intelligence community and for the country. three presidents now have declared that our cyber infrastructure is a strategic national asset. and protecting that asset is a high national priority. the threat to that infrastructure comes from nationstates. it also comes from non-national organization, and even from skilled individuals. and our cyber infrastructure is intertwined. other national security functions, other government networks and private systems use many of the same cable, many of the same service providers, many of the same switches and the same applications. aske. .

improve. >> one of the most important agency the national security agency. it has an unmatched understanding of computer networks. the technical capabilities are critical to protecting our digital infrastructure. but the idea of using nsa's

technical capabilities to help prevent networkings often causes concerns. we must and we do use our capabilities that assures our citizens that their privacy and civil liberties are protected. americans must and they can have confident of the intelligence community are being used to save lives and protect our nation, they that aren't being used to warehouse information. and we must do our job with congress and overseeing the court, to help protect federal networks, to warn about the threats that are there, to share techniques and do it without intruding on the civil liberties and privacy. we have to continue to cooperate with those on who's network much of the critical infrastructure resides. we have to do those jobs

entirely within the provisions of the law from both the legislative and judicial branches. let me brag on those 100,000 men and women of the intelligence community, they are smart, decaded, i'm proud of them. more than ever we need employees from all backgrounds and religions. because we need as diverse of work force as world it is we're trying to understand. if you look at the numbers, we've done better on that line. we're not where we want to be. but we're getting closer all the time. and we recruit more than the brave men and women who do out on streets to gain information in countries. we also need and have linguists, criminal justice experts, lawyers, economist, political scientists, cybersecurity specialist, we have engineers who work on advance satellites, communications equipment, sophisticated sensors, fair issue recognition tech nothing

and, and analyst that make sense the flood of data. that's your intelligence community. the partnership for public service recently selected the intelligence community as one the best places to work in the federal government. i think it's especially remarkable, but not so much when you realize that half of our work force has joined since 9/11. half of those signed up after the world trade towers and the pentagon attacks. their group has been inspired by the pay patriotism that flowed. look at the dictionary again. patriotism, it is defined as the last resort of scan drail. again, it's fun to be cynical sometimes. but i couldn't disagree more. we don't have loud, flag waving

types in the industry, we have quiet types. they know we can't give them public recognition, their reward is contributing to a safe america. now those who serve our communities and on occasion have to go in harm's way have a special respect from the fellow citizens, armed forces, sailors, and marines who serve the country, police officers who keep us safe, and of course firefighters and first responders, i'm sure those of you who live in state where deadly fires are an occurring event as experienced the earthquake, a city that sponsors every year are thankful for those who serve us on a daily basis. i would like to tell you about another group who putt themselves into harm's way. but they do it in secret, receiving little public recognition.

those are members i've been talking about. sometimes they are given a suspicious by the fellow americans. like the armed forces, we too have lost people in the line of duty. central intelligence agency has a memorial wall with soldiers carved. some of their stories still can't be told today. but others can. like the first cia douglas mc kiernan. that was a closed ceremony. they findly made it public a few years ago. when the communist established the republic, they stayed behind to destroy some sensitive equipment and help leaders. he made it out, survived the desert, the himalayas, on his way to india, but was mistakenly

shot anklinged by tibeten guards. the military has lost many members of different armed forces. the fbi lost intelligence agents as far back as world war ii. one the stories was in 1975 when five employees were helping to take care of 250 orphans on take off from saigon. seven more employers were killed on 9/11 in their offices, and just last week four more were wounded in afghanistan. it's a dangerous business. but the people who do it, do it intrudely. they have proud to serve. they define it as soldiery compound of duty. but i can tell you as i continue to improve the rewards for the

intelligence community, vanity has nothing to do. these individuals are inspirational. it's enough to read those citations and shake their hands. i hope that overtime we can make americans just as proud as their intelligence community as those who serve in the first responders and military. what about the future? we defined the fast as a reason of sobs and the future of the realm of song. for once i agree. i'm quite optimistic about the future of the intelligence community. as i mentioned earlier today, my office released and said today is the first time i've really had to talk about it. this gives us our marching orders, our blueprint. we wrote it with the members of our 16 organizations and our intelligence community, also with the national security council. and it contains four strategic goals.

the first is to enable wise national security policy. and enable wise national security policy. we plan to do that by continually monitoring and assessing the international security environment and warn makers about threats and alert them to opportunities. our second strategic goal is to support effective national security action. i talked a little bit about this. to deliver intelligence this supports diplomats, intelligence units in the field, domestic law enforcement organization. our third goal is to deliver balance and improving capability so that the future can be more effective than that of today. we have to stay on the cutting edge of technology. and our fourth goal is to operate as a single team. there's one thing that i'm positive about after my short time on the job is that we are far more effective when we work together as a team, when we share information and skills, work closely with policymakers

and units in the field. the strategy goes on to lay out the mission objective. that is what we intend to do, countering massive of extremism, enhancing cybersecurity, and it also lays out how we will get the job done, improved integration and sharing, improved acquisition. and a strategy calls on to us to become morage ill and integrate ed. agile, because the threats come and go quickly. you have to catch them while they are there. integration, i've seen first hand how the intelligence community produces amazing results. i wish i could take you into the room with the computer screen and see if it's a young sergeant, army were air force, male, female, looking at the screen which is inside a computer halfway around the world of somebody we're trying to get some information about or we're trying to make them do

something to stop doing something. over here is some young guy with a new york yankees generally hasn't seen him since. it's on sideways. a little goatees. he's say you are doing well. stop right there. you got him. on the other side is the young women who speaks the dialect of the country that we're -- this computer that we're working on. she's working to make sure and understand what's on that screen how you can move, what you need to do. usually in the back there's some old person about my age. we've been doing intelligence for 40 years. we have the overall picture, and three or four other people in the back we've been working on that same problem and are helping this team with the computer that we're trying to work halfway around the world. it's something that happens every day. when it happens together like that, as a team, bringing all of the skills that we have together, real magic happens.

and building teams like that together, whether it's what i can do by what i do at the top of the organization or through encouraging this sort of idea, nourishing it from the bottom up. that's how we achieve the best results from this country in fact intelligence world. our world is a world of secrets. but it need not be a world of mystery. are people joined by motives? our jobs are about protecting the security. i want them to be proud, and i want you the american republic to be proud of them also. so aside from what's in the national intelligence strategy, let me emphasize the real news. our intelligence community is transparent as possible to the american republic. we do have to protect sensitive sources and methods. we've published our national intelligence strategy for all to read. our enemies can read it. but we mainly publish it for the american people. you can have a copy tonight as a

souvenir. why? because we believe if the public understands a little bit more about what we do and why we do it, overall we'll be a stronger, safer nation for it. with confidence we in the intelligence business are doing the right thing for the country. as we often do in this great country we're conducting an experiment in democracy, a magnificent experiment. can we operate a large, powerful, effective, intelligence enterprise while adhering to the principals of openness, separation of powers, respect for privacy. i believe we can do it. and so let me close with this. u.s. intelligence existed back in 1913 when admiral pierce disappeared. at that time it was army and navy intelligence, and they didn't talk. even so, if they had, i bet our assessment has been not the smartest thing to go down with an old gringo of '71 to pile

around in the mexican revolution. maybe he was more of a legend. but personally, i wish he'd come back to the united states to write at least one more story. and that really brings us to today. we want to keep americans safe so we can keep writing their stories and businesses. so they can be secure as they have dinner with their families, see the giants and the as play ball, go sailing and fishing, go up and down the pacific coast high. as they take care of each other, so they can live the american dream. that's our responsibility as trying to make that life as safe as possible. we take it seriously. and i think we can do it right. let's turn from a monologue into a dialogue. at last lot we can talk about. i'd love to hear your questions and your ideas. and thank you very much.

[applause] >> thanks very much to director dennis blair. they have hired for the "wall street journal." these are terrific questions. and they sport of range across zones like cybersecurity, lessons learned from 9/11 in iraq, to how to ramble the sort of far flung bureaucracy in washington. so it's some of the effective sort of fighting vehicle. and at end of the questions, this will be for the last one to keep you here until 8:00. did you water ski behind the

kitty hawk? the last question first. the notion of this vast bureaucracy in washington. all of these different intelligence agency, one questioner said shouldn't you just merge some of these? isn't it inefficient to have them? have so many of them. they have grown up in their own directions and never been pulled together. what challenges do you encounter with the culture of various agencies that you have to coordinate? are there still silos and separation of information? can we now connect all of the dots. will we be playing monday morning quarterback again? i think one question that summed up this, maybe you can tackle all of us at the same time, had the organization been in place now pre 9/11, do you think the 9/11 attacks would have occurred? >> the serious consideration of this question about how we

organization the intelligence communities was done as a result of that 9/11 commission. and within the commission itself and then in the subsequent of the debate. that range of possibilities for organizing intelligence created department of intelligence. but all of these 100,000 people and $50 billion. and put it in one department. and that department of intelligence has the job of providing it to everybody who needs it. and it was decided not to form that department but to form more of a confederation. and to get to the office of the director of national intelligence certain key authorities budget setting the rules for sharing of information, personnel authorities, and the reason it was done that way is because intelligence had such an integral part of what many

organizing did that the idea of ripping their own intelligence arms out of that department whether it be defense or treasury or dea would destroy the real responsiveness of the intelligence. better to leave them there working with other intelligence agency and making the hole work. that was the basis of the decision. and from what i've seen, that was a good solid decision. but it does click a premium on trying to work against your departmental demand sometimes for the greater good and the working together. and the way we do that is to try to concentrate on the definition of a task. the mission example, what are the leadership intelligences of country x? go steal the secrets, do the analysis to find that out. because a lot of people need to know about it.

example, country x is developing a weapon system that could be used against americans. go find out what its characteristics are so we can build counters to it. narcotic gang y is out running drugs across national borders. find out what they are doing, and tell that to the people who's job it is to stop them and arrest them. bring the team together from these different organizations, that's when the good stuff happens. so i think if we leave the agencies in these parent departments, we give them a mission, we give somebody like me the authority to make sure that their budgets cover those things that they can share information, and they are well plugged in with the people who need the information, then we can make the right things happen in the right way. so far i think that's a -- that'ses right way to do it. and yes, if we had this

organize, if we had this system of working back on kr-9d -- 9/11, i don't think the attacks would have occurred. we now know enough about many of those terrorists organization that wish us harm that we had stopping them with far less information that was available on 9/11/p2001. we are doing a better job. and if we had been back then, we might have stopped it. >> i think to ask if the bureaucracies do share information. mike con fellly said this needs to be improved. is there something that you can tell us about that's not classified that illustrates how information is now being shared between these agencies in a productive way where it had not been shared before? >> i can give you a good example

of -- based on the systems that we're deploying to afghanistan. afghanistan now to support the diplomatic, economic, reinstruction, military effort that we have there. and in order to do this integrated job in afghanistan which is work with the afghan national security services, work with the afghan government, provide security, bring a certain amount of governance, and provide some economic assistance, we have created an information system on a network housed in computers accessible at various levels of classification by nongovernmental organizations, accessible by allies who are working with us there, accessible by us military officers. it's all been the same database

in the identify of village leader, you can find out what the crops are in the fields, and you can look at pictures which have spatial information with the map. so that kind of. by getting everybody to contribute to the same database and having accessible think think probably one of the most developed examples of what happens now? >> that releases another question we have. it's kind of similar to afghan. can you describe the type of information of the battlefield soldier now has compared to the past and the technology they used to access it? >> i'd say the primary -- to think about in the past, the information that we would obtain from our very best systems we would limit the distribution to certain elite units. this is true as recently as iraq. we found ways to strip out the

sources so we can make it availability to any soldier on a geographic basis in the area in which he or she is operating and make it available to others. so it's that ability to take what was classified and make it available to everybody who needs it that i think made a real difference on the tactical front. we certainly didn't have it when i was growing up in the armed forces. that was the secret stuff to go back into the room to read and you had to destroy it and try to remember it. and you couldn't take notes. now we put the information where people can use it. and it's made all the difference. >> some cybersecurity questions, an internet question. hackers are breaking into protected networks. even apparently the pentagon. can you assure us of the safety of the security networks and systems? the u.s. company seems reliant

on the internet. do you evidence of a potential attack on or through electronic infrastructure, and from where? >> i don't think the -- from what i've learned act the cyber office and cyber defense and the advantage of having the intelligence community is we're the ones that go out and use the techniques. we know what can be used against you us. that can inform our defenses in a very good way. what i've learned in this business is that there's no final answer. the offense learns something, and there's a hacking attack that's discovered. throw up defenses. offense goes to another attack. it's one of those games of offense and defense. a crew race. who's taking the last stroke? that means you can't rely on some solution. we can't go down and tell

somebody give us the ultimate firewall or safe guard. we have to rely on the skill and ingenuity of the hard work of our cyber workers compared to the people trying to come after us. we try to set up a system to the things that we know are threats, we can build the defenses to, and we can put them up as fast as the threats come at us. and some of the attacks that have been talked about publicly commit against government systems. we are more secure systems are protected by more layers. and we keep those okay. but the systems that are right next totient net, the.gov network and all of the branches, certainly the.com network and

banks tunnel through those. they have up goes. so we have to keep you'ving the defenses, detecting attacks, and knocking them out. it's really a continuous game. overall, we're saying ahead. but it takes a lot of hard work to do it. >> this is for our radio audience. you're listening with the california radio program. you're speaker is dennis blair who is the director of the u.s. national intelligence. back on the question of cybersecurity. this seems to be an increasingly large focus of our intelligence community. and i wonder if you could anxious that part of the question that asks where is this coming from? is it coming from a country that has state involvement in it? or is it comes from criminal groups? what is the primary cyber threat now to the united states? >> if you count them up, most of the facts against american cyber

systems in the united states share volume. not all of those originate because as many of you know you go from one computer to another, and the final might be from which you make your attack will generally be several hops from where you were. when you trace it all, we find a huge amount of activity comes out of china. we find a lot of activity comes out of russia. we find a mixture of unofficial and semiofficial background. but that problem, that attribution is a tough part of cybersecurity. those are the countries that a great number of them come from. >> we have people participating on the internet as well. this is a question from one of

our internet participates. how do you and other seniors officials in the intelligence community plan to assure there are no further uses of detainees in the u.s. intelligence si? >> because we're not going to have any other detainees. you'll be talking with director here shortly as we mentioned. we have closed down all of the facilities that we had for the intelligence community detaining personnel that we can get overseas. all of them who are -- who we may detain in the future will be taken care of in the future in some sort of national security where we will decide who's going

to run it. but there won't be any run by intelligence agent -- agencies. we deciding going forward for the high-value detainees we were putting together an agency interrogation system that will have -- it will take the best intelligence analyst, department of defense, fbi, interrogators, and we'll put together one team who's job it is. we'll be able to do that in future. that's the few system going forward. we'll still have to deal with the 200 and some odd that are in -- >> with have --

>> nice question. i think the -- one thing i did notice and panetta notice thed about seven months ago is the relations between congress and the intelligence community were under tremendous strain. we worked tremendously hard to put them back where they aught to be as more of a partnership rather than a complete adversarial relationship. so let me speak for the future. we don't lie. we tell the truth and nothing but the truth. we just don't tell the whole truth. and to the members of congress -- that's in public. to the member of congress that have the clearances, we tell the truth, the hole -- whole truth,

and nothing but the truth. they have the clearance. they should be informed. that's what we're trying to do moving forward. >> can you talk to us more about the relationship with the cia? here's an institution that had cut its own course in washington for decades. what's jr. relationship like now that you are his boss? how much do you talk to him? how much guidance do you give? and how much do you say that's an institution that knows its mission? >> i talk with leon all the time. we're constantly working on the same issues within this community that i describe, the cia has a couple of missions. they are in charge of human intelligence. they are the ones who go out and recruit supplies. and they are also in charge of leading that organization for

all of the intelligence agencies that are in the human intelligence business. and we do that in many other agencies. they also have a large group of so-called analysises that are the different types of intersection intelligence that we draw comes in and in many, many cases it's central intelligence agency analysts who are the ones that put it together. in addition, the cia has the job nine cases out of ten were conducts covert actions, actions that we wish to take from the intelligence community to support our international goals. those three goals within the -- that's what the central intelligence agency carries out. director is responsible for the president to review those. my responsibility is to put those pieces together with the other agencies to get the job done. and these teams that i talked about. if you previously, his job and

mine were together the director of central intelligence was also the director of intelligence agency. and when you talk to my predecessor who have had both jobs, they tell me there's plenty of work leaveing the community and to run the cia. i agree with that. >> you're view please on the nsa's domestic california surveillance program? >> as i said on my remarks, the job of the national security agency to gather foreign intelligence when foreign intelligence leads us to conduct operations that may involve an american or may involve information located in the united states. we go to a judge. we get permission. the -- and the -- and then we have to conduct it under those

strict guidelines, both the way that information is collected and the way it's passed around the community to use to build this total picture are under the guidance of the fisa court. that's how we did it. that's how we've done it ever since the legislation was passed in p2005. >> i have a budget question fors. you the writer takes note of the large budget income that you announced today thereby 75 billion up from $45 billion earlier. one question from the writer is, where is that going to be spent? is the bulk of it headed towards ivan, north korea, what activities? external or home grown? and my question is that money that has always been in the intelligence community's budget but is now just being made

public? >> i need to make the figures clear. the budget of the last year was $48 billion. that is the money that spread among those 16 agencies. we announced the total figure for the past year. we have an idea of how much we're talking about. we don't publish, nor am i going to make news tonight telling how much each individual agency is funded for and what's it's used for. this morning the question of what is the total effort for the intelligence community, i mentioned a figure of $75 billion. that includes not only the $48 billion but roughly half again as much in other activities which are related to the budget. which goes for the purposes of intelligence. those are two different figures. and i think that's about all i'm going to tell you about the money. [laughter]

>> a simple question from one writer. what keeps you up at night? >> it's the -- it's worrying about whether we've done everything we can to stop the terrorists groups that seem to think it's a great idea to kill a lot of americans. we know a heck of a lot more than we did before. we can be a lot more aggressive and going after their organizations than we could previously. but in today's world when it takes so few people so little equipment, and so few scruples to cause a lot of damage in this country, you just worry that you haven't done it all. that's the main thing. >> many departments in the federal government will be facing large numbers of baby boomer retire. s. how do you recruit the next generation for service to the considerate? i wonder if maybe we can turn

that question slightly. there's been a very large recruitment of intelligence analyst since kr-9d 11. i wonder if the type of individual that you are recruiting now, younger, internet savvy, facebook, myspace, used to sharing information is helping you in the goal of interagency information sharing. so one question is how are you going to replace all these people are qualified individuals? and is the nature of the individual coming into the department a different sort of cat? >> the demographic profile of those 100,000 people in the intelligence community that i mentioned is sort of dumbbell shaped or that shapes. we do 50% of them as i mentioned game in since 9/11. we have a lot of fairly new, not all of them young, but new to

the intelligence business. then we have those of us in the cold war generation going out. i think as the -- as that new generation works its way through and gains more experience, that will be good. working with them, i gave you a little bit of a description. and incredibly hard working savvy, it takes a little bit of adjusting. we have a classifyied myspace network that we used to get analysts together to talk about things. and i bet on any given day i'll open my e-mail and say, hey, dennis, i'd like to be your friend. i wrote write back and say, i'd like to be your friend too. >> kim jong il. [laughter] >> it's an organization that is more effective. the further you get from washington, the younger you get

among intelligence officer, the more they have the idea of team mission results. i'm very optimistic when one of them is talking to the commonwealth club, in 30 years, it'll be an better organization. >> what percentage of your time is spent dealing with terrorism? after terrorism what is the next most important national security matter on your list? >> the two -- our two top sort of overarching threats are violent extremism, people want to kill a lot of americans, and counting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. so those are the two that we are spending the most time on as cost cutting challenges to us. some of those come together in individual countries. in the case of iran, of course,

it's there possible nuclear weapons program that is of most concern. so it cuts across a country. the issue of terrorism, of course blend with the traditional national concerns about the countries from which terrorism comes, pakistan, afghanistan, elsewhere in the middle east. so it's that really cross cutting issues in the individual countries where we spend most of our time. >> we have a question along those lines about proliferation. one of the them the counter the wepons of mass destruction. what gaps to you see to counter proliferation? how would you bridge those gaps? weaknesses in our system? >> we have a good system with a lot of emphasis on that. but it's hard work. countries and especially other

organization that are trying to develop new collar chemical, other programs, want to hide them. they are fairly good at hiding them. when we're dealing with countries like north korea, which recently announced that it has a uranium program, than it has previously acknowledgeed. given the idea of complexity, there's this shadowily netherworld dealers. khan was the worst of those. and the nuclear weapons in pakistan and decided to go out and sell the technology to other countries win wanted to hide it while it was doing it. it is the sheer difficulty, it's

the sheer measures that people are taking to hide it that makes it the most difficult. in addition to having a very strong human component to other people that are doing it. but technical component. just what is the actual possibilities that our country has a weapon in the combination of technology and people. so it makes it a very, very hard problem. >> are the russians and the chinese in your mind partners in that effort? or do they see allows an iranian nuclear program allowing proliferation out of north korea an as opportunity to keep the u.s. a little offbalance? >> the chinese and the russians don't like nuclear proliferation any better than we do. they generally feel that it's a -- that it makes it a more dangerous world. it's sometimes a difference in the degree in which they are

willing to work with us and put both pressure and inducement out to other countries. because they have other interests with them. i don't think there's any difference on the foundational goal of trying to reduce any counter proliferation. there are sometimes less urgency, less willing to put it at the top of the priority list? >> north koreans building a nuke plant, boats shipping out headed toward myanmar. >> that was a good international effort. i don't think i'll comment a lot about the syrian program. that's still pretty classified. >> okay. i have room for one last question before the time is up.

then you would comment on this. is this a wild rumor, or did you water ski? >> no, it's correct that i tried, it's uncorrect that i succeeded. >> it's a very large propeller. we're glad you are here today. thank you to dennis blair, director of u.s. intelligence. we also thank our audience here, and on the radio and internet. i'm john with the journal. thanks very much for coming here tonight for the commonwealth club. [applause] >> thank you, john. >> thanks, dennis. [applause] >> thank you great. a lot of fun.

>> now a house hearing on the government's secure border issue. we'll hear about the virtual defense technology on the u.s. mexico border. q. good morning. the subcommittee will come to

order. to receive testimony on the secure border initiative three years later. i would like to at this point ask unanimous consent question the witnesses at today's hearing. hearing no objection, good morning. today's -- chief. today's hearing will further exam the department of homeland security secure border initiative, physical infrastructure, as well as the virtual fence. thank you to our witnesses to being here today. many of you have been here before us before. and in particular, thank you for your continued frank and honest assessment of what is happening out there on this initiative. the witness' testimony in responses to our questions are

critical parts of the oversight this subcommittee continues to conduct on the security border initiative and sbi net. in fact, many of the members of this committee has had an opportunity to go over and take a look not only at the physical fence and different portions but also at the virtual fence and what is going on. given that the boeing/net contact is expiring. i think this is a good opportunity for us to catch our breath and see whether we have any movement on this program or if this is a lack of progress. and my particular concern by sbi net programs with transparency.

and to hear about the beginning stages of aha one and tucson one. i think the chief accompanied us on that. i was assured that these new projects would be fully operational and able to be accepted by the department of homeland security by the end of 2008. and i'm extremely disappointed that the noddedline will be december of 2001 and will be ready in june of 2010. based on my past experience with the missing of deadlines on this project, i have a real hesitancy to believe these deadlines will be met. in the last series of hearings, the subcommittee was given hard dates and assurances that deadlines for specific sbi net projects would be met by boeing and yet the weeks later they were pushed back.

sbi full deployment on along the border now estimated to occur in 2016 will be seven years after the original contract end date of 2009. this situation is incredibly troubling, since in the mean time our border parol agents continue to use technology, we have maintenance issues, and more importantingly, there's more danger as time moves on. further as a member of the congress who's very concerned about fiscal responsibility, it's hard for me to believe that the dhs would award a contract of$1.1 billion without viability results. moving to the orr half, it has also risen in cost. what used to cost us $3.5

million a mile, and $6.5. and vehicle fencing has gone from $1 million to $1.8 million. that's unbelievable considered that construction costs, because we haven't been building, construction has been in the dumps, how we could justify that the cost of fansing the vehicle and the pedestrian fencing is going up so much. according to program date, there has been about 3300 breeches in the defense. and it costs us about 1300 dollars every time that we have to repair them. and that being said, we have yet to see whether or not this fencing has increased border security and has justified its cost. i'm still waiting to really see that. i know that about a year or two ago, chief, you and i had a discussion about what's it really going to take to do this. we were trying to figure out what the matrix would be. i'm interested to see what you think the metrics are and how

you can justify how the systems are working for us. i look forward to your testimony and the responses to many questions that i have. i know you can see from the interest here that we all have so many questions. i will let my ranking member, who is also very concerned about this issue. >> thank you, madame chair. gaining operational control, this is what was promised when it was announced four years ago, four years and 9 1/2 months ago. it is hard tour optimistic today on the southwest border. over $1 billion has been advocated but it seems that very little progress has been made. it's been very slow. i think it's important to note for the last three years we've been asking for a timeline and life cycle cost. but they have yet to be

provided. similarly, there is no picture of the performance and parameters. it's hard to have congress review and conduct over the initiatives without these key pieces of data. i take this as a lack of my support and the larger goals of securing my borders. i think it needs to be a top priority for the administration. now is the not time to waiver in this commitment. to that end, a number of miles under operational or effective control. according to the documentation as of october 2008, there are 625 miles of the southeast border consider to be under effective control. according to the fiscal year 20 10, budget justification. if these estimates are connect, we will have gained 190 miles in a little over a year. this is good news to the

additional staffing and construction of 630 miles, fencing, and vehicle bare barriers. the budget justification goes on to say that zero miles are expected to be under the effective control in 2010. how is it possible that the border control could come to this conclusion? what is expected to happen with sbi net in the next year? are more personnel necessary? cbp needs to address these concerns at today's hearing. on monday u.s. law enforcement conducted in new york city. according to the intelligence officials all indications pointed to the need to prevent further plotting and coordination. while few details are ongoing, i think it is a reminder that eight years after september 11 terrorists attack, we are still a country at risk. we must remain aggressive in securing our country, securing our borders, closing vulnerable, and gaining control on the central for bolstering the

security of our nation. the sbi net program should be a corner stone building block of this effort. i would like to add on a personal note that was done on the southwest border for about short of a week. and going going -- i saw the towerrers working. and every side of me that different people were being intercepted. that the physical fencing as we went to probably about six different stops along the border, we have breeches in the old fencing. we do not have breeches in the new fencing. and that as also that the soil and different areas have changed cost estimates and difficulty, that they are continuing to adjust even in the areas where we've had the breeches, for example, one the destates is can you put barb wire on the one kind that they have cutting flu which is what has been the news

media can be addressed by trying to block them to getting to the fence. the physical fence does not secure the border. the physical fence stops vehicles, it stops larger groups, it slows people down. as we move the technology behind it, we can move people in behind if it's in a mountainous area. they can catch them. if it's the flat area. the rate of speed has slowed down. and it's the combination then with enough agents. and we've been plussing the border patrol which which to get the different groups to get them to different places. we have to see how we're going to increase this. quite frankly, i doubt if immigration bill is going to move through until we have far more the number of miles. because any kind of major immigration reform will lead to additional pressures on the border unless we have a higher

pressure under effective control. i yield back. >> i thank the ranking member. the chair will recognize the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. thompson for an opening statement. >> thank you, madame chairman. i welcome our witnesses today. today's hearing comes at a very important time. as next week marks the anniversary of sorts for homeland security. on september 21, 2006, dhs awarded a contract to boeing to help secure our nation's borders. at that time, we were told that boeing would be integrating existing off-the-shelf technology to create a virtual fence along the borders known as sbi net. it was supposed to be a relatively easy project. instead the government accountability office has

repeatedly raced concerns about sbi net including pour planning, insufficient testing, inadequate government, and a failure to set and achieve project goals. today after spending nearly $1 billion on the program, we are still waiting for an effective technological tube to secure america's borders. dhs and boeing have had three years to show they can secure the borders with technology. it is my understanding that they have at least one more year to do so. if the department reviews boeing sbi net contract for an additional year as expected, which i understand has already been executed. it is time to deliver some results to american people and to congress. i'd like to know how dhs is going to ensure that when boeing delivers the next phase of the net to the government early next year, taxpayer get their money's

worth. clearly this administration has inherited a serious challenge, and has some difficult choices ahead. dhs either needs to get sbi net right or find an alternative technology solution that will do the job. along with technology, dhs has committed significant resources in recent years to constructing physical fencing along the southwest border. while they already currently over600 miles of fence and bare yours according to j.o., the department has not systemically evaluated the effectiveness of these bare yours. -- barriers. in roughly $hundredth -- 2.4 billion. looking ahead, both dhs and boeing have ground to cover when it comes to the border security

technology and infrastructure. i am hopeful this administration can address many of the problems that have plagued this program and prevent border security program technology efforts. the witnesses can be assured that this committee will continue to monitor the secure border initiative closely. i'd like to thank chairman sanchez for all of her work continuing her oversight on this important topic. i'd also like to thank the witnesses for being here today. and i also look forward to their testimony. i yield back. >> i thank the chairman of the full committee. other members of the subcommittee are reminded what the committee rules are, that opening statements maybe submitted for the record. now i would like to welcome our panel of witnesses. i'll give the backgrounds of our witnesses, then we'll start down the row and ask for your five-minute or less summary of

your written testimony. our first witness will be chief david aguilar, he was named the chief border patrol in may of 2004. as the nation's highest border ranking patrol, he directs more than 15,000 border patrol agents. and i commend you for that. i know we have groan our border control quite quickly. you've been at the help of that. you have the expertise gained from 30 years of service. we look forward to your testimony, chief. and welcome. our second witness, mr. mark borkowski was named executive director of the secure border initiative office in the october of 2008. he oversees the sbi implementation that customs and border protection. we will oversee the continued effort to provide frontline personnel with the enhanced situational awareness along the u.s. borders. before joining cdp he was the

program executive for the robotic exploration program in the exploration system's mission at nasa headquarters. welcome. our third witness is a vice president of global security systems. a business of boeing integrated defense systems. he is responsible for the execution of sbi net and other gss programs. since joining boeing in 1980, mr. peters has held a number of key engineers and leadership positions on surveillance and command and control programs. we welcome you this morning. and our final witness, mr. richard stana from the homeland security and justice office. we has directed reviews on the wide variety of domestic issues. and most recently he has directed goa's work in

integration and border issues. he's been before us. we become you back. : >> i am accompanied by mr mark

borkowski who is our executive director of the secure border initiative. gain effective control of our nation's borders. that is achieved when a chief patrol agent determines that a given area of operation. respond to incursion that occurs between the ports of entry and very importantly as the ability to bring that to an appropriate law enforcement resolution. in our view control of our borders between ports of entry, from an appropriate combination of personnel, technology, and tactical infrastructure, which includes border fencing. we often refer to this requirement as a three legged stool. these components are interdependent and provide for maximum effectiveness when appropriately applied. the mix of these elements will vary. within that contract the secure border initiative plays an important role. it is but one part of an integrated approach, but it is a

very critical and significant piece. the current focus is to support a border control efforts by providing technical infrastructure and technology. it might be useful to provide a short update on our progress with respect to construction of technical infrastructure. as of the end of august we have approximately 632 miles of fence constructed. of that approximately 334 miles a pedestrian fence, and the remaining 298-miles are vehicle fence. our target has been approximately 670 miles. the exact total mileage is an precise because it will depend on the actual total measurement of completed fence as opposed to preconstruction estimates. we are actually in the process of modifying this figure as we speak. fence provides persistent impedance which contributes to our ability to control the

border by providing additional time for agents to respond to illegal incursions. as he testified before, fins alone will ill not secure the border. but however, we believe some areas of the border must have a persistence impedance in order to establish control. is in those areas where we emphasized the construction of fence. let me now turn to some specifics about sbi net, the technology parts of sbi, and the focus of this hearing. the sbi net program is focused on developing and deploying a situational awareness over it sections of the border. project 28 was our original effort. while project 28 suffered from many deficiencies it is has evolved to the point rate is operational and provides effective support. for example, it has been in instrumental in enabling the

capture of over 5,000 illegal immigrants and 14,000 pounds of narcotics. we call this block one. we completed most of the engineering and have performed extensive engineering testing. we are in the process of installing our first deployment into an operational area known as the tucson one. tucson one will actually replace project 28 with a new block one first generation production system to cover 23 miles of border. the border patrol will receive a system in early january to conduct a formal process. in ote the border patrol will conduct disciplined assessments to determine whether the sbi net block one system is effective and suitable for use. based on these assessments border patrol will effectively

deliver a support guard to sbi indicating whether it has met our operational requirements. we expect to begin aho one which will cover approximately 30 miles of border. together they represent the initial deployment of block one after the initial deployment and results of the border patrol test cbp will be in a better position to decide on the pace and magnitude of future deployments. the last three years of sbi net have been frustrating and at times very discouraging. we believe we are on a reasonable and prudent path and understand the congress and this committee are less interested in hearing about our improvement plans, and as we, more interested in results. we share that interest.

we appreciate this committee's continued support of cbp's efforts to better secure our borders and look forward to questions you might have of us. >> thank you. >> thank you, chief. i now recognize mr. peters to summarize his statement for five minutes or less. >> the morning chairwoman sanchez, ranking member, and committee members. i appreciate the opportunity to discuss sbi progress with you today. we will update you have the sbi net system. this capability is in substantially improved prototype. i will also say a few words about our deployment on the northern border. p28 has proven to be a valuable enforcement tool for the border patrol. also serves as a valuable engineering tool for the development of block one and future sbi net systems. over the past two years many important lessons have been

learned from the p28 prototype and incorporated into the sbi net block one system. the first deployment known as tucson one or tus one has been constructed in the area of p28 and covers 23 miles of the border. a second deployment, aho one, has been initiated to the west and will cover 30 miles of border. the tus one deployment consists of nine towere, communication towers, and a command and control facility. a fixed-tower designed, improved communications system, and a common operational picture. boeing engineers worked side-by-side with border patrol agents in the design of the look, feel, and function of the common operational picture. during this development we encountered technological challenges, and to the integration of commercial off-the-shelf issues. two recent issues have prevented

the problematic. first the control of the radar, and the second human interface. after a detailed corrective action effort i am pleased to report we have implemented solutions that address each of these problems. subsequently we have undergone several weeks of testing without recurrence. this system is scheduled to complete system qualification tests in the next month. then the deployed system will undergo system acceptance testing during the fourth quarter of this year. when completed we will deliver the system to the government for operational test and evaluation which will be overseen by the border patrol. the results will assist the customer in determining future deployments and system enhancements. the aho deployment is also progressing. system design is complete, and construction of the command and control facility has been initiated. however, cite specific work is awaiting environmental approval in summary the sbi net block one

system will be ready for deployment across the southwest border. boeing has also been working on of the northern border deployment. in these deployments boeing is installing remote video surveillance systems to enhance aids and surveillance capabilities in a temperature river environment. comprised of two sets of day and night cameras. the system feed video back to border control. installation began in the buffalo sector in early may of this year and the detroit sector in early september. both are planned to be delivered to the government by early 2010. in conclusion i would like to say that sbi net has been both an important and challenging program to the boeing company. the p28 prototype represents exactly half of the government funded effort that boeing has received today. additionally boeing has made a number of significant

investments to ensure the success of the sbi net program. the block one system remains the core of our effort. i believe we have a system that is robust and soon will be ready for widespread deployment. our goal remains to provide the technology and support and tools to provide enhanced border patrol safety. sbi net has a solid foundation for future deployment. thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, mr. peters. thank you for coming in on time. mr. stana for five minutes or less. >> thank you, chairwoman sanchez. shortly after the launch of the secure border initiative this committee assets to review the sbi program and provide updates. my testimony and our report provide our fourth formal update. as you know, sbi is a

multi-year, multi billion dollar program aimed at stemming illegal entry. since 2005 sbi has received funding amounting to $327 million. i would now like to highlight our observations on program status and challenges. with respect to technology deployment the sbi net program continues to experience delays. when that sbi contract was led to the initial sbi net technology deployment for the entire southwest border was planned to be completed by early fiscal year 2009. i did during 2009 the completion date had slipped to 2016. some lovely in february 2008 the program office reported that block one would be complete by the end of calendar year 2008. now scheduled for final acceptance by january 2010.

the cost of the sbi net project from the fiscal year 2007 through 2014 was estimated at $6.7 billion. the cost could change due to program and cost adjustments. along with environmental issues and funding reallocations the results of testing activities and to be tinted these delays. sbi program officials emphasized and we agreed that testing is a necessary step of employment in that it assures technology capabilities perform as required. by february 2009 testing results revealed problems including adverse weather conditions, mechanical problems with the radar at the tower, and issues with the sensitivity of the radar. the sbi program office is still working to address some of these issues. in a one a week user evaluation that was not part of formal testing border patrol agents had an opportunity to address the suitability and effectiveness of

a block one technology compared to project 28 and mobile surveillance system technology. the border patrol found that on windy days the block when the radar had issues that resulted in an excessive number of false detections and the capability was not adequate for the operational effectiveness. they also found that teachers are insufficient in comparison to features of project 28 and nss cameras. once deployed the border patrol is to perform a complete operational testing provided. there are no additional schedule changes this testing is scheduled to begin in january. crowd. and here we welcome the many countries joining us around the world. here's michael buffer. >> all right. are you ready? first on to the scale, one more time, are you reeeeeeeady? [cheers and applause] first on to the scales, ladies

and gentlemen, he comes to us with a record of 50 victories and 37 k.o.s from mexico, three-time world champion juan manuel marquez! [cheers and applause] 142 pounds. juan manuel marquez. now stepping on to the scale, six times a world champion in five different divisions, he comes to us from grand rapids,

michigan, 39 fights, 39 victories, including 25 knock-outs, ladies and gentlemen, pound! floyd "money" mayweather! 146 pounds. your main event tomorrow night at the m.g.m. grand, marquez-mayweather. [cheering] [crowd chanting "mexico"]

>> okay. you saw it here live on espnews. but what does it mean? mayweather coming in at 146. marquez at 142. the catch weight was 144. well, our experts are lined up, an we'll go one-on-one with the best, teddy at last, dan rafael and much more right ahead on espnews as our coverage of the big bout tomorrow in vegas continues. hey, it's jimmy football, hey. do you know what's wrong with your cooler? i'll tell you what. it's not a grill. i want you to say hello to the bud light grooler! it's a grill and a cooler.

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>> espnews brought to you by: >> steve bunin with michael kim on espnews. if you were just watching, you saw live coverage of the weigh-in in las vegas for tomorrow night's bout between floyd mayweather, jr., and juan manuel marquez. mayweather coming in at two pounds above the catch weight of 144. we'll explain what that is and have all of our experts break down what these numbers mean coming up on espnews.

baseball fans are watching some of the big series this weekend. you got the giants and dodgers, tigers and twins among others. some people from columbia, missouri, might be more excited about cardinals and cubs. we put this here because the giants are three and a half back in the wild card race in the national league, and the twins at home, if they can pull off a sweep of the tigers, they'll be just one back in the a.l. central going into next week. now with the latest, here's our "baseball tonight" crew at home plate. >> steve berthiaume here with eric young and steve phillips. the detroit tigers' a.l. central lead is four games. this weekend they begin a critical three-game set at minnesota against the twins, steve phillips, who are right behind detroit for the a.l. central lead. what issues do the tigers face heading into the weekend? >> you said it, "at minnesota." that metrodome i think instills fear in so many different teams. ozzie guillen of the white sox says, "i hate going to that ballpark." ites the last year in the ballpark, but that's a benefit to the minute fin twins.

fans want their final taste of the stadium. you have a twins' team under rod gardenhire that believes in itself. you have the tigers looking over the shoulders and the charging minnesota twins who are ready the make up that ground. >> they've been hot. >> they've definitely been hot, but from a tigers standpoint, they need to ignite them. somebody at the top of the lineup to get this offense going. curtis granderson is the guy you're looking for, however, he's been 5-33 his last ten game, so it's obvious you cannot put him at the top of the lineup. them from a pitching standpoint, the e.r.a. is over 6.44. therefore if you give up that many runs and are not scoring a lot of run, that dooms for a lot of losses. the tigers are in trouble. >> they have their rotation set up. they'll go pore sell low, verlander, washburn friday, saturday, sunday in minnesota. >> back to one of our stories earlier that we were telling you about. brandon jacobs had some things to say about the cowboys, particularly the cowboys' fans. not happy about the way the fans

have i guess cheered against him and his giants' teammates. this is what jake had to say about the cowboys as he goes into dallas for this weekend's game: the words of brandon jacobs heading into this weekend's game in dallas. >> all right. let's get you updated on the qualifying for the first race of the chase for the nascar sprint cup. we can tell you that juan pablo montoya has taken the poll. he, in fact, set a track record while winning the pole at the new hampshire motor speedway in loudon, new hampshire. montoya turns in a lap that takes the top qualifying spot and breaks the record set by ryan newman in 2003. so the former formula one driver will start on the front row for

sunday's opener of the chase for the championship. with more on the chase, here is nicole manske. >> i'm really trying to forget, you know, the last two races. they weren't like we hoped they would be. and just focus on what we need to do here at loudon. >> what jimmie johnson is chasing now is not just another championship but a piece of nascar history. no driver has ever won four straight championships. but as after finishing 36th and 11th in the two races before the chase, johnson isn't exactly off to a good start. >> they seem a little bit off, they do, and the question is, are they off, or is everybody else gotten better? you know, in either instance, they can appear to be off, even if they're the same and everybody else has gotten better. >> for the first time of two years, johnson is entering the chase without the momentum of two straight wins inch both 2007 and 2008, johnson won the last two races before the chase, california and richmond.

this year johnson hasn't scored a top five since his win at indy. that was seven races ago. >> i feel we're stronger than we've ever been going into the chase. i've just seen a lot of great things. i mow the last few races haven't gone our way and it might not show that, but i'm really looking forward to the final ten and showing what i'm talking about. >> johnson pointed to a slight change in the 2009 schedule, moving atlanta out of the chase and california in. california is one of johnson's better chance. atlanta is not. of the ten remaining tracks on the 2009 schedule, johnson has won at all but one of the tracks, homestead-miami speedway, where for the last three years he has been crowned champion. nicole manske, espn. >> more nascar news. mark martin has agreed to drive for hendrick motor sports through 2011. he's won four times and scored 6 poles.

granddaddy would appear to be a more suitable business partner, but it's go daddy.com that will sponsor him next year. as soon as tomorrow's race or sunday's race is over, don't forget espnews will have cover act of the news conferences after the first race for the chase for the championship coming your way from loudon, new hampshire. >> an just ahead, we're expecting to talk with our boxing insider dan rafael and boxing insider dan rafael and handoff. dorsett up the middle. here he goes! what does greatness taste like? cuts to his right! he's going all the way! he may go! grab a miller lite. to the 30, to the 40! from the rich golden color and real beer aroma... he's got two men to beat! to the 20, to the 10! to the true pilsner taste. touchdown! unbelievable! there's light beer. and then there's triple hops brewed miller lite. taste greatness. tony dorsett is in the record books! 99 yards!

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the following is a masn presentation. the nats leave philadelphia scorched by hot pitching and a first place phillies club. ibanez aboard and werth launches a grand slam. >> now they head to the big apple looking to rebound in the second to last road series of the second. >> zimmerman, he is there, fantastic gold glove-style play by ryan zimmerman again. in a city that has seen its own dramatics. >> and it is a home run for

daniel murphy. >> the nats look to write more history next on masn2. >> well something has to give tonight. at citi field up in new york a three-game losing streak in washington after being swept in philadelphia. the new york mets also have a losing streak. they have lost 5 of their last 10. welcome to "nats xtra" pregame, i'm johnny holiday, the former new york met. we're set to take you up to the that first pitch against the mets, you missed last night because you were down in albany but ross detwiler hd probably his best outing against philadelphia. >> i caught the end of it. i delivered that, the real quick slider, able to go 5 innings in only 80 something pitches in four hits, one earned run, showed why this organization is really high and it just goes back to his first three or four outings and where

he is really sneaky. i expect him to fill out and i believe he is going to become a power pitcher, not a finesse pitcher. he saw a great performance last nights, pitched 5 innings, 87 bills. after the ball game he admitted if it wasn't for just that one inning he was believed with his performance. >> after the first inning i thought i was proficient with pitches but i only went 5 innings and that was because of the 29 pitches in the first inning. i would have been able to go longer other than that. >> repo that. >> deb: what's the biggest thing you need to do to be able to go longer. >> just that first innings, you nerve know, 6, 7, 8 innings. >> they lose will nieves. but that hamstring really puts a lot of pressure on. josh bard and now they have got

another guy, jamie burke. > jamie burke, took him eight years to get to the big leagues johnny, a catch and throw guy, he does have a .282 batting average but not a lot of opportunities, just three home runs. first debuted with the angels in 2001, a jim riggleman guy he saw in seattle and likes the way he handles pitch earnings. >> mike rizzo made the deal getting jamie burke from seattle for some cash. speaking of the general manager of the washington nationals let's go to debbie taylor with mike rizzo. there is a lot to talk about with injuries and acquisitions debbie. >> deb: i'll tell you, mike rizzo is one of the busiest and busiest guys in baseball. he didn't even have to call him and ask for help, just tell us about the deal you made last night. it was a deal we talked about about three weeks ago when we thought we might be in

need of a third catcher at the major league level. we just didn't seem to have the availability at the aaa level so i knew of burke in the seattle system, he had played for jim and recently, so he was a guy we liked that fit what we were trying to do, i made a quick call. jack ha recollection swrik took over and i made a deal quickly with him last night. >> reporter: maybe he can come back earlier than you think, maybe next tuesday. >> it was a good pull, if there's such a thing, not on the upper half, down towards the knee, and will is a quick healer so we feel he should be out only for a couple days and possibly get him back sometime next week. but it was something we had to have another catcher in here, another body in here to back up josh. >> deb: we all know jesus flores had surgery and give us an update and the stretch of rode he has to travel. >> it's going to be a painful

rehabilitation, it should be successful, been successful many -- numerous times in the past. he had a labrum slap tear, they put several anchors in it and he is going to be on four months of no throwing whatsoever and then after that according to where he is at in his rehab he'll start a throwing program and swinging the bat and into baseball activity soon after. >> deb: something that is very intriguing to me and you told us a few minutes ago you are going to do is send pete orr to the florida instructional league to learn how 20 catch and tell us what's behind that and what will make him a good back catcher if you need to use him one day. >> first he has the aptitude to learn it. he knows what he brings, he brings versatility and gives the manager many many options. this is another if a set to his game. if he can perfect it and put the equipment on in an emergency basis, being the

third catcher, being a utility player being able to play four or five positions already, being able to go back there and catch in an emergency situation makes him that much more valuable. >> deb: speaking of more valuable it appears like desmond is doing whatever you asked of him. if you look at the teams he played with, the marlins and the phillies in the hate of a pennant race. is he together well out. >> he has great skills and his tools are very, very good. we always new he had the tool package to be an every take major league middle infielder, he is showing a real propensity to swing the bat against some really good pitching and he brings a liveliness and an energy and athleticism to the ball club that is needed. >> deb: okay mike rizzo. thank you so much for your time, we know you're busy and thanks for joining us. let's go back to johnny and ray in the studio. thank you debbie. good to have mike with us.

pete orr going to learn to be a catcher. but that doesn't surprise you because here is one of thest best all around athletes on the roster. >> it saves you a space on the roster. he can pinch hit, pinch run, if you have him in that spot where he is a third catch earn. sparky asked me to go to spring training in 1977 as a third catcher and i made that ball club maybe because i was a guy that they had an option to go to when they wanted to hit johnny bench and nobody backing up there. so bench played 145 games a year but those games that plumber did play, they often- times were pinch hitting for him late and that left you with one catcher. i did that for a season, caught in the bullpen, went to the instructional league, i had had some catching experience before and was the third catcher on that ball club. >> i knew you were a pitcher, i didn't know you did catching. >> i actually did it all. >> the fox did it all, is that

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. well the new york mets lineup, the last four ball games, jeff francoeur hitting .452, hit safely in his last 30 games. the mets had 3 winning r.b.i.s. had 12 total home runs this year. angel pagan will be off in left field, luis castillo will be handling the duties, david wright to third, carlos beltran at center, daniel murphy at first tonight for the mets. then comes jeff francoeur, and at right, brian schneider will be catching, francoeur batting .309 since joining the mets from the atlanta braves july 11th. the nationals tonight, toronto snapped that three game slide. josh willingham hitting fifth in the lineup.

he is 2 of 12 coming off that philadelphia series the last three ball games. really just trying to bust out of a 13 for 83 fumpg. five multi-hit games. a nats single season record. .274 over all batting average, # 2 homers and 52 r.b.i.s. willie harris leads off. cristian giews man at short, adam dunn in the clean-up spot. willingham will bat fifth in left field. elijah dukes in right. ian desmond, josh bar doing the catching duties. jamie mark on the mound for the nationals, willingham career against new york a .282 average. 37 r.b.i.s. >> a 1-2 coming. there is the breaking ball. it's willie harris. and he makes the catch. unbelievable. a backhand dive right at the line. >> the best defensive play by a nationals out fielder this

year. no doubt about it. that is a breathtaking play. . >> the series continues tonight as we focus on 20 players and 20 road games. willie harris has done almost everything imaginable from this ball club this year. let's focus on the man from georgia. . >> willie harris the outfielder. >> stalking it. there he goes again. a diving catch. >> willie harris, the infielder. >> rips it. >> willie harris, who does he think he is, ryan zimmerman? >> his athleticism makes the play. >> willie harris the batsman. >> how far is it going? this game is over. >> the guy can do it all. the most versatile player on the team has also been one of the most consistent. >> possible running situation here and he is safe. >> willie harris has a stolen

bales. >> he has and approaches the game with unmatched charisma and love for the game. >> those things the game will give back to you. >> the versatile 31-year-old has solidified his role with the team and will continue to will nats fans for years to come. >> thank you fans for standing around and sticking together for us, it really helped us. >> you know, i wouldn't really surprise me to have willie harris go to florida, and willie hair assistant saying "if you need a catcher i can do that too." >> he is that type of man. attitude plus-plus. if you look at his stats this year, .230, hasn't played as much as he did last year. almost 100 at-bats. >> because of nyjer. >> because of nyjer, no question about it. he plays center field, but he plays second and third exceptionally well. he can draw walks. he plays the outfield with

reckless abandon, he runs, can steal bases, second behind nyjer. and he just has the attitude. i asked debbie a favor when i was in st. louis with her two weeks ago, what ball player impressed her in the clubhouse the most. she did not even hesitate, lenny harris because of his positive attitude. that says it all right there. >> you know something about willie harris, he loves this city, the fans, the people that come out for the ball games. i think he would like to stay here for a long time. >> i think so too. he loves to play baseball and feels appreciated here. i think manny and jim both have shown him the appreciation and respect he should get because he is a veteran player now, been able to put up some good numbers, in a lot of situations he could have been a guy they wrote his number in there and let him play every day for a while. he is certainly is kind of guy that could take that job over, a lot like lenny harris was, always there when they needed somebody, just that extra piece

that was so valuable in a winning ball club. >> you know what time it is. >> what is it buddy. >> the stay in the game hold of the day, brought to you by just for men hair color. should we check the citi field 2009 holds leaders, pedro feliciano 13, bobby parnell 8, j.j. putz 5, brian stokes has got three. just as those relievers have kept their teams in the game you, too, can stay in the game with just for men hair color. we'll come back and talk about tonight's starting pitchers j.d. martin for the nationals and mike pelfrey for the new york mets in the first of three at citi field. right here on "nats xtra" pregame. ♪

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to us when we go to them too. so everybody haslily been a big help. interesting. here is one guy talking to another young guy in atlanta and a veteran in hernandez and you look at the numbers for j.d. martin. first time he has faced the mets in citi field. that's got to be a little bit intimidating i'm thinking huh? >> yeah. i'm thinking though with j.d.'s demeanor and the way he goes about things they don't know how good his curve ball is. i know they were able to look at his film, he has a great curve ball, his fastball is starting to be more live running away. earlier in the year 87 miles per hour is what he topped out at. he is around 89 of late. that has shown in his last three ball games. he has a 3.15 earned run average only giving up three runs or less four of those five ball games, twice giving up two and one time one. doesn't give up a lot of hits in his last 7 outings, 5 hits he has averaged, going about 6

innings per outing. so this is a kid with great presence on the mound and he has had a vaned amongst the other pitchers in knowing how to get others out. he spots his fastball as well as anybody in this ball club. >> what say we go up to new york. there is our good friend ben guess like link of the washington times. good to see you ben as always. in the hot corner we're talking about little j.-l scwhrm l jm l-j-d martin. >> we have seen improvement since help first came up here. he is obviously not a guy going to do a lot in terms of missing bats. striking out guys, what you see is what you get and we were talking about jim riggleman about that today, he said he is pretty much the finished product, just from the standpoint of you're not going to see a lot of progression from him here on out.

he is kind of solid. he is going to do what he can do in terms of ground balls and working quick and a no frills outing. if that's what you want and if he can do that he makes a serviceable bat and a rotation guy. >> one thing jim ring will man has to deal with, the fact he has gone 6 innings or more. four of his last six starts, that's good news. >> it speaks to what he does and you see johnny lannan do and you saw incriminating stay man do a little bit before he got hurt. using that sinking fan to get ground ball outs quick. get in, get out, without a lot of mess. when he does that you're gonna see his pitch count in the 80s through 6 innings or so, like i said it's not going to be fancy, you are not going to get a lot of fancy baseball. it does work. it is what steve mcaddy likes to see from his pitchers and it's kind of a philosophy they have used for a lot of their

pitchers this year. >> thanks ben. we'll talk to you perhaps again monday or sunday when the series begins up in new york. when you look at the mets starter, very stingy, 4.5 e.r.a. >> johnny had some arm trouble, but ken and tim being right now, 13-11 last year, innings cut back, 164th year, 200 last year, not a strikeout pitcher. you would think he would be. 6'5", 230-pound frame, hasn't allowed many home runs. he only allowed 12, so he is a guy that goes out there every fifth day and does the job. he has not reached that apex or that place she had projected him to say because he would be a guy that would possibly dominate in this league as he tore through the minor leagues. >> he keeps the ball in the ball park. no home runs allowed. in his last 6 starts. he throws a hard sinker, a

sinker than runs into right- handed hitters so it's very tough to hit the bottom part of the baseball. it is amongst the top 10 for baseball innings pitched, it's been that way for a while. the rest of the rotation is going good i don't think he is a guy that steps up and.com united states. when the rest of the rotation is going good he has stretches where he has won four in a row when everybody around him was pitching well. >> when the season began the mets fans were ecstatic. this is going to be a great year, we have got so much talent, great pitching, this and that. it hasn't tushtd out that way. we'll break down what has happened to the mets when we come back right after this.

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. that was back on may 27th. what a difference a few moss have made for this ball club. may 27th they were leading the national league east at that time. >> they had a lineup that was strong, reyes, castillo, beltran, wright, sheffield. starting staff that looked nailed, santana, main, and they were just not able to hold up johnny. they had more entries than anybody in the league this year. when you look at reyes, castillo, beltran, wright and delgado 329 games they missed. it started right from the get- go. sheffield went down for almost a month. they've had a tough tough time, their reliever jj.j. puts. has only pitched two, main their number 3 starter has missed over half the season, so they have been riddled with injuries. it's not like they were a bad ball club.

as you discovered when you played in new york, when things aren't going well then they can get on you real quick. 63-84 record will do just that. >> they'll hammer you, boo you from the on-deck circle before they announce your name. it's a tough place to play, great place to play when you win, this year that ball park is a little quirky, a lot of strange things have happened out there, but johan santana is now on the shelf. but a key right there is you look at 12 home runs leads the team. francoeur. who would have thought that beltran, carlos delgado, ryan church, sheffield, david wright, would have led with home runs. >> 7, 5 in atlanta. >> here is an interesting number. the mets are 13-31. the second worst record in baseball. it's not the nationals, the pirates have the worst record since that time. that's how far they have

slipped. 5-game losing streak, something has to give in this series. how about a nationals sweep up in new york. >> that would be nice. we're a better ball club than there right now. we're all -- it all boils down to pitching. certainly, tonight, pelfrey is healthy and he can shut you down. our offense has to get rolling. we have faced some mighty good pitching lately. all of a sudden everybody is tail spinning. when i left here we had three guys hitting over .300 and now the highest batting average is .289 and willingham is in the throws of the deepest slump he has had all year. everyone can't go into a slump together. it looks like except for desmond everybody has. got to get that clicking. three-pitch ball game. certainly the mets are not a team that is going to stack up against you talent-wise right now and be better than you are. >> it says to me one thing. stay here, don't leave.

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