Podcasts about former deputy secretary

Countries around the world are asking whether it is in their best interest to align  more closely with China or the United States. Kurt Campbell helped guide US-  China policy through multiple administrations and was Deputy Secretary of State  under Joe Biden. He joins Christiane for his first TV interview since leaving  government.    Also on today's show: Director Marcel Mettelsiefen discusses his new  documentary on the Israel-Palestine conflict, “A State of Rage”; business owners  Debbie Wei Mullin and Sarah LaFleur on the impact of the Trump tariffs  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a flat 10% tariff on imports entering the United States, which will remain in effect for at least 90 days. The administration reports that over 75 countries have expressed interest in initiating trade talks. However, China is the exception; products imported from China are now subject to a 145% tariff. Karl Rove, a FOX News Contributor and former Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush, joins to discuss these tariffs, the concerns some individuals have about their impact, and the administration's efforts to appeal to working-class voters.   First Lady Melania Trump recently took part in a roundtable event at the Capitol to support the ‘Take It Down Act'. This legislation aims to prohibit the intentional publication of sexually exploitative images, including AI-generated deepfakes. An increasing number of states are implementing their own laws to tackle this growing problem. Hayley McNamara, Senior Vice President at the nonprofit National Center on Sexual Exploitation, joins to explain the ‘Take It Down Act' and emphasize how easily individuals can become targets of such exploitation. Plus, commentary from senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute and Former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tevi Troy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a flat 10% tariff on imports entering the United States, which will remain in effect for at least 90 days. The administration reports that over 75 countries have expressed interest in initiating trade talks. However, China is the exception; products imported from China are now subject to a 145% tariff. Karl Rove, a FOX News Contributor and former Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush, joins to discuss these tariffs, the concerns some individuals have about their impact, and the administration's efforts to appeal to working-class voters.   First Lady Melania Trump recently took part in a roundtable event at the Capitol to support the ‘Take It Down Act'. This legislation aims to prohibit the intentional publication of sexually exploitative images, including AI-generated deepfakes. An increasing number of states are implementing their own laws to tackle this growing problem. Hayley McNamara, Senior Vice President at the nonprofit National Center on Sexual Exploitation, joins to explain the ‘Take It Down Act' and emphasize how easily individuals can become targets of such exploitation. Plus, commentary from senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute and Former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tevi Troy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a flat 10% tariff on imports entering the United States, which will remain in effect for at least 90 days. The administration reports that over 75 countries have expressed interest in initiating trade talks. However, China is the exception; products imported from China are now subject to a 145% tariff. Karl Rove, a FOX News Contributor and former Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush, joins to discuss these tariffs, the concerns some individuals have about their impact, and the administration's efforts to appeal to working-class voters.   First Lady Melania Trump recently took part in a roundtable event at the Capitol to support the ‘Take It Down Act'. This legislation aims to prohibit the intentional publication of sexually exploitative images, including AI-generated deepfakes. An increasing number of states are implementing their own laws to tackle this growing problem. Hayley McNamara, Senior Vice President at the nonprofit National Center on Sexual Exploitation, joins to explain the ‘Take It Down Act' and emphasize how easily individuals can become targets of such exploitation. Plus, commentary from senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute and Former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tevi Troy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration, Michael Pachi, joins John Stanley for the News Hour. Listen to Nights from 8pm Monday to Thursday on 2GB/4BC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is among nearly 100 former intelligence and national security officials who have expressed concern about President-elect Trump's pick of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Sherman joins us to explain why she's concerned the selection of Gabbard could lead allies to think twice about sharing intelligence with the United States. Then, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation this week that would prevent companies that own pharmacies from also owning pharmacy benefit managers, middlemen that oversee prescription drug benefits for companies. "Full Disclosure" host Roben Farzad talks about what the legislation seeks to do. And, according to a new investigation from ProPublica, formaldehyde is in the air we breathe, causing more cancer than any other airborne chemical. ProPublica's Topher Sanders tells us more.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A transgender ten-year-old child interviewed by CNN believes they will be murdered in the future Trump administration. Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Tevi Troy's article in The Wall Street Journal; "A Lame Duck Can Still Swim." Adam Ellwanger's proposed speech for the incoming Secretary of Education in the second Trump administration.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

European winter is setting in on the battlefields in Ukraine and Russia. After almost three years of outright war, and almost four months since Ukrainian troops launched a lightning offensive into the Russian region of Kursk, there are now real doubts about how long Ukraine can continue the fight. Russian advances continue in both Kursk and in the south, and Russian missile and drone attacks are hitting Ukraine infrastructure hard. Then there is the Trump factor. The US president elect promising he would end the war 'in a day' if elected, with strategists and analysts trying to work out frantically want that means. A deal maybe, but in whose favour? What is the future for this conflict in the region? Philip Clark is joined on Nightlife by Paul Dibb AM, an Emeritus Professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU. He is also a Former Deputy Secretary of Defence and Director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation. Joined by Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor with The Economist since 2018 who has been writing on the conflict since it began. 

November 12, 2024 - Join us for a conversation with Stephen Biegun, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea. This discussion will examine past diplomatic efforts to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea, lessons learned, and future prospects. What are Mr. Biegun's takeaways from his summitry engagement with North Korea? Is it still possible today to pursue mutually acceptable waypoints within the confines of a grand bargain or should more modest goals be pursued? How do geopolitical shifts and hardening regional rivalries undermine the U.S. and North Korean interest in improving bilateral relations? How does the public discourse create reductive dichotomies between deterrence vs. diplomacy and human rights vs. humanitarian efforts? The moderator for this program is Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado.  The Korea Society thanks the Kim Koo Foundation, our corporate sponsors, and individual members for their generous support, which has made this program possible. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1873-expert-take-stephen-biegun

Former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration, Abul Rizvi, joined Gary Hardgrave on 4BC Drive to discuss how Australia's skilled migrant intake could help alleviate the housing crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Opposition will propose large cuts to migration as part of its election platform, but could that actually work against our economy?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ASTHO CEO Dr. Mike Fraser and Dr. Ray Barishansky, Former Deputy Secretary for Health Preparedness and Community Protection at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, explain new research on barriers to decision making in public health response; Dr. J.P. Leider, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, says more data scientists are needed in the public health workforce; ASTHO has two case studies on a One Health approach to address environmental health issues; an ASTHO article shares the findings of a learning community focused on mental health and substance use in the maternal and child health population; and sign up for ASTHO's Public Health Weekly email newsletter   The Journal of Public Health Management and Practice: Understanding Factors Influencing Decision Making by State Health Officials in a Public Health Emergency Public Health Review: The Call to Join Public Health ASTHO Webpage: Harnessing the One Health Approach to Tackle Recreational Lead and Harmful Algal Blooms Maternal and Child Health Journal: Promoting Innovation in State and Territorial Maternal and Child Health Policymaking ASTHO Newsletter  

We tend to talk a lot about what the future of shipping will look like in 2050. What the fuels will be, what the ships need to do and how trade lanes and business models are going to need to rapidly adapt. But we don't talk enough about the people at the heart of this revolution - the seafarers. Without a skilled, agile and well-trained work force, the clean energy transformation of shipping will be stifled, and the rapid and smooth conduct of global trade put at risk. The powers that be are gathering in Manilla next week to consider the elements required for a successful transformation of seafarers' roles to meet the needs of shipping in the future. It is an appropriate venue and timing for the meeting because the Philippines is home to 14% of the global seafarer workforce and according to a new report due to be published next week seafarer remittances accounted for 1.8% of the nation's GDP. That's an important figure when it comes to negotiating the position of seafarers in a society that too often overlooks the economic value the seafarers and shipping provides. So we're talking on the podcast this week about the transformation, investments and changes that will need to be made to ensure that sufficient numbers of skilled seafarers are available to fulfil the requirements of shipping in 2050. Joining the discussion this week: • Gerardo (Dito) A. Borromeo: CEO Philippine Transmarine Carriers, The Philippines and Board Member Maritime Just Transition Task Force • Leonardo Beltran, Former Deputy Secretary for Planning and Energy Transition, Mexico; Board Member, UN Sustainable Energy for All

We discuss why 100 garda sergeants and inspectors will march on garda HQ today over a roster dispute with Tony Gallagher Former Garda Inspector, Former Deputy Secretary of the AGSI.

The annual war authorization (NDAA) is an excellent opportunity to examine our military's roles and goals in the world. In this episode, learn about how much of our tax money Congress provided the Defense Department, including how much of that money is classified, how much more money was dedicated to war than was requested, and what they are authorized to use the money for. This episode also examines our Foreign Military Financing programs with a deep dive into a new partner country: Ecuador. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! View the shownotes on our website at https://congressionaldish.com/cd269-ndaa-2023-plan-ecuador Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD244: Keeping Ukraine CD243: Target Nicaragua CD230: Pacific Deterrence Initiative CD229: Target Belarus CD218: Minerals are the New Oil CD191: The “Democracies” Of Elliott Abrams CD187: Combating China CD176: Target Venezuela: Regime Change in Progress CD172: The Illegal Bombing of Syria CD147: Controlling Puerto Rico CD128: Crisis in Puerto Rico CD108: Regime Change CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? World Trade System “IMF vs. WTO vs. World Bank: What's the Difference?” James McWhinney. Oct 10, 2021. Investopedia. The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World. Sally Denton. Simon and Schuster: 2017. Littoral Combat Ships “The Pentagon Saw a Warship Boondoggle. Congress Saw Jobs.” Eric Lipton. Feb 4, 2023. The New York Times. “BAE Systems: Summary.” Open Secrets. Foreign Military Sales Program “Written Testimony of Assistant Secretary of State Jessica Lewis before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on the ‘Future of Security Sector Assistance.'” March 10, 2022. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ecuador “Ecuador - Modern history.” Encyclopedia Britannica. “Ecuador Tried to Curb Drilling and Protect the Amazon. The Opposite Happened.” Catrin Einhorn and Manuela Andreoni. Updated Jan 20, 2023. The New York Times. “Ecuador: An Overview,” [IF11218]. June S. Beittel and Rachel L. Martin. Sep 9, 2022. Congressional Research Service. “Ecuador: In Brief,” [R44294]. June S. Beittel. Updated Feb 13, 2018. Congressional Research Service. “Ecuador's 2017 Elections,” [IF10581] June S. Beittel. Updated April 20, 2017. Congressional Research Services. Debt Default “Ecuador's Debt Default: Exposing a Gap in the Global Financial Architecture.” Sarah Anderson and Neil Watkins. Dec 15, 2008. Institute for Policy Studies. “Ecuador: President Orders Debt Default.” Simon Romero. Dec 12, 2008. The New York Times. Violence and Drugs “Ecuador's High Tide of Drug Violence.” Nov 4, 2022. International Crisis Group. “Lasso will propose to the US an Ecuador Plan to confront drug trafficking.” Jun 8, 2022. EcuadorTimes.net. “‘Es hora de un Plan Ecuador': el presidente Lasso dice en entrevista con la BBC que su país necesita ayuda para enfrentar el narcotráfico.” Vanessa Buschschluter. Nov 4, 2021. BBC. “Ecuador declares state of emergency over crime wave.” Oct 19, 2021. Deutsche Welle. Mining “An Ecuadorean Town Is Sinking Because of Illegal Mining.” Updated Mar 28, 2022. CGTN America. “New Mining Concessions Could Severely Decrease Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Ecuador.” Bitty A. Roy. Jun 19, 2018. Tropical Conservation Science. Foreign Infrastructure Investments “Ecuador prioritizing 4 road projects involving more than US$1bn.” Nov 28, 2022. BNamericas. “USTDA Expands Climate Portfolio in Ecuador.” May 27, 2022. U.S. Trade and Development Agency. “Ecuador's controversial and costliest hydropower project prompts energy rethink.” Richard Jiménez and Allen Panchana. Dec 16, 2021. Diálogo Chino. “Ecuador's Power Grid Gets a Massive Makeover.” Frank Dougherty. Mar 1, 2021. Power. Fishing “China fishing fleet defied U.S. in standoff on the high seas.” Joshua Goodman. Nov 2, 2022. Chattanooga Times Free Press. “Report to Congress: National 5-year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (2022-2026).” October 2022. U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing. “United States Launches Public-Private Partnership In Peru And Ecuador To Promote Sustainable, Profitable Fishing Practices.” Oct 7, 2022. U.S. Agency for International Development. “US Coast Guard Conducts High Seas Boarding for First Time in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization Convention Area.” U.S. Coast Guard. Oct 5, 2022. Diálogo Americas. “Walmart, Whole Foods, and Slave-Labor Shrimp.” Adam Chandler. Dec 16, 2015. The Atlantic. South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) Cutter Ships 22 USC Sec. 2321j, Update “Coast Guard Cutter Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress,” [R42567]. Ronald O'Rourke. Updated August 30, 2022. Congressional Research Service. Julian Assange “How Julian Assange became an unwelcome guest in Ecuador's embassy.” Luke Harding et al. May 15, 2018. The Guardian. “Ecuador Expels U.S. Ambassador Over WikiLeaks Cable.” Simon Romero. Apr 5, 2011. The New York Times. Chevron Case “Controversial activist Steven Donziger is a folk hero to the left, a fraud to Big Oil.” Zack Budryk. Dec 27, 2022. The Hill. Venezuela “Ecuador: Lasso Calls for Increased Pressure on Venezuela.” Apr 14, 2021. teleSUR. China Trade Deal “Ecuador reaches trade deal with China, aims to increase exports, Lasso says.” Jan 3, 2023. Reuters. “On the Ecuador-China Debt Deal: Q&A with Augusto de la Torre.” Sep 23, 2022. The Dialogue. “Ecuador sees trade deal with China at end of year, debt talks to begin.” Alexandra Valencia. Feb 5, 2022. Reuters. Business Reforms “Will Ecuador's Business Reforms Attract Investment?” Ramiro Crespo. Mar 3, 2022. Latin American Advisor. U.S. Ecuador Partnership “Why Ecuador's president announced his re-election plans in Washington.” Isabel Chriboga. Dec 22, 2022. The Atlantic Council. “USMCA as a Framework: New Talks Between U.S., Ecuador, Uruguay.” Jim Wiesemeyer. Dec 21, 2022. AgWeb. “US seeks to bolster Ecuador ties as China expands regional role.” Dec 19, 2022. Al Jazeera. “As China's influence grows, Biden needs to supercharge trade with Ecuador.” Isabel Chiriboga. Dec 19, 2022. The Atlantic Council. “The United States and Ecuador to Explore Expanding the Protocol on Trade Rules and Transparency under the Trade and Investment Council (TIC).” Nov 1, 2022. Office of the United States Trade Representative. “A delegation of U.S. senators visits Ecuador.” Oct 19, 2022. U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Ecuador. Referendum “Guillermo Lasso Searches for a Breakthrough.” Sebastián Hurtado. Dec 19, 2022. Americas Quarterly. State Enterprise Resignation “Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso asks heads of all state firms to resign.” Jan 18, 2023. Buenos Aires Times. Lithium Triangle “Why the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act Could Benefit Both Mining and Energy in Latin America.” John Price. Aug 22, 2022. Americas Market Intelligence. Colombia “Latin America's New Left Meets Davos.” Catherine Osborn. Jan 20, 2023. Foreign Policy. “How Colombia plans to keep its oil and coal in the ground.” María Paula Rubiano A. Nov 16, 2022. BBC. “Colombia: Background and U.S. Relations.” June S. Beittel. Updated December 16, 2021. Congressional Research Service. Tax Reform “In Colombia, Passing Tax Reform Was the Easy Part.” Ricardo Ávila. Nov 23, 2022. Americas Quarterly. “U.S. Government Must Take Urgent Action on Colombia's Tax Reform Bill.” Cesar Vence and Megan Bridges. Oct 26, 2022. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Letter from ACT et. al. to Sec. Janet Yellen, Sec. Gina Raimondo, and Hon. Katherine Tai.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Relationship with U.S. “Does glyphosate cause cancer?” Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Jul 8, 2021. City of Hope. “Colombian Intelligence Unit Used U.S. Equipment to Spy on Politicians, Journalists.” Kejal Vyas. May 4, 2020. The Wall Street Journal. “Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence.” Luoping Zhang et al. Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research Vol. 781, July–September 2019, pp. 186-206. “Colombia to use drones to fumigate coca leaf with herbicide.” Jun 26, 2018. Syria “Everyone Is Denouncing the Syrian Rebels Now Slaughtering Kurds. But Didn't the U.S. Once Support Some of Them?” Mehdi Hasan. Oct 26, 2019. The Intercept. “U.S. Relations With Syria: Bilateral Relations Fact Sheet.” Jan 20, 2021. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. “Behind the Sudden Death of a $1 Billion Secret C.I.A. War in Syria.” Mark Mazzetti et al. Aug 2, 2017. The New York Times. “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.” C. J. Chivers and Eric Schmitt. Mar 24, 2013. The New York Times. Government Funding “House Passes 2023 Government Funding Legislation.” Dec 23, 2022. House Appropriations Committee Democrats. “Division C - Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2023.” Senate Appropriations Committee. Jen's highlighted version “Division K - Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023.” Senate Appropriations Committee. Laws H.R.2617 - Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 H.R.7776 - James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 Jen's highlighted version Bills H.R. 8711 - United States-Ecuador Partnership Act of 2022 S. 3591 - United States-Ecuador Partnership Act of 2022 Audio Sources A conversation with General Laura J. Richardson on security across the Americas January 19, 2023 The Atlantic Council Clips 17:51 Gen. Laura Richardson: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has been ongoing for the last over a decade in this region, 21 of 31 countries have signed on to this Belt and Road Initiative. I could take Argentina last January, the most recent signatory on to the Belt and Road Initiative, and $23 billion in infrastructure projects that signatory and signing on to that. But again, 21 of 31 countries. There are 25 countries that actually have infrastructure projects by the PRC. Four that aren't signatories of the BRI, but they do actually have projects within their countries. But not just that. Deepwater ports in 17 countries. I mean, this is critical infrastructure that's being invested in. I have the most space enabling infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere in Latin America and the Caribbean. And I just caused question, you know, why? Why is all of this critical infrastructure being invested in so heavily? In terms of telecommunications, 5G, I've got five countries with the 5G backbone in this region. I've got 24 countries with the PRC Huawei 3G-4G. Five countries have the Huawei backbone infrastructure. If I had to guess, they'll probably be offered a discount to upgrade and stay within the same PRC network. And so very, very concerning as we work with our countries. 20:00 Gen. Laura Richardson: What I'm starting to see as well is that this economy...the economy impacts to these partner nations is affecting their ability to buy equipment. And you know, as I work with our partner nations, and they invest in U.S. equipment, which is the best equipment, I must say I am a little biased, but it is the best equipment, they also buy into the supply chain of spare parts, and all those kinds of things that help to sustain this piece of equipment over many, many years. So in terms of the investment that they're getting, and that equipment to be able to stay operational, and the readiness of it, is very, very important. But now these partner nations, due to the impacts of their economy, are starting to look at the financing that goes along with it. Not necessarily the quality of the equipment, but who has the best finance deal because they can't afford it so much up front. 24:15 Gen. Laura Richardson: This region, why this region matters, with all of its rich resources and rare earth elements. You've got the lithium triangle which is needed for technology today. 60% of the world's lithium is in the lithium triangle: Argentina Bolivia, Chile. You just have the largest oil reserves -- light, sweet, crude -- discovered off of Guyana over a year ago. You have Venezuela's resources as well with oil, copper, gold. China gets 36% of its food source from this region. We have the Amazon, lungs of the world. We have 31% of the world's freshwater in this region too. I mean, it's just off the chart. 28:10 Gen. Laura Richardson: You know, you gotta question, why are they investing so heavily everywhere else across the planet? I worry about these dual-use state-owned enterprises that pop up from the PRC, and I worry about the dual use capability being able to flip them around and use them for military use. 33:30 Interviewer: Russia can't have the ability to provide many of these countries with resupply or new weapons. I mean, they're struggling to supply themselves, in many cases, for Ukraine. So is that presenting an opportunity for maybe the US to slide in? Gen. Laura Richardson: It is, absolutely and we're taking advantage of that, I'd like to say. So, we are working with those countries that have the Russian equipment to either donate or switch it out for United States equipment. or you Interviewer: Are countries taking the....? Gen. Laura Richardson: They are, yeah. 45:25 Gen. Laura Richardson: National Guard State Partnership Program is huge. We have the largest National Guard State Partnership Program. It has come up a couple of times with Ukraine. Ukraine has the State Partnership Program with California. How do we initially start our great coordination with Ukraine? It was leveraged to the National Guard State Partnership Program that California had. But I have the largest out of any of the CoCOMMs. I have 24 state partnership programs utilize those to the nth degree in terms of another lever. 48:25 Gen. Laura Richardson: Just yesterday I had a zoom call with the U.S. Ambassadors from Argentina and Chile and then also the strategy officer from Levant and then also the VP for Global Operations from Albermarle for lithium, to talk about the lithium triangle in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile and the companies, how they're doing and what they see in terms of challenges and things like that in the lithium business and then the aggressiveness or the influence and coercion from the PRC. House Session June 15, 2022 Clips Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): The GAO found that the LCS had experienced engine failure in 10 of the 11 deployments reviewed. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): One major reason for the excessive costs of LCS: contractors. Unlike other ships where sailors do the maintenance, LCS relies almost exclusively on contractors who own and control the technical data needed to maintain and repair. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): Our top priority and national defense strategy is China and Russia. We can't waste scarce funds on costly LCS when there are more capable platforms like destroyers, attack submarines, and the new constellation class frigate. A review of the President's Fiscal Year 2023 funding request and budget justification for the Navy and Marine Corps May 25, 2022 Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Carlos Del Toro, Secretary, United States Navy Admiral Michael M. Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations General David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps Clips Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS): I think the christening was just a few years ago...maybe three or so. So the fact that we christened the ship one year and a few years later we're decommissioning troubles me. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS): Are there not other uses, if there's something missing from this class of ships, that we would avoid decommissioning? Adm. Michael Gilday: We need a capable, lethal, ready Navy more than we need a larger Navy that's less capable, less lethal, and less ready. And so, unfortunately the Littoral combat ships that we have, while the mechanical issues were a factor, a bigger factor was was the lack of sufficient warfighting capability against a peer competitor in China. Adm. Michael Gilday: And so we refuse to put an additional dollar against that system that wouldn't match the Chinese undersea threat. Adm. Michael Gilday: In terms of what are the options going forward with these ships, I would offer to the subcommittee that we should consider offering these ships to other countries that would be able to use them effectively. There are countries in South America, as an example, as you pointed out, that would be able to use these ships that have small crews. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary ofDefense Lloyd J. Austin III Remarks to Traveling Press April 25, 2022 China's Role in Latin America and the Caribbean March 31, 2022 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Kerri Hannan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Policy, Planning, and Coordination, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Peter Natiello, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Latin America and Caribbean Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development Andrew M. Herscowitz, Chief Development Officer, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Margaret Myers, Director of the Asia & Latin America Program, Inter-American Dialogue Evan Ellis, Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies Clips 24:20 Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA): Ecuador for example, nearly 20 years ago, former President Rafael Correa promised modernization for Ecuador, embracing Chinese loans and infrastructure projects in exchange for its oil. Fast forward to today. Ecuador now lives with the Chinese financed and built dam that's not fully operational despite being opened in 2016. The Coca Codo Sinclair Dam required over 7000 repairs, it sits right next to an active volcano, and erosion continues to damage the dam. The dam also caused an oil spill in 2020 that has impacted indigenous communities living downstream. And all that's on top of the billions of dollars that Ecuador still owes China. 56:40 Peter Natiello: One example that I could provide is work that we've done in Ecuador, with Ecuadorian journalists, to investigate, to analyze and to report on the issue of illegal and unregulated fishing off Ecuador's coast. And we do that because we want to ensure that Ecuadorian citizens have fact-based information upon which they can make decisions about China and countries like China, and whether they want their country working with them. 1:23:45 Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): There are 86 million tons of identified lithium resources on the planet. On the planet. 49 million of the 86 million are in the Golden Triangle. That's Argentina, Bolivia, Chile. So what's our plan? 1:54:10 Evan Ellis: In security engagement, the PRC is a significant provider of military goods to the region including fighters, transport aircraft, and radars for Venezuela; helicopters and armored vehicles for Bolivia; and military trucks for Ecuador. 2:00:00 Margaret Myers: Ecuador is perhaps the best example here of a country that has begun to come to terms with the challenges associated with doing business with or interacting from a financial or investment perspective with China. And one need only travel the road from the airport to Quito where every day there are a lot of accidents because of challenges with the actual engineering of that road to know why many Ecuadorians feel this way. Examining U.S. Security Cooperation and Assistance March 10, 2022 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Watch Full Hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Jessica Lewis, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State Mara Elizabeth Karlin, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, U.S. Department of Defense Clips 1:23:17 Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): According to one study, the DoD manages 48 of the 50 new security assistance programs that were created after the 9/11 attacks and out of the 170 existing security assistance programs today, DOD manages 87, a whopping 81% of those programs. That is a fundamental transition from the way in which we used to manage security assistance. And my worry is that it takes out of the equation the people who have the clearest and most important visibility on the ground as to the impact of that security assistance and those transfers. Sen. Chris Murphy: We just spent $87 billion in military assistance over 20 years in Afghanistan. And the army that we supported went up in smoke overnight. That is an extraordinary waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars, and it mirrors a smaller but similar investment we made from 2003 to 2014 in the Iraqi military, who disintegrated when they faced the prospect of a fight against ISIS. Clearly, there is something very wrong with the way in which we are flowing military assistance to partner countries, especially in complicated war zones. You've got a minute and 10 seconds, so maybe you can just preview some lessons that we have learned, or the process by which we are going to learn lessons from all of the money that we have wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jessica Lewis: Senator, I'll be brief so that Dr. Karlin can jump in as well. I think we do need to learn lessons. We need to make sure, as I was just saying to Senator Cardin, that when we provide security assistance, we also look not just at train and equip, but we look at other things like how the Ministries of Defense operate? Is their security sector governant? Are we creating an infrastructure that's going to actually work? Mara Elizabeth Karlin: Thank you for raising this issue, Senator. And I can assure you that the Department of Defense is in the process of commissioning a study on this exact issue. I will just say in line with Assistant Secretary Lewis, it is really important that when we look at these efforts, we spend time assessing political will and we do not take an Excel spreadsheet approach to building partner militaries that misses the higher order issues that are deeply relevant to security sector governance, that will fundamentally show us the extent to which we can ultimately be successful or not with a partner. Thank you. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): You know, in Iraq, last time I was there, we were spending four times as much money on security assistance as we were on non-security assistance. And what Afghanistan taught us amongst many things, is that if you have a fundamentally corrupt government, then all the money you're flowing into the military is likely wasted in the end because that government can't stand and thus the military can't stand. So it also speaks to rebalancing the way in which we put money into conflict zones, to not think that military assistance alone does the job. You got to be building sustainable governments that serve the public interests in order to make your security assistance matter and be effective. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. National Security Challenges and U.S. Military Activity in North and South America March 8, 2022 House Armed Services Committee Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Melissa G. Dalton, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Office of the Secretary of Defense General Laura Richardson, USA, Commander, U.S. Southern Command General Glen D. VanHerck, USAF, Commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command Clips 17:30 General Laura Richardson: Colombia, for example, our strongest partner in the region, exports security by training other Latin American militaries to counter transnational threats. 1:20:00 General Laura Richardson: If I look at what PRC (People's Republic of China) is investing in the [SOUTHCOM] AOR (Area of Responsibility), over a five year period of 2017 to 2021: $72 billion. It's off the charts. And I can read a couple of the projects. The most concerning projects that I have are the $6 billion in projects specifically near the Panama Canal. And I look at the strategic lines of communication: Panama Canal and the Strait of Magellan. But just to highlight a couple of the projects. The nuclear power plant in Argentina: $7.9 billion. The highway in Jamaica: $5.6 billion. The energy refinery in Cuba, $5 billion. The highway in Peru: $4 billion. Energy dam in Argentina: $4 billion, the Metro in Colombia: $3.9 billion. The freight railway in Argentina: $3 billion. These are not small projects that they're putting in this region. This region is rich in resources, and the Chinese don't go there to invest, they go there to extract. All of these projects are done with Chinese labor with host nation countries'. U.S. Policy on Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean November 30, 2021 Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Watch full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Brian A. Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State Todd D. Robinson, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. Department of State Clips 1:47:15 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): I'd like to start with Mexico. I am increasingly concerned that the Mexican government is engaged in a systematic campaign to undermine American companies, and especially American energy companies that have invested in our shared prosperity and in the future of the Mexican people and economy. Over the past five months, Mexican regulators have shut down three privately owned fuel storage terminals. Among those they shut down a fuel terminal and Tuxpan, which is run by an American company based in Texas, and which transports fuel on ships owned by American companies. This is a pattern of sustained discrimination against American companies. And I worry that the Mexican government's ultimate aim is to roll back the country's historic 2013 energy sector liberalisation reforms in favor of Mexico's mismanaged and failing state-owned energy companies. The only way the Mexican government is going to slow and reverse their campaign is if the United States Government conveys clearly and candidly that their efforts pose a serious threat to our relationship and to our shared economic interests. 2:01:50 Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): Mr. Nichols, can you can you just be a little more specific about the tactics of the GEC? What are some of the specific activities they're doing? And what more would you like to see them do? Brian A. Nichols: The Global Engagement Center both measures public opinion and social media trends throughout the world. They actively work to counter false messages from our strategic competitors. And they prepare media products or talking points that our embassies and consulates around the hemisphere can use to combat disinformation. I think they do a great job. Obviously, it's a huge task. So the the resources that they have to bring to bear to this limit, somewhat, the ability to accomplish those goals, but I think they're doing vital, vital work. 2:13:30 Todd D. Robinson: We are, INL (International Narcotics and Law Enforcement) are working very closely with the Haitian National Police, the new Director General, we are going to send in advisors. When I was there two weeks ago, I arrived with -- they'd asked for greater ability to get police around the city -- I showed up with 19 new vehicles, 200 new protective vests for the police. The 19 was the first installment of a total of 60 that we're going to deliver to the Haitian National Police. We're gonna get advisors down there to work with the new SWAT team to start taking back the areas that have been taken from ordinary Haitians. But it's going to be a process and it's going to take some time. Sen. Bob Menendez: Well, first of all, is the Haitian National Police actually an institution capable of delivering the type of security that Hatians deserve? Todd D. Robinson: We believe it is. It's an institution that we have worked with in the past. There was a small brief moment where Haitians actually acknowledged that the Haitian National Police had gotten better and was more professional. Our goal, our long term goal is to try to bring it back to that Sen. Bob Menendez: How much time before we get security on the ground? Todd D. Robinson: I can't say exactly but we are working as fast as we can. Sen. Bob Menendez: Months, years? Todd D. Robinson: Well, I would hope we could do it in less than months. But we're working as fast as we can. Global Challenges and U.S. National Security Strategy January 25, 2018 Senate Committee on Armed Services Watch the full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman of Kissinger Associates and Former Secretary of State Dr. George P. Shultz, Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Former Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, President, Armitage International and Former Deputy Secretary of State Clips Dr. George Shultz: Small platforms will carry a very destructive power. Then you can put these small platforms on drones. And drones can be manufactured easily, and you can have a great many of them inexpensively. So then you can have a swarm armed with lethal equipment. Any fixed target is a real target. So an airfield where our Air Force stores planes is a very vulnerable target. A ship at anchor is a vulnerable target. So you've got to think about that in terms of how you deploy. And in terms of the drones, while such a system cannot be jammed, it would only serve to get a drone—talking about getting a drone to the area of where its target is, but that sure could hit a specific target. At that point, the optical systems guided by artificial intelligence could use on-board, multi-spectral imaging to find a target and guide the weapons. It is exactly that autonomy that makes the technologic convergence a threat today. Because such drones will require no external input other than the signature of the designed target, they will not be vulnerable to jamming. Not requiring human intervention, the autonomous platforms will also be able to operate in very large numbers. Dr. George Shultz: I think there's a great lesson here for what we do in NATO to contain Russia because you can deploy these things in boxes so you don't even know what they are and on trucks and train people to unload quickly and fire. So it's a huge deterrent capability that is available, and it's inexpensive enough so that we can expect our allies to pitch in and get them for themselves. Dr. George Shultz: The creative use of swarms of autonomous drones to augment current forces would strongly and relatively cheaply reinforce NATO, as I said, that deterrence. If NATO assists frontline states in fielding large numbers of inexpensive autonomous drones that are pre-packaged in standard 20-foot containers, the weapons can be stored in sites across the countries under the control of reserve forces. If the weapons are pre-packaged and stored, the national forces can quickly deploy the weapons to delay a Russian advance. So what's happening is you have small, cheap, and highly lethal replacing large, expensive platforms. And this change is coming about with great rapidity, and it is massively important to take it into account in anything that you are thinking about doing. Foreign Military Sales: Process and Policy June 15, 2017 House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade Watch the full hearing on YouTube Witnesses: Tina Kaidanow, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State Vice Admiral Joseph Rixey, Director, U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency Clips 14:40 Tina Kaidanow: Arms Transfers constitute an element of foreign policy. We therefore take into account foreign policy considerations as we contemplate each arms transfer or sale, including specifically, the appropriateness of the transfer in responding to U.S and recipient security needs; the degree to which the transfer supports U.S. strategic foreign policy and defense interests through increased access and influence; allied burden sharing and interoperability; consistency with U.S. interests regarding regional stability; the degree of protection afforded by the recipient company to our sensitive technology; the risk that significant change in the political or security situation of the recipient country could lead to inappropriate end use or transfer; and the likelihood that the recipient would use the arms to commit human rights abuses or serious violations of international humanitarian law, or retransfer the arms to those who would commit such abuses. As a second key point, arms transfers support the U.S. Defense industrial base and they reduce the cost of procurement for our own U.S. military. Purchases made through the Foreign Military Sales, known as the FMS, system often can be combined with our Defense Department orders to reduce unit costs. Beyond this, the US defense industry directly employs over 1.7 million people across our nation. 20:20 Vice Admiral Joseph Rixey: FMS is the government-to-government process through which the U.S. government purchases defense articles, training, and services on behalf of foreign governments, authorized in the Arms Export Control Act. FMS is a long standing security cooperation program that supports partner and regional security, enhances military-to-military cooperation, enables interoperability and develops and maintains international relationships. Through the FMS process, the US government determines whether or not the sale is of mutual benefit to us and the partner, whether the technology can and will be protected, and whether the transfer is consistent with U.S. conventional arms transfer policy. The FMS system is actually a set of systems in which the Department of State, Department of Defense, and Congress play critical roles. The Department of Defense in particular executes a number of different processes including the management of the FMS case lifecycle which is overseen by DSCA (Defense Security Cooperation Agency). Technology transfer reviews, overseen by the Defense Technology Security Administration, and the management of the Defense Acquisition and Logistics Systems, overseen by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, and the military departments. This process, or a version of it, also serves us well, in the DoD Title X Building Partnership Capacity arena, where the process of building a case, validating a requirement and exercising our U.S. acquisition system to deliver capability is modeled on the FMS system. I want to say clearly that overall the system is performing very well. The United States continues to remain the provider of choice for our international partners, with 1,700 new cases implemented in Fiscal Year 2016 alone. These new cases, combined with adjustments to existing programs, equated to more than $33 billion in sales last year. This included over $25 billion in cases funded by our partner nations' own funds and approximately $8 billion in cases funded by DOD Title X program or Department of State's Appropriations. Most FMS cases move through the process relatively quickly. But some may move more slowly as we engage in deliberate review to ensure that the necessary arms transfer criteria are met. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

On "EWTN News Nightly" tonight: A federal court will hold another hearing tomorrow about the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Florida estate. Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Ken Cuccinelli, joins to share how important he thinks it is for Americans to have the opportunity to read the affidavit and understand the justification behind the raid at Mar-A-Lago. The former president is weighing in on Tuesday's Primary Elections. Wyoming saw congressional lawmaker, Republican Liz Cheney, lose her job. The road to the midterm elections is heating up as several races will decide control of the US House. One such race is Virginia's 2nd Congressional district between 2 term Democrat Incumbent Congresswoman Elaine Luria and Virginia State Senator Jen Kiggans. Kiggans explains how her Catholic faith guides her votes. Meanwhile, the United Nations projects the population will peak at 10.4 billion people during the 2080s. Earlier estimates believed the population would peak at 10.8 billion people in the Year 2100. President of the Center for Family and Human Rights, Austin Ruse, joins to talk more about the United Nation's projection for the population. Finally this evening, a new online training program seeks to teach people about an initiative close to the heart of Pope Francis. Theologian, professor and member of the Laudato Si' Movement, Erin Lothes, joins to tell us more about this course. Don't miss out on the latest news and analysis from a Catholic perspective. Get EWTN News Nightly delivered to your email: https://ewtn.com/enn

On "EWTN News Nightly" tonight: President Joe Biden, who “is fully vaccinated and twice boosted” has contracted COVID-19. The White House physician to the president says, “President Biden is currently experiencing mild symptoms” and is being treated with PAXLOVID. This week, the US House passed bills codifying same-sex marriage and ensuring women's access to contraception. Some Senate Republicans believe promoting healthy mothers and stable families is the way to go. And a new poll shows that a pro-life amendment on the ballot next month in Kansas is holding a narrow lead. EWTN News Contributor Catherine Hadro sat down with Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann to hear why the Value Them Both Amendment is critical for Kansas and the nation. At least 2 people have been indicted in the case of a truck found last month in Texas with more than 50 dead or dying migrants inside. Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Ken Cuccinelli, joins to share what more is known about this case. Meanwhile, families are gathering this week in a small town in Austria to celebrate their Catholic faith. EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief, Andreas Thonhauser, joins us from the retreat in Austria. Finally this evening, renovations are underway at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Program director for the shrine, Tony Dilulio, joins to tell us more about the renovations and what visitors can expect to see at the museum. Don't miss out on the latest news and analysis from a Catholic perspective. Get EWTN News Nightly delivered to your email: https://ewtn.com/enn

Kathleen Merrigan authored the law establishing standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture. On this week's episode, she talks with Ron about her life's work, including her time in USDA, where she led the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative to support local food systems, and was a key architect of Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” campaign. In 2010, Kathleen was celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently, she serves as the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the School of Sustainability and executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. Before that, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability at the George Washington University. From 2009 to 2013, Kathleen was deputy secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture. And, was the first woman to chair the Ministerial Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Prior to USDA, she was a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Kathleen is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and a Trustee of CIFOR and ICRAF. She is a partner in Astanor Ventures and an advisor to S2G Ventures, two firms investing in ag-tech innovation. Merrigan holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MPA from University of Texas at Austin, and BA from Williams College. The interview was conducted on Feb. 10, 2016. Additional links this episode: National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive U.S. Department of Agriculture -------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify, Audible, Apple, Google, and more. Catch past episodes, a transcript, and show notes at cfra.org/SustainbleAgPodcast.

Having addressed the criticism of past failings and yet acknowledging the indispensability of the institution, how can the UN in the foreseeable future maintain peace in the world order?“For 70 years The United Nations knew how to safeguard peace but not to broker peace. That's a big big difference and there is a misinterpretation. Not of the role but of the capabilities of the United Nations to be on the negotiating table of how to make peace between enemies.”, says Daniel Carmon, Former Ambassador of Israel to IndiaJoin us in the second part of this two-part Raisina Dialogue podcast episode, where we analyse the function of the United Nations, the overarching issue of disproportionate group dynamics among member states and weakening sovereignty. In a world where powerful countries are increasingly driven by domestic politics, multilateral organizations need to reinvent themselves.Speakers:Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, ArmeniaDaniel Carmon, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Israel; Former Ambassador of Israel to IndiaLakshmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations, IndiaCharles Kupchan, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University, United StatesJane Holl Lute, Former Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United StatesModerator: Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, IndiaThe Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters.The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs.

Having addressed the criticism of past failings and yet acknowledging the indispensability of the institution, how can the UN in the foreseeable future maintain peace in the world order? “For 70 years The United Nations knew how to safeguard peace but not to broker peace. That's a big big difference and there is a misinterpretation. Not of the role but of the capabilities of the United Nations to be on the negotiating table of how to make peace between enemies.”, says Daniel Carmon, Former Ambassador of Israel to India Join us in the second part of this two-part Raisina Dialogue podcast episode, where we analyse the function of the United Nations, the overarching issue of disproportionate group dynamics among member states and weakening sovereignty. In a world where powerful countries are increasingly driven by domestic politics, multilateral organizations need to reinvent themselves. Speakers: Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Armenia Daniel Carmon, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Israel; Former Ambassador of Israel to India Lakshmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations, India Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University, United States Jane Holl Lute, Former Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States Moderator: Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, India The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters. The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs. #Raisina2022 #UnitedNations #UN #multipolar #geopolitics #newworldorder #UkraineWar #RussiaUkraineWar #RaisinaDialogue #ORF #Europe #China #Asia #IndoPacific #covid #19 #Afghanistan For More ORF Podcast Click Here: www.orfonline.org/podcasts/

This year the UN celebrated its 77th Anniversary amidst an unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic, the Afghanistan political crisis and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. In the first part of this two-part Raisina Dialogue episode, we analyse the significance and influence of institutions like the United Nations in a multipolar world which is facing multilateral challenges. With the ongoing crises, the UN has come under serious criticism for failing to demonstrate a positive image of its role. “The UN is just a little more than the sum of the power dynamics of the most influential member states, so how they act or not is going to determine the effectiveness of the UN” states Laksmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations, India. Will the UN go the way of its predecessor, the League of Nations, and sink into the abyss of history as an irrelevant failure or will it aggressively reform and respond to the challenges of today? Speakers: Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, ArmeniaDaniel Carmon, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Israel; Former Ambassador of Israel to IndiaLakshmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations, IndiaCharles Kupchan, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University, United StatesJane Holl Lute, Former Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United StatesModerator: Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, IndiaThe Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters. The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs.

This year the UN celebrated its 77th Anniversary amidst an unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic, the Afghanistan political crisis and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. In the first part of this two-part Raisina Dialogue episode, we analyse the significance and influence of institutions like the United Nations in a multipolar world which is facing multilateral challenges. With the ongoing crises, the UN has come under serious criticism for failing to demonstrate a positive image of its role. “The UN is just a little more than the sum of the power dynamics of the most influential member states, so how they act or not is going to determine the effectiveness of the UN” states Laksmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations, India. Will the UN go the way of its predecessor, the League of Nations, and sink into the abyss of history as an irrelevant failure or will it aggressively reform and respond to the challenges of today? Speakers: Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Armenia Daniel Carmon, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Israel; Former Ambassador of Israel to India Lakshmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations, India Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University, United States Jane Holl Lute, Former Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, United States Moderator: Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, India The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters. The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs.

Freeing up Australia's immigration system could be a key to unlocking the labour shortage problem.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The organic ecosystem is as varied and complex as the U.S landscape. The industry faces a number of challenges including consumer confusion around what organic means, input and product shortages in organic supply chains, competition from new environmental labels, and the concern that some NOP rules are limiting further growth and innovation that has been achieved in other markets.  In this episode, I'm joined by Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director and Professor at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems Arizona State University and the Former Deputy Secretary of USDA, to talk about the complexity of organic and the potential for its future.   Join us as we discuss: The definition and standards of organic,  How does sustainable agriculture and vertical farming fit in Acceptance of biotechnology and genome technology in organic agriculture  Resources: Organic Trade Association  The Critical To-Do List for Organic Agriculture: 46 Recommendations for the President 

The organic ecosystem is as varied and complex as the U.S landscape. The industry faces a number of challenges including consumer confusion around what organic means, input and product shortages in organic supply chains, competition from new environmental labels, and the concern that some NOP rules are limiting further growth and innovation that has been achieved in other markets.  In this episode, I'm joined by Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director and Professor at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems Arizona State University and the Former Deputy Secretary of USDA, to talk about the complexity of organic and the potential for its future.   Join us as we discuss: The definition and standards of organic,  How does sustainable agriculture and vertical farming fit in Acceptance of biotechnology and genome technology in organic agriculture  Resources: Organic Trade Association  The Critical To-Do List for Organic Agriculture: 46 Recommendations for the President 

On today's episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, the CIA hires its first-ever chief technology officer. The Department of Homeland Security is sorting through about 122 cyber vulnerabilities found during the “Hack DHS” program. Chris Cummiskey, CEO at Cummiskey Strategic Solutions and former acting undersecretary for management at the Department of Homeland Security, explains why these bug bounty programs are important for government organizations. The CIO-SP4 contract from the National Institutes of Health can move forward now. Terry Halvorsen, general manager for IBM's federal market organization and former chief information officer at the Department of Defense and Navy, discusses the hurdles in the contracting process that slows down transformation efforts across government. The Department of Defense has its first chief digital and artificial intelligence officer. Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work gives his takeaways at the start of the CDAO effort in the Pentagon. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every weekday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. And if you like what you hear, please let us know in the comments.

Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli talks to Rita about the nearly two dozen people on the terrorist watchlist being stopped at the US Southern border. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 15, 2022 ~ Full Show. Former Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun discusses the latest in the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Attorney Ven Johnson is representing the family of Patrick Lyoya, the man killed by a Grand Rapids police officer on a video released earlier this week, he joins the show. Senior News Analyst Marie Osborne tells us about a new breath test for COVID-19. Nolan Finley from the Detroit News advocates fort eh Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act. Senior News Analyst Chris Renwick with the latest on Elon Musk's quest to buy Twitter and Tim Travis, Past President of the Pontiac Rotary Club tells us about his effort to plant 100 trees.

The infrastructure law provides the most significant investment in passenger rail in U.S. history, but substantial hurdles - including a powerful cartel - stand firmly in the way of a real national network. In this episode, learn the ways the infrastructure law paves the way for a better future for passenger rail along with the significant obstacles that it failed to address. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish YouTube Video What is the World Trade System? Contributors to Supply Chain Issues Matthew Jinoo Buck. February 4, 2022. “How America's Supply Chains Got Railroaded.” The American Prospect. “Cartel.” Merriam-Webster.com. 2022. “Energy Group Joins Shippers Alleging Price Fixing in Rail Transport.” January 6, 2020. The Houston Chronicle. Testimony of Dennis R. Pierce. Passenger and Freight Rail: The Current Status of the Rail Network and the Track Ahead. October 21, 2020. 116th Cong. U.S. Internal Revenue Service. December 31, 2019. “IRS issues standard mileage rates for 2020.” Dangers of Monster Trains and Rail Profiteering Aaron Gordon. Mar 22, 2021. “‘It's Going to End Up Like Boeing': How Freight Rail Is Courting Catastrophe.” Vice. U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Dec 29, 2020. “Accident Report: Collision of Union Pacific Railroad Train MGRCY04 with a Stationary Train, Granite Canyon, Wyoming, October 4, 2018” [NTSB/RAR-20/05 / PB2020-101016.] Marybeth Luczak. Nov 30, 2020. “Transport Canada Updates Rail Employee Fatigue Rules.” Railway Age. U.S. Government Accountability Office. May 30, 2019. “Rail Safety: Freight Trains Are Getting Longer, and Additional Information Is Needed to Assess Their Impact” [GAO-19-443.] Christina M. Rudin-Brown, Sarah Harris, and Ari Rosberg. May 2019. “How shift scheduling practices contribute to fatigue amongst freight rail operating employees: Findings from Canadian accident investigations.” Accident Analysis and Prevention. Jessica Murphy. Jan 19, 2018. “Lac-Megantic: The runaway train that destroyed a town.” BBC. Eric M. Johnson. Dec 6, 2017. “Growing length of U.S. freight trains in federal crosshairs after crashes: GAO.” Reuters. Cumberland Times-News. Aug 12, 2017. “Last of Hyndman's evacuated residents return home.” The Tribune Democrat. Jeffrey Alderton. Aug 5, 2017. “Propane fire out at Hyndman train crash site, residents await news of when they can return.” The Tribune Democrat. Jeffrey Alderton. Aug 3, 2017. “Train derailment destroys Bedford County home, forces evacuation.” The Tribune Democrat. New Jersey Department of Health. Revised June 2011. “Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet: Sodium Chlorate.” Stephen Joiner. Feb 11, 2010 “Is Bigger Better? 'Monster' Trains vs Freight Trains.” Popular Mechanics. Lobbying and Corruption “CSX Corp: Recipients.” 2020. Open Secrets. CSX Corporation Lobbying Report. 2020. Senate.gov. “Union Pacific Corp: Summary.” 2020. Open Secrets. “Union Pacific Corp: Members Invested.” 2018. Open Secrets. Union Pacific Corporation Lobbying Report. 2020. Senate.gov. What you really pay for TV Gavin Bridge. Oct 27, 2020. “The True Cost to Consumers of Pay TV's Top Channels.” Variety. Laws H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Sponsor: Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) Status: Became Public Law No. 117-58 Law Outline DIVISION A: SURFACE TRANSPORTATION TITLE I - FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAYS Subtitle A - Authorizations and Programs Sec. 11101: Authorization of appropriations Authorizes appropriations for Federal-Aid for highways at between $52 billion and $56 billion per year through fiscal year 2026 (over $273 billion total). Authorizes $300 million for "charging and fueling infrastructure grants" for 2022, which increases by $100 million per year (maxing out at $700 million in 2026) Authorizes between $25 million and $30 million per year for "community resilience and evacuation route grants" on top of equal amounts for "at risk coastal infrastructure grants" Authorizes a total of $6.53 billion (from two funds) for the bridge investment program Sec. 11102: Obligation ceiling Caps the annual total funding from all laws (with many exceptions) that can be spent on Federal highway programs. Total through 2026: $300.3 billion Sec. 11109: Surface transportation block grant program: Allows money from the surface transportation block grant program to be used for "planning and construction" of projects that "facilitate intermodel connections between emerging transportation technologies", specifically naming the hyperloop Sec. 11508: Requirements for Transportation Projects Carried Out Through Public Private Partnerships For projects that cost $100 million or more, before entering into a contract with a private company, the government partner has to conduct a "value for money analysis" of the partnership. Three years after a project is opened to traffic, the government partner has to review the compliance of the private company and either certify their compliance or report to the Secretary of Transportation the details of the violation. The certifications or violation notifications must be publicly available "in a form that does not disclose any proprietary or confidential business information." DIVISION B - SURFACE TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT ACT OF 2021 TITLE I - MULTIMODAL AND FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION Subtitle A - Multimodal Freight Policy Sec. 21101: Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy Restructures/eliminates offices at the Department of Transportation to create an Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy The person in charge will be appointed by the President and has to be confirmed by the Senate Authorizes "such sums as are necessary" Subtitle B - Multimodal Investment Sec. 21201: National infrastructure project assistance Authorizes $2 billion per year until 2026 ($10 billion total) on projects that cost at least $100 million that include highways, bridges, freight rail, passenger rail, and public transportation projects. The Federal government will pay a maximum of 80% of the project costs. Sec. 21202: Local and regional project assistance Authorizes $1.5 billion per year until 2026 ($7.5 billion) (which will expire after 3 years) for grants for local transportation projects in amounts between $1 million and $25 million for projects that include highway, bridge, public transportation, passenger and freight rail, port infrastructure, surface transportation at airports, and more. Sec. 21203: National culvert removal, replacement, and restoration grant program Authorizes $800 million per year through 2026 ($4 billion) for grants for projects that replace, remove, or repair culverts (water channels) that improve or restore passages for fish. Subtitle C - Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Reforms TITLE II - RAIL Subtitle A - Authorization of Appropriations Sec. 22101: Grants to Amtrak Authorizes appropriations for Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor at between $1.1 billion and $1.57 billion per year through 2026 ($6.57 billion total). Authorizes appropriations for Amtrak in the National Network at between $2.2 billion and $3 billion per year through 2026 ($12.65 billion total). Sec. 22103: Consolidated rail infrastructure and safety improvements grants Authorizes $1 billion per year through 2026 ($5 billion total) for rail infrastructure safety improvement grants Sec. 22104: Railroad crossing elimination program Authorizes $500 million per year through 2016 ($2.5 billion total) for the elimination of railroad crossings Sec. 22106: Federal-State partnership for intercity passenger rail grants Authorizes $1.5 billion per year through 2026 ($7.5 billion total) for grants to states to expand intercity passenger rail grants Subtitle B - Amtrak Reforms Sec. 22201: Amtrak findings, mission, and goals Changes the goal of cooperation between Amtrak, governments, & other rail carriers from "to achieve a performance level sufficient to justify expending public money" to "in order to meet the intercity passenger rail needs of the United States" and expands the service areas beyond "urban" locations. Changes the goals of Amtrak to include... "Improving its contracts with rail carriers over whose tracks Amtrak operates." "Offering competitive fares" "Increasing revenue from the transportation of mail and express" "Encourages" Amtrak to make agreement with private companies that will generate additional revenue Sec. 22203: Station agents Requires that at least one Amtrak ticket agent works at each station, unless there is a commuter rail agent who has the authority to sell Amtrak tickets Sec. 22208: Passenger Experience Enhancement Removes the requirement that Amtrak's food and beverage service financially break even in order to be offered on its trains Creates a working group to make recommendations about how to improve the onboard food and beverage service The report must be complete within one year of the working group's formation After the report is complete, Amtrak must create a plan to implementing the working group's recommendations and/or tell Congress in writing why they will not implement the recommendations The plan can not include Amtrak employee layoffs Sec . 22209: Amtrak smoking policy Requires Amtrak to prohibit smoking - including electronic cigarettes - on all Amtrak trains Sec. 22210: Protecting Amtrak routes through rural communities Prohibits Amtrak from cutting or reducing service to a rail route if they receive adequate Federal funding for that route Sec. 22213: Creating Quality Jobs Amtrak will not be allowed to privatize the jobs previously performed by laid off union workers. Sec. 22214: Amtrak Daily Long Distance Study Authorizes $15 million for an Amtrak study on bringing back long distance rail routes that were discontinued. Subtitle C - Intercity Passenger Rail Policy Sec. 22304: Restoration and Enhancement Grants Extends the amount of time the government will pay the operating costs of Amtrak or "any rail carrier" partnered with Amtrak or a government agency that provides passenger rail service from 3 years to 6 years, and pays higher percentages of the the costs. Sec. 22305: Railroad crossing elimination program Creates a program to eliminate highway-rail crossings where vehicles are frequently stopped by trains Authorizes the construction on tunnels and bridges Requires the government agency in charge of the project to "obtain the necessary approvals from any impacted rail carriers or real property owners before proceeding with the construction of a project" Each grant will be for at least $1 million each The Federal government will pay no more than 80% of the project's cost Sec. 22306: Interstate rail compacts Authorizes up to 10 grants per year valued at a maximum of $1 million each to plan and promote new Amtrak routes The grant recipient will have to match the grant by at least 50% of the eligible expenses Sec. 22308: Corridor identification and development program The Secretary of Transportation will create a program for public entities to plan for expanded intercity passenger rail corridors (which are routes that are less than 750 miles), operated by Amtrak or private companies. When developing plans for corridors, the Secretary has to "consult" with "host railroads for the proposed corridor" Subtitle D - Rail Safety Sec. 22404: Blocked Crossing Portal The Administration of the Federal Railroad Administration would establish a "3 year blocked crossing portal" which would collect information about blocked crossing by trains from the public and first responders and provide every person submitting the complaint the contact information of the "relevant railroad" and would "encourage" them to complain to them too. Information collected would NOT be allowed to be used for any regulatory or enforcement purposes Reports to Congress will be created using the information collected Sec. 22406: Emergency Lighting The Secretary of Transportation will have to issue a rule requiring that all carriers that transport human passengers have an emergency lighting system that turns on when there is a power failure. Sec. 22408: Completion of Hours of Service and Fatigue Studies Requires the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration to start pilot programs that were supposed to be conducted no later than 2010, which will test railroad employee scheduling rules designed to reduce employee fatigue. They will test... Assigning employees to shifts with 10 hours advance notice For employees subject to being on-call, having some shifts when those employees are not subject to being on-call. If the pilot programs have not begun by around March of 2023, a report will have to be submitted to Congress explaining the challenges, including "efforts to recruit participant railroads" Sec. 22409: Positive Train Control Study The Comptroller General will conduct a study to determine the annual operation and maintenance costs for positive train control. Sec. 22418: Civil Penalty Enforcement Authority Requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide notice and an opportunity for a hearing to "persons" who violate regulations requiring railroads to report information about railroad crossings. Eliminates the minimum $500 fine for violating the regulations Allows the Attorney General to take the railroad to court to collect the penalty but prohibits the amount of the civil penalty from being reviewed by the courts. Sec. 22423: High-Speed Train Noise Emissions Allows, but does not require, the Secretary of Transportation to create regulations governing the noise levels of trains that exceed 160 mph. Sec. 22425: Requirements for railroad freight cars placed into service in the United States Effective 3 years after the regulations are complete (maximum 5 years after this becomes law), freight cars will be prohibited from operating within the United States if it has sensitive technology originating from or if more than 15% of it is manufactured in... "A country of concern" (which is defined as a country identified by the Commerce Department "as a nonmarket economy country"). Countries on the nonmarket economy list include... Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus China Georgia Kyrgyz Republic Moldova Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Vietnam A country identified by the United States Trade Representative on its priority watch list, which in 2020 included... China Indonesia India Algeria Saudi Arabia Russia Ukraine Argentina Chile Venezuela State owned enterprises The Secretary of Transportation can assess fines between $100,000 and $250,000 per freight car. A company that has been found in violation 3 times can be kicked out of the United States transportation system until they are in compliance and have paid all their fines in full. These rules will apply regardless of what was agreed to in the USMCA trade agreement. Sec. 22427: Controlled substances testing for mechanical employees 180 days after this becomes law, all railroad mechanics will be subject to drug testing, which can be conducted at random. Bills H.R.1748 - Safe Freight Act of 2019 Sponsor: Rep. Don Young (R-AK) Status: Referred to Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials 03/14/2019 Hearings Leveraging IIJA: Plans for Expanding Intercity Passenger Rail House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials December 9, 2021 During the hearing, witnesses discussed plans for expanding intercity passenger rail in their states, regions, and networks, and how the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was recently signed into law, will support these efforts. Witnesses: Stephen Gardner, President, Amtrak David Kim, Secretary, California State Transportation Agency Kevin Corbett, President and CEO of New Jersey Transit, Co-Chair, Northeast Corridor Commission, On behalf of Northeast Corridor Commission Julie White, Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation, North Carolina Department of Transportation, Commission Chair, Southeast Corridor Commission, On behalf of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the Southeast Corridor Commission Ms. Donna DeMartino, Managing Director, Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency Knox Ross, Mississippi Commission and Chair of the Southern Rail Commission Clips 8:52 - 9:12 Rep. Rick Crawford: Finally, any potential expansion of the Amtrak system must include the full input of the freight railroads on capacity and track sharing issues. The ongoing supply chain crisis only further emphasizes the value of freight railroads and efficiently moving goods across the nation. The important work the freight railroads cannot be obstructed. 16:49 - 17:10 Rep. Peter DeFazio The law is pretty clear: preference over freight transportation except in an emergency. Intercity and commuter rail passenger transportation provided for Amtrak has preference over freight transportation and using a rail line junction crossing unless the board orders otherwise under this subsection. Well, obviously that has not been observed. 22:05 - 22:24 Stephen Gardner: With the $66 billion provided to the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak we and our partners can finally have the chance to renew, improve or replace antiquated assets like the century old bridges and tunnels in the Northeast, inaccessible stations around the nation, and our vintage trains. 23:44 - 24:11 Stephen Gardner: Additionally, we'll continue to work collaboratively with our partners where they see value in working with other parties to deliver parts of their service and with new railroad entities that aim to develop or deliver their own service. We simply ask that key railroad laws like the Railway Labor Act and railway retirement apply to new entrants, that the federal government gets equity and accountability for investments it makes in private systems, and that any new services create connections with Amtrak's national network 1:25:00 - 1:25:37 Stephen Gardner: We've been working very closely with a variety of host railroads on opportunities to expand, notably Burlington Northern Santa Fe and our work to expand the Heartland Flyer service between Texas and Oklahoma and potentially extend that North to Wichita, Newton, in Colorado along the front range also with BNSF, to look at opportunities there. With Canadian Pacific we've been having really good conversations about launching a new service between the Twin Cities, Milwaukee and Chicago. Similarly, I think there's opportunities for that Baton Rouge to New Orleans service that Mr. Ross mentioned. 1:54:24 - 1:55:10 Rep. Chuy Garcia: You've each had different experiences with freight railroads as the host railroad for your respective services. What can Congress do to help you as you discuss expanding and improving passenger rail service with your freight railroad? You'll have about 15 seconds each. Knox Ross: Congressman, thank you. I think it's enforcing the will of Congress and the law that set up Amtrak in the beginning is, as the Chairman talked about, in the beginning, that people have a preference over freight. Now we understand that we all have to work together to do that. But we think there are many ways that Amtrak and other other hosts can work together with the fright to get this done, but the law has to be enforced. 1:55:14 - 1:55:30 Julie White: I would say that the money in the IIJA is going to be really important as we work, for example, on the S Line it is an FRA grant that enables us to acquire that line from CSX and enables us to grow freight rail on it at the same time as passenger. 1:58:05 - 1:58:23 Rep. Tim Burchett: Also understand that Amtrak is planning to either expand or build new rail corridors in 26 states across the country over the next 15 years and I was wondering: what makes you think Amtrak will turn a profit in any of those communities? 1:58:43 - 1:59:29 Stephen Gardner: But I would be clear here that our expectation is that these corridors do require support from states and the federal government, that they produce real value and support a lot of important transportation needs. But we measure those not necessarily by the profit of the farebox, so to speak, even though Amtrak has the highest farebox recovery of any system in the United States by far in terms of rail systems, we believe that Amtrak mission is to create mobility, mobility that creates value. We do that with as little public funding as we can, but the current services do require support investment and I think that's fair. All transportation modes require investment. 2:00:12 - 2:00:24 Rep. Tim Burchett: Since you mentioned that you needed more funding down the line, don't you think it'd be better to make your current service corridors more profit -- or just profitable before you build new ones in other parts of the country? When Unlimited Potential Meets Limited Resources: The Benefits and Challenges of High-Speed Rail and Emerging Rail Technologies House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials May 6, 2021 This hearing featured twelve witnesses from a range of perspectives, exploring the opportunities and limitations associated with high-speed rail and emerging technologies, including regulatory oversight, technology readiness, project costs, and available federal resources. Witnesses: John Porcari, Former Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Transportation Rachel Smith, President and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Phillip Washington, CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Danielle Eckert, International Representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Carbett "Trey" Duhon III, Judge in Waller County, TX Andy Kunz, President and CEO of the US High Speed Rail Association Carlos Aguilar, President and CEO of Texas Central High Speed Rail William Flynn, CEO of Amtrak Josh Giegel, CEO and Co-Founder of Virgin Hyperloop Andres de Leon, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Michal Reininger, CEO of Brightline Trains Wayne Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Northeast Maglev Clips 8:37 - 8:48 Rep. Rick Crawford: Rail is also considered one of the most fuel efficient ways to move freight. On average freight rail can move one ton of freight over 470 miles on one gallon of fuel. 18:05 - 18:46 Rep. Peter DeFazio: You know we have put aggregate with the essentially post World War Two, mostly the Eisenhower program, $2 trillion -- trillion -- into highways, invested by the federal government, a lot of money. But post World War Two $777 billion into aviation, airports, runways, air traffic control etc. And, and we have put about $90 billion total into rail. 22:45 - 23:25 John Porcari: As I evaluated ways to increase capacity in the Baltimore-New York City corridor, these were my choices: I could add air capacity between BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and New York with 90% federal funding for runway and taxiway improvements, I could add highway capacity on I-95 to New York with 80% federal funding, or add passenger rail capacity with zero federal funding for that 215 mile segment. A passenger rail trip makes far more sense than driving or flying, yet passenger rail capacity was the least likely alternative to be selected. So if you wonder why we have the unbalanced transportation system we have today, follow the money. 23:26 - 23:54 John Porcari: It's an extraordinary statement of state priorities that the California High Speed Rail Authority's 2020 Business Plan anticipates 85% of its funding from state sources and only 15% federal funding for this project of national and regional significance. This is a remarkable state financial commitment and a clear declaration of the state's project priorities. Yet there's no ongoing sustained federal financial partner for this multi year program of projects. 23:54 - 24:28 John Porcari: To match the people carrying capacity of phase one of the high speed rail system, California would need to invest $122 to $199 billion towards building almost 4200 highway lane miles, the equivalent of a new six lane highway and the construction of 91 new airport gates and two new runways. The San Francisco-Los Angeles air loop is already the ninth busiest in the world, and the busiest air route in America. Doesn't it make sense to prioritize this finite and expensive airport capacity for trans continental and international flights? 24:28 - 24:40 John Porcari: For California the 120 to 209 billion of required highway and airport capacity as an alternative to high speed rail is double the 69 to 99 billion cost estimate for phase one of the high speed rail system. 25:05 - 25:18 John Porcari: Providing real transportation choices at the local and state level requires the establishment of a Passenger Rail Trust Fund on par with our Highway Trust Fund and Airport and Airway Trust Fund. 48:00 - 48:23 Trey Duhon: Texas Central promised this project was privately financed, and everything they've done today, including the EIS was based on that. So we say let it live or die in the free market and invest our tax dollars in more equitable transportation solutions. We should not have to pay for another train to nowhere while having our communities destroyed by the very tax dollars that we work hard to contribute. 49:48 - 50:42 Andy Kunz: High Speed Rail can unlock numerous ridership opportunities. Essential workers like teachers, police and firemen in the high price Silicon Valley could find affordable housing options with a short train ride to Merced or Fresno in California's Central Valley. Residents of Eugene, Oregon could access jobs in Portland's tech sector or booming recreational industry with a 35 minute commute. A Houston salesperson could prepare for an important client meeting in Dallas with dedicated Wi Fi and ample workspace while gliding past the notorious congestion on I-45. A college student in Atlanta could make it home for Thanksgiving in Charlotte while picking up grandma along the way in Greenville, South Carolina. International tourists visiting Disney World in Orlando could extend their vacation with a day trip to the Gulf beaches of the Greater Tampa Bay area. 51:41 - 54:58 Andy Kunz: High Speed Rail has an unmatched track record of safety. Japan, with the world's first high speed rail network, has carried millions of people over 50 years without a single fatality, in comparison as many as 40,000 Americans are killed every year in auto accidents on our highways. 52:22 - 52:45 Andy Kunz: China has invested over a trillion dollars in high speed rail, allowing them to build a world class 22,000 mile network in 14 years. Not taking a pause, China plans to construct another 21,000 miles of track over the next nine years. Modern infrastructure like this fuels China's explosive economic growth, making it challenging for us to compete with them in the 21st century. 52:46 - 53:10 Andy Kunz: On the other side of the globe, the United Kingdom is currently doubling their rail network with $120 billion investment. France has invested over $160 billion in constructing their system. Spain's 2000 mile High Speed Rail Network is the largest in Europe, costing more than 175 billion. These are considerable investments by nations that are similar in size to Texas. 1:08:00 - 1:09:00 Rep. Peter DeFazio: Are you aware of any high speed rail project in the world that isn't government subsidized? I know, Virgin in, you know, in Great Britain says, well, we make money. Yeah, you make money. You don't have to maintain the rail, the government does that, all you do is put a train set on it and run it. John Porcari: Yeah, that's a really important point, Mr. Chairman, virtually every one that I'm aware of in the world has had a very big public investment in the infrastructure itself, the operation by a private operator can be very profitable. I would point out that that is no different, conceptually from our airways system, for example, where federal taxpayer investments make possible the operations of our airlines, which in turn are profitable and no different than our very profitable trucking industry in the US, which is enabled by the public infrastructure investment of the highway system itself. 1:09:46 - 1:10:37 Philip Washington: The potential is very, very good to make that connection with the private railroad. And actually that is the plan. And we are working with that, that private railroad right now to do that. And that connection with the help of some twin bore tunnel will allow train speeds to be at anywhere from 180 to 200 miles an hour, getting from that high desert corridor to Los Angeles. And so it's a it's a huge, huge effort. It links up with high speed rail from the north as well, with the link up coming into Union Station as well. So I think the potential to link up both of these are very, very great. And we're working with both entities. 1:11:31 - 1:12:13 Philip Washington: Well one of our ideas very quickly is right now we have as you know, Mr. Chairman, assembly plants, assembly plants all over the country what we are proposing is a soup to nuts, all included manufacturing outfit in this country that manufactures trains from the ground up, forging steel, all of those things. So we have proposed an industrial park with suppliers on site as well to actually build again from the ground up, rail car passenger rail car vehicles and locomotives. It is the return of manufacturing to this country as we see it. 1:21:16 - 1:21:50 John Porcari: We have 111 year old tunnel in New York, we have a B&P tunnel in Baltimore, that Civil War era. Those are not the biggest obstacles. It is more a question of will. What we want to do as a country in infrastructure, we do, and we've never made rail, really the priority that that I think it needs to be. And we've never provided meaningful choices for the states to select rail and build a multi year rail program because we don't have the funding part of it. 1:21:55 - 1:22:19 John Porcari: Our passenger rail system in the US is moving from a survival mode to a growth mode. And I think that's a very healthy thing for the country. Whether you're talking about our cross country service, one of the coastal corridors or the Midwest service, all of that is really important. In just the same way we built the interstates, city pairs aggregating into a national system, we can really do that with the passenger rail system if we have the will. 1:27:13 - 1:27:41 Rep. Michelle Steel: My constituents are already taxed enough, with California state and local taxes and skyrocketing gas prices making it unaffordable to live. I just came back from Texas, their gas price was $2 something and we are paying over $4 in California. We must preserve our local economy by lowering taxes not raising them. And we must not continue throwing tax dollars into a high speed money pit. 1:30:53 - 1:31:11 Trey Duhon: The folks in Waller county the folks that I know, a family of four is not going to pay $1,000 To ride a train between Houston and Dallas, when they can get there on a $50 tank of gas an hour and a half later. It's just not going to happen. So it's not a mass transit solution, at least not for this corridor. 1:48:56 - 1:49:25 Andy Kunz: The other big thing that hasn't been mentioned is the the cost of people's time and waste sitting stuck in traffic or stuck in airports. It's estimated to be several 100 billion dollars a year. And then as a business person, time is money. So if all your people are taking all day to get anywhere your entire company is less competitive, especially against nations that actually have these efficient systems, and then they can out compete us 2:03:52 - 2:04:13 Seth Moulton: And I would just add, you know, we build high speed rail, no one's gonna force you to take it. You have that freedom of choice that Americans don't have today and yet travelers all around the world have. I don't understand why travelers in China should have so much more freedom than we do today. In America, high speed railway would rapidly rectify that 3:01:09 - 3:01:27 Josh Giegel: In 2014 I co-founded this company in a garage when Hyperloop was just an idea on a whiteboard. By late 2016 We began construction of our first full system test set, dev loop, north of Las Vegas. To date we've completed over 500 tests of our system. 3:01:38 - 3:01:48 Josh Giegel: Today we have approximately 300 employees and are the leading Hyperloop company in the world and the only company, the only company to have had passengers travel safely in a Hyperloop. 3:01:48 - 3:02:33 Josh Giegel: Hyperloop is a high speed surface transportation system. Travel occurs within a low pressure enclosure equivalent to 200,000 feet above sea level, in a vehicle pressurized to normal atmospheric conditions, much like a commercial aircraft. This, along with our proprietary magnetic levitation engine, allows us to reach and maintain airline speeds with significantly less energy than other modes of transportation. Not only is Hyperloop fast, it's a high capacity mass transit system capable of comfortably moving people and goods at 670 miles per hour with 50,000 passengers per hour per direction, on demand and direct to your destination, meaning no stops along the way. 3:02:54 - 3:02:58 Josh Giegel: We achieve all this on a fully electric system with no direct emissions. 3:11:34 - 3:11:53 Mike Reininger: Since our 2018 launch in Florida, we operate the only private high speed system in the US, showcasing the potential of American high speed passenger rail. We carried more than a million passengers in our first full year and learned a lot that is worth sharing from the investment of over $4 billion over the last 10 years. 3:12:45 - 3:12:57 Mike Reininger: We use existing road alignments and infrastructure corridors to leverage previous investments, reduce environmental impacts, lower costs, and speed execution as a basis for profitability. 3:13:00 - 3:13:28 Mike Reininger: In 2022, we will complete the extension into the Orlando International Airport, making our total route 235 miles, linking four of the largest cities in America's third largest state. 400 million annual trips occur between these cities today, 95% of them by car. By upgrading a freight railway first built in the 1890s and building along an Express Highway, we leveraged 130 years of previous investment to support our 21st century service. 3:13:31 - 3:13:51 Mike Reininger: Brightline West will connect Las Vegas to Los Angeles, where today 50 million annual trips and over 100 daily flights occur. Traveling on trains capable of speeds of 200 miles an hour using the I-15 corridor, but cutting the drive time in half, Brightline West's better option expects to serve 11 million annual riders. 3:14:56 - 3:15:08 Mike Reininger: Consider allowing private entities to become eligible parties for FRA grant programs by partnering with currently eligible applicants as a simple way to stretch direct government investment. 3:29:39 - 3:29:54 Rep. Rick Crawford: Amtrak announced plans to expand its routes including to several small cities where there doesn't appear to be enough demand or population to warrant those new lines. Can you guarantee that those new routes will be self sustaining and turn a profit or will they lose money? 3:38:42 - 3:38:55 Bill Flynn: 125 miles an hour on existing track infrastructure is high speed. The newest Acelas we ordered will have a top speed of 186 miles an hour. 3:36:46 - 3:37:05 Rep. Seth Moulton: What is the top speed of the Acela service? Bill Flynn: The Acela service in the southern network, Washington to New York, top speeds 135 miles an hour, and then in New York to Boston top speed of 150 miles an hour across different segments of the track. 4:11:57 - 4:12:30 Bill Flynn: When we think about NEPA and the other permitting processes that take place, and then ultimately into construction, on many major projects, we're talking a decade or more. So without the visibility and predictability and the certainty of funding, these projects are all affected, they ultimately become more high cost, and they take longer than they should. So if I were to recommend one policy action, creating a trust fund, or trust fund like structure, for intercity passenger rail would be key. Full Steam Ahead for Rail: Why Rail is More Relevant Than Ever for Economic and Environmental Progress House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials March 10, 2021 The hearing explored the importance of rail to the U.S. economy and as a tool to mitigate climate change. Witnesses: Shannon Valentine, Secretary of Transportation, The Commonwealth of Virginia Caren Kraska, President/Chairman, Arkansas & Missouri Railroad Greg Regan, President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO Tom Williams, Group Vice President for Consumer Products, BNSF Railway Clips 18:17 - 18:50 Shannon Valentine: One of the worst rail bottlenecks, mentioned by Chairman DeFazio, along the east coast is at the Potomac River between Virginia and DC and it's called the long bridge which is owned by CSX. The bridge carries on passenger, commuter, and freight rail, nearly 80 trains a day and is at 98% capacity during peak periods. Due to these constraints, Virginia has been unable to expand passenger rail service, even though demand prior to the pandemic was reaching record highs. 18:50 - 19:42 Shannon Valentine: Virginia has been engaged in corridor planning studies, one of which was the I-95 corridor, which as you all know, is heavily congested. Even today as we emerge from this pandemic, traffic has returned to 90% of pre-pandemic levels. Through this study, we learned that adding just one lane in each direction for 50 miles would cost $12.5 billion. While the cost was staggering, the most sobering part of the analysis was that by the time that construction was complete, in 10 years, the corridor would be just as congested as it is today. That finding is what led Virginia to a mode that could provide the capacity at a third of the cost. 20:34 - 20:43 Shannon Valentine: According to APTA rail travel emits up to 83% fewer greenhouse gases than driving and up to 73% fewer than flying. 20:58 - 21:22 Shannon Valentine: Benefits can also be measured by increased access to jobs and improving the quality of life. The new service plan includes late night and weekend service because many essential jobs are not nine to five Monday through Friday. That is why we work to add trains leaving Washington in the late evening and on weekends, matching train schedules to the reality of our economy. 52:23 - 53:06* Rep. Peter DeFazio: I am concerned particularly when we have some railroads running trains as long as three miles. And they want to go to a single crew for a three mile long train. I asked the the former head of the FRA under Trump if the train broke down in Albany, Oregon and it's blocking every crossing through the city means no police, no fire, no ambulance, how long it's going to take the engineer to walk three miles from the front of the train to, say, the second car from the rear which is having a brake problem. And he said, Well, I don't know an hour. So you know there's some real concerns here that we have to pursue. 1:23:25 - 1:24:15 Shannon Valentine: When we first launched the intercity passenger rail, Virginia sponsored passenger rail, back in 2009, it really started with a pilot with $17 million for three years from Lynchburg, Virginia into DC into the new Northeast Corridor. And, and I had to make sure that we had 51,000 riders and we didn't know if we were going to be able to sustain it. And in that first year, we had 125,000 passengers. It always exceeded expectations for ridership and profitability. And today, that rail service which we now extend over to Roanoke, and we're working to get it to Blacksburg Christiansburg is really one of our most profitable rail services. In fact, probably in the country. It doesn't even need a subsidy because they're able to generate that kind of ridership. 2:10:21 - 2:12:11 Shannon Valentine: Our project, in my mind, is really the first step in creating a southeast high speed corridor, we have to build the bridge. In order to expand access, we need to be able to begin separating passenger and freight. And even before that is able to occur, building signings and creating the ability to move. We took a lot of lessons from a study called the DC to RDA again, it's the first part of that high speed southeast corridor. For us, it was recommended that we take an incremental approach rather than having a large 100 billion dollar project we're doing in increments. And so this is a $3.7 billion which is still going to help us over 10 years create hourly service between Richmond and DC. It was recommended that we use existing infrastructure and right of way so in our negotiations with CSX, we are acquiring 386 miles of right of way and 223 miles of track. We are also purchasing as part of this an S line. It's abandoned. It goes down into Ridgeway, North Carolina from Petersburg, Virginia, just south of Richmond. Because it's abandoned, we have a lot of opportunity for development for future phases or even higher speed rail. And we actually included part of Buckingham branch, it's an East West freight corridor that we would like to upgrade and protect for, for East West connection. All of these were incremental steps using existing right of way and tracks and achieving higher speeds where it was achievable. Examining the Surface Transportation Board's Role in Ensuring a Robust Passenger Rail System House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials November 18, 2020 Witnesses: Ann D. Begeman, Chairman, Surface Transportation Board Martin J. Oberman, Vice Chairman, Surface Transportation Board Romayne C. Brown, Chair of the Board of Directors, Metra Stephen Gardner, Senior Executive Vice President, Amtrak Ian Jefferies, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of American Railroads Randal O'Toole, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute Paul Skoutelas, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Public Transportation Association Clips 27:31 - 27:59 Daniel Lipinski: Unlike Amtrak, Metra and other commuter railroads do not have a statutory federal preference prioritizing commuter trains over freight trains. Additionally, commuter railroads generally do not have standing to bring cases before the STB. Therefore, commuter railroads have very limited leverage when it comes to trying to expand their service on freight rail lines and ensuring that freight railroads Do not delay commuter trains. 35:42 - 36:27 Rep. Peter DeFazio: In fact, Congress included provisions to fix Amtrak on time performance in 2008. That is when PRIA added a provisions directing the FRA and Amtrak to work to develop on time performance metric standards to be used as a basis for an STB investigation. Unfortunately, those benefits haven't been realized. It's been 12 years since PRIA was passed. If our eyes metric and standards for on time performance were published this last Monday 12 years later, for the second time, and after this long and unacceptable delay, I look forward to seeing an improvement on Amtrak's performance both in in my state and nationwide. 38:01 - 38:32 Rep. Peter DeFazio: Worldwide, I'm not aware of any railroads, passenger railroads, that make money, although Virgin claims they do in England because they don't have to maintain the tracks. Pretty easy to make money if all you have to do is put a train set on it, run it back and forth. That's not the major expense. So, you know, to say that we shouldn't be subsidizing commuter or we shouldn't be subsidizing Amtrak is, you know, is just saying you don't want to run trains. Because everywhere else in the world they're subsidized. 43:45 - 44:30 Ann Begeman: Most intercity passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which is statutorily excluded from many of the board's regulatory requirements applicable to freight carriers. However, with the enactment of the Passenger Rail Investment Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIA) which both Chairman Lipinski and Chairman De Fazio has have mentioned in their opening comments, as well as the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015. FAST Act, the board assumed additional Amtrak oversight responsibilities, including the authority to conduct investigations under certain circumstances, and when appropriate, to award relief and identify reasonable measures to improve performance on passenger rail routes. 1:02:24 - 1:03:07 Stephen Gardner: Congress created Amtrak in 1970 to take on a job that today's freight railroads no longer wanted. In exchange for contracts assumption of these private railroads common carrier obligation for passengers and the associated operating losses for passenger service, the freights agreed to allow Amtrak to operate wherever and whenever it wanted over their lines, to provide Amtrak trains with dispatching preference over freight, and to empower what is now the STB to ensure Amtrak's access to the rail network. It's been nearly 50 years since the freight railroads and agreed eagerly to this bargain. And yet today, many of our hosts railroads fall short and fulfilling some of these key obligations 1:03:28 - 1:04:38 Stephen Gardner: Since our founding, Congress has had to clarify and amend the law to try and ensure host compliance. For example, by 1973, the freights had begun delaying Amtrak train so severely that Congress enshrined this promise of Amtrak preference into federal law, and in 2008, delays had gotten so bad that Congress created a new process to set Amtrak on time performance and provided the STB with the authority to investigate poor OTP. But for several reasons, these efforts haven't remedied the problems. For Amtrak and your constituents that has meant millions of delayed passengers and years of impediment as we try to add trains or start new routes to keep up with changing markets and demand. As the AAR are made clear and its litigation opposing the PRIA metrics and standards rule, many hosts see supporting our operation not as their obligation to the public, but as competition for the use of their infrastructure. But Amtrak wasn't created to relieve host railroads of their requirements to support passenger trains. It was created to help them reduce financial losses and ensure that passenger trains could still serve the country 1:04:38 - 1:05:15 Stephen Gardner: We need this committee's help to restore your original deal with the freights. For example you can provide us as you have in the moving forward Act, a way to enforce our existing rights of preference. You can make real Amtrak statutory ability to start new routes and add additional trains without arbitrary barriers. You can create an office of passenger rail within the STB and require them to use their investigative powers to pursue significant instances of for OTP. You can require more efficient STB processes to grant Amtrak access to hosts and fairly set any compensation and capital investment requirements. 1:06:19 - 1:07:57 Stephen Gardner: A rarely heralded fact is that the U.S. has the largest rail network in the world. And yet we use so little of it for intercity passenger rail service. A fundamental reason for this is our inability to gain quick, reasonable access to the network and receive reliable service that we are owed under law. This has effectively blocked our growth and left much of our nation underserved. City pairs like Los Angeles and Phoenix, or Atlanta to Nashville could clearly benefit from Amtrak service. Existing rail lines already connect them. Shouldn't Amtrak be serving these and many other similar corridors nationwide? 1:12:34 - 1:12:57 Randall O'Toole: Last year, the average American traveled more than 15,000 miles by automobile, more than 2000 Miles, road several 100 miles on buses, walked more than 100 Miles, rode 100 miles by urban rail, transit and bicycled 26 miles. Meanwhile, Amtrak carried the average American just 19 Miles. 1:13:35 - 1:13:55 Randall O'Toole: In 1970, the railroads' main problem was not money losing passenger trains, but over regulation by the federal and state governments. Regulation or not, passenger trains are unable to compete against airlines and automobiles. A 1958 Interstate Commerce Commission report concluded that there was no way to make passenger trains profitable. 1:14:52 - 1:15:20 Randall O'Toole: The 1970 collapse of Penn Central shook the industry. Congress should have responded by eliminating the over regulation that was stifling the railroads. Instead, it created Amtrak with the expectation that it would be a for profit corporation and that taking passenger trains off the railroads hands would save them from bankruptcy 50 years and more than $50 billion in operating subsidies later, we know that Amtrak isn't and never will be profitable. 1:15:40 - 1:16:10 Randall O'Toole: When Amtrak was created, average rail fares per passenger mile were two thirds of average airfares. Thanks to airline deregulation since then, inflation adjusted air fares have fallen by 60%. Even as Amtrak fares per passenger mile have doubled. Average Amtrak fares exceeded airfares by 1990 despite huge operating subsidies, or perhaps as has well predicted, because those subsidies encouraged inefficiencies. 1:16:50 - 1:17:15 Randall O'Toole: Today thanks to more efficient operations, rail routes that once saw only a handful of trains per day support 60, 70 or 80 or more freight trains a day. This sometimes leaves little room for Amtrak. Displacing a money making freight train with a money losing passenger train is especially unfair considering that so few people use a passenger trains, while so many rely on freight. 1:17:15 - 1:17:25 Randall O'Toole: Passenger trains are pretty, but they're an obsolete form of transportation. Efforts to give passenger trains preference over freight we'll harm more people than it will help. 2:42:40 - 2:43:50 Stephen Gardner: We think that the poor on time performance that many of our routes have is a significant impediment to ridership and revenue growth. It's quite apparent, many of our passengers, particularly on our long distance network, that serves Dunsmuir, for instance, you know their routes frequently experience significant delays, the number one cause of those delays are freight train interference. This is delays encountered, that Amtrak encounters when freight trains are run in front of us or otherwise dispatching decisions are made that prioritize the freight trains in front of Amtrak. And the reduction in reliability is clearly a problem for passengers with many hour delays. Often our whole long distance network is operating at 50% or less on time performance if you look at over the many past years. Even right now, through this period of COVID, where freight traffic has been down and we're only at 60% over the last 12 months on time performance for the entire long distance network. 2:52:44 - 2:53:23 Stephen Gardner: The difference between the US system and most of the international examples is that the infrastructure is publicly owned, publicly owned and developed in all of these nations, the nations that Mr. O'Toole mentioned, there is a rail infrastructure entity and they're developing it for both passenger and freight in some of those locations are optimized for passenger service primarily, that's for sure the case. China is a great example of a nation that's investing for both as a massive freight system and an incredible amount of investment for passenger rail. And again, they see high speed as a means of dealing with their very significant population and efficient way. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli talks to Rita about the Biden Administration letting illegal immigrants be placed under house arrest as opposed to actual detention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Border crisis in Yuma, AZ is becoming a massive humanitarian crisis as well. President Joe Biden does not seem to want to fix either of these issues and Ken Cuccinelli joins the show to discuss this growing problem.

What was it like on Air Force One during September 11th? Former Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Brian Montgomery was there with President George W. Bush. He shared this story, and what it was like to visit the Pentagon and Ground Zero in the days that followed, with Inside Sources. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As international borders remain closed many Australians, including Josh are finding it hard to advance to the next phase of life. Thousands of Australians are left waiting and out of pocket while their loved ones cannot enter despite having approval for a Prospective Marriage Visa. With the Department of Immigration failing to communicate, Former Deputy Secretary for the Department of Immigration Dr Abul Rizvi joins John Stanley to share how COVID has changed immigration for the foreseeable future.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's world is short of a lot of things—sustainable environment, peace, prosperity, equality—but what we lack most is innovative, global, values-based leadership. If we can find and nurture that kind of leadership, the rest will follow.  The Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize named in honor of Jan Eliasson, one of the most accomplished global diplomats of our era. In this special episode, Jan and Alan Stoga, chairman of the Tällberg Foundation discuss how great leaders can change everything. What can you do? Take Jan’s call to action seriously and, then, nominate someone who deserves to win the leadership prize this year. Nominate your candidate here: https://tallberg-snf-eliasson-prize.org/nominate/ Music: "Without You" by Oxime © 2021. Permissions granted courtesy of Oxime Audio https://www.oxime-audio.com/

Artificial intelligence at the Department of Defense Robert Work, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, explains how mature artificial intelligence capabilities are in the United States and how that compares to China’s progress Funding Overseas Contingency Operations Todd Harrison, Director of Defense Budget Analysis and the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, provides updates on President Biden’s topline budget request, including changes to Overseas Contingency Operations funding Ensuring readiness across different domains Diana Maurer, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office, goes over GAO’s report on Defense Department readiness in the air, ground, sea, space and cyber domains

Former Deputy Secretary of State, US Trade Representative and President of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick, shares lessons from the history of US diplomacy and foreign policy.

Michael Zezas, Chief US Public Policy & Municipal Strategist for Morgan Stanley, on the state and local aid to goverments. Chris Lu, Former Deputy Secretary of Labor under Obama and Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center, discusses the passage of the Biden relief bill and what comes next. Gabrielle Coppola, Bloomberg auto reporter, on Apple’s foray into the auto market. John Authers, Senior Editor for Bloomberg Markets and Opinion columnist, on his column: “The Inflation Scare Is Missing Some Inflation.” Hosted by Paul Sweeney and Matt Miller.  

In the latest episode of On the Hill, Tim Rood, SitusAMC Head of Industry Relations, speaks with Brian Montgomery, former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). They discuss the transition to the Biden administration, and myths, misconceptions, and facts about policy-making in Washington, D.C. What does the industry need to understand to influence the housing finance landscape? “If you're looking to move the needle on a policy you've got a lot of moving parts,” Montgomery said, including whether the issue was a campaign promise, is a priority for a particular agency, or can achieve funding approval. “Be eyes wide open to the fact that it could be a very long process.”

Tracking the Third Offset strategy Robert Work, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, discusses progress on the Third Offset strategy, the role of JADC2 and competition with China GAO recommends DoD monitor clinical guidelines across military treatment facilities Debra Draper, Director of Health Care Issues at GAO, goes over what GAO found when looking into clinical practice guidelines developed by the Department of Defense and the VA Defense spending bill reconciliation Todd Harrison, Director of Defense Budget Analysis at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, discusses the option of using reconciliation for the FY2022 defense spending bill and potential implications

Tanvi Madan joins Srinath Raghavan to discuss the Biden administration, its composition, and how this might have an effect on U.S.-India relations. References:View: The Modi government will find a Biden presidency to be less volatile by Tanvi MadanFor Delhi, US election result is consequential in terms of how the next administration approaches China by Tanvi MadanTranscript: Dialogues on American Foreign Policy and World Affairs: A Conversation with Former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken by Walter Russell Mead 

The role of the Joint AI Center of Excellence Robert Work, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, explains how GSA’s Centers of Excellence program helped the JAIC accelerate IT modernization in the Defense Department Updates to the topline defense budget Seamus Daniels, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for Defense Budget Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, analyzes what it means that the Trump Administration could publicly release an FY2022 defense budget Research and Development in the NDAA Bradley Bowman, Senior Director for the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, discusses working with allies on research and development to secure a competitive advantage over China

Randy speaks with Former Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert about the Public Trust Institute, candidate campaign contributions, and more. Randy also plays more sound clips from the Bill Barr speech at Notre Dame, and gives away a pair of tickets to the War for America's Soul event on October 29th with Dennis Prager and Michelle Malkin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this first episode, host Jim Lewis interviews John Hamre, President and CEO of CSIS and Former Deputy Secretary of Defense. He was one of the first to recognize the strategic implications of cybersecurity and cyber conflict, and who helped lead the DoD in its early approaches to emerging cyber issues. He discusses the hacking incidents that first alerted policymakers to the cyber threats faced by the U.S.; the obstacles and successes in working with other agencies, Congress, and the private sector to address cyber threats; and how to chart a path towards developing structures and doctrines to manage cyber risks.

On this episode of The Global Cable, we are joined by Perry World House Global Order Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Former Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, to discuss the future of the U.S. military, artificial intelligence and the importance of American defense leadership.  Robert O. Work served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2014-2017. He is currently Senior Counselor for Defense and Distinguished Senior Fellow for Defense and National Security at the Center for a New American Security, where he was previously the Chief Executive Officer. From 2009 to 2013,  Secretary Work served as the Undersecretary of the Navy. In 2008, he was on President-elect Barack Obama's Department of Defense Transition Team as leader of the Department of the Navy issues team. Prior to the Obama administration, after spending 27 years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and retiring as a colonel, Work spent time first as a Senior Fellow and later as Vice President for Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the U.S. Naval Institute, and the Marine Corps Association. Secretary Work received his B.S. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations) from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Masters in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 00:43 - Introduction with Associate Director Prof. Mike Horowitz and Inaugural Director Prof. William Burke-White 06:25 - Deputy Secretary Work's Post-Government Career 07:50 - The Future of the U.S. Military & Necessary Adaptations 11:40 - The Importance of American Defense Leadership and Artifical Intelligence 16:14 - The Relationship between DoD & U.S. Companies: "Project Maven"  26:20 - Global Challenges between China & U.S. 31:25 - Interesting Global Facts & Career Advice 34:22 - Outro  

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage joined News and Views last weekend in wake of President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. Armitage was not surprised by this but does question the “bullish” way Trump made the move. Armitage is also concerned about the lack of planning the White House has shown in regards to Iran Deal and other issues.

Capital Grille managing partner Allen Wichter tells us how Mother's Day not only brings in big business, but basically kicks off the Summer season. Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage voices his stance on President Trump's time in office, including the recent decision to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Former Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services Tevi Troy, who is also President of American Health Policy Institute, joins Jason Hartman to discuss his newest book, Shall We Wake the President?: Two Centuries of Disaster Management from the Oval Office. The two examine some of the best and worst presidents in terms of handling disasters. One president makes both Tevi's "Best" and his "Worst" list because of two very different responses to two drastically different scenarios. Tevi also takes a look at what current president Donald Trump might do when/if a disaster takes place. Jason also tries to get the former Deputy Secretary to discuss the possibility that the Republicans might actually be able to show an Obamacare replacement that Democrats might actually support, and that would actually improve our system. Key Takeaways: [1:37] The best and worst presidents at handling disasters [5:13] How Tevi thinks Donald Trump will handle disasters [7:50] The newness of Trump's cabinet to politics could create a problem if there's an early disaster during his presidency [10:59] How pop culture impacts presidents [13:35] Tevi outlines a path that he believes Republicans should take to get a new healthcare bill passed [16:40] How Trump's participation in pop culture might play a role in his presidency Website: www.TeviTroy.org @TeviTroy Shall We Wake The President?

Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism (Oxford University Press) Transportation activist Benjamin Ross discusses and signs his new book on urban development and sprawl. More than five decades have passed since Jane Jacobs wrote her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and since a front page headline in the New York Times read, "Cars Choking Cities as 'Urban Sprawl' Takes Over." Yet sprawl persists, and not by mistake. It happens for a reason. As an activist and a scholar, Benjamin Ross is uniquely placed to diagnose why this is so. Dead End traces how the ideal of a safe, green, orderly retreat where hardworking members of the middle class could raise their children away from the city mutated into the McMansion and strip mall-ridden suburbs of today. Ross finds that sprawl is much more than bad architecture and sloppy planning. Its roots are historical, sociological, and economic. He uses these insights to lay out a practical strategy for change, honed by his experience leading the largest grass-roots mass transit advocacy organization in the United States. The problems of smart growth, sustainability, transportation, and affordable housing, he argues, are intertwined and must be solved as a whole. The two keys to creating better places to live are expansion of rail transit and a more genuinely democratic oversight of land use. Dead End is, ultimately, about the places where we live our lives. Both an engaging history of suburbia and an invaluable guide for today's urbanists, it will serve as a primer for anyone interested in how Americans actually live.  Praise for Dead End: "Ben Ross' Dead End is a highly personal account of a larger journey that we are embarked on as a nation -- from sprawl to walkable communities, from anoxic, sterile neighborhoods to vibrant, transit-served urban areas that are the wellspring of innovation, economic development and cultural richness." --John Porcari, Former Deputy Secretary, United States Department of Transportation   Benjamin Ross was president for 15 years of Maryland's Action Committee for Transit, which grew under his leadership into the nation's largest grass-roots transit advocacy group. Professionally, he is a consultant on environmental problems and served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and EPA Science Advisory Board. He writes frequently on political and social topics in Dissent magazine and is the author of The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment. 

Claims, Employment, Education and changes Lt. Col Wilbert B. Forbes, Former Deputy Secretary for the Veterans Administration, Maryland He is a Past Department Commander of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) for the State of Maryland Former Deputy Secretary for the Veterans Administration, Maryland. Prior to this appointment, he was a Contract/Consultant Investigator conducting security background investigations for applicants seeking security clearances for positions of trust and responsibility in various agencies in the federal government. Mr. Forbes is very supportive of matters recognizing the service and sacrifices of veterans. He is a Past Department Commander of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) for the State of Maryland and has served as the Sixth District National Executive Committee Alternate, representing the DAV Departments of Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. During his tenure with the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, Deputy Secretary Forbes continues to be a dedicated advocate for veterans and their families. He has been involved in a number of instances whereby assistance and help has been provided to those who were in need. His involvement with homeless veterans on the state's Eastern Shore has resulted in the establishment of a veterans' service center which bears his name Forbes Hall Veterans Education and Training Center, Salisbury, Maryland. Most recently, Deputy Secretary Forbes was honored by the African American Patriots Consortium, Inc., and was awarded the Paul L. Thompson Humanitarian Medal for his unyielding commitment to veterans as an innovative leader who has made Maryland the model for service delivery to veterans and truly represents the legacy of Paul. Thompson. He is the recipient of the Department of the District of Columbia, American Veterans' (AMVETS) Americanism Award for his patriotism and service within the veterans' community. Recently, for the school year 2011-12, he was inducted into Morgan State University's ROTC Bear Battalion Hall of Fame recognizing his services to ROTC Alumni Chapter and the veteran community. As a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel, with combat service in Vietnam (1967-68), he received numerous awards during his military service, including the Combat Infantryman's Badge. As a public servant he retired from the US Department of Labor, where he managed a national investigative program.