Without further a do, but like to introduce secretary michael chertoff, the cofounder of the chertoff group. He was the secretary of the department of Homeland Security. He took that job at a very difficult time and frankly, remade the organization and brought it up to a status where it was extremely effective. I say that as having been the department of defense counterpart to dhs during my time as deputy assistant. I have the opportunity to work extensively with the secretarys folks and quite a few rather interesting events both natural and manmade. He is also a former federal judge for the u. S. Court of appeals for the Third Circuit and was a federal prosecutor who conducted the investigation of the 9 11 terrorist attacks. With that, i will ask secretary chertoff to join us. [applause] steve. K you, good to see some familiar faces in the crowd and veterans. One of the things i did when i was secretary of Homeland Security is i was engaged in expanding the visa waiver 2007, 2008ch in
Agencies in the federal government. Im confident that the commission will continue to function effectively after my departure, and i wish my colleagues all the best. Their work, together with our dedicated staff, will enable the n. R. C. To remain an effective, independent and trusted regulator. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all today, and im happy now to answer your questions. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much, professor macfarlane. Do you think the United States Nuclear Energy industry will ever recover from fukushima and start growing again . Hat will make that happen . Well, i think that i would separate that out. I wouldnt say that the Nuclear Industry is suffering necessarily because of fukushima. I think there are larger issues at play here, mostly economic issues. What would help that would probably be some price on carbon, my view. Most u. S. Nuclear facilities are more than 40 years old, and most want to extend their lives to 60 or even 80 years
Region. While the administration cites a drop in the children, the fact is that the conditions in el salvador, honduras, and guatemala continue to be very grave. I convened the second hearing because my colleagues and i are mindful of the high levels of Gang Violence and the lack of opportunity right here in our hemisphere, not only affects the lives of millions in Central America, but affects the United States too, as weve seen. Indeed, the pursuit of peace and prosperity throughout the western hemisphere should be a Key National Security objective of the United States. As round reagan said back in 1984, Central America is a region of great importance to the United States, and it is so close. Since salvador is closer to houston, texas, than houston is to washington, d. C. Ive consistently been supportive of u. S. Efforts to assist the region to build capacity to strengthen their Respective Police forces so they can build better confront the high levels of criminality brought on by gan
The Armed Services chairman who is retiring. We are starting off on that note. Then his last big bill, the Defense Authorization bill is going to be the first matter up for consideration. , when we knewht senate,forward with the there has been an agreement struck about 3 00 today. Earlierittle bit depending on the level of cooperation. There is going to be a series of votes that will lead to the passage of the Defense Authorization bill. And itat has happened passes, the bill will go to president obama. That, then we are in the end of the year negotiations on time and how to compress time in order to get the rest of the work done. When it comes to the spending bill, what are the chances that its going to pass the senate . Will the senate be in on saturday to get this done . Guest thats the big deal. There will 00 votes, be a series of negotiations between all 100 senators behind the scenes. They will figure out whether or has to go through to process of filing cloture cut off the debat
Plotting an attack against the states, article two still gives the president the to conduct whatever is necessary to protect the united gives me causet to be confident that we arent theing the security of United States at risk and that we will be able to come back and decision. Dependent if isis poses a threat to the United States in another country as to whether its a good idea to bring to country as well, which may involve a completely different set of factors. For johnson. I think much of this discussion underscores my primary point is we should spend a lot of time on definition. Of time defining exactly who the enemy is. Name one group, defined. So if we spend a lot of time defining a lote enemy is and spend of time finding exactly what the and then be 100 committed to the objective, anybodys hand, dont ations. Imit is is if we do that it will be easier the partners that will also be 100 committed to the exact properly defined objective. Example, the first gulf war. When the first