated. But when i talk to malia and sosha and i listen to their friends and see them interact, they are better than we are, they are better than we were on these issues. Thats true in every community that ive visited all across the country. And so we have to be vigilant and we have to work on these issues. And those of us in authority should be doing everything we can to encourage the better angels as opposed to using these episodes to heighten divisions. But we should also have confidence that kids these days i think have more sense that we did back then and certainly more than our parents did or our grandparents did. And that along this long difficult journey, were becoming a more Perfect Union not a Perfect Union, but a more Perfect Union. Youyou guys. Recommended and historical reckoning of crimes committed by the United States. Which crimes for your referring to . Which decisions taken by the Current Administration would you recommend for such a reckoning . Thank you, senator. I think this country is the greatest country on earth. I would never apologize for america. America is the light to the world. We have opportunities here that people dream about a broad. I certainly did. With regard to that quote, one of the things that had moved me, i had written very critically about the clinton administrations response to the rwandan genocide. President clinton had come forward and expressed his regret that the United States did not do more in the face of the genocide. When i travel to rwanda, i was stunned to see the degree to which clintons visit to rwanda, having donefor not more, how it resonated with for wind and. The senateeekend, Foreign Relations Committee Takes up the nomination of Samantha Power to be u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Aturday at 10 00 eastern on cspan3, American History tv, lectures and history and the history of u. S. Political parties, sunday at 1 00. The navys top uniformed officer called Sexual Assault in the military one of the challenges of our time. Here is a few of his remarks at the pentagon today. On what i call the challenge of our time, Sexual Assault. We are in it for the long haul. This is something we have to resolve. We will stay at this. I released some direction via a naval administrative message and a letter i sent to the director of supply corp. It involved organizational changes to strengthen our staff and make sure we can coherently run this strategy, but also commanders theet Sexual Assault experts that they need. We will be bringing them in and putting them on their staff. It is to support the awareness element of our program and to support the prevention element of our program and to support our victims. This will include an expansion of pilot programs that we have run in the great lakes and san diego with some pretty good in reduction about the whole incidents, behavioral incidents, and Sexual Assaults. We will expand that navy wide by 1 october. Veterans Affairs Subcommittee heard testimony from military Service Members who were victims of Sexual Assault. The witnesses said the military was frequently unresponsive to reports of Sexual Assault. Michigan congressman chaired the hearing. Good morning. We begin, i would like to asked unanimous consent for my friends and fellow committee s to participate in todays proceedings. Objection, so ordered. I welcome you to todays hearing, safety through survivors, care and treatment for military sexual trauma. I am grateful for you all for being here today. When the men and women of our armed forces sign up to defend our freedom, they willingly accept the danger of from art in enemies. What they should never have to accept is the threat of Sexual Assault from their fellow Service Members. Perpetrator should be aggressively pursued, prosecuted, and punished. Were working to advance legislation reform and improve improve the military justice system. Just as important as that effort is is the one we turn to the day. Listening to, caring for, and supporting the healing of those who have suffered this terrible crime. Dod, there were 38 incidents of Sexual Assault among male servicemembers and 33 incidents of Sexual Assault among female Service Members per day. The last fiscal year. Year, there were 71 incidents of Sexual Assault every single day among those who wear our uniform. To say this is unacceptable does not adequately describe the reality, the lasting effects it can have on the lives of those who experience it. A Service Member who was a victim of Sexual Assault often hesitant to disclose their experience or seek the support of services they need and deserve. This is troubling to me, it is even more troubling to listen to the personal stories of those who have taken the brave steps to come forward and find those departments tasked for caring unresponsive, uncoordinated, and unable to meet their obligations. Year, the of this Government Accountability Office Issued a report which found that dod Sexual Assault coordinators were the single point of contact for Sexual Assault survivors and were tasked with managing their medical needs within the are nott of defense always aware of the Health Care Services available to Sexual Assault victims at their respective locations. The gao found that military Healthcare Providers did not have a consistent understanding of their responsibilities. General report issued last december found that among other things, the as military sexual trauma report as little as two hours a week to conduct outreach to and monitoring of those veterans who have screened positive for metal military sexual trauma. What confidence can assault survivors have when they are at have . Lowest failed to provide the Health Care Options available and failed to empower most direct of points of contact with the knowledge, authority, and tools to be effective. Not just present. Question liesthat in the voices of our veterans themselves. With many veteran survivors of military sexual trauma and those who were closely with them. Their frustrations and concerns. Im honored to have for such veterans with us this morning. These veterans represent after four branches of service. These brave men and women have endured firsthand heartbreak and pain associated with oteri sexual trauma. They know better than anyone how very long and difficult journey to healing can be. Each of them has braved public scrutiny and they are reliving a very painful memory to be here today to share with us their experiences in the hopes that we might do better for those that come after them. Your contribution here today will bring out of the shadows and into the light on much needed call for change. I thank each of you for your Honorable Service to our nation and to your fellow veterans. A service which began in uniform years ago and continues here today. I think that says a lot about the importance or lack thereof that the dod places on this topic. I will yield to our Ranking Member for any Opening Statement she may have. Thank you, mr. Chair. Good morning to everyone. I would like to thank all of you for attending todays hearing. The subcommittee will also be looking out the coordination of care and Services Offered to the t. Ctims of ms many victims who have suffered through an ordeal such as Sexual Assault often times are reluctant to discuss their situation and seek help. Those finally gathered the courage to speak up find their story is often dismissed or treated him differently, unjustly, becoming the victim again. As many of you know, the pentagon reported earlier this year that an estimated 26,000 cases of unwanted sexual contact occurred in 2012, up from 19,000 in 2011. With only 13. 5 of incidents reported, it it is clear that we must do a better job in both preventing and treating mst. These servicemembers and veterans often continue to experience debilitating physical and mental symptoms, which can follow them through their lives. Focusing on prevention, however, is only part of the solution. It is critical that we do everything that is necessary to do to make it easier for victims to access needed benefits and services and received treatment. Compassion and care are a significant part of healing those that have been sexually assaulted. I applaud the legislative efforts of our colleagues who. Ave introduced legislation ensureills seek to stronger protections are in place so that the safety and wellbeing of our men and women in uniform is assured. We must begin to take these important steps to end Sexual Assault. As a proud cosponsor of both bills, i believe we are headed in the right direction, but we still need to do more. I was saddened to read the testimonies of our first panel. The pain and suffering was evident. I know this is hard for all of you and i commend all of you on your bravery to speak up and be here today. Theeed to hear firsthand experiences of veterans who have andd the system unfriendly intimidating so that we can make it better. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today. Thank you for being here, this is a very important issue for us to tackle in congress. Thank you. I would like to formally welcome our first panel to the witness table. Comethe panelists please forward . Joining us today is the torilla sanders from nevada victoria sanders from nevada, california. Thank you very much for being here and for your service. I will yield to my friend and colleague from indiana, who will introduce our next veteran. Thank you for yielding. With a commitment we share this committee in addressing this critical issue. I want to thank every member of peer for voting yes on the. Histleblower protection bill many of the cosponsors are sitting here today. It is my honor to introduce lisa wilkins from indiana. She was sexually assaulted and 100 disabled as a result of the trauma endured. Lisa is more than just a wonderful wife and dedicated mother. She is a survivor. She is a survivor who has made it a mission to bring other victims out of isolation and the shadows. She has a veteran and she has the right to receive access to thank you for having the courage to testify before this committee today. Thank you for your tireless efforts to hold the va countable. Accountable. Thank you, jackie. Thank you for your service. Our next veteran witness is brian lewis. He is a recent graduate of stevenson university. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you for your service. We are also joined by tara johnson. She was born and raised in new jersey and currently resides in wisconsin. She is a veteran of the marine corps and served her fellow veterans. Thank you very much for being here and thank you for your service. Ms. Sanders, would you please proceed with your testimony question mark . To have five minutes testify. We like to try to do that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for this chance to speak before this committee. It is like a Birthday Gift from congress because yesterday was my 50th birthday. 38 years ago on my 20th birthday, i arrived at my only active duty station in colorado. One month later, i was raped. Legal middle of the battle, i was thrown into a custody battle. After basic training, i separated from my husband and had one child. I was diagnosed with ptsd in 2004 and it has been a long road and im hoping my testimony today will help become full circle. By rapist confessed to enough of his crimes that he was reduced in rank and was confined to barracks. This is an example of chain of command harassment. The barracks he was confined to is the one where i worked. You you report a rape, become public enemy number one. No one will you are called nafmentse you internalize what happened, and it feefls like it is your fault. Even if your rapist is punished, harassment is limitless. It followed me through three transfers in nine months. I had an out because my custody battle made me a single mother. Single parents were discharged quickly. I began the slow deadline in mental helt because post Traumatic Stress disorder. Being rained by a Service Member is a double betrayal, but not being backed up by your commander is hardest of all. We have lost good people on each step of this journey. Today i want to mention two. Terry good woop, and sophie. They did not live long enough after being rained to become veterans. My experience was first supportive, caring, trained professionals. We had a greatpoint said collin great ptsd clinic in san jose. I was one of a group of five weem who were not eligible to go for inpatient treatment for various reasons. The doctor started a group for the five of us. Three weeks into the program she was told by her boss that she could not continue this therapy with us. She did, however, finish out the 17week program. She was not going to leave us. Our world was crushed. The student who worked with her watched us. As she watched, she decided to change her focus to trauma, and specifically military sexual trauma. She went to work if he virginia after she finished her stud. She worked there until she got a job at stanford to be available for patients. It does intensive therapy using many things not available at most virginia facilities. This shows me we patients are powerful, but only when we are allowed to have meaningful therapy. Not just basic skills. How many times can a person take the same information from in the same form from a student reading from a book . That is not therapy. Since i have moved my care to the San Francisco virginia, i have only seen two act pull fullfledged doctors. The rest were residents, interns and candidates and fellows. They were not licensed in trauma therapy. I was retraumatized on numerous occasions. It is outlined in my written test testimony. It has been well documented that psychiatric diagnosis is not scientifically grounded, does not reduce human suffering and carries tremendous risks of many kind. Assault survivors should be offered Services Without the requirement they be given psychiatric labels. These can be arbitrary and very subjective. Further complicating matters is there is no universally accepted treatment for ptsd. As for the future of this problem from the military to the virginia, what i see is more of the same. Most of the chiefs of staffs were cadets when i was rained in 1975. This year at west point had to disband the rugby team for inappropriate behavior. The number of failures this year alone is too long to list. This climate must change. Every day 71 people are commit suicide. We dont home are as a result of assaults and runs. Thank you, mrs. Sanders. We appreciate your word. I am a United States air force verne. I was medically separated after a Sexual Assault, and i am currently rated 100 service decked by the department of veterans affairs. I am a wife and mother. More importantly i am a military sexual trauma veteran. That is the d. O. D. s way of categorizes us as we are rain survivors of friendly fire. I use those terms not to make a joke of it, but to bring it home that we were assaulted by someone who wore the uniform as we wore. Not all people wear the uniform as honorably as you do. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I have struggled for many years to be proud of my service because of the experience that i had in the military. But speaking out about this topic makes it so that if another veteran doesnt have to suffer and struggle with the things i have struggled with, it is important for me to do so. Not a day goes by that i dont deal with something that is a esult of the Sexual Assault. Why is ptsd from Sexual Assault so longlasting . I believe the reason for that is that it is not properly treated or dealt with at the time. The treatment that we receive when we report an assault in the military, it is as if we are the perpetrator. We are the ones put under the microscope. That is something that needs to stop. It is almost as if your chain of command sets out to do some type of emotional blackle mail blackmail on you, or motion altrauma. That is something that a rain survivor cant handle at that time. You are in a closed society. Most people dont rl how much the virginia Treatment Facilities, mirror our military Treatment Facilities. That is one of the big hurdles that the virginia must start with, recognizing there are a lot of men and women that will not come to the virginia for treatment because of the experience they had in the military, or at the time there wasnt the whistle blower protection and they didnt report it. But now they are older and having problems, and they wont come to the virginia because of their experience in the military. You are going to hear me speak about outside Treatment Facilities. We need the ability to go outside of the virginia if services arent available at that v. A. Medical center so that we dont have to suffer in silence. We need groups at our Virginia Medical Centers for support, and we need groups outside of virginia facilities. Outside of virginia facilities. Sexual assault is not something that you can be treated for like a broken arm where your sarm a in a cast for six weeks and then you are fine. Sexual assault in general is something that changes a person from that point forward. It takes the opportunity of what you could have become and changes it to what it makes you. Why is it so important that we speak out about this topic . The reason it is so important that we speak out about this topic is that so that other men and women who are currently wearing the uniform under they are not alone, and that there are people out there that will stand up for them. One of the things that is important to realize is that in our treatment, we need better resources. Those resources can be outside v. A. Ginia in our in our local communities. Right now in our v. A. Medical center, the wait for someone to see you for military sexual trauma is almost two years. If we could utilize our local Health Care Providers and Mental Health providers, i know the men and women in indiana would utilize that. Unfortunately, getting approval from the v. A. To go outside is a difficult process, and it is not something that is done easily. We have m. S. T. Coordinators at all of our v. A. Facilities. Unfortunately, they are generally just one person, and they have other assigned duties. We need military sexual trauma coordinators at all of our v. A. Facilities that have a staff, that are able to do more than just push the paperwork for those veterans. They need to be able to interact with that veteran and make sure the veteran is severing the care they need. And if not, have the ability to stand up for that veteran. Those are the things that we didnt get while we wore the uniform. And being able to have those Services Available to us now can change peoples lives. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Lewis, please proceed with your testimony. Chairman benishek, Ranking Member brownley, distinguished members of this subcommittee and members of congress. It is a privilege and honor to be testifying before you today. I would like to thank my partner who couldnt be here. Our significant others do so much, and they receive so little time and energy they put into us as survivors. I want to acknowledge that before i start. I would also like to thank the subcommittee for treating the issue of military sexual trauma in a gender inclusive way. About 14,000 of the 26,000 Sexual Assaults on active duty are male victims. This gender neutral conduct places the subcommittee further ahead of the white house and very much ahead of the Veterans Health administration. It has been my experience that the v. A. Discriminates against male survivors of military sexual trauma solely because of their gender. This is a practice that needs to be brought to light and stopped by this subcommittee. Currently the Veterans Health administration operates about 24 residential treatment perhaps for post Traumatic Stress disorder. Only about 12 are designed specifically for the treatment of military sexual trauma. Of those 12, only one accepts male patients. That facility, the center for xual Trauma Services at v. A. Medical is coeducational. Male survivors have no gender specific residential Program Designed specifically for military sexual trauma. I know. I tried. There was Nothing Available for me in a single gender capacity. This made it very difficult to pro the issues when i was at v. A. By pines. I join the American Legion on in saying the model needs to be overhauled, and quickly. In the out patient environment, care for male survivors of military sexual trauma can be spotty at best. Ile there is counselors available for us, receiving care such as peer support groups and being allowed to speak about military sexual trauma in mixed gender and can be very , difficult for any gender, male or female. This needs to stop. Male survivors are the equals of female survivors and need to be treated as such by the eterans health administration. In my placed more data christian testimony about my personal treatment at v. A. Bay pines and at baltimore v. A. Medical center, and i will leave that in there. The next top i would like to touch upon is the overall supervision of sexual trauma perhaps in the v. A. Has been vested in the director of Womens Health, Family Services and military sexual trauma. This oversight protocol deny greats the experience of male survivors and reinforces the concept that the v. A. Sees military sexual trauma as a womens issue. That is not the case. Male survivors have just as much right to seek and be treated at the the v. A. At any other survivor. Another harmful practice is personality disorders. As this subcommittee is well aware, personality disorders have been used along with adjustment disorder, bi polar and other forms of errant diagnosis to push survivors of military sexual trauma out of the military. It has farreaching consequences. For example, survivors attending the to peek, kansas city facility are asked to defend their discharge and explain it to enter the program. A assurviveen pushed out with one of these weaponized diagnosis does not want to do that. I urge the Committee Members to by rt h. R. 935 offered by the representative. It would give those like me to apply for potential military retirement and shift some of these costs back to where they belong. It fundamentally fails survivors of male trauma every day. They have proven their inadequacy for help us. That is why we have formed. We request congress to legislate that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Lewis, for your testimony. I appreciate your efforts. Ms. Johnson . Would you go ahead . Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I proudly served in the marine corps for 10 years and achieved the rank of major. I am now 40 years old, and this is the first time evans ever disclosed my sexeerpsed regarding m. S. T. And the care i received. I joined the marine corps because i wanted to serve my country. My first ins deb was when i was every officer candidate and was sexually assaulted. Through my career i had receiver experiences. I did not report them because i had seen what happened. Despite they experiences, i excelled in the marine corps and l lived the motto of suck it up and press on. I spent eight years on active duty. I returned as a reservist in 2009. Again i experienced an incident of m. S. T. Began to suffer from anxious its and panic attacks. I approached my command. My statements were dismissed and i endured more harassment and abuse. I sought treatment for panic attacks, but i was never asked about Mississippi State Mississippi State by medical personnel. I was put on medication to relieve depretion and anxiety. I asked to be released from active duty because it was so difficult. This placed me as well as my children in an extremely fragile financial state for a significant period of time. The complete pride i had felt with as a marine in the past is now riddled with shame and distrust. I saw treatment from the madison, wisconsin, v. A. I received mainly treatment. While it was clear i had severe symptoms of ptsd, i was never asked by a provider if i had experienced m. S. T. I understand went screenings for ptsz be and i wasnt a combat veteran. Yet no one looked at it and said what is causing this . For the first time in my life i contemplated suicide. But i knew i needed to continue to copy for the sake of my children. While the psychiatrist i saw was helpful, it was difficult for me to receive consistent treatment at this time as i was not yet Service Connected. I received little to no medication monitoring. I feel the medication caused more depression and anxiety and was a reason i contemplated suicide. In 2010 i had an exam for Mental Health. I entered that with the hope they would dying notice m. S. T. The doctor spent 20 minutes wit me. He was abrupt and impersonal and did not ask me once about m. S. T. I was not given the opportunity to disclose my experiences. He ended the appointment quickly and stated i would be fine. As i waited for Service Connection, i was informed because of my income the prior year, even though i was currently unemployed, i would have to pay for any care that i received from the v. A. During this time. I was not yet financially stable and could not offered extra costs. Contacted the patient advocate and told him of my experience. He attempted to have m. S. T. Added to claim. I was directed to prepare and submit a statement that described the assaults. I submitted the statement. I was hopefully it would allow me to receive another examination where i could address my skeernses at m. S. T. Despite fulfilling the request, i was not granted another exam. I continued to struggle with symptoms and memory as well as side effects from medication. Because m. S. T. Was not addressed, i was told i was not able to utilize the local vet center. Several month later i did receive my Service Connection and was able to meet with a provider. During intake for the ptsd program, the provider did not ask about m. S. T. I decide to can disclose my experiences. I was detailed and candid. This provider said i did appear o have ptsd and would be helped. She said the period was at least four months log. When i got the opportunity for treatment, my provider was only at the v. A. Twice a week. I was a working single parent and it was extremely difficult to schedule points. I was take off work and arrive at an appointment only to be told it was canceled. I was made aware that even though the hospital has canceled the appointment, the patient record showed i noshowed or canceled myself. This was not the truth. I was then informed i was noncompliant because i couldnt participate in the thampe called prolonged exposure therapy. Throughout this period i received limited medical care at the v. A. No v. A. Nurse or doctor asked me if i had ever experienced m. S. T. Though several things correlated. I was employed at the v. A. In the same program. M. S. T. Was not addressed. Although there was an m. S. T. Coordinator at this hospital, i never had the opportunity to speak with her and i never witnessed any collaboration. I attempted to speak to my Program Manager receiver times, but i was unsuccessful. In 2010 i decided to attempt to engage in treatment at the v. A. Once again. I was asigned a male provider who was new to the v. A. During my first appointment i again disclosed my experience with m. S. T. He looked at me and sat back in his chair and said do you really think you were rained . I could not bring myself so return to the v. A. I began to use my provide insurance. I this now pay out of pocket for all of my therapy. Based on my experience and other veterans, i recommend the v. A. Change their approach to screening, acknowledgement and treatment. If i had oneal been asked about my experiences about m. S. T. , i would have provided full disclosure. I, like many, was never asked. Thank you. Unfortunately, they called votes on the floor. So we will be back in session as soon as that is over with. I appreciate all of your testimony and the bravery you have shown to testify about personal events. We will be in recess until i get back. The subcommittee is called to order. I am going to yield myself five minutes for questions. Frankly, the testimony that i ard from all of you today is really, really revealing, tragic. I know there is bipartisan support in the subcommittee to really make significant change in the way the d. O. D. And the v. A. Treat victims of sexual trauma. I can think maybe the most interesting and i heard this before in other cases. The testimony i heard from you, ms. Sanders, i think that came out in all of your testimony, that you never get someone at the v. A. , if you ever get into counseling, that you have a consistent provider. I know how difficult that is trying to talk to somebody that doesnt know your case. Can you expand on your testimony there and make us all aware of how difficult it is to get a consistent provider . Even once you have gotten a provider. Has it been so bad that you have never been able to get anybody consistently . When i first entered the system, there was a fantastic clinic, and they treated us very well. They went out of their way to make sure we got the treatment we needed. But it was led by a very dynamic person. That was dismantled, and we were left with scraps. It ended up i was the only person going to that clinic and was seeing a social worker. Unfortunately, she passed away, so i was left with no care. I moved to north of San Francisco because i had a grandchild, and i started care at the San Francisco v. A. Cause i cant drive very far i have had no real care in two years. I asked for fee basis. I got it. At one point i took it to our local county. They closed the county office the second day i was there. It was a facility that treated both civilian and military sexual trauma victims, and people who were coming out of jail and trying to get off of drugs and trying to get their children back. I have since asked again for a fee basis. I was told you have got a fee basis for two sessions. I was never told where to take that fee basis. I was never told who to contact. I attempted to say ok, i have medicare. Can we get some movement on that . I received a phone call. They said go on the computer nd look up care gives caregiverers that was all the guidance that you got . I have in front of me a fee basis i was supposed to receive from may. I never got the letter in the mail. I called after six weeks dont i was told we know how long it will take. She said oh, it is already expired. So they sent it to me, and it expired july 17th. I still have no one to take it to, no help to find anyone to talk it to. I asked if a social worker too sit down with me and make the phone calls if they didnt want to do it . But that i alone cannot just sit down and call every provider in my county who find out who will take the v. A. s fee basis. The one person i contacted said it would cost my 450 for the first session and 280 for every session after that, and she had to have the money up front, and i had to go get the money from the v. A. Then i came here. So im hoping that by coming here and telling you guys that a meesawatly two fee basis is. T going to get me anywhere no decent provider is going to take it. A real provider wants to give you care consistently and comprehensively, and that cant be done with two fee basis at a time. Of course. Does that answer your question . Well, it gives us a feeling of what is going on because it is just so frightening, frankly, the testimony that we have heard here this morning. I know there is great bipartisan support to make this better. My frustration persists. I thank you, and i am out of time. Ms. Brownley . Your five minutes for questions of the thank you, mr. Chair. Again i want to thank all four of you for being here today and haring your story with us. It is extremely important in terms of our work moving forward. I want to say certainly as a new member of congress, i am a new member of congress, and i just want to personally apologize to all of you. We should have done, and we need to do, a much better job in support of what has happened to you as you have served our country. Your bravery today is to be , and your duty as soldiers in the military and your service to our country. But the bravery you have demonstrated today is really beyond the call of duty, and i am very, very grateful for your participation. There is no question in my mind there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We need to address the culture that takes place in the military. Hat needs to be fixed. We need to address the transition from leaving the service, to becoming a veteran. And then certainly if there is trauma that takes place, then we need to eradicate that from happening in the first place. But if something does happen, hen as a veteran who has served our country. We need to figure out how to best provide and serve all of you to the best of our ability and to mimic best practices that are happening outside of he v. A. And what is really happening in facilities across our country when one is sexually assaulted. Im not even really sure on where to start on the questioning. I guess i certainly would like to hear your positions or your suggestions, i guess, visavis how we can improve. There has been talk about Case Management when someone is sexually assaulted in the military, that we transition them with continuity of care to make that transition as best as it could possibly be. But i offer suggestions really from all four of you in terms as you have had your own experiences and knowing what the system is today, how can we improve upon it . Thank you, Ranking Member brownley. My first suggestion is that fee bay care need to be made available at the request of the veteran. As our testimony has demonstrated, v. A. Is fundamentally incapable of oviding care to survivors of military sexual trauma in the current environment. There are provisions in section 1720 d that allows fee basis care to be offered if it is clinically adviseable. That is the case in a lot of v. A. s. I know one v. A. Where male survivors of military sexual trauma are seeking care in the womens clinic. That is not best practice. That is horrible practice. These ladies as survivors deserve a space to be safe and to not be triggered potentially by male veterans. I in turn deserve the same place to go, if my perpetrator were female, which happens more often than we would think. I deserve that same place to go and not be triggered. I also deserve in essence to have my manhood respected by not seeking care in a womens clinic. That is an area the v. A. Can do a lot more serve. There is very little medical literature about male survivors of sexual trauma of any sort. That is a way v. A. Can be leading research. And they are not doing it. The other suggestion i would have is to make sure there is continuity of care. Just today i received a phone call from my current provider. He has been out of the office intermittently on and off due to health care problems, but that makes it difficult. Hen i returned back from bay pines, their responsibility was to ensure i received continuity of care. They failed at that. I went two months after leaving bay pines without seeing a doctor or a psychiatrist. I cannot in good conscience recommend v. A. To any survivor of military sexual trauma at this time. Thank you, ranking, member. Dr. , you have five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. N the army we have an acronym. Leadershipship. That means addressing wrongs that take place and wrongs that , only exist in the world but wrongs that exist in our military. What has happened to you is literally a form of devastating trauma. I know i speak for all my colleagues on this committee that taking care of our troops is not just a nice thing to say and do, it is our obligation to do so. I really appreciate your courage today, and i think it is up to us to have the courage to change policies and attitude. My question to you today, and i think i know the answer from your testimonies, but do you feel that currently you would be more comfortable getting care inside or outside of the v. A. I think you just answered that. Outside. Outside. Receiving care outside of the v. A. Accomplishes a couple of things. One thing it accomplishes, it puts us in the hand of people who are trained to treat Sexual Assault victims. Unfortunately, the v. A. Doesnt have a protocol set up to train their employees of how to interact with military sexual trauma veterans. Therefore a lot of times they trigger symptoms and make our ptsd worse. Also with fee basis being accept outside of the v. A. , they reimburse at medicare rates. I have a fee basis card. I received that car because i had an unnecessary surgery at our v. A. Hospital in indianapolis due to a nurse looking at the wrong lab results. As a result they all wrote consult for me to be able to be seen outside of the v. A. Originally it was denied. The second decision they approved me to go outside for g. Y. N. Services but not any other services. When i appealed that decision, then i was given my fee basis card, and it says all medical conditions. The difficult part in that is finding a provider in your local area that will accept that fee basis because there is no partnership with the v. A. If they are a provider that does their own billing, they dont want to see you because they dont want to have to deal with pushing the papers to the v. A. Or waiting for that reimbursement. Provider and can bill a provider 85 for a session, but you are going to get 19 at the reimbursement rate, would you as a physician take that patient on . There need to be a partnership between fee basis and our local community. And more importantly, also with a National Chain of pharmacies. When we see an outside provider and you are fee basis and you receive a prescription, you have to mail that into the v. A. And wait for them to mail those medications to you. A lot of times those medications need to be started immediately. You have the option of going to the pharmacy and paying yourself. But you then have to pay the full rate. As responsible veterans, they mail it in and wait for it to come back. It seems as though the v. A. Doesnt look for those common sense solutions. That is what i would like to ask the committee to do today. Thank you. Please go ahead. In speaking very briefly about my employment and time with the Womens Health program, one of my primary responsibilities was to do outreach calls. The outreach calls were literally to get numbers for Women Veterans who are up to date on mammograms and papelbon smears. If they were not, the process for them to go outside the virginia through fee basis and working partnerships with hospitals, and it was so simple that i was dumbfounded. Yet, there is no simple way for someone who has experienced m. S. T. To go outside of the v. A. To receive treatment. If we are doing it in one program, it is possible to do it for others, too. The type of ctly input i wanted to hear. Congressman, one thing i would like to address briefly before your time expires is the use of interns and medical students to provide care in the v. A. I know at my home v. A. , they are heavily dependent on medical students. That is simply not a Good Practice with survivors of auma such as military sexual trauma. When i was at bay pines, my primary counselor there was a psychology post grad. I found her, when i was sitting there trying to disclose details of my trauma, sitting there clicking her tongue ring as i was disclosing details about my trauma. For me, that was horribly disrespectful. Another time at my home causality in baltimore, a student was running a group and allowing combat veterans to talk about their trauma while t allows m. S. T. Victims while not allowing m. S. T. Victims to talk about these. There are four or fiveletter word i could say to that. But we need to be looking at the proper use of students and residents in providing m. S. T. Care. We need to give a hard look at that. Thank you. The gentlewoman from New Hampshire . Thank you very much, mr. Chair and thank you to all the members of the committee for convening this hearing. I was one of the members who requested that this happen, having spoken to veterans in my area in New Hampshire. One message i want to cvey along with ms. Brownley, mr. Walorski and mr. Benishek. We are new members to congress, and so we are arriving here right at a time when the public is very focused on this issue. I want you to know that we are going to work with ms. Spear, who has been working on this issue a long time, and a number of other members of the house and senate. I pressure the chair for holding this committee. We have made a commitment to work on this. I want to thank my colleague for leading a whistle blower effort on that. We passed that bill two weeks ago 4230 in the house. That is the kind of support you have when we come together and find common ground. O i know that we can help you. I join ms. Brownley in apologizing to you that you havent been heard previously. My question, i have been trying to jumpstart my education on this by going and visiting facilities. New hampshire is the only state without a full Service Veterans hospital, but fortunately we share the hospital in white river vermont. They had a brand new, newly opened care center, and i hear, mr. Lewis, your concerns, and i want to address that. In this case it is a brand new Womens Support Center where they have listened to victims and survivors about literally the architecture, but particularly the programming that they want. They also visited a manchesters center where they have really outstanding treatment and provision of counseling, groups and such there. I ant to ask you respect the recommendation for care outside of the v. A. And if that is the direction we go, then that makes sense to me, because i understand we cant bring the training up all across the country. But if you were in a position to advise us of what best practices would look like, if we could get to that place in the v. A. System, what is it that you would recommend be included . This would be either in a hospital setting, in a vet center setting, in a clinic setting. What are the components that you would recommend to us. I appreciate the question, and to hear about the program at White River Junction almost makes me want to cry. It was truly incredible. I was given the tour by a victim that had been part of a task force, and they had addressed a lot of the issues i are talking about, including the entrance, making sure it is glass, that the women can see ho is coming in. The only treatment providers are female in that entire section. What are some of the elements that we could be addressing . I will defer to some of the Women Veterans sitting here to talk about the components of the wins veteran program. But i think that the first thing that White River Junction would do is to do that same thing for male survivors. We dont deserve to have to walk through the same sea that the Women Veterans have complained about and looked at in a neening tone because we are not combat veterans. We also dont deserve to be mixed in with the women only because v. A. Cares that little bout male survivors. Other components i would suggest is m. S. T. Programming needs to be conducted in Mental Health. As a man, if i go to womens services, i am certainly triggered because i feel a lot less than a man being respected as a survivor. I would also recommend getting away from the Current Practice of teaching by the manual and hoping our objective scores go down. That is not bright. It is an experience. It did cause psychological damage, and it deserves possible looked at holistically, not out of a manual where you go from one method, to the next, to the next. That takes a concept. That takes peer supporter. That takes a whole range of things, and i would be happy at some future point to talk about that. I will defer to the lady survivors here. I would like to see satellite clinics. My mother lives in kansas. They have a satellite clinic that comes. It is only 35 miles to the hospital. But the people can go to that satellite and renew their medications or whatever they need. If you could say on mondays we have a womens clinic at this address where it is not the women d it is just for or men, and you can rent a room. It is inexpensive that way. You are not building a facility. We are not asking you to build us the taj majal. We are just asking you to provide us a safe space close enough to our home that we feel comfortable going that distance. For me an hour away is too far at this point. I cant make it. The vet center in my coup has one man who works there, and he cant even answer the phone because he is so busy. He is afraid to work with male survivors, that because he is a big bodybuilding man, they are going to be afraid. We had a discussion, and he said i am afraid of what will happen and you come out in the local paper, and women call expecting there to be a woman here. There isnt. The vet centers need to be supported, and the idea of a sthrike clinic need to be explored. It could eliminate some of the fee basis. If you had some of the people trained and send them to trinity count for wednesdays, and another count another county for tuesdays. I was a nurse, and i was taught you always meet the patient where they are. You do not expect the patient to do up to wherever you are. I i said in my written testimony at times it feels like you are saying to us if you get close enough, i will fix that broken leg of us. But until you walk over here, i cant help you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i have gone over my time. Thank you. And while i agree with the other witnesseses here and their suggestions, i think it goes back to basics, too. I was never asked. I was never screened. I was never given the opportunity or that trust building period to disclose my experiences for whatever reason. If you cant get your foot in the door, and doors kadeem slamming in your face, you are either going to give up, go elsewhere or Something Else is going to happen. We need to start with the basics. I am reading testimony from others that are going to talk today saying m. S. T. Screening, m. S. T. Screening. In my experience, i didnt receive that. That need to be the standard. Then we can get in the door and then decide where the treatment is coming from. But we need to look at the first step, putting your foot into the door of the v. A. Hospital. Thank you so much for your courage and thank you, mr. Chair for your intelligence. The gentlemen woman from indiana, you have five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Again to you all for coming today. Thank you so much. I would like to echo what was said. We are committed to eradicating sexual trauma in the military. We are knew, and we are all young members here. But our passion and commitment to you is that the bravery that you have exibletted by being here today, the courage on shining a light in the darkness makes a difference. We get calls every day now that we have talked about it. Every day there is new people coming forward and sharing their stores. Your stories are making the round around the country. We are fighting for you. Thank you for your service to our nation, and it is our turn to fight for you. You have my commitment to do this until this is eradicate f. D. R. Our military. Elias, you are well informed, and you have made it a mission in the state of indiana to find out the weaknesses and the strengths of the v. A. How would you describe overall as you ate of indiana have pursued it . How would you overall say the conditions are with the treatment of m. S. T. . Overall in the state of indiana, if i had to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, i would give it a three. They are making an effort. We have a military sexual trauma coordinator at the v. A. Center in indiana, and she is wonderful. But she is one person. We need more services of what has been talked about today, whether satellite clinics or outside Treatment Facilities president but the issue need to be addressed not only on a state level, but also on a national level. I appreciate that. If i can follow up, the information we have heard from here today, it is tragic. It is such a tragic story. We see all the data and we are listening to you. There is such a growing need to treat victims of m. S. T. Elias, as you have gone through this process, what do you think the issue is with the v. A. Being so resistant despite the pleas of so many veterans around the country . I wish i could give you an answer, but i cant because it doesnt make any sense to me. If the treatment is already set up in your local community, and you have the avenues, but the v. A. Doesnt have the service available, common sense would tell you treat the survivor. We are not seeing that. Going out into our local demunts while the v. A. Is developing their process would be something that would be beneficial. Let me ask you this. Our hope is this we passed the protection law as you are familiar with. You were a helpful story with that as well. With whistle blower protection hopefully being valid and signed into low in january of 2014. If we can move this congress to get those outside services and those things provided outside the v. A. , do you think we will see an influx of folks reporting because they will feel like they have a safe haven from the military on one end from receipt lution, and secondly not going for services that zopet exist . I think you will see veterans and survivors come out of the woodwork. There were those who wore the uniform and proud to serve, but werent proud of their service because of the service they had. If you give them opportunities to get them skills to deal with years of unattended ptsd systems, they will want to reach out to their families. Thank you. You asked earlier about reatment at v. A. One of the main problems is there are simply too few providers. I go to the baltimore v. A. , and we are talking a big city here. There is very few m. S. T. Providers that are specifically trained in this area. You have heard all of us talk about our m. S. T. Coordinators. It is a lateral due. Even at a small v. , that is a fulltime job. I guarantee you we could filth room to overflowing with veterans who could talk about horrible treatment at the v. A. Lets get a lot more people in there that are trained and are willing to provide quality care, and lets get researchers in there willing to do the research, especially with male survivors. I appreciate it. Mr. Chairman. My colleague from california . Thank you very much, chairman. I first want to say thank you lke uch, ms. Sanders, ms. Wi n, mr. Lewis and ms. Johnson. You have given voice to so many women and men who have suffered this atrocious experience. It is a triple assault that many of our veterans face. One is the trauma of war or the trauma of feeling that they could die at any moment through an experience from war, which is ptsd related. The second is the trauma of the m. S. T. Experience. What im hearing now is we have a third incident, and that is trauma because of the lack of coordinated, sensitive and appropriate care that as a physician sometimes the treatment can make things worse. So as a physician it is absolutely unacceptable. As a congressman, it is absolutely unacceptable. I know i speak on basson of everybody on this panel. I know the hardships that many patients face, men and women, who come to the mrm Si Department because of sexual trauma. I agree that sexual trauma is a llywoodistic holistic illness that is not something acute that can be treated with a pill. It is not a onetime shot or treatment. It is a lifetime struggle. Part of the illness of this is the sense of powerlessness, and part of the treatment is to regain that power as an able to feel be like you are back in that control room. I appreciate it pause what you are doing today is giving that empower because what you are doing today is giving that empowerment to a whole lot of people around our country. I thank you for doing that. A side victim in all of this is the family and relationships that you have with your spouses, your significant other, your children, issues of trust, issues of being able to communicate. I know it is very difficult. Has the v. A. Addressed treatment with your significant others, your families, and your closest friends . I will answer that. Not to my knowledge. I dont know that there is any type of program set up for family members, spouses or children. But thank you for bringing that up. It is something that most certainly need to be addressed. We all talk about it as military sexual trauma. We are all rape survivors. No one wants to use the word rape because it brings all the ugliness that rape brings into your lives. It was brought into our lives, and we brought that into our families lives. They need our support. They are our biggest support network. Issues need to be addressed with our significance others and children. Could be modeled after an alanon who gives support to family members of alcoholics. We need that support. We have a strong support system, and they need a support system also. Sbi massachusetts issues have to be addressed. We dont hings we like to talk about, but they are important, and they deserve that. If i could ask the panel to take a look at that issue, it needs to be done. If i could follow up on that. Sure. A significant barrier in veterans who are identified as gay, lesbian, bi sexual, transgender. I know the work in st. Louis through the work of terry odom is starting in that area, but it is not a national through thy oldham, is starting in that area, but it is not a National Trend yet, and it really needs to be addressed. Gender ande a lot of sexual confusion after sexual trauma, and that needs to be addressed. I also want to pick up on your point about survivors being empowered again. A lot of times, the va takes our away from us and asks us to use it in inappropriate ways. I was asked to take a nerve pain, and ie away was asked to take it trans rectally. Survivor being a male doctor insert something in your rectum and push a nerve in your to relieve prostate pain. Power should not have been needed to be exercised by me. That should have been my psychologist stepping up and saying no, this is contraindicated. Sometimes this power is used in both ways. And you are right, congressman. You know who was there for me . It was not the va. It was not the doctor who gave me the injection. It was my partner who got me out of that building. And he gets no recognition from the va for that effort. It badly. Eed thank you, congressman. Gracia thank you. I think the entire panel for being here today. Military, as a young medical officer during the vietnam era, and i was thinking as i was listening to the testimony, what training i had doctorand i am an ob gyn what training i had going into the military and what training i received in the military to deal with this. And i can tell you, as for what i received in the military, it was nothing. Military sexual trauma has been going on just logically thinking about it, we knew it was happening outside the military. Why wouldnt it occur inside the military . Why would it be occurring in the civilian world, and i get drafted, and the next day it is not an issue . Today, there are a lot more women surfing. Nows amazing how many women are doing a phenomenal job in the military. There is that issue there. I think what we have to do, as a scientist, you identify the problem. You identify and try to determine what the incidence of the problem is. And then you try to find a solution to the problem. I think, ms. Sanders, you brought up something and i do not think the va is ever equipped to do that. I look at the va in my hometown, it is woefully unprepared for this. It does not mean that folks are not willing to do it. It just means that they are not prepared adequately right now. I think ms. Sanders, as a nurse, brought this a very eloquently in your testimony or your answer, i should say. You only get that care close to home when you feel as safe as you possibly can. It is intimidating enough to go to a Doctors Office or a large medical center. I mean, i am going to have a physical next week, and i already have sweaty palms about it, and i have done thousands of them. I understand exactly what you are saying. We take the treatment to the patient, but as dr. Reyes said, you cannot take the wrong treatment to the patient. You will do more harm than good. Think we identify the problem and then look for victims like yourself who have suffered military sexual trauma, and come up with a plan of how to better treat these patients. Right now, we dont have it. Ifther it is outside the va, that is where the best therapy is, that is where the patient should be able to go to get the best treatment. Johnson, i was looking at your testimony. You said that the treatment you madison,in the wisconsin, va was extremely limited. . Hat did you mean by that i was not yet Service Connected so i was repeatedly told i could not receive treatment until my Service Connection came through. Thatroblem with that was , notst was never addressed through my primary care health,n, not mental and as i said in my oral testimony, i was not a combat veteran. To have all of these symptoms going on and still not be screened for ms tea so that i could receive treatment and mstrapy while waitingm militaryting for my Service Connection, it was traumatic. Every time i would build myself up and say this time i am going to tell my story. I am going to do it. And then i would be deflated. It was different providers every time i went. Themost times i ever saw same provider was twice. I think you hit the main point. I was in the same spot for 30 years before i was elected to congress. I had patience for 2020 five years that finally told me something. For 2025 years that finally told me something. It was like a brick being lifted off their back. And i did not see that one time. I saw it multiple times. And as i pointed out to you all, i did numerous sexual trauma evaluations on patients that had in the private sector. As i think back to the time i spent in the military, i did not do a single one. You know it was there, but it was so under the carpet, nobody talked about it. I think what you all have done here has been really helpful, maybe the most helpful thing. I think the other thing you can do is give us ideas about how we can can be better. We found out how to doing it not right for you individually helps us. I suspect your stories are not that different. Everyone is an individual, but there is a common theme here. I yield back to you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Ms. Kirkpatrick. Thank you mr. Chairman for holding this hearing. Thank you for the opportunity to hear from you, and thank you for the courage to testify before congress. I am so sorry for what has happened to you. I am a former prosecutor. I have prosecuted rape cases, and i just want to know with any of your perpetrators were ever charged. My perpetrator was charged and went through the article 32 hearing, which is the equivalent of a rancheria hearing, and he was charged with five charges. Grand jurynt of a was charged with five charges. He was given other than Honorable Discharge. The night before we were headed to trial the next morning, he called me in for an initial another meeting, and sat me down and explained that, lisa, i can prove that he raped you, but the rape was not violent enough for him to get any real jail time. And what this gentleman was doing was giving me a message of what i was in for the next day. He knew what i had been through through the investigation and the article 32 hearing. That was his compassionate way of letting me know that we could go forward with this, and we could prosecute him, but what they are going to do to you in the meantime is not at all going to compare to what they do to him. That he would not agree to giving him and other than Honorable Discharge unless i agreed to it. I was 22 years old at the time with no victim advocate, because they did not allow them on the base at the time, and i agree because i knew what i was in for , and if it was not going to result in him getting any jail time, there was no reason to put myself through that. So they had him processed and out of the United States air force and off base within one week. And then i found out that he had attempted to do the same thing at his previous base, so they put a repeat offender out into the civilian world with no criminal history. So, it is important that you are having this hearing today so that victims have an opportunity to realize people are listening now, and hopefully we can make a change so that someone other than younger than myself does make the same mistakes that i have made over the years trying to deal with ptsd. Thank you for sharing that. To add to the list of traumas, i think there is a fourth trauma here, and that is that the perpetrators got away with it. There is no sense of justice. I would suggest that is a topic we can have a future hearing on. They got away with it, and that is not right. And again, i am so sorry. You being a former prosecutor, the decision of which cases get prosecuted right now is in the chain of command. That is something that this congress is going to hopefully continue to take up. The whistleblower act is a wonderful thing that is out there so that victims can feel confident that if they do decide to report that they will not be retaliated against, but common sense, again, tells us that if you cannot get a commander to prosecute rape, a crime of violence, why would a victim have any confidence that that commander is going to protect them when they come forward . You fornk bringing that topic up. It is important. That is exactly my concern. Very i may, ms. Wilkin is i hate to use the wrong word here, but she has seen some measure of justice. Do notf survivors really see justice at all. I know in my case, i was threatened under the dont ask and that is aicy, huge concern in the veteran male survivor community, is that we were told, if you go forward with this, you will be outed as a gay man, regardless of if you are or not, and pushed out of the military, or you will be given a diagnosis like weapon eyes personality disorder or borderline adjustment, or whatever. Another option is, if this person is dissatisfied with their discharge, tell them to go to the board. That is a joke and deserving of attention. All upgrade of petitions are adjudicated favorably. Imagine the psychological damage that does to a veteran when they get first off, they are traumatized in the military. Then they have to go back to the military and say, we were hurt, we deserve our ptsd, because these people rated us 100 and these people gave us a general discharge, and the military says , oh no, we were completely right in doing it. That is all a good reason to hr 53 act as quickly as possible, to stop some of those actions and to really enforce the whistleblower levels. If you go ahead, especially in the military, youre going to be pushed out, and then youre going to be told you cannot get your discharge changed, and that has implications in the va for receiving care. Thank you. Thank you very much. I yield back. The gentleman from new york is here. California, sorry. The other coast. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you to all of the members for showing such a deep and committed interest in this issue. To you survivors, you are american heroes. And we owe you a great debt of yourede because speaking on behalf of 500,000 veterans who have been sexually assaulted, raped, in the military. I want to ask you a series of questions so that we can get a sense i think i know the answers, but i think it will be important for all of us to go beyond the numbers. Report, andms dont they dont report for a very obvious reason, because they dont get justice. So, let me ask this. How many of you were raped early in your military careers . How many of you were under the age of 25 . How many of you were under the age of 20 . I was 20. How many of you were raped multiple times . Msow many of you were sick multiple times of rape victims multiple times of rape . How many of you were sexually harassed . How many of you endured an article 32 hearing . Hearing allows the defendants attorney to question the victim about their prior sexual history. Now, we have rape shield laws in this country that prevents that from going on in civilian society, but in article 32 hearings, they are able to raise that. How many of your assailants were in the chain of command . This is really important, because this makes the case that if we keep it in the chain of command, the likelihood of any victim getting any kind of fair evaluation is just not going to happen. Your of you were assailants were friends of, associated with, or known by somebody in your chain of command . So in your case, ms. Wilkins, you were the only person raped outside of your chain of command, it looks like. How many of you were treated only by medication . How many of you were overly treated by medication . How long after your assaults or rapes were you discharged . One year. Two years. Nine months. 10 years. D214,w many of you have a d which indicates that you have a personality disorder, adjustment disorder, or Something Like that . How many of you believe that in order for this issue to be dealt with appropriately in the military, we have to take it out of the chain of command . How many of you, when you entered the va system, were asked specifically if you had been raped or sexually assaulted in the military . How many of you received one on one counseling . Oneonone Mental Health counseling in the military . In an mstf you were program that was reflective of your gender . It was a rape survivor and group. Rs they put us together. Very briefly, if you could, speak about the violence in the rates. We tend to overlook that, because we focus on the numbers. Most of these rapes are have a level of violence that we have no conception of. I was pushed into a room by three men. One of the men got inside with me, pushed me down, tore my pants. That theyevidence could have collected, but he was given nonjudicial punishment. And you were locked in that room. There were two padlocks on the outside door, and his two friends were not to open it until he said so. Ms. Wilkins. Some people might say that i victim. Te lucky i was asleep when the assault started, so i woke up to it happening. There were parts of the assault that i was not awake for , but that were evident. A lot of people think if you are not aware of the assault, it is not as bad. But rape itself is a kind of violence. To have someone put their hands on you or to put themselves inside your body without your or mission is in itself violent. Is in itself violent. A lot of people think its not as bad if you dont know exactly what happened to you, but not knowing sometimes makes it worse. To bring up the point that you talked about about using your sexual history against you, in my case, during the investigation, i was interviewed by the office of special investigation that does things in the United States air force. I was interviewed for four hours eight by eight room with officers, and i had to go through my entire sexual history from the time i lost my virginity until the night i was assaulted, and i had to answer questions about that at the article 32 hearing. It revictimize as you. My time is expired. Mr. Chairman, is it all right if the last two witnesses time foris a little more. My perpetrator used a weapon to obtain my compliance. He used a knife. Had i resisted, i would not be here. I would be six feet under. I knew that looking in his eyes. Lot that goes on physically and mentally when senior members of your chain of command come down and a you will an official report with naval criminal investigation service. That is a victimization almost as bad as the 1 i dont remember a whole lot because my perpetrator hit me over the head and knocked me unconscious. I have been trying to get screened for head issues ever since, and va has never done it. There was physical violence and the violence that comes after when youre command says you are not going to do this, and then the doctors in the military say you are fine, let me push you a boatload of pills and send you back out to sea, or the dr. That we go to in the military that says oh, you are lying about , and by the way, here is your personality disorder and a bag of pills to last you 90 days on your way out. It took enough pills i took enough pills in san diego to float a ship. I did not feel my feet could touch the floor. That is violence as well, and i know you meant the physical kind, but that violence needs to be addressed as well. There is no gender sensitive care for male veterans anywhere. That is why me and a few other survivors are standing up and recovering from military sexual trauma because men do not have anywhere to go. We are emasculated when we have to talk about this, and we dont deserve that in this culture. Men deserve the right to be supported too. Was as a young officer candidate. It was in a social situation that it started. Years, i did not disclose it because it was more of a date rape situation and i was told afterward that i deserved it and brought it on myself. I sincerely reason, believe that i was given something so that i would not remember or so that i would he be compliant. I amng up in new jersey, not a very compliant person anyway. It, not remember most of but if someone comes too close to me or i smell a curtain kind of smell certain kind of smell, i become agitated and feel i am going to throw up. I can happen anywhere. While i did not come out with bruises, i came out with pain and i came out with physical wounds. It happened years later with somebody else. It was sort of this same situation and i was told it was not rape. But i said no. No, it is not rape. While neither incident was outright violent, i was not physically harmed in such a way thehe other witnesses, violence in it for me was questioning my judgment and questioning who i was as a person, and believing for so long that it was my fault and that i could not tell anybody. How youthink a 22 and think a 40 when you are trying to raise two young men really impacts the way you look at things. Would notw that i want my sons to treat a woman like that or ever let that happen, at that point i knew that what i had experienced, i was still traumatized from it and it was wrong. Completely different situation, the longlasting effects. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for your indulgence. I want to thank you all so very much for coming to washington and telling your stories. You have been very helpful in trying to correct this problem,. It is particularly frustrating to hear these stories one after the other. While your particular stories are unique, the barriers and challenges you spoke of in facing the va and the dod are very similar. I hope that Administration Officials in the audience were listening as closely as i was to your testimony. Thank you very much and you are excused. What we teach here at the museum on a typical tour is we start with how the Music Industry started. Thetart with edison and cylinder machine. Then we go forward with the invention of the flat disc machine, which is called a gramophone. And then we go ahead throughout that story and tell about s very important interventions to improve this machine. Mr. Johnson and his engineers went to work to try to keep the customers happy. They came up with a style referred to as a victrola. The word patrol a was coined when the horn was actually moved and put in a concealed area with in the cabinet itself. Now, they also decided, which was a very clever idea, to put doors on the front, which allowed you to modify the sound. Now you had volume control doors. You also could take the lid and close the lid, which would give you the ability to soften the. Ounds if you had a scratchy record, it would hide that sound as well. About the founder of the victor talking machine tv and in 1901 as book American History tv look at the history and literary life of dover, delaware. Saturday at 10 30 a. M. Eastern and sunday at 5 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] journal cspan. Or[captioning pey national captioning institute] week approvedhis a rewrite of the no child left behind act. They also approved military a bill toor 2014 and regulate coal ash. The other bill would prevent the epa from finalizing Energy Regulations that would cost more the hand one dollar billion. one billion. Billion. There are also a number of pills the Appropriations Committee has reported which may come to the bills the Appropriations Committee has reported which may come to the floor in the near future. The first bill, the coresiduals and reuse management act, would minimumn enforceable standard of coal use in states in a safe manner that protects jobs. The second bill, the energy woulders relief act, require the epa, before finalizing any Energy Related rule costing more t hen one billion, to report to congress war than 1 billion, to report to congress. Finally, mr. Speaker, as you know, the house acted last night to prevent the doubling of the student Loan Interest rate. Should the senate send us legislation. As early as next week. I yield back. I thank the gentleman for his information. I note that there was not on the notice for next week the senate has now voted to go to conference on the farm. Clearly, that is a matter that both sides feel is a priority. Does the gentleman have any go to conference next week on the farm bill . I would respond to the gentleman by saying that we are committed to acting with urgency to bring to the floor a bill with a nutrition title that was formerly the farm bill, married with the agricultural divisions. It is our hope that we can get a nutrition bill to the floor, because we believe strongly that the programs under those titles thosee a safety net to most vulnerable, something important to maintain, and we implement the kind of reforms to those programs that have long been called for by the gao and others so that we can make sure an efficient flow of dollars goes to those who most need it. I yield back. I thank the gentleman for that comment, but i am confused. Animated had a rather we a few weeks ago about the farm bill. We passed the farm bill so that it could be accomplished. We passed that bill, and the senate has now voted to go to conference. What i hear the gentleman saying is that like the budget will, we are not going to go to conference unless Something Else happens. Want to characterize it too heavily. I am a little perplexed, because three weeks ago you told me that the reason we passed that farm provision for nutrition, which had been in there for half a century, that we could go to conference. Well, we are there. I am perplexed because we now have regular order. We now have the senate, which has voted to go to conference. Billve substituted our their bill for ours. Can the gentleman tell me, are we now making a condition that something has to happen before conference . You and i both know that the nutrition part of the bill is what made the farm bill fall on the rocks, which is why you dropped it. Not a totally partisan bill, but now we need to get to agreement. You, were running out of time. I think we need to get this farm bill done, and i would hope we could go to conference, as the gentleman said we were going to do. , i thank ther gentleman for yielding. I know that the gentleman has called a regular order and knows that the house has is prerogative. Frankly, it is the sense of the majority of the house that the marriage between nutrition and the farm bill makes little sense. Instead, we should be transparent and look at policies on the agricultural side the way we did and then look at halle sees under the side. Ion make a fashion, we could better product. , and not to rehash several weeks ago call of we, say that the same attitude was taken with the old farm bill by toominority, saying it was partisan. We intend to proceed deliberately, looking at in thes that make sense vein of trying to get to those most vulnerable the relief they at the same time being cognizant of the fact that we have fiscal challenges we must deal with. To be about truth and legislature, and that is making sure that policies are inquately addressed providing relief to our countries most vulnerable. The truth and legislating is that we are not legislating. There putting forth positions of your party in this house, not shared by the senate, not shared by the president of the United States, also elected i the people of the United States, and absent agreement by entities, coequal, absent their agreeing with your parties perspective, we are not legislating. That is the problem, mr. Leader. And again, i express to you you said and i do not have the words in front of me exactly, but i am perplexed because you said that when we passed the farm bill without the nutrition program, which had been done for half a century, by republican congresses and democratic congresses, signed by republican president s and president s, it is only in the last two years that we have been able to get a bill that is bipartisan in fashion to the floor and ultimately voted on in final passage. The first one, in the last congress, did not come to the floor, as the gentleman knows. Notwithstanding bipartisan support in the committee. He was prepared to adopt it until three very partisan, we thought very harmful amendments to people without means were adopted. You knew that was the case. , i repeatave told me and reiterate, but the representation you made that if we did that, and mr. Sessions said, by the way, that the nutrition part of the program getting support for people who needed food was extraneous to the bill. That is not our perspective over here, but that was the perspective of the chairman of the rules committee, but you then said in a colloquy that the reason you did that was because you wanted to get a bill through, and frankly, that was the only way you could pick up the overwhelming majority. It. Epublicans voted against when you dropped the nutrition part of the bill, which had been in there for 50 years, then you got the majority on your side. You had zero of us. I am perplexed but now that we have done what we said we were going to do, not about budgets you and i agree we need to get a handle that is not what this is about. Days now to go between now and september 30. We think it is time to move. Bill is not on the program here. Have not seen a nutrition bill. We do not know what is going to be in that. But we have passed the farm bill. To senate wants to go congress conference, at least iemocrats do. Appreciate the gentleman for yielding. Just to correct the facts and what i did say, i said it was our intention to act with dispatch to bring to the floor a bill dealing with the snap program, that portion of which was traditionally in the farm bill, and that we intended to bring that bill to the floor at sometime time in the near future. We would like to say to all of workolleagues, we want to together on a nutrition title. I saidtleman heard what before. The marriage of those two bills and policies were done in an arbitrary fashion 50 years ago, as he indicated. There is no policy reason for that to be done. Were trying to get down to what policy does. And the reform of making sure that we Pay Attention to the andcacy of the programs, making sure we do it in an efficient manner, takes a deliberate approach. That is why those on our side felt sure that we should act the way we did. And we are working to get that policy right. I hope that the gentleman, in his spirit of bipartisanship, will work with us to do that. To betakes two bipartisan, mr. Leader. You know that . I have a pretty long record of working in a bipartisan fashion. I will tell you, i disagree with the majority leader, notectively, that there are respectfully, that there are not the votes on this floor. Is a direct relationship between those who produce food and those who eat food, which is why for half a century this is been related. On the committee would understand that those on are very important and have a relationship with them. It has worked for half a century. Unfortunately, it did not work this year. Friend, iy to you, my dont know that youre accurate in saying there are not a majority of people on this floor, not in your party, but a majority on this floor, including [indiscernible] who has twice argued for the argued the floor he for it and pleaded with your party to support the farm bill, even though from both parties a perfect it was not bill. Is still in a position where he sees the rationale. He is the chairman of the committee. Lucas for his comments. Both times the bill was considered on the floor. Allowing then, but farm bill to languish is dangerous for this country, for the farming community, and for others, and it undermines our economy. Moving with dispatch is in the best interest of our country. We have 17 days left to go. Passed aness has not appropriation bill. The senate is going to consider one, apparently, next week. It appears we are going to be confronted with necessity on september 30. We will not be here on september 30. We are only here two weeks in september because of holidays and labor day. We are only here to weeks. I want to ask my friend if he or , the leadership in concert have a plan for what we might do to assure stability in government in our countries confidence in the government that we will he operating october 1. I would say to the gentleman that yes, we are looking forward to the legislative activity for the remainder of this month. Included earlier, to appropriations bills. We also look for the prospects of the other body perhaps beginning to act, as the gentleman indicated, at all on appropriations rolls. It does take two, and we need that body to act as well. I look forward to seeing how we resolve differences on spending levels, policy differences, as we approach the end of the fiscal year. Very well aware that we have challenges ahead, and look to find resolutions of those, yes, in a bipartisan way. That, ofis a way to do course. And the Conference Committee is where you do that. But notwithstanding the fact that for over 100 days now, we have seen languishing the Senate Passed budget and our budget, an attempt by the leader of the senate, mr. Reid, to go to conference, but no effort to go in a bicameral, bipartisan way to resolve differences. They are very substantial, but everybody sitting in their and patty murray wants to come to the midpoint to have a conference. I have talked to her. She is the chairwoman of the Budget Committee. But we have not moved because of republican opposition. We have not made any effort to , and conference mr. Leader you cannot have a bicameral resolution and compromise if you do not sit down and talk to one another in congress. Mr. Ryan asking senator murray, do it my way, is not going to get us there. The conference may. I do not think it is guaranteed, but it may. September 30 is when we should. Ave adopted a budget we should have adopted a budget of course five months ago. We need to adopt a funding resolution by september 30 in some form or fashion. The failure to go to conferences undermining our ability to do that. I yield to the gentleman. I thank the gentleman for yielding and the gentleman knows he is beating of two Different Things things when it comes to to theg and it comes budget. We have discussed this several times in these colloquies about why it is the chairman ryan has taken the position he has, as has hours eager and our leadership in that we dont want our speaker and our leadership in that we dont want to go into a discussion if the prerequisite is that we have to raise taxes. That is the bottom line. It is not process. It is substance. It is one of those issues that continues to make the divide between the parties. And frankly, if one thinks that washington spends tax dollars well, that we should go ahead and as the hardworking , our sideto pay more does not believe in that approach. And until we get beyond that, i am not so sure there is going to be resolution as to a budget conference. It does not mean that we cannot continue the work that we are doing on the appropriations bills, on the other policy measures that are coming to this floor, in hopes of finding areas we can agree on, but there is a strong one we disagree on, and that is the issue of additional revenues in an environment where washington does not spend what it does spend well. We are trying to get to the bottom of that, affect good policy, act in a deliberative manner, and are willing to work with the senate. The problem is the senate has not even begun their appropriations process on the floor, and that was my point about bicameral, hopefully bipartisan. To hear therised majority leader say the budget has no relation to the appropriations process. I didnt say no relationship. I said the gentleman knows we are talking about two Different Things. Were talking about a budget blueprint and a spending bill bill, two Different Things. I thank the gentleman. I have been on the Appropriations Committee, as the gentleman knows, for 23 years. I am not on it now. The fact fact of the matter is that because you deemed the budget passed, you pretended it passed. We did that ourselves to get a number. Why is that important . Because we need a number. Is 91 billion more. There is an essential difference between the two houses. It has to be resolved. Maybe the gentleman can tell me, if we dont have a resolution of what the numbers are going to be, which is what a budget conference does, and i hear the gentleman saying, and less the senate agrees with your perception of revenues, and i know you repeat that all the time. I know the position of your party. My position is we need to pay for what we buy. We have to make that judgment on behalf of the American People. That is what they sent us here to do. But the fact of the matter is, if your position is unless they agree with your perception they have a different point of view. They were elected by the American People. By the way, this side was elected by the American People, more voted of whom for us than voted for your side. You have the majority. Redistricting provided for that. God bless you. I wish i was on your side and not mine. But the fact is, among the more of people, them voted for our side. A position of saying unless the senate will agree to our position we are not going to go to conference. I dont understand saying you want a bicameral, bipartisan agreement without going to conference. Does the gentleman want to respond to that . No . Well, let me ask you about immigration then. Aboutg on here immigration. The Senate Passed a bipartisan bill. Does the gentleman have any reason to believe that were going to move ahead on immigration . Torch bush said just the other day that the system is not george bush said just the other day that the system is not working. The system is broken. The chair of the Budget Committee said we have a broken immigration system that needs to be fixed. Can the gentleman tell me if there is any action contemplated on immigration . The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Speaker, i say to the , that as he correctly indicated, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee has said that our system of immigration is broken and that he and members of that committee are trying to look at the complex issues of our immigration system and trying to deal with them in onashion that is discrete each issue with the solution thereto. We are in the process, as the gentleman knows, on that committee of looking at that and we intend on making sure that we get it right. The chairman has said, rather than just doing it, we want to do it right, and we intend to do so. Last question. You said the Defense Authorization bill is coming to the floor. Can you tell me if that will be coming to the floor under an open rule or a rule other than open . Would say toer, i the gentleman that the dod approach bill will be coming to the floor, and the rules committee will decide on the structure and how that debate will occur. That, will announce obviously, when the rules committee meets. I thank the gentleman yield back the balance of my time. When the house of representatives comes back into session next week, members will consider military spending for 2014 and two bills dealing with the Environmental Protection agency. The house convenes at 2 00 p. M. Monday for legislative business with live coverage here on c span. Jackie was raised as her mother was raised. Of wifethe same kind and hostess. The home, the children, the entertaining, the style, the pen that was her heritage and she did it in the white house. Right after the administration, during the johnson years, the whole world erupted like fall cain is. We had women who went to work, demanded equal rights. And we had free sex. Boy oh boy was it great for the young. I missed that. But the whole world changed, and it became a whole new concept of women. And i think mrs. Clinton today represents the new woman. As we continue our conversation on first ladies, the social secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy, reporters, and others closest to , talk about wives the role of the first lady and and how it has changed. President obama spoke at the white house today about the Trayvon Martin case. Here are a few minutes of his remarks. There are very few African American men in this country who have not had the experience of when they are shopping or driving. That includes me. There are very few African American men who have not had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before i was a senator. There are very few African Americans who have not had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutch her purse nervously and hold her breath until she has a chance to get off. That happens often. I do not want to exaggerate this , but those sets of experiences inform how the Africanamerican Community interprets what happened on that night in florida. And it is inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear. Communitynamerican is also aware that there is a history of Racial Disparity in our criminal justice system, everything from the Death Penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that brings up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case. Is not to say that the Africanamerican Community is naive about the fact that arecanamerican young men disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system, that they are disproportionately ofh victims and perpetrators violence. It is not to make excuses for that fact, although white folks do interpret the reasons for that in an historical conference context. They understand that some of the reasons the violence takes place in poor lack neighborhoods around the country is born of a very violent past in this country. Dysfunction we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history. And so, the fact that sometimes that is not acknowledged adds to the frustration. You can see all of president obamas remarks on the Trayvon Martin case in about an hour tonight on cspan. In 2003 in an article, you recommended and historical committedwith crimes in the United States. Which crimes were you referring by and which decisions taken the Current Administration would you recommend for review . Thank you for the question and thank you for giving me a chance to respond to that. I, as an immigrant to this country, inc. This is the greatest country on earth, as i know you do. I would never apologize for america. I think america is a light to the world. We have freedoms and opportunities here that people dream about abroad. I certainly did. , oneregard to that quote of the things that had moved me i read about the clinton response to whats when i travel to rwanda, i was stunned to see the degree to which clintons visit, his apology for not having done more, how would have resonated with rwandans. This week in, the senate Foreign Relations Committee Takes up the numb it nomination Samantha Powers. Live coverage of the 15th annual harlem book fair, including arthur panels, and your calls and comments. Span three, lectures and history. The history of u. S. Political parties. Sunday at 1 00. What we teach year at the museum is we do start with how the Music Industry started with addison and the cylinder machine. There may go forward with the invention of the flat disc machine. It is called a gramophone. Then we go ahead throughout that story, and tell about johnsons very important inventions to improve this machine. Mr. Johnson and his engineers went to me what to work to keep the customers happy. The role the word victrola was when the war was actually removed. Decided it was a clever idea to put doors on the side to modify the sound. Now you had control doors. You also could take the lead and close the lid, which would give alter theility to sounds. If you had a scratchy record, that would hide that sound. Learn more about the talking Machine Company in 1901. We look at the history of dover delaware saturday on cspan2. I decided that he was a delicious subject for a biography when it dawned on me that he was at the bedside of Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, but also the bedside of William Mckinley in 1901. Who could this fellow be . Of course, when i open the archive, i realized what a rich subject it was. Has hay, his life really two bookends it. There is lincoln on one in. He was lindas personal secretary, private secretary. So much of what we know about living comes from him. Life, other indepth his on the other end of his life, he served under mckinley. He was the secretary of state for eddie roosevelt. You have these wonderful, iconic bookends of American History. When you look deeper, you realize that all of the chapters in between from the civil war through to the beginning of the 20th century, he is a presence in every one of those. The life of john hay. Sunday at 8 00. The chief of Naval Operations reporters on the effect of the sequestration budget cuts they plan to prevent Sexual Assault and other issues. Thank you for the opportunity to get back together. I appreciate your time here. I was recently reminded last night why theyre the finest navy. Some of you and your help support that. I want to say thank you very much. It is amazing what our sailors and coast guardsmen are doing out there. Thank you for your support in that regard. The trip to the george bush to see the system landing reminded me why these folks we have out i thank you for showing our sailors and their environment. This is the 40 anniversary of the all volunteer force. That is in my view our asymmetric advantage out their pretechnology being what it is. It is our key. Im proud represent the reservists and civilians in your u. S. Navy. I like to update you both would take questions and answers on where we are, and what we want out there. I will take about the talk about the effects of sequestration and personnel challenges. Can i get the slide out there . We have this a part of the handout. This is where your navy is today. This is what we are mostly about. This is the central element of our defense. Ss you can see, we have 95 ship out there. Ce sequestration said in, we are down about 10 ships. There is an impact. As i go around the world, starting in the eastern mediterranean, the United States ships are positioned in the north red sea today. They have not received official tasking. They are ready with a range of commissions and operations that they could do if required. The ship count is higher than it may be in our deployment scheme through the years. It has been that way for several months. There is nothing new in the region that you havent already reported on today. Your navy brings the operations if called upon. Nemesis is there, conducting operations. Day, aboutssions a one third of the total of most air support. She is conducting security in the region. Piracy in that region, that golf is slowly increasing that gulf is slowly increasing. It is becoming more of a concern. Off the coast of austria, in the lower right portion right here, we have ongoing annual exercises. It is a big operation. Of hours. Nvolved, 14 our is a major part of pivot to the asiapacific. I can discuss this regarding my trip to asia as you persist. You can see up there, there are other naval forces in the region. Not combating ships. Other forces. Was a deliberate decision approved by the secretary of defense as part of our management operation. I would undulate a little bit around 02 as we go through the process per the highest bead process. I will address that a little bit later on sequestration impacts year. The bottom line, we are deterring potential adversaries as our primary function. We are out there at the crossroads where it matters, when it matters. A little bit on the budget, sequestration. It is on my mind daily. 13 appropriation bill helped us quite a bill. Quite a bit. We are out there. We have one in the arabian gulf, and one in the western pacific. , thessue is the backup surge force. We are not where we would need to be in that regard. We have one serious strike group ready to deploy with all capabilities that we have in our company of commanders. The rest of the fleet is not ready to deploy with the capabilities that are needed, that we would normally have. That is the issue that we have here. One year ago, i would say we had three Carrier Strike groups ready to serve. With ae were contingency large operation of surge force, it would be concerned. It would be the capabilities that we would bring, and whether or not they were the right capabilities. It may not be readily apparent to many because you say it looks the same out there. But it is the surge issue. It is a real issue. Year,e remainder of the we will be adjusting our operations spending to meet the fy 14 deployment. Kids are training and doing maintenance this year for next year. We have a plan in place, working to restore the maintenance abilities that we had set aside due to our budgetary issues earlier in the year. Try to maintain as much of our Training Operations as feasible. Be the concern tends to shore facilities. They are taking the brunt of this reduction, both in the case of the continuing resolution of sequestration, and im looking closely at this. We are doing no projects, no restoration or modernization. We have taken our base operation down to the minimum that we think is safe and appropriate. Turning to 14, we are still working to understand the fiscal situation if sequestration is the role of the day. Looking at all the appropriations, it is a simple math. It will cause each account to go down 10 . For the department of defense, it is 14 billion. If manpower were included, as we did in 13, we are deliberating. All the accounts would go down 14 . In 13 and 14 is in 13, in our investments, when secret station fed in, and we had to do the reductions, we had prioryear money. Money available from previous appropriations that we used to get us through 13. That is not available in 14. The impact on the investment will be deeper cuts and a concern. My goal is to preserve shipbuilding, and no ship contracts. Full presence requirements as i mentioned before, and make sure we hold on to procurement. The is the most efficient way to purchase equipment. Israelo that, that money prayed that will take place in other accounts that money is real. Therell be a significant reduction in our changes. We will have to be deferred. You cannot buy those back right away. A ship is available for maintenance. That ship is then called out to do the things, it is a missed opportunity. Reduce certification training in fy 14 would affect fy 15. We have to reconcile that. And shuttingback down due to the inability to have money because theyre not deploying right away. He you cannot get you cannot get down into the readiness. It makes it harder to get out. Again, a reduced ship procurement would cause each followon year of those ships much more costly. In fy 14t for presence fy 15, one Amphibious Ready Group each in each theater. Our surge will be limited to those that are next to deploy. They will be ready to deploy with all the capabilities. The rest of the fleet will not have the capabilities that we would have. , i bottom line for all of us would ask you to think about, the importance of reprogramming, and being able to balance our talents. It is about algorithm, a reduction across each account. We need the ability to balance that. Let me shift to the people quickly. They are the foundation. What makes your navy the finest in the world. We have also had civilian shipmates, and we are in furloughs. It is an impact. I felt it this way. We feel it all around the navy here and there. Civilians are integral part of our team. It we are committed to finding offsets to limit those effects whenever possible. We are looking at solutions, but it has to be a Department Solution as we approach this. There is a financial burden, and it is regrettable. Its weaker station continues it see question she, we are going to look locally at that, an attempt to avoid that. If sequestration continues, we are going to look locally at that. Also, Sexual Assault. Were in it for the long haul. This is a big we have to resolve. We will stay at this. I recently released the directions via an image trade of and an administrative message. It evolved organizational changes to strengthen our staff, to make sure we can inherently run this strategy. But also, provide our staff thankfully commanders the experts they need. We will be bringing them and putting them on their staff. It is the support and awareness element of our program to support the prevention element of our program. To support our victims. This will include an extension of pilot programs that we have run in the great lakes and san diego with good success. Measurable success in reduction of our hall incidents, behavioral incidents, Sexual Assault. We are going to expand that. We have directed that to continue across the navy. Folksolves coming back to going im looking at places where folks are hanging out. It involves patrols on the base, making sure everything is secure and running well. The partnership with local Law Enforcement and businesses, working together on that. In the end, it is about ensuring that we have a safe environment for our people that they deserve, and a good command climate. With regard to alcohol sales, i have released a direction to align the sales hours and the footprint within our many marts to align with what is going on in the Community Around our bases. And also, with our exchanges in the navy and across the tropic. It is encouraging responsible use of alcohol. I could talk longer. There are a lot of good things to say that our sailors. Im proud of them. Ourd on last weeks visit, daytoday presence around the world is making a difference. I see it. Thank you very much for listening. I look forward to your questions. Questions. Of on the last point about alcohol sales, could you elaborate on the rationale on the connection between the footprint and the hours of Sexual Assault . Initialrate on the comment about small increase in. Iring see in the gulf area the last one first. We are finding increased incidence of piracy in the Northwest Region of the gulf of oman. I see this in conversations with my counterparts in the gulf states. Commerce they should live my counterparts, the pakistani navy. They are having to spend more time over there. I do not have numbers. I will look and see what i can do. There is an increasing trend. A concern that we need to keep our eye on. Why is it happening . Is it the migration of somali pirates . We need to look and see what that is. It has been going on for about eight months. On your original question, we are finding that somewhere between 610 Sexual Assaults involve alcohol. The majority. They are alcohol fueled. What is the atmosphere, what is the climate . We have noticed in our many marts, the sale about the hall hours were extensive. Midnight or after. This is not in the line with the mainstream. We also find a greater percentage of the footprint of the minimart is high for alcohol compared to Something Else. If i going to get shoe polish or a sandwich, or whatever, it should be requisite and make sense. Percentage is what would normally be 10. We what message are we sending when we do that . They are responsible people. We do not need to be pushing this or proceeding to push it. That is what it is about. Are the markets youre talking about owned by the bases themselves . Or are they contracted out . The navy exchange. Marts ular, the many minimarts. They are technically owned by the navy. Yes, they are. The number of combatant ships that are reduced to zero . [indiscernible] to sequester questions. You are talking about capabilities we are missing if we need to surge ships. Capability is a little vague. Than notit means more having vending machines stocked. Forces back inot the air breed are you hoping that you will have similar , andsals of that fortune get things back. Make itabilities can back . When i speak to capabilities, as an example, if you take an air wing, they do air to ground, i whole series of missions for highlights for pilots. What will happen is that when you are unable to fully fund it, you have to reconcile what missions will these pilots be qualified to do. So we can report to the theater, and youre going to get in this mitigation in this mission in this regard. We would have to tailor more something we do not like to do because the world is dynamic. Certified our people for a range of operations and missions. It is a matter of being things. For the range of that is correct. We have had that kerry strike somewhat different series of operations in the arabian gulf versus the western pacific, burstyn versus others. Could you relate what you said about piracy to sequestration and resources . Does that mean you are not able to respond to that piracy problem as you might have two years ago because of sequestration . Usa will go over how capabilities are being affected given that the budget cuts that are coming up . The piracy question, the mission of piracy is the skill sets involved in that are more inherent in what we do as a navy who is used to expeditionary operations around the world. I would tell you that it is a skill set that we can quickly revive, and that does not concern me as much. Those folks that are in the theater, i think they are comfortable in their Counter Piracy capability. There is a skill set. That is pulling alongside a , and boat or helicopter that is a little different. It takes some practice. Typical Counter Piracy reporting may be ringing in Law Enforcement. We can do it relatively short order. Question,d capabilities affect in the arabian gulf as a move ahead. It would depend on the mission, and the requirements of the central command. The broad range of missions that exist there, see control, Counter Piracy, all the way up mining,hing counter that we have to look at as tailored by units. It is hard to predict. He would be able to be different for each unit. We would have to look closely onto we we would send if called upon. The mean for said those will we they willousand be trained for the full range of missions. I am talking about those that we surge if called upon. Does that answer your question . Hattie see the carrier [indiscernible] arabianll be one in the gulf. 11 in each theater. Through 2014 as we are aligned in our budget. When i get into the budget and the details, we may have to alter that. That is what i see right now. That onehat mean ,arrier is present in the gulf that the navy relinquishes its goal of 1. 7 ratio . A the relinquishing would be good choice of words. What we have to do is we came forward and said here is our fiscal situation. Present situation align to that fiscal situation. We have to make a choice. In a given year, we could spend 1. 7. That spent this year would be invested there. Not in training. It just would not be enough. su are mortgaging next year deployment. Those folks will not be trained, unless you scramble and get money through the year. That would be high risk. These are the discussions that we have. We had these discussions early this year on the subject. The simple choice we could and cindy harry truman. That would be problematic for next year. It was determined that the right decision was and is a deliberate process. It is approved by the secretary of defense. I would like to talk more about the asiapacific. You were talking about the importance of the small footprint. That altersu seen that . What you think about the partners bringing to the table now . We were talking aboard the freedom. We put up the combat ship so folks know what i am talking about . This ship. That would be the small footprint. I look forward to eventually evolve into four of these down in singapore. Working with the governor. The numbers would be more like the footprint. The capabilities they are looking for in an ally . Does that resonate . My experience was reassured. I would give you an anecdote, i wonder what the conversation would be you when the chief of the nation in malaysia to word it toured it. They say you guys bring in these big you guys bring in these big ships and it is difficult to resonate. The chief of the Australian Navy said they want to have this thing in october. This is the kind of thing we need in Southeast Asia. I wanted to ask a couple of uestions. On the issue of Quality Control which is a break problem in ship which is a big problem in ship building, i wonder if there is some push from you to sort of really crackdown on that. I wanted to ask on the sequestration effect. Secretary hagel said the procurement of investment accounts accounts would be 15 20 . Presuppose that the military or snow would be exempt. Would you say that is still an open question . Can you clear this up and what effects are for the 1520 percent on the shipbuilding plan . Sure on Quality Control, the Missile Defense agency is responsible for the Quality Control. Build andhey also oversaw the standard missile that we have. Andhave a very deliberate good process to look into Quality Control and do the investigations to find out what it is to cause the booster not to separate. I comment on that would be we have seen this in the past and it has worked out well, but i cannot speak on detail on the Current Situation in that. On Quality Control and military procurement it as topically. My experience in ship building has been called the control has been improving consistently. The most recently on the san antonio class that has done quite well. Regards to sequestration, as i said, 10 if you exempt military personnel. How do you come to that . It is difficult in a year of execution. We are going to reduce manpower and you would have to get people off of the payroll. Then you would have to pay them to depart because it is not voluntary. Payment precludes much savings. In, we doss that i am not have people that get equipment. It is the other way around. It does not work well with the navy. In the end, the decision is made by the president to exempt military percent now. You may recall he made that decision last year. He had not made that final decision. My comment is not final yet. The Government Accountability office will be in a hearing on a program. Will theyve there will be a hearing. Against the back drop, can you give a snapshot of where you see the program in terms of cross scheduling performance . Say they are delivering within costs. Deal had pretty good fixed costs and they are performing. For scheduling, we have had some hiccups, in particular, the independence class. Those have been reconciled through requisition. They have performed well. We are going beyond trials. We are out there in Southeast Asia and across the pacific and the u. N. You have probably got a snapshot of how they thought about the performance. The performance delivery is good. We have a lot of ship the classes that do well. Then you shake it down and then you find refinements. But we are finding is not that significantly different from a class from the 60s and 70 1960s and 1970s. But we need to be vigilant and followup. What followup . What other issues . The public wholl might be concerned that your building these billion Dollar Mission ships and their ability to survive a combat hit . We believe they should be built to operate and if damaged and beat, to survive able to withdraw. That is the design from the very beginning. They have been tested to that level. As we look around the world and our ability to enjoy the threat perhaps augh world, summary and operating where you can go out there and be very much on your own in a hostile environment. Worldn go anywhere in the and you will be able to encounter all kinds of threats. Bepoint is we have to vigilant and smart. Where would we deploy the ships . That includes the understanding of the survivability and capabilities. Good to see you again. Could you elaborate more about the role that airheads will play . Where are the plans . About the situations like in panama with a north korean and there is a plan for that kind of situation . Sure. Onad to detour defer that. That is another issue. Go to the next one please. Here it is the internal. Theres a lot of capacity. One more. Ok. Go back. You can see a highspeed catamaran. It should be available. This can get around. It is very nimble. It has a lot of volume. Backboneat is also a to do command and control for things like Counter Piracy and maritime security. Seating. Ee the you can put a Law Enforcement detachment onboard. We have sat down. Tony mentioned earlier that the little combat ship counsel, they have taken a look at the high speed vessel from the perspective of how it is performing and whether it can do more. It can. The kind of missions that they are looking for a big able to move in and teach other countries things that they are interested in and do maritime Law Enforcement, dish it resonates with it. I think it will be great out there. It is showing good in that regard. Panama, whossue of would you defer that question two . Com. Uth [indiscernible] read and what you have maybe what you have written. Up on the airlow force, they asked congress for permission to move some money around. They have restored a lot of flying hours. The thunderbirds are flying again. I did on anything like . Are you trying to do anything like that. Can you move a week chunk of money like that and why not . I had a small bullet on that in my remarks. I have about eight of them. We really want to get it done this year. They support or teen and 50 deployments. Also behind that our operations. It is about our air wings. Some of our air wings will be approaching and going into their to plummet. I want them to get close to where they would be. The tactical hard debt, i think it is about 11 hours a month pect, i think it is about 11 hours a month. Thank you. I want to ask on sequestration. You have described 14 of procurement. You have lots of ships under contract. Are you considering campaign contracts . Question. What we need to do and what were doing is sitting sitting down and look at the contract and what you has specifically contracted to do. What is in each line item and how much does that cost . If it is feasible to build a ship for example, you get the ship and documentation and a gear and support any get outfitting spares to get you through the first number of cans until the industry procure those in the future. Can we continue and keep this under contract at what might be 14 less than we had originally in the budget . Can we deal with this maybe later if it is feasible . That is a notional example. Wese are the things that would have to do. Some of the things we buy have that sort of flex and some dont. If they dont, we will lose it. If you lose the unit, all of the iser ones in the contract included accordingly. Of havinghe goal built ships by the end of the decade i would be hardpressed to say it is out. We can maintain the ships under contract and that multiyear that he mentioned before where each one costs significantly less because you are buying in larger quantities. And you price goes up have less money. It starts spiraling down. Sequestration continues beyond 2014, im pretty confident we will not be able to meet those goals. It is too much. I would like to ask about logistical operations. Can you talk about how sequestration and the likelihood of next year affects food, fuel, and supplies . Example, are they having any issues with the ships that are antsy right now . No. Ath that are at that are sea right now . No. We look at that closely so that we do not default on contracts. There is a bill about reprogramming. Thatwas a piece to ensure we have our legal and contractual commitments. Thank you. The viceon is that president is going to india and singapore. He will be there next week. Have in thee do we region from china and their navy [indiscernible] that sident also said but does it mean in rebalancing . How much is going on between u. S. In india . I will start with the closest and see if i get your question right. Our exercise the combination is an exercise. The exercise has gone from two ships going by doing flashing lights and waving flags about a decade ago to coordinate operations and carrier air wings. That is when you hit the big time. When you could work with a partner under the water. We are at that level with the indian navy. The exercise retained itself. Issues we have kept exercise and kept it high end. It may not run as long. Im comfortable at that level. We try to work at a level that resonates with both the navys. With regards to china and our relations, i like the trend that we are on right now. We are trying to get some tangible outcome of working together. In june. An exercise we operated together in a humanitarian assistance Disaster Relief scenario. We do the proper protocol. We agreed that this needs to continue. China is going to join us in a packed pact. We had three meetings before one of those large exercises. China came for the initial planning conference ready to go. They have their agenda. We had russia planning to come and japan and korea. We had 22 nations. We thought this could be big. We want to keep that momentum going. I am meeting with my chief of in navy after part in china september. He is coming to the u. S. We will share insights on things. We agree we need a protocol at sea to feel comfortable to talk to each other and operate when appropriate and understanding that these territorial disputes need to be done usefully. Peacefully. Any message from this building didnt get in regards to u. S. And india from this in regards todia u. S. And india question mark india . Ask about the situation in the gulf . What kind of activity are you ithng what the guard w the with the guard . I will call it notional and historical. You would say what is that like compared to january and i would say it is much lower. Increase been an because of reduced carrier presence at all . From what i have seen and looked at night, i did not see that the carrier presence impacted the activity level of the iranian navy. In the back row. Suth com. Ips in when was south com. When was the last time that happened . There is a lack of a navy presence. That just means more drug float to africa where they find fund al qaeda. That is a good point. We have a forget that will soon deploy. We have one that will soon deploy. In the future we will have. Atrol crafts we have other forces that operate down there. They are Maritime Patrol aircraft. Other international navies. Im not ready tell you there is a reduced presence. There is a reduced presence. We need to find innovative ways to help general kelly out to do the job with the forces we have in the budget that we have. I went to bring your attention it will be onet piece of that future approach to be more innovative. The last time that you have i do not know. Secretary hagel has asked for 27 reduction over the next two years. How will the navy carried this out . How will this affect the number of flag officers . It is separate from the number of flag officers. Trend or a plan. It goes back to when secretary thes provided to us reduction of the number of flag officers. Caps on from 235 to 210 in our inventory. Our selectivity rate was dramatically lower. Wejust about done with have reduce the number of flag officers. Many we had too in about three weeks, we will describe how that changes and where we will take position. Probably close to 40 positions. Either canceled or rolled down. Some other approach. The headquarter staff will get worked out at each of our headquarters staff. Commanders will look at that and regional commands. We will see what missions they have done and which ones could be deferred or done more to a morey or done Efficient Organization or save you will not do this anymore. That is how we will answer the most recent mandate. I have a macro question. Theres mention of asia and china. You are speaking about a project cutting problem. U. S. There be any impact on asian strategies . A few days back, you are thinking regarding the budget situation that the navy is prepared to make a ship in asia. I will speak to it as a rebalance. That is a plan that we have in the navy. Four aspects forces and ships. Can you put up the navy sly . If you look at follow 1420. You can see the number of ships. The difference between non rotational and those that we can see theu growth. We will not be able to keep up at that rate if we are sequestered. Ships under55 contract. These contracts probably have that discussion. Many are well on their way. These numbers are going to go up. It is not budget proof, but it is budget resistance. Next the aircraft. That would be affected by our ability to deliver our aircraft. That is a function of sequestration and getting our budget the crew budget approved. 6040 distribution. That is on track, but slowing down. What slows that down . The delivery of ships. Also a ship in overhaul, those has been slowed down. Now. E at about 5743 right we want to get 6040. The third is capability. That is a function of getting new stuff completed such as electronic attacks and new weapons and new sensors and the budgetary changes that will impact that. Our benchmark in all of those remains in the western pacific. Lastly is intellectual capacity. I mentioned the scope and some exercises. There are others. We are focused on doing the right exercises. That is a new initiative. We will continue to look for those opportunities. Interest andt of that kind of platform and what it can do. We have to continue to reprioritize what is appropriate and making sure we are hitting the right buttons and exercising with our partners. Any strategy . Strategy is talk and agree and give forward a ortocol or code of conduct how we will operate. There is actually an acronym for that. Inis about getting more accordance with our shadow g energy strategy. I look forward to meeting with them and getting down to what we can do. Your predecessor has written a book review where he was suggesting that the fiscal pressures continue in the plans in place. The u. S. Navy will naval presence that has been dominant all around the world, it is were rrisome, the trend. I do not know all of the underlying assumptions used. You take sequestration for 10 rs, that is a worry some worrisome trend when you look at the requirements we have today. We need to reconcile that and it would be difficult. Over the long haul, what happens to the u. S. Navy . I worry all the time. It is my primary job. But we have to do is reconcile what kind of navy we can deliver with this kind of funding and what we wanted to. What do we expect that navy to do . Withre also millionaire the strategic concept management review you are familiar with the strategic concept management review. We collectively provide that for the secretary of defense. Given the scenarios, this is the reality for the fiscal numbers that you would have. He was able to get a snapshot based on a certain set of assumptions. You can manipulate their requirements. That is what we have to do as we work through this. Any followups on anything . Thank you for today and for your support and for our sale years sailors. And also the little a war sometimes provide for them. We talk about the budgetary pieces. Remember this is a volunteer force of kids that are amazing out there. Feel good about it. We will be all right. Thank you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] what we teach at that museum is we start with how they Music Industry started with edison and the cylinder machine. Then we go forward with the invention of the flat disc machine. It is called a gramophone. Then we go ahead to the back story and tell about johnsons very important invention to improve this machine. Mr. Johnson and his engineers went to work to try to keep the customers happy. They came up with a style victrola. O as a removed and it was put in a concealed area within the cabinet itself. They also decided which was a clever idea to put doors on the front which allowed you to modify the sound. Now you have volume control doors. Andalso could take the lid close the lid which would give you the ability to soft in the if youbut also sometimes had a scratchy record, it would hide that sound as well. Learn more about the founder of the talking Machine Company tv and American History tv looks at the history at literary life saturday 10 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan 2 book tv and sunday at 5 p. M. On cspan 3 American History tv. Tonight on cspan, president obamas comments on the Trayvon Martin case. Senator ted cruz talks to republicans in iowa. And the House Veterans Affairs Committee Hears from military Sexual Assault victims. The president made his first Public Comments on the Trayvon Martin murder trial after the jerry found George Zimmerman not guilty jury found George Zimmerman not guilty. The president spoke to reporters. That is so disappointing