>> tonight, in a single attack, u.s. forces suffer their worst losses of the afghan war. the crash of a u.s. military helicopter, apparently from taliban fire, kills 30 americans, most of them navy seals. elizabeth palmer has details. cyber-war-- a computer hacking group claims to have targeted 70 law enforcement web sites. tony guidey investigates how they did it. prayer rally-- texas governor and possible presidential candidate rick perry leads thousands of evangelicals in prayers for america. karen brown is there. and made in the u.s.a.-- could a pending trade deal push the last american maker of athletic shoes overseas? captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell.

>> good evening. russ is off. i'm anthony mason. we begin tonight with the worst single blow to u.s. forces since the war in afghanistan began nearly 10 years ago. a helicopter crash has killed 30 americans, and early indications are that the taliban is to blame. elizabeth palmer in london has the latest. >> reporter: the chinook helicopter came down in wardak province just southwest of kabul. of the 30 americans aboard, 22 were members of the special operations navy seal team six, the same unit that killed osama bin laden. the other eight were army and air force personnel. a civilian translator, seven afghan commandos, and a specially trained dog also died. the crash site has now been cordoned off, about the taliban claim they shot down the chinook early this morning just as it was taking off after a raid on their fighters.

u.s. military sources say it was called in as backup by another unit, which had run into trouble. local witnesses report the chinook was hit with a rocket- propelled grenade, a popular weapon among the taliban because it's light and cheap, although it's usually inaccurate. from camp david, president obama said, "their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifice made by the men and women of our military and their families." in the rugged hinterland of afghanistan, where roads are nonexistent or mined, helicopter raids are a key part of u.s. strategy. multiple times at night, they swoop in on groups of taliban fighters in the dark and kill them, especially in this sensitive area just 50 miles from the capital, where the taliban have a stronghold. but the raids are controversial. they've killed afghan families and innocent civilians by

mistake, and they are dangerous for u.s. forces. in april, 2005, a u.s. chinook came down in a sandstorm not far from today's crash site, killing 18 americans. and in june of the same year, 16 special operations troops died when their helicopter was shot down near the pakistan border. today's deaths bring the total number of americans killed this year in afghanistan to 297. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. >> the war in afghanistan is taking an increased toll among afghan civilians as well. the most recent u.n. report says more than 1400 civilians were killed in conflict-related incidents during the first six months of this year. that's up 15% over the same period last year. the report blames insurgents for 80% of the deaths. here at home, financial experts and politicians alike are reacting to last night's announcement by standard & poor's that it is lowering america's credit rating from triple a to double a-plus.

whit johnson in washington has more on the demotion and the fallout. >> why, because-- >> that is pernicious nonsense. >> reporter: for those who have long said that washington can't get things done, standard & poor's now officially agrees. america's new double a-plus rating makes us a riskier investment than those of 18 other governments, including the isle of man and liechtenstein. the 11th hour deal to raise the debt ceiling left s&p unconvinced that a new bipartisan committee will lead to significant financial reforms. >> it does not go far enough to halt the rising debt burden of the u.s. government over the near-to-medium term. >> reporter: while government sources tell the cbs news the white house disagrees with the downgrade, the response from the press office was more muted. muted.

last week, president obama said a downgrade would inflict pain across the board. >> a lower credit rating would result potentially in a tax increase on everyone in the form of higher interest rates on their mortgages, their car loans, their credit cards. >> reporter: reaction from around the globe is mixed. through state media, china, america's largest foreign investor, urged washington to cure its addiction to debts and live within its means. but australia's prime minister downplayed the purpose of s & p's decision. >> the other two major ratings agencies, moody's and fitch, continue to have the american economy right at triple a., so i think people just need to look at all of the facts. >> reporter: here at home, republican president yool hopefuls are seizing the moment, pointing fingers at the white house. >> it's a reflection of the failed leadership of president obama. he really is inept when it comes to the economy. >> reporter: looking forward, s & p also put the u.s. on

negative outlook, meaning if washington can't get its fiscal act together, another downgrade could be on the way. anthony. >> whit johnson at the white house, thanks. and joining us to discuss his company's downgrade is david beers, global head of sovereign ratings for standard and poor's. what role did the toxic debate in washington have on your decision? >> well, it highlighted for us something that we've been observing for a number of months now, which is simply the extraordinary difficulty of getting a political consensus about fiscal policy and fiscal policy choices now and in the future. so that whole process for us just highlights the fact that the u.s. is becoming a bit more unpredictable in terms of the conduct of fiscal policy relative to some of the other governments that we rate. >> given how seveerlt ratings agencies failed to anticipate the financial crise, why should

people put faith in your ratings now? >> well, i would be the last person to tell people what they should do with our opinion, and i recommend that they read it, the analysis behind it and draw their own concludes. >> in terms of timing, if the u.s. succeeds in reducing its debt, how quickly could it get its triple a rating back? >> that's not what we're looking at right now. we're looking at the deal that was agreed this week and we're saying by the test of does it turn the rising of the debt burden around, our answer is in our view, no, it does not. >> what you're saying is it could be years before we get our triple a rating restored. >> it depend on the fiscal policy choices that the government makes. >> david beers with standard and poor's thank you very much. the debt crisis was in the prayers of texas governor rick perry, who led a rally in houston today for what he called a nation in crisis but with perry considering a run for the republican presidential nomination, karen brown reports his call to prayer was met with

controversy. >> i love this country deeply. indeed, the only thing that you love more is the living christ. >> reporter: texas governor rick perry may hope to be the savior the republican party is looking for. 30 show christians packed perry's houston rally to pray for the nation as perry reached out to the party's evangelical base. >> his agenda is not a political agenda. his agenda is a salvation agenda. >> reporter: rally was sponsored by the evangelical american family association, which opposes abortion rights and gay marriage. >> we're very happy to see that christ can still number politics today. >> reporter: though perry is not yet officially running for president, the white evangelicals he's courting make up nearly 25% of the national electorate and vote republican by a 3 to 1 margin but a handful of protesters outside the prayer

event say perry is injecting too much religion into politics. >> i feel like he has crossed boundaries between the separation of church and state. >> reporter: 50 religious leaders in the houston area, including methodist minister ernest tourney, signed a letter criticizing the event as exclusionary. >> it's unfortunate only one small group seems to have the governor's ear. >> father, our heart breaks for america. >> reporter: perry and kansas governor, republican sam brownback, were the only politicians to speak at the gactering, led by religious leaders who are pushing for more judeo-christian values in washington. >> i'm not here to talk about governor perry becoming president. i'm here to talk about jesus becoming king. >> reporter: why is it so important for governor perry to connect with the religious right? >> in states that really count early, in the selection of the republican nominee, christian conservatives are the ones who make a difference, and this year, there is a combination of christian conservatives and tea

party activists, sort of sevan jellicals, if you will. >> reporter: governor perry is expected to announce his decision but he is already off and running. in the latest pew poll he is beating out the front-runner, mitt romney, 22-50% among republicans covering the race. >> still ahead, america's last athletic shoot maker under threat from foreign competition. juneau's journey, inside america's billion-dollar mission to jupiter. and american sheriffs under siege from anonymous computer hackers. those stories when the cbs evening news continues.

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hacked for a time this week by a group that calls itself simply anonymous, claims it was behind the attacks of police e-mails, tips from the public and credit card neutral zone the group said it was taking revenge for the arrest of the members in other recent cyber-attacks. tony guida has more. >> reporter: much of what anonymous posted on the web amounted to an invasion of privacy but one small-town police chief indicated it was more serious. he said the hackers posted pictures of tenged girls in swimsuits, part of an ongoing investigation he declined to discuss. a recent homeland security bulletin obtained by cbs news warns the group's attacks have the potential to result in serious harm to law enforcement and government entities. >> it just amazing me that-- the effort people follow to, to get ahold of information. >> reporter: commander x. says he's a member of

in an earlier interview, he claimed a greater good for the group's crimes. >> reporter: technology journalist john abel has heard it all before. >> you have sort of vigilantes who are victimizing innocent bystanders, and there's really no excuse for that. >> reporter: the latest attacks occurred over the past several days, yet some of the sheriff's departments hacked were unaware of it until news organizations called for comment. >> it's a cat and mouse game. it's a manageable, perfect storm, but it's something that we have to live with. >> reporter: because, he says, nothing digital-- which is almost everything nowadays-- is completely secure from a determined hacker. tony guida, cbs news, new york. >> if you can't beat the hackers, join them-- or rather get them to join you. bill whitaker tells us about the latest national security recruiting drive. >> reporter: the 19th annual def-con in las vegas, a convention of free spirits, free

thinkers, geeks and hackers. >> i think hacker mindset is tinkering with stuff anywhere from hardware to software. >> reporter: recently, def-con has drawn more and more unlikely conventioneers, clean-cut, but- toned-down u.s. representative. >> army's forensic and research brans. >> d.o.d., n.s.a.-- an alphabet soup of federal agencies. >> if there are folks with wild red hair that have skills and have an interest, and a wherewithall to be a federal agent, those are the folks we want to reach. >> reporter: cbs news got these first-ever pictures inside the top-secret national security agency's cyber-command, the hub for defending against computer attacks. deputy defense secretary david lynn told david martin cyberattackers are finding the u.s. with its barriers down.

>> they technology for intrusions is far ahead of defenses and we need to catch up. >> reporter: unidentified cyberattackers penetrated pentagon firewalls this year, and stole plans for the war in afghanistan, designs for satellites, drones, and a top- secret, next-generation fighter plane. top computer security firm mcafee reported this week it found hackers rummaging through computers of 70 corporations and organizations, including the u.s. department of energy, the international olympic committee, the united nations. the loss of trade secrets to hackers costs u.s. companies as much as $20 billion a year. the loss of government secrets to cyber-espionage? incalculable. >> protecting information, securing information is crucial. >> it's a national security issue. >> reporter: the federal agencies are here seek the next generation of national defenders, cyberwarrior. >> the government can't solve this problem by itself. >> reporter: tony sager is with the national security agency.

>> there is no end state of security, so it's constant learning. that's part of what makes it exciting, but also challenging. >> reporter: look around-- this is what the fighting force of the future looks like. bill whitaker, cbs news, las vegas. >> ahead, what a shift in the international balance of trade could do to american-made new balance shoes. shoes.

>> according to the latest unemployment report, american manufacturers added 24,000 jobs last month, but in schoheyingan, maine, more than 300 manufacturing jobs could be on the line in the face of new competition from overseas. that's tonight's weekend journal-- the looming trade agreement that could unbalance an iconic american product. skip bowman knows his company would make more money if it shut down this plant and moved his job overseas. >> every kay i walk in through that door i'm part of the effort to keep this factory going. >> reporter: new balance is the last major brand to produce athletic shoes in the u.s. about 25% of its manufacturing is still in new england where it's operated for nearly 100 years. the privately held company says it's committed to its american workers. >> if they were thinking about the bottom line and only the

bottom line at all times, we wouldn't be here. how is your sole, cathy? >> reporter: that reality is not lost on the more than 300 people who work here. they work fast-- 220 pieces move through 33 pairs of hands with efficiency. 19 seconds to stitch and inspect each piece. less time to grew the soles. the results are significant. in 2004, it took eight days to finish a pair of performance shoes. today, it group finishes in less than three hours. >> the quicker we make the shoes, the cheaper it is. >> feels good when things are going right, doesn't it? >> yes, it does n- >> everybody is trying to continually improve the process, every single one of us so we can do better. >> reporter: but a new threat has emerged-- a trade agreement being pushed by the obama administration called the transpacific partnership would open eight developing markets to u.s. goods. the goal is to create jobs here, but it also removes a steep

import tax on vietnamese-made sneakers which could actually threaten jobs at this plant. >> if this tariff were lifted, it's not going to help our business out. >> reporter: the bottom line-- no matter how efficient, americans are 10 times more costly than vietnamese workers. and the cost per shoe would be much lower. >> this trade agreement makes me and the associates nervous because it's going to reducer competitiveness in making shoes domestically. >> reporter: but new balance says it will stand by its workers by adjusting its product line or its prices. management has vowed to keep the doors open. >> we would not lay off any of our associates. >> ray, how are you? >> good! >> they're out there on a limb all by themselves, and we are their limb. we've got to hold them up. so we have to do our part. >> and up next, lifted off for america's juneau space probe.

destination-- jupiter.

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to jupiter. >> ignition and liftoff of the juneau on a trek to jupiter. >> reporter: when the juneau probe left a launchpad it began a 1.7-billion mile journey to solve one of the great mysteries -- how was jupiter born. >> a planetary piece of the puzzole our solar system. >> reporter: juneau will be powered on its five-year trip by three huge solar panels, the size of tractor trailers. it will orbit jupiter fair year, diving keep into the planet's colorful bands and high clouds. they hope it will explain how other planets, including earth, came to be. >> one of the things we like to say is we're looking for the recipe on how planets were formed and jupiter holds the information. >> jupiter is mostly made of gas. juneau will try to find the planet's solid core for the

first time. >> the reason we're doing this is there are a lot of unanswered questions about how jupiter was formed. >> the final lifted off of "atlantis." >> reporter: now that the space shuttle program has been scrapped, missions like juneau are the face of the new nasa. this week, nasa showcased these pictures from their mars orbiter. they show evidence of water in that planet's craters. water would be essential for life on the red planet. as for juneau, well, it will die a dramatic death. the spacecraft is programmed to crash into jupiter when it completes its mission in 2017. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >> and that's the cbs evening news. later on cbs, "48 hours mystery." i'm anthony mason in new york. thanks for watching. i'll see you again tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

streets to prevent a hit-and-run tr taking care at the crosswalks. the effort on some busy city streets to prevent another hit-and-run tragedy. a gas price plummet. the predictions that we're due another break at the pump. it is awesome. it is awesome. i really appreciate this. >> families getting some help, getting back to school, the help coming in the form of much-needed school supplies. cbs a eyewitness news is next. ,,,,