showed up on time. tried to get back on top and someone is helping him. a good end. >> a break what he needs. break that cycle. give him a little bit of help. >> right? >> there you have it. a lot of news this morning. let's get you over to the "newsroom" and miss carol costello. >> thanks. have a great weekend. "newsroom" starts now. good morning i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. it's been a painful and jarring wake up call for millions of americans, no such thing as privacy when a skilled hacker wants your secrets. target customers learned that lesson over the holidays in a massive security breach for as many as 110 million people. today there are new warnings and reports of possible ties to the russian mob. our phil black is in moscow reporting this morning the code is similar to what's being

peddled on russian speaking websites. the other hackers work for our government. this morning president obama announces reforms to the nsa and its massive spying program that could have collected information on any of us happen jim sciutto will preview those reforms. let's head over to christine romans on the target investigation, the russian mob? >> reporter: a lot of what investigators know is being kept under wraps. what we do know this morning is that homeland security is worried this isn't an isolated event. the u.s. government now warning retailers across the country to be on high alert, that massive attack on target over the holidays may have compromised the personal information up to 110 million customers. it could be just the beginning. in a brand new bulletin the department of homeland security now revealing that target may

not have been alone. that the malicious software has potentially infaek lly infected number of retail operations and they are detailing how those hackers pulled off one of the biggest data heists ever. >> with this new information that many other retailers could have been breached that number could potentially double in the next couple of weeks. >> here's how they indict. according to a cyber security firm calls eyesight who has contributed to the investigation. they used highly sophisticated and nearly undetectable malware named kartosha, a computer program placed in a company's system to corrupt point of sale systems. that means the register itself your information was being grabbed. eyesight says many retail organizations may not know they have been infected. the software infests retail processing systems, allowing the hackers to manipulate the malware from the outside, and

most troubling of all, it's using new technology that makes it virtually undetectable by all security software. >> it's an unknown exploit, one they haven't seen before. >> reporter: just who are the hack sners there are clues. part of the code is written in russian. the "wall street journal" cites an unnamed u.s. official who said these details suing dweft the attack may have ties to organized crime from the former soviet union. target still dealing with the fallout this morning. in a new e-mail by target to its customers said the cyber attack stole much more than pin numbers. stole names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses as well. >> consumers need to be aware right now paying very close attention their statements. you can check your statements online every single day. >> reporter: carol, target will testify before congress in early february on this. no federal laws exist that set out rules for when and how

companies must report these data breaches to customers and even to law enforcement. the objective of the hearing in february will be how customers can start to protect themselves. >> christine romans reporting live from new york this morning. now to president obama, this morning's announcement of new reforms of the nsa surveillance program. according to senior administration officials the president will announce the end of that controversial bulk collection of telephone records as it currently exists. he's also expected to act on recommendations to better protect the privacy and rights of americans. the president will also call for scaling back surveillance on foreign leaders. jim sciutto is in washington. tell us more. >> reporter: what's clear is the president will go further, more aggressive changes that many people expected. i'm told by people involved many of these issues were debated up to the final hours. in effect he's accepting the two most significant recommendations

from that intelligence reform panel that he convened and one is to require judicial review, require a judge of some sort to approve every time the nsa looks into these massive phone data but look at ways to move the data out of the government's hands out of the nsa's hands to someone else. they haven't decided who that other body is. that's what the president wants to do. it shows how far we've come on this since edward snowden revealed this to the world. we got to asking the question did edward snowden win in effect? here's what we found. >> my name is edward snowden -- >> reporter: in the seven months since he burst on the international scene. >> the public is owed an explanation. >> reporter: edward snowden made some of the secretive aspects of america's intelligence gathering public knowledge. phone data. eavesdropping on leaders of u.s. closest allies and tapping into the very back bone of the

internet. uproar at home and abroad led the president to lead an expert reform panel and now he'll announce which of their recommendations he'll accept. snowden accomplished much of what he was fighting for a point he's been none too shy to point out. >> the conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regular late it. >> reporter: jane harman served on the house intelligence committee for eight years. when you look at what snowden be inthe ended to do, expose this, right, to the glare of the public eye, can you say he won? >> well, i'll never say he won. he jump started a debate. i'm glad we're having the debate. i condemn the way he did it. >> reporter: the debate snowden sparked helped lead the president today administration officials tell cnn to end bulk

collection as it currently exists. the nsa will still have access to the data, president's reform panel say it's a necessary tool to prevent terror attacks. >> the program as i said in the op-ed only has to be successful once to be invaluable. it does carry the potential going forward to prevent a catastrophic attack on the united states. >> reporter: snowden has won over a majority of the american public. a new quinnipiac university poll found a majority of americans consider him more of a whistle blower than a traitor, by 57% to 34%. but that support likely will not win him his freedom. among lawmakers even the nsa's most ardent critics call snowden a criminal. >> up can't giveaway national security secrets. >> reporter: to be clear, this money data, all these phone calls, these numbers that are

dialed, when they are dialed, not the content, not what was said on the calls but that data will stay. the nsa will still get access to it though with greater safe guards and that's what his panel of advisers recommended. we make the point that terrorists only have to be successful once and their point, his advisers, the point they made is that a program like this only has to be successful once in preventing an attack for it to be valuable and that seems to be the prevailing conventional wisdom that it's a necessary tool so it has to go forward, carol, but with greater restrictions. >> let's talk about the judge you were talking about, because i already thought that a judge oversaw everything collected by the nsa and they took it to court before they used it. is there something different i'm not hearing that's going to be new? >> reporter: well the key here is that when the nsa wants to access a particular say phone number or collection of calls by a particular phone number or particular group of suspects they will now need to go to that

court to get judicial review. another thing we're hearing is that the president may put a public advocate on that court. up to this point the court really just has the prosecuting attorneys in effect arguing for the access and the judges hearing it. you don't have somebody on the other said saying wait a minute here's the argument not to do it. the idea here is now for each individual search they would then have to get that kind of judicial approval. >> okay. we'll hear more at 11:00 a.m. eastern when the president gives his big speech. >> president obama also will unveil those nsa reforms less than two hours from now. 11:00 a.m. eastern and you can see that live on cnn. three men in police custody accused of starting that raging wildfire in los angeles. group of 20 somethings start ad camp fire and carelessly tossing paper into it when a gust of

wind blew hot embers into the brush. it's at least 30% contained. looking at live pictures there. 1700 acres have been scorched so far. five homes destroyed. more than a dozen other buildings damaged. all this while california is in the throes of its worst drought since 1980. >> reporter: good morning, carol. as we show you these pictures from our affiliate knbc, the wind has picked up this morning and it's causing some of this fire activity to sort of pick up again. it's been pretty much calm overnight. 30% containment so far. authorities hoping to get more conin thement today. meanwhile 2,000 residents waiting to hear when they will be allowed back into their homes. firefighters scramble to control a rapidly moving wildfire threatening the suburbs

northeast of los angeles. super scooper fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and ground crews racing against the weather. the blaze about 30 miles from downtown l.a. led to thousands of evacuations and destroyed part of the historic mansion once belonging to the singer sewing family. >> this is something that caught us by surprise. early in the morning as we were driving down the long driveway, that driveway was starting to catch fire. so you could see it. >> reporter: january temperatures stretching into the 80s, humidity below 10% and the forecast of hot santa ana winds threaten to turn the modest 1700 acre brush fire into a frightening conflagration. >> we were able to save hundreds if not thousands of homes this morning. >> reporter: firefighters and all but five homeowners caught a break. the fire slowed late in the day. fire started when these three men allowed their camp fire to

burn out of control on a morning when red flag fire warnings because of drought and high temperatures were in effect. >> i don't think they cared, to be honest with you. they are three guys in their early 20s camping up in the foot hills. they may have cared but, you know, i can only assume that fire safety wasn't their top priority. >> reporter: one of the men admitted starting the fire, police say. now they are in jail facing possible felony charges. bail initially set at $20,000. overnight it was increased to $500,000 for each of those suspects. police say, carol, that one of the men had marijuana in his backpack. at this point he's not facing any charges for that because he had a california medical marijuana card. >> thank you. also this morning we're learning more about who could be subpoenaed in the investigation into the new jersey bridge scandal. sources tell cnn among the

subpoenas are bridget anne kelly, christie's former deputy chief of staff who christie fired last week. david samson and this one, christie's incoming chief of staff. lawmakers issued 17 other subpoenas, 14 more for individuals close to christie and three for organizations. all are mentioned in documents related to that traffic jam on the george washington bridge that may have been political punishment for the democratic mayor of ft. lee. the search for a missing "wall street journal report"er may lead across the border. david bird was last seen leaving his new jersey home for a quick walk and never came back. now a clue may have been uncovered thousands of miles away. margaret conley joins us with more. good morning, margaret. >> reporter: good morning. volunteers and police have been scourge the area looking for the 55-year-old father of two. there's an added urgency here because he needs his medication

from a liver transplant. he needs to take it twice a day. police began day seven of rescue efforts today hoping to crack the bizarre case of missing 55-year-old david bird. the energy reporter for are the "wall street journal" vanished saturday afternoon when he left his home to go for a walk something day individual hiker and marathoner does frequently. >> we have every reason to believe he just wanted to go for little stroll. there's no, nothing pointing to anything else. >> reporter: according to his wife he left his house around 4:30 p.m. he left without his cell phone, wearing a red jacket, blue jeans, sneakers and glasses. she reported him missing two hours later. >> it's unfathomable to me. he was taking a short walk. we're trying to stay calm and stay hopeful. we can't figure out what happened. >> reporter: media report says bird's credit card was used in mexico wednesday night. it's unclear what this clue may mean.

investigators declined to comment. but the family says authorities are following up on this lead as they have done all others. >> the police have been incredible. they are looking through every single scenario they can think of. >> reporter: of particular concern to bird's family is his health. he received a liver transplant nine years ago and takes anti-rejection medication twice a day. medication that he's been unable to take since saturday. hundreds of officers and volunteers scoured the surrounding areas for six days. desperately trying to find him. police posted an update on facebook thursday saying several good leads have come in that investigators are working on and urging information come forward with any relevant information regarding his whereabouts. >> his family loves him dearly and we just are really hoping anybody that knows anything, please just call the police. just want to bring him home. >> reporter: now there are still lots of questions around this case. police have said that there's nothing in bird's background

that shows any indiscretions. the search continues again today. carol? >> margaret conley reporting live for us. still to come in the "newsroom" prince harry gates new assignment. he puts down the traffic controls to pick up a pen. we'll have details next. if you're seeing spots before your eyes, it's time for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer. [ female announcer ] aveeno® with soy helps reduce the look of brown spots in 4 weeks. for healthy radiant skin. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results.

. checking our top stories at 18 minutes past the hour, in west virginia new questions over whether health officials lifted its ban too early on that contaminated tap water. concerns grew when announcements were followed by a warning that pregnant women shouldn't drink the water. health officials say maybe people should stick to bottled water. snap chat are getting photo messages. spammers are using automaticed porn bots to send nude photos. the scam asks the user to download another app. big cuts are coming for nearly a million families who use food stamps. new proposal in congress would slash food stamps but as much as $90 a month. it's about a fourth of the amount congressional republicans

wanted but nearly double what democrats had proposed. south dakota, a strong blizzard rolls through the state. in nebraska that same front cause ad dust storm with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. today more snow is in the forecast for the midwest and it's moving to the northeast. aaron hernandez prepares for trillion in one murder, the nfl star may have been a shooter in an unsolved 2012 double murder. susan candiotti has more on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. in newly unsealed curiosity documents for the very first time boston police are confirming what law enforcement sources have been telling us, that they suspect hernandez played a direct role in a fatal drive by shooting of two men outside a boston nightclub in

2012. in a search warrant executed last june police wrote this. there's probable dues believe that aaron hernandez was operating the suspect vehicle used in the shooting homicides and may have been the shooter. after hernandez was charged with murder in a separate case last june the shooting of semipro player of odin lloyd police found an suv used by hernandez parked with a layer of dust at his uncle's house. court documents say it matches the description of a vehicle described at the scene of an unsolved double homicide in boston. that jogged a detective's memory who recalled seeing hernandez on surveillance videos taken inside and outside that nightclub and helped them make a connection to hernandez as a possible suspect. carol? >> so what happens next? >> reporter: well we're waiting to see whether a boston grand jury will charge hernandez in that double homicide. he's already pleaded not guilty in that other case, the murder of incident lloyd. >> susan candiotti reporting live in new york this morning.

thanks. still to come in the newsroom prince harry goes from flying high to laying low. >> reporter: good morning, carol. prince harry is leaving his job as an apache pilot. i'll have all the details on his career move after the break. what if you could shrink your pores just by washing your face? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® pore refining cleanser. alpha-hydroxy and exfoliating beads work to clean and tighten pores so they can look half their size.

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prince harry is taking on a brand new mission, stepping down from his role as a high flying chopper pilot to take a desk job with the british army. erin mclaughlin is live. it doesn't sound like harry, erin. >> reporter: it sure doesn't. no more war zone duty for prince harry. he's leaving his job as an apache pilot. he'll be working a desk job. kensington palace making that announcement this morning. he'll still be working for the british military based in their central london offices. he'll be focusing on organizing special projects and commemorative events. this is a big change for harry. after all he spent months in afghanistan.

always talked about how much he enjoyed being an apache pilot but it will allow him to spend some more time on his royal duties and it will also allow him to spend some more time with his girlfriend. she's also based in london. they were seen together on monday edding hamburgers. this news is sure to fuel those engagement rumors, carol. >> they were seen in london eating hamburgers. i read they broke up. >> reporter: you never know. >> erin mclaughlin, many thanks to you. in just over an hour president obama will announce specifics on how he wants to see the nsa reform, but will it really change anything about the way the nsa works? we'll talk about that next. if you're seeing spots before your eyes, it's time

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the opening bell just about to ring on wall street. alison kosik is watching this from the new york stock exchange. good morning. >> reporter: you look at fourth quarter earning season so far. going along pretty nicely and then a couple of companies spoiled the party that missed estimates. the dow made some triple-digit moves. it shows indecision. indecision generally means declines and that's what's happening overall for the market so far this year. the dow is down 1% so far this year. as the opening bell rings we see the dow down 12 points. once again weak earning season, mixed corporate results. stocks caught in the middle. >> let's talk a little bit about iphone because it's a big day for the iphone in china. why is that? >> reporter: it really is a big day for apple because apple had the opportunity right now to sell iphones to 700 million new

customers. think about that number. that's twice the population here in the u.s. why so many? the iphone is now being sold through china mobile. that's a chinese provider. before today the iphone was sold by china's smaller mobile phone companies. look even ceo tim cook got into the action. he went to china for the occasion. he handed out autographed iphones getting everybody excited. no doubt about it apple has a lot of work ahead of it because it's not that popular in china. apple only has a 6% market share there. it's in fifth place behind other chinese mobile phone companies. iphones there are expensive. they go for $7 thoun $800 and don't get huge subsidies that we get here. for once apple is the underdog but i'm thinking it ain't going to be the underdog for long. >> checking other top stories this morning at 31 minutes nufrt, three men now under

arrest in connection with that wildfire that scorched 1700 acres near los angeles. police say the young men were tossing paper to a camp fire when a gust of wind helped spread the blaze. two homes destroyed one person injured. in new jersey police still searching for david bird. he left his home to take a walk on saturday night and hasn't been seen since. authorities are following up on all leads including reports that bird's credit card was used in mexico. disappeared from new jersey, by the way. end to the nsa's telephone collection program as it currently exists and that the spy agency gets permission before it taps those records. some reforms that president obama is expected to unveil later this morning. that announcement comes as it's claimed nsa collect 200 million text messages every single day. our chief national correspondent john king is in washington to

preview the president's speech. will it be more than minor changes? >> reporter: the president will lay out some significant changes and then pass the ball off to congress which will be quite interesting because ever since the edward snowden leaks, the country has been having a debate about whether he's a hero or traitor, whether this is good or bad. congress will have a debate and put some things on paper. he will end mega data. all those phone calls and emails that the government collect in a sweeping net and has available to it if they want to look for nefarious activity. the president will say the government should not have complete custody of that data and ask congress, ask the justice department for some input on how to hold that data. the president will call for more transparency. he'll call for making it tougher for agencies to access that data. they have to go the court repeatedly as opposed to just

having it and more privacy steps as well including what i'll call an ombudsman. it's significant in this, carol in that we have arc here, a major post-9/11 retreat from government power in this community, post after 9/11 for years and years if the government wanted to do more it got permission. the country stepping back. >> the other strange thing is edward snowden. he's exiled. considered a criminal by the u.s. government. yet the president will come out and give a speech in an hour and a half to announce changes brought about by that man edward snowden. >> that's a fascinating point. whether you consider him a traitor or hero, some people say both. he broke a law and a traitor yet he sparked this debate. whatever your opinion much edward snowden we would not be at this moment.

there are people who say there would have been some assessment any weigh, some recalibration. nothing this near sweeping or such public debate, so much information to fuel that public debate were it not for edward snowden, like him or not. >> interesting. john king, thanks so much. with more than a dozen subpoenas issued for some of christie's closest aides the new jersey governor is headed to florida this weekend. christie will be wining and dining with wealthy republicans and this could be a test to see how the scandal has impacted christie's possible ambition for the white house. >> there's no intention right now to subpoena the governor. >> reporter: governor chris christie in the clear for now. the democratic assemblyman leading the special committee investigating the so-called bridgegate controversy. the reason? christie's name have not come up in any documents that have been reviewed but the probe is

growing in scope. after holding an executive session the committee decided to subpoena 17 people and three groups they've seen listed in already reviewed documents. >> i want to be very clear those. those people who received them, some of them may expect them, some of them may not. >> reporter: cnn has obtained a list of those being subpoenaed. among them his chief of staff, his communications director and attorney general nominee. also names already cited in emails like the chairman of the port authority, christie's press secretary and his former deputy chief of staff at the center of the controversy. the request for documents comes from newly hired special counsel, the lead prosecutor in both corruption cases against the now imprisoned former governor of illinois rod blagojevich. to republicans that's a point of contention. >> there's 56,000 lawyers in the state of new jersey. couldn't you find one? >> reporter: democrats on the committee countered they not only wanted competence but the best in the country and someone without a conflict of interest.

for his part, team christie lawyered up too bringing on former assistant u.s. attorney randy of new york. christie himself is moving on hitting the jersey shore thursday morning. >> whatever test they put in front of me i'll meet those tests because i'm doing it on your behalf. >> reporter: this weekend he'll test the strength of his political standing nationally with fundraisers for florida governor rick scott and a incidenter to cozy up to wealthy republican donors sunday night ahead of a likely 2016 presidential run. all this before a second inauguration which will happen noon on tuesday at the trenton war memorial. now on sunday night the home depot co-founder is hosting a big dinner for chris christie at his home in north palm beach for about 500 wealthy and influential republican donors. these people that chris christie will need on his side if he runs for president in 2016 and they are expected to pepper him with

questions on sunday night about this bridge controversy and how he is handling it and they will want him to make them more comfortable before they back him, carol. >> still to come in the "newsroom," du"," "duck dynasty back for a fifth reason but the ratings have taken a hit. nischelle turner is in los angeles with that story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're looking at the numbers. they are definitely down. but what does that mean? we'll talk about it when we come back. if you're seeing spots before your eyes, it's time for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer. [ female announcer ] aveeno® with soy helps reduce the look of brown spots in 4 weeks. for healthy radiant skin. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state.

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support for the death penalty has fallen in the last 20 years in part because we struggle with this question. is it humane. can you kill someone humanely no matter what they've done. many believe dennis mcguire deserved to die. he raped and killed jill stewart when he was seven months pregnant. the way he died is now causing a lawsuit. state of ohio used two drugs one a sedative the other a pain killer. it said it took 25 minutes for him to die. alan johnson a reporter for "the columbus dispatch" describes it this way. about 10:34 a.m. he began

struggling. his body strained against the restraints around his body and he rereadly gaps. ed for air, making snorting and choeging sounds for about 10 minutes. his chest and stomach hooefed his left hand, which he had used minutes earlier to wave good-bye to his family, clempbled in a fist. welcome. good morning. >> good morning. thanks so much for being here. alan this execution was so much different than the others you witnessed. tell us about it. >> it was very different and i've seen about 18 in the last several years in ohio, all by lethal injection. and they've all been relatively calm and surreal, almost because the execution starts, the drugs start flowing and usually the inmate will go to sleep, so to speak and it's over very quickly. this was very different because it started out like the others but after three or four minutes, mr. mcguire started gasping for

breath, his stomach was compressing and expanding, and he was choking. this went on as i said in the story for a good ten minutes and it was very difficult to watch, very different than anything i had seen before. >> were you in the same room as his children? >> we are in the same area. it's a very small room that's got a divider in between it but there's a door. the inmate family is on the left side, the victim family is on the other side. they can't see each other but the reporters are in the back and can go between the two small rooms. >> i wonder what the reaction was in the room where you were as this man died. >> well, his family -- his daughter, his son and his daughter-in-law were all in there and they were sobbing almost constantly from the beginning throughout. i can't imagine what they were feeling. the victim family, they obviously suffered a terrible

loss and they were very quiet. completely quiet. in fact i heard no comment, no reaction no, sock, no response from them. very different from one side of the room to the other. >> i want to ask you this question because there are many, many people who say this man deserved to die and who cares he suffered pain. what difference does it make. and what do you say? >> well, you know, i think what people have to remember is that death penalty supporters look at this case and say this young woman joy stewart was 22 years old when she died. she was a newlywed. almost in herring eighth month of pregnancy. meaning the baby would have been born alive. one potential human being, a real human being died here. she was stabbed, strangled, she was raped and then she was sodomized. that's how she died. she would be 47 today. her baby would be 25 years old today. now he suffered for a few minutes while he was being executed.

but if you compare the level of suffering, i would say his execution was quite humane and also on the issue of suffering there's no scientific proof here there was a conscious awareness in him that he was having problems breathing. the first drug he was administered was to put him out basically to put him to sleep so the labored breathing that was heard over that period of time doesn't necessarily indicate he was suffering from pain. you'll have to see medical experts to say that. but the u.s. supreme court has said repeatedly that executions are legal in the united states. they upheld hangings. shootings. electrocutions and this is the most humane way. and europeans who cut off if he -- phenobarbital has turned it into something else.

>> mr. mcguire's family who filed a lawsuit against the state of ohio saying his execution was unconstitutional do, they have a leg to stand on? >> no, they don't. at least under existing u.s. law executions are constitutional under the eighth amendment. this has been looked at repeatedly by the u.s. supreme court. of course every time an execution occurs it goes through our system. this one -- you know if you look at this. this has been in the courts for 25 years, his case. testing whether he was guilty. he was unquestionably guilty. and testing whether a proper method of execution was being used. these drugs were looked at by a federal judge before the discussion was administered. no they do not have a leg to stand on. it's outrageous they think they will get money out of this which is what civil lawsuits are about by filing some kind of a lawsuit against this execution. >> alan, i'll put that question to you. i don't know if you've talked to the family.

is the governor of state of ohio looking into this execution or does it stop here? >> i'm not aware the governor is. i know he stopped previous executions in advance for various reasons including the last one because the inmate wanted to donate his organs to family members. he stopped that execution. this went on and i think it remains to be seen about the lawsuit. i'm not sure i agree they don't have some grounds. they may or may not. but i do know these two drugs were different, never used before here or anywhere else. that could be the crux of it they were using an experimental method. >> thanks so much for tinting discussion this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you, carol. i'm back in a minute.

. . . the "duck dynasty" seasons premier took a nose dive. >> who is a great fisherman? >> you. >> who is a great cook? >> ml. >> the season five premier of the reality show was down 30%. some are wondering if he his comments to gq about gay people and african-americans had anything to do with the slump. nischelle turner parts this out for us.

>> that's a really good question. it is something to consider with the drop but there is a couple of schools of thought here. there were big expectations on wednesday after last season's record-breaking premier. wednesday night had 8.5 million viewers, which, by the way, is still a huge number, specially within the cable landscape. these numbers are down almost 30% from last season. the show had a record-setting fourth season debut in august with 11.8 million viewers. a&e is quickly stepping up and saying, we are doing just fine. the network tells us they are basically steady from where the last season left off. the fourth season had 8.4 million viewers. now, even though a&e did suspend phil robertson from filming the show after his comments, he was in the premier episode and will be in most, if not all, of the

shows. the suspension came when the show wasn't even shooting and the entire spring season had almost been shot. one other thing to think about, the premier of "duck dynasty" season five went up against the return of "american idol" on wednesday night. that's a tough head to head to go against. 8.5 million viewers, it that's a heck of a lot. there are shows that would kill to have 8.5 million viewers every week. >> we'll see what happens in the future. many thanks to you. in case you haven't heard, today marks a milestone for michelle owe ba na. the first lady is in her words, turning 50 and fabulous. she will do it in a big way in a blowout bash filled with dancing and drinks and reportedly her bff, beyonce. it earned the first lady a spread in "people" magazine. they focused on her bid to keep fit and youthful.

in an op ed, i write, in part, quote, i'm happy that mrs. obama is able to celebrate her special day with loved ones but articles about women turning the big 50 often get under my skin, and not in a good way. people not only asked mrs. obama if she had peaked at 50 but wlo she would consider plastic surgery or beau to the. i don't recall anyone asking mr. obama whether he turned 50 whether he's consider fillers or stopping to play basketball. >> when it comes to women turning 50 or 30 or 40, we seem to value them less. if you want to read my op ed, you can find it at cnn.com. i'm back in a minute. if you're seeing spots before your eyes, it's time

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we just said happy birthday to michelle obama and we can't leave out betty white. she turns 92 years old today. the guinness book of world records says she has the longest history in tv, 74 years. she calls herself the luckiest old broad on two feet.

the mutts are finally getting some respect. they are going to allow mixed breeds to compete but there are limits. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: you know the song -- ♪ who let the dogs out, who, who ♪ >> reporter: well, now, it is who let the mutts in. the answer is that upper crust bastian of pure breads where pooches get better treatment than people. >> reporter: did you hear that mutts are allowed in the westminster dog show? >> no. >> reporter: is that anything you care about? >> no, not really. >> reporter: says the man walking the pure bread english setter. if nuts got to respect, they are going to be allowed a little. they will be allowed in an agility competition. >> it involves dogs that might normally be seen including mixed-breed dogs. we are excited about having them a part of the family. >> reporter: agility competitions are booming in

popularity. which would you rather watch, a dog getting picked up by his privates for judging or dogs madly dashing around an agility course over teeter to thors and through tunnels. it is even more fun when they just stop or when a lot of dog has to fit through a little space. competition like this is what will be open to mixed breeds at westminster next month. while they won't yet be allowed into the main events, at least mutts now have a paw into the door. paw, paw. you should mutts should be in westminster? >> a dog is a dog. >> why not. >> i'd watch that. >> reporter: as for pure breads like this spinoie, you sound like an on tray. how will pure breads react to muds running amuck. >> reporter: it is not like these guys will care.

can't we all just get along. >> the idea that you can be a mutt and still have a life. >> reporter: doggy diversity. >> exactly. >> reporter: inclusivity. >> reporter: though it won't extend to mutts competing for best in show. maybe having your hair done. what's the hair style called? >> the snooki. >> reporter: isn't all it is cracked up to be. mutts, do you really want your tail tickled to make it stand up. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. good morning. i'm carroll costello, thank you so much for joining me. it has been a painful and jarring wakeup call for millions of americans. there is no such thing as privacy when a skilled hacker wants your secret. target customers learned the lesson over the holidays in a massive security breach for as many as 110 million people.

today, new warnings and reports of possible ties to the russian mob. our phil black is in moscow. he is reporting this morning the code is similar to what's being pedalled on russian-speaking websites. next hour, president obama announces reforms to the nsa and its passive spying programs that have collected information on any of us. we will have more in just a minute. first, the latest on the target investigation. christine romans is our chief business correspondent and phil black is in moscow. he has been gathering details about a possible russian mob connection. christine, let's talk to you about what's new in this investigation. >> what's new, is this a new kind of malware, a new kind of trojan horse? sophisticated international hackers able to get into the point of sale of retailers and launch this thing to stay ahead of the security software of these companies and even go in and change the parameters of

what they are looking for and what they are trying to get from outside. they are calling it cartosha. authorities are saying there are bits of russian words in the code. this can be concerned from the outside. the department of homeland security along with the researchers, cybersecurity experts, showing this private report to retailers saying, you might have this and not know it. it is probably bigger than just walmart and they are sort of getting a handle right now on how big it might be. security experts telling us, it could be up to a third of the american population could have -- information could be in the hands of hackers. >> you meant to say bigger than target, not walmart, right? >> i meant to say bigger than target. thank you very much, carol. >> thank you, christine. now, let's bring in phil black. tell us what you are learning about a possible russian mob

connection. >> reporter: it is well-known that cybercrime is big business for russian mafia groups and organized crimes. the code has been found to use some russian words, using the latin alpha bet. more concerned is that this particular code, closely resembles viruses they have seen up for sale on russian language websites. those viruses have also been designed with the purpose of harvesting financial information. so there are indicators. they say those indicators are not definitive. the best hackers in the world, the most professional, routinely include clues, hints, false includ clues and hints to deliberately mislead those that are trying to track them down. >> now, to president obama's announcement next hour of new reforms of the nsa surveillance

program. according to a senior administration official, the president will adopt the recommendation of a special panel and announce the end of the current form of bulk phone data collection as it exists. he is expected to act on recommendations for protecting your privacy. he will call for scaling back surveillance on foreign leaders. our next guest has grave concerns about any compromises in america's intelligence gathering. frank gaffney served as the secretary of intelligence. nice to have you here. you and other national security veteran sent an open letter to the president. he is forced to talk about changes when it comes to the nsa. how concerned are you? >> well, if i could segue from the last section of your program to this one, what you've just

reported is evidence that mobsteres and other unknown hackers are getting into private information of potentially tens, maybe hundreds of millions of americans. that is also true of enemies that seek to do us not just harm by virtue of stealing or money or our identities but actually killing us. i believe and i think that the 17 luminaries who joined forces in this letter to the president warning against the sorts of changes that had been recommended, this is a very dangerous time to make the sorts of concessionings or compromises or restrictions that are going to make it more difficult for those who are required to protect us against these sorts of threats to do their job. i think that's what's going to be the practical effect of taking away some of these

intelligence collection capabilities that have been subjected to very close scrutiny by executive branch, legislative and judicial branch, oversight. the checks and balances that protect our privacy for years. that needs to continue, not to be abrogated at this particular moment in time. >> one of the changes is possibly adding a citizen advocate who will sit on the court that decides whether the nsa can further investigate these phone records they collect or this meta data. what would be so bad about that to have a civilian in there, a citizen advocate that stands up further for the right of the people and makes the whole process more transparent? >> well, look, transparency is essentially the anti-think sis of classified intelligence capabilities. the more our enemies know about what we do, the more certain it is, we will have a harder time knowing what they do.

we are witnessing daily with the drip, drip, drip from edward snowden's compromises of sensitive, classified capabilities that they are going away. the sources and methods are no longer able to obtain information that is required to protect us in a very dangerous world. are you feeling lucky is the question i would ask to all americans? do you think you can dispense with what is practically speaking an insurance policy against the sorts of plots that we know enemies that wish us harm have pursued in the past and are almost certainly working hard at right now. they are very good at using both technology and operational procedures to keep those activities secret from us. we have to stay ahead of them. i think that's where these kinds of technical skills and assets are needed more in the future probably than even in the past. >> i will ask you this question, because we just showed our

viewers a pole in the last hour that most americans now feel edward snowden is more whistle blower than trader. in your mind, i'll ask you this simple question, did edward snowden win in this case, as the president in about an hour will go on national television and talk about changes to the nsa? >> well, edward snowden, i believe, is a trader. i think that what he has done with help from communist china and now russia is evidence of the purpose that he is engaged in. this is not whistle blowing, this is deliberate destruction of very sensitive national security capabilities. i think the american people may indulge in this kind of belief this is all fine, this is no problem, the president can rip these up by the roots without cost until we are attacked again. i regret to say this. it is a certy tud that efforts will be made to do that to us. they may be much more destructive in the future than

anything we have seen to date. god help us if we have not used the capabilities that we have to protect against that. i'm afraid that is going to be the verdict of history if we go down this road. >> we'll listen to what the president has to say in just about an hour. frank gaffney, former assistant secretary of defense. thanks so much for joining me. three men in police custody accused of starting that raging wild fire near los angeles. police say the group of 20 something started a campfire and were carelessly tossing paper into the fire when a gust of wind blew hot ambers into the brush. take a look at what that did. these are live aerials from our affiliate in glendora, california. more than 700 firefighters battling the blaze there. it is at least 30% contained. five homes have been destroyed. more than a dozen other buildings damaged and thousands of people are leaving the area. >> if the wind gets stronger, it is going to probably catch over here and that's scary. >> i have my mom's car, my car,

my sister's car, we are packed and ready to go. waiting for the last minute to make the final decision. >> that's our major concern, the wind. at nighttime, the wind kicks up here. those embers flying can make a bad mess up here. >> adding fuel to the fire, california is in the throws of its worst drought since the 1980s. it has been more than a week since 300,000 residents in west virginia were told to stop using their water thanks to the big chemical leak. today, more than two-thirds have been told the water is now safe to drink but is it? pregnant women are still being told not to drink the water. jean casarez has more. >> reporter: jacqueline bev vin and her family have been waiting for eight days to be able to use their tap water. at the same time, the cdc is recommending out of an abundance of caution that pregnant women don't drink the water until there is no trace of the

chemical anymore. >> we just don't know what we are drinking. if the cdc is saying pregnant women can't drink that, that is going to go for all of us. >> reporter: if this isn't safe for pregnant women, how can we say anyone is safe in drinking the water? >> there is a lot unknown about this potential chemical that could harm humans. >> reporter: it was soon after the chemical leak federal authorities determined that 1 part per million of the chemical could be safe to assume. that was based on limited information. >> it is an acceptable standard. i don't think anybody can call it a safe standard. >> reporter: cnn had independent water testing done which showed the chemical was present in water deemed safe but well below the 1 part per million threshold. that water is now being used by more than 200,000 people in the affected area. dr. raul gupta, director of the

charleston health department says following more and more people now using their tap water, hospital visits actually spiked mid-week. >> when people come to us and report that right after they have taken a shower, they have had this rash. we have had people walk in here with scary-looking rashes. >> reporter: after an earlier chemical explosion in this area, the chemical safety board recommended in 2011, that west virginia give dr. gupta the authority to establish a hazardous chemical release prevention program, which could have included monitoring the chemicals stored just upriver from charleston's water treatment plant. >> that would have helped us to have an idea to develop some sort of a comprehensive program to insure those chemicals are being stored in a safe manner. >> reporter: the state decided not to institute that program. with the safety of this chemical in question, this family isn't sure they even want to stay in

west virginia. >> i have a child. i want to raise him here. i want to know that he is going to grow up safe and i feel like west virginia has let me down. >> reporter: jean casarez, cnn, charleston, west virginia. >> now, the company responsible for the leak, freedom industries, is now blaming a broken water pipe near its property for this mess. a source tells the charleston gazette, water from the broken pipe got underneath the tanks and froze and somehow punctured the tank from the bottom. we'll keep you posted. still to come, the hottest ticket in washington will be to the white house where michelle obama will celebrate the big 5-0. we will talk more about her big day and why americans are now saying that 50 is the perfect age. if you're seeing spots before your eyes, it's time for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer. [ female announcer ] aveeno® with soy

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in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ 50 and fabulous, that's how michelle owe ba na describes her birthday. the president is throwing a big

bash and rumor has it bff, beyonce, might sing happy birthday. they gave her a spot on the cover of "people" magazine devoting several pages to her milestone. let's talk abouter had 5-0 and the larger issue of women turning 50. with me, jody cantor and micayla angela davis, a cnn commentator and writing. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> jody, why are we making such a big deal this michelle obama is turning 50? >> we can't exactly say it is a news event. i don't think it is so much that there is real content or import for the nation in her turning 50 but just people are fascinated by michelle obama. she is a first lady, a cultural icon as you can see. people devour any slight scraps of information she feeds her kids or what her own leisure

habits are. i think it is probably just a general social excuse to talk about her. >> i hope so, because, micayla, i don't remember we made a big deal of president obama turning 50, right? he just turned 50 and we said, he is a little grayer but presidents get a little grayer. >> that's right. it is so different for women. fifty is that decade that gets sort of sketchy for women. the way women have to negotiate irrefutable and the way men have to negotiate youth is very different. a man gets distinguished and a woman starts to disappear. michelle obama creates this new narrative of what it means to be a woman who is 50, what it looks like to be a great american woman and to have so much vitality and sexiness and futureism isn't usually the kind of ideals we attach to a 50-year-old woman. it's a big difference between a

president who is young at 50. >> you've hit it, micayla. at 50, women are supposed to dry up and die. i must say, whenever the media makes a big deal out of women turning 50, i wrote a cnn.com article about it. i am going to find the part where i am going to read it to you. i put it really well. i'm happy that mrs. obama is able to celebrate her special day with loved ones but articles but women turning the big 50 often get under my skin and not in a good way. people asked mrs. obama if she had peaked at 50 or whether she would consider plastic surgery or botox. i don't recall anybody asking mr. obama whether he turned 50 whether he would consider fillers or to stop playing basketball. i'm just saying, jody, will there come a time when women of any age, you talk about women the same way when they turn 40 that you do when they turn 50, so when will all of that end? when will people just talk to us about our accomplishments?

>> in a funny way, michelle obama is not every woman. she is the first lady of the united states. part of the fact that everybody is making a big deal, it's almost evidence of how well her strategy has worked as first lady. she has maintained a high profile and a low pry file. her celebrity is unavoidable. i'm the mom and chief. i'm not involved in administration issues. i don't want to cause controversy or negative headlines. there is no topic that is safer in many ways than turning 50 and the fact she has got everybody to pay attention to it or the fact that people are naturally focusing on it is kind of a triumph as to somehhow she is conducting her strategy. >> i will talk about style, i will. looking at her style, she is age appropriate but she is modern.

she is certainly not the housewives of new york or atlanta or wherever where women over 50 appear in itty-bitty bikinis and bling and have some 25-year-old guy on their arm. most women i know are not like that. this is more the real woman of 50, i would say, michelle obama. >> you used the right word. she is very modern and chic. she has this ability to seem very glamorous but attain believe at the same time. i wouldn't say she was every woman and earthy. she has got this easy glamour in the way she dresses up and down and mixes and matches and surprises and uses a diverse designer pool is really speaking to her. she starts trends that aren't silly but they also aren't so

elite that all women. every woman got a cardigan and could put a belt around their sheath dress. she made comments that are attainable. >> it is hard to look effortless. it takes a lot of work to appear effortless. >> her legacy. that is a big part of her legacy. it is not something she talks a lot about. we are still a country that marketed barbie dolls to the world. part of her unspoken message as first lady is that you do not have to be a blonde size 4 to be very beautiful. she is 50 and will soon be over the age of 50. you don't have to be young to be very beautiful.

>> when people say about older women. helen mirren. people say, she looks so great at 50. why don't they just say she looks beautiful, period. >> i think michelle obama's biggest legacy is this new image that she is expanding this narrow narrative of what an american woman looks like. what does an american beauty that she has stature and substance and hips and lips and black from a distance and her hair changes. these things are new to this level of celebrity. i'm also turning 50 this year. so this is a big deal for me as well to talk about it with ease. 50-year-old women remind people that people age. often, this is the time that we're supposed to not say who we

are and not say how old we are and not be proud of this big juicy life we get to celebrate now. it is kind of a big deal that she is making america talk about what it looks like and what are the responsibilities for women at 50. they look exciting if we are looking at her. >> thank you so much, micayla angela davis and jody cantor. i appreciate the conversation this morning. >> thank you. happy birthday micayla. >> it is coming, not yet. thanks. by, jody. >> we'll be back in a minute. if you're seeing spots before your eyes, it's time

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and caused about $20 million in direct losses. odds are a bigger, more damaging, more deadly quake is coming. lurking in the desert east of l.a., the san andreas fault overdue for the so-called big one by about 150 years. is this the type of quake that you worry most about happening sometime in the near future? >> yeah. we worry about this kind of scenario. it would be a major disaster for the nation. it would be like having north ridge here and north ridge here and north ridge here. >> it took scientists about an hour to figure out the quake's epicenter. >> you have significantly more information in your pocket now in the cell phone than we had in 1994. >> reporter: they only had a handful of gps mapping information. now, there are hundreds. that's critical in deciding

where to deploy emergency resources. >> the north ridge earthquake occurred on a blind thrust fault. >> reporter: this is one they didn't know existed. many more have been discovered, including one under downtown los angeles. >> reporter: it could be as large as a 7 or a 7.5 and extremely destructive. >> reporter: if you saw the 1974 movie, "earthquake" you get the idea. building codes are stricker so you might not see skyscrapers topple. >> reporter: there has been an extensive public education campaign to show people just how dangerous earthquakes can be. part of that is this earthquake sim mu lay tore which attempts to replicate a quake much stronger than the north ridge quake to show that most of the danger is from objects falling, not from buildings collapsing.

>> reporter: ready america sells earthquake preparedness kits. it booms after north ridge. >> fema tells us they are not going to be there for the first three days or longer. you need to be able to take care of yourself. >> reporter: in the works and early warning system which could give a minute's notice to the earthquake, allowing trains to be slowed and surgeries stopped. >> every other country got earthquake early warning because of a damaging earthquake that killed a lot of people. are are the best advice remains like it was in 1994, drop, cover, and hold on. casey wians, cnn los angeles we are minutes away from president obama's unveiling of changes to the nsa spying program. you see all the reporters waiting. a preview from washington for you next. fore your eyes, it's te for aveeno® positively radiant face moisturizer. [ female announcer ] aveeno® with soy helps reduce the look of brown spots

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good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks so much for joining me. in just about half on hour, president obama will unveil reforms to the nsa. the spy organization and the nsa came under heavy scrutiny after leaked documents showed the agency collected data on phone calls and e-mails both here and

abroad. our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta joins us now with a preview of what the president might say. good morning. >> good morning, carol. about 30 minutes from now, you are going to hear the president come out over at the justice department and lay out these reforms for what he would like to see take place in terms of changes at the national security agency. carol, as we know, we have been reporting all morning what some of the changes will be like. i wanted to direct you if i could to that live shot of where the president will be delivering that speech inside the justice department. we understand the director of national intelligence, james clapper, the director of the cia, john brennan, and congressman, peter king, who has been very much involved on this issue, have all been spotted in the audience, milling around in that area. carol, getting back to some of these changes we have been talking about this all morning. i think these are significant changes happening over at the nsa. the president, from what we

understand, by talking to senior administration officials, he is going to be looking for ways to hold that bulk phone meta data collected at the national security agency, that that data be held somewhere outside of government hands. the administration has laid out where that might take place. that absence of that information might indicate to you, carol, that they are going to need some time to develop that in terms of where that data may be stored over the long-haul. also, another big, significant development will have to go to a federal surveillance court. when they go to that surveillance court, there will be a new person on hand for those proceedings, a privacy advocate to represent the privacy concerns of everyday americans. also, one thing we do know from talking to administration officials, and they have been

talking about this for some time, hinting at it for some time, they are going to be scaling back their surveillance of foreign leaders or heads of state as they call them. a the lot are saying the president is punting these issues. these are some changes that are going to be happening at the nsa that you are going to hear the president talk about in about 30 minutes from now. >> thanks for the preview live from the white house. i want to bring in wolf blit sdwle blitzer. >> i just interviewed the former secretary of defense that said any change of the law in regards to the nsa would endanger the country. >> the president obviously is going to disagree to that. he will make some significant changes. clearly, they won't go far enough from those upset about the privacy violations. on the other hand, it can't go too fa are from those that say any of these changes are going to undermine u.s. national security. he is going to try to find the fine line where you can make

some reforms without undermining national security. you see some proposed changes he has in mind. to revamp programs. former court approval before going in and reviewing the data that's been collected. find a way. this is an important point, carol, find a way to have this data stored outside of the nsa but in an area where the government can quickly get to it if they deem there is a national security requirement. if, for example, they see a phone number of a suspected terrorist some place overseas, somalia or some place else, that call was made to somebody in the united states. they want to go to the fisa court, get permission, find out who the recipient of the call is and presumably, if if there is a

terrorist threat, work on that front. it is very complicated, very complex. even the president, i think, has shifted, has moved over these past six months since the initial snowden leaks to an area where i think he is going to want to see some more transparency and greater protection of privacy. >> the president is doing this because of edward snowden, who is still a wanted man and the president wants to file criminal charges against him. it seems odd. >> those charges have been filed. he is a wanted man. if he comes back to the united states, brought back to the united states, there is going to be a trial and he could serve many, many years in prison unless there is some sort of clemency or plea bargain or whatever. i don't rule out those possibilities but he has been charged. he has major charges he is facing right now. he has the protection of the russians and maybe at some point, he will get the protection of some other foreign government we know. he would like to go to brazil, for example. the u.s. would like to get snowden to so many in the

national security area. he is considered a trader, someone who betrayed national security secrets, secrets that he had sworn to protect. someone that has sparked this debate. i don't think there is any doubt if it hadn't been for snowden, we probably wouldn't be hearing from the president with these kind of changes. it is just one of those ironic points you point out. >> wolf blitzer, at the top of the hour, thanks so much. stay with us. our special coverage of the president's announcement anchored by wolf starts in 20 minutes. we'll be back in a minute.

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i'm wolf blitzer, this is cnn it's one of the largest and most well-known independence film festivals in the united states. the sundance film festival kicks off this weekend, celebrating its 30th birthday. among the more than 100 films preceding is rich hill, three boys navigating the rode from boyhood to adolescence in a small missouri down. >> people think we are poor around here but definition of poor is no roof, no lights, no watt watter, no food. we have lights, a roof, money wechlt are not poor. >> miguel marquez is live with the makers of "rich hill" from

park city, utah. it sounds like a fascinating film, specially in today's world. >> we are actually at the cnn film's lounge which will be the hottest place, at 8:30 in the morning. later on, it will be very cool. i have two filmmakers in competition. 16 documentaries were selected out of thousands of films. "rich hill" is one of them, a very eintimate of the wrong sid of the tracks. >> who are these characters? >> andrew, harley and apache, young kids coming of age. they are like a lot of american kids but struggling to survive. >> it is hard to watch at times but you also feel it is emotional. you feel for them an you feel a little hope at the end. what's the takeaway? you guys worked two years on this film. what did you take away? what did you come away with?

>> for us, how much love is in these homes despite having so little. i found that beautiful and touching and continually surprising throughout production. >> the other thing that's amazing is that these individuals are coming here to sundance. first premier of this film is sunday night. they are coming here. >> he why, they are. >> what is that like? >> they are really, really, really excited about it. super excited. this is the first time they have been on airplanes. it will be an experience. we are also trying to be sensitive to it. i think it might be very shocking, what they see here. it is shocking for any of us. >> two years to make this documentary? >> yes. >> that's a labor of love? >> tracy and i are first cousins. we wanted to go to our hometown, our family's hometown. that was two years ago when we first met apache and have followed him since then. it has been a passion for us. >> it is also a very personal story for you both.

>> absolutely. >> thank you very much. >> very good luck to you. >> thank you very much. carol, they are one of 16 in thousands of films submitted for entry. >> don't let them go, because i would like to ask them one more question. i hope you can pass it along. >> carol has a question for you all. >> i was struck by the boy's definition of poor. poor has become sort of a dirty word in in country. people don't like to admit that they are poor but we have a big problem with being poor in america right now. what is that? can you ask them to talk about that? what is their their definition of poor? andrew, when he talks about being poor and the definition of poor, it reminds me of lbj and the war on poverty. what did you come away with on what is poverty in america?

>> that's a hard question to answer. >> how did they define it and why does he not see himself as poor? >> i think poverty in america doesn't look like it did 50 years ago. one thing we've noticed is that our kids, our subjects really look like every other kid at the high scale. they were very much able to blend in. there is some shame about not having as much as everybody else. when you are in america, you see it is the land of plenty and there is media and what everybody else has. when you go into the homes, they don't have very much. they have very, very, very little. that's where you can really see the circumstances and the challenges and that's when we really found the direction of our film, was in going into the homes and seeing how hard it was. >> it is that veil that you cannot pierce. we see it as we drive by on the freeway but we can not see it. you guys, because you are from that town, because it is such a personal story, you got in. it is an amazing film. if you don't see it here, you

will see it somewhere very soon in months to come. rich hill, many other great films here at sundance. >> thanks so much, miguel. i appreciate that. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ so you can get out of your element. so you can explore a new frontier and a different discipline. get two times the points on travel and dining at restaurants from chase sapphire preferred. so you can be inspired by great food once again. chase sapphire preferred. so you can.

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forget google glass, the tech company has just announced

it is testing contact lenses, not to make you see better or connect your eyes to the internet but to help people with diabetes monitor their blood sugar levels. this is amazing. joining us to discuss this is brett larson. he is the host of tech bikes. hugh would this work? >> it is kind of fascinating. it is a contact lens that has censors on it that detect the glucose levels in your tears. it means no more pinpricks on the finger to check the glucose levels or the constant need to find out how much insulin that they need to inject themselves with throughout the day. >> how does it -- it doesn't have a battery. how would it charge up? >> right. unfortunately, you don't need to stand next to a wall outlet all day and power this thing up. it has type any little dots you can see right there, those two

little censors. one is the power supply. we are assuming when it sits overnight or when is cleaned, it charges up. you can see the censor. the ring around your eye is going to act as an antenna. it is going to transmit whatever this is picking up, the data, from the tears, finding out about your glucose levels. it is going to have a tiny amount of power on it. what's nas nating is it may be able to work without a whole lot of power. it cob a matter of the materials changing how they reflex or respond. >> how do you get the results? how are they recorded and where can you see them? >> in one instance, it would transmit that information.

we could say it would go to a censor you wear on your belt or an app you have running on your smartphone. in another instance, they are talking about putting tiny little leds inside the contact lens so that it can change color depending on your glucose level. this is very fascinating, a little fridayening that we aght going to put this into your eye. >> what a great way for google to expand its business, right? >> absolutely. we have heard a lot about google. they just purchased nest. they want to get into our homes. the google glass has been sort of luke-warmly received. something like this, they are going to go into the medical field, which is huge. i think there is also going to be a lot of other applications that we could use for this. imagine if we could wear a contact lens or put a contact lens into a senior patient who is at a stroke risk or at a risk for heart attack where it could still have that same ability to sense what's going on in their

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i want to thank you for joining me. i'm carol costello. we are minutes away from president obama and his unveiling of limits on nsa surveillance. we are going to carry it live. i will hand it over to wolf blitzer to start our special coverage. take it away, wolf. >> thanks very much. >>. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer here in washington. we have important news we are following right now. we have all of our reporters standing by. this is an important day here in the nation's capital because the president of the united states only moments from now is about to deliver a major speech on privacy, diplomacy, politics, and technology. most of all, on national security. six months after edward snowden shocked the world with his secrets, he exposed u.s. government surveillance, president obama is now unveiling reforms aimed at four key audiences, the u.s. intelligence

community, a vocal and bipartisan coalition of privacy defenders in congress. foreign leaders who found themselves the subject of nsa surveillance and technology companies that feel pressured, compromised and violated by u.s. demands. a senior administration official says this morning that the president plans to require the nsa to get approval from the secret intelligence court to access what is called meta data on american's fell cotelephone the times, numbers and duration but not the content. at some point, the president will require that data be transferred out of government hands. i want to bring in our chief national security adviser. jim acosta, explain why he selected the justice department

to deliver important reform proposals to nas surveillance. >> a couple of reasons why. the president wants to send a couple of messages, about law and order and national security. in addition to these reforms, he is also going to present a stout defense of these programs in terms of what they do for the american people, that they do provide national security for the united states, not only to americans domestically but around the world, that these programs are also necessary to protect u.s. allies. i think you are going to hear the president talk about that. he is also in addition going to talk about how technology is advancing so quickly and we've seen that in these disclosures from edward snowden. that is now time for reform. that is why the president is moving forward with these proposals. the other reason he is there is to tip his hat to these privacy concerns that you just talked about. the administration has been telling us for several days that the president believes that a part of a national security is

that people feel secure in terms of their own privacy. you are going to hear a nod to that as well. as you mentioned, these reforms that the president is going to talk about, yes, he is going to talk about the need to store that bulk phone metadata at an outside of government location. it will be interesting to hear how the president addresses that. at this point, the phone companies, the carriers have been saying we don't want that data, we don't want the liability fordata. they have to take information as to where that collection will be held. for now, all practical matters, that this data will stay at the national security agency. when the nsa wants to access that data, keep in mind, they are going to continue to collect that. when they want to access that data, they are going to go to

the federal surveillance court. that is something that did not exist before, wolf? >> the president has until the end of march to go ahead and find out where that data will be stored. jim shuto, you are watching what is going on. is this likely to help the critics like edward snowden? >> it is my information they were debating some of these key issues up until the final hours. it does look like the president is accepting judicial review for the searches and, two, they recommended moving that data out of government hands. he has punted on the most difficult question, which is where do you put it? telephone companies don't want it. do you create a third entity? that's going to be a difficult question to answer. a final thing for our viewers, at the end of the day, this meta

data will still be collected. when needed, when they determine there is a national security interest, they are still going to be able to do that. that's just something that needs to be made clear. it is a change. it is a step forward but will that satisfy some of the most severe critics? i don't think so. >> we have seen a significant shift in the president over these past many years. one stance he was very concerned about privacy violations when he was a united states senator from illinois. then, when the snowden leaks emerged, very protective, very defensive, saying everything was done legally. this is necessary to protect america and avoid another 9/11. now, over the past six months, shifting, saying there has to be some greater privacy protections. presidents evolve, as barack obama himself might say. if you watch the