mr. brennan and said much about him. but i think if you ask people inside the agency, mr. morrell was very much, i think, their sort of home favorite because he had come up out of the analytic division and has been sort of a calming force in his time there. so it's not entirely clear to me that this is going to be a very easy transition, or as easy as you might think given mr. brennan's 25-year history at the c.i.a., including as the station chief in riyadh. >> rose: john kerry. does he have significantly different views than the president or mr. brennan or mr. hagel or mr. donelan? >> you know, it seems to me that john kerry has been much more in the mainstream and sort of closer to where the administration has been. i think he has gone out as a troubleshooter for the administration on several occasions. >> rose: syria, for example. >> pakistan, syria, other places. and i suspect that president obama is not gng to see in senator john kerry as much of an independent operator as we saw with, say, secretary clinton who pressed very hard with bob gates for a much more muscula

i think it's mr obama i think mr brennan is simply a long service bureaucrat in the side the cia who is demonstrated that he is an obama loyalist he will ultimately do what he's told and i think it's a matter for mr obama now that he is in his second term to review those policies and i think he will how much will change i don't know but i think the policies will be very carefully reviewed but of course he's taking over from the cia chief the former cia chief betray us of course left behind a scandalous legacy is that to be a problem could be inherited by brennan oh not at all you know the disappearance of general petraeus is is almost completely transparent to anyone in the organization betray us wasn't very popular at the cia he had no previous intelligence experience and to be perfectly blunt i think large numbers of people were glad to see him go mr brennan on the other hand as i pointed out is someone with a lot of time and experience inside the agency so i think they're comfortable with his appointment and again i think many of the policies that he's publicly supported in the pa

mr. brennan's role. the first is that the president didn't double down or triple down.on attacks in pakistan. but the use of the drones expand beyond, this discussion of how they can be used else where in africa and this goes far beyond the initial legal definition of pursuing a war against those who had perpetrated 9/11. so, i think mr. brennan has been trying to move the justifications to match the current circumstances. and the question is, will they be beyond the law? a very central proponent of the light footprint strategy. special forces in place of sending in 1 00,000 troops to iraq or afghanistan or to a ground invasion in libya or syria and that's now beginning to run a little bit to the end of its utility as you've seen in syria. so, i think he'll get a lot of questions about that, as well. >> david, who runs the drone war? the cia and the pentagon and who should run the drone war? >> well, there are two wars. the pentagon does the overuse of drones. so, we can use them, say, in afghanistan. where there is a declared military action. but in pakistan or any pla

mr. brennan isn't probably... if he can get over the hurdles of the way he's conducted the drone campaign -- and i don't think there are going to be that many queries about that. i think on the the republican side, there will be more or less agreement on that. even on the democratic side. i don't think they're going to go against the president on this issue. >> ifill: you're not crazy about either of these two nominations. you support them both. how much latitude do you think the president should have in the end on these kinds of cabinet nominations? >> well, you're asking what is the role of advice a consent for the senate? to my mind it is largely a question of qualification. i think both these two nominees passed that bar by a long shot. >> i think it's a fairly elastic issue. the senate obviously can be fairly aggressive. it doesn't have to be. i think certainly way should be given to the president. but i think there should be substantial debate. i don't think there's anything wrong with the nominees going bef

mr. brennan mr. brennan says he oppose torture but there are statements where he basically supported it. and finally as you know, there was an investigation, there is an investigation ongoing about the leaks after the takeout of osama bin laden and mr. brennan was there in the whitehouse and some of those leaks came out. we need to know the results of that investigation as well. there are a lot of questions that need to be asked. i look forward to the hearings. i have always believed that a president deservelz the deserves the right to choose his own team but there are significant questions. >> schieffer: let me ask you a couple questions about gun control that's obviously coming to a head here. did you think an assault weapons ban can pass the congress? >> no. >> do you think it should. >> no. >> schieffer: what do you see as the answer to this problem with guns? >> well, my friend across joe manchin has taken an issue. people respect the 2nd amendment rights. we obviously have a situation where craz

mr. brennan. this is another interesting choice and a lot of people have a lot of good things to say about john brenna. however, gler yeah, the n nomination process is problematic. the cv sounds terrific. when's the problem? >> i actually think that brennan will have a much easier time than chuck hagel. i think there are questions about how he felt about enhanced interrogation techniques as we call them, otherwise known as torture, during the bush administration. >> he didn't particularly dislike them, right? >> well no. he has come out and said he opposed them but there's also a question of using drones too much. there are a lot of democrats who believe that we've -- we're using drones too much so these questions are going to be raised -- >> clarify that for me. i was under the question he supported the bush policy. >> he has and i was talking to somebody about that. he woet wrote a letter to obama and said it's immaterial to the opponents of iraq and coercive interrogation tactics so he has said

mr. brennan's leadership, will differ from that of the outgoing director, leon panetta?a was a creature of congress, a member of congress from the california delegation i think for over 20 years and then he went to the white house, the clinton white house, and so brennan has never been a member of congress. he has been inside on the executive branch for a very long time. so i suspect that they will approach it from very different ways of looking at it. a former member of congress who goes over there and tries to build consensus, i think brennan is seen by the career folks over at that agency as more of an insider. and so i think they would probably welcome him more as one of their own. >> jimmy williams and jonathan capehart, gentlemen, thank you so much for your contribution this afternoon. >> thanks. >> much more ahead. first, sue herera has the cnbc market wrap. >> good afternoon. let's tell you how the dow jones industrial average ended up today's trading session. it was an upside day by 80 points for the dow. the standard & poor's participated in the green as well,

mr. brennan wrote a letter in which he made clear that he opposed so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. >> reporter: brennan is also the credited with the drone program but it's unpopular overseas especially in pakistan where drones target terrorists living in the country. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. >>> time now is 5:10. an unusual response after a stranger is found sleeping in a house. >> i guess. a woman offers to give the intruder some coffee, then returns with something no one would expect. >> a hot air balloon crashing into a california home the moments leading up to this mishap. >> and what is cool about your school? you can submit your nomination on our website, cbssf.com/coolschool. and we just might come out and feature your school on the big show. we'll be right back. for over 60,000 california foster children nights can feel long and lonely. i miss my sister. i miss my old school. i miss my room. i don't want special treatment. i just wanna feel normal. to help, sleep train is collecting pajamas for foster children, big and small. bring your gift to any sleep trai

mr. brennan wrote a letter in which he made clear he opposed so-called enhance and interrogation techniques. >> reporter: brennan is also the architect of the drone program credited with killing al qaeda operatives but it's unpopular overseas especially in pakistan where drones have targeted terrorists living in the country. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. >>> switching gears at 4:38. >> shall we? >> why not. >> a wee bit of fog out there eh? >> thick in spots especially -- [ laughter ] >> especially in the east bay. >> i don't know where that came from. >> they're going to be tough to deal with today. >>> we have a dense fog advisory in the east bay valleys, visibility less than a quarter mile in spots. be careful driving. otherwise it's hazy over the bay at this hour. and looks like throughout the day not a bad day. still a little cool in spots. 36 degrees in livermore, 39 in santa rosa. and 44 in san jose. high pressure remains in place. but not forever. that is going to change as we get into tomorrow, maybe we start talking about rain highs in the 50s and 60s, not too bad, elizabe

mr. brennan wrote a letter in which he made clear he opposed so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. >> reporter: he's also linked to the drone program. credited with killing al qaeda operatives. it's unpopular overseas especially in pakistan, drones have targeted terrorists living in the country. now the president is also reportedly close to tapping jack lu, the white house chief of staff, to be the next treasury secretary replacing tim geithner. that would require a new chief of staff. this could be part of a larger shuffling of the president's team. >> susan mcginnis in washington this morning. thank you very much. >>> one of the critical issues of the president's foreign policy agenda is the winding down of the war in afghanistan. this friday, mr. obama meets with afghan president hamid karzai. they'll meet in washington to discuss u.s. troop levels in the afghan army. a key issue -- how many u.s. troops will remain in afghanistan after 2014. >>> a grim search resumes this morning for two new jersey teenagers who fell through the ice on a frozen lake. the lake is located about 50

was an outright lie by so many accounts add to that the fact that as the bush era cia official mr brennan had endorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate of bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is the most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hazel and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary lew kokesh do you choose the feeling soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft my colleague bill daughter spoke to former cia officer ray mcgovern who believes obama's security nominations may serve as a counterweight to each other. i served under nine cia director john brennan would have to be the worst. he is an open advocate of what is called extraordinary rendition kidnapping torture black prisons illegal eavesdropping and chillis from these rooms that they're so proud of flying ove

was an outright lie by so many accounts add to that the fact that as the bush era cia official mr brennan had endorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is the most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hey girl and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary low kokesh do you ever accuse of being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft. i'm gonna teach you can retired u.s. army colonel douglas macgregor thinks that if the senate approves hagel as the pentagon chief will see much less war mongering from washington well there are a number of things first of all hey go has been a very effective and strong critic of the interventions over the last several years and the mismanagement of our policies and the squandering of blood and treasure on

washington and there are some people who have expressed their concerns about it the nomination of mr brennan and inspections this is something of great concern to many people. unfortunately partly many of my fellow americans don't seem to care about american junction of course overseas we are still many we are in the middle of the war on terrorism and unfortunately despite the fact that many of us for example in the libertarian party are trying to make our noses and where we just don't seem to be getting a lot of slack. now if you go back obama's recently extended the military's authority to detain terror suspects without charge or trial are americans ok with this bush era policy and that it's still in effect really. actually i don't think most americans are hate with it but generating the solar or the opposition to them to halt these programs is there a very difficult most people are simply too busy living their lives basically raising their families their jobs generating the sort of illegal opposition it's like to stop this program requires an enormous amount of effort and there are many i

mr. brennan. how many people are you willing to sacrifice? why are you lying to the american people and not saying how many innocents have been killed? >> thank you, for expressing your views. there'll be time for questions and answers after the presentation. >> in pakistan who was killed because he wanted to document the drone of strikes. i speak out on behalf of a 16- year-old born in denver, killed in yemen because his father -- i speak out on behalf of the constitution, on behalf of the rule of law, i love of the rule of law. i love my country. you are making a mistake by killing so many innocent people. shame on you. >> thank you. more broadly, al qaeda's killing of innocents is losing its appeal. even the osama bin laden and his lieutenants knew this. his propagandist admitted that it is a group that does not hesitate to take money by false it, spilling the blood of scores of people. osama bin laden agreed that a large portion of muslims around the world have lost their trust in al qaeda. so damaged is their image that osama bin laden e

which was an outright lie by so many accounts add to that the fact that as a bush era cia official mr brennan had indorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is the most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hago and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say there's my defense secretary low kokesh to you if we can as the being soft he can point out his new cia director who can be accused of anything but being soft. let's talk to paul craig roberts former assistant secretary of treasury for more on the president's nominees good morning thanks for joining us. and we start with the president's choice for head of the cia john brennan is a controversial figure is highly divisive among allies of the us like pakistan yemen too is a deliberate move do you think by the president moves that i guess is going to antagonize is t

mr. brennan heading the c.i.a.? >> that is a very good point. >> john: we're not going to see it.see any democrats stand up. >> democrats stand up with the spine of an arthritissic jelly fish. >> when you have two parties you feel the obligation to stand with the president. chuck schumer, he won't come out against hagel, he said, i'm going to hear him out. >> even when he wasn't good enough four years ago now he is now that he's in wiretapping. >> john: fox news called nixon liberal. look a ronald reagan, could reagan ever find a place? >> nixon would be a liberal democrat, equal rights, epa healthcare act that even ted kennedy said his biggest regret he didn't embrace nixon's health plan. they have gone so far to the right. >> john: but he hated blacks and jews, rest in piece mr. nixon. dean and scott, and the lee three of my favorite new york politico medians. thank you so much for joining us. up next, happier news, same sex weddings guess who is flipping out. that's up ahead. hd

mr. brennan has great relations on capitol hill.r this as all nominees as an exploration of policy, some people will air the questions and grievances. not so much about him but the bigger picture and expect him to be confirmed easily in the end. >> thanks so much. >>> we are expecting a formal announcement on the nominations of former senator chuck hagel and john brennan. wolf blitzer will start at 12:30 p.m. eastern time and the president's remarks live. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton getting back to work this morning at the state department. on the agenda today, a meeting with assistant secretaries. past few weeks have been tough for clinton. battled the flu, concussion, hospitalized for a brain clot. still unclear how to affect the plans to testify before congress about september's deadly attack in benghazi, libya. >>> the man accused of using three guns to murder people in a colorado movie theater will be in court for a key preliminary hearing this morning. and the evidence unveiled today is expected to be graphic and qu

mr. brennan. i speak out on behalf of the constitution, on behalf of the rule law. i love the rule of law. i love my country. you're making us less safe by killing so many innocent people around the world. shame on you! benjamin: thank you. nawaz: it's very critical that the u.s. public understand what is happening with the use of this technology because it is being done in the name of the united states. narrator: drone technology enables america to strike virtually anyone anywhere, with ease, regardless of national boundaries. singer: we've seen the deep controversy that surrounds these strikes in places like pakistan, or yemen, or somalia and a whole new series of questions for international law. the fact that you are not flying a human being across a national boundary still makes it an invasion of a country. we've entered an era where we're conducting an array of operations using unmanned systems that in a previous generation we would have called war and we would have treated like war. when you're conducting more than 300 air strikes into a country you're conduct

mr. brennan, but unfortunate, yet necessary action to get information from this administration.'s one way. i read one of the tabloids. did they present hillary yesterday a helmet or a hill met? [ laughter ] >> hill met. that would be good. >> gretchen: thanks for that update. now the rest of the headlines. the dark knight kill be will be back in court in hours. details were revealed during the preliminary hearing yesterday. they included how he bought his movie ticket 12 days before. video showed him smiling apparently as he entered the theater. >> honestly, you sit there, you look at a person and when you see there is no more humanity left anymore, you don't look at him as a person. >> gretchen: veteran officers fought back tears as they described seeing inside the theater and how the room was silent except for the film which was still rolling. >>> tim geithner getting ready to cash out as treasury secretary. we know who will likely replace him. president obama is expected to nominate jack lieu who we haven't heard much from lately. it will happen by the end of this week. the n

mr. brennan's role in the government, targeting americans that we thought were involved in terrorism, such as anwar al-awlaki, jamie. >> jamie: thank you so much for the look there. thank you. and as peter mentioned the federal court of appeals did unanimously ruled that president obama violated the constitution when he bypassed with a recess appointments that involved three vacancies to the national labor relations board. a tactic both parties used to keep presidents appointing people they don't like and the president claims he acted properly because the senate was away for the holidays, but the federal court didn't agree, instead that the senate was still technically in session. what does it mean for the country's labor board and union battles that are raging across our country? well, coming up, we're going to take a very interesting look at this with jay sekulow and one of the attorneys arguing that the administration had violated our constitution. he will join us live just moments away. >> now more than ever we must do these things together as one nation and one people. my fellow ameri

mr. brennan's . e was a great human cry in 2009 when he was initially floated for the position of cia director. i'm not sure why there is a difference between four years ago and now. john brennan certainly has not changed. >> john kiriakou, i want to read a comment made by the judge to your sentencing hearing. judge bring, sentenced to to 30 months in prison last friday saying -- john kiriakou, can you comment on that statement? >> sure. when judge brink of not accepted the plea deal in october, she called 30 months fair and appropriate. i can only think that with a courtroom packed full of journalists last friday, she decided to seize the moment and make a statement that would be carried in the papers. i don would change between october and january other than the fact she and the prosecution had had several expert to communications, meaning the prosecutors were able to meet with the judge related to my case without the defense, my attorneys, being present. so we have no idea what it was the prosecuti

here are remarks from the john brennan. >> mr. president, thank you for your kind remarks and thank you for the trust you placed in me. i have had the honor of knowing and working with john brennan for the last 20 years. we have worked particularly closely the last three years. john brennan is an intelligence professional with deep experience in our business. a public servant with extraordinary dedication. thought a man of deep integrity. with the senate confirmation, i know he will be an outstanding director of the central intelligence agency. john started his career at cia and spent nearly a quarter- century. so this is a homecoming for john. on behalf of the talented and dedicated men and women, it is my deep water to save welcome home. >> mr. president, it is indeed a tremendous honor to be nominated to be director of the central intelligence agency. the women and men of the cia are among the

mr. brennan, that's a cohesive team. so now we've had two teams, a white house team and the secretary of state's team. this is now a single team. i think it going toe foced much more on those needed challenges. >> brown: well, the team but also the particular challenges it's facing because we can talk about the domestic economy but trouble spots are there, we report on them every night. >> i think the challenge will be -- i think it is a cohesive team. i think the question is whether more in the second term than the first whether the president and the white house is willing to empower these very capable cabinet officials and let them go out and try to solve some of these problems we have and give them political backi back he at home. secondly, i think there is a real prioritization issue. i would agree with zbig. it's really the middle east, asia and the economic instrument. i think he needs to focus on that. and third i think the challenge is also relationships between issues that tend to be stove piped. i'll give you a

mr. brennan now running vanguard, decided to override essentially jack bogle. >> he's talking about junkedged etfs. >> and if you ask jack if he thought there were exotic mutual funds that shouldn't be in the marketplace, he would find a couple of those. >> this industry has been growing and i've been a champion from the beginning because it makes more sense for investors. it's indexed and low cost and for self-directed investors clearly the way to go. my question to you is when will it get bigger? 1.3 trillion in etfs. only a tenth of the size in the mutual fund industry. how about cracking the 401k business. can that happen? >> that's going to be huge when it does. >> it will over time. i look at 1.3 trillion and 1.4 trillion and say we've done a good job in a short amount of time. mutual funds start at the 1930s. think we're doing a good job. this isn't about etfs versus mutual funds. when you think about where a lot of the etfs have come from it really came from stock traders who real wanted the ability to diversify more in one trade than they could buying five or six tech stocks. >>

mr. brennan that's a cohesive team. so now we've had two teams, a white house team and the secretary of state's team. this is now a single team. i think it's going to be focused much more on those needed challenges. >> brown: well, the team but also the particular challenges it's facing because we can talk about the domestic economy but trouble spots are there we report on them every night. >> i think the challenge will be -- i think it is a cohesive team. i think the question is whether more in the second term than the first whether the president and the white house is willing to empower these very capable cabinet officials and let them go out and try to solve some of these problems we have and give them political backing back here at home. secondly i think there is a real prioritization issue. i would agree with zbig. it's really the middle east asia and the economic instrument. i think he needs to focus on that. and third i think the challenge is also relationships between issues that tend to be stove piped. i'll giv

mr. brennan but is an unfortunate yet necessary action to get information from this administration. the white house is trying to sell, meanwhile, back on hagel, trying to sell hagel's personal story. and no one may tell that better than his brother, tom, who served alongside him in vietnam and described to nbc how they narrowly escaped death together. >> the concussion was incredible. it knocked us both down. and he was behind me and i looked back and he was flat on his back, blood all over his chest. so i went back. things come up where he's being criticized for this or that or the other thing, or we're both having problem. we look at each other and say, you know, what can they do to you? send you back to vietnam? >> that all may be true. on the importance of this response, that the number two democrat in the senate, new york's chuck schumer, gave to "the wall street journal" when asked about hagel's nomination. >> you owe the president, no matter what party you are and what party he is, a right to hear his nominee. so i want to hear directly from chuck hagel. i'll let him make his

mr. brennan wrote a letter in which he made it clear that he opposed enhanced interrogation techniques and john brennan has served as the president's chief counterterrorism advisor. it is this president that banned torture as one of his first acts in office and implemented that policy and then the others with the remarkably capable assistance of john brennan. >> senator mcconnell over the weekend said the tax issue is now done. >> no. we believe that any further deficit reduction of which there must be in the president's view must be pursued with the same balanced approach the president insisted on up until now. i am not go to itemize how it breaks down. but the fact is that it is part of the $4 trillion package the president put forward. you would have to breakdown the numbers and look at it. one of the things you heard the president of the united states say on new year's day, fiscal cliff challenge was resolved is that the agreement enshrined the principles that we must have balance as we move forward in our deficit reduction in the spending cuts part of the fiscal cliff deal they were p