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ryan. >>> barbara starr, thank you. the state department slamming u.s. for laws that infringe on religious freedoms. it cites concerns over laws targeting blasphemy. particularly in muslim countries. afghanistan and pakistan and indonesia and egypt. those countries singled out. >>> and with the u.s. engaged in air strikes with libya and syria. officials expect to be short fighter pilots. a sharp increase over march when they said they needed 500. the military plans to increase retention bonuses to get pilots to stay in the service longer. >>> the federal government is set to authorize more research into the medical benefits of marijuana. and announcement with details is expected to come out today. according to published reports, the government is not willing to consider a request to reclassify marijuana. right now, it is classified as a schedule 1 drug with no medical benefits. >>> a veteran arkansas police officer shot and killed in a five-hour standoff with a gunman. it started wednesday morning when the father of 35-year-old billy monroe jones called

barbara starr, thank you. michelle kosinski was also at the president's briefing and the other big news from obama taking aim at donald trump. trump has charged multiple times that this election is rigged and obama today was calling that ridiculous. >> he answered him back and this came after a long chunk of time that president obama had spent talking about isis and of course, that's a very somber conversation. when he was finally asked about donald trump and he loosened up a little bit and his tonal most mocking. listen. >> that's ridiculous. that doesn't make sense, and i don't think anybody would take that seriously. >> reporter: and president obama went on to say, you know, talking about a rigged election, donald trump sounds like he's already a loser saying that before he even loses the election and he said after the election, if going in he looks like he's ahead 10 or 12 points and then he loses then he might have the right to bring up that point, erin? >> and michelle, i mean, he was saying i don't know

jess jessica schneider has more and we'll talk to barbara starr about the national briefing. jessica, what do you know about steve bannon? certainly well known in the washington circles and what does this say about the change that donald trump is trying to make? >> reporter: steve bannon is known for his brass knuckles approach and breitbart news itself known for taking a tough and sharp tone, something that could translate to the trump campaign. as for bannon, he's known for his no-holds barred demeanor, something that matches the trump style. donald trump being forthright over the past 24 hours about staying true to who he is. he no longer wants to placate people for staying on message and perhaps sticking to the teleprompter indicating he could go back to the ways that propelled him through the primary, which were, in effect, the huge rallies that we saw. now, this shakeup has been described by the campaign itself as nearly an expansion and it's something that kellyanne conway commented on a bit ago. take a listen. >> some are calling it a shakeup. it really is not. it doe

barbara starr. the president was answering accusations that the election might be rigged. let's listen to more of that. >> i don't really know where to start on answering this question. of course the elections will not be rigged. what does that mean? the federal government doesn't run the election process. states and cities and communities all across the country, they're the ones who set up the voting systems and the voting booths. and if mr. trump is suggesting that there is a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country including in places like texas where typically it's not democrats who are in charge of voting booths, that's ridiculous. that doesn't make any sense. i think all of us at some points in our lives have played sports or maybe just played in a schoolyard or a sand box and sometimes folks if they lose they start complaining that they got cheated but i've never heard of somebody complaining about being cheated before the game was over. or before the score is even tallie

the pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more. >> reporter: john and christine, the first round of air strikes in libya carried out at president obama's authorization in conjunction with the emerging libyan government, the government of national accord. they are looking for the precision u.s. air strikes to push back isis fighters. one of the big concerns is isis had been gaining strength in libya. these fighters had been moving against isis. now they want the extra fire power from the u.s. to push them out. where are the isis fighters? some have been killed in the recent weeks and months. there is concern some have fled and disappeared into nearby towns and villages and mixed in with civilian populations. isis is libya is a concern. isis operatives can fairly readily move across the mediterranean into southern europe or across north africa and carry out more attacks. the hope is that this extra u.s. fire power with more attacks in the coming weeks expected will be enough to push isis out once and for all. john and christine. >>> a long time fbi employee faci facing prison time. 46

barbara starr tells us. >> reporter: it's the trump tower version of a potential white house cabinet. the key optic? donald trump in the same position as a president, surrounded by national security heavyweights, including former new york mayor rudy giuliani and, next to trump, retired lieutenant general michael flynn, a key adviser. one attendee, congressman peter king, answering the criticism that trump has no foreign policy experience. >> he has as much as barack obama had in 2008. >> soon after, another chance to appear presidential. trump headed to the fbi's new york office for his long-planned classified intelligence briefing from the obama administration. flynn, a decades' long intelligence officer now adamantly anti-obama was also there. even before hearing the classified information, trump was asked if he trusts u.s. intelligence. >> not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country. look what's happened over the last ten years. look what has happened over the years. it's been catastrophic. >> reporter: the plan to brief presidential candidates isn't new. t

let's bring in barbara starr.s is not just a hypothetical with just 88 days in the race, one has to wonder, are people at the pentagon considering a scenario in which they have to choose between obeying the law, and obeying an order from the commander in chief. >> it is something you do hear about. consider guantanamo bay. there has been a lot of talk about bringing them to the u.s. for trial. donald trump talking about sending american citizens to guantanamo bay for military trials. would the u.s. troops obey him? could he do that? >> donald trump has new thoughts on how, if elected, he might send citizens convicted of terrorism to the military prison at gaun tuantanamo bay. >> i don't like trying them in our regular court system. i would say they can be tried there, that would be fine. >> the law that created military admissions prevents them from being tried at guantanamo. >> he would have to work to establish different laws. that would be constitutionally suspect. why? under u.s. courts are fully open and avai

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> and now to a startling report on the crisis in syria.ccording to amnesty international, more than 17,000 people have died in prison since 2011. that is about 300 deaths each month. amnesty international also found that there were about 45 deaths each year in the decade leading up to the start of the civil war. the report says detainees faced beatings and electric shock. >>> for a second straight day in the skies above syria, russian warplanes launched air strikes aimed at isis targets. bombers took off from an air base in western iran, as moscow pushed back on the u.s. suggestion that use of the base could violate a u.n. resolution. russia says two command centers and an isis training camp were destroyed and more than 150 militants killed. but it is civilians as well that are the victims of air strikes in syria. even the most innocent have not been spared. new video of a young boy pulled from the rubble after the bombing is a heartbreaking reminder of the human cost of war. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> it has been nearly two months since the uk voted to le

barbara starr is at the pentagon. we have been covering this story for years and years.octors sent a letter to president obama. >> yes, the images are heartbreaking and graphic. difficult to watch. the question is now will any of the images of what happened to the children in syria make a difference? >> 5-year-old omar carried out of the rubble. sitting in shock, alone in the ambulance, no shoes, not even crying. wiping away the blood. the activist says it took an hour to pull him out. >> his whole face was blood and his family was under the rubble and there was no one to help him but the rescue workers. >> the image going viral, capturing the horror of aleppo and the humanitarian disaster that is syria. evoking another image, that of a 2-year-old drowned on a turkish beach. the impossible choice facing millions trapped in syria. stay and try to survive, or escape. either way risking death. the u.s. special enjoy demanding russia and the u.s. stop the carnage and get humanitarian aide into aleppo. >> do have a 48 hour hold in aleppo. >> but safe passage for relief convoy

barbara starr. >> thank you, mr. president. on the question of isis expansion that you have been talking about, because you see them expanding around the world, because you see them trying to inspire attacks, what is your current level of concern about the homeland. you talked about the protection measures, but what is your assessment about the possibility of your own intelligence advisories suggesting it's possible, about the direct isis threat to americans, and if i may follow up, what is your assessment today as you stand here about whether donald trump can be trusted with america's nuclear weapons? >> on your second question, and i'll sort of address this to any additional trump questions, i would ask all of you to just make your own judgment. i have made this point already multiple times. just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad. >> as i recall, i just answered a question about this a couple days ago

barbara starr is at the pentagon. rbara, walk us through exactly how this attack went down. >> reporter: even before we get to that, john, there is new information which is the turkish government appears now to be showing positions of potential isis enclaves across the border into northern syria. not clear if it is tied to this attack but clearly the government in istanbul feels isis is responsible for this terrible attack on saturday against a kurdish wedding party in the city quite close to the boreder with syria. the bomber, who was the attacker, that is the big question. originally the turkish government thought the attacker, perhaps 12 to 14 years old, now that is being rethought. no clear word on that yet. 54 people dead but more than 20 of them young children under the age of 14. apparently the bomber striking when women and children were at the portion of the wedding party where they would be most out in the street, most visible. so clearly very much a target there. this is a situation where the turkish governm

cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr talked to that general and joins by telephone. senior international koernd ben wedeman joins us and ben, we will start with you. what do we know about this horrific wedding attack? >> what we know, martin, we were at the scene and it occurred just before 11:00. there are as many as 400 to 500 people attending a wedding party in this kurdish working class neighborhood. according to the turkish president, the bomber was a boy between ages of 12 and 14. turkish investigators on the scene have found piece of the suicide vest. now the president indicatesed that it wasn't clear whether he himself detonated this bomb or it was remotely detonated but what is clear is that this was a massacre. at least 50 people killed. many of them injured. pointing f pointing fingers in the direction of isis bears all of the hallmark of isis. there are known to be isis cells operating within this city. martin? >> ben wedeman, thank you for that update. now let's bring in barbara starr. let's get you reporting on the conversation wd general towns end. let

that was cnn barbara starr. straight ahead, she's never been one to hold her tongue. when it comes to the 2016 election, you better believe miss dolly parton has something to say. >> i watch it all the time. i think it's the craziest thing i've ever seen in my life. i think oh my god, what is happening. >> what else she told our christine romans next live in the cnn newsroom. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works by focusing right in the gi-tract to help control damaging inflammation and is clinically proven to begin helping many patients achieve both symptom relief as well as remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. while not reported with entyvio, pml, a rare, serious brain infection

barbara starr, thanks for the reporting.us posted when you find out more details about that. >>> in the interim we are still looking at the clock. 20 minutes from now the president is scheduled to land in baton rouge, louisiana. he is touring areas badly damaged by flooding. tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. at last count 60,000 homes, 60,000. we will bring you live coverage when the president's plane touches down. and hillary clinton and her scoffing at those speculative reports over her health. even so she is inching closer to 70. donald trump already 70. does that alone make either of their health an issue in this election? you don't let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. the check they sent isn't enough to replace your totaled new car. the guy says they didn't make the mistake. you made the mistake. i beg your pardon? he says, you should h

we get more from cnn's barbara starr. >> reporter: ryan and alison, this is a report in the works foreveral months. investigators looking at allegations at the u.s. central command, the part of the military that runs the war against isis, they may have cooked the books on intelligence. have a look at the report. let me read you one finding from the report. it says, central command produced intelligence that was more optimistic than other parts of the intelligence community. central command, the military between 2014 and 2015 coming up with better intelligence, better outlook against the fight against isis than the rest of the intelligence community. the report found that at central command top military commanders were relying more on the intelligence from the field than the intelligence from their own analysts and that was skewing part of the picture. now there are new commanders at central command, new analysts, new leaders in the command. they say they are trying to make sure that everything is in order now. this is not the last word. there is an infanspector genera investigation un

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr is at the pentagon. tell us the latest. 're just getting this information in, barbara. >> we're just getting this in. u.s. officials are telling cnn there was a very serious incident with the iranian army yesterday. this is one day after the video everyone saw of a different incident. but yesterday in the northern end of the arabian gulf there was an iranian fast attack craft that came out into the water and began harassing two u.s. navy ships and a kuwaiti navy ship. the iranians we're told were circling the navy ships, were coming close, they would not leave. at one point they came within 200 yards of one of the u.s. navy patrol craft. the navy, following standard maritime procedure, tried to call the iranian ship. they got no answer initially, they fired flares. they did then have, a u.s. official says, a brief radio-to radio conversation with the iranians. still the iranians did not leave. at that point we are told this u.s. navy patrol craft, the u.s.s. squall, then made the decision and fired three warning shots into t

. >> let's get to barbara starr at the pentagon. what are you learning?r: this has been a tale floating around for a few days. now some facts are emerging about a photograph we want to show you. this is a photograph isis' news agency put out over the weekend of u.s. military gear it claims to have captured in afghanistan during a fight with coalition fighters. what you see there, you see a mortar launcher, an american flag. you see american ammunition, what appears to be american-made military gear, including a military i.d. of a u.s. soldier. now we know more about how isis got all of this. it was july 25th in eastern afghanistan. u.s. troops had been battling isis in a place called nan ga har province. here is what happened. the u.s. gathered a number of troops in what they call a casualty collection point. it was a point where they were gathering up u.s. wounded, getting ready to evacuate them out when that collection point for the wounded american troops came under enemy fire. the u.s. military openly saying it was an, and i quote, effective enemy fir

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> the military order the purple heart has also responded to trump'semarks about the medal. a spokesman said the purple heart is america's oldest decoration created by george washington and nobody tries to get one. there are only two reasons for someone to be awarded a purple heart medal. either they are killed or wounded on the battlefield while serving in the armed forces of the united states. the statement goes on i would hope anyone who receives a purple heart medal for any other reason understands its importance and meaning and will not do anything with it that would in any way denigrate its special meaning for those who have received it. joining us is retired u.s. army general mark hertling. among his medals, a purple heart. you were awarded for being injured in combat in the first u.s. war in iraq and i understand you take offense at donald trump accepting the purple heart as a gift. tell me why. >> i don't take offense at him accepting it, anderson. as a purple heart recipient, you can present your purple heart to anyone. i have seen those doin

let's get an update from our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. what are you learning?eo on tuesday and then just yesterday, three separate risky encounters with the iranian navy at the north end of the persian gulf. the iranians harassed two small navy patrol craft, circling around them. at one point coming within 200 yards at the northern end of the gulf. the navy ships tried to call the iranians. they sounded alarms. they had a brief bridge to bridge call. no backing off by the iranians and one of the ships fired three warning shots to get the iranians attention and make them back off. >> we're seeing this happening at the same time you have close encounters between the u.s. and iran near the strait of hormuz. what could the escalated tensions lead to. that's the concern. go back to that original video from tuesday. these kinds of high speed encounters where you literally see the iranians look like they on a collision course with the u.s. navy. this is the big concern. this is very narrow waters and when you're operating that close and at that speed, the concern is t

let's get to barbara starr right now.t the breaking details. >> good morning to both of you. the pentagon announcing a short time ago that both manned and unmanned drone aircraft condu conducted a series of air strikes in libya against isis targets. this happened in a place called sert. this is where the emerging libyan government has been trying to fight isis. there may be upwards of 5,000 operatives in libya. they've been trying to fight them. these air strikes now will help this very fledgling emerging government in libya be able to push isis out and take hold. why is this so significant of course. because these isis operatives, this has been a training area for them to stage attacks across the border in other places. libya of course just south of italy, a short sail if you will, across the mediterranean into europe. a lot of concern that isis operatives in libya can move around and begin to conduct attacks in other places. the pentagon signaling this will be the first of many attacks. other additional air strikes to s

. >> cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr has the details. >> let's break this down.ntagon telling us this morning 33 members of the u.s. military plus six people with family members in the military have had the zika virus. this is something the pentagon's been tracking since the beginning of the year. what they cannot tell us this morning is how many people still may be ill, what kind of treatment they got, but it is now a total of 33 plus 6 and that is part of the overall number of more than a thousand cases now being tracked by the centers for disease control. what the military is telling us is all of these people, these military members, contracted zika while they were overseas in countries where zika has been reported. so this is a very interesting demographic because the military population, of course, is so mobile, it moves around military people can't pick and choose where they go. so they have contracted this overseas in countries where zika already exists. now, pregnant female military members if they're in a country where there's zika, they can request to b

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barbara starr joins us with details.so these intelligence briefings, do we know when the candidates will be getting them? >> reporter: the intelligence community is prepared to begin the briefings at any time, make the offer to both the presidential and vice presidential candidates and set up a location, secure location where they can meet with them and offer these briefings. these have been going on for years every election cycle but this year, like everything else, a lot of drama involved. the republicans don't think hillary clinton should get a briefing. the democrats don't think donald trump should get a briefing. but the intelligence community indeed is making an offer to all four candidates to give them an intelligence briefing about threats, challenges that the u.s. is facing around the world. >> the contents of the briefing are classified. are they like the president's daily brief? do we have a general sense of what's included in them? >> reporter: they do not go that far, is every indication we are getting. they

barbara starr reporting live from the pentagon.. >>> coming up, as mass evacuation orders are lifted in california, you have no blazes erupting north of there in washington state. you're seeing homes destroyed. hundreds forced to flee. plus, ad wars. the trump campaign is on the attack. >> in hillary clinton's america, is system stays rigged against americans. syrian refugees flood in. illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay collecting social security benefit, skipping the line. our border open, it's more of the same but worse. (announcer vo) who says your desk phone always has to be at your desk? now, with one talk from verizon... hi, pete. i'm glad you called. (announcer vo) all your phones can work together on one number. you can move calls between phones, so conversations can go where you go. take your time. i'm not going anywhere. (announcer vo) and when you're not available, one talk helps find the right person who is. hi, john. (announcer vo) so wherever work takes you, you can put your customers first.

barbara starr is out front from the pentagon. just how dangerous are these encounters becoming?s are definitely rising. this was just yesterday when there were actually three encounters in a 24-hour period between the u.s. navy and the iranians. one of them leading to warning shots being fired. it was at the northern end of the gulf and two small u.s. navy patrol boats got harassed continuously by an iranian boat and the iranian boat wouldn't back off at one point, coming within 200 yards of one of the navy ships. they fired flares and they sounded warning horns and they even tried to call the ship and they had a brief bridge-to-bridge conversation with them and the iranians still did not back off and the navy ship taking the unusual and not unprecedented step firing three warning shots into the water to make the iranians back off and finally they did. >> multiple incidents within days. i know it's always hard to judge intentions, but does the u.s. military have a sense of what iran is trying to accomplish here? >> as you know, they believe that these are all ships from the iran

i have at the pentagon barbara starr, a pentagon correspondent, i have retired general wesley clark,ormer nato supreme allied commander, phil mudd, counterterrorism analyst and former cia cousecia counterterr official and john hajjar, co-chair for americans for trump. general clark, before we get to what mr. trump will be discussing and john i want to hear from you can we take a moment to talk about what we heard from joe biden? he did not mince words. he said trump does not have what it takes to run this country, he belittles our allies, cannot be trusted with nuclear codes. have you ever heard a sitting vice president speak about a potential nominee, potential president like that? >> no, i haven't. but i do believe that vice president joe biden's concerns are warranted. i've traveled a loat and everywhere i go i hear complaints about what mr. trump said and fears and insecurities among the middle east and africa. they're asking what does america stand for, what does it mean, can we count on america? his rhetoric is making these countries less safe and hadn'table for american busine

t barbara starr. >> thank you, mr. president. on the question of isis expansion that you have been talking about, because you see them expanding around the world, because you see them trying to inspire attacks, what is your current level of concern about the homeland? you talked about the protection measures but what is your assessment about the possibility your own intelligence advisers suggest it's possible about the direct isis threat to americans? and if i may follow up, what is your assessment today as you stand here about whether donald trump can be trusted with america's nuclear weapons? >> you know, on your second question and i'll sort of address this to any additional trump questions. i would ask all of you to just make your own judgment. i've made this point already multiple times. just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad. >> it's suggests that you're not confident. >> well, as i recall i just ans

cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr has been working the story for us. ar, all these actions that he's proposing they would be against the law. >> they currently are very much against the law, jim. there's been talk in the past about bringing guantanamo detain es to the u.s. for trial. as you say, just one problem. it's not legal. donald trump has new thoughts on how, if elected, he might send u.s. citizens accused of terrorism to the military prison at guantanamo bay. >> would you try to get the military commissions and the trial court there to try u.s. citizens? >> they want to try them in our regular court systems and i don't like that at all. i don't like that at all. i would say they could be tried there. that would be fine. >> a law that created military commissions specifically exempts u.s. citizens from being tried at gitmo military experts say. >> mr. trump would have to work with congress to establish different laws. >> would that work? >> that would be constitutionally suspect. why? why would it be suspect? it's because current u.s. courts are

let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what are you learning about this, barbara?. it is a russian show of force that washington is not happy about. russia says its long-range bombers like these carried out air strikes against isis after taking off for the first time from a base in northwest iran. russian aircraft according to the u.s. struck in aleppo and idlib and da irezor. moscow insisted it is going after isis. the u.s. disagrees. >> we have not struck targets in aleppo in a very long time. we have not struck targets in a very long time if at all and we don't see concentrations of icis in those areas. >> secretary of state john kerry called his russian counterpart with concern. >> publicly, russia wants the u.s. to join operations especially near aleppo where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped. the russian defense minister says moscow is in very active negotiations with the u.s. >> that's his messaging on what he wants to happen to gain an upper hand as russia does in these negotiations. >> reporter: the u.s. is continuing to pursue an agreement, but t

barbara starr at the pentagon for us. what moves are they making that has u.s.fficials so worried? >> they're keeping their eyes peeled on the weapon's testing program and they do not like what they see. >> u.s. officials tell cnn that intelligence agencies are watching significant new north korean military steps that increase the threat to the u.s. and it's allies and decrease the early warning time in the event of an attack. >> they have been exceedingly active in demonstrating capability. >> the latest analysis concludes that north korea is aggressively testing medium and long range missiles, warheads, and nuclear devices and they no longer care if the world sees it's test failures. >> when you have this many tests, you eventually get it right. >> kim jong-un is trying to demonstrate capability. new images reveal activity at north korea's nuclear test sight. road missiles difficult to track have been tested as have intercontinental missiles that can reach alaska. e. >> as soon as they have one test they can classify as an extreme success, we're talking a whol

let's get more from our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. something that is so moving and so disturbing at the same time, barbara. >> good evening, brianna. the images are very disturbing. one tiny face in the middle of a civil war. 5-year-old omran daqneesh carried out of the rubble in aleppo, syria, sitting in shock, alone in the ambulance, no shoes, not even crying, wiping away the blood. the syrian activist who recorded the images says it took nearly an hour to pull him out. >> translator: omran's whole face was blood and his family was under the rubble and there was no one to help him, but the rescue workers. the image going viral capturing the horror of aleppo and the humanitarian disaster that is syria. evoking another image, that of 2-year-old drowned on a turkish beach. the impossible choice facing millions trapped in the middle of syria, stay and try to survive or escape. either way, risking death. the u.n. special envoy demanding russia and the u.s. try to stop the carnage and get humanitarian aid into aleppo. >> i again, insist o

barbara starr. reporter: on the question of isis expansion you have been talking about, because you see them expanding around the world, i because you see them trying to inspire attacks, what is your current level of concern about the homeland? you talk about protection measures, but what is your your assessment about the your i possibility, your own intelligence survivor suggesting and is possible, about the direct isis threat to americans? mary and if i may follow up will will along the same lines, i your what is your assessment and today as you stand here about whether donald trump can be trusted with america's you nuclear weapons? on pres. obama: on your second on what you know question, and i will sort of address this to any direct you to a additional donald trump questions, i would ask all of you to just make your time warner will make and a own judgment. i have made this point already multiple times. just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confi

cnn's barbara starr live at the pentagon with more on this. ning, barbara. >> good morning, carol. the u.s. believes the russians are continuing to largely strike syrian sive vilcivilians with t bombing campaign. maybe there's some isis out there, but that's not the way the u.s. sees the majority of what the russians are up to. the russians now, as you say, landing their bomber aircraft inside iran in northwest iran at a military base there, loading up there on the ground with weapons, bombs and missiles and taking off for those targets inside syria. the russians are looking in the view of the u.s. to solidify their position in syria while they're still trying to convince the u.s. to sign a joint air agreement, if you will. the russians want the u.s. to sign up to some kind of -- what they view as joint cooperation agreement for future air missions. the u.s. very reluctant to do that because the u.s. priority in terms of the russians is to get them to stop bombing the civilians. what you're really talking about here is no surprise. it is a clas

let's get to barbara starr.s seems to be an escalation from the iranian side. >> it does, military tensions now riding to the point that the u.s. navy is compelled to fire warning shots one day after the first high risk encounter. >> all four boats you see here are iranian revolutionary guard core vessels, approaching at high speed and on a collision course with a navy destroyer. this video shot from the u usf mitza. >> at least two of the iranian boats kept approaching, coming within 300 yards, forcing them to alter course on tuesday and the boats finally turning away. by wednesday, a significant ride in tensions. boats harassing and endangers vessels three times in 34 hours. the most dangerous resulting in the u.s. navy firing warning shots. >> they did feel compelled to fire three warning shots. the reason for that is they had taken steps to try to deescalate this. >> it happened at the northern end of the gulf. the u.s. tempest and the uss squall. the squall using their 50 caliber machine guns firing three w

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. >> okay barbara starr, since their appearance last week at the democratic national convention theyhe center of a political firestorm. we were reminded of an hbo documentary in which they participated in 2008. it was called section 60. look at this private moment as they visit the grave of their fallen son. >> i'm the father of captain kahn. he passed away on june 8th 2004. we moved to the united states 25 years ago, and made it our home because of the opportunity and freedom of religious freedom and expression. >> god -- >> prayer reminds us that we all are here for the purpose -- >> i just miss him. a lot. especially every day in the morning, every evening. sorry. the pain of gold star parents. thank you for letting us use that. in our world lead today, reports of chemical weapons being used in the same region that a russian helicopter was shut county. plus olympianing swimming in contaminating water. the problems plaguing brazil three days before the games begin. ♪ he wrecked the rec room this summer. his stellar notebo oks will last through june. get back to great. this week, th

also, cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. barbara, let me start with you.efing he is going to get? who all is going to be briefing it? >> make no mistake, it will be classified information. both donald trump and hillary clinton getting the same briefings. they will be told that it's classified and they may not disclose anything that they learn there. what they will be told is some of the latest intelligence about some of the world hot spots, think of it as russia, maybe north korea, isis, cyberwarfare, that kind of thing. what they will not be told is the most sensitive information. nothing about covert action, nothing about human spies, human intelligence, that the government is using to try and collect information. that most sensitive information is reserved for a president-elect. they can take advisers into the room with them, people who are able to get a temporary security clearance, if you will. and donald trump has acknowledged now he will be taking retired lieutenant michael flynn into the briefing with him later today in new york. flynn, of course,

joining me from the pentagon, cnn's barbara starr. also with us dr. sanjay gupta. barbara, update us. where did the troops contract the virus in how farr has this reached? >> this is surprising news from the pentagon this morning. we're learning the actual rate of the zika cases among the military has nearly doubled in the last month. right now, 33 military members confirmed to have contracted zika at some point since the pentagon began tracking this earlier this year. so that's 33 members. but here's the interesting thing. a month ago at the end of june, it was 18 military members. it is now up to 33. so we do see evidence that this is still spreading, still being contracted by military members. we are told that all of them got it overseas, and of course this is one of the concerns because military personnel deploy regularly. they go to locations, countries outside of the united states, and it does appear at this point that when what the pentagon believes is they all got it overseas. and in addition there are six other people who have gotten the zika from military

barbara starr reports on why the u.s.gunfire ] >> reporter: this video is said to show kurdish fighters in a running gun battle with syrian regime forces in the northern city of hasakah. syrian fighter jets also bombing the area, alarming the pentagon which secretly ordered the hasty with withdrawal of american operations forces. >> we've got aircraft in the area, forces on the ground including special operations forces. may well be u.s. intelligence folks on the ground. so this increases the possibility of direct conflict. >> reporter: the building smoldering from the air strikes. hasakah is normally relatively calm and largely under kurdish control. u.s. forces are training kurds and arabs to fight isis. until now the syrian regime had steered clear of where the americans operate. the pentagon is furious with damascus and moscow. when the syrian attack came, the u.s. military scrambled, trying to contact the syrian aircraft. there was no answer. warning the russian and the syrians the u.s. "will take whatever action is

barbara starr. reporter: thank you, mr. president. on the question of isis expansion you have been talking about, because you see them expanding around the world, because you see them trying to inspire attacks, what is your current level of concern about the homeland? you talked about the protection measures, but what is your assessment about the possibility, your own intelligence advisers suggested it is possible, about the direct isis threat to americans? and, if i may follow up along these same lines, what is your assessment today as you stand here about whether donald trump can be trusted with america's nuclear weapons? rresident obama: um, on you second question, and i will sort of address this to any additional trump questions, i would ask all of you to just make your own judgment. i have made this point already, multiple times. just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like our nuclear triad. reporter: there are suggestions that

a pentagon correspondent barbara starr has details on that for us. >> reporter: donald trump has newts on how if elected he might send u.s. citizens accused of terrorism to the military prison at guantanamo bay. >> would you try to get the military commissions, the trial court there to try u.s. citizens? >> well, i know they want to try them in our regular court systems and i don't like that at all. i don't like that at all. i would say they could be tried there. that would be fine. >> reporter: the law that tries people says they can't be tried at gitmo. >> he would have to work to get different laws. >> reporter: would that work? >> that would be suspect. why? because current u.s. courts are fully open and capable to provide the full panopoly for the guarantees. >> reporter: some of trump's ideas, including water boarding, are raising critical questions about the authority of the president to carry out troops to carry out actions. the u.s. military has the duty to disobey illegal orders even when they come from the president. >> military adherence to civilian command and control is

cnn's barbara starr live at the pentagon with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol.most terrible news for a u.s. military family. the pentagon announcing a short time ago the service member was killed in southern afghanistan in a place called helmand province. this is an area where the sell ban has been resurgent and there are more than 500 u.s. troops down there. this serviceman was killed when he was on a walking patrol and triggered an ied explosion. the troops down there have been working to triand train and advise afghan forces to deal with the taliban there. some of the other details we're learning, six additional afghan service members wounded, another american wounded. they're looking into all of this. they don't think that the taliban really had planned to attack this patrol. it was more that they were out there and they triggered this ied explosion. still, it does underscore a long way to go in afghanistan. president obama making that decision to keep a significant number of troops there for a longer period of time, specifically to try to help train these a

. >>> let me bring in our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. -- gripped by this photo of this child. do you think the sympathy from those around the world and especially here in the united states will help president obama's case for bringing in more refugees? >> well, i think most of the relief groups working in this area in syria would say thank you for your sympathy but we need action. bringing the refugees to the united states, that is one part in bringing them into europe, that's just one part of what is needed. but really, the crisis, the disaster right now in aleppo isn't solved by the months that it may take to get additional refugees out of there. it is about getting humanitarian relief supplies in to aleppo, in to these areas where both syrian regime an russian forces are continuing to bomb every day. and why is the humanitarian relief not getting in? because the aid agencies don't have the confidence they need that they must have that their convoys will be safe enough to even get in to these areas. so refugee flows are one thing. very

barbara starr joins us with more on this. >> i think you're making the key point right there.l be a series of air strikes that the u.s. is engaging in this libya in conjunction and cooperation with the new emerging government there. that's the real change here. there is the beginning of a fledging libyan government on the ground. they asked for help. the u.s. responding, going in and now will hit a number of isis targets. already tank vehicles, some other targets hit. this is along libya's northern coastline near a city called sert. the has been trying to push isis out. u.s. fire power called in. isis has been pretty strong in libya. they've been growing. and the big concern is, of course frr course, from that northern coastline they can move into southern europe, across northern afri africa, plan and stage more attacks. there is a sense that fighters in libya have already disappeared, mixing in with the population. it may be a very tall order to push isis out of libya. but with fire power this new government hopes to make some progress. >> barbara starr reporting live from th

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> so, let's discuss this with cnn's senior international correspondent frederick plieken and fred is in berlin right now but he has reported extensively from syria. so, fred, what might this signal, iran allowing russia to launch air strikes on targets inside syria from iranian soil? >> well, i think it signals various things, rose mary. i think it shows that the russians are more than ever entrenched in their strategy in syria which is to bolster the regime, but at the same time to also work together with the iranians, and i think what you're seeing is much more of an alignment between the iranians and the russians than you have before. over the past couple years that i've been traveling to the government controlled part of syria, you could feel that the russians and the iranians were on the same side of the equation, they weren't really on the same page as far as the strategy was concerned and also in some cases the end game as well, especially the future of assad, but now it really seems they're aligning their goals and i think what we just heard from

barbara starr. reporter: on the question of isis expansion you have been talking about, because you see them expanding around the world, i because you see them trying to inspire attacks, what is your current level of concern about the homeland? you talk about protection measures, but what is your your assessment about the your i possibility, your own intelligence survivor suggesting and is possible, about the direct isis threat to americans? mary and if i may follow up will will along the same lines, i your what is your assessment and today as you stand here about whether donald trump can be trusted with america's you nuclear weapons? on pres. obama: on your second on what you know question, and i will sort of address this to any direct you to a additional donald trump questions, i would ask all of you to just make your time warner will make and a own judgment. i have made this point already multiple times. just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confi