spicer claims he can hear his voice at least four times on west's song "bound 2." in the album credit, def jam records says the song was licensed through rhino entertainment. spicer says he owns the copyright on the original song. that's it for "the lead." i'm joe johns. i turn you over to brianna keilar, filling in for wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, in a shocking new video, an american dauabduc by al qaeda pleads with the u.s. government to negotiate his release. a new worry as well for the tens of millions of target shoppers who have credit and debit cards compromised, was their pin information also stolen? a multi-million dollar identification system fails to stop an airport security breach when a man dressed as a woman walks on to a runway. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room."

an american kidnapped in pakistan by al qaeda is calling on president obama to help negotiate his freedom. in a new video, 72-year-old warren weinstein, a u.s. government contractor who was abducted more than two years ago says he feels totally abandoned and forgotten. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr is following this story. barbara, what can you tell us about this video? >> reporter: well, it is another proof of life video from warren weinstein but this man appears to be in very rough shape now after all this time. he says he is not in good health, he has a heart condition, he has acute asthma, and the years certainly, when you look at him, have taken their toll. have a listen to a bit more of what he had to say. >> nine years ago, i came to pakistan to help my government, and i did so at a time when most americans would not come here.

now when i need my government, it seems that i have been totally abandoned and forgotten. >> reporter: now, the leader of al qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and the conditions that have been set for his release are the release of al qaeda prisoners being held, detainees in the united states at guantanamo bay and of course, the u.s. maintains the position it does not negotiate. brianna? >> barbara, the obama administration, we have heard them repeatedly say, the president has talked about how al qaeda has been so severely, you know, taken down from its abilities at one point, but what are the most recent intelligence reports showing? >> reporter: well, when you talk about that, that may well be the al qaeda of 9/11, the old core, the traditional al qaeda, but intelligence estimates are now very much saying there are new rising affiliates and they are posing new dangers to the united

states. cnn has learned recent intercepts of messages from senior al qaeda operatives in yemen are renewing concern the group is planning new attacks. the intercepts don't indicate specific targets but are described by one source as quote, active plotting. >> there are multiple indications that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is plotting attacks both within yemen against u.s. and other western structures, as well as overseas. >> reporter: the group in yemen already well known for the failed underwear bomber attempt to bring down an airplane christmas day 2009. four years later, the u.s. intelligence community believes it poses the greatest threat of an attack on the u.s. >> they are still capable of conducting attacks outside of yemen, including plotting attacks against the united

states in multiple locations, including trying to conduct attacks against the u.s. homeland, especially by taking down aircraft. >> reporter: analysts say the group rebounded in 2013 from battlefield losses. u.s. drone strikes have had mixed results. a drone attack this month failed to kill an al qaeda planner believed to be behind a plot to attack the u.s. embassy. yemen says more than a dozen members of a wedding party were killed in that attack. yemen's al qaeda leader also advising al qaeda fighters across the region. and those al qaeda affiliates from yemen to syria, iraq and libya are growing stronger. the threat they pose worries key members of congress. >> are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago? >> i don't think so. >> i absolutely agree that we're not safer today. >> reporter: in iraq, police are

trying to crack down but al qaeda openly operates training camps near the syrian border, and from there, al qaeda has moved into syria with weapons and tactics learned during the u.s. war in iraq. inside syria, a key al qaeda affiliate also stronger than a year ago. about 100 americans along with potentially hundreds from europe are fighting alongside thousands of militants. >> if they were able to return to europe and to get access to the united states or return directly to the united states, they were not put on any watch list, they would pose a very serious threat. they are well trained, radicalized, and they have the ability and the intent to strike the u.s. homeland. >> reporter: analysts will tell you that all of this, the rise of the affiliates and the danger they pose, is part of the price paid for years of attacking al qaeda central, they call it, the old core back in pakistan. many of those leaders gone now, including of course, osama bin

laden, and that's leaving the affiliates with more freedom, more autonomy to move around, plan and plot to conduct attacks, gain financing, gain recruits, all of it posing very significant new dangers. >> barbara starr, thank you. confronting al qaeda is just one of the foreign policy challenges for the obama administration in the year ahead. let's bring in cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labatt as well as molly lasser from the johns hopkins school of international advanced studies. we were talking with barbara about warren weinstein, who is being held in pakistan. the u.s. doesn't negotiate with terrorists, doesn't negotiate with al qaeda. what are the options for freeing him? >> well, they don't look good. as you said, they don't negotiate with al qaeda or any terrorist groups because then that looks like if they're open for bargaining, that will just encourage more groups to kidnap americans and in fact, that's

what zawahiri, the leader, said after they kidnapped weinstein. you have to know this guy works for a private company, a private contractor. if the terrorists were looking for money, it would make it a lot easier, a lot of times in these cases, the company will try and negotiate on their behalf. short of some kind of rescue of mr. weinstein, looking at what kind of influence their contacts on the ground might have with tribal leaders, other type of groups, this is the thing that the state department intelligence community would be looking to see. what elements of al qaeda might be holding him, is there anything they could exploit. the options don't look good. >> it's certainly not a simple answer. and let's talk about the al qaeda threat in iraq. the u.s. is sending hellfire missiles to iraq to try to confront that threat. they are sending drones. how serious is the threat of al qaeda there? >> it's quite serious, largely

because the border between iraq and syria has pretty much evaporated so we're looking at a very vast area going literally from aleppo to baghdad, where al qaeda is gaining ground, has room to maneuver, can recruit, train people and carry out attacks. in a way, al qaeda is not able to connect the fate of syria to stability in iraq. if this continues, not only are we going to be facing a very serious situation in syria, but actually the viability and stability of iraq itself will be open to question. >> i mean, also, you have to know that when the prime minister came last month, there was a lot of talk between the government, the u.s. congress and the prime minister about need to bring more sunnis into the fold. this kind of political paralysis has really given al qaeda a firm, fertile ground. when you look around the region, syria, somalia, libya, this

political instability is one of the main factors that gives al qaeda fertile ground to nest and flourish. >> also, when you look at iraq, you realize no u.s. troops really in there in a combat way, and that's really the question in afghanistan right now. after 2014, what will the u.s. presence be there? do you think that afghanistan and the u.s. can strike some sort of agreement, and how essential is it that they do strike an agreement to keep some u.s. troops there? >> well, it's important largely because if the united states wants the ability to use drones to fight al qaeda in pakistan, it needs bases in afghanistan. but in a way, as your reporter shows, the al qaeda issue has metastasized out of afghanistan. there are assumptions we made that we are drawing from iraq and afghanistan, washing our

hands of the arab world, allowing the economy and political situation in that region to begin to go sideways, somehow would not impact us and that the killing of osama bin laden and use of drones would put an end to al qaeda. what we are seeing is that the decision to reduce american military footprint in the region has combined with the economic situation in the region, with political instability in the region, to actually create a much bigger al qaeda problem that now runs all the way from north africa and west africa into yemen, the core of the middle east which in the past did not have a major al qaeda presence, all the way to afghanistan and pakistan. the solution we have to look for is not just what do we do with afghanistan, but largely how do we connect these pieces together and have a foreign policy for the region that would prevent the spread of al qaeda and its gaining much greater ground. therefore, issues like syria are very important. we are not engaged in syria, which is a place where al qaeda is actually gaining an enormous

amount of strength on the ground and will have implications going forward. >> i want to turn to egypt, because you look since the arab spring and you wonder if in a way, egypt is right back kind of -- in terms of progress. if egypt is right back at square one. you have the interim military government declaring the muslim brotherhood a huge organization in egypt, a terrorist organization. what are the prospects there? >> this is one of the fears, that this is the second phase of the revolutions right now. you saw that over the summer, the military got rid of president morsi. this crackdown on the muslim brotherhood, this is an expansion of that and it's really significant. for the first time in more than a decade, it is illegal to become a member of the muslim brotherhood. so this is going to expand the government's authority to crack down on these guys and the violence is going to continue, and there's a lot of concern about some kind of wider civil

conflict. for the u.s., who was concerned about their moves against the -- military moves against the muslim brotherhood in the first place, this is the exact opposite of what they wanted. they wanted the military to bring the muslim brotherhood into the political fold, make them a political group. now this is likely to have them go underground, more conflict and the egyptians are really ignoring what a lot of people think is a much bigger threat right now, is jihadis in the sinai, where al qaeda is another place where they are gaining a big foothold. >> we're worried about the prospect of civil war in egypt and watching civil war full blown in syria. right now, we heard just recently from the russian foreign minister lavrov who said the u.s. is realizing they have aligned themselves in a way with terrorists and that really, the assad regime being in place is sort of the best option at this point. what do you think? it seems there are no good options when it comes to syria.

>> actually, the russian position all along was that we shouldn't get too excited about democracy in the region, we shouldn't get too excited about moderate islamic voices or talking on the brotherhood, we should try to extinguish whatever expressions of islamic activism and extremism there is. events in syria have now moved in the direction the russians wanted which is there's no gray area left in the middle. either you have al qaeda resurgent or you let assad win. in this kind of circumstance, assad is the lesser of two evils and it's better if the united states realize that and actually allowed assad to win. that's the russian position. they would like also to see the same thing happen in egypt. the russians are very comfortable with the old middle east in which you had secular dictators sitting on top of societies, keeping them closed and then fighting against all kinds of islamic activists. in a way, they are arguing that the united states was wrong to get excited about an opening in

the region and the sooner the united states goes back to supporting dictatorship, the better it would be. but i don't think that's going to work for the united states very easily. elise was saying in egypt we wanted the muslim brotherhood to be included largely because the muslim brotherhood also has a presence in tunisia, jordan, a variety of places where we have to deal with them. it doesn't help us if they are characterized as a terrorist organization and puts us in a very difficult position. we also shouldn't forget that al qaeda's worst parts, ayman al zawahiri and people like him came out of the radicalized side of muslim brotherhood in egypt and pushing the muslim brotherhood in its entirety underground and to the margins may actually make it much more difficult for the united states to deal with terrorism in the region. >> i appreciate your input, both of you. very insightful. next, is this the worst congress ever? our new poll shows what the voters are saying. and voters are also handicapped

hypothetical 2016 matchups. does chris christie give the gop the best chance against hillary clinton? [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.

lawmakers are on vacation right now and even though they surprised many by reaching a budget deal, our analysis shows fewer than 60 bills were signed into law during the first year of this congress, which is getting a reputation as one of the worst ever. that's borne out in our latest cnn/orc poll but chief congressional correspondent dana bash says some on capitol hill are hoping for improvement. >> reporter: 2013 has been congress' least productive years in modern history.

law makers get that. they hear complaints all the time. believe it or not, there are some in the middle trying to make things better. freshman angus king and joe donnelly just wrapped up their first year in the senate. their take on the institution is telling. >> it's still pretty bad that we haven't been able to get more done. >> the more cooperation we can get, the better off we'll be. >> reporter: a new cnn/orc poll shows 67%, two-thirds of the country, call this the worst congress of their lifetime and nearly three-quarters of those people, 74%, have lived a long life. they are 50 and older. 73% say congress has done nothing to address the country's problems. the public approval of congress is still pretty low. does that surprise you? >> no, because what they see every day on television is deadlock, in-fights and screaming. what you don't see every day is large groups of both democrats and republicans coming together saying how can we work through

this progress. >> reporter: one thing that is bipartisan, the blame. the public doesn't trust either party. 52% say policies of democratic congressional leaders will move the country in the wrong direction. republican leaders fare only slightly worse at 54%, saying the gop will move the country in the wrong direction. moderate republican susan collins spent a year organizing bipartisan discussion to solve big problems. she wants americans to have hope for 2014. >> i hope that the american people will realize that there are some of us who are trying to build bridges and bring people together and solve problems. >> reporter: congress did leave for the year on a higher note than when it started, passing a bipartisan budget through the house and the senate. several senators told me that they had people coming up to them all over their states thanking them for being reasonable. one told me at first he thought it was a nice compliment. then he realized that's a pretty low bar. brianna? >> a pretty low bar indeed. besides offering a sour view of the current congress, our latest poll shows americans may be

thinking about a change for the next congress. joining me to talk about this, cnn senior political analyst, ron brownstein, editorial director of the national journal, and cnn political commentator, ryan lizza, also washington correspondent of "the new yorker." thanks for being with me on boxing day. happy holidays to you. you saw dana's piece. americans think this congress is just the worst but she also said the bar is low. is this the worst congress ever? >> it could get worse. we're only halfway through. it's year one of a two-year congress. >> wait, there's more. >> they could do even less next year. but look, when you have divided government with a democrat in the white house and democratic controlled senate and republican house, that's historically a unique set of circumstances and not a lot gets done. now, even given those circumstances, these guys managed to do less than previous congresses. >> it raises the question of what you think the purpose of congress is. if you think the purpose of congress is to, in a very

forceful way, articulate the divergent views of the country who disagree, they are doing that. most members feel they are articulating the politics of their districts. very few republicans in the districts who voted for obama, very few from districts who voted against him. but if you believe the point of congress is that it is the place where we mediate our differences as a country -- >> where we meet in the middle. >> we find some way to acknowledge that none of us are going away, you would say this is a failure because they are -- particularly the house republicans kind of reject that vision of the role. even president obama, not nearly as engaged in that kind of vision as say president clinton was or even "w" at the early parts of his presidency. >> it was more of a victory for conservatives than liberals. liberals believe in an activist government. they want an aggressive legislative agenda. i think a lot of conservatives look back at this congress and say we stopped bad things from happening and that's a success. >> let's take a look at a new

cnn poll. let's talk about a trend we are seeing. voters are feeling anti-president obama right now. we know that. but this will show us just how much. when we asked registered voters are you more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who supports obama, 40% said yes. opposes obama, 55%. that's a 15 point spread there. this is not good for the president, but is this significant enough, knowing the layout of the country, is it significant enough to really move the bar so that republicans say may take over the senate? what do you think? >> i think those are scary numbers for democrats, like many of these numbers. the history is that even though the congress is deeply unpopular, historically, attitudes toward the president have driven the midterm elections more than attitudes toward congress. if the president's approval stays in the low 40s, down to about 30 among whites which is important because many of those key senate seats -- states are less diverse than the national

average, these are ominous numbers for democrats. >> with no way around it. look at 2006, when bush's low approval rating really energized democrats. that was sort of a referendum on bush's midway -- second term, democrats took over congress. >> it's never too early to talk about 2016. let's go ahead and do that. we have a new poll out -- >> we'll have 2020. >> let's do that, 2024, right? so hillary clinton, when you look at this poll for 2016, of course, she hasn't declared although she says she will this next year, she beats everyone handily except for who? chris christie. 48%. these are registered voters. what is your choice in 2016. what do you make of this? >> first of all, it's good news for christie because sometimes these early polls -- first, early polls are not predictive, but they can have a -- >> they're sure fun. >> they can have a self-fulfilling nature. christie can help raise money off of this. he can start telling the

conservative wing of the party that i'm your best candidate. it gives him an argument this early in the process to start building an organization, reaching out to donors and start making a case. >> that's the real significance of this. if you look at 2012, the republican primary, the primary is pretty much divided almost exactly in half between an upscale moderate economically focused managerial wing, a more populist downscale tea party evangelical populist wing. christie i think is going to be viewed very suspiciously by that half of the party. this is going to be an asset for him all the way through and a problem for some of the more conservative candidates in that he is probably going to poll better against hillary clinton than they do, consistently going forward. so while this poll, it is very far away and it's name i.d., it does herald the dynamic that may be with us for some time through this republican race. >> that's perhaps why 2014 is going to be so important in sending the message of -- >> it's very complicated for christie because frankly, he probably needs a republican party that is a little bit

broken. he needs to come in as the savior because he's running -- >> what does that mean? in 2014, does that mean that we need to -- if he needs a broken republican party, does that mean 2014 is one where the air's out of the sails? >> if the right of the party does well in 2014, it makes it hard for him to argue that he's the savior. >> and that they need to change direction. the big problem republicans have is the midterm electorate is much more tilted toward the voters that favor them, older whites, than the presidential electorate would be. they can do well in 2014 and really make no progress in solving their problems at the presidential level. as ryan says, if they do well in 2014, they may be less receptive to an argument from someone like christie who says look, we have to change direction in order to win back the white house, as bill clinton did with democrats in 1992. >> that was the pattern in 2010 when the tea party was rising and gave romney a lot of trouble in 2012. >> that's why we will be watching 2014 so closely. thank you so much. coming up, chased down on the road, forced out of her car and brutally beaten.

what is behind the assault on a prominent journalist? and a woman who lost part of a leg in the boston marathon bombing will astound you with the progress she's made. would you believe four inch heels?

a civic activist and journalist known for investigating corruption among senior officials was beaten outside ukraine's capital on christmas. the beating coming amid political turmoil in ukraine. this has drawn a protest from the u.s. let's bring in cnn foreign

affairs correspondent, jill dougherty, to talk about this. this is very disturbing. >> reporter: it is, and when you see that video, it's really two videos, it was really a vicious attack. the first video shows her, she's driving to her home outside of kiev. she's chased down and a car begins to ram her. it goes on for quite a long time. then finally, they pretty much crash into her. she jumps out of the car and then these men, armed, go after her with some type of, you know, sticks or something and beat her severely. then the aftermath, you just saw the pictures. she is bloodied and in really bad shape, taken to the hospital. so why did this happen? well, it's not clear totally, but just hours before she was attacked, she posted a blog post and in that, she talked about a kind of country manor that was being built for the interior minister, but let's listen to

what she says about this attack. >> translator: i'm a person with a long list of enemies. many people are trying to get me. it was not a provocation against somebody else. i'm sure about it. i mean, i'm a revolution activist, a very active one, and i'm very well known as a journalist. i have undertaken many journalistic investigations which are still irritating all of them. >> reporter: so now the ukrainian president's office has condemned this and he's ordered an investigation. they apparently have identified two people, and i think they have been arrested. that was the latest we saw. also, a third has been identified. but obviously, there are a lot of questions about this and it comes in the context of all those demonstrations that were taking place in kiev downtown after the president decided not to go with that european union deal. so it's in the context of that. >> the truth is that she is lucky actually even to be alive. but when you talk about the fact

that there are some suspects, what are the chances that someone is actually punished for this? >> reporter: that's a very good question because often, these investigations take place but nobody really is arrested or if they are, they may be very low on the totem pole in terms of who actually ordered it to take place. so it's beginning unfortunately, you know, i covered ukraine, covered russia, and this is not that uncommon. the video of course, having it like that, is but this happens to journalists not every day, but not that infrequently, either. >> the video just shows you exactly, you know, what they're dealing with and what journalists in countries like the ukraine are dealing with. jill, thank you. let's get to some of the other top stories in "the situation room." 38 people are dead after two car bombs ripped through baghdad targeting christian iraqis. families were leaving christmas mass when the first bomb exploded outside of the church, killing 27 and wounding 56. a second attack in a popular

market killed 11 and wounded 14. many there were finishing up their christmas shopping. iraq's dangerous rise in sectarian violence in 2013, half of all iraqi christians have been forced to flee their homeland since the war in iraq began ten years ago. the dow closed at a record high today. sound familiar? that's because it is the 50th time that this has happened this year. all of wall street had a great christmas. the s&p 500 closed at a record high, the nasdaq hit a 13-year peak. all three markets gained at least 20% in 2013. and the los angeles airport shooting suspect has pleaded not guilty. 23-year-old paul ciancia was in court for his arraignment. he faces 11 charges, including murder and attempted murder for allegedly opening fire at the airport and killing a tsa officer. three others were wounded. this trial is scheduled to begin february 11th. love him or hate him, he may

just be the best. lebron james is the associated press' male athlete of the year. james was the nba's most valuable player this past season, as he and the miami heat won their second championship together. the a.p. named serena williams female athlete of the year on tuesday. williams went 78-4, not bad, right, in 2011, winning 11 titles and more than $12 million in prize money. it was her third time at the top of the a.p.'s list. now, next, hackers steal debit and credit card information on 40 million target customers. did they get the pin numbers too? we have new information. and the security breach at a major u.s. airport with a bit of a twist. details of what this person was wearing, coming up.

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new developments in that massive security breach that compromised the credit and debit card information of 40 million, that's right, 40 million target customers. today, the company is giving new details about the investigation and cnn business correspondent zain asher is here to catch us up on that. what's going on? >> well, there was a reuters report that the hackers who compromised those 40 million debit and credit cards may have actually gotten access to people's pin numbers as well. now, target for their part has come out denying this. they sent us a statement today saying, i'm quoting, there is no evidence that unencrypted pin data was compromised. we have no idea at this point. it's obviously very early in the investigation. we're not sure what's true and what's not true. but i will say that if it is true, if people's pin numbers were compromised as well, it does open a whole new can of worms, because it means that these hackers can actually go to

the atm and withdraw money directly from people's bank accounts. it also means they can check your balance as well and figure out how much money is at their disposal, too. obviously, target coming out once again denying this, but i will say that if you did shop at target between the end of november and mid-december, it is crucial that you be safe and you check your statements with a fine tooth comb. i can't emphasize that enough. >> that's right. it's so scary, the idea that someone would have access to your bank account. that's so much more scary than a compromised credit card, which is obviously a major concern. a lot of people may not realize that these magnetic strips in these cards are actually old technology. what's the new technology and when might retailers upgrade? >> so the new technology, if you want to call it that, is what they use in europe, which is the chip and pin system, very different from the magnetic strip because it means there's an actual chip on your card where all your data is stored. it's not transmitted so for the most part, if a hacker wants to gain access to your account,

they actually need your physical card to do it, and they need your pin as well. in europe, you are less likely to have these mass data breaches that you have in the u.s. american banks are very good at detecting fraud but european banks are a lot better at preventing it. the problem is, their system is a lot more expensive than our system in the u.s. >> that's right. zain, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. we appreciate it. let's get more with the director for -- i should say of the institute for law, science and global security and a visiting professor at georgetown university. not only that, you are also a target shopper with a target debit card which i didn't even know existed. but in light of that, and what you know about security, what are you going to do moving forward? >> as a consumer, i'm someone that shops pretty regularly at target. of course, i'm very concerned. the larger issue is that the united states, we as a nation,

haven't done what we need to do to protect our data and the retailers, the companies themselves have not deterred the criminals. we have made it quite easy for these type of criminals to gain access to our personal data. >> right now there's a lot of people like yourself who are wondering oh, my goodness, is my pin number out there floating somewhere, and even if everything looks okay in my bank account, should i still be concerned? is it too late for those people who have seen their pin information out there, what can they do? >> i think they should first contact target. the lack of information i think we need customers and consumers need a lot more information from target, from the ceo. they say that 40 million customers' information has been compromised. they say they have notified customers or are notifying customers by e-mail. i don't know how they get everybody's e-mail. i haven't gotten an e-mail from them. >> and they have yours. whereas other people, they may not have their e-mail. >> that's right.

those that are using regular credit cards don't necessarily have e-mail contact. so i am wondering where the ceo is on giving out this information. more importantly, what policies did they have in place to secure the data, were they followed and if they weren't followed, that's where people like senator blumenthal has called upon the commissioner of the ftc to not only investigate but to hold target liable for any of the costs. if they were found to not take reasonable steps to protect it. >> let's talk about what target is saying. i'm going to know the answer to your question about whether we should be assured by this. they say to date there is no evidence that unencrypted pin data has been compromised. in addition based on our communications with financial institutions they have also seen no indications that any pin data was compromised. should we feel reassured by that? >> i don't. >> you don't. >> and i would not encourage

customers to be assured that nothing, including their pin numbers, have not been compromised. a question for target is, they could -- why unencrypted? why aren't they taking steps by encrypting data? the answer is because it costs money. but to protect our data, what the retail organizations in the country need to take seriously is it might cost them more money in order to protect the consumers' data. >> you see the difference when you look at europe. you're saying the retailers are responsible and the government is also responsible. right? so that's what you're saying. in europe, is it that governments are saying okay, retailers, this is the mark you need to meet in terms of security, and the u.s. government doesn't do that? >> so there's three groups of entities or groups of people that point fingers at each other expecting the other to carry the costs. the credit card and debit card companies, they are accused of not having secure cards. you talked about the magnetic strips. the europeans have more secure

cards but it costs money to implement those new cards. the banks also are sometimes accused but also call upon the retailers to have more secure systems. then there's the retailers themselves, the companies clearly, where i come down is more needs to be done by the companies. the individual companies in retail, that's the face to the customers. we're going in to target, we're giving target our trust. not really thinking about our bank, but we're hoping that target and believe at least what target says is that they're protecting our data. so that company, all the companies, need and they're not doing enough. that's the reality. they're just not. >> so you're calling on the retailers to do more. i'm sure this isn't the last of this kind of thing that we will hear of. we'll see if maybe they do move in that direction. thanks for being with us. appreciate it. now, just ahead, how did a man walk on to two runways at a major u.s. airport? we have details of the

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there was a security breach at newark liberty airport and a multi-million dollar identification system failed to detect a man who walked on to a runway dressed in women's clothing. cnn's alexandra field has been following this unusual story. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the question on everyone's mind is how did this suspect go so far while

going undetected. all four of new york city area airports including newark here spent $100 million securing their perimeters with the latest technology. that includes radar, motion sensors, surveillance cameras, even with all that in place, two officials say a jump over the fence at the airport here on newark on christmas morning. they say he made his way across two runways, reached terminal c where an airline employee finally stopped him at gate 70. port authority investigators say they're looking into how all of this happened. they're reviewing any surisraelance video. they're talking to person necessarily, but they also tell us, brianna, there's no visual evidence at the moment when the suspect jumps the fence. they add that no planes were ever in danger, this all amounts to something of an embarrassing situation, according to one official. >> talking about the security system, but what do we know about this guy? do we believe he was harmless?

>> the 24-year-old jersey city man said -- apparently he told police he was in a car with someone when he got spooked and ran op. police say when he was arrested he was wearing women's clothing, but police say it certainly didn't appear there was any threat in mind, he headed to the airport and managed to jump that fence. >> ultimately no harm, but i think the concern is there could have been. has this security system had trouble before? >> yeah, this has come under fire. it surpasses what the federal regulations require. back in 2012 in jfk, a jet skier ran out of gas. he told police he crawled out of the water onto the tarmac and went undetected. certainly this was to try to enhance airport security, but at the same time there have been two breaches calling the expense into question for some critics.

>> weird circumstances sort of showing the holes. alexandra field, thank you for your report. you know, we may soon see fewer flight delays, thanks to nasa. rene marsh records on a new technology. >> reporter: once everyone is on board, the plane usually doesn't take off. there's usually waiting involved. so the new system is all about cutting back on the wait time, so when the plane gets the green light, it doesn't get stuck in a traffic jam. sitting on the runway, a frustration, but instead they wait, for sometimes what seems like hours. >> you look out the window and you see a long line of planes ahead. >> i think i'm never going to get home. >> it's horrible. if they had ways to fix this, and you want one to take off and take an hour to take off. >> reporter: nasa, the same agency responsible for this -- >> liftoff.

>> reporter: -- has developed software to make delays go away. it makes perfect coordinate to get them in the right place at the right time to avoid passenger delays. nasa's software will make the choreography smoother. >> it will reduce your delays in bad weather by as much as 10 or 15 minutes, maybe, in not so bad weather, you'll feel less delay on the ground and less delay in the air. >> nasa ames research center? silicon valley created the new technologies called precision departure release capability. >> think of it as a car pulling onto the roadway. the software says precisely when to pull out of your spot, and merge onto a highway, and it would get you to your designated spot between this bus and honda on time. that precision in the control tower means shorter lines of planes waiting to take off, a

fest that dallas/forth worth showed a dramatic improvement. >> they were able to merge into en route streams and hit their targeted slot about over 80% of the time, which is quite a bit up from today's capability. >> reporter: nasa's $5 million program is estimated to save $20 million a year, mostly in fuel costs. it will cut pollution and help get you where you're going on time. >> for now the faa says it's too early to tell when the system could be deployed around the country. coming up, we are going live to antarctica, where explorers are stuck in sea ice. we'll be talking to the leader of the team, coming up. [ male ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis,

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she laos part of her leg in the boston marathon, and now she'll astound you. >> i didn't look at it at all. she wanted to remember it the way it was -- before. >> you calls yourself a professional heel wearer? >> nobody is staring at it,

because they can't tell. there's kind of like where there's shaving marks? >> it looks life-like. the cosmetic cover color-matched to her skintone, down to the freckles and creases on her heel. she now has four prosthetic legs. >> this is my waterproof leg. i wear this one in the shower. >> this one for running, another for flats, another for high heels. >> i kind of feel like my old self again. >> reporter: she had no idea she would get this far, under aviva drescher walked into her room. >> she walked in with high heels and skinny jeans, and i couldn't tell which leg was real and which wasn't. it really helped me think i'm ready to do it. >> reporter: of course the priority is how will i walk? but beyond that, it's sort of a female rite of passage. how am i going to feel pretty?

sexy? how do i wear a bathing suit? i think those are all normal questions. >> it feels like skin. >> some were more cosmetic concerns i had. i wasn't as vocal about, because they seemed sort of insignificant at the time. >> were you sort of embarrassed to ask? >> i think i was, asking if i was going to be able to wear a dress again didn't seem appropriate. >> but it is. >> for heather, having a highly cosmetic cover that matches her remaining less was essentially to her recovery. she has the confidence to go out. with highly prosthetic not covered by insurance. for heather, it was a combination of insurance and donations. >> do you think everyone should be able to have a limb like this and have it covered by insurance? >> yeah, i do. if i couldn't have a leg that looked like my own, i don't know that i would have recovered as

well. it's upsetting to me that there are other men and women out there that aren't able to have a leg that look like that i own leg in that's what they said. happening now delivery disaster, u.p.s. is still sorting through the massive backlog that left disappointment. how did it happen? and mc-failure, a website from mcdonald's employees offers a tone-deaf advice, involving a shocking warning. how did the company get it so wrong? drama at sea, as rescuers are trying to get dozens of researchers and tourists. their boat is trapped. we'll go live to antarctica this hour. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm brianna keilar, you are in "the situation room."

we have new video of the russian flag vessels shot today. and researchers. now for the first time we're hearing from the leader of the expedition. >> reporter: as you can see we're in a blizzard for the moment. a low pressure system over the -- and we have wind speeds on average of 50 kilometers, reaches in excess of 70 kilometers. the vessel hasn't moved for the last two days and we're surrounded by sea ice. we just can't get through. everyone is safe, the vessel is perfectly safe, but we can't make a passage forward. >> we are going to talk to him live in just a moment, but first let's go to meteorologist jennifer grey. how did this happen? >> we, you just sauce him say they had blizzard conditions,

very strong winds. when the winds get very, very strong, it sandwiches that ice in, and made the ship struck, just stranded it right there. here is the ship, located about 100 nautical miles east of the station from where it started. in the southern millennium i sphere, it's in summer, so actually it's a bit warmer than some areas in the u.s. granded they had blizzard conditions, snow, but as far as temperatures go, 32 degrees at 6:00 p.m. minneapolis was at 25, so temperatures aren't as bad as you would think when you think the antarctica. over the next couple days, temperatures will hover right around freezing. with lows in the mid 20s. so it is bearable, considering they're on a huge vessel, and they do have a lot of -- -- amenities, so they will be comfortable. they did send some ships out to rescue them. they do have icebreaking, and

the "snowdragon" is about a day away, expected to get there tomorrow, but it looks like everything will be okay. here is where the crew is, and here is "the snowdragon" it's the vessel closest to them. hopefully they'll be able to get out of that mess. >> thank goodness they have the other ships nearby. the leader of that stranded expedition joins us via skype. technology is sure amazing. professor chris tourney. first tell us how you are doing, how the crew is doing and how the tourists on board are doing? >> hello, absolutely amazingly well, actually. more real is remarkably high. we had a great christmas, we've just been incredibly unfortunate, deeply frustrated to not gut out to the it great

ocean. we were following the footsteps of a great explorer, looking at how much change there's been in this environment through the last -- the ship was heading north, and the day before, but just as we were coming back to the ship, the conditions were closing in. we moved as quickly as we could. the ship just couldn't get through it. christmas mork, we had an alert for help to break us out. >> how much time passed, chris before you just, i guess, hoped that the sea ice or wind might change its direction and when you realized we're not getting out of this on our own? >> yeah. we late on the evening of the 23rd, and we hoped over the next 12 hours it would shift a bit, but we had a lot of low pressure system circulate around the

continent and they had the winds across this part of the coastline. as you can see, and we just can't brea out. a change in wind dress the more westerly direction would help enormously, but the last few days, as you saw the footage from yesterday, phenomenal winds, when you consider 100 years ago, they lived in an average wind speed of 70 kilometers an hour, it feels odd what they were capable of living through or working through. >> certainly, chris, and i'm sure it's dawned on you and the researchers, as you go to try to re-enact this expedition that if this happened so long ago, you may not have the resources you have today in order to be rescued. >> well, that's right. that's an inherent risk for working in and argument ka. this is an area of enormous change, where the big driver of global climate, really, the big

part of the ocean circulates into it. but we wanted to come here to see how much change has ta taken place. to the -- wee trying a new way of bringing science to the public and communicated to people back home. people feel very passionate on board, but we're all professionals, trying to make those measurements, but certainly when you compare to what the team did 100 years ago with wooden vessels, and compare it to the boat that we're taking out -- the expedition where the ship is locked in sea, just it's amazing being in this environment. to think they were there for eight months. >> what is the mood like there,

chris? how are you keeping busy at this point? i imagine you're not doing the research you were hoping to be doing right now. >> well, ironically this is giving us extra time to do research. we very politely gave them christmas day off -- >> good for you. [ laughter ] >> i think -- bakley we're continuing to work. it's not ideal. we weren't lucky to be here, but now that we are here, we're trying to make the best of t the sea ice, looking at the life underneath the sea ice actually trying to get out to the seabed. there's seals in the area, and hopefully -- so people can listen, and if this should they can go to the expedition website, to get some real-time observations of what we are seeing and hearing, but ultimately the team -- chris is

the coleader, and morris, they're giving twice daily briefings to everyone, and we just want to assure family and friends, everyone is final, the vessel is safe, and we're looking home to having a decent cup of coffee soon. >> i do have to say, while i'm sure you didn't mean to get stuck, you probably in a way promoted your cause than even just your expedition could have done. are you in touch with the other ships? when are you expecting to be home to have that coffee. >> well, it was -- but we are in regular contact with the captain. with the other ships. we understand the french vessel might be here before. we just heard it's about 17 nautical miles just from our vessel, so we're in regular contact with them. the "snowdragon" is also en

route and may get here as early as 8:00 or so tonight, and an australian vessel shortly after that. between the three of well we hope to get -- we're scheduled to get back to the 4th of january, in new zealand's port and hopefully we'll see family and friends. please do follow us online and maybe we can talk to you in a couple days. >> i think you'll be getting more interest. chris turney, i hope you're rescued very soon. luckily you have ships racing to your rescue. thanks for joining us from right there. >> thank you very much. still ahead, disappointment instead of presents under some christmas trees. we have details of the massive backlog. plus an ominous message from north korea about war. ♪

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sgro disappointment is mounting and anger is rising for the people whose packaged were failed to be delivered on time. gifts that were supposed to be open yesterday are still on their way, some may not even make it today. a major failure by one of the world's largest delivery companies, and cnn's nick valencia reports, customers are demanding to know what went wrong. >> reporter: brianna, i spoke to u.p.s. earlier. they couldn't give officials numbers, but it's estimated that thousands of viewers still waiting for christmas gifts that didn't quite make it under the tree. u.p.s. and fedex apologizing to scores of angry customers, but the companies say it's not

entirely their faults. u.p.s. trucks back out in full force, trying to deliver packages that were supposed to be delivered by christmas morning. >> i waited around for hours and hour, and it never showed up. >> u.p.s. says they have already delivered 132 million packages in the last week along, putting backlog on a, quote, perfect storm, unprecedented surge in online sales and bad weather. they said they added additional operations, but can't guarantee all packages will be delivered by thursday. so some customers who have been waiting all week may still be unhappy. >> they're still blaming it on the ice storm. terribly disappointed. we ordered these things on december 1st. >> we got online and it says it hasn't been prosed yesterday. customers stormed online

tweeting -- got same message, still waiting for the response. busy during december? who would have thought thought, #bunchofclowns. fedex said it hired 20 thousands additional employees, and they said they had minimal disruption, neither companies made delivery on christmas day, something the u.s. postal service did. fed end's steam -- projected dr in the shortened holidays season, and we operated with very high service levels. over 99% at fedex ground, for example, during our busiest time of the year. it's not just fedex and u.p.s., but the online retailers that rely heavily on their services. they too are trying to make amends. amazon.com are offering gift

carts and willing to pay for some of the shipping costs. brianna? >> thank you, nick. you know, a rocky mountain high will have a whole new meeting next week. a colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is about to go into effect. businesses across the state are getting ready to meet the demand. annika has been following this for a while. this is the big day, right? on january 1st, the state here in colorado hoping businesses are seeing green, as ones already -- will open their doors who a whole new clientele. >> the green rush here in colorado is about to get even bigger. this week, state licenses went

out to local businesses, giving them the green light to start selling recreational. >> money does grow on trees. >> reporter: they'll be heavily regulated. anyone over the age of 21 will soon be able to buy marijuana. 136 medical marijuana dispensaries now have state licenses to sell it, and 178 businesses can now grow it for recreational use. >> i kind of say we're sort of like the united states amsterdam. >> morgan runs canyon cultivation. they may edibles, drops and candidate. she expects business to at least double in the new year. >> i hope that people are responsible with it and don't mess it up for the rest of us. >> reporter: but most companies won't be ready just jet. retail outlets this major

hurdles to get approval. toni says she has more than a million invested in her medical marijuana facility 3-d cannabis centers. her store is only one of a handful expected to be ready for business. >> a year ago i would have said i wish i hadn't done it. now i'm excited, and looking forward to the future. >> reporter: a future she and the state hope will pay off that massive investment. >> it really was medical marijuana that paved the way for this new retail surge. include how the state plans to safeguard or regulate this product. there are even stricter rules that will be enforced, but brianna, keep in mind, the federal government still considers this criminal. >> yeah, and that's the very interesting thing. annika, thank you.

most people now fast food can be unhealthy, but you wouldn't expect that to hear that from mcdonald's right? imagine the surprise of the workers that logged off to a company website that advised against eating the company's food. oops? >> a big oops. it's a company so well known for the meticulous brand management. now mcdonald's says they've had enough. >> it's the burger and fries, and there it was on mcdonald's own website. mcresource, the internal website for the employees, telling them to eat a salad and subinstead, and avoid the very food they sell. fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt, the website said, and may put people at risk for becoming overweight. >> telling their employees to

eat somewhere else that's healthy is a contradictory to what they're selling. >> reporter: now mcdonald's has shut the site down, the last straw after a long list of embarrassment form. >> everyone has been talking about these gaffs, and the pr night mares, that judd draws attention to the fast-food strikes. i don't think that's what mcdonald's should be drawing attention to. >> reporter: recently the website how to find a different job, how to get out of debt and how to get food stamps. >> you know, it's a federal program. >> reporter: another example decrease mcresource linking to other sites, for tipping sites. >> this is an amazing screwup. if one personal had internally edited this, nosh -- had one

person saw this, they would have said wait a second. >> reporter: in essence they're not loving it. with links to irrelevant and outdated information, along with outside groups taking elements out of context, this created unwarranted scrutiny and inappropriate commentary. and that scrutiny mcdonald's seemed to blame a bit on the outside vendor they hired to run the website, but regardless of that, this is no -- >> big time. thank you so much for that report. ahead, north korea's kim jong-un says, quote, war could break out without notice. we'll have details of what he tells his military commanders to do, and the year in scandal. we'll look at some of the ones that had everyone talking this year. i'm beth...

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north korea's kim jong-un has warned that war could break out without notice. state media says he's calling on his military to be ready. karl, what can you tell you about the latest warnings and how seriously we should take them? >> reporter: well, brianna, the north korean leader made those comments on a visit christmas eve to unit 526. that, as far as we understand, is a joint task force of the army, navy and air force based just southwest of pyongyang. he said to them, get on high alert. war could break out at any time. many sense these kind of bellicose statements from north korea are nothing new, in many ways the north korean military is always on high alert.

we know, for example, it has about a million troops at its dispos disposal. and around 7 on% of those based very close to the dmz, ready to strike south korea at any time. what's the snick? u.s. and south korean intelligence officials say they expect some kind of provocative act from north korea in the first quarter of 2014. why? we have his birthday on january 8th, he's 31 years old. he has to show to his own people he's tough enough for the this job, and around the first quarter bev military maneuver, and north korea always sees that as a provocation. don't forget thirdly, the execution of kim jong-un's uncle earlier in december. with these types of comments to his military, he has to put down his stamp and show who is in charge, brianna.

>> karl penhaul, showing us just how difficult it is to know whether you take this seriously or not as seriously. how ominous are the development? joining mess a professor, the author of "north korea demystified" professor park, we just heard karl's report. it seems like the u.s. government kind of penciled this in on the calendar, they'll exec something provocative. should we take this very seriously? >> i do not think so. the north koreans are saying a lot of things for their domestic audience, they need to solidify the structure, especially after the execution. i think they know very well that any kind of provocation would lead to self-annihilation.

so they're 23409 going to actually militarily assault south korea or anything like that. i think what has happened is they try to inprevent the system from being collapsed following the middle eastern and north african examples. >> sure. units the people are guarded by that possible, and the execution is directly linked to that. he was believed to have some conspiracy colliding with the south korean done serve tiffs, and perhaps with the -- with the involvement of kim jong-un's older brother, who is believed to be in exile. >> and so, professor, we realize maybe he has an audience beyond the u.s., beyond the

international community and he's looking inward perhaps, but let's talk about, there is always this sort of threat from north korea in terms of its nuclear program. there's new imagery that shows activity at a plant. how worried are you about their nuclear program? >> i think a nuclear program is something they need to keep, to maintain, to maintain the height end alert for their military, and much of this is for their domestic consumption. their military capability scientifically speaking, is far inadequate to reach the united states and become a real source of threat. so i think it's very important for us not to overreact to what happens to be a rather harsh provocative words. >> obviously you're looking at them in a way sort of pointing this towards