Transcripts For CSPAN Newsmakers 20160410 : vimarsana.com

Next with democratic senator mark warner of virginia. Then, Ashton Carter will talk about changes to the pentagons command structure. Later, a Senate Homeland security hearing on terrorism in the United States and abroad. Our guest is virginia senator mark warner, a democrat. Thank you for being with us. And nielssts are mike. You are up first. Thanks for joining us today. Year in a unique position for a really hot button issue right now. In a unique position for a really hot button issue right now. You are a technologist by trade. Youve taken a deep interest in that industry. There is a grand National Debate right now about encryption. Your colleagues on the Intelligence Committee are working on legislation to address this issue. Can you give us enough on that update on thatan legislation . Start tooing to circulate realtime and im looking forward to reviewing it. I have the norms both richard and diane. Ive spentarea that a lot of time trying to think through. I have a background in telecom and i. T. We started looking at the question around digital security. Butyption is part of that it is going to be a minor compared to the debate that arises as we move into the socalled internet of things. When we start thinking of everyday appliances having ameras and sensors that raise host of policy and security issues. Around encryption, bringing the intel backing where i know we have to go after criminals and terrorists but also recognizing the nature of the network has changed radically since i was in the industry in the mid90s. What chairman mccall and i have suggested is that we now have tech on one side and Law Enforcement on another. They both retreated back to absolutist positions. While i do believe Congress Needs to make the policy choice, until we can get everybody into a room and come up with a common set of facts im not sure were going to get it right. We have proposed a 16 Member Commission that would take a year to sort through this. It would have civil liberties, Law Enforcement, intel, tech, a cryptologist. The complexity of this issue is really important. What im afraid of is that we rush to judgment and end up with an american only solution around this issue. Incould end up resulting driving criminals and terrorists to foreignbased hardware and software. Theres literally 2000 apps a day added to the itunes store. Over half of those are being developed internationally. Most of them are encrypted. We have to worry about the challenge of going dark. Does congress have a year or two years to come up with legislation . Weeks ago we had the apple versus fbi case. It sounded like this was near crisis proportions. Is there isnt there a sense of urgency . Absolutely there has to be a sense of urgency. While the one particular case was dismissed, there was another case in new york. There will be other cases that arise. Those will be going through the litigation process. Commission stood up sooner rather than later is terribly important. The commission approach has been former Homeland Security secretary. Weve been endorsed by the chamber of commerce, National Sheriffs association, a number of tech associations. The Washington Post Editorial Board and the wall street journal Editorial Board. I think if we dont act quickly on setting up this commission then you will see congress forced to act before they get that common set of facts. Let me acknowledge on the front end that too often commissions are viewed as a punt. Weve tried to model this commission after the 9 11 when there did emerge a consensus. Congress acted in a bipartisan fashion. We set up a 16 Member Commission that would require agreement of 12. Basically a two thirds plus majority to have a recommendation come forward. Im very reluctant that if we move in advance of getting a common set of facts that we could actually make americans because everybody agrees encryption is important to protecting our National Security and personal information. We have to make sure Law Enforcement and intel have tools to sort through that. Are there any concerns with the litigation pending in other cases that are probably going to arise that whatever congress is doing or whatever your commission would develop could actually be preempted by the litigation and the courts could jump in and front run congress on this . The litigation process i think will drag out for some time. What we try to do is set up a oneyear timeframe with a sixmonth report. I believe that if you get the right people in the room, a lot of this has been litigated somewhat in previous reports and elsewhere. Said, younot really have to give congress a common set of facts. We need to set the policy. Congress needs to do its job. As somebody who has spent a career in this field and has spent the last five years digging on the intel side, its extraordinarily complex. Enough sure if theres Technical Expertise in congress ann youve got apple taking absolutist position and the fbi taking an absolutist position. We have seen that both of those did not necessarily come to pass because there was a different way around this problem. Chief ined the Police San Bernardino has endorsed the commission as well. Get legislated very shortly it loses its ability to get to a solution. Senator, i know you are at sxsw last month. Cover president obama giving a speech. This issue came up. Made that comments he i think people were struck by was you cannot have an absolutist view. And if we end up adopting the position of apple and some of your colleagues in the senate that we maintain strong encryption and have no back doors for government to access the way president obama put it was, it would be fetishizing our phones above all other values. Parse the going to president s individual phrase. I do know this. You have everything from komi currently comey to the head of the cia. It makes us safer. Encryption makes americans safer. At the same time, Law Enforcement and the intel to be ableas a need to follow the communications and movements of terrorists and criminals. I question whether holding in a backdoor which sends a signal that you are going to have a vulnerability that no matter how carefully you guard keys could whether that is a solution that really makes us safer. I think there will be other tools. There was another methodology used around the apple phone in san bernardino. Remember encryption takes place on the device. In terms of software. At the network level. One of the things that i would be worried about is if we mandated a backdoor, two things could happen. You would have smart criminals and terrorists simply buying a foreignbased phone that wasnt subject to american jurisdiction or, a smart criminal or terrorist would simply import from the cloud encrypted software onto the phone even if it had a backdoor. So there are challenges around all of this. This is not just a debate taking place in america. There is similar legislation in the u. K. And france. Require a global type solution. I think america can lead. But at this point when youve got tech and Law Enforcement in opposite corners, the Intelligence Community has been more leaning in in favor of the commission approach. Im probably breaking this news to you since the statement came out just moments before we all sat down, but the aclu has apparently gotten a draft of the feinstein legislation and they are quite critical of it. They said in a statement, is a clear threat to everyones privacy and security and it ignores economic and technical reality. What do you make of that . Think i need to review the legislation. What ive heard about it is they have a goal that i would love to have us all get to where legal warrants can be enforced. But im not going to criticize that legislation until i have had a chance to review it. I do worry that people may take their intent and layer on things that are not in the legislation. Candidly, we will not end up with a solution set here that every entity is going to agree upon. Theres going to have to be balancing of interest. I do believe that there are rights of privacy that can be protected. Law enforcement needs intelligence needs and we can create an ability to maintain innovation and technology that americans and World Consumers want to purchase. Apple sant the bernardino case. Both sides said there was no solution. Of aide said short backdoor. The other side says, its not going to happen. There are ways to work through these issues. If congress im hanging on by ifgernails in terms of Congress Tries to legislate without a common set of facts, im concerned about the outcome. Makeght be appearing to americans safer but in reality not actually accomplishing that goal. We have some other issues. I wanted to transition to something that of interest to your constituents in Northern Virginia as well as everyone who lives and works in the washington metropolitan area which is the state of the Public Transportation system that we call metro around here. There have been reports and some discussion that there may need to be entire lines that may need to be shut down for weeks at a time for massive repairs. The system is now in its 40th anniversary and what do you think is the federal role in terms of what needs to be done and also one of the issues has been with the state governments and you used to be the governor in virginia. What does everyone need to contribute and is there any chance that thats actually going to happen . Let me take this in two bites. As a longtime supporter of metro, ive been really disturbed and frankly angered at the failure to enforce a culture of safety. We saw a horrible tragedy a number of years back in maryland where a number of individuals were killed. We saw the incident where a virginian was killed at lenfant plaza. , we saw thatper actually lack of publicly Trained Personnel at the control center for metro. On the previous management, youve got to get this fixed. Ofchanged the jurisdiction terms of to the dot in the oversight as well as for unprecedented brought in federal transit to go through the safety audits and then actually put personnel in place so the ridership would have that level of security. We saw recently that the new general manager actually shut down the system for a one day basis because of the potential of the kind of harm that fires in the tunnels that could create smoke challenges. I think we were all a little shocked at that but candidly, i think it sent a good message that this general manager puts safety first. I commend him on that. I have heard just recently at well that he has made comments about the possibility of shutting down lines for an extended period of time was not on the table. Lessll require perhaps service on the weekend and evenings so they can do the renovations that are needed. I think we are seeing a movement in terms of the culture of safety. On the financing piece, we had the brightest shiniest newest metro in america 40 years ago. Aged. Ystem has i think there have been challenges around ongoing maintenance. This is not just a metro problem. Deferred maintenance is a challenge all across our infrastructure. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Parks Service this year. How we make sure we maintain the funding for metro is critically important. We have seen members of the house want to cut the federal governments commitment initiated a number of years back by tom davis who did a great job. On hundred 50 Million Dollars a year that the feds were going to put in. Put metro that, you into a semideath spiral because metro has to increase the fares and that means less people ride and you are in more financial duress. Honoring the federal governments commitment to that 150 million at least a year is critically important. This is the nations metro system in terms of people visiting the National Capital region. At the same time making sure that states and localities chip in their share as well i think its going to be an ongoing debate. Part of making the case for additional revenues whether its for a dedicated revenue structures are making sure we get federal money or increasing regional contributions those arguments are harder to make when you dont have that culture of safety. I think the new gm has sent a strong signal about safety. And about maintenance. I think the shutting down of the system, while an imposition for that one day, was in retrospect probably the right choice. Also to the employees that inappropriate safety focus will not be tolerated. The more he can continue that, the better we will be able to shore up the necessary financing. Seven minutes. You mentioned dedicated funding. Assuming the new gm can get the safety footing, has the time come for the regions jurisdictions to get together and do a dedicated Funding Source . As somebody who got my tail oped when i advocated for a regional Northern Virginia taxing ability, that was 10 years ago. More than 10 years ago actually. Took a stepg to in the right direction in terms of funding. Whether there would be a metro specific, i think its too early to judge it until we see continued improvements. Do you think the congressional representative of all these jurisdictions need to play a role . In terms of the congressional delegation is making sure that folks in the house who want to cut discretionary funding clearly have gone after metro in the past. And that we keep the feds commitment to this critical infrastructure. Not just for the region. But this is how the country and the world sees washington. We have six minutes left and two big topics. I want to start with president ial politics. What does Bernie Sanderss success on the campaign trail have to say about the future direction of your party for someone like you who has reputation and is a capitalist . Is tappingbernie into a lot of dissatisfaction. I believe the best policy is not made on the extremes of the left or right but with some bipartisan consensus. The challenge with that premise would not put a lot of points on the board in terms of the bipartisan consensus in the last few years. I also think he has tapped into enormous uncertainty about economic inequality. Those challenges are challenges around income insecurity. I think americans have not minded people being successful, but when they feel the kind of income volatility they are seeing at this moment people have a right to be angry. I am somebody that believes in free enterprise. I dont think modern american capitalism with its focus on shortterm quarterly based returns is doing well enough by the vast majority of americans. Im working on a project through the Aspen Institute looking at this issue. Mitch daniels is my cochair. Make capitalism work in a 21stcentury way . How do you longerterm investments . How can you actually have a tax that incentivizes investment in Human Capital . Make capitalism work for a Broader Group of people or the anger that bernie is tapping into on the left and that mr. Trump is tapping into on the right could undermine a system that has worked pretty well for us. Do you want the budget . I will take on the budget the best i can. I think what we are hearing the Mitch Mcconnell says hes going to move forward with a appropriation bills despite the fact that they cant necessarily get to a budget resolution this year. Do you think that that can get done, that the appropriations process can actually work in an Election Year and more broadly, youve been involved in these broader fiscal discussions over many years now, what do you think its going to take . Is there any hope of any of that with however the president ial elections turnout this year . Some of the biggest disappointment since ive been in the senate is that we didnt put our Balance Sheet back in order. We didnt do a variation of the plan that took on entitlement form and tax reform. We have managed to avoid the stupidity of sequestration for the last year or two. Im hopeful that leader mcconnell puts those Appropriations Bills on the floor. To get it through will require not having that extreme crowd in the house try to recut the deal that was made last year in terms of the topline numbers. And to make sure that these Appropriations Bills dont layer on a whole series of whats called riders, social issues. ,ou want to debate immigration dont do it on the Appropriations Bills. Leader and speaker ryan agreed to those topline numbers, we look at those bills done and that will be better serving. Its a more rational way to manage our government. But the bigger issue of our Balance Sheet is coming back. Sequestration comes back a year from now. We have now run up 18 trillion plus of debt. Justinterest rates go up, one point, that adds on an annual basis 120 billion of Additional Debt Service Every year and that trumps every other payment Social Security, medicare. That is more each year just on that piece of the debt spending on interest than we spend on Homeland Security. Thats more than we spend on Homeland Security and the federal department of education combined. All of the projections say that deficits start rising again. Is goingmoving problem to require both parties to make compromises. The democrats have to realize we have to make the promise of Social Security and medicare available for people under 35. That means recognizing that people are growing older and the math just doesnt work. We need a tax code that is more streamlined and generates more revenue. Of totalst in terms taxes collected. You have to look at the facts. Getting news is that our revenue stream back to where it was in the 90s, making phasing in some changes around Social Security and medicare over the next 10 years, nothing immediate, nothing for people currently receiving those benefits, we can get this fixed. If we dont do that, Discretionary Spending education, infrastructure, research and development, military those are on a path, on a steep incline past decline path. Thats not going to keep america competitive. Very quick. Really quickly, i dont know if youve been following the race across the potomac in maryland. Congressman van hollen has been engaged in these fiscal talks. Hes getting hit for even suggesting cuts for Social Security. Even suggesting cuts for participating in the talks. What do you make of that . Im not sure im a friend of chris van hollen. I support chris van hollen. Im not sure that helps him as a virginia guy supporting a marylander. Dont hire people with absolutist positions. Who say they will never raise taxes or never touch entitlement programs. All you are going to get is gridlock. Everybody in Congress Needs to come in with an open mind. The idea that you cant even discuss the math around the fact that when i was a kid there were 16 people working for everyone person on retirement and today there are three people working for every one person on retirement the math is changing. Thank you for being with us this week. Welcome back to newsmakers with our two guests. I want to start in reverse order and his comments about the budget process. Engagedwarner has been in talking about the longterm fiscal challenges since even before he arrived in the senate and what we heard today was more of the same from him about his frustration. But it really is there are a lot of questions about whether any of us can ever be resolved or if we are going to reach a point where Social Security reaches the point of its unsustainability. Whether medicare costs get to extreme for anyone too extreme for anyone to deal with. Warner is in a camp of a dwindling number of democrats and moderates in both parties who actually would probably vote in support of proposals that them atrhaps doome election time. A processed about that needed no social contract riders and to make sure they didnt add things to legislation that would make it unpalatable in the wrong one. Long run. Weve seen the House Republicans cant pass a budget riderswant to talk about , they cant even get the appropriations process started. We will see perhaps next week and theres any help. Is younator warner said can express concern about things happening on the democratic side. We were discussing the Maryland Senate race. I think he is concerned if democrats start getting primaried sibley for being part of these grant physical talks. We spent a good deal of time of the encryption issue. He talked about the necessity in dealing with this now because of the urgency of cases and the courts getting into this. Will the political process feet to the 16 Member Commission idea . You say the word commission and i think most americans sort of cringe and say, what do we need a commission for . That youa strong case have such a polarized mood right now on this issue between the National Security and Law Enforcement absolutists on one side and a Digital Privacy absolutists on the other side. It might bee the only way to get the facts on the table. Is there a likelihood of the legislation empowering the commission in a Political Year . It would seem very difficult for either perhaps they have a better chance than actually taking action on substantive legislation that would make some decisions for the election before the election. When youre dealing with congress and perhaps specifically with the senate when it comes to an issue like encryption and technology issues, it is always good member how not adapt at technology a lot of people serving in the senate actually are. Unusual in thes background in the technology sector. He says things have changed so much since he was actually in the business. Orre are a lot of senators handful who still views flip phones or dont access email on mobile devices and could operate an iphone. You are dealing with a subset of the population that is rather unusual that would be making these decisions. Let me move more broadly. What does the senate the fight between now and the convention . Geewhiz. Bill nowon the faa thats easily going well. Senator mcconnell is talking about it doing appropriations. They will be doing appropriations without a budget in place in the house. Perhaps even a dearth of legislative vehicles to do the bills with. Its really unsettled right now. Add on top of that the Supreme Court battle which is six using everything going on defusing everything going on with a partisan and nasty tone. I would say that the general mood right now is not optimistic for major legislation. Will the republicans be of the old firm on the senate on the confirmation process . It seems like the Senate Republicans are not planning on changing their tune anytime soon. Anytime the white house goes out of its way to pretend there is some sort of changing of the tide, you immediately hear from senator mcconnell and judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley saying the exact opposite. It does not look like anything will move on that. Probably at least until after the election. Thanks to both of you for being on newsmakers this week. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] the book tells book the story of the fact that the manuscript, this National Treasure is not what we thought while trying to chronologically think about what was madison encountering at the time. Keeping those two narratives straight was quite tricky for a while. Tonight on q a, Law School Professor mary bilder discusses her book madisons hand, which takes a critical look at the notes James Madison wrote during and after the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Madison took the notes on sheets of paper. He folded the sheets and half. He writes on the front, across the middle on the two pages around the backside. At some point he sewed all these little pieces of paper together into a manuscript