one. and an attempt to appreciate the anxiety and what they want. often they want recognition of some sort. i remember when we got out of syria, and made the appeal at that time to president assad, we brought him back to the white house and president reagan said, what can i do for you, reverend jackson? call mr. assad and say thanks, which is not our policy. he called him, he said thanks and they never stopped talking. a break through of releasing in a prisoner camp can lend itself to peace. >> all right. reverend jackson, terri chung, thank you. i now turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >> jake, thank you. happening now, an accused terrorist being captured. the dramatic pictures as the u.s. wages a separate attack that would put an american on its kill list.

plus, new subpoenas in the chris christie scandal that could happen at any moment as investigators pounce on a new report called bridgegate and what the governor may have known. and snow jam alert. atlanta is bracing for another winter storm two weeks after the embarrassing traffic debacle. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." it's like a scene out of homeland. elite u.s. forces nabbing an alleged al qaeda terrorist on the street in a matter of seconds. this is amid a new debate within the administration about the terror fighting tactics. the key question right now, should the united states kill, kill an american citizen who may be plotting an attack right now against the united states? our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is covering these new developments. what's the latest, barbara? >> wolf, let's get right to it.

we're getting a very inside look at how the u.s. is going after some of the most critical terrorists facing the united states. in this dramatic newly released security camera footage obtained by "the washington post," a van pulls up next to a vehicle on the streets of tripoli, libya, last october. watch as u.s. army delta force commanders jump out and grab an alleged al qaeda operative. in seconds, the suspect is captured. the usual option, drone strikes. right now inside the obama administration, discussions are under way about launching a military drone to kill a specific american citizen overseas affiliated with al qaeda who the u.s. believes is a threat. the story was first reported by the associated press. no one will say who the person

is or where they are hiding. >> the administration's argument is that this is an individual that is playing an important role in an armed group could be ducting hostilities and limited to just this way they can't capture them, they can't get the local government to involve itself and so, therefore, this is the only option left. >> in 2011, a u.s. drone over yemen targeted and killed american-born cleric anwar al awlaki, a major figure in al qaeda. u.s. drones have killed three americans overseas, including you a awlaki's teenage son, who his family says had no al qaeda ties. president obama has made it clear he will go after americans if the threat is justified. >> his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected by a s.w.a.t. team.

>> opponents are not persuaded. >> this debate going on within the administration is a debate that's based on secret evidence, secret laws, secret interpretations of laws, being hidden by court, from congress, from the american people. >> there are a number of american citizens fighting overseas with terrorist groups in somalia, yemen, and pakistan. but if the u.s. wants to go after an american citizen, they have to make a legal case to do it and they will notify cross they were told. >> policies involving the u.s. drone strike as well, many of those unmanned attacks involve mobile phone information from the nsa. that's not necessarily all that dependable. our chief national correspondent jim sciutto is here. what are you learning? >> this goes right to the core of the drone program, as to how

targets are selected, glenn greenwald quotes a former drone operator saying that these targets are chosen really by metadata analysis and phone tracking rather than human intelligence on the ground. his reporting partner, jeremy scahill called it, quote, death by metadata and what this does is encompasses two of the programs that obama has expanded while in office and he's had a backtrack on mass surveillance. >> jim sciutto, thanks very much. let's talk about the u.s. drone policy and whether it's ethical to target u.s. citizens with these drone strikes. we're joined by jameel and alan

dershowitz. there's no due process, the only information is reliable but then you go ahead and order a drone strike to kell an american citizen. is that right? >> well, there's much debate about whether or not we should be using drones, how we gather the information to determine whether somebody is a combatant but the one thing that shouldn't be part of the debate is whether the person who is a combatant who is trying to kill americans and can't be captured on the ground is an american. that's just a kind of bigotry. if he's subject to under the laws of the war, he shouldn't be shielded from response. we've killed americans in every

war that we've fought. many in the second world war. we don't ask them to wear identifying features as to whether they are americans. once they've decided to become combatants against us, they have lost their rights and if we can capture them legitimately, we should. but we have to put them out of business. once we determine that, citizenship should be utterly and completely irrelevant. >> go ahead and respond. >> it's difficult to have this debate in abstract. professor dershowitz that this person has engaged in military activity against the united states, that he's planning attacks. but the truth is, we don't know anything about this person. we don't know his name or what even country he's in. i think if the government is engaged in killing its own citizens, it has an obligation to say more than it said. we should know what the evidence and legal theory is.

ordinary narrowly you'd have a trial, an indictment. and the judge or jury will decide whether it's sufficient. but what we're talking about here is not just an extra judicial killing but one spro surrounded by seek credit cease. >> professor dershowitz? >> all of that is true of people who are not citizens as well and limit these rights to people who have been born in america. we have to be careful about who we killed. >> one at a time, professor derk

wits, go ahead. >> the aclu's position, both in court and out of court between citizens and noncitizens. i think we have to have the same rules for citizens and noncitizens. you call them extra judicial killings. we would all prefer to bring these people to trial if we could. but would you subject ten american soldiers to the risk of death in order to arrest somebody who is a combatant if we can kill them without risking any death at all in what do you say to that? >> i think that professor misunderstands the aclu's position. we don't think we should be killing anybody. we think that the government should disclose more information about the targeted killing program. if the government is engaged in this kind of activity far away from any conventional battlefield, it should disclose who it is killing and why it is killing them. it's a very simple position. >> why do you go to court and distinguish between american citizens and noncitizens? that has been your position from

the very beginning. >> i'm not sure what you're talking about. >> one at a time, please. >> so let me ask you the question directly. do you distinguish between the rights of u.s. citizens in the drone war and the rights of people who are nonu.s. citizens? do you make any distinctions? >> of course not. everybody has the same rights under international law. there's a question as to who can get into an american court but we don't make that distinction. the bottom line is everybody has the same rights under international law. they have the right not to be killed based on secret evidence, on secret law, and our position from the beginning has been that the government should release more information. you know, what we have here is a group of bureaucrats meeting behind closed doors to decide who should live and who should die and that's got to be offensive to anyone who cares about civil liberties. >> remember -- >> they use their power wisely

and this power will be in the hands of the next administration and the administration after that and you have to make sure that there are limits and safeguards in place so that the powers are used wisely and only in circumstances in which there is no other option. >> professor dershowitz -- i'll let you respond but the attorney general alberto gonzales has written a legal argument saying this should go to the u.s. supreme court. there has got to be checks and balances on the decision to go ahead and use these drone strikes against u.s. citizens or non-u.s. citizens. >> he makes a very good point. i don't necessarily disagree with that. remember, the constitution gives congress the power to declare war. it declares that we are killing lots and lots of people. when japan bombed pearl harbor, we didn't have to go to court.

we didn't have to provide information. we're fighting a different kind of war now and one that the aclu should be pressing to debate, one that i've been writing about in my books for 40 years is how do you fight these kinds of wars when our enemies hide among civilians, hide in countries where they are not accessible, hide where we can't use conventional warfare. we need to adapt the rules of war to the new realities of the dangers facing america. that's the debate we should be having. >> jim, i'm going to give you the last word. go ahead. >> i don't think we should treat the whole world like a battlefield. the united states is at war with afghanistan. it's not other places where it's carrying out targeted killings. the government can't use wartime authority in places in which the government is not at war. >> all right. we've got to leave it there, guys. obviously this debate is going to continue.

jameel and alan, guys, thanks very much. before we go from this segment, i want to bring back our national security correspondent jim sciutto. i want to make sure that we heard from you correctly about the nsa, the white house, about these allegations that the drone targeting uses cell phones, metadata. what is going on there s? >> it's based on intelligence rather than human intelligence on the ground. they said that for obvious reasons why they can't comment on specific intelligence methods, they do make this point very strongly. our assessments are not based on a single piece of information, that we gather information from a variety of sources and methods. they also pointed, wolf, to a speech by the president last may when he talks about drone strikes as they relate to civilians and he said that we have to have mere certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. the highest standard that we can

set. pushing very hard on this. >> if there's no doubt the drone strikes have escalated since president obama took office from the bush administration. >> absolutely. both of these programs inherited from the bush administration nsa surveillance and drone strikes both expanded under obama. >> jim sciutto, thanks very much for that update. olympic security in the winter olympic games from a member of the u.s. delegation and past olympian himself. brian boitano is back in the united states from sochi. he's standing by live and we'll discuss. cnn investigations is on the ground asking serious questions about the safety of west virginia's water. we've been on the story from the very start. there are disturbing new developments. [announcer] word is getting out.

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terror threats and fears about the safety of the athletes and the fans, horror stories about the hotel rooms. these were some of the storylines emerging from the sochi winter games before the games even started. what's it like actually on the ground? joining us now is the former olympic gold medalist brian boitano. he was part of the delegation to sochi. he's just now back and he's in new york. what was it like on the security front? were you scared? did they seem prepared? what was it like? >> you know, i was a little bit nervous going in but i knew that it was definitely the ioc, the

russian as americans were looking after it so i knew we'd be taken care of. there was official security and russian bodyguards so we traveled everywhere with that and when we go to the venues, i had a ring of security to go into the main venues and that -- from what i understand, took a lot of time for people who just had tickets to get through it. it took close to an hour to get through that. but once you got through that, all of the different venues were within that ring. if you planned out your whole day, you could stay within the ring and go from different venue and see different sports. >> so basically, what you were saying, as you were a member of the official u.s. delegation, you had special status, special security, not necessarily what others were getting. what about the athletes? because they have to focus on winning their specific competition. do you think that worrying about security may have played games with their minds and stuff like that? >> you know, i don't think so. and i think that probably the

safest place to be was inside the olympic village because, from what i understand, it was a fortress. and i think when you're an elite-level athlete and you're focusing on the task at hand of representing your country and going for a medal, everything else outside of your bubble doesn't really exist. so i can safely say that probably the athletes were just concentrating on their -- you know, their games or their events and not really too concerned with the safety. >> so was sochi ready? you participated in the winter olympic games in sarjevo. was the town ready for all of these people? >> the town -- it seemed like sochi was ready. there were no cars on the street other than official transport vehicles. from what i understand, the rest of the city was asked not to drive or was told that they couldn't drive.

so transportation was really great. it seemed like there weren't a lot of people there yet and the audience members -- i went to five different events and it seemed like the people in the audience were russians mostly. you didn't see a lot of travelers from other countries, at least i didn't. but it seemed -- the transportation was really great and for all the talk about security, it seemed like the security was really high. >> you're back in new york now. i'm sort of surprised you didn't want to stay for the games and watch all of the competition? >> i did. but i needed to come back with the delegation. we went for four days and it was a great delegation to be a part of and i had to catch a ride back with them. >> what about discrimination against gays in russia? that was a big issue going in as well given the anti-gay propaganda going on.

what did you experience, if anything, along those lines? >> i sort of put my privacy aside and came out to support the president's message of intolerance and be on the delegation and i love the platform, i loved the message that we were sending. i got a really good feeling from people there. we did a press conference the first day that was an international press conference. we had liberal russian media there and people from all over the world. they asked great questions and i felt complete support there. >> brian boitano, thank for representing the united states and getting that gold medal when you did. you were a gold medalist at the winter olympic games. we appreciate you joining us here in "the situation room." >> thanks, wolf. good seeing you. coming up, we're trying to track down the head of the company behind the west virginia water leak and crisis. officials are failing to fully answer the question, is the water safe? and a new question being investigated in the new jersey

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members of congress are on west virginia today and investigating the safety of the water supply after the dangerous chemical leak. they are running into serious problems that the west virginians themselves have had for a month now. no one seems to know. cnn investigations drew griffin is in charleston, west virginia. he's there on the scene investigating. what are you finding out, drew? >> reporter: you know, wolf, there is a criminal investigates going on, a federal investigation to find out what happened, why this disaster happened and who is responsible. really, all of that is down the road for the people who live here. they want to know one thing, is this water safe. it has now been more than a month and in parking lots across charleston you can see the trust in the water supply. >> maybe it's safe. >> reporter: maybe? >> maybe. i'm not --

>> reporter: armed with as many empty jugs as they can find, people rely on the water trucked in, avoiding the water that comes from their taps. >> i'm not drinking it or using it. >> reporter: and today they have good reason to have their doubts. at a u.s. house subcommittee hearing held in charleston, west virginia congresswoman asked one question and got no answer. >> is the water safe to drink? >> as a water company, we don't set the safe standards but we are in compliance with all of the standards set by the agencies, like the cdc. >> i would still like to hear if it's safe. dr. tierney, is it safe to drink? >> it's difficult to say because everyone has a different definition of safe. >> would you drink the water? >> what i would say is -- >> reporter: chairman of the u.s. chemical safety board says the reason he can't say if the

water is safe is no one has really ever tested this chemical. you can't scientifically say if that is safe short term or long term, et cetera? >> not really. the cdc is saying and i agree that it should be nothing in the water, period, of this chemical. to be able to say at which level it is going to be safe or unsafe, we don't have any data. >> reporter: so are we being kind of told, well, i'm using the water because there is no alternative. freedom industries, the company whose tank called this disaster, was a no-show at the hearing. >> he's at a meeting right now. >> reporter: the president, gary southern, according to his attorney, was on the job today and too busy focusing on the clean-up of the leaking tank to spend time at a congressional hearing. they are now draining all of the tanks here and as they do they are pumping this out and you can

really smell that licorice smell, the tell-tale signature of this chemical mchm. it is a smell still being reported in homes across this area. with no science to tell them otherwise, the smell test is what people are using to judge the safety of their water. >> it's not safe. i don't care what they say. >> reporter: wolf, the water sampling has been going on since day one. it is showing very, very trace amounts of this chemical that is still left in the water. safe according to cdc standards but you heard from the scientists, you don't know if those standards are correct or not and right now people can smell it so they are not using it. >> what about for taking a bath or a shower? >> reporter: yeah, they won't do it. a lot of people are just staying away. they don't trust what they are being told and when you see those kinds of wishy-washy answers from state and federal

officials, they are getting no comment as to whether it's long term or short-term dangerous for them. >> especially when you can smell it. drew is on the ground continuing to monitor this situation. thank you. other news we're following, including some new subpoenas could be issued at any moment in the new jersey bridgegate scandal. possible republican presidential hopeful chris christie, chris fraits is joining us. talk about helicopters. what is the latest? >> wolf, i'll tell you, they came out from behind closed doors and it's the first meeting since they formed and people th subpoenaed but some key players are fighting the request and today the committee rejected the argument, basically doubling down and demanding things like e-mails and phone records and the committee will issue a dozen new subpoenas. the new batch will widen the investigation and include people

who have not been subpoenaed before. >> also some questions about the governor and his use of helicopters. >> well, that's right. i mean, lawmakers are looking into whether the governor flew over the george washington bridge when the lanes were closed last september. lawmakers are also interested in whether david wildstein was on board the helicopter. he's the former port authority official who is accused of closing the lanes. now, a spokesman for christie tells cnn, quote, the governor used the helicopter to travel from new york to trenton following the 9/11 ceremony and he went on to debunk the notion that wildstein ever got a ride in the governor's chopper saying, quote, "david wildstein did not ride with him that day or any day as he has never flown in the helicopter with the governor." >> so where was the governor from new york to trenton but we don't know if he actually flew over the george washington bridge. is that right? >> that's right. it showed half a dozen flights to meetings and events but the

question the governor's office didn't answer is whether any of those flights went over the gorge washington bridge and lawmakers would certainly be interested in knowing that as they examine what the governor knew and when he knew it, wolf. >> this investigation is, by no means over. probably just beginning. chris, thanks very much. up next, do you trust that the gop is trying a new tactic hammering away at president obama and his trustworthiness. and inside the mind of hillary clinton. we have new letters during the lewinsky letter that give us some insight and may shakeup her potential presidential candidacy. we'll explain when we come back. no matter how busy your morning you can always do something better for yourself.

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i did not have sexual relations with that woman miss lewinsky. >> 16 years after then president bill clinton said those infamous words, the monica lewinsky scandal is coming back to haunt him and his wife's likely 2016 presidential bid. we're now learning more about hillary clinton's response to the scandal as it was unfolding in the newly revealed archives of her close friend diane blair. among other things, blair claims that hillary described her as a narcissistic looney toon and her husband's decision was due to personal attacks by adversaries. joining me is gloria borger and peter hamby. who would think that we'd be talking about this. >> i feel like i'm living in a

time capsule. it's 16 years ago. you were, what, high school? i don't want to talk about it. but we were covering this, wolf, and it's sort of a reminder of the clinton fatigue that we've all gone through that perhaps another generation has yet to go through but will go through but it's also a signal that anything is fair game and that lewinsky will be brought up against, rand paul has been doing bringing it up against hillary clinton. i think the strategy may work with the republican base but not with democrats. >> one thing i would say is in the memo from the '92 campaign, they raise this notion that voters are troubled by two presidents in the white house and they are saying that hillary clinton as a very strong first lady may turn voters off. that's one thing. as we look ahead to 2016, you get two for one. they were saying that could be a problem. that came up a little bit in 2008. >> that's right.

but you look at bill clinton's popularity, it's at the 60% level. it's not as if bill clinton remained unpopular in any way, shape, or form. and what was interesting to me about this, in reading through the reporting on this, was that hillary clinton's discussion with her girlfriend, which was what it was -- >> diane blair. >> diane blair. and this is interesting to me as a woman, is that she seemed to take a lot of the blame for bill clinton's personal lapses. she didn't excuse him at all but at one point she thinks she was not smart enough, not free enough of her own concerns struggles to realize the price he was paying and what united them was their enemies, you know, and that's when she came out with the right-wing conspiracy. >> i don't think there's any doubt, though, that we're talking about this in part because senator rand paul and his wife have made it an issue over these past several days. >> that's absolutely right. when i was in texas with rand paul on friday, i asked him about this.

he's pretty upfront about it. he says, look, i'm talking about this because democrats are talking about the war on women and there's a fund-raiser in kentucky with bill clinton, his home state. so he was saying that democratics should give money back to bill clinton and also beyond talking to the base and helping his numbers with republicans, he's really injecting this notion of the past that the clintons are kind of old news into the new cycle again. he's done it over and over again reminding voters do we really want to go back to this. >> i think he's burnishing his brand, also. when you talk to people who work with rand paul, they are saying that he wants to be known as the fighter so he's willing not only to take on hillary clinton but also bill clinton and of course that works -- >> and what he does so well, again, he has this sort of laid back demeanor but it works really well.

mike huckabee was sort of like this. he would twist the knife and do it with a small. rand paul does this, too. it's intriguing to watch. >> it's effective with the republican base. the question is, if he were to get the republican nomination, would that be effective in a general election? >> no. particularly because there's a lot of nuance involved. he always says i'm careful not to blame hillary clinton for her husband's problems but when you look at the gender gap that republicans have had in the last presidential, 11 points, 36 points with younger women, i think this nuance could get lost and it looks like he's blaming her for bill clinton's -- >> i don't think this is going to be going to the polls and voting on it. >> exactly. >> however, in this moment where hillary clinton is not a candidate, she may or may not run -- >> right. >> -- there are still a lot of options for hillary clinton news. rand paul is filling the vacuum for that and they are not engaging him on these stories. when you e-mail them, they don't really respond. >> let's talk about this whole

republican effort now to raise questions about the trustworthiness of the president of the united states. listen to this. the republicans are hammering away. >> there's widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws. >> i think there is a real trust deficit right now that the speaker is facing. >> there is a great deal of skepticism and concern. the president changed on immigration before. >> americans have lost the trust in this president to faithfully carry out the laws. >> a sense of theme there. >> someone got the trust memo on that one. there is this trust deficit. take a look at this number. if you look at the last seven months or so, since november of 2013, you see that obama considered honest and trustworthy was 46. just in may, 58%. that has a lot to do with

obamacare and the problems that they've had since the president said, if you like your health care, you can keep your health care. and so this is the only thing republicans actually agree on these days, wolf, because they are all over the lot on immigration and so here they can all say, look, we agree, you should not trust the president. >> and the decision on the employer mandate only helps reinforce that. >> they are delaying it at least for some of the employers. that's coming up later. guys, thanks very much. just ahead, a potentially very awkward dinner awaiting president obama. tonight he and the first lady sit down with the french president. who is here? the president of france is here alone amid reports he's been having an affair. stand by. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right.

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it's always been a big deal when the french president comes to washington, but there's an extra level of intrigue this time. the president francois hollande is here alone after splitting with his significant other, and there are rumors he was having an affair. our senior political correspondent brianna keilar is joining us from the white house. set the scene for us. these are substantive meetings but there's also a state dinner. >> reporter: and there's also a little bit of a scandal here that's coming along with french president francois hollande because he is here in the u.s. without a date, wolf. his recent split from his longtime partner who was france's first lady, has caused headlines around the world and they're following him here to the white house. a glimpse of the setup for the first state dinner in nearly two

years. chefs will prepare other-worldly salads, elaborate desserts and the entertainment for the night -- ♪ tonight >> reporter: mary j. blige performing for 350 guests. but this dinner will also be remembered for its awkwardness. scandal plagued french president francois hollande comes to washington with a lot of baggage and without this woman, valerie trierweiler who until last month was france's first lady. never married, the couple of seven years split after a french magazine said it caught hollande sneaking out of the palace on a scooter for a secret rendezvous with actress julie gaye. the affair hollande follows him to the u.s.

lending unusual intrigue to a high profile white house visit. 300 dinner invitations engraved with the former first lady's name had to be scrapped according to "the new york times." and normally she would sit next to president obama. so what now? the updated seating arrangement is not yet public, but sources tell cnn the white house and french officials would have coordinated on a solution. >> you have o be flexible. you have to be prepared. and you just sort of change course. >> reporter: social secretary during the clinton administration and until last year chief of protocol at the state department. >> most spouses play a role in the social aspect of the visit. they may accompany our first lady to see an issue that she particularly cares about. >> reporter: but other than that the hard work is really happening between the two leaders. and to that point, wolf, the white house is really downplaying any adjustments that have been made, focussing instead on the substance rather

than the state dinner. france is, after all, a top u.s. ally. there are important issues for the president to discuss, syria and iran. it does appear that foreign affairs seem to have been overshadowed by affairs of the heart. >> yep, certainly good point. thanks very much. coming up two weeks after a snowstorm paralyzed atlanta and embarrassed government officials another round of wintry weather is descending in the southeast. will they be ready this time? juy the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪

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rights struggles of the 1960s and the fight for marriage equality, but there's still a long way to go. critics of this new policy is saying once again the administration is headed in the wrong direction. holder called equality for gays and lesbians a defining civil rights challenge of our time. >> as attorney general, i will never let this department be simply a bystander during this important moment in history. we will act. >> reporter: holder's new policy issued in a justice department memo gives same-sex couples equal standing with straight couples in federal legal matters including bankruptcy, the privilege not to testify against a spouse, prisoners visitation and next of kin notification rights. death benefits for police officers killed in the line of duty. the memo is a message to justice department employees. >> they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, the same protections and the same rights

as opposite sex marriages under federal law. >> reporter: the supreme court struck down part of the law that refused to recognize same-sex marriages. since then equality supporters have been waiting for the government to rejigger enforcement of about 1200 laws that treated straight couples dirtily th differently than gay couples. >> a radically different environment for married same-sex couples than it was eight months ago. >> reporter: though nationwide same-sex marriage is legal only in 17 states, 33 states either ban it or put limitations on it. but the new justice department policy applies even in the states where same-sex marriage is not recognized. >> it's wrong and it's lawlessness. >> reporter: the justice department says it's just putting the supreme court's decision into action, but same-sex marriage opponents see this as pure overreach. an example of the administration's plan to issue directives on things it can't get through a divided congress with legislation. >> clearly, i mean, this is

trickle-down authoritarianism. a hundred years from now, 50 years from now people will look back and say, what were we doing? this is not what marriage is. >> the attorney general says it will recognize same-sex marriage as broadly as possible but there are still a lot of limitations. >> joe johns, thanks very much. happening now, iran threats. tough talk. provocative moves just as the talks on the country's nuclear program are about to resume. is tehran sending war ships toward the united states? weather emergency. atlanta bracing for another round of snow and ice. just weeks after a similar storm paralyzed the city. have officials learned from that mistake? and olympic ghost town. a sprawling hotel complex virtually empty even with the winter games in full swing nearby, so where are all the guests? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

a missile tested warships are on the move we're monitoring menacing potentially new actions and words by iran. even as the country moves forward with historic nuclear talks with the u.s. and other allies, the tone at the highest levels in tehran, that tone is growing more heated, potentially more aggressive and disturbing. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is just back from iran. what's going on with the latest round of sabre rattling. >> it comes from very powerful corners of the iranian government, the supreme leader, parts of the military and something we found on our own trip to iran, it reflects real and continuing divisions inside iran over the prospect of improved relations with the u.s. and the west. tonight iran is celebrating the launch of a new generation of long-range ballistic missile. the state tv announcement made no mention of the u.s., but this weekend the most powerful man in iran, supreme leader ali komco b

khamenei called american leaders liars. american officials publicly say they do not seek regime change in iran. that's a lie, he said. they wouldn't hesitate a moment if they could do it. hours later an iranian navy admiral appeared to issue a direct threat to the u.s. claiming iranian warships were approaching american waters and that the move was a direct response to the u.s. naval presence in the persian gulf. the white house dismissed the comments as bluster. >> there was an iranian announcement that they're moving ships close to the united states, and we have no evidence that if iran is in fact sending ships close to the u.s. border. >> reporter: still, the bellicose rhetoric stands in sharp contract to the ongoing nuclear negotiations between iran and the west and to the voices we heard on our recent visit to iran, including two lengthy encounters with the iranian foreign minister javad zarif. at what point did you know that this time was different? did you feel, you know what, i

think that an agreement is within reach? >> i believe the comprehensive deal is doable, it's possible, it's within reach. it just requires the political will and the good faith. >> reporter: which is the real voice of iran's leaders? in fact, both may be. representing the sharply divided factions for and against negotiations with the u.s. so who do you listen to then of those two? >> i think both are real. we have to see which is getting the upper hand, which has momentum behind it. i think right now many in iran are fence sitting. >> reporter: in the midst of all this new talks on a long-term nuclear agreement begin next week in vienna. i'm told there's the possibility of monthly high level meetings as these talks progress. as we hear this kind of rhetoric coming out of iran, we have to accept the possibility that there are corners, factions in iran that would like to sabotage these talks, they want to spark a reaction from the u.s., there's some method, you might

say, to this madness. >> zarif may be the more moderate elements compared to some of the others. >> they're fighting their own battle there just as you have divisions in the u.s. over whether you can trust the other side in these talks. >> jim sciutto just back from iran, thanks very much. chilling words from an american man being held inside a north korean labor camp. we have new video that has just emerged of kenneth bae voicing fear that the brutal conditions will hurt his health and that message has his family here in the united states more worried than ever. brian todd is here in "the situation room "working the story for us. what's the latest? >> an extraordinary piece of video, kenneth bae speaking in english says he doesn't think he can be in this labor camp much longer and if he is, he may have to go back to the hospital. they gave details on his health and how he's being treated. from the north korean gulag wearing prisoner number 103,

kenneke kenneth bae says he's lost ten pounds. he's been working with his hands a lot, that he has some cuts and -- >> doing hard labor for eight hours a day for the next couple of month s will be difficult. if they can do something right away it would be the best way to do it. >> reporter: his conversation with a swedish diplomat was released by a pro north korean newspaper based in japan. he told the diplomat he's being treated fairly, has access to books and tv and is staying strong mentally and spiritually. >> to my family, just let them know that, you know, that even though i'm here, but i'm still continue on with myself, and i have not lost hope or i've not given up anything. >> reporter: bae's sister responded with grave concern in a cnn interview. >> i'm really concerned about his health and the fact that he's been moved to the labor

camp, you know, we're really discouraged by that. >> reporter: bae's family says he has a bad back and diabetes. why is bae being treated so harshly compared to other americans held and then released by the north koreans? bae was accused of trying to bring down the north korean government through religious activities. the north koreans see that as a severe attack and want to make an example out of bae. he says this is a no-win for the obama team. >> if they send in someone high level, they're going to get criticized for playing into the north koreans' game, on the other hand, you have this american in there and somebody's got get him out. they just can't leave him there. >> another setback in this case just as we were learning of kenneth bae's recording. the state department says north korea has rescinded its invitation for a special u.s. envoy to come to pyongyang and discuss bae's case. and the regime has not given a reason why. >> now there's word that the reverend jesse jackson may actually be getting involved in all of this.

>> that's right. at the request of kenneth bae's family, he's become involved. when they rescinded that invitation for the u.s. envoy to go, jackson offered to go and talk in bae's case. there's been no reply from the regime. still ahead, name change controversy. new pressure on the washington redskins, why keeping the name could cost the team financially. atlanta bracing for round two. a fresh batch of snow and ice threatening the city. will it be paralyzed again? that. well, did you know auctioneers make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em. hey now do i hear 23.75? 24! hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and .75! 25! now a quarter, hey 26 and a quarter, do you wanna pay now, you wanna do it, 25 and a quarter - sold to the man in the khaki jacket! geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you know.

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right now major ice storm is rushing toward the southeast threatening to paralyze one of america's biggest cities all over again. so are officials there doing

enough to prevent the chaos? chad myers is in the cnn center for us in atlanta. what's the forecast, chad? what's going on? >> 14 states from texas now to new jersey under some type of watch or warning. atlanta at least now schools are closed for tomorrow, at least the public schools. my son's still hasn't. this is a major event. millions of people, wolf, will be without power. it's only raining right now, but it's going to rain and it's going to be 32. your greatest hope is that it sleets on you. the pellets. because they will bounce off. everybody else in this green area right through there, that's a half inch of ice or more. that's where we'll have hundreds of thousands of trees down, hundreds of thousands of power lines down and millions of people right through here without power. there's augusta. something else happens in augusta in a few weeks. the masters. that could be a disaster with all those trees down that they

have to clean up. then it turns left. then it comes at you, baltimore, d.c., up into philadelphia. i think it's going to be snow not so much sleet and ice. richmond you could get snow. d.c. look at that number. that's a foot of snow or more. roanoke, greensboro, asheville, big cities with big snowfall totals with all of these warnings all the way from new jersey all the way back down to texas. it's going to be a mess in atlanta, not so much tonight, but by wednesday morning, there won't be one plane, i don't believe that takes out of hartsfield jackson airport. they may cancel them all. you get a quarter of an inch of ice on a plane, it's not going to fly. >> that's a major hub, atlanta, it could affect travel all over the country. >> no question about it. so many flights through here, i think they're not even going to take planes and put them here on tuesday at all, especially tuesday night. they move them south or move them north because they don't want them encased in this ice.

this ice could be here for a week. there will be people without power for a week or more. you get that many millions without power, it takes a while for the lines to get back up. what a winter it's been. two members of congress have a special message for the nfl. if the washington redskins don't change their, quote, racially offensive name, we might hit you where it really hurts, your pocketbook. the nfl is a nonprofit trade organization. the teams can make a profit, but the league has tax exempt status. and some members of congress have written a letter to the nfl commissioner roger goodell complaining about the name. cnn's brian todd spoke with senator maria cantwell. >> with our tight economic budget, we can't afford to have tax breaks going to organizations that basically have terminologies that are offensive to american people. >> the nfl has responded by referring us to commissioner goodell's past comments.

goodell has said the league has met with native american groups, respects the opinions of those who don't like the name but says it has an 80-year tradition. the redskins told cnn that congress should have better things to do. referred to arthur diamond, his family is part of the algonquin tribe. he's got season tickets to redskins games. >> a lot of native americans who look at this say it's clearly offensive and it's derogatory. i mean, how does this name not offend you? >> i'm proud of it. i'm proud of being a redskin. i'm proud of being a native american. i've practiced all my life indian ways. and the redskin team plays hard. they may not win all the time. but they do play honorably. and that's what redskins do. >> despite that, senator cantwell says she may hold hearings to review the nfl's tax exempt status unless the change

is made. your plane lands, your flight is over, you're anxious to get out of your seat and into the terminal and go home. imagine the shock of the pilot suddenly announcing, guess what? we landed at the wrong airport. it happens more often than you might thing. cnn's rene harmarsh is here. >> reporter: it happens more than people even realize. as one pilot put it there's no excuse for a pilot to land at the wrong airport with all of the navigational equipment that is available. based on news accounts and government data, the ap reports that since the early '90s, at least 150 commercial planes landed or nearly landed at the wrong airport. now, just last month, a southwest airplane, that flight had more than 100 people on board. it landed at the wrong art. you remember very short runway. that was in missouri, then in november, a huge cargo plane

landed at the wrong airport. very short runway. that was in kansas. we did our own digging through the government data and other websites that track these sort of incidents and we found 31 similar recorded incidents since 2000 worldwide. we can tell you in one case it was the person in the jumpseat who shouted alerting the pilots that the flight to san antonio was headed to the wrong airport. and in another case, a plane bound for san jose international airport, it lined up for a military airport instead. now, that report said that this sort of thing happened several times every winter in bad weather when work was being done at a particular runway. so wolf, very scary situation. >> given all the sophisticated technology in that cockpit, how does a pilot make a mistake like that? >> that's the key question here. you talk to some pilots and they say it could happen by a few things being in play here

something called confirmation bias. that means that the pilot believes they see the right airport and because of that belief, they ignore all other information that suggests otherwise. also, there's the failure to use navigation equipment that is right there. they also fail to cross-check what they see with their eyes, that cross-checking that with the equipment. but in the grand scheme of things the faa said the number of times this sort of things happened, very minuscule. they sell us this. in the past ten years, six commercial aircraft landed at the wrong airport and there were no injuries or damage to the aircraft during more than 100 million commercial operations. so small sample here. still, though, the consequences could really be deadly, could be catastrophic. they take it very serious. >> i'm sure they do. rene, thanks very much. like a ghost town in the middle of the olympics. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert.

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olympic mystery. hotel sitting virtually empty even as the sochi winter olympic games are in full swing. nick paton walsh investigates. >> reporter: wolf, we are well under way now with gold medals coming in on both the american and russian sides, but still one question people are asking, where's the bustle? where's the sense of thousands of fans coming in? an acute absence of people in one location we went to. they've laid on a welcome warm enough to melt the siberian tundra, but here at least

russia's waiting for everyone else to show up. this hotel complex up in the hills where even the snow is now ready says it's sold out, that everyone's at the games, but really? everyone? these were the only actual guest wes found. >> i don't know where the party is. it's a little bit ghostly right now, but maybe it's early. yes, i have seen the film "the shining." >> reporter: he was told he couldn't extend his stay it's so busy. there's a russian saying that champagne too early is a bad thing. there's no champagne being drunk at all. it's all a bit sad. the lights are on but there aren't that many at home. it's hard to know in a place as remote as this, what full occupancy look s like, but it dunt feel that crowded. these buses parked on what should be a busy sunday. those we saw driving around empty, the russians are here in force. and nothing, not even a nearby

insurgency or the at times punitive prices for nearly everything will stop their fun. russian pride, and there's a lot of it around here, doesn't come that cheap. this coupled with this is going to set you back well over a thousand dollars. here they sense a russian gold is near. they got their first moments later. 80% of tickets are sold, organizers say, and the venues seem busy. the $51 billion games, a marvel of engineering, russian culture and security up in the hills even if some places they forgot to invite the snow. there are pockets of winter joy. these austrians, the team with the most direct threat against two of their female athletes, almost impossible to worry. whatever they put in the gluwine clearly work, enough to make them forget the price. here's hoping the atmosphere

builds, along with the numbers. now tomorrow the snowboarding halfpipe competition gets under way. that's where the world's most famous snowboarder, shaun white, flown as the flying tomato, will compete. perhaps that will get the crowds going. certainly people hoping the atmosphere continues to build. rachel nichols is joining us from sochi. she's covering this winter olympic games. you got a chance to speak with one of the big winners. >> yeah, absolutely. the snowboarders have dominated the early part of these games. you know, normally, wolf, when i go to an olympics, we see very serious athletes. they've been training their whole lives. they talk about personal bests and split times. but this group, it's been a little different. i had a chance to sit down with gold medallist sage kots islist and you'll see why he's the hit. >> there were a ton of people, the u.s., everything, go

america. i just looked at them, like what? i felt like we were family. you guys are here. i don't even know you, but thanks. >> you were first person to win a gold medal at these entire winter olympics, but you're not the hard core athlete type that we're used to seeing. your routine the night before your biggest day of competition, you didn't go work out or visualize your run or anything. what did you do? >> i was eating snacks watching the opening ceremonies. >> snacks? >> chocolate, onion rings and chips. that's the beauty of snowboarding, you don't have to be a mega athlete and work out all the time. >> i do have to stop you about the onion rings as well. you made one of my favorite photos, the olympic rings out of onion rings the day before your big day. >> it just made sense. it just made sense. >> you got great twitter photos this entire run. you had you and the bolshevic

style hat. i need more of the sage dictionary. >> we got first and foremost, we got spoice. >> what does that mean? >> it pretty much means anything you want it to mean. you can just be like, oh, you're spoice or, oh, that trick was spoicy, man. >> now, wolf, it won't surprise you that so far sage has been compared to sean penn's character jeff spicoli from "fast times at ridgemont high." sage is turning 21 this year. that movie came out 11 years before he was even born. but he's seen the movie, he likes it. he'll start calling these olympics fast times at soap. >> what an excellent young man he is indeed. we'll check back with you tomorrow. thanks very much. >> that's it for me. thanks for watching. "crossfire" starts right now. tonight on