>> schieffer: welcome back to "face the nation" we have a lot to talk about with our panel, starting in sochi going to iran, syria, all the developments back here at home. joining this morning, jeffrey goldberg with the bloomberg view. the author of the "way of the night. theecret army and a war at end of the earth. and also joined by cbs news state department correspondent our own john dickerson. john, i'll start with you. eric holder makes a speech last night to a gay rights group where he announces new charges. here is part of what he said last night in his speech. >> in every courthouse, in every

proceeding and in every place where a member of the department of justice stands on behalf of the united states they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, the same protections and the same rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law. >> schieffer: so i guess one of the things this means if you get arrested hauled in to federal court your partner cannot testify as it is with heterosexual couples who are married, wife can't testify against a husband, a husband against a wife. but is there anything else that this covers? this does not seem to cover a great number of people to me. >> no. that's right. it also covers things like visitation rights in prison for -- attorney general said in every instance where justice department is acting, same sex couples will be treated the same as opposite sex couples. also to do with survivor benefits for first responders, there's some 9/11 first responders survivor benefits that are involved here.

this is under the overall effort by this administration in big and small to include marriage equality in the march of civil rights. remember in the president's inaugural address for his second term where he talked about included the gay rights movement as a part of the great american civil rights march. i think that is a part of this that really interesting thing to watch is will the president through executive action change the way in which federal contractors treat same-sex couples, people with different gender orientation, that is something he's been pressured to do. if did he that on his own that would be a very interesting political move. create a lot of heat but also be something that he's been pushing for and lot of democrats have been pushing for. >> schieffer: we heard both peter king, the congressman from new york then later heard kelly ayotte the fairly moderate republican senator from new hampshire.

saying she thought there might be some pushback on that and she and peter king both talk about what they call a lack of confidence that's growing among republicans. against the president. almost suggesting perhaps that the speech when he talked about doing these things by executive order if he can't get congress to go along with him has backfired. or may backfire. do you get any sense of that, jeff? >> i think it's unfair to say that this is a new phenomenon. i don't think that the republicans before this speech had great faith in the president bipartisan, i don't think the white house has that feeling. i think that speech might have backfired a little bit because it gives republicans the excuse to not listen even more. there was interesting moment last week the president visited michigan was talking about bipartisan efforts, not a single republican came out to be seen near him. i thought that was a moment.

>> schieffer: this was when he went to michigan to sign the farm bill which was agreed to bipartisan, one of the few bipartisan thing that's done. they invited host of republicans to come. not a single republican was willing to go out there. >> when i talked to republicans about -- say the don't trust the president. there are lot of reasons they don't trust. first thing they bring up is health care as senator ayotte, that is all these changes the president has made which they think in some of the things he's done when he talk about taking executive action is pretty small stuff, it doesn't trample the constitution. what they say is tram elk is when he changes a law that's already past through what he says his own authority they always go back to health care. why, because, a, for them it's legitimate beef. but, b, secondly, it's because they want to talk about health care for this entire election year. >> schieffer: let me turn to you interesting story about

edward snowden. he used a tool called the scraper to get some of this in whatever the scraper is. i don't know. maybe you can explain what it is. can you buy a scraper at your local department store. >> you can actually get it -- far more easily than you might think. not that everyone could do what eric snowden did. it shows -- story shows that just how ill-prepared the nsa was for someone like snowden. here we were couple years after manning and the release of documents through wikileaks, here is the most secure, what we thought most secure american intelligence agency, for snowden to be able to do that is incredible. as the intelligence chief admitted this week they'ringing as much about what snowden took, they still don't have clear sense of the entirety. >> schieffer: there has been some talk, i've heard this talk, peter king said he'd heard it,

that he's been unable to substantiate it to this point that edward snowden actually decided to go to hawaii because he newsom how that the security there was not as good. now as iay, this is totally unsubstantiated, but it is one of the things that king said part of the ongoing investigation, that he knew the security wasn't as good out there. it turns out it was not merry as good. >> i've heard that as well. what we do know is that after wikileaks, nsa did try to sort of bat ton down the hatches and make things more security. they were doing it at the headquarters at fort mead and other facilities. out in hawaii where snowden was, that software was not in place. security was not in place. where he knew that or not certainly several of us have heard that as it turns out it was not at all security he was there for allowed to do what he

did. >> schieffer: do you -- have you picked up anything to suggest, mike roger, he believes that the russians helped snowden. are you getting anywhere on that? >> no. i have -- there's allegations about russian and chinese help, i've never heard anyone to confirm that or i've never seen any evidence. bututs out there because the government continues to make these charges. >> you know, this impulse to blame the russians or blame ((the disbelief that one man can do this with programs that you can download over the internet. it's interesting, because this whole story, we talk about it in a binary fashion. on the one hand civil liberties concerns, the other hand the national security concerns. but we're not talking very much about this dependence, this incompetence of intelligence apparatus that allowed a guy to take everything, essentially, without anybody knowing it. that's what this story in the "times" this week suggests which

is that he was robbing the pantry blind. >> schieffer: you know, margaret, i want to ask you about this, while we're talking about the nsa and who it's monitoring and who it's not and whether it should be reined in, turns out the russians haven't r,ined in their abilities a little state department found much to its embarrassment this week, the assistant secretary for european affairs, victoria newland was having quite a conversation in not exactly diplomatic language. here is a portion of it. >> that would be great, i think, to help glue this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and, you know [bleep] the eu. >> that would be the european union. not taken diplomatically shall we say by the europeans especially the -- what was this all about, margaret? i won't ask to you repeat the

quote. what was she talking about? >> none of us have ever used that word before. know, the context to this was -- this frustration, i spoke to victoria today about what continues to be a lot of concern that there is real violence about to break out on the streets of the ukrainian capital because of this stand off. back when this was ordered it was recorded off of an open line with the u.s. ambassador unencrypted. it was picked up, the white house points out, tweeted out by someone in the russian government. that's what -- >> schieffer: we think the russians did it. >> that they promoted it no. one said who recorded it, ukrainian and russian intelligent arms -- >> schieffer: why were they talking on an open line? >> what she will layout the u.s. was working with the opposition at the time, at their request to try to take up the ukrainian president on his offer to put some members inside of this government in a technical way to try to quell some of this stand

off. and haven't really resolved anything. when she said let's try to get the u.n. to glue it together, it was eu wasn't working fast enough to fix this problem in their own back yard of europe, turning to the u.n. to stand in there to help quell some of the violence that was in the streets. and to try to address the human rights concerns. it was more on the sense of, we don't need the eu to get this done. >> schieffer: what does this conversation, has it had an impact on relations with the eu as it were? >> it's embarrassing. i think -- >> schieffer: germans certainly didn't like it. >> that was interesting to have the german chancellor release that comment saying how inappropriate it of the. tory has apologized moved on we're still working with the eu to get this done. it hasn't damaged things on that extent but has -- >> schieffer: i would say it hasn't helped.

>> this is of merkel being infewer rated that the nsa was listening it's a game, it's just, they get chance to sort of stab back a little bit. germany is going to take the opportunity to point this out. >> and said something this goes to show that all -- >> also recording of eu officials, kathy ashton one of her deputies that was complaining about the u.s. >> don't say anything ever on an open line. >> schieffer: all right. we're going to take a break here. we'll come back with more uncensored "face the nation."

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international won but we're going to start with domestic. we respect the majority here as they do -- minority as they do in the senate. what happens on immigration and the debt limit? >> if we start on immigration, john boehner said, seemed like he was position things so in the house where immigration of bipartisan bill passed, what is going to happen in the house. but forward principles in republican leadership that suggested things might be inching towards progress. this week john boehner said, no progress because my members don't trust the president. well, yes, they don't trust the president. we've talked about that. there is also the fact republican congress they don't trust the government. >> schieffer: they don't trust john boehner. >> that's right. he recognizes that. but also there's a war inside the republican party over this question of immigration. he got a lot of heat in the tweak when they announced the vague principles and said we're not going very far.

he got a lot of heat. they don't want to have a big inner party fight when they can be having election about other things, namely the failure of the president's health care plan. they say it's trust but it's a lot of other issues as well. it means that it's unlikely we'll get very far on immigration. all though in calling the democrats and people who want to get immigration reform passed this year, a lot of people were a little reserved in attacking john boehner. we think he does want to try to get something moving forward. we recognize this as something he's got to do for his -- he's got to tell his conservative members i'm not rushing to get a bill through here. they see as part of the membership maintenance. on the debt limit that's thing he's got to get over first. that's a fight with his own conference but it's going to pass somehow. >> schieffer: i do not believe that the republicans will want to take the blame for shutting down the government yet again. and so i agree with you. i think that -- i don't know how they're going to do it but i think they will pass the debt limit. >> why would you want to be

blamed for hurting the economy when you can blame obamacare for hurting the economy. in other words, they are writing a good issue nobody wants to put themselves in the position where they're going to be blamed for shutting down the government. it makes sense to pass it and keep the focus on obamacare. >> schieffer: i want to ask you, i can start with you, margaret, everyone is welcome to join in, there was this extraordinary set of hearings, things that are usually fairly routine that was confirmation of ambassadors. at manages sent some people up to the senate to be confirmed who turned out one did not know what form of government the country he was going to represent the united states in. did in the know what form of government they had. it just seemed like they had sort of lived some place else were suddenly being sent off to these places, didn't know anything about. is the administration worried about this? i think this would be something that president would be embarrassed about to say the

least. >> they got press, this is a problem for years that career foreign service officers the union that represents them has raised as an issue, a very prominent diplomat has complained saying there aren't enough career diplomats getting these key posts, often what they don't put in there but people will say these jobs are going to people who are bumblers for campaigns -- >> schieffer: which is what they were for the most part. the fact is there have been some very outstanding ambassadors who were not foreign service members. and there always have been, always be a place, some countries don't want foreign service officers, they want someone who is close to the president. but this seems far different from anything i've heard of. >> that coverage this week particularly around nominee to the ambassador to argentina got a lot of press and push back

from the government because there have been remark that he never traveled there. didn't have some of the knowledge. but with the administration would say, he represents the u.s. abroad and we're going to -- >> i think he's been to argentine steakhouse. the norway story where the guy didn't know there is a monarch ruling in norway. we know now that the price is what it would cost to get ambassador ship about half a million bucks in bumbled money they are sending soap opera producer to hungary. they can't define the nature of the relationship. forget they don't know the languages or been to these places. can't define why this place is important to the united states. >> it used to be something you went overseas after college it shouldn't be a perk of becoming an ambassador. the money point here is crucial as we get in to another presidential season, which

seems -- never seem to stop but there are people who raising lots of money for candidates that they will get put in one of these jobs. goes back to the influence of money and politics. >> it's not the worst thing in the world that this is an issue. i think it's embarrassing to the administration but important that it shows sort of behind the scenes how people get ambassador jobs. there are great ambassadors out there but also, you should do your homework. i don't think you have to have gone to the country before becoming the ambassador but should do your homework, should read -- >> schieffer: know where it is. >> you should know the type of government it has. >> look how celebrated caroline kennedy is as new ambassador to japan she's not career foreign service officer. that proximity to the president -- >> schieffer: very controversial statement. >> she has. she can pick up the phone and call the president, that's important. >> schieffer: let's talk about syria. bad stuff going on there. >> it continues to get worse when you didn't think it could.

it stays out of the news at times but the word is the last time lot of americans checked in was last summer-fall when president obama was threatening military strike after a chemical weapons attack. pulled back after going to -- saying he was going to congress then they struck the deal for chemical weapons that assad was going to give up his chemical weapons. well since we last checked, he hasn't been doing that, missed deadlines and the war continues and there's this real question in the administration, what do we do now? we have taken back this threat of force, how do you gain leverage over assad. last round of talks that happened in geneva really didn't go anywhere. they are going back in the administration of this question of, what can we do, what are our options, there is still this impulse on obama's part -- >> the nature of the story has changed in the last couple of

weeks, in fact the director of national intelligence couple weeks ago on the hill in open testimony said that, they have some proof that some of the al qaeda affiliated groups in syria that are fighting have the aspiration of attacking u.s. targets. so this story is moving out of the humanitarian catastrophe column or, this is bad for our regional allies call um, to a pre9/11 afghanistan story. al qaeda is operating here and thinking about hurting americans, well then you have a whole set of other option, is that you are going to have to contemplate because that's direct national security threat. we haven't been talking about that very much. >> the new homeland security chief connected those dots saying that there is perceived threat to the homeland because of some of these foreign coming back here, recruits, become magnet for extremists and could be reverberation back here. >> schieffer: the news from iran. >> approaching the shores, the

old movie "the russians are coming" there is different factions in iran, some are trying to continue their charm offensive in advance of the upcoming nuclear negotiations. someone in the iranian government decided good idea to send destroyer to approach the coast of the united states. >> schieffer: what? >> i think destroyer, it's an old refurbished american destroyer, i don't know where it is or if this is happening they made this, quote, unquote, threat. i think iran undermines its image if americans get a glimpse of the iranian navy. because there's couple of old rickety boats that the average fisherman, charter fisherman could probably handle. but they are -- they believe that america shouldn't be in the gulf and there for it's sort of tit for tat we're going to send our navy to your shores to show you we mean business. us doesn't threaten -- >> schieffer: keep us informed when you see -- >> i'm getting on a boston whaler going to approach them

see what happens. >> schieffer: i want to thank all of you for some very serious things we talked about this morning. maybe not quite that serious. fun to have you here. i hope you'll come back. we'll be back i'll have some thoughts about my old friend, marty.

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>> schieffer: well, we lost a true original last week, martin plessner a pioneer at exit polling and other election innovations, for many years the political director the cbs news he died at the age of 87. marty knew more politicians, political operatives, insiders, outsiders, hangers on than any one person i ever knew. better yet they knew him. even after he retired in 1997 he

was still the person i would call if i wanted to track down someone connected with a campaign. marty was not like the others or anyone else i ever knew. he was as bad as driving a car as he was good at politics. to him rules of the road were simply suggestions. he thought traffic lights were some sort of roadside decorations when he offered you a ride, you'd get a good political discussion but it was safer to take the cab. no wonder, as far as i could tell he thought little about anything but politics. someone once said if the russians launched a nuclear missile attack, marty would focus on the political fall out. he was not the most orderly of thinkers, he once filed half eaten plate of fried chicken on self of political notebooks. it was found months later. but when it came to politics he could remember details that most of us forgot or never knew. he was encyclopedia of facts and details that set a story apart.

when polling became an important part of politics it was marty who coined the phrase, too close to call. also just a wonderful guy and great late night company to be in when reporters got together on the campaign trail. he will not be soon forgotten. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

>> schieffer: that's it for us today and on this programming note we say goodbye. the head of the u.s. delegation to sochi, janet napolitano will be among the guests on cbs this morning tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll see you right here next week on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ,,,,,,,,

the other signs of saturati all over the bay area... ane areas at most risk for floo we had so much rain, the river is finally flowing. the other signs of saturations all over the bay area and the the areas at most risk for flooding. the storm surprised had this guy in a big way. why he had no idea what he was getting when he bought his house. good evening. here is the latest on the storm right now, a flash flood watch is in effect in parts of marin and sonoma county until 9:00 tonight. north bay interior valleys and the mountains are involved. another round of heavy rain is expected in the next several