c-span along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> now, the four trump administration secretary mike pompeo speaks at the iowa family leadership conference. he speaks about the concept of critical race theory. he's considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate. this is just shy of a half an hour.

>> my distinct privilege here, i flew in from detroit, i'm the ceo of the family policy alliance in my iowa joke is why does the nfl not give a football team to the state of iowa? anybody know the answer to that? i was going to say detroit would want a football team, to. that's the reason. the person who i have the distinct privilege of introducing to you all today has a football team. he hails out of kansas, he was a congressman there before he went on to serve as director of the cia and secretary of state for our great country. the 70th person to ever hold that position. he is a very distinguished leader. what some of you might not know

about secretary pompeo is he finished first in his class at west point. first in his class at west point. that is saying something about the character and competence of the individual. he also had a job -- i heard the word scoff earlier -- please don't scoff. he was the editor when he went to harvard law school of the harvard law review. you know who else held that job? president obama. and there are rumors afoot, i have seen it on the television and heard people talking about it, that he might be interested in president obama's other job. and he did a better job as a harvard raw -- harvard law leader and i bet he could do a better job at the other should he become interested in that one. we have to have a little fun when we have people in town to do this.

i don't know the secretary well personally, but i want to give some insight from the time i had a privilege -- i was at the white house and president trump, a fairly independent guy, but he did take advice from a couple of people. i'm not going to out this person and say who they were, but he stepped out of the room. we were having a discussion about policy and he said, sorry that was a call and i was talking with mike pompeo. i said isn't he the director of the cia? it was completely off-topic, completely something different. he said we have learned in this town it's hard to find someone who can get something done that is reliable and has the ability to actually do it. and so we call him and ask him to do all sorts of things and he did this. he got it all done and you never read about it in the newspaper.

when he was in congress, he defended our issues strongly with his boat, focus on the family is where we are based out of, and he defended religious liberty around the world as our secretary of state stop and he is with us now. please give a warm welcome to secretary mike pompeo. [applause] mr. pompeo: thank you. that was a great introduction. yankee. -- thank you. thank you all. it's great to see you all, it's great to be back in big rooms together. lots of energy and i'm excited. it's also great because i'm an unemployed former diplomat, so thank you for having me here today. thanks for that kind introduction. i have had this incredible

privilege these last four years and it means so much to me to be back with you at this annual summit. i love coming back to this place, to you as a group, and i love being back in my neck of the woods, in the midwest, you know, flyover country. my wife, susan, was born in iowa city, though she was raised in wichita. she spent her summers at coral hill and strawberry point. that's why i'm back, i don't know why some of the other folks are back. i can't figure it out. i also watch the iowa panthers destroyed wichita state too many times. it was emotionally very difficult for me. it has been almost six months now since the administration left office. i will be honest, it has been tough for me to watch what is going on and what has gone on in these last six months. people say i bet you are glad to

have that big burden lifted from your shoulders and i have to tell you i'm not. i wish i was still there. i wish i still had the opportunity to do the work we did for four years protecting and security your -- protecting and securing your freedom and your rights. [applause] all of the things i got to do -- i occupied an office held by thomas jefferson and my son and i were walking down the hall the day i was going to be sworn in and he said they have portraits of all the former secretaries. all of these greats -- jefferson, madison -- pompeo, i don't know. [laughter] i love you, dad, good luck. i'm not going to be them, but they create a vision and wisdom for me every day to know that the things you know and love, our judeo-christian tradition lives on, and this is the work

we were engaged in. when the new york times wrote i was the worst secretary of state in history in the washington post followed up with a similar headline, my son, who i love, he said maybe the second time a major newspaper -- he said dad, i was checking it out. he said there's a guy named washburn. he lasted 11 days as secretary of state. so my son said surely you are better than he was. you can't be the worst. we know what the left is trying to do to human beings that believe in cries in the way we do. we have seen it. the president called me in january and said the washington post headline said you are my most loyal cabinet member. they did not mean it as a compliment.

you are here today to talk about leading with principles over politics and i want to say something that is very straightforward. you may not hear it other elected officials. all of the crises facing our nation today, the big challenges we are confronting aren't going to be solved by any politician. it's not the way the lord works. our problem isn't people effecting change in the hearts and minds. we note only cries has the capacity to do that. he will put -- we know only cries -- christ has the capacity to do that. i know even those words i just told you, you probably would not have heard them from any secretary of state before me, republican or democrat. i was a different kind of secretary of state. my wife says i was the first redneck secretary of state.

and it did not always make friends for me. when we confronted the chinese communist party, that godless party doing so much destruction not only to its own people and churches in china, people who want to practice their faith in china, the uighur muslims in the west, when we call them out at home, they sanctioned me. i can no longer travel to china, which is fine, actually. it reminds me, when i was leaving office, they didn't have the courage to sanctioned me while i was still secretary of state. my son is engaged and his fiancee called and said my marrying into the sanctioned regime? i said yes, congratulations. we can all be a force for good. a trump administration tried every day to be a force for good . here in the united states, our

first job was to make sure we put america first. [applause] we literally took american foreign policy and put america back in that foreign policy. today, it would be climate change policy or whatever. but a different way of thinking about how we preserve the things we care so deeply about. each and every day in our lives, nowhere is that more important than with our families. i saw that as i travel the world, i was deeply mindful of how our work impacted families at home. i'm glad you are here today at the summit. the name says so much. your mission should be every levers mission -- to inspire christlike leadership at home and in government. if we get that piece of it right, we will do what

politicians have failed to do for an awfully long time. i know when there is media in the back, some will break out the pitchforks. fair enough. when they heard every day that i turned to god to provide me guidance, i was trying to execute my mission, i understood they found that deeply troubling. the state department lawyers did not like it either. this was not a new idea i was professing. i relied on god when i was a fifth grade sunday school teacher and it served me pretty well. i had a perfect record for being part of a complex organization. fifth grade sunday school, international diplomacy, what do they have in common? would be a long set of remarks. i love this quote from lincoln -- pieces i've been driven many times on my knees by the

overwhelming conviction that i had literally nowhere else to go. the work of the organization you are here to support today, along -- around the country, this organization is indispensable in that cause and i want to thank bob for his efforts to build that out. we are all aware of today, we see in our homes on our television, that the breakdown of the american family is at the core of most of them. that is why the left attacks me. it's why the left wants to undermine the family unit upon which this nation was built. and you are all here because those attacks strike at the very concept of america. not only the family, but our churches and schools are under assault, to. and you are right that -- you are right to be concerned. that is why i'm counting on you, people of faith, people like my wife and me to champion our

faith, to do so fearlessly, and to champion the american values you know have made this the most exceptional nation in the history of civilization. if we don't defend it, if we don't value life, as an example, we know where this leads. i'm grateful i was able, in my time as a christian, to protect human dignity around the world and that overlap with america's interest. it was a centuries-old commitment, but one the biden administration has already sought to undo. [applause] i had worked on this issue when i was a member of congress, but i had this unique opportunity when i was secretary of state to work to make sure not a single dollar that came to the state apartment ended up in the hands

of an abortion provider somewhere in the world. not one of your taxpayer dollars, ever. [applause] it was important as a first principle -- no taxpayer dollars should go to an abortion anywhere. we also knew devaluing human life undermines families and it's a hallmark of communist, totalitarian regimes around the world. take china, take the chinese come's party. they celebrated their 100th anniversary of the founding of the chinese communist party last week. this was an achievement they lay claim to being the largest voters of people -- do they declare to be conducting genocide, detaining over a million muslims, forcing sterilizations and forced abortions. people living in internment camps that look and feel much like what the world saw and lived through in germany in the 1930's.

i was proud of the work we did to call them out for that and build a global coalition to recognize this is fundamentally immoral and to permit this to continue undermines american security in a way that is deep, important, and fundamental. i think about the work our administration did alongside great partners in israel. i was the first secretary of state to travel to judeo and samaria. this was important to me to make clear that we don't view israel as an occupying power. [applause] you know this, right? this was the place where price was born. he preach the gospel and died for the sins of the world. this is a special place and we were proud to do the work.

smaller things like recognizing passports that say jerusalem is an important place to the city of israel. the work i did to make sure all settlements were not illegal. i was rewarded that they named a wine after me. the joke was it was great because it had an italian name on the label. it was an acknowledgment of the remarkable work the trump administration did, protecting this most important alliance, recognizing the jewish homeland switch -- should be served and protected. [applause] our faith was challenged when we saw just after our time in office, the terrorists in gaza began to launch rockets from the

group hamas sitting in the gaza strip. i figure was an indication that american capacity to work with israel and to protect israel was under threat. this administration might not respond in the same way our administration did and i hope the administration begins to get this right. i watched as americans -- i watch other countries try to undermine our most valuable institutions. it was too -- it was to their benefit if our institutions could no longer stand the pressure. i saw this most clearly in the work trying to destroy our educational institutions. you all see the garbage they are trying to teach in our schools today. it comes under various guises, often called critical race theory, but it is a suggestion that somehow our nation is inherently and systemically racist. this is a nation that has borne the cost and benefits associated more than any in the world.

we should not challenge our founding. it was noble. [applause] i thought most clearly in their marxist and leninist tendencies -- you saw the chinese communist party to the cross for my success for in alaska and berate the secretary of state and talk about the greatness of blm, to talk about the riots and say you and america are no better than we are. that's a godless nation challenging a god-fearing people and our leadership must stand up against these threats from outside. it's incredibly important. [applause] they frankly don't like capitalism very much either, because in many cases, they would prefer a model that looks like there's, more socialist, less willing to reward those willing to work hard and to keep their faith and practice that faith. these are nations who are

religious freedoms to their own people. and so, when they saw during the crisis that resulted from the wuhan virus being foisted upon america, they saw us begin to undermine our religious liberty at home and they cheered. they cheered when they saw city councils were county commission say you can't worship freely with your fellow believers. we all know this. we can keep health in mind and still worship jesus christ. when we begin to diminish our faith and act in ways that are not only inconsistent with our constitution but deeply immoral, we become less secure. our adversaries who want to undermine the things we care most about will cure this law. i know you will never permit this to happen. i know the family leaders at the center are making sure these

kinds of things don't happen. [applause] i want to talk about one more thing and that i have a couple of closing thoughts i want to leave you with. i want to talk about the risk we have from crime that is rising here in the united states. we can talk about many reasons this exists -- the absence of community, fewer people who are worshiping, there are lots of reasons. but make no mistake, one of the reasons as we have often in our major cities given up the will to hold those who commit the crimes accountable for the crimes they commit. this is not an american tradition, to try and undermine those great men and women who serve in our law enforcement communities -- if you do the work that keeps someone safe and they challenge you and say they

behave in a way that it is inconsistent with your duty, we may not have your back. we saw this idea, a reform of our justice system and excuse to let dangerous people back out on the street. we have seen our unwillingness to secure our southern border as something that it's more criminals on our streets. i don't know how many of you have seen the reporting from the last you days -- i saw this in my time as secretary of state -- we have an enormous problem of chinese fentanyl coming through the american border and it's in every city in the united states, including right here in iowa. each of us has a responsibility to make sure our leaders prevent this from happening. it will create greater risk of crime and undermine the very communities that have made our nation so special.

indeed, it made our union more perfect each and every year. two final thoughts. we need to renew our commitment to our communities. we need to work at this. you should know in spite of all the challenges i've spoken to you, i am long on america. i'm confident that this nation will awaken and there will be a revival in this nation will continue to those prosperous -- continued to be the most prosperous in the history of humankind. [applause] but none of that happens without keeping your faith. none of that happens without the hard work that goes alongside that and, through the grace of god, i know you will engage in that. i had a norma's opportunities. i was a young cadet at west point to had frankly been taken

to church when i was a young man by my parents but, i was going to be the next great nba power forward. i was focused on other things. but i had two young men who were just one year ahead of me at school and on a sunday afternoon, during the first summer at west point, they invited me for cookies. this is a can't miss opposition, just like fellowship hall, it draws us all in. so, i went. those two men brought me to jesus. they discipled me over the coming weeks. they made sure i understood that it was important to read the bible each and every day and make sure i ask the right questions about the complex tasks i would face as an american leader who is going to lead men into conflict, potentially putting their own lives at risk on behalf of the united states, how i could not understand that without

understanding jesus christ would be with us every step of the way. you all have the chance to leave and -- to lead and disciple in your communities here. i remember when i was a deacon at the church and west -- in wichita, kansas. the pastor asked me to be a deacon. we ministered to our community, and the eastern part of wichita. and 10 miles of where we went to worship, there were people under in norma's economic hardships. there were families that were displaced and we built out a program where we tried to build up those communities and tried to be welcoming to everyone. from whatever community, whatever race, whatever creed, we wanted them to understand jesus was important in their life as well.

this was the call we continue to have. and we face these domestic crises here at home, which are often put to us by the media as secular crises. remind yourselves that these are crises of faith and if we get that wrong, we can't fix any of this. he indeed has a plan for america and i'm confident you all, through his grace will help execute that plan. we are not a defeated nation. we are not a nation in decline. we are not a racist nation. we are a god blessed christian nation. don't let the woke show -- don't let the woke socialists get you down. keep working, commit yourself to the community. i always recall one of my favorite parts of the bible, from chapter three when shadrach , me shack and abednego all walk into the fire.

into the fire, not burned or harmed, i felt like that in the trump administration, some days. into the fire, where the left-wing media wanted to do nothing more than deny the american people what they voted for. the leadership of people who understood the lord and understood our nation in the same way they did. the faith of those three men is our faith. and it is ever present. if we devote ourselves to that and we are tireless in those efforts and fearless in those efforts and never give an inch, and we do it with a smile and the graciousness the lord commands, you should know the family leader summit of 3021 will take place again in the greatest nation the world has ever known. god bless you. thank you all for being here and may god bless your good works. thank you so much. [applause]

>> amazing crowd. >> tonight, on "q --" -- jessica delong was chief engineer of the historic fireboat john jay harvey on september 11 when it was called back into service to aid firefighters following the attacks on the twin towers. in her book, she tells the story of the community of mariners who came to the rescue of thousands. >> the maritime evacuation that delivered nearly half a million people to safety is an

incredible example of the goodness of people -- that when you are given the opportunity to help, you have the tools, you have the skill set, you have the availability, that people over and over again made the choice to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of fellow humans and that is very instructive and something we really need to continue to remember. >> tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's "u.n. day." you can also listen as a podcast wherever you get your podcast. >> c-span's washington journal -- every day, we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discuss policy

issues that impact you. coming up monday morning, a preview of president biden's schedule and what is ahead this week at the white house. author michael wolff discusses his latest book, "landslide -- the final days of trump presidency." and an infectious disease professor talk about that covid-19 delta variant and vaccine hesitancy. watch washington journal live at seven eastern monday morning and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts, and tweets. >> monday night, on "the communicators" -- >> the reason ransomware has become such a problem is that has become a huge threat, not lay criminal threat, but because of the implications like critical infrastructure like pipeline companies. these are very significant targets and they have

increasingly become something cyber criminals are targeting. ransomware is a concept is pretty simple, unfortunately defending against it has become increasingly complex. >> he oversaw the justice department's national security and cyber crime investigations during the trump administration and discusses recent ransomware attack send other cyber threats -- ransomware attack's and other cyber threats monday night on c-span2. ♪

>> more from the iowa family leader's annual leadership summit now with south dakota republican governor, kristi noem. she talks about support for law enforcement, her states covid-19 response, the concept of critical race theory, and her pro-life agenda as governor. she's considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate. this runs about 20 minutes. [applause] [applause] gov. noem: good afternoon. thank you. i was doing really good until they showed that video of foster and lynn, so i'm a little bit of a mess right now. i love foster and lynn so