CIA Director William Burns | Centennial Celebration of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut

good evening everyone and welcome here to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the world affairs Council of Connecticut my co-chair Greg boel and I would like to thank all of you for sharing your evening with us and helping making this a special night I'd like to thank Stanley Black and Decker for their corporate sponsorship as well as Tom lips and Greg W for their sponsorship and all of our sponsors this program would not be possible as it is without the help of sponsors I would also like to thank uh Megan story and her staff wonderful staff our board members the committee members our members at large as well as all of you for being here tonight I also i' like to thank um Goodwin University for opening up their campus for us this evening the world affairs Council has been bringing the world to Connecticut for a century and I believe their vention programs have provided us with the opportunity to better understand and broader uh broaden our understanding of the world the people of the world and places and ourselves in the world so I hope tonight that you will be you would benefit or U or experience some of that from our special future guest director William barms and our special moderator the CBS News uh even anchor nor odal so with that thank you for being here and Greg boel has a few words to say Thank You Chuck and good evening and welcome everyone and for our Japanese friends minama kmana uh ladies and gentlemen I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here this evening and for supporting this wonderful organization as it starts its second century Winston Churchill is reported to have said Americans always do the right thing after they've exhausted all the other possibilities but without question Sir Winston was not talking about the people of Connecticut or the the members and the supporters of the world affairs Council of Connecticut we live in a magnificent World technology and medical breakthroughs have given us stunning advances in quality of life and health yet these same Technologies unfortunately have created a world where it's all too easy to not to get to a common experience social media and other Technologies make it make it too easy for us to stay on our side of the fence and not look on the other side of the fence but the world affairs Council of Connecticut does just that it looks on both sides of the fence here in the rest of the world world and it exposes our citizens to all of the points of view and brings the big beautiful and diverse World here to Connecticut if we look back a 100 years to 1924 we can see why the council was formed a group of Forward Thinking people in the Hartford areas many of them at Trinity uh as well as in the rest of the nation realized that after the Great War the first world war isolationism was not the answer I'm sure they saw that by educating our citizenry about the rest of the world and creating interactions and understanding we could afford uh avoid further conflict yet obviously we've had other conflicts so the work of the council is not done and we need to work more than ever to open the minds of our people and bring the world to Connecticut now tonight it's my honor to uh um U talk about some of the leaders that we've had at the world affairs Council over the many years through the past Century the de dedication of the council's leaders has created an organization that continues to build in strength and vitality thank you to all the council's leaders past and present who embodied the council's mission to foster a globally informed and engaged Community the commitment of these individuals has created an enduring impact on the council and the world in which we live I will now like to read the names of our honored Council presidents who are here with us tonight so if they would please come up on stage [Applause] so with us tonight we have uh Alex Coral lesie Robertson Scott Wilson myself uh Sim son and hold the Applause uh and Daniel Weiner and our current president Mr Arthur house so so this is a a tremendous assembly of leaders and I want to thank all of them and all of the leaders of the past who have made this organization as great as it is now I have the distinct honor to highlight two extraordinary leaders in Council history and I'll ask you to hold your applause until I've uh introduced them both the first is Paul buddy bua and unfortunately uh he could not be with us tonight but I think most if not all of you know him Paul is revered Across the Nation for his courage and selflessness that he revealed during one of the most difficult times a person could experience when he served in Vietnam his actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor even more he is revered within the council Community for who he is as a leader colleague and friend and we are fortunate to have worked with him over the years Paul's very presence inspires at every opportunity he displays his character his commitment to uplifting others his advocacy for fellow veterans his humor and his dedication to creating a more peaceful in informed World we're deeply fortunate not only for Paul's expertise and Leadership but his presence and his example the second person is someone I suspect many of you know personally and he may even be the reason you were brought into the council community and are here in this room tonight it's Peter G Kelly he is not just a giant of our community he is a champion of global democracy a philanthropist with a generosity of spirit to match Peter has dedicated much of his life's work to the better of his community his world and this organization the world affairs Council of Connecticut that he loves we are incredibly lucky to have a champion in Peter and we honor him tonight now uh everything I just said about Peter is true and richly deserved but I would like to briefly share with you one personal experience I had with him about 12 years ago I had broken my leg and was having surgery at St Francis Hospital on a Monday morning and I was in the recovery room light on my back and I woke up my eyes opened and hovering above me was Peter G Kelly I closed I closed my eyes and I said Lord it looks like the operation didn't go so well I've I tried to live a good life but somewhere along the line I really screwed up so later I learned that Peter was in the hospital visiting his daughter and just happened to be there when I was rolled in so it's an experience I'll never forget unfortunately uh so please join me join me in honoring Paul buddy bua and Peter G [Applause] Kelly so thank you to all the incredible leaders who are here tonight and thank you again for your support and please have a wonderful evening to and enjoy our fantastic guest nor odonnal and CIA director Bill Burns and now to continue this fantastic evening I am pleased to turn turn things over to Megan Clark Tori CEO of the world affairs Council of Connecticut and the person who brilliantly and selflessly organized this even eatings event so Megan thank you so much Greg and thank you all for being here I do want to recognize a few people are in the room with with us so many aren't important but we have so many ambassadors and councils general from around the world to too many to single out each country but I welcome um our visitors who are investing in our mission from around the world and who believe in what we do I also want to say that we have General U Major General Fran Ivon our agitant general from uh for the state of Connecticut for our National Guard and uh Captain Kenneth curtain who is the commanding officer of our submarine base in uh in Gren Connecticut as you know we are the submarine capital of the world here in the state it really is a true honor to be with all of you tonight I am lucky to be the steward of this organization of the world affairs Council that I stand here in the shoes of all those that came before me while maybe everyone that was just on the stage was a man I can say that every executive director of our world affairs Council has been a woman from the first executive director known only in our paper work as Mrs Robert heurn in fact her name was Susanna Floyd heurn yes she was Katherine's sister-in-law our our executive director Betty nap who in the 1950s and 1960s LED this organization from her wheelchair who was a uh sought-after International speaker who traveled the world speaking about international relations she hosted a radio show here in Harford Where She interviewed all kinds of world leaders I think today she would just have a podcast we went on to have Betsy Hart as our executive director the legendary Marjorie Anderson and of course my incredible predecessor who's here with us tonight Felicity Harley if you know anything about nonprofits what you uh what you know is that we often times survive on sheer will and determination and I have to say that these women were Fierce Fighters and believers in our work and in the fact that if we engage if we know more about the world that this world would be a better place that's right I do want to call out the fact that we have two members in the room that have been members since 1970 we have Walter Murphy with us and Henry link this pretty amazing the other call out is that we've also been responsible for love connections so Jim and Jackie Connor are here who met at the world affairs Council in the 1990s so you may have heard that the one of the most impactful things that we have done uh in our 50 years is our model United Nations I want you to hear from three of our model un alumni M um good evening everyone my name is m i participate in model un back in my Junior and Senior year of high school during like 2016 throughout 2018 as um as a student of harar high Academy of uh law and government M un helped me gain leadership and Communications that I continue to use at college and I was the first generation to go to school where I come from back in uh Thailand refugee camp issues taking place halfway around the glob will impact our life educations our work healthc care and our communities CT wac model Un Na uh model un helped me learn about the world as we present countries other than our own and create possible solution Global challenges as well as by uh participating in mod un I was able to receive the world Affair Council scholarship to help me continue my path throughout the high educ uh higher educations thank you Megan and thank you the World Council Affair for making it different in my life and for others young people thank you good evening my name is Alan HW and I participated in the world affairs Council of Connecticut's model un program while I was I while I was at Farmington High School and I served as president of the conference in 2016 through the model un program I was able to engage with global issues that remain relevant today and I learned key lessons at that formative age I learned the value of articulating interests in a way that others can understand and relate to about the importance of formulating Creative Solutions in the face of seemingly intractable problems and about the increasingly complex and competitive International landscape in which America seeks to seeks to assert itself I've since had the privilege of serving in the White House and now the state department working to maintain our nation's leadership in semiconductors and other critical technologies that are key to America's Global competitiveness looking back I'm struck by how applicable the lessons I learned as a model un participant have been to my life and work the Connecticut world affairs council's Mission has always been to bring the world to Connecticut I'm grateful for the impact that's had on me and I'm excited to see the impact that will have for years to come thank you [Applause] my name is Phil coola and in 1955 during my senior year at Hall High School in West Hartford I participated in the model un assembly as a member of a delegation representing Great Britain we had the opportunity to take the train to New York meet with officials from the British mission who helped us accurately understand the British position on several issues we were preparing to discuss uh I graduated from high school later went on to major in Spanish and French at the University of Connecticut and I taught in West Hartford for a few years I served 31 years in the Army received a graduate degree in higher education Administration and helped that uh helped me as a founding administrator at tungus Community College in Farmington participating in the model un assembly was a great experience uh provided an opportunity to further explore my interest in international Affairs and Global events uh as a student and later as an army officer it provided skills in speech leadership that I took with me into my years as an educator and later on I'm very glad to see that uh the model un assembly program is still going and 7 just about 70 years after I was in it it looks like it's going to go on for many more years thank you thank you m and Alan and Phil and I'm so happy that all of you could join us showing our 70 72 years of impact so what we do best at the world affairs council is provide a forum for open discussion often times historic discussions it is now my privilege to introduce the highlight of this evening the highlight of our of 100th anniversary celebration our moderator and guest speaker both are extraordinary history-making individuals our moderator Nora odonnell and uh what I I as my other role is as uh US Navy ambassador to the state of Connecticut and I want to thank Nora publicly for all all of the work that she's been doing to highlight the extraordinary work our United States Navy does thank you so much Nora Nora odonnell is the managing editor and anchor of the CBS Evening News the oldest and most revered news broadcast in America she is also a contributing correspondent for 60 minutes odonnell is a multiple Emmy award-winning journalist with nearly three decades of experience covering the biggest stories in the world and conducting impactful news making interviews she is currently covering her seventh presidential election and has interviewed every Liv living president of the United States to note Nora odonnell is the only woman anchor only woman to Anchor an evening new news program on broadcast television William J Burns is the director of the Central Intelligence Agency he's also known as America's Secret diplomatic weapon his distinguished diplomatic career has made him one of our country's most impactful Statesmen from an early posting in Syria Ambassador Burns has served in senior national security positions including assistant secretary for near East ambassador to Russia and Jordan and deputy secretary of state after retirement from the state department director Burns was the president of the car Carnegie Endowment for International Peace he also wrote a bestselling book The Back channel in 2021 he returned to public service again accepting the president's nomination to serve as CIA director his unique skill set which is a combination of competence confidence and humility has given uh is the reason why I think our Administration relies uh relies on him so heavily to uh on in Ukraine in Gaza and other critical National Securities that we're our world is facing today and Ambassador Burns thank you for visiting visiting Connecticut the basketball capital of the nation I've heard on good authority that your basketball game mirrors your diplomacy no flashy Paige Becker's moves no Donovan dunks just quiet unselfish play and I understand you have a pretty deadly 15ot shot ladies and gentlemen we are privileged to welcome with us tonight Nora odonnell and director William [Applause] jirds well Megan thank you very very much for that uh warm introduction and happy 100th anniversary to the world affairs Council and director Burns what an honor it is to be able to speak with you tonight uh I know you've been pretty busy no it's great to be with you Nora again and congratulations to the world affairs Council on your first hundred years and thank you all very much especially for the opportunity to escape Washington DC even if it's only for a few hours my basketball skills were just exaggerated a lot my vertical leap is now in single digits so anyways it's wonderful to be in the basketball capital of the world uh Megan mentioned uh your incredible book uh it is definitely worth a read and many incredible stories three your 40 years as a diplomat how would you describe the state of the world right now oh I think the state of the world right now is full of challenges um you know it's as unsettled as I think as I've seen it in 40 years in public service both as a diplomat and now as an intelligence officer um with you know lots of challenges for us as an intelligence service too long-term challenges like uh you know competition with the People's Republic of China a revolution in technology uh which is changing the way we live work fight and compete and which is right at the core of our ability to succeed as an intelligence agency and then the immediate challenges were in Ukraine now in its third year um and the aggression of Vladimir Putin which is a huge challenge I think on the international landscape and then the crisis in the Middle East where I spent a lot of my career as a diplomat um which is also an incredibly difficult um set of challenges for the United States so he just said up there's a lot to talk about tonight let's start with the news um Israel's Strike last night on Iran it was limited in scope the response from Iranians has been muted guess you could say today have has Israel and Iran stepped back from the brink for now well just to take a step back I mean all of you all of us remember last Saturday night um Iran launched a massive drone and missile strike against Israel some 330 uh drones and and missiles uh and quite remarkably which is a testament to good air defense and good intelligence Israel supported by the United States and other friends and partners uh defeated that attack only about I mean 99% of those missiles and drones did not impact in Israel and the few that did did very little damage um since then the president has made very clear that the United States is not going to take part or support any offensive action um and that and we have not done that um the President also made clear that our overriding priority is to deescalate the situation right now because as I said before the Middle East is a part of the world um which has no shortage of insecurities and tensions right now and so given that overriding priority in decal in deescalation um that kind of overrides any Temptation that I might have right now to comment on what happened last night um a lot of times when when you're trying to deescalate a situation I found over many years in public service uh the less said the better and so that's I'm not going to go any further on what happened last night I appreciate that let's talk about what is the endgame though because you have spent so much time in the region since October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel is the Biden Administration pushing for a diplomatic deal this is the long run we'll talk about the hostage minute but what is the bitamin Administration pushing for in a diplomatic deal what would that mean in terms of recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia what does that deal look like well I mean I think there you know amidst all the challenges on the landscape in the Middle East now there are some opportunities too there's the possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel um but a lot of this hinges right now on the future of the Palestinian issue too um because you know as difficult as it is to imagine a two-state solution for Palestinians and Israelis of the complexities of negotiating statehood for Palestinians as difficult as all that is and all the years I've spent in the Middle East it's hard for me to imagine a stable solution one that serves the interests not only of Palestinians but also the long-term interests of Israelis that does not involve a negotiated solution that you know results in a Palestinian State it's much easier said than it is uh than done but I think that's the the longer term challenge to answer your question before us there are opportunities for further normalization as I said between Israel and the Arab world but first the conflict in Gaza has to end um and that's a you know horrifying humanitarian situation right now for innocent civilians in Gaza it's a horrifying situation for those hostages held by Hamas whose brutal attack on the 7th of October against Israelis is what sparked all this in the first place so as you mentioned nor I've I've been very wrapped up uh since October in negotiations to try to produce a ceasefire and the release of hostages working with my guttery Israeli and Egyptian counterparts all really capable professionals at the end of last year we helped produce one short-term ceasefire the release of a 100 hostages mostly women and children at that time and we've been working really hard since then to try to renew that process but it's put pushing a very big rock up a very Steep Hill a couple of weeks ago in Cairo we made a proposal which was pretty far-reaching to try to produce a six- week ceasefire in exchange for the release of 40 of the hostages who are held now uh at the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in exchange and the massive influx of humanitarian assistance to Gins who so desperately need it um this stretched the boundaries of Israel's position on a lot of those issues um Hamas um you know deeply unfortunately um responded negatively to that proposal and so in a way it's that negative position right now that at least for the moment is standing in the way of further progress there but Hamas is standing in the way I think the position that Hamas has taken in response to those meent most recent proposal uh is a pretty significant obstacle right now so I I don't know whether we're going to succeed in renewing this process and producing a six we ceasefire as the first step toward a longer term ceasefire what I do know I think are two or three things first the alternatives to that are all worse they're worse for innocent civilians in Gaza they're worse for hostages and their families and I think they're worse for all of us um second um you know I think the the the region desperately needs that kind of a ceasefire the last time at the end of last year when uh ceasefire existed all the various Iranian proxy groups in the region hbal the Shia militia groups in Iraq the houis and Yemen all observed that so I think it would have a calming influence on the rest of the region as well and the other thing that I know is that it's not going to be for lack of trying at least on our part to try to produce that kind of ceasefire you mentioned the success that you've had at least with the first 100 hostages based on many of the negotiations that you have been in but there are still about 130 hostages unaccounted for how many of those 130 hostages still in Gaza taken on October 7th does Israel and the US believe are still alive well man nor as you can imagine I don't want to go into the numbers on that I think it's fair to say that you know a number of hostages have um have died um either on October 7th or since then um but we're going to work very hard um not just to achieve that next uh trunch of Hostage releases but to ensure that all of those hostages are released because you know the conditions in which they're being held are really inhuman um and at the same time um you know we want to try to do everything we can to relieve the suffering of so many innocent civilians in Gaza I asked that question because I think it's in part at the heart of why Hamas has not agreed to this latest deal or is H does Hamas keep moving the goalposts well I think um you know it's our judgment that Hamas is capable of you know releasing a number of hostages right now and um you know we feel a great sense of urgency about achieving that what's happening in the Israel Hamas war is creating a US national security threat um not only domestic unrest anti-Semitism protests at colleges and universities how serious is the threat to the US Homeland well I mean I think you have a terrorist threat um and the Gaza crisis you know in many ways I think magnifies that kind of threat in the sense that you get individuals who are radicalized and terrorist groups who have already been threatening the United States who feel even greater motivation to try to do that it's a very large part of the job of CIA is to help keep Americans safe to produce the very best intelligence that we can about whether it's groups or individuals who might threatened Americans overseas and certainly in the Homeland um and so that's something we stay very sharply focused on um you know wasn't it was only about a year and a half ago that the United States took a successful strike against Imon elaahi in a safe house at least what Al-Qaeda thought was a safe house in the middle of downtown kabell with no other collateral damage nobody else Hur too and that was a reflection of the determination of the agency that I'm so proud to lead and the US government more broadly um to try to ensure again that Americans are safe against terrorist threats even if in that case it took us 20 years to accomplish that the intelligence Community has described the terror threat stemming from October 7th as generational where are you seeing ideologies strengthen or shift well I think you look at a group like Isis um you know which um you know reared its head in a very dangerous and threatening away in in Iraq and Syria a decade ago um where through concerted effort by the United States and a lot of Coalition Partners they've been pushed back there but you see them reemerge and responsible for a variety of attacks recently including in Moscow um about five or six weeks ago as well in an instance where you know the United States through what's called a duty to Warrant actually provided quite accurate intelligence um to the Russians you know about what we thought was going to happen um which resulted in the deaths of you know lots of Russian civilians as well so I would never underestimate the reach of groups like that let's talk about the war in Ukraine President zalinski says his military has run out of missiles to defend itself from Russian air strikes how dire is the situation there well I think the situation is extremely serious right now um I've been to Ukraine 10 times during the course of the war um in my capacity um just to show you that President salinski um who was trained as a professional comedian even uh in the most dire of circumstances hasn't lost his sense of humor the last time I went he told me I was entitled uh to a free upgrade on the train from Poland to Kei um how long on my 10th visit takes about 10 hours yeah but um you know I'm deeply committed um and I think I know the president and the United States are deeply committed to supporting Ukraine against the brutal aggression of Vladimir Putin but this is a tough moment on the battlefield um you know the ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity they're running out of ammunition and I think we're running out of time to help them that's why what the Congress the House of Representatives is debating right now is so important debating whether or not to approve further supplemental military assistance for Ukraine to answer your question nor I think with that supplemental assistance Ukraine can hold its own on the battlefield through 2024 and continue to inflict damage on Russia both with deeper strikes in Crimea and also against Russia's Black Sea Fleet where the ukrainians have some 16 ships just over the last six months so ukrainians are entirely capable of more than holding their own but without that supplemental assistance as they run out of ammunition um I think the situation could get a lot more dire and there is a RK risk that ukrainians could lose on the battlefield in 2024 or at least put Putin in a position where he could essentially dictate the terms of a political settlement as well when I was on the last visit to Ukraine it was just two or three days after the ukrainians lost the battle of abiva which is a relatively small City in eastern Ukraine in danet and I remember talking to one of the Ukrainian commanders who had fought in that battle and he said that we fought as long and as hard as we could but we ran out of ammunition and the Russians just kept coming what I worry about is we're going to see more and more of Divas in the year ahead unless we provide that assistance assistance Which is less than 4% of the overall us defense budget assistance which in many ways helps create jobs in the US defense industry but assistance that is sorely needed by the ukrainians today um as a way not only of helping them defeat Putin aggression but sending a really important signal elsewhere in the world not least in the indopacific to XI jinping's China as well because I think president XI was sobered by what he saw of Putin's experience in Ukraine especially in the first year of the war I think president XI like Putin assumed that this was going to be a cakewalk um that the ukrainians were a weak and divided country as Putin put it not a real country well president zinski and ukrainians have demonstrated that real countries fight back and that's what they did and I think that had a with our support and I think that's had a sobering effect on the way in which president XI looks at his Ambitions and in the indopacific the shest way to stoke his Ambitions I think would be for us to be seen to be walking away from Ukraine right now why is president shei of China watching so closely what's happening in Ukraine what's he looking to see well I think he's he's looking to see I think he assumed the performance of the Russian military which Putin had invested a lot in you know over the last 20 years um would easily overwhelm what is objectively a much smaller Ukrainian military and I think one of the lessons he learned is not to assume that when people are determined to defend themselves they'll be very you know um imaginative and creative as well as you know extremely tenacious as well I think it came as a strategic surprise in many ways to president X um when he saw the United States and our European allies stand up in supportive Ukraine in as decisive a way as we did as the Coalition that President Biden put together has been able to do that we were willing to work with our allies and partners to inflict economic costs on Russia and absorb some of those costs ourselves and I think you know all of those are lessons that I think president XI has watched um very care carefully as well and and so I think you know as we think about what's at stake in Ukraine it's important to understand that this is not only about ukrainians as important as that is it's not only about European security it's about what's at stake for the United States and our allies and partners across the indopacific as well this is so interesting so on that point it is the cia's OWN assessment that China's president has ordered its Army the pla to take back the island of Taiwan by force by 2027 has that changed based on what's happening in Ukraine well I think you know what what you know we've said and what the number of senior US Military Officers have said is that you know we believe that President XI instructed his military the people's Liberation Army to be ready by 2027 to accomplish an allout invasion of Taiwan that that's a Readiness Target that doesn't mean that he's decided uh to invade Taiwan in 2027 or 2028 or 2026 and that's why I think the kind of lessons that China absorbs from experiences in Ukraine matter so much because I think that can have as I said before a sobering effect on their calculus um about Ambitions that I would never underestimate about President X or the current Chinese leadership to control Taiwan but I think what we do in Ukraine what we do on other issues does have an impact on that calculus we are going to talk more about China but I didn't want to finish on Ukraine and Russia without talking about Vladimir Putin you have a long history with him most of my gray hair came from dealing with President [Laughter] Putin well I did a little research you've called him cocky cranky AG grieved and insecure just how dangerous is Vladimir Putin well I think he's demonst rated you know in the war in Ukraine his unprovoked aggression there over more than two years now how dangerous his Ambitions can be I mean as I've watched Vladimir Putin over the years I mean he's he always seems to me to be a kind of combustible combination as you were saying Norah of grievance and ambition and in insecurity all wrapped up together you know the longer he's been in power now over more than two decades um the more he's tightened his grip on Russia the smaller his circle of advisers has become and it is a very insular Circle today there were probably only three or four other senior Russian officials who were privy to his plan to invade Ukraine up until you know a week or two before the war so how many of them are still alive oh those guys are still around I think but I mean you know part of it is that their own views in that very small circle in many ways as hard or harder than Putin's um or at least they've learned that it's not career enhancing to challenge his judgments um you know over the course of their 10 years so as as you've seen you know that trend line over the years you've also seen Putin's sense of Destiny and his his appetite for risk also increased and nowhere has that been clearer than in Ukraine because ever since I've watched Putin he's had a brutal fixation on controlling Ukraine and controlling its choice he cannot imagine Russia as a great power or him as a great Russian leader without controlling Ukraine and that's what I think as much as anything else impelled him to invade Ukraine you know at the beginning of 2022 I think he had come to the conviction that his window strategically was closing to accomplish control and subordination of Ukraine and tactically he saw a landscape that favored that as I said before I think he believed Ukraine was a weak and divided country he thought Europeans were distracted and risk averse who knows what he thought about the United States he thought he had modernized the Russian military to the point that Ukraine would be no competition he thought he had kind of sanctions proofed the Russian economy he made a lot of very bad calculations um and in the especially in the first year of the war you know Russia suffered some significant setbacks again thanks to The Bravery and determination of ukrainians with our support let's talk about artificial intelligence what's your biggest concern when it comes to our foreign adversaries and AI oh I think it's that you know they'll be able to master all the Technologies associated with artificial intelligence and machine learning not only faster than the United States and our allies can but employ them in ways that whether it's in milit military terms or technological terms um you know enable them to compete better than we can um I don't think there's anything inevitable about that I think the United States and I don't mean this as a statement of American arrogance but I think we're entirely capable of competing very effectively in those spheres as well as in other really challenging spheres semiconductors Quantum Computing as well I think we're playing um you know a very strong hand if we have a focus if we tap into what's best um in terms of the innovativeness um in American industry if you know government agencies like CIA build better Partnerships with the private sector you know fully onethird of our officers work full-time digital cyber science and technological issues we have a lot of In-House talent but the truth is we we're not going to be able to compete effectively with the People's Republic of China in AI or machine learning unless we're tapping into the you know the Innovation that creates ity the imagination the drive of the private sector as well so we work very hard we created for the first time a chief technology officer position at CIA we created a new Mission Center which is one of the organizational building blocks the dozen or so building blocks at the agency focused on technology and building better Partnerships with the private sector so I'm confident in our ability to compete I'm not complacent about it though and we just have to continue to drive and and demonstrate initiative on the topic of technology cyber attacks yesterday the FBI director said China is preparing to attack us infrastructure and they are waiting for the right moment to quote deal a devastating blow what kind of infrastructure are the Chinese targeting and is the US prepared we're working hard to ensure that we're prepared as my colleague Chris Ray the FBI director said though you know we see lots of evidence of you know the Chinese working quite methodically to De develop access to critical infrastructure including critical civilian infrastructure um in this country and we take that very very seriously not just from our point of view as an external intelligence service collecting intelligence and information about you know Chinese plans and actions but also working with our domestic Partners like FBI um to make sure we're doing everything we can to help Harden you know that critical infrastructure against uh efforts to disrupt and gain access how much of China's malware has the US uncovered or mitigated well I mean I think this is more a issue for the FBI or Homeland Security too I mean as they look at you know the domestic challenge there too but I I think we're making Fair progress let me ask it this way um what's China up to um well I think it's up to um winning on that issue anyway to you know um enhance its access its ability to disrupt if it chose to do that um as part of a broader long-term strategy if you ask what's China up to in East Asia and in the Indo Pacific I think it's the long-term ambition is to be the predominant player in that part of the world which means you know dislodging the United States which you know for years and years has worked with our allies and partners um to try to ensure you know everything from space for democracies to flourish for open economic systems to flourish as well you know the one thing I think that one of the biggest assets the United States has and I've seen this both as a diplomat and now you know in the job I'm proud to hold today directing the Central Intelligence Agency is you know we have networks of allies and partners in the Indo Pacific and Europe and around the world by contrast China and Russia despite the closeness of their ties today are relatively lonely Powers so if we invest if we don't take for granted you know those allies and partners and if we get our act together at home and you know renew our own domestic political and economic system you know I think we can compete quite effectively with China certainly with Russia and we ought to approach that competition with confidence I mean at least that's the attitude that we have at CIA one of the big concerns you've heard discussed sort of with domestic politics is the crisis at the border let's talk about fenel because the select committee on China in Congress this week released a new report where they found that China is directly subsidizing the manufacturing and export of fentanyl precursor materials so that's was new to me because certainly in my reporting we knew that China was sending these precursor materials to Mexico they're making the enal coming across the border and now the number one killer of young people in America what this report did which I think and correct me if I'm wrong said that the China itself is directly subsidizing many of these companies that are doing it so is this the state sponsored poisoning of America well what it is I think clearly is that the People's Republic of China its leadership is not enforcing its own laws I mean you know laws that in some ways would you know restrict people from mislabeling exports to the United States as you said pill pressing equipment and chemical precursors that are essential to the Mexican cartels in caloa and YCO which produce so much of the fenyl which is poisoning a generation of Americans and last year caused the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans as well so as the president emphasized to president XI when they met face to face in California last November this is a critical issue for us and it's not just the United States singing solo on this the Mexican leadership European leaderships have also pressed the Chinese leadership to do more there are some signs you know after the president's meeting that the Chinese are taking this a little more seriously but you know this is something we have to press with real urgency even as you know again as an external intelligence service we try to help collect Intelligence on what those cartel are doing um so that we can enable both our Mexican security Partners but also our domestic US law enforcement partners and the DEA and other US Agencies to combat you know what is a serious and growing threat you know one of the issues you you may have seen that's being debated in Congress right now is whether to reauthorize something called section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance um act and essentially what this does is enable the United States intelligence Community Law Enforcement Community to collect on foreigners uh operating overseas so outside the United States but who just happen to use us telecommunications platforms and you know these this is very strictly regulated at something we take very seriously to protect us person information um which is sometimes collected in this process there's a number of reforms that are in this leg legislation that the Congress is considering right now but I I mention it only because its reauthorization its passage I think is a crucial tool to fight fentanyl because something like 70% of all the successful disruptions of fentanyl traffic moving into the United States that we've been a part of um have come directly from intelligence deriv from 702 and as the Director was just talking about Congress has resisted did the reauthorization of section 702 you are also pushing for or the B Administration intelligence Community is pushing for the expansion to include counternarcotics correct that's right and it's precisely because of the fentel challenge I mean this has been used 702 has been a really valuable tool for us at CIA in helping to keep Americans safe from terrorist threats as well it's also extremely useful in our efforts to recruit you know whether it's Russians or Chinese or others too because it enables us you know to help identify everything from their patterns of life as you're trying to you know uh come in contact with people overseas as well so it's an incredibly important tool but it's expansion to focus on the counternarcotics challenge is really important I think to the Safety and Security of Americans could you give me like a real world example of of how that would work without without revealing anything that would would yeah I mean like how would that help sure i' be glad to I mean there was there was one instance over the course of the past year where we came across information about a shipment of chemical precursors precursors for fentanyl that was going to come through the United States and you know we didn't have very much notice it was less than 48 hours notice but we were able to pass that intelligence to our domestic Partners the FBI and others in a way that enabled them to uh confiscate that shipment and prevent what could have been I think the creation of you know enormous amount of fentanyl that could have poisoned an enormous number of Americans too so that's one example there are other examples where not only have we confiscated pill pressing equipment um but you know we've also enabled our Mexican Partners to make arrests of very serious cartel leaders in caloa for example uh who were responsible for the production in distribution of a lot of that fentanyl too so it's been a really valuable tool but you know you have to take advantage of it quickly that's part of the challenge too because there's a argument by some in Congress and I can understand the rationale for it to require warrants each time you want to use this because some of it could be domestic yeah and but the problem with that is it's just the time it would take because when you come across information like this you've got to move very quickly as well again in the interest of keep keeping Americans safe I don't have to remind you or anybody here it is an election year the intelligence Community just released a memo warning that China Iran and Russia are currently trying to interfere in US elections How concerned are you what are they doing quite concerned I mean I think the Chinese and you know the FBI also focuses on this very intently have been relatively cautious in terms of interfering directly in our election although they're not at all particularly cautious and monitoring their citizens abroad and often times trying to intimidate them as well Russians far less cautious they've demonstrated in Prior elections their you know intent and capability to you know in a sense amplify a lot of the dysfunctions in our own system um to use them um in many respects to undermine our democratic system the Iranians you know we've seen evidence of them attempting to do this as well over the years so again our focus at CIA is outside our borders trying to collect Intelligence on what those players and others you know may be planning to do um to interfere in our elections or to undermine our democratic system and then we work very closely with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and others um to try to counter that as best we can and many of the threats are out outlined in documents that are open source anybody here can read about about them in the annual threat assessment and more it's true have you seen foreign actors indicate a preference for either candidate CIA is a resolutely apolitical institution so yes well you don't have to say who I I'm not yeah no no I mean we see people trying to put their thumb on the scale sometimes um but again often times what the Russians do for example is to take dysfunctions polarization that to be fair if that's the right word we can create an abundance sometimes in our own society and then take advantage of that as well and exploit it and magnify it and make it even more dangerous than you know that it already is and so we see lots of evidence of that one of the things uh that's outlined in I believe it's the annual threat assessment that I was reading today talks about how much for instance they're just fake websites that report to be news websites and they are Russian propaganda for instance that's that's true too or you know huge numbers of bots and others that are meant to try to amplify you know what is oftentimes a very polarized debate in our society and does the CIA track how much of that Russian propaganda then ends up in the rhetoric of us lawmakers well it's not I mean what we focus on is what the Russians are trying to do from the outside in and so we focus on groups like Russia's there's a a group called The Social design agency um which is very closely connected to the Kremlin that's been responsible for some hacking efforts in the United States and you know a lot of similar kinds of activity too so it really Falls to our domestic Partners to focus on those kind of issues I know that many of you uh wrote questions for the director so I'm going to pose some of them to you one question do you believe the events of October 7th and Israel's response and recent aggressions against Iran Syria and Lebanon could lead the United States into a World War you know there's always a risk of expanding conflict um in the Middle East I've spent you know most of the last 40 years in public service working in and on the Middle East so I never underestimate the risk um I think we're working really hard right now as I was saying before in order to try to deescalate the situation um and that's what we're going to continue to try to do uh and I think the challenge since October 7th is you know for Israelis you know when I travel back and forth right now a lot of times you know for us it may seem like six months ago for many Israelis October 7th is yesterday and so the the you know the the feeling of insecurity that came from that brutal attack by Hamas is still very real but you know I I look at the suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza and I also see something that's very real and um that calls out for desperate attention which is why as I was saying before we work so hard on ceasefire hostage negotiations as well um because you know the otherwise the risk is just going to grow of of an expansion of this conflict too you know we we've seen just over the last couple of weeks um you know the indicators of that the possibilities of that um and you know the exchanges between Iran and Israel as well so that's what lends real urgency to trying to do everything we can to you know help bring this conflict to an end when do you think it'll happen I hope soon um I hope soon for the sake of you know lots of civilians for the sake of hostages for the sake of stability in the region I mean I understand the importance and the world and I understand the importance that you know Israel attaches to ensuring that Hamas can never again do what it did on October 7th that it can't govern Gaza again um that it's defeated decisively I understand that but the challenge is when that comes at the expense of lots of innocent civilians in Gaza you know it just adds urgency to trying to resolve this conflict another question by Bill reportedly recruiting agents in Russia has become easier how does that impact I would I mean I wouldn't say it's easier it's it's really is that true I guess I would add is that true it's really hard work I think it's possible and I'll be careful in what I say but I mean I think you know there's a fair amount of disaffection um in Russia today with you know Putin's decision to go to war in Ukraine um and you know that's created opportunities for us as an intelligence service and you know as we've said publicly before we're open for business I mean we're a we're a human intelligence service and so you know we focus very much on trying to expand you know the number of Russians that we work with we even have done something over the last year which is a little bit novel anyway doing recruiting videos on that telegram channel that about 40% of the Russian population watches regularly um and that's actually been very productive without going into a lot of details it as if nothing else thoroughly pissed off my Russian counterparts which so we we try to be inventive you uh we'll wrap it up with this because we're just about done but um I did mention your Memoir and and you open it up saying I remember clearly the moment and you were talking about the Madrid peace conference in 1991 and you said I remember clearly the moment when I saw American diplomacy and power at its peak and so much has changed since that what do you hope to see in terms of a renewal yeah I mean I I think that was a moment so this is more than 30 years ago when I was working for Secretary of State Baker about whom we were just discussing a really wonderful Diplomat but it was a moment at which American power in the world was at its peak what's changed over the last 30 years in many ways inevitably is that we're no longer today the only big kid on the geopolitical Block as I said before I'd still rather play our hand than China's or certainly Russ's or anyone else's but that puts a premium on diplomacy as I mentioned before on working with allies and partners the same is true in intelligence too you know one of the reasons I travel as much as I do around the world and I'm about to leave on my 66 overseas trip you know in the three years I've been director is because you want to build those kind of relationships with intelligence Services too that's our you know great strength in many respects too and that's what makes makes me for all of our challenges at home you know that's what makes me optimistic about the United States and you know what's possible I think in the world the the good that we can do as well I mean you know one of your colleagues was mentioning earlier the famous Winston church WIll quote about how you know the the thing he that he always admired about Americans is that they always do the right thing in the end they just like to exhaust all the Alternatives first what I found in many years working overseas as a Diplomat now as an intelligence officer is what lots of people admire about the United States is that you know it's not that we're perfect we have lots of problems and lots of flaws and we create some of them for ourselves but at our best we're pretty good at at least trying to fix those problems and and address them and that again at our best is you know what makes our democratic system attractive too and so I think as long as we stay focused not just on admiring our problems but actually doing something about them then I'm confident about not just what US intelligence Community can accomplish but what all of us can accomplish As Americans well said [Applause]

Channel: World Affairs Council of Connecticut

Views: 11,040

Keywords: world affairs, world affairs council, ctwac, foreign policy, foreign affairs, global education, global affairs, current events, cia, bill burns, william burns, ambassador, central intelligence agency, global security, 100 years, Norah O'Donnell, DCIA, CIA Director, Russia, Ukraine, China, Middle East, global conflicts, Taiwan, intelligence, security, diplomacy, news, world news, world events, centennial celebration, centennial

Id: ABr0kaZa1xg

Length: 60min 47sec (3647 seconds)

Published: Wed May 01 2024