[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i am staying busy. And then with jerusalem . Is it matter working . [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] it is amazing a campaigned here and 1922. A billion years ago. But im as as servant of that of anything i can imagine. So im happy thats the first question because i did that right. [laughter] met how have you been . That never suggest. [inaudible conversations] yes it was really special we had a lot of fun. Thank you. You are most welcome. How are you . What about Foreign Policy . So this line between domestic and Foreign Policy so there is a line that we brought real families are impacted by things that happen. I love that. Okay. You have a good morning. [inaudible conversations] it morning how are you all doing . [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] but when i was a cadet it was the last time. That the struggle is the challenge on the left. [inaudible conversations] good morning. I am the president of saint anselm. We would like to welcome everyone to this event on behalf of all of saint anthem college, we are happy to have you here at the institute of politics. Our campus is buzzing again. Its a much easier year than the last two years had been an it is hard to believe we are almost one month into the semester and i hope you have a chance to meet some of our great students who are here working and ambassadors. Raise your hand if youre a student. There they are. [applause] as you know, for more than 60 years, saint anselm has welcomed president ial candidate and National Figures hilltops. Some of you may know we just completed our 20th anniversary of the founding of the institute, which was just literally days before the september 11 attacks. The institute has faithfully served the college and our Wider Community with civic engagement, education, and empowerment of citizens of all ages. And today we continue that tradition and look forward to many years to come. We would all agree that the mission of the institute couldnt be more vital than right now. My appreciation to all of the sponsors that have helped us accomplish this mission. Thank you for your generous support. You can look around and see their logos on the walls. A special thank you of course trevor great partner, the new England Council. So now please join me in welcoming the new England Council president jim to the podium to introduce todays speaker. [applause] thank you very much, dr. Fava zza not just for your kind words, but the Ongoing Partnership between the new England Council and with saint as and the politics and ex. We have had several already this year. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of each other between now and the 2024 New Hampshire primary. I can give a commercial for the new England Council, it has been a very busy year for the new England Council. But we have a few more events coming up. This week we will be in washington, d. C. For the capitol Hill Conversation with congressman jim himes of connecticut. On friday, we will host the next installment of our popular inside the Connor Office virtual series, this time picturing the ceo of corporation. Next week we will be back in washington for congressman Stephen Lynch of boston. The next politics and eggs event will be here at saint ansell on october 6 when we will welcome governor larry hogan. Last but not least on november 7, we are thrilled to be holding our annual celebration in person at a hotel in the boston seaport area. We will be making an exciting announcement about our new englanders of the year this week. We expect between 1700 and 1900 of our closest and dearest friends, the new england states. But today we are on honor to welcome former secretary of state mike pompeo to the granite state. The secretary served as the United States diplomatic from in a poll 2018 the january 2021. He first joined the Trump Administration in january 2017 as the director of the Central Intelligence agency, and in fact the only person in the history to lead both the cia and the state department. Before joining the administration, he served in the u. S. House of representatives for four terms, representing the fourth congressional district. Secretary pompeo also has a very strong background in the private sector. He served as ceo of aerospace for more than a decade and later became president of center international, and oilfield equipment, manufacturing and distribution company. We are very pleased to have him here as he considers his political future. Forward to hearing his vision for the future of our great country. Please join me in giving a very warm welcome to the former secretaries of state, the honorable mike from care. [applause] honorable mike pompeo. Sec. Pompeo good morning, everyone. Its great to be with you, especially to the Young Students for getting up that early in the morning. I get it. My son is not that much older than you are. And thanks for the word, jim. Thanks for having an unemployed former diplomat out today. The good news and that is i get to be mike pompeo unplugged. When you are the secretary of state, every word that you say is watched by everyone in the world. Today i get this chance to speak from the heart about the things that i believe matter to this country. And i want to thank you, president for your words and for your leadership here in this amazing institution. We need only look around to see the history in this place. To get to be some small part of this is humbling for someone like this that just 12 years ago was running a machine shop in wichita, kansas. I am not just here for the eggs and politics. Happy to have the eggs, they got me home. [laughter] but we are here for something truly important. It is New Hampshire after all, the place where americans kickoff conversations that the shape the very future of our nation. We all care about that future. It is why you got up today to be here, to listen and be a part of this community. Everyone in this room believes in america. We believe deeply that its worth fighting for. Someone asked, you think about running for president . My commitment is to stay in this fight. Ive been at it for a long time. I did it when i was a young soldier. I vote, just like you all. We see that some incredibly important things, the greatness of america is truly under threat. I want to spend some time responding to some remarks President Biden made a few weeks ago. The president gave a speech that smeared half the country. He identified half the country as enemies of the state, and essentially said that if you are prolife, procertain set of policies, you are a threat to this notion. That cant just fly by. Im going to stand up for every american that the president attacked. It was hard to know exactly who. America deserves language that is more decent than that. I want to talk about the difference between fighting an enemy, which i was committed to doing as a soldier, and fights with friends, and the capacity of each of us to try to do our best to notice the difference. Both fights share a common motive. But when we fight enemies, it is more, and it ends with one side defeated. But fighting with friends, we dont defeat an enemy. We convince them. We make arguments, build a case. These are our fellow countrymen. We have to recognize this distinction. We owe it to each other and to this great nation. It doesnt mean you cant fight hard, i am happy to do that. Enemies seek to destroy our country. I spend time with chairman kim, with xi jinping, with Vladimir Putin. They are bad guys. But i attacking our countrymen, we undermine what makes america great. We have to defend against our adversaries, our enemies with force. At our friends, we build. We talk about ideas. This is what i hope we will spend our time talking about. Ads. You run the first primary in the nation. Godspeed, i hope that continues because these conversations matter. Sometimes i think it is out of forgetfulness or maybe fear, god only knows. Our own countrymen let their personal ambition get in the way and eclipse the idea of the most exceptional nation in the history of civilization. We dont need to defend against them, but we sure as heck need to defend against the ideas that have taken hold of them. Sometimes we have to speak truth, we have to make arguments, we have to build and speak our truth because we love the country and we love the people who have built it. I want to remind everyone today what makes this nation so special. I traveled around the world this beautiful and thank you for providing that for me. Mary elizabeth here with me today. She was on it with me. Its a little old, but it did beat the airline. [laughter] our enemies want to tear it down. And those we defeat, those we work with president reagan said, we win, they lose. Those, we must defeat. But our country must be reminded all to account, even when their ideas are patently wrong. But the only place we want to beat them is at the ballot box. I hope we do that in november. , january, i hope the folks who went will begin to govern against the principles that they told everyone they would govern on. I think President Biden at left side of this difference when he attacked half the country. He said these people were semi fascists. If the president cannot tell the difference between republicans and terrorists, or republicans and the Chinese Communist party, or if he cant tell the difference doesnt speak to that difference, then we have to change course. We have to change out who the leader of our country is. I have been traveling, doing the kind of work i did when i was congressman and talking to folks. Most americans get the difference. There is no better time than today in this Historic Place to bring it up. We are now just a couple of weeks off from a day that still pisses me off. September 11, 2001. Enemies, evil men attacked our country because of who we are, what it is we believe in. And for 20 years your soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, thats Intelligence Community did amazing work to keep such an event from happening again. And on september 12, 2001, the young people in this room will remember that first hand, we stood together to avenge the attacks on the world trade center, a necessary component. Those who attacked the pentagon in pennsylvania. We stood behind everything that is extraordinary about this country. We wanted to avenge what took place, but we wanted to build on our exceptional heritage. I remember we stood together. I was in wichita, kansas, trying to take care of my employees that were making machine parts. We were in for an economic challenge. But we all stood together in the wreckage and we were reminded of the fortitude and the fragility of this miracle that is our country. We start with a renewed commitment to defending this nation. Its freedom, and its fate and our founding ideas. Sidebyside. There were democrats, republicans, people from the progressive movement, libertarians. We all believed that american greatness was more important in politics or ideologies, things that divide us in the to and fro of our daily life. We stood together 21 years ago. The president gave a speech that suggests he believes things have changed. I think we have forgotten too much. Joe biden delivered his speech on independence hall. He did it with uniformed servicemen standing behind him, and the president ial seal in front of him. He had an enormous opportunity to unite america by reminding us of the strength, that he campaigned on creating this unity. The unity that lives in the spirit of september 11. Instead he desecrated the symbols that day by giving one of the most divisive speeches can even remember. Worse, he used marines as window. As an army guy, we fight with the marines and a lot of things, but we cant fight and should never challenge the sacredness of those who have chosen to wear our uniform. He called fellow americans semi fascists, called sk threat to the foundation of the american republic. He said we were intimidated by authoritarian cronies who want to take a country backwards. I will speak for myself, i want this country to go forward. I know you all will cap this morning to try to make it go forward. Mr. President , i cant tell you whats in your heart. I dont know. But i do know that treating your countrymen like no means is a rejection of the principles that i served for, that you all got up this morning for, and what has made this country great. I dont think any of us know what was precisely in his heart, what drove him to give those remarks to the world, to his fellow countrymen. But we have seen the results of the ideas that he has put forward. His principles, the things we have been living through the last year and a half, i sum up the three ideas. Woke, weak, and waffling. Woke ideas, weak results, and waffling leadership always end up inflicting a cost on more that is more devastating to the cause than any plan hatched in afghanistan. I worked as secretary of state. The biggest risk to america is that we fail to understand how great our nation is and we wont teach our children that same thing. And as president reagan said, this is a time when the American People will choose. I think the choice is pretty straightforward. Its not a republican idea, is not a conservative idea, it is unamerican idea. We shouldnt allow the world to see us as woke. The woke would tell you that the people who died in defense of america, our intelligence wars, those who died on 9 11, normandy, gettysburg, even at lexington and concord, they were sleepwalking into battle. That they somehow were defending something that was racist. Inconsistent with my deep understanding of who we are. We should spend more time studying 1776, then 1619. This is an amazing nation. Wake up. They say we are the ones who are asleep. They want us to forget that america is exceptional. First in freedom, not always perfect, by animated by what the founders did not far from here. There are times we have fallen short. We will get it wrong tomorrow. For four years of the Trump Administration, we didnt get it right every day. But great leaders come from all walks of life, leaders like susan b. Anthony, Martin Luther king jr. They never forgot the challenge. Theyve confronted ideas but never forgot america as an exceptional place. They celebrated the promise of our country. They fought for it to be better and they convinced their countrymen to make it so. That is the power and the beauty of what is a no everybody in this room once they never succumbed to pessimism. It is easy to do. I get up i got up every morning and read a little bit from the bible, the good news, and then the intelligence reports, which were all bad news. I listened to President Biden. In that speech, abandoned american hope and replaced it with woke despair. He would replace American Freedom with woke control. It is fracturing our nation. He teaches and advocates for teaching that what divides us is more important and more significant than what unites us. It is coercive. It is dangerous. It tears at the fabric of who we are. And i must say, too, it is hopeless and suggests opportunity is limited to a handful. It teaches children identity rather than character is destiny. Martin luther king jr. Would have never had that. Using race and gender to divide is evil. To create one set that gets preferences because of either of those, is evil. It harms us all. Today, you can see parents across the country. They would tell you that education has been replaced by dr. Nation in our schools indoctrination in our schools. In our military and have seen indoctrination replace the capacity to make sure our warriors were prepared to fight. We sacrificed military readiness for diversity and equity training. Sign me up for diversity. My first gunner was a immigrant from another place. I chose him to be my gunner not because of who he was or his background or his race or identity, because he could hit a moving target at three miles with a round of 105 millimeters. He was good. He was excellent. He was noble. As a young tanker, i knew that color did not matter. Green meadows. Good soldiers medal. If a soldier could do their job under the greatest of pressure, i wanted him in my are tuned or her in my company or brigade. You all know the story. President reagan spoke to it. That is why we need to think hard about what we are teaching that next generation here in preselect sent anselm and indeed all around the country. The frontlines of this fight for ideas and for freedom are inside our gates, in our schools, our synagogues, researchers, in the places our churches and places that matter most. What will our children say when they grow up about our commitment to that fight . I pray that they say that we got it right. That we defended the ideas that made this country special. I talked about the president being weak. That speech was weak too. They want an apologetic america. One of the things that we are a force for bad in the world. As american secretary of state, people knew that america was a force for good. Ray guns strong city on a hill, they understood. I pray that america continues to understand that. The past 18 months have not only demonstrated weakness, but they have made us vulnerable in ways that are almost unimaginable. Burdened with amazing high inflation, our gas prices. I see the sign from dominion energy. Every utility in the country will be charging more for energy, this winter. I pray that there is sufficient energy for europe and the world this winter. These were choices that were made not to produce American Energy for American Consumers that is affordable so they could, cast their cars and heat their homes. Today, small businesses, it is tough to find people understand the work ethic and who are capable of actually providing value for the company. It is really hard. Prices are not the only thing on the rise. I had a young man on my staff mugged in washington, d. C. In. The last two weeks my lives in in the last two weeks. My son lives in new york city. I worry for them everyday. Portland is a four letter word. The homelessness and crime was staggering. The fact that our motor rate is up, opioid deaths still high, none of these are republican ideas. Protecting American People from these are democrat ideas. These are american imperatives. Today illegal immigration is at an alltime high. We have a completely open southern border. You could say, that is a long way away, but this means fentanyl in your communities let communities right here. Inevitably more crying. We have had more people traverse that water in the last 18 months who are on americas terrorist watch list. 4 Million People in 18 months. Icam from kansas. 3 Million People in all of kansas. That is a Staggering Number of people who came to our country unlawfully. We are a welcoming and decent nation, but allows people to make the dangerous trek across this border is awful. We had a policy which slowed the flow of illegal immigration. When some politician tells you it cant be done and we should spend more money in Central America to stop it, i can tell you, it doesnt require more money. One needs to be serious about protecting america, its sovereignty, our economy, and our kids from fentanyl. They were not caused by people who have called for as republicans, who have said were clinging to our guns and faith. They have called us deplorables. Or the magafascists now. New phrase. We were weakened by record spending and regulations. 201 billion in regulatory costs. More than 72,000 new pages of regulation. 69 in new major regulations. Anybody think we are under regulated in america . More than 100 new regulations on appliances alone. It may keep me out of my refrigerator. We were talking about how you keep weight off. He has attacked his administration with people whose ideas are to defund the police, radicals who made it easier to be a criminal than a cop. He reversed the control i spoke of, and now, Illegal Immigrants flood donations, streaming across the border. These problems are not just. I spend my time working around the world. We are now 13 months off from the fact that 13 americans were killed in afghanistan in one of the most amazing debacles in american history. We did not have to leave afghanistan. No one should doubt President Trumps commitment to getting our boys and girls home, i worked on it tirelessly. But we knew there were additional commitments. Our soldiers who had served in afghanistan, we needed to honor their 20 years of work. 20 years of work that i can tell everyone in this room, kept you safe. I can speak to the details, but terror plots emanating from that place were stopped amazing Young American men and women, and we undermined that. We fled the battlefield. We didnt protect the things that mattered to us here. It was reckless. It caused our enemies not to have fear, and our allies to work away from us. That weakness in afghanistan and the weakness and our willingness for Domestic Energy invited russian aggression as well. It is also, as we can all see, encouraging chinese saber rattling. It is not a coincidence that Vladimir Putin invaded ukraine shortly after the disaster in afghanistan. Woke, weak, waffling led us to waffle on our standing up to people on our own street and on the world stage. We cant permit this to continue. America matters too much. President biden waffles between making statements that are broad and watching his own team undermined them within minutes. I think if i had corrected President Trump that i would have been the former 70th secretary of state. He waffles between the foundational faith in america and americans seeing us as enemies. All of this stems from a sentiment. Basic moral uncertainty that i think pervades our nation today and one that we should speak about. For me, for those of us who come from a conservative place, the basic question is just as clear as to ask what follows question mark what is worth fighting for in america . Is this nation worth fighting for. Everyone would say yes. But we can never waffle or waver over that central thesis. We can choose to believe in america again to find greatness in our ideas and in our founding , or we can surrender all the hope that comes with that and get in to defeat or despair. I hope you wont get me wrong today, and i look forward to taking questions from you all. But before the diet, i loved waffles with my eggs. But it is a prescription for disaster, when we need leadership that truly believes in the power of american goodness. We cant afford to waffle in the defense of these central ideas. To be weak on these foundational principles, despair that puts wokeness over american wonder is a pervasive risk, and i think President Biden has fallen prey to that. More than ever, we have to believe that this country we are fighting for, we need conservative leadership that believes it, leaders who celebrate it, know that we are exceptional, and leaders will never apologize for america as exceptional. They need to be battle tested. Strong, stable. Certain in the defense of freedom. Leaders that have stared down our enemies on the battlefield with their own eyes and got their hands dirty, working to defend america. Leaders who, when it is tough, will remember what unites america and ideas that give light to the claims of the woke and the week. We need true believers who will fight for our faith with fortitude, and leaders who will unite america around a common cause. Conservatives who are true believers who will fight for our values and with faith and fortitude, defended the things that brought you here. I have now raised my hand seven times. There is a couple of fellow west point grads here today. When i swore that data protect and defend the constitution, i had no idea of what the rest of my life would hold, but i didnt know how much america mattered. I patrolled what was then the frontline of the cold war, reading an platoon test with stopping the soviet invasion. In a fight where the enemy would have been about a 71 advantage against us. I know what it means to put your life on the line in defense of freedom. It mattered then and it matters today. I created a couple hundred jobs in kansas. I fought viciously for those families to take care of them to make sure that they could go home and tell their spouse and their kids that they had a way to pay their rent, their mortgage, take their family on vacation or buy that motorcycle or take the trip had always wanted to take. I got the incredible privilege to serve as director of the cia. Phase 2c and answered almost any questions, but now i am the former cia director, so i answer almost any questions. We will stay in this fight. The challenge is greater than it has been in a long time. The ideas democrats are putting forward in consortium with Mainstream Media want to make elections about celebrity and about personality. I hope we will make this fight about the ideas that matter. Too much is at stake to go at it any other way. It is far more important than any one person or any one political fortune. It is a far greater work than even the most powerful offices or biggest personality can possibly imagine. It has great significance today, especially as we enter this electoral cycle. We are not writing to we are not fighting to right personal grievances. We are fighting for a future against enemies like the Chinese Communist party. It is worth fighting for. I can assure you. Everything is at stake. To impress to get it back. Im confident we will. You all came out today. We will have a good conversation. I always think about two things. First about the folks that are now back home in kansas. My mother grew up in a little city called wellington. Wellington high class of 1947. When world war ii broke out, she went to a manufacturing facility in wichita and did her part to help build aircraft for our country and to fight the great war. Think about the kansas that i had the incredible privilege to represent for six years as a member of congress. Every day i thought about that. I thought about the farmers, about my former colleagues at their airspace, about the city council. I thought about their lives and how the work i did was a duty to make sure that we did the right thing to protect them and their families. And today, i still think an awful lot about the cia officers. I would stand in this place in front of a world where there were stars. You have all seen the pictures in the movies, the little cia logo there on the floor. Its as awesome as they make it in those movies. [laughter] but even more awesome than that special place are the men who were the fallen at the cia, who those stars represent, many of whose names we will never know. They werent republicans or democrats, they were americans prepare to do the right thing in dark place, in an unknown place. Where no one would ever know what they did. They give their life to protect the very freedom. They never wavered or waffled. They knew the task before them and did it with the elon and excellence in a way that i pray our countrymen will do. Thank you for having me here. I look forward to talking to you, jim, and having a conversation with everyone around the room. Thank you all. [applause] mr. Secretary, we have time for some questions . Maybe i can just ask a few. Ukraine. The Ukrainian Government is pressuring the administration for some more powerful weapons, in particular the missile range that will have a capacity of 190 miles. People in russia are very nervous about that equipment coming to ukraine. Do you think the administration should support the request . Sec. Pompeo gave the Administration Credit for the things they have done, the tools and weapons they have provided. President zelenskyy has not asked for young men and women, he hasnt asked for the 82nd airborne. He just wants to stoop defend his sovereignty and we are to provide them. My critique has been, in some of my party disagree with that, my critique has been that we have been slow and late and small. If you are going to help them, give them what they need, the intelligence they need to target the bad guys. You can do this in a quiet way. The fear that we will provoke Vladimir Putin i think is overblown. I promise you that thousands of dead ukrainians know that he is provoked. Vladimir putin believes ukraine is part of russia like i believe kansas is part of the United States. Is kansas part of america . Sure. And you say, why . He very much believes ukraine is part of russia in that way. We should provide americans the tools they need and when we do, we will a friend. The world will see that. That will matter in china, south east asia, the middle east. When we stand up with our friends, and i. The europeans will stand up in with their friends in ways that they have not it is their fight, their neighborhood that i am confident that freedom will prevail. You just mentioned, ukraine has scored some significant battles recently. It appears the ukraine army is better armed, the morale much higher. I think they know why they are fighting, for the country, as opposed to the russian soldiers. Are you concerned no that putin may have two options importer in front of him, doubling down to accept a new reading defeat, number one, 42, Nuclear Weapons or Chemical Warfare that he may use . Sec. Pompeo he has lots of tools at his disposal. The simplest Nuclear Weapon is to deny Europe Energy internet two months. You want to talk about a cataclysmic event, shutting down manufacturing in germany and france is about as difficult as it gets, and by the way, we talk about this as if it is a long way away. If german manufacturing shuts down for a two week period, thousands of people lose their jobs in the United States of america. Think about bmw plants in alabama, mercedes facilities in the south. They rely on german components. If those factories shut down, we will feel it here in the United States and Vladimir Putin knows that. Of course we have to be concerned about that. Our theory for four years was that demonstrated american deterrence end result will prevent conflict from happening. This is the model that we use for four years. I get all the time. Would this have happened if you were still there . I cant answer that because im not still there. But i can tell you this, this war did not start in february. Vladimir putin took a fifth of ukraine in 2015. Often americans remember the moment. Cnn is not going to cover that. This war started a long time ago in the mind of Vladimir Putin. Vladimir putins mind has not and will not change. He took a fifth of ukraine under president obama. For four years he did not invade ukraine or europe, and then in a few months of our departure, he did it again. Coincidence . Maybe. I think it was because he knew we were serious. I think things that we did. Things like the strike on qassem soleimani. We demonstrated to the world that things that matter to you, that matter to the American People, we are prepared to do. We moved our embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem something no president of any party had been prepared to do because of the risk of world war iii. We killed qassem soleimani. They said, if you do that, they will attack americans in europe and at home. It did not happen. While i cant account precisely for the reason, i remain convinced that the greater risk is that we are weak and that we waffled, and our friends see that and they hedged their bets in ways that are fundamentally at odds with making our lives better here at home. Do you give the administration any credit for keeping a native together keeping nato together in their opposition to russia . Sec. Pompeo i do, but give Vladimir Putin most of the credit. [laughs] we were often accused of not liking nato. President trump would tell them, you are needed to do more. Sign me up for nato doing more. He was spot on. I was advocating for that, too, the current chancellor of germany was finance minister during my time. I cant tell you the conversations i had with him about opening up his pocket book. It was both decent and right for america for us to demand that and we ended up with nato having 480 billion more than we had when we began. We pray that some of those resources are benefiting the ukrainian people today. I think that Biden Administration has done good work and the secretarygeneral of i hope that that resolve wont be lost when Vladimir Putin puts Energy Pressure on them this winter. President biden said on sundays episode of 60 minutes, he really reaffirmed his commitment that us troops would defend taiwan in the event of an attack from china. Would you support him in that . I dont know why hes talking about defending taiwan in conflict. Telling the adversary precisely how youll respond seems reckless to me, by the way xi jinping no more bought that than a man in the moon. Ill be honest with you because on the show itself, the staff reached out to us and told us President Biden may have just had that wrong. I could not tell you what our policy is with respect to taiwan today. Its very confusing. Thats dangerous. It wasnt remotely confusing for our four years. The chinese knew precisely what we would do, how we would do it. I communicated that my my counterparts and the Department Defense communicated very clearly but to talk about defending i want to suggest that it is a reasonable option for xi jinping to invade taiwan. Its not a reasonable option. These are freedomloving people, it is a sovereign independent nation. We ought to treat it as such. One cant account for the hypothetical of what might take place. But the first task of an american leader is to build relationships with the japanese, the australians, south koreans, Southeast Asia to make sure that they much like nato are doing the things that only they can do in the region to make sure that xi jinping understands that the risk of doing something crazy like trying to take over the worlds largest, most capable semiconductor facility, which if taken over by the Chinese Communist party, will change your lives within a matter of weeks and put our defensive systems here in the United States at real risk. He should be building out alliances and working on that. Ill give the Administration Credit for one thing on this issue. We began this process, secretary of commerce wilbur ross and me, to get Semiconductor Manufacturing back here at home. We were the National Leader for ever. 25 years ago, we abandoned the playing field. Today we make about 12 of the wafers for semiconductors here in the United States. We make 0 of the ones that really matter. The most sophisticated semiconductor wafers. Secretary ross and i created something which brought three companies to life to do that here, intel is building a 20 billion plant in ohio. Samsung is building a 18 billion plant outside of austin texas. And and tsmc the Taiwanese Companies building a plant outside of phoenix and they will bring this manufacturing back to the United States of america. We didnt finish that on our watch. I got a call from secretary raimondo, the current secretary of commerce. Republicans were balking at passing the legislation which would enable this. And she said, mike, you know, youre gonna get present by the win, but could you help us . And the answer was really easy. This mattered. Again, this wasnt about republican, this was about an american imperative to get this equipment back on shore. A poll just came out and said that 69 of democrats and 69 of republicans said that democracy was in danger of collapse. How did we get this way . And how do we move forward to try to eliminate the divide thats going on in this country . Because it seems to be percolating up as a major issue. Democracy is a threat. Your thoughts on how we can address that. I come back to my young days as a cadet. They gave me some uniforms. I got an old m1 rifle and the federalist papers. These ideas are the things that bring us together. Were all gonna fight about regulatory policy and these things fair enough. These ideas are central when we begin to focus on celebrity and those things that divide us, then you end up in the place that those i think those folks responding to that poll felt, i will say, i see it. I see it differently than i think that question was asked. Although i dont know the precise words they used. I do think the greatest threat to our nation is here inside. I worked on things around the world, they impact us. We were just talking about what happens in kyiv or beijing matters to our lives. Were gonna pay more for stuff. We could lose some jobs. Thats all all true. But the single thing we could do that would be the most important to protect our republic, would be to make sure that we get our schools back in the hands of people who will teach stuff to kids that actually matters. The single most important thing. If our kids are taught that theres a presser class in an oppressed class, if theyre taught that the nation was if those ideas are corrosive to the highest degree and they lead to the absence of people valuing democracy and the ballot box and those things, right . They say, well, its all evil, its all bad. Its all corrupt. Why would i participate . Why would i run for school board . What the teachers unions have done over these last two years i think is demonstrative of the very place we find ourselves. President biden said the other night on 60 minutes that the pandemic is over. Not for the kids who missed school for two years. Thats never gonna be over for them. And the kids most impacted by thats, the children who lost the most Educational Value were the children who could least afford to lose it in some of the most difficult places in our country and our schools in our cities, and places like wichita kansas. And so when you ask, how do you get it back together, we need to make sure that we we empower School Board Members and parents and ptos and coaches of kids soccer teams. And take the power from washington, d. C. When you do that, states, cities, communities that come up with different ideas. But the greatness of america will rise. It always has and im convinced that it will again. If i could bring you back to kansas, id love to get your thoughts on the the august midterm in kansas on the referendum. Would have overturned the state ruling that found the right to abortion in the state constitution. Now you know the state better than i do. But i always thought it was a very red state, conservative state. President trump carried it by 15 points in 2020. But it seems to have an independent streak because that referendum that people really thought that would pass went down to defeat 18 points. What was your reaction to that . So if none of you can tell me whats in the referendum, i bet you cant either. It was enormously confusing and i think we saw that. It was also in the immediate aftermath of dobbs. So you think of kansas as a red state today, we have a Supreme Court that was largely appointed by democrat governor. We have a democrat governor today. So we shouldnt misunderstand kansas, largely appointed by a democrat governor. You have essentially abortion on demand in the state of kansas today. And the legislature has no authority to put any restrictions, not health and safety restrictions, literally nothing. This amendment was aimed to just empower the state legislature consistent with dobbs. It was confusing. I can say this for sure. Every candidate who runs for office in november of this year will be pro life. And every candidate that wins will be pro life. Therell be different degrees, theyll have different ideas about the limits and the like but kansas remains a pro life committed place and a committed state and National Media wants to tell the story because it fits their narrative for november. How big of an issue you think abortion will be in this election . I think in some close races and some democrat states it will make a difference, but i think in most places across the country, and as i just Wander Around and go to walmart, nobodys talking about that. Well, walmart, theyre saying, can you find the toothpaste . Its not on the shelves and its not funny, right . Its very soviet to have empty shells. Shelves. People are very focused on the things that are impacting them each and every day is my kid getting a decent education. Can i afford gas for my car . I was in a nice area of california. Its been three months ago, i think now, traveling soccer team canceled half of its games. These were people that were canceled half of their games because the parents couldnt afford gas to drive their kids to games. Those are the things that i think when we hit november or frankly, people start voting in just three or four weeks in a lot of places. So we think about november is the election, its not not a day, but a month. I think those are the things that will mostly be on peoples mind. We have time for some questions from the audience and we have the students, we have the microphones and you can just identify yourself so that the secretary knows who you are. Earl. Theres a mic right behind you. Thank you, jim and thank you for having mr. Secretary here today. His comments have been right on the money. Im with a Company Called rural health i. T. Corporation in portsmouth were on the frontlines of the fighting fentanyl, and trying to reduce Overdose Deaths. Were fortunate enough to earn a grant in Windsor County vermont. We also work with a lot of patients from Sullivan County in in New Hampshire. So weve been very successful. Vermont, unfortunately as we all know, is the highest rate of Overdose Deaths, the increase of Overdose Deaths in the country. Fortunately, our Little County in windsor, we were able to reduce deaths by 30 with the help of this, our corp grant. My question is, is it obviously that funding is very important and it works. Im just wondering in terms of your ideas and support of the continuation of particularly for rural areas, the arc or person grants. So im not familiar with the details of that particular program. Kansas Rural Communities have the same set of issues. Im very familiar with this issue of fentanyl. We had all kinds of problems with crystal meth in our state, we had opioid problems in the state of kansas as well. In the end you have to fight it as you are. Bless you for the work youre doing, helping people avoid that or if they become addicted getting away from it. Federal government has a responsibility to the simplest way to think about it is to drive up costs. Fentanyl today is about as cheap as its ever been. Almost all manufacturer at least components of it manufactured in china, transshipped to mexico and just smuggled across the border. Fentanyl prices have fallen dramatically since i left office. We talk about the border, we think about the people and the tragedies. We should never forget that one of the things that is most harmful to the American People is the fact that this is now accessible in volume in small quantities distributed all across this nation. And so those resources that you have, i think should absolutely continue. I hope that state and local governments are contributing their fair share to making sure that we get it right, that fits a model that fits for vermont or for New Hampshire or for kansas or for state. I think local delivery of these solutions is infinitely better than driving it from washington, d. C. Almost always get it wrong in washington. Maybe thats my answer. I pray that we will do all of the things that reduce the risk that someone will have access to and risk becoming addicted to fentanyl. The family destruction that follows from it is something we havent fully accounted for, fully reckoned with just yet either. Matt mayberry. Mike, good morning, sir. Great to see you again. Could you give us your thoughts on what happened on january 6th . Sure. You had a riot at the United States capitol. It was a bad day for the United States of america. I equally believe that the riots that took place all across this country in the summer of 2020 were bad for america too. I talked about crime, right . We should prosecute people even if they steal less than 900 worth of stuff at walgreens. They should be prosecuted for their crimes and those who violated the law that day should be held fully accountable for what they did. I dont know the details. I dont know why it was that the Capitol Police who protected me when i was a member of congress. I dont know why they didnt have the resources and the ability to prevent that from happening. But it was a tragically bad day. It ended well. It ended with our then Vice President mike pence and our members of Congress Going and finishing americas business that day. I was incredibly proud of them for that. But we should have never suffered what happened that day. Yes, sir. Jerry mcdermott from our Arc Behavioral Health and just a follow up to the gentlemans earlier question. I think everyone in this room has had some family or a neighbor or coworker impacted by the opioid crisis. Were certainly not out of the woods, but my question mr. Secretary, is our companies in the business of drug and alcohol, detox and recovery. Weve got four facilities in mass. We just opened in ohio and were opening in new jersey soon. We are just blown away by the influx of drugs and the gentleman earlier mentioned fentanyl. So lethal. And just yesterday in jacksonville, florida, the Sheriffs Office along with other local Law Enforcement seized enough fentanyl to kill 1. 5 million adults. We all know the poorest border is bringing this poison into our communities and in every suburb across america, people wring their hands about it when a neighbors son or daughter overdoses. A two part question, mr. Secretary. One, how do we get it through to people in a very kind and unifying way that we need to do something about the border . Doesnt mean were anti immigrant, but we need to secure the border to protect our own sons and daughters from this poison. How do we do that . And number two, what more could we and should we be doing with our Intelligence Community to stop china from working with the mexican cartels and flooding the United States . It seems to me its almost like an act of war. Theres so many people dead from this. Thank you. Im not sure id put almost like an act of war. Your first question was, how do we raise awareness . I think thats happening. I think people are much i think its more tactile. I think people can feel this more now. Maybe its the drugs, but i think they can now see whats happening at our southern border in ways maybe they didnt for a long time. President trump worked diligently on this, right . Anybody remember what he campaigned on, right . Were gonna build the wall. It was a pretty short list of things he campaigned on. We can argue about tactics, but i mean the math, the math is just real. It took us 2. 5 years because the first efforts, the Trump Administration had to secure our southern border were thrown out by the ninth circuit, right . Seems like a long time ago, but i lived it. But by year three we had slowed the metric for who comes across the border dramatically. We had done it by turning off the magnet. We did it by saying that if you we are welcoming people, we love, you filed for asylum. But youre not gonna wait here in america while you filed for asylum. It became very clear to folks thinking about coming here, that wasnt something they were up for. And so when i hear Vice President harris say no ones walking across the border. I mean, thats just gaslighting you. I talked about being decent and being truthful and being honest and not attacking people. But you have to speak the truth. We can see, right. We all saw these 50 folks that went to marthas vineyard. Thats an hours worth of border crossings today. One hour, 50 people, 4. 2 Million People, 18 months. It is possible to to do this to secure. Its not just our southern border either. Its our ports of entry where people so its a multidimensional problem. We were serious about it and thoughtful. We did it in a way that i think was fundamentally decent as well. Ive been down there. Ive seen these people. I was at the border in venezuela where these folks were coming into columbia. These are people in difficult circumstances and they are dying and women are being sexually trafficked along that route from venezuela and Central America. It is not decent to open a border and asked them to come do that. It is deeply immoral in my judgment. Your second one, how do you stop . What do you do . Everybody remembers there was a cnn ran a piece. I dont know. I think it was in somebodys book. Theres been so many books written. Its amazing when i see quotes in there from me and im like i said that . Anyway, america President Trump was accused of wanting to bomb mexico. And i remember seeing this on tv and saying no, that was actually me. And it wasnt bomb mexico. The truth was that we could see precisely what you described. When weve done our work in the middle in afghanistan we were attacking ungoverned space. We were attacked from 9 11 from this place where there was no government controlling it. Thats always been 6000 miles away from us. This is why when people say well, mike, thats Foreign Policy no, this impacts us here. Today that ungoverned space isnt just in afghanistan. Its a stones throw from el paso. There is no governing rule. There is no sheriff. The cartels are running the place any Law Enforcement, there is on the take and that is on our southern border. This is deeply dangerous. And so the story that they got wrong was, we were considering how we operated in ungoverned space in the middle east, how we might protect america from ungoverned space on our own border. How do you prevent the shipping xi jinping from moving these drugs into america to undermine and put our nation in decline . What are the tools we might have . And so we began to think about how we might use the full range of americas capacity to protect us from these ungoverned spaces. We should renew that. It will be a hard fraud, difficult conversation with the Mexican Government for sure. But this is about us and this is about protecting americans and you were both talking about the lives that have been impacted. Americas leaders should be resolved to figure out how to stop it. It is absolutely possible not to get to zero, but to take it down substantially. Time for one or two more questions. Thats a short way of saying im answering too long. [laughter] its very kind of you. Hey, mr. Secretary. I think youve mentioned, i think almost every hot spot in the world and it seems crazier every day. But you know, blessed be the peacemakers. Can you just talk about how you were able to help orchestrate the Abraham Accords and where you see maybe things going from here, if theres potential for expanding that. So for decades weve sent a lot of our kids to the middle east to fight and risk their lives. And if theres one thing President Trump was pretty clear about, didnt want any part of that. We also knew that this is an incredibly unstable place upon which the world depends. And we needed to figure out a way to meld these two ideas. How do you keep from having to send marines and soldiers and sailors there, but deliver peace and prosperity of the region to take down risk . And so i cant tell you that we wrote down the Abraham Accords on a paper and wrote, worked backwards. Rather, it was an evolution in thinking. It began with three central ideas. And then a little bit of luck. The central ideas were that we have one good friend and partner, the nation of israel who is a Security Partner who is a democracy that has a robust technology, Economic Community , and theyre gonna be with us. So we locked in, as a cia director. My first week i went to meet my counterpart who is the director of mossad, a guy named yosi cohen. And we put the cia and mossad to begin working problem sets against the second pillar, which was iran. I would brief the president and director almost every day, which was unusual. Its usually not the director, but he wanted me there. And he would Say Something like every time you tell me about a problem in the middle east, its about iran. You always tell me its iran. So we were serious about pushing back against the regime in iran. We took them from 96 billion in Foreign Exchange reserves to 4 billion. It is shameful that President Biden and his team have now given iran a green light, they havent lifted the sanctions but theyre not enforcing them. Same effect as lifting them. Irans economy will grow more than the American Economy this year. Thats not good. And its dangerous. Its dangerous for israel. Its dangerous for us here at home. So tuck in tight with israel push back against iran. And then this is the luck part, was part of the third pillar. We had this remarkable series of leaders. We had the crown prince and the emirates , we had an amazing leader in bahrain, we had Prime Minister netanyahu in israel and we had a crown prince in the kingdom of saudi arabia who ultimately didnt sign the Abraham Accords, but was a true partner in helping build out a framework for peace in those countries. Between trump and netanyahu, we were able to deliver a series of outcomes for each of the countries that convinced them that wiping israel from the face of the earth was bad Foreign Policy. This is amazing. No one would have believed if i was on this stage five years ago and i told you that emirati fighters would be flying in formation alongside israeli fighters. Youd have laughed me off the stage and you would have been right to do so. May not be happening right now, but it will happen in the next week. They are no longer antagonist enemies. They are partners making a lot of money together, building their lives, jews, muslims, christians, all working together. Pretty remarkable. And the good lord bless the Abraham Accords, i pray that we will continue to build, more countries will sign them. Israel will handle this properly and rightly and most importantly for us, crude oil and natural gas will continue to flow and we wont have to send our kids to this tough place. Thats why the Abraham Accords actually matter most to me. One more. Want to wait for the mike . Thank you, mr. Secretary, and thank you for your service. You are cia director, secretary of state. You obviously have had a great concern for the importance of our intelligence and our classified information. Im wondering what youre thinking is on the Current Situation with the discovery of classified documents when former president nobody gets to keep classified documents in the place. Theyre not supposed to be, not the former secretary of state. Nobody. Sometimes documents that are classified shouldnt be, we should declassify them. Sounds good to me, but if the documents classified and properly so it protects us right. I think about the information that Julian Assange leaked. I think about the the stolen documents to put our soldiers and sailors at risk. We have to protect that information. There is a reason that we have a process. So no president gets to keep them in that place either. You can hold asecond thought in your head too, though, which is that the raid on maralago was indecent and improper and historically unprecedented. And a terrible idea for our democracy. You can hold both of those thoughts in your head at the same time. Its possible that there are two wrongs that took place there. By the way, i dont know what documents were there. Well see what they were. Well see whether they were really classified. But for the Justice Department to conduct a raid on a former president s home is really, to your point earlier about our democracy it is something one really has to think long and hard about, i pray that they did and that they understand all of the ramifications that flow from that. I served on the benghazi committee. Hillary clinton had classified stuff everywhere. Everywhere. We never once suggested that the United States department of justice should raid Hillary Clintons home. We worked, we said you need to get that back, you need to put it back here. We did what decent people do to make sure that our republic stands. We identified a problem set and we resolved it in a way that didnt upend americas confidence. Ill close with this thought. We talked about all kinds of challenges. This is what we do when we come together. Thats fantastic. Theres some finance people in the room, you should know. I long america. I got a chance to travel hundreds of countries around the world. There is no nation that i would bet on more for the next 10 years, 50 years or 250 years than ours because folks, like you come out on mornings like this to debate and have a discussion. I pray that the leaders that you all elect in november will be worthy of your efforts and they will be decent. Theyll be those from both parties that they will be decent. They will respect americas history and this nation that, that ive spent so much time working on and working alongside great people to try and protect. That it is worth fighting for and you all will stay in that fight. I pray that. I hope that. I am confident that that will be the case. Thank you for giving me the chance to be with you here this morning. Bless you all. [applause] [applause] [indistinct conversation]