Transcripts For CSPAN2 Tonight From Washington 20121219

Some of his experiences. He took they trained him to drive vehicles. He took drivers license tests no more than one state. He became very personal and talked about some of the things i taught him. Remarkable presentation he made. And he was a silent man. Didnt talk much. He had a dynamic voice. We have not felt that voice the last few years because he hasnt been as powerful as he was, as he has aged. What a beautiful voice he hat. And the hospital they took him to in michigan, senator inknew senator ininouye, two phones, bob dole, and the republican nominee for president of the United States, and this other lifetime friend is senator phil hart, who was known as the conscience of the senate, a Massive Senate Office Building named after him. Senator said in his usual calm manner, for the children. And for the children there could be no finer role model than senator dan inouye. Congressional gold medal. Highest honor congress can bestow, the distinguished service cross, bronze star for valor, and of course, a purple hurt. Dan inouye showed the same dedication in congress as he displayed on the battle field. I want to take just a little bit here, mr. President , and talk about a meeting i had i mentioned it briefly last night, but it was ten days. I knew that senator inouye was not feeling well, so i went down to his office, and he has a remarkable office. Its a beautiful office. But there isnt one single frame on the wall depicting what great man he is. There are no awards, there are no commemorative statues, all he has in his offices are pictures of washington and hawaii. Thats he humility he showed his entire life. There was no staff there just the two of us. We talked for an hour. I would always remember having passed away yesterday, it will be imbedded in my mind. As we left, we both thought about fact we had not been able to sit down and talk like that enough. He professed at that time his words how lucky he has been his whole life. He said i got at emphysema now. I said, not from smoking. He said, i learn to smoke in the war as a boy. He smoked from 1944 to 1967. He told me he had lung cancer. But they were wrong. They took part of his lung out. He talked about how lucky he had been with surviving what he fought with lung can certification but how lucky he had been his while life, for example, the war. Im sure people would not reflect on his massive injuries as being lucky. Butth but he considered he was lucky to have lived. He had been called upon with three other people, three other soldiers, to cross a river in the dark of night, to find out what was going on, on the other side of the river, and he and his three companions, in the dark of the night didnt have all this fancy gear to see in the dark. They did their best. They crossed the cold, cold river. And took many hours. They came back and did their report, and he laid down on his bunk and he had had an ingrown toenail that hurt ever seven. And he was laying on the bed and said heres why i am so lucky. A medic came bay came by and said you have gangrene and we have to get you out of here. And he said, how lucky i was, i wasnt in battle on that day. When half of his companions were killed. He also talked about preparing for another battle, and he is getting ready to do this. He is a private. Or maybe a corporal. He said a sergeant came down and said sergeant said, inouye, report to the colonel. He didnt know what was wrong. It was said curtly. Meet with the general. And the only reason he would meet with the general was courtmartial. So he goes see the to headquarters, sees the general, and the gentles inouye, im promoting you to be a lieutenant for the battlefield promotion. But he said i was lucky. I became an officer. And also lucky i wasnt in that fight that day because we also had huge losses. Then he is scheduled to come back to america. Now another one of his luckiest experiences. They have a transport plane to take him to america. His arm is gone by then. He is told we dont have room for another litter. Another patient on the air plane. You cant go he was disappointed but the plane crashed and killed everybody on the plane. So dan inouye was a person who considered himself lucky. Those of us who knew senator inouye consider ourself lucky, just being able to know the man. After hawaii received statehood in 1959. He was their first congressman. Three years later he was a electricitied to the senate and has been a soft, powerful voice for the people of hawaii ever since. The many personal courtesies he has extended me i will never forget. May not seem like much. But i had something and i was scheduled to be in florida, and i had promoted this great senator inouye was going to be there. And i got a call from henie en henry, who was longtime senator inouyes chief of staff. He checked the schedule and its his wifes birthday and he cant go. I said i understand that. Within onhour i got a cowl from senator inouye and he said, milly understands that totally. Well celebrate the birthday day after tomorrow, when i come back. So that is somebody who is so sacrificial to other senators. As senator inouye from hawaii it was said, his legacy can be seed in every road in hawaii and every facility that makes hawaii a better place. He fulfilled his dream of creating a better hawaii. Close quote. It was strong supporter of hawaii and a strong supporter of George Washington University Law school he got his bachelors in hawaii, he law degree in washington. He was a determined representative of this nations fighting men and women. Longtime leader of the defense committee. As mentioned briefly last night there has been in any many years in congress, i have been here as long as my friend believed that my assistant leader here seated next to me today. We have been here 30 years. And there has been no one ive ever known in my three years who did more and fought more for the fighting men and women in this country. He believed the nations commitment to members of the services. Mr. President , for fear it would be lost and it shouldnt be lost, i want to put on the record what this good man did at a Prayer Breakfast a couple months ago. I cant remember who the presiding officer was but i know that my friend was there. Senator inouye had never, ever in his 50 years in congress, spoken at Prayer Breakfast. But he decided to come. He had great vigor until just recently. He campaigned on the flat cycle. He traveled to alaska to help a few months ago. Campaigned in nevada and arizona and all over the country. He had great vigor. But he came to the Prayer Breakfast and talked about his experiences. When he was boy, he never, ever had a gun. That wasnt anything people did in hawaii. And so he was surprised when he got in the army, he was such a great shot. He was the best. The best. And as a result of that he became a sniper in the european theater, and with great humility. He explained remembered killing his first person, and they were trying to take a farmhouse, and they shot a bazooka into it, and he rushed in and there was a man there, and the man need his pocket. Of course, senator inouye thought it was for a weapon. And he was killed. And inouye saw he reached for a pick tower of his family. He said he came to at the relationization at that time that he wasnt killing any soldiers. He was killing other human beings. And although he had to continue doing what he did, he ended his presentation by saying, i know exactly how many people i killed. He said, a lot of people go to bed at night counting sheep. Even though im an old man, i go to bed at night many times counting people. He was somebody who, as a result of his experiences, voted against war from then on. He didnt support the vietnam war. Le iraq 1, 2, afghanistan. But he made sheer these people had all the supplies they needed, the military force, and made it one the greatest fighting force in the world and a lot of that is attributable to senator inouye. Talk can about bipartisanship, he lived that. He was a fine democrat. He was a progressive democrat and was proud of that. But he never hesitated to cross over and work with other senators, and the best example of that was senator stevens, who was killed in an airplane crash recently in alaska. Hawaii and alaska, these two fine men representing the two newest states to the union, became like brothers, and that is the truth. So, mr. President , its really a shame that dan isnt with us anymore. He was never afraid to speak out against discrimination nation and was an important advocate for hawaiians and a asia pacific islanders. And he was chair of a committee, it wasnt a Committee Many people knew much about. Senator inouye made it a powerful committee. He traveled the country, receiving all the accolades from these tribes who had never been recognized, never had someone became that are advocate, and he was. He put Indian Affairs on the half. Served as chairman of the commerce committee, the Appropriations Committee. President pro tem of the senate. The first chair of the committee on intelligence, serve on the Watergate Committee and irancontra affair. I repeat, mr. President , this man has been one of the greatest senators in the history of this great country. He had a deserved reputation as a bipartisan bridgebuilder. He always put his country first. And his party second. In 1968, senator inouye gave a memorable key note speak at the Democratic National convention. He spoke eloquently. The country struggling in a time of deep he said, i wish to share with you the most sacred word of hawaii. Its aloha. To some of you who visit us, it may have meant hello to others it may have meant goodbye. But to those of us who have been privy to live in hawaii, aloha means, i love you. So, to all of you, my fellow americans, aloe half. Aloha. Thats what he said. So today its with a heavy heart that those of us who loved senator inouye say aloha to a great man, a legend in the senate, and his final dying word was aloha. It didnt mean goodbye. I meant i love you, and senator inouye, i love you. I come to the floor this morning for a few moments to pay tribute to one of my great friends and one of my great colleagues, danny inouye who passed away yesterday. Majority leader has done such an extraordinary job recounting his life, and i think back, what it must have meant to him as he witnessed pearl harbor at the age of 20. He said he realized at the time that the pilots in those planes that were bombing his family and others in hawaii were people of the same ancestry as his father, and is hurt him. It hurt him as well to be brand as suspect because of his japanese origin and to see literally tens of thousands of japanese americans inturned in camps because their loyalty was questioned. He took the opportunity to volunteer and serve our nation, to prove that he was willing to lift his life for america to prove his loyalty. He served in one of the most highly decorated units in all of world war ii. The 442nd ridge mantal combat team, which was comprised of japanese americans and they fought in the european theater. They came to washington to be honored and senator inouye was there it what a great moment to see these men who had proved to america their love for this country. No mo soreso than danny inouye. Senator reid recounted in detail this incredible story of his bravery that earn him the congressional medal of honor. But he was such a humble man. When you look back on his life, there were so many aspects of it that were historic in nature. Youd never know it in conversations or working with him, senator reid had the same experience i did. I visit evidence his office and it was unusual. I looked across this wasnt a picture of danny inouye on the wall. There will no awards for this man who had served more than half a century in congress. And i said to him, its interesting, your office has lot of artwork and photo but nothing about dan inknew way. He said i didnt want to put those things up. I wanted everyone to feel at ease coming in here. Didnt want to talk about my Party Affiliation or anything. I wanted them to feel comfortable and know this is a welcoming office. Thats the kind of person he was. Time and again he proved it. He started off in the territorial house of representatives in hawaii, and when hawaii became a state, he served in congress and later in the United States senate. He was there from the beginning. And what a dynamic leader he was for his state of hawaii. He did so many great things over the years. I was at the same Prayer Breakfast that senator reid recounted. There was another story he told which i will only refer to in he most most apreviousate form. He talked about his experience in the sunshiner and how he still had in his mind the images of the enemy soldiers he shot down. 50, 60 years later, couldnt get those images from his mind. He talked about befriending a fellow disabled vans in the Michigan Veterans hospital. He told me this great story that he shared at that prayer break fast how as an officer he would spend his weekends in the great city of chicago, the knickerbocker hotel. And he said he would head to the hospital, and he talked one of his fellow hawaiians, whose face had been burned off to downhim on a trip to chicago. The map was embarrassed and didnt think anyone would want a talk to him. But when danny inouye knew he was coming to chicago, he prepared place for them to stop and every one of them greeted senator inouye and his friend in a warm fashion. The story goes on from there and i wont go into the details, but he was a man who was always looking to help someone else. He told how this man who had been so brutally injured in the war, returned to hawaii and raised a family and was dan inouyes friend for life, as so many of us were. I think back as well about senator robert c. Byrds funeral in west virginia. Mr. President , it was one of the hottest days i can remember. We were up there just baking in the sun at this Memorial Service for robert c. Byrd. And i had intentionally picked a seat right next to danny inouye. I was taking off my coat. Mopping the perspiration off, and i looked at him, in his dark suit, without a bead of sweat. I said, how do you do this . Well, he says, the asian roots are important and they believe that mind over matter can achieve great things. And i can visualize myself sitting in a deep freeze now. Im not hot at all. And i thought, this man is a amazing, inso so many different ways, what he has done with his life and those stories, some serious, some lighthearted, just reflect so well on this man and what he meant. Mr. President , one of the most important things i have on my agenda is the passage of the dream act. I worked on it for 11 years there was a time on the noor of the senate, september 21, 2010. When i couldnt break the republican filibuster on the dream act, and i was despondent. Senator reid came to the noor and said a few kind words about my efforts. But then out of no, where senator inouye south recognition. He knew that it was trying to get for millions of these young People Living in america, a chance to serve their nation and prove their love and become legal in america, become citizens in america. And he took the floor, and i want to read what he said because it touched me. He said madam president , i wish to step back in history if i may. On december 7, 1941, something terrible happened in hawaiile three weeks later the government hoff the United States declared that all japanese americans, citizens born in the United States or of japanese ancestry were to be considered enemy aliens, at a result, like these undocumented people, they could not put on the uniform of this lan. Senator inouye went on to say, i was 17 at the time and naturally i resented this because i loved my country and wanted to put on the uniform to show where my heart stood. But we were denied. So we petitioned the government. The a year later they said, okay. I if you wish to volunteer, go ahead. Senator inouye said, well to make a long story short, the rem meant i serve in, made up of 0 japanese americans had the highest casualsed in europe and the most tech crated in the history of the ute. Then he turned and said i think the beneficiaries of the senator from illinois and the dream act will do the same. It was the type of short statement which captured in a few words his life, his sacrifice, what he had proven, by risking his life for this country. The reason we honor him. This morning. I close by saying two things. First, i think senator talked about his colleague of so many years and put it in a few years. He said on the floor last night, tomorrow willwill be the first day since hawaii became a state in 1959 that dane knew way will not be representing us. He really worked to shape ohio and this country. He said, youll be missed in washington, as much as in hawaii. Rays in peace, senator inouye. That summarizes how much he has meant to his and how much he has meant to america. Hi last word, aloha, as senator reid said so appropriate. This kind and gentle American Hero would leave with a greeting of love for everybody else. That was his life. I yield the floor. Senator from california. Mr. President , i want to associate myself with remarks made by my eloquent colleague, senator durbin, and the remarks made by senator reid and all of those who come to the floor to praise a one of a kind senator, an extraordinary human being. My friend, dan inouye. You know, i was telling senator lieberman when the senate put on a little retirement dinner for our retiring senators, including senator lieberman. There was senator inouye, and we looked back, it was only two weeks ago, mr. President. You know he couldnt have been strong. He wasnt well. But he came to that dinner. He sat at that table. Because of his respect for the individual senators and for this institution, and the love he had for them and for this institution. As for me, i will miss dannys voice, his big heart, his selfefacing manner, and his integrity and his patriotism. I will just say a couple of things. Over the years we all worked together on so many issueswith dan. I worked on bringing a stateoftheart, first ever, comprehensive Casualty Care Center to my state, to take care of the wounded vets that were coming home. Without their limbs, with the protest Traumatic Stress and all the problems they had. There was no such place on the west coast. And with dans help and he worked with senator stephens on this, we got it done, so that facility stabbeds as a tribute to tan inouye. In 2010 i had a very difficult campaign, as most of us did at that time. And dan said, im going to come out there and help you. And i was under fierce attack, and we had an event for veterans, and dan was the speaker and i was the speaker, and as i was speaking we heard these voices of screaming demonstrators yelling things, which were not complimentary toward me. Lets put it that way. But it was very loud, and i was so humiliate and embarrassed to hear what thats amazing patriot, and keep screaming when danny was speaking about my work and his work. Sure enough, the demonstrators kept it up and i was so upset, and i went up to him and i put my arm around him and said, dan, im so embarrassed, im so sorry. He says, barbara, theyre not going to beat you by screaming. Dont worry about it. And he went on to go to a couple of events, and took his wife to them, and it was extraordinary. I love danny with all my heart. Everytime i looked at him i smiled because he was so good. Such a good person. And i pay tribute to him today, and i have to say, i dont think well ever replace him. Never replace this remarkable american. He personified the meaning of love, and the meaning of country. Some so i extend my love to his family. In a few moments, senators on School Shootings in newtown. In 40 minutes, discussion of global counterterrorism, and then the u. S. Ambassador to china, gary locke, on the relationship between the two countries. Our First Experience was to come in a different way than every other family up here. Probably never happen again in history. And its interesting because after dad was sworn in, we went and took a picture, photo of the family, behind the oval office desk, and that night we didnt get to move into the white house because nixon had left so quickly, so unexpectedly, they left their daughter and soninlaw, david eisenhower, to pack all their clothes and belongings. It literally took seven or eight days. We had to go back to our little house in alexandria, virginia, suburbia, the neighborhood was surrounded by secret service. We had been living there dad was vice president. And ill never forget. That night mom is cooking dinner. Literally, were sitting around the dinner table, and mom is cooking dinner, and she looked over at my dad and goes, gerry, something is wrong here. You just became president of the United States and im still cooking. Steve ford, Linda Johnson robb, and jenna and Barbara Burks on growing up in the white house, sunday evening. Part or four days of American History tv, right through Christmas Day on cspan 3. Reaction to the newtown, connecticut, School Shootings continued today on capitol hill. From the senate floor, this is 40 minutes. Mr. President , we appear to be in one of those periods of time where were walking too often through the valley of the shadow of death. Senator bloomen tall and i come to the floor to speak. The tragedy that occurred, the senseless, horrific attacks on innocent people in newtown, connecticut, last friday, but we must also note with extraordinary respect and a sense of love, the depth of our truly beloved colleague, senator dan inouye of hawaii. Americas, as senator read and senator durbin made so clear, america has lost a true hero, patriot. This senate has lost a great leader, a leader whose accomplishments have been literally historic, and i think all of us have lost a friend. Last evening, senator kaka spoke about how dan inouyes legacy im paraphrasing here was all around hawaii, and all that he had done for the state. The truth is i think that most every state in the country is full of legacies of the service of dan inouye. I know its true of connecticut. It really was my honor to serve for 24 years with dan inouye here. He was exactly the opposite of all the character pictures that people have of congress today, and particularly about the rabid partisanship and personal uncivillity. Dan was a great gentleman. And the most civil of people. The kindest and most decent of people, and as senator reid said, a proud democrat, a faithful democrat, but not at all partisan. The relationship that he had with the late ted stephens on the Appropriations Committee was historic and actually inspirational. They were so different, background, temperment particularly. Ted stephens was any neighbor, my dear friend. Lets say he had a well, how do i describe it he was a very emotional person. Danny inouye was more calm. But they formed this remarkable friendship based on shared history, going back to wowar ii. Ably some sense of shared destiny in the sense they were both from the two last states to join the union, not part of the continental United States, as the first senators and were here so long, but really what united them is an enormous dedication to america. Patriotism. And i said that dan inouyes legacy is in connecticut and probably most every other state. I could just go around the state and im thinking particularly of the years and years that danny was the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and the defense Appropriations Committee there wasnt anything that we were able to do for connecticut in that time that he didnt support. Protecting long island sound. The connecticut river. And improving our transportation systems. Making grants to schools and colleges and universities, support of the Defense Industries in connecticut, which have meant so much to the defense of our kin true but also to the economy of our state. So, i salute his memory. All of us should honor and it try to emulate this great man. We come 0 to the floor today to thank our colleagues for adopting a unanimous consent last night that resolution 621, which is exactly marry rode in the words of House Resolution 833 condemning the attacks that occurred in newtown, connecticut, last friday, and expressing sorrow to all those affected by those attacks. Were still in shock in connecticut. All of us who know this little town, as america has come to know it, 2728,000 people. Beautiful town. Hardworking people who worked their way to get there. Tight families. Very religious. Very much involved in the life of the community. Peaceful. And out of nowhere this tragically is the point in the morning comes this one deranged individual with guns and slaughters 26 innocents, break our hearts, with 20 of those being young children. Im sure everybody now feels as if they are part of the family of those who were killed. You look at the faces of those children, pure, innocent, and i think of the words that one of the clergy at the Interfaith Service the other night. Theyre angels and theyre really with the angels in heaven now. The work, the response of the first responders, and the trauma that they have gone through to face what they had to face, and the carnage that they witnessed the, and yet you talk to some of them and theyre guilty that they didnt get there earlier and couldnt have stopped it somehow. Of course, they did more than we could ask of anybody. They ran to the danger, the principal, the teachers, the stories that come out about the heroism. I remember long ago i heard member speak say the definition of courage is grace under pressure. Pressure is not really the worth here. Its grace in a moment of terror. The singlemindedness and grace of the principal, the teachers who acted in a way that put their own lives on the line to protect the lives of the children, and let us speak the truth. There will hundreds more children in that building. That could have been targets of this mad man. So, we are wounded, but i will tell you that and america is wounded. The world is wounded. A priest said to me that he was so touched he received a bundle of letters from School Children in russia and it reminded me there was an incident in russia where a gunman went into a schoolhouse and killed children, and the monsignor was so touched by it. Thats the way this event has touched the world. I will tell you that this is a strong town, and you can feel the people of this Community Pulling together to support the survivors, and thinking about how they can rebuild the town and its spirit. One woman said so poignantly the other night at the interfaith sergeant, we will not allow this devent to define newtown, connecticut, and they will not the families of those who lost loved ones have been changed forever. And in that regard i particularly want to thank my colleagues for this resolution of condolence and support. I want to thank my league, senator reid, for the moment of silence yesterday in this chamber. In my faiths tradition, when you visit the house of mourning, one of the customs is for the visitor to sit silently with the mourners, and its very awkward. Its actually not the natural thing we want to do. But this tradition has come about because, one, as an act of respect for the mourners because they may be in their own mourning internally, and but the other really and we want to allow them to speak first if they want to speak. But the other, really, is that in the face of death, and particularly in the senseless, brutal death of these 26 in newtown, sometimes the best response is silence, and all that the silence contains. So, i thank my colleague, senator reid, for that moment of silence. The connecticut congressional delegation convened a vigil last night, which we all spoke and father conroy offered prayers. And another chap loin could not attend because he was at senator inknew we razz besideside with his family. Your presence meant a lot to us and the people back home in newtown. Now the question is, mr. President , can we do anything to stop this . From happening again . Even once, but hopefully more often. Can we what can we do . Ive been i understand that as the president said the president s visit to newtown was so comforting to the families, and all of the town or all of the people of connecticut. He brought comfort, and i will say he brought resolve, which was very moving and inspiring to everyone there. And as he said, these situations are always complicated. And we can always say, as we look at all the possible causes of such a tragedy, that, well, even if we did something about that, even if we banned all guns, there would still be violence, even if we provided Better Mental Health treatment, there would still be people who would break through and commit acts of violence, and even if we removed all the stimuli to violence in our entertainment culture, still people would commit these acts. Of course thats true. But do we not have the capacity to intervene at the different points in the story of this young man, to stop this from happening . At least once again . And probably many more times . Of course we have that capacity. I keep being taken back as people say that human nature is violent. Of course its violent. It goes back to the beginning of recorded history. We remember that the two children of adam and eve, cain killed able. In a terribly violent act. But i think we also have to be instructed by what happened after that, when god speaks to cain and says, where is your brother . And cain feigns ignorance and asks the question, am i my brothers keeper . And god says to cain in genesis, what have you done . You can hear in our minds our minds ear, the voice of god in anger. What have you done . You have killed your brother. You have killed my creation. And then god says, your brothers blood cries out to me. From the ground. And i think in that the bible instructs us, the words of god instruct us, we are our brothers keepers, we are our sisters keepers, and we are most of all our childrens keepers, and in that we can never say, oh, people are just violent and turn away. We have the capacity, particularly we here, honored, privileged to serve in the senate, serve in the house, serve in the white house, to do something about this. Somebody said to me, the president said, if we save just one child0s life it will have been worth it. We can save a lot more than one child if we Work Together on this. Ive talked to people since friday who said to me, why will this be any different . Nothing happened after columbine or aurora or Virginia Tech or any of the other acts of Mass Violence in our society. I dont blame people for being skeptical. Thats the truth. We should have acted earlier. And we havent. I mean, went back i proposed with senator mccain, senator byrd, senator jack reid, the creation of a National Commission on violence, three weeks after columbine, in 1999. And it passed the senate but didnt make it through the house in conference committee. So i understand why people are skeptical. That doesnt mean we shouldnt hear the cries of those children, as the guns of that mad man turned on them, and actually see their blood on the ground of that floor of that schoolhouse. Until we get something done, we can prevent this from happening to people again. We can certainly prevent it from happening to in people. I see signs of hope around us. People, colleagues who have been protectors of gun rights, saying in the last few days, this has got to change. Weve got to come together and reason together and act together and everything has to be on the table, including our gun laws. Theres a poll in the Washington Post today, very striking to moat that for the first time, when people have been asked this question, after theyve been asked it after a series of acts of Mass Violence, columbine, Virginia Tech, et cetera, aurora do you think this was an isolated act or does it say that something about more troubling conditions in our society . Im paraphrasing. For the first time every other time miami said it was an isolate lated act of a madman or mad people. This time they said it reflects a deeper problem in our society, and i believe what causes that change is that 20 of the victims in newtown, connecticut, were young children, and there is not only a heartbreak across our country about this, not only anger, but i think theres guilt, and we all ought to feel guilty, because as a society, what the attack in newtown said to us, is that we have failed to fulfill what seemed to be our most natural law, if you will, responsibility, which is to protect the safety and lives of our children. So, i hope we will ask there will be no better tribute, no better source of consolation, to the families that have lost loved ones, as proposed commission, as i did in 1999, because these are complicated questions. In almost every one of this acts of Mass Violence you have a young man, troubled, clearly, in hindsight, families, friends, school mates say, something was wrong with him. Very often and ive heard rumors about this being the case of adam lanza, so im not sauer its anymore than a rumor very often these men have had almost an hypnotic involvement in some form of violence in our entertainment culture, particularly violent video games, and then they obtain guns and two out and become not just troubled young men but mass murders. To try to intervene, particularly at the beginning with the troubled young man, and get him or if its a woman her help quickly, to make sure that our Mental Health system there is to protect and offer that help. Perhaps that our insurance system, health insurance, there is to guarantee that payment will be made for the complicated the impact of the entertainment culture complicated as well. Obviously not every young person who plays a violent video game becomes a killer. I know because i spent a lot of time looking at the social science on this, and it goes back decades, that theres a very clear pattern here where young people, who are involved in violence in the entertainment culture are more aggressive. Thank god almost none of them become murder errors, but some of them do, and we need to ask why, and of course we need to strengthen our gun laws so i hope by legislative action well convene such a commission. Mr. President , i want to make clear, i am not offering this idea as a substitute for any action that we can take now. Any action that the president can take now, for instance, with regard to the existing laws that are aimed at preventing people who shouldnt have guns from having them. Keeping guns that are military and not part of hunt organize sports shooting, off the market. Anything the president can anything the president can do Anything Congress can accommodate i support a restoration of the assault ban today. These are weapons developed by our military onlily north by private industry, for hunting or sports shooting purposes. They shouldnt be sold. Weve got the background checks and the brady bill. If you attempt to buy a gun from a licensed federal firearms dealer, why shouldnt that exist for people who buy a gun at a gun show . Where, incidentally, terrorists we know have bought guns. So anything we can do quickly, we ought to do, but i also think that a commission will make sure that we wont let the anger, the hurt, the guilt that we feel now, dissipate with time or as a result of legislative gridlock. Yes, legislative gridlock again. Remember lincolns words at gettysburg that these dead shall not have died in vain. I think that should be our animating emotion and sense of purpose here as reflected, and i think led by the president s very powerful wards in newtown, on sunday night. I remember after the terror attacks of 9 11, all the work with did to create the department of homeland security, the 9 11 commission, the legislation to to pass the legislation implementing the 9 11 commission. A lot of bipartisan work was done Near Congress and the executive branch to make those laws, laws, and to keep us a lot safer, to prevent another 9 11 from helping. But i will tell you this, in my belief, those laws would not have been passed and enacted and we wouldnt be safer today if i it were not for the extraordinary commitment of the families of people who are killed on 9 11 to get involved. They talked truth to power, and when members of congress or members of the executive branch were reluctant to act and were falling back on old political ways, selfdefensive ways, those families faced them, facetoface, and they turned some in power turned their faces away because they couldnt ticket, but ultimately those families brought about action. These families of newtown have lost loved ones, children, will never be the same. I hope and pray they can come back to some semblance of normalcy. I hope that some of them will have the courage and the strength, which really will take an enormous amount to get involved in forcing our country to do whatever it can to stop anything like this from happening again. But in the larger sense, were all members of the family. This is the american family. Those 26 people, those 20 children, were our children, our family members, and its incumbent on us now to summon, not just the remorse and the guilt, but the will to act, to stop this from happening again. And to save the lives of our family members. I thank the chair, and i yield the floor to my colleague and friend from connecticut. Mr. President. Senator from connecticut. Mr. President , i thank my colleague from connecticut for those very moving and important comments on the floor at this profoundly significant time in the history of our state and our nation. And i want to join my colleague here, who have expressed their admiration for senator inouye and our sense of loss at his passing. I admired him deeply as a patriot, a war fighter, a Public Servant who was unwaiverrerring in his commitment to our constitution, the principles of equality and justice, and our national defense, and his loss is really a loss for the country, but particularly permanently for all of us who serve in this body. I knew him less well than colleagues who spoke eloquently, like senators reid and durbin and boxer and lieberman. And one of my regrets, as i stand here, is that i did not have the time to know him better. Because he was such an extraordinary human being, and perhaps one of the lessons for me personally is that time is short, as we all know, and we should make a greater effort in this body and among us in this profession to know our colleagues, and to treasure their friendship. I want to thank my colleague from connecticut also for his very perceptive and powerful words on the tragedy in newtown, connecticut, which brings me to the floor today with such a heavy heart. I thank my colleagues who have reached out to me, including the senator from vermont, a great friend, senator durbin and so many others seeking to help connecticut, and brought home to me in these days when others have sought to provide not only consolation but also suggestions for action. And one of my reasons for being on the floor today is to talk about action. That we can take. And i want the families who are grieving now, to know that my standing here to talk about policy and action in no way means any disrespect or effort to intrude on their grieving and emotional rebuilding. But we know on friday, a tragedy befell the community of newtown, connecticut. And that tragedy is expressed in Senate Resolution 621 and House Resolution 833. I thank my colleagues in both houses for condemning the attack, and offering their condolences. To the people of connecticut and, more importantly, the people and families who suffered these losses most directly. I spent the last four days, or a better part of them in connecticut. Those three days are a time that i dont want to relive, ever. I first learned about this incident on friday morning in the midst of a normal day. I had events scheduled. I heard there was something wrong in the danberry area. As the details mounted, left hartford to go to noun, and to the firehouse in sandy hook. I arrived there as a public official, but what i saw was through the eyes of a parent. The firehouse in sandy hook is where parents went to find out if their children were okay. The way they found out was that their children appeared or they didnt. And after a while, some of the children came, some were reunited with the parents there or at the school, and their parents took them home, and others did not. I will live forever with the sights and sounds of those parents as they emerged from the firehouse. The cries and sobbing, cries of grief and anguish, the look on those faces, the murderer blasted his way into the Elementary School in sandy hook armed with a bush haventer ar15, an assault rifle. A 10millimeter glock pistol, and a nine millimeter sig sauer, and with multiple magazines, filled with ten, 15, 30 rounds, hundreds of rounds, that he used in an execution style massacre. Wayne car very, the state medical examiner for connecticut, has been on that job for more than 30 years. He has seen it all bump he said he has seen nothing like this ever. 20 small bodies, ripped apart, executed, en masse, so theres no question that evil came to newtown as governor malloy said that day. Evil came in its starkest, most inhumane terms. But heroism also came to newtown. The s. W. A. T. Team who went into that building actually saved lives. They saved hundreds of lives of students and staff in the school because the murderer took his own life when he knew they were entering. Theres the heroism, of course, of the principal and teachers and others who ran towards the sound of gunfire. They ran toward danger to protect their children. Children who were six and seven. Their faces now on the front pages of newspapers. Their stories inside. The heroism of the state troopers who had to confirm the identities of the victims for their families and stayed with those families throughout the weekend. The heroism of the community itself. Newtown is indeed a quintessential new england town. Certainly Everybody Knows everybody else. Which is a good thing. But in a way also, a bad thing. Because everyones children knew the other children. At the vigil sunday night, two of the children that attend that school showed me the necklaces they made bev blue beads. And six stars for the adults. This community is not only quintessentially new england, it is squint essentially american in its strength, its resiliency and caring and courage. Part of what has inspired newtown is the outpouring of support that they have received from all across america and all across the world. So never doubt that the messages you have sent, the thoughts and prayers have made a difference to them. They truly is. They truly is. New top is a call for nationalon reflection and coming together. Y the tragedy hit connecticut, but the town of newtown is supporter by the grief shared by allmerins americans. Also a call for act action. Its the right time to ask what we can do to stop this sort of tragedy. In recent years, there have beev horrific shootings at Virginia Tech, in aurora, in oak ridge, on University Campus and movie r theaters, in places of worship and places where unsuspected goi americans going about their liv everyday lives has the lives cut short in a fewn minutes of slaughters. In newtown, a lone gunman able to kill twenty elementary School Children ranging from six to seven years old. He killed the schools principal andan psychologist and four teachers. S sadly, there have always been and always will be mentally ill, people, mentally deranged or hateful people who want to lashw out violently at the world, andd we will n wever be able to stopt all of them. The from doing harm. Even if we cannot prevent all of these trad i dids we must not surrender and say we will do nothing to prevent any of them. S wherever i have gone in newtown people have come up to me andwee said the same things over and over, we have to do something. We have to do something, and peoplepl in Law Enforcement, families of victims, members ofe the clergy, again and again have said those words. An and so that is my commitment today. To do something, in fact to do press and prevent the next tragedy as a former Law Enforcement official and as a father, i cannot do less. Theres no single law, no simple solution, that will be a cure all. There are sound sensible stepsls question take involving some off them new. Some involving better enforcement of existing laws,f our local and state police, fora example, and federal agencies need moreor resources anded mor support. R we need do something to effectcb ivelyan ban assault weapons. Weapons not designed for selfdefense or hundred huntingg but rather for killing and ma maiming humanim beings often as many as possible as fast as possible. Weapons that are civil began versions of military weapons. Theres no reason that any such weapon should be for sale todayy in america. We need do something to ban high capacity magazines, alsoapacy involved in this mass murder. What real hunter uses or needs 30 round clips. What selfdefense situation is served by them . We need to do something to prevent mentally ill people and crlgseo from having firearms. I dont know whether better lawr could have prevented the shootee mu l the weapons he used. We must look to do identify suce people with the serious mental problems before its too late and provide intervention and a treatment, and take thosendhose weapons out of their hands. Dat, today the National Instant ita criminal background check system has prevented nearly 1. 8 million attempted purchases of firearms by mentally ill people or criminals. Clearly that alone was not ag tragic shootings. But i think we can all agree that its good those sales weres not completed and right now only 60 of gun sales involve akgro background check. We should ensure that all firearm sales involve ackground background check including guns that are not sold by licensed dealers. And those checks whenever theyre done are thorough and comprehensive. Nothing here means we should trample on the second cou ea the Supreme Court spoken clearly in the heller case that lawabiding americans have Constitutional Rights to own firearms whether for selfprotection, hunting, competitive shooting or any other proper purpose. Thats the law now, but the Supreme Court has also made the government can appropriately impose sensible regulations just as it can in many otheran areas ofconsti constitutional right. Tu r ons, how firearms are used and purchased. And everyone would agree thathat criminals and deranged people p should not be able toeo get ther firearms, on all of these issues, we have to look for sensible Common Ground routed in common sense. And b i believe telheres room for people of god will to work t together to find it. Even as i say that, im mindful se amendment rights andco violencen the past few deep passions andp us suspicious and have run deep on both sides of the debate including the chamber. T theres a lot of distrust to t overcome. Fai im here today to keep faith with the people oftown newtown a grabbed my arm and said we have to do something and that is my commitment. I will work with the president ri and my colleagues innt the senae regardless of party or geo geography,ly work withhy anyk organization that is willing to or engage in a thoughtful, constructive discussion about t what step to take to avoid tragedy like the newtown shooting in the future. Ut ill work to find a solution to the crisis. Its a crisis. L ly not be deterred by any organization or campaign thataci uses scare tactics ortimidati intimidation, because there was nothing more frightening, horrifying than tn looking in to the eyes of the te parents who came out of that fire house in sandy hook who los lost their babies last friday. That is any parents worstghtme. Nightmare. I know, there are some who say we can never do anything abouto the problem of gun violence, that we are entremplegged as a c nationhe and polarized as a political body we will continue to wring our hands at every massacre, and never take action. Nctio and yet sometimes events happene that so horrify our country andy our fellow citizens that they cn change the nature of the discussion. They change the political groundround under us. They are a tech tonic shift, i believe s the massacre of the innocent children and their loving teachers in newtown is exactly such an event. Yesterday some of my senate m hd colleagues had the courage to join this call for action and state publicly that we cannot go on as before. Senators mansion and warner, their stance is an ini invitation indeed a challenge t every other member of e the sens toen join in the common effort o find Common Ground and long last do d something to stop thehe killing. Ling i also want to thankpart particularly senator reid, ourul majority leader for the leadership in calling for a meaningful and thoughtful debate on gun violence. We have to do something. We have to do something. Ng. We have to do something. Have beseeched me over and over. I believe the o American People agree. This is our moment, and we are w the people to doe it. A and wend can, i ask each of my colleagues to listen to thoseoi voices, and to hear their own hearts. One of the thing that surprised me a little bit. I didnt conduct the nationwide survey of gun owners. Among people who owned guns they talked with, i found that very often the reaction, you know, your way of thinking before and after you got a gun is very different. I think any lawabiding gun owner realizing when he has a gun, he or she, its a huge responsibility. If you use the weapon irresponsibly or wrongly, you can get yourself in to legal trouble, of course, you can cause unnecessary misery and death, even to people who you didnt intend to do harm to. It makes you very careful. Or it should make you very careful. For most people it does. I think it would make people more careful if they all had to pass some kind of a test before they get a license to buy a gun. Host yeah. You have to do that before you drive a car. Guest you dont have to in my places. Former New York Times editor on the history of gun ownership and gun control in america. Living with guns the liberals case. Saturday night 10 00 eastern. New a few e moments a discussion on global counterterrorism. About an hour and a half. The hear u. S. Ambassador to china on the relationship between got countries. Then war tribute to the senator Daniel Inouye and connecticut senators joe School Shooting in newtown. The Senate Banking subcommittee on Financial Institutions is holding a hearing tomorrow morning on Consumer Credit reports. This is representative of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau testifying about oversight of the credit reporting market. You can see live on cspan3 at 10 00 eastern. Now a discussion on global counterterrorism. U. S. Relations with pakistan and status of al qaeda. From the brookings constitution. Its a little less than an hour and a half. [inaudible conversations] good morning, thank you for your patience. My name is daniel im the research [inaudible] at the center here at brookings. I think the issue of terrorism has been on the agenda in various forms in the United States easily since 9 11, but of course, for people like our speakers today. [inaudible] at the end of the first term of the Obama Administration, it seemed like an appropriate point to look at the track record and ahead at the challenges remaining. Im delighting we have two speakers who can do that extremely well for us today. Our first speaker in the main speaker today is ambassador [inaudible] is the coordinates for counterterrorism at the state department. Hes held number reduce government positions, im also quite pleased to say for several years was a senior fellow here at the Brookings Institution. He is also the author of two noted books, [inaudible] and the next attack. And i would say to the loss of the public, hes leaving us hes going teach and do and head the research at the dart Mouth College starting in the coming year. Im sure that dart mouth students more broadly deem ya two comments we are bruce rhode island rye deal. Hes a 30year veteran of the intelligence commune. He served in numerous senior positions in the dodd and white house. Hes a author of several books. I can actually send a fair amount of time simply listening to listing the publications. Ly say they coffered earveg and pakistan in particular in recent years. Hes one of the most distinguishes commentators on counterterrorism. Please join me in welcoming both of the speakers. We look forward to hearing from ambassador benjamin. [applause] thank you for the warm welcome. It is wonderful to be back at brookings, and here in the factualed a or it yum and see friends. I want to thank dan for inviting me and i riedel for joining us. Brookings was the home before entering the Obama Administration. Looking back im grateful i had chance to think there mu and have a chance to try out thoughts on the truly outstanding scholars of the issue who and practitioner, i should add who are here such as dan and bruce. It was in the room i spoke a little more than four years on a paper entitled strategic counterterrorism. I know, i speak for many colleagues in the government when say the brookings is a national treasure, and deserve it is our gratitude for i think bait soggy many of the smarter things our government has done. As we move from the first president obamas terms to his second, it is a fitting time to take stock of our fight against terrorism and violent extremism. Of course, to do so, we need remember how things stood when the president took Office Almost four years ago. At that time, the al qaeda core was a formable and Dangerous Organization deeply dug to the federally administrated triable areas in pakistan capable of committing the catastrophic attack. Yemen, a country we had been large disengaged for several years had become a hot bed of terrorist activity. Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had established wits the determination of the capability of striking the United States. We saw that clearly at the Christmas Season in fact in 2009 when the attempt destroy an airliner bound for detroit. The following year aqap tried again to destroy another planes trying to detonate the cargo hold. You should remember the somalia alshabaab much of south and central somalia. Against this backdrop we begin our tenure with thoughts about away needed to do to be more effective. In general, we believe we had to have a more comprehensive and to be more and genuinely strategic approach. We had to invigorate the dip that are absolutely vital to the success. We knew more over that while the military Intelligence Community in Law Enforcement agencies were all firing on all cylinders civilians agencies here in the u. S. And government around world were not sufficiently engaged. And we recognize clearly that action was not enough to reduce the threat. As much as we wanted it to. With that in mind, we put a high priority on two key areas. One was the Capacity Building. The countries around the world could a better job dealing with the threats within the border and regions and recognizing we had to address what Deputy National secure security adviser had labeled upstream factor of really a callization radicalization. We could blubt the attraction of violence and reduce the number of recruit to the enemys cause. Today four years later thing look different. Both on the ground and as ill discuss later what the sus doing. Especially on the civilian side. House. In south asia the core has been seriously degraded. Without a doubt bin ladens departure from the scene was the most important milestone in the fight against al qaeda. The removal of aqs founder was a testament to the work of countless intelligence and counselor terrorism professionals across the government. That operation further demonstrated as never before the extraordinary proficiency our military and intelligence communities have achieved in the realm of counterterrorism. And someone who had been director for counterterrorism at the white house in the late 90s i have to say that the leap in capability was nothing short astonishing. It was not just bin laden, he removed more than twenty of the top thirty leaders. Now the core finds it difficult to raise money, train recruits and plan attacks outside of the region. In yemen, the fight against al qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula is a work in progress. It im glad to say the trend lines lines are positive. In particular, the resolve of president and the people made a major difference. After holding a considerable soil and Water Assessment tool of territory aqap has been rolled back from the gains of last year. Yemen illustrated the value of a truly comprehensive approach. While were training yemen Security Forces to combat terror were addressing the needs of the people by assisting their political transition and delivering humanitarian and economic aid. Were working with the International Community to double its support for that impoverished country. We do this not only because its right to help the country that has yefm men opens challenges because the work addresses human needs that left unmet can accelerate radicalization and our partners need to know we are in it for the more than our own security. In somalia after more than two decades of the strife it marked the end of the political transition with the new provisional constitution parliament, and president. These are the hopeful signs of a new era in smo ya. The longsuffering count reach the point because the forces and the au mission in somalia amazon had Strong Financial support and training from the u. S. And western partners. Because of that could expel a shall baseball from major cities. They are try to carry out a tax gps the new government and neighboring countries alshabaab is weak end. I think question agree that is good news. And in short the al qaeda core is on the path to defeat. The two most dangerous affiliates while posing serious threat have suffered the worse setback in years. If we only had a set of challenges we would be feeling great. But as everyone here knows the events from the middle east and north africa have added a lot of complainingses to the picture. In mali are tempting to consolidate their safe haven. The return of exile fighters from the ranks gadhafis army bads Chris Stevens and three others in tripoli on benghazi on september 11th. Weak especially civil strife create exactly the kind of environment that terrorist are drawn to. Libyas provided one such case where extremist can cause real problems for states undergoing difficult transitions to the democracy. Another example is syria. There al qaeda in iraq seeks to establish a longterm dream. By fighting alongside the Syrian Opposition groups the members are working to hijack the longer struggle to suit their own extremist needs. Last week we designated on the front of the ail yes, sir of aca i which is already listed as a foreign terrorist terrorist organization. As they try to wrap themselves in the legitimate sei of the we called it a warning to support the opposition to the Syrian People and not help the terrorist group. To add to the list of new challenges, in west africa the loosely organized of collection of factions who have some ties to public sympathy. The number in sophistication to the attacks increasing and while the group focusing principally on local nigeria issues Iranian Revolutionary guard and teherans ally hezbollah. In addition to the critical support that hezbollah are providing for serious assad regime, over the past year, theres been a significant escalation in iranianbacked terrorism. Hezbollahs activity has reached an tempo unseen since the 1990s with the attacks plottedded in Southeast Asia, europe, and calf with a. It appears they carried out an attack in bull gear ya with the airport bombing in july. The forces saw to attack in georgia, india, thailand, and most brazenly here in washington, d. C. Taking steps to crack down on the activities has been a top priority. We launched a whole government approach to counter hezbollah and the activity including increased Law Enforcement, intelligence and diplomatic initiatives. Were targeting hezbollahs financing including three the see seizure of 150 million when facilitied a vast narcotics money learning scene. Were urging countries to take a crack down on hem including thereupon sanctions, increased Law Enforcement and intelligence focus and strong public messaging. We have been engaging with the partners in europe and cautionly optimistic at last about the perspective of the ue designation. Weve been working with the participator partners in other regions where they have a great influence. We are pleased with the progress were making. And we will continue to take action they recognize the behavior is unacceptable. So as we is seen the world of Counter Terrorism is changing fast. Some of of the most dangerous threats have receded noticeably. New ones emerging. And while perhaps not as threatsen now. These cannot be viewed complacent sei. The au its not apart of the popular uprising. That lead to democratic transitions across the middle east and north africa. Violentism across the region are looking for opportunity exploit the transitions. We never expected this to be a painful process. We must seek to reduce them as we work to help the state find longterm success. We greeted revolutionary event with the belief that the turn to democracy and Accountable Government would defleet extremism and mar these are early days and we need to see it through. Diplomatic engage right now is essential. We have been clearing dealing our new government the violent extremist pose a greater threat to them and their peoples aspirations than they do to the United States and the western interest. Preoccupied by the difficult Economic Development and political and constitution reforms, and hobbled by weakened security institutions. Some of the governments were slow to recognize the change. But the attack on our facility in benghazi and extreme violence elsewhere in the region began to change that. These governments increasingly showed the political will to tackle the terrorist threat. In many cases they lack the resources and expertise to handle the complex and difficult challenge. This is a you teak opportunity for the International Community to help build the capacity of the nations which are eager and willing to take on terrorism. This task comes with great urgency. We must creases it now before the threat which is proving durable becomes more serious. Some of the governments have doubts about u. S. Counterterrorism objectives. Some seek to implicate us by repressive acts by former Regime Security services. We have to work through the ideas and in fact question agree with the new governments that are reroute of the predecessors regimes. Its not what we seek, nor what is needed. On the contrary, there are numerous factors to the phenomena of radicalization repressive measures by Security Services were surely among the most potent. The goal of our counterterrorism assistance is and must be to help u countries move away from the repressive approaches toward developing frameworks. Lets be clear the part the participate partners are using of their criminal Justice Agency prosecute, adjudicated and incarcerate more they will resort to the legal methods to crack down on the domestic threat. Our security benefits when countries deal with threats within the own boards the own threats dont balloon and demand we act and we dont need to take the kind traumatic step thats cause the backlash and radicalization. Were working with closely the interagency department of homeland security, and dodd to help foreign institutions and secure their borders. Area Terrorism Assistance Program if the u. S. Government premier of counterterrorism Capacity Building from bomb detext and Crime Scene Investigation to board aviation and cyber security. They build capacity in a wide spectrum of counterterrorism skills. Offering many things. The last fiscal year ata trained more than 9800 participates for more than 50 partner nations. This isen indeed a whole government effect working with the department of justice now the bureau at the state department is and Law Enforcement sector capacity specifically too deal with terrorism. The rla as we call them will also provide the most ever more basic mentoring skills and bring prosecutors and Law Enforcement agencies up to a point where they can pursue more complex types of cases including those involving terrorist crimes. We have the adviser in the growing number of countries. These are just two of our Capacity Building efforts and there are others, for example, in the athe transsahara Counterterrorism Partnership has helped build a capacity of ten countries across the region with the training and support so they can tighten border security, disrupt terrorist networks and prevent attacks. The Program Brings together civilian, criminal justice to pursue a comprehensive approach to counterterrorism. Capacity building we all know is coming for criticism at times. When the country has political resolve they can make extraordinary strides for the assistance from others. Let me cite one example. Indonesia, perhaps my favorite example, there the government has dedicated itself to creating the civilian legal structure in Law Enforcement institutions to fight terrorism effectively, comprehensively, and using the rule of law. In disease has scored more than 100 conservative convictions in terrorist cases and the National Police has major successes in breaking up terrorist cells linked to other violent extremists ors and anyone who thinks back eight or nine years or even a decade will remember that many of sauce it athe time indonesia hung in the balance and unlikely to survive. Nobody thinks that now. Any discussion of the ct landscape of Southeast Asia is frequently omitted. The play here is the Capacity Building can work and we must count to innovate. To improve our advocacy. I said at the outset that at the beginning of the administration, we were determined to did a better job of countering violent extremism. Let me tell you about our efforts to legitimize the terrorist narrative. Under secretary clintons leadership we established center. Cfcc housed at state department is a true interagency with a mandate from president obama in the form of an executive order. Cfcc does many things incoming work with the ambassador on the range of activity to undermine extremist discourse. Its Digital Outreach Team pushes back openly on aq propaganda online in arab ya, somali, in one effort it conducted an extended campaign much focused on the triable website. The campaign which included nearly 1,000 Online Engagement together with banner and video that him macked the own style clearly ramgdzed the extremists which saw how antiaq yemen people were picking up on the messages and themes. The extremist through one of the online groups expressed concern what they called new u. S. Policy of intellectual and ideological challenge in the general jihadist forums and social media witness website these were not the only supporters to take notice of the cfcc earlier in the year the media front a well known look at the subject and leading disrupter warned participates on proaq forums to be cheerful to avoid playing to the hands of the Digital Outreach Team. More recently in october another prominent pro aq forum. Its still early to evaluate the effectivenesses of these efforts but we can say they have certainly made the enemy sit up and take notice of the simple fact. Aq propaganda can no longer spread the poison uncontested in circumstantial l safe haven in the effort another area we focused on is identifying and addressing keynotes of potential radicalization. One priority area for us has been prisons. Many incarcerated prisoners, of course, will eventually be release. Need to take steps to increase the likely time when individuals individuals are cut off from the previous extremist contact and making them effectivelily open to positive change. Third there are real concerns about radicalization in the prison setting and effect can help reduce the risks. To cancel with the challenge we rrk woo the and Justice Research substitute and dutch ngo the center for counterterrorism to develop a initiative on prison rehabilitaion at the engagement. Now more than 35 countries many multilateral organizations is have a participated in the initiative which is providing policy makers, and experts a chance to compare notes and best practices in the critically important area. You anemically that is the u. N. Agency we work with and other implementers are using set of best practices to shape the Technical Assistance t offering to interested governments. We believe we made an enormous amount of progress in tackling the vital issue over the past several years but there are still much that can be done and should be done in this area. As i hope i made clear, there is a Critical Role for the diplomacy in the broader counterterrorism effort. Whether its creating new Partnership Transitions country, strengthening older ties with the allies, expanding Capacity Building efforts or countering vie lieutenant extreme everrism in the many complexes. They have central role to play. It let Hillary Clinton transform the 30 plusyearold officer of the coordinator of the counterterrorism it a full fledged bureau. Creating a burrow has given us a boost its only a start. If theres one thing we have learned is that our approach ifs to gain traction and triewlly be sustainable we cant do it alone. Instead we need a Broad Coalition of foreign partner to press a common agenda especially on capacitying building and encountering violent extremist. Last year we launched a Major Initiative and accomplished the forum. Gctc. Advance the president s building in International Architecture for dealing with the 12 eus century threat. The 29 Member States in the European Union brings together the donors, muslim majority nation and major power from around the globe. It offers counterterrorism policy makers and experting something you anemic a dedicated plat platform to compare practices, identify urgent need and strengthen programming around the world. The group has already developed best practice documents in the areas of rule of law, combating kidnaps for ransom, the preimminent means of funding terrorist grouches and prison dereally a callization. With the core goal of strengthening civilian institutions they are suited to play a central role in the collective response. The just last week at the g. K. Of it we marked the opening of the center of excellence for countering violent extremism. The center based in the capital to will serve police and educators and reasoning use and community leaders, pots makers and in, g0. It aims to give them the necessary training to design and implement effective measures to defeat extremism. We heard from a range of members about the variety of way in this case continue to contribute to the forum success. This includes mobilizing more than 150 million in programming to help threaten rule of law suingses. They are supporting the creation of another International Center of excellence that will form a kind of twin with the cve center. An international substitute nor justice and the rule of law which have in the heart much arab awakingen by the end of twifort. 2015. They will provide foundational advance training for many are people to help countries transition in to democracy. More breedly we believe they played an Important Role not just in insuring that National Criminal justice officials vs the Necessary Court terrorism training and skills but contributing to wider rule of Constitutional Development and Reform Efforts in the region. Their mission to be provide a new education of criminal justice officials so the training and tools that are used and the reforms stick. They are making a difference but were only scratching the surface in term of the potential. At least now we can look forward to the day when countries around the globe have more of a common ens understand of the nature of the terrorist threat and common play book for tackling it. Thats because if we keep this effort going, our practitioners and policy makers will share their expertise, trained and networking together through the center of excellence, through the forums working groups, and other gctf sponsored activities. Ive gone on for quite awhile. Let me conclude. First, the clear indication that the al qaeda message counts to wane in popularity. We see in the election of moderate in libya and july the protest by libya citizens and extremism after the attack in benghazi. The violence on offer from the extremist simply does not resonate with the majority of people. We see similar signs elsewhere. Thats not a reason for a lax. We know that in terrorism small numbers can have outsizing and enormous impacts. And strong leadership or influx of funding groups can revive expanding cause great damage. This is a moment for leaning to the problem of violent extremism for continuing to degrade terrorist groups and shape the environment they operate to our partners advantage. Make no mistake the United States will continue to use the tools at the the disposal to protect itself from terrorism. As we go forward Capacity Building, counter violent extremism, counterterrorism diplomacy. These are the gross areas for the future. Prop gadget what we have learned through the International Community and the establishing durable coalition of likeminded partners is vital. We spend the last last few years cutting a path forward along the lines. I think we have a lot to show for the efforts. To achieve the success we need in the security we want for the American People and the global community, will need push farther ahead, expand our effort and devote more resources and attention. As i prepare to leave government, im convince questioned do this. We can make a difference for our common future. I want to thank you very much and i look forward to your questions. [applause] thank you. Id like to turn it over to bruce riedel. Thank you dan, and thank you dan. Its a pleasure to be here with the two dance. Its a pleasure to salute his service to the country. I had a pleasure of working with dan in previous administration, he is a remarkable partner to work with and i think you saw today the wealth of ideas and enthusiasm that he brings to this effort. What he gave you today a remarkable wealth of data about the Obama Administrations strategy in dealing with counterterrorism. He was i would have expected rather modest in talking about his own role and that of fct. Im stuck in the prebureau terminology. For those dont know its the part of the u. S. Government that tries to bridge diplomacy and espionage for us. As i would like to say tries to bridge diplomacy with skull dug i are. Its not an always easy bridge to make. The diplomats at the role of espionage and he nettic action and they look with great deal of wariness at the role of the diplomat. Its an increasingly important and vital role we make this bridge. We cannot kill our way to dealing with the problem of al qaeda. I think this morning you heard an awful lot about kinds of programs the Obama Administration has put in place. Im going nows can a little bit more on the enemy since you heard a lot about our side of the equation today. Naturally being in the think tank business probably look at challenges we face ahead a bit more than the programs we have in place to deal with them. On the bottom line, though, dan and i think are in violent agreement on most points. Youre going hear a lot of amen corp. Russs out of me. I to hope to put in a new nuances on two particular issues that may spark more discussion and controversy. Let me begin where dan began four years ago. Four years ago, this december we were on the edge of calamity in south asia. Not only was the al qaeda core virtually under no pressure whatsoever, we had seen the worse terrorist attack, i think, since 9 11, the attack on the city of mumbai. We now know a great deal more about the attack. We know that attack was combo platter, if you like it between the group that everyone gives credit for socalled army of the pure. As well as the pakistani intelligence services. We know that from the testimony of two americans or one american and one canadian in american courts. We have good reason to believe there was a third player in the planning of the operation. , which is maintained a low profile at the time and since. That was al qaeda itself. This attack underscored how danger use the situation had become in south asia four years ago. And i think dan is right an emphasizing its where the administration can rightly claim to have made the greatest progress in dealing with the al qaeda core. The core is an american phrase were talking about that the more proper term jihad idist use they see it as the mothership. The mothership and the associated allies impact a host of other groups remain the epicenter of the global jihadist movement. Despite the blows we have inflighted on it remains in my mind the most serious and dangerous group. The objective, the core plan the most dangerous in the world to prompt a war between two Nuclear Weapons state pen and efforts to keep it from happening has to remain the goal. President obama has every right and so does sct and secretary Hillary Clinton and dan benjamin every right to be proud of the damage we have inflicted on the core of al qaeda. Not just thely elimination of high corral target. Number one the successful prosecution of the drone war. For understandable reasons the ambassador didnt use the d word. Im fortunatefully a position where i can use the d word. The drones have proven to be remarkably successful. Of course they come with a price. What is most striking about this when you look at it is that the prosecution of this conflict is come with us keeping the government of pakistan as much as possible in the dark, and over the objections of the government on pakistan. President obama made an extraordinary decision in 2011. After he and his predecessor provided the government of pakistan with over 25 billion in military and economic assistance to fight al qaeda when the moment of truth came, he decided we couldnt trust the government of the pakistan. He was of course right. And the reason we have been more successful in dealing with the problem of al qaeda and pakistan for the last four years is because we have taken more confrontational approach to the government of pakistan. Ben is rightly a good diplomat. Said none of that and probably wont confirm what i said in questions and answers nor should he. I think we should no illusion that we have come to sort of new conclusions about our pakistan partner. And secretary panetta undercored it again for the third time in a row he wept to south asia and decided to skip one stop. We have a very difficult ongoing relationship with pakistan trying to get that right is going to continue to be the heart of diplomacy of fighting counterterrorism. We need work with pakistan and we need realize that pakistan is also on the wrong side. Let me turn secondly to the arab awakening which dan rightly illustrated as the new challenge that is emerged over the course of the last two years. If two years ago on this day dan and i have been doing an event and we have said that within two years four deck take or its would be toppled. A fifth could have been saved by saudi tanks a six would be struggling to hold on to stay in the country and the seventh would be on the way out. You would have said the brookings dont know who to hire. They have crazy people. No one predicted what would happen going on in the arab world that we have seen in the last two years. Nobody could anticipate the space it could create. And al qaeda didnt tapet either. And they were caught on the back foot for the First Six Months its seener rent to the whole structure. They are a learning organization. An adaptive organization. It doesnt seek to be popular. It never sought to be popular. It understanders terrorism is not a popular contest. Its about killing people. Its never a popular thing. It sought to exploit the failed spaces that have opened up and dan laid them out nicely ma lie, syria, the yemen made some progress in closing soft the spaces, its a daunting challenge and a challenge that rightly points out has to be met by getting our new partners in the war on terrorism to react in way different than the old way. We were the most enthusiastic supporters in the middle east. Every one of the tin horn dick theyers with few exception was the close partner and the one who survived actually are still close partners. And handling that difficult juggling act will be a significant problem for dans suck suffer. But the strategy of trying to persuade our new partners to do it in a different way i think is on the mark. At the most difficult from all of those may in the end prove to be al qaeda in iraq. That is the one which if it gives my nightmare more than any other. Its that. This is an organization which we have successfully decapitated through action over and over and over again and like the energier bunny. It seems to be running back on stage. Now its found the new front in syria. Which is very dangerous to dwoment. Let me conclude briefly what i see is three big challenges ahead for dan and secretary clintons successor. One, the arab awakening is not over. It may have stalled tremple prayerly in damascus but the days of political change in the arab world have not gone out and the arab awakening in my view is likely to claim more victim and likely to be more empty spaces in which al qaeda can oasht associate the terrorist groups. Second big concern i have is israel palestinian front. Israelipalestinian issue is the narrative heart of al qaeda. Its been the issue that al qaeda has successfully exploited over the years to recruit. I once saw a hearing in the book nights under the profit banner noted whenever were in trouble, we can always raise israeli issue. That will always produce more jihadist. The problem now is israeli palestinian. More sobers including myself believe the twostate solution is guying in front of the us. And all of the efforts we can do on counter narrative are going have a big hole in them if we cant find out wait to get something moving. On the israelipalestinian political process. And last but not least, is the afghan. How we manage the departure of the transition of afghanistan will be crucial to how we deal with the first problem the problem of the al qaeda core. The drones despite all the brilliance cant operate on missions flown all the way from nevada. They have to have a base. Theres only base in their mind that is afghanistan. For the for seeable future we need to find a way to make it work. If that challenge i think is going to be one of this obamas second administrations most difficult ones to manage. On that note i encourage you to ask hard questions to dan and give me softball. Before i open it to everyone for discussion, im going to ask a question on my own that were probably be a bit of a softball. I hope not too much. Its a question for both the speaker, which is what we have seen happen in the last decade theres progress against the corp. We have seen the spread of the ideology and really the spread of operational connections throughout the broader muslim world and times the places i didnt anticipate. Mali being a recent example. Nigeria, what makes some of the indication cases difficult for me the linkages to other al qaeda as bruce would say. Are to me, theyre there but not necessarily terribly strong. The question to me on whether if we engage and treat these organizations as enemies, are we actually making enemy. Are we going turn them to groups actively targeting the United States u. S. Personnel and the u. S. Homeland . But if we dont do so, are we simply allowing them to become strong and only after theres a serious problem, dealing with it and id welcome both our speakers thoughts on how to tackle these groups that are half way there, or half way praguemented. Well, first of all let me say as always bruces analysis is brilliant and spot on and i look forward to coming back why no longer have a government badge so i can discuss many of the issues. Regarding your question, dan, which is something i think we discussed over a number of years. The longer [inaudible] the more i agree we need to have the central aspect of our strategy to detachment of those elements that arent focused on striking us and the continued application of pressure on those that are. I think that if we look for example in africa, most of the activity is going on these days, certainly outside of syria in terms of growing threat, we see in northern mali two groups that are definitely terrorist orientation and probably can be confident they want to strike us. That is al qaeda and islam [inaudible] which longterm ambition to do what all do is yes, they have local agenda but striking the enemy remains constituent in part of the identity. And which is splintered group from al qaeda run by, you know, former aqim commander. There are two other groups that question ought to pry away, if we can, and this is a key part of the strategy that is emerging from the discussions in new york over International Community approach to mali and also in the region, which i spent a lot of time in lately. And theres a strong feeling that, you know, those tribes live there. They will be there for a long time. And they dont actually have an ideology for the United States. They have out of a set of greechesessen on the not really bound up with bad actors. But that its in our interest to pry them away best question. Thats why the establishing the dialogue with the North Central part of the u. N. Security Council Resolution on mali. I think that in general, it is wise to limit the number of enemies you have not to create new ones. But at the same time, most of those all of those who have taken on the aq affiliate status do have that thought. Ly point out in the treatment of alsha baa. We east africa al alshabaab is concerned with what went on in smol somalia and how it had an important impact how we treated the group. Similarly when we look at them we see a group heterogeneous. A lot of the elements are interested in criminal activity, some may be interested in terrorist activity. A lot are interested in the traditional political and economic grievances in northern nigeria. We try to take cog distance of that in our policy. It its tough to have the general rule you shouldnt increase the number of people who want to kill you is a wise one. We do not want every terrorist and back in the world. It took us seven years to self correct. I think that this administration has made a self correction. Now i would like to open it up. Please wait for the microphone, and please identify yourself before you ask your question. Yes, sir . Hello, i hate to ask this question, but this program has been called counterterrorism report. Even the way the United States ratcheted up old worn, the Obama Administration is now looking at this. Shouldnt this be called a terrorist report . Because that is what the United States is engaged in. The drone is a new dimension in this whole process. And i hate to see that come to harm the United States. We have shooters and hopefully some drones wont land on these public places. Putting that into a broader context, we have seen some of the Bush Administration policies continued. Some have accelerated. Are there other areas where you would like to see improvement . Well, let me begin by saying that theres there is very little i can say about this program. As you all know. I think there is a significant difference about this policy, you know, that involves the conquest of the very large country. Some of the other things are also under discussion as well. I think that your description is not really act. And i think that we really have, as the president said, and his chief officials have said, we have worked so that counterterrorism is part of our foreign foreign policy, but it is not our foreign policy. It is not the totality of our foreign policy. But it serves our counterterrorism goals. I think that after 9 11, to answer your question this weekend, you know, the great and Creative Springs of American Ingenuity were seven to force with a lot of interesting technology. A lot of different technology. The special operations of the United States is one of the major developments of the last decade and a half. So undoubtedly, there will be continuations. I would like to leave off this sinking that we have been feeling. Other programs need to be started. They will it will be an important part of the solution over the long term. The kinetics are not going to win this for us. The groups in the violent extremism, the ideology, the networks, they are not going to go away or even be sufficiently diminished until there is a lot of pressure from the communities in which they are located. The government controls those territories and these things are embedded in the governments practice. Thank you. Thank you very much. I would like to ask a question of ambassador benjamin and ambassador riedel. It is particularly triggered by ambassador benjamins characterization of the current state of affairs. Last week, nick introduced this report Global Trends 2012. I was surprised in reading through the report at what seemed to be a relatively minor portion of the report that focused on this issue. There were some observations made in the report that feel like they might be someone in opposition to what has been said this morning. One is the islamistbased or islamist driven terrorism. Islamicbased terrorism is on the wane in may and nba relic of the past by 2030. That could be a slight exaggeration, it is suggested that that could happen. Second, the narrative as the u. S. Being the devil the narrative is also on the way out. In general, and the report, there were lots of other things that got a lot more attention than this. I think my question is, assuming that i am giving this report a fair evaluation, i am curious to know whether you think that the mix of observations are based on fact and hope and whether they drive in the world as the two of you see it. Thank you. Well, i will start off with this point. I will say looking at what we saw in tunis in many places, it certainly seems that the populations that have historically produced lots of extremists, but those populations are not interested in violent extremism, but in building better laws for their families and their communities. Within the international system. You know, there is always a dangerous threat of rising expectations. But at the same time, you know, that fundamental orientation was pretty clear. That is the basis for the relative optimism. If that is the basis for it, then i concur with that. Those trends and events are the ones that will have a profound effect on what people think in the future. At the same time, i remain concerned that as long as theyre increasingly dangerous technology, we will have people who tried to get hold of it to use it. It is something that we need to worry about. [inaudible] i did read the key judgments and my answer is that it all depends. What is going on today in pakistan . There are Progressive Forces that are fighting very hard to change a halfcentury if not multiple centuries of politics. Politics for decades in these countries. They could do anything they wanted to to anybody at anytime. And naturally that produce anger and resentment and not just the United States, but the west in general supported all those police states. With lots of money and lots of visits to the oval office. We are now seeing profound effort of change in places like pakistan and egypt and tunisia. And how that all goes will determine whether the mixed prognosis of the violent left extremism turns out to be right. The reality is the decision, but it is not an american decision. We can help. The kinds of programs fighting violent extremism that we have heard about today can help. We can also show of real interest to this. History tells us that we are better at being on the wrong side in the right side. We need to decisively change that. This is an opportunity that we need to seize. Hello, i would like to ask you a question. No one of these arms poured into libya with qaddafi, as you said earlier. A lot of those weapons made their way into the hands of potential terrorists. The heavy financing of the government and those kinds of things [inaudible] they end up in the wrong hands. On one hand, people tell me the United States and its allies on the government sympathetic and on the other hand the chief of the Muslim Brotherhood [inaudible] they are a host of sometimes to the leadership of hamas. It seems rather ambiguous for tiny. How do you deal with this, and how do you make sure that customers have the ability to give and the libyan experience, that what they do is of interest to the United States. Of course come to have their own interests, but how do you manage it . Well, let me just say that we have a very strong and lively relationship that is involved deeply in most if not all of the major issues of the day. In syria and other places. I have had very good experiences as i said earlier, we designated this front is part of our outreach to demonstrate partners around the world that there are groups that should not be supported that do not share the same kind of vision as syria in the future that we do. And we have a company that has public designation with lots of private discussions with officials from a range of different countries. They are concerned about what is going on in syria and that has been in connection with the opposition. I think that is probably as far as i would like to go. It is an ongoing issue that i think the problem of extremism in syria is a very extreme on the need to pay a lot of attention to the max very briefly, i will just say this. The challenge that american diplomacy faces is on the one hand, we want to see the revolution succeed. We want to see them develop in positive ways. Rule law, accountability, so forth. At the same time, some regions are very important to this process. Jerry mentioned in aqap plot. Saudi intelligence played a very Critical Role. American diplomacy looks like it often takes offense. Until the arab awakening becomes more clear and works out as a phenomenon. We will need to continue the close allies in key partners with those countries and saudi arabia. We would all love to see reform and change. Yes, hello, i feel a little bit of a difference between the two of you. And i would like to see if i can figure it out. The changes of the last four years, many of which i think have the strong right to be proud of. But one of the waning support for al qaeda, and bruce riedel talked about al qaeda killing people and the various states. So id like to ask the two of you is what you think is the significance of the indicators that we do have the Popular Support for al qaeda . Well, al qaeda had a brief moment where they had Popular Support. Popular enthusiasm. Unfortunately, after 9 11. But that waned pretty quickly. From the beginning, there has always been one great strategic influence. And it is chart productive to those trying to defend the islamic world. The Bush Administration started this, so i think they deserve some credit, highlighting the fact that al qaeda principal victims are muslim. But as i said, the question of popularity is longterm trend. It has do with trends in the middle east, trends in south asia and the middle eastern conflict. But for terrorists, those things are not always terribly relevant on a daytoday basis. They dont need to recruit 50 of the population. On each recruit is 19 individuals who are willing to commit mass murder and kill themselves for a perverted political version of a religion. That is the challenge of counterterrorism. We want to drive this one, but at the same time come we have to realize that some parts of the swamp are not susceptible to being dried out. I think we do disagree a little bit on al qaedas view of its own mission. And i thought as far back as last year that they are interested in being vanguard, and they followed at vanguard. I think some of the documents that came out of that suggest that they felt isolated. They didnt have the kind of message that was going to attract what they wanted. A lot of terrorist groups have at their core a lot of people who are addicted to violence. And maybe dont spend a lot of time thinking about how they had become a broader movement. But i think that for bin laden and others that that has always been an important thing. I think they have enjoyed some of the romance of isolation as well. Its a complicated picture. I do think that they feel that they need to have ground and have a broader support from the public. That is why think the overall trend towards unpopularity is a good one. And it makes themselves feel good from the perspective of counterterrorism. Because ultimately, on the frontline, they play a decisive role in picking up their phone or cell phone and this is what is going on that we dont like. We find across a wide array of different societies, we encourage that kind of resilience in our own communities. We have seen it built extensively in saudi arabia in their efforts to deal with extremism. And the popularity issue is a significant one. I wouldnt ever confuse that with how people feel about us. Because those are very different things. Hello, my name is charlie markel. I was most recently with the Senate Home Security committee were at work, among other things, on the fort hood inquiry. So i know a little bit about extremism. I want to thank all of you on the panel for your presentation and service. The israelipalestinian dispute is a huge driver of antiamerican extremism. Not just in terrorist groups, but the population at large. In a lot of places where we have friends. I have a threepart question. The first is what can we do to encourage a resolution in the second part is how can we do that successfully. The third part is in regards to the Strategic Benefits and if we can succeed. The map it is an extraordinarily difficult question to resolve. I have spent an inordinate amount of my life was israelis and palestinians, trying to reason with them, and cant claim any measure of success. That being said, i think we are substantially different from where we have been in the past. We know about israel and the palestinians. President clinton laid them out 12 years ago. The question becomes, what we prepared to do to make that happen . That is a question of political will. There are huge obstacles on both sides. The forces of peace have been on the defense for the last several years and are likely to continue to be on the defense if there is no serious effort to do something about it. Question of political will, i will answer it this way. I think we do nothing about this, the next generation of americans are going to look back and say, what were they thinking . What were they thinking . They knew this was the driving force in extremism. They knew how Many Americans and others have died. President obama made a very compelling speech on sunday night. And much of it could be made about the Palestinian Conflict as well. It is a question of political will. We have applicable . It wont be easy. But there is a difference today from the last great effort that was made in the clinton administration. We at least know where we want to go. It helps a lot if you know what the destination is. Well, i would like to let you know that theres not too much i want to say on this issue. I think we do disagree a little bit on the role that the israelis play on violent extremists in Many Disparate parts of the world. There is no question that the narrative makes good use of this conflict as an example of western domination, colonialism, and the like. And i think that if you look in yemen, north africa, Southeast Asia where people have strong feelings very strong feelings about the conflict. Still, you would find that that was not was what was attracting people to terror. The reason i think that is important is that it is vitally necessary continue to pursue all of the things we are doing and counterterrorism. Whatever happens to the peace process. I do think that there is an awful lot of continuing management and diminishing of the threat that we can achieve, regardless of what happens between israelis and palestinians. I think we all have concerns about security in that region. But i do not think that that ought to condition our counterterrorism policies. Sarah peterson from the center of american freedoms. You mentioned global counterterrorism forum. The organization is founded upon the goal of reducing vulnerability of people everywhere. Is israel still excluded from this . Are there plans for the future . This issue was on the agenda in abu dhabi in the group has agreed that the cochairs are going to put forward a proposal. Not specifically on this issue, but how nonmembers are engaged in the future. Because different parts of the organization were embracing different practices, if you will. We believe that israel has an important contribution in the various working group activities. We have certainly spoken to the tears about it. We simply will continue working with this and we will determine that we will get a positive outcome on a. The issue of involvement in future activities, we strongly believe that the activities of the group are benefiting everyone security in a very material way. Stronger legal institutions, better and more effective efforts and that has to be in everyones interest. Thank you very much. [inaudible] i am concerned about your statement that local terrorism is having al qaeda the connection of the plan to expand. I would suggest to you the publisher evidence since you cant so we can take care of that. The task force, which is basically in charge, we dont have any information with that. So if you could provide us with that, we will be able to make sure that africa remains for african interest in not foreign. Thank you. All of the information is publicly available. Theres a lot of information that can be made public. But i would point out the u. N. Mission in nigeria was bombed by volker braun, and that suggests a broader view than just a nigerian one. Thank you very much. [inaudible question] the question is from [inaudible] what do you think if comparison to the last 17 years, how much the relationship between the pakistanibased military organizations [inaudible] al qaeda and others on the floor the extremist organization, e pakistani officials. [inaudible question] in comparison, has a relationship been broken or have they been getting stronger and stronger . That is a good question. And i will try to be very brief. The connections between various extremist and she hottest groups in pakistan and al qaeda remain very deep. As i have suggested, i think the plot is carefully studied and underscore some of the connections. I think we have seen it in other things as well. You know, people tend to give away their real feelings in moments of grief. For the hottest groups in pakistan, the killing of Osama Bin Laden was a moment of grief. Its pretty hard to say that they dont have the connection, when in the moment of eulogy time, they come in and say we are so sorry to see him go. One thing i want to say here that effort has been led in the government to narrow al qaedas focus and put some of these other groups on the agenda. Much more on the agenda of the american counterterrorism unity today than it was four years ago. I think the state department deserves 99 of the credit for making that happen. We have certainly tried to put this on the agenda. It has been a subject of dialogue with pakistan and also with a number of other partners. And i will just say that one big item on the agenda is undoubtedly going to be going to see more probably in pakistan. Al qaeda is on a path to defeat, but there is a lot of extremism. We have a failed attack in the United States that was driven by the [inaudible name]. We have a number of others that are quite dangerous and should not escape attention. Various levels of discourse on them and do what we can to help pakistan deal with them. You know, bruce made some remarks about pakistan before and i would only add to that that more extremism has been taken off the street in pakistan than anywhere else. While this is a difficult relationship, there have been lots of successes in the counterterrorism relationship. A challenge of a relationship, but an essential one okay, we are out of time. I would like to offer my thanks to investor benjamin choosing bookings for some of his closing remarks. In particular for the excellent job he has done. Those of us who follow counterterrorism closely know that we came in with significant challenges and i think our country is much better off. Thank you all very much for coming today. [applause] in a few moments, u. S. Ambassador gary locke and the relationship between china and the United States. In about an hour and a half, a tribute to senator Daniel Inouye. And then Richard Blumenthal on the shootings in newtown, connecticut. And the Brookings Institution continues a discussion on global terrorism. On wednesdays washington journal, a discussion on Mental Health issues. Cochairs of the Mental Health caucus, tim murphy of pennsylvania and Grace Napolitano of california. Developing and implementing emergency plans and we will hear from Scott Stossel to talk about his two recent pieces about the rise of manufacturing in the u. S. Washington journal is live every morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Prefers experience was to come in at a different way than every other family appear. It will probably never happen again in history. It is interesting because after dad was sworn in, we went and took a picture, a photo of the family. And that night we didnt get to move them into the white house. Because nixon had left so quickly and so unexpectedly. They love their daughter and son in law to tackle their clothes and belongings. It literally took seven or eight days. We had to go back to our little house in alexandria, virginia, it was surrounded by secret service in the neighborhood. We lived there when dad was vice president. And i remember mom was cooking dinner. We are sitting on the dinner table and mom was cooking dinner and she said, jerry, something is wrong here. [laughter] you just became president of the United States, and i am still cooking. Growing up in the white house, sunday evening. Four days of American History tv right through Christmas Day on cspan3. The u. S. Ambassador to china says the relationship between the two countries continues to be mutually beneficial. Gary locke spoke to the asia society in new york for about an hour and a half. Thank you for coming this early. I appreciate it mr. Ambassador, no one wanted to start. Thank you. It is really a treat for me and a pleasure. I always watched you on abc in all the different shows in which you have been a commentator. Also bridging china and the u. S. , people to people, culture and history. It is a pleasure to be here with the two of you. A couple of comments. First of all, i know that people in china send their condolences for the children of newtown, connecticut. All the members of the town are very concerned. Just within the last couple of weeks, we have undergone and seen political events focusing on states of china. Obviously, the reelection of president obama here, and the announcement and the unveiling of a new group of leaders in china. Both aspects bring about continuity and change. We are going to have a secretary of state. If you believe the press reports, it will be senator john kerry as secretary of state. But the thing i want to impress upon is that there will be continuity in the u. S. And china relationship. For quite some time, the leaders of both countries have been committed to greater engagement with each other. Really working very hard at developing a constructive, mutually beneficial relationship. One with operation. The reason is that so much of the worlds economy is in the asia pacific arena. Almost 60 of the worlds gdp is in the Asia Pacific Region. We are so economically intertwined at two countries. China is americas number two exporting destination. Number one outside of north america. It is our agricultural number one export destination. We used to go back and forth between canada, but now it is china. His current years agricultural exports are 40 higher than they were a year ago. Exports of goods and services are 50 higher and have grown by 50 interest last two years, which is almost double the rate of exports to the west. Millions depend on exports of chinese made products to the United States. And so we have to figure out how we can get along, not only because of our own economic selfinterest, but because of the history of the Asia Pacific Region will be written by the United States and china. Many of the problems facing the world today only be solved with the United States and china together. I think the entire world is looking for leadership from both china and the United States. We have to get this relationship right. For real people, we are off to a great start. If you look at where we are today compared to where we were 40 years ago when nixon first went to china, celebrating coming to an end of the celebration of 40 years of relations between the United States and china we have incredible interdependency. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] you guys wrote the story of my being nominated for ambassadorship rate signal have to paint the story as to whether im staying or leaving. Lets talk about the other things that you mentioned. He has are to come out with several announcements about the pomp and circumstance and red tape he talks only about his visits in america. Its time that he spent in iowa. He paid a lot of attention to the people and the families he was visiting. And he asked them very important questions about their daily life. He was asking one of the lives of the farmers, do you feel isolated after being away from shopping malls. You get bored out there. He was asking a lot of questions about the technical aspects of the combine. And hed repeat the hospitality that youve shown when he was in muscatine, iowa, a year ago, he invited all the people that he had stayed with and had visited to china and pay for their way. You studied every chinese leader and how is he different . Well, you know, i think what is so interesting about the situation he was a big leader that had a clear policy and acted very boldly. [inaudible] what you know about this period . Well, they said that he had a physical ailment. The first reports were that he was upset with the United States and the Chinese Government was upset with the United States. So he refused to meet with Hillary Clinton and came up with this excuse. And he actually had to cancel this is with top leaders from many other countries. Those partners of china. It was for a period attending in two weeks. He then did me with the secretary, leon panetta, and joked about all the rulings that have been made and floated about concerning this absence. The more while we can see, there does appear to have been some physical ailment. One more question. With the ambassador, you have these big stories in the New York Times. We also think the United States government has a hand in some of these stories. The basic freedom of press we are not going to put pressure on everyone. [inaudible question] it didnt create a ripple throughout china. At a time that there is a growth occurring throughout china how is that working . The way it works, the reason why these liberals like bloomberg put their 2 cents in. Again, not him, but others like him. There is a kind of insensitivity that is growing to the fact that some government officials can and do enrich themselves. And it is okay for them to do this on a lower level. [inaudible] but i have to say if we dont control this corruption, it could be the end of the states in the party. He also made his first visit as leader with economic reforms, and he asymptote conversations as to how china is handling the. Well, hu jintao did the same thing after economic reform. But then he also went to meet with the military commanders. And he was a little bit more muscular and masculine. He talked about some and see in this rattle a few cages in japan. There will still be a lot of pieces missing. How does that matter to the United States . It very much matters. On issues like economic reform opening up the economy, moving away from an export driven economy to a more consumption and domesticbased economy, it is important for us and important for the World Economy and also important for china. We dont have a very good idea of the policies of xi jinping. He could be that future president , he might be the new head of the communist party and head of the military right now. But he has to develop a consensus among the other members of the group of seven. He may be the leader of the group of seven, but he has to get their support. Yes to develop the coalition. It may take me a while to consolidate his alliances and figure out where he can move and at what pace. To meet the Comfort Level of the other members of the group of seven. The expanding committee. So we really wont know exactly how fast and how far we will move. And in one area he will emphasize. Coming together, you wrote about it and described asia at the time that china became together as a community. They were very much on edge. They were not clear about what was going to happen. People were almost fearful and whispering about a revolution. What is going on . I think that in a society which doesnt reveal itself, very readily in terms of policy, obviously, people have concerns. There was a sense in beijing about a period of history that centered around xi jinping. This amazing period of Economic Growth and the rising of the middle class. Something coming to an end and he the head of the witness for the future. What other society in the world has had such good fortune . How long can you keep this high wire act going . That is what all the leaders are trying to figure out. I would imagine that there is also a lot of anxiety during the president ial campaign as well. It mustve made the job quite difficult because china was public enemy number one. Tell us about how you responded . They were answering questions about the policies of the United States and president obama was reelected to give this a new tone in a new course. Mitt romney, if he were elected, he called china a currency manipulator on his first day. With that, following through to the comments department which adjudicates it. I think they were very nervous. [inaudible] only to moderate after the election. So they are very aware that for all the different administrations over the last 40 years, the relationship has gotten better, and that there has been some constancy in the relationship and that everyone, all administrations have subscribed to the basic tenets. I dont want to open they would be. But i wonder about this. As they are following the election. Leaders who engage with everyday, as far as what was happening and what they were dealing with. They definitely understood the matter of politics. And that china has been politicized in every president ial election. There were many other people would be coming to visit china. Previously in government. People that they very much respected that they deplore some of the statements in order of the campaign. And then assure the chinese that they need not worry that once the campaign is over, the relationship will be restored. That has generally been proven right . Thats why i say when you look at the course of u. S. And china relations over the last 40 years, it has been fairly even and compton. The global sophistication of understanding the oddities of the american political system. Yes, i think so. We have to reinforce always that congress is separate from the executive branch and how do you explain it and what is the response . We try to explain it as a Natural Development for American Forces that drawdown. We have been preoccupied for the last several years in the middle east. As we start to pull down, we are naturally going to be looking at the various areas, the areas that are ignored or overlooked. Then we also mentioned that we are not trying to contain china. This could also includes greater engagement with china. President obama has actually met with president hu jintao and secretary hilary of state has been to china seven times. Highlevel visits by both the secretary of defense leon panetta and secretary of defense gates. It is a recognition of the entire asiapacific region. People to people, culturally. Even Technical Assistance on Disaster Relief and disaster response. So the engagement with all of asia is important. We have always been a pacific power. Our presence goes back to the 1800s