i want to get to barbara starr. barbara, one of the missions was in libya. the other in somalia.somalian mission first because we are not exactly sure if the person they were going after, this high ranking member of al shabaab was captured. >> that's exactly right. the navy s.e.a.l. team that went into the town in southern central somalia made a decision to leave before they could confirm they killed the man they were going after. they certainly did not capture him. they made what they are calling the prow dent decision to withdrawal from the town because they came into a very hostile environment. they came under fire. it's not the case that a team of navy s.e.a.l.s is going to get overwhelmed, they are going to be able to deal with whatever they come up against, but they are going to make a prudent decision to withdrawal rather than engage in extended fights where they are going to have to engage what they believe to be a civilian population, hostile as it may be, regular somalis who live in the area. they don't want to get involved in that. they don't want to get into that situ

barbara starr, are you there? i want to reiterate for the people who may be tuning in. a back. breaking news on cnn, these are pictures playing out. cnn confirmed u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s may have carried al shabaab's leader in somalia. we are following this story with the pentagon correspondent and with peter bergen, who is our national security analyst. i wa to tell you, this group is the same group that claimed responsibility for carrying out the deadly terror attack on kenya's westgate mall last month. peter, let's continue on until we get barbara starr back. barbara is getting more information. what happens if they have killed this leader, then what is next? obviously, it hampers the progress of this group, one of their top lieutenants is no longer there. what does it mean for al shabaab? >> caller: it's hard to say. killing osama bin laden didn't end al qaeda but if you kill a lot of bin laden's people, you have a case where the bench is -- it's hard to replace people in their 30s or 40s with a lot of experience and certainly with al qaeda central, a policy of decapitat

barbara starr, great reporting tonight.ugh this here on cnn this evening. i'm don lemon in new york. thank you so much for joining us. continue to watch us for updates. [ singing in spanish ]

barbara starr has details. i want what can you tell us about that? what we know is of course president obama was monitoring both operations very carefully in somalia. the mission was led by members of s.e.a.l. team 6. they are the covert navy unit that went into southern somalia, into an al shabab tronghold, but came under heavy fire and had to abort the mission before being able to determine whether they killed their target. this was a high-risk effort. the s.e.a.l.s came ashore off actually a commercial vessel. they got into small boats and came ashore. they were trying to stay as under the radar as they could, not be noticed, but apparently they were. that's when the firefighter erupted. it remains to be seen how much the s.e.a.l.s were able to accomplish. they got out. we are told no s.e.a.l.s wounded in the mission. >> there was also another mission in libya. what are the chances they two were coordinated? i want i think at the moment it is most likely they were not specifically coordinated. the target in libya was a key al qaeda operative that

. >> barbara starr, thank you very much. >>> now back to libya. our report he spoke exclusively today, she joins us now. what did she say to you? >> she defended her husband. said that she is an innocent man. she did admit that he was a member of al qaeda but she said, he left the organization in 1996 after serving alongside osama bin laden. she said he served as a personal bodyguard to bin laden. but then in '96, she said they were in sedan. he left the country and the organization. and since then she claims he has had no contact with any members of al qaeda. and shem he left two years before the bombings that you mentioned, the u.s. embassy in eastern africa. so she said he was not involved in the bombings or any other bombings. she claim her husband was not linked to any terrorist activity. she said yes, he took part in jihadist activity in afghanistan years before but that he was not involved in any of the major bombings. >> thank you very much. we appreciate your reporting as well. now back to the new terror group al shabab. base in the somal

barbara starr is in washington. nic robertson is in libya.talk about approval? >> what we know is that some weeks ago the libyan government or elements of it gave the united states tests that approval to go after benghazi suspects. they also had approval to go after the guy they grabbed over the weekend. what we are talking about is a very sensitive agreement with the libyans that the u.s. has that they can go in if they have enough information to try and grab one of the people they want. the libyan government may not know the exact time, date, and place and may not know it very broadly but there's an agreement that, yes, we understand you are going to come do this. the thing that's so sensitive right now is the guy that the u.s. probably would like to get the most is a guy named katalla. he is sort of number one on the list of suspects in that attack on the benghazi compound last year, the u.s. diplomatic compound that the u.s. would like to get. he's been openly living in benghazi. our own arwa damon interviewed him. is there still enough s

barbara starr is live for us right now from the pentagon. barbara, what gives? >> yeah.ense secretary chuck hagel wants his people back at work. that's what he's saying. in fact, issuing a statement today saying most of them will be coming back next week. here's how it breaks down. government wide, about 800,000 civilians furloughed. about half of those, 400,000, work for the department of defense. but last week when congress passed a law allowing the troops to be paid, it opened the door to the civilians also being paid. so they've been working on that behind the scenes for the last few days. now all the lawyering is done, all the paperwork, all the legalities are done. and what they are doing is they can't bring back everybody but the law now they believe will allow them to bring back people directly involved in helping military familys and helping the troops in doing things that would hurt the troops in the future if they weren't done right now. so think of it this way. a company that is making the blackhawk helicopter, for example, a major defense contractor, they we

i want to bring on barbara starr.ow is it explained that libyans worked in convention with the forces to get al libi? >> no pentagon officials are talking about this publicly. this was u.s. administration that told us it was u.s. delta force that conducted the raid. the pentagon officially isn't saying a word about any of this. administration officials we're talking to are making it very clear. it was a mission led, conducted by u.s. specs operations forces. there may have been a translator along with them. they often operate that way but don't do joint operation. there is absolutely no indication there was any kind of joint operation with libyan forces. i guess you have to think of it with way. if the u.s. commando was on the street with his face uncovered in tripoli in the middle of an operation, i think there's a fairly good chance that u.s. troop has some sort of disguise, wig, makeup, something to disguise his normal features. these guys don't show their face in public in the middle of an operation. don. >> we ha

barbara starr, washington. >>> your opinion of lawmakers really not good at all.e most telling poll is new poll that shows 6 in 10 americans say they would vote to kick out every single member of congress including their own representative. this next number what might be forcing the movement we have seen the last 24 hours. voters blame republicans in congress for the shutdown. more than the president. that 22.gap there is bigger than it was at any point during the shutdown when newt gingrich in the '90s right there. republicans clearly suffering here. the poll was conducted wednesday night, monday through wednesday before word of the latest talks between the president and the republicans. >> people are frustrated. >> they really are. >> 36 minutes past the hour. other news now. >>> the operator of a texas fertilizer plant where a powerful explosion in april killed 15 has been cited for dozens of serious safety violations, including unsafe handling and storage of chemicals. investigators believe that contributed to that blast that was so massive, is registered at a

i brandt to bring in barbara starr. barbara has been covering this from the beginning and doing terrific looking into this. listen, let's talk about responding to these claims that libyans possibly worked in conjunction with u.s. forces to get al libi, is that so? >> the way they work is they will take a specialist very familiar with the local language culture and customs with them. but a joint operation, these kinds of covert u.s. military units typically don't operate jointly because when they go into an area that is so dangerous that they are required to be there. usually it means they don't trust the local government or there is no local government even there. so maybe they have somebody there who spoke in a local way. but working with the libyans, officially, a little doubtful there was any kind of real formal arrangement based on what we see. just think of it this way. if one of these operatives was on the streets of libya in the middle of one of the operations, surely they would have been disguised, wouldn't allow

and barbara starr is outfront. >> reporter: ryan has been on edge for days.s one of more than 3 million wound veterans who are worried they won't get their next check because of the government shutdown. he has a message for all politicians about what veterans are facing if the checks don't arrive. >> it means that they may go broke. they may have that extra financial stress on an already emotionally stressed life. in worst-case scenarios, that sue sides go up. we're talking about a population of veteran that are not seeking out the mental health care they so desperately needs. >> reporter: he knows what he's talking about. when he came home from iraq in 2008, after seven ied attacks, he was diagnosed with trauma brain injury and post-traumatic stress. >> aid hard time keeping my basic aspects of my life in order. i was frustrated. that translated to anger quite a bit and it pushed me to say i don't want to live like this. >> reporter: he went on to graduate from college determined to make it. believing the government's promise that his war time servicemen his

barbara starr is "outfront." this is pretty shocking.ing more important than overseeing the biggest and most dangerous nuclear arsenal on the planet. what is going on here and how is the pentagon responding to two such important officers being fired in the same week? >> you have to believe that defense secretary chuck hagel not happy about all of this in a week when he's been dealing with the shutdown, troops not being paid, now he has to deal with this, not a happy secretary. let's look at these two cases. today air force general michael carey in charge of all 450 land based intercontinental nuclear missiles fired. the allegation is personal misbehavior. our sources are telling us it involved alcohol and yet he remained on the job for several months, fired today. the second navy admiral tim, second in charge at strategic command. he had charge of overall nuclear forces. number two, command and control. strategic decision making for the defense of the united states. the allegations against him involve gambling. >> it is unbelievable. you

>> reporter: for outfront, barbara starr, the pentagon. >> we welcome your feedback.front next, you the ambassador summoned in spain over allegations of spying. why is america spying on its allies? >>> then remember the case of the baby called messiah whose parents were ordered to change the name by a judge because no human could live up to the expectations of that name? well, today, a big development. >>> and a programming note. a big response for the cnn film blackfish will air again tonight at 8:30. we have a special report on the orca. ♪ man: [ laughs ] those look like baby steps now. but they were some pretty good moves. and the best move of all? having the right partner at my side. it's so much better that way. [ male announcer ] have the right partner at your side. consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. female narrator: the mattress price wars are on the mattress price wars are on at sleep train. we challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices. now it's posturepedic versus beautyre

barbara starr is live for us. what's the latest? >> reporter: hello, fredricka.is the memo from defense secretary chuck hagel that thousands of civilians working for the defense department have been waiting for. hagel now just this afternoon saying he is authorizing many, perhaps hundreds of thousands, perhaps as many as 400,000 furloughed workers to come back. they have been working on this idea for several days behind the scenes. now the memo going out. here is what's happening. when congress passed the law a few days ago saying the troops could be paid, there was a freeze in there that said so could civilians be paid who support the troops. now they're figuring out how do they bring back as many of those people as possible. what hagel is saying is he is bringing back two categories to begin with. people who help with the well-being, morale, military capability of the troops and military families. look to see things like commissaries reopening where so many military families do their shopping. but he is also doing something else very interesting. he is going to

barbara starr, thank you for that. keeping an eye on all the things that are being affected. >>> democratic leaders in the senate are putting forth a clean increase in the debt limit. as you've heard, without some sort of hike in the government's authority to borrow, the treasury warns it will come up short on or about october 17th. by counting, that's nine days away. what exactly does that mean for the country and for you? my colleague christine romans is going to break it down for you. >> the treasury department is about to run out of money to pay all of its bills. why? because it can't borrow more money. it wouldn't be able to borrow more money. and unless congress raises the debt limit, there wouldn't be enough. it would have to rely on $30 billion in catch that's in the treasury's coffer right now. daily revenue is coming in, but that fluctuates. it's not enough to pay everything. that means there's very tough decisions. i want to show you what the biggest bills we have are coming due. november 1st is the day i'm

barbara starr is "outfront." >> reporter: at the west gate shopping mall in nairobi, ken yark shoppers ran for their lives when gunmen took over in a shooting rampage. u.s. intelligence is trying to figure out what behind the scenes role this man may have played. this tv 2 norway footage. he is in america's cross hairs. just days after the mall attacked two dozen navy s.e.a.l.s raided his compound in southern somalia. they failed to capture him. but cnn has learned, why president obama risked so much. u.s. sources say he is now seen as a prominent part of the al qaeda network with possible information on new attacks being planned. his reach now is far beyond somalia. >> he has really emerged as a key link figure between various al qaeda affiliates in yemen, between al shabab in somalia. he is somebody who has deep connections to militants in the west because of the time he spent in the west in recent years. >> reporter: al qaeda in the arabian peninsula base in the yemen is now considered the most dangerous of the al qaeda affiliates. cnn has been shown encrypted videos. they show cont

barbara starr is watching all of this unfold live. i'm glad you're able to join me. these are disgraceful. but if you could just be more clear for us. what do we pay for when it comes to those death benefits and what are those families who are at their lowest suffering even more today? >> reporter: well, look. here is how it sorts out. since the wars in iraq and afghanistan, the government has paid the families of the fallen benefits like $100,000 to be paid within three days or so of a death to cover their emergency costs. reimbursement for funeral and internment expenses. travel to dover air force base to meet the flag-draped casket come off the plane. if they're loved one may be on life support in an overseas hospital and if they want to get there to be able to say good-bye. all of that, according to the pentagon, they cannot pay during the shutdown. behind the scenes there are efforts to find other ways to do it within the military. some, shall we say, creative bookkeeping. but this is not a solution. so the groups have stepped forward, like the fisher house, whi

cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins me now. is the story for vets and the needs that the vets across the country have. >> reporter: first of all, ashleigh, i think it is jaw dropping that so many people in the military that the president of the united states had to go on tv and reassure them that they would be paid. when has that ever happened in the time of war in this country? it is the veterans who already served who may be feeling the brunt of it. there are 3.3 million veterans who receive disability checks. elderly, ill, injured, war wounded, and what the va says if this goes on through the month, if this goes on two, three weeks, they're going to run out of money and they will not be able to issue those disability checks to the veterans. of course, who need it the most. they also say that the processing of new disability claims, veterans back from the wars in iraq and afghanistan, that may slow down. it was already air long wait to get your disability claim check. now it may be longer. the check may not even come. and her

barbara starr, the pentagon. >>> all right.e've been covering this story for a good three hours now. >> three hours, 36 minutes for us. a lot longer for cnn. >> so you know we'll continue to cover it. we're going to step aside just for a moment, tell you some other stories here. israel's prime minister is about to take center stage at the u.n. >> yeah, coming up, we don't know if benjamin netanyahu will have the wile e. coyote bomb with him this year like he did last year, but iran's nuclear program is expected to be his primary focus once again. and we will go live to jerusalem. 1111 ] >>> thousands of u.s. government workers will be turned away when they show up to work this morning. a deadlock between politician in congress has forced a shutdown. they failed to reach compromise, but they all will be back in session in just a few hours from now. >> more on the shutdown this hour. but first, some other stories that we're following. and we begin in iraq, where reports say more than 50 people have been killed, dozens injured in

pentagon correspondent barbara starr reports on what else can go wrong. >> reporter: for 3.3 million disabled veterans, the budget mess in washington is about to affect them in a big way. >> veterans, who sacrificed for their country, will find their support centers unstaffed. >> reporter: if the government shuts down and it stretches into late october, the department of veterans affairs will run out of money. and that means disability and pension checks could stop for elderly and ill veterans. advocates are outraged. >> it's what they need to pay rent, to pay food. it's not their total income but it is a significant part of it. and taking that out of the mix because the government can't get its act together is really dangerous for these men and women who need it the most. >> reporter: disability payments can reach $3,000 a month. for the nation's war wounded, it can be a financial life line. tom tarantino is an iraq war combat veteran. >> member of congress, members of the administration, any politician needs to understand that if you are holding veterans hostage for the sake of pol

joining us with the very latest on this situation is cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. new information about who these kidnapped men are? >> reporter: well, sadly, nothing has been announced yet from either the company or the u.s. government which is monitoring the situation closely. we're told about these two americans, the captain and the chief engineer in this pirate attack yesterday taken off the boat. at this hour, no word on where they are. this ship, let's go back to the photo of it, the "sea retriever" was going around in these west african waters resupplying oil installations. this is a very rough piece of territory off the coast of nigeria, very violent. it has suffered a lot of pirate attacks. let's just look at some of the numbers on how the violence has grown. last year alone, 62 attacks and if you look over the previous two years, in 2011 and 2010, a steady rise. a lot of the violence here is over the oil-rich revenues in this region. holding people for ransom but some 55 commercial mariners have been taken hostage in recent months. a very rough situation

we have team coverage starting with barbara starr at the pentagon. orning, barbara. >> good morning, chris. the terror target in somalia had ties to attacks that have killed americans and that is why seal team 6 was called back into action. an extraordinary show of force by u.s. commandos in highly risky secret operations in somalia and libya. friday, october 4th, predawn, on somalia's southern coast. u.s. navy seals slip off a commercial ship and raid a terrorist stronghold, within moments, they are forced to abort under heavy gunfire from militants, just a day later 6:30 a.m. 3,000 miles away on the streets of tripoli, libya. abu al libi is senior al qaeda operative is returning home from morning prayers. he will be grabbed by u.s. army delta force commandos on the streets of italy, libi is confronted with cars by ten masked men. the u.s. team grabs him before he can reach his gun. they are gone in seconds. not a shot fired. his wife tells cnn the men she saw were libyans. al libi is taken to a u.s. navy warship. he is wanted by the u.s. for the 199

let 'bring in barbara starr. what are you learning? >> there may be a fix, but tonight it may well be worth remembering what president lincoln said when he said it was the solemn responsibility of government, and i quote, to care for him who have aabove the battle and for his widow and orphan. tonight many in washington will tell you the government is failing to do that. 24 years old army ranger cody patterson came home to his fame at dover. as defense secretary chuck hagel paid his respects. killed on his second deployment for afghanistan, his colonel called him a courageous soldier. unbearable grief made much more because the government shutdown left them without benefits. condemnation from all political leaders. >> lord, when our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on faraway battlefields, it's time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough. >> reporter: publicly the white house was promising the president wanted to fix the tragedy for the families that had become a pr disaster. > he

as we stay on some of these pictures, i want to bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. jake tapper is with us as well. barbara, you're the one who interviewed captain swenson not too long ago. as the president pointed out at the top of his remarks, the video, which is so rare to see, from that pilot's helmet cam, you told me captain swenson didn't realize that video existed until recently. >> he didn't. i was very privileged to interview him yesterday and talk to him at length. let me give you a bit of the back story. as you look at this video, the california national guard crew that was running the helicopter, it was their helmet cameras. they didn't realize how much they captured until several months ago when they finally, one of the guys looked at it on his laptop. he's like, oh, my goodness. look at what we have here. they called up will swenson. he came, got together with the guys in california. they looked at it together. what will swenson told me is he had no memory of all of this. this level of detail, until he looked at that laptop computer. he said, you know, i

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us. you've been working the story. what is 9 latest?porter: wolf, murky still. no word on the fate of the americans who were kidnapped. as for the ship, murky statements out of the nigeria. some say they don't know where the ship is, from the government spokesman. some suggesting it may be in an eastern port. u.s. officials telling us they have good reason to believe the ship is in port, but will not say where. security concerns, of course, still about the crew in nigeria. the key issue, of course, is not the location of the ship, but the location of the two americans that have been taken captive, wolf. >> will the u.s. consider a rescue operation? >> reporter: this is very delicate business, of course. there's no real word about this. it would be tough to talk about publicly. in past cases, of course, insurance companies, the owners of the ships that have been involved in pirate attacks have sought -- come to private agreements, if you will, paying ransom by all accounts. no public word about whether that is going on in this case, and

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> happening now, all eyes on the u.s.he government, but the real action may referencery shall round up in the house of representatives. i'll talk about that with rep congressman darrell issa. he's standing by this hour. ranchers feeling the pain as a -- in the agriculture department. much of it is closed. >>> plus the public relations war. the tea party ratchets up the rhetoric, but is it really hurting the gop? >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. this is a "the situation room" special report. government shutdown, day 14. >>> day 14 of the government shutdown, less than 54 hours until a possible u.s. debt default. the stakes could hardly by higher as harry reid and minority leader mitch mcconnell continue to try to hammer out a deal to end this crisis. they were supposed to meet with president obama over at the white house earlier this afternoon, along with the house leadership, but that meeting was postponed to give them all a bit more time to work on their plan

>> barbara starr with the latest, very disturbing information. thank you. >>> at the same time, president obama is tapping the pentagon's former top lawyer to be the next secretary of homeland security. his name is jeh johnson and his nomination was followed almost immediately by serious questions about some of his positions, his policies, even his qualifications. cnn's joe johns is here in "the situation room" working this part of the story. what are you learning? >> well, he wasn't on everybody's short list for candidates for the job, but probably should have been. jeh johnson has been front and center on some of the toughest national security issues and now has been tapped to take on the enormous problems at the homeland security department. as the pentagon's top lawyer, jeh johnson played a key role in the legal reasoning for u.s. use of drones against al qaeda overseas. controversial because the targeted drone attacks have also killed innocent civilians. johnson laid out his views in this speech last year. >> how will this conflict end. it i

here's our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, with the very latest. >> reporter: wolf, the speakerul, his words, that the administration is not paying the death benefit to military families of the fallen. the pentagon says fix the law so they can pay. for these troops just killed in afghanistan, their families are being denied government death benefits until the shutdown is over. >> that america could fail the families of our fallen heroes, appalling, frightening. >> shouldn't we be embarrassed about this? shouldn't we be ashamed? >> reporter: marine lance corporal jeremiah cullen's remains were brought monday to dover air force base. >> he became a marine to become somebody. he became a great marine. >> reporter: but his family and others will not get pentagon funding to go to dover to meet their loved one. the program is frozen until the shutdown is over. funeral and burial expenses won't be reimbursed. a $100,000 cash payment to survivors, stopped. amy nyberger miller works with grieving families. there is concern for those that don't have a lot of money. >> the benefits are esp

let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she has been working the story.l know there has been huge political pressure on the white house to go after those benghazi suspects. the ones that attacked the u.s. compound last year. killing four americans. including ambassador chris stephens. cnn learned from several horses that u.s. commandos missed a crucial opportunity earlier this month. they were in libya, delta force commandos, to grant an al qaeda operative, abu al libby when they were going to go after this guy. ahmed abu khattalah. they were going to switch to going after khattalah in benghazi. but the operation never happened. because once they got abu al libi in tripoli, there was so much turmoil in the libyan government that there was serious concern that any additional operation could destabilize and make the libyan government fall. so they -- aborted the idea of going after khattalah. president obama says he's still determined to go after the baends suspects but now a lot of questions did they go after the wrong guy? should they have prioritized kha

let's bring in our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. what are you learning?ur, navy s.e.a.l.s on the ground in somalia, reported at that compound they were seeing children emerge being used by al shabaab as human shields. there were children standing between the navy s.e.a.l.s and their target in the middle of an intense firefight. it was seeing those children, we are told, that made the navy s.e.a.l.s make the decision to abort the mission and retreat. they could not get to their target. they had children standing there. they decided to back off. we now know after several days why the navy s.e.a.l.s now retreated, because that is not something that navy s.e.a.l.s do. wolf? >> obviously a good point. we'll have more on this in the next hour as well. barbara, thanks for that new information. >>> we are also getting new information on that car chase here in washington that ended near the u.s. capitol with the shooting death of a young mother whose baby was in the back seat. let's bring in our crime and justice correspondent, joe johns. he has been combing throu