in pakistan of c.i.a. operatives and had reports of c.i.a. operatives being in libya. >> i'm not going to comment on the reports, charlie, but sometimes the c.i.a. is tasked to do things that stretches organic capacity. at which point it makes good sense to share that burden with other parts of the united states government. >> so what do you think of the selection of general petraeus to run the c.i.a. with the kinds of demands we're making on it today. >> well, we're bringing a lot of experience fro south asia to the agency. this is very important, too, he's going to find a culture there that is very comfortable to him. the people at the c.i.a. had the kind of patriotism, service, integrity that general peteus and, frankly, i became accustomed to seeing inside the armed forces. so that part of a transition should be pretty straightforward >> rose: does this do a lot for the morale of c.i.a. because it brings their own confidence back into play. >> i'm sure it helps. but the people at the agency know what they do. it's a rare thing and today's

what the c.i.a. did. what people were prosecuted for when they waterboarded u.s. troops was forcing water down their throats until their some yacks and intestines became distended, very painfully, and then stepping on their some yacks and intestnd and forcing the water back up and doik it repeatedly over and over again or feeding them raw rice and then forcing water down their throats and waiting until it expanded. what the commer rouge did was to hand cuff people to the bottom of barrels and gradually fill those barrels with water until many drowned. what the c.i.a. did was to tie somebody to a board, put a cloth over his face, pour water on him for no longer than 40 seconds at a time and the effect was in essence to increase the co2 level in his blood to the point where it caused panic. that's all it caused. and all three of the people who were waterboarded showed no ill effects afterwards. that's just a plain and simple truth. it is, you can call an 18 wheeler and a mini cooper both motor vehicles

>> the greatest c.i.a. operation in history that we know about it and the fact he was communicating using thumb drives and flash drives. chris: the little gadgets you transmit information. right. he didn't have wireless service and this is what the couriers were taking around. it's an incredible haul and the problem they have is how to process that information as quickly as they can and see the whole grand picture that this cache gives them. >> there was rolling up. chris: what's rolling up mean? >> finding the clues they've got in this information, this trove, and going after others. there was a strike in yemen on thursday, thursday morning in which the people in the area said they saul -- saw predator jones in the air and picked up al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. the obvious question is, where did they get the intel? i'll give you a bet. chris: osama bin laden, he wasn't a mastermind anymore. >> he was being back-briefed on operations. he had more of an operational role than we thought. there are two t

the fourth c.i.a. director, panetta, leon panetta, has said very recently on television that some of that information was part of a patchwork or mosaic that led to the attack on osama bin laden. so i think that it's clear that that... those techniques that the c.i.a. used worked. and to have taken them away and ruled them out i think may be a mistake. i would add, however, that i think that the department of justice investigation into the c.i.a. operatives who were involved with enhanced interrogation techniques is a most unfortunate thing. these people were operating at the direction of the president. they were doing things that had been approved by the department of justice and it sends a chill throughout the government in terms of not just the c.i.a. people but also the military people that they're going to have to get lawyered up if they do something. i imagine if a year from now or two years from now there's a new president in and he decides to have investigations on the decision that president ob

it is not the law for the c.i.a. and the c.i.a. is bound by article three and tds bound by the other terms of the mccain amendment which prohibit human cruel and integrating treatment but the field man well was never designed for that. i think everybody -- not sure everybody. i think it is widely agreed that between the field man wall and the legal line, there is some degree of ways is and we argue about how much space there is and what does and doesn't fit under it. the argument is there is some category, the -- enhands over what the military was permitted to do turned field manual but still within the law is strong and the question of why the administration has chosen as a prudential matter to go nowhere near the legal lines even in the highest value cases is an interesting and important question. now i think the answer to it as a practical cal matter is some combination of briefs about ethicasy. some beliefs about reputational damage to the united states and a sense of who we are as a nation. third, i think there is another fact

how did the c.i.a. get him? >> we looked at several options that were discussed by the president and by the national security team. the details behind the mission. the team methodically cleared the compound moving from room to room in an operation lasting nearly 40 minutes. >> and an impact on an already rocky relationship with pakistan. >> we believe that that partnership is critically important to breaking the back of al-qaeda. >> and of course, the political fallout. >> it's an unmistakeable trance to our personnel. it's also a credit to our commander in chief, the present one and the former one. >> peter baker of the new york times. james kickfield of the "washington journal." and john babbington of "the "associated press"." >> live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill. corporate funding is provided by -- >> we know why we're here. to connect our forces to what they need when they need it. to help troops see danger before it sees them. >> to answer the call of the brave and br

they both work for the c.i.a. cheryl jennings reports their real life is stepping out in the movies. >> the action thriller was based on the experiences of ex-c.i.a. spy that lives in berkeley with his wife and former c.i.a. partner. they have a three-year-old daughter kyber and a bunch of dogs and pets. their lives are so different compared to life in the c.i.a. in war zones always on the run from danger and always undercover. >> i used to keep about 20 pass authorities my pocket with different names. it was hard to keep up with the different nationalities. >> you are not supposed to carry around several different names. >> dana was by the book c.i.a. agent. he did what he needed to do. first time they met in sarejevo. she was from lebanon. she was shocked by the car he was driving. >> i was trained to blend in not attract attention go under the radar. he was driving a lime green car with orange written down on the side. >> i had my own philosophy. what spy would drive a billboard on wheels. they would think he w

a warning from the c.i.a. director. >> i can assure you, whoever takes his place he will be number one on our list. >> couric: and not even the neighbors knew that in the house down the block lived the most- wanted terrorist in the world. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. from the site of the deadliest terror attack ever on u.s. soil. president obama will be here later this week to mark the end of the hunt for the man who ordered it, osama bin laden, killed sunday night in his hideaway in pakistan in a raid by u.s. navy seals. pulling the trigger on that operation was one of the toughest decisions the president has ever had to make. david martin is at the pentagon tonight and, david, based on what the president knew and didn't know, this was a very big gamble. >> couric: katie, the more you find out about this mission, the more you realize what a roll of the dice it was and how close it

now, the c.i.a. is working as fast as possible to find what they call actionable intelligence to identify solid targets and be assured the u.s. is poised to strike again. harry? >> smith: bob orr, thanks. president obama traveled today to fort campbell in kentucky to thank in person the team that took out bin laden. he told them "job well done." chief white house correspondent chip reid is at fort campbell tonight with the latest on that. chip, good evening. >> reporter: well, good evening, harry. the white house says the president's primary purpose in coming here was to personally thank the special forces who were involved in that mission to kill osama bin laden. the president called it one of the greatest intelligence and military missions in our nation's history. the white house said there would be no victory laps following the killing of osama bin laden but it sure sounded like one today at fort campbell, kentucky, home of the 101st air born division. >> our strategy is working and there is no gr

earlier today i talked with c.i.a. director panetta, the man in charge of the operation, and i asked him why photographs of bin laden taken after he was killed have not been released. >> well, i'm sure the concern is that just the nature of the photos themselves are such that it could, in fact, be used to try to develop the revengeful nature of what al qaeda is all about and try to inspire them to take even further action against us. i think that's the concern. >> couric: yesterday, white house counterterrorism advisor john brennan said the navy seals were prepared for a capture or kill mission. if, in fact, they had taken osama bin laden alive, what were the plans? >> i think we always assumed from the beginning that the likelihood was that he was going to be killed. perchance he were to be captured, i think the approach was to take him quickly to bagram, transfer him to a ship off shore and then have the principals at the white house decide what next steps would be taken. >> couric: in a "washington post" op-ed today

. >> and we know now that the c.i.a. had a safe house in abbotobad where they were monitoring this house. >> how did that keep that undercover? >> amazing. >> it is amazing. >> i read somewhere it's the nearest thing to britain in pakistan. it's not like having a safe house out in the northwest frontier where you would stand out. it's a much more cosmopolitan city than that. but still they had to keep this very low profile. my understanding is that these c.i.a. operatives that were there, one of the things was to provide perimeter security just in case the pakistani's tried to intervene. in the end they decided that that was to risky. so they did it in this stealthy way. >> was this always a kill mission and not a capture mission? >> i think it was. i think the last thing this administration wanted was a court case with osama bin laden. there would be hostages being taken all over the world, masterful propaganda trying to hijack those as a prom ganda victory. but they had to be careful because the whole war on terror was

they watched c.i.a. director on a video screen narrating from agency headquarters in virginia what was happening far away in pakistan. these photos from the white house situation room they're waiting to hear a single word, geronimo, the code that bin laden was either captured or dead. >> the minutes passed like days. the president was very concerned about the security of our personnel. >> navy seals found bin laden in this bedroom and shot him once in the head and once in the chest. new amateur video shows bin laden's terrorist compound after the raid. you can see the wreckage of the u.s. helicopter lost during the operation. despite that loss, u.s. officials say navy seals were able to seize valuable information inside that compound. the c.i.a. is now busy analyzes hard drives, dvds and other documents. the agency hopes to find clues leading to bin laden's right hand man. >>> time now 5:02. the white house is saying it's weighing the pros and cons of releasing photographs of osama bin laden's body. repo

that really got the attention of the c.i.a. because informants don'ttially suggest they're going to see the key subject in a few hours. they say, well, it will be a few weeks or months, they're hoping to get money out of it. he did want the reward. i think he ultimately got it. >> what was the reward? >> at the time i think it was $5 million. i could be wrong about that. anyway, he gets the phone number from this -- one of the c.i.a. operatives in islamabad, pakistan, and remember, islamabad is the largest c.i.a. station in the world. that's where we spend the majority of our energy fighting al qaeda, and 2/3 of all al qaeda in the world, senior al qaeda who have been killed or captured have been killed or captured in pakistan, more than afghanistan and iraq combined, qaeda. so he gets his cell phone number and a few hours later, about 11:00 at night, he goes to the bathroom of a restaurant and texts the c.i.a. officer he met earlier that day and says, i am with k.s.m. and they meet up a few hours later and they said he's just

and c.i.a.ntegrate the community and advise the president and i think it was extremely wise to cut those two off. but i think it is essential that leading the community and advising the president be combined in one person so it can be realistic as to what the community can do, number one. and number two, so that the director seeing the sorts of information the president needs can turn around and say we have got to work harder on problem x. it's important to the president. we aren't there yet. do it. sometimes people forget that the intelligence successes of today are due to a lot of work done over the last several years, hard gritty work of collection, integration, spending money in the right place, language capabilities, personnel assignments and unless you ensure that all of that happens and direct where it's not being done well, you aren't in a position to tell the president otherwise you are taking a report and telling it to him. you might as well have the analyst tell him directly. the one

the president and his advisors watched the c.i.a. director on a video screen narrating from agency headquarters what was happening far away in pakistan. in these photos from the white house situation room they're waiting to hear a single word, geronimo, the code whether bin laden was captured or dead. >> i want to recognize the heros that carried out this incredible dangerous mission as well as all the military and counterterrorism professionals who made the mission possible. >> president obama was given a standing ovation at a dinner for congressional leaders last night by democrats and republicans. the president says he hopes the lawmakers can harness their current spirit of unity to confront the many challenges ahead. >>> we have new amateur video this morning that shows bin laden easter rest compound. you can see the wreckage of the u.s. helicopter lost during the raid on sunday u.s. officials say navy seals were able to seize valuable information inside that compound. the c.i.a. is already analyzes confiscated hard drives. they'

there is a study that was done by the c.i.a.n the national archives, some of it has been declassified now, that shows that enhanced interrogation of khalid sheikh mohammed provide a vast treasure trove if you will of intelligence. it was a good program. it was a legal program. it was not torture. i would strongly recommend we continue it. >> chris: now you say it's not torture. even waterboarding? because leon panetta has said waterboarding is torture. >> i disagree. the lawyers disagreed when we asked them for their opinion. and where we should draw the line in terms of what we could and couldn't do. waterboarding and all of the other techniques that were used are techniques that we use training our own people. this is stuff that we've done for years with own military personnel. to suggest that it's torture i just think is wrong. >> chris: so you would put it back on the table if you were the president and they got another new high-value target? >> if it were my call, i'd have the program ready to go if we captured a detainee w

. >> lehrer: we have a newsmaker interview with c.i.a. director leon panetta, who was overseeing the mission from c.i.a. headquarters. >> ifill: margaret warner hears from special correspondent saima mohsin in pakistan. >> surprisingly pakistan's media have been very damning of both the government and military and somewhat pro united states which we rarely see in the press here. >> lehrer: we talk to senators mark udall and saxby chambliss about the u.s. pakistan relationship. >> ifill: and judy woodruff explores the impact of bin laden's death on americans, nearly a decade after the 9/11 attacks. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> oil companies have changed my make huge profits. >> last year, chevron made a lot of money. >> where does it go? >> every penny and more went into bringing energy to the world. >> the economy is tough right now, everywhere. >> we pumped $21 million into local economies, into small businesses, communities, equipment, materials. >> that m

c.i.a. director leon panetta heads to capitol hill to talk about it. it was recorded by cameras strapped to the helmets o by the navy seals. two blackhawks flew in under the radar carrying an elite team. one of the helicopters stalled. they switched to plan "b" bringing in a shi nook helicopter to replace it. bin laden was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest. 12 to 15 women and children were flex handcuffed and left there. >> during the presence you never knew where he was? >> no, never. >>. >> we thought he was someplace in the tribal areas between afghanistan and pakistan. it raises an important questions questions that really the pakistanis need to answer not just for us but themselves. >> meanwhile, the c.i.a. is poring over confiscated hard drives that ob tainted at the compound. they are hoping to find information to lead them to find his successor ayman al-zawahri. the white house says they have not seen an increase on terror chatter in the aftermath of bin laden's deat

the c.i.a. is going in, but what is this all about, bob? >> reporter: well, harry, it's very interesting. the c.i.a. now will apparently get a chance to literally dig deeper for evidence inside the osama bin laden hideout. u.s. officials tell us that pakistan now will allow a c.i.a. evidence and forensics team to search for anything that might be stashed maybe somewhere inside the walls of the compound or under the floorboards. navy seals, as we've told you, grabbed a mountain of material-- files, hard drives, stacks of notes-- the night bin laden was killed, but the commandos only had 40 minutes on the ground in the compound and critical evidence might have been left behind. we have to say, we don't know if there's anything useful there, but we are told that forensics experts will use things like high-tech sensors and infrared cameras capable of finding hidden or buried materials. harry? >> smith: bob, do you think this means pakistani/u.s. relations might be on the end? relations might be on t

what the c.i.a. did. what people were prosecuted for when they walter boarded u.s. troops -- water boarded u.s. troops was forcing water down their throats until their stomachs and intestines became distended very painfully and stepping on their stomachs and forcing the water back up and doing it repeatedly over and over again. or feeding them raw rice and forcing water down their throats and waiting until it expanded so it would cause excruciating pain. what the khmer rouge did was handcuff people to the bottom of barrels and gradually fill them with water until many drowned. that was also called waterboarding. what the c.i.a. did was tie somebody to a board, put a cloth over his face, pour water for him for no longer than 40 seconds at a time, and the effect was in essence to increase the co-2 level in his blood to the point where it caused panic. that's all it caused. and all three of the people who were water boarded showed no ill effect afterwards. that's just the plain and simple truth. you can

they watched as c.i.a. director on a video screen narrated from agency headquarters in virginia what was happening in pakistan. now these photos from the white house situation room they're waiting to hear a single word, geronimo. the code that bin laden was either captured or dead. >> the minutes passed like days. and the president was very concerned about the security of our personnel. >> navy seals found bin laden in this bedroom and shot him once in the head and once in the chest. we're getting a better look this morning at bin laden easter rest compound. this daylight amateur video shows the area outside. now inside the compound navy seals were able to confiscate hard drives and dvds. now the cia is hoping to find clues that could lead to bin laden's right hand man. despite that possible gain, the u.s. did lose a helicopter during the mission. you can see that wreckage in the video right there. >>> time now 6:02. the white house says it's weighing the pros and cons of releasing photographs of osama bin

a report in the pakistani media that outed a senior c.i.a.rative in pakistan, apparently an attempt to blow his cover. so far there has been no reaction from the american ebb and it's far from clear who leaked this information but it's widely seen to have been an angry and humiliated isi taking revenge on the c ever c.i.a. with the best will in the world pakistan was a prickly partner in fighting terrorism. last week's raid has torpedoed that good will and left the whole partnership in jeopardy. elizabeth palmer, islamabad. >>> mississippi river expected to crest tonight at 48 feet, that is just shy of its all- time high. the rising water is impacting 8 states but memphis is getting the worst of it right now. homes in low-lying areas of that city are swamped and hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate. outside of new orleans the army corps of engineers opened floodgates to try to relieve pressure on the levees. >>> checking headlines around the bay area, a battle over the planned expansion of the oakland zoo. the zoo wants to expand 6

c.i.a. director leon panetta heads to capitol hill to talk about it. it was recorded by cameras strapped to the helmets o by the navy seals. two blackhawks flew in under the radar carrying an elite team. one of the helicopters stalled. they switched to plan "b" bringing in a shi nook helicopter to replace it. bin laden was shot twice, once in the head and once in the

taking revenge on the c.i.a. with the best will in the world pakistan was a prickly partner for the u.s. in fighting terrorism. last monday's raid has now torpedoed that good will and left the whole partnership in jeopardy. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, islamabad. >> couric: turning now to libya where people are fleeing the violence by sea. today united nations called on ships in the mediterranean to be on the lookout for rickety boats carrying refugees. hundreds may have died on friday when their boat sank near an island off sicily. another boat ran aground yesterday off that same island. the italian coast guard was able to rescue 400 refugees. in this country, a couple of political notes tonight. he's been contemplating it for years, now newt gingrich is doing it the former house speaker told followers on facebook and twitter he'll announce on wednesday that he's running for the republican nomination for president. and in the senate today, majority leader harry reid once an amateur boxer looked like he'd gone a f

some of the leads to that courier came out of the c.i.a.'s secret prisons where those al qaeda captives were waterboarded. he was described as a protege of 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed and the man who delivered bin laden's orders to al qaeda operatives in the field. but it was not until four years ago that u.s. intelligence determined the courier's real name. take a look at it. it cost bin laden his life. it took another two years to find out what part of pakistan he operated in. then last august, an intercepted phone call led the c.i.a. to his residence. "we were shocked by what we saw" one official said. >> this intelligence case is different. what we see in this compound is different than anything we've ever seen before. >> reporter: a $1 million compound, eight times bigger than any of the other homes in a town where retired pakistani military officers live just 35 miles north of the capital of islamabad. it was built in 2005, apparently just for bin laden. walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire. the main building wit