the bad news, as darren gersh reports, is the cuts will build in pain over time. >> reporter: in terms of its impact on the economy, the sequester is really more of a "slow" quester. the impact of the across the board spending cuts will take time to build and it could be months before its felt throughout the economy. students of government dysfunction say this is not the same as a government shut down or hitting the nation's borrowing limit. >> there is not that great an urgency. when we were talking about the debt ceiling, there was a real urgency, because if we got to the point where you literally can't pay the bills, that's a very big deal. in this case, we'll see cuts, i mean depending on exactly how the obama administration runs things, we may not see anything at all march first. >> reporter: well, not exactly nothing. federal workers and many contractors will get letters tomorrow or early next week giving them notice that they might be furloughed soon. it's hard to see how that would boost consumer confidence and retail sales next month. but the longer the cuts last, the deeper t

darren gersh, "n.b.r.," washington. >> tom: darren has more on the sequester on his blog, just head to: www.nbr.com and look for the blogs tab. clearly the sequester is a major concern for the u.s. economy. but today, at least, there was some good news: the economy actually grew in the final quarter of last year, instead of shrinking, as was first estimated. the revised gross domestic product grew 0.10% in the fourth quarter. a month ago, the government thought the economy shrank that much. but a drop in government spending remains a big overhang for the economy this year. erika miller reports. >> reporter: a tenth of a percent gain in economic growth is not much to brag about, but at least the economy is moving in the right direction. >> the report was encouraging despite the very weak headline number. the reason is that the parts of the report that we think indicate the underlying trend-- things like business spending and housing investment, all of those were pretty positive in the g.d.p. numbers. >> reporter: but, today's revision does not change the fact that growth nearly stalled

our washington bureau chief darren gersh tonight on what happened and what comes next. >> reporter: by now, you know how this story goes. after the last-minute meeting at the white house, the speaker emerges grim-faced. >> the discussion about revenue in my view is over. it's about taking on the spending problem in washington. >> reporter: cut to the white house briefing room. the president says he's been reasonable. some tax cuts, some spending cuts and some entitlement reform. that's his prescription for budgetary pain. and since republicans won't accept it, the president says the middle class is about to feel the pain of those automatic spending cuts known in washington spk as the sequester. >> i don't anticipate a huge financial crisis, but people are going to be hurt. the economy will not grow as quickly as it would have. unemployment will not go down as quickly as it would have and there are lives behind that. and that's real. and it's not necessary, that's the problem. >> reporter: but wait, this movie already has a sequel. march 27, the government runs out of funding and withou

our washington bureau chief darren gersh tonight on what happened and what comes next. >> reporter: byow how this story goes. after the last-minute meeting at the white house, the speaker emerges grim-faced. >> the discussion about revenue in my view is over. it's about taking on the spending problem in washington. >> reporter: cut to the white house briefing room. the president says he's been reasonable. some tax cuts, some spending cuts and some entitlement reform. that's his prescription for budgetary pain. s won'tce republic accept it, the president says the middle class is about to feel the pain of those automatic spending cuts known in washington speak as the sequester. >> i don't anticipate a huge financial crisis, but people are going to be hurt. the economy will not grow as quickly as it would have. unemployment will not go down as quickly as it would have and there are lives behind t

the bad news, as darren gersh reports, is the cuts will build in pain over time. >> reporter: in terms of its impact on the economy, the sequester is really more of a "slow" quester. the impact of the across the board spending cuts will take time to build and it could be months before its felt throughout the economy. students of government dysfunction say this is not the same as a government shut down or hitting the nation's borrowing limit. >> there is not that great an urgency. when we were talking about the debt ceiling, there was a real urgency, because if we got to the point where you literally can't pay the bills, that's a very big deal. in this case, we'll see cuts, i mean depending on exactly how the obama administration runs things, we may not see anything at all march first. >> reporter: well, not tl

the bad news, as darren gersh reports, is the cuts will build in pain over time. >> reporter: in terms of its impact on the economy, the sequester is really more of a "slow" quester. the impact of the across the board spending cuts will take time to build and it could be months before its felt throughout the economy. students of government dysfunction say this is not the same as a government shut down or hitting the nation's borrowing limit. >> there is not that great an urgency. when we were talking about the debt ceiling, there was a real urgency, because if we got to the point where you literally can't pay the bills, that's a very big deal. in this case, we'll see cuts, i mean depending on exactly how the obama administration runs things, we may not see anything at all march first. >> reporter: well, not tl

our washington bureau chief darren gersh tonight on what happened and what comes next. >> reporter: byknow how this story goes. after the last-minute meeting at the white house, the speaker emerges grim-faced. >> the discussion about revenue in my view is over. it's about taking on the spending problem in washington. >> reporter: cut to the white house briefing room. the president says he's been reasonable. some tax cuts, some spending cuts and some entitlement reform. that's his prescription for budgetary pain. and since republicans won't accept it, the president says the middle class is about to feel the pain of those automatic spending cuts known in washington speak as the sequester. >> i don't anticipate a huge financial crisis, but people are going to be hurt. the economy will not grow as quickly as it would have. unemployment will not go down as quickly as it would have and there are lives behind t

darren gersh, "n.b.r.," washington. >> susie: joining us now richard bejtlich. he's the chief security officer at mandiant, that's the cyber security firm working with the new york times and others, to combat recent attacks blamed on hacker groups in china. if he richard, let me begin by picking up on a point that darren brought up in his package there that your report says that companies and countries can be pinpointed of where the source of the attack really came from. can we actually do it that specifically? is that possible? >> it is possible when you have an acter that is so aggressive that takes so much data over a sustained period of time n this case over seven years, 141 companies. you can't apply that to all actor its. but for a case like this you can make that conclusion. >> what advice do you have for companies that are on the one hand trying to make information available to employees and others and they put that information on the i cloud but on the other hand they have to save guard that information and protect it from hackers. what is your advice?