>> yeah, and it was fun. >> reporter: barbara starr, the penal gone. >>> that does

and our pentagon correspondent barbara starr says officials hope diplomacy works but want to be prepared if it doesn't. >> what is now clear, don, for the last several weeks, u.s. military has been updating options for striking iran's nuclear program. there's a couple of things going on here. first defense secretary robert gates has written a classified memo to the white house outlining what he believes are a number of decisions that he says need to be made in the weeks and months ahead now that the white house is on this so-called tough track with iran, trying to step up the pressure for sanctions, to give up the nukes, but still gates saying in a statement issued just tonight by the pentagon, saying that the u.s. is prepared to act across a broad range of contingencies if it has to. and that takes us to the second part, updating those military options. the joint chiefs of staff, the u.s. central command, sources tell us across the board, the u.s. military looking again at iran's suspected nuclear sites and updating their options, how they would attack them, what information they would

barbara starr live at the pentagon this morning.ation. >> reporter: they do, indeed, kiran. whenever there's a mess somewhere in the world that the military has to deal with, they like to code name it. known as operation e-15, e for first letter of the volcano and 15 other letters that i won't attempt to pronounce. this is now a military operation. let's look at a couple of maps. this will show you where key bases are shut down in europe impacting the flow of cargo passengers and wounded. first in britain, in the united kingdom, two bases shut down. raf, the u.s. air force base has both bases shut down. in germany, the air base at ramstein and shan golen shutdown. let's look at the map. as you say, ramstein has been critical now for so many years to medevacing and lifting the wounded out of the war zone. they fly from germany from the war zone and back to the united states. look at the green line. what they are having to do now is fly from spain, south of the ash cloud, over to the war zone and then air lift them all the way back to

we want to go live to cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. olcano is having an impact on everything, including the military. >> you know, it really is, candy. the u.s. may have the strongest military in the world, but right now, it is still mother nature running the show. >> reporter: joanne and greg are now on their way to see their son andrew, a marine shot in afghanist afghanistan, now finally on his way home via iraq, because of the volcano erupting in iceland. >> i just want to see him. so, it's been a long time since thursday night. >> reporter: the u.s. is now sending some troops wounded in afghanistan into this hospital in iraq because it can't fly them to the primary medical facility in germany. the pentagon worries if there's a major battle in afghanistan, it won't be able to treat all the wounded. >> to have that capacity ready at our hands means we have to move those wounded soldiers. >> reporter: the flow of troops and cargo into the war zone, also slowed down. the secretary-general of nato insists security across europe hasn't be

barbara starr is live at the pentagon. a huge gathering of nations, 47 in all.ine question. it may be a huge threat. is it very real is stiistic thed be this type of nuclear attack? the president's own advisors say al qaeda has been trying to get a weapon for over a decade. >> over the past two decades, there has been indisputable evidence that dozens of terrorist groups have actively sought some type of weapon of mass effect. relative to other such potential weapons which include biological, chemical, radiological, the consequences and impact of a nuclear attack would be the most devastating as well as the most lasting. so there is a threat out there but how could this possibly happen if it were to happen? could terrorists get ahold of some sort of stockpile that is not guarded by the company that owns it? the first problem would be getting the material and then fashioning it into some kind of device and finding a way to deliver it, if you will, to a target, exploded over a city on a military base, some mechanism to actually explode the weapon. all of those are

barbara starr at the pentagon. susan maljveaux at the white house. we have josh levs looking into the spy game. nooub nuclear secrets. who is buying and who is selling? >>> the u.s., uk, france, russia, china, pakistan, india and authority korea but the lion's share, around 90% are controlled by the u.s. and russia. those are just declared nations. there is a lot more out there. nuclear materials that can be lethal in the wrong hands. the hands of terrorists. barbara starr, live at the pentagon. barbara, how real is that threat? >> well, you know, kyra, the president says the possibility of nuclear terrorism is the biggest threat that the world faces. how real is it? how terrorists really get their hands on nuclear material? of course, the big concern is al qaeda. the u.s. believes they are trying to get their hands on nuclear material for years? listen to john brennan, the president's top adviser or counter terrorism. >> over the past two decades, indoi indisputable evidence that dozens of terrorists have sought weapons of mass effect, relative to o

barbara starr joins us live. this was an extraordinary back and forth and tit for tat almost.he defense secretary was having with the "new york times." >> well, indeed, t.j., "the new york times" published this story saying that secretary gates sent a secret memo to the white house saying decisions needed to be made by iran. the pentagon wouldn't even acknowledge that the memo had been written, let alone sent. acknowledging that he had sent a memo to the white house saying "the new york times" got it wrong. in fact, the secretary acknowledging that he wrote that a number of decisions needed to now be made in the coming weeks and months about options for iran if, in fact, the president was to decide to order a military strike if diplomacy didn't work. everyone hopes diplomacy works. that's the track everyone is on. nonetheless, what we now know is that for the last several weeks, the u.s. military, in fact, has been updating military options to give the president more military options, updated information about potential targets and iran's nuclear program if the president decid

here's the story from barbara starr. >> reporter: marines on patrol in an afghan village with insurgentsly. we're actually inside an old packing plant at the marine corps base in california. we are in this afghan village, of course, it is simulated. these marines are headed to the front lines of southern afghanistan, but first they are getting some of the most realistic training the military can offer -- a village of narrow lanes, mud walls and blind corners. religious calls, smoke kbgrenad and odors like gangrene and dinosaur dung are piped in. tell me about this. >> these are digital avatars. marines could be presented with any situation when they go into it. >> reporter: bullets, though made of chalk, are flying. while the marines patrol one end, those playing the role of insurgents are getting ready. tensions build. marines enter the village squire. villagers are upset. this kind of training is about as realistic as it can get for the marines. this is what general mcchrystal worries about -- incidents of civilians being killed by military action and then it all spins out of control.

cnn's barbara starr follows up on her previous visit to archie's acres and she found things have taken. >> we first visited had hillside near san diego last year because it was a success story for a group of young marines recovering from the stress of war. >> these aren't just people that come out here for training. these are guys that we support each other overseas with. >> we have come back because everything has come crashing down. >> i did have pull out my laptop just to try to get extra money to eat and, you know, everything's really, really tight for me, and i think for everybody here. >> here at archie's acres, farming has helped the former marines decompress and learn new job skill, but the va cut off funding saying after three years it discovered the money it was using to pay the vets came from the wrong federal account. that government snafu has led to this. >> who's stressing? i mean -- i'm really concerned, you know, rent, me, my mood swing, you know? just -- i'm spending more time by myself away from my wife because i just -- it's hard. yeah. it's hard. >> robert krauss ke

but let's begin with our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, she's here. investigated because it's causing a huge uproar. >> a u.s. military official is telling cnn, quote, we are looking at this matter in its entirety. >> reporter: u.s. military lawyers are now scrutinizing this 2007 video, showing an attack by apache helicopter gunships in baghdad asking themselves if an initial investigation that troops took all appropriate precautions before firing was right. the video was posted on the wikilinks website which specializes in publishing classified documents. the military can't find its own copy of this video and it's not certain that all investigators saw the video back in 2007. retired brigadier general mark kinnet who served in iraq said the new scrutiny may be in part due to public reaction. >> but when something like this, tape like this, hits the public view, there will be people asking, was everything done that should have been done. i think we'll find out that it was. we are asking our soldiers to make tough, tough decisions in combat. when peopl