it's too bad that you can't answer straightforward questions, mr. blinken. i want to ask you what you think that it's immoral or not for us to send these young syrians into an environment where they will be barrel bombs bashar al-assad? >> thanks to the work we been able to do with you, with congress, we've now -- >> you have done no work with me, mr. blinken. >> on the train and equip program for the -- >> you have not worked with me on anything. >> that's something we want to do and relish doing -- >> after six years you would want to do that. i thank you. >> senator, if i could just add, we've been working with a moderate opposition or nearly three years. we been working to build him up, give them support, give them greater means the -- >> mr. blinken, when you say that, it's disturbing to me because i know these people. i've been answered and i've met them. a lot of them of that are dead because who would help them. when the president said no to the recommendation of a sect of defense, sector and state and head of the cia to provide arms to them. a lot o

mr. blinken serves as deputy national security adviser. the senate foreign relations committee is chaired by bob menendez of new jersey. >> his nomination hearing for tony blinken deputy secretary of state will come to order. let me welcome you back to the committee as a former staff director of the committee for chairman biden at the time. you know as much about the nomination process as anyone although perhaps you are less familiar with being on that side of the table. between your service here at the white house you also have the challenge of managing multiple complex experiences and those experiences will serve you well when confirmed for this position. the united states is facing a range of critical challenges from a bowl in west africa to russian aggression in ukraine to the challenge of countering the isil in syria and iraq to iran's continued quest for a nuclear weapons program. at the same time we are seeking to forge new global partnerships with india, in the middle east and asia in looking for opportunities to expand american ex

thank you, mr. blinken, for your long and honorable service to this nation. your six years as staff director on this committee and your very capable and dedicated service in the obama administration and to my home state vice president biden. i want to say bill byrnes has served as a deputy secretary and is an accomplished service officer. we thank him for his 33 years of service to our country. if i might, first, mr. blinken, i chose the africa subcommittee in part because of its strategic importance. the failed states. i'll mention somolia and the central african republic. in one instance we had for nearly 20 years a complete collapse of centralized control and authority. as a result threat to regional and global security and the other where there is an ongoing and significant humanitarian crisis. tell me how you think we might together get ahead of the issue of failed states around the world and what's the proper mix between sort of economic and security and political initiatives to regain govern nangs and to move forward in human rights and to secure and s

thank you, mr. blinken, for your long and honorable service to this nation. your six years as staff director on this committee and your very capable and dedicated service in the obama administration and to my home state vice president biden. i want to say bill byrnes has served as a deputy secretary and is an accomplished service officer. we thank him for his 33 years of service to our country. if i might, first, mr. blinken, i chose the africa subcommittee in part because of its strategic importance. the failed states. i'll mention somolia and the central african republic. in one instance we had for nearly 20 years a complete collapse of centralized control and authority. as a result threat to regional and global security and the other where there is an ongoing and significant humanitarian crisis. tell me how you think we might together get ahead of the issue of failed states around the world and what's the proper mix between sort of economic and security and political initiatives to regain governance and to move forward in human rights and to secure and sta

., and anyone attending will be asked to remain seated until mr. blinken leaves the building. finally, we have c-span and a number of other news agencies filming the conference today. i ask you to please be conscious as you move around in the back of the room. now, with no further adieu, i'll turn the microphone over to vice president of policy and director of the middle east program who will moderate our first panel. thank you. >> thank you very much, kathe katherine and thank you for organizing this conference at such a timely time. the reason we were late, and i'm sorry we are, is because we just stepped out of a meeting in which our president jessica matthews announced that she would be stepping down after 18 years of service. and of leading the carnegie endowment to where it is today. offering a unique global vision and that deputy secretary of state is going to saucceed her n february 4th. so i thought i would share the news with you. okay. so our time this morning will focus on iraq, syria, lebanon, and the kurds. why we have included the islamic state in the title of t

but mr. blinken first i joined the committee because of the strategic importance about states i will mention somalia and the central african republic for over 20 years of a collapse of centralized control and authority and threats to regional and global security with there's the ongoing significant crisis. get ahead of the issue of failed states around the world and had we regain a governance of human rights going forward? >> senator stinky for your leadership to identify one of the critical challenges that we face we have seen again and again one of the things that the root of the problem is the failure of the state the failure of governments and institutions. we have seen incredible hope generated by the air of spring but into the institutions that can guarantee the rights and opportunities is a generational challenge because unfortunately it does not happen overnight. you can go across the board talk about tunisia with a great challenge is in yemen. there is a challenge from the insurgency

i think everybody knows mr. blinken's distinguished resume. he was vice president biden's national security advisor before becoming the president's deputy. and, before that, the democratic staff director of the foreign relations committee. really honored to have you and looking forward to hearing from you. he has a tight schedule, wouldn't surprise anybody to know, but would look forward to after hearing from him, getting some good questions in. >> thanks very much. >>> good afternoon. it's wonderful to be here and it's especially wonderful to be here on an extraordinary day for carney. let me just start by saying, first of all, jessica, your leadership of this institution for 18 years has been extraordinary. you've turned carnegie into a global institution in washington and, indeed, around the world. and it's also hard to mansion finding someone to succeed jessica in this job, but i think carne carnegie has pulled off a brilliant coup to get bill cur rans. those of you who him know him to be an absolutely extraordinary leader. i can only say

. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. blinken, for both being here today and for your welcomene newillingness to country. i want to follow up about the iran yan negotiations. reports have suggested, as you just did, that we are not close to reaching an greemt. and that another extinction e tension might be that something that people could agree on. what positive signs or movement do we need to see because i assume we would all argue that unless we think there's some reason to continue these negotiations, we should not do that if they're not going anywhere. >> senator, thank you. here's the challenge. we're driving to the 24th. we want to see if we can get an agreement that answers our rierntds. it really gends on whether iran can get to yes, sir e yes. and the short annals is we don't know. i don't want, right now, at this delicate moment in the negotiations in a public setting to get into the details because we really have to leave that and you'll understand why. with a negotiator. i know that in the days ahead, we will

and anyone atte attending will be asked to remain seated until mr. blinken leaves the building. finally, we have c-span and a number of other news agencies filming the conference today. i ask you to please be conscious as you move around in the back of the room. now, with no further ado, i'll turn the microphone over to marwan washer, vice president of policy and director of the middle east program who will moderate our first panel. thank you. >> thank you very much, katherine, and thank you for organizing this conference at such a timely time. the reason we were late, and i'm sorry we are, a bit, is because we just stepped out of a meeting in which our president, jessica matthews, announced that she would be stepping down after 18 years of service and of leading the carnegie endowment to where it is today offering a unique global vision and that deputy secretary of state bill burns is going to succeed her on february 4th. so i thought i would share the news with you. okay. so our panel this morning will forecuss on iraq, syria, lebanon, and the kurds. while we have included the