to be a pretty close race in the state. "real clear politics" average of polls giving the president a slight edge at this time. he leads governor romney, 46-43%. chief political correspondent carl cameron is live in all places in ohio. how does that work out? in bowling green, carl. what is the latest from there? >> reporter: hi, jenna. just to give you an idea how really important the state is of course the president was here earlier this week and romney comes today. this is day three actually of mitt romney's attacks and aggressive criticisms of the president, trying to put mr. obama on defense. it is a two-pronged attack, really. one going after the president for his remarks last week that suggested if you had a business you didn't build it. you had help presumably from the government. secondarily an ongoing criticism of the obama administration for what romney calls crony capitalism. there is new ad out from the romney campaign today that talks about some of those examples. it includes a sound bite from chuck schumer, senior senator from new york who was also a critic of some of

the obama administration's stimulus spending. watch. >> where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra, 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland. >> 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through went to overseas companies. >> reporter: now the became campaign said that attack is filled with deceptions falsehoods and misleading. chuck schumer and congress launched into the stimulus spending when. it came to green and stimulus money tremendous amount of money went to jobs overseas. jenna: does the obama campaign have an answer to that ad? are they preparing something else? >> reporter: oh, sure. as both sides do they accuse each other being completely dishonest and per pate waiting falsehoods.

the obama campaign through the democratic national committee is taking a new step if you will for romney to release tax returns. an ad featuring a dancing horse, a dress sauge horse specifically. the argument romney is dancing around whether he will release the tax returns and refusing to release more than two years worth. this dancing horse will be ann romney's horse that will dance in the olympics last two weeks. democrats say it makes a mockery of mitt romney by himself for being a rich out of touch rich guy who has a dancing horse in the olympics, jenna. jenna: a dancing horse, huh, carl. 111 days until the election. does that mean you're on the road for the next 111 days, carl? >> reporter: for all intents and purposes it does. every day is important. back and forth the last month is getting truly intense. a lot have said arguments whether obama's wind jobs

went overseas or whether bain capital outsourced essentially missing the big issues. the election with economic debt and deficit and long term entitlement reform questions has been stuck in the back and forth who is misleading and who is misrepresenting the facts for weeks. at some point the american public will need to hear the serious discussions. we may wait until after the convention until that starts if the attacks going like this. jenna: dancing horses and carl cameron on the campaign trail. carl, thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. jon: another big issue taking center stage on capitol hill right now. america's national security. house republicans pressing the obama administration to spell out exactly what defense cuts it plans to make. the scheduled reductions are part of last year's debt deal. congress, triggering what is called a sequester starting next year for the next 10 years, roughly a trillion dollars in military and domestic spending cuts have to be found.

lawmakers are trying to weigh the fallout. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. so what are some of the themes you're hearing, mike? and what more can we expect today on sequestration? >> reporter: jon, essentially this hear something looking at the three prongs of these automatic defense cuts. there is the national security impact. concerns this could affect the military for another 10 or 15 years. there is the political impact as well-being looked at in this hearing where hundreds of thousands of pink slips may go out in swing states right before election day. and then there's the economic impact if a million and a half to two million people lose their jobs as a result of these automatic deep defense cuts. then there is worry about what it will do to our economy in bumping up unemployment period of time point or perhaps two points. on note of swing states later today virginia governor bob mcdonnell, majority leader eric cantor and the virginia congressional delegation are

going to do an event here at the capitol to talk about the impact of these automatic defense cuts on virginia. when you consider virginia is a huge military state. the largest naval base in the world. and also tremendous number of defense contractors who are wondering how this is going to affect their businesses and how many people they need to cut. so we will hear from virginia, a case study of what these automatic cuts are threatening to do, jon? jon: those cuts have been described by the defense secretary, leon panetta, as devastating. what else is coming out of the pentagon on that? >> reporter: there is an interesting dynamic here because you have got members on capitol hill saying to the white house we need to know what exactly will be cut. the pentagon saying this is very devastating and all very absurd. they are essentially saying the congress, figure it out. here is pentagon spokesman george little. >> we are obviously assessing the potential impacts of sequestration. we are not planning for

sequestration to get out ahead of a question that might be posed today here by others. we're looking into contracts and taking that into account should sequestration go into effect. >> reporter: a lot of anxiety in the national security sector, not knowing exactly what these cuts will do or, whether there's a way out of them with this congress. jon. jon: mike emanuel on capitol hill. thank you. >> reporter: sure. jenna: we reported to you the secretary of agriculture tom sill sack will -- vilsack will join the daily briefing. he will report on the drought we've been talking so much about. it will a tough time for all of us but a tough time for fruits and vegetables. some farmers are rushing to pick crops before they die. growers in burlington, vermont, grabbing heads of lettuce out of the ground so they can still sell them. they say the heat is not just affecting crops though. they are keeping folks at home in the air-conditioning

and out of the stores where they can buy some of that lettuce. jon: we're talking about the historic drought affecting much. ground. the crops, and farmers how it will affect all of them. how it will affect the price of food we eat. it is hurting commercial traffic on the mississippi river. the drought is causing some areas to dry up making it too shallow for barges and tugboats to float on parts of the river. in mississippi the river is down to six feet. it is expected to go lower. this time the river was 22 feet deeper. jenna: takes a lot to do that. there is more heat on the way for some of us but others will get some relief. the trouble when you mix those two things together you can get some very big storms. meteorologist janice dean live in the extreme weather center with more. jd. >> have good news, jenna? the complaint box is full the that's what i heard one of the local forecasters say today. we have good news with that bad news as jenna mentioned. relief is on the way of heat relief but we'll see potential of big storms

especially in some of these big cities. let's talk about heat across portions of the midwest and mid-atlantic. the heat index that is combined with the humidity what it feels like. today's heat index is oppressive. 105 in st. louis. 106 is what it will feel like in d.c. the cold front is sacking southward. look at temperature differences. new york, 95 today. 74 on friday. philadelphia, 96 today. 78 on friday. boston, 88 today. 73 for you on friday. refreshing cool air moving in. however as i mentioned you have the clash of those two air masses. that will give us the potential for severe weather. the yellow shaded areas we could see large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornados. i want to warn a lot of folks a lot of big cities involved. chicago, d.c., new york, boston you're in the zone where we could see severe weather. we don't have severe weather warnings right now. you see things are firing up in the areas i mentioned. the drought, jenna, we are

so concerned with farmers. unfortunately 80% of the country is into a abnormal dry conditions. it just continues to get worse across the bread basket of the nation and the southeast and the west where we're dealing with extreme to exceptional drought, really historic situation. back to you. jenna: we haven't seen something like this since the 1950s. janice, thank you so much for that. we'll send all the complaints to jon. jon: no, i don't want the complaints. jenna: whether you live in an area suffering directly from that drought or not, this rough weather and this drought will have an effect on all of us here in the united states. coming up next hour we have a panel that will explain how had we'll all get hit from this weather from the food we eat to the energy euse. jon:. now to the crisis intensifying in syria. the treasury department announcing new financial sanctions on the assad regime for weapons proliferation. this after a deadly attack

in the capital of damascus. syria's rebel commander say his forces were behind a homicide bombing that ripped through a high level meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officials, killing the defense minister and president assad's brother-in-law in the harshest blow to the government's inner circle since the uprising began 16 months ago. defense secretary leon panetta says the u.s. is very concerned about the escalating violence in syria. >> this is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control and for that reason it is extremely important that the international community, working with other countries that have concerns in that area, have to bring maximum pressure on, on assad to do what's right, to step down and allow for that peaceful transition. jon: as the violence continues to get worse, panetta and his british counterpart also caution syria not to lose control of its chemical weapons stocks.

we're also keeping an eye on all the breaking developments out of syria. next hour we'll take an in-depth look at the crisis unfolding there with ambassador richard williamson, the former ambassador to the iaea. jenna: kind of interesting rhetorical question, jon, how difficult to steal a plane? maybe you have an answer. jon: should be tougher than it is. jenna: that leads us into the next story. apparently it wasn't too hard to steal a plane by one pilot turned murder suspect. how his attempt raises questions, rightfully so, about airport security everywhere. jon: empty romney opens a new line of attack after the president make as comment about the government's role to help business succeed. could that have on the latest race for the white house? a fair and balanced debate coming up. jenna: a athlete at the center after growing controversy. it is not about that picture. it is about who she can't share a room with at the

olympic village. that is coming up own "happening now." are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

@ 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle --

wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

jon: a new study links tax hikes on the wealthy to the loss of more than 700,000 jobs in this country. that study commissioned by business groups comes as the showdown over extending the bush tax cuts intensifis. republicans claiming this latest estimate bolsters their argument that president obama's plan to increase taxes on american households earning more than $250,000 a year will harm the economy. talk about it with the executive editor for "the daily caller". david, a study commissioned by business groups, one could expect that the opponents of this are going to cry foul. business is trying to protect itself and they came up with a phoney result.

what do you say about the methodology here? >> well you have to understand that ernst & young is, you know, this is not the heritage foundation. they are serious people of a very different kind of of course they're interested in bottom line business things. they're business consultants but i think when people who do that sort of consulting say we're going to lose 700,000 jobs and the long term impact could be half a point of increase in the unemployment rate, it's impossible not to take it seriously. the president has been saying for weeks now that the idea of giving money to job creators so that they can create jobs is a bad idea and it hasn't worked before. i think this report demonstrates that regardless of what's worked before, the business community believes that if he does this now, business will suffer. it will be small businesses. jon: so we've got -- we've got the defense department talking about the loss potentially of a million jobs in some of these sequestration numbers go through. you've got another million related jobs, jobs that feed

off the defense department. you know, everything from grocers and so forth. then you have the possibility of 700,000 jobs lost if this tax hike goes through? >> it's not exactly, you know, a gift wrapped present for the president in the middle of an election year but also i think republicans have to be careful not to push too hard on budget matters in the middle of all this. they might risk a government shutdown. then all of sudden that ricochet of blame will come right back to them. jon: under what circumstances do you see the government shutting down? >> well, right now they're dealing with a budget battle. the baseline budget calls for 1.047 trillion. paul ryan wants to safe billions off that. jon: that is -- >> like sitting at the palm after $105 lunch trying to negotiate with the waitress to take $1.90 iced tea off

the bill because you are afraid your wife will complain about the size of check. a lot of tea partiers think we ought to eat at burger king to begin with. the republicans are saying we should cut the budget, we should cut the budget. if the government shuts down over this squabble, and senate chooses to stick it to them, they will maybe not the presidency but marginal senate seats that are potential. jon: win the bad he will and lose the war. david, thank you. >> my pleasure. jenna: a new drug approved for weight loss is the second in just one month. the big question we're asking today, jon, is this magic pill that let's us eat whatever we want and just be skinny, right? that's what we want to know when it comes to diet pills. dr. manny will try to answer that later this hour. jon: the latest batman movie not even out yet. the online firestorm sparked by "the dark knight rises" that even a superhero couldn't control.

[shouting]. stay in the moment sanya. focus lolo, focus. let's do this. i am from baltimore. south carolina... bloomington, california... austin, texas... we are all here to represent the country we love. this is for everyone back home. it's go time. across america, we're all committed to team usa. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon if the miles aren't interesting?

the lexus ct hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. the lexus ct hybrid. ♪ don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet vital recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge

freshpet fresh food for fido

jenna: welcome back, everyone. "happening now", lots of preparations are underway for the summer olympics that are only nine days away. a pair of olympic athletes are complaining about their accommodations in london. australian shooters, russell and lauren mark, are married. there they are on the screen. they're not allowed to share a room in the olympic village. they say that's discrimination. rick folbaum has the details from the breaking news desk. hey, rick. >> reporter: we're getting to the bottom of this, i promise you, jenna. a couple that shoots together apparently can't sleep together. that is the complaint from the married athletes the marks. australian shooters competing in the london

olympic games. the australian firms said they can't bunk together because it would impact other athletes and there aren't enough beds. they are not so sure the reason. they think it could be pay back in part for lauren's recent photo spread in a men's magazine. nothing objectionable as far as i can tell. here is lauren. >> i put myself out there hoping it will help the profile of the sport. i hope that the publicity is more positive than negative but i do accept that it is probably going to be a little bit controversial. >> reporter: in case you're wondering lauren is originally from california though she acquired a bit of aussie accent. her husband mark is stirring up more controversy. this is what you alluded to, jenna, over comments gay couples competing in the games are allowed to room together. that he feels discriminated against personally because he is not gay. but officials from australia are not budging. i give you my word. we hear at the breaking news desk will stay on top of

this story and we'll let you know any late developments. jenna. jenna: they can shoot together but not sleep together? is that how you started this whole segment out? >> reporter: that's how i started it. jenna: we'll stay on it. rick, thank you. >> you don't owe these people anymore. you've given them everything. >> not everything. not yet. jon: oh, "the dark knight rises" later this week. the newest batman movie already stirring up fans. so much so so that the review website, rotten tomatoes had to shut down user comments on the film's reviews. dennis kneale of the fox business network with some comments of his own now. dennis. >> reporter: holy hype, batman. "the dark knight rises", it may be the one of the most hyped superhero flicks of all time. so buzzing and hotly anticipated that a backlash is building against it and even a backlash against the backlash and the film

doesn't even open wide until friday. the warner brothers film is the final installment in "the dark knight" trilogy directed by chris nolan. that is the inception guy. and starring the raspy voiced christian bale. this isn't just a battle of good versus evil, guys. this is batter of warner versus disney. can the dark night rises topple the disney's "the vendingers quote as the box-office champ? it set opening record. passed $200 million mark in north america in the first weekend. it has passed $1.5 billion worldwide. and it's the only first film in that franchise. now the dark knight rises had far more buildup as it opens midnight thursday. on rotten tomatoes site, 86% of the fans want to see it. which is why some doubt the batman's latest vehicle. it is self-indulgent 2 hours,

40 minutes long. under two hours is the norm. when a scant few critics dare call out the caped crusader one guy called it nonsensical. the responses got so ugly and threatening the rotten tomato's site shut down comments for the first time. the site is owned by warner, maker of the "dark knight" rises. trilogy has been a metaphor for america itself, the flawed hero. mere coincidence the name of the villain is bane, spelled differently from bain consulting and bain capital. jon: i think the batman bane has been around a while though. >> reporter: maybe so. jon: dennis kneale, fox business network. jenna: don't mess with batman, wow! new fallout from the president's comments on the role of government in business, with governor romney charging that the president wants americans to somehow be ashamed of success. we have a fair and balanced debate on that coming up. er roa?

as the hotel experts, finding you the perfect place is all we do. this summer, save up to 30%, plus get up to $100 on us. welcome to hotels.com. [ male announcer ] if you want play in the same sandbox as luxury s.u.v.s, it helps to have an interior full of hand-selected wood trim and soft premium leather... and it doesn't hurt to have a selec-terrain dial that truly performs. ♪

jon: two of the presidential campaign trail now where the war of words is taking a new twist. governor romney slamming some recent comments by president obama on the role of government in business. here's the entire thing the president had to say. it is a little bit long but we want to play the whole thing so you get the entire context. >> if you were successful somebody along the lines gave you some help.

there was a great teacher somewhere in your life. somebody helped to create this unbelievable american system that we have that allowed you to thrive. somebody invested in roads and bridges. if you got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. the internet didn't get invented on its own. government research created the internet so that all the companies could make money off the internet. [applause] the point is, is that when we succeed we succeed because of our individual initiative but also because we do things together. jon: governor romney responding yesterday, targeting the president's reference to business creation. >> the idea, to say that steve jobs didn't build apple, that henry ford, didn't build ford motor. that papa john, didn't build

papa john pizza. that ray kroc didn't build mcdonald's. that bill gates didn't build microsoft. that joe and his colleagues didn't build this enterprise. to say something like that is not just foolishness and it is insulting to every entrepreneur and every innovator in america and it's wrong. jon: let's get a fair and balanced debate going on these remarks which as we said have been heatings up the campaign. mary katharine ham, editor-at-large of hotair.com. fox news contributor. ryan clayton a campaign consultant who has worked on the campaign trail for 10 years. ryan, to you first. a lot of people say the president's remarks were taken out of context but he does seem to suggest that so much of this success wouldn't have taken place without government. >> well president obama essentially said that the government builds roads and builds schools and provides valuable public services of and that business owners build businesses on top of those public invests. and especially since, cans are some of the largest

users of court system and lobby government for special treatment and spend millions of dollars in the electoral process. at least they can do is they're at least super heavy users of our government services and they need to pay back into fund the government services. you can't fund government without revenue. jon: the u.s. corporate tax rate is highest in the world. sounds like you're defending that tax rate? >> well, corporations many times pay zero dollars in federal income taxes like ge, fedex and verizon. they hide money in international banks and ship jobs overseas. i think that is frankly unamerica. they need to invest in america. we don't need businesses making millions of dollars. we need everybody doing well. we need people that make money to spend money in those businesses. we need people with jobs that can go into the businesses in the community and have purchasing power in the middle class. that will kick-start this economy, let's get back to what the president had to say. what do you take away from his remarks.

>> first of all barack obama hired jeffrey immelt from ge getting credit for all the green stuff president loves. he might want to deal with that in his own house. he said it. you got a business. you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. they say context. look at the context. he actually denny greats the hard work and smartness required to start a business. he said, look a lot of people are smart. a lot of people are hard-working and he doesn't give credit to people who go out there and take the risk and make it happen. the formulation completely ignores the fact that corporations and businesses and business people that start them pay a lot of taxes into the public domain. this is not us versus them. these guys pay no taxes and you pay all of them. almost opposite. they pay a ton of taxes and many of us don't pay nearly as much. so it is just, not an us versus them thing. this is really disturbing sentiment to me. seems completely opposite what many americans believe. barack obama says you're business is a tap i can turn off and on when i need

revenue and mostly on because you owe us for roads. jon: coming against the backdrop of the obama administration wanting to change the rules on welfare to make it easier for people to avoid the work requirement of welfare, does seem he is denigrating the value of work in this country? >> he wants to make sure everybody can provide for their family and provide food on the table and keep a roof over their head. president obama the main point internet are amazing successes those things were invested by the government. our government changed internet. that changed world in the course of a few short years. without the government investment that wouldn't exist. >> where did that money come from? >> how many businesses wouldn't exist? how many jobs wouldn't have been created? how many success stories would have gone unwritten. not just --. jon: but you can take that argument, ryan to the nth degree. would the internet exist if bill gates hadn't done something with computer code? >> of course. i mean it is all of us working together as americans to take us forward and to build an economy

built to last. but you see your individual success is not just based on your individual talents and merits and your drive. it is also rooted in a society that values public education, that values public investment. that values -- >> values people who start businesses. jon: mary katherine, go ahead. >> the point is i want to be glorifying the kind of gumption is takes to start your own business. this denny greats it. welfare stuff gutting work requirements for that. you've got the usda begging people to get on food stamps and ads say you don't qualify for them and need them, get on them anyway. these are not things mainstream americans appreciate. i think this is what barack obama believes. i believes is what he meant to say. elizabeth warren said this months ago. it is toast of the liberal town. he said exactly -- >> do you like the internet, mary? do you like the internet, mary? >> my name is mary katherine and i love internet. >> i love the internet. thankfully the american

government created internet. >> where did the taxpayer come from? it came from businesses an individuals and people and take risk to give you money. i don't like this construction where you and obama say, hey you owe us because we built roads. we deserve credit for what we created. >> if you want to get more specific, ryan it was a pentagon project, the last i look the pentagon's budget is getting slashed massively. i guess that is their thank you. at any rate, ryan clayton, mary katharine ham thank you both. >> thanks for having us. jenna: the largest international maritime exercise in the world is now taking place off the coast of hawaii and we're giving you a front row seat, taking you onboard a amphibious assault ship. a live report on the way for that coming up. the missing cousins from iowa, why their relatives now believe foul play may be involved. we'll talk to the fbi agent leading the serve. >> i wouldn't be able to function if i was to sit here to think about what could be. >> night name is probably

the hardest when it starts to get dark. >> please, please contact us. bring our little girls home, please.

jon: a fox news alert. an israeli media is reporting that a bus full of israeli tourists has been targeted by an explosion. it sounds look likely a terrorism kind of explosion, not just a mechanical problem but an explosion in bulgaria. three of the people on board that bus are known to be dead. of course israel has very tight security within its own borders but often its people are targeted outside of israel in places like africa where they travel as tourists because security is sometimes less severe there. again, a bus full of israeli tourists targeted by an explosion. at least three people are known dead. jenna: well some brand new developments in the desperate search for two

missing cousins in iowa, elizabeth collins and lyric cook-morrissey were last seen on friday at their grandmother's house. later that day their bikes were found at a nearby lake and fb idogs picked up their scent in that area. relatives of the little girls say they knew how to swim. they don't suspect drowning. instead they believe the pair may have been kidnapped. authorities have been crane draining this lake since monday. an fbi dive team may join in the search today. hundreds of volunteers took part in the hunt for the missing girls. but after a massive sweep little evidence has turned up. we're lucky to talk with an fbi special agent in charge of the omaha division which covers iowa and nebraska. agent, the draining of the lake has that unearthed any new clues yet? >> as of today not yet. the draining is going somewhat slower than we expected. i have had information apparently the last time the

lake was drained took up to three weeks. we're in the process of attempting to get a dive team and also some sonar equipment out on the scene. jenna: we said the family is now really suspecting that there is some sort of foul play involved. that an abduction took place. is that what the fbi believes at this time? >> well what the fbi is doing, we're pursuing two courses of action in this investigation. we're continuing behind the scenes to interview individuals and conduct polygraphs. we're interviewing numerous suspects. we've also placed elizabeth lyric's pictures on billboards throughout three states. we've deployed our child be a introduction rapid deployment team which is a team we have which specializes in these type cases. as you're well aware we also deployed our human scent evidence team which has oversight of our bloodhounds. jenna: you said numerous suspects.

are those official suspects or are those persons of interest? >> i would say persons of interest but we've polygraphed them. we continue to get new leads each day. but we're also, you know, continuing to drain the lake and get more equipment in to enhance our research, enhance our search of the lake. jenna: i was curious about an interview the aunt of one of these little girls gave to the associated press. she said, this is ann tammy, just last week we taught lyric how to save someone if they went limp in the water. she also said she just taught the little girls to drop to the ground and fight if someone tried to abduct them. i'm curious timing of that, that was taught to the little girls just last week. do you have any information as to why the family would be teaching these things to little girls? was there a reason why the family might have been a little concerned about people in the area? >> now that's information i was not aware of until right now. jenna: all right, agent metz,

nice to talk to you today. thanks for the update. we have a tip line we'll make sure is on the screen for everybody. if you have any information about the little girls. this is the tip line. and we'll continue to keep everyone updated on this story. jon: airports around the country are right now rethinking security measures after a murder suspect in utah climbs an airport fence and tried to take off with a plane. ultimately he killed himself before getting away. anna kooiman has the latest from new york. >> reporter: jon it is unclear how pilot brian hedglin, who was an administrative leave slipped past security in the middle of the night gain access to an empty 50 passenger skywest airlines jet. it appears hedglin scaled a razor wire fence in st. george, utah. that is 120 miles northeast of las vegas. the 40-year-old was suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend in colorado. colorado police are

investigating cornejo's murder they asked skywest to deactivate hedglin's access cars on july 13th. that same day they found her body stabbed multiple times. hedglin was the key suspect but was not charged. he got past security and took the plane and clipped the wing and hit multiple cars in the parking lot. when authority found hedglin, he was dead with a gunshot wound in the head. >> he knew exactly how to get into the plane. knew how to get into the cabin. and apparently on the planes multiple systems to operate to get it to move. and he knew all those. >> reporter: the plane may not have ever lifted off but the incident has raised concerns about airport security nationwide. a tsa spokesperson tells the associated press the agency is quote, currently reviewing perimeter compliance. st. george airport is surrounded by six miles of perimeter fencing and meets all tsa and federal aviation requirements. entire perimeter is not

observed at all times. a city spokesman says he believes it the same way at airports across the country. jon: quite a story. anna kooiman, thank you. jenna: brand new security cameras catch a bizarre site. a woman in a motorized wheelchair decides to take the escalator. we'll tell you who came to her rescue coming up. plus the fda approving a new pill to help you lose weight. does it work? is it safe? those are important questions for dr. manny. he has answers coming up next. [ female announcer ] think a thick cream is the only way to firm skin? challenge the need for such heavy measures with olay. regenerist micro-sculpting serum for firmer skin in 5 days. pretty heavy lifting for such a lightweight. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

jenna: "happening now", big health news potentially, a new way to lose weight weight. the food and drug administration approving a new loss drug. the second diet pill

approved last three months. we got a drug approved, belvic for very same purposes. what are the health risks of these drugs, most importantly, maybe not most importantly but important to a lot of patients do they work? dr. manny is with us managing editor of foxnewshealth.com. what do you think about this drug? >> i think, i know a lot about these drugs at the end of the day issue one, you only get at best, an 8% weight reduction. issue two, it works on 60% of the people, not on everybody. issue three, actually they're a combination of two drugs, topomax and fentermine, an amphetamine. jenna: a stimulant and epilepsy drug. >> combined together in doses and gives you appetite suppression. for an 8% weight reduction, it's, you know, and you know, the indication is going to be you're going to be severely overweight and you have medical complications like diabetes or

cardiovascular condition. the potential side effects are significant in my opinion. jenna: let's go through a few of these. some are actual side-effect that is the drug has come out with. others have been side-effects regulators are still concerned about. they're concerned about cardiovascular health. advanced heart rate. a met i can condition that could cause some people to go into coma that could potentially kill them. birth defects. tinge lining of hands and feet, insomnia. all this taken together. >> especially for women. you mentioned birth defects. if you take this drug you have to be on birth control, okay? this is very powerful medication for potential side-effects. you have to have a pregnancy test before you start on the medication and monitor and be committed --. jenna: sounds like you're hesitant. >> for what, 8% reduction. jenna: the government green-lighted this. >> look, i don't want to be a cynic. if there was a pill like

that i would take it tomorrow. i would look like you but unfortunately the side-effects, the price that you paid and all the consequences really doesn't make any sense. now i get it. this has been the first time that we have broken the code to find a bill in the last 11 years. we have one-third of the country being overweight. i get the whole thing but, in my opinion, i know this is being approved. by the way, this is being approved with a lot of conditions attached to it. there will be studies about the cardiovascular effects and there's going to be studies on addiction because, fentamine as an amphetamine can be habit forming. will you get stuck with the pill because you can't break the habit. it is approved. talk to the primary care doctor better start reading now on all the consequence of this pill. jenna: dr. manny, you don't have to take a pill to look like me. join me on the treadmill. >> i'm drinking my wine. you know me. i know. jenna: just consider it.

jon. jon: too many pills in this country. a drought of affecti more than half the nation and you're going to start to feel it in your wallet no matter where you live. also our defense secretary warning today that syria is spiraling out of control. this is what's at stake, a whole generation of children caught in the cross-hairs of the violence there. what will it take forhau.n. to ?

♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

>> reporter: rick folbaum in the "happening now" now control room. brand-new stories we are working on for you. breaking news in the fast and furious case. a big reward that is being offered to anyone inside the white house or the justice department willing to blow the whistle on who knew what and when. also needles found in sandwiches on delta flights, now two countries involved in the investigation.

we'll tell you what is at stake. and never, ever attempt to take a wheelchair on an escalator. you might think a warning like that completely unnecessary, apparently not. we'll tell you more about what happened to that woman and who helped her out. that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. jenna: to our top story now. major developments in syria to tell you about. rebels taking responsibility for a bombing in the heart of damascus, killing the countries defense minister and the brother-in-law of the president, president assad. there is a connection there. you have a high military officer and the president's brother-in-law. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. they say the attack happened earlier this morning, a bomb exploding in the national security building in the capitol

city. leon panetta says syria is rapidly spinning out of control. jenna: leland vittert is live from srerlz wit from gerald jerusalem with the latest on this. >> reporter: the coming hours will be the most important in telling how this situation deteriorates. you're going to have the syrian government launch a massive army assault and be able to crackdown and regain control of the capitol, or this is going to result in an uprising in damascus of people who are against the regime and also possibly some military defections that would then continue to topple the bashar al-assad regime's legitimacy. there was a massive explosion of some time this morning during the meeting of the national security council or the intelligence group, we are not sure which one. inside was the defense minister, he died and also president

assad's brother-in-law, the intelligence chief of syria, he died as well. the rebels are claiming responsibility for this. on syria state tv there have been promises made by the government of a massive crackdown and all out mail tear reassault, a final battle if you will on the rebels. inside damascus it's a very different picture than what state tv is showing. amateur video showing massive celebrations in the streets, thousands coming out in response to this bombing. there are also rumors of defections of some key assad units, meaning army units that are typically part of his presidential guard. whether that is true or not we don't know. we do know over the past couple of days there has been fighting in the capitol of damascus, that's been something new, the rebels are really trik take the fightin' to president bashar al-assad killing a member of his family, and that is the way to do that.

whether president assad and his army will regain control of the capitol will tell how the crisis moves in the coming days. on the diplomatic front there hasn't been much change. russia came out once again today in support of president bashar al-assad and his regime, meaning that there is unlikely to be any action at the united nations. certainly anyway this goes things are going to get far worst, they will go from worse to terrible over the coming days as we know. there have been reports of the syrian regime bringing out chemical weapons from their store rooms for possible use against civilians. whether this kind of event would trigger that kind of crackdown we don't know. one thing is for sure, over the coming days what we thought is a bloody civil war is going to get far blood year in the very real sense, that means a lot more people dying inside syria. back to you. jenna: hard to imagine it can get worse. to your point, leland, we know it's possible. big story as we follow the tpos moving developments, thank you.

jon: just in a flood of new documents revealing how many eyes are in the u.s. skies. across the country aerial drones are being used by police departments, colleges, federal agencies, all kinds of folks, but it raises lots of new questions, not the least of which is just exactly who is watching us. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live in washington with that. >> reporter: thank you and good morning. fox news is still reviewing the records attached to 125 drone certificates or operating licenses from these by the faa through the freedom of information act. these drones are armed with cameras not missiles. for example the mississippi department of marine resources is using the dragonflier x6 described in the documents as a remotely operated unmanned miniature vertical take off and land aircraft designed to carry wireless video cameras and still cameras. the miami police department is using a honeywell rq16a m microvehicle seen here which is

nearly two feet long weighing over two pounds it can fly over 40 minutes at a speed of 45 miles an hour. the lawyer who got these documents says the shear number is a is astounding. >> i didn't realize what i was going to do. the faa says, we have a lot of records and it turns out they do. thousands and thousands and pages of record, not just the certificates of authorization. >> reporter: fox recently reported that smaller drones can be hacked in this demonstration video a laptop computer is used to redirect the drone. all of this raising questions over safety, security and who ultimately controls the data they collect. the front tear foundation questions the privacy implications. they say it mainly addresses safety issues with drone flights but there are unanswered questions about privacy and implication of the drone. they say they are additional eyes in the sky for law enforcement at a fraction of the price, jon. jon: catherine herridge reporting live from washington.

thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jenna: breaking news on the fast and furious investigation now. a big reward on the table for proof that the president, or one of his aids, knew about the failed gun-walking operation while it was underway. one group is offering this money in the hopes a whistle-blower in the white house, or justice department will come forward. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles with more. william. >> reporter: well, jenna this may be a publicity stunt but that doesn't mean it won't work. money talks. the question is, is a hundred grand to prompt other toss do the same in here is the ad that is in today's washington times. it says, quote, this is your opportunity to save yours before operation fast and furious comes crashing down bike watergate, don't go to jail. here is a web version of the same ad. >> we are offering a reward of $100,000 for verifiable evidence of white house involvement in

fast and furious. >> reporter: now the reward is offered by the conservative caucus, a grassroots political group which believes that despite administration claims fast and furious may have been a political scheme by the white house to push gun control. this is a chance for people to, quote, save themselves before the truth comes out. what they are referring to is an inspector general's report expected in august that could lay blame on specific people. secondly, the brian terry family is expected soon to file its wrongful death claim against the federal government. their attorneys have broad subpoena power to obtain testimony and documents that congress does not. for instance the doj has refused to allow the lawyers and agents closes to this case to speak to investigators. and they are using executive privilege to keep certain documents secret. a judge in the terry case could, jenna, compel or sanction the government for withholding documents. for instance, that would basically breach the government's claim.

for instance yesterday there was a story in the washington guardian that showed that the doj withheld from congress memos showing that the administration's political appointees were going off whistle-blowers while others were trying to protect them. will this money generate someone to drop documents? we'll see. back to you. jenna: as you mention quality control key here as well for whatever information if any comes forward. william, thank you. jon: new information for you on the job market in this country and it's pretty dismal. listen to this. the u.s. economy so bad over the last three months more americans went on disability than found jobs. that's according to a new study released by republicans on the senate budget committee. let's talk about it with charlie hurt a columnist for the washington times. char lease, just over the last three months there have been more people going on disability than actually finding jobs in this country? >> yeah. i don't think this is what american voters had in mind when

they voted for change in 2008. it's a very alarming statistic, and one that i think we'll hear a whole lot more about in the coming election. it feeds into this whole charge by republicans, and by mitt romney, that president obama and democrats in congress are more likely to get you on the government roll than get you into a good-paying job. i think it's a strong statistic that romney can use to argue that we're certainly not going in the right direction right now. jon: we've got a graphic that shows exactly what the numbers are. 225,000 jobs created in this country over the last three monthly reporting periods, april through june. that is actually not even enough to keep up with population growth. in the meantime, 246,000 persons have filed for disability benefits. now those are paid out of social security, as i understand it. that can't be good for a program that is already insolvent. senator jeff sessions -- well

it's heading toward insolven insolvency. senator jeff sessions says the disability arm of social security will be dry by 2016. >> you know, jon i think that is the larger point here, beyond the political aspect of it, which is bad enough, i think, for president obama, is the fact that, you know, that it's a thumbnail of yet another large entitlement program that has been run by both democrats and republicans over the past couple of decades and is being run into the ground, and there are serious, serious problems witness. it's hard to imagine that just suddenly in the last couple of months people are getting hurt on the job more often, or becoming disabled at an alarming rate, that's kind of -- it's pretty impossible to imagine. it's far more likely that people are figuring out ways of using the system because the economy is so bad and because it is so hard to find work that they are finding ways to sort of perhaps

gain the system or find loopholes through which they can get onto disability, and it's -- the cost of all of this. along with the other entitlement programs of course is ballooning at a rate as you point out that within the next five years we're going to start seeing absolute -- i mean those programs will be insolvent, and our general fund, you know, the taxes that we raise for general fund purposes will actually be diverted to not only pay the debts that those have accrued but to payout actual -- in order to make the benefit payment. jon: nobody bee grudges disability payments through social security to people who are truly disabled, but the historical average is that only 1% of the people who start on disability ever return to work. all of a sudden we've got a quarter million of those folks going on disability in the last three months. it does raise a lot of questions. if you go back to 2008, one

quick last look at this chart, we have lost 1.3 million jobs net in this country since 2008, and the number of people on disability has increased by 3.6 million. it looks like an unsustainable kind of chart. >> exactly, jon. and if you look at the federal government's record, as well as other, you know, government entities record for dealing with disability, we see hundreds of stories every year about people who are on disability, firefighters who are on disability, workers who are on disability who, you know, move out of their local, you know, wherever they are drawing disability from, move to florida, and wind up, you know, in a good-paying job, basically double dipping out of the system while collecting disability benefits. the government -- governments don't have a very good record of enforcing this and making sure that it's not abused. jon: charlie hurt from the washington times. an eye-opening statistic there,

charlie thank you. >> indeed, thanks, jon. jenna: american military phaoeugt on display in the specific. a first look at the large military naval drills. we'll show that to you coming up. a teenager and her young brothers hiding in fear in their own home. we'll play the 911 call and they will you this whole story next. >> 911 where is the emergency? >> hi, there is somebody trying to come into my bedroom. >> are your brothers with you? >> no. >> listen, you need to stay strong for them, okay? you don't want them to be upset okay? >> okay. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert

your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. [ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible.

throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day women's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day women's 50+ healthy advantage. the wife. hey, babe.

jon: fox news alert, and fox news can now confirm what was suspected earlier, the explosion on board a bus packed with israeli tourists in burgas, bulgaria is the work of a homicide bomber. the tourists had apparently landed at the burgas area at the

black sea. the black sea attracts tourists from israel and really all over europe the way the coast of florida, or the gulf coast does in this country. the bus had loaded with tourists. all of a sudden someone else climbed on board and moments later there was a devastating explosion. at least three people are dead, 20 people hurt in a homicide bombing, apparently directed at israeli tourists in burgas, bulgaria. more information as we get it here on fox. jenna: back here at home, this just in a frightening new 911 call out of florida. a teenager and her two young brothers hiding in their own home as burglars break in. listen to this as a big sister tries to keep her little brother safe. >> 911, where is the emergency? >> hi, there is somebody trying to come into my bedroom. >> are your brothers with you? >> yes. >> okay, listen you need to stay strong for them, okay. you don't want them to be upset

okay? >> okay. they are opening the door. they are opening the doors. >> there is an officer out front, okay. >> oh, my god i hear so much noise. >> okay, open the door. >> all right do you see them? yes, i see them. >> i'll go ahead and let you go, okay? >> okay, thank you. >> all right. jenna: big sigh of relief there for all of us listening as well. deputies showed up just in time and arrested one suspect. another person escaped. police believe they know that suspect's identity. as far as the three kids they are all safe, probably a little shakey at this point but they are all okay. jon: sound like my little girl, i'm getting tear re y eyed. fox news taking a ride on the u.s.s. exsess in hawaii.

adam housley is live. >> we are standing in front of the canadian tpreugett friggette headed over in a few days not far from the japanese memorial. there is no way to see this until you go offshore and see the rim of the pacific exercise up close, as we get a chance to do. take a look. air operations from the deck of the amphibious assault ship, the u.s.s. excess. military personnel on board, from canada, tonga,. >> we have people from australia, new zealand. >> this is rimpack with 22 nations, 42 ships, 200 aircraft

and 25,000 people all taking part in maneuvers off the coast of hawaii. one of the operations involves an l. cat. it's an operation will they go out into the ocean. they can go about 50 miles an hour on the water, 20 miles an hour on land and it can carry 60-tons of supplies and/or equipment. >> the ability of the countries within the region to bring their capabilities together benefits not only the united states but the region as a whole. >> everybody does things a little differently. everybody has techniques that are different. they have different terminology, different procedures, different standards. some of these operations are very complex. >> it's the complexity along with the build up in the pacific and the pressure to respond to humanitarian crisis, which means cooperation amongst allies is more important than ever. >> we are building the ability to work together. along the way we are making life-long friends.

>> rimpac began the last week of june, ends the first week of august. it's not just about offensive and defensive maneuvers but about humanitarian response. jon: very important work in the pacific. thank you. jenna: wheelchairs and escalators don't really mix. this woman found out the hard way with some pretty dangerous results. we'll show you what happened just ahead. plus, the heat is still on and farmers try to cope with devastated crops. no end in sight to this extreme weather. the latest on this major story and how it impacts as well your bottom line and your family, next. nnouncer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start.

our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's anothereason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

jon: new video to show you of a scary and dangerous accident on an escalator. boston's transit authorities

released this surveillance tape. a 56-year-old woman in a wheelchair tries to ride it up and escalator. but the chair flips, she tumbles over, and over again, a good samaritan on the escalator in front of her rushess in to help but he gets knocked down in the process. eventually a bus operator runs over and hits the emergency stop button. the good news is the woman is okay, probably just a little bit embarrassed. jenna: right now we are awaiting comments from the agriculture secretary tom vilsack, he's expecting at a press briefing in a few minutes and is expected to talk about the drought currently gripping 26 states. this as scorching heat blankets much much the country as you can see on your screen killing even more crops and causing even more concern. rick folbaum is tracking this story for us from the breaking news news desk. >> reporter: it hasn't been this bad since the 1950s. forecasters say it's not going to better any time soon. more than half of the country

now with drought conditions. as you mentioned 26 different governors have declared their states disaster areas because of this. and it really comes down to too much heat, not enough rain. and we'll all feel the impact no matter where we live, that's because of the affect all this is having on our food supply, most specifically our corn supply, corn or corn products are in a lot of the food that we eat. it's also what farmers feed their livestock which eventually makes its way into our local supermarkets meat sections. the u.s. department of agriculture saying the corn production is way down, which will soon mean prices will be going way up and they are already at 13-month highs. same goes for soybean crops which can be used to make diesel fuel. watch out for increased prices there too. meteorologists say look to the middle of next week at the earliest for folks out in the midwest, and the dry k-rpbs expecteconditions are expected to last into august. not good for farmers or anybody. the agriculture secretary

talking about this at the white house at 12:30, a few minutes from now. jenna: when will we see an end to the extreme weather, not just a couple of weeks from now, but months from now and how will we impact our bottom line. the managing editor of farmer's almanac sandy duncan. a senior market analyst at the price future's group. steve. sandy, what do you predict for the next several weeks here. >> farmer's almanac has been predicting weather for 200 years. we had predicted a hot and dry summer in many areas especially the rockies and the great plains and the east coast. look the ahead it looks like unfortunately those conditions will condition. it looks like in august according to the farmer's almanacs we are seeing more turbulent conditions, which means more rain and thunderstorms but unfortunately tooth too much to the great plains, rockies where we could really use it. jenna: phil, where do we get hit

the most when it comes to the grocery store. >> i think it will be across the board. we talk about corn and corn products. you'll look at those and say, these will cost more. this will have a trickle-down affect across the board. it's very possible that next year when we get this crop in, if we don't get rain soon we'll see probably the most significant food inflation that we've seen maybe in a decade. this is serious stuff, it's an emergency and if we don't get rain soon it will get a heck of a lot work. jenna: you said the most serious inflation in a decade this we could see. does that mean we'll see prices doubling? >> well i think right now we are projecting where things are right now almost as much as 10%. if we don't get rain, like today, we could see 10 to 15%. if we don't get rain over the next month or so this is going to be deaf stating. devastating. i'll tell you why this is real serious. we are not far from all-time highs on the price of corn, we

are within one weather forecast away. and the bottom line here, the last time corn prices were this high it caused a lot of unrest throughout the world, and we're very concerned that if prices continue to go up it's going to make a dangerous world even more dangerous. jenna: very interesting you mentioned that. we have to remind ourselves that we are the largest corn exporter in the entire world, so we export corn, it goes into products and we buy those products back as well. sandy, we've been mentioning this is the worst drought we've seen since the 1950s, some are comparing it to the 19 30s. what historical context can you give us for how bad it really is out there. >> when you look back in the 1930s when the dust bowl happened it was called the dirty 30s. it was very extreme, we had hot, hot conditions, cold, cold conditions, in 1936 there was a huge drought and it really was devastating because over 5,000 people died. farmers were already struggling with poor soil conditions from the dust bowl. it really was a tough time. and if you look over histories, back in the 1950s as well, there

was quite a period of hot conditions as well as hurricanes. jenna: so you've been through some of these times before, i'm not going to say since the 1930s that's not what i'm insinuating phil, but i am curious how you're preparing. as someone who watches the prices all the time what are you doing as far as your shap your shopping habits right now? >> i'm cutting back on anything that has corn in it. listen, there is not much you can do. you'll have to budget and be very, very careful. i'll tell you if you're going to be on a budget what i would recommend is maybe stock away some food, you know, put canned goods away, because canned goods have a long shelf life. if i'm right about what i expect as far as food inflation it would be a wise idea to stock a few cans away, because it may save you money next year when prices are expected to really soar at the grocery store. jenna: that's a very important point. we are seeing the impact right now, a little bit in the grocery

store but really expected to hit fully potentially at the beginning of next year. phil, nice to have you as always and sandy, nice to have you on the program too thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thanks. jon: up next a hopeful sign for the housing market, why builders are encouraged by these new numbers and what it means for the economy. also an inside look at the military build up in the persian gulf, what the pentagon is doing to try to keep iran in check when we talk to the formal chief of u.s. naval operations. and a very big interview tonight on hannity, 9:00pm earn, george zimmerman the man accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of trayvon martin breaks his long silence. he will speak to sean hannity tonight, 9:00pm eastern, 6:00pm pacific. you'll want to be watching for that.

jenna: quick business alert for you now. new home construction last month jumping to the highest level in nearly four years, that is better than expected. still a caveat here. lower than a normal, healthy economy. robert gray from fox business joins us with more. >> reporter: it was a bigger than expected jump in june, up 7% breaking ground on the most new homes since october of 2008. the rate was 760,000 on an annual basis. that is up by nearly a quarter from a year ago. construction of single family homes leading the

way. the west and the northeast seeing big gains by the way. may was revised higher as well. if you look at a chart, you can see construction has been hovering along a bottom for the past couple years but now starting to move a little higher here. builders are feeling more confident yesterday. the builders groups say they have the most confidence since may of 2007. we're still way off the peak of 2006. two 1/4 million units was the pace. clearly we knew that was too many at the time. record low mortgage rates 3 1/2% helping to stimulate growth and pent-up demand. the gains may be capped by uncertainty about unemployment. uncertainty about jobs going forward. building permits, a sign of future demand dipped slightly. they're trending along with the housing starts up there. home building stocks, if you're wondering they have been on a tear this year. they're up better than 50% according to the s&p 500 homebuilder index, jenna, they're down slightly. they were up earlier but giving back gains in the

afternoon. home depot is one of the big winners this year as well. jenna: robert, thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: right now the u.s. is building up its military presence in the persian gulf in the face of growing tensions with iran. defense secretary leon panetta today saying the pentagon is fully prepared for all contingencies and will be able to defeat any attempt by iran to block oil shipments through that region. how did we get here? let's take a look at the map. you see it, iran is the center of the world's concerns right now. it has been acting both nervous and belligerent. the united states has two aircraft carrier strike groups right now in this area patrolling the persian gulf. it has also doubled the number of mine sweepers here right around the strait of hormuz, that strategic waterway that controls, that is the transshipment point for so much of the world's oil that is because iran, iraq, saudi arabia, kuwait,

all are such high oil producers, roughly 1/5 of the world's oil passes through that narrow waterway right there. and take a look at the u.s. assets in that part of the world. up here in turkey, in qatar, in bahrain, where the fifth fleet is headquartered. in kuwait. in afghanistan and in kyrgyzstan. now, look at an overlay of a map that shows all of those particular regions within range of iranian ballistic missiles. to that end, the united states has missile radar placements in israel, in turkey, and also reportedly one being constructed now in qatar although fox news has not been able to confirm absolutely that x-band radar is going in there. those radars able to monitor iranian missile launches so that if there is any kind of

a ballistic missile launch from the country of iran, the united states will be able to detect it and hopefully shoot it down. jenna has more information with somebody who knows a lot more about this part of the world than i do. jenna? jenna: that's right, jon but you did a pretty good job, that's for sure. our next guest is uniquely qualified to explain u.s. naval operations in gulf. gary huffhead was chief of naval operations for the entire u.s. navy. he retired less than a year ago. he is now a distinguished visiting fellow at the hoover institute. this is your first interview since your retirement. let me be the first to thank you for the your service to our country. >> thank you very much, jenna. great to join you on this show. jenna: i guess retirement is not that bad after all the years of service you have had. admiral, how long have the plans been in place for this quote, unquote, significant build-up in part of the world near iran? >> well one of the things i would say, jenna is that our presence in the middle east

and particularly in the gulf region has lasted for about 60 years. it's part of our normal presence, part of our normal deployment. it is what your navy does day in and day out. we always have the presence there but the beauty of naval forces is that you can increase them, decrease them, without really having to worry about basing rights, overflight rights, things like that. so what you're seeing is an increase in forces that is part of the ebb and flow that commanders call for from time to time. jenna: so ebb and flow. we mentioned that there is an additional aircraft carrier going to that part the world. we mentioned and reporting in the past several days about these quote, unquote, war games. these minesweeping exercises that will take place the next couple of weeks. we have unconfirmed report of a new radar station going in in qatar. getting back to the question about the buildup, would this be the type of buildup we would see on the eve of a conflict?

or as you were just describing to us is this just part of maybe more observation of what's happening in region? >> well, we've been running between one and two aircraft carriers in the region for quite some time. they provide a significant amount of air power to our forces in afghanistan. we operated in the gulf. clearly as you have mentioned whenever you're talking about maintaining the strategic flow of energy out of that important region and you look at the straits of hormuz you have to take into account all of the things that naval force may need to do to keep that strait open and clearly mines are something that can impede it or stop the flow of energy. jenna: how significant is the mines, admiral. sorry to interrupt you. i apologize but how significant is the mine threat? >> well, i would submit that anytime you have mines in the water it is a significant issue that you

have to deal with. we are not unfamiliar with mines in the arabian gulf. we have had to deal with them before. we've cleared them before, when iran has employed them but it is also important that we continue to practice in the area where you may be called upon to, to be able to clear the mines, to work with our friends and partners in the region. that's what exercises are for. it is not just a question of getting in there and clearing them but, it's very important that when you are talking about the energy flows of the world how quickly you can do them and that requires practice. that is what the exercises are all about. we have increased our capability there, no question about it. all geared toward making sure that we keep that strait open. jenna: your point is well-taken. practice makes perfect, right? >> absolutely. jenna: timing is important as well. this is happening after these tough sanctions are being levied on iran and there's no doubt in anybody's mind this is one of the biggest news stories of the year, what is happening with iran and its

nuclear program. the exercises are not just about practice i would imagine. it is also about sending a message. i'm curious what you think about that message. do you think iran is taking us ear justly? they're looking at our ships and those exercises not just as defensive actions but potentially used on the offensive if they do not stop their nuclear program? >> i believe iran and all nations take our naval forces and our military forces very seriously. how we employ them the capabilities they have are clearly unmatched that is what you're seeing in the region today. so they're there to ensure that we provide for the safety and security, stability. it is a strong force. it's a force that we've used in the past and will continue to use and it is an asset the american people that is truly a valuable one. jenna: admiral roughead, thank you for your time and expertise. >> great to be on the program.

jenna: we'll be back with more "happening now." okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge!

would you mind if to be i go ahead of you?omer. instead we had someone go ahead of him and wifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't li to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank mes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

[ male announcer ] we believe small things can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend.

jon: new information now on an international investigation underway. the fbi is now trying to find out how sewing needles got into meals served on board four delta flights. billy vincent is a former faa security chief and president and ceo of aerospace services international. knows how these kinds of things go. all right, billy, there were at least four flights, six sandwiches as we understand it that had needles inserted in the food. isn't that, kind of thing, isn't it screened for security purposes? isn't it kept safe? >> well, first, good afternoon, jon. yes, if food catering process was measureably improved from a security standpoint a little over 10 years ago after some incidents, particularly having to do with sanitation measures on food.

and catering security is one of the subjects that's pretty well-developed worldwide. jon: delta doesn't prep its own sandwiches. they hire an outside caterer to handle that right? >> that's correct. the catering companies, the gate gourmet, supposedly or reportedly the company involved in this, is probably the major such catering company in the world. and these security processes begin with the delivery of the raw food stuffs and also the persons that are preparing these foods, then go through clearance from a sanitation standpoint, and then from a security standpoint before they enter the actual sanitation area, the food preparation facility. all of this is very, very carefully choreographed and this is obviously an inside activity by someone, probably within the facility. jon: somebody working there

apparently stuck some needles in the sandwiches, and what's the purpose? what for? >> well, it, that would be a speculation obviously. it could be a disgruntled employee. it could also be for some ideology purpose. actually the solution to the problem is relatively simple. the food stuffs, once they're prepared and put entrees and in, then into little dollies that are taken to the airplane are moved from the sanitation area to a loading dock, and at that point they're generally inspected, and then, by the food service company, as well as the airlines sometimes. jon: and they have got to boost those inspections i guess you're saying? >> what could be done is once the food is prepared --. jon: we're going to have to say good-bye there. billly, we thank you for your expertise.

>> you're welcome. jenna: one our big stories the latest on escalating violence in syria, what the world needs to do, what we need to do to stop the violence. while some fiber ads use super models, metamucil uses super hardworking psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model, but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. free streaming quotes, all your investments, positions, and even your trade ticket are all on one customizable page. see the 360 investing dashboard at e-trade.

jon: some new information on the deadly bomb attack in syria's capital. the blast ripped through the national security building in damascus during a meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officers. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta is saying today that it appears syria is rapidly spinning out of control. ambassador richard williamson, a former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. security council. he is now a foreign policy advisor for governor mitt romney. does it appear to you, mr. ambassador, that the defense secretary is right? is bashar assad losing

control of the situation in that country? >> well, he hasn't lost control but the violence is continuing. he is more endangered. there is an inevitable tippingpoint we're going to reach and unfortunately the u.s. has sat on the sidelines way too long and 17,000 people have now been killed. jon: but, you know, there are those who say that you don't really know who the good guys are and the who the bad guys are. just because is somebody a anti-bashar assad doesn't necessarily make them a good in that country? >> that is an excellent point i would like to make two comments. in april two years ago, a 13-year-old boy was at a demonstration. two weeks later he was dropped at his parents doorstep wrapped in plastic and a blankket. his body was mutilated from head to toe. his body was turned and jenitals were cut off and put in his mouth. this dead boy was a signal

how strong bashar assad would go to hold onto power yet the u.s. lagged behind. governor romney called for working with the opposition, trying to help the moderate factions and arming them. we've begun to do that the last month or so but during the preceding 16 months, 17,000 innocents have died. the turmoil has become greater and the instability in the region is just accentuated. jon: some of the western governments led chiefly by britain as i understand it, wanted to put forward a resolution at the u.n. today invoking sanctions, more sanctions on syria because of what the assad regime is doing to its own people. that vote has now been he do laid in the u.n.. is that body powerless to do anything? >> well, i believe the u.s. should cooperate, collaborate, coordinate with others. we should engage but we also should be realistic about the limits including the limits of the security council. moscow's last arab ally in

the middle east is bashar al-assad. they have obstructed any efforts to be robust. they continue to do, the resolution that is pending as i understand it calls for an extension of the 300 peace keeper, peacekeeping monitors, excuse me. how has that worked so far? it calls for 45 more days for kofi annan's peace effort. how has that worked so far? and then says, under chapter 7, so in some future date you could be more robust. the fact is that the russian government sees it in their interest to stay with bashar al-assad as long as possible. it is feckless in this situation. its activity with pro productivity. an effort to try to show you're doing something when there is no results on the ground and more innocents die. jon: ambassador richard with williamson. thank you. >> terrible.

jon: thank you book one. tell me, o muse... famous town of troy... book three. book 12. poseidon... book 17. book 20. thunderbolts. book 24. the end. [ ryan ] alright, what's next. [ man ] chapter one. call me ishmael. some years ago... [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. think possible. at liberty mutual,

we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life, so get the insurance sponsible drivers like you deserve call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? [ music plays, record skips ]

hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge!

jon: we hope you like to watch fox news throughout the day. tonight an episode of hannity you cannot miss. george zimmerman, the man accused in the death of trayvon martin, and hour-long interview with sean. jenna: "america live" starts right now. megyn: governor mitt romney unleashes a fiery attack on president obama. welcome to "america live," i'm megyn kelly. you are looking at live pictures out of bowling green, ohio where governor romney is holding a rally within the next hour. he tore into the president on what he called a suggestion that no one can be successful without the help of the government. here are president obama's original comments followed in part by governor romney's reply. >> somebody helped to create this unbelievable american system that we had that allowed you to drive.

somebody invested in roads and bridges. if you got a business, you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen. the internet didn't get invented on its own, government research created the internet so that all the companies could make money off the internet. >> the idea to say that steve jobs didn't build apple, that henry ford didn't build ford motor, that poppa john didn't build poppa john pizza. that rey crock didn't billed mcdonald's. that bill gates didn't build his company. to say something like this is not only foolish, it's insulting to every entrepreneur in america and it's wrong. megyn: chris stirewalt is your fox news digital