theontinue to press for assad regime to allow the u.n. investigators into the country to look into this matter. and we talk about without getting into specifics about the process, the answer is we do have some ability and we work with our partners and allies and most importantly the opposition on this matter, but i can. youtube what we said about the evidence that we had gathered and the intelligence assessments that were available at the time. i have no new announcements to make on that, but we are continuing to pursue this matter as one we consider to be very serious and important. you talk about the balance between national security and the need for the press to do it stop. is it the standard that a journalist is prosecuted [indiscernible] things should be said about this. first, on a specific case, beyond the public reports, i cannot really offer my opinions about it. i would. you do what the president said last week. i would point you to some of the president did some of the published reports about what you are raising, but i would a

but we're not relying on the u.n. alone. we are pursuing and gathering information independently of that and working with our allies and the syrian -- most importantly the syrian opposition. i don't -- i don't have the depth of information about the progress that's being made to assess whether or not the report you said about the evidence available, whether or not that's the case. i know that we have been, for in an e now, working effort to build on the intelligence community's assessment about the use of chemical weapons, to make sure that we have a case, if you will , a set of facts that can be be -- corroborated and reviewed and from which we can make assessments about possible policy actions. even as that takes place, as you have seen, at the direction of the president, we have stepped up our humanitarian assistance. we have stepped up our assistance to the syrian opposition. we have made assistance available directly to the military counsel of the opposition, nonlethal assistance, but we have stepped it up. and that pro

but of course, we need a u.n. security council resolution. you ask me about the the prospectus for the balkans. montenegro has made substantial progress. this is the reason why we have rented a membership action plan for montenegro. they do not possess the necessary criteria at this stage, but i'm quite impressed and bosnia -- there is a political statement, and the problem is years ago be granted what i call it conditioned-based action plan. we have declared we are willing to activate that members an action plan as soon as the bosnians carry through certain reforms, modest reforms, actually, related to defense problems. i went to bosnia and february, had a meeting with the political leaders. get to aised me to political agreement, but so far we have not seen progress. we stand ready to move forward as soon as they do their homework, and i have answered as far as copies is concerned -- and i believe the agreement between belgrade and -- so facilitate progress with regards to western balkan integration in the europe structures. it is up to the

but will the u.n. be able to take those findings and be able to operation lies them somehow, some kind of plan to influence the north? that would be my specific question. i think it's dealing with the is a rights situation long term effort and the main thing we have to do is keep it up. and i think one thing the commission does is raises the level of attention on north korea and north korea's problems. the north koreans don't like being singled out. they don't like the u.n. security council voting on sanctions against them for their military activities. and i think the same thing is true in terms of the commission of inquiry. we continue to document, we continue to establish the facts. and there is a growing sense that north korea is out of step with the rest of the nations in the world. and i think this commission of inquiry is part of that process. the economist intelligence unit produces reports periodically. they did a report on freedom, what countries have the greatest amounts of freedom. who are

the u.n. is doing a great job. they are running out of money. jordan is about to fall if we don't stop this war. from a human point of view, senator mccain, we have got to get this war over and america needs to be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem. from a national security point of view, syria is goingo become a nightmare for the whole world, including the united states. mr. mccain: i thank my colleague. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include in the record a piece by senator casey called time to act in syria. it wasn the huffington post, "washington post" editorial entitled repercussions of inaction, "wall street journal" article u.s. has warned planned syria arms sale, and finally a piece by leon wieseltier that i >> in a few moments, the first congressional hearing looking into the bombings of the boston marathon. air force officials make their budget request on capitol hill and face questions on a sexual abuse reports. on a that, a house debate bill that would set debt priorities requiring the and at arst, bobby

in syria, there have been reports that the u.n. humanitarian that has clearly stated that the gas was used by the rebels and not by the o-called vicious regime as the gentleman stated. i don't buy that either. guest: i don't think there's any reason so refer to the regime as a so-called vicious regime when they've slaughtered tens of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of people. this is a vicious regime willing to do anything to remain in power. the reason the united states has not yet taken any action is precisely because of the caller's concern. because we want to make sure that if there is going to be any response, that we understand exactly what happened. if chemical weapons were used who used them system of we can act accordingly. i think the administration's approach has been in line with what the caller suggested. >> front page of the "wall street journal," pentagon plans for the worst in syria. host: can you tell us more about this? guest: sure. i think that as i said, there is real concern about the possible spillove

with regard to north korea's missile fire and nuclear testing, china has taken active part in adopting u.n. security council resolutions and it faithfully implementing those resolutions. and with regard to russia, russia's also firmly committed to the denuke larization of the korean peninsula -- denuke larization of the -- denuclearization of the korean peninsula and with regard to that, it has been active in supporting them and they've also sent sent a very -- and they've also worked very hard to include a stearn message to north korea in the g-8 foreign minister's meeting. such constructive efforts on the part of china and russia unified to sending a message to north korea that their nuclear weapons will not stand and encouraging and urging north korea to make the right decision. >> obviously i don't know kim jung-un personally. i haven't had a conversation with him. can't really give you an personal ut his characteristics. what we do know is the actions that he's taken. that have been provocative and seem to pursue a dead end. and want to emphasize, we very much share the view that we a

prior no that he served as ambassador to several countries including the u.n., iraq, mexico. served on the national security council lots of different positions within the government. host: is the d.n.i. instructure effective and is it working in your view? guest: i think. so i think the intelligence community needs a manager, somebody who doesn't have day-to-day operational responsibilities who can deal with issues like bument, programs, priorities and serve as the president's chief intelligence advisor host: did you do the daily briefing with the president? guest: it was done by two briefers. i did it six days a week. half an hour every day from 8:00 to 8:30 in the morning. i thought it was an important process and i thought of myself as in addition to being the d.n.i. and being the president's chief intelligence advisor, i also saw myself as the person responsible for the analytic of the intelligence community. host: ultimately responsible? guest: if i saw material being prepared that i thought needed to be looked at again or modified or changed in some way, restudied. rem

i said, who would pay from new york during the u.n. when it has the worst traffic in the world already? i said, we will make it even harder for them. when you come to our meeting, promised to help somebody somewhere and keep the promise if you want to come back. in the first meeting, we asked people to meet with people and make commitments. it has worked out pretty well. it was a widely. wild leap. these things have come up and then i took up child obesity because it is a public health problem in the country. i tried to chart these programs within the framework of my record and my passions as president where i could still have an impact. and to have the discipline to try to stop doing things when i thought i could have an impact and it turned out not to work. we keep trying to measure for impact and do that. >> final question is from another student at your school in little rock. it ties very nicely back into the theme of your talk today. "i heard you say the last remaining widespread bigotry is toward those with whom we have ideologic