and even a coffee shop that the prisoners run themselves. this man was born a u.s. citizen to saudi parents in baton rouge, louisiana. >> i was there for five years, and it was very nice, a very nice experience. >> reporter: vazali and others filmed it, they say, for the prison's tv station. saudi officials a accompanied this at all times. he told us he traveled to afghanistan to train with the taliban just before the 9/11 attacks. >> i would like to have -- i want to try -- i want to try doing stuff like that. >> reporter: he was captured, held in guantanamo bay, and then u.s. military prisons before agreeing to give up his american citizenship and returning to saudi arabia a free man. he was later arrested by

saudi authorities, but he was vague about why. >> i didn't want to speak about it a lot. but talking and because of that, i came back to prison. >> reporter: but humdi and several other prisoners were happy to describe their upbringing in an ultra, conservative, closed-off kingdom exposed to religious fundamentalist. if you went looking for extremism -- >> you can find them. you can learn from them, and they will misguide you. >> reporter: the same factors helped radicalize the 15 september 11th hijackers who were saudi citizens, according to some. and saudi arabia is criticized for being slow to fix the problem. now saudi arabia says it is reforming prisoners, and women have greater freedom than ever before, including the right to drive, and school textbooks have been

rewritten. as saudi arabia tries to rehabilitate its image and stamp out extremism, humdi told us he has also been successfully reformed. >> i made a mistake. i was an extremist once, but now i am not. >> reporter: the saudi government has always denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks. this country has won praise for its effort to combat terrorism, but it is still widely criticized over its human rights record. margaret? >> brennan: for more on the threats facing the country, we turn to michael morell, he is a cbs news contributor. >> great to be here. >> brennan: the head of al-qaeda issued a video on the 20th anniversary of the attacks. ththe u.n. says he is living in afghanistan. is he? >> i think so. which means that the taliban is harboring

al-ziri today. the taliban is harboring terrorism today. >> brennan: it is a pleat false premises to say that pulling out of afghanistan we can still keep the threat from kabul at bay? >> we have a lot of work to do in order to do that, right? we have the figure out how we're going to collect two types of intelligence, how we're going to make sure that al-qaeda is not rebuilding its capabilities and is planning on attacking us again. if we do that, we have to collect the kind of intelligence that gives you the precision you need to conduct strikes. drones need to be told exactly where on the earth to go. what tells you that is precision intelligence. so a lot of work for the intelligence community to do here going forward. >> brennan: and we've seen some of that, if you follow headlines. the c.i.a. director in pakistan was in pakistan this week. and he has already sai der sos, bill burns, said you will have fewer intelligence tools if you pull out u.s. troops.

so what exactly do we need? and isn't building up in the region the opposite of what the president intended to do, which was look at asia and threats elsewhere? >> so we have china. china is a big problem. it is the big strategic threat facing the united states. we have to pivot to that. but we also have to keep our eye on terrorism. and there is terrorists in a lot of different places in the world. the president is right about that. but i think the place were we are at most at risk from over the long-term, and the intelligence community is saying 12 months, so the long-term is kind of short here, is afghanistan. so al-qaeda could bounce back in as quickly as 12 months in afghanistan if we don't do what we need to do. >> brennan: when i talk to sources about that, to the argument you just laid out, they say, well, why afghanistan? why regroup there? why shouldn't we be as worried about central africa and al- pr the what iur reponse toces

i'm most worry about are n africa d al-shabaab in somalia. longer term, i worry most about al-qaeda in afghanistan, and isis in iraq and syria. why? because at the end of the day, the most important thing that a terrorist group can have, the most important determinant of their success is safe haven. and you have safe haven in afghanistan that you really can't have anywhere else because you're being harbored now by the taliban. afghanistan is a big place. it is tough to get to. it is tough to find partners. we just heard about that earlier in the show. that's why i worry more about afghanistan. >> brennan: so are we more at risk then without the military presence there? >> we are more at risk, without a doubt, because we haven't yet, as we heard from represent representae kinzinger, we haven't yet put together a strategy on how to de his. on to colctheabout.

the intelligence community has to figure that out. and then the department of defense has to figure out this over the horizon capability. when the intelligence community says, president biden, they're rebuilding again, and they're getting to the point they can attack the homeland, the military has to be able to reach in and degrade al-qaeda. we haven't figured those two things out yet. >> brennan: on that pointer, over the horizon is a euphemism for applyingflyingin drones from fa. the washington post was raising questions about, to target some of the members of isis who killed u.s. troops and over 100 afghans a few weeks ago. >> right. >> brennan: did we actually kill the person intended? and if we didn't, doesn't that show that over the horizon has some problems. >> this wasn't over the horizon. this was done with assets

in afghanistan. what happened here needs to be investigated. and i would hope that the administration, once it does the investigation, that it tells all of us publicly exactly what happened, and if we made a mistake, why. president obama was very strong on being open about making mistakes with drone strikes, and i think this administration needs to do the same. >> brennan: and that is a question for the pentagon or the c.i.a.? >> it is a question for the white house. >> brennan: the secretary of state will sit for questions tomorrow, and for the very first time the administration is going to have to explain this chaotic withdrawal. you hear about the taliban effect, that jihadis looked at this, looked at american troops exiting and said, it's possible that they are inspired by this. how much should we be concerned about that now? >> i think that the taliban winning the war in afghanistan and then the way our exit happened has

absolutely inspired jihadists all over the world. the t liban is saying, w united state we defeated nato. we defeated the world's greatest military power ever. so there is a celebration going on. we've defeated the soviet union, and now we've defeated nato. i think not only will jihadists be inspired, but a lot will come to afghanistan to be part of the celebration, to be part of jihadist central. after 9/11, they all scattered from afghanistan. i think we'll see a flow back in, and that's one of the things that makes afghanistan more dangerous than other spots on the planet. >> brennan: we will keep an eye on it. michael morell, thank you for your analysis. we'll be right back. some medicines only treat the lows or highs.

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[music stops] and release. [deep exhale] [fast upbeat music resumes] [music stops] ♪ we've all felt this gap. the distance between what is, and what could be. while he's tapping into his passion, the u.s. bank mobile app can help you tap your way to your savings goals. without missing a beat. so, you can feed his passion. ear plugs not included. ♪ u.s. bank. we'll get there together. >> brennan: we want to turn back to our coverage of the covid pandemic. several school districts

in florida are in an ongoing battle with the government over that state's ban on magic the ral governmen involved witent ocation investigating whether it violates the rights of children with disabilities. we want to go to the superintendent of miami-dade county school districts, alberto carvalho. >> good morning, margaret. >> brennan: a judge says the governor is well within his legal rights, but do you believe that this ban on mask mandates violates the rights of children with disabilities as the federal government is investigating? >> i certainly do. and i believe that the recent actions taken in tallahassee are contrary to the expert advice of public health and medical entities that declare that mask mandates are protective measures that serve a compelling public interest. i'm the superintendent of a district that has lost 13 employees since august 16th. yes, all of them were

unvaccinated. we're still in a community where the positivity rate is at 8%. where the number of cases per 100,000 residents is elevated at around 330. when back in june it was only about 76 individuals per 100,000. so the conditions are not what they should be for us to relax the protocols. >> brennan: so what actually controls the spread in the classroom? are classrooms vectors for spread of this virus? >> i think the experts are very compelling telling us what controls the spread. number one, vaccination for those who are eligible, 12 and older, and i'm proud of my community since 98% of residents in miami-dade have already obtained at least one dose of the vaccine. as a school board, we have taken courageous steps, incentivizing the vaccination of employees with financial incentives for our employees. social distancing,

mandatory masking, ionization of cleaning techniques in the classroom, if you put those together then we can, in fact, contain the spread of this awful disease. >> brennan: so you can't require your employees to be vaccinated -- >> in the state of florida, there are legal restrictions in terms of mandating vaccination of employees. >> brennan: and the teachers' union, they're encouraging vaccination, but they aren't mandating it. does anything change now that the president made this announcement? >> well, i think one thing that has changed is the fact that there is a greater incentive and a greater focus on the need to vaccinate individuals in our communities. the best way to reduce the positivity rates to contain the spread of covid-19 is by surrounding kids with vaccinated individuals. and our incentives, the deployment of mobile vaccination units and testing units to our schools, which we do around the clock, are having an effect.

>> brennan: well, i want to ask you about the tragedy, as you just mentioned, of those 13 people who worked for you, right? and in a district which has high positivity rate, high poverty rate. they were unvaccinated. why did they refuse to get vaccinated? >> i t,ink that's an important question. and i think it underlies -- it underscores a real tragedy in our community and across the country. there are individuals in our communities, particularly ethic minorities, who as a result of sad examples that are historic in nature, coupled now with misinformation and disinformation from a very small but very vocal minority that seeks to misinform and confuse. >> brennan: that's why i'm asking you -- that's why i want to ask you if the president mandates and talking it up makes a difference?

beause the former surgeon general was tweeting, jerome adams this week, he gets the intent, but many minorities still have historically-founded reservations and many people have honest questions. he is saying, essentially, this may backfire in the minority communities, and if they don't trust the federal government, the federal government telling them to take a vaccine isn't going to help. >> that's why local governments, school teachers, superintendents and school board members needs to step up to provide an echo and a chorus of reason in our communities. look, this should not be a political issue. this is a health concern issue. we've never debated the value of vaccinations for measles, mumps, or hepatitis. what is the difference now? the health issues is not causing this issue, politics are. and sadly here we are

debating this from a political perspective rather than a health benefit perspective. i tell you, as a superintendent, as a father, as a teacher, i'm concerned for our kids. they are being used as political pawns in this political chess game, and that is reprehensible. >> brennan: thank you very much for joining us, and good luck with the kids in your schools. >> thank you. >> brennan: we are going to go now to dr. james versalovic, the pediatrician in chief at texas children's hospital. good morning to you. >> doctor: good morning, margaret. >> brennan: 25% of new infections in this country are among children. for the people that you are taking care of, how are they getting infected? what are you seeing in your hospital with these kids? >> doctor: well, we're seeing record numbers here at texas children's hospital, throughout texas, and as the story unfolds, across the country. it is not just a regional problem, but a national problem. we've seen a record

750,000 plus, more than three-quarters of a million children infected since early august/early september. we're seeing that play out in one of the largest cities in the united states, one of the largest children's hospitals in the u.s.a. the reality is we have seen record numbers of children hospitalized during this delta variant surge. we have seen a record number of cases reported by the day, by the week. we continue to be on a high plateau. the reality is we may be headed to another peak or another valley if we all pull together. >> brennan: earlier in the program, we spoke to the former f.d.a. commissioner, dr. scott gottlieb, who is predicting you could potentially see a vaccine by halloween that is available for kids five to 11. do you agree with that timeline? do you recommend to parents that when it is available they give it to their child? >> yes, we certainly are aiming for that timeline in october of this year,

to have the data here put together at texas children's hospital, as we continue to work with 're wea 3, working with leading children's hospitals across the country. with partners such as pfizer and moderna, that is our goal, october. we are doing everything we can now to move these trials ahead, and they're moving ahead well. children are getting a different dosage, but it is safe and effective. i certainly would agree with dr. scott gottlieb that we're doing all we can to get vaccines to children in the fall. in the meantime, use masking and other measures to keep our children safe and reassure parents that help is on the way and the form of vaccines for children under 12. >> brennan: for parents, what do they need to look for in their children? are you seeing these infections develop in the form of some of these syndromes, like miss-c?

who is ending up sick in your hospitals and how sick are they? >> doctor: in addition to prevention, margaret, we need to continue to emphasize to all parents and families the importance of timely diagnosing through testing. once the child is displaying symptoms, respiratory symptoms that could be consistent with covid, covid pneumonia, fever, it could be shortness of breath and other symptoms. and then triage the care appropriately. decide whether that child needs hospital-based care. we know how to treat children at this point in the pandemic. we know that more than 98% are due to the delta variant, highly contagious, but we're able to take care of these children in a hospital-based setting. we know there are children

with underlying medical conditions that are putting them at severe risk for covid pneumonia, such as obesity, diabetes, pulmonary conditions, but we do have medications to treat children. we want to keep children out of the hospital. and the reality is timely diagnosis is key. if a child needs hospital-based care, we do all we can to keep them out of the pediatric i.c.u. but the reality is that children may need i.c. i.c.u.-based care, and we're seeing that today. in infants, school-aged children, and unvaccinated teenagers are getting hit hard now. we're seeing that impact now. we need to remind parents that beyond the acute infection, we could have m.i.c. three to six weeks after infection, we're seeing a spike of m.i.c. >> brennan: doctor, good luck to you, and thank you very much for your

analysis. we'll be back in a moment. (veteran) when covid-19 hit, i lost my housing and didn't know what to do. without help from va, i might be homeless. (narrator) if you or a member of your household served in the military and are facing financial hardship caused by covid-19, va has resources that can help you stay in or obtain housing. call the national call center for homeless veterans. due to covid-19, calling is the best and fastest way to get help. veterans without access to a phone should visit their closest va medical center.

>> brennan: 20 years ago the terror attacks on 9/11 illustrated some of the worst that humanity has to offer. but in reaction to those attacks, we also saw some of the best: courage in the face of danger, unanimity at an intense of divided moment. we could use some of that now. ♪ god bless america ♪ >> brennan: it feels at times that was the last moment our country was united. nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks that september day. today we lose 3,000 every two days to covid. yet appeals made to americans' sense of civic duty to take the shot or

wear a mask to protect the atolitical battle cries. 20 years ago it was the passengers aboard united flight 93 who tried to seize control of the plane from its hijackers. they stopped it from hitting the u.s. capitol. seven months ago on january 6th, it was our fellow americans who violently attacked it. yet lawmakers can't even agree on how to investigate. the trauma of that single september day is so embedded in america's consciousness, that the term 9/11 has become shorthand for horrific devastation, the benchmark against which we measure all loss. yet there was persistent trauma in the years that followed. the two wars. the botched intelligence. the torture. the destructive institutions, government and journalists,

surveillance vng civil lib. constant i islamic phobia. today more americans are worried about domestic extremism than foreign terrorism. this week homeland security warned domestic extremists may target refugees, particularly afghan muslims. those who still see america as that beacon of freedom we have vowed to be. 20 years ago, washington promised to move heaven and earth to prevent another attack. today we need that commitment again to fully heal ourselves. to decide what our values are and who we are in the world. we'll be right back. en ♪ ♪ worst of all ♪ ♪ you never call ♪ baby daydreaming again?

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>> brennan: that's it for us today. thank you all for watching, and thank you to my cbs colleagues for doing such a great job with this show while i was on maternity leave. for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by

this is the cbs "overnight news." good evening. thanks for joining us. it's been a weekend of somber remembrances as america marked 20 years since the 9/11 attack. more on that in a moment. but we begin with the country still reeling from the effects of the pandemic. tonight, new daily infections are still high. but trending down over the last two weeks. deaths are up 30% over the same time period. meanwhile, joe biden is doubling down on efforts to turn the tide against the virus.