All the technology of our production was still pre-War. They were sort of '38 '39 and the War had been stable and so we were infinitely behind whatever had been going on in the United States for instance.

I knew from the beginning that privacy was going to be a huge issue especially with regard to applying Total Information Awareness in counterterrorism. Because if the technology development was successful a logical place to apply it was inside the United States.

The rapid dissemination of technology and information offers entirely new ways of production but it can also bring the spectre of more states developing weapons of mass destruction.

The United States has far more to offer the world than our bombs and missiles and our military technology.

Further the United States is moving ahead in the development of clean coal technology. There are vast coal reserves in our country and when it is burned cleanly coal can provide a resource to supply a large amount of our energy requirements.

For over 15 years through the clean coal programs of the Department of Energy the Federal Government has been a solid partner working jointly with private companies and the states to develop and demonstrate a new generation of environmentally clean technology using coal.

A lot of the work in United States is highly critical of technology. I'm using 15 000 watts of power and 18 different pieces of electronic equipment to say that.

This is technology that will not go away. And to risk it moving into the hands of a terrorist group like al Qaeda or to other focused enemies of the United States would have tragic consequences.

I didn't want to be the archetypal sponging brother-in-law so I didn't go into acting when I got to the States. I thought 'No I'll go to school and then I'll be an English teacher that'll be fun.' But I was horrible as a teacher. As hard as I tried I just couldn't inspire those kids to take an interest in Milton and Shakespeare and Donne.

There are ways we can go do a better job of educating young moms and dads about the vital role they have as the child's first teacher. I think there are ways in which we can partner with local school districts and states to do a better job to provide nutrition options at school.