. >>> now, joining uss one of the ahors of thatrticle, david sanger. he's "the new york tes" chief washington correspondent a author of he inheritance: the worldbama confrts and the challenges to america power." on what basis are the united states and all these oter countries maki any of these assessnts? >> well, ty're lookg at two different things, martin. the first is how well isiran doing uranium enrichment? and there we'v got a pubc uranium richment effo at the one th inspectors go out of all the tim many intellince analysts believe if there eer is a weapon thatomes out of iran,ñ÷i it's not comin out of there. it's just too hvily inspected. so they've beenooking for a covert plant and they've been looking for severalears at this site atqom and no have declared that they believe t iranians are getting prepared to move in theequipment to do secret enrichme there. the iranians have now admitted that thiwas going t be a enrichment facility ough they say a aceful one. interestingly it's o an iranan revolutionary guard base. the second thing ishere they

. >>> now, joining us is one of the authors of that article, david sanger. mr. sanger is "the new york times" chief washington correspondent and author of "the inheritance: the world obama confronts and the challenges to american power." david, my first question, on what basis are the united states and all of these other countries making any of these assessments? >> well, they're looking at two different things, martin. the first is how well is iran doing on uranium enrichment? and there we've got a public uranium enrichment effort at natanz, that's the one that inspectors go in and out of all the time. many intelligence analysts believe if there ever is a weapon that comes out of iran, it's not coming out of natanz. it's just too heavily inspected. so they've been looking for a covert plant, and they've been looking for several years at this site at qom and now have declared that they believe the iranians are getting prepared to move in the equipment to do secret enrichment there. the iranians have now admitted that this was going to be an enrichment facility t

with us now from washington, nor times chief washington correspondent david sanger. when "the new york times" first broke the story early friday morning that u.s. intelligence had learned of iran's second secret nuclear enrichment site. david is also the author of "the inheritance, the world obama confronts and the challenges to american power," i guess no greater challenges on the forefront than iran. david, thanks for joining us. >> good to be with you, mika. >> in your book, you talk about the thoughts the bush administration had on the iranian nuclear power plant, and here we are now. >> mika, this was fascinating over the past couple of days, but i can't say it was a surprise. we've been in the situation for some time now where everyone in the u.s. intelligence community has been looking for a second secret enrichment site. so the thinking was that the last place the iranians could produce a bomb from was that giant site at natanz that we often see on television or where inspectors go in and visit every couple of weeks because it is under such tight inspection.

joining me w for that update from washingtons david sanger of "the new york tim."e broke e story of the decisi by world lears to expose iran's covert enrichment facility. and y taki of the counci on foreign relations, until last month an iran adviso in the obama administration. i am plead to ve both of them bacon this ogram. vid, give me thetory that came to you and what it was. >> for a long time, charlie, american intligence agencies ha been looking for a secret enrichmentacility, or series of enrichment facilities iran, and the reas is simple. we all spend a lot ofime looking at those videos of t giant enrichment fality at natanz, the one reveed in2002 by an iranian enrichment group butt that facility the international atomic inspection agencies out in a week. many intelligence ficers have saido me over yearsif a bo is cing out of iran it' not comingut of natan it's got to be cong from someplace else and r years theywere looking for aonstruction in this mountain nor of qom and in fact last yea when i was doin some ierviews with intelligence offials for a book, o

joining me now for that update from washington is david sanger of "the new york times."e broke the story of the decision by world leaders to expose iran's covert enrichment facility. and ray taki of the council on foreign relations, until last month an iran advisor in the obama administration. i am pleased to have both of them back on this program. david, give me the story that came to you and what it was. >> for a long time, charlie, american intelligence agencies have been looking for a secret enrichment facility, or series of enrichment facilities in iran, and the reason is simple. we all spend a lot of time looking at those videos of the giant enrichment facility at natanz, the one revealed in 2002 by an iranian enrichment group but at that facility the international atomic inspection agencies out in a week. many intelligence officers have said to me over years if a bomb is coming out of iran it's not coming out of natanz, it's got to be coming from someplace else and for years they were looking for a construction in this mountain north of qom, and in fact last year

and according to david sanger, mr. decided to make public the american findings after iran discovered in recent weeks that western intelligence agencies have preached the secrecy surrounding this guest: iranian: this highlights a problem -- this iranian project. guest: this highlight a lot of dangers in general. the international nuclear inspectors have a very hard time finding these things soon enough for you to intervene and use them -- and prevent them from being used to make bombs. and right now, this discovery is good news to put pressure on iran, but it comes awfully late. they already have bombs with lightly enriched uranium set aside that they could turn into a bomb in about two months roughly. we found all of this out and revealed it late in the game and to suggest the real problem we face in the future, but there'll be other countries that will be able to get this far along and we will only find out and review these things very late in the game. host: the other part of the story is the president's decision no

"new york times" chief washington correspondent david sanger, the author of the inheritance. world obama confronts and the challenges to american power. great book. we're talking about afghanistan. we have two opinion pieces out of the paper this morning that counter one another, but both bring up good points. we'll start with bob herbert. the hard and bitter truth. as president obama tries to decide what to do about afghanistan, reality is insisting that he take into the account the worn-down condition of our military fighting in afghanistan and iraq, and the soaring budget deficits and sky-high unemployment numbers here at home in a country that is hurting badly and could use its own dose of nation building. mr. obama, in the face of these daunting realities, is said to be rethinking his plans to ratchet up american involvement in afghanistan. one can only hope. i don't think it's that simple, though. obviously, we have big problems here, joe. if we just leave what we're doing there, that creates new problems. >> back-to-back. >> one of the great foreign policy minds. >> ab

. >> as "the new york times," ed andrews and david sanger pointed out, the government is involved ina mortgage, whatever you're doing, this is now your economy, the taxpayers', what can you do as the chief economic adviser to start unwinding this? >> of course, let's again remember why the government is playing such an important role. precisely because of the nightmare we have been through in the last year. the idea that we saw lending collapse. we've seen our housing market collapse. we've seen our auto industry in deep trouble. the president's very clear. he never wanted to have to be this big a part. somebody had to step in to save us from really incredibly severe economic downturn. of course, what -- you're right in what the president has said. eventually we will start to unwind this. right now we're trying to get back on the road to recovery. >> today the president talked about closing the loopholes. do you have a compromise plan that can somehow find its way past all the industry objections and get regulatory reform through congress? >> you know, we do feel we can get regulator

david sanger from "the new york times," thank you so much. >> thank you, savannah. >>> new developments in the case of murdered yale grad student annie le. 24-year-old raymond clark did not enter a plea during his first court appearance today. he was arrested this morning. bail was set at $3 million. nbc's ron allen is live in new haven, connecticut, for us. and ron, talk about this arrest. what do we know? >> reporter: well, clark is in jail. he's being held, as you pointed out, on $3 million bail, which is a pretty stiff bail that i suspect he's not going to make. so he's going to be in custody for some time. he was charged with murder. he's the only suspect in the case, and so the police have moved very quickly to sort of wrap this thing up, as you will. the family of le's fiance, jonathan orr dostie, has released a statement. it suggested how this is such a bittersweet day for this community. there is relief that an alleged killer is in custody, but some feeling of grief, of course, because of the girl's death. the statement says "we want to express our gratitude to our friends and

and according to david sanger, mr.obama decided to make public the american findings after iran discovered in recent weeks that western intelligence agencies have preached the secrecy surrounding this guest: iranian: this highlights a problem -- this iranian project. guest: this highlight a lot of dangers in general. the international nuclear inspectors have a very hard time finding these things soon enough for you to intervene and use them -- and prevent them from being used to make bombs. and right now, this discovery is good news to put pressure on iran, but it comes awfully late. they already have bombs with lightly enriched uranium set aside that they could turn into a bomb in about two months roughly. we found all of this out and revealed it late in the game and to suggest the real problem we face in the future, but there'll be other countries that will be able to get this far along and we will only find out and review these things very late in the game. host: the other part of the story is the president's decisi

this is mark land ler and david sanger writing that the decision to engage directly with iran would putenior representative at the bargaining table. for the first time since mr. obama took office. the decision is bound to raise protests from conservatives who contend that unconditional talks are naive, from human rights groups that say the united states should not legislate mice an iranian government and appear to have man ip lated its election and crushed protests after the vote. that in the "new york times" this morning. also some other international news from the front page of the financial times. this is a leadup story leading up to the g-20 meeting that will take place in pittsburgh on september 24 and 25. german minister calls for a global tax. he says that in one of the many more radical steps to reform the financial system, he said that receipts from the tax would be used to repay the cost of governments for tackling the financial crisis, including fiscal stimly and bank rescue operations. the cost should not be borne alone by small taxpayers, he told a publicication there. this

i want to also address how many of our people -- talking heads like on msnbc and david sanger, i justeard him on that program, and andrea mitchell, terry gross, david gregory, for the last four or five years i heard all of them repeat the unsubstantiated claims, you know, calling it a nuclear weapons program in iran. there is no substantiated proof. let us wait for the international atomic energy agency's filing. is it too much to ask that the talking heads of the mainstream media to ask logical, reasonable questions and challenges these claims as they did not do in of run up to iraq. they are not even asking questions about let us write for the iaea. we have not seen anyone hold accountable -- held accountable for the intelligence. can you have people -- can you run over the national montpelier's gentry with the public? -- national nonproliferation treaty with the public? what that iran is really in violation is a huge question instead of just going on, the talking heads, -- mika brezinsky said when do we draw the suspected, not until the iaea confirms what everybody in the media has

i want to also address how many of our people -- talking heads like on msnbc and david sanger, i just heard him on that program, and andrea mitchell, terry gross, david gregory, for the last four or five years i heard all of them repeat the unsubstantiated claims, you know, calling it a nuclear weapons program in iran. there is no substantiated proof. let us wait for the international atomic energy agency's filing. is it too much to ask that the talking heads of the mainstream media to ask logical, reasonable questions and challenges these claims as they did not do in of run up to iraq. they are not even asking questions about let us write for the iaea. we have not seen anyone hold accountable -- held accountable for the intelligence. can you have people -- can you run over the national montpelier's gentry with the public? -- national nonproliferation treaty with the public? what that iran is really in violation is a huge question instead of just going on, the talking heads, -- mika brezinsky said when do we draw the suspected, not until the iaea confirms what everybody in the media h