border region was killed in january. today president obama took responsibility and apologized. i realize there are no words that can ever equal their loss. i know there's nothing i could do or say to ease their heart. today i simply want to say this. as president and commander-in-chief, i take a full responsibility for all our counter terrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of warren and geovani. i regret what happened. on behalf of the u.s. government i offer our deepest apologies to the families. >> good morning. in a stunning announcement president obama acknowledged an american aid worker was killed in a u.s. air strike in january along with a fellow hostage, italian aid worker.

warren was 72 years old, from rockville, maryland outside washington washington d.c. he had been held since 2011. president obama said he declass tide the information because the families deserve to know the truth. >> today we join their families and friends in honoring warren and geovani, two humanitarians who came from different countryings united by a spirit of service. there could be no starker contrast between these selfless men and their al qaeda captors. >> i'm joined by nbc chief pentagon correspondent and chief foreign correspondent richard engle. when did the u.s. learn it made this tragic mistake? >> according to senior officials, there were two separate drone air strikes conducted by the cia in the

rugged hindu area along the pakistan border. we're led to believe it was most likely across the border these two strikes occurred january 14 january 19. in one of the strikes, the american warren weinstein and the i tal can, two aid workers killed in that strike along with the american who became an al qaeda operative. we learned from our counter terrorism expert evan coleman a short time ago that he was a deputy commander in that region. the second air strike it killed an american who was the chief spokesperson the propaganda for al qaeda in that region for some time. although it's likely that he could have been considered as a prime target we heard from the president today and other

officials that the u.s. was unaware that the americans and the italian aid worker were actually in those locations when those drone strikes were conducted june 14th or january 14th and january 19th. andrea andrea? >> richard engle, the reaction in italy and around the world, drone strikes as you know better than i are controversial in the region. pakistan in particular has been an uncertain partner in this. >> reporter: well this will certainly raise questions about the use of drones and about the use of a particular aspect of the drone program which is generally called signature strikes. signature strikes are carried out when there is not specific intelligence to indicate who is being targeted. there's two kinds of strikes. the strikes where you attack bin laden and going after a named

individual and the signature strikes where you attack individual who is have the profile of an al qaeda member. when you don't know exactly who you're targeting as jim was saying that indicates it's more of a signature strike type of operation. this is a very controversial u.s. program. it is very rare that american hostages or other foreign hostages are targeted in this way or collateral damage in this way. the fact that these two people were killed will certainly raise a lot of questions about a program generally carried out in secret. >> there's a remarkable statement from the weinstein family thanking the member of congress and two senators. we'll talk to the senator coming up saying that other elements in the u.s. government were not helpful. in warren weinstein's last communication in 2013 to the media he said he repeatedly

asked obama for help and now turning to the media to pressure the president to negotiate. this gets back to whether the administration's position which we knew about in the other case to not negotiate for americans as other nationalities released by isis. this is al qaeda, but the whole question of not negotiating for hostage release. first richard then nick. >> first, i was looking down at my phone. there's been reaction from the italian foreign ministry. quite similar to the statement from the weinstein family they say a mistake happened but this is a statement from the italian foreign ministry blaming the terrorists holding weinstein and the italian aid worker. let me aread this. the responsibility of la porto

and weinstein's deaths lie entirely with the terrorists. the italians not taking this opportunity to be at this stage sharply critical of the drone program and saying it was in fact the responsibility of the al qaeda militants who were holding the italian national and dr. weinstein. >> and there's no give on that position u.s. position? >> no andrea. we've heard this time and again. regrets, complaints from many family members. even warnings from u.s. officials that if the family itself sought to pay a ransom for their loved one, they could be breaking u.s. laws. it's a very dicey is tricky situation. the u.s. has stuck to guns on this that they do not want to negotiate, pay for hostages. the feeling is that would encourage more kidnappings of americans overseas andrea. >> thank you very much are.

>> joining me thousand one of weinstein's senators that tried to win his freedom. what happened here? what went wrong? >> first our prayers go out to families of the two that were killed. the weinsteins of course are maryland residents. senators and other members of delegation were in contact with the family frequently trying to do everything we could to put a tension on trying to get mr. weinstein home. what happened here as the president pointed out is that a u.s. strike against al qaeda operatives ended up the death of two innocent people. the director informed us of this yesterday and gave me a briefing. i asked for a full briefing as to circumstances surrounding this episode. i'm looking forward to getting that information and using it. >> there was a letter from

warren weinstein, a handwritten note that came with the last video asking for help. this was december 2013 dated in october. it said i've a appealed several times to obama to help me to no a vail. i'm writing to media to ask you to help rejoin me to my wife two daughters, grandchildren, son-in-law. i'm hoping you'll take up my case on a human interest and humanitarian basis. i'm hoping you can convince obama to negotiate my release. >> should the president have done more? should we negotiate with terror groups going to intermediaries a as other countries do? >> it's difficult to second guess thousand. i can tell you this this senator and others brought this issue up with the president of the united states. we brought it up with not only the cia but the fbi. it was a criminal investigation. we have worked with the family

to give this the highest elevation. i know at times the president specifically assured us that this was very high on his agenda to get back americans who were being held by terrorists organizations. when not dealing with the government, your options aren't quite as open. we're dealing with a terrorist organization that its network is not exactly clear as to how they want to operate with hostages they have. i'm not going to second guess the president. i can tell you that obviously this is a very very sad day. sad day for all of us. we're going to look at what happened and try to do everything we can to keep americans safe. >> and there's a statement from the weinstein family thanking you and senator mikulski and

other others saying unfortunately the assistance we received -- we hope recent months will finally prompt the u.s. government to take responsibilities for hostages and their families. does she have a point? >> mrs. weinstein is a strong individual. what she's gone through no one should have to go through. our prayers are with her. i hope we can learn from this episode and how to keep americans working abroad safer. i think we have to have a strategy to prevent this from happening in the first place. if a future hostage is taken how we're going to respond as a nation to protect american citizens serving their country a are broad. we must do a better job for safety of those working overseas. >> and briefly -- i know you've

got to go -- we confirmed these were signature strikes. there was no targeting of anyone if in al qaeda specifically. did we have -- obviously we had bad intelligence. what about the reaction reporting on how this mistake was made? >> andrea that's why i asked for a full report from the cia. i want to find out how attacks were orchestrated how they verified information and whether it could have been done differently. a that's information i hope will come out and we'll use this to try to prevent further tragedies like we saw happen last january that happened in this episode. >> can you very much senator. thanks for being with us today. very very sad day in deed. up next, the difficult decisions facing any commander-in-chief when giving the go ahead for a covert operation. we'll talk about that with the top democrat on the intelligence committee. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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. joining me now, congress adam shift of california top democrat on the intelligence committee. thanks for being with us. what went wrong here? >> what went wrong is the intelligence committee were not aware there were hostages when the green light was given to mount this counter terrorism operation. and unfortunately thereafter they learned the loss of these lives. it comes down to this where you're operating in this environment. it's dangerous to have people on the ground. our intelligence agencies make every effort to make sure no

civilian casualties. we can see with the tragic results from this operation, it's never absolute certainty. >> do we know -- how do we know they died? what is the proof of death here? >> i can't get into a lot of specifics but we'll get varying degrees of intelligence reporting. sometimes it will be from our sister agencies. sometimes it will be our own intelligence. we have to often pierce the vail of propaganda from the other side. so we'll have to combine all of these elements. sometimes we're able to get dna, sometimes not. we use every effort to see whether we can reach the high level of confidence about who was killed. i think in this case we have that level of confidence. >> how long have we known in the u.s. government, and when were

you and the intelligence committees briefed? >> i was briefed and my colleagues in the leadership of intelligence committees were briefed within the last several days over the weekend largely. in terms of the intelligence committee itself i think it's been ammassing information since counter terrorism operations. just who was killed how many were killed were there any surprises, what about this lead? how credible is that operation? obviously before you make the step of going public or go to a family, you want to make sure you have the facts exactly right. >> was there claim from al qaeda or other terror groups this had happened in social media or any other claim? you know were we pushed to acknowledge it because they were about to announce it? >> i don't think that was the case. i don't think this was a situation where we had to react to al qaeda propaganda. there may or may not have been

al qaeda claims for the loss of their own people. i'm not sure about that. i don't think this was a situation we were responding. at least that's not the information i have at this point. >> and after the loss of some of our hostages to isis after kayla mueller's death, there's been a lot of talk about negotiating is the right policy. the weinstein family is raising this issue. should we revisit this? >> i think it's the right policy. it's obviously difficult. if it were my family member i would argue it was the wrong policy. as a nation if we get in business of paying ransoming, we're paying the people doing kidnappings, encouraging more kidnappings. i don't think that's viable. all the same i understand the human dynamic involved and how agonizing and terrible it is for the family of those who are

taken hostage. of course a result like we've heard the president talk about today is worst of all. >> should we reconsider the threshold for signature strikes? >> should there be be a higher threshold before the cia and authorization of the president? the general authorization the president gives for these kinds of drone strikes? >> we'll be reviewing very carefully the evidence the intelligence community had here and making sure we determine whether the community met the standard, the high standard the president has set out. that is counter terrorism operations there's not civilian casualties to a near certainty. now obviously there can never be absolute certainty. we'll want to know what information will we have. this compound was underlengthy surveillance. we'll have a lot of ed.

we'll pour through to make sure there weren't things we missed. even though we had hours of surveillance, did this meet the precedent the president set? >> you don't think we were misled by intelligence sources in afghanistan? >> i want to wait until we do full review. we'll want to look at everything all intelligence that a fed into the mounting of terrorism operation to determine what went wrong. >> thank you very much congressman on this very sad story. we're expecting josh earnest to be speaking momentarily. we'll bring it to you as soon as he comes in the room. we assume he'll give more information on the deaths of an italian and american aid worker.

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this has been a devastating thing that it ended this way. we're very very sad and our sympathies go out to mrs. weinstein and her daughters. >> that was warren weinstein's neighbor meredith mccain. weinstein was one of two hostages, one american one italian mistakely killed. this is the first time this has ever happened. medal of honor recipient, colonel jack jacobs and correspondent for the new york times who's written extensively about the u.s. drone program. mark, first to you.

this is a huge set back for the drone program, cia, human intelligence. what have you learned about this instance? what we're learning now are from sources, they had eyes on for days over this target. they saw no sign of mr. weinstein, the italian hostage or anyone else to indicate they were basically hitting americans. >> right. the cia makes a big deal of the fact before it takes strikes it watches targets for days. they spend hundreds of hours doing surveillance. even then this shows the limits of what is known before you take a strike. the limits of this remote targeting program. days. if something stays hidden as hostages are, you're only going to know so much before you're

given authorization. this is a setback at a time you haven't heard much about drone strikes especially in pakistan. they've come out of news. the obama administration likes it that way. this brings it back in the news in a big way. >> colonel jack the military and cia have shared responsibility for this program. cia has a more extensive program now on counter terror. what does this do to the work force and whole drone strategy? >> well we focus heavily on using this as a means to get to terrorists. we're not putting people on the ground in any great numbers. our intelligence is all -- most acquired from overhead and from a great distance. only rarely do we have it confirmed from human intelligence on the ground. we're conducting this war at an enormous distance away and not decisively engaged in the way

many were when actually fighting on the ground. there's a certain aloofness when you fight this way. there's tendency to get complacent when you use drones and firing from a great distance away. they're only as good as the intelligence you may have. if the intelligence is inaccurate or incomplete you're going to have problems like this. at the end of the day, i don't think this will have a long term effect on our use of drones because that's the way we intend to fight this war. >> very good points but to that point mark we had obviously drone coverage. we had eyes on this compound. the point is what can you see from the air? how would they know warren weinstein and lo porto were not in side? >> you can only see so much.

you watch people going in and out of the compound. they do pattern of life determining where people go during parts of the day over repeated days. again, hostages are kept in one roex location. they're going to be kept in secret often. you're not always going to know that. that's why hostage situations are -- there's very limited intelligence in them. if i can go back to your point you were making earlier about the question of cia. there was a statement that the cia was going to get out of this business. that's been slow in happening and still in pakistan, cia does it exclusively. two years later, there's little problem. >> colonel jack jacobs knows

more than any of us. thank you very much jack and mark. a protest in baltimore after the death of the young man in police custody. we'll talk to the police commissioner and eliza cummings. you're watching msnbc. [ female announcer ] fiber one. introducing the citi® double cash card. it's a cash back win-win. with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay. with two ways to earn on puchases, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. here at friskies, cats are in charge of approving every new recipe. because it's cats who know best what cats like to eat. up today, new friskies 7. we're trying seven cat-favorite flavors all in one dish. now for the moment of truth. yep, looks like it's time to share what our cats love

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you roam free. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ two wheels a turnin'... ♪ baltimore is bracing for a fifth straight day of protests since the death of a man while in police custody. freddie gray's mother and pastor are expected at the protests today. the protests have been peaceful with a growing animosity toward police officers. there's yet to be key questions answered as to how and when he sustain aed the fatal spinal injury inside the police van. commissioner, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. it's a busy time indeed. >> yes, ma'am. thank you for having me. >> sir, have you been able to

figure out what happened inside that police van? how did this take place? >> what we're doing now is not just focused on the police van. we're focussing on the entire episode. what i want to know is from the moment the officer started work everything they did, i want to know from the beginning when they had contact, every step that took place. before the van, as we entered the van, what took place, during interim he was driven what took place when the officers realized he needed paramedics. we're not looking at a portion. that limits the investigation. we're looking at every piece and each degree. >> there was a witness that spoke to our station in baltimore, wbal saying after leg shackles were put on him, he was thrown into the van after wards the leg shackles. was he thrown with excessive force? do you know how that all took

place? >> well from the entire thing andrea, the position that i'm taking is that i'm not taking anything for granted whatsoever. what we have done with the officers is have taken their statements with exception of one. we have what we call married them to their statements to they don't get to change those. we have gone back and talked to all witnesses, including the one you mentioned. we do have conflicting stories. we're walking back doing measurements from a scientific standpoint. officers say they did not use excessive force. we're going back validating those statements seeing if there's inconsistencies and seeing if we're not told the truth. we're following up with witnesses. >> you mentioned all but one. why was that officer not interviewed? has he lawyered up? >> yes, much like any citizen in

any circumstance has the right to remain silent. you hear that on tv shows often. you have to give the miranda right to them. under his lawyer's advice i suppose he has chosen not to talk to us at this moment in time. >> would that be cause for administrative action sm aren't officers involved in an incident like this expected to cooperate with their bosses? >> there's two sides to the case. you have a criminal case which is what we're doing right now. we will forward that to the state's attorney. then you have the administrative case that you can compel officers to talk in an administrative case. >> and what is your message to the rest of the force as you obviously have growing resentment and friction on top of whatever preexisted between the community and your officers. is there some special training or advice you give to men and women in the field now?

>> andrea i've been here about two years. i've been brought in from the west coast as a reformer. so from day one since i walked in here to change the culture in the norms of this organization, we have said day one we will have rever rans for human life. from the ferguson episode, the message was clear. our role here is guarantee our constitutional rights to the first amendment. out of the multiple protests that a we had, we had no arrests. people got to protest. much like today. this is a protest against the baltimore police department and lack of information that's out there right now. to be sensitive to family's needs and sensitive to what's taken place, and to be understanding. we're going to stand back. we're going to be professional and allow their constitutional rights of our citizens to prevail. >> commissioner thank you very much. thanks for being with us today.

we appreciate it. >> thank you ma'am. and eliza cummings joins me now. congressman, what do you know about the facts of this case? what happened to freddie gray? >> we don't know everything. i'm glad to know the commissioner i have in is doing beginning to end review of this case. you know i want to know what happened before the video tape from the camera started filming because when you look at the film you just showed andrea this young man, freddie gray's feet are dangling. in just talking to members of congress who have worked in trauma units, they are questioning whether he was injured actually before. we don't know. we still don't know why he was

really stopped. then we don't know exactly what happened in the wagon when they were taking him away. one thing is for sure. somebody has to speak forreddie gray. we've had urging of people to come forth to provide information we need to solve those problems. now i'm asking the police to help us solve the problem. they know -- somebody knows what happened. i'm telling them they don't have the right to remain silent when it comes to if they have information to reveal it so we can address this and restore our sense of cooperation and respect for the police. >> and congressman, i wanted to ask you about another part of

your oversight which is homeland kurt security. the secret service did not repair a home security system for a year at president bush. the home security was down it was ignored. alarm system failed. you put out a statement saying it was unacceptable. tell me about this. >> it's simply unexcusable. i want the secret service to be the elite of the elite. when these kind of circumstances come up when you know of a situation like this, that should have been acted on immediately. there are no excuses for that. as i said yesterday, in a bipartisan way, we're going to continue to try to make sure that the secret service lives up to its reputation of being an excellence number one protective organization. it's inexcusable. you can't defend it with one syllable. >> have you gotten any response

yet from the head of the secret service, mr. clancy or secretary jay johnson? >> not yet but i guarantee we'll get it soon n. the bipartisan way, we'll get the answers and make sure these kinds of things don't happen again. as i've said under my watch, i'm going to make sure the president's family and all of our presidents are properly guarded by the elite of elite. they must not just be reputation. it must be what they're actually doing. >> thanks very much for being with us. i know you'll stay on these subjects. >> i've got a lot. we have new video now. yellow ribbons and growing memorial outside the home of warren weinstein in maryland. we learned this morning mr. weinstein was killed in a u.s. air strike in january. we believe that's the first time that has happened the killing of an american citizen hostage

by a u.s. drone. he was being held hostage by al qaeda along the afghan pakistan border in a remote area. we'll talk more about his death and life with senator chris kuhns of the foreign relations committee next. you're watching msnbc. it's the only one cats ask for by name. good. very good. you see something moving off the shelves and your first thought is to investigate the company. you are type e*. yes, investment opportunities can be anywhere... or not. but you know the difference. e*trade's bar code scanner. shorten the distance between intuition and action. e*trade opportunity is everywhere.

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our initial assessment shows this operation was fully consist end with the guidelines we conduct in the region. we believed this was an al qaeda compound, no civilians were present, and capturing these was not possible. what we did not know tragically that al qaeda was hiding the presence of warren and giovanni in the same compound. >> let's go back to breaking news in washington and take a closer look at americans working within al qaeda who may have

been the intended targets of terror operation that ended with tragic deaths of warren and giovanni. thank you very much. in fact the president said they were not aware of al qaeda americans or american hostages there. more accurately these were two separate drone strikes several days apart. one two hostages were killed and in the other two al qaeda members were killed including one american. what do we know about the al qaeda operatives killed in the strike? >> let's talk about ahmed farouq. he appeared in videos audios and books preaching jihad. he directed messages mostly to

pakistani community to rise up to their government. most his audios focused on the ideology part. essentially he was an idealog. he was announced as deputy leader of the branch in the indian subcontinent. he played an integral part in al qaeda's media machine. most of his audios and videos were directed to incite jihad in pakistan. adam has been with al qaeda well over a decade. he headed the main media machine. in 2004 adam specifically said american streets will run with blood, be revenge taken against the united states for actions against afterghanistan and iraq. he was a top leader from southern california who pretty much headed the media machine. he's been is successful

recruiting a bunch of individuals. >> according to the president, they were not targeting these two men. they did not know they were there. >> no. according to the white house press secretary, they were not. they tarthsgeted the compound but were not sure who was there. they denied having knowledge of the two hostages weinstein and lo porto. >> thank you for that. chris coops joins me now. senator, thanks. as a member of the committee, i'm sure you have the same questions how did this happen? >> andrea that's right. first, i want to convey condolences, heart felt condolences to weinstein family and those that have lost loved ones in this incident in january that we've learned about today. i have not been briefed on this

yet as a member of the senate foreign relations committee and would expect a full briefing from the administration. the president came forward and taking full responsibility saying there will be a thorough review. i think it raises questions under what circumstances strikes are authorized and what the consequences and loss of life for hostages and others may well be in circumstances where we don't have sufficient detailed knowledge about exactly who is being attacked in a drone strike. >> and of course the weinstein family, as previous hostage families have done are raising the question that warren weinstein himself raised in the last video and last message. his handwritten note complaining president obama was not doing enough and that someone should help or press the media, in fact he asked to press the president to try to negotiate for his release. >> well i had the opportunity

several years ago to meet another worker held captive in a cuba prison. to meet with his family and extended family some in delaware, some in washington. i'll tell you in that instance he too was frustrated and concerned about the long time period, number of years, he spent in captivity. ultimately he was successfully released. he was grateful for the work the obama administration undertook and the senator undertook to secure his release. this is a very different outcome in pakistan. as i said, my heart goes out to the weinstein family. my concern is this raises questions about how we're conducting drone strikes. andrea andrea, i think in the longer term we have work that's gone on to create the strategic, moral frame work for use of drones in the future. a number of allies and

adversaries are developing more and more so fistsophisticated capabilities. we have to recognize drones are not going away. they're going to become instrument of state action and instrument of i'm afraid of terrorist action in the future. we're the dominant country in the world using drones. we need to revisit the question. how are they authorized? when are they appropriate? >> were you referring to alan gross as the u.s. aid worker in a cuban prison? >> yes. i'm sorry if i didn't use alan's name. alan gross was the worker imprisoned in cuba. senator layhi and i had the chance to meet with him.

that's a similar circumstance a worker was in prison years. he and his family were concerned there wasn't enough being done to secure his release. i was contrasting the too and saying in alan's case things worked out successfully and he was released. >> i know we have seconds left. the quote your vote has succeeded on loretta lynch. there will be a move for a final floor vote. you think she'll be confirmed? >> i'm very optimistic that loretta lynch will be confirmed our next attorney general. i was encouraged by a number of republicans that joined the vote. i'm hopeful they stay with this and recognize the confirmation of this nominee is in the best interest of every american. >> thanks very much for being here on "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back.

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o'donnell from capitol hill. the vote for loretta lynch is set for 1:30 eastern. we have seven republican senators saying they'll vote in favor. >> after so much waiting, a hurry up offense being played today, it was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. we think it may go as early as 1:30. the suspense is over. there's more enough votes. democrats supporting lynch and seven republicans. in that group are senators up for re-election in 2016. portland of ohio mark kirk of illinois. states where this would be an issue in re-election campaigns. in addition lindsey graham in south carolina south carolina, lauren hatch. now in this final hour adding to it. just the voting to be done now. she'll be confirmed next attorney general. >> thanks to you kelly. we have more information from

jim before we go which is the president did not authorize either of these strikes because there was no intelligence there was american. there was after the strikes cell phone and other intelligence hostages may have been killed. since then the sources were worked on to find out whether in fact that had been the case. they discovered it was in april and confirmed the hostages had been killed. more throughout the day on msnbc. that does it for us this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." msnbc live with thomas roberts is next. for the first time american kids are slated to live a shorter life span than their parents. it's a problem that we can turn around and change. revolution foods is a company we started to provide access to healthy affordable, kid-inspired chef-crafted food. we looked at what are the aspects of food that will help set up kids for success?

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january. president obama offered his sincere apologies from the white house. >> as president and as commander-in-chief, i take full responsibility for all counter terrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of warren and giovanni. i profoundly regret what happened. >> with what happened today, it's today's bing pulse question, should the u.s. change the drone strike policy after the death of these two hostages? log onto pulse.msnbc.com and let us know what you think. we're watching breaking news on capitol hill where senators are half an hour away from confirming attorney general loretta lynch. two hostages held by al qaeda were accidentally killed by u.s. counter terrorism operation in january. american aid worker warren weinstein and