al qaeda. also isis but we're going to dwell on al qaeda today. in case you haven't met them before, we have bill rogio we have founder of the long ward journal. "the new york times" specialist on al qaeda, foreign correspondent and an ap veteran. and tom who i asked to bring out this notebook. believe me we're going to start broad, but -- these guys know this stuff inside and out. so with that, i'll start with the broad question. why did it take so long, tom, to release these documents? >> anybody who deals with the intelligence bureaucracy knows they're definitely allergic to releasing anything. we called for general transparency on a lot of matters. we think that's basically the media's job to push for transparency. and all these different issues. transparency re think helps inform the public because here we are sitting in 2017 and the u.s. may not have large scale deployments but we're still deployed in several areas and fighting through the air and understanding this whole threat spectrum

in afghanistan we see al-qaeda's vision for the world. the united states respects the people of afghanistan, but we condemn the taliban regime. by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists, the taliban regime is committing murder. they will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate. - [narrator] us troops have been in afghanistan for more than 15 years, making it the longest war in american history. the september 11th attacks prompted washington and nato to send forces to neutralize the al-qaeda terrorist organization and the taliban regime that sheltered them. the architect of those attacks, osama bin laden, is dead, but the taliban has rebounded. as washington and nato pivot away from afghanistan, the ability of the government and security forces to maintain stability will be tested. afghanistan, next on great decisions. - [announcer] great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association, in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers llp. - [narra

john had trained new recruits at an al qaeda camp in afghanistan. his right thumb was blown off during what he describes as a training accident. why not even ask kind of how do we get going to happen i'll get on. the heavy can at this other venue if i get done. had fought in the war in afghanistan until two thousand and two soon after he fled to pakistan. at kandahar not bad enough. what they make yeah and with a laugh i stand. head was arrested in two thousand and four pakistani and u.s. intelligence agents interrogated him. he was detained with another man who has confirmed to al-jazeera account of events in both afghanistan and pakistan were truthful. to overcome the challenges we faced in verifying his detailed accusations we enlisted the help of former intelligence officers. robert granny a was the cia station chief in pakistan until two thousand and two he did not meet mujahid but he is well placed to analyze his account. reading some of this i once again had the same stomach aches that i had when i was operating in the field. we have shown gr

today we have a rejuvenated al qaeda. the affiliates control more territory even though isis has taken a hit, al qaeda is still strong. to think president obama underestimated al qaeda more broadly because of ideological thinking? >> terrorism is a challenge to deal with it because it metastasizes. were dealing with an enemy that's resilient and can make adjustments to go from al qaeda phthisis and other forms. boko haram, al shabab, a lot of elements. you have to go after the ones that you can target. and we did. the time i was there is director and secretary we went after the leadership of al qaeda, particularly in pakistan. we decapitated their leadership particularly with the bin laden grade. we interrupted planning for taxes result. the reality is al qaeda develop in yemen, you have to continue the effort in these other areas. you have to target the different forms of terrorism that are developing. the obama administration began to recognize the cannot just ignore what was happening. counterterrorism capabilities beg

today, we have a rejuvenated al qaeda. its affiliates control more territory even though isis has taken a hit al qaeda is still , strong. do you think the obama administration, president obama , underestimated al qaeda jihadists more broadly because of ideological thinking at the time? mr. panetta: look, terrorism is a challenge to deal with because it metastasizes. we are dealing with an enemy that is able to be resilient, to make adjustments, to go from al qaeda to al-nusra to isis and other forms. you know boko haram, al-shabab. , there are a lot of elements. but you have to target the ones that you can go after and do an effective job in doing that. and we did. the time i was there as director and as secretary, we went after the leadership of al qaeda, particularly in pakistan, and we decapitated their leadership particularly with the bin laden raid and i think we did a good job and we interrupted a lot of their planning for attacks as a result. but the reality is, al qaeda been developed in yemen. isis developed, etc.

support for al qaeda. there is no reason to think when opportunity strikes they have a chance to inflict harm on united iran and america that al qaeda will not hesitate to work against us jointly. bret: are they working with north korea? mike: i would prefer not to say much. former directors question there. bret: are they working with north korea? leon: i'm with mike there. [applause] i'm going to give you a chance to wrap this up. i'm getting the chance to your final thoughts. all, secretary panetta was one of the first phone calls i made. you have been so generous with your time. i called him repeatedly about how to solve problems. beenormer directors have generous. it does not matter if they worked for a democratic president or republican president. their mission to keep america safe, it has been an incredible honor to get to be a part of .hat, and work alongside thank you for inviting me to the conference. i grew up not far from here. it is neat to be back. is going to be a requirement that italians a

judd's then says he left the al qaeda leaders to tell his handlers. and i hype than if she had i sat. at the gate. and lee at mme i needed all the office i had earlier that that. for shows like the telephone. and wouldn't work i had to. restrict it i tell you but there is. a tool beside it had a better today. that better but she. seems to have for that matter if. i take my be a couple i met me at a full run. i mean yeah. and i'm back home and he said i should have said here. in this predicament i think. i bet. we. did not want to do this had been to going to france you know about. the about the. social spot of morsi you know the obvious is most of us have been to . see. what i might get death. or anything but even she was home and i mean they know we're going to do what they. wanted to what level yeah there are going to have to. give us had enough. but i'm sure there's no. doubt that. if we did absolutely must and you got. this and they set me up with the e.c.m. but a look at. where the. group will go. like i just thought of them we were just about. t

john brennan said al qaeda would see its to mice before 2020 but today we have a rejuvenated al qaeda that has improved its ability to control more terrace. alno isis has taken a hit, qaeda is still strong. do you think president obama underestimated al qaeda because of ideological thinking at the time? >> well, terrorism is a challenge to deal with because it metastasizes. we are dealing with an enemy that is able to be resilient, make a judgment, go from al qaeda to al-nusra to isis and other forms. the boko haram, al-shabab. there are a lot of elements. you have to target one jew can go after and do an effective job in doing that and we did. target who you can go after and do an effective job in doing that, and we did. we decapitated the leadership, particularly with the bin laden raid. is al qaedaity then, you know, developed in yemen. isis developed. etc. you have to continue the effort in these other areas. you have to be able to target the different forms of terrorism that are developing. i think the obama administration in the last few years begin to recognize that we could no

there is really no -- >> the children of al-qaeda? >> the children of the stepchildren of al-qaeda.taliban, when i was in captivity, i had to listen for hours and hours and hours to taliban suicide tapes. and in those taliban suicide gates, recruitment tapes it would talk about, it's almost like a haunting the and the boys choir. a chant about afghan poetry, pashtun, passion, exceeds me. pashtuns being arguably the largest ethnic group, largest number or in pakistan, second number in afghanistan, proximally 50 million, give or take. they would saying or chant of poetry and history and geography. the taliban are more of a nationalist movement. very much a nationalist movement but there's not a boy with a become too complicated, is not a boy over ten years old and afghanistan who doesn't think or doesn't really, doesn't feel like every male, everybody, every pashtun that the british when they went to afghanistan and the first bridge crossed from india, crossing will recall the indus river into the land of the pashtuns, about the same time that lewis and clark reached the pacific ocean

across sahara today al qaeda has a protocol for dealing with political kidnap haddings. they used to be 250,000 about -- per person and now it's up to well, recently most recent one was a swedish person who was caught on a motorcyclist i think tourist he was $10 million. so it is -- it is very much a business. but to get to your question. the exact number of political kidnapped victims those being held today is secret. i don't know. ... >> >> it was al qaeda its way of announcing to the world that they existed. as they just did a few weeks before 9/11 but it was in the political world but this was their way to say we are here and they introduce a new form of political warfare. kidnappings perce started in our modern area - - era 93 terry -- with the journalists taken the route to but all of those held by hezbollah were never a ransom demand for any of them their use as a pawn to get the united states and france also in that era was the first time the second part to the two cited political warfare is the bombing that when the marine corps barracks 1983 that the french par

as a carrot or a stick that would change the way in which we engage with al qaeda. the toolkit should theoretically be more full of things that we could potentially do about the problem than dealing with the state. absolutely to bring the resources of the state and it makes it difficult to strangle the resource flow that goes to terrorist organizations. >> in the back. >> judy carson, retired for answers. would you talk about the vulnerabilities in our immigration laws and what measures you would take to stop and elicit facilitation with smugglers and traffickers from taking advantage of our loopholes? >> all speak more narrowly than your question gets out because i've done a very, very deeply involved in this question over the last year and a half of my time. our role in an tcc is not to decide what the threshold should be or not to decide what numbers of immigrants or numbers of refugees should be allowed into the country but what our role is to provide the best possible input into a decision-making process that is led by the state department and department of pla

he was a key player in transforming them into the way they attacked the network of al qaeda.t wasn't about going after one big fish and then next big fish. it was how they connected. >> again flynn revolutionized intelligence in the field environment. i mean, he saved thousands of lives. with what he did. >> despite flynn's military successes, most people are familiar with him through his relationship with one man. >> general flynn, who is a phenomenal man. we love our general flynn. we want tough and we want smart. he is both. >> they had a lot of the same beliefs. i'm sure mike flynn realized early on that trump shares my opinion. >> russia, if you are listening, i hope you are able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. >> at the 2016 republican national convention, michael flynn delivers an impassioned speech in support of trump. >> with donald trump in the white house, we will make america great again. we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. >> flynn's support pays off when donald trump is elected president. >> the trump transition te

with al qaeda there simply isn't.here's no conversation to be had and nothing to be put on the table, a carrot or a stick that would change the way we engage with al qaeda. and the tool kit should theatericaltheater ical ically-- thee retic, and look at the resource flow that goes to the terrorist organizations. >> in the back. >> judy carson, retired foreign service, would you talk about the vulnerabilities in our immigration laws and what measures you would take to stop illic illicit facilitate networks. >> i've gotten very, very deeply involved in this question in the last year and a half in my time at nctc. our role is not to decide what the thresholds should be or not to decide what number of refugees should be allowed in the country. what our role is to provide the best possible input into a decision making process that's led by the state department and department of homeland security and that's input that we provide is-- it's input that says here is offing we could know, conceivably do know about an individual

i just talk to you for 10 or 15 minutes and did not use the words al qaeda once. if that suggests we are not totally focused on the continued work to protect ourselves from al qaeda, i have made a mistake. we keep adding problems to the problem set, and at the same time, the resource picture, as i suggested at the end, it is destined to get tougher as some of these other issues begin to crowd out the space. just for thet: question, it is one thing to look backwards at the expense in the last 15 years, but as you look at the next decade and a half, what worries you the most? you talked in your remarks about yberr told and -- cibe pools, and things that state actors can take advantage of. are we doing enough to anticipate those kind of threats and prepare for them? where should we be focusing more of our attention and resources? dir. rasmussen: a good question, i wish i had a pithy, concise answer. one thing i have taken away from the last 15 years is the requirement to exercise a fair amount of humility in terms of rejecting and predicting. now we in the intelligen

groups like isis and al qaeda know a sleeper cell under our nose. groups like isis and al qaeda know and understand we are a difficult target. we are difficult to penetrate. there focuses on inspiring and mobilizing young people already living here. the term of art we use to describe this population is hge, homegrown violent extremist, presenting the most ubiquitous threat on a daily basis. if you look back at the last half decade, most of our terrorism problems can be tied to individuals either born or raised here, or became radicalized while after arriving the u.s. the challenge we live at home is not a hardinge -- a hard edge challenge of weeding out sleeper cells. it is tied to soft power and community engagement, given them to tools to counter extremism in their own communities. as i step away from government service in a few weeks. wean say with credibility are not doing enough and need to do better. if that sounds like i am taking a shot at my colleagues, it is not a shot at any of the metal. i have been entirely self-critical here. -- at any

. >> al qaeda was becoming much more effective than we had realized.n, and yet as we looked at our organization internally and we looked at the larger u.s. military in intelligence effort, it was not -- >> it was as bad as it could get. and we desperately needed someone to figure a way out. >> mcchrystal tapped michael flynn to be that someone for the special forces. appointing him intelligence director at jsoc. >> we were losing to guys that i facetiously described were wearing bathroom slippers and bathrobes. >> together, with mcchrystal, flynn would help revolutionize the way the military hunted the enemy. describe the kind of leader that he is. >> he will stand in front of a white board and suddenly start writing. we used to laugh about it, because he almost can't keep up with his thoughts, he would be writing real fast. i remember one night, it's about 3:00 in the morning, and he's got six or eight people saying, stay with me. >> he was an innovator and maverick. mike flynn's great epiphany, this needs to be just as much an intelligence gathering

we were still talking about al qaeda and taliban. the people that noticed isis where the web operators, people that sought them online. they started seeing virtual beheadings, and it took a long while to mobilize against that. in my head, now we are talking three to four years later, what is next on the horizon? ul and pictures from mos people want to say mission accomplished, but it is not because isis has continued to adapt. what are the next iterations around the corner? when we thought of al qaeda, we were thinking cameras and caves and an ice came along. -- isis came along. we are seeing that new iteration and whether they have the staying power is a new issue. i think of them as kind of a cloud caliphate. they are thinking about the information battlefield in a unique way and they are using crowdsourcing to recruit people, using bitcoin to raise money. this is the new iteration, and they are thinking about extremism on a new level. host: they are not as interested in creating a physical caliphate that they would have to defend

one hundred twenty strikes in twenty seventeen to remove key leaders and disrupt the ability of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and ices in yemen to use ungoverned spaces in yemen as a hub for terrorist recruiting training and base of operations to export terror worldwide yemen's already been enduring deadly air strikes from inside led coalition since it intervened in early twenty fifteen backing the yemeni government against the rebel uprising in that time more than ten thousand people are thought to have died countless others injured and the survivors ensuring the u.n. calls a humanitarian catastrophe. of them up who has destroyed everything around even in the neighboring villages we can rely only on kind of people they see lost bringing water tankers one or two tankers is not enough even for the ten family. were living happily inherit in the south the airstrikes began there. but no one helped us here i've got you see we heard no the mattresses no milk of the children . down there holkins has the broader picture on what's happening in yemen. a tripling of air strike numbers from twen

most were pakistani but it was an al qaeda operation. many people feel it was al qaeda's way of announcing to the world that they existed. what they did a few weeks before in 9/11, it was in the political world, the political kidnapping world, their way of saying we are here and they introduced a new form of political warfare. kidnappings per se started in 1983, hezbollah taking terry anderson and other journalists in beirut. post 9/11, the focus because those people held by hezbollah, it was never a ransom demand for any of them. they were used as pawns in the united states and france and that was the first time, the second side to the two sided, suicide bombing when the marine corps barracks in 1983 and then 10 minutes later they bombed, the first political suicide bombing in the afghan he theater took place in 1995, was orchestrated by the head of al qaeda, an interesting back story to that and i will come to that in a minute. the second kidnapping was nicholas berg, the young entrepreneur from pennsylvania went to iraq and he was kid

al qaeda is the main threat. at the same time may be start research to understand the complicity of jihadism p maybe it's possible. i don't know and at the same time to know that libya is much more complicated than iraq, so take care. >> thank you. it's interesting to seem out-- how much it's shaped by what's around it and coming into it especially comparison to nigeria. i was wondering if you could tackle the same questions in morocco. what are some of the threats you see? what are things we should be thinking about that perhaps are unique to that country? >> thank you very much for this invitation. i will try to answer three questions my presentation. purse, what level of threat regarding morocco. second,. [inaudible] finally, ce understand radicalization in morocco or chi was asked n to talk about how government and radicals, but i'm ready to answer in the q&a session, so the first question what is the current situation. morocco is safe. we might say that for the moment morocco is safe from imminent terrorist

you have to join forces with isis and al qaeda and whoever. i do not accept that. most syrian people do not accept that. >> why do you think the sunnis, and the shia, hate -- so much and do you think that one side is more involved with terrorism than the other? mr. al-assad: no, i don't believe any side is more involved than the other. they are both guilty, they are fighting for a stupid notion. a few thousand years ago who should have been the caliphate. after the death of the prophet. honestly, we cannot even -- it is 2017, you know, you people are -- i am sure that you have more important things to discuss and argue about than who is supposed to have taken the place after jesus christ was gone. it's silly. honestly. it is just silly. but it is something -- i think it is cultural. something that because of lack , of education in all of the middle east region, because of authoritarianism, not just in syria, but the middle east. it gets people uneducated people , to follow religious leaders. and those religious uneducated , leaders wait for the people in the mosque

you have to join forces with isis, al qaeda, whoever. most syrian people do not accept that. >> why do you think this sunnis directed so much. grexit believe they are both guilty as they are both fighting for a stupid notion. if you thousand years ago, who should have been the caliphate 2017.cannot even -- i know you have a lot more important things to discuss and that new is taking the place after jesus christ was gone. it is just silly. i think it is cultural. education,lack of and authoritarianism. all over the middle east. , uneducatedle people to follow religious leaders and those religious uneducated leaders wait for the people and brainwash them, teach them about this ideology that any normal person if you have lost everything in your life already would not adhere to. i always tell people lost everye -- a lot of people feel societal. fight and feel like they need to commit suicide. people go to psychiatrists and they get some medicine. they get better. in the middle east, even going and seeing a psychiatrist is bad because if some

is al qaeda coming in to fill that void with this new version of terrorism?> there is no question al qaeda sees this as an opportunity to reassert itself as the primary jihadists. there is an opportunity to copy what was successful as a propaganda perspective of isis. ideologically there is not much difference. but the overall goal of a global caliphate is the same. kennedy: to destroy freedom. >> it is to destroy freedom. we think about it being preposterous, they are playing a long game. not too long ago, they had a caliphate that was the most of powerful entity in the world. in the meantime we have to worry every time we buy and christmas present or walk around the streets in our hometown. kennedy: republicans are scrambling to finalize their tax plan. marsha blackburn does the path next. -- does the math next. it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same. but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some a

one hundred twenty strikes in twenty seventeen to remove key leaders and disrupt the ability of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and ices in yemen to use ungoverned spaces in yemen as a hub for terrorist recruiting training and base of operations to export terror worldwide artist and hawkins brings us the broader picture of what's happening in yemen. a tripling of air strike numbers from twenty six the official confirmation of boots on the ground something many politicians have been keen to avoid mentioning to avoid bad publicity with the yemeni conflict raging for nearly three years now and spanning two u.s. administrations american policy has some more devolved since the first days of the war what we need to do is bring all the parties together and find a political arrangement it is not solved by having another proxy war fought inside of yemen now aside from massive arms sales to saudi arabia what began as a logistical support and intelligence sharing as part of the saudi led coalition moved to supporting operations in an advise and assist role drone of planes strikes now multiple gro

capable to export violence around the world striking here at home and of our closest allies we saw al qaeda do this in afghanistan in 1990s through 911 and we also saw isis do the same thing from the false caliphate this is the reason why we help those fragile states in north africa build counterterrorism capacity to develop those capabilities to the point they can defend themselves without relying on assistance today isis is on the ropes with significant challenges remaining foreign terrorist fighters traveling to the war zone and al qaeda fillet -- affiliate so i will highlight the areas where the bureau has been working with the north african partners to address these and other problems. but first law enforcement and criminal justice. responsive governments are the important work against terrorism that is why we help partner nations develop appropriate legal frameworks to prosecute offenders to strengthen the ability to investigate and prosecute and adjudicate terrorism and also bills crisis response teams that are capable to respond in real time. for t4 . . . . we have also worked to st

i would think the center of gravity for al qaeda has shifted to syria.eaching this as china conducted flight operations for its first aircraft carrier this year, beijing boasts a fleet of warships similar in number to the u.s. navy that will overtake the united states by 2030 according to experts. >> china poses the greatest threat by 2025. >> reporter: the head of the us pacific command with a shortage of attack the marines necessary to indicate intelligence on china and north korea. if congress doesn't pass a budget next month expect those shortages to continue. at the pentagon, fox news. jillian: a landing goes horribly wrong thanks to icy conditions in boston. a jetblue plane packed with people slipping off the runway and spinning 180 ° before coming to rest between two runways, no one was hurt on the flight from georgia the passengers said it felt like the plane was doing donuts but they praised the pilot and crew for handling the situation. everyone on board safely evacuated and the plane was towed to the terminal. shinzo abe new anti-sexual harass

one hundred twenty strikes in twenty seventeen to remove key leaders and disrupt the ability of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and ices in yemen to use ungoverned spaces in yemen as a hub for terrorist recruiting training and base of operations to export terror worldwide well yemen has already been enduring deadly air strikes from the saudi led coalition since it intervened in early twenty fifteen backing the yemeni government against hoofy rebel uprising in that time more than ten thousand people are thought to have died countless others injured and with survivors ensuring what the u.n. calls a humanitarian catastrophe. help them up who has destroyed everything around even in the neighboring villages we can rely only on kind of people they see was bringing water tankers one or two tankers is not enough even for the ten found many of them. were living happily inherited when the saudi air strikes began there. no one helped us here i've got you see we heard now the mattresses no movement of the children. up next dan hawkins gives us the broader picture of what's happening in the country

>> it is a complex relationship between al qaeda and to run -- tehran. there are multiple power centers iran. a run -- you referred to some documents that we released, they showed this complex relationship and very clear support from iran and there is no reason to think that when opportunity strikes, if they have a chance to inflict iran will not hesitate. >> are they working with north korea? >> i would rather not say much. >> i'm with mike. [laughter] >> we have been pretty lucky with a lot of questions. i'm going to give you a final chance to wrap things up. tough.esday sounded wasirst of all, secretary one of the first phone calls i've made. repeatedly how to solve problems. all the former directors have been incredibly generous. it did not matter if they work for a democrat president or republican president, the mission to keep the united states safe is one that our team holds close to our hearts. it has been an incredible honor to were close to that. for inviting me to this conference event. i grew up not far from here and it is neat to be deco. --

al qaeda affiliates, like aqim. today i'm going to highlight several areas where the ct bureau and the rest of the state department have been working with our north african partners to address these and other problems. first, law enforcement and criminal justice. strong, stable, and responsive governments are an important bulwark against terrorism. that's why we help partner nations develop appropriate legal frameworks to effectively prosecute terrorist offenders. in particular, we strengthen our partners' ability to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate terrorism-related crimes. we also help them build crisis response teams that are capable of responding to terrorist attacks in realtime. second, border security. terrorists exploit long porous borders in remote and loosely governed parts of the continent. an important part of the solution to that problem is information sharing. for that reason, we've worked with our inner agency partners to conclude hspd-6 agreements with dozens of countries, including a number in n

that is exactly the kind of narrative that al qaeda seat to exploit. it doesn't get as much attention, but it is the largest militia group because of a the hodgepodge of the various organizations. so it was the 20,000 men hired through the liberation committee, control the strategic stride and meanwhile in the past three years al qaeda created a new branch in some confidence, so i'll qaeda is attempting to marshal its resources and kerry ocarryon the struggle that aftel was more than 20 years ago and remains a threat that even five years ago we faced one adversary that each of them have branches or franchise franchises that cre enormous challenges seen in the past couple of weeks and for example we have the military forces deployed. .. the silence your cell phones and follow us on social media. today we are here to talk about economics. don't worry i won't give you a lecture. i will leave you in the hands of our guest author, mr. bhu srinivasan. in his new book, "americana" he takes us through a 400 year-

moscow but is he totally committed to the obama clinton strategy of de facto supporting isis and al-qaeda linked groups against damascus is he really committed to obama style leadership president obama. did say that he was drawing a red line and then he took it away since the wrong message to our adversaries not just the syrian government but people around the world and so i think he had to adapt the play here scaramucci is republican evangelism arguably shows in his donations he was a proponent of the supreme court's twenty ten citizens united decision that allowed big money to attempt to rig elections he said of the decision that it activated a sleeper cell of hedge fund managers against obama allowing them to use their capital to influence the debate and since then he's donated vast amounts of money to various political campaigns before maxing out his donations to trump at one hundred thousand dollars he raised money for two other twenty sixteen republican presidential candidates scott walker and jeb bush his head and also donated money to mitt romney in two thousand and twelve and cal