ere both with private firms like spacex and others and in just a few days we're going to have a space probe passing by pluto. that's a long ways ahead and a big success story. thanks very much. that's it for "the lead." i'm jim scuitto in today for jake tapper have a great fourth of july. hype going to turn you over to the steady hands of brianna keilar who is filling in for wolf blitzer in "the situation room." \s happening now america on alert. amid growing concern that lone wolf terrorists may launch attacks while americas are out in crowds and especially vulnerable. isis and its supporters have thousands of social media accounts to recruit terrorists and spread propaganda. is the u.s. doing enough to stop them? and un veiling, taking the wraps off a new airport.

did kim jong-un have the airport's architect executed? wolf blitzer is off today. i'm brianna keilar, you're in office "the situation room." america is on alert this holiday weekend, security being beefed up on city streets in parks and ballparks, public spaces and wherever americans are gathering to celebrate their independence. u.s. embassies and consulates abroad have been also order to do review security. sources say there's growing chatter about terror threats, just enough to create a sense of unease among those charged with protecting the public. the biggest concern, lone wolf attacks, perhaps inspired by isis carried out bit individuals, tough to monitor and stop. i'll speak with ed royce, as well as correspondents analysts and guests standing by with coverage of all of today's top stories. we begin with evan perez.

evan? >> brianna, law enforcement officials are hoping increased security both visible and invisibility reassures people celebrating this holiday weekend. from new york to los angeles, even here in washington officials say they're taking more precautions than normal. new york governor andrew cuomo directed his homeland security office to increase monitoring of events around the states tomorrow. in recent weeks, state department officials having doing security assessments at their diplomatic outposts. this is all the result of what intelligence and law enforcement officials say is increased concern of a terrorist attack tide to this holiday. instead officials say there's more of a defuseiffuse threat. at the same time authorities are encouraging crowds to come out and celebrate. they say increased security is intended to assure people they'll be safe. brianna, i'm going to be doing that. i'll be watching the fireworks with family and friends, and i

think a lot of people should go out and do that. we'll see them next week. >> with more vigilance? >> yes. keep an eye out. there's a fine balance they're trying to strike right? they want people to enjoy themselves and they want to make people see the visibility security. at the same time they want people to enjoy themselves. so that's what the issue is yeah. >> evan perez, thank you so much. here in washington and in cities across the country there's concern about protecting soft targets, places where crowds gather where they can't move quickly, making them vulnerable to attack. we have rene marsh live for us on the mall. what are you seeing there? >> i can tell you, brianna, they have moved the perimeter here about three blocks out from the capitol. what you'll find is if you're walking around the national mall miles and miles of link fencen cement barriers metal barriers and definitely you'll see a law enforcement presence but getting back to those soft

targets, by definition they relatively unprotected, very difficult to protect. we're talking about bridges, tunnels, train stations. here in the nation's capital roughly 600,000 people are expected to ride the subways, so what's difficult is at any given moment you have thousands of people either going through or passing over these so-called soft targets. there are some analysts who say there are limits to what law enforcement can actually do. s. >> what i fear the most is what we saw in tunisia last weekend, which is one or two people with automatic weapons, and they simply go into a place where it's really crowded or go to a bridge where traffic is stopped or a tunnel or a captive audience that's on a ferry that's going across from new

jersey to new york and just simply taking out 40, 50 people. >> reporter: now, while it is challenging indeed to protect these so-called soft targets, usee a stepped up police presence. we've seen lots of canines here as well. in the subways we're seeing them making their rounds. they're doing all they can, and again, you know they want people to be alert, and to be looking around. they're not telling people to stay home but they want you if you see something, to record it to the authorities. >> rene marsh, thank. republican congressman ed royce of california congressman, thanks for being with us. we hear rene and evan describing this -- how would you characterize it?

itches it's a different situation than al qaeda. what they are requesting the supporters of this isis organization to do is to take things into their own hands. those are the words they use, and, you know to act now, and to focus first and foremost they're trying to keep the focus on police departments or military personnel in the united states. and our diplomats and others overseas that are u.s. targets. but at the same time the reason i think we should shout out to the fbi a thank you here is because, so far, they have been able to take into custody 49 recruits so far to isis who have intended to carry out attacks, and they have put those attacks down so far. so our federal bureau of investigation has done a very commendable job to date in terms of moving in quickly and taking individuals into custody who

have been online showing an intention of carrying out an attack. >> we have heard from new york's governor andrew cuomo that that state is enhanceing monitoring operations going into the weekend. are there similar measures in your state in california? >> yes, but in california i talked to the fbi high a few days ago about the nature of the threat i think it was yet. they indicated to me no individual indication of threats, but a lot of -- a lot of focus on what can be done by law enforcement to be prepared and in the way of surveillance a great deal is being done. likewise for our embassies overseas worldwide right now. there's a reassessment there's a program going on where there's a special effort being made to make sure that all eyes and ears are on anything isis might try to do. >> as they review all of their security procedures ahead of

this holiday weekend. i want to get your characterization of the threat level. there's been disagreements with officials, analysts about whether this is the highest threat level we have experienced since 9/11 what do you think? >> remember on 9/11 we were dealing with an entirely different entity that intended to carry out large-scale attacks that would bring down you know basically to attack the world trade center to attack the pentagon to try to hit the white house or the u.s. house of representatives. now that took a great deal of effort and focus and an organization that we could penetrate, but clearly the payoff was going to be very great if they could do it and they managed to hit us on 9/11. since then we've been able to knock down al qaeda on most of its efforts worldwide. however, this new generation of isis obviously, these are pinpricks, smaller attacks they try to carry out.

they've been successful so far in carrying out and inspiring these types of attacks with their magazine which shares with their, you know rank and file how to do the attacks, but so far the fbi has been able to prevent it. i would say it's as a much lower level, and so far we've been able to preclude such an attack. >> many more questions for you, congressman. stand by if you would, we'll have much more straight ahead with the house foreign affairs chairman ed royce. the american dream is terrifying. american history is the history of the scary thing being the exact thing we have to do. cross that ocean. walk on that moon. fly. none of this makes rational sense. it only makes american sense. here, the hard things show us who we are. leaving your job to start your own thing. having a kid when you still feel like

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we have house foreign affairs chairman congressman ed royce with us. we'll be talking to him in just a moment but first i want to bring in global affairs

correspondent elise labott. we have a deadline looming in the iran nuclear talks. can the united states reach a deal that will keep iran from getting a bomb? that's the big quest. what's the latest? >> the talks are in the end game. they need to wrap up tuesday or wednesday to make the congressional deadline of july 9th. there's still sticking points particularly what type of access they would have to facilities. they're in a bit of a game of chicken right now. the question is who will flinch firth? today the iranian foreign minister took to youtube to push the u.s. and it's partners. >> at this 11th hour despite some differences that remain we have never been closer to a lasting outcome. i sense that my negotiating partners have recognized that coercion and pressure never lead

to lasting solutions, but to more conflict and further hostility. >> so a lot of posturing in the final days. there's a narrative that the u.s. is desperate for a deal willing to make a lot of concessions, but the iranians need this deal. their economy is in a lot of trouble, so now there's finding language for a deal that give the international community what it needs while helping the iranians save face and not look like they're capitulating to the u.s. that's the art of diplomacy, brianna. >> you knew what was going on into the framework deal. ed a good sense. you were optimistic and it turned out there was one with some details. what's your read? what are your sources telling you? >> i think they're close. i think there will be a deal. i'm not sure there will be a deal by next week. the danger is they try to rush this and immediate at the deadline. that hand in lieu sand sweater

switzerland switzerlandsweaterit switzerland. if it's too ambiguous, that open a pandora's box. >> it's trickier when there's a final deadline. we are back now with the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, republican congressman ed royce of california. so we are just a couple days away here a few days away from a deadline for a nuclear deal. do you think we'll be able to get a deal. if so is this going to be a good deal? >> the deal that the iranians want is the same deal that the north koreans got in the 1994 framework agreement. certainly that's the way it seems to be headed but the problem is that if that's the deal we offer them a deal in which or inspectors international inspectorsic go anywhere anytime, can't go on the military bases to really be able to verify then iran will

get what it wants. it wants the bomb and our secretary of state will get a deal but this won't be in the long-term interests of the region region. if we do this kind of deal based on the '94 frame works, other governments will know exactly what's transpired. they will figure out, whether it's saudi arabia turkey egypt, that they now have an opportunity and indeed they'll perceive it as a necessity, since no one trusts iran given the aggressive nature they'll go out and get a weapon. i'm not sure they have as much to worry about we do because the ayatollah last week was at a rally yelling again death to america, so i would say it would behoof the administration make certain you stand firm gets an agreement to get the inspectors on to the military bases anywhere anytime. >> that's obviously a key part to one of the goals in this

agreement, which is to make sure that iran would be a year away from breakout so a year away from having this well-enriched uranium that they could use for a nuclear weapon. right now it's estimated it's just a few months from breakout. >> that is correct. >> those inspections are important do you think that ultimately the deal could yield something where iran is a year away from breakout? >> the other thing we have to be carb about, too, you don't want to lift the sangs. >> iran wants things to be lifted immediately, obviously. they want complete relief immediately. how do you walk that line? >> i think you have to write it the other way so you have to have compliance and you have to have compliance over a long period of time so that you don't have you know 80 billion in

the hands of the ayatollah who right now has already helped overthrow the government in yemen, and is tripping new weapons to hezbollah and hamas, including precision guided rockets and missiles now into the hands of hezbollah. so any additional money doesn't necessarily go to building the commit. it goes to this aggressive posture where they have military in lebanon, syria, iraq supporting the muslim brotherhood, i mean, this government wants a nuclear bottom yes, we have to have the inspectors on the ground but also if you lift the entire sanctions regime up front they'll have the hard currency to do mischief too. so we have to hang tough in this negotiation. >> let me ask you a question about isis do you think the

u.s. needs to do a better job of this? >> yes, we do. i was speaking the other day with the fbi on this and one of the key issues is the ability, you know in real time to get these web sites down. we don't have that right now, clearly eye says using that to their advantage worldwide. >> so it's bowl gent i think for europe to be moving in a direction, and i would hope the united states would join here in trying to focus on the way niche they use social media to put up what they call a caliphate on the internet. this is where they're doing their recruiting this, how they got several fighters from the united states several hundred, and thousand hef attracted tens of thousands from around the word to go for training and carry out jihad to set up the wider caliphate. this is part of the answer.

the other answer is to hit isis hard. you know there in syria and in iraq with our military with our airpower in particular where right now we haven't done the time of job we should have early on in neutralizing isis as a force, and we haven't armed the kurds the way we should have either. >> congressman, thank you so much for talking about iran and for talking about isis with us. i appreciate you being with us. >> thank you, brianna. why this may by one of the last weekends the confess rat flag will fly on the grounds of the capitol of south carolina. and a fancy new airport terminal with shops, amenities a whole lot that might surprise you.

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a recent study found that isis and its supporters have tens of thousands of social media can get used for recruiting and incitement. is the u.s. doing enough to stop it? joining mess former fbi assistant director tom fuentes, cnn counter-terrorism analyst and phil mudd and cnn military analyst retired general mark hurtling. we just talked about the european agency is putting toes that's just about tracking down these sites, trying to eradicate them so they have this big effort to do this to counter the proganna ganna. >> when i ran fbi international operations and worked with your

opol and -- we discovered they have a difficult time doing anything. the reason is before they can complement a single apology, a single decision every single member country has to be unance muss in approving it. if you have other cunning that don't go along, maybe the messages are too harsh or the action isn't proposed they aren't going to do so it done. if i was isis i won't worried about what europol is doing. >> so you're saying it's pointless? >> not pointless. they just won't be effective. might the u.s. by effective if they attempt this? but also why is isis so good when it comes to social media? we know there are just tens of thousands of accounts but there are also people ready to listen to what they're saying. why is isis so effective. >> you have to create them to al

qaeda. al qaeda would have said if we have three people who we think as our supporters can penetrate the united states and get in to conduct an operation, we can't violate the security. what isis says is we'll tweet out there. and if 10,000 people are following and ten are serious, why do we worry about security? that's fine. you also have to think about geography. if you want to follow al qaeda, maybe you have to go to pakistan or afghanistan, which seems like a place too far. for isis how about you go into turkey and cross the border into syria? then you have to think about the simplicity. al qaeda might have said conduct terror attacks again the innocent civilians in new york. isis is going to say very simple message to a 16 17 18-year-old in the united states or the uk germany, france -- come live a better life a place you can practice the religion more freely a way you can practice a religion in a better way than

you can in the united states. very compelling message. >> okay so general, i hear some skepticism about tackling this social media, all of the sides, all of the twitter can you effectively have a military strategy against isis if you're not taking out their recruitment efforts and their propaganda efforts? >> that's a good question brianna, i'll expand it and say, first of all, no you can't have an effective campaign. but secondly it's not just about going after twitter accounts and facebook pictures. we had this as part of our you go after the money. to. you engage the moderate imams who are going to do different messages in their mosques as

they talk to these young people who might be approachable in some of these kind of things and then you stop the fighters at the border. so there are many other things that contribute. you can't do a one on one war against web sites. it has to be attacking the fighter in a variety of ways and the advertising getting people there is just one of those things. >> phil what do you make of this? isis is now slamming hamas in the gaza strip, saying hamas is lacks on religious enforcement. what do you see going on here? >> pretty simple. isis doesn't believe in elections for a simple reason. elections mean that you believe the word of man can trump the word of god. hamas says we want elections, therefore we should rule in the gaza strip, the west bank et cetera so there's a fundamental difference there. what you have is hamas saying that as i said the world of man can trump the word 6 goss

so isis is saying we object. secondly hamas has said we can negotiate at some level with israel. for isis that's something they cannot accept. i got to confess, i love when i see this two levels of extremism when they fight each other, that means they're not focusing on new york city but the message here is pretty simple don't participate in election. and don't negotiate with the israelis. if you do as we've seen with their fights with hamas, we're coming after you. >> what does it mean general, for israel? >> hamas is vulnerable. i'll chime in what phil just said. hamas is very vulnerable. they took a huge beating in 2014. the critical piece is there's a lot of palestinians in gaseso who say they're not happy with hamas. isis is providing an alternative, issuing a statement saying unless you're living by

shariah law, that might be part of your failure. there have been 12 attacks against hamas by isis in the gaza. that's amazing. this will contribute to a stew for israel and hamas. it's going to continue to have the kinds of things in happening in that small strip of land in israel. >> general hertlink tom, phil thank you to all of you. will the state legislature remove the confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol. a new airport terminal looks- great until you see what's for sale and then maybe you start asking questions. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla apremilast. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque

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quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. breaking news we are learning that charges be filed in an unusual case, an alleged breach of a major league team's computers. what are you learning here? >> it's a very unusual case indeed. what we have is a recommendation by fbi agents that have been investigating a computer intrusion off a houston astros database, a database that housed information on important baseball prospegts in the astros system. according to people we've talked to they've narrowed down where

this breach came from. it was from st. louis cardinals employees. so they have -- now this recommendation for criminal charges to be brought against at least one employee of the st. louis cardinals is now sitting on the desk of the u.s. attorney in houston, brianna. what really is a the work here is there was some personnel -- current general manager of the houston astros came from the cardinals organization and according to people in the cardinals organization they suspected he took with him and other employees information on their own private proprietary database. the astros say they built their own sum from scratch, they didn't steal anything but this all became an fbi investigation when some of the astros information showed up on the internet. the website deadspin published information they said were leaked from inside the astros database. the astros went to the fbi and said we need to figure out whether we were hacked.

it turns out what really happened is employ crease didn't thank their passwords, went to the new team and were using some of the same old passwords, apparently someone was able to get and got in. >> think took that information u. just take your log-in. once additional thing, the cardinals fired their former director of scouting. we have a statement from him, his attorney says that the relevant inquiry, he says he didn't do anything wrong, but he said really what the fbi should be looking at is whether or not former employees of the cardinals actually stole information and took it with them to the astros. >> evan thanks so much. weird case thank you for breaking it down for us. this may be the final fourth of july weekend the confederate flag will fly on the grounds. the legislature is meeting monday. a poll of lawmakers published this week by charleston's "post

and courier" newspaper reported that both chambers have the votes needed t joining us is the president of the national urban league marc morial. you see that poll there. that's not official. things can change but do you think that the legislature will hit that two thirds mark and this flag will come down? >> i think there's strong momentum in south carolina. the grief the tragedy, the effect that the death of the mother emanuel nine and senator clementa pinkney has had on that state i think is crystallizing support around the vote to take down the flag. i've spoken to the governor a few days ago and a number of others in south carolina and i think there's a sense this is a statement that south carolina indeed wants to make. so while the vote certainly will take place soon i'll say that i think the momentum is in favor

of the confederate flag finally coming down. >> what do you think of this poll, a cnn poll this week found that majority of americans, 57% see it as more of a symbol of southern pride than racism. >> as a southerner i think when people are educated about the purpose of the confederate flag and about the very essence of why there was an effort to overthrow the american government in the south during the civil war, when they understand it was about slavery, all of the articles of secession said it was about slavery, the constitution of the confederate states of america was a reaffirmation of slavery, when people are aware of that fact we recognize we have one flag in this nation. that is the stars and stripes. that is the flag of the united states of america, and the rebel flag and confederate flat is an acrho anyic.

this th let us put it in a museum where people who want to study that ira can go. this is symbols divide people, divide americans when think think we should be finding more ways to build bridges and bring people together in the 21st century. i believe there's momentum in that direction, but we're going to continue to push. as we celebrate this independence day weekend, we're saying to people this is one nation and one flag. that flag is the stars and stripes. >> marc there's an eye-popping photo that has surfaced on social media, the inside of a baltimore police van, of course it was a baltimore police van that freddy gray was in when he suffered an injury and died. baltimore police say it's concerningened unacceptable do you think this picture is real that this statement was inside? >> it is so important, brianna, that those who are looking at

this get to the bottom of not only whether it's real but who in fact may have done this and may have done this as diadvicive i. it's provocative, not the kind of thing you want to have when i know leaders and activists in baltimore are trying to find way toss reform the police and bring the community together. so it's important they get to the bottom of it but we can't be distracted from i think the larger set of issues that exist in baltimore, and that is to fix their police department to reform it to build bridges between police and community, and also for there to be justice for freddie gray. and they are investigating that so we'll see where this is guess, as you put it a small part of the bigger debate where this turns out to be. marc thank you for joining us. >> thank you. coming up an exclusive look inside the fancy new air

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politicians like to talk about the need to upgrade u.s. airports comparing some of them to "third world airports." but on a recent visit to north korea's capital city cnn correspondent will ripley traveled through a new airport terminal that is anything but what you'd think of as third world. even if it is a little bit

bizarre. here's his exclusive report. >> i'm inside pyongyang's brand-new airport terminal. it just opened up. we're one of the first flights out. only a handful of flights actually take off from pyongyang in the course of a week. but this airport was clearly built with the hope and with the idea that that number will perhaps grow. one thing we noticed while flying in here there were a lot of soldiers working on the runway. and in fact we know that soldiers played a huge role in getting this project completed relatively quickly. that's because north korea uses its massive military as a construction force. the supreme leader kim jong-un we're told played a personal role in the design and development of this airport, inspecting it in fact he was seen conducting a field inspection after it opened. reportedly very happy with its progress. people are pretty relaxed about having their picture taken, which i have to say is quite unusual for north korea, where a lot of times traditionally

people have shied away from the camera. >> hello. how are you? >> the airport even has a convenience store where you can pick up a snack before your flight. there's also a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables similar to some of the grocery stores that you see around pyongyang. even frozen items. although i'm not sure how you'd exactly carry that on the plane. there's also this book shop where you can pick up some in-flight reading and of course all the literature is about the supreme leader kim jong-un, his father kim jong-il, and the founder of north korea, kim il-sung. a lot of people you see there buying things to read before they get on the plane. our flight's boarding now so it's time to go. definitely a lot to explore here at north korea's brand-new international airport. will ripley cnn, pyongyang, north korea. >> fascinating report. joining us by phone from hong kong is gordon chang, he's a columnist for forbes.com author

of "nuclear showdown: north korea takes on the world." also former state department senior adviser christian white. you saw that report about the new airport. this is more than just a renovation. what's this about? >> it's an important show piece. the regime takes propaganda very carefully, it takes its foreign image very carefully. 99% of north koreans will never see the inside of this airport. they're not allowed to travel abroad. but it will be a nice thing for journalists and diplomats to come and visit. kim jong-un was perhaps better travel than his father and grandfather who basically limited foreign travel to occasional visits to the soviet union, rushsia, and china. this is more just a showpiece in what is a fairly desperate regime. >> the poe tell kin airport, very interesting phrase. there are unconfirmed reports that kim jong-un executed the architect of this airport awhile

back before this project was finished. then we also hear reports that many mid-ranking officials are defecting because they're afraid of executions. is this a sign that kim jong-un's power is at risk? >> yeah i think that it is. because kim jong-un has gone on an unprecedented purge, extremely deadly. according to south korea's national intelligence service, he put to death 83 senior officers and officials between 2012 and the middle of this april. since then he's killed the defense minister and senior military officials have disappeared as well. as you point out, the architect of this airport, plus five others were killed because the terminal didn't reflect national character and the national ideology. i think what's happening right now is that people are leaving because they're scared and because of this situation, i think that you're going to see some people actively oppose the regime because if they can't get out of the country and leave, as others have, they have no choice

but to take down kim. >> christian, what do you think about that? that would be huge if there are people inside the government considering challenging or taking down the leader. >> it would be a big deal. but of course all of these regimes look perfect and impen track until they actually have facades. it's a big deal for people to be defecting. north korea has a policy of punishing people up to three generations away. so in other words, if your grandfather commits a political crime, you had nothing to do with it you could find yourself chucked in a political concentration camp. also laterally, a relative you never heard of does something wrong, you could really be in serious trouble. so these people who are defecting, their families will face serious trouble, but they're taking the risk nonetheless. also the fact that you have defectors outside of the regime outside of north korea, who could speak about the repression who could speak about the regime's quality status et cetera actually will help to build a dissent movement. >> real quick, gordon, there is

at this point a severe drought, it appears, a severe drought in north korea. the sun tree's seeking humanitarian aid from iran. how dire are things there? >> yeah it is bad. but it's not the 100-year drought that the regime says. because they're trying to portray it as worse than it actually is because they want aid from the u.n. and the international community. and there is what is called donor fatigue after all these years. people are starting to think that it's really the regime's fault, it's not just some sort of natural disaster. >> all right, very interesting insight. gordon thank you so much. christian as well thank you. coming up security stepped up for the july fourth holiday amid concern that lone wolf terrorists may launch attacks while americans are gathered in crowds. donald trump mashup. the billionaire takes more heat after his latest outrageous comments describing mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. you'll be hearing the presidential candidate in his own words. >> interest rates where they're

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we'll call you when things are just as wonderful... [phone rings] but a little less crazy. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. america on guard. cities are ratcheting up security on alert the terrorists may strike this holiday weekend. experts worry some potential targets aren't protected. teens behind bars. a shocking new investigation exposes abuse in prisons where hundreds of young african-americans are being locked up with adults. i'll talk to a former convict about his experiences. and man versus shark. heart-stopping video of a fisherman's close encounter as a series of shark attacks makes

many beachgoers nervous. are you safe at the shore? trump's loose lips. stand by to hear some of his most eye-popping campaign moments all at once. the backlash is growing. will his popularity take a hit? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room." breaking now. a scramble by law enforcement to protect americans from terrorists as the july fourth holiday weekend gets under way. and warnings about a possible attack intensify. tonight, unprecedented security measures are in place in major cities across the u.s. from new york to los angeles. new york governor andrew cuomo warning residents that the state is a top target for terrorists. u.s. embassies and diplomatic posts around the world also have been put on notice to review their security because they may be