we are getting the information of cnn's barbara starr. she reports an intercepted message of senior al qaeda operatives caused the concern. should know that cnn agreed to a request of a obama administration official not to go in to the details of the message. the closures of today, that's nearly passed, but on the sunday morning talk shows we saw something we don't always see. agreement between democrats and republicans who say no matter what happened today, they believe the administration did the right thing by shutting down those embassies and consulates. agreement ends, however, when it comes to how the u.s. gathers intelligence. of course, that's an issue in the forefront since nsa leaker snowden revealed the u.s. monitors u.s. domestic telephone. whether or not that program was used to uncover the latest threat, there's a platform for lawmakers who support and oppose the program. >> nsa program is proving its worth yet again. to reform the program, great. if you want to gut it, you make us much less safe and putting our nation at ris

joining me now with much more is cnn national security analyst fred townson, barbara starr who broke the story. barbara, tell me what you discovered. >> well, piers, in talking to someone who has a very immediate understanding of what transpired, they told me that these messages, these intercepted al qaeda messages by the u.s. intelligence community contained essentially code words, which the intelligence community interpreted correctly, it appears, as being a coded message among al qaeda oftives for signaling a potentially imminent attack. it was those code words, piers, that sparked the warning to close some 22 embassies and consulates because the u.s. had direct -- direct sense, a direct knowledge that the code words pointed to imminent, an imminent attack. what they didn't have was a good understanding at the time of exactly where and when, therefore, they had to close all embassies in the areas of greatest concern and as we know in recent days, it's really focused on yemen and we've seen a number of cia drone attacks in yemen killing about two dozen suspected al qaeda oftives in

barbara starr is live for us in washington with that new information. barbara, what do you have? >> well, fredricka, u.s. intelligence had been watching yemen for weeks, if not months, watching a growing series of threa threats, potential threats in yemen. that's not surprising. that's always been a tough neighborho neighborhood. but it was within the last two weeks that the u.s. intelligence community began to understand, come into possession if you will of an intercepted message among senior al qaeda operatives that indicated planning was under way, possibly the final stages of planning, we're told, for an attack either in yemen, middle east, or north africa. we've actually been asked by an obama administration official not to go into a lot of detail about all of this because it is so sensitive, so serious, it could put things at risk. intercepts are some of the most critical that the u.s. intelligence gathers. what are intercepts? it could be a cell phone conversation, website posting, chat room, a courier message. there's any number of ways that the u.s. would come to have kn

cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta and dana bash and barbara starr. da dana i'm going to start with you. how much do you think pressure had on the president's decision? what has it pure politics here too? >> there's no question it was a significant factor, not the only factor. it's impossible to say that because there's so many weighing on the president's decision. not the least of which what is happening on the international level but my understanding in talking to several senators who are on phone calls and briefings over the past few days with top obama officials is that the pressure really was mounting. not just from republicans and not just from aennti-war libera democrats from saying you have to come to congress. if this is not something that's dire and if it were, the strikes would have happened 24, 48 hours ago, you have to come to congress and get authority from us. that absolutely was a factor. the question is whether or not the president is going to regret this decision because if he doesn't get the votes in the house and the senate it will

barbara starr has more.t orders military action, there is a very specific sequence of events that takes in. what do you know? could we say? >> good evening anderson. it's called an execute order. that is what everyone is waiting for the president to sign and issue. when the execute order comes from the president it will come to the pentagon to cheuck hagel marty dempsey and go out to the fleet. there are five u.s. navy warships with the tomahawk cruise missiles in the eastern med. they will receive the order and execute it. what is it they will do to achieve the president's objectives, which he states to be detouring the use of chemical weapons, they will strike a series of targets, if ordered. this is all very much already in place. as i say, it's simply awaiting the president's orders at this point. >> do you know how long from the time that execute order is given to actually missiles going out is? >> that's a really interesting question because you know, the tomahawk missiles are programmed with gps coord

barbara starr broke the news and she's at the pentagon tonight. barbara, what more can you tell us? >> good evening, they are not only intercepts but those intercepts by all accounts now contain code words that signaled an attack might be imminent, this according to a u.s. sos who has an understanding and access to the latest intelligence about all of this. code words that signaled an attack might be imminent, but they didn't have an exact time, date, place. they didn't know what u.s. installation might be hit, so that is what led to the closing of some 22 embassies and consulates across the middle east and north africa until they could narrow it down to yemen. now we see that focus on yemen. we've seen a number of drone strikes in recent days going after suspected al qaeda terrorists, but it all began with these intercepted communications and, of course, there's the irony, it was intercept conducted by the national security agency, which is under so much criticism from so many quarters now. erin? >> all right, barbara starr, thank you very much for that breaking news. >>> i want to

a source familiar with the latest intelligence telling barbara starr u.s.zed a number of specific words they believed signalled a potentially imminent attack. three interceptsot

barbara starr at the pentagon, jill dougherty at the white house, nick payton wash at the united nations in new york and fred pleitgen joining us from beirut, lebanon. let's begin at the pentagon. barbara, what moves has the military already made to get in place for any possible strikes? >> well, fred, by all accounts everything is in place. it's simply awaiting a decision from the president to execute an order to strike. there are still five u.s. navy warships in the eastern mediterranean, about 40 tomahawk cruise missiles on each of them. these are very precise weapons guided to their preplanned targets by satellite coordinates, 1,000-pound warheads on them, so very lethal. the target list, by all accounts, will include command and control centers, regime elements, weapons delivery systems areas, that sort of thing. anything they can get after that they can tie to potential chemical weapons attack or the regime itself and its efforts to engage in chemical weapons attacks. so that's what we're looking at. but still, at this hour it awaits officially a decision from the president. he has

i want to go now to the pentagon and our barbara starr. d, barbara, one of the key questions that people have been asking since the president's statement is this, what would a delay mean for assad and syria? might he take advantage of it and how would the u.s. be willing to respond to that? >> well, we've been talking to sources here at the pentagon about just that question, john. not a lot of good answers just yet. one that senior official who has been very involved in all of this say i want to quote here, says if the syrian regime thinks they will gain by any delay, they will be sorely mistaken. but what does that really mean? the key question on the table, if the syrian regime were to undertake another gas attack or chemical attack against its own people, how would the u.s. then respond before any congressional action? and nobody really knows the answer. that's the question on the table for president obama, what would he do? another senior official say they will be able to cope with any movement of syrian forces around the country and an

barbara starr, our pentagon correspondent, listened very carefully. it doesn't look like there will be any u.s. military action, barbara, until congress comes back from its recess. that would be monday, september 9 unless they accelerate it and come back earlier. they could do that in the senate, maybe, not necessarily in the house. so the military, they have some time, another 10, 15 days, maybe a month, as the president said, to go ahead and continue planning, rehearsing and practicing. >> yeah, but the problem is, they don't really need to plan, rehearse and practice, do they? even the president says the joint chief said we're ready to go. that's what we've been hearing all week that they're on a hair trigger, the missiles are loaded, the targets are loaded and they're ready to move. i think it will become a very interesting question of military strategy. in all my years of covering the pentagon, i've not seen it play out this way. you look at the target list, it's there in front of everybody. the president said they were ready and nothing happened.

our own barbara starr joins us now from the pentagon with the details. barbara, we're talking hundreds of thousands of lives here. >> john, if this worked it could be huge around the world. the navy along with the national institute of health and a pharmaceutical company have now tested a vaccine for malaria they say provides 100% protection. that is amazing. it's a very small sample. they have a lot more testing to do. this may be a very significant step forward as you know. 3.3 billion people around the world live in areas at risk of malaria. 660,000 people a year die from this. u.s. troops very involved because, of course, they travel all over the world and they encounter this in the populations in the countries they go to. so it's a military necessity. it's a global health necessity. and if this vaccine were to work, a real step forward in the humanitarian world. of course, other entities working on it as well. bill and me lylinda gates, foundation, for example, funding millions of dollars in research in trying to fight malaria. >> potentially wonder

barbara starr explains how this all came about. >> reporter: the cia and the national security agency has been secretly monitoring intelligence tips for weeks. there was indications of a possible terrorist attack, a stronghold of one of al qaeda's deadliest affiliates. alarm bells went off across washington when a crucial message was intercepted involving communications in the last several days among senior al qaeda operatives. >> this is a wake up call. al qaeda is stronger than it was on 9/11. >> reporter: final planning for an attack may be complete. dozens of u.s. intelligence analysts are scouring databases, tell telephones and websites. chuck hagel ordered u.s. forts in spain and italy onto a higher state of alert. 1500 marines on three navy warships will remain off the coast of yemen ready to react. cnn has agreed to an official requests to with hold details of an intercept that helped trigger a response because the information is so sensitive. it's the controversial nsa, electronic surveillance program that picked up the alarming terrorist chatter. >> what we have heard is som

barbara starr at the pentagon with this. barbara, what are you learning? >> brooke, u.s. guard embassies around the world will be extra cautious one can only expect since the state department made this announcement a little while ago. that this sunday, august 4th, a number of u.s. embassies and consulates around the world will be closed. i want to read you what the state department said. it said, pardon me, it said the department has been apprised of information that out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installation indicates we should institute these precautionary steps. they are not yet saying what embassies, what consulates, in what countries. they are not saying precisely why. people have noted sunday is coming towards the end of ramadan, the holy month in the islamic calendar. but they are warning that some embassies and consulates around the world will be closed. americans traveling overseas on vacation certainly could logon, look at the embassy web page in the country they're visiting and find out the status o

again, congressional leaders get that information in two hours, but our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has been working her sources and has something of a preview now. barbara, just what have you learned? >> let's unlock that intelligence dossier just a little bit here. first up, what we now know is that the u.s. has intercepts after the attack of syrian generals talking amongst themselves about the use of chemicals in this attack that happened last week. that's a very strong piece of evidence that underscores the administration's conclusion that the regime was behind it. but was bashar al assad's hand really on the button? did he give the order? that is less clear we are told. officials won't say whether assad had his finger on the button. they say if they talked about that, it would give up too much of the classified intelligence. but congressman mike rogers, republican chairman of the house intelligence committee in an upcoming interview in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer tells wolf that at least the sense of it is assad may have given his generals permission to use chemical

barbara starr has more. barbara, if the president orders military action, there is a series of events that kick in. what can we say about it? >> reporter: there is indeed. it's called an execute order. that's what everyone is waiting for, for the president to sign and issue that order. when it comes from the president, it will come here to the pentagon to defense secretary chuck hagel, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and then go out to the fleet. there are five u.s. navy warships with those tomahawk cruise missiles. they will receive the woorder a execute it. they will strike a series of targets, if ordered. this is all very much already in place. as i say, it simply awaits the president's orders at this point. >> do you know how long from the time that execute order is given to missiles going out is? >> that's an interesting question. the tomahawk missiles are programmed with g.p.s. coordinated guided by the satellite to the very precise target they're intended to hit. that's why everybody talks

barbara starr joins us with more. how badly did they fail and how dangerous is this? >> reporter: it is a problem, no mistake about it, jake, for the u.s. air force. this is an air force wing in montana, about 150 minuteman interintercontinental ballistic missile. they will not tell us exactly what "tactical errors" were made that led to the fail mark on the inspection. they say the nuclear weapons were always safe. but, jake, this is the second of three wings, there's only three nuclear wings in the u.s. air force, two of them so far this year, this is number two, have failed security and safety inspections, another one earlier this year at minot, north dakota. in that case 17 members of the military were removed from their positions after that wing failed. so the big question here, i think people agree the nuclear weapons are safe, that's what the air force tells us. no indication they're not, but are procedures just getting lax in the nuclear community? >> what does this mean for national security? >> what it means for the pentagon and national security is the worr

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> with the u.s. seemingly on the verge of a military strike against syria, what is going on inside that country? fred spent the last few days in the syrian capital monitoring developments from beirut, lebanon. fred, bring us up to speed. >> reporter: hi, christine. i left that country an hour and a half ago. you can tell how the rhetoric toned down a lot over the past couple days. a couple days ago they would have said we are going defend ourselves and stand-up to america. now it sounds more subdued. a lot of people are trying to leave the country now. i wouldn't say it's an exodus but for a couple days, we are going try to leave syria and come back when things turn down a little bit. we were out on the streets of the syrian capital to gauge the mood of people. they are nervous. let's have a look at what some people had to say. even with u.s. warships ready to strike off syria's coach, it's certain they used chemical weapons on their people. at first glance, damascus doesn't appear to be on the edge.

joining me to talk about this is cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. ara, great to have you on the show. thanks for joining us. given that you're the pentagon correspondent reporting this, gives us some idea of where this is all coming from, but who made this announcement? >> well, actually, it came from the u.s. navnavy, along with th national institutes of health and a pharmaceutical company. they've been working on it for some time, and even the bill and melinda gates foundation that you know so well has been involved in some of this work. it's important for the u.s. troops around the world and they encounter malaria very often. basically what they've done in this very small study is achieve 100% protection against malaria, very small population, but it's a real beginning and if they can scale it up, if they can get some large-scale testing done, if they can get it licensed, get it into production, it may be something that makes a real difference. >> yeah. i mean, you've probably taken some of the existing drugs to prevent malaria in all your travels

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> well, let's bring in tom fuentes, our law enforcement analyst, a former assistant fbi director and, as far as working overseas, he was on interpol's executive committee for many years. tom, good to see you. about these embassy closures, it's absolutely huge that this is actually going on. what does it tell you about the intel they have? >> hi, anna. yes, it is unprecedented for them simultaneously i think we could say the threat is credible but they would have intercepted conversations with senior al qaeda members discussing possible attacks on u.s. facilities or western interests, to coincide with the end of the ramadan holiday, which is tomorrow. but i think the problem is here is that it's a broad warning. they don't have a spiecific tim, place, embassy in mind or western interest in mind. and when you talk about al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, their attacks on us have been aviation type attacksor the underwear bomber trying to bomb the plane over detroit at christmastime 2009, later mailing the explosive petn packages at a later date. aqap

let's begin with our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. the russian foreign ministry just put out a statement reacting to secretary of state kerry and other things, the russians saying washington statements threatening to apply force to syria are unacceptable, even u.s. allies have called for taking a break to wait for the u.n. expects to complete the work in order to get an obje objective picture what happened there. what's the latest you're hearing about a u.s. military strike? >> well, look, wolf from the u.s. point of view, their contention at the white house is they have the information in hand that could lead the president to make that decision. what we are waiting for at the pentagon is ed essentially an execute order from the president. in other words, he signs the papers and says go ahead and do it. that would then come here to the pentagon, be sent out to the fleet and the next steps that you would then most likely see would be tomahawk missiles being launched from five navy warships in the eastern mediterranean. this awaits the

barbara starr joins us from the pentagon. what are your sources saying about the existence of the sources there, whether they are in the country or not, the target attacks may take place and also whether what they find matters in this whole equation, barbara. >> well, ashleigh, i think first on the question of the inspectors still being in syria, regardless of the public statements, the u.s. is going to want to see the u.n. inspectors out of the country and the general language we are hearing is that they would be out by saturday morning syrian time. that, of course, being later tonight east coast time in the united states, about seven hours time difference. they are going to want to see them out of there. they are bringing out additional information, additional samples but there are some samples that are already out of the country, we are told by our sources and being analyzed tissue and other samples. those kind of forensics are the most definitive evidence that they can come up with but not necessarily would an attack have

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joining us now from the pentagon. so, barbara, what kind of strain does this put on the military's really already strained resources? >> well, brianna, you know, go back to that picture you showed a minute ago of defense secretary chuck hagel arriving at the pentagon -- pardon me, at the white house, and at his side was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general marty dempsey, the top militaried a adviser to the president. general dempsey himself has been two opposed very publicly to an extended military campaign in regards to syria, but is going to undertake, of course, whatever the president orders in this instance, and all indications are that it will be limited. that's what the president is talking about. military families war weary. the pentagon, you know, stretched to the limit over the last several years. but the president is laying out a case at least at this point publicly for very limited option, and that would be these five warships in the eastern mediterranean with their tomahawk cruise missiles, ve

barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, can you tell us what exactly was in that message that got officials to go ahead with this unprecedented shutdown? >> reporter: well, erin, good evening. the message was from ayman zawahiri, the leader of al qaeda in pakistan, and it was to a man named nasser al wahishi. first of all, you have this unprecedented link between the core al qaeda group back in pakistan and this growing al qaeda presence in yemen. the message by all accounts was very specific in terms of sa wa zawahiri saying do something. do something big, do something now, and that set off alarm bells across washington. this is some of the most sensitive intelligence that the u.s. has. in fact we want to be very clear. cnn had this information over the weekend. we made a decision not to broadcast a lot of specific detail because the government had some concerns about the security risk potentially, potentially involved. but then other news agencies, including "the new york times" and the mcclatchy news service publ

we'll get more now from cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon. >> reporter: in an extraordinary move the u.s. is closing embassies around the world after what one senior u.s. official told cnn was more than the usual chatter about a potential terrorist threat. >> the department has been apprised of information that out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installation. indicates we should institute these precautionary steps. >> the move comes as the holy days that mark the end of ramadan approach at merely a year after the deadly attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, libya. now the embassy in the capital tripoli -- >>> from egypt where nearly a year ago violent protests threaten the embassy in cairo to tel aviv, baghdad, riyad and doha, qatar. they said it would have been normally open on sunday, and it's being shut down, and the closings may expand to include additional days. another official told cnn the obama administration is monitoring threats against the american embassy in yemen. the move came on the same day president obama me

barbara starr is live at the pentagon. i'm wondering if the pentagon is as much involved in the case for war or making the case at least as they have been just getting busy getting ready. in the meantime, when you ponder that question, look at this report on the entire scenario. >> reporter: president obama says he hasn't decided what to do but is determined to hold syria accountable. >> we want the assad regime to understand that by using chemical weapons against your own people, against women, against infants, against children, that you are not only breaking international norms and standards of decency, but you're creating a situation where u.s. national interests are affected. and that needs to stop. >> reporter: in an interview with the peanut buttbs "news ho president left no doubt as to who the united states believes concluded the attacks. >> we believe the syrian government carried these out. >> reporter: commanders discussing the movement of chemical weapons to the area of the attack provided by israeli intelligenc

we bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. if the president gave the order, how soon would the military be ready to go? >> reporter: the military says, especially with the fire warships say they are ready very quickly to go. what this waits for now, john, is an execute order from the president, the president saying "go." once that happens, the order goes to the pentagon and goes out to commanders in the fleet and they will be ready very quickly because these cruise missiles that would theoretically launch of a these five warships, they are guided to their targets by satellite coordinates. so a lot of this is already preprogrammed to go after those syrian targets that the president knows are the military option on the table. syrian targets commanding control, chemical weapons delivery sites, not the chemical weapons themselves, of course, because that could cause a catastrophe, regime targets, to go after things that could be identified by the white house, by the pentagon as being associated directly with this chemical weapons

becky anderson, abu dhabi, barbara starr. i hope you both and all will stick with us. we want to move on to republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina. senator, first, as you watch this unfold, what does it -- what is your general impression here? this looks -- if you're an ordinary american, looks pretty scary. >> well, i had a briefing with the vice president. it is scary. al qaeda's on the rise in this part of the world. the nsa program is proving its worth yet again. but we need to reevaluate where we're at in light of these threats. sequestration has to be fixed. if this happens a year from now, intelligence community and military will be less capable. afrikom needs to be beefed up. that's where the war is going. we're about to withdraw from afghanistan. i don't want afghanistan to become iraq where we withdraw our troops and the terrorists come back. i appreciate what the administration is doing. they're taging the right approach to this. benghazi was a complete failure. the threats were real there. the reporting was real. and we basically dropped the ba

let's go live to barbara starr at the pentagon for the latest on this security threat. t's not over, barbara. >> absolutely not, kate. it did begin over the weekend with 22 u.s. embassies and consulates around the world being shut down as we now learn more details here at cnn. those details are chilling. >>> the cia and the national security agency had been secretly monitoring intelligence tips for weeks. there were indications of a possible terrorist attack in yemen. a strong hold of one of al qaeda's deadliest affiliates. alarm bells went off across washington when a crucial message was intercepted involving communications in the last several days amongst senior al qaeda operatives. >> and this is your wake-up call. al qaeda is in many ways stronger than it was in 9/11. >> final planning for an attack may be complete. dozens of u.s. intelligence analyst res urgently scouring databases, telephone interceptions and websites for clues. the u.s. response, going beyond a worldwide travel warning and closing embassies across the middle east and north africa. after meeting wi

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr has the latest. , barbara. >> good morning, chris. this may be the most significant largest shutdown of u.s. embassies around the world since the 9/11 attacks. the u.s. is closing embassies around the world after what one senior u.s. official told cnn was more than the usual chatter about a potential terrorist threat. >> the department has been apprised of information that out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations indicates we should institute these precautionary steps. >> reporter: the move comes as the holy days that mark the end of ramadan approach and nearly a year after the deadly attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, libya. now the u.s. embassy in tripoli will be closed, other embassies in the middle east posted they will be shut. from egypt where nearly a year ago violent protests threatened the embassy in cairo to tel aviv, baghdad, riyad and doha, qatar, ul embassies that "would have been normally open on sunday are being shut

barbara starr joins me now. barbara, this is a big breakthrough.>> this is a big deal, brooke. the u.s. navy announcing a short time ago along with the federal government and the medical industry they have developed what they believe is the first ever complete vaccine against malaria. now, it is in the development stages. they are working on it. but the first trials they have completed have shown 100% protection against malaria. they will have to work on this. they will have to get it into a shape that it can be administered to patients or troops in the field. why is this so huge? well, of course, as you can well imagine, u.s. troops travel all over the world. especially navy troops. to many areas where there is malaria. malaria is a killer around the world. 3.3 billion people live in areas where they are at the risk of getting malaria around the world. there were 219 million cases of malaria in 2010 alone. about 660,000 people around the world lost their lives due to malaria. so this is a massive development. if they can get 100% protection with t

and this is something that as barbara starr has been saying, there are multiple pentagon assets ready and deployed, they're ready to go. even the president said that, there are ships in the mediterranean. these are stand-off weapons. this is not a war being contemplated, and i just think this is a very interesting development, to see whether this, in fact, now will take place given how lengthily a strike has been telegraphed with precise targets with aim. we'll see. >> you had a fascinating interview on your show the other day, christiane, where the top military agents official, and a lot of our viewers probably aren't aware that over the last year or so, year and a half, the israelis launched at least four air strikes against various targets in syria, and back in 2007, they launched an air strike that took out a syrian nuclear reactor. they did it without any public discussion, they did it without any confirmation. they just sent their air force in, they just did it, they succeeded in their mission, they got out, there was no syrian retaliation. the israelis could do it because they'

barbara starr is following the developments live from the pentagon this morning. the latest alert, barbara, coming hours ago. >> reporter: absolutely, kate. the state department warning americans in yemen get out now. leave immediately. with this high terrorist threat, the embassy has reduced personnel. there won't be enough american government personnel to help citizens if trouble were to break out. why is this happening? what do we now know about the terrorist threat? a message from the head of al qaeda in paecket to another man in yemen named wawishy who is head in yemen and he was appointed two weeks ago. a message intercepted and that message said basically do something. do something now. this is what set off alarm bells across washington a few days ago. the feeling is that al qaeda and yemen now really in the final stages of planning something and it is a race to figure out what it is that they are planning. kate, chris? >> barbara, thanks so much. >>> hours after being suspended from baseball for performance-enhancing drugs, alex rodriguez woo in the lineup

cnn correspondent barbara starr is joining us now from the pentagon.ing about that the pentagon would want to do to the syrian military? and can they do that now that the syrian military has been given essentially a heads up? >> well, what you start with is the president of the united states. what is his goal? what is his strat swri? by the president's own words, his plan is to do something to deter future use of chemical weapons. the target list that the pentagon is going to work off of will try to meet that objective. by all accounts, that means they will go after specific things that they believe were associated with this attack or associated with the chemical weapons structure. so look for command and control facilities. weapons delivery facilities, not maybe the chemical weapons themselves. those are very hard to strike, because you can cause a catastrophe. those kinds of targets. and it will be done by the five navy war ships in the eastern mediterranean with the tomahawk cruise missiles because those missiles are guided to their target by satell

barbara starr reports that in the middle east, u.s.ligence is closely watching for a terrorist reaction. >> i qaeda is stronger than it was from 911. >> dozens of intelligence in detail are scowling and databases and telephone intercepts. they are going on here for clothes. the u.s. response is going beyond and closing embassies across the areas. the press secretary stated that he ordered the forces to a higher state of alert. 1500 marines are on board. they will now remain off the coast of yemen ready to react. cnn has agreed to withhold details of the intercepts. they stated that the information is so sensitive. the top republican on the committee stated that the controversial role in as a surveillance program that picked up this chatter. >> we have heard that they have what is intended to be done as some individuals who are making plans such as, before 911. >> >> a lottery ticket worth more than $1.1 million was sold at a milpitas gas station, lottery officials announced. the winning california lottery ticket was sold at landess arc

let's go to barbara starr. >> good morning.g at the white house may be a sign that the administration is willing to change some of the program but they are not willing so far to give it up. the obama administration under attack for its surveillance programs. national security agency director keith alexander heckled. >> i haven't lied to congress. >> reporter: while congress questions is the nsa spying on us? who is accountable for edward snowden's leaks? >> anybody offered or asked to resign because of the failure? >> no one. >> reporter: the administration declassified more documents in an effort to show the surveillance is vital to national security. even as a new article unveiled more material from snowden about a program called x-keyscore. >> allows nsa analysts with no oversight, no supervision prior to their search to enter whatever they want to enter, an e-mail address, key words. they can then discover your internet communications. >> i sit at my desk have the authorities to wire tap anyone. >> analyst jim lewis says no

we're covering all the angles this morning, beginning with cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon. a. >> good morning, kate. the obama administration is expected to make its evidence public in the coming hours. the big question, however, will they be able to pin this attack directly on bashar al assad. president obama says he hasn't decided what to do, but is determined to hold syria accountable. >> we want the assad regime to understand that by using chemical weapons on a large scale against your own people, against women, against infants, against children, that you are not only breaking international norms and standards of decency, but you're also creating a situation where u.s. national interests are affected. that needs to stop. >> reporter: in an interview with the pbs news hour, the president left no doubt who the u.s. believes ordered the chemical weapons attacks. >> we have concluded that the syrian government, in fact, carried these out. >> reporter: among the evidence syrian commanders discussing the movement of chemical weapons to the area of the attack, provided by israe

. >> barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> we are also learning that the united states is by far the world leader when it comes to requests for information about personal twitter accounts, now according to twitter the obama administration targeted over 1300 accounts during the first six months of this year, the company said that most of the inquiries were for e-mail and i.p. addresses. 78% of those requests coming from the u.s. government. >>. >>> good news for students and their parents. the house giving overwhelming approval to recent doubling of federal student loans. the compromise measure does tie interest rates on student loans to the financial markets. the bill goes to the president. he's expected to sign it. >>> if cnn can find him, why can't the u.s. government, republican lawmakers demanding answers from the fbi after cnn was able to locate and interview a suspected ring leader from the u.s. in benghazi. is willing to meet with the fbi if he's asked. >>> after the long-delayed middle east peace talks started, john kerry is making his first trip to pakistan. he's expected to

officials and barbara starr got that for us. barbara, what did they say?the very initial reaction coming in. i have spoken to u.s. official familiar with all of this and he said we're not shocked, we're not even surprised. what he is telling me is behind the scenes, the russians have been signaling this for some time that this was their intention. behind the scenes u.s. and russian officials have been talking for weeks. they call it counterpart to counterpart and state department to foreign ministry and white house to kremlin and cia department of justice to russian security services. and in these private communications, the russians apparently have been signaling this is the way they are going to go. what we do not know yet, of course, is whether russian president vladimir putin spoke to president obama and told him this was happening today. we don't know that yet, we don't have that information yet. but not a surprise to u.s. officials. the question now, where does the u.s. relationship go with the russians? will there still be that close cooperation on

more from barbara starr. >> reporter: in and extraordinary move, the u.s.ound the world after what one senior u.s. official told cnn was more than the unusual chatter about a potential terrorist threat. >> the department has been apprised of information that out of an abundance of caution and care for our employees and others who may be visiting our installations indicates we should institute these precautionary steps. >> reporter: the move comes as the holy days that mark the end of ramdadan approach and nearlya year after the attack on the u.s. embassy in mbengacy and now tripoli will be closed. other embassies in the middle east also posted they will be shut. from egypt, where nearly a year ago violent protests threatened the embassy in cairo, to televiv, baghdad, riad and qatar. all embassies quote normally would have been open on sunday will be shut down and the closings may expand to include additional days. another official told cnn the obama administration is monitoring threats against the american embassy in yemen. the move came on the same day pre

barbara starr has the latest for us. good morning barbara. >> good morning. it began with 22 embassies being closed for the weekend. the details are chilling. the cia and the national security agency had been secretly monitoring intelligence tips for weeks. indications of a possible terrorist attack in yemen. alarm bells went off across washington when a crucial message was intercepted involving communications in the last several days among senior al qaeda operatives. >> al qaeda is stronger than it was before 9/11. >> reporter: final planning for an attack may be complete. intelligenceage cysts are scouring data bases for clues. the u.s. response, going beyond worldwide travel warning and closing embassies across the middle east and africa after meeting with defense commanders, chuck hagel ordered them on a higher state of alert. 1300 marines on board warships will remain off the coast of yemen ready to react. cnn agreed to an administration official's request to with hold details that helped trigger the response because the information is so sensitive. the

>> barbara starr, thank you very much. much more on this directive with regard to u.s. f the hour. barbara, thank you. >>> a star doctor was trying to get pregnant. her husband allegedly tricked her into taking a concoction to help her conceive. dr. autumn died suddenly of cyanide poisoning back in april. klein's husband has pleaded not guilty in his wife's poisoning death. poppy harlow has been tracking this one. she also talked to the wife's friends, neighbors. poppy, what do you know? >> reporter: hey there, brooke. this is a suspected murder mystery that has rocked pittsburgh involving two star doctors. a husband and a wife. and after a three-month investigation police allege the doctor murdered his wife, dr. autumn klein, a lethal dose of cyanide. he's sitting in the jail behind me facing criminal charges he denies. new details in the suspected murder mystery. for the first time we're hearing how the doctor allegedly prepared his wife creatine regimen. he prepared five crams of creatine in the morning to take in the morning or evening by mixing it into a sugary drin

let's go straight to barbara starr. she's got the details. what are you learning, barbara? >> reporter: the air force now says that one of its nuclear wings responsible for one third of the nation's intercontinental nuclear ballistic missile has failed a safety and surety inspection at its base in montana. this inspection was conducted over several days. they say there were several tactical errors. they will not tell us exactly what those errors were. they say that that is classified. wolf, this is the second major problem for two of the air force's nuclear wings this year. earlier this spring another wing at minot, north dakota did so poorly on a test, 17 members of the air force were removed from their jobs there and had to go through certification. so where we stand is it would have the air force's three wings responsible for those minute man three icbm missiles servicing serious problems this year, now raising questions yet again. is the nuclear program flipping? you know the air force says the nuclear weapons are safe and security but are procedures getting lax, are pe

this is coming from barbara starr reporting an intercepted message that came in the past few days caused the concern. cnn agreed to a request not to go into details about the message because of the sensitivity but we know that this message was a critical factor in leading to the shutdown but not the only factor. u.s. officials have seen increased threats from yemen for weeks and today is an important day on the muslim calendar. and there have been in this region major prison breaks, leaving al qaeda members behind bars now unaccounted for. this was an unprecedented move and on the sunday morning talk shows we saw something we didn't see in washington, agreement between democrats and republicans who said they think the administration did the right thing. president obama was at camp david much of the weekend celebrating his birthday but he is back in washington now. the white house says he has been briefed about the threat and his national security team has met to discuss it. >>> we are keeping an eye on this developing story out of pakistan. a red alert was issued for the capital city of

pentagon correspondent barbara starr following that angle for us. barbara, what is the latest? michaela, the u.s. military says it is ready to go, simply awaiting orders from president obama to strike syria if those orders are to come. we expect later today now that the administration will make public at least part of its intelligence assessment backing up its view that the syrian regime was behind this chemical attack that killed so many people there last week. one of the key questions on the table was bashar al assad's finger on the button? did he order the attack personally? that's one of the big pieces of information, but the administration is saying it doesn't matter really whether he did or not. they have intercepts, they have information that they say is solid that the syrian regime was behind the attack. michaela? >> more details to come, barbara starr thank you. >>> the pennsylvania police chief who got suspended after firing off his guns and his mouth in a youtube rant, he'll be on hand for a special council meeting tonight, the gilbertton burough council suspended ch