lindsay moran is an ex-cia operative and analyst. >> why is this issue political? dr crystal dilworth is a molecular neuroscientist. >> why does a small segment of scientists not believe? i'm phil torres. i'm an entomologist. >> wow! that was something else, i mean it was a real rush for me. >> that's our team. now let's do some science. [ ♪ ] >>> hey guys - welcome to "techknow", i'm phil torres joined by lindsay moran, dr. crystal dilworth and dr. shini somara. it's a debate that somehow is still raging on - is the climate changing, is man to blame and is there anything we can do to stop the disaster. most agree the answers is yes. that's most scientists, not all of them. shini, crystal, lindsay, you each had a piece of the story. >> at the c.i.a. i was trained to analyse complex and sometimes contradictory data. climate change fits into that model as well. washington d.c. - politics are part of the equation. no matter what the science is, there's going to be contentious debate. >> i had a different experience. i was dealing with the scientists and citizens who a

lindsay is an ex-cia operator. tonight she shows us how mushrooms might one day replace styrofoam packages. i'm phil torres and i'm an entomologist. i study insects in the rain forests of peru. that's our team. now, let's do some science. >>> it has been another fantastic week of science on the road. we've got crystal, lindsay and rita here. we're going to start with you. you were basically a very high-tech firefighter for a week. tell me about this. >> that's right. i was on a story that followed how we use unmanned aircraft to fight the rim fire at yosemite. let me show you. here it is. it's a very unusual-looking piece of technology. it almost looks like an alien insect, and they have it in a hangar. essentially they fly it up to yosemite, and it's eyes in the sky following the rim fire and generating information for action on the ground. so let's check it out. the size and scope of the massive wildfire burning in yosemite national park is staggering. at its peak 5100 firefighters were fighting a blaze larger th

charlie: a cia operative once said to me is that you learn the capacity to be liked.ause you have to charm people. you have to charm people, you have to, yes, seduce them. pres. putin: well, if the cia told you then that's the way it is because they are not bad specialists. charlie: think out loud. this is important. how can the united states and russia cooperate in the interest of a better world. think out loud. pres. putin: we are always thinking about that. one of the areas of my our cooperation which is important to millions on the planet is our common joining of forces and our common efforts in countering terror. the other phenomenon is combating drug traffic. charlie: like where? pres. putin: where? in all the regions of the world. now as to what you, yourself said, you mentioned that russia and the united states are the greatest nuclear powers. that places additional response ibility on our shoulders. we managed to work together along certain lines, especially when it comes to iran's nuclear program. in general, we have created positive results. charlie: how di

a form cia operative who speaks russian and few on missions during soviet times. so peter is particular with the russian mindset. what is your reaction to the news this morning? how do you see this? >> it is clear president obama didn't deter president putin at their meeting. this is opening up another unfortunate chapter in syria. this is making it more difficult and risky for our military types operating. we cannot outsource getting rid of isis to the russians. this is a huge problem. >> in the immediate, what is our next move? >> i think we have to push back against russia and let them know we are going to pursue our national interest which includes dealing with the islamic state and al-qaeda. what we really want to do is deconflict air operations but i am concerned as you recall, jenna, we had reporting saying that russia had sent in surface-to-air missiles and they also, some of the fighter a aircraft is said to be air superiority fighters so there is a concern we could mix it up with the russians and endanger our pilots there. i don't think we have finalized

involves the cia and special operations teams, like the ones thatled osama bin laden, carrying out raids that deliver intelligence that then allows the military to target and kill terrorists like the british online hacker janaid hussein. the drone strike that killed him signalled how the military and intelligence community are finally leveraging all their assets to target and kill isis leaders using drones over syria. raids like the one on may 16th by a delta force team targeting abu sayef resulted in an intelligence windfall from computers and the capture of his wife. with turkey finally allows u.s. armed drones to fly out of inserlik enables the drones to hover longer and take advantage of the new intelligence. some military experts say it's too little too late. >> president obama continues take an incremental approach to warfare. do a little bit more. if that doesn't work do a little bit more. do a little bit more. we've tried that from vietnam forward. it doesn't work. >> reporter: the pentagon won't confirm troubling new reports that russian tr

lindsay is an ex-cia operator. tonight she shows us how mushrooms might one day replace styrofoam packages. i'm phil torres and i'm an entomologist. i study insects in the rain forests of peru. that's our team. now, let's do some science. >>> it has been another fantastic week of science on the road. we've got crystal, lindsay and rita here. we're going to start with you. you were basically a very high-tech firefighter for a week. tell me about this. >> that's right. i was on a story that followed how we use unmanned aircraft to fight the rim fire at yosemite. let me show you. here it is. it's a very unusual-looking piece of technology. it almost looks like an alien insect, and they have it in a hangar. essentially they fly it up to yosemite, and it's eyes in the sky following the rim fire and generating information for action on the ground. so let's check it out. the size and scope of the massive wildfire burning in yosemite national park is staggering. at its peak 5100 firefighters were fighting a blaze larger th

former cia covert operations officer, mike baker.anuary my montgomery's mark luschini. >>> when we come back, addressing hack attacks with our nation's top intelligence officials. they say there is no evidence that recent data has been used maliciously. our guest disagrees. >>> billionaire tech ceo elon musk maybe should have been a comedian. he had stephen colbert's, the late show in stitches. coming up. >> the snake charger that automatically plugs into your home. that looks like the thing that jacked into the back of neo's head in the matrix. will that attack me in my sleep? >> i wouldn't, for meantime i would not recommend dropping anything when you're near it. [laughter] get fast-acting, long-lasting relief from heartburn with it neutralizes stomach acid and is the only product that forms a protective barrier that helps keep stomach acid in the stomach where it belongs. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief. try gaviscon®. >> our primary concern are the low to moderate level cyber attacks from a variety of sources which will cont

a former cia operative with long experience in the middle east.fficials about the issue for a number of weeks. their response -- terrorists have a lot of ways to get into europe other than leaky boats across the mediterranean. but as this refugee crisis grows and not just boats they're driving across, you know, walking across, is this a real danger? >> jim, absolutely it is a danger. these smuggling networks can also smuggle weapons, explosives, and remember a lot of the refugees don't have travel documentation, real travel documentation. they buy it. they lose theirs. when they show up in germany or hungary or wherever. we lost our documentation. i'm so and so. there is no way to check these people. >> so, we know that they have had, european authorities have had enough trouble trying to track potential terrorists, before the refugee crisis coming out of syria. trying to get into europe. as you have this flood of people and you mentioned a lot of them don't have papers, is there a way to weed out, to really screen them? >> absolutely not. there i

cia during this time? >> the first question is where did i get the title and "the billion dollar spy" refers to a moment in this operation when the cia was asked by those guys in moscow, we are doing a lot out there on the street was this spy. we work getting these rolls of film, hundreds of them. we are not looking at it and we are passing it along to you so what's it worth and the cia asked the air force thing we have been giving you all this top-secret intelligence. we think that circuit towards from inside the soviet military machine and the air force said already we have saved $2 billion in research and development and the first few years so the billion-dollar spy saved billions of dollars in research and development. stansfield turner, admiral stansfield turner was the head of the cia in the first years of this including the period one headquarters was telling moscow don't talk to him. turner was afraid something was wrong. turner ordered the station to stand down and not talk to anybody for a while and he was succeeded by reagan's cia or for the rest of the operation. >> basically isn't he a whistleblower? >> i th

it is where the cia and special operations teams like the ones that killed bin laden carry out raids that have intelligence and allow the military to target and kill terrorist like the british online hacker who used cyber techniques to recruit isis followers. this drone strike signals the u.s. military and intelligence community were able to leverage all of their assets to target and kill this isis leader. but what i am told by well placed sources is what you are seeing is the result of recent raids from seal teams that resulted in interrogation and the capturing of computers that is allowing them to target leadership. it comes at a time when turkey allows armed drones to begin flying out of turkey which enables them to hover longer and take advantage of the stream of intelligence. some experts say it is too little too late. >> it is bad news in the sense that president obama keeps taking an incremental approach to warfare. do a little bit more. we tried that from vietnam forward. it doesn't work. we are living in a fantasy world in which drone strikes will defeat a mass movement. it

he was negotiating with james to try to get the bay of pigs prisoners released and get cia operative who had been arrested in cuba released, along with two dozen other american citizens who had been arrested. castro was meeting with him in 1963, and he raised the issue. castor said, how will we begin to normalize relations. can we use these successful prisoner exchanges and prisoner releases? how will we move forward? and james donovan said to him, mr. castro, do you know how porcupines make love? castro had to have this translated. spanish] no, i don't know how they do it. donovan said, very carefully. that is how you and the united states will go about normalizing relations. that conversation took place in april of 1963. all these years later finally we have a situation where there is somewhat less caution. who hasa bold president less than a year and a half left in office. he knows that this is a big change. he is clearly dedicated to keeping this momentum going. cubans are very tough negotiators, but they too see it in their interest to move forward as fast as possible. and the i

the cia went through a procedure, annual review of the white house that basically said, is this operation, is the data we are getting out of this operation, this effort worth what we're getting if it got disclosed tomorrow morning on "the new york of times" or "the washington post"? the nsa never went through that process until post-snowden time. tell us, go one more beat about how that is changing. what you are saying happen in the culture. is there now an underlying assumption that even the deepest secrets may only have a shelf life of a couple of years. how does of -- that affect one's thinking on how to measure risk?

a cia covert operations officer and the senior policy adviser on counterterrorism and init tell generals, the chairman on the house homeland security committee, joshua, thank you for joining us. we're hearing reports of tens of thousands at a time, we know the civil war in syria has been going on more than four years. we saw upwards of 4.7 million refugees. what's the real number we're looking at here? >> the number of refugees worldwide is well over 4 million and it will increase. and the only stop to this is a resolution to the war inside syria. nothing else is going to stop the refugee crisis. so what should the u.s. be doing to prepare for these people? >> the one thing we should not be doing at all is to just set an arbitrary number. it's a nice being round number. this thing called vetting but without any details and from somebody who has vetted people on the intelligence front, i will tell you that this is an impossible task. vetting anybody coming into the united states will not be realistic. it's not going to find the needles in the haystack. what we're seeing already inside the

i want to bring in valerie plame, a former cia covert operative, author and member of global zero, a weapons. i enjoyed watching you watch kelly's report. there were reports that part of your job at the cia was to keep countries like iran from getting nuclear weapons. so at the end of the day, it's going to be u.s. intelligence that's at the forefront of making sure that happens. do we have the intelligence to confirm and understand for certain that iran is complying? >> good morning, thank you for having me. this is so important. i think what kelly was just speaking about, the republicans are going to find themselves on the wrong side of history of this. in terms of intelligence, making sure that these really robust, intrusive inspections are carried out is going to be on the shoulders of u.s. intelligence. the critics make it sound like the intelligence community is going to be sitting around drinking lattes going, oh, there is some cheating going on. no, they are laser-focused on this. they are going to be all over it. i think we are going in with the assumption that there's a hig

operational. the current cia director said these assessments harken back to a tame when being a spy was so much simplernt kennedy in johnson riz day, the collection against soviets, those communication networks were largely segue degree grated from those of the free world, carried little or no legal ambiguity, but terrorists we face today use the same channels everyone else do is. >> this documentses are a real know when there were allegations that the intelligence was made to look much better or rozier than the facts on the ground. a similar allegation with the isis intelligence, harris. >> that's a really good point. not to mention where we have been down this road as jv team glean from those. thank you. very interesting. >> you're welcome. >> word u.s. air marshals are involved in a new prostitution scandal, and wait until you hear how your tax dollars helped pay for it. shopping online... ...is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners... were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. start shopping online... ...from a list of top rated p

third, since cia is supposedly operating clandestinely secretly and globally, we need to understand the digital domain of that cyber environment has in terms of both challenges and opportunities. that is one of the reasons why a newthe cia have set up directed -- a new directorate on innovation to develop the capabilities that we need to carry out our missions. we need to know what we are dealing with when we fulfill our responsible is round the world in an increasingly digitized environment. fault of how my that will impact our intelligence activities and operations. wefrom an nsa perspective, use our foreign intelligence mission to generate insight as to what cyber actors, nationstates, groups, individuals are doing. their efforts against the u.s., their allies, and their interests-- we are responsible for developing the standards for all classified systems within of the purpose of the fence. we also apply technical capabilities, partnering with others within the dod to generate a technical standards to ensure the security of all of our classified systems within the department. we app

third, since cia is supposedly operating clandestinely secretly and globally, we need to understand theigital domain of that cyber environment has in terms of both challenges and opportunities. that is one of the reasons why us at the cia have set up a new directed -- a new directorate on innovation to develop the capabilities that we need to carry out our missions. we need to know what we are dealing with when we fulfill our responsible is round the world in an increasingly digitized environment. we need to be my fault of how that will impact our intelligence activities and operations. >> from an nsa perspective, we use our foreign intelligence mission to generate insight as to what cyber actors, nationstates, groups, individuals are doing. ensuring that their efforts against the u.s., their allies, and their interests -- we are responsible for developing the standards for all classified systems within of the purpose of the fence. we also apply technical capabilities, partnering with others within the dod to generate a technical standards to ensure the security of all of our classified

. >>> meanwhile, the obama administration is launching a secret drone operation to kill isis in syria. the ciapecial operations commander participating in a targeted killing program. they have already conducted deadly strikes. the secret operation marks an escalation of the involvement. >> wrestling legend facing murder charges in the death of his girlfriend, nancy, some 32 years ago. evidence in that cold case reveals she had been abused and died of a skull fracture and brain injuries. the now 72-year-old is battling lung cancer and denied wrong doing. >>> well, the jeb bush/donald trump feud escalating this morning. bush blasting trump. donald firing back. who is winning? our panel weighs in, next. ♪ every auto insurance policy has a number. but not every insurance company understands the life behind it. those who have served our nation. have earned the very best service in return. ♪ usaa. we know what it means to serve. get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. what do a nasca comedian... and a professional golfer have in common? we talked to our doct

the insurgents took over the country earlier this year and now we had out all of the special operators and the cia so we can't do much at all in terms of drone strikes but it turned out that was the signature strike based on suspicious behavior that we didn't know that was a senior al qaeda leader and we may know that we haven't been able to get them so i very much worry about al qaeda and pakistan. it's been quiet recently from most indications they seem to be rebuilding and pakistan cities if we fear that would further involve al qaeda and pakistan. >> if the drone strategy isn't working, my last question i will be getting to these in a broad sense but for now looking at the broad strategy what is the alternative to the united states? >> certainly a lot of the good alternatives we have made some decisions where we put ourselves in a holder for yemen. a year ago we could have been talking about how we were going to build up the government's counterinsurgency capabilities. we now don't have the government to work with something to be hard to work with. we do at some point try to build up larger mi

and third, since cia is supposed to be operating securely, clandestinely and covertly globally, we need to make sure that we have a full appreciation of what that digital do main, that cyber environment has in terms of both challenges and opportunities, which is one of the reasons why we in cia have set up a new director on digital innovation to we're able to bring together the expertise and develop the capabilities that we need in order to carry out our missions so that we know what we are dealing with when we try to fulfill our responsibilities around the world in an increasingly digitized environment and the various digital dust we all pick up every day in our lives. we need to be mindful of how that's going to impact our intelligence activities and operations. >> mike. >> from an nsa perspective, first in terms of what our mission and responsibilities are, we use our foreign intelligence mission to generate insights as to what cyber actors, nation states, groups, individuals are doing in the cyber arena with a view towards ensuring we have insights as to their efforts against the un

and third, since cia is supposed to be operating securely, clandestinely and covertly globally, we need to make sure that we have a full appreciation of what that digital domain, that cyber environment, has in terms of both challenges and opportunities, which is one of the reasons why we in cia have set up a new director on digital innovation to we're able to bring together the expertise and develop the capabilities that we need in order to carry out our missions so that we know what we are dealing with when we try to fulfill our responsibilities around the world in an increasingly digitized environment and the various digital dust we all pick up every day in our lives. we need to be mindful of how that is going to impact our intelligence activities and operations. >> mike. >> from an nsa perspective, first in terms of what our mission and responsibilities are, we use our foreign intelligence mission to generate insights as to what cyber actors, nation states, groups, individuals are doing in the cyber arena with a view towards ensuring we have insights as to their efforts against the u

and then third, since cia is supposed to operating security and covertly globally, we need to make sure that we have a full appreciation of what the digital domain cyber environment has in terms of both challenges and opportunities which is one of the reasons why we didn't cia has set up for the first time the figures a new directorate on digital innovation so we are able to bring together the expertise and develop the capabilities that we need in order to carry out our missions so that we know what we are dealing with when we try to fulfill our responsibilities around the world and in increasingly digitized environment and that there is digital dust that we all pick up everything in our lives. we need to be mindful of how that is going to impact our intelligence activities and operations. >> mike? >> from an nsa perspective for us in terms of what our mission and responsibility are, we use our -- what cyber actors, nation-states, groups, individuals are doing in the cyber at me with a view towards ensuring that with insights to their efforts against the united states, our allies in the

after his pakistan tour bob goes back with george tenet cia director to head the agency to coordinate covert operations and support of the invasion of iraq in 2003. he was removed from that position in early 2006 after clashes with other top officials and retired from the agency that you're joining crowe incorporated as managing director. and he's now chairman of the rg partners a strategic adviser reform but -- from the focuses on security and intelligence matters. the economist magazine has praised spots bob spoke as quote and engrossing well-written account and a "washington post" review has called it quote an admirable addition to the bookshelf of memoirs about america's involvement in afghanistan and iraq. in the post the review went on to say quote he has a sweeping story to tell which he does in a sharp straightforward style while pausing to let us in an ad hoc decision decision-making of the sometimes absurd world he inhabited. ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming robert grenier. [applause] >> thanks very much for that introduction. at the end of the day all i really wanted to do wi

almost chilling to see the words on the paper, he's essentially told the cia presumes these missiles can be fired and are operational and you know from the larger context that that wasn't a moment that the joint chiefs of staff were screaming at kennedy, you've got to get these missiles out of cuba at almost any cost, bomb sites, invade cuba. and kennedy was trying to resist that. with hindsight, we now know had kennedy listened to them, there probably would have been a nuclear war that may have eliminated 40 million human beings in the northern hemisphere. in the outside of a presidential campaign, it really does matter who is president. that's one of the incidents that really shows it. >> when you see the kind of information presidents have that they get to make real decisions, it becomes more humanly stark. >> you want someone who's going to ask the cia for more and question certain things he's going to be told. >> thank you very much. good to have you here. >> my pleasure, thank you, rachel. >> talk to a presidential historian on the day that 2,500 presidential daily briefs get declassified for the first time ev

not only military analysts but those from intelligence agencies like the cia, sometimes there is contention between the operatorswhat the intelligence analysts, especially if they're in a closed kclose ed cell, away from the action reports. if i read a report being developed by someone that's not in the area saying something about what i just saw, i would go to my higher commander and say, wait a minute, this isn't right. these analysts need to get a better grip on what's going on. yes, it happens a lot. there is always contention between commanders on the scene and the analysts providing the information and it should be that way. >> how confident are you that the u.s. has a decent gauge on the capabilities of isis and other terror groups? >> that's the key question. i am relatively confident that we have a good gauge on it. we are getting information from multiple intelligence agency pps we a we are getting feedback from those on the ground. so when you put all of these things together and conduct an analysis and say what do things really look like and what is truly happening, you are going to have some individ

back to cia headquarters by george tenet who was then, of course, cia director, to head the agency group that coordinated covert operations in support of the invasion of iraq in 2003. later he assumed leadership of the agency's counterterrorism center. he was removed from that position in early 2006 after clashes with other top officials and retired from the agency later that year. joining crow incorporated, a security firm as managing director, and he's now chairman of erg partners, a strategic advisory firm that focuses on security and intelligence matters. the economist magazine has praised bob's book as, quote, an engrossing, well-written account. and a washington post review has called it, quote, an admirably frank addition to the book shelf of memoirs about america's involvement in afghanistan and iraq. the post review went on to say, quote: he has a sweeping story to tell which he does in a sharp, straightforward style while pausing to let us in on the ad hoc decision making of the sometimes-absurd world he inhabited. so, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming robert grenier. [applause] >> thanks, brad,

operation. there wasn't any time. the next day, the next morning at 7:20 nixon, still sleepless, summoned kissinger, admiral tom moore of the joint chiefs of staff and cia director helms to the white house. in a fury, the president said that secretary of state rogers and ec tear of state -- secretary of state laird were sabotaging plans for the invasion. haldeman noted in his diary, the president is thinking too rashly without thinking through the consequences. kissinger called helms to ask what he thought of nixon's decision. cia director helms replied, it seemed to me that if he was prepared for the fallout, it's the thing to do. he obviously was. is it worth it? kissinger asked. helms said he hoped so. secretary of state rogers and secretary of defense laird continued to object to the invasion of cambodia. on april 28th the president ordered them into the oval office. attorney general john mitchell laid down the law to them. there would be no arguments. there would be no dissent. in silence they were dismissed from the oval office. mitchell wrote, quote: the president stated the purpose of the meeting was to advise those present of the decisions he h

states has launched a secret drone campaign to hunt down isis operatives in syria according to "the washington post." according to the cia they are involved in a clandestine targeted killing program and also conducted several keldeadl strikes and one killing an extremist. the secret drone program marks a significant escalation of the cia's involvement in the fighting inside syria. >>> 10 minutes past the hour. time for an early start on your money. stocks a brutal day yesterday and looking to make a comeback this morning. asian stocks closed lower. another wild swing in china. the shanghai composite plunged more than 4% and recovered with a small loss and closed the next four days. european stocks are lower too and u.s. stock futures are up right now. damage report from yesterday. the dow plunged 470 points. now down 12.5% from its high. the s&p 500 down 3%, back into correction territory. ominous start to september. historically the worst month for stocks and certainly been a bad start to the month. fresh worries will china's problems is the worry here. china slowdown will drag down the rest of the global economy. anoth

the cia is stepping up involvement in the war in syria. they have teamed up with u.s. special operationss on a secret campaign to hunt isis leaders using drones. the targeted killing program will be run separately from the broader mission against isis. it is aimed at terrorist suspects deemed high-value suspects. russian president vladimir putin is visiting china for two as the nation marks 70 years since the end of world war ii. while the occasion is a test victory, there will be a display of current military power with the display of new weapons, most of which never shown in public. the president of mexico is delivering a much different state of the nation speech than he did last year. last year, he could talk about new reforms on energy, communication, and telecommunications, and this year he is raising -- facing a falling currency and an economy that is slowing down. newspaper official rebekah brooks will make a triumphant return to the murdoch's news corp., when you're after she was cleared of all charges in a british newspaper phone-hacking scandal. market news, investors have pull

the group that worked with the cia in 1954 invasion of guatemala that overthrew the democratic government. it was action in operation parallel to that in iran in 1953, and like that of iran, democratic government was also overthrown, the horrible consequences are still reverberating today. maldon auto, he basically -- maldon auto, he is basically sent his career assessment, intellectual face of the men of the death squads. that is what he has done. his is recent a congressman was while on the high court, he denied an effort by the spanish courts to extradite the guatemalan generals to spain to stand trial for their role in atrocities like the spanish embassy slaughter that killed rigoberta menchu's father, and most important, he led -- allan, his voice is breaking up. if you could continue saying, we lost you at "he led." allan is speaking to us from guatemala city. thealdonado aguirre led campaign of the high court to annul the rÍos montt genocide and now he is the president of guatemala. amy: will have a few minutes, but i was wondering if you could describe for us to dramatic moments yesterday, what it was like a

the cia went through a procedure, annual review of the white house that basically said, is this operation, is the data we are getting out of this operation, this effort worth what we're getting if it got disclosed tomorrow morning on "the new york of times" or "the washington post"? the nsa never went through that process until post-snowden time. tell us, go one more beat about how that is changing. what you are saying happen in the culture. is there now an underlying assumption that even the deepest secrets may only have a shelf life of a couple of years. how does of -- that affect one's thinking on how to measure risk? >> the has been an overreliance on technology. we have to continue to improve how we use technology and data. you can also over-rely on it. there's nothing better than good old-fashioned human intelligence gathering. it is going to be more difficult to gather human intelligence times it isa lot of human intelligence that enables better technologies, new technologies or even discovery of what adversaries are doing. >> i think the allegations regarding angela's cell phone a

dozens of cia analysts are laming their information was changed by top officials suggesting the u.s. is winning the war on terror. you're going to hear from former covert operations officer. phoenix police are investigating a man who is being called a "person of interest" but not a prime suspect in a string of shootings on area highways. the mysterious sniper shots has drivers on edge for weeks. could the nightmare finally be coming to an end? we'll go live to phoenix for an update on the investigation. more of these and the rest of your top stories at the top of the hour. >>> welcome to "the journal." editorial report. i'm paul. the obama administration announced thursday that the united states is prepared to take in at least 10,000 syrian refugees in the next year. a small fraction of the group flooding into europe. that news comes as the white house says it has deep concerns about reports that russia is deploying military personnel and aircraft to syria. part of what the u.s. fears is a build-up in the keeping bashar assad in power. brettsteins and main street phil mcgern join us with more. president obama said if we stay out of syria, the war will stay away f

the people that are supposed to be carrying out military operations. >> the balance the administration attempting to strike here is to tap the cia'so identify targets, but leave the strikes themselves to the military. the pentagon says that that collaboration has existed for year, but while drone strikes can eliminate individual leaders, they have yesterday to significantly alter the calculus on the ground, and as we know, the ground force that the u.s. has attempted to build inside syria, you're supposed to have 5,000 fighters by the end of this year, it's gone nowhere, literally zero -- operative, so you are overlyenon drone strikes. >> it's amazing things are not where we expected them to be. thanks so much, jim scuitto. >>> stay with us as i bring in phil mudd, our cnn counter-terrorism analyst, also a former cia official. to that point, how effective do you think the cia will be an identifying these targets now looking at the targeting. my metric is straightforward. when the adversary says this is destroying our capability to maintain leadership, an analyst like me sits up and listens. over the course of time, and we're seein

of the treasury, and today deputy secretary of the cia, there is an agreement between the iranian government and al-qaeda to allow this network to operate. there is no dispute in the intelligence community on this point. former director of the defense intelligence agency general michael flynn has said that documents captured with osama bin laden included, quote, letters about iran's role, influence and acknowledgment of enabling al-qaeda operatives to the pass through iran as long as al-qaeda did its dirty work against americans in iraq and afghanistan. since that initial designation, president obama's own treasury and state departments have repeatedly pointed to iran's agreement with al-qaeda, noting that iran is, quote, a critical transit point for funding to support al-qaeda's a activities in afghanistan and pakistan and home to a, quote, core pipeline through which al-qaeda moves money, facilitators and operatives from across the middle east to south asia. this pipeline exists, according to the obama treasury department, as art of a formerly secret deal between iran and al-qaeda. as recently as last year while the nuclear talks were

operation was authorized. turi's partner and adviser was this man -- david manners. during his 18-year career at the cia served as the top spy in jordan and the former czechoslovakia. manners stated in his expert opinion. the united states did participate directly or indirectly in the supply of weapons to the libyan transitional council. >> that's where i came up with this zero footprint arab fly splooi chain whereby our foreign ally supplies another arab country. >> turi says it was a work-around. because at the time, the u.s. had not officially recognized the rebels under the tnc. >> my idea was to set up a warehouse, where the only person that could take that equipment out or the only entity that could take that equipment out of qatar or uae was the u.s. government. >> as part of the work-around, the u.s. would supply conventional weapons to another u.s. ally, qatar. >> there's the 60-millimeter mortar with optics, 120-millimeter mortar, all conventional type weapons if you want to limit the exposure to the u.s. government what you do is outsource it to your allies. the partners, the qataris and the

the cia long went through a procedure of annual review at the white house that basically said, is this operation

cia. give us more context, perspective how it runs and what it is like to be part of? >> well, i mean, really this is operation, regardless of what agency is running it. chinese government has, especially under the chinas commodity nist party had a long practice of sending people overseas to monitor overseas chinese. this is part of extension of keeping an eye on people abroad. they don't just try to control people abroad, they keep eye on businesses abroad, universities abroad. these would track down chinese nationals who arrive in the united states. with a particular focus getting the money or the people back. lori: but does the u.s. trust the allegations placed on these dissidents or white-collar criminals, however you want to characterize them that china is telling us about and their reasoning behind this? >> i think taken with a grain of salt to a degree because in china, just accusation itself can really compel someone to want to flee. not necessarily the case that there is a great deal of evidence. in china there are questions about their economic data. questions about their legal data in terms of wheth

so that included cia should come in and the broadcasting board of governors should come in as part of this psychological operations intervention to boost up the fortune of the government of the congo against the opposition. >> but how does that relate to the issue of -- the question i asked about fsb. i don't want to leave the door open on this. it's not just john schindler -- >> i'm not sure what more one can say about this. you can look at how they put together their conspiracy theory. their conspiracy theory is that because i said that i advised edward snowden to take the russian offer of asylum because it was, in my opinion, he was much safer in russia physically, and over a several year period i don't believe that he -- i thought that the risks were too high in latin america that he would be kidnapped or possibly even killed in the process of attempting to kidnap him. there's a variety of reasons for that a; the weakness of latin american intelligence service, the nature of their land borders and that they have democratic governments that shift wildly in character between one election cycle and the next. he w