Transcripts For CSPAN2 H.R. McMaster On National Security 20171023

Welcome back to the afternoon session of the National Security forum. My name is juan zarate, if you were here this morning i was privileged to be sit down with director pompeo for what i thought was a really interesting conversation. I hope you did as well. Bear in mind were not just the people in the room, great, good looking crowd, but were being livestreamed so we need to be on our best behavior. I have the distinct honor and privilege of introducing this afternoons session and kudos to the whole team for assembling this discussion with two of the most important, if not the most important figures in National Security, certainly with now the National Security advisor h. R. Mcmaster with us this afternoon. So, a real honor and privilege, i think, for all of us to have general mcmaster with us today. Ive been asked to introduce general mcmaster as well as mark who will conduct the interview. Mark as you know is the ceo for foundation of defendings and democracies, one of the great minds in the world of National Security, and in particular on iran policy, the use of sanctions, the use of pressure and power in our National Security. No doubt hell do a great job with the interview. Let me introduce general mcmaster for those who dont know him. He, of course, is the 26th assistant to the president for National Security affairs. He is the president s National Security advisor. General mcmaster has led a life of service to this country in the army, and in the military, graduating from west point in 1984, taking command of various units and commands in iraq, afghanistan, in the United States, on behalf of the army and the u. S. Military. General mcmaster is one of the great warrior scholars of our day and i think its a great privilege that he sits where he does next to the oval office at the side of the president. Hes the author of dereliction of duties, one of the great studies on military political relations during the johnson period. He holds a ph. D. In military history, and is, again, one of the great scholars of National Security. Finally, just a point of privilege, i noted my relationship with director pompeo earlier today. I have a personal relationship with general mcmaster, been privileged to know him his entire career and this is not just a great public servant, not just a great patriot, know the just an incredible warrior scholar, but hes a great man, a great father, great husband, and ive been privileged to call him a great friend and so, i think all of us as americans, regardless where you are politically. Regardless where you stand on National Security issues should be incredibly proud that we have somebody of hrs caliber and character in the position of National Security advisor, especially at a time of so many challenges. So with that, allow me to introduce Lieutenant General h. R. Mcmaster, our National Security advisor and Mark Dubowitz for the afternoon discussion. [applaus [applause] thank you, juan, for that kind introduction. Im a huge admirer of juans as well and the groundbreaking work he did on countering threat and harris financing. And hes been a friend, mentor, example for me for, as hes mentioned across my entire professional life and its just a real privilege to be here alongside him. I heard he said that he loves mike pompeo, made me a little bit jealous. I love juan more and love mark and fdd. And its a privilege to be with you. I want to thank the foundation for defense democracies for holding this event and for the discussion and one of the president s recent decisions to approve comprehensive strategy with problems set for iran. I want to thank fdd, critical issues, including the earlier work on threat posed by islamist ideology and add ver sver adversaries using the internet, and think tanks as well as we develop integrated strategies over the past months. Of course, theres no shortage of topics to discuss and i look forward to the discussion with mark on a broad range of topics, but i thought id outline a few of them and in general terms and then talk about the iran strategy. First, we face the challenge of revisionist powers who are subverting the post world war ii, cold war, postcold war political, economic and Security Order that the United States helped to create and lead. An order that has prevented great power conflict for over 70 years and expanded a free and Prosperous Community of democratic states. Second, we face the challenge from rogue regimes, rogue regimes that flout international norms, pursue weapons of mass destruction and extend terror to extend their influence and extort concessions from responsible nations. Third, we face barbaric, nonstate actors who perpetuate ignorance, foment hatred and use that hatred as justification for mass murder and unspeakable brutality against innocents and they do this under a cloak of an irreligious, wicked ideology. These disparate actors often appear on the same battle grounds. They often operate in parallel, but at times they cooperate when their interests align. For example, russia and iran aid, abet, and sustain the murderous assad regime in syria. That access perpetuates a civil war that strengthens islamist terrorists who portray themselves as patrons and protectors of that party and conflict. Iran, in turn, uses that same conflict, end conflicts in iraq and yemen, to pursue gains and threaten israel and saudi arabia and others with their terrorist and militia proxies, as urgent threats like these to u. S. National security have increased, our strategic competency has actually diminished. I think weve been prone in recent years to what we might describe as almost a narcissistic approach to National Security. Strategies are frequently based on what we would prefer rather than what the situation demands. In recent years, we have allowed incomplete plans, disconnected from the problems they were meant to address, to masquerade as strategies. So, what complex challenges that ive highlighted briefly to National Security and complex challenges like those manifest in syria demands to direct the purposeful employment of all instruments of power. So as we establish first order principles for the National Security strategy, the importance of using every element of National Power, diplomatic, informational. Military, economic, Law Enforcement, intelligence, in an integrated way is at the top of that list. The president s new strategy toward iran is a good example. Instead of focusing almost exclusively on jcpoa, the new strategy the Iran Nuclear Deal, the strategy considers the full range of irans destabilizing activities. Including its material and Financial Support for terrorism and extremism. Its complicity in the assad regimes atrocities against the Syrian People, unrelenting hostility to israel, its repeated threats to freedom of navigation, especially strategically and Cyber Attacks against the u. S. And israel and allies and partners in the gulf. Grievous human rights abuses and arbitrary detention of forces including u. S. Citizens on specious and false grounds. As the president made clear in his speech on october 13th, our strategy integrates all elements of National Power and is oriented on neutralizing the government of irans destabilizing influence and con straining its aggression for militants. Second, revitalizing our traditional alliances regional partnerships as bulwarks to a more stable balance of power in the region. This is where the president s leadership has paid off tremendously as youve seen, a growing together, a mutual understanding, much closer relationships and understanding of common action with our traditional allies and partners in the region. Denying the Iranian Regime and funding for its maligned activity, this is where juans work is extremely important. Opposi opposing activities that distort the wealth of the iranian people and countering threats to the United States and our allies from Ballistic Missiles and other asymmetric weapons. What we must do is we must rally, rally the International Community to condemn the rigcs gross violations of human rights and unjust attention of american citizens and other foreigners. And last, we must deny iran all paths to a Nuclear Weapon. This is the Strategic Direction that the president has given us. Our next challenge is to execute and as i mentioned, rally all of our friends to the cause. As a secretary of state said to cis yesterday, states that use terror as an instrument of policy will only see their International Reputation and standing diminished. It is the obligation, not choice, of every civilized nation to combat the scourge of terrorism. So as we develop the strategy, we began work wherever we could with our partners and allies. Now were mobilizing every element of National Power and efforts of our key partners to achieve our objectives. Where new resources or authorities are required, we will seek them. Where organizations must be reconfigured and retooled, we will change them and procedure to work hard hand in hand with our allies and partners and with members of congress to defend america and advance our vital interests, but we need your help. We need fdds help and we need the help of all of you here. We need organizations like fdd to continue their scholarship on the threats that we face and we need our media, our press, investigative reporters to look hard at countries like iran, and north korea, and help inform the world about how these rowing regimes skirt inks is as, brutalize their own people and menace their neighbors. With the knowledge that you and others help to bring to light about these threats, america can act with confidence. That confidence comes not only with knowledge of threats, but as we know, it comes from knowledge of who we are as a nation, what we stand for, what we value. That confidence is essential to generating the will and the commitment to prevail in the competitions we face and is part of regaining that strategic competence. Thank you and i really look forward to the conversation, mark. Thanks, everybody. [applaus [applause] great, first of all, general mcmaster, thank you for being here. I know your time is precious. Thank you for your service to our nation, and thank you for bringing an understanding of the nature and gravity of the iranian threat. I want to start with just a more broader topic of just how you develop integrated National Strategies and what they mean to you. I think youve given us some insights in your speech. When you came in as National Security advisor with a mandate to develop these strategies. Tell us about your vision of integrated strategies and in particular with respect to the iran strategy. So we began with the president s guidance who said, this white house, and by extension, the National Security council, has become very tactical and we are very much involved in areas of responsibility and actions and programs, initiatives that ought to be within the purview of the department and agencies. So, he asked us, decentralize where we can. And support the departments in executing our policies, but think, think clearly about the problems and opportunities we face as a nation. This was also based in, i think, all of our understanding that the balance has shifted against the United States in recent years and decades, and we have to we have to understand how to compete more effectively, compete more effectively to advance and protect u. S. Interests and to shift the balance back in favor of the United States in some of these critical competitions. And so, to do that, we have initiated and are well along in an effort to develop integrated strategies for our what were calling National Security challenges. First order challenges that are relevant to protecting and advancing american interests which we define really as four fundamental interests. First, its to protect the American People and to protect the american homeland. Second is to advance american prosperity, third is to achieve peace through strength and the fourth is to advance american influence. And i would say the president s made great progress on all four of these. We could talk about that if youd like. But then we use the vital interests as the lens through which we extend these and we craft our overall ab objectives based on how it relates to the American People and its first National Security strategy. What we do then is involve the president s National Security cabinet in the framing of these problems. In describing the situation, understanding how its relevant to our vital interest. And laying out our objectives and giving guidance to the heads of their departments and agencies how, how we can begin to get after this challenge in a way that advances and protects our interests, overcomes obstacles to progress and seizes on opportunities and then that guidance goes to the department to refine, to refine this guidance into an integrated strategy. So youve seen this on north korea, on south asia, in the iran strategy. On cuba, the president s cuba strategy. This goes on. These are well developed. Many of implementing now and have been in implementation for a while. And others are still in development, but with that guidance from the National Security council, the president s the president s cabinet upfront, it allows those departments to begin executing and coordinating their efforts. Great. So, general, lets Start Talking about one of those, the major first order challenges that youve described, which is iran. There was a big announcement on friday, the president s speech laying out a new comprehensive strategy and its safe to say that a lot of the discussion has telescoped down under which is the president refusing to certify on. I want to take the conversation up to a broader level. You talked about using instruments of National Power and i want to go through the theaters where iran represents a threat to the United States and our allies. What are you trying to achieve to begin with in iraq . Okay. So, in iraq, its easy to say and maybe hard to do. So, what we would like to see in iraq is a stable iraq thats not aligned with iran. And what we would like to do is to continue to assist the iraqis to do what the president has told us to work with allies and partners to do, which is to destroy isis and to not permit another group like isis, another Jihadist Group to come back by doing three fundamental things, deny safe havens and support basis, cut off their funding, and defeat the ideology and eliminate this draw of vulnerable populations into these kind of organizations. And so, the fight in iraq is relevant to that, but its also relevant to ensuring that iraq emerges from this horrible period of conflict strong, right . I mean, the United States has a strong interest in a strong iraq. I would say that others, who are operating within iraq, who are subverting iraq, and you have a weak government, the government is deliberately weakened. And so this is a model you see, sadly come any beautiful country of lebanon. It is a model i think you see in were about 80 of those that are fighting on behalf of of the brutal and murderous assad regime are iranian proxies. It is a model use attempted to be applied in iraq and its something you can see maybe trying to play out in yemen as well, trying to apply there. Its easy to say as i mentioned hard to duplicate takes a sophisticated, sustained effort but its a stable iraq and is not aligned with, of course will have a relationship with its neighbor not aligned with iran. What you say to the allegation that the president gives a speech on friday hes rolling out a comprehensive policy using all instruments of National Power to undercut iranian influence to neutralize their aggression in the region, and on monday ahead of the relentless regard core quds force shows up in kirkuk . So what you have in iraq is a greater level of complexity now associated with the codis referendum and then the actions that follow the codis referendum. And so what we want to see and iraq as an agent is a strong iraq emerge, and, of course, part of a strong iraq is a strong kurdish region where we have very long Time Partners whose partnership we value tremendously, who bore the brunt of saddam husseins brutality over many years, and we intervened on their behalf as a windows after 1991, and they use the safety and security we help provide that region to build a phenomenal communities in erbil and other places. These are some of the european thriving cities when you go to the kurdish region. What we need to do though is we have to work to mediate this conflict in a way that allows our kurdish friends to enjoy the safety and security and prosperity they built over so many years, and not regressed from that, but that also that keeps iraq on a path to strengthening after not being aligned with iran. So this has led to a level of complexity. We did recommend to mr. Barzani, with great relationships with, Great Respect for, that this is not the time as the region is emerging from this horrible trauma of isis in the fight against isis and iranian subversion with that iraq the competent the heck out of things. And turkeys difficult relationship with kurdish populations and now thats playing out in northeastern city. This is not the time to do this. But, of course, we are where we are now. As you know he passed away recently in god rest his souls and condolences to those of us with part accompanied this is a power struggle within the uk and the building of their maintenance to take advantage of all of this. What does iran iran to . Iran is very good at pitting commits against each of the big this is something to share with groups like isis, with alqaeda. They pit canoes against each other because they use tribal and ethnic and sectarian conflicts to gain influence by portraying themselves as a patron, a protector of one of the parties of the conflict. Then they use that invitation to come in and to help to advance their agenda, and irans case i think its a hegemonic design. And its based on improving and increasing their ability to threaten israel, to threaten the United States and saudi arabia and so forth. I didnt really give you a definitive, easy policy answer to the complicated situation in Northern Iraq now, but i know the president s sentiments are with the Kurdish People and with the iraqi people, and what he wants is emerge as a stable iraq a stable iraq that is not aligned with iran. The president s speech again is at the core of it, we will neutralize irans influence. Clearly has been a very successful counter isis campaign under your administration. Seems to have been some Great Strides made, but, unfortunately, there is a vacuum, a power vacuum that the iranians are filling and a filled both territorially and for using various influences, instruments of iranian influence. So what is the message to the range they with respect to iraq . I think the message has to be that iran has to stop using illegal armed groups in iraq, to advance its own interests at the expense of the iraq people and at the expense of security and stability in the region. If you think about one of the greatest sources of strength for isis, groups like isis, it is again there of them to portray themselves as protectors of, in this case, mainly the sunni arab community. One of the drivers, the drivers of that conflict is on ram. I mean, iran has these complex in a way that is created a humanitarian and political catastrophe across the region. Mainly in syria but also in iraq, the challenges inside of the right. So the has to be that none of us, iraqis, the United States, our partners in the region, our european allies can tolerate this degree of subversion and support for terrorists and militia. To go from iraq which is a problem from hack to syria which is a problem from hell, what are you trying to achieve in syria . What has to happen in secretary tillerson and one has been clear on this, there has to be a political settlement in syria that allows for all Syrian People to have a say in the nature of their government. And the assad regime, rather than moving toward anything like that, can only perpetuate the conflict. So what can we do . What we can do is we can work with our partners in syria to defeat isis, but defeat isis in a way that bridges into that longterm political settlement. This is under the geneva process. What are the prospects for this now . Its pretty damn. But we and our partners are not without considerable leverage in syria dam. If you think about how dire situations, think about all the people been killed by the combination of isis and this brutal regime come have many have been wounded, how many are displaced eckstrom to the country or enter into the country, how much of the infrastructure in the country, about 200 billion of infrastructure in syria destroyed. We should ensure that not a dollar, not a ghost to reconstruct anything that thats under the control of this brutal regime. And so we need to use the leverage we have two incentivize a political solution in syria that protects all Syrian People, but instead humanitarian crisis, that sets conditions for the return of those who are displaced and allows for high degree of security in the region and security that comes from also denying iran its designed in syria. So those who are obstructing any kind of progress toward that kind of a political solution ought to be called out for it, and ought to be, ought to bear responsibility for enabling the assad regime and i would say iran and russia are those want to be called out for continuing to perpetuate, for perpetuating this conflict. You dont buy into this argument that somehow russia, which as you said has been primarily responsible with iran for the assad regime brutal destruction of that country and the murder of half a Million People, that somehow the russians, as long as the International Community helps reconstruct syria, pores and hundreds of ways of dollars into territories that are in assads controls that the russians can deliver the iranians . Well, i dont know if anybody can deliver the iranians. What the iranians have to understand that they will pay a price, they will pay a price in terms of isolation, diplomatic, financial isolation if they continue on the path that their own. In terms of russia, this is, imagine this is one of our National Security challenges, and the president the presidens very clear guidance on our relationship with russia. He has as you seem taken a very strong stand in the middle east and in ukraine, for example, in confronting russias destabilizing behavior. But what he wants us to do as well is to make sure that we deter any kind of the conflict with russia. We dont think this would be in anybodys interest, but the third area he told us to focus on is to foster areas of cooperation. And, of course, secretary tillerson has had the lead in this area and use some initial glimmers with deescalation zones in syria. We will see how their executor and so forth, but there are so many areas where the United States and russian could, could cooperate better in our mutual interest. Another easy one, an easy one is on north korea. While we recognize that china has the vast majority of coercive, economic power and influence over north korea, rush has considerable influence as well. And if they were to use that in a way thats consistent with this campaign of maximum pressure, this effort to convince, to convince conjunct own and his regime kim jongun to move towards denuclearization of the peninsulas really a last chance to avoid severe consequences, russia to play a productive role there. I think its becoming clear to russia that its not in its interest to perpetuate this conflict in ukraine. And its imposing costs on russia, economic costs, credibility costs. So these are all areas that we could work with russia on. I know the president and the secretary of state, the whole team would welcome the opportunity to do that. General, the president speech focused pretty intensively on the revolution regard core and one of the takeaways from the actions on friday was the designation of the guard court in its entirety as a terrorist organization using treasury authorities, antiterrorism authority that the Treasury Department actually use in 20072 also designate to also designate the quds force in its entirety. As a beginning predicate of a rollback synergy against the guard corps, what are you trying to achieve with respect to the irgc and its malign activities . What we have to do is recognize this is a hostile organization that has victimized, i mean countless people across the greater middle east and beyond as its planned features attacks here, elsewhere in the western hemisphere. So what do we have to do . We need a strategy along with our allies and partners to cope with the irgc. What the irgc is, is it is a terrorist enabler. It is a network that is involved in a broad range of illicit activities to advance the Iranian Regimes line agenda. And so what are the elements of the strategy . First of all we have to understand the problem and we have to pull the curtain back. What is most important important things we could do, pull the curtain back on what iran is doing in the region and show it to the world, and have them pay a price in terms of their reputation for what theyre doing to perpetuate violence. And then we have to ask some the question. We cant just jump in and start doing things. We had to sit okay, what is the irgc . All of us can work on this. Understanding what this organization is more broadly, and then what is its goal and expose that, understand its strategy. What is the strategy of every regime and the irgc in particular . We need more work on how its organized and we are working with our Intelligence Community on this to understand obviously nodes and this network and whether due to enable terrorists and militias and criminal activity across the world really, but then to understand relationships between those nodes within the organization and with outside organizations. What are their connections to illicit businesses, to financial institutions, to those who provide them cover for action . The ability to move freely, to achieve anonymity and work with a legitimate state institutions and functions and subvert those institutions for their own designs. So its not just the network itself but its relationships. Then we have to understand relationships of authority and deference and antagonism within an relation to this network, and that we have to see flows, and visit for Law Enforcement could be a huge leper, international enforcement, u. S. Law enforcement, often underutilized as a tool of Foreign Policy and National Security strategy. Financial tools ranks to juan and others are now more routine for some of the most overworked and valuable people in our government are in the Treasury Department. They do an amazing job. We need more of them, i mean, they are just a great team and we have to learn from what the deal and a plant more broadly across more departments and agencies. Justice is getting more involved. Our attorney general has established a team, using an established team to really reinvigorate the department of justice role in National Security. And so we have to be able to see flows through the networks internationally international of people, money, weapons, narcotics, right, other illicit goods, illicit fuel and other items that they smuggle and used to enrich themselves. What the irgc does, they are a great narcotic trafficking organization. To use the opiate trade to enrich themselves while they poison the world and to use that money to commit murder. I mean, so we have to take a holistic approach at it, see flows through the networks internationally, didnt ask questions like what other sources of strength and support and what are their weaknesses . And then work hard and isolate them from sources come straight and support in attacking we disappeared these are physical sources of support and physical weaknesses, but they are also psychological, informational d economic and financial sources of support and weaknesses that work into a strategy. So we are already doing it. We are already working on this, but were becoming more agile. Were going to access more and more tools that we have at our disposal within the u. S. Government, but this is where fdd and others can help come help with our understanding of the problem and what we can do about it. And obviously our multinational allies and partners are huge part of this effort. General, i want to sort of pick on that part of it because the irgc as universal Something Like 20 of the iranian economy. They are a huge influence in all the key strategic sectors of irans economy that many of our allies are interested in doing business in. What is your message to the International Business community that today is looking for opportunities to engage with the iranian economy . A message would be dont do business with the irgc. Dont enrich the irgc. Dont enable their murders campaign. Dont enable their threat to our friends in the region and, especially israel, but also saudi arabia and others. And so its in everyones interest to really work hard on Business Intelligence to understand who are the Beneficial Owners of these companies who are opening our checkbooks and to business in iran . And so what we would want to do is take an approach that is analogous to president trumps approach to cuba where he said were not going to do business with guys, we will not enrich the castro regime and allow them to tighten their autocratic writ on the cuban people and continue to choke them and deny them the freedom and liberty that they deserve. We will do business with actual legitimate cuban private sector, such as it is. But maybe we can incentivize and emerging, but we cannot afford to do business with the irgc. Because all of us, the world will pay for it later. So the irgc described as Transnational Criminal Organization as well as obviously an organization responsible Irans Nuclear program, Missile Program, malign activities in the region, their human rights abuses. Let me focus on that last piece of that, because that hasnt got i think enough attention over the years Previous Administration or from our allies. As you know the guard corps is responsible not only for aggression abroad but really egregious repression at home. What are you thinking, what is the administration thinking with respect to human rights issues and internal issues within iran that help protect the iranian people from the irgc and its repression . Well, i think the president wasnt really clear in his speech, that one paragraph with the president talked directly to the rainy people i think ought to be amplified because you mention the speech was about a holistic iran strategy and everything focused on, again, maybe this narcissism we suffer from where we focus on the legislation, or report to each other inside of the United States when this was a speech about a strategy to really counter this country and this organization, the irgc, that is a threat to everyone. And so i think what to focus on in the speech is about talk to the rainy people who are oppressed by the irgc, the besieged. They are also oppressed by these boone yaws that these are essentially criminalize Patronage Networks that suck the resources out of the iranian economy to enrich themselves and to keep the supreme leaders autocratic grip on power. And so the more that this can be exposed internationally but also to the iranian people. What would be better, what could be better than an Iranian Regime and that is no longer fundamentally hostile to everyone, right . Including its own people. So that the president has Great Respect for the iranian people, the rich culture, their heritage, and was very important for him in the speech to distinguish between the regime and the iranian people. I know my colleague john wrote a piece on this, sort of an interesting observation that his u. N. General assembly speech, that there were i think 11 out of the 17 sentences on november very much focused on the iranian people, on human rights issues, on the growing gap between the rollers and the roles, and the speeches as i imagine, they go through a vigorous process of review. I assume its not accidental that there were 11 sentences devoted to the rainy people themselves and the brutal repression that they have suffered for decades. These are the president speeches. You hear his voice in all these, and if i i could just come if u want to look at his speeches to understand his foreignpolicy, he has made some just really i think truly landmark speeches. One was in saudi arabia in front of 55 or so muslim majority, leaders of muslim majority nations. Very, very important speech. Another he made on that same trip, the first overseas trip in poland that laid out a vision for the transatlantic relationship and our commitment to the relationship and respect for the need to respect really the ideals that we share in our nation but that we shared broadly with the western civilization and really all civilized peoples, what all civilized peoples aspire to. His speech on the south asia strategy i think is very important to Pay Attention to pick these are substantive speeches that lay out a a clear direction for our foreignpolicy. The aryan iran speech i would s part of this group of speeches that explain to the American People how the president is prioritizing their interest and their security, and how we are doing that through a coherent approach to these National Security challenges. And we talked about the guard corps and again as a transitional criminal organization, a Severe Threat to our allies, to the rainy peop, to u. S. National security. What are you trying to achieve with the hezbollah part of the strategy course you mention a role hezbollah is playing in the iranian almost Business Model of try to replicate hezbollah throughout the region. What is the hezbollah strategy . While i mean it is similar to strategies that are against other directed at other networked organizations that are fomenting violence and oppression. The hezbollah strategy is similar in a lot of ways in terms of getting visibility on the finest. We this and our government in the past, and we need to reinvigorate our efforts there. Theres a big informational dimension to this as well. So as you know hezbollah really relies on its legitimacy through its ability to portray itself as an advocate for the disadvantaged Shia Lebanese population. But its actions in recent years, especially since you say really picking up since 2012 with the onset of the Syrian Civil War has been to act as a proxy for the iranians and the irgc pics i think a lot of what can be done about hezbollah is to expose it for what it is, to write about its behavior, two cattle on its behavior to show what it is doing to its own people in lebanon but then to the world broadly. Its interesting on that point, one of our friends conkers and Micah Gallagher from wisconsin actually has introduced legislation that essentially target iran and hezbollah are using lebanese civilians as human shields. As we all know, hezbollah has been using civilians, putting armaments and have been heavy weaponry in hospitals, kindergartens and home and this legislation would shine a spotlight on the fact that has book is not just working for disadvantaged shia in southern lebanon. If anything its putting those this event shia at risk. Absolutely. How could that be . I could that be the interest of the lebanese people to have hundreds of thousands maybe, you know, many, many, tens of thousands of rockets and missiles pointed at israel . What do you expect israel to do under that kind of a threat . And if the act on that threat, if they use for blackmail or coercion on behalf of the iranians, what do you expect the israelis to do . It denies people their dreams and aspirations and meshes people in these cycles of violence. Why this is important, when you see the heartbreaking humanitarian catastrophe in syria and iraq and elsewhere, what you see is the violence creates conditions where nobody is being educated. Where are the children . Theyre not going to school. Its heartbreaking. They are in refugee camps. Jordan is doing so much to alleviate this. Lebanon is as well. Others in the region, turkey has borne the brunt of a lot of us. We have to do everything we can to support those who are providing relief in this catastrophe, but what he iran relies on and what groups like isis, these groups rely on is ignorance because you need a certain degree of ignorance to foment hatred, and then to use that hatred to perpetuate violence against innocent people. Then in turn, it creates conditions were known as being educated and communities are pitted against each other and their vulnerable to the demagoguery of these people. Its fundamentally, we have to work to break that cycle. And those who are perpetuating that cycle are groups like isis, al qaeda and its affiliates, and right with them is i rgc, hezbollah. General mcmaster, what is wrong with the Iran Nuclear Deal . Okay. I brought a card with me of some of the president s top quotes about the Iran Nuclear Deal, but instead of saying Iran Nuclear Deal, just they were still ever. Some of our european allies, i was talking with them today and they were getting tonguetied around the full wording of jcp away. I said hey, just they were still ever. There are fundamental flaws. Part of it was the payment upfront. Some people said they got all the money up front. This is a gift that gives overtime. If the ramp was pumping a Million Barrels a day, never getting close to 2. 5 million. Day. What are they doing with that money. What are they doing with their defense budget. What are they doing to foment violence across the regions and beyond with that money, with their Missile Program. Its the benefit that went to the regime that was out of proportion to the benefit to the International Community. What has he iran done since then . This is what he calls the spirit of the deal. Theyre not acting within the spirit of the deal. And other fundamental flaws what lay outside the deal. The behavior of the i rgc and also the Missile Program which is continuing unabated. And also, the anemic capacity to be able to verify compliance with the deal. Look at the behavior since 1979. Are you going to bet the farm on their goodwill and that they will adhere to an agreement . So the noise that they been making about you cant come to the military sites, theres nothing in the deal about that. Section t has to be implemented in terms of monitoring of the jcp away. And then of course, theres a fundamental clause in the subset clause. They can continue to advance their technological understanding of how to develop a Nuclear Weapon and Nuclear Technology and just use this deal is cover for then announcing a threshold capability or doing a mad to a Nuclear Capability. I could go on. These are just some of the problems with the deal. The president decided the best approach now, recognizing all these flaws, what he would Like Congress to do, is instead of having legislation that have us reporting to each other, lets have legislation that can address some of these flaws, that can at least, from a unilateral perspective layout a marker on where we think this should evolve, and then work with our allies and partners to rigorously enforce , get capacity up, enforce this thing, but hold it ram accountable for their behavior. Theres been a lot of misunderstanding. With the relief that he iran have gotten in the way this is being implemented is not proportional to what we achieve in terms of greater security from this horrible regime. I know were almost out of time. It is a fundamentally flawed deal. The president has decided to do his best to try to rectify in the interest of security to the American People, and to work with allies and partners who should see this as an opportunity to Work Together on the broad range of the destabilizing behavior and address the flaws in this deal while we work on rigorous monitoring and enforcement. So decertify and an opportunity to fix the deal and strengthen the deal to work with allies in congress to figure out a way forward. The president was pretty clear in his speech and he actually doubled down, he made pretty clear, he made it very clear that if that were not to happen, if the europeans were not able to help fix the deal that he would terminate the deal. Absolutely. The president , everybody gets up pretty clear message from hes not going to do anything that is not in the interest of the American People. He will always prioritize what is in the interest of the safety, security, prosperity of the American People and thats what he will base his decision on. In your confident our allies will come along with this strategy of pressure and fix . I think they already are coming along. If you see some of the actions of our European Partners and canada and others to improve the capacity of the iaea. You not to listen to the iranian bluster that we cant do this or that. Heck yes we can and thats what we will do to enforce the agreement. Youve seen more and more of our allies and partners joining us on sanctions against destabilizing behavior. The Treasury Department and state department are working with allies and partners as part of the implementation. It gives the president and treasury more authority to sanction their behavior. We absolutely see a willingness to work with us on this. We go back to the president for report on how were doing and what we owe the president. What weve done is we have worked together to present options to the president and then once he makes a decision, we assist in implementation across all departments. Then we report back our doing and what options are to revise that strategy. None of these strategies are signed off by the president and then filed away forever. They are living documents that we are continually assessing. Thank you very much. That was a great analysis and assessment of the strategy in iran. We have some questions, courtney from nbc. Thank you very much. Im hoping you might jump to a different continent and talk about niger. I know the talk is still under investigation but what happened that day . You look at Something Like that and think was there an intelligence failure that led to this terrible ambush . Do anythin know anything about why Sergeant Johnson was left behind. In your new role, what happens when an operation like this is underway . Does that come to your desk and go to the president s desk in advance for approval. So, of course i have to defer to the department of defense, and they will be able to give you authoritative definitive answers to all these questions. When Something Like this happens, obviously the report does come to us and as we say in the military, the first report is always wrong. Theres a period of time where theres always ambiguity so on the mission, mission, the Defense Department will describe what the mission circumstances were of that action and of the deaths of those soldiers and all that will come out. What always happens, anything that happens like this is that there is a full investigation. The investigation has a couple of aims. One is to inform the American People, inform the congress, inform across our government as to what really happened and have a high degree of clarity and understanding. It might seemed like this has been a long time, but its really not that long ago. This investigation is underway to provide that kind of answer. Answers that are provided turn out to be inaccurate and it causes more confusion. Certainly, an important audience for that are the families who get fully briefed once we know what really happens. The second purpose is to ensure we get better. We learn from every experience and we challenge all assumptions under what we mightve been operating on a mission and we improve our ability to operate effectively and we improve our ability to reduce risk to our incredibly courageous soldiers involved in these missions. As everybody knows, there is no combat mission, no enabling mission operating by, with and through forces that is riskfre riskfree. There will be more on that. Im not the person to give you those answers, but those are the right questions to ask and i know the department of defense will answer those as soon as they can. Do they need approval for a mission like that. So all of these, all of operations that are conducted are conducted based on approved policies and approved authorities. Those are, as i mentioned, under constant revision. Situations dont remain the same. In any of these, in any operation, once you begin, you interact with a complex environment and enemies and adversaries, and no progress in any of these missions is linear. Enemy actions, countermeasures , initiatives all play into it. All of these efforts and the effort to defeat terrorist organizations that threaten us and our allies and our american citizens abroad are under constant review. Nancy. I wanted to talk too. Nancy do you want to introduce yourself. Im nancy with the wall street journal. I wanted to ask you about a, that john mccain made this week that he had had an easier time getting information from ash carter and Democratic Administration on things like afghan and the situation in nigeria. Are there areas. [inaudible] sure. They hurt my feelings. I love and respect senator mccain. I think we have done quite a bit in consultation with the staff and members of congress. I mention the process we undertake, we referring problems. That has allowed us to do a lot of collaboration and use expertise and think takes and on the hill because so many of these hill staff are so knowledgeable. We bring them in very early in the framing effort and the development of strategies. If senator mccain says we need to do a better job communicating with him, from our departments, we are going to do it. We will do it. This is a problem we can solve. One more question. Connor. Connor with nbc news. Thank you for doing this. I wanted to ask about north korea. They now said they wont negotiate until they perfect their Nuclear Capability and as director pompeo said, that could be a matter of months. We know sanctions take time to have a fact. Are you out of time . Are you running out of time to really deal with this issue until it gets too late . Its a great question. The answers were, were not out of time but we are running out of time. This is a problem set that we have to take on with a great sense of urgency. The president has been extremely clear on his perspective on north korea. He is not going to accept this regime threatening the United States with Nuclear Weapon. He wont accept it. There are those who have said what about accept and deter. Accept and deter is unacceptable. This puts us in a situation where we are in a race to resolve this short of military action. Everybody knows it. We all know it across the departments and agencies. Our allies and partners know it. China knows it. Russian knows it, and so, what we need to achieve is really an unprecedented level of international cooperation. I think the prospects for that are pretty good. Because of the president s leadership, he in his first meeting with the china president , they established a Good Relationship but that was a very substantive meeting. There were three fundamental outcomes of that meeting that we been building on since then. The first is that this is a recognition that the problem of north korea armed Nuclear Weapons is not an issue between the United States and north korea. Its an issue between north korea and the world. Remember the old chinese talking points before president she, this is an issue between the u. S. And north korea and you need to sort it out. This ha is a big change. Its clear that the only acceptable objective is denuclearization. The only acceptable objective is denuclearization. This is a rejection of what we used to hear a lot from china and others, the suspension for suspension or freeze for freeze and what we are recognized is because as you alluded to, we are running out of time. We cant take the same failed approach is in the past of entering into long drawnout negotiations without any prospect for initial steps toward denuclearization. During which north korea continues to advance its Nuclear Program and long drawnout negotiations that deliver a weak agreement and north korea immediately breaks the agreement. It locks in the status quo as the new normal and we cant afford it anymore. As Ambassador Haley said, weve been kicking this can down the road and were out of road. The third big results that we been following up on is a recognition that china does have a great deal of coercive power over north korea had 90 of the trade, the ability to straddle the regime. It might sound unpalatable in terms of threats of instability and refugees, but whats worse . That or war. I think we have opportunities that the president has created with a clear policy, with relationship, with not just china that will be here to show the shift and where changes exist to implement the strategy, but relationships internationally. What you have seen is great work by the state department in engaging countries around the world to say look, its time for everybody to more and what youre seeing is countries cutting off diplomatic relations, kicking out ambassadors, shutting down a lot of these guestworkers are slave labor by north korean laborers outside the country, cutting down on the illicit activities associated with the regime that gives it the hard currency it needs, more rigorous enforcement of sanctions. There is a lot. Some of our Southeast Asian partners have done great work read some of our partners in africa, certainly in europe. If you are kim jongun, you should see a much different perspective when you look out from north korea in recognition that if you think this weapon will make you secure, its having the opposite effect. Its making you less secure and its time for you to take a different approach. So general, what weve heard from you is north korea is close to an lethal end state. The iranians are on a patient pathway to a lethal end state and the administration is developing strategies to try to respond to both those and states before its too late. Is that fair to say . Is a cocktail hour . That sounds pretty depressing. These are opportunities. [laughter] this is an opportunity to take it clear i view of things. If you think about it, what was the previous strategy on north korea . It was just kick the can down the road, hope it doesnt, hope the threat doesnt emerge. Thats not a strategy, its a fantasy. What was iran strategy. It was jcp away. That was it. That was the strategy and the myopic pursuit of that enabled iran and its designs across the region. I think we should be happy for the president s leadership and the fact that he is directed the National Security team to work across our government with allies and partners to develop strategies that are not based in wishful thinking, that are based in reality and will deliver improved safety security, and prosperity for the American People. Thank you very much. I want to invite my colleague john haner to come up and get some closing remarks. John has served three administrations, the highest level of National Security, just maybe provide a short summary of what we heard today but before he does, i wanted to thank you for your service, thank you for the opportunity to get to know you and provide whatever Technical Analysis and research we can to be helpful, and thanks for making the time to explain the strategy to us in the American People. Thank you. [applause] [applause] the house is back in session today after a week long district work. Embers meet for legislative business at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. Later this week, they are expected to take up the Senate Budget resolution with a final vote possible as soon as thursday. If they prove that, it would allow congress to proceed to tax reform. The senate also returns at three eastern today to consider the three and a half billion dollar emergency supplemental for hurricane and welfare relief that was passed by the house. A procedural vote to advance the bill is set for 5 30 p. M. Eastern. As always, you can follow the house live on cspan and the senate live on cspan2. Tonight on the committee caters, russias involvement in the 2016 election with Senior Reporter julia anglin. Facebook has said they learned a bunch of ads placed during the election were placed by russian outfits under anonymous accounts and they were politically device divisive ads, not necessarily aimed at one candidate or another, but aimed at sowing divisiveness on some really charged topics. Watch the communicators tonight eddie 80 strain on cspan2. Now, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee takes a look at the u. S. Agency for International Development food for peace program, and other ways to distribute food aid more effectively around the world. Witnesses include the acting director of the food for peace office, and an official from the Government Accountability office. This hearing is one hour 30 minutes. [inaudible conversations] Foreign Relations committee will come to order. We are currently facing a historic humanitarian crisis with over 800 Million People worldwide who are in need of food aid. The United States continues to be the world leader in providing more than one third of all emergency food aid over 2 billion annually. Sadly, despite her generosity, there are shortfalls from what is needed to two other donor nations not fully meeting the