 It is my distinct pleasure now to welcome to the podium Senator Graham Who really does define needy-no introduction? But senator Graham since 2002 you've been a leading voice in the Senate on all of the issues We've been talking about today. Yeah. Well, that's work But so we're delighted we're delighted to welcome you here today And I have a conversation. We've been talking here all day long about foreign policy challenges I know you've just returned from a trip to various parts of the world and some of which we've been talking about and You've also been an important voice on how we need to think about winning the war on terrorism And you held a hearing last Spring and into the summer where you said that we're not gonna Win this war by just killing terrorists and this is a crisis where you pay now or pay later that theme was echoed a bit this morning both by Admiral Strudvridis and Senator and a secretary John Kerry who talked about the Marshall plan and How we need to ensure that we're thinking about all of our 3d's working together So love to hear your thoughts on that anybody here not being confirmed this week raise your hand We're having like 400 hearings tell Jeff sessions. He's doing great one Thanks to the Institute beautiful building great cause you get some taxpayer dollars good investment Steve Bux their crap out of me all the time about more money, but Hadley, yeah, so what's the theme of this thing passing the baton? Yes. I hope that's what we pass as a baton so The first thing I think President Lex got to do is find out in his own mind. What is winning the war on Terra? Mean we know what World War two is like you take Berlin you take Tokyo You shoot down the Air Force you sink their Navy. I think it's been hard for Americans to get their Heads around what we're doing. We are very schizophrenic when we get attacked. We want to blow everybody up After about two or three years. We want to leave everybody alone It won't work that way When you get attacked you need to respond But you also need to respond in a fashion to make sure you're not attacked again So I think the big problem he's gonna have in his own mind is how do you win the war and what does winning look like? Let me tell you what I think winning looks like People over there Can take care of their problems With some of our help but not be dependent upon us their armies and their police forces can protect the populations and The rule of law replaces the rule of gun and young people have something to live for Rather than die for That's pretty nebulous, but when you think about it the feeding radical Islam is The proposition that they're selling a glorious death. We got to sell a hopeful life and if I could find a way To win this war where all of us stayed over here and never had to go over there. I would So I would rather fight it in their backyard than ours I'd rather have partners and do it alone and I'd rather hit them before they hit us and To win the war the kinetic part of it has limited utility. What if I learned After 39 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan It's a long ass way over there And I keep running into the same people all the time we're fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan the 1% Have been doing a heck of a job on our behalf so what have I learned that building up their institutions is Hard particularly when there's lack of security and I hope president Let Trump soon be present Trump will understand That if you're not for the 150 account Which all of you know right? It's good to talk to an audience who knows what the 150 account is We didn't fill up the room. That's probably for a reason so So I'm gonna try to convince him in general Flynn that the 150 account is A great tool in the war on terror and that you want to rebuild up the military Replacing sequestration is a great place to start But if you don't replace sequestration for the FBI the CIA the national security at NSA and the 150 account you'll miss the boat on what it takes to win the war So the president elects got to make a decision in his own mind What is our role in winning the war and what does victory look like earlier panel was Talking about the importance of investing precisely in those areas of great instability that have the potential to come back Down the road to be a greater problem. Would you agree with that? Yeah, so the Marshall plan you all been talking about that The reason we've made that name up is we couldn't think of another name Most people my age understand what the Marshall plan was all about it was taken totalitarian states with radicalized populations staying until Things got better Building up the very buildings you blew up Working with the kids that the prior regime tried to radicalize and over the arc of time you got Germany and Japan Let me tell you it is pretty hard right now in this environment selling staying power so The 150 account is 1% of the budget My belief is that if we could create a new account for Western democracies Gulf Arab states Japan and it'd be ironic if Germany led the new Marshall plan and put together about a hundred billion bucks and Said to developing nations We're here to help you but there's gonna be a new way of doing it Nigeria. We got to get Nigeria, right? So you got a new president. They're taking the fight to Boko Ram So what I would envision with this money is a public-private partnership like the Millennium Challenge Corporation What president Bush should be very proud of? So it's gonna be an international version of that It will be new money not to replace the UN not to replace Individual state aid programs for the collaborative effort between the private sector and the public sector to take new money and Leverage better results in some countries It may be power for us to help you with your power supply. You actually passed laws for people have to pay the power bill So the bottom line is I'm trying to convince the new administration and my Republican colleagues That we're gonna pay now or we're gonna pay later and the worst nightmare for radical Islam It's for us to get to the country before they do Invest in the lives of the young people before they can corrupt their lives and The biggest antidote to tear above all else is giving a poor young girl a chance for an education and a voice for children That drives these guys nuts and that's what I want to do You mentioned that it takes a long time to solve these problems and that's been one of the themes today Is that these that's why it helps to take Senator Thurman's place. You have the long view of things And we've been talking about how these are not problems that are solved in for even eight-year increments And it's actually the 70th anniversary today of a speech that senator Vandenberg gave 70 years ago we taught made the very famous line that politics stop at the water's edge So in order to transcend these four to eight-year increments We really do need this bipartisan support for key foreign policy solutions You've had a long successful career. Is that still possible? Is that imperative still still front and center? It's okay to disagree about foreign policy, too It's okay to have a robust debates, but you don't want to undermine each other So let's look at what president Trump's gonna have to deal with We're gonna take Mosul back from Isle how many you think we'll eventually do that? Raise your hands Ramadi Fallujah, how do you hold them? Rock is gonna fall one day Who's the holding force? It's my view that the YBG Kurds are not gonna hold rock That you're gonna need an Arab holding force And if you've been to any of these areas lately, you realize that the entire economy has been devastated Would he leave a residual force behind this time the first question He's gonna have to answer in my mind is is he willing to put American dollars into the pipeline to reconstruct these cities that have been Destroyed in the name of liberating them and Will he get other people to put money in the same pot because if you don't invest in Reconstructing Mosul Ramadi and Fallujah, they're gonna fall back into the enemy's hands a residual force if The Iraqis requested this time around a residual force which they did last time by the way Would he say yes? Here's my advice if you don't leave some soldiers behind this time You're gonna get the same result as last time Syria Who's gonna hold Raqqa and that part of Syria is this a good deal that the Russians and the Iranians? Here's my general proposition any deal cooked up by the Russians in the Iranians is probably not a good deal So what did they accomplish? They've driven us out of Syria In terms of peacemaking and if Assad stays in power, I hope the president elect understands That that will be a recruiting tool for radical Islam for decades the biggest winners I think of the Russian Iranian Turkey deal is Russia Iran Assad Radical Sunni Islamic groups the biggest losers Syrian people us The Arab neighbors and eventually Turkey and Maybe Israel Why not see Israel? Israel's constantly under attack From two groups once Hamas once Hezbollah the last thing I want Ron for your country Is to have somebody in power in Damascus That would create a corridor all the way into Lebanon So that the weapons that exist in Syria can flow into Lebanon and one day be used against your country To our friends in Turkey If you think this is a good deal for you, you're very short-sighted What is Erdogan's political base? What is it? It's the rural areas of Turkey The secular urban areas not so much Here's what I fear by throwing in with Russian Iran He's reinforcing the narrative that he's empowered the mortal enemy of Sunni Islam the Iranian Ayatollah and That Radical Islam is going to send upon Turkey with a vengeance Not because Turkey helped destroy ISIL But because Turkey will be seen by religious conservative people who are not members of ISIL or al-Qaeda is having done a deal with the devil So this current construct of where Syria is given into three groups Turkey gets a foothold inside of Syria to deal with this Kurdish problem. I Think it's not gonna help the Kurdish problem. I think it's make it worse. Why did Turkey do this? I think Turkey believed that we were an unreliable partner because we were training the Kurds as the liberating holding force and the eyes and minds of the average Turkish government official The YPG Kurds and the PKK are ever bit as lethal as ISIL and al-Qaeda. I Think we drove them to the Russian Iranian camp Here's what president Trump's got to decide He's publicly said he wants to work with Russia to destroy radical Islam They're not destroying radical Islam. They've been destroying the moderate forces that have been trying to liberate the country from Assad If he insists that Assad stay in power if president Trump buys into that construct I think it's going to be a nightmare for the Arab countries surrounding Syria cost the war never ends. I think it'd be a problem for our friends in Israel and I think Turkey's in a world of hurt When he wants to build up the military Count man is he willing to invest in the 150 camp because if he's not And I think we're missing the whole point of trying to win the war Does he want to leave forces in Iraq when everybody's ready to leave will he build up forces in Afghanistan? He's gonna have a lot of hard decisions. Will he give more money to Israel? I hope so. I Want to help him And I hope everybody in here will want to help him But the bottom line is when I think he's wrong I got to have the courage of my convictions even though I'm a Republican to tell my party. I think you're wrong Senator Graham, you have been a longtime supporter of the UN However, you've been quite critical recently since the vote on Israel and I'm Curious whether you see that there might be other ways to address what was essentially a political vote of member states Without undermining the importance of the UN I'm an internationalist in my party. I'm a Steve Hadley kind of guy so I I think what president Bush did with Petfar and All the AIDS programs in Africa is gonna serve us well for a hundred years The United Nations The Marshall plan has to be coordinated with what the UN is already doing I've already met with the new secretary general before he got the job great guy from Portugal can't say his name don't want to butcher it How do I sell? To the people in South Carolina that I want to take more of your tax dollars Partner with international organizations that in their mind have gone crazy The average South Carolinian believes That when it comes to our national security and the problems in the world Israel is not the biggest problem To those who believe that it's about land You really don't remember very well. What happened when Israel left Gaza? How do you do peace when you have the other side divided into two camps? I believe in a two-state settlement Two-state solution, but it requires the ability of both parties to deliver free recent agreement I'm going to suspend funding to the United Nations Being an internationalist until they correct the problem with this resolution We've had differences with our friends in Israel's about settlement Settlements, but we've always said among ourselves We're going to keep these differences among ourselves and we're never going to let the United Nations take over the peace process Here's my problem with the United Nations did they selectively chose one issue of many They highlighted in a fashion that I think gives false hope to peace The problem as I see it is not settlements by itself is the fact that Hamas Governs about 40% of the Israeli of the Palestinian population and they're not remotely interested in peace and That a boss can't deliver So I'm gonna do two things Ted Cruz my new best friend We're going to introduce a resolution tomorrow Suspending all assistance to the United Nations until we get this resolution and a better spot Stop funding the Palestinian Authority Until they change their laws that reward young Palestinians for killing Israelis and Americans and let me give you an example Taylor force is a young man whose parents live in South Carolina He graduated from West Point did a tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan He was an Israel as a graduate student studying and Jaffa, I believe it was Went out to dinner came out of the restaurant got stabbed to death by a Palestinian The Palestinian was killed his body was sent back to Ramallah. He was welcomed As a hero given a state funeral and his parents were given a lump sum of money By the Palestinian Authority What am I supposed to tell people in South Carolina? I know a boss. Well He's got a lot of political problems But I'm not gonna continue to find organizations Who tell their young people the best way to get ahead is to kill somebody else So how you do? Are there ways that Leverage can be used with member states without imperiling especially the critical assistance that the UN provides To a healthy conversation with the Ukraine they voted for this resolution Like what are you thinking? I? Went to Eastern Ukraine with the president and looking at the Russians killing everybody's yep They're doing it. How would you like to be in Israel where you give up land voluntarily and you get 10,000 rockets? It's not that I don't see fault in our friends in Israel. There's fault with all of us I just see this to be an absurd proposition by the international community to single out settlements and Condemn Israel. I just don't see that as being very constructive to the member states who voted for this and Depend on us for assistance. We're gonna have a new conversation here Peace will come only when the Palestinians United and can deliver If that day comes would they have an election and they're long overdue and The Palestinians reject to mass and they vote for a more moderate view Then the burden will be on Israel Until that day comes Senator Graham we we want to open the room to get some questions and reflections from the audience Absolutely, so if anybody has anything they'd like to raise with the senator and One of the I'd like to also note that one of the things we've been talking a lot about today have been the critical priorities facing the incoming Trump administration you've noted several But while we see if there are comments or suggestions from the audience love you to be thinking about if you Were ranking the top three which we've been asking people to do what those would be Rebuild your ability to deter aggression by setting aside sequestration Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things Able to freeze do this to the discretionary budget and not move the debt needle and call it as it says I'll never know We're gonna have the smallest army since 1940 the smallest Navy since 1915 The Air Force Congress will have shot down more fighter planes than any enemy could hope to do through sequestration But when we replace it, I hope we'll look at what defense really means If defense doesn't mean the 150 account you made a huge mistake Mr.. President leg you watch a lot of TV in case you're watching this If you're not willing to invest in the lives of others you cannot make us safe here I have come to conclude that and if you don't believe me ask any general General Mattis said if you cut the State Department's budget, you better buy me more bullets So get funding right the Iranian agreement what keeps me up at night Is a nuclear arms race in the Middle East does anybody share that concern? How many of you believe the Arabs are gonna get a nuclear weapon if they think the Iranians one day will get one Just talk to the Arabs The nuclear agreement with the Iranians needs to be renegotiated Because at the end of 15 years, they don't even have to cheat they can reprocess and enrich We do have more insight into their nuclear program than we didn't have before What the hundred and fifty billion dollars we gave them in sanctions relief is not building school houses So what I would do as my number two priority is That I would impose sanctions on the Iranian regime for their behavior outside their nuclear program for in slip for for holding hostage American sailors for toppling four Arab capitals for supporting Hezbollah Hamas and taking Yemen and tearing it apart We're going to introduce sanctions in a bipartisan fashion To sanction the Iranian regime for their behavior outside the nuclear program if our president Trump I Would seize that Moment and use it as leverage to get a better deal the third thing is North Korea North Korea is an interesting place The former leader said he had nine holes in one in his first round of golf That's when he lost me being born in a mountain and all that other stuff. I was okay. I go there We're laughing But North Korea has nuclear weapons and they're trying as I speak To develop the missile technology to hit our shores. How many of you really want to be president of the United States? So the third thing I would worry about if I were Trump is how do you stop the ICBM program in North Korea? And if you don't stop it, you're gonna own the consequences of letting it go forward So I am gonna offer General Mattis Thursday a Congressional authorization news force to stop their ICBM program from hitting the homeland if they want it And I think every member of Congress should be on the record as to whether or not they support the proposition of using military force If necessary to stop the North Koreans from building ICBM to get hit America Those are the three things. I think he needs to really focus on early Thank you for that and we have a questioner right here Sean Callahan Catholic Relief Services, I appreciate the comments you made miss senator regarding the 150 account Where would you advise the president elect? What would be his first overseas trip? Why and what would you have him say? I'd go to Israel and say I'm your friend Then I would go to Jordan and Have the king of Jordan host a regional summit and say I'm your friend Then I would send a joint message from the Western world and the Arabs to the Iranian people We want to be your friend And I'd send a message that I told we've had it with you You're in succinct Priscilla Thank you And Priscilla clapper If you were to Authorize the use of power on North Korea from the Congress Kind of reaction do you think it might cause would North Korea go after South Korea? Would they would they start a fight and that's a really good question, you know I advocated leaving troops behind in Iraq Advocated helping the Free Syrian army four years ago, and I got asked what would happen if you did well There would be a consequence to helping people who are fighting for their freedom we I realized that if you adopt my foreign policy Views that there will be consequences I've said on and thought what's the worst thing that can happen The worst thing can happen is that North Korea actually builds a missile that can hit our homeland And I work backward The worst thing can happen in Syria is for Russia and Iran to come bell aside out after we told him he had to go The worst thing that can happen for America is when you tell North Korea is not gonna happen And it happens So Trump has tweeted himself into a red line here Should he've done it. I don't know I wouldn't have done it that way. I'm glad I don't email or tweet I Would have told the Chinese what my red lines were and you tell North Korea if you do these things all bets are off That's the way I would have done it But we're now out there for Republic is saying we're not gonna let North Korea build an ICBM Here's what I think would happen If they believe Trump was serious about it, they would find a way to stand down Cuz let me tell you this as bad as a war with North Korea would be I know who's gonna lose it They will As bad as the war with Iran would be I know who would lose it. They will and you know what they know that too Interesting times, isn't it? You got a real crazy guy wanting to build a missile to hit your homeland with like a hundred weapons. I mean, what do you do about it? we have we have One question will do two more questions over here and then over there Senator you have advanced in your comments today. I'm to Micah Tilliman I direct the Bretton Woods to program at New America a pretty simple proposition Which is borne out by most of our history you can either invest now and addressing these market failures or you can pay later And what we see at this moment is that those market failures that we're encountering around the world are not only expensive for the U.S. Government, they're also very expensive for the private sector in a way that we maybe haven't fully appreciated previously So I'd be curious to ask your opinion on what if anything can be done at a policy level To encourage the private long-term financial actors that will ultimately end up paying a big price at these problems metastasize to start pursuing Investments that can address root causes of some of these challenges around the world while hopefully making return in the process Well Boeing build 787s in South Carolina. I love Boeing. They're about to sell a bunch of jets to run. I know they got Airbus's competition Tillerson's whole confirmation is going to be about do you know the difference between being a CEO at Exxon and Being Secretary of State There's one area where I think we can work together with the Russians and the Chinese The Middle East is seeking nuclear power Most Arab countries that I've talked to one day would like to have a nuclear program because they'll run out of oil and gas I Am okay With the expansion of nuclear power in the Middle East for peaceful purposes So Russia China in the United States should think about collaborating with our private sectors To basically build nuclear power plants throughout the Middle East as long as we control the fuel cycle. I Don't mind Iran having a nuclear power plant I just don't want people who deny the Holocaust the ability to enrich and reprocess. I Don't like the idea that on the day we signed the agreement That we voted in the Senate on the Iranian nuclear agreement The eye told us said God willing in 25 years Israel won't exist So the private sector part of this is what the Marshall plan is all about You have NGOs You have big companies doing business all over the world What if you could take the power of goodness, which is the NGO the power of capital, which is big business and Married up with the power of a government and put on the table new assistance That reinforces better governance and Reinforces outcomes that are more transparent. I Know I'm a bit schizophrenic to some of you in this audience Please understand that I get it when it comes to the limitations of the use of military force and destroying radical Islam Russia no one has asked me about Russia How many of you think Russia hacked into the DNC and Podesta? Me too. How many think we should do something about it me too now the president elect Talks all around this. I hope you'll understand that I'm not suggesting that his Victory was brought about by Russian interference you won mr. President Hillary Clinton lost you won and it had nothing to do with the Russian hacking But they did try to interfere And what I hope you'll understand is in about 10 days He's gonna be the leader of the free world and that you have to stop this behavior because it's happening all over the world He says he wants a better relationship with Russia How many of you desire that? How can you have a better relationship if they do the same old thing? You're never gonna have a better relationship until Russia changes its behavior You can't have a better relationship with the country whose Leader steals his own people blind and kills folks that oppose it and Gobbles up their neighbors and tries to break the backbone of democracy The very foundation of who we are as a people the only way a better relationship where Russia occurs is when they change Not us forgiving more their bad behavior So the Congress today introduced sanctions that hit them in the energy sector where they're most vulnerable That deal with financial services sector So if you want to do business in Russia, it's gonna be harder for you as a private sector company The reason I did that with nine other Republicans and Democrats is to let Putin know enough is enough and The current sanction regime is not working President Trump is gonna have to decide How to deal with Russia I Have decided We're gonna deal the Russia from position of strength We're gonna rebuild our military We're gonna go after him and his cronies For what they did in our election and what they're trying to do throughout the world I just got back from the Baltic states for all NATO members were scared to death I Spent New Year's Eve in the Ukraine on the eastern front of the war With the Ukrainians who know they're outmanned and outgun, but are willing to die I'm a hopeless romantic When it comes to democracy But I'm also very practical We're dealing with Saudi Arabia. I think they got room for improvement There are a lot of our allies that we need to push to do better But you have to deal with the world as it is The private sector needs to be more utilized in American foreign policy because you bring to the table The essence of America may be better than any politician Our ace in the hole is that average people want to be more like us not less our biggest export Movies entertainment Never lose sight of the fact that we have an advantage over all enemies Not because our military is so much better than it is It's cause most people want what we take for granted Putin one day will fall Just like all thugs and bullies fall How much damage between now and then I don't know I So will be destroyed one day because most mothers and fathers don't want their daughters turned over to these bastards They just need our help To our friends in Israel Hang in there Things are gonna get better My foreign policy Is very simple. I believe that what we stand for Should be offered to everybody And if they don't want it To a free and fair process, I'm okay with that Trump says America first I say freedom first The right of self-determination above all else and if you vote for a dictator too bad If most people could vote They wouldn't accept this And if you want to be peaceful here, you want to preserve our way of life You better be involved over there The only thing I can tell you after 15 years of being at war We're never gonna win this war All of us stand over here And the best and the brightest among us are not just our soldiers It's the people in the State Department and these NGOs Who go out and represent American values without carrying a gun I'm a pretty hawkish guy but I've had the pleasure of Seeing our State Department in action our NGO community in action and I believe We would be very wise to invest in them just as we would be wise to invest in our military Thank you for having me Thank you for being a star fierce defender of the 150 account He's got a crazy hearing schedule, so we're very very appreciative that he was able to join us