medicaid services at her confirmation hearing. >> i am extremely humbled as a first generation american to be sitting before this committee after being nominated by the president of the united states. it is a testament to the fact that the american dream is very much alive for those willing to work for it. >> all c-span programs are available at www.c-span.org either on the home patch or by searching the video library. " continues journal -- welcome back to daryl kimball, the executive director of the arms control association, takes for being with us. i want to begin with this chart. we will explain what we are looking at. russia, the united states followed by france, china, great britain, pakistan, india, israel and north korea. the world's are nuclear arms states.

70 years after the invention of nuclear weapons, the united states and russia still have the world's largest nuclear arsenals. the numbers are down from the cold war years due to successful .rms relations there are missiles that can be fired intercut -- intercontinental. the leaders of russia and the u.s. have sole authority to launch nuclear missiles. president trump has the codes that follow him around and can launch about 900 nuclear weapons under 10 minutes. this is one of the most awesome responsibilities of any american , reducing the risk of nuclear weapons, preventing proliferation, and avoiding nuclear catastrophe in that

requires good relations with russia and these other nuclear armed countries. thoseyou have broken down missiles that are deployed, stockpiled, and those that have been retired. retired, it was about 2500 nuclear weapons. about 2800 in the u.s.. guest: right, those weapons you deployed, there are strategic nuclear weapons, the ones carried on land-based missiles, submarine missiles, long-range bombers and there are so-called tactical nuclear weapons, those that are theoretically for use on the battlefield. host: what does north korea have? guest: north korea has a month material for 10 nuclear weapons. they are on their way to being able to deliver those nuclear

weapons on ballistic missiles. they have accelerated the pace of intermediate range ballistic missiles and medium-range ballistic missiles. they had a test a couple of weeks ago which was of a new intermediate -- medium-range ballistic missile they had previously tested on submarines. nuclear testing that they have conducted, to nuclear tests just last year, they could have the ability to have an operationally deployed arsenal in the next three or four years that can stretch to japan and south korea and they could be on the way to testing intercontinental range ballistic missiles got despina could theoretically reach the united states so this is probably the most urgent proliferation -- presidentsden trump faces today. time is not an outside because north koreans have shown that they are going to continue at this pace, sanctions have not

worked effectively. many experts including they believe it's time for president trump to make a deal with north to try to first stop their nuclear and missile testing and then move toward the d nuclear is a d --e-nuclearization. host: the president said this last week -- what does that mean? guest: it's a good question. what does it mean? there have been a number of statements that have come out of president trump and his administration that don't fully add up. we don't really have a coherent strategy from the trump administration quite yet about how he seeks to reduce nuclear risk. i think what he was trying to say with that particular tweet which came before the holiday, he just visited the pentagon, he

adjust her to rethink on the pent -- on the f-35 and he heard about the air force interest -- the pentagon's interest in recapitalizing u.s. nuclear tryouts. one of the other major challenges you will faces over the next 10 years, the united states is scheduled to spend about $1 trillion to replace the land and sea and bomber legs of the nuclear triad. showsis a new report that these costs are increasing for each one of these systems. this will be one of the major nuclear policy challenges. there are ways to reduce those costs even while we maintain a sufficient number of nuclear weapons to deter other nuclear armed countries. that is a huge problem that trump will face and we don't

have a good fat -- sense of where he will go. host: there is another tweet regarding north korea -- guest: let's hope it doesn't happen. i think president trump was trying to signal that he is going to try to work to prevent that from happening. could, withinans the next several weeks or months , begin testing and intercontinental range ballistic missile. it would take several developmental test to perfect that technology and more test to perfect the technology for a reentry vehicle to carry in a nuclear warhead. willop the north koreans probably take more than your traditional sanctions that have been in place for some time. it will take more than china

putting more pressure on the north koreans. it will take three engagement with the north about halting their ballistic and nuclear missile testing and find ways to reduce tensions on the korean peninsula and maybe look for ways to ratchet back some of the which will begin soon. this is an urgent problem but we don't yet have a clear sense of how president trump seeks to deal with this particular problem. host: our conversation with daryl kimball. these are the numbers to call -- here is what the president said just last week when he spoke to reporters. get along with russia, that's a positive thing. we have a very talented man, rex

tillerson, who will meet with them shortly. said politically is probably not good for me. the greatest thing i can do is to shoot that ship that's 30 miles offshore right out of the water. everyone in the country will say that so great. it's not great. that's not great. i would love to be able to get along with russia. presidentsd a lot of that haven't taken that -- that have taken that tactic and look where we are now. i love to negotiate things. i do it really well, all that stuff. won't bepossible i able to get along with vladimir putin. maybe. thefalse reporting by media, by you people, the false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with russia. saidrobably vladimir putin , he's sitting behind his desk and saying you know, i see what's going on in the united states and i followed closely.

it's got to be impossible for president trump to ever get along with russia because of all the pressure he's got with this fake story. that's a shame. if we could get along with russia, and by the way, china and japan and everyone, if we could get along, it would be a positive thing, not a negative thing. host: let's take your calls and comments with our guest. harry is joining us from satellite beach florida, area independent line. caller: i am glad you guys brought up this topic. refers tomp always the crooked press. i have to agree with him. about theonsense russians interfere with our election, what has not been mentioned by the press is that nato has had 40,000 troops in war games on their border. if they had five cruise missile destroyers on our coast, don't you think we would be up in arms?

this nonsense about the annexation of crimea -- only six people died in crimea. the people warned them to be in crimea. you need to get their side of the story. it pales in comparison to what our country did. we invaded afghanistan and iraq for no reason at all and killed over one million people will stop you try to make this guy out to be a bad guy and know that they are trying to get a war with russia and everyone knows that in the public. give us your opinion, please. sober aboutve to be what russia is trying to do and what russia has done. they did in they crimea which is part of ukraine. trump,ack to president it's very important and interesting that he wants to have a better relationship with russia. as he said in the clip from his press conference, the united states and russia have massive nuclear arsenals.

the united states and russia have been historic enemies and is important for this to -- for the two countries to have a stable relationship. but to what end and on what terms? i think we have to be aware of the differences and problems we have and our allies have with russia. one issue is their continuing meddling in ukraine and their lack of inability to comply with the minsk 2 agreement which would help settle the conflict. we have concerned with russia about their activities for the other region along the nato border, the baltic region. we have to be aware of russia's behavior and it's important for president trump to engage with russia but we need to be aware that there are these differences and we have to reach an agreement on terms that meet our interests and those of our allies. host: robert cramer writes about

the missiles. , wasre quoted in the piece it a violation of the arms treaty? intermediateis the nuclear forces treaty from 1987 andhed by me kill gorbachev ronald reagan that eliminates an entire class of intermediate range missiles. russia has been found to be testing missiles that are not allowed by this agreement. the new york times reported last week that they had begun deploying this. if this is true, it's a clear violation of the treaty. this is yet another problem is you between the united states and russia. it's not a military threat that changes the balance of forces in europe but it's something we need to respond to. we recommend that the two countries sit down with their technical experts and meet something called a special verification system to resolve these issues.

the united states needs to reassure our allies with conventional capabilities and forces that we will meet any russian aggression along the nato border. we don't need to, as some ebbers of congress suggested, begin to deploy missiles in europe that would tear apart the alliance. it's not necessary. this is a serious issue that the united states and russia need to resolve and it's going to get in the way that better relationship with russia and president trump is not yet spoken to this issue. it will be interesting to see what he and his team have to say about this in the coming days and weeks. host: our next caller is from kentucky. caller: i wanted to go back to north korea. i look at that on the internet. do we know if there is any resistance inside that country? i'm sure it's fanatical to the leader but if we could take him

out, take the people around him out, is there anyway we could get some people in their? atdmzot 30,000 troops that are close by. is there anyway we can do that and we know thousands of people were slaughtered. also related, the story of his half-brother in malaysia two weeks ago being murdered. guest: yes, that was a chilling reminder of how brutal the north korean regime is. there has been discussion and -- will the north korean regime survive? the easiest way to deal with this problem would be to have, yes, a new government in the north. is probably not going to happen anytime soon. that regime is firmly in charge. powerng-un has been in for five years, longer than most

leaders he has confronted. one of the things we need to recognize is that north korea believes that it is pursuing a nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile program in order to deter aggression from south korea, aggression from the united states. and so talk about decapitation strikes against the north korean leadership, talk about an exercise about invading the only from the south, that gives strength to the north korean internal propaganda. we need to confront the reality. this is not a pleasant regime but we need to engage with them and sit down and talk with them even as they continue to -- we put international pressure on them to get the means to develop their nuclear and missile programs. to get to find a way them to stop the development of

these systems. otherwise, they will become more dangerous for south korea and their japanese allies. host: another chart. this is the nuclear stockpiles from the cuban missile crisis of 1962. through today. there is a significant decline in the 1990's during the clinton administration. what does this tell you? control, nuclear arms control can work and does bilateralut discussions and negotiations between the united states and the soviet union, we would not have verifiable agreements to constrain and then reduce and verifiably reduce the number of nuclear weapons. you will see that after the end of the cold war and the implementation of the agreements wnald reagan and george h bush negotiated, we have further reduction of u.s. and russian stockpiles. what we also see of the united states and russia still have

enormous nuclear arsenals on hand. ,he united states and russia after the new start agreement which is currently in place, they will both be allowed to 1550 strategic deployed nuclear weapons. that is more than united states and russia need to do terror a nuclear attack against one another. the important point is that in 2013, the pentagon and president looked at the nuclear deterrent requirements and they determined united states could /3 but our arsenal by 1 did not do so because president vladimir putin did not want to negotiate further reductions with the united states. president trump is an opportunity and he will conduct his own nuclear reviews on nuclear weapon policies through the course of this year and next. he has the opportunity to engage with russia and find ways to further reduce these excess

nuclear arsenals. that would reduce tensions with russia. with thed even do this new start treaty in place and in a reciprocal fashion, they could both decide to further reduce the arsenals on both sides. there are a lot of obstacles but we need to see a strategy from the administration on this issue. from maryland,xt republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. i think the experts in america are missing the -- i'm going back to north korea. from the standpoint of china in thatong run, i suspect they deep inside want north korea to become a nuclear power because it can only help them against the u.s. alliance. host: can you respond?

guest: i think china is deeply concerned about north korea's nuclear program but they're also concerned about instability on the korean peninsula. as much as they would like to see north korea eliminate its program, they want to avoid peninsula.e korean it's their neighborhood. that's one of the reasons why they have been pushing the united states and south korea -- to try totriton negotiate with north korea. it's one reason why they have been resisting tough economic sanctions against the north. in the last few days, they did announce they would cut off all: imports from north korea, their biggest export item. china has a different strategic objectives that they are trying to balance. it's not true that they would like to see north korea armed

with nuclear weapons. what they don't want to see is a bigger u.s. military presence in their region. they don't want to see u.s. missile defenses in that region pointed at north korea but also be used, in their view, to counter their own military capabilities. host: the new york times is writing about this with a deadline -- with a deadlock in communication. maurice is joining us next from maryland, independent line. caller: how are you doing? mr. kimball, i have a quick question. your actually being nice capabilities.al

does north korea recognize that our might is way more powerful then you are talking to the callers about? guest: i think north korea understands that if they were to launch nuclear weapons across -- against our allies in north in -- in south korea or japan or initiate a conventional military invasion of the south, the united states would respond with overwhelming military force. what do i mean? the united states could handle any north korean military provocation with our superior conventional forces in the region and would not have to use nuclear weapons. if we use nuclear weapons in response to a north korean provocation, it would likely trigger a north korean nuclear retaliation. they are well aware of the

overwhelmings' capacity to deal with them militarily in alliance with their south korean and japanese allies. host: jerry from north carolina, democrats line, good morning. not going to be a slamdunk. [indiscernible] we don't know what this guy is talking about. [indiscernible] guest: i'm not quite sure i understand the question. do we have any responsibility or are we to

blame for any of this? recognize thatto on the korean peninsula, there is still a condition of war. concerned about american aggression, our hostile behavior they call it. in order to find a way to reduce tensions on the korean peninsula, we need to assure the north that we are not going to preemptively attack but that will require significant steps by north korea to stop their production andl ballistic missile testing and further nuclear testing and ize.s to de-nuclear host: iran as part of the agreement that president obama

signed an there is lot of controversy. it requires iran to transform or close nuclear facilities and reduce the number of centrifuges uranium.hing it also requires iran to limit their stockpile of low, and rich uranium and the production of the weapons grade plutonium. this was signed back in 2015 and limits the amount of uranium and plutonium that iran can have an manufacture and how is it working? well so far.orking this is not a bilateral agreement. it's something the president obama negotiated and their european allies and so far, the not -- is affected

iran from producing enriched in raid -- uranium for one nuclear weapon and that would take more time. this is in place of the two sides fully implement the agreement. it will last for over well -- for well over a decade. president trump continues to say that this is a bad deal. some of them are proposing legislation that could reimpose sanctions, the nuclear related sanctions lifted under terms of this 2015 agreement. could happens, that begin to unravel the nuclear eal and open up the bigger problem, which would be a

program that ear could lead to a nuclear weapon issue inover that very the region in future years, so for important, i think, president trump to continue the current course, to vigorously this agreement to make sure iran is complying, checking ith what the international atomic energy agency is seeing on the ground and think about in year 10, 12 and 15 of the agreement to xtend some very important restrictions on iran's program that will begin to expire in about a decade. he has some time to put together a comprehensive agreement that countries in other the region to extend limits that focused on e just iran and iran alone. >> announcer: daryl kimball, ohio, the miami of former executive director of the coalition to reduce nuclear and currently serves as

executive director of the arms control association. if people want to follow you, how can they do so? twitter ryl kimball on and arms control association is at arms control now. information of issues, analysis, news reporting. you will find quite a lot of ways to stay informed and engaged. people to do this, because we as well array of nuclear-related challenges that information and well informed public and policy makers. host: website is arms control dot org. thank you for stopping bee, we appreciate it. ost: on behalf of the president, the role of first ladies, our next guest, lauren member of a group of educators involved in the white transition project, joining us next on this

monday.nt's day you're watching c-span's "washington journal," we're back in a moment. >> which presidents were america's greatest leaders? secretary of state asked 43 orians tarate our president necessary 10 areas of. you're watching c-span's "washington journal," we're back in a moment. leadership. top went to president who preserved union, ab raham lincoln. three other top vote getters continue to hold their position, george washington, franklin theodore and roosevelt. eisenhower makes his first appearance in the c-span top five this year. historian's top an, kennedy and reagan. lyndon johnson jumps up one spot the top to return to

10. buchanan is james ranked dead last in all three surveys. bad news for andrew jackson, our overall president, found rating dropping from number 13 to number 18. e survey had good news for leadership. outgoing president barack obama, his first time on the list, historians placed him at number 12 overall and george w. bush moved up to 33 overall with big persuasion and relations with congress. how did our historians rate your favorite president? are leader and loser necessary each of the 10 categories? and more on our c-span.org. >> tonight on the communicators, national association of broadcasters c.e.o. gordon smith the future of

television as fcc has changes to landscape mrchlt smith is nterviewed by technology report reporter. >> on the television side holds promise for the american people, for the consumers. broadcasting, it let's you do data casting and let's you do the best pictures that are out there, immersive sound and internet operatability. his making that, putting it up the mprn calendar suggests and its value is to the american people. >> watch the communicators 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from san lauren wright, the author of the new book