Followed by the commander of Coalition Troops in afghanistan. He hasnt acted on the situation in the area. Then jeh johnson testifying on his department 30 8 p. M. Dollar 30 billion budget requests. Newsmakers joining us on adammakers this week is schiff, a Senior Member of the House Intelligence Committee. They do for joining us. Our two reporters are michael and christhe hill strohm with a bloomberg news. It has been an interesting week to have you here. Edward snowden be a keynote speaker at the sxsw conference by video. We also had some very serious accusations i a supporter of the cia, diane feinstein, on the senate floor that on many making many people who Cover National Security and privacy wonder what is next in this National Debate were having. Lets start by asking your reaction to the accusations against the cia and their spying on the senate. They are very serious. Has been anstein great champion of the cia and Intelligence Community. This is a senator who does her homework. She is very awful and lawful and substantive. What is interesting about it, one of the allegations is that the cia was auditing the senate computers, the database, and although there have been and i denials, that is not seen to be a denial that the cia did do some investigation of those computers without the senate authorization. Serious problem. Thate cia was concerned the senate had access to documents that they were not supposed to have, whether because the cia was careless for putting them in the database or whatever reason, that should have been taken up with senator feinstein. They should not have done any type of a search of shares certificate surreptitious act. I think it could have substantial repercussions. Specifically on the cia response, nancy pelosi yesterday said on thursday that director brendans response was befuddling. She cannot understand it. Check concerns. What do you think of his response . Do you still have faith in them as rector of the cia . His wantingerstand to go to bat and support his agency. Confrontation a with the senate is in his interest or just of the agency. Ive been taken back by the degree to which they have pushed back without any kind of conciliation on this. That has surprised me. My interactions have been very positive. Theres nothing that has given me any pause. His First Response should have been if they access these without going to the senator a mistake. We made we have concerns we need to explore with you. We should have done this working with you, not working against you. It is not how i would have handled it. Senator feinstein is very upset with the idea that the cia was searching the computers that were given to her staff to administrations enhanced interrogation program. What is the next step here that needs to be done . The can you say about underlying report . It looked into the enhanced interrogation. What do you know about that . Things. Ple of with respect to the report, i strongly believe that this declassified. There are areas that have to be redacted. It should be made publicly available. This is a key debate we have had over the last several years. That program is a thing of the past. Of the debate goes on about whether it was useful or counterproductive. It is at the heart of the current debate. This was more in line with the construction. Even as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, i can i get access to this report. For a year. Asking it has been very tightly held. Im glad the white house has come on board in terms of supporting declassification. In terms of the next steps, i would hope what is happening right here is that cooler heads are prevailing. They are taking a pause. I hope they will reevaluate the adversarial pose there taken him find a way to reestablish a good working relationship with the senate. It is incredibly important in terms of our oversight role in for the agency. I think of mark twains saying do not pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. It is not wise as an agency to pick a fight with the committee that funds you and can make your life difficult. Cia issue, Civil Liberties groups have been campaigning about government spying on civilians. What do you say to the charges that now members of the Intel Committee to have been some of the strongest supporters are up in arms only when they are the target of similar spying . Is there a double standard . No. Theres a certain intellectual appeal to that argument. Many of us have been fighting for referral of the metadata and tryingr example, to champion the right balance between privacy and National Security. It is the debate that goes back to the founders. It will frankly be with us for some time. In addition to the privacy considerations, there are different once when he have potential spying by an intelligence agency. Then you get into added consideration of separation of power, violation of other particular provisions, the speech and debate clause in the constitution as well as some of the statutes governing this. They are wrapped. Does that mean they are more weighty. Another layer to this debate that we have been having. I understand the criticism. It is in the kravis it is one. While you referenced metadata reform, you authored legislation. I wondered you could explain it to our viewing audience what you hope to do pure you ar. Quoted as saying this would be a difficult year for reform. I still think it will be difficult but there may be a convergence on the metadata program. For your viewers, what is thelved in here, this is bold Data Collected by the government of that involves phone numbers connected to other numbers, duration of calls, time of calls. It does not include subscriber information. It is not like a phone record. The numbers are not connected with the people who have those phones. It is also not the content of the communications. People think that all of their phone calls are being listened to. None of the content is involved in this data. Nonetheless, theres a vast amount of data. It has the potential it could be way to findsed in a out who is calling who and what time. There are real privacy interest at stake. I have been championing among several others a restructuring of the program, an end to book collection. We would go to the phone Companies Like we do in the criminal context rather than gathering all the data in searching at ourselves when we believe a number is connected with a plot. I think that is where we are headed. If we are successful, we can bring about those reforms proactively. If we are not successful, in the middle of next year the program will sunset and simply go away. We will largely moved to the Law Enforcement model. I wanted to ask you about the National Security agency spying in terms of what youre going to do with people phone records. The latest developments are that the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee are reaching some sort of agreement for a bill to adjust the book records. The Administration Announces their plants. The administration set that it for themselves. I do not know whether they are on track to meet that deadline. Is much like the model like the bill that i introduced months ago which would have the Telephone Companies hold onto their own data. Requestneeded to go and a certain number we would go to the company with Legal Process. Have a prioralso court review. Apart from emergency circumstances where there is a real need for speed, we would go they would approve in cubas Legal Process to go to the phone company. That would be the alternative to gathering all the bulk data. What is an issue initially is how fast can you do that . The advantage of bulk election is that you have all the data. You can merge the formats so that when there is a need you can search through all of that data without having to go to multiple carriers and take the time and inefficiency. Technological answers to the problem that i think and get the response times down very considerably and close to as if we had all of the data. That is where i think were moving. What are the issues that remain . Whether we think is go to the court before we go to the carriers or whether it is an after the fact process. I think the administration has made properly in the direction of prior court review. I think that makes a lot of sense. I want to shift to another issue, ukraine. You are on the frontlines of the intel debate. Is anything the Intel Community couldve done better to foresee this invasion of russia into crimea . What that could of been if so russi it is a bit too early to say. We certainly understood that these military exercises could be a cover for a plan to move troops into crimea. We understood there were several scenarios that were all possible. Addicting that this would be the path putin would take means you have to predict putin. We may have good insight on where he is coming from but at the end of the day, as well person put it, we are one synapse away from any particular decision. Predicting that is a bit like predicting the impossible at times. He is not always predictable and can act erratically and irrationally like i think he has here. Cannot say there has been any intelligence failure. If we learn later that we had intelligence, that their discussions with putin and others or other telltale military signs that were not consistent with the military exercise, if we learn subsequently that we had information that we did not put together, then we can conclude there was intelligence failure. I have not seen that yet. Nsa just want to say on the spying, theres been a lot of attention paid to the attention of bulk phone records. There are other extensive spying programs that are taking place such as the Prison Program which fromllecting Internet Data the technology Companies Like facebook and google. There are revelations that came out in the document leaked by Edward Snowden that showed that the nsa has been weakening intoption and hacking fiber cables without companies knowing. What is your understanding of how effective the collection of Internet Data has been . Has it contributed to stopping any terrorist plots . Go,ar as the other programs what if anything should be done to rein in the nsa . Imagine, iight cannot get into specifics of some of the programs or obligations you have mentioned. I cant say a lot of the focus of the bulk metadata debate has been on section 215. 702, whichther, deals some of our foreign collections. It has been more access will importing product at home and abroad. It is a very important effort not only to protect ourselves but a lot of our allies and some allies of that were complaining are the ones i have been the biggest beneficiaries of election under 702. You mentioned a range of different topics. Without going into any specifics, i cant say i i can say is important for the Intelligence Community to be working with our technology companies, allowing them to be more transparent about when they are asked for information. These companies are doing a lot of business overseas. It is part of their business model. We want them to be successful. Hem the ability to be more transparent will help them. More Quick Response to fourth process when they come to us when they need help and information and more swiftly processing those requests. It will help in terms of some of these issues. Some of the other allegations that he mentions are going to be very tough for the companies to overcome. They remain healthy and strong. We need to work much more closely. Do you think congress or the administration should do anything in response to these other allegations that is the nsa hacking into data centers abroad or potentially compromising millions of computers globally with malware . Those of us on the committee have urged the intelligence too much more readily respond each time there is a new snowden disclosure or a new allegation. Happen withg that the most recent snowden allegation. He very quickly put out a statement disputing some of the more sensationalist claims. That i think is very important. The antidote to misinformation is getting good information out there. Theyre going to be constrained the work theye oft he work do. When he to do a much better job. That is letting our foreign typeers known that htthe of surveillance that we do not do, the efforts that we may to maintain the privacy of people not just at home abroad, i think all of these things are very important for us to continue to emphasize. One particular area we need to draw a distinction is other countries like china. They spy for some of the same purposes we do, to protect them selves. They also said i to gain economic advantage, to still intellectual property. We do not do that. It is a very important distinction to that is lost in all of this. It is important for our friends and allies to understand the project. Do not dothings we such as try to prevail for the purpose of giving ourselves and economic benefits. Wondering if you have had any reflections about the capabilities or limitations of technology and International Corporation . Absolutely. The one that leaps out at me most is the gaping hole that we have in terms of people flying was stolen identification. They may have had nothing to do with the disappearance of this plane. They probably did have nothing to do with it. Millions of people board planes without the identities being vetted. That is a real problem. Even if they were not involved in the disappearance, others may take advantage of the fact most countries do not check with interpol to see whether the documents people are providing our their own documents. That is something we need to focus on correct thing. Hear that someng of the best data we are getting is from an unlikely source. That is the maker of the engines on that plane had a technology in place where it could get a ping with feedback on how they were performing. That was for their own quality control. Keyas given us some pretty information that the plane was in the air perhaps much longer than we might have known. Shift one more time to syria. Saturday is the third anniversary of the civil war there. Or the 100,000 people dead. Im wondering if theres anything that president obama or congress should be doing differently or were aggressively to end the crisis. If so, what . That is a great question. This is the most distressing thing going on right now. In terms of what we can be doing on the humanitarian front, theres a lot more that we can be doing to step up and help these people that are in need. I think the United States can be more welcoming of some of the refugees. A particular issue i have been working with, many thousands have immigrants in the United States they can i get a visa cannot get a visa because they have reached the visa limits. On the broader military negotiations, on of the most significant things we need to do is get our allies on the same page about who they are supporting and make sure the weapons that are falling into this conflict are not flowing into the hands of jihad is who also oppose a great threat to us after the conflict. That is far more important this. Apart from this it is keeping up pressure on the diplomatic front. Something that has become far more difficult with russias territorial aggression and crimea. Nonetheless, we have to try to keep the pressure on. I think there is an answer to this conflict. Assad asone that views indispensable. I think we can all agree on him going. We have difficulty agreeing on what should come next. On ancan focus on coming agreement and phasing him out and trying to get to the basis of the subsequent successor regime. I think there is enough Common Ground to put an end to this war. Quick closing comments. I just wanted to ask you. Over the last year it has been almost a year since the revelations about the nsa spying. Additional revelations about the cias spying on senate staffers. I am wondering what you think about congressional oversight and the feelings. Of needs to be some kind significant reform to the oversite. The biggest problem in oversight is the fact that there is a tremendous mismatch of resources. Even at the house and senate Intelligence Committees that have a very talented staff but a very small staff here a. Then you have the behemoth agencies. We can oversee andy dick but if the agencies are not forthcoming, we do not necessarily know the right questions to ask or the right places to look. Is tremendously difficult. There are steps we can take to improve our capabilities. At the end of the day, we need the agenciesf themselves. That is why it is so important that we have the right leadership and why this conflict with of the cia and senate may be so debilitating. I think probably beefing up our capabilities would be very important in making sure that in the confirmation process where people. Vetting is a relationship of the congress overseeing the agency and not the other way around. There are some within the agency that think is their job to oversee the overseers. Congressman adam schiff, thank you for being our guest. My pleasure. Theets pick up conversation. The congressman earlier has bought the reform might be difficult. Now he thinks perhaps just this had allegations about the cia getting into Congressional Senate computers and spying on the senate itself. Might it change the game . It was interesting. He said there could be an agreement reached by the end of the month. Ration as they have their own timeline. President obama has said that by the end of march 28 they want to have the plan for going forward. We do not know if that plan will be. They could be a plan to study it more or put something in place that takes time. It does not seem that the h ill want to wait much longer. The idea that theres going to be legislation taking up seems to be here given the cia regulations. Dcaa change in this area at all . It was interesting there as well. You have nancy pelosi on thursday. A very good friend of director brennan. She said i will see him on monday at the st. Patricks day party. She said i still do not understand any of his answers. We dove mr. Schiff said not understand the response. They had time to come up with some kind of defense. What we are hearing you do not like. It is a separation of powers issue. We want more intel. This is a guy you can get it done. I think youre going to see a lot more criticism of her and in particular. His response is not been up to the standards of what Congress Things that should be. To some degree the debate is because of the pressure that has been put on the existing policies and legislation. Theres also a sunset provision facing the original patriot act in 2015. How will that meet the requirement to visit some of these approaches to the discussion . I live as i think the safety net to do something. There are three provisions which expire june 2015. 215 includes the section under which the bulk phone records are collected. The main thing is done, the deadline looms. It will force them to do something. Think that is something down the road that is the deadline. There seems to be a sense to do something sooner than later. Going back to the issue of the tension that exists between the hill on the cia, it has been a state of low intensity conflict for several years now. I can recall back when said theoman pelosi cia lies to the hill all the time. From time to sign we have seen skirmishes. S i am not sure there is the reprimandnal force to him or do anything with regard to his position. Do theyuch leverage have buy a controlling the Purse Strings . A bit. Intelpelosi was on the committee for a number of years and now has access to data. She said clearly on thursday the administration is custodian of the intelligence but not the owner. If theres any indication that they are abusing it we have the power of the purse. It was an unveiled threat that congress does fund of these things. At the heart, this is all over the report on investigation into torture techniques. You surprised to hear that a Senior Member cannot get access to this report . When he initially said it but i have been thinking of and im not really surprised. We have heard even members of the Intelligence Committee have not been given the access to these spy programs. The reports that are within the that is partagency about why i asked him about the lawyer of oversight. He did seem to agree that there needs to be stronger oversight. He said it needs to be made clear that the committees oversee the agencies. The sweetdebate finds spot between National Security and privacy, the conversation will definitely continue. And he very much for your questions. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] the suggestion is when we say what i thinkhoice we often mean is they know best. The government does not know best. , prettyon of autonomy elaborate word, is basically a saying that people know better than outsiders do about what will make our lives go well. This sounds kind of academic and abstract but i think the stakes are real and can create. The question we think about our policies, at least a lot of the question, are people going to be sick . Are they going to be miserable . Are they going to be dead . Have some policy, whether it involves savings for retirement or if it involves privacy on the internet or if it if we canirquality, think of some way that makes them less likely to be sick or alsoable or dead while letting them ultimately go their own way if that is what they want, that is probably a good bargain. Ss sunstein on his latest why knuge . General Joseph Dunford testify to the Senate Armed Services committee recently. He talked about military operations in afghanistan and the true presence after this year scheduled drawdown by the u. S. The hearing is one hour 50 minutes. We thank you for your Great Service to our nation. This committee has held regular hearings over the years. More than 2200 americans have given their lives there and thousands more have been wounded. Despite the sacrifices, despite the fact that in a stand harbored the terrorists who attacked our nation in 2001, a recent poll shows that for the first time a plurality of americans believe that sending our forces to afghanistan was a mistake. I do not share that view. More importantly neither do the Afghan People. A recent Public Opinion poll shows that a large majority of afghans believe the conditions in the country have improved over the last decade. Have taken critical steps to deny safe haven to terrorists to ensure afghanistan does not serve as a sanction a sanctuary for terrorists to organize it states. There are a number of encouraging signs. Afghan forces prevented the taliban from seizing control of any urban center or district. Enter a report this month concluded that for a force that is very much in its infancy the performance last year judged on its own merit should be considered a success. A poll released last month, large majorities of the Afghan People expressed confidence in their army and the national police. Better security has meant improvement in Afghan Society and the economy as well. More than 8 million afghan children are now in school. That is eight times as many as in 2001. Under the taliban virtually no afghan girls received an education. Now, 2. 6 Million Girls are in school. In 2001, afghanistan had 20,000 teachers all mail. Today, there are 200,000 teachers including 60,000 women. U. S. Assistance has helped build or refurbish nearly 700 schools across afghanistan. Maternal and infant mortality is has declined dramatically. The average afghan has a Life Expectancy now of 62 years compared to 45 under the taliban. Only seven percent of afghans support a taliban return to power. How is it that a large majority of the Afghan People think that conditions in afghanistan are improving when most americans do not . Unfortunately, the American People rarely read about positive developments in afghanistan. Instead, the media focuses almost exclusively on negative incidents, depriving the American People of the sense of accomplishment that they would receive if they were provided a balanced view. As a result, our troops have not received the recognition for the positive changes in afghanistan for which they and their families have sacrificed so much. The positive developments are not the whole story to him of course. Real and daunting challenges lie ahead. Taliban terrorists act will continues and be the focus of the media. The improving Afghan Military has proven his willingness to fight but is still in the early stages of building the support functions such as logistics and maintenance and intelligence and air power that are necessary for combat troops to do their jobs. Effectively a bilateral Security Agreement providing for protections for our troops is essential if even a modest number of our forces remain in afghanistan. President karzai has refused to sign it i lateral Security Agreement that he negotiated and received the strong support of the jurga that he convened. President obama has decided to look beyond president karzai to the next afghan president following elections in early april. Each of the afghan president ial candidates has indicated a willingness to sign the bilateral Security Agreement and any of them would likely be a more reliable partner and president karzai. Much continues to be at stake for our National Security, for the security of our friends and allies around the world, for regional stability and, of course, for the Afghan People. A recent letter by afghan parliamentarian highlighted the extraordinary changes of the past decade, particularly for afghan women like herself. She points out that 12 years ago, afghan womens participation in public life was prohibited and the prohibition was enforced through harassment and abuse. K ms. Ufi was nearly abandoned at earth simply because in the afghanistan of that time, the female child had no future. In the post tell about afghanistan, she beat came she became a Senior Leader of the afghan parliament. She she wrote it has been a difficult journey marked by blood and violence but we have made significant danes and achievements which would not have been possible without the generous support of the international community, especially the American People. The tell about have announced their attention to disrupt the april 5 election. They will not succeed. Afghan people will stand up to their threats. They do it every day. Only if president karzai and the Afghan Government permit or perpetuate or perpetrate fraud will be elections fail to be credible. All in all, we must not lose lose sight of our accomplishments afghanistan or we will risk losing them. If we dont maintain a moderate level of support in the years ahead, we will also risk losing the gains that have been made at such a high cost. Senator inhoffe. I was in afghanistan in february. I observed the same thing that you did. I will not list the things the public just does not know about. There is one thing i would mention that was on my list that was not on yours and that is in going through the kabul airport, there was not one empty gate. There is a lot at stake now. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the administration in iraq where the drawdown resulted in a did cheery raging security situation. There was an increase in violence and a increase in terrorist groups. Lets ensure that decisions about the future of our mission in afghanistan after 2014 are based on sound strategy and the facts on the ground. To do that, we must trust our military commanders on the ground. The asnf is an overwhelming majority of doing the fighting against the tell a ban and there is a need to continue to support the development of ansf especially in critical areas of developing and fighting terrorists. In afghanistan, the president karzai refusal to sign the treaty with the Afghan People has cast doubt about the future of the Afghanistan Security and stability. His irresponsibility in signing the vsa does not really matter. The will of the people including through the explicit endorsement by the elders and the tribesmen and the loyal jurga make it clear that the next president will sign this. We will talk this one out until that takes place and i appreciate the personal time you have spent with all of us to give us the information of what is going on there. I only wish that the public were aware of what we are aware of. Thank you so much. General dumphrey. I appreciate the opportunity to testify this morning and represent the men and women of the United States forces in afghanistan. Their courage, commitment and performance are a direct reflection of your support and im confident that no force is ever deployed or better trigger better equipped. We are now in the final year of the combat mission in afghanistan, mission to deny safe haven to al qaeda terrorists who attacked our nation on 9 11. We recognize our Vital National interests are best served by a stable, secure and unified afghanistan. In afghanistan is a capable and willing partner in the war against terrorism. We have accomplished much in pursuit of those ends. Since 9 11, our forces have placed a short art pressure on al qaeda and extremist networks in afghanistan. Today as a result of those efforts, al qaeda terrorists are focused on survival rather than on planning attacks against the west. Since 9 11 and with increased emphasis beginning in 2009, we focused on developing afghan National Security forces. Today as a result of those efforts, capable and confident Afghan Forces are securing the Afghan People. Since 9 11, we have work to improve the daily lives of the Afghan People. As a result of those efforts, afghans have increased access to clean water, electricity, new roads, and education. More important than any sign of her aggressive afghanistan is the Afghan People have something today they did not have in 2001. They have hope for the future. We paid the price for those achievements as the chairman mentioned, the over 2200 americans that have been lost and thousands more afghans and members of the coalition. Security remained pretty much the same. After watching the Afghan Forces respond to a variety of challenges since they took the lead in june, i dont believe the taliban insurgency represents an existential threat to the government of afghanistan or to the Afghan Security forces. Or to the Afghan Security forces. Im confident that they can secure the upcoming president ial election and the nations first transfer of power. Make this in doing, work remains to build longterm sustainability. Although they require less support in conducting security operations, they still need help with the institutions necessary to sustain the modern army and Police Force Area they also make continued support in addressing capability gaps in aviation, and special operations. To address these gaps, trained advisor to this mission will be necessary after this year to further develop afghan self sustainability. Continued Counterterrorism Mission will also be needed to ensure that al qaeda remains focused on survival and not on regeneration. Without continued counterterrorist pressure and ill bold and and emboldened al qaeda will reconstitute and exploit their perceived victory to boost recruitment, fundraising, and morale. In closing, its fair to ask if we are winning in afghanistan. I believe the answer is yes and several facts allow me to say that with confidence. First and foremost, our efforts in afghanistan have ushered the terrorist network and prevent another 9 11. Second, we have else Afghan Security forces that increasingly can produce security incident and deny safe haven. We are providing a stabilizing influence in the region that is providing the time and space for a wide range of complex issues to be addressed. Finally as a result of our efforts, the Afghan People face a decade of opportunity within which they can determine their own future free of the brutality and intolerance of the taliban. Despite all the skepticism surrounding our mission, that looks like winning to me. Thank you again for the opportunity to appear this morning and i look forward to your questions. Thank you much for your testimony and again for your service and for all those with whom you work. I think we have six votes scheduled. We have asked if they can be delayed and another committee is in the same situation and we dont know that will be the case. What we will do is we will have a six minute first round to get as many of us in as possible before that vote. There will still be many of us who will have to work around these votes as we did yesterday and the day before. We did it very successfully so it looks like we will do the best we can. General, what is the latest date that we can wait in order to find out if there is going to be a bilateral Security Agreement. In other words, the date we must actually begin to implement a total withdrawal . If there is going to be no bsa . From a military perspective, whether there would be a withdrawal at the end of 2014 or whether we would maintain a mission, i would not do anything different between now and july. We have stabilize the force to support the elections in april and we have plenty of flexibility to adjust to either eventuality in july. Beginning in july, i think we have manageable risks during the month of july and august and i would assess the risk of an orderly withdrawal that begins to be high in september and that is a function of the tasks that have to be accomplished and how many days. I would quickly add that what concerns me most about the delay b ins thea is not the physics of the retrograde or the redeployment of forces. Its the uncertainty that exists inside of afghanistan with the Afghan People, the uncertainty with the Afghan Forces, the hedging behavior we see in the it is part of a coalition to train and advise and assist the afghans. Can you tell us what range of u. S. Troops that you would be comfortable with for a post2014 military presence . For over a year, we have used the guidance we received at the defense ministerial from nato in 2013 as our primary planning guide. That guidance was called for for a force of 812,000 nato forces to provide an train and assist. I am comfortable with that range and our ability to a compost the mission with that allocation of forces. Over and above that, we have assumed on the u. S. Side there would be additional thousands of forces that conduct cap to terrorism operations. You are talking about an additional few thousand . Thats correct print and 2 3 of them would be u. S. Forces . As a general rule, we have provided 2 3 of the nato force. You have already characterized the performance of the Afghan Security forces in 2013. Can you give us the overall your overall assessment . They were able to maintain the security that was present in the earlier summer when we were mainly in control and they did that although they were now in control in 2013. Would you say that control is successful how would you give a general military characteristic . Starting with the summer, the taliban articulated their objective in the spring and we can say that at the end of the summer, they were unsuccessful in a competent their objectives as a result of the performance of the Afghan Security forces. A couple of events highlight the ability of the Afghan Security forces. Thejurga is a good example where thousands of people met in kabul from around the country. The city was locked down and the event was conducted without a security incident. We know the taliban had every intent to disrupt that particular event. Just last week, there was an event in a province with 6000 people celebrating the islamic festival, people from throughout the region came in Afghan Forces coordinated their efforts in the ministry of interior and the ministry of defense conducted that events without a security incident. We also know from intelligence that the enemy had every intent to disrupt that event. What we have seen increasingly as Afghan Forces that are capable of assuming the lead. We no longer conduct any unilateral operations except for our own security, our own sustainment and retrograde. All other operations in afghanistan are conducted by Afghan Security forces. I would say that the most significant thing i have seen is the sense of responsibility and accountability of afghan leaders. Also the pride and confidence that the people in afghanistan have in their security force. That has been one of the biggest second order effects as a result of the transition that took place last june. A recent independence that he by the center for naval analysis concluded the following about the size of the Afghan Security forces that would be needed. Their assessment is that based on the likely security conditions after 2014 in afghanistan, that the Security Forces should be maintained near their current size of around 374,000 which includes army, national police, and the Afghan Local Police at least room 2018. Do you agree with that assessment . That includes Afghan Police through 2018. Do you agree with that assessment . Them i do. The study is consistent with some work we have done over the last two or three years. I do to. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Yesterday we talked about or you talked about the difference between transition and withdraw. Would you like to share that with us . We are in the process of transitioning to Afghan Security forces, assuming forward that assuming assuming full responsibility. It allows us to achieve the ends that we outlined some years ago, in which i articulated in my opening statement. A transition may finish the job and allow Afghan Forces to assume responsibility in supporting the trip supporting the transition. A withdrawal means abandoning the people of afghanistan and providing al qaeda space to begin operations. Would it be similar to the would it be similar to the iraq iraq situation . I think that is fair to say. One of the difficult things that is so intangible is when we talk about what would have happened if we hadnt done what we had done. Im thinking a lot of the times and assay information would be directly linked to something that was planned like the new york city subway stuff and the jet storage view. Jet storage fuel. From a military perspective, would you say our actions could have prevented another 9 11 type of attack on this country . I dont think there is any doubt that al qaeda has an intent to once again attack the west and use the afghanpakistan region to make that attack. I dont think theres any doubt that any pressure we have had in the past few years in particular has benefited from doing that. I believe a lot of the people dont and i think it is important that we and the you and the military we and you and the military talk about observations. What are we doing that is perhaps not as noticeable today as it should be . I can remember in the beginning one of our guard units was used in the trading. It has gone by the statements that has been made in the a nsf. It is very effective but not fully developed. What does that mean . Today the Afghan Forces are providing security for the Afghan People. We dont have are the systems and processes that would be selfsustaining. At the end ministerial level that occludes acquisition and getting parts distributed, pay systems, overseeing contracts. The functions that allow them to be selfsustaining. We are providing a degree of advice that is different from the past. We were partnering with them or providing combat advising. We are doing that without putting our people in harms way. Clearly we are still in combat and people are in harms way. The risk is increasingly being assumed by Afghan Security forces. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you general for your service. A great deal hangs on this election forthcoming. And you can us can you give us an indication of your committee to protect the election process in april and also therell likely be a runoff when the election process concludes. The Afghan Security forces began to plan security for the elections. I think one of the best indicators for what we will see the place last summer and during the registration process. I also mentioned the security they provided to the islamic those are indicators of the afghans providing security. One other thing is that during the elections of 2009 there are about 250,000 people in uniform. That is a combination of Coalition Forces and Afghan Forces. 375 thousand of which will be afghan. I think that is a strong indicator not only their performance over the past not only of their performance over the past several months but there inherent capabilities that will be on display during the fifth of april this year. Our best assessment is we would have a new president in august of 2014. That falls within that time where you are still capable of making a transition or going from several options. Operational use to have that flexibility. We do. You have indicated the positive Public Opinion support for the Afghan Security forces. Can you give us an indication why that is the case and can that translate to a support of the government of afghanistan. There are situations where armies might have Security Forces but it does not translate. We began to see the change back in june. We celebrated what was known as milestone 2013, that is when the Afghan Security forces assumed the lead. I can remember one confrontation one conversation i had with the Afghan Security forces member. During that ceremony he leaned over to me almost with tears in his eyes. He said, you have no idea what it means to be responsible for the security of your own country. I want to thank you and the American People for making this possible. We have seen through the summer