the most important strategic initiative of any president over the last 40, 50 years, it was the strategic triangle of nixon and kissinger to allow the united states to build better relations with both china and the soviet union than they had with each other. and it was cia intelligence that provided the impetus to suggest that we could do this and as a result the soviet union would have to engage us which they did in terms of the treaty of berlin and the arms control agreements and we would end up with very good bilateral relations with both of them. so, the cia can be effective as a support instrument in this area. in terms of what needs to be done, because i m running out of my time, i think we could do ourselves a lot of good by going back to that op-ed that president truman wrote in december of 1963. the warning about covert action, the warning that covert action is policy. and covert action, therefore, can taint clandestine collection and even taint intelligence analysis
the president encouraged all of us to spend time with the press because even on an off-the-record, if we couldn t answer their questions, we better go back and do more homework. the last thing i ll say, one of my fondest vignettes of the press and reagan was sam donaldson, lou cannon of the washington post, andrea mitchell of nbc news were all fighting about who was going to do the last pool report on air force one or 26,000 as we headed back to california at the end of the reagan presidency. and my lasting memory on a portable typewriter was sam donaldson on the floor of air force one typing the final pool report and reagan came back to say thank you. that s the kind of relationship, even though it gets tough, iran contra, my job in the aftermath of iran contra was to remind reagan before he went within shouting distance of sam or andrea or anybody else, remember if you answer the question on iran contra, you might as well not give the speech you re giving today because nobo
taking at look at the foe phenomenal growth of mobile gaming. we begin in syria where we confront a syria strike has killed a commander. he was killed in p a special army operation in italy on thursday. earlier remembers say he died in a drone attack on february 27th, but now the group says that he was indeed killed on thursday. he was a vet repleader who held the title of general military commander. ever the the front. a closer look at the fronts and it s objectives. the group is al quaida s branch, it took on the name as part of the uprising against the asaad regime. it has also been fighting other groups. now it s leaders are considering cutting their links with al quaida to purely syrian entity. a rebranding would at least in theory free up more funding. u.n. security council and is listed as a terrorist organization, but reports are saying that not all leaders are onboard with this latest plan. the director from the u.s. of oklahoma, good to have you with us. who ben
great to have you with us. it is day four of iraq s largest offensive yet against isil. tens of thousands of iraqi troops are working alongside shia militias to take back tikrit. now there s hope a unified force can loosen isil s grip on the city. reporter: the battle cry of this fighter. this is near the base of operations for iraq s shia militias on the eastern front of the battle for tikrit. the key players are iranian backed hezbollah. at a command center nearby the interior minister a leader of the militia confirms with the man given drol of the hezbollah brigades. they have combined with iraqi police, special forces and army units, for the biggest offensive since isil seized parts of iraq last june. the troops are backed by iraqi air strikes, but it has been a slow advance to tikrit. this is a trip wire for a roadside bomb laid by isil. an explosives team detonates this one, one of hundreds they found along the road. 30 kilometers southeast, iraqi security forces make
spectrum to continue efforts to finalize a constitution that respects the universal rights of all tunisians and to set an election day. it also remains a top priority to help ulster tunisian security capacity. this region remains vital to protecting our national interest as we look to maintain relationships with key allies and nudge nascent democracies through difficult transitions. with the aim of promoting stability and countering extremist threats. chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. i look forward to answering your questions. thank you very much. ms. dory. chairman, i am pleased to appear before the subcommittee for the first time to provide an update on the security situation in north africa and the department of defense s engagement strategy in the region. dod is committed to working closely with the state department to enhance u.s. government security assistance to build the capacity of north african security forces. thatpproach rec