The White House Blog

Tuesday Talks: The President’s Upcoming Trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan

On Friday, President Obama will depart for a ten-day trip starting in India, followed by Indonesia, South Korea (for the G20 Summit in Seoul) and Japan (for the APEC Summit in Yokohama). Jeff Bader, Senior Director for Asian Affairs, and Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, will be answering your questions about President Obama's travel in a live video chat.

In a press briefing last week, Rhodes discussed this trip as a part of the President’s Asia strategy, "a renewed engagement of the United States in Asia that is founded upon our core alliances in the region...We see this very much in the context of the focus we put on Asia as a region of the world with the most dynamic and growing markets that are going to be fundamental to our export initiative of doubling exports in the world, but also fundamental to a number of political and security concerns that will a subject of the President’s travel."

Join us for a talk with Jeff Bader and Ben Rhodes on Tuesday, November 2nd at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Here's how you can participate:

• Ask your questions in advance on Facebook
• Join the discussion live through the White House Facebook application
• Watch the chat through WhiteHouse.gov/live

And check out what you missed for past Tuesday Talks:

• Tuesday Talk with David Axelrod
• Tuesday Talk with Austan Goolsbee
• The President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
• Tuesday Talk with Elizabeth Warren

Photo of the Day Gallery: October 2010

Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer and Director of the White House Photography Office, recently took questions from Flickr and Facebook users on what it is like to snap shots by the side of the President.  One of the best ways to see through Pete's perspective and get a glimpse inside the White House is with the Photo of the Day.  Throughout each month the Photo of the Day photographs are collected in a gallery that provides a unique look at events in and around the White House.

Latest Reports from Recovery Act Recipients on Recovery.gov

The independent Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board just posted the latest round of reports from recipients of Recovery Act dollars on Recovery.gov.  These reports provide an up-close snapshot of how a portion of Recovery Act spending was put to work creating jobs and driving economic growth last quarter.  Thanks to these reports, you can see when certain projects started, where they’re taking place and how many people are being directly paid to work on them with Recovery Act dollars. 

But when looking at these reports, it’s important to know what you are seeing – especially when it comes to the roughly 670,000 jobs recipients reported last quarter as part of this process.

Just 20 Percent of Spending

While there is already an unprecedented amount of public information available on Recovery.gov, Congress asked that for a portion of spending - specifically in areas like infrastructure projects and education spending – we go a layer deeper and collect these reports directly from recipients on how they are putting Recovery Act dollars to work.  So while these new reports posted today offer an extraordinary level of detail, they only cover about 20 percent of Recovery Act spendingto-date.  That means the job counts that come with the reports don’t include things like:

Weekly Wrap Up: A Great Pumpkin

A quick look at the week of October 25, 2010:

It's the Great Pumpkin:

Carved pumpkins depicting President Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, and the White House sit on a stone wall next door to where the President was attending a dinner reception in Providence, Rhode Island, Oct. 25, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama: "A Credible Terrorist Threat Against Our Country, and the Actions That We're Taking"

This afternoon President Obama spoke in the White House Briefing Room on the security situation that has been unfolding since last night:

Good afternoon, everybody.  I want to briefly update the American people on a credible terrorist threat against our country, and the actions that we're taking with our friends and our partners to respond to it.

Last night and earlier today, our intelligence and law enforcement professionals, working with our friends and allies, identified two suspicious packages bound for the United States -- specifically, two places of Jewish worship in Chicago.  Those packages had been located in Dubai and East Midlands Airport in the United Kingdom.  An initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material.

President Barack Obama is briefed by members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House, October 29, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Afterward, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan gave a full briefing, but the President first laid out the basic timeline of events:

I was alerted to this threat last night by my top counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan.  I directed the Department of Homeland Security and all our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to take whatever steps are necessary to protect our citizens from this type of attack.  Those measures led to additional screening of some planes in Newark and Philadelphia.

The Department of Homeland Security is also taking steps to enhance the safety of air travel, including additional cargo screening.  We will continue to pursue additional protective measures for as long as it takes to ensure the safety and security of our citizens.

I've also directed that we spare no effort in investigating the origins of these suspicious packages and their connection to any additional terrorist plotting.  Although we are still pursuing all the facts, we do know that the packages originated in Yemen. We also know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist group based in Yemen, continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies.

John Brennan, who you will be hearing from, spoke with President Saleh of Yemen today about the seriousness of this threat, and President Saleh pledged the full cooperation of the Yemeni government in this investigation.

Going forward, we will continue to strengthen our cooperation with the Yemeni government to disrupt plotting by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and to destroy this al Qaeda affiliate. We'll also continue our efforts to strengthen a more stable, secure and prosperous Yemen so that terrorist groups do not have the time and space they need to plan attacks from within its borders.

The events of the past 24 hours underscores the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism.  As usual, our intelligence, law enforcement and Homeland Security professionals have served with extraordinary skill and resolve and with the commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand.  We're also coordinating closely and effectively with our friends and our allies, who are essential to this fight.

As we obtain more information we will keep the public fully informed.  But at this stage, the American people should know that the counterterrorism professionals are taking this threat very seriously and are taking all necessary and prudent steps to ensure our security.  And the American people should be confident that we will not waver in our resolve to defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates and to root out violent extremism in all its forms.

Your Questions on Veterans Education, Student Debt, and Protecting America Against Terrorism

Recently, President Obama participated in a live town hall with young people from across the country sponsored by MTV, BET, and CMT -- taking questions from the audience and Twitter on a variety of topics.

The President couldn’t answer all of the questions that were asked, so his staff took a crack at answering some of the questions that came in.  Below Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor, and Darienne Page, Assistant Director of the Office of Public Engagement tackle some of your questions.

What can we do about crippling levels of student debt?

How do you plan on protecting us against terrorism, when financially our country is weak?

Is the Department of Defense doing everything they can to aid service members in their pursuit of higher education?

An American Tradition: UNICEF's Trick or Treat is Young at 60

Ed. Note: Also visit Ambassador Susan Rice's Facebook and Twitter accounts for updates on U.S. work at the UN.

When I was growing up, I carried two things with me on Halloween: a bag for candy and my UNICEF box. This was true from the moment of my very first Trick-or-Treat. In the late 1960s and ’70s, Washington, DC felt a world away from the battle-scarred towns of post-World War II Europe, and from the villages of the developing world that were suffering from food insecurity and infectious disease.

Press Secretary Gibbs on Potential Suspicious Packages

A statement from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued moments ago:

Last night, intelligence and law enforcement agencies discovered potential suspicious packages on two planes in transit to the United States. Based on close cooperation among U.S. government agencies and with our foreign allies and partners, authorities were able to identify and examine two suspicious packages, one in East Midlands, United Kingdom and one in Dubai. Both of these packages originated from Yemen. As a result of security precautions triggered by this threat, the additional measures were taken regarding the flights at Newark Liberty and Philadelphia International Airports.

The President was notified of a potential terrorist threat on Thursday night at 10:35, by John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism. The President directed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security, to take steps to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and to determine whether these threats are a part of any additional terrorist plotting. The President has received regular updates from his national security team since he was alerted to the threat.

Advance Estimate of GDP for the Third Quarter of 2010

Today’s report shows that real GDP, the total amount of goods and services produced in the country, grew at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the third quarter of this year, the fifth straight quarter of positive growth.  While the economy continues to recover from the deepest recession since World War II, faster growth is needed to bring down the unemployment rate more quickly. 

Some key components of GDP continued to expand in the third quarter.  Consumer expenditures on goods and services rose at an annual rate of 2.6 percent, up slightly from the second quarter.  Fixed investment (nonresidential structures, equipment and software, and housing investments) grew at an annual rate of 0.8 percent.  Business investment in equipment and software increased by 12 percent, the fourth consecutive quarter of solid growth, indicating continued expansion of investments by private firms.  Inventory investment contributed 1.4 percentage points to GDP growth, slightly less than the average in the last four quarters.   Residential investment, however, declined.
 
Given the depth and severity of the recession, considerable work remains before our economy is fully recovered.  Therefore, it is essential that we take the additional targeted actions that the President has recommended to further stimulate growth and job creation, such as extending tax cuts for the middle class, investing in our infrastructure, providing tax incentives to encourage businesses to invest here at home, and promoting exports abroad.

Austan Goolsbee is the Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers