the relationship with the media and the d.c. insiders. if i remember correctly, back in the day, a lot of people in certain political leaders for giving reagan a very, very hard time for hanging out with all these hollywood types like sinatra, etc. he came under a lot of fire and abused for that. it seems these days hollywood has no problem hanging out with the current president. i am wondering, is there a double standard going on around here? i understand that the president does need to get his message across. every politician does. one side totally abuse is the other for doing the same thing themselves. i wonder what is going on. writes, last night's dinner was another round of media, political fat cats, and hollywood darlings.

look it up. thomas on the democrats' line. caller: i did want to say i watched it last evening, in fact, i watched it twice. i thought it was fabulous. everybody takes their turn of getting badgered by the press, so to speak. i think it is done in good humor. much the man's remark that the president doesn't keep his promises. i think that he does keep his promises. this has been going on since calvin coolidge, and i think it is a fabulous, and i look forward to it every year. i take it and watch it several times. .- i tape it i think the press takes it on the chin, some of the leaders of the press and the tv shows, and the president certainly did john on biden last night.

every year, -- did a job on biden last night. community is able to laugh at itself and i think they complemented the president. and theed on boston fire. shows a very serious nature of the president. i just thought it was fabulous. byt: he ended his remarks talking about the gravity of the current situation. did that work for you, that contrast a very serious topics with all the levity of the night? caller: absolutely. we do that ourselves in conversations. we talk very seriously when we have to be serious, and i think he did not want to leave their thinking everybody was just looking at the funny side of life. there is a very serious side, and he pointed out the beauty of

the boston globe and the way they covered this very terrible bombing, and the whole city of boston and the people of boston. he was right on target to do that. that doesn't mean you cannot laugh. host: democratic caller from pennsylvania. caller: levity does break down barriers and allow people to have some adversarial relationships to come together. that aside, the glitz, the attractive women, the handsome men, it was fun to watch. you did not have to listen so much to what they were saying. you could just be an observer, and i think you can take a great deal away from it. who was sitting with whom, what wives were talking to what wives. it was not all democrats

speaking to democrats or republicans speaking to republicans. under an one, interesting circumstance, and i feel like we need more of that. thank you very much for taking my call. travis, brownsville texas, independent line. i don't agree with the people, the last couple of callers. i don't see how you can enjoy watching that. i just don't understand that president obama, the president of the united states of america, goes and needs to be a comedian. i think there are more important things that he needs to worry about, especially in a time like this. our country is going through hard time with everything that is going on. i think they are more important things that he should be worried about. some tweets.ook at

howie, philadelphia, republican. caller: the correspondents' dinner was great, but economics is a problem in this country. i am not a fan of state capitalist or television socialists. thank you. , a democrat. caller: i would like to know where is the american sense of humor? did we lose that? where else can you make fun of the president and the president make fun of the chief justice

and other people in the audience? i don't understand it. nowave been through right with boston and texas -- we have been through hell right now provide only in the greatest country in the world can we laugh at our country and make fun of it. that is all i had to say. on thatflect relationship between journalist, the president, his staff, members of congress, and some of the fund raisers that with their last night. caller: that is america. if you wanted to go, you buy your ticket and you go. if you don't want to go, you don't go. the money is going for scholarships. never lose our print media or the media. that is how you get in touch with the american people. all the money goes to scholarships for young people to learn how to report.

americans will never lose their sense of humor. that makes us different from everyone else in the world, we can make fun of our leaders in washington or in our state or local. that is what makes us different from everyone else. that oneia mentioned can buy tickets for this event. media organizations buy their tickets and sent their employees, but not everyone who wanted to attend was able to. here in the --hington post, buzzfeed there's a question of whether they were denied a table because their application did not meet the criteria, or if there was something else going on.

a little bit of the inside look at who actually gets a table and how those are allocated. buffalo new york, independent scholar. think it is good to see people coming together, with all the negativity going on in the world, it is good to see people coming together, eating, laughing. we need to see that sometimes. many negative images in the media, it is good to see people coming together and laughing. the american people need that. we need some time to laugh with all the stress going on.

the last caller was saying how the money goes to donations and good causes. i think it is a positive. host: thanks for your phone call. let's look at a couple of other stories in the news right now. a front page piece in the new york times. it sounds like the answer to every money worry, but these offers known as pension advances are having devastating a natural consequences for growing number of older americans, threatening their retirement savings and plunging them further into debt. the washington post, portrait of a faded american dream. a look at the family of the alleged boston bombers. can see there the parents when they were young with one of their children, and it looks at their journey to the boston area

where they came from and traces their moves and trajectory and looks at what happened to that family. some other pieces in the news, we can see that there is a new arrest in the ricin latter case. the fbi believes it has the right man this time. a former radio announcer and one time candidate for the state legislature was recently charged with child molestation. he was taken into custody. news,o see some other flight delays provide a lesson on budgeting, as u.s. infrastructure ages, priorities for spending come into play.

it was a disaster for people who fly. thousands of flights were delayed for hours on end. and the story in the washington post talks about the lessons learned from the fears over flight delays. we are asking this morning about the relationship between media and the see insiders at last night's white house correspondents' dinner. i just don't understand why so many people are having a negative effect from this affair. 14 of our presidents have done ease and it is to sort of tensions between congress and between theuse and

correspondence and the rest of the media. they all have a little fun for one night. any ofesn't mean that them are not taking care of the business of the day, which i am sure they all are. don'tmean, i just understand how anybody could say this president is just being lazy and just wants to make jokes. 14 of our presidents have done this, and it was just a good .ime for the correspondents i saw newt gingrich at that, and i saw a bunch of republicans that were laughing just as hard as the democrats. so i don't see what the problem really is. the: this past week was opening of president george w. bush's library. we saw president obama talk about his own future

presidential library. let's take a listen. [video clip] ine have suggested we put it my birthplace, but i would rather keep it in the united states. [laughter] did anybody not see that joke coming? , maybe dick morris. an excerpt from the president's speech at last night's white house correspondents' dinner. terry is in maryland on the democrats' line. caller: i love your show. i have watched the white house correspondents' dinner many times in my 67 years.

i thought last night was the very best. the president and conan were fabulous, and i love the way they ended them, both of them. some of the republicans calling and i think is sour grapes because they did not win last time. but i love c-span, and the president and conan were wonderful. the best white house correspondents' dinner probably ever seen, and thanks a lot. host: independent call, new york. caller: >> i just want to point out that the whole thing the americanhat people no longer have any media to trust. is all about entertainment. they all bring out the news for what they think their audiences

want to hear, and at the end of the year that have a correspondents dinner. the media is not really credible, and i think this demonstrates that. they should be reporting on what goes on in washington. host: we have a few other tweets coming in. all your facebook and everythings, else. if you missed the dinner and wanted to hear the president's remarks were conan o'brien's remarks, you can find all our past dinners there at the .ebsite, c-span.org/whcd coming up next, former fbi investigator david williams will be here to talk about the role of the fbi in the boston bombing case. later on, reporters who cover

the white house and capitol hill will be here to talk about the weak in politics. first, a look at what is coming up on c-span radio. >> the latest into the investigation of the boston marathon bombings, reports of chemical weapons in syria, and the legacy of former president george w. bush. c-span radio rears five of the program's beginning at noon eastern time beginning with " meet the press." congressman peter king and former british prime minister tony blair. at 1:00 p.m. eastern, the chairman and ranking member of the house intelligence committee, republican representative mike rogers. at 2:00 p.m., it is fox news sunday. chris wallace talks with democratic senator joe manchin and republican congressman mike mccall.

also the state of the syrian conflict. state of the union follows at 3:00 p.m. eastern. candy crowley welcomes republican senator dan coats, democrat adam schiff and former homeland security director michael chertoff. bob schieffer talks with senator saxby chambliss, vice chair of the senate intelligence committee. also democratic senator claire and republican senator lindsey graham. sunday network tv talk shows are brought to you as a public service by the networks and c- span. at 2:00, fox news sunday, 3:00 p.m. eastern, cnn stated the union, at 4:00, face the nation from cbs.

listen to them all on c-span on ex-imywhere satellite radio, channel 119. download are free app for your smartphone or listen online at .spanradio.org >> i went in, walked into the little kiosk and said i am bob ney here to report. he said i knew one of your campaign managers in ohio. i got down in there and the guard said here, you have some hate mail waiting on you. they gave me the mail. you go through the most embarrassing part of the stripped-down, and then i got into the intake, walked to the prison, down into the courtyard. i won't use the language i do in told ak, but the wharton man taking around to get away from him, he confined his own

way. i am in these clothes like pajama pants. another prisoner said, where is your escort? i said i don't know, some little guy in a suit yelled some foul language. he took me in the back way in the laundry room. i walked in and a man was sitting there. he said, are you the congressman? he said are you republican? put mewell, republicans in here, you know. he said i was the mayor of east cleveland. welcome, i will get you some clothes. >> tonight at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a". >> "washington journal" continues. insight on get your

the fbi's role in the boston bombing case. looking at whether or not he had terror training overseas. what is the fbi's role in tracking a suspect like this and they travel overseas? guest: the fbi leads counterterrorism investigations and all the tentacles attached to it. -- thereoes have some are a number of legal attache offices in various countries throughout the world. they work with the host country law enforcement and counter- terrorism services, never alone, to run down leads that are necessary for successful prosecution. the work being done overseas will be led by the fbi because they are leading the investigation. there will be linkages with other agencies overseas as well to try very hard to get to the bottom of what is going on

overseas. >> we saw that the fbi interviewed one of the brothers and did not find enough evidence to keep watching. what kind of evidence with the fbi look for if an alarm is raised, and how did they put someone essentially off their watch? guest: that is a question that was raised from the beginning of the investigation and continues to this day. the fbi was alerted to the presence of tamerlan tsarnaev and the fact that he was moving toward more radical postures, if you will. that information came from an agency in the government of russia. there has been speculation that it came from the russian fsb, but the fbi has never said specifically that it came from the fsb. weecision is made, should launch an investigation?

that decision was clearly affirmative, yes we should, but what kind? the fbi is governed by a series of different kinds of investigations. following watergate about a zillion years ago, the fbi was uncovered by a series of guidelines that determine what the fbi can do in the various stages of investigation. those guidelines were greatly lessened, the cumbersome as of it was made easier:9/11. there are three different types of investigation. the fact that can determine how much reasonable suspicion of a threat is attached to the placement in each of these three categories, and there are tools available in each category that are not available in the others. there is also, because of the fact that this may have come

from a law-enforcement agency or law-enforcement data, that the fbi may have opened a foreign police cooperation case, which follows the same guidelines of what can and cannot be done. david wu of the ems is retired now but he led the counter-terrorism branch of the washington, d.c field office. his experience includes serving in a leadership role following a domestic terrorist attack in oklahoma city back in 1995. formed in the was aftermath of a 1993 terrorist bombing of the world trade center in new york city. we are looking at the fbi role

in the boston bombing. the cia was also contacted by russia. how did the fbi and cia work together, or how they work in different streams? domainthe cia's primary is overseas. an intelligence organization, while the cia has no law enforcement powers at all. that having been said, there is clearly a great deal of overlap of interest, and there is a great deal of communication between the two agencies. there is cross pollination of staff at headquarters and in the field offices to some extent, and there is a great deal of open communication, and it needs to be that way. how formal is that communication? guest: >> some of it is very

formal. the people actually sit next to each other in many cases and very informally talk about events as they come up day to day. within the counter-terrorism division of the fbi, there is cia representation, and likewise at the night staff in the cia counter-terrorism center. the code the database for us. guest: that is probably the strangest acronym i have heard in my life. it is a database that is to cover terrorism. it is administered by the national counter-terrorism all thend logs identities of people with any suspicion relative to terrorist the dignity. i have heard it described as the data.pages of

comes out ofst that for the terrace streaming data base. it is kind of a percolating effect to go from a widespread, a general suspicion, possible suspicion, alert suspicion, if you will, to saying this person is not going to fly in an aircraft. host: what are the criteria? criteriaere are seven and they are all very distinct. they all have to do with what is might-- to events that lead up to terrorism support. that is what they all are. oft: we can look at some those on our screen as we continue to hear from our guest, dave williams. gathering information on potential targets, soliciting funds or membership and providing material support like

training, and if they represent a foreign terrorist organization. guest: those things are based on reasonable suspicion that you were involved in one of those activities. was 740,000eard names on the list, but it varies back and forth. people havee aliases. there are about 500,000 people on the list. is thatw workable number? that sounds like a large number. how are those individuals -- i don't want to use the word monitored. are they monitored or tracked, or is it more of a stopgap to see if they come to the united states are not? guest: if the name comes up in a future matter, you can ping it

and see what has been brought to the for about this person previously, and you can make a decision of what type of investigation, if any, is necessary. phones and go to the hear from james in indiana on the democrat line. is, themy question russians have helped us. they have sent us information about one of these individuals who did the boston bombing. does this show a warming between the soviet union and the united states intelligence somethingcho or is it we -- that has been going on for some time, that we have been sharing information all along? guest: there is some level of sharing on many different things. i will not get into the department of state territory

here and state policy, but there is some areas that we can communicate with and cooperate with the russians services, and we do. the united states does. host: brad in pennsylvania, republican caller. question about the older brother in the bombing. how was he allowed to stay in the united states if he threw up red flags? guest: he drew up the red light when he came in. the fbi conducted what i have been able to determine was a pretty thorough investigation of him and found nothing. there were a number of interviews done with his friends and associates, and with him himself. nothing indicated he was involved in terrorist activities at that time and the investigation was closed. after the investigation was closed, there's no further work done on that matter. i think the investigation was

quite thorough. notice --int, if you we have an awful that tells us that tamerlan became different -- we differentan uncle that says he became different in about 2009, but he had not done anything, and his friends and relatives were very supportive. the body of associates for tamerlan was somewhat narrower than it was for the surviving brother, dzhokhar. he appears to be more and outgoing and personable, and timberland was quoted by friends and associates as having that he never met a close friend or so sit in the united states. so the people that really had insight into him were much more limited. where we were on the reasonable suspicion that came from the notification of the russians, that takes the fbi

right to the barrier of what can be done. it cannot just go out and pick people up off the street because we have some information that they might of been radicalized. no one had said he was involved in any legal -- illegal activities at that point. tripwires?are that: those are the things grow up flags as to what is going on. when you see people undergoing military type training out in the woods, as we did with the group from virginia some years ago, that is what we call a clue, and those clues are tripwires, and they can trigger attention. if it turns out your involved in things that require greater tension, that is forthcoming as well. of trip wires in place have shifted over the years. back in the 1990's, it was more about fertilizer based bombs.

guest: we have seen a great increase in lee could based bombs. we have seen homemade explosives. we have seen a prominent individual group, al qaeda representatives have published an online magazine where early on they put out recipes of how to build a homemade explosive, how to build an improvised explosive devices. better.he term bomb those things are available out there. do you have to be a u.s. citizen or on u.s. soil for the fbi to have the authority to youstigate you echo guest: don't have to be a u.s. citizen

to be investigated by the fbi. we will investigate anybody in this country that comes to our attention that is within our jurisdiction and with a reasonable suspicion raised to the point that we can do something. citizenship has nothing to do with it. , and some guidelines -- i think that are workable. there are much better than they once were. when the guidelines for first brought to the fore, it was pretty tough to get anything done. in those days, the fbi could not much as the rear of the person the world does. the democrats' line, good morning. james from new york, independent caller. caller: recently i heard on the news that they were reopening

cannotestigation of -- i pronounces name, tamerlan, the bomber that was killed. reopening the investigation in boston because his three best friends were killed. i believe it was about the time when the fbi was investigating, and i think, david, you were mentioning that part of the investigation had to do was questioning his friends. i am just wondering if it is plausible that perhaps these three -- these three friends that have known something could be part of the investigation. guest: i am not aware that tamerlan's three best friends for killed. i have not seen that media article. would it be possible that there were a criminal conspiracy somewhere out there to silence potential witnesses? that has happened in the entire law enforcement scheme. i don't know that that has happened here.

the investigation on tamerlane has obviously not been open, he is deceased. the investigation continues relative to dzhokhar and expands from that to include any other possible co-conspirators. host: the weekly roundup of the worst week in washington. he says it goes to the fbi both for questioning tamerlan tsarnaev back in 2011 but not pursuing the matter further, and also for arresting the ricin letter suspect and releasing him, and now have made a second arrest. ofst: i will address both those issues. there is little that the fbi could have done under the guidelines against tamerlan when they closed the case. when information came in later, and senator graham said the fbi never got this information, tamerlan had gone back to russia

and then return to the united states. that may well have triggered a real initiation of the case. according to senator graham's statement on the media, that did not happen. host: and then we also saw the ricin suspects. guest: i am glad you brought that up. that has not received nearly the amount of media attention as the other. there was bountiful probable cause to. to him. the courts were faced with a dilemma. you have an individual who at that point was an unknown suspect, who in fact had done a very heinous crime. he setricin to the president of the united states and a senator and a retired judge. you have a very dangerous creature out there -- he had sent ricin to the president.

investigation. it away from that individual and to a secd person. as you would do with good conscience, you release the first person, drop the charges, and pursue the second, and that person was arrested yesterday. everything was done properly there. >> we are seeing an image from the new york post and here is a story from the washington post. it shows us the man who has been arrested and says that he was feuding with the first suspect. >> that has been out in the media. these people apparently have been going back and forth at each other for bit. to lead totle evidence, but it does. to some suspicions coming from the first arrestee toward the ee.ond arrest th wondering, myjust

question had to do with the three friends of tamil land. so that was it. host: let's go to harry in cambridge, mass. on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. are we dropping the ball, when we have it cia and the fbi, so many departments working to keep us safe, but not sharing .nformation we add one layer of bureaucracy like homeland security. what should we learn from that, by not sharing information, all we are doing is adding that layer of bureaucracy. what do you think that go guest: -- what do you think? part of the reason for the expanded information sharing

is in fact that there are more funds available to build those data systems that can interconnect data and do that. i think that is a good thing. the the part of homeland security came after 9/11 and was formed to amalgamate 22 agencies in that area to work better and work closely together. there has been criticism in the thea that perhaps department of homeland security .s sans mission i think secretary napolitano and her predecessors fill the role of bringing these things together and making sure it does happen. ont: nancy in connecticut the democrats' line. caller: i am in the hartford area. termsrst question is, in

i this communication issue, wonder how grounded the communication of these agencies is in the public. if this is driving around with have a license plate that says terror is number one, that would be alarming to me as a neighbor. i would bring the local police attention to it. is there some way that can reach the fbi? if a neighborhood can see how the where are these agencies, or have much connection is there with the local ground people like myself. guest: special agents of the fbi are out in the community all the time. they are out interfacing with people on a day-to-day basis. that information can be brought

to any law enforcement agency. the police departments and almost every major city are tied into the fbi through what is known as the joint terrorism task force. it started in new york in 1980 and brings together full-time representatives of the involved agencies, which almost always includes the local police departments. are treatedrs exactly like special agents of the fbi. they are given the opportunity to develop human sources within the community and they are able to do everything else an fbi special agent does to include travel overseas with the fbi and work over there. russian authorities secretly recorded telephone conversation in 2011 and which one of the boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother.

in another conversation, the mother of aowect merlan tsarnaes recorded talking to someone in southern russia who is under fbi investigation in an unrelated case. the conversations are significant because there might have been enough evidence for the fbi to initiate a more thorough investigation of the tsarnaev family. guest: i read those articles, and i always wonder about everything that is coming from a source, the validity of it. we have seen some law enforcement forces that have been wl off the mark. if that is the case, that would possibly serve as the predicate for the russian service to reach out to the fbi and later for the central intelligence agency. run wiretaps? i am sure they do.

i have no doubt about that. that had a continuing problem that resulted in some horrific crimes of terror. the school massacre, the moscow theatre massacre, where hundreds of people were killed. it was just horrible. could that information, if it had been supplied, allow the fbi to go to a higher level investigation? that would be a decision that was made at the field office by the special agent in charge and his staff as to whether, based on all the facts, that we could elevate the case to a full investigation or something of that nature. 1960's, fbi agents infiltrated radical groups. they done the same with muslim groups? word: i like the infiltrate and the words muslim groups. we do not go any -- we do not go

after anybody simply because they follow islam. therereeople in this country that practice every religion under the sun, and nobody is investigated because of their practice of religion. we investigate individuals who raced to the level of reasonable suspicion, whether they are or are not a member of a particular group. the investigation focuses on the people. it has nothing to do with the religion. bloomberg has the story from last week. 22- in 2006, a disaffected wrote chechen spent 18 months trolling radical website eventually getting invited into private on-line forums where he watched bomb making videos.

giving some insight into one identity that was created in order to gain trust and information. networkhat would be a undercover operation that would be covered under the same rules for all undercover operations. if you can get into those groups, you can find out a lot. there has been a lot donen e area of radicalization. what is the role of the internet in radicalization? there has been some incredibly interesting works done in this matter. one orders -- on the role of al qaeda in the united states and in the world. are we looking at al qaeda central as our primary enemy, or are we looking at the age hottest movement echo he talks

about the radicalization of these people and recruit into terrorist cells. he this for a lot of interviews with people. i find him to be quite interesting. i do not agree that al qaeda central is defunct, as some of his critics have said that he says. that is another problem as well. inlook at what happened boston, and i don't see the earmarks of al qaeda central. what i do see is a problem with the growing portage hottest movement, i will say. jihadist movement. caller: i heard a reporter said that he may be eligible for the death penalty.

when gaby giffordhot, they caught the guy. why isn't the death penalty put in place sooner than 20 years? there the death penalty is a great deal of repeal review that goes into cases, far more when a person is convicted and sentenced to death. people want to be as sure as possible of guilt and the extent of the guilt and how it ties into the statutes and where we go before we put anybody to death. death penalty cases generally do linger several years between adjudication and sentence. host: our guest this week on told our panel he has some questions about the boston marathon bombing. [video clip]

it appears at first glance a result the sharing of information that we would hope would happen in a post 9/11 world. they did not accord made to the greek -- to the degree that they should have. we want to figure out where did the coronation happen? it is worth examining how these few individuals, particularly the older brother, were radicalized. what influences pushed him in this direction? ,he one thing i will say remember when we were talking about the underwear bomber in detroit. i ask, how come you did not see this guy, his father went to the embassy in nigeria. it is like trying to find a needle in a needle stack. interviewcontest that right after "washington journal " today at 10:00 a.m. eastern time and it also repairs at 6:00

p.m. this evening. i mentioned earlier that th fbi had stated they were unaware of the return to the united states, and the departure from the united states of tamerlan tsarnaev. ,anet napolitano said in fact on his return, the fbi case had been closed, so nothing further happen. we have to always look at these things in and after action report, if you will. it is best we do it in a non- political matter to try to get to the bottom of it. are there still gaps in the sharing environment that can be fixed? if so, we fix them. it is as simple as that. you have to look at these things with an open mind. dav: our

williams. he played significant roles investigations including oak, city back in 1995. he also led the fbi headquarters task force that was formed after the 1993 terrorist bombing of the world trade center in york city. he has worked overseas in saudi arabia and led the counter- terrorism branch of the washington, d.c field office. our next caller is from new york, republican. caller: first of all, thank you very much for your service. one particular aspect of the story that is squelched by the media, do you know who is responsible for sending the thee into mirandize prisoner? i nder how much bible wasrmation was lost when he

told to stop talking? guest: there is nobody in the u.s. department of justice that tells the judge to do anything. if the judge felt that she should still mirandize him, which is, by the way, the norm, then she will do that. -- with granting of him the granting him a miranda warning caught him to stop talking? ifyou'fromll n beginning of this, we have seen a lot come to the four from "law enforcement sources." i have no idea whether dzhokhar tsarnaev is continuing to talk or whether he is not, and i do not have any idea other than through leaks as to what he has said. host: as the manhunt was going on, authorities went through

watertown, mass., and they searched homes, having people come out of their homes as they looked for the suspect. what are the rules in terms of e constitutionality? is this going in without a warrant? guest: generally, you ask people, we want to search your home because we have a real public safety issue. we have at least one guy running around with ied's, and we want to search to make sure you are ok. it would take someone who is an idiot or summon him as a meth factory in their house not to want to let them in. the police are very understanding. they do alogical fugitive search and they are on to the next one. blanda in kentucky on the democrats' line. caller: i want to thank you for

your service also. sometimes there is way too much media attention given to terrorist suspects or terrorists in general before they are called? -- before they are caught? and the sharing of information between law enforcement, the overlaps that you were talking about before. does that slow the investigation down? it seems like it would. guest: the overlap speeds the investigation because you are able to get the best information from your partners in the counter-terrorism community as you go forward. you don't have to reinvent the wheel each time ago to a new agency, so that speeds the investigation. everybody likes to bash the

media. it is not the media that great interest in the boston bombing, it is the american people. the media circus that role, to inform the american people as best they can -- serves that role. deborah from indiana, republican. other people have aought up a concern about cover-up. guest: it has become almost impossible to do a cover-up even if you wanted to do one because of leakage of information. number two, if in fact the explosion west, texas turns out to be a criminal act, you can be certain it will come out. there will be a criminal prosecution that would follow. host: is that the justification

fort database in and logging all phone calls and text of regular people? guest: some of the boundaries are classified and some are open. the things that are able to be done are done in accordance with the president's authority .elative to national security it comes down through that foreign intelligence surveillance court as to what is authorized. is not to be discussed in public, obviously. williams, i feel for the victims up in boston and the damage that was caused. obviously they would be looking for another 9/11 type target. are there circumstances controlled by the government system and the court system by

which the fbi bge iffoation or t that somebody is going to cause serious damage, or let's say some type of event in new york or major city that would destroy the lives of many, many people, are there circumstances that we could waterboard an individual that you know has information and get that information to prevent all of that damage? guest: that we start with waterboarding. the fbi does not, has not, and will not be doing any waterboarding. the united states has decreed there will be no further waterboarding in the united states. the answer is legally no.

host: west virginia, theresa, democrat. go ahead. what does homeland security do? did they just control the borders of the united states? them, but you really don't know what their jurisdiction really is. guest: the department of homeland security is an amalgamation of 22 separate agencies that cover citizenship services, customs, border protection, the u.s. secret service, the u.s. coast guard, all these various agencies, under the department of homeland security. they each have a great deal of autonomy in what they do to fulfill their original mission. that a part of homeland security ties together the information from all of these agencies, and

that is their mission. thank you for your service to your country. before this boston situation happened, there was a student from a muslim country, and red flags went up in his conversations. overlooked it at first. he is young, he might be impressionable. when i started seeing him on his laptop talking to his cleric in france, i called the fbi. i thought about it for a long time and i thought, you know what? if i don't do it and something happens, i will never be able to forgive myself. so i went ahead and call the local fbi. i am just wondering, do they take these tips seriously?

guest: the take them very seriously, and i thank you for calling that in. this is the key thing that prevents acts of terrorism. nc 9/11, the fbi has been able to prevent a couple hundred acts of terrorism from occurring, and almost all of those were predicated by calls from citizens coming into the fbi. inspector moeller mandated there will be no terrorism investigation that is not the result -- he said everyone of them, no matter how they look in the beginning, will be run to ground. so the answer to question is yes, please keep calling when you have information like that. that is the key to success. host: within the year, how many cases does the fbi get concerning terrorism, and how many are credible? how much is made public?

terrorism is the fbi's number one priority. resources and assets of the agency go to their number one priority for more than any others. there are thousands of counter- terrorism cases, some of which turn out to be credible, many others turned out not to be credible. host: ways it ise are two made public. some of them are resolved in prosecution's going and the criminal then you. others are handled in a more sophisticated manner where we try to go through a prospective and you try to get him to work for you. human source development is key.

i do not want to say war on terrorism. esparta,t call in richard, democrat. the fbiyou were in during the clinton the administration and before 9/11. you're probably familiar that richard clark had a group that met once a week. i wonder if you have any thoughts why, when the bush and administration which was constantly being warned that al qaeda wants to attack us , the group was disbanded? it seems to me why, in spite of all the warnings, they disband the one group actually looking for a qaeda. do you have any thoughts on that? >> we are getting into it with a

few different things. dick clark ran a lot of meetings, a lot of them on secure video teleconference. they were not just once a week. they would be constant with all the major participant agencies. i participated in a number of those things. the central intelligence agency something geared totally on finding osama bin laden. that group was disbanded when it was determined that it was no longer necessary by the cia. they represented some other field agencies in there as well. williams, final question. lessons learned from the boston marathon bombings. are you seeing some suggestions about how investigations could

be tightened up or how methods could be home? >> the investigation was as good as i have seen anywhere. the fbi response to the police department was out shall -- absolutely superb. within a matter of days, the subjects have been identified, largely through some incredible photograph analysis. there were a lot of cameras going on at that moment. i doubt there were any more cameras at any one place in the world and with that they were able to identify the bombers and say these two guys look like the bombers and they followed an investigation quickly i will say that they helped things gruesomely along that line by acting as they did and killing a police officer and my thoughts go out to him and his family as well as engage in with the

police, but i thought the investigation went well. there's one thing that has to be learned. and still confused as to why the fbi was not notified of the departure or return of tamerlan tsarnaev of up to the united states after he was investigated. williams, former fbi investigator, thank you for joining us today. next, a look at what is going on in the week in politics with a round table. later on, a close look at how syria and the boston bombing is complicating u.s.-russia and relations.

ofin democracy, the purpose public office is not to fulfill personal ambition. elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves. the political wind blows left down right, the polls rise and fall, supporters come and go. but in the end, leaders are defined by the convictions they

hold. my deepest conviction, the guiding principle of the administration, is that the united states of america must strive to expand the reach of freedom. >> the dedication of the bush presidential library and museum this morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. i went in, walked into the kiosk. here to doas bob ney reporting. we got down in there and the guard said, here, you have some hate mail from california and they gave me the mail. you go through the most embarrassing part of the strip down and then i got into the intake, walked in the prison, down in the courtyard and i will not use the language i do in the

own, but he confed in s way and i'm sitting there not knowing where to go, where i'm staying in these pajama pants. another prisoner said, where is your escort? i said, i don't know. a little guy in a suit yelled foul language and he took me in the back. i walked in and a man is sitting there and he says, are you the congressman? i said, used to be. he said, you are a republican? i said, they put me in here it, you know. >> i was the mayor of east cleveland. welcome. i will get you some clothes. on c-span'st 8:00 "q&a." >> "washington dermal" continues -- "washington

journal" continues. with us, seung min kim from politico and evan mcmorris- santoro from buzzfeed. let's talk about what we learned last week and president obama talking about the potential of a chemical weapons. wen mcmorris-santoro, where add in this? why is the white house's stance ?ignificant ta guest: there has been a lot of debate. the obama administration said a few months ago, they drew the proverbial red line about chemical weapons, the idea that of chemical weapons were used, they would cross the line and we would see engagement. that is what people read about that. there were reports that some chemical weapons may have been .sed

shortly thereafter, the white house was engaged on that and some observers felt they change the way the red line works. the white house says it was a systematic use. we're seeing a lot of discussion about persian towards what might be u.s. involvement. it's unfair to say that will happen or not. talkinge house is now about using chemical weapons and what it means for how the united states in gauges. associated press has this headline -- obama's syrian caution. one of the conversations going on in congress on what the u.s. could and should be doing? 2 are seeing the varied reaction. john mccain has been pushing for more action on syria.

you have senator feinstein to maturity intelligence committees saying the red line clearly has been crossed and we need to explore the options on the table, but you do see some caution from lawmakers. i think it's related to what happened in iraq. we don't know for sure what's going on. there have been careful looking at all the information and there is some caution as well. you do not want to rush into things too quickly before you have a full assessment of the situation. other international relationships as we see this playing out. guest: one thing they're trying to do is to engage the international community in this conversation. one thing obama and the white house has said the they want to talk to our allies, talk to the u.n., get that engagement. that is something we have seen them talk about from the

beginning. they want to act with allies and the rest of the world community behind them. part of what they're doing right now is talking with those world leaders, talking with the u.n., seeing what that means. it sends a message to countries like north korea that we will be acting. to be the only guy facing a bunch of other guys, it makes it easier for them to make their point. host: seung min kim, we see a headline in "the wall street journal" looking at the delays in airports and the faa what is the latest. >> a new law has been passed to allow the faa to reconfigure their filing so you do not have all these delays at the airport. this is all part of the sequester. the across-the-board cuts were supposed to hit everyone pretty evenly, but people were getting angry, long lines, including

theers of congress, so when delays started to get along bear, congress look at it. >> i was as different from other issues pending in congress? we have been hearing a lot of conversation about faa and legislation in general. >> the faa is so unusual in terms of its sequester. they have been slow to figure out the situation on the other parts of the budget, basically everything. still, once the political pressure started to kick in, they were able to act pretty quickly. is thei think this fastest i've seen. guest: you blink and they have a solution. boom. everyone acted really fast. bythere was an attempt

majority leader eric cantor. the headline says, house gop leaders are dealt a setback in health vote battle. what happened? is what he calls the make life work for americans. mistakes funding from the prevention side and feeds it into high-risk school programs. they did not like it because it tampered with the medicare act. there are many conservatives who are very angry about this. there a single mission is to repeal obamacare, not make it better. the year groups like heritage action, many conservative members in the house and they will not vote for those and once the conservative rebellions starts to build, he had to pull

the bill from the floor. host: evan mcmorris-santoro, what is the white house's read on this? they try to get the caucus, their party to do something, and there is a lot of -- they look on this with a lot of amusement in the white house. this is the point and making for a long time a point often made is that the republican caucus helicon press, the house specifically, it is so extreme that there is no chance for any bipartisan action. obama always talk about working together and vote like this help to make the white house's point. host: evan mcmorris-santoro from buzzfeed and seung min kim from politico. ahead previewing the week in washington. if you would like to join the

conversation, the numbers are on your screen. phones, weet to the see the questions over gun control. that was settled a week and a half ago. on guns, a wait-and-see approach becomes slim to none. then you look up the politics of this. in "the new york times," there littlerage of paying cost for defying president obama's bush for gun control. where is the political fallout in this? is a very important issue that polarizes a lot of people, but if you look at just the politics it's very interesting. on one hand, you have a powerful

national rifle association. but the fallout from this has been what do the gun control advocates do with this? there's been some confusion. they're going to be running ads in arkansas, a democrat who also voted against it, but the general problem they seem to be having is that they do not have the kind of fired up masses you saw in the tea party movement in 2009-2010. is probably not going have to face hundreds if not thousands of angry people windigos outhouse on this issue, makes it harder for people trying to get gun control past. guest: i agree. it's only going to help your potential. this did not, push the senate to pass a gun

bill. the senate outcome may limit pressure on the house to act. where the intersection between polling and the political realities in washington? guest: there are people who ask americans, should we have background checks expanded? not only the most americans think we should, most americans think we already do. there's a lot of broad agreement on the concept, but there's a the angryk about masses. how focused our people on this issue? how much does it make them want to get out there and participate in democracy? it's not totally clear that guns is the kind of issue that moves people enough for gun control advocates to really have a huge influence on the national debate.

we saw the five presidents gathered this week for president dedication's library and unavailing. a look at george w. bush in the rearview mirror. that: what struck me about opening is obama used it to actually push on the republicans in congress now. he went to two appearances and spoke about how bush was bipartisan and work with ted kennedy to make no child left behind. you have this guy who a lot of democrats and most republicans do not look too fondly on. he was one of his toughest critics. he is now saying that he wants to see the republicans have to work with now be more like george w. bush and be more open to crossing the aisle. they would say his policies were a bit more palatable to

democrats and he was interested in things that are more agreeable, but it was interesting to see the politics of input was the president saying this guy, and the man who was sort of ran against, you should be more like him. host: the recent piece you did on evan mcmorris-santoro, more like george w. bush. . 40 minutes to talk with your right now and seung min kim from politico. the numbers, again, on your screen. seung min kim, as you watched the president's gather in texas, what were you watching? watching comments on comprehensive immigration reform. that will be the battle this year. with the bush library opening,

president bush had pushed his last major effort to enact comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. juneiled in the senate, 2007, and it was a big disappointment. occasion obama use the to say that he deserves a lot of credit for what he tried to do with immigration reform in 2007 and a push for the congress and white house to work together. >> it was quite a policy speech for ceremonial opening. he was. political in that speech and even though that is a place you go to hang out. i'm surprised by how much he used that moment to make political points. host: that's good to greg from connecticut. you doing today? i know i'm in the minority,

particularly in the state of connecticut being a republican. the issue of child safety and 60, without a think tank about what other things could be done instead of gun-control. i feel totally disenfranchised. president obama goes on and gives such a scathing reprimand to people who supported or who do not support gun control. control as a portion of their process of reducing crime. it always seems to be the first thing that the politicians jump on. in a pollked people coming to your support universal background checks, the obvious answer is always yes, but the devil is in the details.

when one looks in the background thats, i think we find there really do not accomplish what we want them to accomplish, keeping weapons out of the hands of the mentally incompetent or criminal. host: let's get a response from seung min kim. of americans to support expanded background checks, but when there are senators who have rejected a proposal look at the details, they figure out how that could affect constituents back in .laska or montana guest: we talked about the politics of it. gun-control advocates are new on the scene relative reverses the nra. a lot of people who care about

gun safety, protecting kids and schools, they look at these proposals and they said that this was not the right way to solve this problem. it's always important to remember there are two sides of the political debate. we talk about what the gun control side is doing, but a lot of members look at this and say we should focus on mental health or something else besides background checks. republican,lvania, go ahead. caller: good morning. it just one quick comment for c- span. sometimes it's intimidating force scholars because you put us on with these professionals been people from the media -- sometimes it's intimidating for us callers. host: if we can do anything to make you more comfortable, we will do that. caller: i appreciated.

there have been a few people commenting this morning about the media event down there with the presidents. one tweeted in something about cityfiddling while a burns. do think the structure between the political system and the media is a problem? host: what do you think? caller: it seems to me that the country is in trouble. the middle class is really feeling it. obviously, the real-estate market is still feeling that, except of course, washington and new york. it just seems like the power structures are doing well and the rest of the country, everyone in new york and

washington are fiddling while the rest of the country burns. the white house correspondents' dinner was last night. what are your thoughts in response to what the caller is saving? something called optics. thene that i know goes to white house correspondents' dinner who is swathed in their coverage or change on what the report on. i think the dinner is fine. it really is just a fun thing to see every year, but a lot of people feel like the caller. something maybe reporters and the media should look out. host: seung min kim? cause andis a great raises scholarships for aspiring journalist. there is another issue. we're still in a recovering

economy and this is a difficult month in what happened in west, texas, and the boston marathon. big, a grand dinner in washington. host: politico was represented at the dinner and buzzfeed was not. how was the buzzfeed party last night? guest: that's a bit above my pay grade. they tell me where to go and i go. it was a great party. we have a lot of reporters out there. we had the cast from a "house of cards," so that was cool to see them. if you live here and in washington, it is something they talked about. so these to have a party to go

to when you cannot go to the dinner. host: why can everyone not go? guest: only a certain size the ballroom. host: but to go to dennis on the independent line. caller: i personally hate this man. he is the biggest liar that has ever been elected to the presidency. he continues to like, make jokes, fly around, blair money, and put our children and grandchildren in astronomic of debt. think abouto you congress? caller: they will make sure that there health insurance rates have gone up when obamacare is implemented. it host: what you think about congress? caller: they should fight him every step of the way.

of theot a fan president's charm offensive. and he also brought up the federal health care law. guest: there are risch from a peelings about barack obama on both sides. ofn you have a lot constituent pressure in congress every stepfight boack of the way, that is why the president is reaching and try to do this so called charm offensive trying to make washington a little bit more not as dysfunctional as we see every day. host: the federal health care law is an issue. we are watching how the public relations momentum is working on that. try to get out the word about the changes that are happening soon. washington,pulse in

evan mcmorris-santoro, in terms of the public opinion of what is coming down the pike? guest: there are concerns that when this law kicks in, it could be tough. max baucus called it a train wreck. i think the white house is thisg very hard to push message of educate about a lot and get ready. there is a speech obama gave to planned parenthood just this week. a large part was he needs them to help explain that this lot is here and what they can do for them. that's a very important part of the next few months. twitterquestion on earlier, possible exceptions

about congressional staffers. it definitely caused a lot of consternation. you know about the congressional aspect of that. did harry reid say it's not actually happening? he said there has been no conversation about exempting lawmakers or aids from the from teh- aides federal healthcare law. trade host: let us hear from ron in pennsylvania. caller: and does want to haslight -- the deep party quite often said they believe we should cut back our budget. that is what they are all about. really did want to spend a lot of money on -- it is just a

matter of having different priorities. when t shootings happened all of a sudden there are major advocates for armed guards in every school. we have 100 degrees thousand -- 137,00030 fat schools, much more than that. we're talking about billions of dollars. they are about spending money on what they want. it is just a joke. guest: people are pretty fired up. of what thelot discussion in washington is. it is not always so cut and dry between i only like this or that. people are smart colors and are

paying attention. isnding government money something that everyone in washington likes to do. >> he is the white house reporter at as feed. -- at buzzfeed. he covers politics and elections. he also covered the elections for national journal in 2008. and she is with politico, where she is a congressional reporter. she is the star-ledger of newark. miami florida is up next, art is an independent. how'd you do? i think that some of the media -- it is like entertainment and journalism. bill marr show and

the tonight show. are these serious journalists or are they trying to get t? it seems to me that is not the case. i remember a couple of years ago larry king and barbara walters were talking about how you did not have that type of journalism anymore. it is not about the person. the gentleman on msnbc who ost he had ahis job, huge ego. it was all about him. where is the real journalism going on? where has that gone?

what has happened? host: with you get your news from these days? npr, i lovean, charlie rose. he's on cbs. that does not fit that type of program. he asks great questions. these are smart people. they talk about all kinds of things from architecture to economics. everybody is trying to be a star. they want to be an entertainment journalist. i am concerned about that because this gentleman who called a couple of calls go says

he hates president obama. i mustn't he gets his information from fox. -- i am assuming he gets his information from fox. this guy is not what these people have made him out to be. is clear thatit serious journalists appear on c- span. it is an interesting job we are in. people often times, they have -- they are upset about the housing recovery or what not. he talked about the press being too hard about on -- too hard on obama. from twitter -- yelled at people who like obama, who don't

like obama. areybody is -- peole tryign to read it people are trying to do their job. i did not think there are people who are always tried to push an agenda. adding to listen is really good right now. i think it is pretty good and people read a lot of different sources. they are. be pretty educated. hopefully forg myself. we work very hard to try to do various struggles. we are open to criticism that we may have. --nt-page

flipping into the outlook session -- outlook section it says the gop needs a new poster child. those that are challenging some of the long-held ideas, including senator mark rubio and congressmen paul ryan. congress -- where is the conversation now in terms of future lever's -- of future leaders? host: she often knows how to write something that can get people talking. she has a point in that there is a lot of talk in the party about who the kind of leader you are going to be. is it going to be a socials account -- is it going to be a social conservative type? a lot of republicans would like to see marco rubio.

it is a big debate right now. host: and the emerging leaders in congress. guest: you have to look at senator mark rubio and paul ryan. i think the key one is marked rubio. -- i smarco rubio. rubio.arco he is willing to take the political role. he knows not only on the policy side that this is something that congress and the white house need to fix our immigration system but he knows that it is good politics for the future. host: you have been reporting on immigration and where that is in the congress. hear the stories from politico -- what will you be watching for? >> i will be watching for how the bill changes in committee.

all the members of the so-called gang of eight that put out this immigration bill, we are waiting for the community process to see how we can we get enchanted. says tamara rubio have been leading opponents of a slow process -- senator mark rubio has been one of the leading opponents of the slow process. we are expecting the amendment of same-sex marriage from what i andthat is could be looking for. host: let us go to missouri. jim is an independent. i see part of the problem to press, it is embedded in the answer the young lady health careow the fights congress. all she did was " a harry reid.

-- was quote harry reid. there is a lot of laziness in terms of investigative journalism. when you get a question like that you need to know what lies in what does not apply, not just what harry reid thinks about it. i am not picking on one individual because i see that edgar across the country. host: just to give us of context, the story was from politico and it was a back-and- forth between some legislators who are arguing over what could happen with obama care. we saw political report on this and we saw some push back from legislators after that. let us give a response from our guest is see if you have any follow-up. we do our best but this

is important. not weird trying to do or not trying to do. it is with the story is here. is there a difference between the tennis table match of what happens in the washington and a longer format pieces that journalists want to be able to do? >> there are different types of stores that need be done. i had a caller earlier say it the tea party wants to spend money. these political fights are often about who is going to win. we have to cover that as well. it is a big movement. if he did not like it, it is true.

desire for the other more substtive coverage. people need to realize that washington works on two pla nes. yet know the processes, but people are trying to do, what people are trying to make happen and change. those changes do not occur unless these stories have a gamesmanship partnership. you have any follow-up? caller: there is a general problem. you said the tea party wants to spend money. you are taking that on the word of a democrat, who just called in. guest: i have covered them for a long time. that wantse someone to change something and have the government do something new and different that takes money. it is not always true.

people want to cut government on the tea party side of things. that is a huge focus that they do. a lot of them would want to see the government doing things that they are not doing now. everybody tries to spend some money. it is just a matter of how much and for the money goes. >> you mentioned the boston marathon bombings, the impact in terms of immigration before congress. how was this having reverberations in congress? guest: you have a lot of lawmakers demanding answers about the suspects and background, how they got to the united states before they move along with any degree the measures. you have pro-reform advocates saying this would not have happened and the current -- this

happened under the current immigration system. senator chuck schumer has noted there is a system that tracks passports. if the suspect escaped there would be a way to track them once they enter the country. you still have people siaying let's find out about the immigration investigation and then deal with it then. >> we heard the president closed his remarks on a very serious note when he was commanding the boston globe. he was talking about what was happening in places like boston. what is the tone? >> it was the paris opera week -- it was a very somber week.

there is a big focus on a lot of those issues in washington. in terms of boston there's a lot to be talked about. there are reports by the fbi. they're adhering says about a bunch of stuff. we're just getting started. here,one last call in antoinette from pennsylvania. i wanted to piggyback off of what dennis was speaking on. to hearns my heart people on my tv say they hate our president. i am a black female with five children and a husband it takes very good care of us, a lovely family. we weren't even political for

the longest time. watching this landscape is and how people are today. i have never seen anything like it in my life. and to not understand why more people do not talk about what is going on. our kids are growing up watching this rhetoric from both sides come back and forth. there's so much racial prejudice that going on right now. it is all out on the forefront right now. i think we should be involved in our children more. people need to know, ever run these understand the this is not as one president. we are making everything big. him, it isust everybody. especially congress. if congress is so divided the the hit man so much -- so divided and they hate this man are other host:

issues you do not like that he is involved with? caller: there are some things i can say i do not agree with him on. i think he is doing a good job. he has had a face so many -- host: this is from the tracking poll. voters 49% of u.s. approved of the u.s. -- of obama's job performance. the the 9% it strongly disapproved. any reflections on what our caller was talking about. guest: their people who did not like the pubolitical side one bit. host: what the u.n. to be

watching when they go back to their home? guest: i am sure they will be hearing a lot from the other ways the sequester will be effects it -- the other with the sequester will be affecting the community. what theyus to see hear about the constituents on that. i am also interested in seeing what the say about immigration reform. very heavily on one lawmakers can do for the constituents back home. joining us.you for next, in the wake of the boston bombings and rising tensions in syria in william

pomeranz joins us. a look at what's coming up on the sunday shows on c-span radio. >> topics include the latest on the investigation to the boston marathon bombings. reports of chemical weapons in syria and the legacy of former president george of the bush. c-span read errors five of the programs on the new eastern. abc's this week with house chairman and republican mike rogers. at 2:00 p.m. on fox news sunday show mansion and republican representative mike mccall. also on the program is israel's ambassador to the united states.

cnn's stated union falls at 3:00 p.m.. we welcome republican senator dan. house intellig cee member adam schiff and homeland security secretary michael chertoff. theschieffer talks with vice -- the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee. linseed gramm is on the armed services committee. they are brought to you by talk show as a public service. you can listen to them all on c- span and radio 91. fm, nationwide on xm satellite

radio on channel 119, or online at c-spanradio.org. the public defender's job is reliant on their approval. judges are judged on their efficiency, how fast to the process cases? how quickly do they get to the docket? publice going to want a defender that it's a long period -- that gets a long .eriod -- gets along one defender was assigned to one courtroom and the same judge said there were always arguing before the same judge. theproblem with that is work trading clients in a way.

if you let me spend some time and take this case to trial i will persuade his client to plead guilty. there was this trade-off going. really make for a corrupt system. >> if you cannot be -- if you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided for you. c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. >host: our guest is william pomeranz. us-anted to look at the russia relationship. let's start with some of the background before the bombings

happened. guest: think the relationship is in transition. with the election to the third term of vladimir putin and barack obama's return i would hope there would be more flexibility. unfortunately that hasn't really been able to work out. and that when pollution ran for ran third term -- when putin for his third term he raced the rhetoric -- he raised the rhetoric he has not been able to turn that off when he came back to the presidency. there has been as anti-u.s. reso -- anti-u.s. rhetoric that has -- host: cudas the u.s. talk to in

russia? what are the diplomatic channels? guest: they are pretty straightforward between embassy .s and the secretary of state there is hope that relationship will remain strong. the russians want to have someone they can deal with. kerrey has sent that signal to a certain extent to the russians. on terms oflogue foreign ministry and the state department. called also something the bilateral commission which was a presidential commission set up between president obama and the kick

-- between president obama and -- finally, there is the addition to the wto to increase [indiscernible] host: we saw a line in "the boston globe," who dropped the ball? guest: if we look at post and the times today we have a lot more details about the family's and the brother's experience in the united states. it is quite clear that the russians did inform u.s. intelligence that they had concerns about the older brother. the u.s. followed up on that. basically when we followed up we did not find anything that was overly suspicious about them.

when we asked for and -- when we ask for additional information than was provided. the elder son was included in various databases. there is strong but it -- strong religious anti-u.s. waring. as a good about the experience of the brothers in the united states. what we are trying to figure out is what happened when the oldest son went to russia for six months and came back to the united states. post" has aington picture of the family. theee a timeline that washington post created of the family's movement.

they are tracking when and where they were from some time in russia, other locations, and of course to the united states. why is it a significant image to look at? if you looked at the history of the soviet union and the russian federation -- thes important to recognize family is ethnically chechnyan. they lived in canada stand. they went to kurdistan where a they wenthnya and -- to kyrgystan. that is during world war two. that is where they were initially raised.

they come and stay in dagestan. -- a fairlyrably difficult region to govern. then they went to the united states. there is a lot of emphasis on the fact that they are from chechnya. as you read more from their family history you learn that they did not live in chechnya. emigrated experience -- the experience immigration inside of russia. actinge serves as director for advanced russian studies. he also teaches russian laws forced the center of duration and european studies in georgetown. a conversation last week from vladimir putin. he answered some questions during his annual q&a session in moscow. let us hear how he talked about the boston marathon bombings.

>> in a continuation of the american story i will quote another important message. apparently it came from a fellow russians a decision -- fellow russian citizen. he ask, "after the terrorist attacks in boston many americans are against russia because the terrorists came from the caucuses. the entire internet is filled with anti-russian comments. we have a tense relationship with the u.s. and now we will be accused of the acts of terror. how're we going to solve this problem? unreconciledthe citizens of the united states have nothing to do with it. out to appeal to anyone who is toching, russia is a victim international terrorism. it was one of the first nations to call him -- to fall victim to

international terrorism. guest: it is vladimir putin try to emphasize that russia is part of this battle against extremism. russiae emphasizing that has some domestic tragedies as a result of domestic terror on its own country. it reflects the desire from the russian standpoint. this was reflected even after 9/11. they saw that their activities federation'sssian .it within our general struggle he does this marathon a q&a session every year. this year it was four hours and 40 something minutes. it is the time or he can talk to refer to the russian people. he does and it is very effective. he really shows a knowledge of the tel. he really shows that he is someone who is engaged and --

engaged in the process of governing. he is on top of some of the various issues. some of the questions are kind of six, at the expert they. by way he which communicates with the russian people, he does occasionally. they are these incredibly long marathon sessions. it just highlights the fact that he is engaged an active leader who is on top of a lot of the details. host: if you liked to talk to william pomeranz about u.s.- russia relationship in the wake of the boston bombings, syrup and numbers to call. -- here are the numbers to call . chris joins us from kingston and illinois. is getting

embarrassing to state a republican. i think vladimir putin and obama are doing the best thing to do. if we had a republican in the white house artur would be a lot worse. i think it is the to be friends with what appeared to. -- with vladimir putin. toneed to prepare -- we need repair the damage that republicans do. they'll never get the vote. host: let us talk about the relationship between president obama and vladimir putin. guest: i think it is time to reestablish a working relationship in many ways. it is the result of politics. vladimir putin ran on a very anti-u.s. platform i think the president obama used a lot of political capital in order to engage in work with the presidential debate and build up his stature.

has ak president obama serious choice in the second term and that is for how much capital to you want to invest in russia. if you read about u.s. foreign policy a lot is the pivot to asia. syria should include russia seeing as russia is an asian power. it hasn't engaged russia at all. that is the relationship that is trained as a result of politics. i think they are having difficulty finding, and grow. -- finding common ground. -- where did you observe and terms of the u.s. reaction to russians after the bottom. -- after the bombing?

we try to find out what is the relationship. i think people are focused on chechnya. we weren't focuses -- we weren't focused on the north caucuses or all of the dust -- or all of the f mitt groups. people have been trying to understand how this part of the russian federation to fit into the whole of the russian federation. largerare part of the political body. as mentioned there has been an attempt to connect this family's history with the broader region. each day we learn another interesting fact about the family and how it relates to the region. host: let us hear from richard who is a republican caller. am 55 and to the

vladimir putin has been trying to take russia backed the 19 sixties in the past five years. i would take a big grain of salt with it because they may very well be trying to tell us somebody is not good or write so they will do their dirty work for them. lady, that's a because some man did not like the president will because of color. i like jimmy carter but i love peanuts. guest: it is an interesting question in terms of where clinton is taking russia. there has been ammunition of the actual political space. that is a very serious question in terms of the political arrangement. he has once again make sure that people will not be affected by

direct elections. governor is reintroduced a system whereby a person can be reelected into -- there is this very serious question about where pollution is taken the political country -- about where vladimir putin is taking the country politically. russia is not as isolated as it was in the 1960's. russia is one of the most important elements post soviet- russia. that has changed the nation. it is not as closed to westerners. russia in theat 1960's and you have various state-planned economies. there are various questions in terms of how much of a free- market mr. vladimir putin is and is not. we do have a situation where everything is owned by the states. the states are in case some kind of a central planning. there are questions about the

control of different companies. i do not see -- as i said there is a question about the politics of the current situation. clearly the politics are difficult and clinton is not opening up for political competition. up forn is not opening political competition. things withto take a grain of salt. to kind of be in a position to judge whether the information is relevant or not. obviously russia is still engaged in intelligence activities. we learned that there are more intelligence committees than the originally thought. whether they were affected or not is the question. we do have to take information with a grin assad. host: headline from "the

washignton post," -- tell us about russia's relationship with syria. guest: there is a big back story. i think that one of the reasons why vladimir beaten the odds of the necessary to return to power was because of the hand of the libyan crisis. vladimir putin was outspoken against that. he really begin to take different lines. that is one of the different .easons he needs to repel this i wasis a feeling that strong enough during -- he wasn't strong enough.

that makes it much more difficult for syria andsia to compromise over the questions. to allow any international involvement or engagement -- russia has a strong belief in questions about international agencies and interfering. art you're on the pit is the cornerstone of russian policy. it is not surprising that it is being re-asserted. ,ost: jacksonville, florida democrats line. stated that wet should take everything -- certain things russell said with a grain of salt. i beg to differ. when russia contacted the fbi and cia and said he was doing

this and he was doing that -- when he came back to this wentry america did say investigated him but we found nothing. if we had stayed on the stayed onpredict -- the sentiment we could have saved people. about that and thank you for taking my call? this before he went to russia. thatbi received a request they interviewed him. there is a question and this is what is being discussed in

congress, we let him go to russia. when he came back with virtually nothing to follow up, if there is something to follow up on. anyid not actually receive requests from the russians. -- the question is what the russians learn about him, if anything, when he was in russia. have thought that the russians might have informed us as well upon his return. maybe they did follow up. it is a big country and very hard for the russians to maintain this level of surveillance at times. caseume in this particular there is a strong feeling that they might have done something in terms of trying to determine what his views were or how we were evolving during his stay in

russia. think there is a real question that we try to get to the bottom of as to what sort of question should occur when the elder son returns back to the united states? that is a question, as far as i understand he was on the low level anti-terrorist list and nothing was done to follow up on that. is an imperfect science. it is resource base and there are so many people you can engage in and follow and so rth. those are the open questions. host: 4 worth, texas. our next caller is on our independent line. you are on with william pomeranz. caller: good job on the guests you get. i first comment is as a world leader we should have an open

dialogue with all countries. my second comment is if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. russia can continue to spy on us. stopsition is what would them from trying to include us and what -- trying to include us in what is going on with them? this would be a good way to draw us into their fight. we have to be very diligent about that. i would like to hear your thoughts on that. thank you. guest: although i think vladimir bruton would in general like to engage with the united states and work together on certain anti-terrorism programs i can assure you that the last thing he would ever want is the united states actually engaged in some of the complex in the northern caucuses. vladimir putin views them as internal matters. it would not allow for any sort of joint activities dealing with

the northern caucuses. that is something that is not going to happen. is a good thing in the sense that we need to keep channels of communication open . \h russia we should find ways to address the issues in certain places where we have in common. host: 8 your wants to know -- know--viewer wants to guest: i am not here to engage who has the better network. russia continues to engage in various types of intelligence gathering in the united states. that is what we learned a few years ago with all of these different groups. some of the intelligence

gathering was simply information taken off of the website. they were going through various events of watching c-span and getting paid for it by the what -- paid for by the russian television services. -- russian intelligence services. it really wasn't the best information they could possibly get. there are much more sophisticated intelligence operations that we are not aware of. question was international credibility? in terms of international credibility, russia obviously has suffered some blows in terms of its international -- since the collapse of the union when it wasn't an economic superpower. the last few years have been difficult for russia. what we have seen over the last five years is an attempt for

russia to assert itself as a regional power and some of that has to be dealt with internationally. this is just very difficult because russia is a much smaller country in terms of population. is 142 million people. it has certain weaknesses in both terms of its economy and military's. all of these things were significantly diminished as a result of the collapse of the soviet union. whereas russia is asserting itself in the form of soviet space, as it were, it does not have the same space on the international stage as it did during the cold war. william pomeranz -- host: william pomeranz is our guest from the woodrow wilson center. robert is on our independent line. caller: are currently any

opinions in russia on this issue and does this affect future policy? thank you. host: you're saying opinion polls in russia? caller: yes. guest: there are opinion polls regularly published in russia and they do very good jobs in attitude towards elected leaders and attitude towards social and political questions in russia. you can gauge public opinion. vladimir putin's popularity polls remain in the low 60's, which are not bad but are not as good as they were in his previous term when they were in the 8's 90's. there are polls that suggest that the russian people do not trust them as they did previously. there is a lot of very good information you can get as to

the current popular opinion. host: let us go back to syria. we mentioned this headline that the boston bombings could andlicate relationships diplomacy over the syrian coast. how does this affect the decision making process for the rest of the international community? guest: if they want to go to the united nations than they have to engage. russia says it will not support any type of international involvement in syria. russia still has a veto power in the security council and one should assume that russia will continue to exercise that power as long as it perceives that there is something worth fighting for in syria. this has become the time when it really appears to syria has

lost. there is the possibility of a more pragmatic response from the russian side. until that time russia has certain powers in the united nations and it will exercise the power saw. -- those powers. host: thomas a democrat. -- tom is a democrat. there are certain matters that mutually affect both of us and i think international terrorism from allhnya -- i am not saying individuals and agree to the united states, we need to have better information about individuals from areas like that. one other thing i would like to mention is that when individuals: and have certain complaints about parties, like

people criticizing the democratic party are people criticizing the republican party, i would appreciate it if you give people more leeway to see what they have to say and not cut them off. think they need a little bit more time to get their frustrations off their chest and this is the only way people have to express themselves to the world. i would appreciate it. thank you so much. host: thank you. guest: i think we need better information and we need various aspects of dialogue to keep the relationship going. new think that there are alternative ways to having that conversation. i also believe we need to engage in the upper levels of russian government and try to find areas where we agree and if we can find those areas which should work on them. twitter,uestion from

-- guest: no. host: is the mission different? guest: it is pretty much the same mission and one of the interesting things is president putin comes from the kgb. that is one of his great sources of support in terms of government. he comes from that background and knows that world. he is always willing to rely on those services. culture references, amerikans," ise it realistic? guest: i have to admit i have not seen the television show. pop culture is one of our great exports around the world. russians like various aspects of

u.s. pop culture. there are now rap musicians that are engaged in various aspects that engagese young people in the united states. this is something that is very different from the soviet. d. from the soviet perio they use tremendous amount of resources to keep that out. the russians today have access to it and participate in it. >> let us hear from walter who was a republican. how're you doing? caller: i am just fine. i was wondering why the russians have to warn us several times about these men in boston. also tell us what you think this says about our relationship with russia? , what i was getting

at is we ignore them. is that why they keep calling back? differenty sent two requests for information. they first contacted the fbi who conducted an interview. the fbi heard nothing back from the russians. a few months later the russians went to the cia and ask for a similar type of background check. i am not familiar with what the cia did. the confirmed what the fbi and basically told them that it had already been responded to. the question is the russians gave these warnings and informed u.s. intelligence. when u.s. and formed the russians we received nothing back. -- informed the russians we received nothing back. there's no incriminating invest -- no incriminating evidence.

from "the associated press closed court on yahoo news -- associated press closed " on yahoo news -- the conversations are significant because had they been repealed earlier there might have been enough evidence if the russians had this information and felt the need to continue the investigation why did the russians provide this expert information about the contact? it is one of the questions that still have to be answered. host: joe is an independent.

hello. caller: the mall for having me on. my main question is have you seen the news clip that fox news had done last week concerning -- they had a call-in on c-span just like this after the bombing and for seven minutes the callers that recalling in the region that were calling in for claiming that this was a false flag. it shows the guy in suspect -- it shows the guy in custody with his backpack on an blackwater .peratives the backpack he had on had a white square on it. that was the same square that had the bag with explosives. guest: i am not aware of that. horrible act of terror

there will be various attempts to explain it, various types of conspiracy theories. the one that seems to be most credible has been the one that was put forward, that it was these two brothers. i have not seen some of the other types of examples. i would always caution these broader conspiracy questions. -host: what are the top two issues that keep the usa and russia from developing a positive diplomatic relationship? guest: i will talk about one in a little bit more detail. this has evolved over the last few months. one of the real problems with u.s. relationships with russia today -- this is a piece of legislation that was passed in the united states as a result to-- essentially in response

the decision to lift -- congress decided that additional human rights legislation needed to be passed. idea was to pass an investigation of the russian lawyer it is a complicated story. what we have done is we have created a list of people associated with that list. it was just published a few weeks ago where we identified certain people who will not be able to come to the united states and who will have their assets frozen. most of these people were not planning to come to the united states and they did not have any assets. there is also a classified list. the russians immediately responded. the headline --

host: i wanted to talk about their response. guest: the talked-about vice- president cheney, more prominent people than we put on the list. there's also a classified list that you had states has. it is believed some fairly high up people in the russian equivalent of the justice department are on that list. this has caused real tension between the united states and russia. russia feels this is an unwarranted interference in domestic matters. this has created real conflict. the other thing is that russia really wants to be perceived as a major player in the world and doesn't want to be perceived as someone who is either receiving aid or is somehow not able to exercise its own independence internationally. i think that is also a real

source of competition. fromt: william pomeranz the woodrow risen center. he also teaches law at the georgetown school. that is all for washington journal. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern time. cilluffo, are frank shane goldmacher, and luke rosiak from the washington times looking at federal contractors and the option the have charging the federal government for executive salaries. have a good day. ♪

next "newsmakers" with adam smith. then current and former president take part in the ceremony for the george w. bush library. then the life of mary todd lincoln. us from capitol hill is adam smith, the ranking democrat on the house armed services committee. >> thanks for having me on. >> joining me is jim michaels of usa today. with the situation continuing, we want to turn to jim michaels for our f