right now who wants to press the reset button here because he is, as you know, jake, the constitutional scholar who has a lot of questions about how these policies are enacted himself. not only from his democratic base about the questions of guantanamo which, after all, jake, he promised to close when he first became president of the united states. i think he's got a lot of issues about again tguantanamo. also, the counterterrorism efforts. i think what he wants to do with drones is have one consistent policy run by the military, not run by the ci aerk irkscia. layout some very clear standards and when you can and cannot use drones. don't forget, drones are going to become more and more common so maybe this is his way of saying to all countries, maybe we kind of need some kind of geneva pact on drones.

>> i'm going to interrupt you. sorry. >> sure. >> president obama is taking the stage. we're going to take a listen. >> it is a great honor to return to the national defense university. here at ft. mcnair americans have served in uniform since 1791, standing guard in the earliest days of the republic and contemplating the future of warfare here in the 21st century. for over two centuries the united states has been bound together by founding documents that define who we are as americans and served as our compass through every type of change. matters of war and peace are no different. americans are deeply ambivalent about war. but having fought or our independence we know a price must be paid for freedom. from the civil war to our struggle against fascism on

through the cold war. battlefields have changed and technology has evolved, but our commitment to constitutional principles as weathered every war, and every war has come to an end. with the collapse of the berlin wall, a new dawn of democracy took hold abroad. and a decade of peace and prosperity arrived here at home for a moment it seemed the 21st century would be a tranquil time. then on september 11th, 2001, we were shaken out of complacency. thousands were taken from us as clouds of fire and metal and ash descended upon a sun-filled morning. this was a different kind of war. no armies came to our shore rs and the military was not the principle target. instead, a group of terrorists came to kill as many civilians

as they could. so our nation went to war. we have now been at war for well over a decade. i won't review the full history. what is clear is that we quickly drove al qaeda out of afghanistan but then shifted our focus and began a new war in iraq. this carried significant consequences for our fight against al qaeda, our standing in the world, and, to this day, our interests in a vital region. meanwhile, we strengthened our defenses, hardening targets, tightening transportation security, giving law enforcement new tools to prevent terror. most of these changes were sound. some caused inconvenience, but some, like expanded surveillance raised difficult questions about

the balance we strike between interest of security and our value of privacy. in some cases i believe we compromised our basic values by using torture to interrogate our enemies and detaining individuals in a way that ran counter to the rule of law. so after i took office we stepped up the war against al qaeda but we also sought to change its course. we relentlessly targeted al qaeda's leadership. we ended the war in iraq and brought nearly 150,000 troops home. we pursued a new strategy in afghanistan and increased our training of afghan forces. we unequivocally ban editor chur, civilian courts, worked to align our policies with the rule of law, and expanded our consultations with congress. today osama bin laden is dead, and so are most of his top

lieutenants. there have been no large-scale attacks on the united states, and our homeland is more secure. few of our troops are in harm's way and over the next 19 months they will continue to come home. our alliances are strong and so is our standing in the world. in some, we are safer because of our efforts. make no mistake, our nation is still threatened by terrorists, from benghazi to boston, we have been tragically reminded of that truth. we have to recognize that the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11. with a decade of experience now to draw from, this is the moment to ask ourselves hard questions about the nature of today's threats and how we should

confront it. these questions matter to every american. for over the last decade our nation has spent well over a trillion dollars on war helping to explode our deficits and constrain our rebuilding here at home. our service members and families have sacrificed far more on our behalf. nearly 7,000 americans have made the ultimate sacrifice. many more have left a part of themselves on the battlefield or brought the shat shadowdows of back home. from our use of drones to the detention of terrorist us zsusp, the decisions that we are making now will define the type of nation and world that we leave to our children. so america is at a cross roads. we must define the nature and scope of this struggle or else

it will define us. we have to be mindful of jane madison's warning that no nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. neither i nor any president can promise the total defeat of terror. we will never erase the evil that lies in the hearts of some human beings nor stamp out every danger to our open society but what we can do, what we must do is dismantle networks that pose a direct danger to us and make it less likely for new groups to gain a foothold, all the while maintaining the freedoms and ideals that we defend. and to define that strategy we have to make decisions based not on fear but on hard-earned

wisdom. that begins with understanding the current threat that we face. today the core of al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan is on the path to defeat. their remaining operatives spend more time thinking at their own safety than plotting against us. they did not direct the attacks in benghazi on boston. they've not carried out a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11. instead what we've seen is the emergence of various al qaeda affiliates, from yemen to iraq from somalia to north africa. the threat today is more diffuse with al qaeda's affiliates in the arabian peninsula, the most active and plotting against our homeland. and while none of aqap's efforts approach the scale of 9/11 they have continued to plot acts of

terror, like the attempt to blow up an airplane on christmas day in 2009. unrest in the arab world has also allowed extremists to gain a foothold in countries like libya and syria. but here, too, there are differences from 9/11. in some cases, we continue to confront state-sponsored networks like hezbollah that engage in acts of terror to achieve political holds. other of these groups are simply collections of local militias or extremists interested in seizing territory. while we are vigilant for signs that these groups may pose a trans national threat, most are focused on praiting in countries and regions where they are based. that means we will face more localized threats like what we saw in benghazi or the bp oil facility in algeria in which local operatives, perhaps with

n. loose affiliation with national networks, launched attacks against western diplomats, companies, and other soft targets, or resort to kidnapping and other criminal enterprises to fund their operations. and finally we face a real threat from radicalized individuals here in the united states. whether it's a shooter in a sikh temp until wisconsin, a plane flying into a building in texas or killing 168 people in a federal building in oklahoma city, american has confronted many forms of violent extremism in our history. deranged or alienated individuals, often u.s. citizens or legal residents, can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad. that pull toward extremism appears to have led to the shooting at ft. hood and the

bombing of the boston marathon. so that's the current threat. lethal, yet less capable al qaeda affiliates, threats to diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad, homegrown extremis extremists. this is the future of terrorism. we have to take these threats seriously and do all that we can do confront them, but as we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat mostly resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11. in the 1980s we lost americans to terrorism at our embassy in beir beirut, at our marine barracks in lebanon, at a cruise ship at sea, at a disco in berlin and at a pan am flight, flight 103, ore lockerbie. in the 1990s we lost americans

to terrorism at the world trade center and our military facilities in saudi arabia and in our embassy in kenya. these attacks were all brutal, they were all deadly, and we learned that, left unchecked, these threats can grow. but if dealt with smartly and proportional, these threats need not rise to the level that we saw on the eve of 9/11. moreover, we have to recognize that these threats don't arrive in a vacuum. most, though not all, of the terrorism that we face is fueled by a common ideology, belief by some extremists that islamist conflict with the united states and the west and that violence against western targets, including civilians, is justified in pursuit of a larger cause. of course, this ideal ji is based on a lie. the united states is not at war

with islam. this ideology is rejected by the vast majority of muslims who are the most frequent victims of terrorist attacks. never the less, this ideology persists and in an age when ideas and images can travel the globe in an instant, our response to terrorism can't depend on military or law enforcement alone. we need all elements of national power to win a battle of wills, battle of ideas. so why want to discuss here today is the components of such a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. first, we must finish the work of defeating al qaeda and its associated forces. in afghanistan we will complete our transition to afghan responsibility for that

country's security. our troops will come home. our combat mission will come to an end. and we will work with the afghan government to train security forces and sustain a counterterrorism force which ensures that al qaeda can never again launch attacks against us or our allies. beyond afghanistan we must define our effort not as a boundless global war on terror, but rather as a series of persistent targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten america. in many cases this will involve partnerships with other countries. already thousands of pakistani soldiers have lost their lives fighting extremists. in yemen we are supporting security forces that have reclaimed territory from aqap.

in somalia we helped a coalition of afghanistan can nations push al shabob out of strongholds. in mahli, we're providing military aid to french-led intervention to push back al qaeda and help the people of mali reclaim their future. much of our best counterterrorism cooperation results in the gathering and sharing of intelligence, the arrest and prosecution of terrorists. that's how a so mmali terrorist was apprehended, we disrupt plots from denmark to germany to the united kingdom. that's how intelligence collected with saudi arabia helped us stop a cargo plane from being blown up over the atlantic. these partnerships work.

but despite our strong preference for the detention and prosecution of terrorists, sometimes this approach is foreclosed. al qaeda and its affiliates try to gain foothold in some of the most distant and unforgiving places on earth. they take refuge in remote tribal regions, hide in caves and compounds. they train in empty deserts and rugged mountains. and some of these places, such as part of somalia and yemen, the state only has the most tenuous reach into the territory. in other cases the state lacks the capacity or will to take action. and it's also not possible for america to simply deploy a team of special forces to capture

every terrorist. even when such an approach may be possible, there are places where it would pose profound risk to our troops and local civilians. where a terrorist compound cannot be breached without triggering a firefight with surrounding tribal communities, for example, that pose no threat to us. times when putting u.s. boots on the ground may trigger a major international crisis. to put it another way, our operation in pakistan against osama bin laden cannot be the no norm. the risks in that case were immense. the like lihood of capture, although that was our preference, was remote given the certainty that our folks would confront resistance. the fact that we did not find ourselves confronted with civilian casualties or embroiled

in an extended firefight was a testament to the meticulous planning and professionalism of our special forces but it also depended on some luck and supported by massive infrastructure in afghanistan. and even then the cost to our relationship with pakistan and the backlash among the pakistani public over encroachment on their territory was so severe that we are just now beginning to rebuild this important partnership. so it is in this context that the united states has taken lethal targeted action against al qaeda and its associated forces, including with remotely piloted aircraft commonly referred to as drones. as was true in previous armed

conflicts, this new technology raises profound questions about who is targeted and why, about civilian casualties and the risk of creating new enemys, about the legality of such strikes under u.s. and international lala law, about accountability and morality. let me address these questions. to begin with, our actions are effective. don't take my word for it. in the intelligence gathered at bin laden's compound he wrote, we could lose the reserves to enemy air strikes. cannot fight air strikes with explosives. other communications from al qaeda operatives confirm this as well. dozens of highly skilled al qaeda commanders, trainers, bomb makers and operatives have been

taken off the battlefield. plots have been disrupted that would have targeted international aviation, u.s. transit systems, european city, and our troops in afghanistan. simply put, these strikes have saved lives. moreover, america's actions are legal. we were attacked on 9/11. within a week congress overwhelmingly authorized the use of force. under domestic law and international law, the united states is at war with al qaeda, the taliban, and their associated forces. we are at war with an organization that right now would kill as many americans as they could if we did not stop them first. so this is a just war, a war

waged proportionally in last resort and in self-defense. and yet as our fight enters a new phase, america's legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion. to say military tactic is legal or even effective is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance. for the same progress that gives us the technology to strike half a world away, also demands the discipline to constrain that power or risk abusing it. that's why over the last four years my administration has worked vigorously to establish a framework that governs our use of force against terrorists, insisting upon clear guidelines, oversight, and accountability that is now codified in presidential policy guidance

that i signed yesterday. in the afghan war theater, we must and will continue to support our troops until the transition is complete at the end of 2014. and that means we will continue to take strikes against high-value al qaeda targets but also against forces that are massing to support attacks on coalition forces. but by the end of 2014 we will no longer have the same need for force protection. the progress we made against core al qaeda will reduce the need for unmanned strikes. beyond the afghan theater, we only target al qaeda and its associated forces. and even then the use of drones is heavily constrained. america does not take strikes when we have the ability to capture individual terrorists. our preference is always to

detain, interrogate, and prosecute. america cannot take strikes wherever we choose. our actions are bound by consultations with partners and respect to state sovereignty. america does not take strikes to punish individuals. we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and eminent threat to the american people. and when there are no other governments capable of effectively addressing the threat. and before any strike is taken, there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. the highest standard we can set. now, this last point is critical because much of the criticism about drone strikes, both here at home and abroad, understandably centers on reports of civilian casualties.

there's a wide gap between u.s. assessments of such casualties and non-governmental reports. never the less, it is a hard fact that u.s. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties. a risk that exists in every war. for the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify their loss. for me and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunt us for as long as we live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that have occurred throughout conventional fighting in afghanistan and iraq. but as commander in chief, i must weigh these heart-breaking tragedies jins thy ies against alternatives. to do nothing in the face of terrorist networks would invite

far more civilian casualties, not just in our cities at home and our facilities abroad, but also in the very places, like kabul and mogadishu where terrorists seek a foothold. remember that the terrorists we are after target civilians and the death toll from their acts of terrorism against muslims are worse than any estimate of civilian casualties from drone strikes. so doing nothing is not an option. we're foreign governments can not or will not affectively stop terrorism in their territory the primary targeted legal action would be the use of conventional military options. as i've already said, even small

special operations carry enormous risks. conventional air power or missiles are far less precise than drones and are likely to cause more civilian casualties and more local outrage. and invasions of these territories lead us to be viewed as occupying armies, unleash a torrent of unintended consequences, are difficult to contain, result in large numbers of civilian casualties, and ultimately empower those who thrive on violent conflict. so it is false to assert that putting boots on the ground is less likely to result in civilian deaths or less likely to create enemies in the muslim world. the results would be more u.s. deaths, more blackhawks down, more confrontations with local

populations, and an inevitable mission creep in support of such raids that could easily escalate into new wars. yes, the conflict with al qaeda like all armed conflict invites tragedy. but by narrowly targeting our action against those who want to kill us and not the people they hide them, we are choosing the course of action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life. our efforts must be measured against the history of putting american troops in distant lands among hostile populations. in vietnam hundreds of thousands of civilians died in a war where the boundaries of battle were blurred. in iraq and afghanistan, despite the extraordinary courage and discipline of our troops,

thousands of civilians have been killed. so neither conventional military action nor wait for attacks to occ occur offer us moral safe harbor. and neither does a sole reliance on law enforcement in territories that have no functioning police or security services and indeed have no functioning of law. now, this is not to say that the risks are not real. any u.s. military action in foreign lands risks creating more enemies and impacts public's opinion overseas. moreover, our laws constrain the power of the president. even during wartime. and i've taken an oath to defend the constitution of the united

stat states. the very precision of drone strikes and the necessary secrecy often involve in such actions can end up shielding our government from the public scrutiny that a troop deployment invites. it can also lead a president and his team to view drone strikes as a cure-all for terrorism. for this reason, i've insisted on strong oversight of all lethal action. after i took office, my administration began briefing all strikes outside of iraq and afghanistan to the appropriate committees of congress. let me repeat that. not only did congress authorize the use of force, it is briefed on every strike that america takes. every strike. that includes the one instance

where we targeted an american citizen, anwar awlaki. this week i authorized the declassification of this action and deaths of three other americans in drone strikes to facilitate transparency and debate on this issue and to dismiss some of the more outlandish claims that have been made. for the record, i do not believe it would be konconstitutional f government to ctarget and kill any u.s. citizen with a drone or a shotgun without due process. nor should any president deploy armed drones over u.s. soil. but when a u.s. citizen goes abroad to wage war against america and is actively plotting to kill u.s. citizens and when

neither the united states nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a s.w.a.t. team. that's who anwar awlaki was. he was continuously trying to kill people. he helped oversee the 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices on two u.s.-bound cargo planes. he was involved in planning to blow up an airliner in 2009. when farouk, the christmas day bomber went to yemen in 2009, awlaki helped him take a martyrdom video to be shown after the attack. his last instructions were to blow up the airplane when it was over american soil.

i would have detained and prosecuted awlaki if we captured him before he carried out a plot, but we couldn't. as president, i would have been derelict in my duty had i'm not authorized the strike that took him out. of course the targeting of any american raises constitutional issues that are not present in other strikes which is why my administration submitted information to the department of justice months before awlaki was killed and briefed the congress before this strike, as well. but the high threshold that we've set for taking lethal action applies to all potential terrorist targets, regardless of whether or not they are americn citizens. this threshold respects the inherent dignity of every human

life. alongside the decision to put our men and women in uniform in harm's way, the decision to use force against individuals or groups, even against a sworn enemy of the united states, is the hardest thing i do as president. but these decisions must be made, given my responsibility to protect the american people. going forward i've asked my administration to review proposals to extend oversight of lethal actions outside of war zones that go beyond our reporting to congress. each option has virtues and theory, but poses difficulties and practice. for example, the establishment of a special court to evaluate and authorize lethal action has the benefit of bringing a third branch of government into the process but raises serious constitutional issues about presidential and judicial

authority. another idea that's been suggested, the establishment of an independent oversight board in the executive branch. avoids those problems but may introduce a layer of bureaucracy in the national security decision making without inspiring additional public confidence in the process. but despite these challenges i look forward to actively engaging congress to explore these and other options for increased oversight. i believe, however, that the use of force must be seen as part of a larger discussion we need to have about a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy because for all the focus of the use on force, force alone cannot make us safe. we cannot use force everywhere that a radical ideology takes root. and in the absence of a strategy

that reduces the well spring of extremism, a perpetual war through drones or special forces or troop deployments will prove self defeat and alter our country in troubling ways. so the next element of our strategy involves addressing the underlying grievances and conflicts that feed extremism. from north africa to south asia. as we've learned this past decade, this is a vast and complex undertaking. we must be humble in our expectation that we can quickly resolve deep rooted problems like poverty and sectarian hatr hatred. moreover, no two countries are alike and some will undergo chaotic change before things get better. but our security and our values demand that we make the effort.

this means patiently supporting transitions to democracy in places like egypt and tunisia and libya because the peaceful realization of individual aspirations will serve as a rebuke to violent extremism. we must strengthen the opposition in syria while isolating extremist elements because the end of a tyrant must not give way to the tyranny of terrorism. we are actively working to promote peace between israelis and palestinians because it is right and because such a piece could help reshape attitudes in the region. and we must help countries modernize economies, upgrade education, and encourage entrepreneurship because american leadership has always been elevated by our ability to connect with people's hopes and not simply their fears. success on all of these fronts

requires sustained engagement but it will also require resourc resources. i know that foreign aid is one of the least popular expenditures that there is. that's true for democrats and republicans. i've seen the poll. even though it amounts to less than 1% of the federal budget. in fact, a lot of folks think it's 25%. if you ask people on the streets. less than 1%. still, wildly unpopular. but foreign assistance cannot be viewed as charity. it is fundamental to our national security and it's fundamental to any sensible long-term strategy to battle extremism. moreover, foreign assistance is a tiny fraction of what we spend fighting wars that our

assistance might ultimately prevent. for what we spent in a month in iraq at the height of the war we could be training security forces in libya, maintaining peace agreements between israel and its neighbors, feeding the hungry in yemen, building schools in pakistan, and creating reservoirs of good will that marginalize extremists. that has to be part of our strategy. moreover, america cannot carry out this work if we don't have diplomats serving in some very dangerous places. over the past decade we have strengthened security at our embassies and i am implementing every recommendation of the accountability review board which found unacceptable failures in benghazi. i called on congress to fully fund he's efforts to bolster

security and harden facilities, improve intelligence and facilitate a quicker response time from our military if a crisis emerges. but even after we take these steps some irreducible risks to our diplomats will remain. this is the price of being the world's most powerful nation. particularly as a wave of change washes over the arab world. and in balancing the tradeoffs between security and active diplomacy, i firmly believe that any retreat from challenging regions will only increase the dangers that we face t in the long run. that's why we should be grateful for those diplomats who are willing to serve there. targeted action against terrorists, effective partnerships, diplomatic

engagement and assistance. through such a comprehensive strategy, we can significantly reduce the chances of threats on the homeland and mitigate threats to americans overseas. but as we guard against dangers from abroad we cannot neglect the dawning challenge of terrorism from our borders. was i said earlier, this threat is t not new. but technology and the internet increases its frequency and in some cases its lethality. today a person can consume hateful propaganda, commit themselves to a violent agenda, and learn how to kill without leaving their home. to address this threat, two years ago my administration did a comprehensive review and engaged with law enforcement. and the best way to prevent

extremism inspired by violent jihadists is to work with the muslim-american community which has consistently rejected terrorism, to identify signs of radicalization and partner with law enforcement when an individual is drifting towards violence. these partnerships can only work when we recognize that muslims are a fundamental part of the american family. in fact, the success of american muslims and our determination to guard against any encroachments on their civil liberties is the ultimate rebuke to those who say that we're at war with islam. thwarting homegrown plots presents significant challenge in part because of our proud commitment to civil liberties to all who call america home. that's why in the years to come

we will have to keep working hard to strike the appropriate balance between our need for security and preserving those freedoms that make us who we are. that means reviewing the authorities of law enforcement so we can intercept new types of communication but also build in privacy protections to prevent abuse. that means that even after boston we do not deport someone or throw somebody in prison in the absence of evidence. that means putting careful constraints on the tools the government uses to protect sensitive information such as the state secret document. and that means finally having a strong privacy and civil liberties board to review those issues where our counterterrorism efforts and our values may come into attention.

the national security release offers a recent example of the challenges involved in striking the right balance between our security and our open society. as commander in chief i believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field. to do so we must inforce consequences for whoes who make the law and breach their commitment to reduce classified information. but a free press is also essential for our democracy. that's who we are. and i'm troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable. journalists should not at legal risk for doing their jobs. our focus must be on those who break the law. that's why i call on congress to guard against government overreach and i've raised these issues with the attorney general

who shares my concerns. so he's agreed to review existing department of justice guidelines, vernings investigations that involve reporters and he'll convenient a group of media organizations to hear that. i directed the attorney general to report back to me by june 12th. now, all these issues remind us that the choices that we make about war can impact and sometimes unintended ways. the openness and freedom on which our way of life depends. that is why i intend to engage congress about the existing authorization to use military force, or aumf. to continue to fight terrorism without keeping america on a perpetual wartime footing. the aumf is now nearly 12 years

old. the afghan war is coming to an end. al qaeda is a shell of its former self. groups like aqap must be dealt with. but in the years to come not every collection collection of t thugs who labels themselves to the united states, unless our thinking, definitions, actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight or continue to grant press dents on bound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states. so i look forward to engaging congress and the american people in efforts to refine and ultimately repeal the aumf's mandate. i will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. our systemic effort to dismandl terrorist organizations must

continue. but this war like all war, must end. that's what history advises. it's what our democracy demands. that brings me to my final topic, the detention of terror suspects. i'm going repeat one more time. as a matter of policy, the preference of the united states is to capture terrorist suspects. when we do detain a suspect, we interrogate. if the suspect can be prosecuted we decide whether to try him in a civilian court or in a military commission. during the past deck side the, the vast majority of those detained by our military was captured on the battlefield. in iraq we turned over thousands of prisoners as we ended the war. in afghanistan, we have transitioned defense facilities

at of again as part of the process of restoring afghan sovereignty. so we bring war of detention to an end and prosecute terrorists wherever we can. the glaring exception to this time attention approach is the detention center at again tguan bay. the original premise of opening gitmo that detainees would not be able to challenge their detention was found unconstitutional five years ago. in the meantime, gitmo has become a symbol around the world for an america that flouts the rule of law. our allies won't cooperate with us if they think a terrorist will end up in gitmo. during a time of budget cuts we spent $150 million each year to

imprison 166 people. almost a million dollars per prison. the department of defenseers mates that weust spend another $200 million to keep gitmo open at a time when we're cutting investments in education, in research here at home, and when the pentagon is struggling with sequestering budget cuts. as president i have tried to close gitmo. i transferred 67 detainees to other countries. before congress imposed restrictions to effectively prevent us from either transferring detainees to other countries or imprisoning them here in the united states. these restrictions maybe no sense. after all, under president bush, some 530 detainees were transferred from gitmo with congress' support.

when i ran for president the first time john mccain supported closing gitmo. this was a bipartisan issue. no person has ever escaped one of our super mats or security in the united states, ever. our courts have convicted hundreds of people for terrorism. or terrorism related defenses, including some folks who are more dangerous than most gitmo detainees. they're in our prisons. and given my administration's relentless pursuit of al qaeda's leadership there is no justification beyond politics for congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should have never been opened. today -- so --

[ applause ] so, let me finish, ma'am. so today -- so today, once again, today -- i'm about to address it, ma'am, but you've got to let me speak. i'm about to address it. let me address it. why don't you let me address it, ma'am. why don't you sit down and i will tell you exactly what i'm going do do. thank you, ma'am. thank you. thank you. ma'am, thank you. you should let me finish my sentence. today, i once again call on congress to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers from gitmo. i have ask ed -- i have asked te

department of defense to designate a site in the united states where we can hold military commissions. i am appointing a new senior envoy at the state department and defense department whose sole responsibility will be to achieve the transfer of detainees to third countries. i am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to yemen so we can review them on a case-by-case basis. to the greatest extent possible we will transfer detainees who have been cleared to go to other countries. where we -- where appropriate, we will bring terrorists to justice in our courts, in our military justice system, and we will insist that judicial review will be available for every detainee. now -- ma'am, let me -- t lo-- finish. let me finish, ma'am. this is part of free speech is

you being able to speak but also you listening. and me being able to speak. all right? thank you. now, even after we take these steps one issue will remain, just how to deal with those gitmo detainees who we know have participated in dangerous plots or attacks but who cannot be prosecuted, for example, because the evidence against them has been compromised or is inadmissible in a court of law. but once we commit to a process of closing gitmo, i am confident that this legacy problem can be resolved consistent with the rule of law. i know the politics are hard. but history will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our

fight against terrorism and those of us who failed to end it. imagine a future, ten years from now or 20 years from now, when the united states of america is still holding people who had been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not part of our country. look at the current situation where we are force feeding detainees who are being held on hunger strike. i'm willing to cut the young lady who interrupted me some slack because it's worth being passionate about. is this who we are? is that something our founders foresaw? is that the america we want to leave our children? our sense of justice is stronger than that. we have prosecuted scores of terrorists in our courts.

that includes farouk who tried to blow up an airplane over detroit and shahsad who put a time bomb in times square. it's in a court of law that we will try chadzhokhar tsarnaev. richard reid, the shoe bomber is as we speak serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison here in the united sta s states. judge william young told him the way we treat you is the measure of our own liberty. when -- when we -- when we went -- he went on to -- we went on -- we're addressing that,

ma'am. >> will you come spensate the innocent family victims? i love my country. >> you know, i think that the -- i'm going on scriff script, as might expect here.

the voice of that woman is worth paying attention to. obviously -- obviously i do not agree with much of what she said, and obviously she wasn't listening to me in much of what i said. but these are tough issues. and the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong. when that judge sentenced mr. reid, the shoe bomber, he went on to point to the american flag that flew in the courtroom. that flag, he said, will fly there long after this is all forgotten. that flag still stands for

freedom. so, america, we facedown dangers far greater than al qaeda by staying true to the values of our founding and by using our constitutional compass we have overcome slavery and civil war and fascism and communism. in just these last few years as president i've watched the american people bounce back from painful recession, mass shootings, natural disasters like the recent tornadoes that devastated oklahoma. these events were heartbreaking. they shook our communities to the core. but because of the resilience of the american people, these events could not come close to breaking us. i think of lauren manning, the 9/11 survivor who had severe

burns over 80% of her body who said, that's my reality. i put a band-aid on it literally and i move on. i think of the new yorkers who filled times square the day after the attempted car bomb as if nothing had happened. i think of the proud pakistani parents who after their daughter was invited to the white house wrote to us, we have raised an american muslim daughter to dream big and never give up because it does pay off. i think of all the wounded warriors rebuilding their lives and helping other vets to find jobs. i think of the runner planning to do the 2014 boston marathon who said, next year we're going to have more people than ever. determination is not something to be messed with. that's who the american people

are, determined and not to be messed with. and now we need a strategy and a politics that reflects this resilient spirit. our victory against terrorism won't be measured in a surrender ceremony at a battleship or a statue being pulled to the ground, victory will be measured in parents taking their kids to school, immigrants coming to our shores, fans taking in a ball game, a veteran starting a business, a bustling city street, a citizen shouting her concerns at a president. the quiet determination, that

strength of character and bond of fellowship that reputation of fear, that is both our sword and our shield. and long after the current messengers of hate have faded from the world's memory alongside the deranged madmen and demagogues, the flag of the united states will stand wave in small town cemeteries, to national monuments, to distant outposts abroad, and that flag will still stand for freedom. thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. may god bless the united states of america. ♪ >> you've been listening to president obama speaking at national defense university about national security. we're going to check in with our team cnn national security analyst fran townsend, goria borger, and jessica yellin and

get a response from a republican in house intelligence committee. i want to just before we go to them give you a quick recap of what we've been listening to as president obama laid out his address. he started off talking a great grate deal about the tensions of living in a free society while also trying to keep the country safe. he discussed many aspects of national security including two of his administration's most controversial policies using unmanned predator drones to at t tack suspected terrorists in countries and to close guantanamo bay. almost as if she were a human metaphor in national security and freedoms we enjoy at this country, at several points president obama was interrupted by a protester, a woman demanding the immediate closure of gitmo. the president was try took patient. he went off script and said her voice was worth listening to even if he disagreed with her

because she illustrated the point that these are very, very tough issues. the president gave an overall status report on the war on terror. he said we are safer in this nation because of his efforts though he discussed the al qaeda and affiliated groups. he said, quote, we must define our effort not as a boundless global war on terror but rather as a series to dismantle specific network or violent extremists. he seemed to be narrowing the so-called global war on terror. he also discussed homegrown terrorists saying deranged or alienated indivuals in the can d enormous damage particularly when inspired by ns ft.d o at insisted that dro are the safest way to wage a war against terrorists in other countries quite often. he called the actions legal, he called them just. he said it was a fight that was only waged proportionally and last resort and in self-defense. he acknowledged civilian casualties. he called the heartbreaking tragedies but insisted the death

tolls from the terrorists they targeted dwarfed estimates of civilian kauscasualties. he made a renewed push to close guantanamo bay and asked congress to lift restrictions from gitmo and speed up the process of trials and military commissions and transferring detainees. a lot to chew on and we're going to start with congressman tho thornberry, a member of the house armed services and intelligence. congressman, what is your reaction? >> well, i thought it was interesting. when he was interrupted and went off-script the president said he's these are serious issues we can't gloss over and yet he's also seemed to say in the speech that we can finish defeating al qaeda and get back to a pre- 9/11 sort of mentality. well, that's kind of glossing over, i think, a lot of the details. even on guantanamo, he said if we are just committed to cloeing it we can work out the details later and what happens to people there and so forth. that's kind of glossing over what's been the hold-up.

congress has not had confidence that the administration has a plan on 40u to do this consistent with our security and that's why congress has resisted the president's call so far. >> you talk about glossing over the threat from al qaeda. he did talk about at length what a lot of counterterrorism say it has been diminished significantly and now the trenches, if you will, these regional organizations like al qaeda and the arabian peninsula and other smaller groups such as the one that took the bp center hostage and then, of course, homegrown terrorists. do you disagree with his assessment that al qaeda as it existed as a threat to the u.s. before 9/11 has been diminished significantly? >> i think it is definitely evolved into something different. i don't think though that we can dismiss core al qaeda as being

defeated if we are out of afghanistan because then they have a chance to regroup. but i think the broader point is correct. for the last -- each of the last two years the house has passed a bill to update the authorization for the use of military force to make it clear that it includes these affiliates that have grown in danger, in yemen and elsewhe elsewhere. and it's interesting to me, in those two years, the president has threatened to veto the bill because of that provision. i think his thinking has evolved and i think that's a welcome change. we need to update that law so that it meets the realities of what we face today. >> i want to bring in some of our analysts. of course, fran townsend used to work as a homeland security adviser in the bush white house. fran, what was your reaction to the president's speech? >> first, i think most significantly, jake, for five years during the first term and now the first year of the second term president obama has been

questioned about what is his counterterrorism policy. how does it distinguish it from the pubush policy? the president is moving the country in the direction of pool si what he called pro proportionality. i think you're going to hear there are lots of people who say they heard president bush say the interrogation and black site prisons overseas he also believed were effective and legal and that wasn't enough to sa satisfy the american people. president obama talked about the targeting of anwar awlaki. he talked about due process and he didn't define that. lastly, while he talked about al awlaki and other americans killed in drone strikes he was silent on those why and how that happened. i think that the white house is likely to get more questions there, as well. >> indeed, in fact, i believe,

although i couldn't hear anything she was saying but i believe the woman protester who was interrupting the president's speech mentioned awlaki's 16-year-old's son by press accounts was merely looking for his father and not involved at all with al qaeda but he was killed in a drone strike, i believe, in yemen. i want to bring in gloria borger. your reaction to the speech? >> my reaction is i was listening to a president who was saying to us let's get beyond where we were when we first took office and let me tell you how my thinking has evolved since i've been president of the united states. and he said to us, look, we're at a crossroads now. he said, we must define the nature and scope of this struggle or it will define us. and i think that is exactly what he's trying to do. i think he said to congress, particularly as it relates to gitmo and drones, i need your help in this. i tried to close gitmo. i promised the american people i

would. we should close it. you need to help me out here a little bit. and in terms of drones, he tried to define when we could use drones, near certainty, that there wouldn't be civilians present, people who present a, quote, continued and eminent threat to the united states. he defended the use of drones but he also really, jake, acknowledged that it can be overused even by a president. and that you cannot just depend on drones for your national security. that will become a real topic of conversation, both in the congress and with the american public. so both on drones and on guantanamo he's going to get some pushback. >> of course, gloria, as you know, it wasn't just president obama who in 2008 promised to close guantanamo. the republican presidential come knee john mccain said he would do so as well and the president at the time, president bush,

said he wanted to as well. >> that's right. >> jessica yellin, did you hear anything in the speech that surprised you as a close watcher of the president? >> i was actually a little bit surprised that he dinged congress a bit in the speech, jake. you know, i heard the speech as a response to critics in his party who have been outspoken in accusing him of not being forthcoming enough in defining his own policies and so this was him saying, look, this is how i see it. this is how i define my terms and how i approach this effort. so he was explaining his own policies and then he went on to say those of you who were so critical of me during, for example, john brennen's hearing, attacking me for not being clear enough on my drones policy, well, he said, i went and we briefed members of congress on every single drone strike, including the one that killed an

american citizen anwar awlaki. that was first, to make that public news. he also said, i am open to reconsidering the authorization for the use of force, which is what gives him the power to do these drone strikes to go after al qaeda but, you know, he didn't define how he defines al qaeda, jake. so i think there are a lot of unanswered questions that this speech leaves open. what is an associate ed force o al qaeda? how does he decide who fits his definition for a strike? some other things he raised, he said he's open to more oversight in his drone strikes either from the judicial branch or inside the government, his own executive branch. but then he immediately knocked down both as problematic, both of his options are problematic. he said his attorney general is going to look into these leaks investigations and what should be the right balance with press

freedoms. so now you know this as well as i do, jake, the minute that you say there is an inquiry and a study under way, now whenever we're going to ask the question in the press briefing room about this, they will say, you know there's a study under way so we'll answer that question once the results of that study are complete. so i bet that will kick those answers down the road and we won't get those answers any more. so i think dlr a lthere are a l questions that this still leaves unaddressed and some of his critics on the left will still be unsatisfied. but at least he's on the record trying to address his policy and define it before the books on this administration are closed, jake. >> we have to wrap up but i want to go to congressman thornberry for one last thought. i found it interesting, congressman, you're on the intelligence committee on the house of representatives so i'm sure you were aware of some of these details already. but there's been no little that has been publicly said from the government and anwar al awlaki, killed by a u.s. predator drone

strike, and that the administration for the first time yesterday admitted having ordered that kill, the four americans killed by drones. that was the only one that was on purpose. attorney general holder said. and then he gave details and awlaki and his role in the failed of the christmas day bombing and plane and details that i would suspect have been classified up until now about the role that awlaki played, not just as an inspiration to the failed bomber farouk but having actually played a role. did that surprise you at all, congressman? >> it surprises me a little and there may well be additional classified information on his activities that has not been unclassified yet. and so i think in that respect the president is trying to explain when there is a real threat out there we've got to take action to deal with it. but i want to go back briefly to this point. there are some specifics the president can follow up on. for example, there is a bipartisan bill in congress now

to increase the oversight over these lethal drone operations and capture operations that, again, has bipartisan support. if the president would endorse something like that i think it would go a long way to building trust that he is willing to have that independent oversight from congress looking over the details of these actions in a classified manner but i think that helped build trust in the public that somebody else is looking at this. i think he needs to do that. >> all right, congressman thornberry. that's all for me right now. i'll be back in 47 minutes on the lead. brook baldwin is live in moore, oklahoma, and she'll have special coverage conning of this break. ? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪

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that slammed this oklahoma city suburb three days ago. you can see every home on the other side of this street absolutely gone. and i tell you, it's been an interesting day in terms of the weather. this morning it brought rain and flooding to the area. but right now, it's as beautiful blue skies. sort of an eerie position with the blue skies and devastation. look at this. this was this morning. only big trucks were getting through the oklahoma city area. cars were getting stuck in about a foot of water. so the focus here, despite all this water which makes it just even more difficult for the families and rescue workers, is just getting through all of this. a couple of hours ago the first funeral actually was held for the youngest victims of monday's tornado. 9-year-old antonia is remembered in her obituary as a beautiful young lady who found joy in everything and was never afraid to try anything.

those quotes. antonia was one of the seven children who died at the plaza towers elementary school here in this neighborhood. and funerals for two more children killed by the tornado are scheduled over the next couple of days. in terms of the numbers of people injured when this tornado hit, it's actually been changing. it's been pretty fluid so the number we have right now, it's 353. that is up from the number 237 that we had earlier. also oklahoma's governor is now saying everyone they thought might be missing, thank goodness, has been accounted for. >> is anybody here? watchout. is anybody here? take him over there. is anybody here? oh, my god. is there anybody here? say something!

can you say something, please? >> incredible. you hear this man shouting, is anyone here, is anyone here, can you say something? this is video of a rescue after monday's tornado. volunteers actually found a man buried underneath all this rubble. watch this. >> over here. over here. hey. over here! yeah. >> talk to me. >> where are you at? >> right here. >> where? >> we're going to get you. we're going to get you. hey, hey. somebody in here. help us right here. >> it's incredible. it gives you goose bumps to think that these men were able to hear this person shout and they were able to find him and

pulled him out. he's going to be okay. and they're really just now beginning to add up the destruction from monday's tornado. we're hearing somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 or 1300 homes were damaged or destroyed and we're hearing from many, many people, including the neighborhood i'm standing who lost absolutely everything. in fact, earlier today, i met this incredible man, this father of two. lifelong resident of moore, oklahoma, whose home just next door. his name is jackie sing. his ophome, is still standing, sort of. the walls, the brick is all there. the interior is best described as hit or miss. here we are. the tornado hit a lot of items. this is the front of his home. but it also missed some of the things that are most important to this man of faith, the scriptures. as we're walking through this front door. walk with me. and you will see this faith sign on the mantel of his fireplace.

you will see it in a second. peach cobbler still on the oven that his wife had cooked. how about that? hadn't moved an inch. there may be one thing that this tornado touched the most and that is jacky sing, the man. i want you to watch what he told me when he got to his backyard. >> me and my wife, we talk about it, the word surreal, the word surreal is beyond that. it's -- i don't know if the lord has it that way but you have all of these things in your body that he's waiting to open up that can to let you feel them. i think there's a lot of emotions in our life that we don't understand until things like this happen and you're actually effected. you can see it on tv all day. but until you actually feel the experience, it's a life-changing event. >> so your life is forever changed. >> yes. >> you have been here all your life. >> yes. >> will you be rebuilding? not that you have to rebuild, but will you stay here? will you fix it up? this is your neighborhood?

>> i love moore. i have -- i don't have a fear of tornadoes. i have a healthy respect for their awesome power. god created them for -- sometimes for five minutes. i'm going to live here. i love this place. the next five minutes i feel horrible, like i need to move away and looking at my kids' emotions and my wife's emotions, i don't know right now. >> how are your kids, 13 and 14 years old? >> they are handling it very hard. it's very difficult for them. and i hope going to school today's, they opened the schools for two hours. i hope that they will find some relief talking to their friends. i can't describe how i feel. and i've heard other people on the west side of town that have nothing. i can't imagine what it's like to have -- to just see a slab. it's a strange feeling. i can't describe them. it's different. i'm 41 years old and first 41

years of my life are behind me. this is what's next, the next chapter. i think it's going to make us stronger because the lord is our refuge and our strength. that's what i have to stand on right now. i almost wish i was on that side of the street and everything was gone and they were over here because of their brand new babies. >> you wish your home was destroyed. >> me and my wife said, yeah, it would be better to have those people over here and us over there because we have something and they have brand new babies and -- sorry. i don't know what to say. help me, lord. help me, god.

i'm sorry. >> don't apologize. don't apologize. >> it's been a roller coaster the past 72 hours. walking through our house the past couple of days makes us realize whas valuable and what's replaceable. i think we can put everything in our lives in a bucket. that's all we've got to carry out. i have my wife and my kids. that's all i care about. all this other stuff is just -- we got our pictures and the sentimental things. this is my dad passed away in '95 and i wear his ring every day as a reminder of my dad. and i wear the ring of my wife.

that's the two people in my life. my mom, bless her heart, they just rode out the storm in bethel acres the day before. they were a mile away from it. it's hard. very hard. really makes you change your thoughts of what matters in life. it really does. you get so caught up in life and working and coaching and teaching and just trying to be the best you can be for the lord and the lord lives you something like this. how are you going to react? how are you going to move forward? it's like the job experience, when everything is taken away from you, how are you going to start over? i think this is a test. i feel comfort in that. i know the lord has something just incredible for me right now. i got to live every minute and feel what he wants me to feel because he's feeled everything that man feels. behind the osorrow and grief i feel i feel this ray of sunshine

in my right now. >> ray of sunshine despite the thunder. >> yeah. >> despite the storms. >> just the hope of what god has for us. >> thank you, jacky, so much. >> you're welcome. i appreciate the time. i appreciate the outpouring of love. there's been so many people come through that have been so friendly and so giving and their hearts are wide open to help all of us that are devastated and it's a tremendous feeling. >> that interview absolutely took my breath away. i want to bring in moore counseling center dr. grant. thank you for being with me. this interview with this father jack jackie, to hear him say he wished he lived across the street so the parents of the newborn could at least have brick and mortar standing and he feels guilty. how does he deal with that?

>> i think the best way is what you did for him. you let him talk. you let him listen. as human beings we have the ability to compartmentalize our thoughts. we saw in that segment with you listening and letting him talk through his story we saw him move from protecting himself with those emotions and experiencing them we saw that come to life for him and experience that. you put your hand on him, comforted him and continue to listen. survivor guilt is kind of what you're describing in a different form. i wish it had been me, note them. it's a very common reaction. it just needs someone to -- the ability to express that and listen to them and not make any judgment, just the listening is going to be enough to help them move their thoughts into that healing phase. >> my heart just absolutely goes out to him. we talked -- we had a whole conversation off camera after that moment but he talked about having these kids and he has a 13-year-old and 14-year-old and i'm sure there are other families in moore that can

relate in which one of the kids, she's terrified. she's absolutely petrified. she had been petrified tornadoes. they're headed to school today to just be among other students, to talk it out. how do kids work true this? >> talking it out is -- they need that. but also they need information. so there's a lot of confusion. initially they don't know exactly what happened. they're getting information from various sources, maybe other students so the parents need to check in with the child, okay, what have you heard. they need to give them accurate information. >> what kind of information do you mean? >> they want to give them the real likelihood. we are still in the tornado season. talk about the percentages and the likelihood of actually being hurt. they need information about who is safe to talk to, for example, we're offering free services to anyone who has been effected by the tornado. we're just down the road. fourth street and telephone road. they need to know where they the reach out.

maybe they saw a parent who was injured or has been emotional themselves. the parent needs to allow the child to talk about that. you know you saw -- you know you saw mommy cry earlier, how did you feel about that? so you let the -- maybe they saw their parent injured, that must have scared you when you saw mommy hit by that debris. >> absolutely. >> so you try to access their feelings, let them express them and just give them all the encouragement and reassurance, reassurance is very important. >> if you are in the neighborhood, again, there are many counselors available at the moore counseling center. finally, before i let you go i should point out you lost your home. how are you doing? >> i talked about compartmentalization earlier. >> speaking from experience. >> i was just meeting with the insurance adjuster this morning. and so we went through that process so i can relate to a lot of the survivors. >> who are coming to see you currently at the center. >> right. my own kids were safe. at home with my wife and storm shelt shelter. they went through it.

thank goodness we put that in. they're alive because of it. >> we're thinking about you and everyone here in moore. all these stories. i mean, just some of them absolutely take your breath away. coming up next, we're going to talk about new york, new york, beefing up security after a brutal terror attack in london. we now know more about this suspect in this video with the bloodied hands, machetes and the identity of the victim. more on that, plus, a mother missing since 2009 now video surfaces of susan powell making an eerie prediction. >> covering all my bases making sure that i if something happens to me or my family or all of us, to me or my family or all of us, that our assets are documented. some of the most advanced driver systems ever made. stereoscopic vision... distronic plus braking... lane keeping and steering assist... eleven enhanced systems in all. ♪ twelve, counting your adrenaline system.

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up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? welcome back here, special coverage of the tornado aftermath in moore, oklahoma. we're going to take you back a to that in a moment, but first, the terror attack in london. not the bombing but the bloody public murder of a british soldier. they just tweeted they arrested two more people they say are connected to the killing. the ministry of defense has identified the victim, lee rig by was a father of 2-year-old boy and infantry machine gunner in the british army as well as being a drummer. his captain said as they called him riggers was, quote, cheeky and humorous and, quote, always

there with a joke to brighten the mood. the two men who allegedly ran him over and hacked him to death with knives used him as payback for his, one explained it, muslims killed in the world. the british domestic security service says investigators had heard of the suspects from previous investigations, however, the two men, ages 22 and 28, arrested yesterday after being wounded by police were not under surveillance. their names have not been released. but a friend of one of the suspected terrorists is defending the man he knows, senior international correspondent dan rivers is the one who talked to the friend. he joins me now live from london. dan, what did this friend tell you? >> well, it's interesting. we know that michael has been on the periphery of these extremist groups since about 2006. we know he converted to islam from christianity in 2003.

he saw the interviewed sometimes before said he knew him and, in fact, this guy had been put in prison foreign couraging his followers to kill british soldiers in iraq and, in fact, this guy, who is the main suspect in this case, was arrested, we understand, at a protest during that trial for abu. here's what abu told me about his so-called friend. >> i mean, he's always been very vocal and very concerned about the affairs of muslims and people being op pressed, he could never tolerate anybody to be oppressed and not to say anything and very frustrated and helpless when he couldn't. as a person he was always very caring, very concerning. he always had a heart for other people and just wanted to help everybody. >> pretty difficult to listen to him describing him as caring and thinking about the people when

you compare that to the images of michael covered in blood holding a meat cleaver and a knife after kill that soldier. >> absolutely disgusting and grueso gruesome. dan rivers in london. dan, appreciate it. back here in moore, oklahoma, many, many schools, in addition to all of these homes and neighborhoods, the school suffering major damage. but today, schools are still opening their doors, at least the schools i should say that are still standing, opening their doors to young people, to the students from all schools on what would have been the last day of classes. brand new video of these brand new video of these reunions, next. . maxwell is not. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes! maxwell is out and about... with ted's now ex-girlfriend.

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you know today was scheduled to be the last day of school for many kids in moore, oklahoma. typically it's a happy time for your kids, right? usually time to celebrate? but after monday's storm destroyed two elementary schools here in town, hundreds of those kids different have a school to go to, so two schools in the area were absolutely untouched by the storm so they today opened their doors to the survivors of the tornado, to these young people to come together. ed lavandera has that story. ed, how was it? what were the students telling you? >> well, you know, it's great conversations with the students, first of all. we'll get to that in a moment. we spoke with a lot of the parents who were coming here who really kind of felt like they needed to be. this is first time that they've

had a chance to reunite with those teachers that jumped into action, did whatever they could do to keep as many students safe as possible. so extremely traumatic situation that they've been going through. they had a couple hours today. what was interesting is, brooke, is that a lot of these kids walked toward this school this morning as we watch them, a lot of them were clutching cards and letters that they had written for their teachers and were walking in with them. when they came out of the school this morning they were all carrying either stuffed animals they had been given new backpacks. they had been given balloons as well, things that would help them soothe them, make them feel better and a lot of crying, a lot of talking about what they had been going through. and really what we heard from one mother you will listen to here, it's been so chaotic in the last few days they have spent so much time just trying to figure out how everybody is doing, getting in touch with other friends, classmates and teachers, just to get a sense of how everyone has made it through and how they're doing.

>> just kept telling her everything is going to be okay. she asked what about my friends, i said your friends are fine. they all left school when you left school. and then her next thing was, my and then they have fifth graders who are their book buddies that go to the library with them and read books. that's all she wanted to know about. her best buddy and her teacher. i contacted another teacher through facebook and found out that they were all okay. >> brooke, you know i had a chance to speak with several little stunts this morning, first graders, third graders. i just kept asking them over and over, what is it that you wanted to tell your teacher. almost every single one of them simply responded, i just want to tell them they love them. that's it. >> incredible. i talked to a mom today who sent her two kids off to school and she was thrilled that they could speak with other students but she also said she wanted to send them off because she needed to cry. ed lavandera, thank you so much. as ed mentioned, some students and teachers huddled in their

schools to stay safe from tornadoes, that the winds from monday. so now there is a growing push to make these buildings safer. >> living in oklahoma, tornado shelters should be in every school. >> coming up next, we are going to talk to a safe room expert about how to build a room that can possibly protect hundreds of kids at one time. the day my doctor told me i had diabetes, i remember thinking there's a lot i have to do... check my blood sugar, eat better. start insulin. today i learned there's something i don't have to do anymore. my doctor said with levemir® flexpen... i don't have to use a syringe and a vial. levemir® flexpen comes prefilled with long-acting insulin taken once daily

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welcome back. i'm brooke baldwin. you are watching cnn's special coverage here of the disaster in oklahoma. some people rode out the storms in their basements, those who had basements, or in a vault like safe room. one place that didn't have the safe rooms, the elementary school where seven children lost

their lives. and now a lot of parents are coming forward and they're saying that every school should absolutely be required to have some sort of safe room. andrew joins me now. he's a co-owner of oz safe rooms. one of these huge concrete structures to, as you say, they've been proven to avoid destruction from an ef-5 hit. >> what separates us from any other mason t in the world is the process in which we pour the concrete. we pour the footers, the floor, the walls, the ceiling in one continuous pour. my father has been working hard with rit and before we go out and tell families, look, here, get inside this safe room we test our structures to make sure that they work because that's what we're running into. a lot of fly by night companies that are playing a guessing game. so we worked with rit, rochester institute of technology, to do extreme testing on our safe rooms. >> because we should point out i

said, you're not an okie, you don't sound like an okie. you're from upstate new york. your dad was contacted by fema to do this and you all have now moved to oklahoma. >> yes. >> i'm thinking our viewers are thinking, you've got to be kidding me. the idea of a concrete structure, above ground, is going to withstand the wind power of an f-5? >> the smallest safe room weighs over 40,000 pounds. our ceilings are 18 inches thick, our walls are 8 inches thick, footing and floor is 28 inches thick. we form it and pour it in one piece. there's no joints in the structure. whenever you have a joint in a structure it will come apart. >> what's the price tag? >> we start them at $8,000 installed for our single family unit. >> the issue with the schools, andrew, at plaza towers elementary school, for example, there was no safe room, no shelter whatsoever. the question is when you have a school, right, a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, hundreds of kids, how do you build one single room to hold them? >> well, that's what my father is working on right now.

he's working with rochester institute of technology on designing community shelters and we're going for funding, so we can test these structures before we actually go and put lives in them. they have to be tested before we use them. so that's what they're working on right now. >> good luck. i know a lot of pancrents are saying we have to get those shelters asap. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. coming up next, we are getting new video of a woman last seen back in 2009. and what susan powell says is raising a lot of eyebrows about her disappearance. >> covering all my bases, making sure that i if something happens to me or my family or all of us, that our assets are documented. >> in addition to this video, we're also learning about some telling things in her diary. we're going to talk to susan powell's sister. did she know about this? [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with tide pods.

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for more than three years you have seen her face in news stories and on missing posters but now you can hear susan

powell, a utah mother who vanished in utah back in 2009. she's in this home video investigators just released with 30 pages of documents as they officially end their search for her. i want to play part of this. this is susan powell talking about her husband, josh. >> josh felt the need to bust a hole in the wall, covering it with this picture. >> see the hole in the wall, just a hint of the violence many suspect josh was capable of. utah police say josh was a prime suspect in her disappearance, but no body has ever been found. josh will never be arrested. last year he blew up his rental home, killing himself and the couple's young sons, braden just 5 and charlie 7 years old. you catch glimpses of the boys in the video that susan shot back in 2008 during her

inventory of her home. while the video is most definitely telling, it's the pages on her diary even more so as she talks about the possibility of something happening to her. brian carlson from our utah affiliate ktvx has the details. >> this is me. july 29th, 2008. >> reporter: it's as if susan cox powell is speaking from beyond the grave. >> covering all my bases making sure that if something happens to me or my family or all of us that our assets are documented. >> reporter: before she disappeared in december, 2009, susan went around her west valley home and documented all of her and her family's belongings just in case. >> and i had necklaces, too, wherever those are. got in a rage as you can see and broke this. there's studs and pearls and opals in there. broke this and threw all my dvds

and made a mess because he was angry at me about a year or two back. >> susan was so afraid of what her husband josh powell might do she wrote a secret will and testament dated just one month earlier and kept it in a safety deposit box with explicit instructions josh was not allowed to see it. inside she writes, for mine and my children's safety i feel the need to have a paper trail at work which would not be accessible to my husband. she says, i want it documented somewhere that there is extreme turmoil in our marriage. she says, josh threatened her, that if they got a divorce, quote, there will be no lawyers, only a mediator, and i will ruin you. you, susan, would be destroyed. your life would be over. and the boys will not grow up with a mom and dad. that may explain why susan next wrote, i want my marriage to work out. but susan describes how nothing she tried seemed to work. he doesn't want to do counseling and says if i buy groceries for

cheap sale prices that he would be happy with this well purchased bargain deal food in his stomach. would make him happy and our marital problems would be solved. as if believing her efforts would fail, she finishes the letter saying, if i die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one. then when she appears to run out of room, she goes back to the first page and in the corner writes to two names that were blacked out, saying, i would never leave you. >> i hope everything works out and we're all happy and live happily ever after as much as that's possible. >> and she rolls her eyes there at the end of the video. that is brian carlson from our affiliate ktvx reporting. we should mention josh powell maintained his innocence. i want to bring in now susan powell's sister. she is denise cox joining me now, denise, thank you. first question, when i was seeing this video and reading these diary entries, did you have any idea that your sister

susan was feeling this way? >> oh, plenty. we talked a lot. we were experiencing similar situations and she was talking about leaving him, giving him until their anniversary, their wedding anniversary. and if things didn't change she was going to leave him because things were really bad. >> how did you advise her, sisterly advice, when she would tell you those things, that she wanted to leave? >> getting out of a relationship myself that was abusive, i told her that she needs to get away. it's going to get worse. it's not going to get any better. he's not going to change. and he's set in his ways. she refused to believe it. she thought that she could change him and counseling would solve everything. even though she was going to counseling by herself. >> by herself. let me just take you back to one

quote that we pulled from susan's will as ktvx was reporting. this is what your sister wrote, quote, if i die, it may not be an accident even if it looks like one. how do you interpret that as her sister? >> on more than one occasion she would tell me that josh would say that if she left him over his dead body or over her dead body would she ever get the boys from him. and that was the main reason i believe she didn't leave him, because she believed him. he had put her down enough emotionally and mentally where she actually believed that she wouldn't get custody of the boys no matter what i told her. >> denise, we know that this case is still open but the west valley city police say the search for the body is over. is that good enough for you? >> no.

no, i believe three and a half years with such a high profile case, with all the ups and downs we've been through, three and a half years is not nearly enough. i don't believe they've finished searching and i don't believe they should stop searching. they need to dig deeper and need to work harder. i believe that we are -- it's coming up, i'm hoping we're coming really close and i don't want to give up now. >> i hear you use the word "hope" and i'm sure you hang on to it as much as you can. have you at all come to terms with the fact that susan's body, your sister's body, may never be found? >> i have, but that doesn't make me give up hope that it will be found or the thought of wanting to keep looking for her. i will never give up looking for her because she is a -- she was

a huge part of my life and i'm not going to give up on her. she wouldn't want me to. she would want to be laid to rest with her boys. >> denise cox, i wish you well in finding that. thank you so much. i should also point out we reached out to josh powell's sister, regarding some of the video and diary entries and she has not gotten back to us. once again, switching gears, we're back in moore, oklahoma in the aftermath as people are picking up the pieces. i had a chance to walk one of the neighborhoods. this is what i found. you walk down the streets and you look left and you look right and it's just destruction as far as the eye can see. but this just shows how crazy the wind was. this is the first time i've seen -- this is obviously some sort of vw bug picked up by the winds, put on its side right here on the street and then obviously the contents spilling out of it. high heels, a handbag, some crayons maybe from a child. but this, this is what people are coming home to.

and thank you so much for being with me. we will be back here tomorrow live in moore, oklahoma. i'm brooke baldwin. "the lead" with jake tapper starts now. drones, gitmo, military commissions, and a narrowing definition of the terrorist threat. mix it all in with a code pink protester and you have yourself a presidential speech on all the actions the government is taking purportedly to keep you safe. i'm jake tapper and this is "the lead." the national lead. president obama defends his secret drone war and fends off a protester after a string of controversy raised fears about the reach of his power. we'll get the reaction of former secretary of defense donald rumsfeld. the world lead. his name wasleaf rigby the soldier who was hacked to death in the middle of the street in