Because we put together the intelligence, we did all of the backup work, we looked at the compound, and we knew in order to conduct that information we seals to doilitary that. They didnt based on our intelligence and they did a great job. That is great example of the partnership that is essential for these flashpoints. I know you cant get specific but can you explain how the cia is ramping up operations against terrorists . Inherited aneo i operation that has been at this for a long time. 15 plus years after 9 11. In the machine. The counterterrorism machine was well in place, no doubt about that thanks to the good works of my predecessors. But that fight has changed in material waste. Syria and iraq held a lot of real estate. Different than what weve seen before. Worked to continue to build that team to deliver so that partners around the world, department of defense and international, could continue to take down terrorists wherever we find them. It is also the case the president made the decision to have a commitment in south asia, not permanent but to recommit to being there until weekend bring them to the negotiating table in a way that would not make them think they can win and on the battlefield. Our partners can deliver that to secretary tillerson. You mentioned afghanistan. Obviously the president has committed more troops there the real pressure is to get past and to move the ball and affect the taliban. Had you do that effectively . Will you continue strikes on terrorist groups inside pakistan . How do you move that . Their begin by seeking assistance. Secretary mattis is traveling to the region before too long and and deliver the message that says, we would love you to do that. That is, that safe haven inside pakistan has worked to the detriment of our capacity to do what we need to do in afghanistan. In the absence of the pakistanis achieving that, we will do whatever we can to achieve it. You dealt with that as secretary of defense. I was talking to secretary schulz earlier. I went to recognize secretary schulz in the front row. It is great to have you here, sir. [applause] and, he was telling me about , youfghanistan is treated know, as a whole country but in reality it is controlled as we know by these kind of warlords in different pockets of afghanistan. Talk about the challenge of dealing with place like afghanistan. After all the years, it is the longest war with had with america. A challenge and frankly that is the reason were still there and still plagued because it is not easy. It is not easy. It wasgot afghanistan the place where al qaeda came together and developed plans for 9 11. We drove into afghanistan and the leadership from al qaeda made its way into the tribal areas and pakistan so we then had to take them on an pakistan and thanks to the agency that we were involved with, i think we did one hell of a job going after their leadership. At afghanistan remains continuing challenge. For a lot of reasons. First of all, the challenge of being able to go after the television effectively the the taliban in a way that not only goes after the securesbut then afterwards. The problem is we go after them, then they are right back. Weve worked with Intelligence Forces to develop capability and i think we have gotten much better at the job were doing, i actually think that you know, we have improved a great deal. But it the same time, you know, they need to have u. S. Support and that effort. Is notse if the u. S. There assisting them they are not going to do the kind of job that needs to be done so that is why it is important that the u. S. Be involved. Thirdly, it it remains a country that continues to have a lot of corruption and central government, as a result of that corruption, does not have a lot of sway with the tribal leaders and various other leaders in afghanistan. Until they get that act together, you are going to be dealing with different tribes that have different approaches dealing with the teleban and enemy. With the lastly, pakistan. Pakistan has always been a problem. It has been a safe haven for terrorists to come across the border and attack in afghanistan and then go back into pakistan. Have made every effort possible during the time i was there to convince pakistan to stop. But pakistan, as mike knows, pakistan has this kind of twoedged approach to dealing with terrorism. On one hand, yes, they do not like terrorism or attacks from terrorism in the country but at the same time, they do not mind using terrorists as leverage to deal with afghanistan and to deal with india. That is the policy of faith have been involved with so pakistan has always been a question. Hope jim mattis is successful at making it clear to the pakistanis they have to be able to go after the terrorists within their own territory. Unless that happens, we will continue to have problems. Has something changed significantly in recent months on that front . Not yet. [laughter] ok. [laughter] ok, while you are so forthcoming lets talk about north korea. We spent a lot of time talking theeneral mcmaster about threat from north korea and historically our intelligence is not perfect and north korea. Is there a sense, do we know how close north korea is to mastering reentry technology for . Heir icbms we do. I cannot talk a lot about it other than to say general mcmasters says we are closer. Every day they are working to hold. Our intelligence is good. We have a pretty good understanding of the scale of how far they are making progress towards being able to reliably deliver that system against the United States. These are ominous statements. What we heard from general mcmasters, what we hear from other officials ive only. That we are closer to some kind of military action potentially in north korea. It is possible diplomacy does not work as we have seen and unfold and that china cannot or. Ill not control kim jongun is america prepared militarily and politically to go to work the north korea to detect United States and our allies in the region . [crosstalk] the president has been pretty clear that he wants to denuclearize north korea. He is been pretty clear. Our efforts are diplomatic and consistence. Sincetelligence Community Director panetta has said it is rational but we also think he does not have an understanding about how tenuous his vision is domestically and internationally. Those around him are not feeding him the truth about the place where he finds himself, how precarious his position is in the world today. It is probably not easy to tell jongun bad news but [laughter] i have earned learned the art of nuance in my short tenure. We are hoping china will exert its power and we will be able to resolve this in way that does not require the military power that no one wants to use. There is this fear that we are getting closer. Of this . Ure sensible well i think the National Security director was right. It is probably the most dangerous threat in a series of dangerous points in the world. It is one of the dangers were facing right now because it is cleared north koreas focused on thatng an icbm, developing miniaturized Nuclear Weapon that would go on top of that icbm and if you look at these tests even though it is mixed results, the bottom line is it will continue to improve the icbms and i think they are very close to being able to develop an icbm that can reach the United States. That is a direct threat to the security of the United States admittedly, as mike has pointed out, there are not a lot of good options here. Mattis has done exactly the same thing. The problem is as pointed out today, there are risks involved. The risk is destroying soul, killing one Million People in a nuclear war. Easy towhy it is not try to figure out how do we do this. You are left with frankly containment and deterrence whether you like it or not. Containment and deterrence. We have to continue to strengthen our position there. Strengthen our military. Strengthen the south koreans. I would deploy more, give them more capabilities the same as the japanese. At the same time you have to improve the intelligence capabilities of both south korea and japan as well as our capabilities. I do not know. Mike knows more about this he probably cannot tell you but the reality is it is a hard target. North korea is tough. Not easy to get inside and try to figure out what this guys going to do and were been trying to do that and i think we have had some success trying to penetrate but it is tough. We need to constantly improve our intelligence. We need to continue to squeeze on the sanctions and put pressure on china to try to convince north korea to come to the negotiating table. Those of the levers we have got right now. We have to keep pushing. I think one of the most important things we have to do is we have to develop a missile shield. Shield. Tive missile not only using south korea and japan but obviously our own capabilities so that these missiles that take off we have the tape ability to hit them quickly and make sure we can do. T at some point they have to pay a price for this kind of constant testing their involved with and the oneway were going to do that is if we improve our missile capability which i think its absolutely essential to our ability to protect our own security. Defense, the reagan library, that is pretty good. [laughter] i think secretary panettas right about this idea but we should not forget this is not only Nuclear Power but enormous conventional power as well. To the extent kim jongun develops capability to hold america at risk it may be the casey not only uses it as a shield, we talk about is imperative for maintenance of the regime, but if he has the capacity he might well you said offensively. To that Nuclear Umbrella attack other places, to gain control and exert greater influence. It is not simply the threat of the use of Nuclear Weapons but kim jonguns capability to use Nuclear Capacity to further other things besides Just Protection of the regime that he might have on his mind. I asked general master but in this environment, is it ok to go to the olympics general mcmaster this, but in this environment is it ok to go to the olympics . Ask just, of course. Ughter] yes. Of course. [laughter] you were one of the kind most who spoke out against iran a lot. Beyond just the nuclear deal but their support of terrorism around the region. If donald trump ask you today, is around bang in full Technical Compliance with the iran deal, what would you tell him . They are insubstantial compliance with the nuclear provisions of that agreement. As earth the other thing around bang is doing not part of that deal, it has only increased in your eyes . Theres no doubt about that. Pasteed only look to the few weeks and the efforts of the iranians to exert influence in Northern Iraq in addition to other places to see that a rainy and efforts to be the hegemon of power throughout the middle east continues to increase. Iranian efforts to be the hegemon of power throughout the middle east continues to increase. Forces out of his control might threaten u. S. Interests and iraq. [crosstalk] his commander has also indicated a willingness to potentially attack u. S. Forces in iraq and with the consent of the Iraqi Government. Meet, did not like my heart. What we communicated to him in a letter was that we would hold him and around bang accountable for any attacks on u. S. Forces in iraq that were under his control. We wanted to make sure he and the leadership understood that in a way that was crystal clear. We are there on an Important Mission on behalf of the Iraqi Government and we intend to stay there as long as the Iraqi Government wants us to to perform that Important Mission. Syria,nt the u. S. In working for russia, providing cover for ran . It seems like threedimensional chess. You move on peace and there are three other pieces moving. Incredibly complicated. From an intelligence perspective, we want to make sure we can continue to do it to be in the places that we need to be so there is an understanding of the russian intentions, rain intentions, Opposition Forces intentions, kurdish intentions inside of fdf and other laces. We want to make sure we can deliver for secretary mattis so the issue can be resolved in a way that benefits america. Greg secretary panetta, the differences in geopolitical secretary panetta, the differences in geopolitical from this administration to obamas administration, do you want to comment . Secretary panetta mikes point, they are abiding by the nuclear agreement. That is pretty much recognize. I had serious concerns about that agreement and i am sure mike and the president had serious concerns about that agreement. The reality is, with regards to developing a Nuclear Weapon, that is something we want to continue to focus on to ensure we are enforcing that and they are abiding by. That is essential. At the same time, we have to address these other areas. It is important that we put pressure and we continue to put pressure on iran with regards to their support for terrorism. With regards to their missile development. With regards to their under minding of regimes throughout the middle east. Withnk they are involved developing an axis of influence in the middle east to lebanon to damascus and syria and iraq a. Mike and thet Intelligence Forces i am sure on top of this, but i talked to a former leader in a raqqa the other day in iraq the other day on one thing he expressed concerned with is we have been successful obviously and going in and defeating isis and, you know, being able to go up to the what happens is if we begin to reduce our forces in iraq, we went through this before. Of we reduce our presence there, a ran will take advantage of it a ran bank will take advantage of it and they already are. This individual said, wherever you go, you see Iranian Forces trying to play a role. Alarms for the United States to make sure that does not happen. There are differences with been through. The reality is, they want to have a nation but in order to have a nation you have got to be able to be there to support them and to try to make sure that they develop the kind of parliamentary and governmental approach that allows each of the segments, whether it is sunni, kurds, shia, to pretend spain in the government. That is the only way iraq eventually is going to be able to find security. But a rainy and intelligence but iranian intelligence, we never know what we dont knows so we ask, are they in substantial compliance with the jcpoa, we always dont know what we dont know. Try to deliver that intelligence to the community and the related issue is the example, 40 plus missiles and rockets fired from yemen into saudi arabia or towards the mri these. Ortiz arkable m r mirates. You mentioned saudi arabia. Can i get your thoughts on where the region stands . Sure. A big question. I am not sure where to put my pick in to begin. Some of the things you see taken place in saudi arabia are the kind of things we have been asking saudi arabia to do for decades. We should encourage and support it. They have been prepared to work alongside our golf partners. We have seen them work with the israelis to push back against terrorism throughout the middle east. To the extent we can develop those relationships and work alongside them, the gulf states and broader middle east will probably be far more secure. I think that is correct. Arabia, we have been asking them for a long time to deal with the issues that the crown prince is trying to deal with in terms of developing a diversified economy, in terms of trying to control corruption within the saudi society, trying to basically build a strong nation from the inside whether his tactics are the right tactics remains to be seen. But i think his objectives are probably the right ones. Saudi arabia is a key player. I mentioned this to mike before we came on, that it is incredibly important that in the middle east where we have fail states. Bang d ran, around iran, that are working together to confront challenges. Countries cant do it on their own. Together, some kind of coalition of countries of arab countries working with the United States, working with israel, working with turkey to build a strong polish and that can operate i think, frankly, with the joint military headquarters that can terrorists know, the and that region that can basically worked together to try isprovide stability where it necessarily need countries. I mean, you know, the arab spring produced a lot of convulsions. Forever develop a formula stability in that region. The arab countries that are there have a better sense of how you work to establish stability. I think the development of a Strong Coalition to deal with iranhallenge from a ran and al qaeda is extremely important and the saudis, frankly, are incredibly important to that ability to add that kind of coalition. Youirector pompeo, mentioned President Trump and delivering intelligent still. You talked before about how you do that. I wonder if you venture that, how you deliver intelligence and how the president receives that and kind of his interaction. I am in washington, deliver the intelligence briefing to President Trump nearly every day. I have become an amateur historian about how different president s receive information. Some president s chose to do it one wet the beginning and change over time. I come in, i bring one of my officers with me. The Vice President is there nearly every day. General mcmaster, general coates is often never. That is the team. We deliver the set of things he needs to know that happens overnight. The set of things we think are important for him to know in the week that if he is traveling more has someone coming to visit that we need to make sure is fully briefed on. We use a portion of time to share with them what we think are of strategic importance that we can plan and intelligence for the months and years ahead. A half an hour to 45 minutes every day. He asks last of hard questions. Roxy is very engaged and appreciati