inhe days since the base attack the cia has launched seven strikes just across the border. >> the cia the pentagon and indeed the white house, believe that these predator attacks are the only way to go up against al qaeda and the taliban in these tribal areas of pakistan. >> reporter: the bomber was a jordanian doctor. in the video he sits next to the leader of the pakistani taliban. and says his suicide mission was in response to one specific drone attack that killed the former pakistani taliban leader. >> reporter: that is a new threat against the u.s. in afghanistan. and points to a dangerous partnership between the taliban and al qaeda. >> al qaeda will then provide its knowledge and resources to the pakistani taliban and the pakistani taliban will provide the manpower -- the footsoldiers as well as the logistical support on a regular basis to al qaeda. >> reporter: that collaboration between al qaeda and taliban on both sides of the border is what worries u.s. officials the most. they're asking for help from the pakistanis. until they get that help, american soldiers will be dang

and the treatment of the cia and the administration. >> you are defending the cia. there were screw ups here, they were fixable human screw ups and they also need better software -- excuse me, i want to finishp. >> these were fix ups? >> no. what went wrong -- >> i think it was a terrible [ all talking at once ] >> excuse me. i want to finish. what went wrong on christmas day was a combination of human screw ups and several agencies and a failure of computer software to link things. >> i think the larger view -- >> i want to remind you -- [ all talking at once ] >> the cia's record, frankly, has not been terribly good since 2001-2002. >> in what way? >> just as it was bad in the 1980s. the ccht ia is a huge massive bureaucracy which trips over its own feet. this latest disafter ther in afghanistan where a failed double agent is allowed to come into a meeting where almost the entire senior staff in afghanistan and blow them all up? they didn't even search the guy before he went in. these are element typewrite failures of the trade craft. >> i think that's exactly rig

denies and that the cia wasn't talk about. also important, there was another drone missile strike just today in the waziristan region of pakistan along the afghan border, it killed three suspected militants in a car. it's a second strike there in just two days, gregg. >> caroline, how is the cia's mission different from that of the military? >> well, there's definitely some overlap. cia agents aren't just information analysts anymore. the cia is getting more and more involved in quasi military operations with the drone attacks and putting together plans to kill top al-qaeda leaders and it's not just in the province. cia add add number of small bases in the southern and eastern part of afghanistan. cia director leon pin netta said because the capabilities improved. it's not just unmanned drones, they handle people on the ground, gregg. >> i'm wondering how big of an impact this will have on the cia. welsh the mission remains the same and we've heard nothing about a pullout from the region certainly, but it's a devastating blow.

. >>> the cia is vowing to avenge in afghanistan. tonight, we have new evidence that the bomber was someone that the agency knew. nick sifrin has the story from kabul. >> reporter: along the afghanistan/pakistan, america's most dangerous emies have a safe haven. and the cia officers killed this week were trying to break that. abc news has learned that the suicide bomber was a regular informant for the cia. a pakistani, invited on the base ltiple times. on wednesday afternoon, he was driven from the pakistani border by the camp security director. he wasn't even searched. at least 13 cia officers gathered to meet him for an intelligence briefing when he blew himself up. >> the cia is trying to hunt and kill islamic militants on both sides of the border. in order to do that, they need to recruit spies. that's the highest calling of a cia officer overseas is to put a spy in the enemy camp. >> reporter: those camps around the pakistani side of the border hold the most senior taliban leaders. the cia officers were part of the covert campai

thdead included the chief of the rgeted cia post. the newshour tonight, the latest detailsbout one of the adliest attacks on cia personnel in the agency' histy. >> brown: also tonight, federal judghas dismissed all chars against 5 blackwater security guards accuseof killinunarmed civilians in baghdad. >> suarez: the presint gets a preliminary report intthe attempt to bw up a u.s. airler. we'll talk tintelligence commity veterans about what went wrong. >> brown: then, a econd look' asaul solman asks economists one central questionbout the recessio >> why didant -- why didn't the fed tell us? >> why didn't warn you. >> yes >> suarez: gwen ifillooks back at a dmatic decade in u.s. politics. withmy walter, andy kohut and michaebeschloss. >> brown: and thpoetic partnehip between one of russia's leadingriters and the husband who trslates her. >> this gis a lot of advantages to the -- view. because he gets toranslate poems at we lived through tother. >> bwn: that's all ahead on tonight's pbs newshour major fundinfor the pbs nehour is provid

the cia said they never actually did this operation. and out of the loop for several years and now i'm telling you." host: tim on the republican line. caller: how are you this morning? host: to win well. what is your question? caller: not really a question. i want to pick up on where the money is coming for the government. sorry for jumping off topic. but it comes from the ability of the federal reserve to create money out of the air -- host: sorry, we are going to stay on topic, and for those of you interested, the pakistan president writes in an opinion piece in "the washington post," "pakistan on the verge of greatness," you are interested in reading that. next call. caller: sorry, hard hearing you, my phone is messed up. host: well, we can hear you. caller: i'm sorry, i am just tired today. i got a few hours ago. what is the government doing for a possible north korean launching of missiles? guest: north korea has come over the last few years, periodically has tried to test its long-range i1Ñmissiles. they've not been particularly s

according to the cia director, leon panetta. cia also under fire for not sharing intelligence the proper way, not prioritizing the information. they've promised to get information out within 48 hours. president obama was not inclined to fire anyone for these failures. the fact that this bombing came in the wake of the christmas bombing plot made it, it would have devastated morale in the agency had he removed anybody in the cia. >> a new book coming out this week about the 2008 presidential race. some comments from the senate democratic leader, harry reed getting a lot of attention. they quote him as saying he could do well as a candidate because he was light skinned and didn't speak with a negro dialect unless he wanted to have one. reid's apologized for the comments. the president said the book is closed on this. is it? >> reid was in trouble already. he's up for re-election and behind both possible opponents. he's got a 52% unfavorable rating in the state of nevada. this was a private conversation. meant to be private with th

the suicide attack that killed seven cia workers last month. the attack the suspected bomber made a tape detailing his motives. and we'll have a live report on that in just a second. >>> also terrorism could hit a lot closer to home. this attempted bombing certainly was thwarted. but the suspect in that christmas day bombing attempt aboard a northwest airplane, he had his day in court yesterday. we had details on that appearance and the latest on this case moving forward. >>> then the sound that no driver ever wants to hear. oh, goodness. wrecks like that all across the south thanks to a wicked streak of icy frigid weather. just part of the damage sweeping the country in this deep freeze. and get this, the temperatures are still going down. we'll bring you the weather stories from the worst hit areas coming up. >> oh, my goodness. well, we will turn to that suicide bombing that killed seven cia operatives. a lot of people been wondering about answers about this alleged suicide bomber, this double agent. well, we're getting some answers now from

obviously we want to draw upon your cia expertise. let's get right to it.brennan told us this morning we are going to eventually, that's the key word here, repatriate some of our guantanamo detainees back to yemen. i want to play for you what he said and get your response. >> all right. >> we haven't stopped the process as far as dealing with them. many of them are going to be prosecuted. some under the article three courts and some in military courts. some of these individuals are going to be transferred back to yemen at the right time, at the right pace and in the right way. >> is there a right way. >> can they be rehabbed? >> no, they can't. the saudis, yemenis know our system better than we do in many ways. they know we like the idea of people being rehabilitated. we send them back to said rake ya, send them back to yemen and they play records for them and teach them how to paint, supposedly and then they ship them off to kill our soldiers in afghanistan or iraq. these people we hold at guantanamo want to be released not to be free but to go back to the

officials are keeping tight- lipped about the attack on the cia agents. this is one of the reasons why. and member of jordan's royal family was killed along side the cia agents in afghanistan. he was a liaison officer between the jordanian and american secret services. the general work for jordan's powerful royal family for more than 20 years. he told me even this dramatic intelligence failure would not affect the close cooperation between jordan and the u.s. >> the hope is mutual, it is a two-way street. we don't claim to know as much as the u.s., but in the region we have been engaged in operations for the good part of 40 years. >> jordan's position is uncomfortable, a prominent muslim middle eastern nation whose policies are pro-western. they're people view the u.s. with suspicion, some even with violent hatred. >> it is a position germany has been more than happy to occupy since 2003, but onriday china overtook germany to become the world's largest exporter. chinese exports were worth 1.07 trillion dollars. german data showed that exports from europe

the suspected double agent who is accuse of killing seven cia officers in afghanistan. also killed a jordanian in that attack. in this tape now that we are seeing he seems to make his motives pretty clear. revenge. cnn's senior international correspondent nic robertson is in raman, jordan, talking about this video and where it came from. >> it's being disseminated by the pakistani taliban, had we know that? because the leader of the pakistani taliban is sitting next to al balawi, the alleged bomber and killer of the cia operative in afghanistan. we talked to dr. al balawi's family. they say it is definitely him. but the message is a direct put-down to jordanian intelligence and the cia because the doctor tells them directly that he is not about to sell his faith. and this is a clear indication that perhaps these intelligence agencies thought they had bought him off. telling him that's not the case. what's very interesting here is cording to the family the doctor had become very angry and radicalized if you will, over what happened in gaza. yet here we see him on this vi

. >>> videotape of the jordanian doctor who suicide bomber killed seven cia operatives in afghanistan aired on al-jazeera and pakistani television today. he was promising to provide information on al qaeda hiding places and was invited on to the cia base. just as he was getting a pat down search, he detonated the explosives. leon panetta said, "in the past year, we have done exceptionally heavy damage to cut and the associates. that is why the extremists it backed." >>> funerals today for some of the cia officers who were killed. harold brown jr. was remembered during a service in massachusetts. the father of three lived in fairfax county. >> i will love you now and forever. >> flags were lowered to half staff at the cia and the seven new stars joined the others on a wall of honor at the cia office in langley. >>> a man with suspected ties to terrorism pled not guilty today on charges he was training for al qaeda. he was accused of lying to pakistan to get military training. he is one of two men arrested yesterday in connection with the investigation. the colorado airport driver pled

cia ding the 80s. he is now one of those terrorist networkshich overlaps with e akon taliban, the pakistan taliban anal qaeda. whats interesting on the atta in the cia opateive -- op ratives in afanistan it seems strategic, aimed specificly to be able to deade our able to bomb noh waziristan. so in some strange sse theyre related if, in fact, it is true tt the pakistan taliban, ashey sa conducted this attack in afgnistan, i believe 's the first attack that the pakian taliban have actually conducted in afghistan. >> suarez:r. johnson, have the taliban afghanistan and pack twoeparate and distinct enties? >> i think that a ry important queson. and people have a deba concerning this. i think they are becoming closernd closer in recent months. d that would be very fearful. but in the past the pakistani talibawas quite different, much more ideaological than the ghan taliban. but one of our worst nightmaresi would suggest, is for two entities to merge. now i thk following up on chris, thathe hakan i-net work

base and blew up seven cia employees and himself in afghanistan. a pakistani television report says that the double agent shared jordanian and u.s. secrets with militants before the attack and says on the tape, quote, we will never forget the blood of our year, referring to the ted taliban leader, the jordanian tells other jihadists it's their duties to go after america hardest. >> this attack will be the first of the operation, against their team, afghanistan and pakistan border. >> washington post reports before the blast the vehicle sped through the check point on base and when he stepped out to be checked by security guards he quickly detonated the bond sending steel pelts ripping through him and more than a dozen people near him. an anonymous former official calls meeting an asset like that a bad trade craft. leon panetta lashed out at critics who say those who lost their lives somehow brought it on themselves. panetta writes in the past year we have a done exceptionally heavy damage to al-qaeda and its associates, that's why the extremists hi

and jordanian intelligence that led to his son bombing the cia base in afghanistan.hen you look at the video and listen to what he has to say, he is very clear that although he went as an agent for the cia, that he had changed sides. he couldn't be bought off, he said, for millions of dollars. no idea if that figure is accurate. he went on to say that his faith in his god was so strong he wasn't going to be bought off, that this attack was designed as in part revenge for the killing of a taliban leader but also to show his anger about what is going on in the region. fredricka? >> nic, i wonder how this might impact the intelligence sharing and gathering between the u.s. and jordan? >> reporter: well, jordanian officials say that they have a very strong intelligence relationship with the united states and that this incident isn't going to impact that relationship. according to one analyst we talked to here who is very familiar with the way these intelligence agencies work, what this is going to mean is because this double agent double crossed the cia and bombed agains

al balawi blew himself up inside a cia facility in afghanistan almost two weeks ago. seven cia employees were killed. >>> "the washington post" was reporting some new details this morning about how that attack happened. and we have a national security reporter from "the washington post," joining us now live from washington. good morning. >> good morning, again. >> okay, so, what are you learning today? >> well, some surprises and some new mysteries to chew on. one of the bigger things is this bomber had never been inside this base, had never actually seen any of these americans before he got onto the base to blow himself up. he essentially was brought on for the very first time by an afghan driver. once he got on to the base, he detonated the device. we also found out the cia had actually tried to put in some basic security precautions. they had brought the guy over to a place in the base that was essentially abandoned, and they tried to search him, and the minute they went to search him he blew himself up and the cia officers were close enough to him, some as many as

cia has good relations with jordanian intelligence as you well know. and he seemed to be giving information about the number two guy in al qaeda, ayman al zawahiri. was it too enticing? >> i think it is a case of a very clever adversary. we have to realize how smart al qaeda is. they were holding a bauble in front of us so enticing. this is what would make us jump. here is somebody who claims to have information about the location of ayman al zawahiri, the key target we have been going after with bin laden and it was irresistible. as a result, eight people are dead. and, again, if you want something that badly, you make yourself vulnerable and i think we have to be careful about that. the whole country would love to see bin laden and zawahiri brought to justice, but not at the price of making our own people vulnerable. >> it dawned on me, i'm sure on you that ayman al zawahiri is a medical doctor also, just like this double or triple agent. and the fact that an educated person like that could become a suicide bomber what does that say to you? >> it say

that is the alleged cia bomber, mulal balawi. in this video he stated the attack is in the revenge for the u.s. drone strike that killed former pakistani leader baital massoud in august. sitting to his left is the current leader of the pakistan, who in october vowed to avenge batula's death. >> it's very clear that there is no real distinction between the taliban on this side of the border and that side of the border. that this is now international at least not extent that it is something that crosses between the pakistan and afghan borders. but then it draws strength from jordan. it draws strength from iraq, and there is a fusion of iraq, of the iraqi al qaeda with the al qaeda here in pakistan. so all of this is getting tied together by one single thing, and that is a common world view and a common ideology. >> reporter: until now the pakistani taliban commonly focused on domestic attacks. what we're seeing now is carrying out a strike across the border in afghanistan, the operative that it september an arab, a very startling d

i am jeff glor, also tonight, after the attack on a cia in afghanistan, a rare revelation of the identities of murder erred asians. where america stands on food safety. how do we stack up against other countries and how do we prevent the most vulnerable americans from becoming dangerously ill? >> it got worse and worse, and it felt like killer pain. >> glor: and dashboard distractions, will the next generation of in car gadgets lure drivers into taking their eyes off the road? captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with jeff glor. >> glor: good evening, the new year has been a cold year for most americans and this weekend is no exception. a deep-freeze is forecast to engulf virtually all of the continental united states overnight. the south is particularly ill prepared for such bone chilling weather. mark strassmann is in atlanta tonight. mark, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, jeff. it was 12 degrees outside here first thing this morning, but with the windchill it felt like one degree above zero, very unsouthern but remember every state but hawaii has been experi

base in afghanistan without being searched, killing seven cia officers.group is taking credit for wednesday's attack, praising a possible double agent. cnn's atea bowie is in kabul with the very latest. >> reporter: the question that remains is just how a suicide bomber was able to make it onto an american base in eastern afghanistan, detonate his vest and kill seven cia agents. american officials here in afghanistan still are not talking about just how he was able to do that. the taliban claiming that he was actually an afghan soldier, a soldier that they were able to convince to switch allegiances rather than fighting with the u.s. forces, fighting against the u.s. forces. and the taliban claimed that they will continue to infiltrate the afghan army and they point to an attack just a day before wednesday's attack in western afghanistan where an afghan soldier was able to shoot and kill a u.s. soldier and shoot an injure two italian soldiers. reports today also that the pakistani taliban are now claiming responsibility for this attack that killed the cia

unfortunately the cia thought he was one of theirs. the mistake cost them dearly. >>> and an arrest in last weekend's security breach at newark airport. it turns out this is just the tip of the iceberg in security lapses at u.s. airports. 20 minutes later, she'll bring one into the world in seattle. later today, she'll help an accident victim in kansas. how can one nurse be in all these places? through the nurses she taught in this place. johnson & johnson knows, behind every nurse who touches a life... there's a nurse educator... who first touched them. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference ( laughs, click ) when you hear a click, ( clicking ) you know it's closed and secure. that's why hefty food bags click closed. hefty! hefty! hefty! so you know you've helped lock in freshness and lock out air... to help prevent freezer burn. be sure it's secure with hefty food bags. just one click and you know it's closed. hefty! hefty! hefty! ( click, click, click ) >>> new video from the taliban in pakistan confirms it was behind last month's

video for the cia, for jordanian intelligence agencies, et cetera?reporter: we've been talking here with an analyst very familiar with security operations in jordan and throughout the region, and from his perspective, this is going to mean a real close, hard look at all agents, any country is running in that reason, and there are lots of different countries who are running agents in and around the pakistan/afghan border trying to get on, to the al qaeda leaders. everyone will have to look at these spies they're running and figure out if they can trust them. the bottom line here is, trying to track down al qaeda leaders, the analysis has to be, this is going to cause a setback. it's going to take time to reanalyze all of those spies, check them all out again, and that's going to slow down any hope of getting leads on bin laden and al zawahiri. >> nic robertson in iman, thank you. >>> learning more about al balawi. his mother says she was a loner and the wife of the suspected double agent was shocked to hear when he had done but admires him as well. >>

how did the attack occur where seven cia officials were killed? >> first of all, i think the tragic death of the seven officers underscores the bravery and the risks that the men and women of the cia put themselves at every day. i think the nation owes them a debt of gratitude. the cia is looking at the circumstances of the attack and trying to make sure it doesn't happen again. the cia is on the front line. rit on the border between afghanistan and pakistan. it is going to take a toll. as far as the people that are there, the expertise that we have. the cia is a resilient organization. i had the privilege to serve there for 25 years. we're confident they will be able to rebound from this and be able to continue to prosecute the war on al qaeda. >> should they be out on the front line like that? >> yes, we have to take the risks. we have to learn from the attack. like the attempted attack on the 25th of december, the attack on the base. we need to take the risks. we need to find out who they are, what they're planning, what the next steps are. >>

what it tells us about the attack that killed seven people at a cia outpost. >>> the kiss that closed an airport terminal. police think they found the man in newark who triggered the six-hour security problem. >>> two men are under arrest in connection with a new york terror plot. one of them is a new york city tab drooifr. he was arraigned yesterday. the other is a bosnian immigrant. susan candiotti is live from new york. >> reporter: hello, fredricka. through his attorney and from his own father, both say that the man who is accused of an act of conspiracy and terrorist actor is not guilty. the government says otherwise. today, a grand jury, it was announced, charged two counts, two charges of acts against the country. involving a man by the name of adis medunjanin, charged with conspiracy to commit murder outside the united states as well as getting military training from al qaeda. he has pleaded not guilty to both of the charges. the government indictment alleges that this alleged murder conspiracy happened between august and october of 2008. that, specifically, he got on a plane

do you get funding from the cia?re you in constant contact with these people to get this vast amount of information that you dealknow? guest: i do not get funding. we do not have any funding. we began in 1995 as a nonprofit foundation. we began with a grant from the national endowment for democracy, which lasted for two years. it was supposed to be a seed grant. they are notoriously reluctant to fund any kind of opposition activities because they have been cheated so often. i can understand that. everything then we do is done on a voluntary basis. there is 0 funding. host: this is a headline on c- span.org. -- this is a headline on cnn.com. are you on the list? guest: we are no. 29 on that list. there are some left-wing groups. there is a center for american progress on the list. it is quite astonishing. host: how did this list, about, and when did it start? guest: we have been identified many times in the iranian state run media as a cia front. apparently, this caller from new york thinks that we are as well. anyone

the cia working with jordanian intelligence. the work he sourced. but in this video he said when he got to pakistan, he joined the pakistani taliban, told them all about this intelligence operation and with them planned an attack against the cia base in afghanistan and he said this is a very, very clear message that no amount of money can buy off somebody's faith from their god, an indication here that he would -- that whatever he told jordanian intelligence officials was just lies and that he was really working here for al qaeda and the taliban. and what we see in this video as well is him seating with the leader of the pakistani taliban saying that this attack is in revenge for the death of the pab stanny taliban leader last year in a u.s. drone strike. what this shows us as well is very clearly how closely the taliban and al qaeda are working on the same objectives and clearly the -- clearly here a very, very important objective, a very, very important operation and the operation, given to the pakistani taliban to carry out this very important op

and new details about the suicide bomber who killed seven cia agents in afghanistan. laxatives? i've tried all these. this one's gritty. this one can make you bloated. clearly, miralax is the one for me. it relieves my constipation with no harsh side effects. miralax. restore your body's natural rhythm. >>> ca continues to search for the bomber responsible for the attacks in afghanistan. he was an informant for the cia who had been invited on the base multiple times and was not searched before being driven onto the base. the cia officers were part of a campaign to target a safe haven for militants near the border with pakistan. >>> a man suspected of having ties with al qaeda faces several charges after trying to attack a danish cartoonists who drungs offended some muslims. he was wheeled into court on a stretcher. he tried to break into the cartoonist's home. he was a target after drawing caricatures of the prophet mohammad. >>> a bittersweet goodbyes for thousands of service members and virginia. thousands of sailors and marines had one last day with their family as they left

seven cia employees were killed along with a jordanian. again, we're just getting a look at this morning. he talked about a motive in this video, talking about revenge essentially for the killing of a top taliban leader in pakistan. he also said that his faith cannot be bought. that's a reference apparently to the u.s. and jordanian intelligence agencies courting him as an informant. >>> funeral arrangements are being made for the mother of vice president joe biden who died yesterday after a brief illness. catherine y catherine passed away at her home in greenville, delaware weather family by her side. more of our top stories in just 20 minutes. >>> health care reform by next month, maybe? could be ready for president obama's signature if he gets his way. >> what still needs to happen, though, a big question there. our deputy political director paul stain haw paul stein hauser is taking a look at that. >>> betty and t.j., working on two different health care reform bills merging into one. president obama talked with the top four democrats

luis rueda spent 28 years in the cia, mostly as an agent and station chief in the field, including in the middle east and south asia. his last assignment was dwep tee director for counterintelligence at the cia's counterterrorism center. where he dealt with double agent operations and security. he retired on january 1st on the heels of the foiled christmas day airliner plot and the deadly double agent attack on a remote cia outpost in afghanistan. i spoke to him earlier today at his home on capitol hill a. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> warner: osama bin laden or a voice saying he was osama bin laden this weekend hailed the christmas day bomb attempt, the same attack that al qaeda had already taken credit for. now one, do you believe this is osama bin laden, but more importantly what-- if so, what does it is a about how al qaeda is operating today? >> it's always hard to identify whether it is him or not. but as far as we know there has never been a false osama bin laden tape. so the odds are that it probably is him. i think what it tells us about al qaeda

those stories and a whole lot more including new video of the man suspected of killing seven cia agents in afghanistan. but first, we're beginning this morning with the frigid temperatures gripping most of this country. in bismarck, north dakota, it is expected to reach 34 degrees below zero. that's when you factor in the windchill. new low temperatures are expected as far south as florida, across the midwest, and out west. we're going to have the forecast in a moment. snow and ice were a dangerous combination in atlanta. we can't get enough of looking at this video. can you imagine being at the top of that hill, that incline and seeing a sheet of black ice below you and cars to boot? yeah. fortunately we can report there were no serious accidents other than the damage done to the cars there. a lot of insurance adjusters being called today. and over two dozen car crashes reported overall. bill karins has more. bill, good morning. >> good morning, alex. a historic morning in central florida. we're getting reports of snow and sleet from areas in tampa, just outside of downtown orlando. th

. >>> moving to afghanistan the suicide bomber who killed seven cia agents, we learned this week that the terrorist was a double agent and we found how he managed to slip through security. >> reporter: a jordanian doctor, a former senior u.s. intelligence official says he was providing very important information on some very high level targets. the double agent was brought on to the cia base in afghanistan without first being given a polygraph test, one of the basic tools in establishing a spy's trustworthiness. he had provided bona fide information, including the location of al qaeda leaders killed by cia drone strikes. a u.s. intelligence official says there were still questions about his reliability and the access he claimed to have to senior al qaeda leaders. >> reporter: he had already been to the base about a half a dozen times, because of the information he claimed he had, the cia officers told the local guards not to search him as he went past three layers of security. >> reporter: 13 cia officers and contractors from the company formally known as black water had gathered to h

the cia, more than 50% of their workforce joined after 9/11.'ve got a very young, less experienced workforce. so that may -- it may have been to some degree human failure. when we look at what intelligence has provided. john brennan this morning said that he did get a brief. by the way, by the way, we understand all the three-letter agencies all got the same briefing. when we're looking at a failure to connect the dots and we're thinking about smoking guns, that's another one to me. if we understood that there was this modus operandi, what were we doing? >> he said the brief he got about the possibility of using underwear did not apply to any threat to an airplane. did that make a difference? >> absolutely they shouldn't make a difference. what you understand is the me method of deploying a bomb. if that's what we have intelligence and law enforcement officials to do, how can that pose aa threat and to act against it. the fact it wasn't in that context doesn't persuade me. >> what does this mean for the future of flying for no-fly list ts? >> i

the cia director says the suicide bombing is a stark reminder that the u.s. is still at war. >>> it's been a year in the making but tonight senator harry reid has apologized to president barack obama for making racist comments during the presidential race. the senate democratic leader said obama could win the election because hes with "light skinned and did not have a negro dialect." reid released a statement sincerely apologizing for offending any and all americans especially african-americans for improper comments. he is currently seeking reehecation in the state of alabama. >>> maryland lawmakers are looking for tougher laws following the abduction and murder of an 11-year-old girl on the eastern shore. suzanne colins is live with a look at some of the possible proposals. suzanne? >> reporter: adam, the man charged in the abduction of sarah fox had already been convicted of sexually abusing two other girls. now that lawmakers are headed back to annapolis, they are considering a bill to keep someone like that locked up. sarah foxwell's body was found days a

one of the cia workers killed in that attack was laid to rest in massachusetts yesterday. harold brown jr. lived in northern virginia for the past several years. the 37-year-old leaves behind his wife and threeoung children. >>> this new year has been a challenging one for president obama. he's prodding congressional democrats to finish up a health care bill. his first state of the union address is weeks away and he's been forced to address sho shortcomings in national security. all of this comes as his majority party fights to stay that way in this year's midterm elections. brian mooar reports from capitol hill. >> reporter: a day after getting more bad news on jobs and the economy, president obama is touting health care reform as a way to help struggling americans. >> we're fixing our broken health insurance system that's crushing families, eating away at workers' take-home pay, and nailing small businesses with double digit premium increases. >> reporter: he's hoping to sign a bill in a few weeks before his state of the union address, but house democrats say they won't

i have to ask you about the cia deaths this week, you spent of course, 20 years at the cia and you know what a great loss this is for, for the agency. how does this affect both morale and strategy as the agency expands its role? >> well i think it hurts morale to a certain extent, naturally, because of the deaths. but it hurts morale even more because one of the officers who got killed had had arranged an operation in 1998 that would have killed or captured mr. osama bin laden. and mr. brennan is instrumental in preventing that operation from occurring. instead he said the americans should trust the saudis to take care of bin laden. so it is a painful, a painful death, but more importantly it is a death that didn't need to occur had mr. clinton, mr. brennan, george tenet, and mr. burger had the courage to try to defend americans. >> i wish all the gentlemen were here to defend themselves. >> i would delighted any team to talk with them in public, in any forum, ma'am. >> hopefully we can arrange that some day. they would want to answer your charge. >> thank you for being here. >> up next

former cia search michael hay den say it's time for ordinary americans to make some tough choices. >> what's the balance the american people want between their privacy and their security? >>> all international travellers will see an increase in random screenings. >>> people were finally boarding planes, they are finally boarding planes at newark liberty international airport after a security breach that shut down travel there for several hours. a man walked through a checkpoint exit into the secure side of a terminal last night and disappeared into the crowd. officers had to immediately stop screening and look through surveillance tape to identify the man. . flights were grounded. hundreds of passengers had to be rescreened. the entire terminal was searched. nothing dangerous was found nor the fan found or identified.

the suspect is sack cuesed of blowing himself up at a cia base in afghanistan on december 30th. >>> you will be slifrg a while longer before warmer air brings relief from the bone-chilling temperatures we're seeing. the deadly winter freeze will keep a tight grip on many parts of the country this weekend. take a look at how treacherous icy roads got in the atlanta area causing many accidents. it is expected to dip in the 20s in the sooet. warnings are posted because windchills could drop as low as 25 below zero. at least nine deaths are blamed on the winter storm. >>> in central nebraska pretty rough. livestock farmers are battling against windchills of 30 below or more. struck to tractors are getting stuck. there is nowhere for the cattle to go. that means farmers must brave the cold to feed them so the animals will survive. >> we've been plowing out this morning. took three hours to get a tractor down the road to get us into these barnes to take care of our livestock. we're farmers and that's what we do. >> the farmers are feeding their cattle hay every day, something they don't norma

new congressional checks on the imperial presidency, the cia and the fbi.nesty for 50000 draft evaders in canada. normalized diplomatic relations with vietnam. the freedom of information act. the media fairness doctrine. the 1973 roe v. wade decision. the toughest environmental consumer and health safety laws that have been passed since that time. reform of the presidential primary system and delegate selection rules. union rights for public sector employees. the first collective bargaining rights for farmworkers. fundamental reform of school and university curricula. freedom of sexual desire and a decline of censorship. expanded participatory rights for many marginalize minorities. from college students to disabled americans. that's a short list. and time does wear on reform. it's not that these reforms are all that we wanted, or all that that they were in their heyday. it's a 50 year process that we have been through. but we shouldn't forget that our everyday lives have been changed in these fundamental ways. and i think that's probably why, if i can go t

with us, two members of the bush administration's national security team, former director of the cia, michael hayden, and former secretary of homeland security, michael chertoff. >>> finally, in this new year, a crowded inbox for the president -- terrorism, unemployment, and the final mile on health care reform. insights on what's ahead for the obama agenda with our round table. nbc news special correspondent tom brokaw, "new york times" columnist david brooks, "washington post" columnist e.j. dionne, and historian doris kearns goodwin. >>> but first some news this morning. the u.s. has closed its embassy in the capital of yemen because of what officials are calling an active security threat posed by al qaeda there. the announcement one day after the president specifically implicated the yemen based branch of al qaeda for being behind the christmas day terror attempt. >> it appears that he joined an affiliate of al qaeda, and that this group, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, trained him, equipped him with those explosives, and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. >>

his last assignment was dwep tee rector for counterintellince at the cia's counterterrorism center. where he dlt with double agent operations and secuty. heetired on january 1st on the heels of theoiled christmaday airliner plot and the deadlyouble agent attack oa remote cia tpost in afghanistan. i spoke to him earlier today at his home capitol hill a. thank u for being with us. >> thank you for havinme. >> warner:sama bin laden or a voice sayg he was osama bin laden th weekend iled the christmas day bomb attempt, the same attack that al qae had already taken crit for. now one, do you believe th is oma bin laden, but more importantly what-- if so, what does is a about how al qda is operating today? >> it's always hd to identify whether it him or not. but as far awe know there has never en a false osama bin laden tape. so t odds are that it probably is him. i think wh it tells us about al qaedas that we are now fang a more decentralid, flexible orgazation. al qaeda central will ta claim, will take cdit for ceain things. it ds not really mean that they had dly command and control an t

the first one was what we're calling the cia version. that leaked first from -- former u.s.ntelligence officials suggesting that the bomber was actually invited on to base, forward operating base chapman as part of a process of warming him up and turning him into an informant and to gain the trust and confidence of that potential informant, the standard security procedures, frisking, patdowns, heavily guarded gate were foregone. in doing so, the -- there was an attempt to gain his trust but that trust became fatal, if, indeed, this scenario played out. now we're told by some sources that it's not uncommon to try to relax the situation on these toward operating bases to gain that trust. other sources are saying that would be out of the question. that these are, and i've been on these bases, they are layered in terms of security. you had the afghan taliban claim. we know that one, that it was a disaffected ana officer. now the latest claim from the pakistani taliban saying that this guy was, in fact, a cia trained individual who they flipped into a double agent. so it's murky.

department of transportation. >>> seven cia officers killed. there are claims now that the suicide attack in eastern afghanistan was one carried out by an afghan soldier, supposedly an ally, and two, a man that the cia was possibly counting on as an informant. cnn's atia abawi joins us live from afghanistan on both these items. atia, what's the latest? >> reporter: right now, richard, no one is talking officially about who this man was, how he got onto the base. right now, the only claim we're getting is from the taliban who state that he was an afghan soldier, a soldier that they were able to convince to switch allegiances, a man that used to fight on the side of the u.s. forces, they say, and then decided to fight on the side of the taliban. the taliban in that same statement say it's not going to be a one time thing, that it's happened in the past and they'll make sure it happens in the future. a day before this attack, another afghan soldier shot and killed an american soldier in western afghanistan, a completely different part of the count

you were sleeping there's been a disturbing new development in the suicide attack that killed seven cia workers in afghanistan last month. before the attack, the suspected bomber made a tape detailing his motives. we'll have a live report on that in just a minute. >>> also, terrorism on the minds of people here at home, as well. the suspect in that christmas day bombing attempt aboard a northwest airplane had his day in court yesterday. we've got the details on that appearance. and also where we're going now in this case. >>> and then, of course, there is the sound that no driver ever wants to hear. oh. right there. wrecks like this all across the south thanks to a wicked streak of icy, frigid weather. just part of the damage sweeping the country in this deep freeze and we're going to get more on these temperatures because, listen up, folks, they are still going down. it is not over. we're going to bring you the latest from the weather center coming right up. >>> we want to start this morning with new video. we are just getting a look at this morning. this comes from the taliban in paki

we saw that with the cia its quad program.so have special forces shooting guys on site in somalia. you have the establishment of these hit squads. these programs tend to export them because there are no natural breaks for them. host: is there not one central person who knows what is going on with these programs? guest: there are a number of lists of these prioritized target lists that are run by various different military commands. the commander in pat -- in afghanistan will have one. the commander in iraq will have one for the cia by every debra berlyn but they get fed into the national security council. there is a single choke point. the president has to sign off at the end of every one of them. host: the topic of drogues comes up. what makes drone's one of the best weapons in this situation? guest: pakistan is a gray area that has led to the dramatic expansion of this program because it is a sovereign country. publicly, they rail against these incursions against their country we have run special forces it wanted to pakistan

i think a far scarier story is what happened to the cia outpost. they were able to use a double azwroent bloip and kill six or seven cia agents. i think al qaeda has been weakened. we've killed a lot of those people over the last couple of years. it shows their cunning, relative smis occasion. for all the focus on the airlines, that the next effort is not going to be an airline effort. >> what is especially scary about the attack in afghanistan, you saw cooperation of the taliban in pakistan in afghanistan and al qaeda in the east. >> there's all kinds of groups trying to claim credit for this. >> can i add something. i think what al is saying is important, in addition to constant presidential steward ship, we have to have intelligence. the way you get intelligence is to be able to capture senior leaders and interrogate them. when the president released information on how we successfully interrogated al qaeda leader, and then stopped doing that, he's take an tool out of our arsenal. >> there are a couple of big, big threats. b biological, nuclear.

and a videotape shows a suicide bomber who killed seven cia operatives. are you making it easier for bacteria to grow on your dentures? you are if you use toothpaste instead of soaking them in polident toothpaste is abrasive on dentures look, scratches where bacteria can collect and grow and bacteria can cause bad breath that's why i recommend replacing toothpaste with polident only polident is proven to clean without scratching and kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria don't scratch your dentures clean use polident every day >>> in a videotape of the jordanian doctor whose suicide bomber killed seven cia operatives aired on al-jazeera and pakistani television. it said it was carried out in revenge for the 2009 killings of attacks on the taliban. he also claims he was offered millions of dollars to side with the west in jordan. leon panetta said the doctor was about to receive a pat down search when he detonated the explosion. >>> a man pled not guilty to charges he received training from al qaeda. he is accused of lying to pakistan to get military trainin