That we seize it. My presidency is entering the Fourth Quarter. Interesting stuff happens in the Fourth Quarter. And im looking forward to it. Going into the Fourth Quarter, you usually get a timeout. Im now looking forward to a quiet timeout. Christmas with my family. I want to wish everybody a measure wrimerry christmas, a happy hanukkah, a happy new year. I hope that all of you get time to spend with your families as well because one thing that we share is that were away too much from them. And now, josh has given me the whos been naughty and whos been nice list and im going to take some questions. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Starting with north korea since
that seems to be the biggest topic today, what does a proportional response look like to the sony hack . And did sony make the right decision in pulling the movie or does that set a dangerous precedent . Let me address the second question first. Sony is a corporation. It suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. Im sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. In this interconnected digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyberassaults both in the private sector and thePublic Sector. Now, our first order of business is making sure that we do everything to harden sites and prevent those kind of attacks from taking place. When i came into office, i set up a cybersecurity Interagency Team to look at everything that we could do at the government level to prevent these kind of attacks. Weve been coordinating with the private sector but a lot more needs to be done. Were not even close to where we need to be. And one of the things in the new year that i Hope Congress is prepared to work with us on is strong Cybersecurity Laws that allow for Information Sharing across private sector platforms as well as the Public Sector so that we are incorporating Best Practices and preventing these attacks from happening in the first place. But even as we get better, the hackers are going to get better
too. Some of them are going to be state actors. Some are going to be nonstate actors. All of them are going to be sophisticated and many of them can do some damage. We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they dont like or news reports that they dont like. Or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in selfcensorship because they dont want to offend the
sensibilities of somebodys sensibilities who probably need to be offended. So thats not who we are. Thats not what america is about. Again, im sympathetic that sony as a private company was worried about liabilities and this and that and the other. I wish they had spoken to me first. I would have told them do not get into a pattern in which youre intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks. Imagine if instead of it being a cyberthreat, somebody had broken into their offices and destroyed a bunch of computers and stolen
disks. Is that what it takes for you to suddenly pull the plug on something . So well engage with not just the Film Industry but the News Industry and the private sector around these issues. We already have. Well continue to do so. I think all of us have to anticipate occasionally there are going to be breaches like this. Theyre going to be costly. Theyre going to be serious. We take them with the utmost seriousness but we cant start changing our patterns of behavior anymore than we stop going to a Football Game because there might be the possibility of a terrorist attack. Anymore than boston didnt run its marathon this year because of the possibility that somebody might try to cause harm. Lets not get into that way of
doing business. Reporter would you consider taking some sort of symbolic step like watching the movie yourself . I have a long list of movies im going to be watching. Reporter will this be one of them . I never release my full movie list. Lets talk of the specifics of what we now know. The fbi announced today and we can confirm that north korea engaged in this attack. It says something interest about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an allout assault on a movie studio because of a movie starring seth rogen and james flacco. I love seth. I love james. But the notion that that was a threat to them i think gives you some sense of the kind of regime were talking about here. They caused a lot of damage, and we will respond. We will respond proportionately and well respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. Its not something that i will announce here today at a press conference. More broadly, this points to the need for us to work with the International Community to start setting up some very clear rules of the road in terms of how the internet and cyber operates. Right now its sort of The Wild West and part of the problem is you have weak states that can engage in these kind of attacks. You have nonstate actors that
can do enormous damage. Thats part of what makes this issue of cybersecurity so urgent. Again, this is part of the reason why its going to be so important for congress to work with us and get an actual bill passed that allows for the kind of Information Sharing we need because if we dont put in place the kind of architecture that can prevent these attacks from taking place, this is not just going to be affecting movies. This is going to be affecting our entire economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant. By the way, i hear youre moving to europe. Where are you going to be . Brussels. Helping politico start a new publication. Congratulations. I think theres no doubt that what belgium needs is a version of politico. [ laughter ] the waffles are delicious by the way. Sheryl, you have been naughty. Go ahead. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Looking ahead to your work with Congress Next year, you mentioned as an area of possible compromise tax reform and so im wondering, do you see a Republican Congress as presenting a better opportunity for actually getting tax reform next year . Will you be putting out a new proposal . Are you willing to consider both individual and corporate side of the tax ledger there. Also, are you still concerned about corporate inversions . I think an all Democratic Congress would have provided an even better opportunity for tax reform, but i think talking toSpeaker Boehner and leader mcconnell, that they are serious about wanting to get some things done. The tax area is one area where we can get things done. And i think in the coming weeks leading up to the state of the union, there will be some conversations at the staff levels about what principles each side are looking at. I can tell you broadly what i would like to see. I would like to see more simplicity in the system. I would like to see more fairness in the system. With respect to the Corporate Tax reform issue, we know that there are companies that are paying the full freight, 35 , higher than just about any other company on earth if you are paying 35 . And then there are other companies that are paying zero because theyve got better accounts or lawyers. Thats not fair. There are companies Parking Money outside the country
because of tax avoidance. We think its important that everybody pays something if in fact they are effectively headquartered in the United States. In terms of corporate inversion, those are situations where companies are headquartered here but on paper switched their headquarters to see if they can avoid paying their fair share of taxes. I think that needs to be fixed. So fairness, everybody paying their fair share, everybody taking responsibility. I think its going to be very important. Some of those principles i heard republicans say they share. How we do that, the devil is in the details. Ill be interested in seeing what they want to move forward. Im going to make sure that we put forward specific proposals building on what we already put
forward. One other element of this thats important is ive been on this hobby horse now for six years. Weve got a lot of infrastructure weve got to rebuild in this country if were going to be competitive. Roads, bridges, ports, airports. Electrical grids. Water systems. Sewage systems. We are way behind. And early on we indicated that there is a way of us potentially doing Corporate Tax reform, lowering rates, eliminating loopholes so everybody is paying their fair share and during that transition also providing a mechanism where we can get some infrastructure built. I would like to see us work on that issue as well historically obviously infrastructure has not been a democratic or republican issue, and i would like to see if i can return to that
tradition. Julie pace . Reporter thank you, mr. President. I wanted to ask about cuba. What would you say to dissidents or democracy advocates inside cuba who Say Policy Changes could give castro regime benefits without addressing the human rights or political system. When you lifted sanctions on miramar, you sought reform. If i could follow up on north korea, do you have any indication that north korea was working in conjunction with another country, perhaps china . We have no indication that north korea was working in conjunction with another country. With respect to cuba, we are glad that the cuban government has released slightly over 50 dissidents, that theyre going to be allowing the International Community red cross and United NationsHuman Rights Agencies to operate more freely inside of cuba and monitor what is taking
place. I share the concerns of dissidents there and Human Rights Activists that this is still a regime that represses it people. As i said when i make the announcement, i dont anticipate overnight changes. What i know deep in my bones is that you have done the same thing for 50 years and nothing has changed, you should try Something Different if you want a different outcome. And this gives us an opportunity for a different outcome. Suddenly cuba is open to the world in ways it has not been opened before. Its open to americans traveling there in ways that it hasnt been before. Its open to Church Groups visiting their fellow believers
inside of cuba in ways they havent been before. It offers the prospects of telecommunications and the internet being more widely available in cuba in ways that it hasnt been before. And over time, that chips away at this society. I believe offers the best prospect then of leading to greater freedom, greater selfdetermination on the part of the cuban people. I think it will happen in fits and starts. But through endpajment, we have a better chance of bringing about change than we would have otherwise. Do you have a goal of where you see cuba being at the end of your presidency . It would be unrealistic for me to map out exactly where cuba will be. But change is going to come to
cuba. It has to. Theyve got an economy that doesnt work. Theyve been reliant for years on subsidies from the soviet union and then on subsidies from venezuela. Those cant be sustained. And the more the cuban people see whats possible, the more interested they are going to be in change. Its country specific and culturally specific. It could happen fast. It could happen slower than i would like. Its going to happen and this change in policy is going to advance that. Leslie clark . Reporter i have a number of questions as well. Do i have to write all these down . How many are they . Reporter as quick as i can. I want to see if you have any assurances from the cuban government that it would not
revert to the same sort of sabotage as it has in the past when president president s have made similar overtures to the government. Be specifically. What do you mean . Reporter when the Clinton Administration made overture, they shot down planes and have this pattern of doing provocative just general provocative activity. Reporter any time the u. S. Reached out a hand to them and whats your knowledge of whether fidel castro had any role in the talks and when you spoke to raul castro, did Fidel Castros name come up, have you asked about him . How is he doing . People havent seen him in a while. And given deep opposition from republicans in congress to lifting the embargo to embassy to any changes that youre doing, are you going to personally get involved in terms of talking to them about efforts
they want to do to block money on a new embassy . Leslie, i think im going to cut you off here. This is taking up a lot of time. All right. So with respect to sabotage, my understanding of the history of the plane being shot down, its not clear that was the cuban government purposely trying to undermine overtures by the Clinton Administration. It was a tragic circumstance that ended up collapsing talks that had begun to take place. I havent seen an historical record that suggests they shot the plane down specifically in order to undermine overtures by the clinton government. I think it is not precedented for the president of the united
states and president of cuba to make an announcement at the same time that they are moving toward normalizing relations. There hasnt been anything like this in the past. That doesnt mean that over the next two years we cant anticipate them taking certain actions that we may end up finding deeply troubling. Either inside of cuba or with respect to their foreign policy. And that could put significant strains on the relationship. But thats true of a lot of countries out there where we have an embassy and the whole part of normalizing relations is that it gives us a greater opportunity to have influence with that government and not. So i would be surprised if the
cuban government purposely tries to undermine what is now effectively its own policy. I wouldnt be surprised if they take at any given time actions that we think are a problem, and we will be in a position to respond to whatever actions they take the same way we do with a whole range of countries Around The World when we do things they think are wrong but the point is that well be in a better position to actually have some influence. They may be carrots and sticks that we can then apply. The only way that fidels name came up, i think i may have mentioned this in the interview i did, i delivered a fairly lengthy statement at the front end about how were looking
forward to a new future in the relationship between our two countries but that we are going to continue to press on issues of democracy and human rights which we think are important. And my opening remarks took about 15 minutes, which on the phone is a pretty long time. At the end of that, he said, mr. President , youre still a young man. Perhaps you have the at the end of my remarks i apologized for taking such a long time, but i wanted to be sure before we engaged in the conversation that he was very clear about where i stood. He said dont worry about it, mr. President. Youre still a young man and you still have a chance to break fidels record. He once spoke seven hours straight. And then president castro proceeded to deliver his own
preliminary remarks that lasted at least twice as long as mine. And then i was able to say obviously it runs in the family. That was the only discussion of fidel castro that we had. I sort of forgot all of the others. Reporter i have a few more. How personally involved are you going to get with respect to congress, we cannot unilaterally bring down the embargo. Thats codified in the act. What i do think is going to happen, theres going to be a process where congress digests it. Theyre bipartisan supporters of our new approach. They are bipartisan detractors of this new approach. People will see how the actions we take unfold i think there will be a healthy debate inside
of congress. I will weigh in. I think ultimately we need to go ahead and pull down the embargo which has been selfdefeating in advancing the aims that were interested in. I dont anticipate that happens right away. People will want to see how does this move forward before theres any serious debate about whether or not we would make major shifts in the embargo. All right. Reporter under what conditions would you meet with president castro in havana . Would you have preconditions you would want to see and on the hack, i know you said youre not going to announce your response but can you say whether you are considering additional economic sanctions on north korea . Can you rule out the use of Military Force or some kind of cyberhit of your own . I think im going to leave it where i left it, which is we just confirmed it was north korea. We have been working a range of options. Theyve been presented to me. Ill make a decision on those based on what i feel is proportional and appropriate to the nature of this crime. With respect to cuba, were not at a stage here where me visiting cuba or president castro coming to the United States is in the cards. I dont know how this relationship will develop over the next several years. Im a fairly young man. I imagine at some point in my life ill have an opportunity to visit cuba and enjoy interacting with the cuban people. Theres Nothing Specific where were trying to target some sort of visit on my part. Colleen Mccain Nelson . Reporter you spoke earlier about 2014 being a breakthrough ye