down there over a cheese burger. >> reporter: that is a nugget of wisdom that someone with a mind of a shrimp would get. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> and that's it for us, a good luck to our friend albert. "larry king live" starts right now. >> larry: tonight, president eeb blames human and systemic failures for the christmas day bombing attempt. should heads roll at the tsa? we are going to talk about that with the chairman of the 9/11 commission, tom keen. three americans that lost loved whens and what did you u.s.

really learn from september 11th? and is the country safer now than then? and plus a shocking 911 call on christmas day from charlie sheen's wife. brooke mueller, why he is asking a july to modify a restraining order. we have an exclusive with her attorney next on "larry king live." good evening. wasn't to thank candy crowley for last night sitting in. we begin with paul bremer, he was served on presidential encoy voi in eric and chairman on the national commission on terrorism from '99 to 2000. thanks being with us. the president says that humanen and systemic failures on the christmas day bombing.

what is your say assessment? >> i think tech kalg problems and tech kalg problems involve massive data bases and how they are handled or not handle. and thirdly, the incident showed there is a massive failure of the screening system. both the physical screening and the conceptual on how you screen, the fact that this guy paid cash for his ticket, didn't have balgage. alarms should have gone off. i think the technical problems are troulging. they are not surprising to me. much more concern are the conceptual problems. >> like? >> well, you know, this administration since it came in office since day one down played the question whether weer involved on a war on terror. they tried to redefine it as not

a war on terror. and i think that this has -- this conceptual problem has showed itself in the high firls in the ft. hood incident and this incident on christmas day. there is a state of denial that we are not at war. and thirdly, the administration followed that concept with what i think is an incorrect view that the way to deal with the people is through -- people them as criminals. one of the clear lessons of the national commission of terrorism, which you pointed out i chaired, you have to understand we are at war with these people and they can't be treated as criminals. it's a different approach. >> larry: republicans with criticizing him for what what you said. but the shoe bomber was trailed

in criminal court and is in jail in american. what is the difference? >> think they is also wrong. when this fellow was subdued on christmas day, the top priority should be to interrogate him and get as much information as possible. because the role of the goal is not to bring him to justice. the goal is to prevent future attacks. and it's not surprising that as soon as he got himself a lawyer, he stopped talking. and that is the price you pay when you consider them criminals. our goal should be to get as much information as possible. the objective to to save american lives in the future. >> larry: mistakes for made in the past as well. do you think it's wrong for republican vice president dick cheney and others to criticize the president? and weren't mistakes made in

that administration? >> sure i don't think there has been an administration ha has been since i have been down here in washington 40 years that hasn't made mistake. the question is did they learn from the mistakes in. that is the question going forward. will the administration now understand that it's not enough to consider terrorists just as criminals? which is the way thea treated them in some cases in the '80s and '90s and the national commission on terrorism said we are at war with these people. >> larry: should we try to offer support and objective advice? >> yes, i think first of all, the president quite correctly has ordered a complete review. first results are due on his desk tomorrow. that will address the tech kalg

problems, the data and base and the information sharing and the system for screening. and i think i judge from what he said that he intends to act on what he learns. he will find where the faults are and take whatever action is appropriate and make it safer. i think we should wait and see how it works out and i hope very much that he succeeds and making us safer in. that is his job. >> larry: you were chairman of the national commission or terrorism. is it a winnable war? >> yes, it is a winnable war. but it is winnable on the condition that we understand it's going to be a long war, just as the cold war was a long war. and by the way, it's important that in this war we have bipartisan support for the car. it has to be conducted under

democratic and republican administrations across a long period of time. and had is a generational conflict we are in with islamic extre extremists and after this, we can begin to build bipartisan support for winning a war. >> larry: thank you, happy new year. >> happy new year to you. >> larry: governor thomas keen, we will ask him about the failed terror attack and what he thinks went wrong next. k ) oh, wowww ! that's fun ! you didn't say i could have a real one. well, you didn't ask. even kids know when it's wrong to hold out on somebody. why don't banks ? we're ally, a new bank that alerts you when your money could be working harder and earning more. it's just the right thing to do.

joining us now is thomas kean, the former governor of new jersey who served at chairman of the anyone lef commission. great to have you with us. what do you think of the mix of human and systemic failures? >> i suspect the president's right. this is something that's got be fixed. i know we are going to search for who created the problems and what they are. the main thing is let's fix them and move on. >> larry: the washington times quotes that homeland security officials have good intentions but they lack purpose. he thinks the homeland security has not risen to the level it beneath to achieve. agree or disagree? >> he is right. there are a lot of problems on the president's plate.

he is dealing with health care, finances and global warming and all very important problems but the most important problem in the world is keeping americans safe. and this has to be at the top of the lits morks matter what else is going on. >> larry: we always look back and say this guy shouldn't have been stopped at the airport. isn't it true that president bush had an august 6th memo that might have prevented 9/11? >> that is a little unfair. there wasn't a single branch of the united states g. that get with terrorism that wasn't responsible. the problem this time, you know, it's like reading the same script over again. they talking about the fact that intelligence agencies didn't talk to one another. and that was the major fault we found in the report. if they had talked to each other, there was a possibility

that 9/11 would haven't happened. we were lucky this time. >> larry: what do you make of the former vice president dick cheney ice charge that president is trying to pretend we are not at war? >> i don't know. i just just not assume get into that kind of charge. it's not productive at this point. what is productive at this point is getting together, finding out if the director of national intelligence is operating and whether the counterterrorism center is operating as it should and what the mistakes were and whether we can correct those mistakes. these people want to harm us. they are out there to kill american citizens and we got to be on alert at all times and that means all 17 intelligence

agencies need to work together. >> larry: they said this is a winnable war. do you agree with that? >> yeah, one by one. we always got to be an alort. and since we are fighting a shooting war in afghanistan, what they want to do is have an attack against us and hopefully an attack on u.s. soil. so it's particularly important. they will try to do it out of africa or asia or a number of places around the world. there is a lot of al qaedas around now. and the president was right to say what we did. he said, basically, people screwed much we want to get to the bottom of it and make sure it doesn't happen again. and i commend the president for thak tag attitude. >> larry: your economics was

hailed for its b partisanship. what impact do you think the political skrimishes has it this? >> it's a big effect. there are two things going on now. win is the reports on both sides and there are things going around within the intelligence community says it was their fault and not our fault. those are not called for. they don't help us one bit te fending the country or its people. they got to work together as one unit and cooperate with each other. and the parties, shut end right there. and we should be working together as a country, and as a people. and if we don't, you know, people are going to suffer. >> larry: are we safer now than 9/11? >> yeah, we're safer now but not as safe as we should be. we are safer now but they

looking for new ways to attack and this was a new way this tried this time. and we were lucky this time. but the technology is we got to stop them at the airport before they get of the plane. this fellow should have been stopped at the airport. he should not have had a visa to get into the country. she had have been identified and stopped. and we got to do that to terrorists in the future. >> larry: we have learned that the united states had intelligence that between august and october of this year, that extremists in yemen were discussing operations, someone noun as the nigerian was mentioned. they had a partial name and the cia had information. his fathers with given warnings, what went wrong?

>> they didn't talk to each o other. and the same problems that happened on 9/11, this is deja vu all over again. here it is. and look, one incident alone, this wasn't a father. this was a father who was one of the top citizens in the country. when he has the courage to come forward to the american embasse, and say, i'm worried about my son. forget the other information. forget the rest. that alone should have gotten attention. >> larry: thank you, governor, happy new year and good seeing you again. former governor of new jersey. the ci arks denies that the agencies tonight share information about the terror

suspect but people are asking d the cia drop the ball? we will talk about it when we return.

>> larry: joins you us know is a former cia official who was the division chief, the director of operations in europe, author of the book "on the brink, an insiders account how the white house compromised intelligence" and also is larry johnson direct of the counterterrorism a former cia analyst and co-founder of berg associates. our con doll lans. eight americans killed in afghanistan suicide bombings, and all believed to be ci arks employees. do you have a comment? >> i just heard that and i under

mines the world we live in and the sacrifices the cia makes and it's heart breaks. my thoughts go that to their family, obviously. >> larry: larry? >> the cia is kicks around for not connecting dots and men and women are on the lines gets killed. it's one of the largest losses of lives of cia employees in 30 years. >> larry: the cia is rejecting accusations that it failed to properly share vital intelligence on the christmas day bombing is the. do you buy is that? >> i think that did share. the problem here is that the system that was set up in 2004, set this up. this was almost in'emible with the expansion of the intelligence community and the

bureaucracy. it comes to the field. and it goes to the cia, the white house, all these people get it. the problem is they have broken the link wean the analytical process and the operators in the field. many of them are young contractors. they don't have the experience and don't have the grasp of this to go back to the station and ask the second question. the station does haven't the contact to specific analysts to go, to follow up on it and see if what they have sent it in has been followed up on. it is to make it smaller, better staffed and more official. >> larry: we keep hearing about the failure to connect the dots. based on what you know, are we connecting the to thes? >> yes, we are. and it's an outrageous charge

and it's not trecorrect. i still have clearances. and this was getting through the system. the reality is the failure wasn't on the intelligence side. it was on the afrt. and ten years ago, i don't mean you look at the race, ethnicity or size of his body. you look at the fact that he bought a ticket, no luggage. and you are going to detroit in december without a winter coat? that ten years ago would have forced the airline to pull him aside and say, what's up? and suggest specific training with trace detectors. it's unfortunate that the informs hadn't become instantaneous. who is going to happen, if we say you don't connect the dots, it is going to get a reaction where everything is going to come from the top.

you are going to have a blizzard of information and nobody will be able to see the real threats. there are hundreds of bogus threats to come through throughout the day. after the fact,some guy was identified as saying, i'm going to blow up a plane, and everyone started going through the files. if his father had gone to the embassy said he has exploding underwear and he is going to try to blow all plane, yeah, they would have done that but they did not have that information. >> larry: we are going to have you back soon. thank you and happy new year. >> thank you. >> larry: where does the united states learned about security since the attacks of 9/11? family members of those killed on that terrible day speak out when we come back. 15 succeeded in setting their houses on fire. at christmas, there was a lot of driving... over the river and through the woods. and a little bit of skidding on the ice... and taking out grandma's garage door.

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>> larry: nobody can spike more about tragedy than victims of it. joining me is david beamer, his son died on 9/11, todd was one of the passengers that fought back before the plane crashed this pennsylvania. and desh ra burlington, the son of the pilot of american flight 77 that crashed into the pentagon. and she is the co-founder of 9/11 families for a safe american. and alice ingraham, a former flight aten dant. what is your reaction to what happened on christmas day?

>> it was a trishl event and i'm pleased the mission was not successful. i'm thankful for the fellow that was referred to ass the flying dutchman for leaping into action and preventing that plane from being blown up. i'm pleased with the outcome and disheartened about the fact that it happened at all. and it clearly points out from the enemy's point of view, they believe there is a war going on and it's an absolute priority. and i'm not convinced that for us, that the war is really -- has either of those. for us, it's one of the more agenda items but not one we are pursuing with real passion. >> larry: debra, do you agree? >> askpleetly agree. in some ways, he may have done

usa favor. the fact that this man would try to blow out the side of an airport and that the response of this government would be to put anymore krillal custody -- that man should have been taken after he was stabilized and interrogated for every bit of intelligence we could get from him. the yemeni government is saying they are cooperating, but the fact of the matter is, this is the new center of gravity in yes, ma'amen and we need to know who is behind this? who helped him. the information that would have come out is lost to us. he is lawyered up and we have to put him through the criminal system where we are negotiating with the terrorism. >> larry: alice, the same occurred in the bush administration with the shoe bomber. >> yeah, in the same way, abdulmutallab has done usa

favor. he has given the american people a gift. we are focused on two important issues we lost track off. those are deficiencies in the aviation authorities and the proper courts for prying trifrts. >> larry: david, do you ever forget that day? >> nor forget it, larry. and i'm reminded of it when i see my grandchildren, and i think the gift, if you will, that happened this christmas season has been a gift to our enemies. here, they had a plan. and even though, even though we had intelligence, we had the terrorist father trying to warn us, and the fact that we still couldn't prevent him from

getting on the airplane, they must be saying, wow, this is easier than we thought. >> larry: more when we come back. the blog question of the day, do you think security. the united states has improved since 9/11? we would love to know what you think. go to cnn dauk/larry king. more when we come back.

>> larry: debra, there wur failures in the bush administration and failures in this administration. do you think we can do anything firm to stop all of this? >> yes, do.

we need no understand who the enemy is. and once we understand they are committed and resolved and they are going to stay in this fight for generations, what we need to do is accept that and not fool ourselves to thinking if we are kind, if we show them forbearance, if we close places like gauantanamo, that that is going to keep us safe. when that credible man walked into the u.s. embassy in nigeria, the first thing the state department should have done is find out whether or not this man, the son, was issued a visa and revoke it. that would have kept him off the plane right there. if they had done that one thing. >> larry: alice, this time of the year, is it more particularly difficult for you?

>> yes, of course. i live with the fact that my son will not be with me every day. the word hero has bandied about and abused. but my hero is casper, who mustered all his courage, stood up and ran to this ugly guy, yanked him out of his burning seat, hauled him out and thwarted him and was able to make up for several levels of failure in security that should have kept the guy off the plane in the first place. it showed up that just the same thing that happened on flight 93 on september 11th, that a small group of passengers, when they are confronted with the facts, can act together and make up for the security deficiencies that are still prevalent in the security system. i'm grateful for president obama for acknowledges there is a

failure and we need to continue working. we are a little safer now, but not nearly as safe as we should be. i green with thomas kean and paul bremer. it's a winnable war, but we have a long way to go. >> larry: david, do you have of nism? >> i am an optimist and i think good, committed people, making this a priority, we can continue to make sure world safer. i'm chag grin by the knee jerk reaction to help us think positively. and that if the enemy has a sense of humor, they must be chuckling about the response that all americans have to stay in their seats, like third graders, for the last hour of their flight. which i dhi is ridiculous. >> larry: do you agree with that, debra? >> yes, and you talk about knee

jerk, the tsa is really abusing passengers at this point. and that is part of jihad. they love to see how go through these shenanigans, jumping through hoops. janet napolitano referred to the security measures. they were going patdowns on people. patdowns. these explosives were kept in the groin area, the crotch. nobody is being patted down in that area. that is all for show and they have to stop doing that. the american people understand that is a dog and pony know and it has to stop. >> larry: three victims speaking out. our thoughts will always be with them. >> thank you, larry. >> larry: former vice preponderate dick cheney slams president obama, saying he is trying to pretend we are not at war. has the president done enough? we debate the politics of terror when we come back.

>> larry: welcome back. this is a war on words and the war on terror. and dick cheney seems to be leading the charge. here to talk about the political issue is essi cup, co-author of "why you are wrong for the right" and tanya eker, a political analyst and worked in

the oval office of in white house council in the clint president say. here is what he said. president obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. he seems to think we if with a low key response we continue be at war. and a little too critical? >> no, i think the vice president is expressing frustration that a lot of americans have now. the vice president is coming out as a ceo, looking to address a kink in the system rather than an empassioned national leader. i think americans remember after 9/11, when president bsh came out to address the nation, he was angry. >> larry: i don't mean to

intercept, but there where information that could have prevented 9/11. >> let's be clear. the fundamentalists will attack us regardless of who is in office. this is not obama's fault, but he is makes serious misjudgments, miscal ewe lagss in his tone and tenor and the measures he is initiating, closing gitmo and trying terrorists as criminals. >> larry: tanya, they dismiss the comments saying that he has lost his credibility? >> of course he has. the former vice president has been rooting for failure of the administration since january. it's not a surprise. but i find it interesting the short memory he seems to have about the nation's efforts to fight terrorism. you know, were we at war when the bush administration reduce the terror funding by $80

million on the ground there were not national landmarks there? and when the gop allies didn't move forward to inspect cargo containers and shipping containers? we could play a pat san game. what we need to do is think about things that are proactive. >> larry: if it is a time of war, why criticize of chief ek tif? i thought we all band together? >> i'm not rooting for obama to fail or for the country to be attacked. that is outrageous. but i think it's my patriotic duty when he comes out four days after we were almost attacked. and by the way this is not a failure. they succeeded in terrorizing

us. and he said, we are going to look into it and his secretary comes out and says the system worked. >> larry: frankly, obama, should he have come out earlier? >> yeah, he should have come out earlier. and janet napolitano retracted the fact that system worked. so to sug swres we are in a huge crisis since he gave a press conference two days later, it's lunacy. let's not try to score partisan points here. and frankly, by the way l is a lapse here that occurred at the airport. if this guy really did check in with no bags and paid cash for a tirk ticket, what are you doing on a plane? there are lapses at every level. i find the gop attempt to

demonize the president, it's offensive. >> if you don't think it's a rye sis, you are naive. and it's not going to adess ft. hood or ft. dix. this is not about apts. this is about ideology and the president was not want to act nothing that. and it's not funny either. >> the wish that the gop and i wish we had all the outrage when they said, we want to inspect cargo shipping con tears and the gop said it was too expensive. when the bush administration said they wanted to relinquish control to a dubai company, yeah, it's a crisis. it's not about the airport. i never said that. and until we look at it in a global way, we are not going to

be anything by reactive. >> larry: last night on the show. someone said jan net napolitano should resign. >> i don't think so. she was not making something up. and whoever told her that, that is who should be fired. i think he was taking orders and that is the scary part about this. >> i don't have a basis for mowing that somebody whispered in her ear, here is what you say sunday -- >> larry: you have not heard the last of this. thank you very much and happy new year to you both. actor charlie sheen was arrested by allegedly assault hig wife brooke on christmas day. her lawyer speaks to us in 60 seconds.

>> larry: welcome back. on christmas morning, actor

charlie sheen was arrested in ap espn colorado. let's listen now to the 911 call made by charlie's wife, brooke. >> tell me exactly what happened. >> my husband had me, with a knife and i'm scared for my life and he threatened me. >> okay, are you guys separated right now? >> yeah, right now we have people that are separating us. but i have to file the report or else -- >> are there other people there? does he have the knife. >> j e, but there are other people that are there? >> who are the people that are there? >> i have people here. my family is here. but right now, i don't file this -- >> okay, where is he with the knife? >> he is in the other room? >> is someone in the room with him? >> no. >> who is he with? >> he is somebody packing to leave. >> i understand, i'm sending

officers to help you. does have a weapons? >> no. >> okay, which room is he in? >> in the back room. >> and which room are you in. >>? the kitchen. >> i thought i was going to die for one hour. >> okay, what's your name? >> brooke. >> and what's your husband's name? >> it's charlie sheen, i got to file this rereport. >> larry: that was brooke mueller making that call. her attorney is here with us. and "larry king live" exclusive next. (announcer) we understand. you need to save money.

>> larry: bfsh we talk with you attorney of charlie sheen's wife brooke mueller, let's check wit host of ""ac 360."" >> new and frankly mind-boxling detail what is u.s. intelligence agencies knew about the alleged underwear bomber, details, of course, which did not stop had him from boarding that flight in amsterdam last week. we are keeping them honest tonight, taking a look as well at the recommendations made by the 9/11 commission. those recommendations came out five and a half years ago, all made to prevent exactly this type of scenario, recommendations to keep us safe. knowing that, you might think all the things the panel suggested were put into place or at least the majority of them. think again. joe johns breaking it down for us. a much lighter note, ready for tomorrow night, anderson and cathy griffin lighting up times square. cathy is going to join us live to tell us what we can expect. also hear from her what she

thinks are the top stories of the year. one of the favorite people i know, so brace yourself, larry. at the top of the hour. >> i will brace. erica hill, 10 eastern, 7 pacific. we all better brace. we reach you had out to charlie sheen or his representatives to come on the show, they declined or they didn't even give us a statement. with us is yale galanter, old friend, attorney for charlie sheen's wife, brooke mueller. from what you heard from your client, what happened 359:30 christmas morning? >> larry, they had a very bad marital moment is what he like to call t brooke ended up calling the police. unfortunately, charlie was arrested. fortunately, char lives ablie wo

bond out of jail right away. we went to court and had paperwork to have the domestic violence restraining order modified so the two can have contact again. >> larry: according to police reports, yale, brooke told them he pulled out a knife, held to her throat and said "you better be in fear. if you tell anybody, i'll kill you. your mother's money means nothing. i have ex-police i can hire. you know how to get the job done and they won't leave any trace." brooke says she replied, "you're right. you're right. you're right. i'm sorry. i love you. "what do you make of this, yale? what is this all about? >> well, again, larry, i really do think it is a private matter between brooke and charlie. i know that they want to reconcile, they want to try and work on their marriage. they have two beautiful babies that they are trying to raise and i'm hoping that everything works out for them and they have a really good future for themselves. >> larry: but if he had a knife, can she take back that charge, under new domestic laws?

doesn't he stand charged, whether she says it or not? >> well, i can't -- i'm not charlie's lawyer. i represent brooke, but what i can tell you is that the reason they put this domestic violence restraining order in place is to separate them, let them cool down. i can tell that you brooke loves charlie very much. i know that charlie loves brooke very much. they want to raise their children together and they really do want to continue with their marriage and have things go along as they should. in terms of the statements to the police, i really can't speak to that i wasn't there i know what the documents say. hopefully it won't get to that. >> larry: you think it's going to be all settled? >> we are very hopeful that there is a nonlitigation resolution to this. charlie's arraignment is february 8th. i'm, of course in contact with charlie's lawyers all the time. we really are hopeful for an

amicable resolution to this. >> yale, as the attorney for one of the parties, you sound awfully sympathetic to the other. >> it is not that i'm sympathetic. i think the fact that they are both celebrities, there is a media spotlight on them, i really think we need to give them a break. they need time to work out their differences. maybe they need to go to counseling. maybe they need some kind of guidance. but the truth of the matter is, they have been married almost two years. brooke recently gave birth to these two beautiful, beautiful babies and really should be given every opportunity they possibly can out of the media spotlight to try and work out their differences. you know, they are married. they are no different than anybody else, except that they are celebrity test and there are cameras and lights on them all the time and they really do need some privacy ry >> larry: we will be right back with yale galanter, the attorney for charlie sheen's wife, brooke. don't go away. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

>> larry: charlie sheen has, of course, been charged with domestic abuse and innocent until proven guilty. domestic abuse is a very serious topic. if you or someone you know needs help, please call the national domestic abuse hotline, 512-685-6288. yale, tough admit, based on what she is saying on the 911 call, while this may be private this is serious business. >> oh, i agree with you 100%. i don't think any man should ever do violence to a woman, no matter what the circumstances. that being said, you know, brooke and charlie are both adults. they do want to reconcile. they profess their love to one

another and, you know, i think they need -- really need to be given a break and be given the opportunity to do that. and i think, you know, people, their friends, their family, their counselors, their lawyers, should stand by them and allow that to occur. i mean, that's what they want to kind think that's what should happen. >> charlie is saying that his wife abuses alcohol. as her attorney, would you comment on that? >> well, i you know, i have known brooke for a long, long time, she is a wonderful, wonderful girl. i have never seen her abuse alcohol. i have been out with her at cocktail parties and social settings. i mean, she really is, she is a wonderful, devoted mother, devoted wife. i have just never seen that so you know, at least in terms of my personal knowledge, i've never seen that occur. >> larry: have they talked to each other since the incident? >> no, they are prohibited. i mean, since this happened, you know, a few days ago, the court

order restricts both of them from having contact so there's been no e-mail communication, no text, no phone calls. and that's why we filed the petition we filed today to go into court on monday morning and ask the judge for some type of modification so they can have communication and start to try to rebuild their lives and their marriage. >> larry: will both parties be at that hearing monday? >> no. i think it will just be mr. sheen's lawyer and myself at the hearing and we will talk to the judge and the prosecutor will have a position and hopefully, we will get the relief we are asking for. >> larry: so you are telling us tonight, yale that she wants to continue that marriage? >> she absolutely wants to continue the marriage. she just wants to raise her children and be with charlie and hopefully work things out. >> larry: thanks, yale. always good sin