this is a cbs news special report, i'm scott pelley in washington. good evening. president obama is about to make a rare address to the nation from the oval office. the subject is terrorism. he's expected to tell americans shaken by the attack in san bernardino what he is doing to keep the nation safe. tashfeen malik, a pakistani pledged her allegiance to isis before she and her american husband syed farook opened fire on his coworkers at a holiday party. 14 people were killed. the deadliest terror attack in the u.s. since 9/11. the president met yesterday with his national security team and he concluded his weekly radio address yesterday with a vow that americans will not be

terrorized. the address tonight will be only the third from the oval office for mr. obama, a sign of the importance that he is giving the issue. major garrett is at the white house for us. major? >> scott, the white house knows the nation is on edge. it's easy to understand why. the san bernardino attack was completely different, hamped in secret, it was conceived without u.s. law enforcement having any awareness about it and inspired by isis. in that light, the president will describe the military campaign against isis in iraq and syria and the steps congress can take to improve vij lens and safety, and importantly for this president it will include a call for more gun control. >> pelley: here's the president. >> on wednesday 14 americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. they were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. they were white and black, latino and asian, immigrants and american born. moms and dads, daughters and

sons. each of them served their fellow citizens, all of them were part of our american family. tonight i want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader threat of terrorism and how we can keep our country safe. the fbi is still gathering the facts about what happened in san bernardino. but here's what we know. the victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their coworkers and his wife. so far we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. but it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a per verted interpretation of islam that calls for war against america and the west. they had stock piled assault weapons, ammunition and pipe bombs. so this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people. our nation has been at war with

terrorists since al-qaeda killed nearly 3,000 americans on 9/11. in the process, we've hardened our defenses from airports to financial centers to other critical infrastructure. intelligence and law enforszment agencies have dub-- countless plots here and overseas and worked around the clock to keep us safe. our military encountered terrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas, disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing osama bin laden, and decimating al-qaeda's leadership. over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new face. as we have become better at preventing complex, multifa setted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. it is this type of attack that we saw at fort hood in 2009, in

chattanooga earlier this year, and now in san bernardino. and as groups like isil grew stronger amidst the chaos of the war in iraq and then syria, and as the internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the boston marathon bombers and the san ber dino killers. for seven years i have confronted this evolving threat each and every morning in my intelligence briefing. and since the day i took this office, i have authorized u.s. forces to take out terrorists abroad precisely because i know how real the danger is. as commander in chief i have no greater responsibility than the security of the american people. as a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, i know that we see ourselves with friends and coworkers at a holiday party like the one in san ber dino. i know we see our kids in the

faces of the young people killed in paris. and i know that after so much war, many americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure. well, here's what i want you to know. the threat from terrorism is real. but we will overcome it. we will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us. our success won't depend on tough talk nor abandoning our values or giving in to fear. that's what groups like isil are hoping for. instead we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless. and by drawing upon every aspect of american power. here's how. first our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary. in iraq and syria, air strikes are taking out isil leaders,

heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure. and since the attacks in paris, our closest allies including france, germany and the united kingdom have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy isil. second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of iraqi and syrian forces fighting isil on the ground so that we take away their safe havens. in both countries we're deploying special operations forces who can accelerate that offensive. we've stepped up this effort since the attacks in paris and will continue to invest more in approaches that are working on the ground. third, we're working with friends and allies to stop isil's operations, to disrupt plots, cut off their financing and prevent them from recruiting more fighters. since the attacks in paris we've surged intelligence sharing with our european allies. we're working with turkey to

seal its border with syria, and we are cooperating with muslim majority countries and with our muslim communities here at home, to counter the vicious ideology that isil promotes online. fourth, with american leadership, the international community has begun to establish a process and time line to pursue ceasefires and a political resolution to the syrian war. doing so will allow the syrian people and every country including our allies but also countries like russia to focus on the common goal of destroying isil, a group that threatens us all. this is our strategy to destroy isil. it is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65 countries that have joined an american-led coalition. and we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done. that's why i've ordered the

departments of state and homeland security to review the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in san ber dino originally came to this country. and that's why i will urge high tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. now here at home we have to work together to address the challenge. there are several steps that congress should take right away. to begin with, congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. what could possibly be the argument for allowing a terror suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? this is a matter of national security. we also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in san ber dino. i know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. but the fact is that our intelligence and law enforcement

agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that individual is motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. what we can do, and must do, is make it harder for them to kill. next, we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to america without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they've traveled to war zones. and we're working with members of both parties and congress to do exactly that. finally, if congress believes as i do that we are at war with isil, it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists. for over a year i have ordered our military to take thousands of air strikes against isil targets. i think it's time for congress to vote to demonstrate that the american people are united and committed to this fight. my fellow americans, these are

the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat. let me now say a word about what we should not do. we should not be drawn once more into a long and kosesly ground war-- costly ground war in iraq or syria. that's what groups like isil want. they know they can't defeat us on the battle field. isil fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in iraq am but they also know that if we occupy foreign lands they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops and draining our resources and using our presence to draw new recruits. the strategy that we are using now, air strikes, special forces and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country, that is how we'll achieve a more sustainable victory. and it won't require us sending a new generation of americans overseas to fight and die for

another decade on foreign soil. here's what else we cannot do. we cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between america and islam. that too is what groups like isil want. isil does not speak for islam. they are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death. and they account for a tiny fraction of the more than a billion muslims around the world, including millions of patriotic muslim americans who reject their hateful ideology. more over, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are muslim. if we're to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must enlist muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate. that does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology

has spread within some muslim communities. there's a real problem that muslims must confront without excuse. muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like isil and al-qaeda promote, to speak out against not just acts of violence but also those interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect and human dignity. but just as it is the responsibility of muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all americans, of every faith, to reject discrimination. it is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. it is our responsibility to reject proposals that muslim americans should show be treated differently. because when we travel down that

road, we lose. that kind of deadviciveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like isil. muslim-americans are our friends and our neighbors. our coworkers, our sports heroes. and yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. we have to remember that. my fellow americans, i am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. we were founded upon a belief in human dignity that no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of god and equal in the eyes of the law. even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps i and future presidents

must take to keep our country safe. let's make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear. that we have always met challenges whether war or depression, natural dises as-- disasters or terrorist attacks by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, and one people. so long as we stay true to that tradition, i have no doubt that america will prevail. thank you. god bless you and my god bless the united states of america. >> pelley: the president of the united states speaking live to the nation from the oval office, a rare oval office speech by the president. the last time he spoke from the oval office was five years ago when he announced that u.s. forces would be ending their combat role in iraq. so a symbol of how much

importance he placed on this address. the address, however, was mostly a restatement of the president's strategy against isis or isil as he calls it, the terrorist army that now occupies much of syria and iraq, a restatement of his policies that were in existence before san ber dino four days ago and before paris earlier this month. or i should say last month. major garrett is at the white house for us tonight. major, what did you see? >> reporter: it's a speech in two parts, scott. one operational. as you said, resetting the president's agenda, his strategy which has come under a lot of republican criticism on the presidential campaign trail against isis. the president talked about special operations forces but it's important to point out, scott, those are new additions to the strategy, one that with their very presence in syria first, now in iraq is an admission by this white house and the pentagon behind it that the original strategy of bombing from the air was not working

effectively. secondary, the president on the operational side here at home said we should have more gun control. that was tried and it failed in the senate last week. maybe the president will try another attempt on that. that is going to be tough with the republican congress. the second part of the speech, the one i think the president was most interested in was the values component of the speech. that the country must come together, that stigma advertising muslim-americans is not only against american values but operationally ignorant because it plays into the isis or isil narrative and undermines u.s. counterterrorism efforts. that is a direct reflection, scott, and people here at the white house openly concede this, to the kind of rhetoric the president has heard from some republican candidates most nota e frontrunner donald trump. >> pelley: major garrett reporting from the white house, as always, major, thank you very much. the president also asked on congress to take a number of actions. one, to close a loophole that actually allows anyone on the terrorist watch list, the no-fly list, allows them to buy a

weapon in the united states. he says congress should close that loophole. and he asked congress also to take a vote that essentially declares war on isis, to join him in a public statement against isis. the president also asked congress to make it harder to buy assault weapons as major garrett just mentioned. the president made a major appeal this evening to muslims to help in the fight against islamic extremism and also reminded americans that muslims are our neighbors, our friends, as he put it, even our sports heroes and the people who serve in our u.s. military. there will be much more about the president's address and the latest on the san ber dino investigation on your local news on this cbs station. as always, on our 24 hour digital news network, cbsn and

in the west tonight on the cbs evening news. i'm scott pelley, cbs news in washington. most of you will be returning to "60 minutes" after these messages. also at the same time suggesting strength he's also stirring up a lot of continuing to stir up lot of unhappiness about a subset of people. >> trump is selling attitude not 'general d. tough guy on immigrants. tough guy on the press. tough guy on isis, whatever it takes. the problem is some point you're right. it's become an issue that there's no substance or there are no details behind the toughness. right now, not yet. but eventually probably so. >> i will say, this i was in iowa this week with jeb bush and spent more time than usual asking people to show up, why bother. increasingly it was because i'm getting sick and tired of what i'm hearing from donald trump. it's not specific. it's inflammatory. it's irresponsible. the party will lose because of him. maybe there is something brewing that will cause republicans --

>> not the polls. >> indicators. it was evidence this week suggest that perhaps in the coming weeks a little bit of a shift. >> dickerson: ben, you did interviews at the beginning of the trump campaign, by labor day he'll fade. then by beginning of december. now it's well after the holidays. >> i will believe that trump has peaked when he has peaked, not before. i think you have to see it happen before anything else. that may be the point where people actually have to show up in iowa and vote for him. i think right now he speaks to lot of people who are concerned that they don't trust the elites in washington at all. to be able to tell good muslims from bad. don't trust them to be able to manage any of the crises that we've seen overseas or any of the domestic crisis. trump speaks to that over and over again. as things break down, as people become concerned they look for outsider voices. >> who they do trust, person

when asked directly what would you do about this as i'll leave that to your imagination. that's the typical answer. >> interesting piece in the journal yesterday and saturday that took look all the polling, who are the front voters. he creates his own lane. he's singular. there is more down scale economically, lesser educated, new kind of republican voters they're not concerned about values, social conservative values. not concerned about issues but leadership. he's got group of, how big that group ultimately is hard to say. not like they're going to go away to somebody else. because they are there because of him. >> dickerson: i want to ask about the where else they might go all those other. before we move off trump a policy question. general, you talked to secretary of defense, let's listen to what donald trump said about women in the military. >> women in the military. you said in 2013 you said, 26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military only 238 convictions what are these

geniuses ex sect when they put men and women together. how the pentagon opened up all combat to women. who what do you think? >> zits very tricky subject. you're in there, you are fighting, sitting next to a woman. they want to be politically correct, they want to do it. but there are major problems. as you know there are many people that think they shouldn't be done as high level, level of general. i think that it's a very tricky situation. but on fox today they had a woman who was a pilot, top level, very good. really indicating that this is really something that is not going to work out. i can say this, the numbers of rapes in the military are through the roof. through the roof. >> dickerson: general, gwen, the marine coming out not in -- >> if he happens to be joint chief of staff who was not in favor of this. but given that reasoning i'm the

only woman at this table i should feel very insecure, right? but this is my point, that's the reasoning here. the point that ashton carter made, secretary of defendant, is that this means that women can compete for these roles. they can compete to be rangers, they can compete within navy seals. no guarantee they will be that just like you can't guarantee that man would be able to do these things. what they're doing is opening up, women have been already been in combat roles, ground forces. this is expanding it, there's some disagreement as would you expect at the pentagon. >> dickerson: there are problems, military wide, with reporting sexual assault, that has been the case no matter what. there are plenty women serve can in uniform who for whatever reason are not comfortable reporting it. last time a big social change was the repeople of don't ask, don't tell. marines expressed concerns. we've seen no real documented

concerns of issues. carter and others feel okay. >> dickerson: ted cruz is -- had basically assumed donald trump would fall, he hasn't is there a coming cruz-trump donny brook? >> i'm not sure. i think that right now ted cruz certainly sounded a note of real challenge to marco rubio this week, went after him, compared his policies on libya to hillary clinton's very unfavorable way. i think we're at the beginning what might be interesting period of debate about the foreign policy of the nation. actually helps ted cruz to have donald trump sounding sort of similar notes on the outskirts to be the more reasonable looking presidential candidate. sort of situation where you have to pick your pow he son for establishment ted cruz's resume looks more like a presidential candidate than donald trump's. >> what ted cruz has done very cleverley. he has voice in the evangelical

community. also realized that there's a big set of primaries on march 1 in the south where evangelical vote where he's going to do well. he does well in iowa then carry that into the south. early in the calendar not late this year. not bad position. but i agree with ben, real fight between ted cruz and marco rubio interestingly enough because they decided they're in the same space. >> dickerson: another element to that fight. marco rubio focused on the fact that ted cruz was supportive of legislation tattooing away to get telephone records. what did we learn yesterday? right now investigators can't get to the telephone records of the two people who committed this atrocity in california. but doesn't matter that's argument that rubio has been trying to make now he has proof. jeb bush is making that argue. it will be vulnerability to explain why he was for that now if he wants to be so tough -- >> i don't agree with. that i think that cruz is actually well positioned on that front allows, one of the reasons he's been able to steal some of

rand paul's voters away by being libertarian on these. and these phone records, they're after action things. not -- more figuring out what happened in the lead up to this as opposed to preventing the actual deaths. >> dickerson: thanks so much. gwen, thank you. and ed, i want to thank all of our panelists we'll be back in a moment. this holiday season, get ready for mystery. what's in the trunk? nothing. romance. 18 inch alloys. you remembered. family fun. everybody squeeze in. don't block anyone. and non-stop action. noooooooo! it's the event you don't want to miss. it's the season of audi sales event. get up to a $2,500 bonus for highly qualified lessees on select audi models. hi watson. annabelle, your birthday is tomorrow. i'm turning seven. what did you ask for? a princess. and a pony. you like things that begin with p.

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>> dickerson: but before we go we want to remember the 14 victims of wednesday's massacre.

live from the cbs bay area studios this is kpix5 news. esident obama makes >> the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. we will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us. >> president obama makes a rare oval office address to reassure a nation on edge. good evening. i'm brian hackney. >> i'm juliette goodrich. the president was quick to call the attack in san bernardino leaving 14 people dead terrorism. however, he stopped short of pointing the finger at isis for being responsible. >> so far we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of