to join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspanhistory. >> the reality is, the best presidents, the greatest presidents have been willing to recognize they are not the smartest person in the room, and surround themselves with people they thought were smarter than themselves. "q&a,,"y night on former secretary of defense and director of the cia robert gates passions his book, "a for leadership." mr. gates served under several presidents, most recently presidents george w. bush and barack obama. >> when i was the director of central intelligence at the and of the cold war, i came to believe very strongly that the american people had given the cia a pass on a lot of things because of this existential conflict with the soviet union, of i believe after the end

the cold war we would have to be more open about what we did and why we did it, and even to an extent how we did it, to help the american people better understand why intelligence was important to the government and to presidents, and why presidents valued it. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on q&a"." >> this year, c-span is touring cities across the country, exploring american history. next, a recent visit to santa barbara, california. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. given the growing demands for water for environmental needs, there is more of a demand to develop additional sources, and to continue to diversify. one of the city's hallmarks is

diversification, because we know how vulnerable we are in an arid climate like this, where you could go multiple years without much rainfall. we are right on the beach in santa barbara. we are currently in a drought. it officially started in 2011, although it takes two to three years to recognize you are in a drought, because we routinely have dry spells. the real challenge is that it has been the entire state. typically, there is usually a drought in southern california, or a drought in northern california. but to have the entire state in a drought has been really challenging. the state has over the last 60 years developed a network where we can move water from northern california all the way to southern california. however, since there is no water in northern california, it has been difficult to meet everybody's needs. the last major drought in this

area started in 1987, and ultimately ended in 1992. it was pretty severe. not as severe as this one, but it was pretty drastic, and there was a lot of fear about running out of water. the voters approved constructing facility, and making connections to the state water project so we could import water. facility wasion completed in late 1991, and was only operated for a couple months and then put into a standby mode because we had received quite a bit of rainfall. the community decision was to keep it in standby mode, where it has been roughly for the last 20 years. it,e are taking a look at trying to reactivate it. a a lot of the technology has

changed, so we are taking advantage of a lot of changes in technology to do it a little different this time. ultimately, we are trying to separate out that salt molecule, which has a very strong bond with water. taking upwards of 700 to 800 psi to separate that molecule, going through a very tight membrane that basically the salt molecule will not fit through. a, prior to that, it's similar surface water treatment, similar to what most cities have, removing sediment and debris in the water so all that andins is salty water, that is what goes through these reverse osmosis membranes, leaving you with a very key or pure water.

it is so pure, we actually have to add minerals back to it so it is not corrosive to our pipes, because it will pull iron and materials out of the pipelines. it's an interesting problem, because we typically have a very hard water here in santa barbara, so it seems odd to add minerals back into the water, but the process removes everything from the water. tarts a half mile offshore, aree it, the pumps located out there. water is brought onshore, and chemicals are added to start bringing particles together so they can be filtered out. once they go into the facility, they go through a typical a mediawater chute,

filter, gravel and sand, which falls out all the particulates. all that is left is salty water, which goes into the membranes. le water isof potab made. add potable water, we up,rals to harden it back then hit it with a little chlorine before it is pumped into our distribution and sent back into the community. there's a lot of communities up and down california that will be looking at this. i don't see this as the solution to everything, but i do see it playing a critical role in meeting basic health and safety needs of communities. it is important that it is sized appropriately, because you want to make sure you are balance that with all your other supplies.

desal has a great reliability factor, but carries a higher unit cost. balance that with surface waters rise, a low unit cost but a lot of variability and vulnerability. as a water supply manager, i am looking to manage all those different -- i relate it to stock portfolios. investing in lots of different stocks. desal is like bonds, a very safe place to put your money, but it is not going to be this big moneymaker, necessarily for you. but it is an important part of everybody's portfolio to balance your water supply. >> our cities staff recently traveled to santa barbara, california to learn about its rich history. you can learn more about santa

barbara and other stops on the tour at www.c-span.org/cit iestour. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> the road to the white house began in iowa. the caucuses, which date back to 1972. then, new hampshire, which has a long and rich history. now we begin to test the candidates and their message. we moved to south carolina, the then southern primary, and the party caucuses in nevada for democrats and republicans. we will see a number of candidates probably drop out of the race, though the field will then narrow. then we move into early march, super tuesday, the start of winner take all primaries, meaning the delegate count will be critical. you can watch that continue for the candidates and get a better sense of whose message is resonating and who is on the path to the nomination. fryestorian dennis

describes the reaction of both southerners and northerners in the wake of abolitionist john brown's 1859 raid on the federal armory at harpers using quotes from period newspapers and letters, he says this stage for the nations divided sentiments are ahead of 1860 which was won by abraham lincoln. his talk was hosted by shepherd university. mr. frye: good evening. thank you very much for coming to the last installment before christmas. it has been a great success. shepherd university is ending on a high note and we have a further surprise in the form of tonight's speaker. a person who many of you probably know quite well. dennis b fry is the chief