Country. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good evening. I am the owner of politics ambroses with my wife on behalf of the entire staff thank you for coming and braving the cold and the ice. Just a few notes. Knowledge is the big time to turn off your cell phones during the talk. When we get to the q a please step up to the microphone because we are recording the event tonight for our purposes and is the spee into booktv is here. And the staff would appreciate it if you could fold up the chairs where you were seated to leave them against something solid lead somewhere. Now for the feature presentation it makes our job here a little easier when on the day and the author is due to appear the Washington Post style section decides to run a big favorable feature about the person and the new book and that is what happened today for congressman steve israel. If you have not read the piece yet let me summarize. You can read the whole thing. [laughter] with his first attempt at a novel has written a funny parody in their recounts how the counterterrorism apparatus focuses on the pharmaceuticals salesman is it feldstein or feldstein . Either way but what seems to amaze his closest friends not amazing how the book turned out but how he found time to ride it. For one thing he represents the pretty dement demanding secure district which has a chunk of long island and queens but also serving in congress 14 years he is a Ranking Member of leadership and has twice chaired the Democratic CongressionalCampaign Committee but he does enjoy writing and has developed a knack to do so on his cell phone were decomposed the book. Why a comic novel . He said instead of screaming and yelling on a farmhouse when confronted prettiest city of washington he prefers to deal with it as a parody and were all more fortunate as a result. Please join me to welcome Morris Feldstein. [applause] thank you very much there is a theory around the country that independent bookstores are a thing of the past but you come here at politics prose that they are glorious. As a good congressman representing the Third District dash to put in a plug for my local bookstore i love them timehonored you would allow me to visit with you. Visit feldstein or feldstein . However you want to interpret it is good old morris. What i thought we would do is spend five minutes sharing what inspired the book then deuce three shortterm ratings to give you some context then open it to with every want. We will have a conversation with any questions that you have. Old friends and new friends are here tonight. Real this now when i was growing up in uptown york americas first suburb by wanted to do three things in my life. Number one i wanted to be a congressman and. Number two i wanted to be an author. Number three, i wanted to play center field for the new york mets. [laughter] since i was for black baseball half those able to focus on the books answering in congress. So those two passions converge. Let me tell you what inspired the book and how it was written. I was elected in 2001 of the first major issues that i had to confront after 9 11 was the Bush Administration argument that we needed to take military action in iraq. So here i was as a new member of congress until that point my idea of a topsecret meeting was the major officials sitting down to discuss paving strategies. But the Vice President of the United States in colin powell and Condoleezza Rice and listening to their arguments why we needed to go to war in iraq. When you are a new member of congress it is on the basis of seniority. When you speak it determines your seniority were you sets or the committees that you serve on. At these meetings i and the low man on the totem pole i was usually seated all the way at the end of the table as far away as i could get. It is like a major holidays to be seated with the kids at the junior table. But that gave me a birdseye view of what was happening. So i was able to observe Vice President cheney the body language the texture and tone. Obviously these were classified meetings and i could not write down what was said but i would leave those meetings hearing some of the most unusual arguments shall we say. Bordering on the absurd some more serious. And though it really go for my blackberry to just write my impressions or things that i have heard without disclosing anything. Those i could not or would not disclose. But to say it would be the most unbelievable book. But i had a concept about these meetings then August August 2006 i was sitting at a particular hearing a Major General came to redress an officer lung dash address an officer and he apologized for something that went wrong in u. S. Surveillance of potential terrorist. The surveillance strategies picked up a tip that a group of people in florida were planning a violent attack on the United States. So we began to listen and watch. They turned out to be a group of elderly quakers. [laughter] they were not planning to overthrow the United States government but to pick it and parade in front of of military base protesting the war in iraq. The general e essentially said oops. I thought that was a military acronym what does that stand for . We screwed up. In that is when Morris Feld Steven was born. Vicious but it has got to be happening to other people. This is before anybody knew what was going on. But that day Morris Feldstein was born. A guy in your cruz entire philosophy of life is dont make waves. The only guy i know if he gets on a plane he would never put back his recliner because that makes waves for those behind him. His entire life is spent on two things sitting in the lounger 8000 in the basement watching the new york nets or mets. R wrote this story about this guy. I know mores feldstein. We all know him. Said that is the story and how it was ignited. Then when you read the book it is in Chronological Order actually have dates when things happened because they actually happened. There are moments and defense that were real a. M. Happened that i integrated. So i did not write to about events. For a sample we learnt that another potential terrorist was stopped at an airport he was on the do not fly listed the was senator ted kennedy from massachusetts. Do you remember this . So there is a chapter about that. September 21st, 2004, we learned the entire home insecurity establish the government to deal with the incoming threat to our survival and of the way of life. It was a plane headed to the borders carrying a potential terrorist who we also know is cat stevens to in my view his worst crime was composing this song i love my dog. [laughter] the thinking and to divert that but i work that out as well. But is a chronology that documents the excess but at the same time, not to get too serious but we wrestled with the debate between your privacy and security costly. We did it with the alien and sedition act and the 19th century we have had this debate and wrestling match for ever and sometimes we go too far other times not far enough but it is a constant seen in American History propriety supported the patriot act. I thought one of the best ways to reflect on that was to write this book if i wrote to Current Events book on the theory of privacy versus security and asked them to put on a current event shelty would say no. Maybe the best sellers at my moms house so i just looked at the most accessible way to deal with that issue which was to write the parity. The global war on morris the rabbi to share three selections fell introduce you to some of the characters sarah and context. And then somebody else should we have heard of Vice President cheney then the most nefarious character in the book nic. I want you to remember i wrote this before i even knew as a member of congress the security clearance that there was such a figure is the and is a surveillance system. So we you didnt think thered be a quiz but raise your hand if you know, what sourus is. This is what john boehner had yesterday at the swearing in when 22 of his members tried to bail you cannot even we john boehner. It is troubled or woe court and aggravation move ahead that is what Morris Feldstein who lives his life in anxiety fatah of. He was eating kong pout chicken the wife to death to this question morris comedy plan on watching the mets tonight . I was watching to unless you want to there playing the braves. Then he considered his response. He resumed chewing before he made eye contact hoping the only sound would be the food in his mouth. She accepted with the silent affirmation. Her fingernails across the table. Guide had implanted what morris called the big pipes this the armed of a Tornado Warning or police siren or the way to go back on itself before breaking. Stomach that gives you a sense of morris and his idea of a major problem is he wants to watch the new picture. But road to use his guilt as her what bin. So morris is watching cnn. He is watching with detached interest. It could have been any year since the war was proclaimed this seemed a crescendo of music the unmistakable voice of James Earl Jones we have forgotten that this is cnn. Then wolff puts her broke the days news. It is true. Sunday august 1st then wolf broke the news attorneygeneral of United States announcing the discovery of a terrorist plot with critical intelligence with the war and terror. After that he reported sources have told cnn the department of homeless security they left a further dressed threat west suggesting a possible al qaeda attack and then we will report as it unfolds on cnn. Interesting it increased trading to create two new intelligence agencies with acronyms because apparently the Current Apple but soup was that of to the task to protect a the homeland and with that he promised to be back after commercials of depression medication. Then it got worse is that better than a baseball game . The worse in of happened was the relief pitching. Now lets shift to head the way i was introduced to dick cheney per your though the Vice President . The Senate Intelligence committee released their report on torture but to say hes back. I would do it all over again. I cannot wait to do that again. So i paint my own picture i have a character named pruitt to is the conscience of responsibility is the Legal Advisor and he is the liaison. Listing to secretary tom ridge and his book here acknowledges there was pressure on him at the time to raise the alert and did not always feel that the facts merited when he was about to do. So johnson arrived at the white house as soon as the gates began to swing open he had the usual pace and in his side whos about to meet price president cheney. Efforts them to see each other. [laughter] that i describe the white house i have the privilege to enter the white house frequently like what is behind the scenes it now there is food in the Vice President s office because it is more functional than the president s office. A large share was reserved for the Vice President his favorite photograph from the 2000 election is prominently displayed on the muddy table and there was president bush wrapping his arm around his running mate the same afternoon that cheney is the head of the Search Committee announcing the search was over and he found himself. Do you remember that . [laughter] he was in charge to find a candidate and came back and said why not me . He looked up from the stack of papers. What you have . He said nothing new. But what about that report i sent . The threat . That one. It turns out it is the bunch of quakers planning a war protest. So . Quakers. Elderly. Quakers. At the meeting house. Nonviolence. They are planning a peaceful protest and cheney says is and that a contradiction of terms . Put more people on them. It is a religious pacifist we cannot spite of them says and he gave me phil looking and the perspiration started to show open his mouth and he needed the pacemaker as well. [laughter] and then the final reading concern is a super computer named nic. Remember in the movie space odyssey . I have nic. Again before we even knew the fact that the nsa had software and algorithms to listen to certain elements of our emails i have a super computer named nick. I like star trek so this is minored star trek computer i thought would be cool but whittle did i know i could reveal critical intelligence information. [laughter] so i have this season were scooter libya and karl rove are driving to the National Security agency in the White House Pool car. I will read the opening to sentences then i will skip over. Would do almost anything for his boss the Vice President he would offer the halftruths with the un truce even go to jail although he knew the prospect was not likely as cheney would always have his back. He was imprisoned. But going for a long drive on the parkway going through the suburbs to test the limits of his patients the air conditioner fought against the heat and where are we going . I told you. Undisclosed location in. Where . If i told you where it would be disclosed claims Senior Adviser to the president for you can tell me. I cannot tell you. Senior adviser outranks senior staff tactically that was the big debates of the administration that structure that he built who was out shrinking to to. Then the mysterious dark parking garage and then there rival and go into an elevator and he produces the fob then they go deeper and deeper into the earth than the elevator door opens with the underground undisclosed project of continuity of government. Here is where he will ensure survival of the government. Of the other hand the president would stay at home under attack. There was a small spate for food rations and Emergency Communications equipment. Without the survival of the United States the entire works of Rush Limbaugh his favorite hunting rifle and the donors who would be prioritized with search and rescue as it emerges from the apocalypse. Then to go through a narrow corridor this is what the Vice President one take you to see. He looked for a plastic card they entered a massive room to see endless rows encased in glass and metal. And technicians dressed in black uniforms drove casually down the alley has its price checking at the supermarket but he did not think he was in an undisclosed location but on the mother ship of another fleet. It is a reorganization of the Intelligence Community and his name is nic. Right there in the bowels of the nsa nic knew everyones business even president bush could not be briefed you cannot find him in any federal budget with the threepoint italicized type face in tree within the tabs of the department of Agriculture Office deputy secretary for public attrition office of the assistant secretary for School Lunch Programs division of compliance state and local outreach miscellaneous. The leadership was vaguely informed about nic just enough so they knew they were in the now without knowing anything. The last thing the country needed was the pesky judge to decide the right to privacy was more important than the nations need for security. Nic levels potent offenses in the arsenal. With tens of millions of lives in realtime to assess patterns of behavior with threats to the nation deal to mitt lawyer with the insatiable curiosity and a ravenous and opportunity for data. And if that left as bad taste to create the slightest irritation nic would spit it out with the alert to Law Enforcement agencies. I have a paragraph on this in the captures the mood. To be in a country with wrecked overload everybody was suspicious or us suspect or a patriot or democrat. But the American Vision forced the democracy to defeat the nazis to land a man on the moon was peeking through a window shades and looking over shoulders. If you think about it that is where they were in 2004. I will make a final point the real open to questions. Brad was talking about the profile in the style section i with been happy for you to read the entire thing. When i wrote this book it was partly a release, a party reflection, i had no idea. First of all, i didnt know it would be published but it was because of a coincidence ive literally stumbled literally stumbled into a literary agency. Even when may agent token i thought no way then Simon Schuster published it. Even when they expected it in the House Ethics Committee approved it i thought mom will buy it. Maybe a few other people. But it has done quite well. Rob reiner who made one of the greatest movies a spinal tap which gives you my sense of humor i of the talks with him he read the book doesnt interest to develop into a television miniseries. How cool is this site to meet with the president and fly on air force one to meet with kings and queens and prime ministers was sitting with mike stick was pretty cool. He wanted to change and i said you figure what to do with television so im having conversations with rob reiner the Washington Post post gave a favorable review of was very gratified to be in the same review as others and i hesitate to say this in the independent bookstore but i will tell you there is the fairly Popular Online bookseller there ranks sales and several weeks ago aracaris several days ago i learned that we resisted the bestselling book category humor subcategory lot and the cords some subcategory by members of congress that live in long island. [laughter] thankyou. [applause] we will take your questions. Good evening. There was a reference to your father speaking to dick cheney can you tell us about that . You cannot tell everything. Not without a therapist. I dedicated the book to the Vice President and to my father who did not care for the man. My dad was a hard core democrats lost him two years ago to long cancer. We lost him in august before the president ial election. Through his dying day he said i will stay alive to do know that barack obama get back and i will keep building until i know he is reelected. So hard core when i would do television and tied to a lot of fox news to the contentment or consternation and i leave to left of economic social issues but i lean to the right with military issues and whenever i go on fox won the nit after the camera righetti angry email from my father why are you doing that . Even on other stations i did not raise you to be a conservative. I just talked the importance of democrats. [laughter] that was my dad. My dad in in 2008 they live in a conservative Retirement Community in phoenix arizona. My dad would walk around with a cap in 2004 that said dump bush in and say i had a great day. [laughter] i say that is a dangerous day. Dont do that. Then in 2008 he would save you know, what is happening . They employ to shake my hand. [laughter] that was my dad. Talking to my mom tonight teller the was coming here which is why i was laid on the phone with my jewish mother. She said dad is juggling up their. Laughing up there. As i recall isnt aware Bill Griffith is from . I dont know but that is also where bill reilly we have a few celebrities coming out of levittown. Douglas macarthur highschool in a community that they actually had book burnings in my community. I believe the border for education may have considered but then decided it is cheaper to do douglas macarthur. So with your even stand in news stories how many lawyers. [laughter] if ive ever missing for more then three days call dick cheney. A wonderful question. The publisher Simon Schuster assigned a lawyer to this to read every word most of the concerns were typical in tehrans of naming places with infringement with the publisher in be from the lawsuits. There were several cases they said are you sure you can talk about this . There is nothing in any way, shape, or form or anything i heard that i should not report to there is no problem. Dick cheney is a public figure and so am i. And washington needs to laugh at itself theyll laugh at us but therere no issues with their briefings in the meetings that i went to. Now we have a very vigorous ethics process because theyre not permitted to except advances and we have to be scrupulous to ensure were not violating the house ethics rules of the was a separate process that was long as it should be in very detailed. I am also jewish from new york i was on the phone with another in almost missed zero stowe affair probably in know each other. [laughter] my question is with a due administration have you noticed largescale changes with their programs because of that . Or do i hear the news wrong . With the exception of guantanamo i have not noticed largescale changes of approach. There is a quotation in the book of president obama. Of course, i could not explain that because he was not president but the scene where Scooter Libby and cheney but let me read it to you. The was that an event with obama of where he said this and i wrote it down. This is after she learns about nic. He said but is this to stop spying on innocent american is accidentally . We take privacy rights very seriously we have checks and balances and safeguards this government does the spy on the american people. Up the president said that and responding to a question about the nsa. Any other questions or comments or criticisms . Very good. You have another book in the works . Before i finished the contract or submitted my final manuscript i had another idea for a book that Simon Schuster has accepted so it is going through the process the second is similar it is a parody from dc tentatively titled big guns of parity of the gun debate here in washington and it is said to the first premise is a very conservative house of representatives as a republican majority passes a law that mandates every american must donate gun. That if you were required to have Health Insurance you should be required to have lifeinsurance. It is the debate inside congress. Rand then he allowed four president ial waivers of the requirements for the children under the age of seven and on the do not fly this. List. Wants to save children under seven are not required then why not 544 . Then nobody is required. So this Crazy Congress passes legislation to require that america must a gun but meanwhile you have a progressive mayor and a luxurious town in the hamptons where a local ordinance is passed to ban all guns in her village so it is the interplay of the smalltown mayor who wants all guns banned but a National Effort to require that all americans must own a gun. 40,000 words into which every word is written on this because the nature of my life does not allow me to find time on the computer so i had that idea and mr. To write to it live here. Facie it righted on here. My staffing site of the most unfriendly boss. On cars or planes or trains or trying to woo get down here all i do is pack at this so i apologize to a distaff but now they know when i was doing. I didnt even think about them. 40,000 words is the Ethics Committee approves it should be published in a yearandahalf. Do we have subsidies for guns . Yes. Tax credits for poor people. [laughter] tax credits for the gun makers to make sure they can make them. Research and Development Grants to make sure we make the best. Everything you would expect with the bill like this. Every gun maker has something in this bill. Is a loaded christmas tree. [laughter] du type or dictate . Fob no paul reiser . He is a comedian and a friend of mine and he has the blurb in the book. He read the Washington Post story and said did you dictate this . Did you really use your thumbs i said i am bipartisan. But it was all done with my fingers. Mostly because i never believed that it will be published. Why do i need to spend time . I never saw myself as an author who would be published and i did not have the quiet time. In congress there is no such thing as quiet. Author who is going to be published to need it technologies and i didnt have the quiet time that an author named. In congress there is no such thing as quiet particularly in this congress. There is a lot of screaming and yelling. [inaudible] i dont know if im allowed to endorse products on cspan. You know what, i will give it this endorsement. If you are going to write a book this is a really good product to write a book on. Sir its a delight to hear you tonight. Its always nice to hear from accomplished novelist. Thank you. Its hard to believe that you didnt have dashboard to wordsmith in college or earlier. Could you Say Something about that . I was serious when i told you i had three wives ambitions. I wanted to play outfield for the mets except i couldnt pitch and i couldnt back and i couldnt catch so that was not going to happen. I always wanted to be a writer. I started writing in third grade grade, stories and i loved writing science fiction. I had done two books that were published before this, both anthologies of great speeches where he did short introductions of the speeches. And a preface. My staff will tell you as a member of congress i do all my own speeches. All my own stuff. With the exception of constituent mail where i have a legislative correspondent come everything my office puts out in my name i write. It is a therapy. I