Good morning i am jane harmon. President and ceo of the Wilson Center. Happy to be speaking to a packed crowd and to welcome secretary Rex Tillerson back to the Wilson Center. As you know mr. Secretary, the Wilson Center has a tradition of honoring business and political leaders who follow our 20th president s victim, that would be woodrow wilson. To quote enable the world, live with greater vision, a finer spirit of hope and achievement. The Center Honors you in 2010. And you wanted us by attending our event in dallas in 2014 where richard fisher, outgoing chairman of the received our Public Service award. You and i said together. We are delighted to welcome you back this morning to talk about the future of us relations with europe and to take some questions from me and some of you in the audience. Since we only have 50 minutes of your time, those here today submitted questions on arrival and we elected a few at random which i will put to secretary. Your predecessors and most recently, john kerry, have adjusters on prior occasions. But the times in which they served became seemed less careless than currently. Many governments in the middle east are struggling for stability. With terror groups like isis and horrific violence against civilians. Mostly muslims continue and there is clear evidence of russia meddling in democratic elections in the us and europe, just to name a few of the issues. It is clear that all answers do not work. Thats why many here applaud the fact that you have an unusual resume for a secretary of state. Educated as an engineer, your journey over four decades to become ceo of the worlds six and most im sorry the six most valuable companies nothing less than astonishing. But hey, you were an eagle scout when that later headed the boy scouts. Before joining the Trump Administration, he traveled widely. Met regularly with Global Leaders and displayed curiosity about the world. Which is of course, why you received our award. As you know, conducting Foreign Policy is hard. Requiring an understanding of nuance and linkages among issues. As well as focus and the ability to earn the trust and respect of those with whom you interact. You should know that for the past five years the Wilson Centers worldclass scholars and Program Directors have helped over 500 Congressional Staff on a bipartisan basis. Analyze the toughest challenges from a risen tenant to train its russia to asad syria and medeiros venezuela. We have bipartisan Foreign Policy as you build knowledge and relationships across the aisle. And just maybe, some of our alums from the program will run for congress themselves or work for you in the state department. Let me recognize a few of our guests and then turn it to you. Starting with thanks to the International TradeCenter Management association for hosting this event. Thank you reagan building. 900 people wanted to fit into this 600 person auditorium. So i apologize to those who came a bit late and could not get accommodated. Some of the white house appointed trustees are here. Including thelma duggan, barry johnson, Earl Stafford and natlie reyes. In our 11 former german ambassador joe guild and horn and his amazing wife, or still here. Welcome to all of our supporters including councilmembers and ambassadors from belgium, greece, hungary, league of arab states, luxembourg, nepal, nicaragua, slovenia and spain. Welcome to senator ron johnson who has escaped for an hour from the tax wars on capitol hill. And to former senator johnston. By the way, one staffer from senator johnsons office, attended our foreignpolicy program. And finally, let me acknowledge my own relationships and our respect for some of your senior staff including my old capitol hill buddy, margit peter linda chief of staff and your newly minted and highly reviewed assistant secretary for your mitchell. So now, please welcome to the 69th secretary of state, mr. Secretary, the floor is yours. [applause] good morning and thank you for that very kind introduction and also thank you to the Wilson Center for this opportunity to address you today. There was a center has made many important contributions to Public Policy over the years and therefore it is very fitting venue for our discussion today in europe. Considering that 100 years ago and this year the United States entered world war i under the leadership of president wilson. While we tend to associate wilson with spearheading americas first major involvement in European Affairs i think it is worth remembering our commitment to your was earlier championed by predecessor of his, Theodore Roosevelt. When roosevelt died in 1919, just as also striving for peace in europe, european leaders joined the American People and an outpouring of grief and praise. The british Prime Minister remembered him as an inspiring figure far beyond the country shores. Another british politician said he had been the greatest of all americans in a moment of dire stress. But then the centers that have been the apostle of the cause of right on the other side of the atlantic. President roosevelt was in europe because of his vigorous commitment to the confident in the years before and during world war i. While president lawson is best adhered to neutrality policy, roosevelt felt a responsibility to come to europes defense. It was reported he even went as the president for permission to personally lead an Army Division into europe. And he had either Enter British Army officer saying, if we had done what we ought to have done after the sinking of the lusitania, me and my four boys would be in the army getting ready to plan a. What motivated theodore as roosevelt rejection neutrality and a commitment to the defense of europe . We can see the answer and something that roosevelt told the u. S. Congress in 1904. I quote the great free people owes it to itself and to all mankind. Not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil. Roosevelt knew that the defense of freedom demanded action from three nations. Roosevelt also knew that the United States and europe as we are now are bound by shared principles. Our nations live according to selfevident truths on which western civilization is built. Liberty, equality and human dignity. These foundational principles are protected by the construct of our institutions. Dedicated to the rule of law. Separation of powers and representative government. Our principles are also protected from external threats by our collective determination. Action and sacrifice in the face of security challenges. World war i was the first great test in the 20th century whether the United States would pay the high cost of liberty. Theodore roosevelt never participated in that war. But he did pay the high cost. His son quentin, a fighter pilot, was killed in the skies over france. In past decades our way of life and by extension our core western principles have been tested by the totalitarian threat of naziism, soviet power, communist ideology, ethnic and sectarian and political pressures. Together the is in europe have passed these tests. We know that the nine states in europe are again tested today and we will be tested again. Under President Trump the United States remains committed to the enduring relationship with europe. Our security commitments to european allies are ironclad. If we are to sustain the shared security commitments that ensure stability in the region, the Trump Administration views this as necessary for our allies to be strong, prosperous and committed to the defense of shared western ideals. Over the past 10 months weve embarked on a new strategic policy. That bolsters european and american security. Namely every commitment to europe in the wake of the failed russian twitter. Com booktv effort to redact security institutions to combating emerging threats like terrorism. Cyber attacks and nuclear proliferation. And the expectation that european nations except they are more secure when they contribute more to their own defense. These new policy directions will better position the United States and europe to confront the challenges that threaten our prosperity. The actors that seek this chaos. And is still down in our laws and institutions. In the enemies that turn out security and oppose our way of life. This is a message i will repeat in my meetings with nato and osc leaders and in bilateral meetings and a trip to europe next week. The preservation of our liberty begins with guaranteeing our people can live in safety. To that, the United States places the highest importance on security relationships with european allies. Including nato. Alliances are meaningless if the members are unwilling on able to honor commitments. Earlier this year, the president reaffirmed the United States commitment to article 5 of the nato treaty. Because it is the best mechanism we have to determine aggression. As the text of article 5 ribs, the parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in europe or north america shall be considered as an attack against them all. Any attack by any after on a nato member state will trigger article 5 in the United States will be the first to honor the commitment we have made. We will never forget how nato members came quickly to stand with us after the september 11 attacks. We will do the same for them if they are attacked. While the west continues to seek a productive new relationship with postsoviet russia, thus far, it has proved elusive. As both attempt by the Prior Administration to reset the russia and us relationships have been followed by russia invading his neighbor in 2008. And ukraine in 2014. Russia continues aggressive behavior toward other regional neighbors by interfering in election processes. In promoting nondemocratic ideals. We, together with our friends in europe recognized the active threat of a resurgent russia. That is why the United States has strengthened its deterrence in the defense commitments in europe to the European Deterrence Initiative for edi. Earlier this year, the demonstration requested 4. 8 billion in the budget towards the edi. This increase of 1. 4 billion over the Previous Year will enhance the us military deterrence and defense capabilities and improve the readiness of the forces in europe. The edi facilitates training and exercises with the european allies and partners to better integrate the militaries and provide security for europe. And it will bolster the capacity of our army, navy, air force and marine corps. To deploy assets and support nato joint exercises. In view of russias military exercises conducted near the baltic state in september our ability to respond to an attack in concert with our allies is more important than ever. The edi also includes 150 million to help ukraine build its capacity for defending its territorial integrity. The United States recognizes that the war on ukraine in which people are still dying every day, must come to an end. We have repeatedly urged russia to begin the path to peace by honoring its commitments under the agreements. Any resolution of war that does not have a sovereign and territorial hole ukraine is unacceptable. Russia chose to violate the sovereignty of the largest country in europe. The United States and europe have stood shoulder to shoulder and confronting his aggression with a coordinated sanctions policy. Our transatlantic unity is meant to convey to the russian government that will not stand for this. We hope russia will take steps to restore ukraines full sovereignty and territorial integrity and fully implement its commitments. Allowing us to begin the process of restoring normal relations. Let me be clear. These sanctions will remain in place until russia reverses the actions that trigger them. We are committed to the success and make independent and hold ukraine. However, ukraines future depends also on winning its internal struggle to implement a broad range of economic justice, security and social sector reforms. We encourage ukraine to continue building capable, trustworthy institutions and eventually eliminate corruption. Strengthen their judicial system and deliver Economic Prosperity to their citizens. The ukraine crisis also made clear her Energy Supplies can be wielded as a political weapon. Enhancing European Energy security by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, diverse and secure supplies of energy. Ornamental to National Security objectives. The United States is liberalizing rules governing the export of liquefied natural gas and us produced fruit. We are eager to work with european allies to ensure the development of needed infrastructure import terminals and interconnecting pipelines to promote the diversity of supply to europe. In july, the president announced at the summit that the United States will provide Technical Support for croatias project. The United States will continue to support european infrastructure projects. Such as receiving facilities in poland and interconnected greece bulgaria pipeline to ensure that no country from outside europes energy union can use its resources for its position in the Global Energy market to export extort other nations. The United States recognizes the fragility of the balkans and will continue to work with the eu to bring stability prosperity and democracy to the region. The people of the balkan countries, to them we say, abandon your old animosities. So that peace may become permanent. You have a chance to direct a new course of history. Bloodlines should no longer be battle lines. The United States and the world long to see a new generation of serbs, croatians, albanians, bosnians, and others who will forgive the past. Even if they can never forget it. A testament to americas shared values europe is our cooperation on issues beyond the borders of europe which affect us all. The United States and our european allies have partnered to hold assad accountable for sanctions for crimes against his own people. This is the beginning of the crisis the eu and others have pledged the efforts are continuing as a Global Coalition to defeat isis stabilizes liberated areas. This is the last pockets of isis being defeated, our European Partners must continue to be strong advocates. With a you in the geneva process and Human Security resolution 2254. That alone can be the basis for rebuilding the country and implementing a political solution that leaves no overall for the assad regime or his family in the syrian government. Our European Partners have also been strong supporters of our diplomatic and Economic Pressure Campaign against north korea. In addition to enthusiastically supporting the Un Security Council resolutions, countries have taken unilateral steps to maximize pressure on the regime in pyongyang. Portugal froze all diplomatic relations with the dprk in july. Spain and italy have expelled north korean ambassadors. Has find bands that violated sanctions. Our european allies know that north korea is a threat to all responsible nations and requires a coordinated response. We commend our allies strength increasing pressure in pyongyang to achieve complete permanent and verifiable denuclearization of the north korean peninsula. What we have forged is a critical basis for confronting the threats of today and tomorrow both in europe and outside of europe. The United States and europe face many challenges and threats that unlike in the past, are simultaneously dispersed among geographical lines and multiple domains beer while Cyber Threats or nuclear threats. Because we know that we are stronger and confronting these challenges when we are working together, we will pursue even greater cooperation from the and with the nations of europe. Our best partners. History has shown that when we are united, we succeed in the face and shared challenges. As i remarked earlier, one of these challenges is russia. Europe and the United States seek a normalized relationship with russia. However, russia has shown it seeks to define a new postsoviet global balance of power. One in which russia by virtue of his nuclear arsenal, seeks to impose its will on others by force or by partnering with regimes usually disregard for their own citizens as is the case with the continuous use of chemical weapons by assad and his own people. They liberalize russias society create a nutrient opportunity that benefit russians, europeans and americans. But russia has often employed malicious tactics against the us and europe to drive us apart. We can our confidence and undermine political and economic successes that we have achieved together since the end of the cold war. Playing politics with Energy Supplies, launching Cyber Attacks and information campaigns to undermine free elections. And serially harassing and intimidating diplomats those are not the behaviors of a responsible nation. Attacking a neighboring country and threatening others does nothing to improve the lives of russians for enhanced russias standing in the world. We want russia to be a constructive neighbor of europe and of a larger transatlantic community. But that is russias choice to make. Russia can continue to isolate and impoverish itself by sowing disorder brought and competing liberty at home or it can become enforceable advanced the freedom of russians and the stability of eurasia. Following the presence recent decision regarding our policy toward iran, there is more that binds the United States and europe together then drives us apart. The jc poa is no longer the only point of us policy toward iran. We are committed to addressing the totality of the iranian threat. We ask everyone to help and stand up against this behavior. This is to italian suppression of individual, political and religious freedom. Neither the United States or europe one another type of north Korean Nuclear threat on its hands. Nor are any of our nations at ease with irans attempt in the middle east support for terrorist organizations, militia on the ground in iraq and syria and an active Ballistic Missile development program. Europes intersection in the region, we know turkey cannot ignore iran because of geographic proximity and cultural ties. But we asked turkey as a nato ally, to prioritize the common defense of his treaty allies. I ran and russia cannot offer turkish people economic and political benefits that membership in the western community and nations can provide. We recognize important contributions no nato allies that have been made in afghanistan. We asked them to maintain their commitment to the mission. The instate, the United States new south asia strategy is to deploy terrorist safe havens and deny the reestablishment while the Afghan Government continues to strengthen its own capacity to maintain security and create the conditions for reconciliation with the taliban and an inclusive government that accounts for the Ethnic Diversity of all afghans. We know this will take time. But if we failed to exercise vigilance and undertake action against the terrorist threat, wherever it is found, we risk recreating the safe havens from which the 9 11 plot was hatched and carried out. We earned proportionate contributions to truth and other forms of assistance as we seek to eradicate a terrorist threat that will not be confined to the place where it was born. Natos support mission is essential to our shared goal of ensuring that afghanistan develops the capability to contribute to regional stability and prevail over terrorist threats including al qaeda and isis. Even though isis is on the brink of complete extension in iraq and syria, the threat of isis and associated Terror Networks will persist in our own country and others. Isis is looking for new footholds where they can find them. Including the region of west africa. We must take action so they do not become the next breeding ground crisis, al qaeda or other terrorist groups. When these goods are able to occupy territory without disruption, they are strategists, bond makers and others have an easier time encouraging, plotting the next attacks elsewhere in the world. This, for many months, was the case in raqqa. In support of our african and European Partners, particularly france, the United States recently committed up to 60 million to assist the g5 joint force to combat terrorism and the potential rise of isis in the african region. The emergence of isis is just one indication that threats to the safety and wellbeing of our people will continue to have new and unexpected origins. The evolving and unpredictable nature of the threats we face is already clear to the residents of paris, brussels, orlando, nice, france, it is damn both, barcelona, new york and many other places where people have suffered at the hands of islamist terrorists. Many of whom were radicalized in front of a computer screen and setting their own homes, instead of their own countries. And because of we face are clear to countries like turkey, greece, italy and germany. With confronting the destabilizing impact ways of irregular migration from north africa and the middle east. The darkest hour of world war ii, Winston Churchill declared that the british people would fight on the fields, the beaches and industries to protect their country. Today our fight is increasingly on the internet, checkpoints and hearts and minds of people of europe and around the globe. European security institutions including nato must be properly adapted to address internal and external threats such as radical islamic terrorism. To address Cyber Attacks. And adjust unchecked migration. Though we know these are the threats of the future, too many headlines have already declared these of the threats of today. New threats to the United States and europe are long time, unpredictable in timing and in many different places. Properly anticipating and combating these threats require a greater european commitment to security. Because local responders are the most effective deterrent. While the us will maintain guarantees against a catastrophic failure of security in the region, we will continue to expand resources to maintain protective umbrella. The nations must expect greater responsibility for their own security challenges. Our alliances must be made stronger in the current strategic environment. Elected diligence and duty will only invite greater risk. President trump said in warsaw and i quote, we have to remember our defense is not just a commitment of money. It is a commitment of will. Our expenditures are in some ways a reflection of how much we seek to protect peace and freedom. We once again, as European Partners have not done so already, to me the two percent of gdp target for spending. This year, albania, croatia, france, hungary and romania have committed to obtaining the two percent benchmark. These nations know that they must invest in security to preserve liberty. Every nato member has previously agreed to the pledge on defense. It is time for each of us to honor the agreement. While storage greater Security Integration provided that the relationships are efficient and serve shared interest. These commitments are necessary because our freedom of security is at stake in the us in all nations of europe. Especially those who once lived under the wake of communist dictatorships. Value our freedoms as nations you can act on her own authority. If we do not exercise responsibility, we will not have sovereignty. And if we do not have sovereignty, we will not have freedom. Maintaining sovereignty also entails cultivating the virtues that make it possible. We nations must exercise vigilance protection of Civil Societies and the groups, families and individuals that compose them. The rule of law and representative governments are empty shells when detachment from a vibrant civil society. We can win every great geopolitical struggle. But if we are not perennially vigilant of our own behavior, our own people may lose in the long run. The preservation of western ideals depends on how willing we are to protect the core truths upon which our political and economic freedoms are based. We know the people are having many conversations about the future. America will not attempt to impose answers to those questions. We recognize that europe is composed of three nations. Doing that great tradition of democracy must choose for. As in the past, the United States is committed to working with europes institutional arms. While we also recognize our allies are independent democratic nations with their own history, respected and right to determine their future. This position has a particular relevance for what has transpired in the uk over brexit. The United States will maintain our longstanding special relationship with the united kingdom. At the same time maintain a strong relationship with the eu regardless of the outcome of brexit. We will not attempt to influence the negotiations. But we urge the eu and uk to move this process forward swiftly and without unnecessary acrimony. We offer an impartial and in friendship to both parties. The next chapter of european history must be written in europes own words. As i mentioned at the beginning, 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of americas entry into world war i. But this november also marks the centennial of another event in world history. The beginning of the russian revolution. Though the soviet union collapsed 26 years ago, a few symbols and phrases associated with decades of soviet rule and door in the english language. The gulag, the fiveyear plan, the iron curtain, the berlin wall. These few words almost universally understood, to the bitter and brutal history of communist rule in europe and russia. In her medicine what can happen if we failed to defend the Core Principles of liberty and sovereignty in the western tradition. Our time, forces of authoritarian nationstate, radical islamic terrorists and hackers with electric chaos are attempting to erode our principles of freedom, equality, human dignity, rule of law and representative government. We cannot fail to take on the sovereign responsibility of protecting those freedoms. As Theodore Roosevelt also said, every nation whether in america or anywhere else, with desires to maintain his freedom and independence but also realized that the right of such independence cannot be separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. Where of this responsibility us will remain firmly committed to peace, stability and prosperity and liberty for europe. As we reflect on how our ties with europe have endured over the past 100 years, the United States stands by our european allies and partners so that our free societies will be standing strong together another 100 years from now. Thank you. [applause] thank you, mr. Secretary. For a speech that i think is worthy of many of the leaders you cited. Woodrow wilson who served us as president one hundred years ago, roosevelt, and many others. You make all of the parts of the world and that is why we honor people like you. And awards over the years. Let me focus just a bit more since this is a topic and youre going to europe next week. We were recently at nato visiting with our extremely able ambassador. Hutchison. She convened a lunch of eight foreign ambassadors to nato. What came through to me is a view they have that this is a zero game. As the United States focuses on problems around the world like urgent problems, you cited many of them appear like north korea and iran. It will pay less attention to europe. I thought that your speech made the point that this is not a zerosum game. If a strong europe stands with us, we are stronger together to face the tough problems around the world. That are also developing globex to europe. And am i right . Is that the elevator message . That is the message i will be taking next to. Just in the last 100 years it didnt have proven, we view the current time here and similarly. But the United States cannot alone confront all of these threats. They are so widespread and there also connected. You can pick any one of the threats that i went there and you will find points of connection between every one of them in some form or fashion. Where there is a russian involvement, china involvement, iran involvement, islamic terrorism involvement, we are confronted with a particularly complex time in our world of dealing with threats to our civil society. We are only going to prevail against those threats with continuing to use our allies. The strength of our allies. And one of the things of the United States, we are blessed in our Foreign Policy and National Security posture. We have many many allies. Many allies all over the world. And those alliances were forged and shared blood, shared sacrifice. Unlike many of our adversaries, who can count there are lies on less than all of the fingers on one hand, because they did not forge those alliances through those shared sacrifices nor did they forge their shared ideals. I think what we are recognizing and promoting is the strength of these historical alliances. Which i think over some period of time, perhaps since the end of the cold war, we lost our way a bit. In some of these relationships. Maybe in particular in europe with the end of the cold war, the imminent threat, that everyone faced for that 70 year period was now diminishing. In what we now realize is it didnt. It did not diminish. It is still defining itself. Still searching for its role in the name of russia. But this death threat emanating out of the middle east, they brought themselves led to the shores and the borders of our european allies through the mass migration but also with the mass migration, comes the transport of those who would kill others and sacrifice themselves in doing it. These are threats that we can only confront with a very Strong Network of the alliances. And so it is really in some respects, every commitment but it is also a redefinition of what this alliance means. And i think the message the president carried early on when he went to europe and received a lot of criticism for, was to demand of our allies if you care as much about your freedom and you care as much about the security of your people, as we care about you. When you look at the commitments of the us and the sacrifice that the us makes in terms of not just the taxpayers dollars but our own, the men and women in uniform, the commitment we have made seems to be a little out of balance. I think the president was saying that we are committed to this alliance. You have to get committed. You need to get is committed to it as we are. And i think what i have heard and i have had a lot of dialogue with european counterparts. That message has resonated. And we are seeing it in a commitment to nato, commitment to defense spending, every commitment of personnel. This is really what we needed at this time. We are in these enormous threats and we have to strengthen the alliances. We have to strengthen natos capability to deal with what are no new and changed threats. That was really the purpose of the president s message earlier. The presidency which we now follow through on cracking these strong relationships. We have more work to do. I think our message to europe is, nothing has changed. In terms our commitment to you. Nothing from that time we made that decision 100 years ago to enter world war i in your defense. Nothing has changed fundamentally. The same values that bind us are still there. Lets keep that strong. Mindful of your time, i want to get in a few questions about other topics including questions from the audience. I would note that an interesting point you made in your talk was about turkey. Turkey now has a choice. It can become more connected to europe which is a huge advantage and to us. Were not. And i heard that loud and clear. I want to turn to the question of state Department Funding and organization. Something that many people are interested in. Every Organization Needs renewal. The Wilson Center needs renewal. And surely, everyone here including Service Offices think that state Department Needs renewal. However, questions have arisen about the steep cuts in your budget proposed by the office of management and budget. It does not mean that is what congress will enact. And what some claim is a hollowing out of your department. Most recently today, two valued friends of the Wilson Center, nick burns and crocker, both enormously experienced Foreign Service officers, and ambassadors wrote a piece in the New York Times with a lot of information about who is leaving and what the implications are. My understanding is theres another side to the story. So i would like to ask you to tell your side of the story and give us your vision for what the state department should become. Me start with the budget because obviously it is easier to address. The state department was given a budget in 2016. It was a record high budget. Almost 55 billion. This was above what traditionally has been a budget that runs in the mid 30 billion level. This was ramping up over the last few years. And in many respects for some good reasons. But as we look at that spending level, quite frankly is not just for is a lack of spending and deployment of resources and i take the stewardship of the dollars very seriously. I take the congressional oversight obligations upon us very seriously. Im not going to brush them aside light handedly. Part of this was just a reality check. Can we really keep this up and the truth of the matter is it would be very difficult and do it well. Second, part of this bringing the budget numbers back down is reflective of an expectation that we are going to have success in some of these conflict areas of getting these conflicts resolved and moving to a different place in terms of the support we have to give them. It is a combination of things. That sustainability, recognition that those numbers are really the outliers. The numbers we are moving to our more historic and levels of spending. As the state department redesign, and i use the word redesign because it would have been really easy to come in on day one and to reorganization. When i say that thats moving boxes around. When i showed up at the state department i was stunned when i got the Organization Chart out. Had 82 reports to me. 82 almost 70 of those special envoys, special ambassadors, positions that have been created. So we undertook an examination of this, what is a reasonable way to run the place and that is not a peer having when a large global organization, and ive been through three major reorganizations in my history. I actually enjoy doing it. It is always focus on how do we help the people be more effective . How do we get obstacles out of their way . We undertook a different approach and since i did not know the department and the culture we had a massive listening exercise. We had 35,000 people respond. We had over 300 facetoface interviews and continued an active dialogue with people about what is it, if i can do one thing to you that make you more effective and make you or your work more satisfying, what would that be . We got hundreds of ideas. We have actually selected about 170 of those ideas that we are now perfecting. The reason mccall is a redesign as most of these have to do with more processes internally and work processes within the agencies that we should be able to improve the way people get their work done. Some of it is tools and enablement. We have a really antiquated it system. I was shocked when i went down to spend an afternoon with an eightyearold and i said what is one thing i can do . This and get us into the cloud. I said what you mean . We are not in the cloud . And they said no we are still in the service. That is a big cyber risk first. And it really made a very cumbersome for people. Must i use my old computer i started realizing just how cumbersome it was. A lot of the projects that identify out of the redesign of process redesigns and some enablement for people. It is all directed at aligning the people of the state Department Allowing them to get them work done more efficiently and have been much more satisfying career. Weve a lot of processes in the hr function that have not been updated in decades. And they need to be updated. How we put people out on assignment. We invest enormous amounts of money and people that we deploy to missions overseas and i was stunned to find out how of the missions is our one year assignment schedule invested all of this morning and sent them to a mission there for one year and about the time its trying to figure it out and have an impact, we take them out and move them somewhere else. A lot of people have said to me, i would really like to stay another year. And start contributing. It is a lot like that that came out of the listening exercise. We have five large teams. I brought in consultants to help us facilitate. But the issue of the hollowing out i think you all appreciate that every time you have a change of government good day live Senior Service officers and others you decide they want to move on to do other things. Numbers are retirements are almost exactly what they were in 2016 at this point. We have the exact same number of the Foreign Service officers today. We are up by 10. That we had at this time during 2016. There is a hiring freeze that i have kept in place because as we redesign the organization we will probably have people that need to be redeployed. Two other assignments. I do not want to have a layoff. I dont want to have to fire a bunch of people. So i said lets manage some of our staffing targets which is normal. Having said that i have signed over 2300 hiring exceptions. Because i have told every post to be of a critical position and you really need it filled, send it in. And i think i have out of 2300 requests i think i denied eight positions that i decided we did not really need. We are keeping the organization fully staffed. We have had over, we are still running the Foreign Service officer school. Weve covered over 300 this year. There is no hollowing out. These numbers that people are throwing around are just false. They are wrong. There was a story about a 60 percent reduction in career diplomats. That was created by congress in 1955 to recognize an elite few. The number of career diplomats in the state department have range from as low as one at any given time to as many as seven. When i took over the state department, we had six. Four of those people have retired. These are the most senior people. They reached 65, retired and moved on. We have a review process. We have a review process underway and are evaluating a handful of people that might be worthy of that designation. We saw two of them. We were from six down to two. It was like the sky was falling. And while the confirmation process has been excruciatingly slow for many of our nominees, i have been so proud of the acting assistant secretaries and people who have stepped into acting secretary rules. And when i read these articles, there is this hollowing out, i take offense to that on their behalf. Because the people that are serving in those roles are doing extraordinary work. And they know they are not going to get the job permanently. They already know we have a nominee. But they come in every day, they work hard and travel with me around the world. And it is that group of people that have helped me put in place and help the president put in place the north korean strategy with the international sanctions. A syrian approach to the Peace Process that we think we are about to get on the right track. An approach to negotiating with the russians on ukraine. An approach to defeat isis. The iran policy, south asia policy in afghanistan, new posture towards pakistan. The free and open endo pacific athat is all be done with the people we are working with today and im very proud. Very proud of what they had done. Working hard. I am offended on their behalf. I am offended on their behalf when people say somehow we do not have a state departments or functions. Visit i can tell you it is functioning very well from my perspective. Do we have more we want to do . Yes. My only objective is the Organization Redesign is to help these people who have chosen this as a career. Because i will come and go in there will be others that come and go. What can i do to help them because they decide they want to spend their life doing this. And they should be allowed to do this as effectively and efficiently and without a lot of grief and obstacles. If i can move some of that for them is what i want to do. Quickly take that message will resonate around the world. A lot of people wanted to hear that. Your time is very short. I would like to briefly, three questions from the audience into one. Molly who works were representative gerry connolly, and im sure is one of our stars in the Foreign Policy program, asks do you think support for democracy and human rights abroad is an important part of the state departments mission . That is one. Matt who heads the canon institute. George kennan was a scholar here one point. He asks, we do think process with russia is possible . And finally, mike transfer that you have met that has the Polar Initiative asks, in light of the increased interest and activity in the arctic, is the arctic and lsk strategic importance to the United States and to the european arctic allies . Well, as to human rights and human dignity, of course, there are priorities. What i have said about those elements in the Foreign Policy is those are values. Those are values that are enduring and they never change. When youre constructing Foreign Policy and strategies and approaches, you have to prioritize. You cannot deep prioritize human rights. It is with you and part of every policy decision that you make. The question is how do priorities can change. This can never change . This is enduring and part of every Foreign Policy construct that we develop. I would say that if youre dealing with a place like syria or iraq under isis occupation, the most important thing was saving peoples lives. How can we keep people from getting killed . Because the ultimate right is the right to live. The right to live first. If i can live, then i can begin to take care my family. Then i can begin to fight for human rights. Then i can begin to fight for human but if i am being killed every day, i am being bombed or gassed, our parity was saved lives. So save lives first and if we do that we construct creating conditions to ensure peoples rights and dignity arent respected. With respect to russia, there are areas of mutual cooperation. We are working hard in syria to defeat isis and we are on the cusp of having isis once and for all defeated in syria. We have work yet to do. We are working together with russia on how to prevent civil war from erupting. So we have had a lot of conversations over what does russia see as the instate in syria and what do we see . Theres a lot of commonality there. How we get to those peace talks, we are working closely with one another on. We have our ups and downs. If he so i think it was a very important issued by the president it was an important alignment of how we see the Peace Process going forward. And it is an important statement of russia confirm that they see that the same way we do. We use that and we will build on it. I think there are other areas of counterterrorism has great fear of migration out of the Central Asian regions. Terrorism inside of russia. We think there are areas of greater cooperation on counterterrorism with russia. There may be operations for cooperation in afghanistan. We do not know what we are talking about it. And we will never get this relationship back to normal until we solve ukraine. It just sits there as an enduring obstacle. We have to address it. We have a special appointed representative focus on nothing but working with his russian counterpart which putin appointed to see if we can find a way forward. Wear working with that. We have had discussions that we are pursuing the possibility of a peacekeeping force in ukraine to stop the ongoing everyday people are killed. We want to stop that first. We want to save lives first. There are many areas of cooperation with russia. They had many others they would like to work with us on. We just do not think it is time to do that. With respect to the arctic, it is important today. It will be increasingly important in the future. Particularly as the waterways have opened up. I can tell you that the United States is behind. We are behind all the other arctic nations. Have dealt with this, they are way ahead of us. The russians made it a strategic priority. Even the chinese are building icebreaking tankers. Why are they building icebreakers . They are not in arctic nation. Because they see the value of these passages. We are late to the game. I think that we have one functioning icebreaker. The coast guard was very proud of it. As crummy as it is and i know in the budget, there is money in the budget for us. For one more. To build another icebreaker. But the home arctic region because of what has happened with the opening of the passageways. Certainly from a National Security standpoint it is vitally important to our interest. Our engagement not just the Arctic Council of the other mechanisms is important to working with the arctic countries international norms, what are the roles of times going to be . Because these are areas that have not been addressed in the past. They are important. Time is up. I was going to ask you what you want your legacy to be. But listening to you, i do not know that the question can be answered yet. We are all over the world, you are focused deeply on the tough questions. Your head to europe next week. You have to come back. After all get out today. Was that a yes . Yes, i will be back. Thank you, mr. Secretary. [applause]. From 1925 to 1939, and political machine is being tied into organized crime and other illicit activities taking bribes and kickbacks and using influence to make sure that your preferred candidate for elected let me introduce you to group. The foster. In a meeting that took place at the old ymca building still stands around the corner from where the music im currently operates a intrepid latina leaders met in 1920 before the Baseball League and they could then go up and operate from 1920 until 1960