Of staff. Were really very thrilled hes been able to carve time out of his busy schedule. And spend time with us today to talk about counterterrorism in an era of competing priorities. Russell will deliver opening remarks from the podium and well sit down for a little fireside chat. Ill take the moderators prerogative and ask the first few questions then ill open it up to all you here in attendance in person to ask some questions, and we welcome all of you who are watching via live stream or via cspan. Thank you for joining us today. Russell, the podium is yours. So, thanks very much, matt. Its a great pleasure to be here amongst a number of old friends to talk about counterterrorism in an era of competing resources. I happened to testify earlier this week with the leadership at the fbi and dhs and was talking to a friend of mine yesterday from dhs and said a colleague of hers had seen the testimony and that characterized my performance as that of a thoughtful nerd, so i am hoping to a
[inaudible conversations] good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the Washington Institute for near east policy. I have the pleasure of directing the institutes reinhardt program on counterterrorism and intelligence and im very, very please to be joined here today by the acting director of the National Counterterrorism center, Russell Travers. Todays conversation is part of the institutes ongoing counterterrorism lecture series. Russell took office at nctc as acting director in august, but its not his first, second or third time in the building. He felt many other leadership positions within nctc including Deputy Director counsel to the director, acting director to the office of datacomm strategy and innovation, chief data officer, among others picky suppositions at the office of the director of national intelligence, the Defense Intelligence agency, the nationals could counsel, the u. S. Army, joint chiefs of staff so were really very thrilled that he has been able to carve time out of
Shipbuilding plan. Are you concerned with that and what more do we need to do, what can congress do to help you overcome that ship shortfall . Senator this is an area where navy and marine corps have been discussing and again have realized together although the requirement, the military requirement is 38, the current fiscal environment is going to drive us to 34. I appreciate the assistance of congress to getting us to 34 to address those that gap between the requirement and what we can resource, were looking at augmenting our lift there with other platforms besides gray hulls. Gray hulls are absolutely the requirement thats needed for the high end threat but there may be applications and opportunities to lift marines using other platforms. Thank you and again i want to tell you, i look forward to you, your confirmation. I wholeheartedly support it. I would ask some questions about concerns in the arctic, but i have a feeling that my colleague here is going to do a better job of that t
To 346 ships. And our Combatant Commanders say they require 450 ships. With continual high operational tempo, we will continue the downward spiral of military capacity and readiness until congress acts. I look forward to discussing many of these today. First, each forward class Aircraft Carrier has experienced more than 2 billion in cost growth. This Program Continues to be plagued by Technology Immaturity and a lack of reliability test data for critical systems. This is unacceptable. I repeat. Unacceptable. And i fully expect the navys ongoing study of alternative Aircraft Carrier designs to provide real options. In all three of the lcs Mission Packages most overcome Major Technology integration challenges to deliver the promised warfighting capability. Building the first ohio class replacement submarine building the first flight three destroyer with the new Missile Defense radar, radar, radar. In Naval Aviation it will take strong leadership to oversee the smooth and timely integrati
Evidence that the Obama Administration ignored a rapidly deteriorating security situation in libya. Ambassador stevens wrote this cable in august. The absence of significant deterrence has contributed to a security vacuum that is being exploited by independent actors. What we have seen are not random crimes of opportunity but rather targeted and discriminate attacks. But Obamas Administration officials are saying that the documents dont tell the whole story. They also say the release of the unedited emails could endanger the lives of the libyans working with the u. S. There is a tense situation going on right now off the coast of israel. Overnight Israeli Soldiers stormed a ship headed for its coast. Passengers say they were trying to break the sea blockade of gaza thats been in effect since 2007. Sara sidner is in israel at the port where the ship is actually headed. Good morning. What happens to the ship and the people aboard once it does arrive there . Reporter randi, at this point