Congressional Dish

No one really knows what Donald Trump plans to do as US Commander in Chief, but the United States' most influential war mongers have a plan. In this episode, hear the highlights from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing - a hearing that was kept off of C-SPAN and had no one in attendance - and get some insight into the advice our next President will be given to direct our nation at war. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Hearing Highlighted in this Episode Emerging U.S. Defense Challenges and Worldwide Threats, Senate Armed Services Committee, December 6, 2016 Witnesses Robert Kagan Served in the State Department in the Reagan administration Co-founder of the Project for a New American Century, a think tank that laid out a plan for the United States to use our massive military to force a global order centered around American control. Served on the 25 member State Department Foreign Affairs Policy Board under Hillary Clinton & John Kerry. Current: Senior Fellow, Project on International Order and Strategy, The Brookings Institution Current: Board of Directors for the Foreign Policy Initiative Family: "First Family of Military Interventionists" Married to Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State, European & Eurasian Affairs in the Obama administration Father: Donald Kagan, Yale professor and co-chairman of the Project for a New American Century report outlining the global dominance plan Brother: Frederick Kagan, military historian & author, member of the American Enterprise Institute and Project for a New American Century. Was co-architect of the surge (with General Keane) Sister in law: Kimberly Kagan, President at the Institute for the Study of War General Jack Keane Chairman, Institute for the Study of War Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army during the key Bush years, 1999-2003. Board of Directors at General Dynamics Shawn Brimley Executive Vice President and Director of Studies, the Center for a New American Century National Security Council from Feb 2011-October 2012 Research Associate at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) from April 2005-Feb 2007 Columnist at War on the Rocks Council on Foreign Relations member *Clip transcripts below Sound Clip Sources YouTube: Julian Assange tells RT that the Russian government was not the source of Clinton campaign emails, posted November 5, 2016. YouTube: Julian Assange on Dutch television program Nieuwsuur to talk about the danger to their sources and the murder of Seth Rich, posted August 9, 2016. Local News Story: 27-Year-Old DNC Staffer Seth Rich Shot, Killed in Northwest DC by Pat Collins and Andrea Swalec, NBC Washington DC, July 11, 2016. Additional Reading Book: The Pentagon's New Map by Thomas P.M. Barnett, May 2005. Article: Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House by Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller, December 9, 2016. Article: Army accelerates Active Protection Systems technology by Kris Osborn, Defense Systems, October 13, 2016. Press Release: Artis announces Army APS contract award, Business Wire (Berkshire Hathaway), September 28, 2016. Article: Seth Rich: Inside the Killing of the DNC Staffer by Jeff Stein, Newsweek, August 20, 2106. Twitter: Wikileaks offers $20,000 reward for information about Seth Rich's murder Article: Debbie Wasserman Shultz to Resign D.N.C. Post by Jonathan Martin and Alan Rappeport, New York Times, July 24, 2016. Article: Wasserman Shultz immediately joins Clinton campaign after resignation by Victor Morton, The Washington Times, July 24, 2016. Article: Army Pushes Missile Defense For Tanks: MAPS by Sydney Freedberg, Breaking Defense, April 25, 2016. Article: How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk by Mark Landler, New York Times, April 21, 2016. Email: John Podesta & Staff email his username & password, Wikileaks document, February 9, 2015 Blog post: Iron Curtain: Active Protective System (APS), by the editors of RicardCYoung.com, May 30, 2013. Miscellaneous Sources Webpage: Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go Recommended Podcast Episodes CD108: Regime Change CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? CD093: Our Future in War Jen's appearance on The Sea Hawkers Podcast, November 16, 2016. Hearing Clip Transcipts {18:30} Chairman John McCain: Our next president will take office as the U.S. confronts the most diverse and complex array of global security challenges since the end of the Second World War. Great power competition, once thought a casualty of the end of history, has returned as Russia and China have each challenged the rules-based order that is the foundation of our security and prosperity. Rogue states like North Korea and Iran are undermining regional stability while developing advanced military capabilities that threaten the United States and our allies. Radical Islamist terrorism continues to pose a challenging threat to our security at home and our interests abroad, and the chaos that has spread across the Middle East, and on which our terrorist enemies thrive, has torn apart nations; destroyed families; killed hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children; and sent millions more running for their lives. But today—today—President Obama will deliver a speech in Florida, touting his counter-terrorism successes. I'm not making that up. Ugh. Yet, even a glimpse at the chaos enveloping the Middle East and spreading throughout the world reveals the delusion and sophistry of this president and his failed policies. In short, when our next president is inaugurated, just six weeks from now, he will look out on a world on fire and have several consequential strategic choices to make: how to address Russian or Chinese aggression, how to confront threats from North Korean, whether to alter our relationship with Iran, how to improve and quicken our campaign against ISIL, how to counter the instability radiating from Syria, how to ensure a victory in the war in Afghanistan, and I could go on, not to mention the overwhelming challenge of cybersecurity. Our next president will not have the benefit of time and cautious deliberation to set a new strategic course for the nation; that work begins with a series of decisions that will present themselves immediately on day one. That's why it's so important to get these things right from the outset. As we ponder these strategic questions, we must also consider our military posture around the world. We must decide the appropriate military presence in Europe and reverse reductions made by the Obama administration under the assumption that Russia was a partner. We also need a fresh look at further steps to enhance U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region. We need to uphold our commitments to allies and partners, including by finally providing lethal assistance to Ukraine and standing by the opposition in Syria. We need to push back against the spread of Iranian malign influence in the Middle East. This starts in Iraq where the eventual liberation of Mosul will intensify the sectarian struggle for power and identity. We need to finally give our troops in Afghanistan what they need to succeed—permanent and flexible authorities to engage the enemy and troop levels based on security conditions on the ground. Here at home we need to return to a strategy-based defense budget. Our next president would need more than $100 billion over and above the Budget Control Act caps just to execute our current defense strategy, which is insufficient since it predates Russian invasion of Ukraine and ISIL's rampage across Syria and Iraq. This will require our next president to negotiate a broad bipartisan agreement on the budget that brings an end to the dangerous and misguided Budget Control Act. {30:50} General Jack Keane: I'm delighted to be here with Dr. Kagan, a good friend, and let me just say something about Dr. Kagan here and his family. His father, himself, his wife, his brother, and his sister-in-law all made— Sen. John McCain?: All have exceeded—Keane: —a great contribution to this country, believe me. {35:45} Gen. Jack Keane: The reality is we need more combat brigades. The reality is we need more ships. The reality is we need more aircraft. It's indisputable. {37:20} Gen. Jack Keane: The United States has not fielded a single active protection system on a tank yet or any other combat vehic— But your committee has mandated they do it, and you put some money in there for them to do it. Now, listen, if you don't know what active protection system is, let me take you through it for a second. You put sensors on a vehicle that track an incoming round to the vehicle, and as the round is about to hit the vehicle, you actually have a kill system on the vehicle that kills the round before it hits. Brilliant technology. Where do we get all of that from? Private sector. It has to do with microchip technology and incredible software programs. Out there on a private sector, smart guys, small-business guys, got it; DARPA had a program over ten years ago to look at this; technology's proven, and the United States military ground forces still haven't put it on anything. What's wrong with that? It has nothing to do with money. It doesn't have anything to do with the White House. It doesn't have anything to do with Congress. It doesn't have anything to do with OSD. You know what it is? It's the damn bureaucracy inside the Army. They push back on new technology because they want to design it themselves because you give them money to do it. These are the laboratories and the tech bases. It's the acquisition bureaucracy that stalls this. When I was vice chief of staff for the Army, I had no idea about all of that, and it took me a year or two to figure out what I was really dealing with—bureaucrats and technocrats that were stalling the advance of a great army. That's out there, and you've got to bore into that with this committee. The military and Defense Department needs help to break down that bureaucracy. {43:20} Gen. Jack Keane: Let me just say something about the DOD business side of the House. Certainly, we are the best fighting force in the world; we are first rate at that. But we're absolutely third rate at running the business-like functions of DOD because we're not good at it; we don't know enough to be good at it. We're managing huge real estate portfolios. We're managing huge lodging capabilities. We're one of the biggest motel owners in the United States. We're managing the largest healthcare enterprise in the world. The amount of maintenance that we're doing from a pistol to an aircraft carrier is staggering. Those are all business functions. Business functions. They're all non-core functions. And we're also managing new product design and new product development, using business terms, and we don't do well at this, and there's a ton of money involved in it. We've got to get after that money, and we've got to do better at it. And I think we should bring in, as a number-two guy in the Department of Defense, a CEO from a Fortune 500 company in the last five years that's done a major turnaround of a large organization. We need business people to help us do this. We need a CFO, not a comptroller, in DOD. That CFO has the background that's necessary to look at business practices in the DOD, where cost-basis analysis and performance, internal-controlled auditing, rigorous financial reviews, cost efficiency, and dealing with waste, those are the kinds of things we need—desperately need them because the money is there. You want to do so much more—some of that money is sitting right there in the budget. {46:55} Gen. Jack Keane: ISIS is the most successful terrorist organization that's ever been put together. We're making progress against them in Iraq, to be sure. We do not have an effective strategy to defeat them in Syria, because we don't have an effective ground force. And we have no strategy to deal with the spread of ISIS to thirty-five other countries. I'm not suggesting for a minute that we're involved in all of that, but I think we can tangibly help the people who are. {47:35} Gen. Jack Keane: In Iraq, we will retake Mosul. How long will depend on how much ISIS wants to resist; they didn't resist in Fallujah and Ramadi that much. But after we take Mosul, if we have sectarian strife in Mosul, where we do not have unity of governance and unity of security, then that is going to contaminate the political unity and the country as a whole, which is so desperately needed. And that is a major issue for us. The major geopolitical issue for the United States and Iraq is political unity with their government and diminishing Iran's strategic influence on Iraq. That is what we should be working on. {48:52} Gen. Jack Keane: The Syrian civil war, a major human catastrophe, to be sure, is a tractable problem, I think as any of us have had to deal with. The reality is we squandered the opportunities to change the momentum against the regime—I won't list them all, and you're aware of it—but right in front of us, I still believe we could put safe zones in there to safe guard some of those humans up near the Jordanian and Turkish border and that de facto would be a no-fly zone. I think it would also aid the Syrian moderates and likely attract some others to that movement. {49:49} Gen. Jack Keane: Afghanistan—let me just say, the war is not winnable under the current policy. We cannot win. And that's the reality of it. We've got sanctuaries in Pakistan. No insurgency's ever been defeated with sanctuaries outside the conflict area. Pakistani-Afghan national security forces do not have the enablers they need to be able to overcome the Taliban, who have resurged. {55:55} Robert Kagan: I want to talk about a subject that we don't like to talk about in polite company, and it's called world order. We naturally focus on threats to the homeland and our borders, and we talk about terrorism, as we must, as something that is obviously of utmost importance, has to be a top priority to protect the homeland. But as we look across the whole panoply of threats that we face in the world, I worry that it's too easy to lose sight of what, to my mind, represent the greatest threats that we face over the medium- and long term and possibly even sooner than we may think, and that is the threat posed by the two great powers in the international system, the two great revisionist powers international system—Russia and China, because what they threaten is something that is in a way more profound, which is this world order that the United States created after the end of World War II—a global security order, a global economic order, and a global political order. This is not something the United States did as a favor to the rest of the world. It's not something we did out of an act of generosity, although on historical terms it was a rather remarkable act of generosity. It was done based on what Americans learned in the first half of the twentieth century, which was that if there was not a power—whether it was Britain or, as it turned out, it had to be the United States—willing and able to maintain this kind of decent world order, you did not have some smooth ride into something else. What you had was catastrophe. What you had was the rise of aggressive powers, the rise of hostile powers that were hostile to liberal values. We saw it. We all know what happened with two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century and what those who were present at the creation, so to speak, after World War II wanted to create was an international system that would not permit those kinds of horrors to be repeated, and because the understanding was that while Americans believed very deeply in the 1920s and '30s that they could be immune from whatever horrors happened out there in the world that it didn't matter to them who ran Europe or who ran Asia or who did what to whom as long as we were safe, they discovered that that was not true and that ultimately the collapse of world order would come back and strike the United States in fundamental ways. And so Americans decided to take on an unusual and burdensome role of maintaining world order because the United States was the only power in the world that could do it, and the critical element of maintaining that world order was to maintain peace and stability in the two big cockpits of conflict that had destroyed the world and had produced repeated conflicts from the late nineteenth century onward, and that was Europe and Asia. The United States accomplished something that no other power had been able to accomplish before. It essentially put a cork in two areas that had been known for the constant warfare, put an end to an endless cycle of war between France and Germany, between Japan and China; and that was the stable world order that was created after World War II, that America gradually thrived in, that produced the greatest era of great-power peace that has been known in history, the greatest period of prosperity, the greatest period of the spread of democracy. {1:01:24} Robert Kagan We especially cannot take our eye off what I believe is ultimately the main game, which is managing these two revisionist powers and understanding what they seek. We cannot be under any illusions about Russia and China. We will find areas of cooperation with them—they both partake and benefit from and, in some case, sort of feed off of the liberal world order the United States has created—but let us never imagine that they are content with this order, that they do not seek fundamentally eventually upend this order, especially on the security side, to create a situation which they think ought to be the natural situation which is they being hegemonic in their own region. China has a historical memory of being hegemonic, dominant in its region. Russia has a historical memory, which Putin has expressed on numerous occasions, of restoring its empire, which stretched right into the heart of Central Europe. As far as they are concerned, the order that the United States has created is unfair, disadvantageous to them, temporary, and ought to be overturned. And I can only say that in the process of overturning that the history teaches that overturning does not occur peacefully. And so it should be our task both to prevent them from overturning it and to prevent them in a way that does not produce another catastrophic war. {1:04:00} Robert Kagan: It's unfortunate that after these eight years in which this signal has been sent that during this political campaign, the president-elect comments during the campaign as well as those of his surrogates have only reinforced the impression that the United States is out of the world-order business—comments about whether the United States really should support NATO allies; comments about Estonia being in the suburbs of St. Petersburg; complaints about the need to defend Japan and is that an equitable thing; the fact that both candidates came out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is really, in my eyes, a strategic deal more than a trade deal, designed to pull the United States and its Asian partners together. All the elements of this campaign have only sent even greater shockwaves throughout the world about what the United States stands for. So, in a certain sense, yes, the next administration has a big hole to dig out of; it also has to dig out of a hole, to some extent, of its own making. And so we need to see, in the early stages, in the very early stages, I would say, a clear repudiation of all that rhetoric; some clear signs that this new administration understands the importance not only of reassuring allies but a willingness to bolster our commitment to those allies, because after all, the challenge from the revisionist powers is increasing; therefore it's not enough to say we're committed to the defensive allies; we have to show that our capacities are increasing along with those of the increasing threat which, of course, gets to the defense budget, which I don't have to talk to this committee about. {1:22:00} Robert Kagan: I'm very dubious that unless you actually increase the top line that you're going to get what you need, because I just think, you know, you can only squeeze so far and be as brilliant as you can be. Brilliant is never going to be your answer, so I think the answer is there's going to have to be more spending, and, you know, I'm not a budget expert at large either, but I would say we have to do whatever we need to do. We have to—if we need to raise taxes or we need to have some package that does that, if we need to find other ways of, you know, dealing problems like entitlement spending to do it, we have to do it. I mean, I lived through the Reagan years. There were increases in defense budget, which were offset by political bargains of one kind or another that required increases in domestic spending which led to increased defense budgets. We survived the—I mean, in overall deficits. We survived the deficits and won the Cold War. So I would say we are going to have to, as a nation, take this seriously enough to pay for it. {1:46:45} Senator Angus King: So selection of leaders is a crucial element, looking for innovative and willingness to move. Let me— Gen. Jack Keane: You've got to force the R&D effort, and you've got to talk to civilian—you've got to talk to defense industry on a regular basis because the defense industry is spending their time thinking about your function. They're all also spending research dollars on it. You have to have regular communication with them. Let them know where you're trying to go, bring them into it to help contribute to it, drive your own people to work with them as well. We can accelerate this process rather dramatically. King: And I would suggest that we have to. {1:50:00} Senator Joni Ernst: I would like to get your thoughts on ISIS in Southeast Asia because I do think it's something that we haven't spent a lot of time focusing on—we're not talking about it nearly enough—and Islamic extremist groups in Southeast Asia, like the Abu Sayyaf group, they are all coming together under the flag of ISIS, and it's a bit concerning. {1:52:20} Shawn Brimley: One of the tangible second-order benefits that we get from forward deploying our troops and capabilities overseas is we have that daily connectivity, and we have that daily deterrent prowess in places around the region. One of the debates that you see and hear inside the Pentagon, or one of the debates that we had inside the Pentagon as pertains to, say, the Marines in Darwin, for instance, is, you know, you start to break apart these larger entities, like a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, for instance, and you start to put a company here in Southern Philippines and put a task force of some kind in Australia. And there's a tradeoff between doing that, which gives you that kind of daily interaction with local communities, the ability to do a counter-terrorism operations, for instance. But there is some risk that it becomes more difficult to quickly bring those capabilities back together for a larger threat, responding to a larger threat. And that's the balance that DOD, particularly OSD, has to grapple with every day. {1:53:50} Senator Joni Ernst: General Keane, could you talk a little bit more about militarily what we could be doing in that region and the use of forces? * General Jack Keane*: Yeah, absolutely. And ISIS has expanded into 35 countries, and we don't really have a strategy to deal with any of that. We're focused on the territory that they took, certainly in Iraq and Syria, and I'm not saying that's not appropriate—that should be a priority—but commensurate with that priority, we should be addressing these other areas as well. And a lot of the identification with ISIS is aspirational but they also have affiliates in these countries—this is one of them—and with an affiliate, they actually sign a document together to abide by certain ISIS principles and rules. And in some cases they direct, some cases they provide aid, but in most cases there's no direction, and that's largely the case here. But I believe what the United States can do with its allies is, you know, we've been at war with organizations like this now for 15 years, and our reservoir of knowledge and capability here is pretty significant, and it far exceeds anybody else in the world, but we have allies that are participating with us. There's much we can do with them in sharing intelligence and helping them with training and also helping them with technology—not expensive technology, but things that can truly make a difference with those troops, and I don't think we necessarily have to be directly involved in fighting these forces ourselves, but aiding and supporting these forces and having a strategy to do that— {1:57:55} Senator Jeanne Shaheen: You also talked about taking retaliatory action against Russia for what they're doing. What kinds of efforts would you suggest we look at in terms of trying to retaliate or respond to what Russia's doing in the United States? Robert Kagan: Well, I'm sure there're people better equipped to answer that question than I am, but I would, you know, publish the Swiss bank accounts of all the oligarchs around. I mean, there are all kinds of things that you could do that would cause— Shaheen: Yeah, keep, keep saying a few— Kagan: Well, I mean— Shaheen: A few more of those because I think those are helpful. Kagan: You know, you could talk about all the ways in which you could reveal stuff about the way Putin has manipulated his own elections. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff out there, which, if you were of a mind to do it, you could do that would be embarrassing of one kind or another. I mean, these people have money stashed all over the world. They have dachas, they have villas, etc. This is a kind of a Mafia organization where part of the game is everybody holding together. There are ways to create divisions and difficulties. I mean, I'm sure, as I say, there are people who could, if you put them to the task—and for all I know they have been put to the task—you could come up with a whole list of things. And, by the way, I wouldn't make an announcement of it; they would understand what had happened. But until we do something like that, it's just open season for them to do this, and so I think we need to treat this like any other weapons system that's being deployed, because they are treating it like a weapons system. {2:00:32} Sen. Jeanne Shaheen: One of the things, General Keane, that you pointed out is that there is a predilection to try and kill some of the innovative programs so that the Pentagon can actually do those themselves. We had this experience with the Small Business Innovation Research program as we're going into this NDAA because the initial effort was to try and increase the amount of money that DOD is making available to small businesses to do innovation, and I think we've heard from a number of panelists previously that this is one of the best research programs that still exists within—for small businesses to produce innovation that's used by the Department of Defense. So, is this the kind of initiative that you're talking about that there may be, for whatever reason, efforts to try and keep it from putting more money into that small-business effort to produce innovation?* Gen. Jack Keane*: I certainly encourage that. You know, the active protection system that I was talking about and that when DARPA made a call to the people to come forward and they knew that this would be an advanced technology that could actually change warfare, the contractor that the United States Army has gone to is a small-business contractor. So here's this small-business contractor, conceptualized this capability themselves, and it will revolutionize combat warfare as we go forward. They also have technology, interesting enough, and they've brought military leaders out to see it, they can stop a bullet. In other words, a 50-caliber bullet, they can kill a bullet. And it's all because of everything—all of this is available in the private sector. Microchip technology, as I mentioned, and unbelievable software apply to that technology. Well, that's revolutionary technology that I just mentioned to you. It changes warfare. And so that is something we should be investing in. We should put money behind this. I have no affiliation with this organization—let's get that straight. {2:05:27} Senator Mike Lee: For several decades, Congress, quite regrettably in my opinion, has deliberately abdicated many of its constitutional responsibilities, and it's just sort of handed it over to the executive branch, being willing to take a backseat role—a backseat role, at best—in determining America's role around the world and how we're going to combat threats that face us. The result ends up being a foreign policy that is made primarily within the executive-branch bureaucracy and Washington-insider circles, informed, as they tend to be, by the interests and the aspirations of the so-called international community. This is a circle that increasingly becomes untethered from any clear lines of accountability, connecting policy, policy makers, and the American people. For instance, the U.S. military is currently operating in the Middle East under a very broad, I believe irresponsibly broad, interpretation of a 15-year-old authorization for the use of military force, using it as justification to engage in a pretty-broad range of actions, from intervening in two separate civil wars to propping up a failing Afghan government. Meanwhile, the executive branch seems increasingly inclined to choose and identify and engage threats through covert actions, and that further helps the executive branch to avoid the scrutiny that would be available if stronger Congressional oversight existed, and they avoid that kind of scrutiny and public accountability. This may be convenient for members of Congress who want nothing more than to just have someone else to blame for decisions that turn out to be unpopular or unsuccessful, but it's an affront to the Constitution. And it's more than that; it's more than just an affront to a 229-year-old document—it's an affront to the system of representative government that we have dedicated ourselves to as Americans, and I think it's an insult to the American people who are losing patience with a foreign policy that they feel increasingly and very justifiably disconnected from, notwithstanding the fact that they're still asked from time to time to send their sons and daughters into harm's way to defend it. So as we discuss these emerging threats to our national security, I'd encourage this committee and all of my colleagues to prioritize the threat that will inevitably come to us if we continue to preserve this status quo and to exclude the American people and their elected representatives, in many cases ourselves, from the process. So I have a question for our panelists. One of the focuses of this committee has been on the readiness crisis within the military, brought about by the conflicts we're facing in the Middle East and by a reduction in the amount of money that the Pentagon has access to. The easy answer to this is often, well, let's just increase spending. That's not to say that that's not necessary now or in other circumstances in particular, but setting aside that, that is one approach that people often come up with. But another option that I think has to be considered, and perhaps ought to be considered first, is to reexamine the tasks and the priorities that we're giving to our military leaders and to ask whether these purposes that we're seeking readiness for are truly in the interest of the American people, those we're representing, those who are paying the bill for this, and those who are asked to send their sons and daughters into harm's way. * Sen. John McCain: Senator's time has expired. *Lee: So,-- McCain: Senator's time has expired. Lee: Could I just ask a one-sentence question, Mr. Chairman, to— McCain: Yes, but I would appreciate courtesy to the other members that have—make one long opening statement, it does not leave time for questions. Senator's recognized for question. Lee: Okay. Do you believe that the Congress, the White House, and the executive branch agencies have done an adequate job in reaching consensus on what the American people's interests are and on calibrating the military and diplomatic means to appropriate ends? {2:10:43} Robert Kagan: I don't accept this dichotomy that you posited between what the Congress and the President do and what the American people want. I mean, when I think of some of the—first of all, historically, the executive has always had tremendous influence on foreign policy—whatever the Constitution may say, although the Constitution did give the executive tremendous power to make foreign policy. If you go back to Jefferson, the willingness to deploy force without Congressional approval, you can go all the way through 200 years of history, I'm not sure it's substantially different, but in any case, that's been the general prejudice. The Founders wanted energy in the executive and particularly in the conduct of foreign policy. That was the lesson of the Revolutionary War. That's why they created a Constitution which particularly gave power to the executive. But also, I just don't believe that the American people are constantly having things foisted on them that they didn't approve of. So one of the most controversial things that's happened, obviously, in recent decade that people talk about all the time is the Iraq war, which was voted on; debated at length in Congress; 72 to 28, I think was the vote, or something like that. The American people, public opinion, was in favor of it, just as the American people was in favor of World War I, the Spanish-American War later. These wars turn out to be bad or badly handled, the American people decide that it was a terrible idea, and then people start saying, well, who did this? And the American people want to find somebody to blame for doing these things; they don't want to take responsibility for their own decisions. I don't believe we have a fundamentally undemocratic way of making foreign-policy decisions; I think it's complicated, I think mistakes are made. Foreign policy's all about failure. People don't want to acknowledge that failure is the norm in foreign policy, and then they want to blame people for failure. But I think the American people are participants in this process. {2:22:26} Senator Lindsay Graham: We're talking about important things to an empty room. Just look. Just look. So, Iran with a nuke. Number one—I'm going to ask, like, 45 questions in five minutes. Give brief answers if you can. If you can't, don't say a word. Do you believe that the Iranians in the past have been trying to develop a nuclear weapon, not a nuclear power plant, for peaceful purposes? Shawn Brimley: Yes. Gen. Jack Keane: Nuclear weapon, yes. Graham: All right, three for three. Do you believe that's their long-term goal, in spite of what they say is to have a nuclear weapon? Keane: Yes. Brimley: [nods] Robert Kagan: [thumbs up] Graham: Okay. Do you believe that'd be one of the most destabilizing things in the world? Brimley: Yes. Graham: Do you believe the Arabs will get one of their own? Brimley: Yes. Kagan: [nods] Graham: Do you believe the Iranians might actually use the weapon if they'd gotten one, the Ayatollah? Brimley: [nods] Keane: Well, I think that—before I answer that, I think there's just as great a chance that the Arabs would use their weapon as a first right to take it away. Graham: Okay, then, so, we don't know—well, let's have— Bob, you shook your head. If you're Israel, what bet would you make? Kagan: [speaks, but mic is not on] Graham: Okay, but what if he wants to die and he doesn't mind taking you with him? What does he want? Does he want to destroy Israel, or is he just giddy? Kagan: [speaks, but mic is not on] Graham: When the Ayatollah says he wants to wipe Israel out, so it's just all talk? Kagan: I don't know if it's all talk, and I don't blame people for being nervous. We lived under—the United States, we all lived under the shadow of a possible nuclear war for 50 years. Graham: Yeah, but, you know, on their worst day the Russians didn't have a religious doctrine that wanted to destroy everybody. Do you believe he's a religious Nazi at his heart, or you don't know? And the answer may be you don't know. Kagan: I believe that he clearly is the—believes in a fanatical religion, but— Graham: Here's what I believe. Kagan: I'm not—okay, go. Graham: Okay, I believe that you ought to take him seriously, based on their behavior. Number one— Keane: I think we should take him seriously. Whether they're religious fanatics or not, I don't think is that relevant. Clearly, their geopolitical goals to dominate the Middle East strategically, to destroy the state of Israel, and to drive the United States out of the Middle East, they've talked about it every single year— Graham: Well, do you think that's their goal?Keane: Yes. Graham: Okay, so do you- Keane: Of course it's their goal. And not only is it their goal, but they're succeeding at it. Graham: Do you think we should deny them that goal. Graham: Good. North Korea—why are they trying to build an ICBM? Are they trying to send a North Korean in space? What are they trying to do? Brimley: They're trying to threaten us. Kagan: To put a nuclear weapon on it— Graham: Do you believe it should be the policy of the United States Congress and the next president to deny them that capability? Brimley: I believe so. Graham: Would you support an authorization to use military force that would stop the ability of the North Koreans to develop a missile that could reach the United States? Do you think Congress would be wise to do that? Brimley: I think Congress should debate it. I remember distinctly the op-ed that Secretary William Perry and Ashton Carter— Graham: I'm going to introduce one. Would you vote for it if you were here? Kagan: Only if Congress was willing to do what was necessary to a followup—Graham: Well, do you think Congress should be willing to authorize any president, regardless of party, to stop North Korea from developing a missile that can hit the homeland? Kagan: Only if Congress is willing to follow up with what might be required, depending on North Korea's response. Graham: Well, what might be required is to stop their nuclear program through military force; that's why you would authorize it. Kagan: No, but I'm saying that if I'm—the answer is yes, but then you also have to be willing, if North Korea launched—Graham: Would you advise me— Kagan: —that you'd have to be willing to— Sen. John McCain: You have to let the witness. Graham: Yeah, but he's not giving an answer, so here's the question. Kagan: Oh, I thought I— Graham: Do you support Congress—everybody's talking about Congress sitting on the sidelines. I think a North Korean missile program is designed to threaten the homeland; I don't think they're going to send somebody in space. So if I'm willing, along with some other colleagues, to give the president the authority—he doesn't have to use it—but we're all on board for using military force to stop this program from maturing, does that make sense to you, given the threats we face? Keane: I don't believe that North Korea is going to build an ICBM, weaponize it, and shoot it at the United States. Graham: Okay, then, you wouldn't need the authorization to use military force. Keane: Right. And the reason for that is— Graham: That's fine. Keane: The reason—Senator, the reason they have nuclear weapons is one reason: to preserve their regime. They know when you have nuclear weapons we're not going to conduct an invasion of North Korea. South Korea's not going to do it; we're not going to do it. Graham: Why are they trying to build ICBM? Keane: They want to weaponize it. Graham: And do what with it? Keane: I don't bel— Kagan: Preserve their regime. Graham: Okay, all right. So, you would be okay with letting them build a missile? Kagan: No, but— Graham: Would you, General Keane? Keane: They're already building a missile. Graham: Well, would you be willing to stop them? Keane: I would stop them from using it, yes. Graham: Okay. Keane: I'm not going to stop them from— Graham: Assad—final question. Do all of you agree that leaving Assad in power is a serious mistake? Brimley: Yes. Keane: Yes, absolutely. Graham: Finally, do you believe four percent of GDP should be the goal that Congress seeks because it's been the historical average of what we spend on defense since World War II?Kagan: Pretty close. Graham: Thanks. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

Chip Lake is a member of the Congressional Dish community and the former Chief of Staff to retiring Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia's 3rd district. In this enlightening episode, Chip provides valuable insight on how Congressional offices operate, which committees are the most powerful, what candidates buy with their "campaign contributions", and much more. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Guest: Chip Lake Chip Lake is a member of the Congressional Dish community and a former Chief of Staff to retiring Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia's 3rd district. Chip also works as a consultant at Glendale Strategies and does campaign marketing work for Twin Oaks Connect. Chip Lake is also the host of the Red Zone Sports Podcast Subscribe in iTunes Listen on Blog Talk Radio Contact Chip Twitter: @LakeChip Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD129: The Impeachment of John Koskinen Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

President Trump with a GOP Congress. The shock has not worn off. In this commentary-heavy episode, Jen shares some key moments from her Election Night experience, takes a close look at the incoming 115th Congress, and tries to process her thoughts on what we're in for with a fully Republican Congress working with President Donald J. Trump. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Watch This PBS Frontline: The Choice Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two of the most polarizing presidential candidates in modern history. Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk goes beyond the headlines to investigate what has shaped these two candidates, where they came from, how they lead and why they want one of the most difficult jobs imaginable. Aired 9/27/16 Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

The 2016 Election is finally here; in this episode, we take a look at the job performance of our 114th Congress. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Vote on Trade Promotion Authority (Fast Track) H.R. 2146: Defending Public Safety Employees' Retirement Act (The final version of fast track) House Vote: 218-208 Senate Vote: 60-37 Bill Highlighted in This Episode S. 764: A bill to reauthorize and amend the National Sea Grant College Program Act and for other purposes (The GMO labeling law) The real title should be "National bioengineered food disclosure standard" but S. 764 (about the college program) was used as a vehicle to get the GMO labeling bill into law. Definitions Bioengineering Food that "has been modified through...(DNA) techniques" using a modification that "could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature". Food Food intended for human consumption Establishment of a Labeling Standard By July 29, 2018, the Secretary of Agriculture has to establish a "national mandatory bioengineered food disclosure standard" Animals fed bioengineered foods will not be labeled as bioengineered themselves Regulations will determine how much of a bioengineered substance needs to be present for the food itself to be considering bioengineered The labels can be text, symbol, or electronic or digital link; the manufacturers get to pick If they choose the electronic or digital link, the bioengineering information must appear on the first page presented and without advertisements. The link can not "collect, analyze, or sell any personally identifiable information about consumers or the devices of consumers" Foods served in restaurants and "very small food manufacturers" are excluded from the regulations "Very small" is not defined. States are prohibited from enacting their own bioengineering labeling laws. Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD096: Fast Tracking Fast Track CD098: USA Freedom Act CD110: Government Funding Crisis of 2015 CD112: Dingleberries on the Omnibus CD113: CISA is Law CD114: Trans-Pacific Partnership Investment Chapter CD127: The FAST Act: Transportation Funding Law CD135: Education is Big Business: Every Student Succeeds Act Additional Reading Article: Puerto Rico Control Board Names Carrion Chair Amid Protests by Katherine Greifeld, Bloomberg Markets, September 30, 2016. Article: John Boehner, House Speaker, Will Resign From Congress by Jennifer Steinhauer, New York Times, September 25, 2016. Article: Former House Speaker John Boehner Joins Washington Law Firm by Elizabeth Olson, New York Times, September 20, 2016. Article: Heavy Smoker John Boehner Joins Tobacco Company's Board by Matt Egan, CNN, September 15, 2016. Blog: Deep conflicts of interest plague Obama's newly appointed fiscal control board in Puerto Rico by Saqib Bhatti, The Hill, September 9, 2016. Report: Scooping and Tossing Puerto Rico's Future: Puerto Rico Borrowed $3.2 Billion to Pay Fees & Interest to Banks & Investors by ReFund Project, August 31, 2016. Article: Who are the Members of the Puerto Rico Fiscal Control Board? by Patricia Guadalupe, NBC News, August 31, 2016. Report: Puerto Rico's Payday Loans: $33.5 Billion of the Island's Debt is Actually Interest on Payday Loans by ReFund Project, June 30, 2016. Article: U.S. Dropped 23,144 Bombs on Muslim-Majority Countries in 2015 by Adam Johnson, Alternet, January 10, 2016. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

The deadline to fund the government has passed and only one section of the government was funded in full for 2017: Military Construction and the Veteran's Administration. In this episode, analyze the wisdom of the military construction projects that are soon to begin and learn about the rest of the law that extended current funding for eleven out of twelve sections of our government until December 9th. Also in this episode, Jen admits a big mistake, an outline of the "9/11 victims bill", some suggestions to help you research your Election Day ballot, and the longest Thank You segment in Congressional Dish history. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Bill Highlighted In This Episode H.R. 5325: Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriates Act 2017 and ZIKA Response and Preparedness Act Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 $7.2 billion for more than 200 military construction projects $177 million will go towards NATO facilities Funds can't be used to pay property taxes in foreign countries Any projects in Japan, a NATO country, or in countries that border the Arabian Gulf worth more than $500,000 must be awarded to United States firm or be awarded to a partnership including United States firms Money can't be used to close or realign the base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba No money can be used to create space within the United States for current prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Department of Veterans' Affairs Provides over $103 billion for Veteran's benefits Provides approximately $56 billion for the Veteran's Administration and veteran's medical expenses. Provides approximately $7.2 billion in additional funding for private health care for veterans. Adds whistleblower protections and procedures Whistleblowers will submit paperwork to their supervisor; if the supervisor finds it to be legit, the whistleblower will be informed of transfer opportunities. Whistleblowers will have to provide their name and contact information A central whistleblower office will handle all whistleblower complaints, and will have a hotline for anonymous complaints Supervisors can be suspended and/or removed for failing to act on a whistleblower complaint, restricting an employees ability to file a complaint, or conducting a negative peer review or retaliating against a whistleblower. Supervisors who are suspended or removed can have their bonuses denied or rescinded. Includes $1.5 billion for Hepatitis C drug, which is $840 million above the request Zika Response & Preparedness $394 million, available until September 30, 2017, will be put in the "Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund" and be used for: Stockpiles of "products purchased" Purchase of and insurance for motor vehicles in foreign countries Construction, alteration, or renovation of "non-federally owned facilities" at State and local laboratories From Explanatory Statement: "Within the funds provide for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a robust level of funding is intended to support mosquito control efforts conduct by State, county, or municipal programs, including mosquito control districts." $387 million, available until September 30, 2017, will be used for: To response to Zika "and other vector-borne diseases domestically and internationally" To develop and purchase vaccines For health care for mothers and children To reimburse States for health care costs related to Zika that aren't covered by private insurance For projects in Puerto Rico and other territories for mothers and children $152 million, available until September 30, 2017, will be used for: Zika research Vaccine development $145 million will go to "Global Health Programs" for: Mosquito control (spraying) Vaccines The money can be donated to the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Pan American Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Food and Agriculture Organization Money is prohibited from being spent on "the Grand Challenges for Development" program $15 million will go to the State Department $10 million will go to USAID Money can be used by Dept. of Health and Human Services, the State Department, and USAID to hire people to "perform critical work relating to Zika response" The hires will be exempt from some Federal laws (Sections 3309-3319) The money can be transferred to and merged with other accounts as long as Congress is informed Continuing Appropriations Extends current funding for the other 11 divisions of government until December 9, 2016. $174,000 is appropriated for the family of former Rep. Mark Takai Explanatory Statement for H.R. 5325 Missile Defense Fully funded an Aegis Ashore missile defense site in Deveselu, Romania and a second site at Redzikowo, Poland. "European Reassurance Initiative" Announced in 2014, EIR is designed to increase" the presence and joint training activities of U.S. military forces in Europe". The Department of Defense requested four times the money for ERI for 2017; they want an increase from $789 million in 2016 to over $3.4 billion. The request would support 5,100 active and reserve personel in the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) More than double requested for "Improved Infrastructure", from $89 million in 2016 to $217 million in 2017. Explanatory Statement: "Although ERI military construction funding was originally intended to be a one-time only investment, the evolving nature of the threat has prompted the DoD to expand its plans for investing in military construction to support the continual presence of U.S. rotational military forces in Europe, increased training activities with European allies, and the prepositioning of Army combat-ready equipment in Poland to support and armored brigade combat team." Plans include a $200 million facility for prepositioning Army combat brigade equipment in Poland and nine Air Force projects in Germany that will cost $260 million. Huge increase in funding for "Enhanced Prepositioning", from $57.8 million in 2016 to $1.9 billion in 2017. S. 2040: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) "International terrorism" Does NOT include any act of war No Immunity for Foreign States "A foreign state shall not be immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States in civil cases, seeking money, for injuries, damage to property, or deaths occurring in the United States and caused by an "act of international terrorism in the United States" or "acts of the foreign state, or of any official, employee, or agent of that foreign state while acting within the scope of his or her office"...regardless of where the act occurred. A foreign state can not be sued for negligence Stay of the Civil Action The Attorney General can intervene and stop or delay the civil action against a foreign country. The Attorney General can do this by granting unlimited stays of 180 day periods. The court can delay the proceeding against a foreign state for 180 days if the State Department "certifies that the United States is engaged in good faith discussions with the foreign state defendant" in an attempt find a resolution. The court must grant "an extension" if the State Department says the U.S. is still "engaged in good faith discussions" Applicability Applies to injuries caused to a person, property, or business on or after September 11, 2001. Sound Clip Sources Hearing: Oversight of the European Reassurance Initiative, House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, July 13, 2016. Witnesses: Major General David Allvin: J-5, US Air Force, US European Command (EUCOM) Rachel Ellehuus: Principal Director, Europe & NATO Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense Tom Tyra: G-3/5/7, US Army Timestamps & Transcripts {06:10} Chairman Vicky Hartzler (MO)- "Foremost of these challenges is a resurgent Russia." {08:12} Rep. Jackie Speier (CA)- "Recent events in Europe have underscored this threat. For example, Russia has occupied Crimea and has fomented the continuing separatists struggle in eastern Ukraine. Across Europe and in particular along Russia's border, the threat of Russian intervention is on many people's minds." {11:45} Major General David Allvin - "The strategic environment in Europe has changed drastically over the past 30 months. One of the key reasons for the growing instability has been Russian malign influence, coercion, and aggression against NATO allies and other partner nations. Since the illegal annexation of Crimea and the Russian activity in the Donbass region of Ukraine, the potential for Russia to further advance their military adventurism into NATO countries has demanded a strong response. We at U.S. European Command have been working to assure our allies that our commitment to Article 5 of the Atlantic Treaty is iron clad." {15:59} Rachel Ellehuus- "The three challenges that I see post-Warsaw, and as we continue to think about the future of ERI, are, firstly, institutional adaptation—we need to find a way to make NATO more agile in terms of its decision making, command structure, and defense planning; secondly, defense investment—and that's not just monetary but also in terms of political will—we need to encourage folks to continue to increase their defense spending and to support operations both within the European and transatlantic theater and further afield; and finally, we need to combat internal political challenges and resist those who seek to divide us or undermine the international security order." {18:10} Major General David Allvin -"We find that within the European theater, we see a more aggressive Russia that is influencing on the periphery states of NATO, and so given the current correlation of forces that might exist in a conflict, specifically with the United States, we do not have nearly the forces we had after 25 years of the degradation of the forces in Europe. This has been understandable because there have been other national-security priorities that have actually taken precedence in other parts of the world. However, we find ourself now with smaller number of forces from all services, as well as the appropriate equipment, in order to be able to field and to respond to any other Russian aggression, and I would say that what ERI has done is it is rapidly enabled us to reverse that trend." {20:35} Rachel Ellehuus -"So we've seen the French carrier, Charles de Gaulle, deploy in the Middle East to help us with some of our stress on our naval and maritime Forces, we've seen cooperative arrangements to use one another's bases, and we've seen host nations stepping up. So when we send our forces to the Baltic states, host nations such as Poland and the Balts are stepping forward to provide that infrastructure and support." {26:40} Rep. Jackie Speier -"You had indicated to me privately that the troops that we will have stationed as part of ERI would be engaged in military exercises, and you had suggested that the numbers may be as high as a hundred per year, some smaller, some larger. How many of these are air shows?" Major General David Allvin: "Ma'am, I actually wouldn't put an air show in the—" Rep. Speier: "Good." Major General Allvin: "—category of exercise. When we refer to these exercises, and when I say a hundred, some of these are small, maybe company-level exercises, but these are building that understanding that cohesion at the unit level, and I would say those are the most prolific. However, with the initial funding we've been able to receive through ERI, we're able to have exercises at the larger level, the battalion level and above, which really help us understand the inner operability between formations, because we understand that U.S. European Command will not be the sole entity that will have to defend against Russian aggression; we will be fighting with our allies and partners in the region. And so these broader exercises, these higher-level exercises, really enhance that confidence to be able to fight and maneuver and do combined-armed warfare beyond just the United States but in the coalition." {29:33} Tom Tyra -"In the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, you would see 80 M1 tanks and 140 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 18 artillery systems, a number of mortar systems and smaller pieces of equipment. So we would end up with that plus the support vehicles that enable that to fight. Then, there would be a rotating brigade that would bring identical sets of equipment. As you delivered the Fires Brigade, you would expect, a another hundred or so artillery systems, either tube or rocket launched to be added to that Fires Brigade." {52:16} Rep. Beto O'Rourke (TX) - "What are the potential risks of this strategy? What could go wrong?" Major General David Allvin: "So, you actually touched on it very well, Congressman, is that there is an escalation risk here." Suggested Congressional Dish Episodes Topic: Ukraine CD067: What Do We Want in Ukraine? CD068: Ukraine Aid Bill Topic: Syria CD041: Why Attack Syria? CD108: Regime Change Topic: Drug Prices for the Veteran's Administration CD107: New Laws & Veterans' Health Care Additional Reading Congressional Report: The 9/11 "28 pages" (previously classified) Article: Fanning: Continuing Resolution Could Snarl European Reassurance Initiative Efforts by Jen Judson, Defense News, October 2, 2016. Article: Budget deal avoids government shutdown, finalizes next year's VA budget by Leo Shane III, Military Times, September 28, 2016. Article: Mylan will help more patients pay for it's EpiPen. Why that's bad news for healthcare by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, August 25, 2016. Article: A Permanent Fund That Could Help Fight Zika Exists, But It's Empty by Alison Kodjak, NPR, June 3, 2016. Op-Ed: Russia's got a point: The U.S. broke a NATO promise by Joshua R. Itzdowitz Shifrinson, Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2016. Defense Dept. Report: European Reassurance Initiative, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, February 2016. Article: The Same Pill That Costs $1,000 in America Sells for $4 in India by Ketaki Gokhale, Bloomberg, December 28, 2015. Fact Sheet: The European Phased Adaptive Approach at a Glance by Kingston Reif, Arms Control Association, posted May 1, 2013. Additional Information OpenSecrets: Influence & Lobbying Profile for Gilead Sciences Webpage: Information on Aerial Spraying, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Webpage: What is NATO? Hear Jen On... Rhodes to Success: Listener Supported Political Podcasting with Jen Briney Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

The Every Student Succeeds Act was signed into law at the end of 2015 and is a major overhaul of education policy in the United States. In this episode, find out how the new law will likely lead to a massive transfer of taxpayer money into private pockets. Executive Producer: David Waldstein Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin Mail Contributions to: Congressional Dish 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! S. 1177: Every Student Succeeds Act Bill Highlights Section 4: Transition Ends previous funding programs on September 30,2016 The Statewide Accountability System created by this law will be effective starting in the 2017-2018 school year Title I: Improving basic programs operated by State and local educational agencies Funding Provides an average of $15.5 billion per year for 2017-2020 At least 7% of the funding must be reserved by States and granted to local educational agencies, who will be allowed to hire for-profit organizations for "improvement activities" States are allowed, but not required, to reserve 3% of their funding for direct student services, which includes AP courses, college courses, transportation to another school as needed, and tutoring. 50 local educational agencies will be allowed to create their own per-pupil method of distributing funds State Plans To receive funding, States must submit a peer-reviewed plan to be approved by the Secretary of Education. State plans will be available online for the public Plans will be required to include "challenging academic content standards" but the State won't be required to submit their standards to the Secretary of Education. Academic standards are only required for mathematics, reading or language arts, and science. Alternate academic standards can be developed for students with disabilities. Testing States will be required to test students in math, reading, and science and is allowed to test in any other subject. Math and reading tests are required each year from grades 3 through 8, and once in high school. Science tests will be required once during grades 3 through 5, once during grades 6 through 9, and once during grades 10 through 12. Results will be reported by race, ethnicity, wealth, disability, English proficiency status, gender, and migrant status. State and local educational agencies must include a policy that allows parents to opt their child out of mandated tests. School Choice Students can choose to attend an another public school controlled by the "local education agency" and the local education agency is allowed to pay for student transportation, but there is a funding cap. Secretary of Education's Role The Secretary of Education is prohibited from intervening or adjusting State plans The Federal Government can't force or encourage States to adopt Common Core standards. "No State shall be required to have academic standards approved or certified by the Federal Government in order to receive assistance under this Act." Accountability The State will publish a detailed annual report card on the State's educational agency's website. Local Educational Agency Plans Local educational agencies can only get Federal funding if they have State-approved plans Parents Right to Know Local educational agencies that receive Federal funds will have to provide parents with information about their kids' teachers, including if the teacher has met State qualifications for the grade level and subject and if the teacher is teaching under emergency or provisional status. Parents will also be informed if a student has been taught for 4 or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who does not meet State certification for the grade level or subject. Parents must give written consent in order for their child to participate in any mental health assessment, except for in emergencies. Children can not be forced to take a prescription medication as a condition for attending a Federally funded school. Schoolwide Programs Can be administered by for-profit providers Funds from Federal, State, and local grants can be consolidated and used to upgrade the entire educational program of schools where at least 40% of the children come from low income families. Schoolwide programs can be exempted by the Secretary of Education from regulations governing education grant programs. Activities can include mental health counseling, mentoring services, "specialized instructional support" services, college courses, activities for teachers, and preschool programs for children under 6 years old. High schools can use the money for dual enrollment of underperforming kids and can pay for teacher training, tuition and fees, books, "innovative delivery methods", and transportation to and from the program. "Targeted Assistance Schools" Can be administered by for-profit providers. Local agencies will decide the criteria that determines which kids are eligible Funds can pay for before and after school programs, summer programs, "activities", academic courses, and this law added "family support and engagement services". Children Enrolled in Private Schools Upon request, local educational agencies need to provide children in private schools with services including testing, counseling, mentoring, one-on-one tutoring, dual or concurrent enrollment, radio equipment, televisions, computer equipment, and other tech to "address their needs" "Educational services and other benefits for such private school children shall be equitable in comparison to services and other benefits or public school children..." An investigator will be employed to ensure equity for private school children and teachers A complaint and appeal process will be created for those who think the private school kids are not getting their share of money. Private school children's share of funds will be based on the number of low income children who attend private schools. Funds to private school children can be provided directly or through an "entity" or "third party contractor". State educational agencies must provide services to private school children if the local agencies don't, and they can do so by contracting with private organizations. Title II: Preparing, training, and recruiting high-quality teachers, principals, or other school leaders Creates a public or non-profit teaching academy which will award certificates or degrees equivalent to Masters degrees. The Federal funding provided is a little under half a billion per year. Contracts can be given to for profit entities for teacher testing, training, technical assistance, program administration, and mentoring. For-profit entities can also be hired by local education agencies to develop and implement processes for hiring and paying teachers. Partnerships between schools and private mental health organizations may be formed. The Federal government is prohibited from oversight Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program States, local educational agencies, and non-profit organizations will be given three year extendable grants to create and implement "performance based compensation systems" for teachers, principals and other school leaders in schools with at least 30% of students coming from low income families. Government agencies and charter schools and partner with for-profit entities Civics Courses 12 grants will be awarded to create summer school courses for 50-300 teachers that will inform them how to teach American history and civics. 100-300 junior or senior year students will also get intensive civics courses Title III: Language Instruction for English learners and immigrant students Funding Between $756 million increasing to $885 million per year through 2020. Some grant money will go to "institutions of higher education or public or private entities" for a National professional development project that will train & certify teachers, and pay for tuition, fees, and books. Process All students who may be English learners will be assessed within 30 days of enrolling in a new school. To determine how much money each State gets, data from the American Community Survey, conducted by the Department of Commerce will be used. Title IV: 21st Century Schools Funding $1.6 billion per year through 2020 Grants will be awarded to States to increase student access to education on technology, computer science, music, arts, foreign languages, civics, geography, social studies, environmental education and other experiences that contribute to a well rounded education. Local education agencies need to apply to get the money Local education agencies are allowed to partner with private entities Community Learning Centers Funding $1.1 billion per year through 2020 Purpose Private entities are eligible for 5 year grants to operate Community Learning Centers for extra education programs. State applications will be deemed approved if the Secretary of Education takes no action within 120 days. Applying entities get to decide the purpose of the Community Learning Centers they will operate and must include that information in their application. Activities can include tutoring, mentoring, financial and environmental literacy programs, nutritional education, physical education, services for the disabled, after school English learning classes, cultural programs, technology education programs, library services, parenting skills programs, drug and violence prevention programs, computer science, and career readiness programs. Charter Schools Purpose "To increase the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the United States" "To encourage States to provide support to charter schools for facilities financing in an amount more nearly commensurate to the amount States typically provide for traditional public schools" Funding $270 million increasing to $300 million per year through 2020 Five year grants will be awarded to open and expand charter schools The Secretary of Education is required to award at least three charter school grants per year and give out every penny allocated for the first two years. Priority will go to States that give charter schools the most, including funding for facilities, free or low cost use of public buildings, or first-in-line privileges for buying public school buildings. Taxpayer funded grants will pay for hiring and paying staff, buying supplies, training, equipment, and educational materials - including development of those materials - building renovations, start up costs for transportation programs, and student and staff recruitment costs. Grant money will go towards getting loans and issuing bonds to the private sector for charter school facilities. National Activities Funding $200 million increasing to $220 million per year through 2020 Programs Grants for experimental programs Businesses will be eligible if they partner with a government organization "Full service community schools" that coordinate community services Private entities will be eligible if they partner with a government organization National activities for school safety to improve students safety during and after the school day The Secretary of Education can use contracts with private entities Awards to provide arts education Private organizations are eligible Awards to create educational programming for pre-school and elementary school aged children on television and the Internet Money will go to a public telecommunications entity that will contract with producers. Awards will to go programs for gifted students Contracts can be given to private organizations Title VIII: General Provisions Department of Education Staff Within one year of enactment (December 2016), the Secretary of Education must identify all projects that were consolidated or eliminated by ESSA and fire the number of employees who were employed administering or working on those programs. Control of Funds Removes the requirement that States provide assurances that funds will be controlled by public agencies or non-profits Military Recruiters Each local educational agency accepting Federal funds must give military recruiters the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of each high school student in the district, unless the parents have previously opted out. Opt-out process:: Parents must submit a written request to the local education agency that their child's information not be released to military recruiters without the parent's consent. Each local educational agency must notify parents of the option to opt-out of recruitment. State Opt-Out Any State that refuses Federal funds "shall not be required to carry out any of the requirements of such program." Title IX: Education for Homeless and Other Laws Creates rights to education for homeless children, which will be distributed to the public Sound Clip Sources Forum: Charter and Private Schools, Forum hosted by Senator Tim Scott (GA), February 9, 2015. Panelists: Frederick "Rick" Hess, American Enterprise Institute Ann Duplessis, Former Louisiana State Senator, Senior Vice President for Liberty Bank & Trust, President of Louisiana Federation for Children Emily Kim, Executive Vice President of Success Academy Charter Schools Timestamps and Transcripts {14:15} Rick Hess: Sitting immediately next to me, we've got Ann Duplessis. Ann's a former state senator in Louisiana. She's president of Louisiana Federation for Children, where she partners with local and national policy leaders to promote educational options. She continues to work full time while she does this, as Senior Vice President for Liberty Bank & Trust in New Orleans. Oh! She's also the chair of the Louisiana State Board of Supervisors. Following Hurricane Katrina, it was Ann who authored a bill which allowed the state to take over the majority of schools in New Orleans Parish, which lead to the thriving charter-school movement that you see in New Orleans today. {40:50} Ann Duplessis:Unfortunately, where we are today is, this is big business. Unknown Speaker: That's right. Duplessis: Education is big business. We are fighting money; we are fighting tradition; we are fighting people's jobs; and so until and unless we can get past the issues that this is some tradition that we must maintain, until we can have people understand that we need to create new traditions, until we can get past that the jobs that we're talking about are not jobs that we need to protect, if those jobs aren't protecting our kids, we have to get past that. And unless we can get our elected officials to understand that, this will all continue to be more of a challenge. {48:00} Emily Kim-Charters: I want to give one example of a piece of paper that we really, truly dislike, and it's—every year there is this requirement that teachers who are not certified have to send home in the backpack folder for their scholars a piece of paper saying, just wanted you to know, parents, I'm not highly qualified. So, yes, I've been teaching for five years, and my scholars are in the top one percent in the state of New York, but I just wanted you to know that I didn't have that thing called highly qualified, and somebody thought that I should write you and tell you and let you know. I mean, it's to a level that is truly, truly absurd; whereas, we would want the teacher to write home and say, look, this is what we are doing to get your scholar to the highest potential, and I've been doing it for five years very successfully, and this is what you need to do is bring your child to school on time, pick your child up from school on time, get the homework done, and make sure that they are motivated at school. And that's what we'd like to do, and we have to do the other thing instead. Hearing: Expanding Educational Opportunity Through School Choice, House Education and the Workforce Committee, February 3, 2016. Watch on Youtube Witness: Gerard Robinson: American Enterprise Institute Timestamps and Transcripts {27:15} Gerard Robinson: I can tell you quite clearly that school choice is not a sound bite; it's a social movement. From 1990 to 2015, over 40 states have introduced different types of school-choice legislation, both public and private. Video: Interview with David Brian, President & CEO of Entertainment Properties Trust, August 15, 2012 Video: Three-Minute Video Explaining the Common Core State Standards by CGCS Video Maker, 2012. Additional Reading Article: Lawsuit accuses Arizona charter schools of teaching history with religious slant by Garrett Mitchell, The Arizona Republic, September 16, 2016. Article: LA charter school abruptly closes for lack of students by Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News, September 15, 2016. Article: Lake Forest Charter School, Liberty Bank & Trust Present 4th Annual 'Cocktails And Blues' Benefit Featuring Gina Brown, Biz New Orleans, August 31, 2016. Article: A Sea of Charter Schools in Detroit Leaves Students Adrift by Kate Zernike, New York Times, June 28, 2016. Article: Inside the Hedge Fund Infatuation with Charter Schools by Stephen Vita, Investopedia, March 9, 2016. Article: GOP Candidates Probably Can't Repeal Common Core by Lauren Camera, US News & World Report, March 4, 2016. Article: Why Education Activists Are Furious at ExxonMobil's CEO by Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, December 29, 2015. Article: Business Gets Schooled by Peter Elkind, Fortune, December 23, 2015. Article: 10 Years After Katrina, New Orleans' All-Charter School System Has Proven a Failure by Colleen Kimmet, In These Times, August 28, 2015. Article: The Big Easy's Grand Experiment by Thomas Toch, US News & World Report, August 18, 2015. Report: Brought to You by Wal-Mart? How the Walton Family Foundation's Ideological Pursuit is Damaging Charter Schooling, American Federation of Teachers, June 2015 Article: Charter groups top unions in lobbying, campaign spending by Bill Mahoney, Eliza Shapiro, and Jessica Bakeman, Politico, February 20, 2015. Article: Who Is Profiting From Charters? The Big Bucks Behind Charter School Secrecy, Financial Scandal and Corruption by Kristin Rawls, AlterNet, January 21, 2015. Report: A Growing Movement: America's Largest Charter School Communities by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, December 2014. Article: 120 American Charter Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric by Scott Beauchamp, The Atlantic, August 12, 2014. Article: A dozen problems with charter schools by Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, May 20, 2014. Blog post: Big Profits in Not-for-Profit Charter Schools by Alan Singer, The Huffington Post, April 7, 2014. Article: Why wealthy foreigners invest in U.S. charter schools by Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, February 15, 2013. Article: KKR Partnership Makes an Education Push by Gregory Zuckerman, The Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2011. Article: U.S. Gives Charter Schools a Big Push in New Orleans by Susan Saulny, The New York Times, June 13, 2006. Article: N.O. Teachers Union Loses Its Force in Storm's Wake by Michael Hoover, Times-Picayune, March 5, 2006. Article: Students Return to Big Changes in New Orleans by Susan Saulny, The New York Times, January 4, 2006. Commentary: The Promise of Vouchers by Milton Friedman, The Wall Street Journal, December 5, 2005. Additional Information OpenSecrets.org: Lobbying Information for S. 1177: Every Student Succeeds Act OpenSecrets.org: Lobbyists representing National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2015 Website: Walton Family Foundation: K-12 Education(http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/our-impact/k12-education) Website: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): Education Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

Epinephrine injectors are life saving devices for people with food allergies and one company - Mylan Inc. - produces almost all of them. In this episode, listen to the highlights from a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee grilling of Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, and judge her justification for raising the EpiPen's price over 600% since EpiPen's competition was eliminated. Executive Producer: Anonymous Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Sound Clip Sources Hearing: EpiPen Price Increases (Watch on C-SPAN) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, September 21, 2016. Witnesses Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan Inc. Doug Throckmorton, M.D., Deputy Center Director for Regulatory Programs Clip Timestamps (In order of appearance in episode) 51:16 - Doug Throckmorton: Available epinephrine injectors 49:55 - Rep. John Mica (FL) and Doug Throckmorton: FDA won't discuss generic applications 0:35 - Chairman Jason Chaffetz (UT) - Introduction 9:25 - Elijah Cummings (MD): Mylan's actions that Congress is investigating 12:20 - Elijah Cummings: List of EpiPen price increases 4:10 - Jason Chaffetz: Executive compensation 16:55 - Elijah Cummings: Martin Shkreli called Congress "imbeciles" 24:10 - Heather Bresch: Introduction 28:16 - Heather Bresch: Mylan's profits from each EpiPen 47:43 - Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD) & Heather Bresch: Mylan did not give Congress requested documents 55:10 - Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton & Heather Bresch: Will Mylan reduce the price of EpiPens? 1:23:26 - Rep. Scott DesJarlais (TN) & Heather Bresch: How long were the price increases going to continue? 1:32:10 - Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA) & Heather Bresch: Mylan's EpiPen is 94% of the epinephrine injector market. 1:56:55 - Rep. Stacey Plaskett (VI) & Heather Bresch: Why are customers paying so much for EpiPens? 2:01:04 - Rep. Mark Meadows (NC) & Heather Bresch: Everyone pays a different price in this system 2:51:15 - Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ) & Heather Bresch: Mylan moved their headquarters to the Netherlands to pay less in U.S. taxes. 2:37:15 - Rep. Peter Welch & Heather Bresch: EpiPens cost much less in the Netherlands 1:03:15 - Rep. John Duncan (TN): Drug companies have manipulated the market. 1:44:25 - Tammy Duckworth (IL) & Heather Bresch: Mylan prohibited schools from buying from competitors 36:45 - Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT) & Heather Bresch: Heather Bresch's explanation for why her mother used her position to get schools to buy EpiPens from Mylan 1:11:40 - Rep. Tim Walberg (MI) & Heather Bresch: Mylans plan would shift costs of EpiPens to government 1:21:16 - Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA) & Heather Bresch: Veterans Administration is able to negotiate it's drug prices, which makes them lower 53:35 - Rep. John Mica (FL) & Heather Bresch: Executive compensation at Mylan 59:19 - Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) & Heather Bresch: What does Heather Bresch do to earn $18 million per year? 2:48:55 - Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ) & Heather Bresch: Heather Bresch often uses a company private jet 2:13:50 - Rep. Mick Mulvaney (SC) & Heather Bresch: Mylan is getting what it deserves 3:08:08 - Rep. Glenn Grothman (WI) & Heather Bresch: Does Heather Bresch feel guilty? 3:39:40 - Rep. Jason Chaffetz & Heather Bresch: The numbers don't add up. 3:43:30 - Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD) Closing statement Additional Reading Article: Family matters: EpiPens had high-level help getting into schools by Jayne O'Donnell, USA Today, September 21, 2016. Article: Have You Ever Tried to Buy an EpiPen? by Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, August 24, 2016. Article: Everyone Hates Martin Shkreli. Everyone is Missing the Point by Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, February 5, 2016. Additional Information Law: H.R. 2094 (113th Congress): School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act OpenSecrets: Senator Joe Manchin's campaign contributors Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

In a Presidential Election year when the Big Two Parties have selected widely disliked candidates, is it possible to vote None of the Above into the Presidency? In this episode, by learning how the electoral college works, we explore our options for realistically denying the Presidency to the chosen candidates of the Republican and Democratic Parties. *This episode has been updated from it's original version for information accuracy. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! United States Electoral College U.S. Electoral College: About the Electors, National Archives and Records Administration. The 2016 Presidential Election, National Archives and Records Administration. History of Faithless Electors, Fair Vote Democracy Directory of Representatives, United States House of Representatives State Control of Electors, Fair Vote Presidential Elections Reform Program Sound Clip Sources: FBI News Conference: FBI Director James Comey News Conference, Federal Bureau of Investigation, CSPAN, July 5, 2016. Video: Gary Johnson & Drones, YouTube, May 3, 2016. Television News Clip: Hillary Clinton in 2015: Email Server was Permitted, CNN, July 12, 2015. Video: Gary Johnson & Drones, YouTube, May 3, 2016. Videos: Video: The Trouble with the Electoral College By CGP Grey, YouTube, November 7, 2011. Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes Congressional Dish Episode 126: The Presidential Primary, By Jennifer Briney, May 23, 2016. Additional Reading Article: A Reminder of the Permanent Wars: Dozens of U.S. Airstrikes in Six Countries By Missy Ryan, The Washington Post, September 8, 2016. Article: US election: Why is Clinton's Foundation So Controversial? By Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, August 23, 2016. Article: Trump University: It's Worse Than You Think By John Cassidy, The New Yorker, June 2, 2016. Article: The Definitive Roundup of Trump's Scandals and Business Failures By Celina Durgin, National Review, March 15, 2016. Article: Pew Research Center will Call 75% Cellphones for Surveys in 2016 By Kyley McGeeney, Pew Research Center, January 5, 2016. Article: Clintons Personally Paid State Department Staffer to Maintain Server By Rosalind S. Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, September 5, 2015. Additional Information Report by the Office of Inspector General: Office of the Secretary: Evaluation of Email Records Management and Cybersecurity Requirements Office of Evaluations and Special Projects, May 2016. Commission on Presidential Debates Polls Used by Commission on Presidential Debates 2000 Official Presidential General Election Results, State Elections Offices Election Polling Methodology, Pew Reseach Center. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations, with a special thanks to photographer Dennis "Chunga" Cieklinski for the awesome photo of the Bennett School for Girls.

The Federal Aviation Administration performs the essential work of keeping airplanes from crashing into each other in the sky; in this episode, we take a look at the new law that temporarily funds the FAA and makes some important changes to aviation law. We also travel back in time to the week after 9/11 to examine the origin of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and we examine some ideas that the current leaders of Congress have for the future of air travel in the United States and beyond. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! H.R. 636: FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 Title I: FAA Extension Funding Extends FAA funding through September 30, 2017 Extends fuel and ticket taxes through September 30, 2017 Title II: Aviation Safety Critical Reform Safety Establishes a deadline of April 30, 2017 for the FAA to have a pilots records database online and available for use. Creates a maximum $25,000 fine for pointing a laser pointer at an aircraft or in the path of an aircraft. Prohibits the FAA from hiring newly trained air traffic controllers over the age of 35 The FAA must make sure that each employee of repair stations outside of the United States are given pre-employment background checks Drone Safety Over the next two years, the FAA and industry will have two work together to develop a method of remotely identifying drone operators. Starting in three years, drone manufacturers will have to include safety notices informing customers of drone safety laws and regulations. The FAA will work together with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to authorize drone use for firefighting and utility repairs. A person who uses a drone to interfere with firefighting operations, law enforcement, or emergency response can be fined up to $20,000. The FAA will conduct a pilot program testing unmanned aircraft detection systems. In the next year, the FAA and NASA will conduct tests of drones crashing into various sized airplanes and helicopters. Time Sensitive Aviation Reform By July 2017, regulations must be in effect requiring airlines to automatically refund bag fees to anyone whose bags are not delivered within 12 hours after the arrival of a domestic flight or 15 hours after the arrival of an international flight. FAA needs to submit a report, including public comments, about the risks of eliminating contract weather observer service at 57 airports and can not discontinue contract weather observer service before October 1, 2017. FAA must enact regulations requiring pilots of small airplanes to have driver's licenses and pass all medical tests required for a drivers license, completes a medical education course, Airlines will have to let passengers off a plane if it's waiting on the tarmac for 3 hours of a domestic flight or 4 hours for an international flight. Title III: Aviation Security TSA PreCheck Expansion TSA will add "multiple private sector application capabilities" for citizens to use to enroll including online enrollment, kiosks, tablets, or staffed laptop stations. Private sector will collect biometric identification information with "comparable" privacy standards to the standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Private risk assessments will be used instead of fingerprint-based criminal history records checks Private administrators will be allowed to charge fees in excess of the costs of administering the program. Securing Aviation from Foreign Entry Points and Guarding Airports Through Enhanced Security TSA Administrator will be allowed donate security screening equipment to foreign airports with direct flights to the United States TSA must create an international training program to train authorities of foreign governments in air transportation security. Aviation Security Enhancement and Oversight Enacts stricter vetting requirements for people granted access to secure sections of airports Checkpoints of the Future Creates a new pilot program at between 3 and 6 airports that will test new technologies and new baggage and personal screening systems. Services, supplies, equipment, personnel, and facilities can be obtained from the private sector for the pilot programs. Sound Clip Sources: Hearings Hearing: Aviation Security, Joint House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Senate Appropriations Committee, September 20, 2001. Witnesses: Gerald Dillingham, Associate Director of the General Accounting Office Jane Garvey, Administration, FAA Kenneth Mead, Inspector General of the Department of Transportation Norman Mineta, Secretary of the Department of Transportation Hank Queen, Vice President of Boeing's Engineering and Product Integrity division Timestamps and Transcripts {54:15} Kenneth Mead: Given the scope and complexity of the security challenge as we know it now, coupled with the long-standing history of problems with the aviation security program, I think the time's come to revisit the option of vesting governance of the program and responsibility for the provision of security in one federal organization or not-for-profit federal corporation. This doesn't mean that everybody has to be a federal employee, but it does mean a much more robust federal presence and control. That entity would have security as its primary and central focus, profession, and mission. Under our current system, we've asked FAA to oversee and regulate aviation security, and those charged with providing the security—the airlines and the airports—themselves face other priorities, missions, and indeed, in some cases, competing economic pressures. And I think a centralized, consolidated approach with a security mission would require passenger and baggage screeners to have uniform, more rigorous training, and performance standards applicable nationwide, and I think that would result in more consistent security across this country and have higher quality also. {1:22:46} Harold Rogers: Now, I want to ask you about Dulles. Did you check on the employees of the screening operation at Dulles Airport?Kenneth Mead: Yes. We're checking on the citizens— Harold Rogers: Tell us the makeup of the staff there, in terms of their citizenship in the U.S., for example. Kenneth Mead: Yes. A substantial percentage of them are not U.S. citizens. Harold Rogers: What percent? Kenneth Mead: I think it's about 80%. It may be somewhat more. {1:26:40} Harold Rogers: What about the turnover rate, Mr. Dillingham? I've been reading the GAO's report on aviation security, issued June of 2000. I think you're the principal author, are you not?Gerald Dillingham: Yes, sir. Harold Rogers: Tell us about the type of personnel that's screening companies you're hiring around the country at the airports to screen for terrorists. Gerald Dillingham: Let me go back just a little bit to the point you raised before. Screeners don't have to be U.S. citizens. They can have a resident alien card as well. The other point you raised with regard to Argenbright, I think Argenbright is also a foreign-owned company as well. And with regard to the types of personnel that are being hired, one of the requirements is that you have a high school diploma or a GED. We have not checked the records of individual companies, but in the course of doing our work, we clearly got the idea that this was not a job where you would find the most skilled workers. Harold Rogers: They're minimum-wage jobs, are they not? Gerald Dillingham: Yes, sir. Harold Rogers: And the turnover rate is exorbitantly high, is it not? Gerald Dillingham: Yes, sir. Harold Rogers: In one airport the turnover rate is 400% a year, correct? Gerald Dillingham: Yes, sir. Harold Rogers: In Atlanta it's 375% a year. At Baltimore-Washington, 155; Boston Logan, 207; Chicago O'Hare, 200; and Houston, 237% a year; at St. Louis, 416% a year. Is that correct? Gerald Dillingham: Yes, sir. Harold Rogers: So these are untrained, inexperienced, the lowest-paid personnel, many of them certainly noncitizens, and by a company that got the contract by the lowest bid. Gerald Dillingham: Yes, sir. Harold Rogers: Now, what's wrong with this picture? Gerald Dillingham: I think the picture is clear to everyone. {2:28:58} Carolyn Kilpatrick: This company that's in 46 airports, that had the low-bid contract, that's noncitizens, that handles securities, and has criminal convictions, who hired them?Norman Mineta: The airline is the one that contracts with each… Carolyn Kilpatrick: An airline. One airline. So did they all go together and hire them, or each airline hires them on its own? Norman Mineta: The airline hires the company and then the airlines—well, let me have Ken maybe go into that because he's maybe got the list of airports with the contractors. Kenneth Mead: Yeah. The different airlines can hire the same security company, and that does happen. Carolyn Kilpatrick: Obviously. Low bids, so they're going for cheapness. Kenneth Mead: Right. And some airports, Dulles, for example, you have the airlines get together there, and they hire one vendor, and in the case of Dulles, it's Argenbright. In the case of other airports, where you have an airline, say, that has a dedicated concourse, and you have two or three concourses at that airport, you may have, in fact, three different firms providing the security— Carolyn Kilpatrick: Okay, thank you. Kenneth Mead: —each hired by a separate airline. Hearing: Review of ATC Reform Proposals, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, February 10, 2016. Transcript Witnesses: Mr. Paul Rinaldi, President, National Air Traffic Controllers Association Written Testimony Mr. Nicholas E. Calio, President and Chief Executive Officer, Airlines for America Written Testimony Mr. Ed Bolen, President and CEO, National Business Aviation Association Written Testimony Mr. Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Policy, Reason Foundation Written Testimony Timestamps and Transcripts {13:00} Bill Shuster: A key reform in this bill takes the ATC out of the Federal Government, and establishes a federally chartered, independent, not-for-profit corporation to provide that service. This corporation will be governed by a board representing the system's users. {17:55} Bill Shuster: But I just want to say that August of this year, Canadians will launch their first satellites into space, and by the end of 2017, they will have over 70 satellites launched. They will have their GPS system up in space. Currently, today, we can only see 30 percent of the airspace on our current technology. When they deploy those 70 or so satellites, they will be able to see 100 percent of the airspace in the globe, the Canadians. I am told there's already 15 or 16 countries that have signed up for their services. So Canadians, the NAV CAN, and their partners, they're developing this system. I believe they are going to become the dominant controller of airspace in the world. They're going to be able to fly planes over the North Atlantic and over the Pacific, straighter lines, closer together, more efficiently; and that's when we're going to really see our loss in leadership in the world, when it comes to controlling airspace and being the gold standard. {19:10} Bill Shuster: Again, this corporation we're setting up is completely independent of the Federal Government. This is not a government corporation, a quasi-governmental entity, or a GSE. It is not that. The Federal Government will not back the obligations, the financial obligations, for this corporation. The corporation will simply provide a service. {27:27} Pete DeFazio: We're talking about an asset—no one's valued it—worth between $30 billion and $50 billion that will be given to the private corporation free of charge. That's unprecedented. There have been two privatizations: one privatization in Canada—they paid $1.4 billion; it was later found that it was undervalued by about $1 billion. I believe in Britain they paid a little over $1 billion for it. We're going to take a much larger entity, controlling a lot of real estate, some in some very expensive areas like New York City, and we are going to give it to a private corporation, and the day after they establish, they can do with those assets whatever they wish. They can sell them, and we have no say. {30:11} Pete DeFazio: If someone controls the routes, and they control the conditions under which you access those routes, and they control the investment in the system itself, which means maybe we don't want to invest in things that serve medium and small cities—they aren't profit centers; why should we be putting investment there—you know, we are keeping control of the airspace? I guess there's some technical way we're keeping control of it, but none of that will be subject to any elected representative. {1:00:05} Ed Bolen: Our nation's air traffic control system is a monopoly, and it will stay a monopoly, going forward. The airlines, for 30 years, have been lobbying Congress so that they can seize control of that natural monopoly and exert their authority over it. We think that is a fatally flawed concept. The public airspace belongs to the public, and it should be run for the public's benefit. Do we really think that, given control of this monopoly, the airlines would run it for every American's benefit? Reading the headlines over the past year would suggest that's probably not the case. ''Airline Consolidation Hits Small Cities the Hardest,'' wrote the Wall Street Journal; ''Justice Department Investigating Potential Airline Price Collusion,'' wrote the Washington Post; ''Airline Complaints on the Rise'' was a headline in the Hill; ''Airlines Reap Record Profits and Passengers Get Peanuts.'' That appeared in the New York Times this past weekend. {1:02:30} Ed Bolen: We're talking about giving them unbridled authority to make decisions about access, about rates, charges, about infrastructure. This is a sweeping transfer of authority. {1:31:12} Don Young: Will the gentleman yield? Let's talk about the board.Bill Shuster: Certainly. Don Young: You got four big airlines board members. Bill Shuster: Right. Don Young: NATCA now is supporting it. And I question that, by the way. I fought for you every inch of the way, and we want to find out what is behind that. General aviation has one. Unknown: Two. Don Young: Two? Unknown: General aviation has two. Don Young: OK, two. Where's the other one? Bill Shuster: Two to the government. Don Young: Two—and who are they going to be? Do we have any input on that? No. We do not. The president has—— Bill Shuster: The Department of Transportation will have it. Don Young: The president. And we're the Congress of the United States. I'd feel a lot better if we were to appoint them. Why should we let a president appoint them? This is our job as legislators. If we're going to change the system, let us change it with us having some control over it, financially. And the board members should be appointed from the Congress. I am not going to give any president any more authority. That is the wrong—we have done this over and over again. We give the president—we might as well have a king. I don't want a king. Hearing: Airport Security Wait Times, House Homeland Security Committee, May 25, 2016. Witness: Peter Neffenger, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Timestamps and Transcripts {09:20} Bennie Thompson: In fiscal year 2011, there were approximately 45,000 TSOs screening 642 million passengers. In FY 2016, TSA had 3,000 fewer TSOs screening roughly 740 million anticipated passengers, almost 100 million more passengers and 3,000 fewer screeners. {11:11} Bennie Thompson: TSA should have access to all of the aviation security fees collected by the flying public to bolster security. Yet, the passage of the Budget Act of 2013, TSA is required to divert $13 billion collected in security fees toward the deficit reduction for the next 10 years. This year alone, 1.25 billion has been diverted. {29:40} Michael McCaul: And finally, do you support—well, I can't say—do you support the concept of expanding TSA's pre-check program, which, I think, would move a lot of people in the long lines into the pre-check lines, which, I think, would solve many of these problems as well.Pete Neffenger: Absolutely. In fact, that's one of my fundamental priorities is to dramatically expand the pre-check population and dramatically expand the capability to enroll people in pre-check. {48:30} Pete Neffenger: Right now we do not seem to have trouble meeting our recruiting targets. We have a large pool of people that have been pre-vetted. That's why we were able to rapidly begin to hire that 768 because we had a large pool of available applicants that had been screened that were looking for work. I still want to work on bringing more of that back in house than is currently done. As you know, we work through a private contractor to do our hiring and recruiting right now. {49:53} Mike Rogers: I plan to introduce legislation to transform TSA from an HR nightmare to a security-focused organization by reforming and greatly expanding the Screening Partnership Program. Having worked on these issues for more than a decade, I've seen that TSA can do a mission when it's given a clear, succinct mission. My bill is going to allow more airports to hire qualified private contractors, capable of managing day-to-day operations, and make TSA the driving force to oversee intelligence-based security strategies. {1:41:30} Buddy Carter: You and I have spoken before about privatization, and as you know, in full disclosure, I'm really big on privatization. Atlanta and the bigger airports are indicating to us, or at least to me, that it's beyond the scope of a bureaucracy to be able to do this, and I just don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling that you're embracing privatization here. Congress passed the Screening Partnership Program. Tell me what you're doing to implement that? We need to get to a point where you're on the other side of the table; you're asking the questions and overseeing this as opposed to being here answering the questions from us.Pete Neffenger: We've made a lot of changes to streamline that process. I was concerned that it takes a long time because it has to go out on bid, it has to go out on contract and the like. I have said repeatedly that the law allows for this. I will work with any airport that's interested. In fact, I have directed airports like Atlanta to go out and talk to San Francisco because that's the only large category x airport that has a contracted screening force, and we'll continue to work with them. I think that there are things that we can do. We are somewhat hampered by the way the federal acquisition rules work. Remember, that's a workforce that's contracted to the Federal Government, not through the— Buddy Carter: Hold on. I don't mean to interrupt you, but I want to know. You say you're hampered. I want to know how I can help you to become unhampered, if that's a word. Pete Neffenger: Well, as I said, we follow the contracting rules under the Federal Government contracting requirements. It's a contract to the Federal Government, so I want to make sure that it's fair and is open competition and you have to give people the opportunity to participate in that. We'll work with anybody who wants to do that. Buddy Carter: Well, understand that I want to work with you so that we can streamline that process. I still don't get the feeling that you're embracing it, and I want to know what you're doing to encourage it, to the privatization of it. Pete Neffenger: Well, again, it's up to the airport to determine whether they want to do it. We advertise its availability, we make available information about it. There's a screening private partnership office that manages that. Additional Sound Clips Video: People Lay on the Floor at JFK Airport as Police Team Search, Daily Mail, August 21, 2016. Video: JFK Airport Shooting Evacuation After Shots Fired JFK Terminal, YouTube, August 15, 2016. Television News Clip: JFK Airport Scare, CBS New York, August 14, 2016. Television News Clip: Nightmarish Lines Continue At Airport Security Checkpoints, CBS Chicago, May 16, 2016. Television News Clip: Passengers Stranded at O'Hare Airport Due to Long TSA Lines By John Garcia and Laura Podesta, ABC News Chicago, May 16, 2016. Television News Clip: Drones Interfere With Wildfire Battle in California, CBS This Morning, July 20, 2015. Television News Clip: American Airlines Passengers Stuck on Tarmac for Several Hours, ABC News, March 2, 2015. Additional Reading Article: Scenes From the Terrifying, Already Forgotten JFK Airport Shooting That Wasn't By David Wallace-Wells, New York Magazine, August 15, 2016. Article: FAA Reauthorization Protects Weather Observer Program, Spokane International Airport, Aviation Pros, July 14, 2016. Article: Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Bipartisan FAA Bill Without Air-Traffic Control Privatization By Andy Pasztor, The Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2016. Article: FAA Seeks To Cut Airport Weather Observers By Elaine Kauh, AVWeb, February 5, 2016. Article: Republican House Measure Seeks Independent Air-Traffic Control Board By Andy Pasztor, The Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2016. Article When Retirement Becomes a Crisis By Joseph Coughlin and Luke Yoquinto, Slate, February 2, 2016. Article: The Disturbing Truth About How Airplanes Are Maintained Today By James B. Steele, Vanity Fair, December 2015. Article: Union: Chronic Shortage of Air Traffic Controllers a Crisis By Joan Lowy, PBS Newshour, October 14, 2015. Article: TSA Body Scanner Lobbyist Now Overseeing Spending on TSA Security By Lee Fang, The Intercept, May 27, 2015. Press Release: Appropriations Committee Releases Fiscal Year 2015 Homeland Security Bill, The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, May 27, 2014. Article: 'Naked Scanner' Maker OSI Falls After Losing TSA Order By Jeff Plungis. Bloomberg, December 6, 2013. Article: FAA Plan to Terminate Airport Weather Observers Raises Travel Safety Concerns By Jason Samenow, The Washington Post, May 1, 2013. Article: Airlines Reluctant to Pay $6.6B for NextGen Air Transportation System By Jill R. Aitoro, Washington Business Journal, April 9, 2013. Article: Efforts Grow To Convince Airlines Of NextGen Worth By John Croft, Aviation Daily, October 5, 2012. Article: This Week in History: Ronald Reagan Fires 11,345 Air Traffic Controllers By Cody Carlson, Deseret News, August 5, 2012. Article: Obama Signs Bill Ending Partial FAA Shutdown By The CNN Wire Staff, CNN, August 5, 2011. Article: Everything You Need To Know About the FAA Shutdown In One Post By Dylan Matthews, The Washington Post, August 3, 2011. Article Congress Heads Home Without Extending FAA Funding By Ashley Halsey III, The Washington Post, August 2, 2011. Article: Partial FAA Shutdown Cripples Operations for Third Day By Ashley Halsey III, The Washington Post, July 25, 2011. Article: New Air Traffic Control System At Crossroads By Joan Lowy, Yahoo News, July 5, 2011. Article: Fear Pays: Chertoff, Ex-Security Officials Slammed For Cashing In On Government Experience By Marcus Baram, The Huffington Post, November 23, 2010. Article: The Airport Scanner Scam By James Ridgeway, Mother Jones, January 4, 2010. Article: DHS and TSA Have Researched, Developed, and Begun Deploying Passenger Checkpoint Screening Technologies, but Continue to Face Challenges, U.S. Government Accountability Office, October 7, 2009. Additional Information Open Secrets: Representative Bill Shuster Career Profile 9-11 Commission Report, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, July 22, 2004. Chapter 1: "We Have Some Planes" Reports FAA Continues To Face Challenges in Ensuring Enough Fully Trained Controllers at Critical Facilities, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, January 11, 2016. Federal Civil Aviation Programs: In Brief By Bart Elias, Congressional Research Service, December 16, 2013. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

Congress goes on vacation; the Executive Branch escalates a war. In this episode, we look back at the 2011 Libya regime change to understand why we are bombing again in 2016. Executive Producer: Anonymous Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Sound Clip Sources: Hearings Department of Defense Libya Briefing: Defense Department Briefing, Peter Cook, Department of Defense Press Secretary, August 1, 2016. Timestamps and Transcripts {00:31} Peter Cook: I want to begin today with an update on the campaign to defeat ISIL wherever it tries to spread. Today at the request of Libya's Government of National Accord, the United States conducted precision air strikes against ISIL targets in Sirte, Libya to support GNA-affiliated forces seeking to defeat ISIL and its primary stronghold in Libya. These strikes were authorized by the president, following a recommendation from Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford. They are consistent with our approach of combating ISIL by working with capable and motivated local partners. GNA-aligned forces have had success in recapturing territory from ISIL, and additional U.S. strikes will continue to target ISIL in Sirte and enable the GNA to make a decisive, strategic advance. As you may have seen earlier today, Prime Minister al-Sarraj, the head of the GNA, announced that he had specifically requested these strikes as part of the GNA's campaign to defeat ISIL in Libya. As we've said for some time, the United States supports the GNA. We would be prepared to carefully consider any requests for military assistance. We have now responded to that request, and we'll continue to work closely with the GNA to help the government restore stability and security in Libya. {05:37} Reporter: And then how long the campaign will last? Cook: Again, we'll be in—this will depend on the requests of support from the GNA, and we're proceeding along that line. We don't have an endpoint at this particular moment in time, but we'll be working closely with the GNA. {13:35} Reporter: Previous intelligence estimates had ISIS at a fighting force of around—up to 6,000, I believe. Is that the current assessment that you guys have? Cook: The assessment numbers that I've seen, and, again, I would—it's hard to gauge ISIL numbers anywhere, but I've seen that number, at least our assessment is that it's been reduced, and the number may be closer to 1,000 now. Reporter: That was in Libya, all together? Cook: In Libya, all together. Reporter: Okay. And lastly— Cook: I'm sorry. That's specific to Sirte, but that's the predominant area where ISIL has, in terms of geography, has occupied. So… Reporter: Got it. {15:50} Reporter: So there was a strike today, one in February that you confirmed previously. Is this the third strike now? Was there one before the one in February? Cook: Yes, there was an earlier strike. I believe it was November was the first strike against ISIL by U.S. military. {16:50} Reporter: In answer to a previous question, you said initially there were no U.S. forces on the ground, and then you seemed to clarify later you meant specifically to this operation. Are you saying that right now there are—are you making it clear there are no U.S. teams of any kind on the ground, or are you just specifically saying there are no U.S. on the ground related to this particular operation? Cook: I'm—this is specific to this operation. I'm not going to get into what we've talked about previously, the small number of U.S. forces that will be on the ground in Libya. They've been in and out, and I'm not going to get into that any further. {24:50} Reporter: You keep comparing this to the strikes at the—strikes in November and February, which were going after a high-value individuals. They were after specific individuals versus my understanding of this—correct me if I'm wrong—is this is the beginning of a campaign, an air campaign in Libya, in which the U.S. military is supporting GNA militias who have pledged their loyalty to the GNA. Is that fair? Is this the beginning of—president has approved these strikes and they will continue until Sirte is liberated. Cook: They will continue as long as the GNA is requesting—Reporter: But they don't have to put in the request every single time. There is now this blanket authority that exists for the U.S. military to strike when the GNA puts in their requests, right? Cook: These requests—these requests will be carefully coordinated with the GNA. This all originates from GNA requests for assistance, and the president has given the authority for us to have—to carefully consider those requests. Reporter: Okay. But just to be clear, because I think comparing this to these two previous strikes that were going after individuals, each one, it sounds as if this is—these were strikes that were carried out today and that's to be the end of it. But this is the beginning of an air campaign over Libya, correct? Cook: We are prepared to carry out more strikes in coordination with the GNA if those requests are forthcoming, and so— Reporter: Again, the request has been granted, right? There was—with the GNA— Cook: The authorization has been granted. {28:30} Reporter: Under what legal authority are these strikes being conducted? Cook: The 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, similar to our previous air strikes in Libya. {33:17} Reporter And one last thing. You've made many references to civilians in Sirte. What is the U.S. estimate of how many civilians remain in Sirte? Cook: I'll try to get that number for you; I don't know that offhand. {35:00} Reporter: Peter, were leaflets dropped on that tank and those vehicles before the air strikes? Cook: I'm not aware that they were. Hearing: U.S. Africa Command and National Guard Bureau Nominations, Senate Armed Services Committee, June 21, 2016. Witnesses: Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser, Director for Joint Force Development for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, nominee for AFRICOM director Joseph Lengyel, Chief of National Guard Bureau Timestamps and Transcripts {20:35} Lt. General Waldhauser: We have two significant objectives for the United States: one is to get the Government of National Accord up and running, and the second is to disrupt Libya—disrupt ISIL inside Libya. {22:40} Senator John McCain: So, right now you don't think we need additional U.S. military presence. Waldhauser: At the moment, no.McCain: "At the moment" means to me, we don't have a strategy. I don't know what "at the moment"—unfortunately, this administration has reacted "at the moment" with incrementalism, mission creep, a gradual escalation in Iraq and Syria, and I don't want to see the same thing in Libya, but I'm beginning to see the same thing. Do we have a strategy for Libya, or are we just acting in an ad hoc fashion, which was—it's been the case, as we've watched ISIS establish, metastasize, and grow in Libya. Waldhauser: Well, as indicated, the two strategic objectives that we do have for Libya is to assist the— McCain: I know the objectives; do we have a strategy? Waldhauser: To continue to support that right at this point in time, I am not aware of any overall grand strategy at this point. {1:03:55} Senator Angus King: Does the GNA control the military and the police forces? Waldhauser: Senator, and to my knowledge I would not use the word "control;" I think at the moment these militias, it seems to me, appear to be working in a direction that Sarraj would like to go, but I would, at this point and if confirmed I'll look into this, but I would not use the word "control" for the GNA over the militias. King: But ultimately that's going to have to happen if they're going to control the territory. Waldhauser: Ultimately it will have to happen because you won't have a secure and working government unless they have control of a military, and in this case numerous militias across that country. Hearing: U.S. Policy Toward Libya, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 15, 2016. Witness Jonathan Winer, State Department Special Envoy for Libya Timestamps and Transcripts {20:50} Senator Ben Cardin: Could you tell us whether the administration is anticipating sending up an authorization to Congress for its military campaign in Libya? Winer: I don't know of a military campaign in Libya being contemplated, Senator. {28:15} Winer: I think that the problem is not so much pumping it out and losing it—there's still room for further exploration, further development—as it is the problem of too much money going out and not enough coming in, where the IMF has said to us, for example, there is no solution, no reforms, they can take if they're not producing their oil. Senator David Perdue: Their debt situation's already in a crisis level. Winer: Their very difficult economic situation right now is a result of not pumping their oil. They should be pumping 1.5 million a day; they've been pumping less than 400,000 a day. Last week I talked with the head of the petroleum forces and said, you've got to turn the oil back on. Now he now supports the Government of National Accord, his forces have been fighting to get rid of Daesh, and I think that oil is going to be turned on. It's absolutely critical. There are forces in the West—there's Zintan, they've shutdown formed in 40,000 barrels a day because some of their concerns have not met.Perdue: And does ISIS, since that's such an important economic issue—I'm sorry to interrupt— Winer: Yes, sir. Perdue: But, does ISIS pose a threat to that oil production, even if they could turn it up? Winer: To the production, yes. To exploitation, probably not. The pipelines run north-south, south-north, and they are not really exploitable in Libya in the way they've been exploitable in Iraq. Daesh did attack the oil crescent area and destroyed some terminals, some areas where oil was being stored at the terminals, and that's probably reduced their capacity some, but it's quite limited damage at this point. One of the things that's really impressive about the efforts against Daesh in the Sirte region and the oil crescent region is it's begun to push them away from their ability to threaten Libya's future oil production. So that's a significant development. But the Libyans need to draw together and address one another's grievances so that everybody agrees to allow the oil to be pumped again. Hearing: The Path Forward in Libya, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, March 3. 2016. Witnesses Fred Wehrey - Senior Associate, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Claudia Gazzini - Senior Analyst, Libya, International Crisis Group Timestamps and Transcripts {23:10} Fred Wehrey: I just returned last night from Libya, where I saw first hand the country's humanitarian plight, political divisions, and the struggle against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. I spoke to the young militia fighters who are on the front lines against the Islamic State. I heard stories from the victims of its atrocities. What struck me most is that Libya's fragmentation into armed militias, tribes, and towns has created a vacuum that the Islamic State is exploiting, and this dissolution also presents a number of risks for U.S. and Western strategy against the Islamic State. First, there is no national military command through which the U.S. and its allies can channel counterterrorism aid; the country is split between two loose constellations of armed actors, so-called Dignity camp in the East and the Dawn camp in the West. Now, over the last year, these two factions have fragmented, splintered, to the point that they exist in name only, and although the factions signed an agreement in December for a new Government of National Accord, that government remains stillborn and unable to exert its authority. A key stumbling block is the question of who and what faction will control the country's armed forces, but perhaps most worrisome is that these two camps are still, in my view, more focused on viewing each other as a threat rather than the Islamic State. Many are, in fact, using the danger posed by the Islamic State as a pretext to wage war against local rivals over political supremacy, turf, and economic spoils. Both sides accuse the other of with the Islamic State. {30:24} Claudia Gazzini: The country's economic situation is also dire. Libya, as you know, is an oil-rich country, but over the past two years, production of crude oil has plummeted because of attacks on oil fields and oil terminals. The drop in oil prices has forced the country to run a deficit of up to two, three billion dollars a month, and this has rapidly drained the country's reserves of foreign currency, which are now between 50 and 60 billion dollars, less than half of what they were just two years ago. {36:31} Senator Bob Corker Speaking of special operators, right now it appears there's a wide variety of foreign special operations forces on the ground in Libya. Both U.S. and Europe have bold plans for supporting the GNA. If the GNA is supported under heavy Western hand does that cause—does that not cause them to lack legitimacy in the eyes of Libyans? {38:15} Wehrey: There is the sense that this is the third government, that it's been imposed, and so, yeah, if there is military support flowing to that government, it could create some dissonance. {58:25} Senator Ed Markey: Dr. Wehrey, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the United States military and some allies, including France and the UK, have for months been preparing plans for a second intervention into Libya to support a potential Government of National Accord. The report also said that we and our partners have already established a coalition coordinating center in Rome. Sound Clip Sources: News & Documentaries RT Newscast: US Looks On Libya as McDonald's – Gaddafi's Son, Reported by Maria Finoshina, RT, June 30, 2011. RT Newscast: Gaddafi Gold-For-Oil, Dollar-Doom Plans Behind Libya 'Mission'?, Reported by Laura Emmett, RT, May 5, 2011. BBC Documentary on Libya: Before Rats Freedom & Democracy in Lybia (2008): Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Additional Hearings, Documentaries, and News Segments Hearing: CIA Intelligence Activities in Libya, Senate Select Intelligence Committee, June 16, 2016. Documentary: Pipeline to Paradise (Gaddafi's Gift to Libya), By Winfried Spinler (2001), Published on YouTube November 14, 2013. Hearing: Examining The U.S. Policy Response to Entrenched African Leadership, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 18. 2012. Hillary Clinton CBS New Interview: Hillary Clinton on Gaddafi: We Came, We Saw, He Died, CBS News, October 20, 2011. Hearing: Libya and War Powers, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, June 28, 2011. Hearing: War Powers and U.S. Operations in Libya , House Foreign Affairs Committee, May 25, 2011. Hearing: Perspectives on the Crisis in Libya, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 6, 2011. Hearing: U.S. Security Interests in Libya, House Foreign Affairs Committee, March 31, 2011. Hearing: U.S. Operations in Libya, Senate Armed Services Committee, March 29, 2011. U.N. Security Council Meeting on Libya, United Nations Security Council, March 17, 2011. Al Jazeera English Television Broadcast: Libyan Leader Moammar Qadhafi Address, February 22, 2011. Current News Libya 2016 Article: Italy Reportedly Sends Special Forces to Libya By Tom Kington, Defense News, August 11, 2016. Article: US-backed Forces in Libya Liberate Most of IS Group Stronghold of Sirte By News Wires, France 24, August 11, 2016. Article: French Special Forces Withdraw from Libya's Benghazi By Saifuddin al-Trabulsi and Osama Ali, Anadolu Agency, August 11, 2016. Article: U.S. Special Operations Troops Aiding Libyan Forces in Major Battle Against Islamic State By Missy Ryan and Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post, August 9, 2016. Article: Libya: Free Saif ! Free the Nation! By Eric Draitser, Sri Lanka Guardian, August 9, 2016. Press Briefing: United States Department of State Daily Press Briefing, Spokesperson John Kirby, August 2, 2016. Article: Obama Approves 30-day Airstrike Mission Against ISIS in Libya By Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press, Fox News, August 2, 2016. Article: U.S. is Bombing Libya Again, 5 Years After NATO War Destabilized the Country By Ben Norton, Salon, August 2, 2016. Article: Aug. 1: The U.S. Intensifies Its Fight in Libya, Stratfor, August 1, 2016. Article: Gaddafi's Ghosts: Return of the Libyan Jamahiriya By Dan Glazebrook, RT, July 30, 2016. Article: Deal to Open Libya's Ras Lanuf and Es Sider Oil Ports, Al Jazeera, July 30, 2016. Article: Libya: Tripoli Condemns French Military Involvement, Al Jazeera, July 21, 2016. Article: France Confirms Three Soldiers Killed in Libya, Al Jazeera, July 20, 2016. Article: Freedom for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi! Freedom for Libya! By Eric Draitser, New Eastern Outlook, July 14, 2016. Article: Libya: Leaked Tapes Suggest West Supports Haftar, Al Jazeera, July 9, 2016. Article: Gaddafi Son Saif al-Islam 'Freed After Death Sentence Quashed' By Chris Stephen, The Guardian, July 7, 2016. Article: U.S. Special Forces Take the Fight to ISIS in Libya By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN World News, May 26, 2016. Executive Order by Preseident Barack Obama: Blocking Property And Suspending Entry Into The United States Of Persons Contributing To The Situation In Libya, The White House Office of the Press Secretary, April 19, 2016. Article: Who is Libya's New Prime Minister-Designate Fayez Al Sarraj?, The National, April 7, 2016. Article: Libya's UN-Backed Government Sails Into Tripoli, Al Jazeera, March 31, 2016. Article: Chief of Libya's New UN-Backed Government Arrives in Tripoli By Chris Stephen, The Guardian, March 30, 2016. Article: Exposing the Libyan Agenda: a Closer Look at Hillary's Emails By Ellen Brown, Counter Punch, March 14, 2016. Article: Even Critics Understate How Catastrophically Bad the Hillary Clinton-led NATO Bombing of Libya Was By Ben Norton, Salon, March 2, 2016. Article: Hillary Clinton, 'Smart Power' and a Dictator's Fall By Jo Becker and Scott Shane, The New York Times, February 27, 2016. Article: U.S. Scrambles to Contain Growing ISIS Threat in Libya By Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, February 21, 2016. Article: U.S. Bombing in Libya Reveals Limits of Strategy Against ISIS By Declan Walsh, Ben Hubbard and Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, February 19, 2016. Article: Obama Readies to Fight in Libya, Again By Jack Smith, CounterPunch, February 5, 2016. Article: Obama Is Pressed to Open Military Front Against ISIS in Libya By Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, February 4, 2016. Article: Opening a New Front Against ISIS in Libya By The Editorial Board, The New York Times, January 26, 2016. Article: Libyan Oil, Gold, and Qaddafi: The Strange Email Sidney Blumenthal Sent Hillary Clinton In 2011 By Avi Asher-Schapiro, Vice News, January 12, 2016. The Guardian News Reports on Libya The New York Times News about Arab League Additional Reading Libya 2011 to 2015 Article: Syria Exposes Threat Between Obama and Clinton By Peter Baker, The New York Times, October 3, 2015. Article: Gaddafi Loyalists Stage Rare Protest in Eastern Libya, Reuters, August 4, 2015. Article: Where in the World Is the U.S. Military? By David Vine, Politico Magazine, July/August 2015. Article: Tyler Drumheller Was the Man Behind Hillary Clinton's Private Libya Intel, Sources Say By Benjamin Siegel and John Parkinson, ABC News, June 17, 2015. Article: War Crime: NATO Deliberately Destroyed Libya's Water Infrastructure By Nafeez Ahmed, Truthout, May 30, 2015. Article: How NATO Deliberately Destroyed Libya's Water Infrastructure By Nafeez Ahmed, The Cutting Edge, May 13, 2015. Article: Human Trafficker Gets Busy as Libya Migrant Crisis Worsens By Caroline Alexander and Salma El Wardany, Bloomberg, May 10, 2015. Article: East's Bid to Control Libya Oil Wealth Likely to Fail By Ulf Laessing, Reuters, March 23, 2015. Article: Khalifa Haftar Sworn in as Libya Army Chief, Al Jazeera, March 9, 2015. Article: Libya Clashes Force Oil Port Closure, Al Jazeera, December 14, 2014. Article: The Startling Size of US Military Operations in Africa By Nick Turse, Mother Jones, September 6, 2013. Article: Libya's "Water Wars" and Gaddafi's Great Man-Made River Project By Mathaba, May 13, 2013. Article: Election Results in Libya Break an Islamist Wave By David D. Kirkpatrick, The New York Times, July 8, 2012. Article: Braving Areas of Violence, Voters Try to Reshape Libya By David D. Kirkpatrick, The New York Times, July 7, 2012. Article: An Erratic Leader, Brutal and Defiant to the End By Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times, October 20, 2011. Article: Foreign Oil, Gas Firms Returning to Libya, CBS News/Associated Press, September 2, 2011. Article: World Powers Free Up Billions to Rebuild Libya By John Irish and Keith Weir, Reuters, September 1, 2011. Article: The Race is On for Libya's Oil, with Britain and France Both Staking a Claim By Julian Borger and Terry Macalister, The Guardian, September 1, 2011. Article: NATO Bombs the Great Man-Made River, Human Rights Investigations, July 27, 2011. Article: Rebels Say Qaddafi Must Face Trial as Airstrikes Hit Tripoli By Associated Pess, Fox News World, July 22, 2011. Article: Libya Rebels Get Formal Backing, and $30 Billion By Sebnem Arsu and Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, July 15, 2011. Article: Conflict in Libya: U.S. Oil Companies Sit on Sidelines as Gaddafi Maintains Hold By Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, June 10, 2011. Article: AFRICOM's Libyan Expedition By Jonathan Stevenson, Foreign Affairs, May 9, 2011. Article: Nine Killed in NATO Attack on Sirte, Reuters, April 22, 2011. Article: Libyan Rebel Council Forms Oil Company to Replace Qaddafi's By Bill Varner, Bloomberg, March 22, 2011. Article: France and Britain Lead Military Push on Libya By Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, March 18, 2011. Article: As U.N. Backs Military Action in Libya, U.S. Role Is Unclear By Dan Bilefsky and Mark Landler, The New York Times, March 17, 2011. Article: Clinton Meets in Paris With Libyan Rebel Leader By Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times, March 14, 2011. Article: Map of the Day: This Is Where Libya's Oil Infrastructure Is Located By Joe Weisenthal, Business Insider, February 28, 2011. President Barack Obama Executive Order: Executive Order 13566 --Libya, The White House Office of the Press Secretary, February 25, 2011. Libya Prior to 2011 Article: African Union Names Gaddafi as Head, Al Jazeera, February 2, 2009. Article: The Years of Wheelus By Walter J. Boyne, Air Force Magazine, January 2008. Article: Africa United in Rejecting US Request for Military HQ By Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, June 26, 2007. Article: Behind Gaddafi's Diplomatic Turnaround By Scott McLeod, Time, May 18, 2006. Article: Libya's Thirst for 'Fossil Water' By John Watkins, BBC News, March 18, 2006. Article: 350 Libyans Trained to Oust Qaddafi Are to Come to U.S. By Neil A. Lewis, May 17, 1991. E Book/Pdf: The Green Book By Muammar Al Qaddafi, Originally published 1975. Owners vs. Producers Housing Additional Information GreenStream Pipeline GreenStream Pipeline Activity Human Rights Watch Website Encyclopaedia Britannica Online: Great Man-Made River (GMR) Energy Information Administration: 2007 Libya Energy Data, Statistics WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton Email Archive: "Tick Tock On Libya", September 2, 2011. Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton Email: "Lots of New Intel; Possible Libyan Collapse. Sid", March 27, 2011. Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton Email Archive: "H: France's Client & Q's Gold. Sid", March 4, 2011. Wikipedia: General People's Committee Reports Libya: Transition and U.S. Policy By Christopher M. Blanchard, Congressional Research Service, May 13, 2016. Appendix B. U.S. Assistance to Libya FY2010-FY2015 Total Energy 2013 Report on Activities in Libya Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations