Life on cspan. Listen live with the free cspan radio app and available live on your desktop, phone or tablet as cspan. Org. Cspan. Org. Former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schulz talked about the challenges facing the u. S. They were joined with former deputy secretary of state richard armitage. He served under resident george w. Bush. They testified before the Senate Armed Services committee, which is chaired by senator john mccain. He was not at the hearing as he remains in arizona battling brain cancer. We will bring to order the Senate Armed Services committee. We receive testimony on global challenges in the National Security strategies to meet those threats. Tional Security Strategies to meet those threats. It is my honor to welcome our distinguished witnesses. Farmers secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schulz, and the former deputy secretary of state richard armitage. Your careers of service have been unbelievable and great, we are so honored to h
We will bring to order the senate of Armed Services committee. We receive testimony on global challenges in the National Security strategies to meet those threats. It is my honor to welcome our distinguished witnesses. Farmers secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and george schulz, and the former deputy secretary of state richard armitage. Your careers of service have been unbelievable and great, we are so honored to have you folks here. I want to begin by reading a brief welcome from our chairman mccain, who regretfully is unable to be here for todays hearing. I am quoting him now. With the rising global challenges and increasingly complex and competitive strategic environment, America Needs leadership, wisdom, and experience that only statesman of this stature can provide. This committee and this nation thank you for your service and we are grateful for your continued voices of reason during these troubling times. We look to you for the lessons of history as we all seek to secure a s
Tonight, so if i ask you to follow the instructions, please do that. The exits are right behind us and i will take care of h. R. Mcmaster first. He does have other people here to help him. [laughter] i will come back for everybody. The stairs will take us down and the we will make to left and get to the street and across national geographic, i have ordered ice cream and we will thing a song of praise. [laughter] will happen, but i used be ready in case i ask you to do something. This is an extraordinary evening, and i want to say thank you to general mcmaster who gave us the opportunity to celebrate this 70th anniversary, a remarkable institution, the National Security council. You have before you for gentlemen that have been National Security advisers. I have about three or four more in the audience, i could not get everybody on the table, but we have remarkable talent. My goal tonight is to help all of you understand how the institution works and im of the Big Questions are in a way.
Everyone with us. Always when we do public events, we have a little safety and and. I am responsible for your safety tonight, so if i ask you to follow the instructions, please do that. The exits are right behind us and i will take care of h. R. Mcmaster first. He does have other people here to help him. [laughter] i will come back for everybody. The stairs will take us down and the we will make to left and get to the street and across national geographic, i have ordered ice cream and we will thing a song of praise. [laughter] will happen, but i used be ready in case i ask you to do something. This is an extraordinary evening, and i want to say thank you to general mcmaster who gave us the opportunity to celebrate this 70th anniversary, a remarkable institution, the National Security council. You have before you for gentlemen that have been National Security advisers. I have about three or four more in the audience, i could not get everybody on the table, but we have remarkable talent.
Congress. My i am sure that all of president s have spent a lot of time consulting informally up , explaining policies and all of the rest, it is an important part of the job. I learned everything that i know about being a National Security adviser from the man who is in the front row here, brent scowcroft. Learned fromings i him, when we researched on the tower commission, which was established by president reagan in 1986 in the wake of the enron arms sales that iran arms sales was to stave off the action by congress to basically take over the National Security structure. It required the National Security adviser to be confirmed, that the organizational structure. Brent led the charge to frustrate the, because it was not just an issue of privacy, it was an issue of separation of balance. If the president cannot gather inund him or her a staff which he can have great confidence, he will not be able to carry out the constitutionallyprescribed roles that the president is prescribed in po