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00:00When they return from something like this, are they pretty much having a party or something like that as soon as they return?
00:09What is that type of feeling like?
00:12Well, you're exhausted, firstly, and then you've got to go in and you've got to get a debrief
00:18because the intelligence officers want to know exactly what you saw fresh out of your mind.
00:25You go from the debrief, from intelligence to maintenance debrief,
00:30to talk about the condition of the aircraft, if you had any problems, and then it's off to home in bed.
00:38So the B-2 was originally introduced, correct me if I'm wrong, in the late 80s.
00:43Are the planes that are used today the same makeup as the ones used back then?
00:48Exact same airplanes.
00:50They've been upgraded several times.
00:53The radar has been upgraded.
00:55The defense management system has been upgraded.
00:59A lot of the avionics have been upgraded.
01:02So there's a lot of additional capabilities that have been brought onto the aircraft over time.
01:06Of course, the skin, it's gotten easier to maintain, and it's more durable,
01:13and that's made the aircraft much more stealthy over time.
01:19Instead of degrading, it's held up quite a bit.
01:22So a lot of different things to make the aircraft continue to be just as capable as when it was envisioned coming off the production line.
01:32As you allude to, the shape and the coating are two of the primary factors that make it stealth.
01:37How stealth is it?
01:38What would it take to find a B-2 on a radar?
01:41Something like a needle in a haystack?
01:44Well, you know, it's stealthy, but, you know, what really makes it work is, you know,
01:51there's so many airplanes in the sky and radars really, you know, look at those airliners and other aluminum aircraft and they really light up.
02:00And so it's really hard for them, for the radars to see a stealthy aircraft because of the other aircraft in the air that are really lighting up the sky.
02:09One more thing that I find fascinating about these planes, as we've, again, been looking at some file footage of some of the B-2s.
02:20They're based at Whiteman Air Force Base, correct?
02:23They flew from Missouri to Iran to get this thing done.
02:26Why are these planes based in Missouri?
02:27Well, you know, most of our strategic assets are based in the middle of the country.
02:34It actually protects them and gives us warning time.
02:38You know, all of these weapons systems carry nuclear weapons.
02:41And so you have to be concerned about either submarine-launched ballistic missiles coming from the coast.
02:48So we've located most of our strategic assets towards the middle of the country.
02:53So how often are these planes used?
02:56We just finished covering, I mean, we had some marathon coverage here, obviously, covering the Middle East.
03:01We've been talking about these planes since Saturday.
03:05I can't remember a time that I've spent so much time focusing on one type of plane.
03:09I can't remember a time where I've heard about B-2s so, so much.
03:13How often are these things taken out and used in this capacity?
03:16I shouldn't say in this capacity, but how often are they used?
03:19They're really not used that often.
03:21And even in, like, the Iraq war, they're just used in the very first few days of the war,
03:27typically used to take out the integrated air defense systems to allow the other aircraft that are less stealthy to fly.
03:35It's really a strategic weapon.
03:39It's exactly built for the types of attacks that we had with Iran, something that's very hard to go after,
03:49something that requires a one strike and that's very successful the first time around.
03:55So it's not used very often, and that's why you don't hear about it too much.
04:00So it's been kind of exciting to have the president and the rest of America actually see what the airplane can do,
04:09what it's capable of, what it really allows the country to expect in terms of national security.
04:17We've been following the Trump administration's effort to build what they call the Golden Dome.
04:22They say that they want to build the Golden Dome in an effort to protect the country from the offensive weapons of the future.
04:30Since the B-2 came about in the late 80s, is there going to be a point at which this thing has to be retired
04:37and it needs to be upgraded so that it can handle the defensive capabilities of the future, if you will?
04:43Well, I think that the big thing with regard to Golden Dome and what you're seeing happen in Ukraine and Russia
04:50is the rise of drones and the threat that they pose to strategic aircraft like the B-2.
04:58And I think what we need to see going forward is much more focus on the homeland, protecting our bases,
05:04protecting those aircraft against the use of drones.
05:08You know, if you consider that if there was prior knowledge of the strike,
05:13then somebody could have, you know, flown drones potentially into those aircraft while they were training
05:20and rendered them unuseful like happened with the Ukrainian attack of Russia.
05:26So it's very important that we build Golden Dome, not just for ballistic missiles, but for small drones.
05:34Also, we need to protect against cyber attacks.
05:36All of these things present challenges to our bases here at home.
05:40And it's not something that we have really focused on in the last several decades.
05:46All right.
05:46Retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Rob Spaulding with us tonight.
05:50Thanks, General.
06:06We'll see you next time.
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10:50reached its highest level in a dozen years, excluding the COVID pandemic year. Joblessness
10:56among that group is now higher than the overall unemployment rate, and the AP says that that gap
11:01is larger than it has been in more than three decades. Jason Altmaier is a former congressman
11:07from Pennsylvania and the CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities. He's here. Thanks for
11:13coming on. Is there some sort of larger culprit at hand here? Why are young people facing a harsh
11:18child market? Well, I think what that article is talking about are young people with a four-year
11:24college degree, and for a very long time, that has been the preferred path in higher education.
11:31Parents, guidance counselors, society generally tried to direct everyone into a four-year degree,
11:37and somehow going into a career program, a certificate program, something less than a
11:43four-year liberal arts degree was somehow a substandard path. Well, thankfully, we're not
11:49at that point anymore, and there's very high job growth and job opportunity in the skilled trades in
11:56many of the health care programs, in programs like computer science, and certainly cybersecurity is a
12:03very fast-growing program. And when you talk about the skilled trades, if you look at welding, truck
12:09driving, the health care programs, including nursing, those are very high-growth professions,
12:17fast-growing, and students are finally being told, hey, if you want to get a job, if you want to have a
12:23life-sustaining career, a family-sustaining wage, the trades are the place to go. So I think
12:30you're seeing a change in society and the understanding that if your purpose in higher education is to find
12:37work and do well for yourself going into the trades is not a bad idea.
12:43Is the uncertain economic—there's a lot of uncertainty in the economy. Of course, in April,
12:50we were following tariffs. There continues to be this pressure put on the Fed chair from the president
12:55as well. Do uncertain economic conditions affect hiring? Do hiring managers hold off on bringing new
13:03people in when there are pretty large, uncertain economic factors out there?
13:09It in particular affects young people, recent college graduates, people starting around the age
13:15of 22 to 27. This is the lowest rate of hiring for that group other than during the days immediately
13:23following COVID in more than a decade. But that is not the case with the trades. And college programs
13:31across the country are experiencing a decline and are projecting a decline in enrollment
13:36well into the future. That is not the case with the trades. And you're asking about what happens
13:42during an economic downturn. That's when people change jobs in addition to young people going into
13:49professions, deciding what they want to do with the rest of their lives. You have people that have
13:54been downsized. They're looking to change careers, change direction in their profession. And that's when the
14:00career schools see a growth in their enrollment. And that's exactly what's happening today.
14:05You already touched on this, but what does higher unemployment for younger graduates say about the
14:12value of a college degree today?
14:16There is a difference of opinion, of course, depending on who you ask in higher education. I wouldn't say it
14:23devalues a college degree. I just would say when you look at things like AI, the direction of the economy,
14:32certainly where we are with regard to rebuilding America, manufacturing, bringing companies back to
14:40America that are going to restore manufacturing and the blue collar trades. It really depends on what
14:46program you take. There are a lot of programs across higher education that are going to see a
14:53decline because of AI, because of tariffs, because of just general changes in the economy. That's what
14:59happens over time. And I think that students, especially at the high school level that are
15:05considering what they want to do with their lives and want to take a higher education path that's going
15:10to lead to a good job and a family sustaining wage, I think they should look at the trades.
15:16Before we go, how about people that are maybe in high school and they're looking at colleges right now,
15:22they're thinking about a pathway. What advice would you have for them before they get to college so
15:27that they can set themselves up for as much success as possible later on?
15:32Well, of course, you would want people to go into where they have a skill set and an aptitude and most
15:37importantly, an interest. So pursue your dream, go after it. Certainly wouldn't want to discourage
15:44anyone from going after any program that is of interest to them. But I think the biggest issue
15:50today that's different, thankfully, than it was in the past is people understand if you go into the
15:56skilled trades, if you go into career education programs, that is just as worthy a path and you can
16:04lead just as good and happy a life pursuing that as you can in a four-year degree or better or making a
16:11different choice. So go for what you want to do, follow your dreams. But if your dreams include working in the
16:18skilled trades or a health care program or some of those business and information technology programs
16:23I mentioned, maybe cosmetology, culinary, whatever it might be, go for it because there will be jobs
16:30on the other side. Jason Altmyer is a former congressman from Pennsylvania and the CEO of
16:36career education colleges and universities. Good to see you. Thanks for coming on. Have a good night.
16:39Thanks for having me. Okay. Welcome back. I'm Austin Westphal. Live look at the White House,
16:46live look at Gaza, and a live look at Tel Aviv. We continue to track the latest out of the Middle
16:53East. There is always so much to discuss with Dr. Alon Burstein. He's here. He joins me. Alon,
17:00thanks for coming on. The Pentagon held a press conference today. I'm sure you caught at least
17:06some of it we saw from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We heard from Secretary of Defense,
17:13Pete Hegseth. They spoke at length about the strikes on Iran. The chief topic of conversation was
17:20how much those strikes actually set Iran back. I'm not going to ask you how much it set them back
17:25alone, but you've studied high-stakes military operations. Is this type of stuff often the challenge,
17:32confirming that a high-stakes target was in fact destroyed? Why is there so much
17:36discussion about Saturday strikes? It's good to see you, Austin. I think that the
17:42large amount of discussion that we're seeing both in the United States and in Israel, and I'll add
17:47also in Iran, there are a lot of questions that are being raised from the media and population about
17:54what actually happened, really reflects the political tensions surrounding this attack. It
18:00surrounds, obviously, the war between Israel and Iran, but specifically the U.S. involvement
18:04and the attacks on Fordow. You know, there was large debate within the United States. I don't
18:09need to tell you within the Trump administration about whether to participate in the attack or not.
18:14You know, the United States has been so scarred with Afghanistan and Iraq and participating in
18:19possibly what may lead to regime change in Iran may not. And there was a lot of tension within the
18:24United States. And therefore, those who supported the act and who see it as success because,
18:29ultimately, the United States did participate in the attack, but did not get dragged in,
18:34at least until now, to a prolonged war in Iran. One to say, and we managed to do that,
18:39that it was not just a partial success, it was complete success. That's what we're hearing
18:42from the administration. There are others that are saying, but maybe you didn't succeed.
18:46Was it worth it or not? Similarly, in Israel, within Israel, there was a lot of talk about why did
18:52Israel launch the war? It launched a war that actually took out most of the nuclear sites,
18:57but everyone was saying, if you don't take out the site in Fordow, you won't be successful. And
19:01then there was a lot of questions in Israel. So why did you launch the war without knowing if the
19:06United States would participate or not? So the government in Israel similarly wants to be on
19:10the side that says it was destroyed and stop asking questions, we succeeded, whereas others are
19:14saying you weren't sure. And then again, within Iran and within the broader, also Arab world,
19:21we are hearing a lot of debate and sort of controversy about what happened from the reverse
19:26side, the government of Iran saying, actually, it wasn't all destroyed. And even the nuclear
19:31material that was there was removed, whereas others within primarily the Arab world are saying
19:36no, very likely it was destroyed. So really, the debate around this, which you're absolutely right
19:42to say is this common, it is not. It is not this common to see so much debate and so much
19:48controversy. And the leaders of all countries involved almost yelling at the cameras saying
19:52stop asking questions, it was done really reflects the political tensions.
