bridgegate scandal. what's next for new jersey governor chris christie? and an obamacare replacement? john boehner is promising republicans will come up with their own plan and vote on it this year to prove to voters they are for something. and one congresswoman's fight to get justice for rape victims. i'm telling you, this story will shock you. good morning, i'm chris jansing. president obama getting ready to deliver a highly anticipated major speech on the nsa. government spying and your privacy coming up in one hour. he will announce changes to these controversial programs, but it's a major challenge trying to strike a balance between privacy and security, especially since whatever he does, there will be critics on both sides of the aisle. let's listen to former nsa chief, michael hayden. >> frankly, i think the substance of the speech is going to be holding his ground. and i don't know that american intelligence agencies are going to be doing a whole lot of things different in a week, a

month, or a year than they are doing right now. >> here's some of what we learned that the president will limit the nsa's collection of phone records, which is dubbed section 215 program. but it's not clear who would hold on to that data. maybe the phone companies. starting right away, a judge will have to give the okay to search that phone database, and the president will ask the attorney general, the intelligence community, and congress for input in changing the program before it's reauthorized in march. the president is also going to call for privacy safeguards for foreigners and propose a public advocate to represent the other side at hearings of the secret intelligence court. i want to bring in our company, kate nasara is a reporter for buzz feed. philip bump. good morning. >> good morning. >> there is talk what the president is going to do today is punt, punt to congress, put the ball in their court. what are you hearing, what's going to happen here? >> i think what's going to end up happening is congress is going to have to make

recommendations. they've already really started to -- they've been pummelling obama on this for months now. the coalition of liberal lawmakers and sort of the more conservative libertarian lawmakers are already starting to come up with proposals. we saw just last week representative peter welch from vermont, he wants obama to release the sort of top line numbers, how much money is being spent in these intelligence gathering 5:activities, so, congress always has a lot to say, and they will probably have a lot more to say today. >> he's getting it from all sides, but there are things people are waiting to hear about, philip, and i'm wondering is he just going to try to make people more comfortable with these programs? what is he going to try to accomplish with just this speech? >> obviously, his goal here is a political one. he has recognized in the wake of the edward snowden revelations that americans are not comfortable with what the nsa is

doing, in part because they are just learning about it, in the way the president is. "the new york times" reporting that some of the things snowden leaked he was surprised with, as well. but what he's trying to do here is he is trying to address the concerns of the american people, while at the same time maintaining the capabilities that he has. i think mr. hayden is correct to some extent what he's going to do is try to make sure they can keep doing what the nsa is telling him he needs to do to keep americans safe, but at the same time make sure he does whatever he can to make americans feel more comfortable with it. >> congress is divided, american people are divided. i want to show you polls, when gallup asked what priorities are, economy, education, health care at the top. look at government surveillance of u.s. citizens, 42% call it extremely or very important. and you look at the latest quinnipiac national poll, people are split 48% to 47% on this program. a lot of times we talk about the president winning over the american people, that's how he puts pressure on congress. is this, though, really more about congress, is this a

message to them? >> i think it is in part a message to them that he is serious about trying to do something. he knows he couldn't do nothing. i mean, things keep coming out every few weeks, there are more and more revelations from the snowden documents, and president obama just doesn't have the option to sit there and say, okay, well this is what we're going to keep doing. there are critics on the hill who say don't touch it, you know, peter king from new york is saying i absolutely hope we don't see reforms. we need this, and nothing can change. at all. so, you know, i think he does need to convince the majority of congress, though, that he is serious, because i would say the majority in congress wants to see some changes at least. >> well, let me play for you from "the rundown" what pat leahy had to say. >> if we collect everything, do we have anything? we know, for example, we have plenty of information to stop 9/11, but you had different

groups, the cia and the fbi didn't talk to each other. they never connected the dots that were there. we haven't had a single incident where the collection has stopped an attack, even though we're constantly having attacks planned. >> the argument on the other side is, this is like buying insurance, you know, you make sure that you have put yourself in a position that this doesn't happen, that the catastrophic event doesn't happen. >> but the difference with that analogy, in the case of insurance, you know that house fires happen and you know what causes these things. we don't know that the section 215 program has done anything to stop any actual activity. there's one instance that's public in which someone was prevented from transferring funds to a terror group. that's one time it's demonstrated it's worked. the overview panel the president commissioned pointed out, one member said, in fact, when the nsa was considering whether or not -- he said this on nbc last

month, when the nsa was considering whether or not to include smaller phone companies in the program, they decided not to because it wasn't cost effective. whether or not this program works is a big question. you can buy insurance on everything, but if there's no incident when the insurance will come into play, there's no point in doing it. >> there's another issue that's at play here, because what the president is saying now sounds different than what senator obama sounded like, even before he ran for president. let me play something else that michael hayden had to say this morning. >> those who oppose the programs, and good americans all, but those who oppose them wanted to blame them on a particular president. president bush. but if president bush and president obama by and large do the same things, it's not george bush's program anymore, it's america's program. >> is he worried at all, kate, about maybe the criticism that he's not doing enough, he's not doing what his supporters expected he would do in this area? >> i think he himself is

surprised by how he, himself, has embraced, not sure vaveilla but the drone program. he's admitted he's turned into more of a hawkish president than he campaigned or when he was a senator, so i do think, though, that his supporters, his base, wants to see him return to a place where things like civil liberties and privacy are at the top of his agenda. >> don't want to let you go without your take on chris christie. 20 subpoenas issued, 17 to finishes, three to groups, two special state kmoocommittees ar investigating. philip, is this just going to go on and on and on? >> it is. i mean, there are all these investigations, as you said, but what the governor is doing is all he can do politically. he's keeping his head down, assuring people everything is going to be okay and saying let the investigations do their

thing. the problem is, that means the investigations will come back with some sort of revelation about what did or didn't happen, it's going to stir the issue back up again and chris christie, who obviously wants to run for president in 2016 is going to be attentive to how that plays out. >> although some people are interpreting things he said yesterday as an indication maybe he isn't as sure about running for president. let me play that little clip. >> but i want to assure the people of new jersey one thing, i was born here, i was raised here, i'm raising my family here, and this is where i intend to spend the rest of my life. and whatever test they put in front of me, i will meet those tests, because i'm doing it on your behalf. >> what do we read into that, and what do we read into the fact he's going to florida this weekend to do some fundraising? >> i mean, he's in a really big act as if mode, act as if i am still in charge of everything, act as if i still have control

of everything. nothing has changed as far as the way he's going to behave in the next few months, and i think his hope is maybe the scandal will eventually die down and he can get his supporters onboard so he does have the potential to run for 2016. i do think it has delayed whatever aspirations he's had for awhile. >> i mean, he also has to govern, has to get the legislature onboard and part of the reason he's able to be bipartisan for four years, because he's had massive popular support. now if that's wavering, he has to do what he can to reassure everyone. >> philip, kate, thanks so much. checking the news feed, senator tom coburn decided to leave washington this year, two years before his term expires. coburn acknowledged the recurrence of cancer is serious but the decision was not just about his health. the announcement came hours after former rnc chairman ed galess ki said he was running in

virginia, challenging mark warner. >> cyber security experts are calling the hacking of target credit cards remarkable and a game changer. the virus that exposed more than 100 million target shoppers was partly written in russian. the information stolen in a fraction of a second between when you swipe your card and that information gets to the cash register. experts are now trying to figure out how to build a program to stop this virus before another major retailer is hit. the colby fire line is getting dangerously close to los angeles as flames rip through neighboring communities. the fire has consumed 2,000 acres, is only 30% contained right now. three suspected arsonists are facing charges. investigators think they started the fire recklessly, but accidently. take a view from space, you can see how the smoke from the fire has enveloped the l.a. metro area. we know smoking is bad for your health, but a new report

reveals illnesses far beyond lung cancer and heart disease. the details you need to know, including the effects of second-hand smoke coming up. ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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a major new development in pennsylvania, and its law requiring voters to show photo i.d.s at the polls. a judge in pennsylvania has struck down that law, saying it places an unreasonable burden on the fundamental right to vote. the state is expected to appeal. pennsylvania republicans approved the law in 2012 over the protests of democrats. it has not been enforced, though, since the general election that year. and now to one of the more shocking stories we've come across in awhile. a tremendous backlog in the number of unprocessed rape kits in the nation, crucial dna evidence that could bring

rapists to justice just laying around. an estimated 400,000 rape kits are waiting to be analyzed and a law providing millions of dollars to help medical examiners speed up testing is set to expire this year. i'm joined with congressman carolyn maloney and rape survivor and activist, founder and spokeswoman of natasha's justice project. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> congresswoman, how is this possible, 400,000 rape kits that have not been processed? that means rapists are out there who might otherwise be caught. >> and each of those kits represents a life like natasha's that has been victimized, and it represents future women that could be raped by this rapist and a conviction. it can convict, and if you had the political will and the

funding, those rapists would be put behind bars and not raping other people. government's fundamental priority is to protect our citizens. this has been called the most important rape legislation in our country. we need to fund it, eradicate the backlog, and give the support to the providers. >> natasha, you were the victim of sexual assault in 1993 and it took 15 years before dna brought your attacker to justice. i can't even fathom what your life was like, first of all, for the 15 years when you assumed that the rapist was still out there, and the ability of him to prey on others. >> absolutely. and that's really the point, is that, you know, when justice is delayed, essentially, you have a criminal walking around the streets, causing harm to other individuals. the man that raped me was on a nationwide crime spree. he was harming others, he was

creating additional victims, and in the meantime, that crucial dna evidence could have put him behind bars and really saved people from becoming victims themselves, so i really -- i mean, caroline maloney is such a champion for this cause. it's so very important that we really pay attention to this amazing technology that is so beneficial for the public and, obviously, so many survivors of sexual assault, who aren't -- who are becoming revictimized by the process. >> you must have been just astonished when you found out who this was, what the record was, but simultaneously, i would think, relieved that finally there might be some justice. >> well, absolutely. my kit was one of 17,000 kits in new york city that were untested. new york city really leads the nation in terms of getting the dna processed, so this was really between 2000 and 2004. they have since eliminated their

backlog, but as was mentioned earlier, each rape kit represents a human being whose body was a crime scene, and what an amazing technology, and how can we really ignore that? the criminal, the evidentiary material is on a person's body. rape kit exam is a invasive exam and to go through that process and all of a sudden to be ignored and have these rape kits sitting on shelves collecting dust nationwide, 400,000 nationwide. it's a travesty. 400,000 nationwide, rape kits collecting dust. >> we talk about revictimization and i think she makes an incredible point which is, you've been raped, horribly violated, then you have to go through this process and you choose to do that, because you want this control brought to justice, and then nothing happens with this evidence. what can be done, how much money are we talking about, how quickly could we get rid of this

backlog? >> the funding has been anywhere between $159 to $116 million a year, this year for 2014, it's funded for $125 million. each rape kit is roughly $950 to $1,500 to process. we will be pushing very hard to introduce the bill, pass it, and have it funded. government's main purpose is to protect its citizens, and certainly, this bill and the processing of dna rape kits, protects women more than any other action that a government could take protects them from sexual violence, so it's incredibly important, and i think natasha, for speaking up and sharing her story, putting a human face on it, the anguish, the pain that she went through for 15 years, and then knowing that if it had been processed, rapes and victimization could have been prevented, other women would have been prevented from being harmed. so this is a necessity, it is a

tragedy if we don't process every single one of them. your show's raising that awareness. thank you. >> we are happy to shine a light on this. congresswoman caroline maloney. and natasha, thank you so much for all you've done and coming on the program. >> gosh, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about this issue. thank you. republicans say a replacement for obamacare is coming, as democrats enlist some star power to help encourage young americans to sign up. both sides with new tactics as the battle over the affordable care act escalates to a whole new level. more on that coming up. ...so you say men are superior drivers?

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diabetes, colorectal and liver cancers, erectile dysfunction, epp topic pregnancy, and the list doesn't stop there. i want to bring in the chief medical officer in cleveland, dr. michael anderson. good morning. >> good morning. >> some of the other health problems mentioned in the report, vision loss, tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, impaired immune function, cleft pallets in women who smoke. the finding does not mean that smoking causes all of these health problems and diseases, but in many cases, they would not have occurred without smoking. what is your take away from this. >> i think this is a very important report, i give a lot of credit for issuing it. number one, it's the 50th anniversary of the first report, the first report was so controversial that smoking caused cancer. obviously, 50 years later we know a lot more, and you've listed some very, very life threatening, horrible diseases that are now linked to cancer. and you're right, there's not

100% of evidence it's the exact link between disease a. and cigarette smoking, but the list is long. these are life-threatening conditions. the good news is, a lot less americans smoke, but we still have a lot to go. 18% of american adults still smoke. we should not expose them to this risk of so many diseases. >> that's right. 18%, far fewer than 42% in 1965, but one of the findings is that there's evidence smoking impacts nearly every single human organ. and sometimes you'll hear people say i'm just a social smoker or i've cut back. is there, if not a safe, a safer level of smoking? >> there is no safe level of smoking. i'm really glad you said that. this report catalogs all the different diseases that are associated with cigarette smoking, and once again, there's lot to celebrate we've decreased the amount of americans that smoke. there is no safe level of smoking. there's no safe level of secondary exposure, no safe level of smoking, and this

report highlights that, as well. it's not just lung cancer, not just heart disease. you listed six, seven, eight, ten important diseases that are now linked to cigarette smoking. >> what about second-hand smoke? what does this report tell us about that? >> well, i think if you're listing those diseases and saying they are tied to cigarette exposure, that means secondary, inhaling smoke from a bystander is dangerous, as well. we, as americans, we, as public health officials, we as physicians and consumers, need to make sure in 50 years when we issue another report, we're down to 0%. we wipe out smoking. >> dr. michael anderson from university hospitals, thank you so much for talking with us today. >> thank you. if you read only one thing this morning, while the housing market has been rebounding, it can still be a challenge to sell in a lot of parts of the country, so i'm wondering if this helps or hurts. there's an ad for a pennsylvania home described as "slightly haunted." it's my must read, it's on our facebook page, it will give you

a chuckle on a friday morning. head to facebook/jansingco. also live pictures from the justice department, where in a half hour the president will detail his plan for an overhaul of the nsa. we will have that live for you 11:00 a.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. purina dog chow light & healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy.

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keeping up with these two is more than a full time job, and i don't have time for unreliable companies. angie's list definitely saves me time and money. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. the house took yet another obamacare vote yesterday, this one to demand weekly updates on enrollment. add that to the 40-plus votes to repeal obamacare, and finally, in 2014, speaker john boehner says house republicans will introduce their own specific alternative plan to replace the affordable care act. >> the republicans, house members, will be having our retreat about a week and a half from now, and i think you'll see republicans come forward with a plan to replace obamacare. a plan that will actually reduce cost for the american people and

make health insurance more accessible. >> joining me now, former national press secretary for the dccc, doug thornell and kristen soltis anderson. good morning. >> good morning. >> kristen, what's the point? >> the point is, republicans agree with the majority of american people when they say they oppose the president's health care law, but know you can't be the party of "no." they need to -- >> this is far more than three years. >> it's only just now becoming implemented in a way people are going, wait a minute, can i keep my plan, can i keep my doctor? that's why you're seeing a lot of these numbers for the law as more and more people are interacting with this, wait a minute, i don't know i like this, so as this law is implemented further and further over this year, i know democrats say the more people interact with the law, the more they'll like it, i think the republicans say the more people interact with the law, the less they are going to like it. let's talk

about this, explain information disclosure act passed by the gop, obviously, led house, yesterday, requiring updates about obamacare. the vote was 259 to 154, winning the support of 33 democrats. last week, 67 democrats voted for another republican bill that requires officials to tell people if their personal information is stolen from the website. are those two things a sign of nervousness among democrats, especially if they are in a re-election race? >> i don't think so. i think the white house has been updating the public and congress pretty regularly on numbers, and they are really good right now. they've improved drastically since the website launched. you have about 6 million people who have gotten care either through exchanges or medicare. in defense of republicans, they do have ideas on health care, they are just not that good. they have the ryan budget, which would change medicare, end it as we know it, they would defund -- cut medicaid, they wouldn't

close the prescription drug gap, you know, so they do have a lot of ideas. they are going to tell these people they are on their own, they don't have coverage anymore. >> look, we have heard a lot about whether or not this is financially viable or not, and i think a lot of people who are objective about this say it's frankly too early to tell, that one of the key indicators is going to be how many young people sign up for this, and to that end, the white house is turning to some nba stars to maybe reach out to young people. let me play that for you. >> hi, i'm magic johnson. the good news is, now you can finally get the health insurance you need. you can just go online to the new health insurance marketplace. you can do side-by-side comparisons of brand name plans and choose the one that's right for you. >> it's not just magic johnson, alonso morning is taking part. kristen, the belief from the beginning was young people would procrastinate, and i think it's a fair question if republicans

are rushing to replace if before we know, first of all, how viable it's going to be financially and are they just worried this is actually moving in the right direction? >> i wouldn't expect congress to move very quickly on anything. i think that's become the rule when we look at congress here in washington, but i think when you take a look at, say, there's 2.2 million people out of the 6 million number that doug mentioned who are folks enrolling in the exchanges side, and it's folks that put plans in their carts, they haven't necessarily paid for them yet and that batch, one out of four are in the young, healthy, under the age of 35 batch, and they need that ratio to be higher in the end in order for these exchanges to work, so it makes sense the administration is trying really, really hard to make that balance work out a little bit more in favor of having a younger, healthier pool for the exchanges, or else the financial viability of this law begins to come into really serious question. >> is this going to be one of the overwhelming questions of 2014? we're already seeing the koch

brothers pumping millions into ads and now you have the democratic group, house majority pac running ads defending a couple of arizona democrats. what about that? >> well, it's certainly going to be an issue. i think republicans are addicted to talking about it and haven't really offered up any ideas to deal with the economy or jobs. they've avoided doing anything on immigration reform or unemployment insurance, but to kristen's point, the reality is, if you look at romney care, people in the young invincibles age bracket didn't sign up until late in the process, and we're ahead of where the massachusetts health care plan was. i think people feel good this death spiral people have been talking about just isn't going to happen, so health care is going to be an issue. dems have to fight for it. they have to go on the offense. they have to talk about what the alternative is, and i think the republican alternative is just really not all that popular. >> doug thornell, kristen anderson, good to see both of you, thanks. >> thanks. checking the news feed, hundreds of volunteers and the

fbi joining the police in search of "wall street journal" reporter david byrd. he left his home five days ago to take a walk and never came back. byrd's credit card was used in mexico on wednesday. his family believes david's disappearance might have something to do with stories he was investigating. a news conference is planned today with the family of an ohio man executed with a drug combination never used before. they call it unconstitutional. their lawyer says it's a failed, agonizing experiment. witnesses say it took dennis mcguire nearly 25 minutes to die, an unusually long time, and they say with a more violent reaction than in most executions. mcguire was convicted in 1994 for the rape and murder of a pregnant woman. blizzard conditions making it hard to get around for people in the upper midwest, with winds topping 70 miles per hour, blowing through the dakotas yesterday afternoon. and it's really cold there again.

wind chill temperatures today hovering around 20 below zero. and a bit of a scare for travelers at philadelphia's airport when a baggage truck crashed through a terminal window. the driver said the brakes went out, causing him to crash. no one inside was hurt, although the driver had minor injuries. eight gates had to be closed while crews cleaned up the crash. let's call it an eye-opening announcement from google. it's actually a contact lens that can monitor glucose levels. mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. it sounds like something out of "star trek," but for people with diabetes, it is a big deal. >> it is a big deal. google has unveiled this prototype contact lens, as you say, it monitors your glucose levels through your tears. the catch here is, though, chris, it's not going to be available immediately. google says it will take at

least five years to reach us. obviously, you know, may be shorter than that, but that's what they are saying at this stage and the race is on. as you can imagine, this is a huge business. there are other companies out there trying to develop better testing methods, but so far, this seems to be quite exciting and getting a lot of headline action. >> very different kind of high-tech, because it has to do with chocolate. >> yes. hershey's is bringing 3d printing to creating chocolate. it's a multiyear agreement between hershey and 3d systems. they are going to develop a variety of 3d printed chocolate, but also nonchocolate items, as well. 3d systems, get used to the name. this was the first company to commercialize the technology and we're seeing 3d printing in all kinds of things these days, so it's going to become a big, big deal. >> chocolate. cnbc's mandy drury, thanks. >> thank you.

we haven't said these words in awhile on the show, bedbugs, but apparently they are still a big problem in cities across the country. here's where it's worst, number five, cincinnati, detroit, fourth. columbus, ohio, moves up three spots to number three. los angeles also moved up one spot. they are in second place. and the number one bedbug-plagued city, chicago for the second year in a row. if you want to see where your city ranks, head to jansing.msnbc.com. [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. [ woman #3 ] to travel the world without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. whatever the dish. make it delicious with swanson. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did.

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we are waiting for the president. very important speech he's going to make after reviewing the u.s. signals intelligence programs in that big report. we will have that speech for you live right here on msnbc. to politics now, and a very big happy birthday to the first lady. michelle obama turns 50 today. check out this picture. good for her. there she is with her aarp card. unlike so many people who get those in the mail, and in denial, put them in the circular file. there she is smiling. she also did an interview recently with "people" magazine and said she feels a greater sense of calm, certainty, maturity, and confidence. more than she did when she was younger. the president will host a small get together tomorrow to mark the milestone. meantime, miami heat forward and nba all-star chris bosh is offering his critique of president obama's basketball skills. remember last year's easter egg roll when the president went 2 for 22? here's how bosh characterized

it. >> he's a lefty. he's a lefty. >> on form here for the president? >> looks like he's just missing it. yeah, you know, i'm a lefty, too, so i got to stand up for the left-handed guys. >> former first lady barbara bush says once again 2016 is not the year for her son, jeb. >> i think this is a great american country, great country. and if we can't find more than two or three families to run for high office, that's silly. although, no question in my mind that jeb is the best qualified person to run for president. but i hope he won't, because i think he'll get all my enemies, all his brother's, and there are other families. >> speaking of dynasties, the reality show "duck dynasty" has taken a ratings hit. 8.5 million people watched wednesday's season five premier, down from the nearly 12 million who watched the season four

premier. you'll remember patriarch phil robertson made comments about gays in september. today's tweet of the day comes from a friend of the show, nicolas kristof. the nsa stumped by texts with jk, idk, and lol. probably bought in a team of highly paid team translators. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

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in just moments, president obama will announce the long awaited results of his review of nsa surveillance programs. former nsa contractor edward snowden ignited that firestorm of controversy after leaking damaging disclosures about u.s. surveillance tactics. here's former nsa director, michael hayden. >> this has been serious,

irreversible harm to the ability of the national security agency to collect legitimate foreign intelligence. matt olson, head of the national counterterrorism center a few days ago pointed out that terrorists have already changed their communications patterns. that's not good for civil liberties or for security. >> we're joined now by msnbc host ronan farrow and by congressman jim hyams, democrat and member of the intelligence agency. good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> we're told the president is going to try to stake a middle ground between security and privacy. what do you want to hear from him? >> it is tricky stuff. and look, it's a really important opportunity brought about as unfortunately as it has been brought about by the leakage of all the information edward snowden put out there, but it's really the first national significant opportunity we've had as a country since 9/11, of course, when the patriot act passed and hundreds of billions were thrown at a problem that had caused a major

tragedy here in the united states. it's really the first opportunity we had to look back at these ten or 11 years and say did we get the balance right. personally, i'm told the president is going to talk about reducing the pervasiveness of some of the surveillance programs, the met data, collection programs. i think that's important, personally. this is the first time an awful lot of americans thought about the fisa court, which is an important work in protecting civil liberties, but few know about the secret court. i think there's things we can do there to make americans more comfortable about exactly what that court does. >> when you say things we can do, let's talk about the role that congress will have, some folks have suggested what the president is going to do, this is their terminology, he's going to punt, put maybe some of the tougher decisions in your court. what's the role of congress in all this, and what's your take on what your priorities are in terms of addressing these concerns? >> sure, i wouldn't characterize it as punting.

there's powers that the president has to direct the agencies, which, of course, are executive agencies, then there's probably changes to laws which must be made. the original author of the patriot act, congressman sensenbrenner now has legislation that would significantly reduce the scope of the powers that were created by his original patriot act legislation. we're going to need to work with the president. by the way, that raises serious questions. congress hasn't exactly distinguished itself in the last couple of years in terms of functionality, but we're going to need to work with the president to find that balance. from my point of view, that involves taking some of these very pervasive surveillance programs and scaling them back. getting judges more involved, reducing the amount of information the government can keep on americans, but that's the president working with the congress. >> ronan, you wrote a piece for "the guardian" and talked about about several issues, one of them, by keeping too many secrets, america has created

fertile ground for government distrust and more leaks. so let's talk about at least one particular audience here, which is the american people who are learning, for example, as the congressman said about things like the fisa court. what does the prosecute have to accomplish today. >> well, in some ways, things are stacked in his favor. statistically, there's much more support for the president's surveillance agenda and less support for the snowden leaks than there was at the time i wrote that piece. in the intervening months since the snowden leaks, that was written during the initial coverage of that issue, the american people have actually come around to a place where 60% of all americans now say that they view the snowden leaks as damaging to national security. that's a big shift. in way, the president can capitalize on an audience that's skeptical of these kinds of leaks. on the other hand, when we hear things like obama the pragmatist going down the center again, possibly punting to congress, it doesn't inspire confidence or a sense of strong leadership.

what we need to see is that the promise changes we've seen leaked that are anticipated in this speech actually end up being more than rhetoric. some of them will be substantiative. if there's an advocate appointed within the fisa court, that's real, that's substantiative. if that's left to congress, that could be mere rhetoric if it is, in fact, isn't a decision congress runs with and uses as an opportunity to protect that data and put it in the place firewalled off from the executive branch. >> let me also bring in chuck todd, host of "the daily rundown" on msnbc. who is the audience, is it congress, is it the american people? how much of it, for example, will be aimed at a foreign audience, given the problems this caused for foreign leaders? >> this has been a political problem for the president, not just a domestic political problem, but frankly, more so in an international political problem, in particular in europe

with western allies. i think that is a big part of this audience. europe is a big part of this audience for this speech. some of it also, though, is sort of the civil libertarian wing of the democratic party, you know, candidate obama was very aggressive in what he didn't want to see, an expansion of the security state, surveillance state, things like that. and he doesn't want to be known or seen as the guy that essentially codified the bush national security state. so that's always been a little bit of this, legacy building or legacy rebuilding, if you will. but i think that's, you know, that's been the struggle here and the white house when you look at sort of how aggressive they've been this morning, they want to say, hey, government is not going to control this bulk meta data collection, but somebody's going to do it, and he's not calling for the ending of this data collection, so this is where trying to find this middle ground has been very difficult for them and frankly

politically they want congress to own this problem with them. they are tired of being the punching bag for this. >> chuck todd, ronan farrow, congressman jim hyams, thanks to all of you. that is going to wrap up this hour of "jansing and co.," but we're going to continue the coverage as we wait for the president to take the podium, take a quick break. it's given o reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. and shift through all eight speeds of a transmission connected to more standard horsepower than its german competitors. and that is the moment that driving the lexus gs will shift your perception.

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earlier on "morning joe." >> with regard to holds the data, frankly, no one will hold it as well in all dimensions of the word "well," than the national security agency, so it's no surprise the president has punted that question to congress. it appears the president will now demand that the nsa go to the fisa court before they ask the data a question. so i was a director of nsa on september 11th. that procedure reminds me of the way we operated before the september 11th attacks. >> now polling from "the washington post" and abc news shows the american public has largely not approved the way the president has handled the controversy so far. joining me, chris hayes, host of msnbc's "all in," and from washington, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. congressman, let me start with

you. president obama will wade into treacherous waters today. how tough is this? >> well, it is tough. on the one hand, you have the president who's charged with trying to protect the american people. on the other hand, the president is charged with upholding and defending the constitution and people's constitutional rights, individual liberty. it's a tough balance, and it's easier criticized than executed, but it's his job, and i think that i'm glad the president has began this process, we would review what the nsa is doing. i like some of the ideas that i've seen, but there's a whole lot more that needs to be decided. i'd like to know, for example, how does the fisa court come to these conclusions? without letting on the facts, we should have some idea about how the decision making process is going to go, how then could a privacy advocate intervene to sort of look out for the public interest and privacy interest? these are all questions that remain. >> one of the questions general hayden said this morning, chris, and i'm sure you heard it, he thinks he's g