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i was just on a conference call with other reporters, and the deputy national security adviser, ben rhodes, who was walking through, you know, the press really through this process taking place here at the nato summit in wales. and the president is here right now asking for that support for international support for some sort of military mission against isis and it is undefined at this point. i think that's, you know, a kind way of putting it. they just don't know how it's going to take shape. but a little bit of news to come out of this conference call. ben rhodes did tell reporters that the president is getting indications, his top administration officials like secretary of state john kerry, the secretary of defense, chuck hagel, national security adviser, susan rice, all getting indications that yes, other nato partners, other nato nations are showing a willingness to participate in some sort of nato mission or international multinational mission against isis. having said that, they don't expect there to be an announcement at the end of this summit, saying that type of mission is coming

happening right now, as a matter of fact, the deputy national security adviser to the president, ben rhodes, just told reporters that the president and prime minister, david cameron, did talk about the isis threat to and from a couple of events this morning. they had a bilateral discussion in which they talked about the threats posed by isis. and wolf, as you can see, these two leaders are very much becoming a duo in terms of providing leadership when it comes to dealing with the isis threat. the president and prime minister cameron put out that op-ed in the british newspaper this morning saying that the united states and britain will not be cowed by terrorists, but there are other meetings going on. interesting to note that the president did sit down for a meeting with king abdullah of jordan. the president has said he wants to line up regional partners in the middle east to take on the isis threat. so it doesn't just look like the west coming into the middle east to go after those terrorists. and so i think that's also interesting. we don't have a full readout of that meeting. we expect t

the deputy national security adviser, ben rhodes, was on air force one talking with reporters as the just landed at andrew's air force base after his trip to the united nations on a trip to the white house now. prime minister abadi did not mention this to president obama when they met together yesterday up at the united nations and that u.s. officials at this point have not confirmed this information coming from the iraqi prime minister. now, one thing that ben rhodes did say, he didn't really knock this down as much as other administration officials had. they take information that iraqis are giving them seriously and they'll check it out. at this point it has been to be corroborated. they just don't have the information at this point. >> gemappreciate it. tough day on wall street so far. biggest stock tumble. apple stock prices down after complaints about the latest iphone and the latest ios software update. up next, the world you may not know much about. sugar babies and sugar daddies. both sides getting what they want. money or something else. why they do it. that's up next. while

they can't not do -- when you have ben rhodes, who told our colleague, chris jansing, that he couldn'te out boots on the ground, well that tells you they're devising a long-term strategy that they think means more troops in the middle east, whether it means truly boots on the ground or not immediately is unclear, but they clearly want that option. you don't get that option without permission from the legislative branch. so do they do it -- i hate to bring politics into this. do they do it before the election, which all these guys are skittish about, or do they essentially do it on november 5th. my guess is november 5th. >> another challenge is what's taking place in ukraine right now. keir simmons is there literally with tanks and fighting taking place behind him along the eastern ukrainian border with russia right now. the president is in a tough spot right here. he's been pushing sanctions, been out ahead of the europeans for most of this. he's getting a little more support from the europeans. what's next? there's the rapid response force, no boots on the ground. what do they do now?

deputy national security adviser ben rhodes said they will share intelligence and implement measureso stop the flow of foreign fighters. officials say obama also expressed his intention to help egypt promote economic reform. u.s. and coalition forces have pounded militant command centers and other strongholds. five middle eastern countries have joined the coalition. on wednesday they hit 12 oil refineries controlled by the islamic state, including facilities in abu kamal. >>> government leaders in turkey are struggling to stop foreign fighters from joining the islamic state. they're seeing many of them slip past their border and into syria. nhk world saw firsthand what they're up against. >> reporter: there is a checkpoint on the border between turkey and syria. the turkish government now tightened the security for preventing foreign fighters going in to syria. local authorities here say some foreigners are still coming through. ankara is a city near the border in southern turkey. >> translator: i think people from belgium, sweden and germany. >> reporter: people here say the civil w

>> it was not because they made clear, even ben rhodes national security adviser to the president, said, wre n we are n focusing on lethal support. it's nonlethal support they're sending to ukraine. the europeans are saying the same thing. not going to help ukrainians fight to defend themselves. >> what about the response on nato? they created this rapid response force, 4,000, about no forward deployments. >> no forward deployments and no real urgency about massively increasing military budgets. there's only about four countries of the 28 in nato, u.s. and britain and two smaller countries that actually meet the 2% -- >> estonia and poland. >> right. 2% per gdp of defense spending. so you have a very weak alliance and real reluctance for economic reasons on part of all of our european allies to really meet the threat that we face. russia may be a weak country in many ways, but its military is very large, very capable and nuclear armed. >> by forward deployments i mean moving troops. we have close to 100,000 troops in germany, moving those to poland or the baltic states. >> about 70,000.

white house adviser ben rhodes now refuses to rule out boots on the ground. >> what we're already doingproviding a military assistance to syrian opposition who ult mayly is the strongest counterweight on the grounded to isil. >> reporter: they want clear answers. they're getting a white house briefing later this morning and calling secretary of state john kerry to testify in two weeks. some now admit we may need to send in ground troops. >> you may have to be surgical in your strikes. that may involve special operations forces such as s.e.a.l.s and the delta force. >> reporter: in wales, the u.s. and uk are trying to get international support for dealing with isis and russia in ukraine. >> putin's appetite only grows with the eating an he will keep taking more until he faces a consequence he is unwilling to incur. >> reporter: sanctions, he argues, don't seem to be working. >> the u.s. and its allies are threatening more sanctions. if a meeting today to work out a peace deal with russia doesn't show progress. tracie potts, nbc çnews, washington. >>> a memorial service will be held for

when i sat down with deputy national security advisor ben rhodes, he opened the door to deeper military involvement to destroy isis. can you do it in syria without boots on the ground? >> we're looking at what's going to be necessary. we've said clearly you need a strategy on both sides of this border. this is an organization that operates without respect for borders. >> so you're not ruling that out? >> we're not ruling that out. what we're already doing is providing a military assistance to syrian opposition who ultimately is the strongest counterweight on the ground to isil. we'll look at whether additional options are necessary going forward. >> reporter: one example of the heightened concerns, president obama got tied up in a meeting on isis with king abdullah of jordan earlier today. and was late for a session on the russian threat in ukraine. brian. >> chris jansing in wales for us tonight covering that nato meeting. chris, thanks. >>> a man once mentioned as a possible future presidential contender has tonight been found guilty of corruption. the republican former governor of vi

today, deputy national security adviser ben rhodes said that the u.s.t rule out sending ground troops to syria to achieve that goal. u.s. also said today that it fears isis could get ahold of chemical weapons if syria is hiding any stockpiles. >>> tomorrow, the aunt and boyfriend of a philadelphia woman accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl are expected to take the witness stand. prosecutors claim christina regusters' boyfriend lived in the house where the young girl was being held. in court today, testimony centered around dna evidence. forensic experts say the t-shirt the little girl was wearing when she was found had regusters' dna on it but the defense attorney argued the experts could not pinpoint where or when regusters' dna got on the shirt. the judge told her if she has another outburst in court as she did yesterday, she'd have to watch the proceedings from a video feed. >>> tonight a princeton teenager is behind bars accused of crashing into several vehicles and kicking a police officer in the head. police in bensalem

national deputy security advisor ben rhodes said america believed they were plotting an attack against the united states. what do you think we need to do. do you think air strikes will be effective in eliminating a group like that. >> sounds line this is a smaller more focused group. air strikes may help. there may come a time when a j sock or the seals or the delta force needs to take action against the group. it's an important reminder that while i.s.i.l. is the danger. it's by no moons the only one. it's running around there, al nusra, and the smaller groups. that. >> the u.s. did not act alone against the khorasan group, and we'll talk more about them coming up. douglas oliphant, good to have you with us. >> my pleasure. >> now for more stories from around the world. we gee bip in the west bank where tuesday morning israeli troops cornered and killed two palestinian me suspected of kidnapping and killing three israeli teens, leading to a 7-week war between israel and hamas. they denied involved in the kidnapping and killings and then admitted responsibility last month. special forc

>> i make that the white house again had to try to clarify what the president was saying by ben rhodes, his adviser, coming out on twitter saying that there's a clear objective to degrade and destroy isis. no mention of the managing the problem side of that answer. i think you're going to see a lot of eyebrows raised about this. this was the second time asked about strategy that the president at some point used fuzzy words and you're already seeing republicans react. adam kinsinger from illinois, are we going to manage isis or crush isis. it's a contrast to what we heard from prime minister david cameron in the u.k. last week. >> cameron came out yesterday and had a statement almost immediately. it's not as if the president didn't have time to come up with a better way in which to phrase it. you also have democrats now. we'll talk about this later in the show. they are coming out putting pressure on the president as well. are we back to square one asking the same question we asked last week which is what is the strategy? >> the president has tried to make this about forming this coalit

now we have ben rhodes deputy national security adviser are saying ground troops in syria may be a real possibility. they are also trying to work out getting russia out of ukraine. that's part of the nato meeting. today there are goesh negotiations going on, but you if they don't go anywhere, nato allies are ready to impose more sanctions on russia. >> tracie potts, thank you. >>> this afternoon a public memorial service will be held to american journalist steven sotloff. the south florida native was beheaded earlier this week. he was taken hostage last week in syria. sotloff's family is expected to attend the memorial service. >>> hear from president obama himself this sunday morning. watch the interview on "meet the press" with chuck todd at 10:30. >>> this morning bob mcdonnell and his wife are facing up to 30 years in federal prison. it now goes in to a sentencing phase. they expect some significant jail time. >> i cannot believe that judge spencer won't provide shall significant jail time for bob mcdonnell given he was convicted on the major charges of public corruption and he will

there in the briefing sounds an awful lot like what we heard from deputy national security advisor ben rhodes clear they've been discussing this and knowing there would be comparisons. these attempts to draw direct parallels miss the clear difference between events, between terrorist organizations, between presidents. they want there to be a differentiation. it's not bush 2.0. >> they have a political imperative. being on the left they cannot say they would do anything like george w. bush. i don't care. as long as they continue the george bush architecture on how to fight terrorism and leave those programs in place, including keeping guantanamo open, our nation is safer. they can run from the rhetoric as long as their actions continue. >> let's move to the next topic. white house advisor dan pfeiffer saying leaks with are a big problem as reporters complain about limited access and lack of transparency. we pulled direct quotes here from mainstream media folks. the "new york times", i mean, they are criticizing this as one of the least transparent administrations in history. how do you walk th

ben rhodes says some significant announcements on that front tomorrow. >> we'll hear what they have toay. jim acosta traveling with the president in wales. >>> the u.s. strategy to destroy isis. that strategy may be taking some shape. let's get details from barbara starr. what are you learning, barbara? >> well, wolf, as the administration begins to put that military coalition together one of the key questions is to take the ultimate step and move to kill the leader of isis. iraqi government troops and kurdish fighters use machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades trying to drive isis out of one more town in northern iraq. it's a ground war president obama says u.s. troops will not be part of. but u.s. officials say the strategy to degrade and destroy isis working with other nations is taking shape. >> there's a division of labor that needs to happen, including focusing on the fighting capacity and the foreign fighters, the financing, the propaganda, focusing on some of its local supporters. >> reporter: a major goal to get sunnis in northern and western iraq to cut their ties to isis

administration has talked a lot about isis but also given a lot of conflicting messages about it ben rhodes tweet all he wants and josh ernest can spin all he wants from the white house podium. it's not going to change from this verbiage one sentence comes through strong and clear to the american people and echo down through the ages and that was the president's true confession of last week "we don't yet have a strategy." >> the me samplet -- -- john kerry, you just dodged, has been muted. all right? i think he is more hawkish than president obama. is that why they have shut him up? >> i wouldn't agree with the proposition that john kerry has been shut up. he spoke at some length today. >> and did he say anything of note. >> nothing as -- catching as the clip you played from vice president biden where he promised to follow isis to the gates of hell. i will say i have absurd john kerry up close as secretary of state on foreign trips sometimes his demeanor has changed to the point where he will insert into every third sentence the president has made clear, it is the president's strategy. almo

you brought up what ben rhodes said, what he told chris jansing, not ruling out boots on the ground.nk we're seeing a full-fledged preparation for a larger scale operation than we thought. >> and here is the president. >> good afternoon. let me begin by thanking my great friend, prime minister cameron, and his entire team for hosting this nato summit and making it such a success. i want to thank the people of newport and cardi fcff and the people of wales for welcoming me and my delegation so warmly. it's a great honor to be the first sitting u.s. president to visit wales. we've met at a time of transition and a time of testing. after more than a decade, nato's combat mission in afghanistan is coming to an end. russia's aggression against ukraine threatens our vision of a europe that is whole, free and at peace. in middle east, the terror threat from isil poses a growing danger. our alliance has summoned the will, the resources and the capabilities to meet all of these challenges. first and foremost, we have reaffirmed the central mission of the alliance. article 5 enshrines our sole

deputy national security adviser ben rhodes told chris jansing the white house snts ruling anything out. >> can you do it in syria without boots on the ground? >> we're looking at what's going to be necessary. we've said clearly you need a strategy on both sides of the border, this is an organization that operates without respect for borders. >> you're not ruling that out? >> we're not ruling that out. we're providing military assistance to syrian opposition who is the strongest counterweight on ground to isil and look at what additional options are necessary going forward. >> i just heard him say we're not ruling that out meaning there might be a time when the united states have to put boots on the ground to defeat isis. the question is are we getting mixed messages this evening? earlier today john kerry said nato defense meeting, quote, obviously i think that's a red line for everybody here. no boots on the ground. okay, what does that mean? does that mean that nobody in the room wants to put boots on the ground or does it mean that if we have to, we will put boots on the ground? vice

weapons aren't going to wind up with isis, we're not going to give them extremely heavy weapons which ben rhodesus on the record, they might wind up in the hands of more extreme insurgence, if that's what you're hearing from the cia, that's the best case scenario, then people like elizabeth warren say why are we doing this again? >> yeah. then call home. ryan grim, you get tonight's last word. thank you for your time. i want to turn now to some breaking news. we have, of course, been following the scottish independence vote. the yes campaign has won its first victory, but to be clear, the no vote still leads 51-49. i'm ari melbur in for lawrence o'donnell. you can find me tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. eastern on "the cycle" if you're watching tv during the day. "all in" with chris hayes is up next. >>> congress backs the president on war. and this is "hardball." president obama is just about to address both houses of congress. the senate just voted, 78-22, to authorize the arms in training. the house had voted yesterday. also in support of the president's position. the senator joins us. he is an indepen

ben rhodes, who's the president's chief spokesperson in the national security area, recently said -- this was about a week ago -- that at that time there was no need to attack isil in syria, and the reason was that they didn't have clear indications and warning yet -- this was a week ago -- that isil was going to pose a direct, imminent threat to the homeland, but ben rhodes insisted that if we did get that clear indication and warning, then of course the president would authorize a strike. what that does though is put a tremendous amount of pressure on your indications and warning capacity. that was a shot across the bow of the intelligence community. that quote saying that -- because that was, in political terms saying, we don't need to act now because the intelligence community has not told us that we need to act now. so if we're wrong, if there's a strike, the intelligence community hasn't warned us adequately. it is setting the political predicate for a blame shift which has tremendous pressure on the intelligence community to open the aperture and make sure that there is not a

national security adviser ben rhodes spoke with cnn's jim acosta. >> based on what you've seen and heard at the summit so far, do you think there will be a multinational coalition to go after isis? >> i absolutely do believe that there will be a coalition of countries from the international community, from here in nato, also from the region where many of the neighbors have stepped up and said they want to be a part of that type of effort. and again, what we can ultimately do is work together to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. that's going to have to start with the type of action we're taking in iraq to push them back and give space for the iraqi and kurdish forces on the ground to go on offense. >> talking about other countries stepping up. australia's defense department says it has completed a second delivery of military equipment to northern iraq, and prime minister tony abbott said wednesday he was prepared to make australian jets available for air strikes on isis targets. >>> the world health organization is wrapping up a two-day meeting today on experimental ebola treatments an

ben rhodes said the administration is not ruling out u.s. ground troops when it comes to fighting the issue in syria. take a listen. >> can you do it in syria without boots on the ground? >> we're looking what is going to be necessary. we said clearly you need a strategy on both sides of the border. it's an organization that operates with respect respect for borders. >> you're not ruling it out? >> we're not ruling it out. >> i think this is important. this is important because forever there will be no u.s. boots on the ground scenic -- seems to be rolling back a little bit. >> i think what the administration is discovering it cannot create a situation where it says we fly over head and you guys, you turks or saudis or brit and australians you go in. everybody is like no you put together a coalition. you have to be a part of it on the air and in the ground. we don't want to say flatly absolutely no boots on the ground. >> what do you think can deal with isis in syria. while they control territory in iraq. clearly the nucleus, the base seems

weapons aren't going to wind up with isis, we're not going to give them extremely heavy weapons which ben rhodesus on the record, they might wind up in the hands of more extreme insurgen insurgence, if that's what you're hear iing from the cia, that's the best case scenario, then people like elizabeth warren say why are we doing this again? >> yeah. then call home. ryan grim, you get tonight's last word. thank you for your time. i want to turn now to some breaking news. we have, of course, been following the scottish independence vote. the yes campaign has won its first victory, but to be clear, the no vote still leads 51-49. >> tonight on all in -- >> sending arms to so-called moderate islamic rebels in syria is a fool's errand and will only make isis stronger. >> over objection, the senate approves the president's plan to train and arm syrian rebels. >> i want to thank leaders in congress for the speed and seriousness with which they approach the this issue. >> we'll look at what the phrase moderate rebels really means. plus new disturbing details surface about the latest nfl player accused of

>> well i spoke with ben rhodes yesterday and asked him who is going to be in charge now? the devil is in the details of putting this together. and he said very clearly secretary hagel and secretary kerry. so what i want to hear is from both of those two, what is the military plan and what is the diplomatic plan, and time's a-wasting, because we've now said we're going to go on the offensive and it's time for america to project power and strength. >> and senator, the one thing you want to hear the president say to the american people wednesday? >> the one thing is, wednesday when he speaks that what the change is, what the coalition of the willing is willing to do, what the saudis are going to do, if, in fact, and there's a difference of opinion on this, is iran going to help? iran has offered to help. i, for one, think that's useful. what other middle eastern countries are going to do and what would be the prime role for america. we have made air strikes 137 times. >> in iraq. >> we should have special operations, we should use our isr much more than has been. it's been d

the fact is we know eight months after the fact through a court order that ben rhodes at the white house provided susan rice with talking points that said focus on the video when they had denied that previously and she said it was based on intelligence. this has been the piecemeal process of getting to the truth. and the only way we'll get diplomatic security right in the future is if we know what really happened in benghazi and who dropped the ball. >> all right. so you think this is, i mean, you know, he seems to apply say it is clearly. it's not a law about politics. it's all about the truth. >> yes, and i'm not a political strategies, jose. of course it's about politics. luke did not say that hillary clinton was shredding documents. he said that was an allegation that wasn't even made on a credible by a credible news source. let's correct that. luke is my friend. >> unofficial. >> let's go back to the fact we're saying it's not political. it's political. the timing itself close to a midterm election is political. the fact that hillary clinton was just in iowa has everything to do wit

white house advisor ben rhodes now refuses to rule out boots on the ground. >> well, we're already doing is providing a military assistance that's here in opposition who ultimately is the strongest counterweight on the ground to isil. >> reporter: lawmakers want clear answers, they're getting a white house briefing later this morning, and calling secretary of state john kerry to testify in two weeks. some now admit, we may need to send in ground troops. >> you're going to have to be surgical in your strikes, that may involve our special operations forces, such as seals and the delta force. >> reporter: wales, the u.s. and u.k. are trying to get international support for dealing with isis and russia in ukraine. >> putin's appetite only grows with the eating. and he will keep taking more until he faces a consequence. he is unwilling to incur. >> reporter: sanctions don't seem to be working. and sanctions are still on the table though, a number of nato nations say that they're willing to do that again if negotiations which are supposed to be happening today fall apart. also new today, we're

. >> deputy national security adviser ben rhodes says the administration is not ruling out u.s.troops when it comes to fighting in syria. >> we're not ruling that out. >> 1:00 p.m. on the east coast. 10:00 a.m. an the west. a cease-fire in ukraine. pro-russian rebels in the ukrainian government signing a deal today after talks in belarus. the head of the cease-fire announcement, fighting continues near the ukraunian port city of mariupol. president obama spoke about this cease-fire just this past hour in wales. >> we are hopeful, but

. >> deputy national security adviser ben rhodes says the administration is not ruling out u.s. ground troops when it comes to fighting in syria. >> we're not ruling that out. >> 1:00 p.m. on the east coast. 10:00 a.m. an the west. a cease-fire in ukraine. pro-russian rebels in the ukrainian government signing a deal today after talks in belarus. the head of the cease-fire announcement, fighting continues near the ukraunian port city of mariupol. president obama spoke about this cease-fire just this past hour in wales. >> we are hopeful, but based on past experience also skeptical that, in fact, the separatists will follow through and the russians will stop violating ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. so it has to be tested. >> also today, nato approved the formation of a rapid response force that could deploy quickly to eastern european countries. we'll have a live report from ukraine in just a couple of minutes. >>> and the pentagon is confirming the death of the leader of a major al qaeda affiliate in africa. that is al shabaab. ahmed abdi godane was killed in a

the lead in terms of writing this speech deputy national security adviser is ben rhodes, also assisting, president's other speechwriters including chief speechwriter, cody keenan. a few themes the president will map out as he talks about his strategy to destroy and defeat isis. one will include going on the offense. that's something president obama signaled in his interview with "meet the press." they say that will be a very big topic tonight. that will include an expansion of military power in terms of defeating isis. white house officials say the president is prepared to authorize air strikes against isis targets in syria, although it's important to point out, it's not clear if president obama is going to specifically address that tonight. it's also not clear that air strikes in syria are imminent. the president told congressional leaders during a meeting yesterday, he doesn't think he needs congressional authority to authorize more military action in syria. he does, however, need their authority, he says, and he has requested their authority, to arm and train syrian opposition forces

martha: i look at a comment by ben rhodes, national security advisor and says we didn't see a plan that could tip the balance against assad. the pentagon presented us with this plan, but we didn't think it would work. if you won't take the advice from the people you put in place to advise you on these things, shouldn't you be completely changing the people that you have in those leadership positions? >> you would think so. you have a fundamental problem with this president, he came into office with an understanding, a belief, ideology of how the world works and america's role in the world and the belief america has generally not been a force for good. a determination to reduce america's leadership in the world, now you have across the board reality up against this president's ideology and frankly in some instances he doesn't know how to handle that situation, he is not willing to accept it. there are enablers in the white house, he has political people around him who should not have a role in the national security decisions since frankly to have his ear in a way that these people who kn

but his deputy national security adviser ben rhodes continued the white house hedge when pressed by abcews white house correspondent jonathan karl. >> is he considering air strikes on isil targets in syria? >> absolutely we don't rule out action in syria. >> i'm not talking about ruling out but actively under consideration. >> we're actively considering all options that are necessary. >> with all the attention on the threat posed by isis u.s. officials have not forgotten about al qaeda, especially with the coming anniversary of the 9/11 attacks next week. out of sight but not out of mind. >>ing 0, thanks very much. we'll have much more on sunday on "this week." >>> that hurricane in the pacific threatening to bring rough surf and drenching rain and ginger, of course, tracking it all for us this morning. >> yes, this is hurricane norbert here in the pacific ocean so we'll zoom in. a category 1 hurricane at this point. max sustained winds 90 miles per hour and hug along baja california and weaken and get closer to southern california. what it will do, bring extra moisture for that monsoon

but in the white house day to day, probably dennis mcdonough and ben rhodes. >> let's talk about this new group we are talk -- hearing about. all of a sudden, this name surfaces. who are these people and where did they come from? >> this is the al qaeda senior leadership caravan that moved from afghanistan and pakistan into syria, in part to take advantage of the chaos and to plan from syria attacks against the west. cbs news broke a story. the reality is the group that is most lethal and focused on the west is not necessarily isis. it is this al qaeda group which is linking other elements of the al qaeda constellation. linking the master bomb maker in yemen with other parts of the network. in some ways these guys are becoming an operational and strategic core for a new al qaeda universe. that is why officials are worried about them. >> is the reason the president is so circumspect or so focused on listing what we are not going to do -- just thinking about what he just said. was it, i just don't want to be the bush administration? is that is what is going on here? >> i think getting i

ben rhodes, brother of cbs news president david rhodes said the u.s. is investigating reports of al sufi's death. >> we're careful not to make a statement until we know with certainty that a person like that of haigh value to the organization is taken out. it does have an impact on their ability to operate as effectively as it did before. >> president obama huddled with european leaders and leader king abdullah. the president said it's likely to fall to the next president it's going tame time to make sure to eliminate that threat. >> he described the goal of making that a imaginable problem wi with vice president joe bidens comments that we'll follow them to the gaits of hell for executing two journalists. >> when you look at the phases, there's an initial phase where you have to degrade an organization, squeeze them, put in place a structure that can then defeat them. we've done this. >> in what could be a significant shift, the white house says it is now seriously considering lethal arms to ukraine, a proposal that has the backing of a top democrat o

deputy national security adviser ben rhodes, brother of cbs news president david rhodes, said the u.s. is investigating reports of al sufi's death. >> we are very careful not to make declarative statements until we know with certainty that someone like that, who's a very high value individual in the organization, has been taken out. any time that there's a leader taken off the battlefield in a terrorist organization like that, it does have an impact on their ability to operate as effectively as they did before. >> reporter: president obama huddled with european leaders and jordan's king abdullah about military moves against isis. nato will pledge military assistance but specifics will come later. the white house conceded destroying isis is a job likely to fall to the next president. >> it's clearly going to take a very long time to ensure that you've eliminated that threat. >> reporter: mr. obama's described goal of making isis a manageable problem contrasted sharply with vice president joe biden's promise the u.s. would follow isis to the gates of hell for executing two american jour

ben rhodes, who is the president's chief spokesperson in the national security area recently said, this was about a week ago, at that time, there was no need to attack this group in syria and the reason was that they didn't have clear indications and warning yet that this group was going to pose a direct threat, imminent threat, to the homeland. if we did get clear indications of that, then the president would authorize a strike. that puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your warning capacity. that quote saying that -- because that was in political terms saying, we don't need to act now because the intelligence community has not told us we need to act now. if we're wrong, if there's a strike, the intelligence community hasn't warned us adequately, it's setting the political predicate for a blame shift. there so this leads me to my fifth and final proposition. that there is an interesting policymaker and academic gap in this area, in the study of this issue. let's stipulate, just for the sake of argument, but for the sake of this panel, let's stipulate that some level of homeland risk

but again, in the white house, to day, i would probably say denis mcdonough, ben rhodes. >> let's talk about little bit about this new growth we're hearing about, khorasan. how do we say that? all of sudden this name surfaces. who are these people and where do they come from? >> this is the al qaeda senior leadership caravan that moved from afghanistan and pakistan into syria in part to take advantage of the chaos and breeding space that existed there. and in part to try to plan from syria attacks against the west. and so great reporting from bob orr, c about s news that broke the story. the reality is the group in most some ways lethal and focused on the west is not necessarily isis as we've been talking about though that's dangerous. it is this al qaeda group which not only is focused on the west but is linking other elements of the al qaeda constellation. linking master bomb-maker, and part of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in yemen and linking other parts of the network. these guys are becoming a operational and strategic corps for the al qaeda universe and that is why the offic

national security adviser ben rhodes spoke with jim acosta. >> based on what you've seen and heard at think there will be a multinational coalition to go after isis? >> i absolutely do believe there will be a coalition of countries from the international community here in nato, also in the region where many of the neighbors have stepped up and said they want to be part of that type of effort. what we ultimately need to do is to work together and destroy isil, that's going to have to start with the action we're taking in iraq, to push them back -- >> a boston man is now on the fbi's most wanted terrorist list suspected of working for isis. unlike other americans caught fighting for the terror group on the battlefield, this man's role may have been a bigger threat to america. here's cnn's debra feyoric. >> reporter: this man grew up near boston, holds a syrian and u.s. passport and graduated from northeastern university in boston. believed to be in his early 30s, he's fluent in english and arabic. the fbi released this audio recording they say is abu samra. it's unclear who he's speakin

i talked to ben rhodes and others in the white house about this and that's why they want to have an internationalon. they want arab nations involved. when they turn on us over those images. >> the first arab to joins in the field. >> that's the problem. >> imagine what happen if there were a vote in donetsk authorize military action and it failed. what kind of a message that would send. >> if moderate sunni states don't want to join this fight, mika, when their governments are in threat of collapse, then why should we send more troops over to die? why should taxpayers spend more money saving them? >> i think that you and the president are kind of aligned here in some ways. >> i'm gas the president has finally come my way. >> okay. let's move on to news. sources tell nbc news that federal investigators have found no evidence thus far showing new jersey governor chris christie had advance knowledge of the george washington bridge shutdown in 2013. nine months into the investigation, officials say there's no sign he planned or ordered the closures though the investigation is ongoing. yesterday durin

i talked to ben rhodes yesterday asking him whether boots on the ground would be necessary in syria to deal with isis and he said nothing has been ruled out. john kerry today said that key nato members are going to form coalition and not involve boots on the ground but they expect to have a plan in place before they head to the u.n. general assembly that starts on september 23rd. over the time we have been here, there is skaescalating concern. the president met with the french president so i think we will hear more coming out of this and certainly at the president's press conference what is next in terms of the fight against isis. >> chris jansing, thank you very much. >>> still ahead here on "morning joe," we have a lot to talk about with senator claire mccaskill. she will be joining us on set live at the top of the hour at 8:00. >>> also, we will answer one of life's biggest mysteries. what happens to your socks when they go missing? okay. >>> then dirty dancing. a principal cancels her school's dance and miley cyrus is the reason for that? >>> we will play the best moments of the 50