[inaudible conversations] are we ready to go . Great. Welcome to todays launch of the council on Foreign Relations and the pendant Task Force Report north america time for a new focus to rid the cochairs hear Robert Zoellick of course, somebody who i think last time i interviewed you we were both in sudan. So thank you very much. Shannon oneil, director and cochair, David Petraeus i think last summer i into the jew we were in iraq. So its good to be in a slightly more tame environment. I want to get right to the question of why now, why this . Reading newspapers, the attention, the focus of this administration clearly on Foreign Policy, current prices the in the middle of these, please to the idea of a pivot to asia and effectively what youre talking about in the Task Force Report is a pivot to north america. So why . Its time for a new focus. The reason is when you come back to it, our number one and two trading partners are our two neighbors, not other countries or regions of the wor
Beaming this offense to places far and wide and we have an overflow room as well because the Wilson Center is truly honored to host this event. I am welcoming some of our nearest and dearest supporters pretty thank representative jim himes of connecticut will be here or is here. I am jane harman the president and ceo of the Wilson Center. 15 years ago a disgruntled australian contractor hacked a sewage control system in queensland spilling millions of gallons of waste onto public lands it into public waters. All it took him then was a laptop and the a radio. Today our infrastructure is increasingly networked rail switches water mains power grids. Americans lives are more vulnerable than ever to digital disruption. The hacker black market has flourished. You can buy zero days for a song song. A would be cyberterrorist who arent limited in resources anymore. Its creativity. Crafting a secure internet in securing americas place in cyberspace is a huge technical and leadership challenge. I
All of us . You know like most statistics they are all over the place but by any measure there are references to 85 of Critical Infrastructure and the backbone on which we ride whether you are power plant, a financial company, whether you are a shopping center. All of that the vast majority that resides in the private sector. And local government or privatelyowned. That means that the dot gout piece or the dot. Mil that is controlling United States government is a small portion and so we are incredibly reliant for all the services we rely on that are critical in many instances to our life and sustenance whether its a hospital or Financial Bank account you are vulnerable if you are hooked up to the internet. In my brilliant introduction i referred to rails, water mains and power grids. What percentage of this is in the private sector . All of it. Did everyone hear that . Privatelyowned. Its not the federal government responsibility. It doesnt come under the control of the federal govern
The recent allowance to continue operation past a previous closure date notwithstanding, public discussions over the decommissioning of Diablo Canyon, California s last nuclear power plant, continue.