on the broadcast tonight, nbc news exclusive. inside the situation room at the white house. the death of osama bin laden as the first anniversary approaches. tonight, a first look at the untold story. what happened in the west wing that night. the rising at ground zero and what we witnessed. there today, that was a decade in the making. epidemic. the diabetes crisis may be worse than first thought for millions of young americans. and it's here. the first big wave of tsunami debris from japan arriving now on this side of the pacific, including an incredible collection. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. one year ago tonight, while we didn't yet know it, u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s were already in motion, as was the machinery of an ultra secret u.s. military strike that killed osama bin laden. on the night of the raid, the very top government and military leadership gathered in the white house situation room, and since then, this single still photo has stood as the symbol of the attack. and now, we have more to add to the public record. just today, the president talked about the attack and the risk it represented, but we want to begin tonight with a first. the first time news cameras have ever been allowed inside the white house situation room. we wanted to hear from the people in the photograph, what they told us for an hour-long broadcast later on this week is a riveting new account of the transformational day in the modern era of history and they talked about the tension, in that room that night, beginning with the crash of one

of the helicopters and beginning with the president. >> it's not a slam dunk yet. >> it is not a slam dunk. at this point, all of us understand we're a long way to go before, before the night is done. and you know, i said this was the longest 40 minutes of my life. >> to coin a phrase, all you know is you have a blackhawk down. it's in the courtyard. it turns out to have been superbly piloted by a pilot who knew to nose it into the dirt to kill the torque of the landing. >> right. >> and cushion everyone on board. >> right. and i will tell you, when i saw that pilot, i gave him a pretty good hug. >> i was taken back by the seniority of this group, by the experience of this group. including the helicopter pilots who themselves, both individually quite frankly, made decisions which kept this

mission on track. so i got to look each of them in the eye. they showed me in their execution of rehearsal and also in that steely eyed glare that they give you that they were ready to go. >> being together at that moment, having gone to so many meetings, having wrestled this to the ground, the president was, you know, incredibly calm and collected. but obviously, he, too, was on the edge of his chair. it wasn't so much a high-five moment as a kind of looking around and just feeling together as almost one body that, okay, it's over. >> that's a portion of the interviews we conducted. our entire hour-long special edition of "rock center" inside the situation room with president obama and the national security team airs this wednesday night at 9:00, 8:00 central on nbc. the obama administration has launched its own effort to mark

the anniversary of the death of bin laden. and against the backdrop of an election year, some of that is causing some political blowback. our report from our political correspondent chuck todd. >> in anticipation of the one-year anniversary marking the death of osama bin laden, the obama campaign released two web videos marking the feat in political terms, including this one narrated by president clinton. >> he took the harder and the more honorable path. and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result. >> the video called into question whether mitt romney would have made the same decision. the romney campaign took offense. >> he took something that was a unifying event for all americans and he's managed to turn it into a divisive partisan political attack. >> and romney himself campaigning in new hampshire today tried to minimize the president's role. >> you would have given the order? >> of course. even jimmy carter would have

given that order. >> the president took issue with the criticism that his campaign had been overusing the bin laden anniversary for political gain and then alluded to the fact that romney himself once questioned the president's decision about going it alone in pakistan. >> i recommend that everyone take a look at people's previous statements on whether they thought it was appropriate to go into pakistan and take out bin laden. i assume that people meant what they said when they said it. >> the president was referring to romney's comment from 2007, reacting to the first time then candidate obama advocated the go it alone idea. romney then called the idea ill-timed and ill-considered. bin laden was taken out by a manned military operation. today, though, the president's chief terrorism adviser john brennan, went public for the first time about unmanned predator drones and their use in the war on terror. he said he went out publicly on this at the instruction of the president.

he said the president wanted to be more open with the american people about these efforts, brian. >> chuck todd at the white house. thanks. >> the prospect, the possibility of politics getting mixed up in this one-year anniversary of the raid is a question we raised in our interview with retired admiral mike mullen, one of those in the picture we heard from earlier who back then was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. >> well, i worried about it just because it's a political season. and from my perspective, the president's support, the decision he made, and obviously, the result stand alone in terms of the kind of call presidents have to make, and he made it. i do worry a great deal that this time of year that somehow this gets spun into election politics. i can assure you that those individuals who risked their

lives, the last thing in the world they want is to be spun into that. so i'm hoping that that doesn't happen. >> the former chairman of the joint chiefs went on to say the special operations forces that night were not thinking about politics. they were thinking about just the mission. now to another milestone where it all started, the new world trade center building. the tower has taken a decade to rise from ground level at ground zero. today, it officially became the tallest building in new york. our report from harry smith. >> with the placing of a single beam this afternoon, a milestone was achieved. construction of one world trade center has now surpassed the height of the top floor of the empire state building. >> a void we long thought impossible to fill has a presence now. we see tomorrow. the day when the horror and shock of 9/11 begins to be less present.

some of the men who were in the smoldering pit in the days after the attack are at the top of one world trade center now. we went up to meet them. the trip is not for the faint of heart. iron worker kevin murphy was our guide. how high are we now? >> standing on 89. >> 89? >> last floor of concrete. after this, we have to take ladders and stair towers. >> the stairs hang off the side of the building more than 1,000 feet above the street. the views will take your breath away. don't look down, right? >> don't look down. >> as we climb, we see iron workers toiling away, raising the structure beam by beam, and written on the beams for remembrances, names of people who died on 9/11. by no means is this just another tall building. >> a special trip. police, firemen, most important ones are the people who lost somebody, you know, or are coming from the armed forces.

really special when the wounded warriors come up here. >> a lot of emotion in this building. >> yes, way more emotion than we're used to. and we're iron workers, we don't feel our emotions well. around you, you can't help it. you see the families come. you look down at the memorial. you see everybody looking at the memorial. this is very emotional for us. >> the finished one world trade center will be 1,776 feet. that's right, 1,776. and we'll look up even higher. harry smith, nbc news, new york. secretary of state hillary clinton leaves tonight for china. a previously scheduled trip that now has an important new goal. protecting the fate of one man, a chinese dissident who made a remarkable escape from house arrest a week ago and is now thought to be under u.s.

protection in beijing. nbc's ian williams has our report from there tonight. >>? fate of chen gaungcheng has become the biggest test of u.s./china relations in years. a challenge delivered quite literally to the u.s. doorstep. after his daring escape from house arrest. friends of chen said they then drove him the 300 miles from his village to beijing and he's now in what they describe as the only safe place in china. the u.s. embassy here. no sign of extra security at the embassy today, but the issue is so delicate that there's been no comment from officials here, chinese or american, including the state department's pointman for asia. >> can you tell us what you're here in beijing for? >> chen gaungcheng's crime in the eyes of the chinese government was to expose forced abortions and sterilization under the country's one-child policy.

the 40-year-old self trained lawyer, blind since childhood, was jailed in 2006 and then put under house arrest. he says he and his wife were beaten. his young daughter harassed. his every movement was monitored, visitors prevented from meeting him, yet he was able secretly to plot his escape. friends say after an attempt to dig a tunnel was discovered, he stayed at home for weeks, pretending to be sick, hoping his jailers would drop their guard. they did, and he escaped over a wall before meeting up with supporters who sought u.s. diplomatic protection for him. secretary clinton due here wednesday for previously scheduled talks has been critical of chen's house arrest. >> i can certainly guarantee that we will be discussing every matter, including human rights, that is pending between us. >> one big sticking point may be chen's stated preference to stay in china and fight for justice instead of accepting a one-way ticket to exile. another is the fate of his family, now under virtual house

arrest themselves and supporters, some of whom have been detained since his escape. brian. >> ian williams live in beijing for us tonight. ian, thanks. when we continue on this monday night, look what's washing up on our shores now from a disaster half a world and over a year away. and this is just the beginning. and later, a love story that has lasted more than 60 years, and the man who is making a difference for the generation that helped save the world.

we are back now with something we expected to see on american shores but not this early. the first wave of 5 million tons give or take of debris from the japanese earthquake and tsunami over a year ago now. while most of the waste sank to the bottom of the sea, a lot of it did not and it's catching fast currents en route to our west coast. nbc's miguel almaguer reports tonight from alaska. >> along the coast of prince william sound, clear signs of trouble in the water. >> god, what a sad situation. >> a debris field is washing ashore on kayak island. chris pallister has come for a closer look. >> i don't think people realize this is environmental tragedy that dwarfs exon valdez in my personal opinion. >> fragments of everyday live from some 3,500 miles away. never before have locals seen their coastline so littered. scientists have begun to see more and more debris on the

beaches from japan, but nobody knows if it's from the tsunami. for now, it's impossible to tell. for 13 months, scientists have been tracking an estimated 1.5 million tons of tsunami debris, a floating mass drifting in the pacific, headed towards the west coast. in washington state, officials will use c-130s for survey, and train volunteers on the ground on what to look for. the debris will arrive in waves, but the front edge may already be here. >> any of the objects higher up in the water, moving fast, if it catches a quick current, could be showing up on the shorelines right now as we speak. >> and now off the coast of british columbia, this rusted motorcycle, a harley, is believed to be the first piece of tsunami debris in canada. the plates are from japan's hardest hit area. in sitka, alaska, tim shows these buoys, cans, and bottles regularly coming ashore.

>> there's a story behind each and every one. you wonder who was the last to touch it. how did it get set adrift? >> scientists say more is on the horizon. >> it's a mess that will be here for generations. >> wave after wave washing ashore in a region renowned for its beauty. miguel almaguer, nbc news, sitka, alaska. up next here tonight, tough news about fighting diabetes. and the showdown. much of the world stopped everything to watch today.

there's a new study out on the toll type two diabetes is taking on young people in the country. it turns out it progresses more rapidly and is more difficult to control in young patients than in older ones. we get our report tonight from our chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman. >> health experts have been aware for some time that type two diabetes is on the rise for

young people, but today's study also claims that children respond much less effectively than adults to all kinds of treatments. >> the take-home message is it's better to prevent diabetes in children and adolescents because it's very difficult to treat. of the nearly 700 children between the ages of 10 and 15 tracked in the study, patients taking a single diabetes drug matformin, failed to control their diabetes more than half of the time. the same drug plus changed in diet failed nearly as often. even the use of two medications failed for nearly 4 of 10 children. >> i felt like my world ended. >> william legare is a 20-year-old from new york city who has been trying to control his type two diabetes since he was just 14 years old. >> i know that my health comes first, so i'm actually watching everything i eat. >> what's up. >> the key is a healthier lifestyle before one is overweight, before one has type two diabetes.

>> today's study is frankly depressing, and although it helps some doctors figure out better approaches to helping children with type two diabetes, the bottom line is that it is easier to prevent this than to treat it and all of the problems that come with it, brian, heart disease, stroke, cancer, you name it, this is a sobering report. >> so many other societal issues wrapped up in there. nancy, thank you, as always. a lot of travelers to london arriving via heathrow airport, among the busiest in the world, are reporting a big problem. lines of up to two and three hours just to get through passport control. at first, this past weekend, british security personnel defended it, saying job one is to keep people safe, and they're sorry for the inconvenience, but then london's mayor, thinking ahead to a possible pr nightmare with the olympics approaching, slammed the delays for giving travelers a terrible impression of great britain, as he put it. the mayor, we should mention, is also up for re-election later this week. how is it possible without a

lot of americans knowing about it, at one point late today, an estimated 650 million people in over 200 territories around the world stopped working, stopped their homework, put their pencils down, put their lives on hold all to do this same thing. what they were doing was watching this -- soccer. today's epic game between man u, manchester united, and manchester city. london daily mail said the premier league showdown could alter the landscape of the sport. think of it as yanks versus soxs or gents versus pats times n. final score, manchester city over united, 1-0. up next tonight, a loving couple and the wish of a lifetime.

finally, our "making a difference" report sounds like something out of a movie script. a couple meet during world war ii with d-day in the backdrop for their love story. they return to the place where it all happened one last time thanks to one man's extraordinary effort at making a difference for them. our story tonight from nbc's kristen dahlgren. >> it's been 68 years since russell taylor first set foot on

utah beach. >> such a mess out there when we came across and landed. >> on the third morning after d-day, underneath that uniform, just a kid from new jersey. >> nobody talked about being scared, but we all were. >> now, 94, taylor never forgot that fear. or the friends who didn't make it. while taylor lost a lot on the beaches of normandy, he also found something here in france that changed his life more than any war. >> it is difficult not to rub in. >> as the war was ending, taylor met odele, a young french translator. on picnics at versailles, they fell in love, got married, and he brought her home to america. >> the best thing i have ever done. >> almost seven decades later, taylor wished to renew those vows in the place that brought them together. a trip they could never afford.

until brookdale senior living and jeremy blum stepped in, an olympic skier who also played in the nfl. the man with an incredible talent for living out his own dreams is now in the business of granting others. >> just because you're in your 80s, 90s, or 100s does not mean you can't stop dreaming. >> he started wish of a lifetime to honor his own grandmother who inspired him growing up. >> i don't feel like a hero. i feel like more like he's my hero. >> blum is now hero to hundreds. of seniors. last year, his wish of a lifetime made 400 dreams come true, from basic needs to bucket lists. >> the larger purpose is to create awareness and really a movement that says these people are national treasures. >> giving thanks to a generation that has seen incredible loss. >> it's nice to be able to say good-bye. >> and to live with inspiring love.

kristen dahlgren, nbc news, normandy. >> and that is our broadcast on this monday night as we start a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. good evening. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. right now east bay community is gathering to mourn the death of a popular high school football player. he was stabbed to death at a party saturday night in fremont. he was a standout running back and linebacker. >> nbc bay area's damian trujillo is live at the high school. i understand there's a vigil set for later tonight. >> reporter: that's right. not