democrats feel the sting of defeat after the new york district falls in to republican hands for the first time in 90 years. >> this message will resound for a full year. and it will resound into 2012. we've been told this is a referendum and we're ready to say, mr. president, we are on the wrong track. >> is the release imminent? the lawyers for the two u.s. hikers in iran will making bail arrangements right now. this as a plane fromman was sent to iran. similar to when sarah shroud was released a year ago. >> there seems to be a real push to have this resolved, have the two american hikers out of iran and on their way home before the president heads back to the united states to again appear before the united nations general assembly. and closing the book on "don't ask, don't tell." the new h bcht o documentary that exams the evolution of the military's controversial policy against gays and lesbians

serving openly. i'm andrea mitchell live in new york. in iran, the lawyer for the two hikers is making bail arrangements right now. in addition, the associated press reports a plane from oman has been sent into iran. that is the same procedure we stau a year ago today when the third hiker, sarah shroud, was released. ann curry is live exclusively in tehran. we have a satellite delay, but bear with us because your pore is so important. what are you now learning? >> reporter: well, we actually got the confirmation from the lawyer who represents the two american hikers that bail arrangements are now being made. however, the iranian government will not confirm that a plane is already as the ap is reporting on its way from oman. still, it does appear that just as the president ahmadinejad said, that these two american hikers would be released in a couple of days, it does appear

that this is starting to happen pi a want to bring in our tehran bureau chief who has been covering the story since really it began. i want to ask you, this seems so similar in so many ways to the release of the third hiker, sarah shroud, because in her case bail was set at half a million dollars, just as in her case, we heard the judiciary say that the release was not imminent, in other words, it was pushing back on what the president told us just a short time ago. so given what we know about how this has played out with sarah shroud, how do you think this will play out for shane bauer and josh fattal? >> it's a very similar swag. it's working out the same. we have to understand in iran there is a lot of branches of power that aren't always on the same page with each other. there's a lot of things that they have to sort out behind the scenes. as you've seen, there's been a lot of information gone up and down, but this time it's

building up steam. the haur has given us solid information. if money is being transferred to iran now and hitting iran in bank accounts, it will only be a matter of time. >> a matter of time being what? just a couple of days? >> in iran, you can never be sure, but this seems the most fluid situation we've had. >> and apparently we're out of time, but thank you so much for speaking to us and giving us this information. bureau chief for tehran. back to you. >> bear with me just a second. i wanted to follow up and ask because we know that there are so many facts in the iranian government, but you sat down where ahmadinejad, you had that explosive too exclusive tour with him. clearly there would an strong impetus on his part to get this resolved before he comes to the united states next week for the you united nations meetings. >> reporter: no question. you're absolutely right. he speaks to the u.n. general

assembly in about ten days. and interestingly enough, sarah shroud was released just about the same time period just before the u.n. general assembly was about to meet. it's the president's opportunity to step once again on the world stage. and in the past, he has made some very controversial remarks on that world stage talking about questioning the holocaust, questioning whether the u.s. in fact some parts of the u.s. government had some culpability in the events of 9/11. so it will be very interesting to hear what he's going to say when he steps again on the world stage. he did tell us this our interview, we weren't able to show you this so far, he did say that he wanted to when he gets back on the world stage to talk about solutions to what he said were the world's problems and he's hoping to have the world's ear. so it's very possible that right now in this effort for the first time to allow any media organization to follow him around on his daily activities, and now also to have this interview and also then to announce as a big surprise to us

that he was going to be announcing that these two american hikers, these young men, are about be released. will does signal a kind of openness, a kind of wish to be seen differently by the world as he's abouts as you just said to speak to the world. >> thanks so much for all your reporting. president ahmadinejad will be speaking at the united nations next thursday and of course we'll be covering that. president obama also speaking to the u.n. next weeg, he's in north carolina right now delivering his third jobs speech in as many days. president obama has nearly half a trillion dollar jobs bill he says will overt a double dip recession. but the majority of americans don't agree pap new bloomberg poll finds that 51% of those questioned do not think that the jobs bill will help. mark halperin is senior plit analyst. good to see you. the polling is all over the

place, but the single thread through it is a sharp decline in confidence of the president's ability to handle the economy. and a great skepticism coming out of the august debates over the debt ceiling about anybody's ability to fix this problem. >> well, he's got a political problem which is the bloomberg poll very clearly says people don't being he's the right person to fix the economy. he really does want to create jobs and he's having a difficult time getting congress, the republicans in congress, to see eye to eye with him. the real danger for help is that mitt romney in particular and to a large extent governor perry are focused on that very point seaing he's failed in managing the economy. the president in all likelihood would not have positive economic news to say to people, see, i can, things are better. he'll have to argue that his plans are better and that's what he's out there doing today. >> the congressional republicans are torn in two ways because

some do want to get something done because they see the polling and people are totally fed up with complains even more so than democrats, but really hating congress, more than 80% having a negative feeling about congress. but the candidates themselves are clearly just going after gunning for obama and they don't want to see any level of compromise on the congressional side. >> they don't, although i'll take a little bit of issue with what you said about congress. i don't like to be cynical and i don't want to assume motives for everyone, but there are clearly a large number who don't want to get something done. they want to appear to be trying to get something done. i don't think the p republican leaders, most of them, really do want to get something done. they do not want to give the president the victory. it's not right thing for them to do in terms of the country, but politically, you can see why they want to do it. they want the president to own the economy. they want the president to be seen as someone who can't get things done. they've made that political decision. i think it's unfortunate for the country, but it's the reality

the president has to deal with. >> and the other piece is that some passionately disagree with the approach. they don't think that stimulus works. i think you'd put paul rye and some of the others in that category. they don't want to see more spending and they think it's the wrong approach. >> and they say it's what he tried before and it drnt work at least not sufficiently. clearly people in that kafrl. but the schal think for the president is even to pick any republicans off, it is the closer we get to the election, the more his poll numbers go down, the less interest they have in trying to help. it's a real challenge for him and it's the political challenge and a personal challenge because he's calling out members of congress, he did today in the speech, he referred to republicans in congress. past presidents have often said some members of congress or some of the other side. he's making it explicitly partisan and saying republicans are standing in the way. that may help him in the election, but i don't think it will help him get something done which is his higher priority to get something done. >> and just very quickly, there are democrats also, he's got a

problem on the spending side with some democrats. senator jim webb said in reaction to the -- of course he's not running for re-election, but senator webb said we shouldn't increase taxes, there are other ways to get there. so disagreeing with that. and senator mary landrieu said that offset is not going to fly, she know that maybe it's just for his election, which i hope isn't the case. so he's got skepticism on both sides. >> and of course he's about to compound his problem when he announces how he wants to do long term deficit reduction by talking about entitlement cuts perhaps in social security and certainly medicare and medicaid. so right now he's not pleasing anybody and rather than building a coalition either on the left or in the center, he's losing people senators from the right, but also liberal members from the left. >> thanks so much. good to see you. and up next, msnbc's rachel maddow live with us here in the studio and the strange but true

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. a new research poll suggests that more voters trust president obama rather than congressional republicans to handle the economy. so why isn't that support carrying over to the president's jobs plan? rachel maddow came in early. thank you, my friend. great to see you. >> great to see you, too 37. >> the president is out in north carolina, yesterday ohio, trying to sell the jobs plan. it doesn't seem to be persuading either congressional republicans and even some congressional democrats.

>> depends how wide a lens if you look at it. if you look at the poll you described, we are seeing the president having low numbers in terms of people's faith in him to fix the economy and people's feelings about how he has managed the economy so far. but the feedings about congressional republicans on that same score are much worse. so the bottom line is that the economy is absolutely horrible. and so nobody when asked about anything in relation to the economy will look good unless they are a hypothetical person. so real people working in the real political climate are having trouble. but when you ask people about the specific policies that the president has included in his jobs plan, those policies themselves are very popular. there's a reason he's saying over and over andoff again in what is effectively a jobs stump speech right now, do you want those tax breakses for millionaires and built i don't know billion mayors? it gets the crowd going. nobody wants those loopholes to still exist.

so the policies are pop uhe lar, but the question is can it translate into political policy. >> unfortunately we don't have those hypothetical persons. some of the committee members are already speaking out. >> at the end of the day, there is no free lunch. and a government spending expansion here is actually going to do more harm than good. >> i think we do the dialogue a disservice by oversimplifying it because if it was a mere spending issue, it would be a lot easier to solve. >> so it will be a long road for this committee, but they have a deadline of november 23rd. and as we were talking about a day or two ago with some defense experts, there is a real hammer that will fall on defense spending in particular as well as domestic spending if it they do not come up with some kind of an agreement. >> that was such a perfect microcosm of the democratic and

republican approaches. senator toomey saying there's not going to be any spending here and senator kerry saying it's complicated. this is how republicans and democrats deal with issue. democrats believe in the power of government to have either good or bad effect on the world. and the economy in particular. republicans at least say that what they believe is that government can do nothing to improve the economy except by killing itself off. and so you end up with? this incredibly blunt my listic approach that will work in no compromise whatsoever aptd democrats believe in trying to work something out, try to find common ground because they believe that government can constructively do something. and what happens when you try to compromise between a wall and a moving object is that the wall does -- >> the wall wins. >> and that is why i think a lot of democrats in particular are worried about what's going come out of that from committee because they know that the republicans aren't going to hmo. >> and they will have one fewer democrat voting in the house

against the republican majority right here in queens, we've got for the first time in 90 years a republican withining that districpp district. you have the jews concerning about the israeli issue and also support for gay rights. but you also have the scandal, the overhang there what weiner did. is there a national story here or is it all local? >> with every special election, you you get the very predictable spin there both sides. if the other side win, it means it's just a local matter. and they're both spinning it into self parity. the fact is that this congressional district is as unique as any other, but it's very difficult to imagine this having gone democratic -- having gone republican in any other year. and i think -- >> the economy is still a beg issue. >> the economy, the economy, the economy.

and with that kind of a headwind, sometimes it feels like political maneuvering doesn't matter. it just feels like the economy determines the outcomes of our political contests that we think are about all the process and we think are about the candidate, but really the economy tells us the way things will turn out. >> could be an indicator that the democratic base is not as solid, this is not a liberal district, it's a more conservative democratic district. but then you have the national race. we can't go without talking about rick perry, speaking again at liberty university about his faith. >> my faith journey is not the story of someone who turned to god because i wanted to. it was because i had no where else to turn. i was lost. spiritually. and emotionally. and i didn't know how to fix it. >> the interesting thing about rick perry as we've seen him so far in only 31 days or so is

that he has that texas folksy appeal, the one liners. he is also edgy on? big issues, he has some real problems with accusations of phony capitalization and lax ethic laws that legally permit him to to things. and he doesn't seem to have the follow-up answers in a debate, yet he still seems to be the shooting star right now. >> it's interesting. he does have the obvious weaknesses, but they are the kinds of weaknesses that tend to not hurt a candidate in republican primary politics. so the texas execution rate is one of the hinges that really is actually historic and stands out nationally as a really big issue. and if this were a national election, a general election, i think it would be a big issue. but it's an applause line. even before he got to the

answer, the question itself. the crony capitalism i think is the most interesting thing because there are some really off the chart stories about how sort of pay to play politics is under governor perry's leadership. to me it's a really open question as to whether or nat that can hurt you in a republican primary. we've seen a lot of very populous language on the right side of the republican party and the sort of tea party moeshlization and things, people talking about trying to get big business and big money and special interests so the little guy can compete. there's a real story to tell on the other side about how governor perry has competed, will the republican electorate put their money where their mouth is and be offended by somebody who has bent over backwards the way that rick perry has done for the interest of big business in his state. >> it's an interesting candidate, interesting story and another really interesting candidate, massachusetts elizabeth warren declaring against scott brown and she's

your guest tonight. >> that's right, first national interview after declaring on my show tonight at 9:00. i don't know how that happened. but very interesting race. scott brown got elected by a lot as a republican in a deep blue state. the entire political array if you line them up as blue and red dots, he sticks out like a sore thumb. there's this one republican and he's the senator there. massachusetts democrats are excited about the prospect of taking that away, but the climate will be tough in 2012 including a national rock star like liz beelizabeth warren. >> great to see you. thank you, rachel. and inside the new york upset, the politico briefing next right here on andrea mitchell reports. but first, stephen colbert tries to squeeze out a 2012 endorsement from former vice president al gore.

>> rick perry endorsed you in 1988. >> draw. >> will you return the favor right now and endorse rick perry? >> well, it would hurt him a lot in the republican primary. >> so is that an endorsement? >> no. >> because an endorsement would hurt him and you won't endorse him, isn't that in itself an endorsement? >> you could you put it that way. >> i just did. >> he was a democrat back then. i don't know what happened to him. >> weren't we all. intelligene that is helping business rethink how to do business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ in here, machines have a voice... ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, medical history follows you... even when you're away from home. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities, creating and integrating solutions, helping business, and the world...work.

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46%. jake sherman joining us. what do you attribute the loss to? >> a lot of things. the orthodox jewish vote. a lot of people don't think obama is good on israel. turner got a lot of support from the outside. on capitol hill, a lot of democrats are putting a lot of stock into what ed koch said. turnout is not good in special elections ever. so they were behind the eight ball in that sense. and determines are doing what both partieses do after losing a special election which is blaming the candidate and saying he was not a great candidate, the campaign wasn't run well. but it's definitely some sort of indication and i think democrats on capitol hill are saying that of the mood as you said of obama's popularity. steny hoyer said elections do reflect leaders. so will is blame all around.

it doesn't drastically shift dynamics on capitol hill, a couple more republican votes, but it's a nasty narrative for democrats especially now. >> exactly right, jake. thanks so much for your insights. and up next, elijah cummings. plus ending an era of shame on for the military. pd be sure to follow the show online and on twitter.

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the fire department reports no fire at this time. and the pakistani based terror network launched yesterday's 20 hour gun battle in kabul. four afghan police officers and three civilians were killed. despite that attack, the u.s. will continue to transfer responsibilities for security to afghan forces. the s.a.t. reading scores dropped three points for the class of 2011 reaching their lowest level on record. math scores dropped one point bringing the combined score to their lowest since 1995. nasa is finally revealing either design for a giant new rocket set to travel farther than theble to carry up to 100 tons in to space and will cost about $35 million. the test launching starts in six years. and a solar company is under fire on capitol hill.

they received a loan from the government and now the company has collapsed. t newly obtained e-mails suggest the administration rushed the project against staff advice. elijah cummings is on the committee for oversight and government reform. congressman, thanks so much. there is some indication from the e-mails that they rush that had project's approval in order to get it ready for a vice presidential announcement to be part of the clean yenergy program. >> this issue did not come before our committee, but it's one that congress needs to look at very carefully. i've said many times that government must operate properly. we hold this administration and any other administration to a very high standard. and i think that the committee jurisdiction needs to follow this situation wherever it may lead and must address is in a

forth right way. we cannot have organizations getting funds under any type of false information or misleading the government. so i'm looking forward to the results. and i've said to my colleagues, it is very important for our constituents that they have confidence in the way government works and they have to have confidence that government is working effectively and efficiently. but let me say this, too. there are for every one organization that did something like this organization allegedly did, there are many who are doing it right and i don't want to just paint them with will this broad negative brush. so we need to look at this organization, figure on ultimate what they did, what they didn't do, and they must be brought to justice in an appropriate way.u what they did, what they didn't do, and they must be brought to justice in an appropriate way. >> of course president obama was very vocal about this. let's take a look at what he had to say about back in may 2010. >> it's here that companies like

so solandra are leading the way. less than a year ago, we were standing on what was an empty lot, but this company received a loan to expand its operations. this new factory is the result of those loans. >> so the president is pretty much on the spot here. this is a clear case where the due diligence was pot done. >> if the due diligence was not done, that's very unfortunate. the fact sill remains we've got 14 million people out of work. and i would hate for the republicansremains we've got 14 million people out of work. and i would hate for the republicans or anybody else to take this incident and use it as something to bring harm to the efforts of the president in his tremendous efforts to try to get some jobs for americans. in my district, i would venture

to guess that 35% of black males are unemployed. but we need to do it the right way. i practiced criminal law for a long time. i know there are people that try to get around the rule. but again, most americans are doing the right thing. thank god. >> i want to also ask you about the post office because you're pushing back on attempts -- republican attempts to crack down on the post office and you've got an agency that is so badly in debt, approaching bankruptcy a year from now -- >> let me correct you. i'm not pushing back. as a matter of fact, we have a very cooperative spirit going on between senator collins, senator lieberman. we're determined to get this done. we realize the post office affects every single one of our constituents. we'll be trying to get an extension so that we all don't have to to kick this can down the road.

but we told the post office, you've got to run a top notch organization, you've got to make sure that it is effective and efficient. and you've got to bring it up-to-date. and they understand that. 80% of all of our post office costs with regard to employees, but keep in mind, first class mail has been reduced tremendously because of our digital age. and so the post office, we're going to -- first of all, we'll get an extension so that they can pay -- >> because we were told that that -- that you were pushing to push back the september deadline temporarily at least and you think you've got agreement from the republicans on that? >> no, we're working on that agreement. we just talked about that this morning. but that's -- first of all, the $5.5 billion that would be due, even if they did not pay it, it would not cause any post office to close. but the fact is that we're making arrangements to work that out. we'll be fine on that. but the only thing that the 90

days does for us is gives us an opportunity to create a long range plan so that we don't have to be revisiting this situation every year. and the post office knows it has to do its part, employee unions need to do their part. but we plan to have this resolved within the nest next 9. >> the republicans are suggesting that as many as 200,000 workers would to be retired out? >> there are quite a few where they could reire now. and what we're trying to do, we'll try to find a way so that people are just not laid off, but they are allowed to retire. and we're figuring out ways that we can do that. they've overpaid into their pension fund, so we think that we are -- the retirement fund. i think we can work this out so we can allow for people to retire with digdignity, with th

benefits, and right size it for this new age that we're in. the problem is that so many people are now using computers. and when they pay their bills and get their bills and use computers public so therefore first class mail has gone down tremendously, but we still have a high number of people being employed. keep in mind and i have to give credit to the unions, they have let go -- retired at least 100,000 people over the last few years. they've been doing their part. but we've just into got to do more. and we will. >> thanks to bringing us up-to-date. we appreciate it. and "don't ask, don't tell." it's officially going to end next week permitting xwas and guys and lesbians to serve openly. a new documentary takes a cloe r ser

look at the compromise. >> unit cohesion. >> unit cohesion. >> unit cohesion. >> unit cohesion. >> they had to come up with a reason that sounded rational, so they came up with this idea of the unit cohesion to justify their homophobia. >> one of the member behind the new documentary joins us now from california. thank you. i think you're out there in san francisco. thanks very much. talk to me about what you found in making the documentary that was surprising to you about the history of this whole sad episode. >> i think most surprising is that it is a long and strange history. it's such a strange law "don't ask, don't tell" because it basically says that to be in the military if you're gay, you just conditions tell anyone about it and the hinge is people ask you all the time, what did you do this weekend, where did you go. so it was a law that forced people to be dishonest, forced people to lie and go against the very values of the military, truth, honor, valor.

these things all had to be cont contradict contradicted. >> in fact what admiral mullen said at that really extraordinarily powerful hearing, perhaps more than a year ago, which began the beginning of the end of this, was that you were basically asking the military men and women to go against the military code of honor, which is that you can't lie. >> that's absolutely right. and of course the reason for saying that gay people shouldn't be open in the military is that it would impact uptd cohesion. but this fact it created the very threat to unit cohesion by forcing people to lie, by forcing them to be see kra difference and not honest and open with their colleagues. >> at the beginning of this saldlsald sadly, i was the person who asked bill clinton the question just before he took office during the transition on veterans day, november 11th, which then led to a reaction from the joint chiefs which hen led to him being cornered and it was just a sorry episode where

it wasn't something you wanted to do, but politically he felt hammered by the military back then by all of the military. and the leading members of the armed services commits who were really much against it. >> those shearihearings were sh and you asurprising. shock to go look back at those archives and seat kie the kinds things that people said. such a sort of irony that here was president clinton trying to deliver on that election promise and he ends up basically being forced to pass a what you thlaw people from search openly in the military. it was against the law. it was extraordinary.openly in military. it was against the law. it was extraordinary.>> shear a telling clip from the documentary. >> to have to sit in front of he's elder states men, their upon the if i indication about me and my sexual orientation.

>> we have to give up some of our constitutional rights. we have to give up a degree of privacy. if you feel that intensely and that pay the got tick thpatriot that you want to serve, give up a little something.tick patriot that you want to serve, give up a little something. >> a significant caature case h. going into two wars, the military managed to discharge more than 13,000 men and women under this policy, including many of the language experts whom we needed desperately because they were arabic speakers. >> i think without doubt the military really weakened itself by throwing out fabulously talented people with impeccable records, a huge financial cost, but also a huge brain drain in skill set loss. and consequently, i think also the military had to increase the

moral waivers and lower its standards for admissions. it also created problems with the kind of people getting in to the military. so it hurt in every which possible way. >> fenton bailey, thank you so much for bringing us the story and your documentary. and a decade after 9/11, the changes face of al qaeda. lawrence wright next. ♪ [ upbeat ] [ announcer ] who could resist the call... of america's number-one puppy food brand? with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother's milk. purina puppy chow. ♪

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[ thunder rumbles ] what is the sign of a good decision? in the world of personal finance, it's massmutual. find strength and stability in a company that's owned by its policyholders. ask your advisor, or visit massmutual.com. coming up on news nation, we're following big breaking news on the american hikers jailed in iran. a private plane reportedly on its way right now from oman in an effort to help with the negotiations. would he live in andtehran withe details. and in today's gut check, you've probably done it, flashing headlights to warn other drivers that a speed trap is near by. a florida man is suing after police busted him for doing just that. but is it really a violation of

the law? he says it's a free speech issue. it's our gut check. and more on that breaking news in washington. the supreme court spokesman confirms now that justice loout bader ginsburg was on board that plane evacuated safely at dulles airport when the pilot reported and engine issue to the tower. the pilot deployed the chutes. all passengers were brought back to the terminal. fire department report ns no fi was found. and which political story is making headlines in the next 24 hours? i hope it's no airplane mishaps. >> me, too. you've already been talking a lot about it today, but i honestly think it's a story that we'll be talking about the next 24 hours, next 48 hours, is this new result. there's a huge spin effort under way on both sides to tell us what it means. but what i think it means going forward is we'll see a lot of skittish, already skittish,

democrats get even who are so. worried about their own political fate, worried about whether president obama's unpopularity, even in a district like this one, and the struggles of the economy, whether we're headed toward another very difficult election for them. now, we're 14 months away, things change. four months ago we were talking about how medicare was going to be the end of the republican majority in the house after they lost a special election in upstate new york, but i would say for the next 24 to 48 hours, in the political world, this will dominate conversation. >> and when people get skittish on capitol hill, it means they're much less likely to take some tough votes. >> and the american jobs bill that president obama has proposed that he was in ohio yesterday, that he was in north carolina today selling, that will be a vote that i think is going to be a little bit more controversial or more nerve rack than some think because you have lots of senators up, democratic

senators, there are 23 of them up in shall vein some very toug missouri, ohio, pennsylvania, florida, and a lot of house members still worried, too. so i think that this will in the near term really ramp up the anxiety on on the democratic side of the aisle. >> chris, thanks so much. >> thank you. and lawrence wright on the legacy of bin laden next. my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. and saving money with allstate doesn't stop there... kim and james are what you might call overly protective.

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a new kind of broadband company committed to providing honest, personal service from real people ... 5-year price-lock guarantees ... consistently fast speeds ... and more ways to customize your technology. in his first public testimony, david petraeus said tuesday ten years after 9/11, al qaeda's core has weakened and its affiliates in yemen are the biggest threat. >> heavy losses to the leadership appear to have created a vulnerable window for pakistan and afghanistan. >> lawrence wright is a staff writer for the new yorker and author of the looming tower. a good news, bad news.

we've got the top leadership. we've either killed them or they're on the run but they have metastasized. >> and the most dangerous man in the world right now is not osama bin laden but anwar al lackey. i think he is the real heir to al qaeda. >> in fact, al zawahiri, many believe, you've written extensively about this, was never operational figure. he was never really completely assimilated into the field troops, if you will, of al qaeda, because of his egyptian origin. and he was slightly removed from them. but i was going to say that having such command of english is a really dangerous threat. >> moreover, he has religious credentials that bin laden never did.

with his ability to speak english and reach across the borders and with the authority that he brings as ahim as a religious figure. >> how do you think years later, the intelligence community is better equipped, certainly but how well equipped to handle these kinds of threats which would include threats from different regions? >> we have completely restructured our intelligence community. we added a whole new tier of bureaucracy. the office of the director of intelligence created a whole new department. department of homeland security and added hundreds of thousands of jobs. and yet you still have situations like the nigerian underwear bomber. where the father, one of the richest men in nigeria, goes in and tells the cia that his son is an islamic extreme wist a visa to america. six weeks later, he's on a plane to detroit. you wonder how much all of this

restructuring, all of this new investment has really made a difference in terms of connecting the dots. in that case the dots were connected for us. >> and we didn't pick up on it. and quoting from looming towers out in paper back. you write al qaeda has shown itself to be an adaptable, flexible, evolutionary organization. the legacy of bin laden is a future of suspicion, grief and the loss of certain liberty that's are already disappearing from memory. >> the most hopeful thing has been the irrelevance of al qaeda and radical islam in general to the movement for democracy taking place in the world right now. and those young people, mainly young people, are out on the streets reclaiming, not only the democracy but their religion from the grotesque parody that bin laden and his cohorts made of it.

>> thank you so much, lawrence. thank you. the looming tower, out in paper back. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." my colleague and friend tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." >> this is a first. thank you. in our next hour, we've got some breaking developments on the american hikers jailed in iran. plus, president obama takes his jobs bill to north carolina where the unemployment is 10.1%. the question is what is the real strategy? is the president on board with just passing portions of the bill? or is he seeking to get the entire thing passed? that's the big question. also, elizabeth warren launches a bid to try to take down massachusetts senator scott brown. the rising gop star who won over the mostly democratic state last year. his big victory. elizabeth take him down? this is just all coming up in a short time. also this just in. s.a.t. reading scores in this

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