Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. Japan Korea Cooperation Panel 1 20180107

For those of you not following us on instagram and twitter, isc underscore dc. My name is alexander evans, i will be your master of ceremonies. Are working the region programs. For east Asian Studies within job hopkins. I am an alum of the 63rd japan american student conference back in 2011. It continuedays, to motivate me to study in japan and put me on the path that i am and career i am today because of that experience. Particularly given it was right after the march 11 two but disaster, when japan was not open to many students, to be able to go in there and have a persontoperson exchange and it changed my life. Before we get started, we will have a couple of introductory remarks. I would like to introduce linda butcher, the executive director of isc. Director ofs the Media Relations and Public Affairs at the Korean Economic Institute of america, and a legislative researcher for the congressional session at the sse of republic of south korea in dc. Ington she has spoken on topics related to technology, security, gender, and the environment. We look forward to having her. [applause] thank you for the very kind introduction. Thank you all for joining us on this very cold morning. You being here is a testament to of the next generation of leaders who continue to strengthen relations between u. S. , japan, and korea. On behalf of International Student conferences, we want to express our deep gratitude to supporters who made this form possible. The u. S. Department of state and u. S. Embassy of tokyo. The u. S. Japan foundation. Korea foundation, Japan Foundation center for global partnerships. Because of these supporters, we were able to fly in 21 of our distinguished members at the conference. Its timely and muchneeded program. It has been a model working with your. Tolook forward to continued empower and support our student leaders. In the course of this week, the Second Committee members met with key experts, government officials, media, and the public for look into them to continue building relations to problem solve and continue the search for the truth. A common question that was asked was how would you handle the situation, or what is your background on trilateral relationships that you feel you can continue moving forward . Although it is the fourth day of 2018, there is a lot of discussion about usa shall relations, what is going on in into regions. Ande were a lot of fear trepidation about what would happen. As i continue to observe student leaders, interacting with experts and officials, i felt these are people taking into account the relationship between the three countries, helping your relationship and friendships that last a lifetime. That will continue to strengthen the relationship, know how theres no matter how weak we may be moving forward. , we aree watching nonprofit based in washington, to. , our main goal is prepare and support the future relationships of u. S. , japan, and korea. In 1930 four, when relations between japan and america were in decline. America and japan worked to serve as a bridge of understanding and friendship. Later, that continues to thrive and the mission is just as significant today as when it was founded. In 2008, isc launched a second conference. Career relationships have been strong for decades. It was founded when they were facing several challenges, and the need for improved culture understanding and people to culture was necessary grade 10 years later, it has grown to identify and support future leaders will continue serving as bridges and ambassadors to their countries. Why are these conferences and this symposium so important . This is a major question i asked last year. U. S. Relations with japan and korea are at their strongest ever but alliances are not only built by the government and foundations of the people. It would be unwise to think shortterm. We have to prepare the next generation of u. S. Asiapacific leaders. When looking at this years conference in this years symposium, we worked with leaders to make sure we are discussing topics of interest in their field. As i look at them, i see whatever challenges countries may face, we have built lifelong friendships that present it to any obstacles that come my way. If you believe i am painting a rosecolored picture, take a look at the history of our conferences and how it shaped the worldviews of our accomplished alumni. It is important we carry symposiums to provide opportunities for students to gain leadership skills and expose people to outside cultures to be mutual understanding, friendship, and trust during the three countries. Thank you. [applause] thank you. We know that there is a lot of effort that goes into organizing symposiums, forums, and the discussions will be in no small part to your great effort. It is my honor to introduce an ambassador who will give the final opening remarks. He became chief executive officer of sussex our Peace Foundation usa in before that, february 2017. He served as the ambassador to senegal and the republic from 2015 to january 2017. He was also responsible for policy towards japan and korea, the Deputy Assistant secretary in the bureau of east Asian Affairs within the u. S. Department of straight department of state. When the synonymy struck in 2011, he was serving as the deputy chief and u. S. Embassy tokyo. He has a 36 Year Foreign Service career spanning across the globe. It is our great pleasure to have him here today. [applause] good morning, everyone. I wanted to start by thanking you for coming today and grading braving the snow and cold. It shows how important i think we all feel it is to talk about u. S. Japankorea relations. Its wonderful to see you all. I wanted to thank linda butcher, because i know such a conference isnt easy to put on. It requires a lot of effort. I wanted to thank you for all the work you have done in assembling a group of students who can talk together. Briefly, we are also a nonprofit in washington, d. C. , and our to strengthen u. S. Relations mission is through programs such as this one. We are delighted to be one of the cohost with the International Student conferences. This is the third time we are supporting this initiative to bring together korean, japanese, and American University student leaders. Briefly i wanted to talk about bilateral relationships between japan, korea, and United States. My predecessors up here talked about u. S. Alliances with japan and korea. From our perspective in the United States, it is important to see the Alliance Structure in east asia and how we do not have bilateral alliances but a web of contacts and relationships because it would not be possible for the United States to meet our defense obligations to the republic of korea with that to without access to u. S. Bases in japan. They are accessed there because of our alliance with japan. These are not two separate alliances, it is one network of obligations and responsibilities that we faced together. I think it is natural for the United States, japan, and korea to work in thing together Work Together and think together because we have so many shared values. The three countries, our democracies, we believe in human rights. Rule of law. We have a shared love of these all. [laughter] we also have many shared interests, they all want to see a stable and peaceful order in northeast asia and the region. We really want to see growing Economic Prosperity around the world. My last assignment before retiring from the state department, i was u. S. Ambassador to senegal. We worked closely with our friends from japanese and korean governments because we had a lot of shared interest there. For example, the United States had a large peace corps presence in senegal with 250 volunteers. The two next largest country sending volunteers were korea and japan. A were doing many of the same things American Peace corps volunteers were doing. As i traveled around, i enjoyed meeting young koreans and japanese who were sacrificing two years of their lives to try and make the world a better place. It was gratifying to see that. It reinforced to me how the three countries share common values and how young people in japan, korea, and United States see themselves as global citizens contributing outside of the countries. I think it is important to us. I know we will have good conversations today and you are already having good conversations. It is important to acknowledge while we have differences, there our commonalities are more important for our differences. There is tremendous potential for partnership as we advance our common interests around the world. Programs like this where you discuss important issues like digital diplomacy and challenges in the workplace, i hope will create a foundation for stronger trilateral relations going forward. I look forward to hearing your remarks today and i want to thank you for giving me the chance to talk. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Thank you for your support of todays events. I would like to ask speakers in the first panel so they can get microphone up. This first panel focuses on digital diplomacy. I think digital diplomacy is changing, particularly when we look at the upper level of government. We have a new revolution in political rhetoric and Services Like twitter, but i think it extends much more from that high level. I think the panel will talk about looking at how this change in technology and connection impacts us on a personperson level. One of the great barriers to Communication Exchange with the and exchange was the distance between all the countries involved in todays trilateral summit. As we decreased distances due to technological advancements, that paves a new way how we interact with not just those around us but across the world. While they are finalizing the prep, i want to introduce the moderator, a graduate student in the Public Policy program at auburn university. As an american delegate of the globalization and Economic Development roundtable during the 68th japan america student conference in 2016, should begin she became interested in Economic Development and trade policy and will pursue these throughout her graduate career. As a student, she has has working University Little philanthropy and several Years Experience in working for University Wide and targeted constituency support. She is an intern at the u. S. Department of federal Service Program where she provides Research Support for womens Economic Empowerment entrepreneurship program. Thank you for the remarks. To begin the panel on digital diplomacy, i will introduce myself and our five panelists and allow student panelists and guest panelists to talk about their experiences about digital diplomacy in the 20 rate. In the 21st century. After that, we will open up the floor to discussion. When we open up the floor, i would ask audience members wait to be called on and we will bring you a microphone. Please state your name and affiliation before the question. My name is wallace stanfield, and i am a graduate student at auburn university. I am an intern for the department of state and i was 68th japan american delegate and i would not be on this path today without that experience. I would like to thank isc for that. Our student panelists are rebecca anderson, she is the chair of the 11th Great American student confidence. She completed undergraduate studies at John Hopkins University and is pursuing a masters degree in korean studies. Our other student panelists is the vice chair of the japaneseamerican student conferences executive committee, a sophomore studying law, and has been selected to go to korea as a representative of Japanese University students to it. I will introduce the professionals on our panel. Julie chunk has been the director of japanese officer that there since august last year. She has the rank of minister counselor and has served in positions including deputy chief in cambodia, economic counselor in thailand, coordinating civilian military foreign assistance, economic officer in tokyo, and creating programs in japan. She received her bachelors degree in Political Science and her masters in International Affairs from columbia university. Our next panelist currently serves as a fellow of Public Opinion on global affairs. He previously served as a nexus scholar and is a member of the trilateral working group. He was previously based in seoul, where he was a program officer. He received his bachelors degree in Political Science and his masters degree in international commerce. Our last professional panelist is the Vice President and cofounder of a program which aims to promote Global Awareness through virtual control Language Exchange programs. She worked in japan for the Japan Exchange Teaching Program and as a Program Manager for the cap Abl International Exchange Foundation in tokyo. She has served as the Cultural Affairs coordinator at the japan information of Culture Center at the embassy of japan in the United States. She received her bachelors degree in japanese and International Studies and a masters in international communication. I would like to let rebecca began. If she could, will you tell us about your viewpoint on government and government actors exercising digital diplomacy across the globe . Is there anyway we can improve the communication and cooperation of these Communication Strategies . First of all, i would like to thank isc for this opportunity. It is surreal to be sitting amongst such distinguished speakers who are far more qualified to speak on the subject than i am. When we are talking about digital diplomacy and new approaches to diplomacy and changing international policies, this is the world that we inherit. So i think it is relevant we are part of the discussion and im happy to be here today. Even though i am not south korean myself, as a representative of the korean america student conference i , will do my best to speak from a south korean perspective and do it justice in the discussion today. Going back to digital diplomacy in todays governance, in terms of where south korea is that korea is at today, this country is very technologically advanced, so i think moving forward, south korea as a nation is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these new approaches to diplomacy. I think there is a lot of area to thrive moving forward. We have seen in the past few years more efforts towards this. I, for one, and appreciative of the fact i can take a 40 minute subway ride and be connected to free wifi the entire time. In terms of internet, speed, connectivity, ownership, social media usage, these are things that south korea is the leader in. Moving forward will be interesting to see how south korea really takes up the mantle of digital diplomacy and incorporates it to its traditional approaches to reaching out to the rest of the world. World. At the current moment, we have president moon who ran a Successful Social Media Campaign during an election process, a new foreign minister of affairs at the united nations, so highlevel officials decision to positioned to shut take korea into this next stage. Moving forward into this new era, where digital diplomacy is not novel but a norm. I think i have a few suggestions for how south korea can make changes moving forward from my own perspective. By no means am i an expert, but i think it would be pertinent for the government, and beyond south korea, it is important to define the objective for digital diplomacy. It is not a bandwagon but taken taking advantage of these Natural Resources there are already there. I think it will help south korea fully realize its globalized potential. Another area i would like to see an expansion of is english social Media Presence and also really dedicated staff on all platforms. We have twitter, facebook, youtube, the list goes on and on. I think there have been some inroads. There is a new Korea Foundation initiative in a restaurant guidebook cap. I think this could be an area moving forward where we could see more growth. My last point i would like to drive home is it may be presumptuous of me as a in as a young person speaking on this panel, but talking about digital diplomacy, young people do seem to go hand in hand with that. To us, these Digital Tools are not so much new. We grew up with this and have a different way of viewing how these things can be used and we are familiar with it. I would like to see south korea taking advantage of the generation gap and putting more trust in younger people. I think this will be a specific challenge based on the society it currently has. There is a certain amount of risk taking that comes along with judicial diplomacy. I think moving forward, south koreas position to become a leader in this field, im excited to see moving forward, and i think it can be pertinent to the discussion of trilateral relations. Fantastic. I agree with increasing engagement with the public. Those are great platforms to get more people engaged in Public Administration and politics. Are there any ways you think the Public Sector actors can engage with the public digitally decides popular social media platforms . Is there a value in the diplomacy . About digital diplomacy, since i came from japan, i want to share about japanese issues. Japan started to make use of diplomacy. For example, they made a social media policy. Policies,on those they have an account now, for example, twitter, youtube, and instagram. Is very famous as a communication tool. You can get a message from your government. For example, last december, there was an abduction problem between japan and north korea, so our government sent an image of director hes so we can get information from our government now. I am convinced that this can be more useful for our countries. In japan, we are just hearing the information among japanese people and the people who are interested in diplomatic issues. From my perspective, we can improve some things. Can spread the information and what we want to tell people all over the world, or they can promote things, like the issue transparency of diplomacy by using digital diplomacy. If they can collaborate views. Like people to people diplomacy with digital property. S digital diplomacy. For example, i joined there to program between japan and korea. They asked when i put a picture about the problems, they asked us to use a hashtag, like career Japan Exchange program, or Something Like that. If we can collaborate with digital diplomacy and the cultural diplomacy, we can expect more diplomacy in our field. From my personal experience, for him example, some problems with the u. S. Embassy or something, we have our digital diplomacy and we can make the issue more enrolled to other people. The cultural diplomacy from people to people still has a value. My position is to collaborate and cooperation between the diplomacy, digital diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy. I think collaboration is definitely important in bringing this message together into the 21st century and with the technology we have today. I would like to ask, how can we as current public administrators or government representatives, how can we create and maintain relationships of integrity and transparency in our communication with the public, whether crosscultural or things like that, is it possible to do this through Digital Media or does that come across as impersonal . Where can we go with this . First, thank you for the organizers for organizing this event. We are talking about shared values. Personally, this takes my interest. As a koreanamerican working on japan issues for the u. S. Department of state the a important form is place for me to be a part of. Lets talk about this date lets talk about the state departments of digital diplomacy and how we have adapted to the changing environment of communication. Communication in the 20 century, diplomacy, was restricted to how government created to other communicated to other governments. There is no government talking to the public directly. What changed all that . Radio. The huge expansion of radio, the popularity of it and people could communicate directly. Fast forward, and we are not only focusing on the message of radio but programs that some of you have been involved in in the past. Fast forward to after september 11, secretary colin powell established a task force on ediplomacy and created a transformation. Something told in 2008 to the georgetown crowd where it was said that it requires the modernization of the state department. We need to trust our people to manage risk, we need to get our people the best technology to liberate them from offices so we can work anywhere or anytime. We need to be better at fostering and rewarding creativity, innovation, and independent thinking. This spurred a lot of programs at the state department. Jared jerry came into the state department as part of the staff on adiplomacy initiative. I had on ediplomacy initiative. I had the privilege of meeting him. We saw how we could engage a young audience in iraq using technology to affect change. Following that, a Senior Advisor for innovation took it to the next level. How do we use web video and how do we use social network web video and social media to , reach fine numbers of people we otherwise could not . We did text message reminders to hiv patients knew when to go to check up. We developed services in rural countries, so we were leapfrogging from communities from using mobile banking and all groups were supporting our diplomatic initiative. How do we do this when the u. S. Governments reputation has been riskaverse and all these changes in diplomacy are happening rapidly . When we looked at the obama administration, it was the First Administration that utilized facebook and twitter in that expensive way. We saw that in the last president ial campaign and now with President Trump, the use of twitter as a direct messaging. For comparison, in 2013, the state department had 29 million visitors to its main website. Www. State. Gov. In 2017, the number is now 48. 5 million views, 28 on mobile devices. We can attest that mobile devices are the way we connect, learn, live, date shop, and that , is the way it diplomacy must adapt to living that and delivering messages. During President Trumps visit to asia, because of the 24 hours of new cycle, we not only depend on media outlets, facebook, twitter, but we work hard to connect images from the white house and state department and others to get our message across during the visit. As we looked at the social media challenges to come and how we are using it strategically, one example is how we want to increase u. S. Defense and exchanges and double the amount by 2020. One of the things we are using our social media analytics, a tool we did not have in previous years to look at targeted groups of College Students 17 to 25 and respond to civic concerns and address those issues. We also used digital diplomacy to decode what it means to the average american. If you look on state. Gov, we have how each state in the United States contributes to how the state department contributes to that economic growth. When you have this marketplace of free exchange, there are challenges because anybody can post anything at any time. We have things that are not true, so that is one of the challenges as diplomats that we have to address and encounter right away. In my own career, i have seen digital diplomacy play part of a tool. When i was in vietnam in 2000 i think it was 2004 we had our first web chat, live web web chat with our master. That was unheard of at the time. Vietnam sensors are strong in terms of telling us what programs we can organize, even cultural music programs were allowed to be performed. This live web chat, where we had no previews or censorship for the director to talk directly to general audiences in vietnam was lifechanging and i think it was a start of how you are using digital diplomacy in the country like that. Second example is cambodia. I spent three years and cambodia, a poor, undeveloped developing country with gdp per capita of 16 Million People but to their roots of the population is under the age of 30, so ripe for digital diplomacy. The cambodians access information mainly through social media, where they seek news and other entertainment and information. Social media, then television, then radio. Utilizing that, the Embassy Facebook would start with 1000 followers in the first year. Within a few years, it jumped to over 1. 3 million followers in a country where 4 million using the internet. We have captured the audience of 1. 3 million facebook users. That is where we can relate information about what is going on in the world, president ial announcements, speeches, and without any censorship or interference. And at a forum where people could comments. Some were negative that many positive, and it allowed Democratic Free speech to flourish, where people can see we have a forum where we accept criticism, praise, and it was good for all. Those are two of the ways where the state department has used diplomacy to empower, connect , and listen. I think that would be a tool, a huge range of tools were digital will continue to revolutionize and will continue to be a source between United States and the other countries. With your experience abroad, with facebook, or Something Like that, the best digital diplomacy tool that seems to work best for your organization at time, that web chat seemed the best way to do that. Do you think it has improved diplomatic relations . Especially overseas . I believe so. It provides an avenue for people to connect to people where they otherwise would not. If you look at twitter followings of President Trump or the pope, average everyday citizens feel they can connect to those people. I cannot tell you how many times i have met people years later in person and it makes you feel closer to that person and what they stand for and what they have said in the past. I know that twitter, social media, facebook have challenges , and we cannot rely on it purely. Face to face exchanges are important. I think it helps as a toll in it helps as a tool in diplomacy. Fantastic. I will turn now to ask do you think there is a best to do the platform to use for diplomacy . What we mentioned, or if there is another one . Tothere a best strategy approach how we observe information and receive digit toe in diplomatic ways . How can we relay that to others whether it applies domestically or cross communication. If we are getting the message out, i think it is always twitter. There has been a Natural Division that the person is now on facebook but the professional side trends toward twitter. Something always comes to mind. There has been positivity about digital diplomacy. I will offer a different take. People in Public Opinion often do not think highly of social media because we have seen the dust have not seen the effects on campaigns. Everyone has the idea that there are these campaigns but as far as the vote, that has not been shown in a number of countries where it hasnt taken over. What i think about a lot is if 2001 a space odyssey. Im getting blank looks, maybe a little too old for the crowd but in the beginning, there is a scene called the dawn of man and the ape has a big bone in his hand and he starts to hit things and break things, and then he realizes this phone can be a tool. This bone can be a tool. He is smashing things and envisioning all the things he can hunt, the food he can have, so it is this going to unlock the power of civilization. In the next scene, a tribe comes up and he murder someone. That is basically to me what twitter is. [laughter] it has the power to bring people together, share ideas, but you get on it in one minute and someone gets murdered. It is any kind of conversational conversation will trend towards comparison to hitlers. You see that all the time on twitter. To go to elements julie brought up, digital diplomacy will be with us, and it is important. Human element will never go away. That is incredibly important. You have the context for the person. All of these social tools are what you make of them. Too often, they get away from us and take us into a bad direction. Not to follow up, probably not a great followup to say a bad direction, but the president s tweet, when we do polling, the public doesnt want him to tweet. That comes out very clear, democrats, republicans, even when we divide republicans into court Trump Supporters and nontrump republicans. Minorities of even them say he should stop tweeting. It is not effective, it is not seen as furthering u. S. Strategic goals. Coming back to the Human Element that is why conferences , are important, and at a young age, to meet people who are going to share same interest. I think you will find over time your lives will intertwine in and out of each other. You meet someone on twitter, you follow them, and the people who are here now, you end up interacting in unusual ways that you would not imagine in the future. You see them move into new jobs, you move up into new jobs and come into contact. I think this kind of thing will be the backbone of diplomacy in the future. Fantastic. How can we decide what statements may be made on digital platforms as tools and things like that, how can we filter out what statements or concerns are legitimate to the public or other nations . Which ones speak authoritatively and which is not as authoritative . My approach is to listen to nothing. [laughter] i have a very strong filter. Anything through twitter, facebook, i take with a grain of salt. It is pr branding. They are trying to get your they are trying to get their message out and that is what needs to happen. You have to be more dedicated if you are trying to look at some problems, so you take one piece of information from twitter and you look at the news, analysts, experts, so this idea that digital diplomacy is going to be big and there, we have to be dedicated about who we listen to, and making sure we do Due Diligence in putting other pieces together. Absolutely. Could you speak to this with your Educational Program experiences, crosscultural and cross communication experiences to add on to that, can you see your perspectives . What are your perspectives on what are your perspectives on that . First, thank you to everyone at isc for having us here as part of this important discussion, said thank you. So thank you. In 2011he sunol make that happened in it was the tsunami in japan. It brought about our organization and program. I am a former jet participant for the Japan Exchange Teaching Program at years back. Myself and other former japanese friends and former jets really wanted to do something for those in japan when this and not be when it struck. We were all here in d. C. , and we came up with an idea to connect students via the internet. We did not have a lot of money and we wanted to do a project that would bring more than what donations would give. What we have created and what we have been doing for 5. 5 years low cultural, and Language Exchange called global classmates. We take a class of students in the u. S. Studying japanese and a class of High School Students in japan studying english and connect them with an eclassroom. It looks like facebook but on an educational website platform, so it is monitored and secured. For six months, students post messages to each other. Due to the time difference, it is easy goodness. Mostly it isnt a web chat, it is all posting messages, and they talk about fun things they like to talk about, like music or what food they are eating or what is cool. We do fun topics like what is on your bucket list . Or if you could be anyone for a day, who would you be, and why. In the u. S. , they write in english and japanese. In japan, they write in english and japanese, allowing them to practice what they are studying and allowing the other side to learn from a native speaker. It is collaborative. It has been interesting to hear more from the government, the policy sector, and Public Opinion, and students. We have taken these tools and brought it to the educational level. I think what has been hit upon is important is that you were saying, but human connection, and everyone is saying it is so important. We do not see digital diplomacy as digital versus in person, but rather the pipeline to in person. We have all had an experience in our life that somehow sparked interest and a flame to really want to be curious about International Things or learn a language. There is a program in japan and they do International Exchange programs for students in japan. They have a large amount of data about the students on their programs. The big thing they found is that everyone had that moment. For one kid, it was the new International Student from the u. S. Who he fell four and all of a sudden he wanted to speak english and learn of her culture. For someone else, it was when they were in school, someone talked to them about another country. I think it is important that with digital diplomacy, or these Digital Tools, we think about creating touch points for students, especially our youth, to somehow get interested in furthering and opening up their world. I think all of these are important and as you were talking about, right now, we only work with the u. S. And japan, but having south korea with all of their technological advances, i think having something in an educational way into each classroom would really help. With our program, the majority is six months of writing messages online, but we do have an exchange of gifts. We also do a video competition. We currently, as of the past summer, we are excited to add on the global classmates summit, which thank you for the foundation in the u. S. Embassy in tokyo and center for mobile global partnerships. Our global classmates Virtual Exchange is also free, so students and teachers pay nothing. The u. S. And Japan Foundation is also a big funder. Having resources and funding is important to get youth energized. With the summit, when we brought people in person, they had talked to each other for six months online. You met in the twitter online spear and get to know each other. When you meet each other, you never met, but you have, so it is awkward, do we hug . What do we do . But our students had eight nights together in d. C. , but it was amazing how quickly they could bond with each other, learn, and help each other. I think looking at digital diplomacy is a pipeline and a way to allow our youth to gain touching points and opportunities despite their socioeconomic background or if they live in a rural u. S. And dont have access to International Things. It allows for that. I think that is about it for that. Fantastic. I agree, teaching across cultures and programs like this, it is a way we can inoculate and train people to interact with others during through cultural and digital platforms and get more involved in politics, international relations. I would like to open up the panel. I have a question. How much of an impact does cultural diplomacy have on mitigation, whether cultural or educational exchanges, or any other . In what ways can cultural diplomacy is it insufficient by itself . How can we supplement these strategies . Just combining digital diplomacy with people to people diplomacy, or are there any other thoughts . Matt is one thing i forgot to mention. The impact is the Virtual Exchange pass which goes to that. We do a robust exit survey. The teachers agree they will do do it so we have a 90 return rate. Last year, we had over 1100 from our students. It shows that 90 of the students are now more motivated to communicate in the language they are studying. They are more motivated to study abroad, to engagement International Things, so online or with digital exchanges, it can be incremented directly. Implemented correctly. They have a huge impact. We showed at the summit that it moves on and gets implemented wanting to do further things. It has a big impact if it is implemented correctly. What you are talking about is known as the contact area. In academic literature, that isnt proven. If you come into contact with someone, the theory is you grow a fondness for someone. With academic literature, it goes both ways. The idea you interact more with someone does not mean you grow a fondness. It is about how you engage in the type you engage with. That Human Element of surrounding yourself with likeminded people can be important, even though that would run the risk of creating that bubble. I think we should not get ahead of ourselves when we assume that just interacting with someone will predispose you to liking them more. I will take the opposing view and say it helps. Anything helps. Diplomacy isnt about unofficial or meeting in a meeting room. Any people to people, culture to culture or student to student, we think that leads to greater mutual understanding. One example outside of my professional world, there were huge riots in los angeles after an africanamerican student was shot and killed by the by a koreanamerican grocer. It fueled tensions between the korean american and African American community in los angeles. Why father at the time, as koreanamerican worker, set up a program to have exchanges between innercity africanamerican students and korean students and it continued several years. It did not solve interracial tensions but created a greater understanding and appreciation of the various cultures we are dealing with. I am a big believer in this comes into interactions having a positive effect. Another question, in what ways can civilian and Government Entities cooperate and cord made coordinate programs . Lets tackle that. I think from someone in the field, we are a nonprofit, and we look for anyone who wants to fund us. The u. S. Embassy in tokyo was great. They are the ones that i went to ambassador ruths office in 2012 and we had all these paper with maps like these are the schools we will work with, great, awesome, how can we support you . I think having just that energy within the government of willing to take risks you talked about is important to kind of try Different Things, and we work with those private companies. So i think there are organizations that can bring those together but i think there is a lot to be said for. And the program is great. It isnt digital diplomacy, but it is coming together private and public that can do a lot of good. Fantastic. One last question on messaging. What are ways in which government administrations can maintain consistency . Speaking of increased traffic that the state Department Website has received an individual actors and their own messaging through their own digital platforms, how can you maintain consistency . If we cannot maintain consistency, how can they correct inaccuracies . Policies and strategies are not relayed through one tweet. But it is a part of it. If a u. S. Government official tweets something, we have a press conference, we follow up, and an interview, so it is part of a larger piece, so it becomes a part of that messaging to make that consistent. I would like to open questions to the public. We will go around with microphones. I would go ahead and let you go since you are in front of me. State your name. I am a recent graduate and serving as american vice chair. My question is while technology has made information more accessible, it has become easy to weaponize social media by spreading false information. As we are learning from the current investigation into russias interference in the 2016 election, it is now possible for foreign entities to run targeted misinformation campaigns, so what effect does this have on global diplomacy . Does the panel believe we should regulate these means of medication to prevent digital attacks from foreign entities . That information is widespread now and faster than ever. Terrorist actors also use social media to recruit, so it isnt always a positive influence. There are negative aspects of social media and twitter. Despite all the flaws, it is overall a positive tool and we should correct those errors. Do your homework. You have to have integrity in terms of seeking out information from a wide range of sources. Do not rely on one twitter feed. Really brought in that knowledge to diverse news outlets and sources. I think it also shows how important it is for us to get to know each other. It gives even more ways of white why digital diplomacy is so important and accessible is largely free, so i think we need a better harness for those tools and how to incorporate them into our Education System and use them in ways to further get to know each other so when we hear things, we can say, is that really true . Rather than just eat it up. Another question from the audience . My question is for karl. One, i appreciated the 2001 reference. I have seen the movie. I think it is spot on. My question is about the use of twitter and your polling data on the president s use of it. I wonder if an issue you are finding is one of content versus medium, but if it is the medium, what does it say about digital diplomacy . I am happy i reached at least one person. That said, that is excepting in and of itself. I think it is specifically the content. We had a list of, do you view these approaches as effective ways to achieve u. S. Foreignpolicy goals . I cannot remember all of them, but the one that sticks out is twitter and we have done this on the advice of one of our Advisory Board members who had come in, so it was specifically content on that. Other things we are seeing, i will have to go back and review them but i do not think there are problems with the medium, specifically just what is being put out there. The next question i am jenna gibson with the Korean Economic Institute. When i was going to Journalism School five years or 10 years ago, everyone was excited about all you could do with the internet, social media, a way for people to interact with the media, respond to the content they are seeing. Now we are seeing a lot of newspapers online shutting down their comment sections because it has come into a huge fight and there is no value to that that they see. I am wondering from the diplomacy side, that was another thing people were excited about, we can hear back from the audience and not just a oneway conversation. Im wondering if you are seeing a similar thing and if there is value to the conversation or if it is just people ultimately ending up in fights and being trolls . [laughter] i do not know if this will get back to your underlying question but this goes back to the question about limiting free speech and if we have to go into some of these, but in korea, a lot of ways you have content, you log on to things and you have to go in through a real name policy by entering some numbers and. Ive think in america we tend to think highly of free speech and protected at all costs. That is great, but we need to look at other options. Not all countries have that specific freespeech policy and they do fine. It does not prevent fights. There are still a lot of these things going on, but there is some measure of accountability. I think that is what is missing essentially. I think it is important to create the rules of the road. Many facebook pages have rules on users. If you post something that is dangerous or inappropriate, we move them. People are aware of that caveat. Having said that, i think that robust debate, whether criticizing the u. S. Government for anything or not, i think it is healthy. And to see what people have on their minds in terms of a certain policy or viewpoints, i think that is useful. Next question. Hello, my name is roy lee. My question is for the two student panelists. I have experienced a huge generation gap using social media compared to how my parents and grandparents consume information. I was criticized by my grandparents for getting news from twitter a while back but now i can say i am getting information directly from the president , so . [laughter] my question is, how are we as young generations unique in using social media . What is the difference on how we interact with it compared to older generations and how is that affecting how information will be consumed in the future . I absolutely agree with that question there. I think that is at the core of the discussion. Digital diplomacy and young people goes hand in hand, so moving forward, as we look at the mantle so, there is a lot to be discussed. From my discussions, it is interesting to see how we consume Information Online has already established this connection and trust, especially between south korea and japan with Popular Culture being very much portrayed through the digital means. There is a connection there and something to work off of. It is exciting moving forward with the new means we have with how familiar we are with it as we grow up as these develop and how that will influence relations going forward. I think we are so i think the foregoing into the year, i was just exposed to the information for media. If i am living in japan, we are exposed to the information for media, so, like, we got a lot of information about history goalpost. Before, i was biased by that media, so after going through that problem, i noted this is a real career. It is different from what i expected. I just focused on that historical part or the problem between japan and korea, but korea has a lot of cultural and music access, or the food, everything, so i did not i could not gather the whole picture from the media. Even if we are flexible and we can get a lot of information, we still need to know how it is in that country in the real meaning. It is difficult to express, but still we need to keep our issues to know the countries, even if we can get a lot of information. Another question . Yes. Alexander evans. One of the themes that has come across in this panel is the importance of technology and Digital Media as a catalyst, whether good or bad. This is related, but not as close as some of the other questions. What does it mean in terms of the Education Systems in these three countries . If these tools are important and can be used for either incredibly good deeds or incredibly bad, how are these three countries approaching educating their citizens about the use of technology . Are some of them doing poorly . Is one doing better than the other . Maybe both from professionals or students, what have you seen that indicates where the future is going in this regard, in terms of educating citizens how to use Digital Media . I have experience only with the u. S. And japan. This year, we are working with 31 high schools in this country. 62 high schools altogether. In the past six cycles, we have a hundred high schools in each country. Im gaining my response from that experience. The u. S. Is much more open to this Technology Idea and allowing students to use it and learn from it then japan is. In the u. S. , a lot of the schools have google classroom, they are using that. In japan, i havent heard of anyone using google classroom. It was difficult to find a platform that would be able to be accessed through the japanese kind of firewall that they have. Youtube isnt available, facebook is not available, skype isnt available. I think the u. S. Has a lot of work to do as well, in regards to that. I think one really important thing is allowing the use to to understand with the internet can do, both good and bad. We all know about things that have happened when people tweeted things they shouldnt have. Adults, theres a lot of things that happen online that are not great things. But students wont be able to figure out what they can do until they can kind of in a safe environment play around with a little bit. Its really important to teach the youth how to be digital citizens, and do that safely and do that well, and understand kind of how to read information and take it in. And that is not all real. Anyone else . Was there another question . I am an Exchange Student from japan and i was studying Political Science at American University. I really understand this diplomacy can promote students and enjoy a high level of technology. I want to think about the serious situation that we are in with the threat of north korea launching a missile and then i want to know how can we use this kind of diplomatic diplomacy to deal with this kind of threats to our three countries. [laughter] diplomacy is a little bit after the north korea policy. Utilizing government to government to government statements that make sure that we are continuing on a pressure campaign, taking press statements in public statements together, and publicizing those. When we have trilateral meetings, we make sure we have good press conferences and interviews, so we can relay that we have united front and that the ultimate goal is the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. In terms of messaging, we could use that tool to do that. Another question. My question is about the economic gap and people who have money can buy more convenient devices. I think how do you guys think about this situation, especially from the education perspective . Thats why its really important that schools offer their students, all schools offer their students a chance to interact with the internet and with online tools and understand what that is, especially in those areas where kids dont have smartphones, they might not have laptops at home or ipads. School might be their only option. Its important to have the schools connected, have devices available, have classes that teach them different tools that are available. There are great Online Learning tool for learning languages that are free. There are great translation devices websites or downloadable things you do but on your computer that are free. I think having the knowledge is really important. And then after you have the tools and devices, incorporating programs like ours that can connect students, allows them to further the world around them through the internet. Its important for governments to make sure their schools are connected, otherwise, they will be left behind and will be like not being able to read almost. If you graduate from high school and you dont know how to search online, its going to be hard. Go ahead. My name is nicole. Thanks for coming to speak with us today. I am currently serving as the recruitment chair on the American Executive Committee of the japan america student conference. Im just wondering, all of our countries are world powers and we have a big responsibility when it comes to using Digital Technology and enacting digital diplomacy. And i think that allowing politicians, especially the president , to use twitter freely is, as you said, sometimes extremely unhelpful and sometimes, extremely irresponsible as well. And so im wondering if you think, in your opinion, that it would be a good idea for the government to enact restrictions on individuals, politicians in social media and if that would be just or what the implications of that might be. I seem to be the one that is the most skeptical of twitter and digital, but i would oppose that. Just because we have someone now in office who is not using it in the best way, i dont think its a good reaction to say no one should be able to do that and take it all away. I think its really important politicians, especially at the local level, my suspicion is that politicians at local levels really are able to use and speak directly to their constituents. When we think about the president , he has full american constituents, but how many of us actually talk to him, but on the local level when you can interact, thats incredibly important. I dont have any Background Research to back that up. Thats kind of how i feel it would play out. I agree. Still being able to use social media and digital diplomacy platforms, like in local Elections Officials and things like that, local and State Government is probably one of the best ways to reach out to their constituents and people in their state or their county or jurisdictions to communicate information and really information effectively. Are there any other questions from the audience . The gentleman in the back. Good morning. Im a consultant here in d. C. And im curious what you all think, if theres a consensus in the United States that theres a conversation going on about the greater responsibility for the private sector for Companies Like google, facebook, twitter to take a more proactive role in shaping the common conversations that are happening on their mediums. I was wondering if theres a similar kind of conversation happening in japan and korea. I think the conversation and korea has been somewhat stunted because they just went through a phase where their Intelligence Services were trying to influence the online discussion and several of them have been put in jail. And thats where the conversation is in korea right now. Next question. I am currently serving on the American Executive Committee and my question really revolves around Mental Health and i think that the conversation has recently opened up in our country and thats really positive. Something ive noticed just recently at my high school where weve had a lot of suicide and just by going to college, its really disturbing to me that social media has become a source of everyone where they want to avoid awkward conversation with or when they want to find more information and has resulted in a disconnect between people. I think that moving on, its really important to bring back the positive aspects of in person communication, because i think when people look at social media, they are either viewing a perfect image, or something that has been skewed. My question for you is in terms of the intergenerational looking at the government, how to how does social media affect the future of our Mental Health in our country . Thats a very big question. I do not think it is only social media that is driving or exacerbates the Mental Health issues. Is any kind of messaging that will separate people out and make them feel more alone which , obviously, social media helps to drive. One of the examples, in co seoul, people jump off this bridge into the river. The local government put signs that read like you are not alone, there is hope, and suicides increased. Any time theres been this type of messaging that takes people away from people, its going to fuel that. I would like to add another observation or example for my own experience. Very recently, a very popular member of a korean boy band committed suicide, i believe. And from what i saw, the response to that on social media that was very incredibly collaborative. There was people messaging me classmates say if anyone wants to talk, im here. It was actually very optimistic and good thing to see. I think that in many ways, social media can actually be a place for it would come together to talk about these issues area the yes, they are very important. When i go into korea, i exchange with korean friends and we can share our pictures and i can know what someone is doing or Something Like that. I really feel closer to her. It was true that social media sometimes makes people lonely or feel lonely and also separated from the group or Something Like that, but if we can change the way of using, it can be also a connecting people to people. It depends a lot about how you feel about humans overall. [laughter] another question. I am in charge of the korean committee. Koreans areis many not using incentives because they think its a waste of time or it is hard to catch up the trend because in korea, there is faster and faster training changing trends. [indiscernible] now instagram. Areher reason is they exhausted to hear the fake news. I want to get each panels thoughts about thinking about the problem to be observed for promoting the new future. To clarify, your question is with all the tools that are out there and with the fake news, how do we go about kind of how do we go about kind of understanding the tools that are available . I was curious about using incentives [indiscernible]. With what weve been doing, it hasnt the one issue that we see is, for example, our students connect on eclassroom that we provide for them for six months. But after that, we say you should connect with each other and you can talk on facebook or whatever. But in the u. S. , we found that in japan, basically no one in high school is using facebook. In the u. S. , high students are using facebook, but far less than my generation. The best commonality they have is twitter. But in japan have everyone is using line, and in the u. S. , no one knows what line is. Theres also this issue of where do we connect . I have a friend yesterday who says texting apps are the bane of my existence and he did a screenshot of his phone he had like five different texting apps with five messages, 6, 7, because we all use my friends in line, i talk with them via my friends around the world use whatsapp. My mom use the iphone text. Some people use facebook chat. It does get to be too much. I think after time, things kind of go by the wayside because we all tend to move with one thing. Or several things. I dont really have a way of how we could go about i think it naturally just kind of happens. And its an explosion right now of apps and Different Things we can use. , wei think for example us found the only tool we are using is free. We just found something that was free the works at both schools and we just ran with it and we are using it in a way it is not meant to be used, but we dont have money to create Something Else right now. So thats another thing. Find something that works for you and just use that one. If you need to switch to Something Else, you can, but trying to do everything is too much as well. I dont know if that really answers your question. I think what we will see in the future is twitter will have a blue checkmark for verified accounts. I did we see something emerged that is all blue checkmarks. Everyone has to be verified so you know you are dealing with a person that they say they are. We deal with this all the time in Public Opinion polling. Its called social desirability bias. If you sit down with someone, for they are more likely to express opinions that they think are socially acceptable. Further and further the way to the get from people, the more their opinions come out. If you sitting with someone, their opinions will be close to what they think a socially acceptable. Call them on the phone less so, but still there. If you remove the Human Elements, that all of these other opinions come out, like we have seen, like julian mentioned. There is some value in knowing what people are actually thinking, even if theyve been hiding them for a long time. Eventually we see some sort of fully verified system, where people can communicate with the people that they know that verified that will hopefully bring back civility to the online discourse. Next question . The woman right here. Theres a microphone behind you. Thank you. Paige cunningham. Trader and just to congratulate the organizers, this is a fantastic program and panel. The future is bright and im encouraged. I am listening to the discussion and im wondering about the ability to use digital diplomacy a little bit beyond the education area that shaanxi has spoken about a little bit more into the Public Policy round. Such as track two dialogs in conversation. Im really specifically interested in this trilateral discussion and the mechanics of it. And did all of you take advantage of and utilize any of these various digital platforms available prior to this panel . It seemed like it could be an opportunity to start a conversation in a dialogue and a variety of topics. And then collaborator bring collaborate or bring together people facetoface for further conversation that could advance whatever the issue is being discussed. Im curious about the mechanics of not just this panel, but the conversation with your different conferences have worked and if you havent done it, have you considered doing it . Is there a place for utilizing some of these different platforms to advance some of the other policy issues we are facing . I think these are prime examples of it. We participate in our conferences together. We are elected to become executive committee members, and over the course of an entire year, we are connecting on facebook, gmail, Google Hangouts collaborating, planning a lot. , we get to come together and meet in person, i do really we are really utilizing these Digital Tools and in our way, were acting as diplomats. Thank you for that question. I think that is kind of where we are at. I would agree with that. Kind of having that experience of being accepted, or attending the conference six months in the future. But already laying the foundations of friendship, months before through Google Hangouts and skype and things like that. It kind of is that thing where you meet six weeks later. We hug. I feel like i know you really well but weve never actually met. That is one way we have done that. Its a really great idea. Exchanges online. How do you take it to the next level and institutionalize that. We are thinking about in the coming year for both organizations. One example. This morning i was wondering whether this event was going on because of the snow and the twitter account said yes, it is still on, please come this morning. That was very helpful in terms of how you go through your everyday planning. , allranding of the forum the organizations involved. That is definitely worth taking a closer look at. Another question from the audience . The gentleman in the back here . There seems like there is a being of World Wide Web spread out into regional webs for various reasons. Do you think that is a real possibility . And if so, what could you do to prevent them from happening and keeping the World Wide Web worldwide . I dont know really about that. So i cant really talk about that. That is the on the scope of beyond the scope of my work. In general, english has been the language of choice for the internet. I think whether the regional aspects are growing or not, thats why we promote english learning and a lot of our cultural exchanges and programs. That really binds the regions together. I think i will continue to be the trend. Another question. I just want to followup on the question. Speaking a little bit to that point, locally, with what just happened in terms of the fcc and Net Neutrality repeal, we for a while have seen the are not as a public sphere and the public product. Personally that is how i believe it should be. A tool for public use. Now with the Net Neutrality repeal we are moving into an age , where we can almost privatize the lines of communication and i think that is sort of really interesting, and not necessarily in the best way. Again, i think he goes back to the question in terms of the economic gap. We are seeing people can charge higher prices to have access. I think that compartmentalize his our ability to communicate with each other. If you want to say communicate at the highest rate you have to , pay the highest for it. It is really interesting that this is happening in the United States. I dont know how it is in japan or south korea in terms of these kind of rules. I think its really interesting to see how these things are being shaped not only by users, but actual policies and corporations. To that point we are seeing compartmentalization of these if these guidelines are not put back in place. Would tend to think of this as policy driven. We will see these web breakups. Yet the river people in Different Countries like things designed in different ways. That is what drives come of this some of this regionalization. If you go to a korean websites, it is designed to differently. How the content is laid out, how wide it can be. You have a tiered system. Theres what everyone ever was going to accessing google, but they will continue to have their neighbor. Thats going to be laid out in different ways. This tiered system will continue to exist. Im not that worried about seeing websites breakup into different regions. I think that is almost natural. Is there another question or comment . My name is Bridget Roddy and i worked at the department of state in the office of diplomacy and i want to thank julie for mentioning how diplomacy is now embraced by the state department. You mentioned jerrod there is alex ross and jerrod cohen. One of the programs they launched is the virtual student Foreign Service. We are not 35 agencies and we rebranded to be called the virtual student cycle. I wanted to ask you a question. How do you think that students, being involved in governments, contribute to digital diplomacy and where do you see that going . I think it is obviously a very good thing. The students want to get experience in the Public Sector and try internships early on or Networking Opportunities with different individuals across the board in all these different departments. Public sector departments, should say. I think its a really great thing and it connects so many people there i was at a meeting with the state department yesterday, talking with asha, one of our coordinators and interns and she says there are 1200 interns this year, which astounds me. They are spread across the different departments, doing different types of research for the government representatives, for the Foreign Service officers, different individuals like that. I have nothing but positive things to say about it. We will connect. We can do google, skype, different Digital Media platforms to do research or provide research to ssos and government representatives for them to go compile the information or put it in such a way to where they can distillate inthis still distill it their location, domestically or internationally. Its a fantastic program. Going into 2018 and beyond, i think its important for sure with the rise of technology and how we are approaching digital diplomacy, to try to keep that up and to just ensure that we are highquality level of communications being used by state actors and nonstate actors. By the student interns. Its interesting how that goes. Click answers your question. I hope that answers your question. Another question . The gentleman over here. Going back to what carl said about his projection for verified system or a more korea like system for the internet, i wonder how you view that as negatively impacting the usefulness of this forum . Essentially i look at diplomacy being a twoway thing rather than a oneway thing where we tell you what we want you to think. Essentially if you are reinjecting thats ability to it, you lose the honesty, which was very helpful for predicting things like brexit or even trumps election. Maybe if you could speak to that and possibly also julie. I wasnt necessarily speaking about the internet as a whole, but just one current social Networking Service site. Just on that, where people can go on and eliminate all the trolls and the people who were trying to start trouble just want to argue. I do think you are right. Theres a lot of value in getting real opinions and understanding exactly where we are as a country. A lot of the racism that has come out, these are things that we knew were there, but were always under the radar and now suddenly it has bubbled out into full view. I think that has been, right now, not positive, but its making us deal with it as a country. Eventually there will be something good that comes out of it. Anytime youre talking about a verified system or systems, they can be problematic because inevitably, that social desirability bias will tend to suppress what people are really thinking. The risks are there would be with these amazing great tools we see in digital diplomacy and we have to accept the bad along with the good. In bangkok, we had several when i was in bangkok, we had several trolls trolling our ambassador. Some of the tweets got to a violent level. We have to utilize context and that contacts in local government and have police and Security Services investigate. These are things that we have to live with an adept to. I still believe in that connectivity. It has to be a call and response. It cant be a oneway communication. Whatever risks and challenges there are, you have to find ways to adapt. Host i think we have time for one more question. If there are any more from the audience. Right here. Hi. I serving as the chair and my am question would be how do you organize the information . Theres too much information and sms and twitter and youtube, and its really hard to organize myself and its really chaotic and information goes past and it just keeps moving. Its like all the information flows and flows and flows. How do people read news or watch news for organize in your brain . Do you have any tools . Im just curious how do people organize information themselves . For me, number one is to accept the fact that you cant read everything. You are just going to miss a lot of stuff and thats how its going to be. I am the mosth skeptical person of here about things, i love twitter. Twitter is great if you use it for the right people. As much as i know there are always some other things that go on on twitter, i rarely see any of that. Have a very curated list of people i know are going to put together good news outlets are going to provide commentary. For me, its a great way to stay in touch with what people are thinking outside of what they are writing. What they write and their own running commentary, things are just breaking or before the have a chance to more formally write it down, its a great outlet. I think you have to be careful about who you were a following and be ruthless about cutting people. It might be your friends, but if they are not providing some of that content, just cut them and connect with them in person. Thats a great note to wrap everything up and end on. I was about the time for digital diplomacy panel. We want to thank all of our speakers, carl, julie, rebecca, for all their information and discussion and answering questions. It was really wonderful. I would like to give them a round of applause. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] tonight, federal appellate judge john newman looks back on his career in his new book famished. As a judge of 45 years, having gone from that active life of making decisions and going to court and advocating a case to judging, was that difficult transition for you . Did you ever miss the life of advocacy . It was not difficult. It has been for some i have known. I have known people who became disliked the decisionmaking process that they left the bench. I was an advocate. I was going to be enough to get. I found the decisionmaking process, while different, enormously challenging and enormously satisfying. While i like being an attorney, i love being i a judge. The opportunity to resolve disputes, large and small the all matter to somebody. Some have large public significance and that is a very satisfying role. Watch afterwards tonight at 9 00 on book tv on cspan2. This week in congress, the house returns tomorrow for the first legislative business of the second session of the 115th congress. That includes a resolution on tuesday supporting the rights of the people of iran to Free Expression and condemning the Iranian Regime for its crackdown on legitimate protest. On thursday, legislation to reauthorize provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that is set to expire on january 19. It is also the deadline for current government funding to run out. The senate is back tomorrow at 3 00 eastern to debate the nomination of William Campbell to be a u. S. District judge. The vote to advance the nomination will occur at 5 30. The rest of the week, the senate will consider other judicial nominations for u. S. District courts in tennessee, georgia and texas. As always you can watch the house live on cspan and the senate live on cspan2. Host joining us on the phone is sarah westwood. Congress returns this week. Let me begin with this