Bill Nelson

It should end now, while our servicemembers are fighting in two wars and at risk throughout the world.

What areas of the U.S. Government's CVE efforts are in most need of our attention and how would you address these shortcomings?

What is your view of the collective efforts of the U.S. Government, such as with Voice of America, Alhurra, or ongoing capacity-building efforts, to CVE messages and ideology today?

Are there steps the U.S. Government could be taking to encourage the establishment of deradicalization programs along the Saudi model in other countries?

Empowering civil society and elevating the voices of key local leaders is often put forward as one of the key components of an effective strategy to counter violent extremism.

How is the decision made by SOCOM, Department of State (DOS), and the GCCs to deploy a special operations team to a certain country and is that decision reevaluated over time?

Empowering credible local voices sounds easy on its face, but it is truly a complex effort that must be done carefully.

How do we ensure that we do not compromise these credible local voices in our effort to CVE?

I can tell you, the way I will run the next hearing, either your panel will be first or all six of you will sit at the table together.

If you take that suggestion, you're talking about unleashing the civilian agencies of government instead of a military agency that has led this effort.

You said, General Stone, earlier, that General Petraeus understood and supported you and what you were doing in the prison in Iraq.

Can identifying and empowering local voices be done without compromising the individual's credibility because of their association with the U.S. Government?

Senator Bill Nelson. Ambassador Benjamin, Mr. Reid, and General Kearney, how are community leaders and reputable voices identified by your departments?

It is very different than when I wore the uniform of this country during Vietnam.

The two commanders in that most violent part of the world that we're concentrating on, Afghanistan and Pakistan, are General Petraeus and his commander in Afghanistan.

Is there any CVE effort underway today that you feel is effective or noteworthy?

The best strategies for undoing terror networks... is to co-opt the very same social and psychological processes

What do you think we ought to do to get our government more sensitized to the message that you all have here?

I want you just talking to us.

Wouldn't it be something if our American leadership... understood the Koran and knew all of the prophets in the Koran

Their mission is to support the priorities of the ambassador and the geographic combatant commander's (GCC) campaign plan against terrorist networks.

General Flynn's report directly addresses one of the fundamental discussions in our approach to Afghanistan.

The resources that we've talked about here are the resources of being able to get to young people to get them to understand what true Islam is, and not be diverted into some extremist form of violence.

Before we conclude, can you please give me your comments on the success, or lack thereof, of the Saudi rehabilitation program?

It was not answered this morning. As a matter of fact, the subject of this hearing is CVE, and we started talking about deradicalization in the first panel.