the coast guard is a service branch and the department of defense but is a vital part of the department of homeland security. it has intelligence authority, defense responsiveness, customs and border enforcement of law enforcement authority. the coast guard exercises these authorities judiciously and responsibly and enjoys the complement -- conference of the american people. we can solve this problem. we have examples. last years national defense authorization act really cross functional teams to address problems. these teams are composed experts in the functional organizations that rise above the interest of their bureaucracy. the team leads would exercise executive authority delegated by the secretary of defense pick such an approach might be a model for the interagency to address a crosscutting problem like cybersecurity. there is indeed urgency to our task. russian attack our election last year. they attacked multiple european countries, the nato alliance in the european union. the intelligence community assures us russian will attack our upcoming midterm elections. so far we've see

sea-base antimitchell defense, that would give us defense. >> it is another thing to see the defense department receiving more for military build up. >> we have been cutting because of the sequestration, not just missile defense, but missiles on paper. i am not sure if that is reality. you get the this is what is going to have to happen. i am not sure, i don't think most americans know we are cutting our missiles. >> shifting, spending for things like ground combat, afghanistan, iraq. missile defense got cut because of that iran is bigger, powerful, richer, they have missile technology, already. we will have all the questions again, with a much bigger adversary. >> if donald trump has his way, that will end sooner than later. the here is the deal that we are n everybody around him his own military, staff, and his own afratus, said, this is a good deal. he said, we are getting out this deal. it is a prelude of what happens in iran. the president is saying we are getting out of this. i don't know if this reality makes any of us feel safer. >> what is go ago in the world of diplomacy should worry

as i look around at the defense department, a very vulnerable place to attack you would think somehow the signals are going out over the air someplace. are there any stories about that happening? >> there've been certain rumors, but they are very vocalized. theif they can get into this s signal. maybe it is signaling a drone that is just doing surveillance. they had a little game where they are going to hack into the command and control for the refueling plane was sent over here. drones crash. i'd nevei've never seen that ve. there could be that like what is this drone looking at then you can look at what the u.s. is interested in. >> i'm going to take on this side the gentleman but some questions. if there are supports that they have been chalking around for freelancers to do that but maybe there aren't that many that are willing to do this. they have their eyes on certain groups that do work for that guy operating out of singapore. they have enough money that they actually do get a permanent so it's not out of the question but i do think the convergence of the forces has not happene

well, it's not the department's defense's job. it's the department's defense's job to defend the nation. that's why it's called the department of defense. mr. crabs, numerous experts over the past few years have highlighted the need for dramaticing change. and i quote the current leadership and organizational construct for cyber security within the federal government is not cumenseerate with the challenges of securing the digital economy and supporteding the national economic security of the united states. general keith alexander one of the most respected men in the world said before this full committee in march quote when we talk to the different agencies they don't understand the roles and responsibility. when you ask each of them who's defending what you get a different answer. admiral, quote there needs to be voice in the cabinet that focuses on cyber. obviously there's supposedly one there but he is not appearing before this committee. and that diminishes our ability to carry out our responsibilities. the list goes on and on.

department. cyber broadly defined not only the cyber defense, but our cyber diplomacy and interaction with the department of defense on cyber issues. my expectation is that part of the redesign we will elevate to a senate confirmed lefl level the role and we'll have to figure out what the title is and where it figures in the bureaucracy. but our commitment is to elevate and provide the appropriate resources for leadership on this essential issue. >> that's excellent. this is no longer just a fbi homeland, nsa issue. it's state department issue. i'm very pleased to hear that. secondly on as i look at hot spots and particularly in africa. these fragile states out of destabilization, rises insurge si and terrorists. safe havens and vacuums. what does the state department will be doing with u said to help stabilize the destabilization? it seems a very good use of the money rather than deal with the terrorism after the fact. >> i'll give you a current example about our planning for a post isis syria. as we defeat isis and move fwurt east in syria the state department u said the u.s. government are ally ands p

practice and previous to that served in senior positions at the justice department and then at the defense department and the commerce department. without objection, the witness's full prepared statements will be made part nof record. members are go having to five calendar days to submitical any questions or extraneus materials they want to submit for the record here and we would ask deputy secretary sullivan if you would please sums are your remarks. then we'll go to questions. thank you. >> thank you, chairman, royce. thank you all for inviting me -- >> secretary sullivan, let's make sure you push that and get it very close right there. perfect. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member, members of the committee. i'm thankful to be here today to discuss the redesign of state department. we appreciate the interest the committee has shown in becoming more efelfective in serving the american people. on secretary tillerson's first day committed to harnessing all the institutional knowledge of our work force to do that. so he went straight to those who know best, our state department and u.s.a. id coll

opportunity to strengthen the relationship all levels from the state department from a the defense department and intelligence communities and economic opportunities as well it is a regional approach because pakistan is critical to the long term stability of the region. >> [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] and that he spoke to the president after here is a lot. >> secretary tillerson woke up to news reports that caused many of us including the secretary concern you have all seen it and know what i am talking about a report that he said a few hours ago that address that to a few hours ago with all of you you had the opportunity to ask questions yourself. he chose to speak to the media and was not asked to do this but he knew it was the right thing to do. as a man he is clear and direct with no punches and is not a politician who seeks the spotlight in many foreign policy and media circles don't understand that. they think why doesn't want somebody want to be in front of the television camera all the time? he came to washington to do a job, us serve his country, as serve the trump administr

it's the department of defense is jump to defend this nation that's why it's called the department of defense. mr. krebs, numerous expert over the past few years have highlighted the need for dramatic change. according to the presidential commission on enhancing national cybersecurity, and i quote, the current leadership and organizational construct for cybersecurity within the federal government is not commensurate with the challenges of securing the digital economy and supporting the national and economic study of the united states. general keith alexander, one of the most respected men in the world, said before this full committee in march quote, when we talked to the different agencies they don't understand the roles and responsibilities. when you ask each of them who is defending what, you get a different answer. admiral jim cerritos, quote, the need to be a voice in the captain that focuses on cyber. obviously there supposedly one there but he is not appearing before this committee, and that diminishes our ability to carry out our responsibilities. the list goes on and on. janua

. >> the department of defense is initiated a review, which occurs any time there's an american killed in action. we're going through that process. the president, the department of defense and frankly the entire country and government want to know exactly what happened. and the president and the nation are grateful for those four american heros. we won't rest until we get some answers. that's part of the process. that's what we'll do. when the time is appropriate, we'll talk about the details of the investigation. >> president trump didn't say anything about the attack for more than a week. the senate's top republican on military matters john mccain said he might have to subpoena the trump administration for answers. today senator mccain is getting a meeting with the defense secretary himself, jim mattis. the meeting happening right now on capitol hill. we have reported the senator has said the white house has not been up front about what happened in niger during an attack that left four american troops dead. yesterday speaking for the first time about the ambush, secretary mattis said

the defense department supports fully to find a diplomatic solution very means focused on the united states and our allies per president trump's orders. in the middle east i continue to reject or influence across the region as he made gains in syria and iraq butting in afghanistan we have had a difficult 16 years. the u.s. field commander with troops from 39 nations has been planted those moves and they support those afghan security forces them the disarray among various enemy groups to cause them to spend resources and the taliban ability beginning last month call six are engaged in offensive operations in during these months there have been fewer civilian casualties' faldo regrettably the high-profile attacks continue to murder the innocent while the hit of into the fighting season reinforced into a small scale and bush to to emprise devices and so casualty's has reduced from last year. i just returned last week from a trip to indiana and afghanistan and general nicholson is holding the line forecasting a significant taliban offensive remaining unfilled and violence in progress do

additional two injured around one hundred twenty five miles north of night you may niger the defense department says the service members were there to provide training to nigerian armed forces to counter extremist organizations and the region one service member of a quote partner nation also die yesterday the defense department was help their nationality and its statement now to washington d.c. where the senate intelligence committee held its first news briefing and months yesterday the committee has been focused on a russian meddling and possibly collusion with the trunk campaign and for more on this we go now to ed schultz host of the news with that shown to us. senators burren warner delivered a bipartisan assessment in agreement with the i.c.a. stating they believe russia meddled in the two thousand and sixteen election but we're developing a clearer picture of what happened. what i will confirm is that the russian intelligence service is determined clever and i recommend that every campaign and every election official take this very seriously as we move into this november's election and as

there is no question congress has a right to oversee the actions of departments like the defense department, the state department and no question the press, the right of privacy in his decision-making, we call that executive privilege. the national security council sits squarely on top of that. you are there for the president to helpful the government together, you are coordinating the activities of agencies that have accountability to congress and i want each of you to reflect on that in your personal experience. i can interrupt you anytime. i will start with you, h.r. mcmaster, on this question. >> to ensure that congress fulfill its constitutional role which is vital to our democracy because it represents the american people but also congress's role that is critical in the unwise policies and across the administration to access the great work in your staff. departments have the primary responsibility to interact with the hill but what we attempted to do is have conversations with senators, congressmen and staffers about key policy initiatives and early in the development of integrated st

it is no longer just the defense department. it is treasury, commerce, it is everything. if you are going to run an that will be the ringmaster, you have to have adequate size. you have to have them on a permanent basis. think we should have had two thirds. that is the national security advisor. -- the immediate knowledge of going on in the far corner of the world. organizatione the to keep up on a 24/7 basis. we need to have staff other than a watch. so that when the shift comes, you are actually transitioning with knowledge. if that is the conundrum, you have no time to think strategically and you have a single director who think about what is coming over the horizon. technology,ple of but it does multiply the task of what you tell the president dramatically every day. quite the dwight eisenhower had a military background. for3 is responsible .ay-to-day operations eisenhower actually had to staff. --had he used to change it strategize between long-term planning and the daily fight? -- the same have over implementation. what we found is with the really strategies we need

might i remind my colleagues that the fiscal year starting three weeks ago and the defense department is currently operating under a continuing resolution we know the harmful effects it will have on the military. that's why getting to work on a budget deal is so urgent. we must delay no longer. the budget resolution is not meant to provide broader budget agreement. this budget resolution is a means to get tax reform however this budget resolution does represent something extremely troubling. the republican party used to be unified in support for a strong national defense. if our leaders in congress and the white house to immediately get to work negotiating a deal to lift defense caps and fund the military at a higher level in this budget resolution i'm not sure we will be able to claim that mantle any longer. mr. president i just want to sum up by saying we have a problem in the military today and that is the first thing that goes are the easy ones, the training, readinessos spare parts and the flying hours. those are the one to get that first because they are the easiest. cutting a m

he said he believd our vulnerabilities included the defense department and missile system. that's a pretty sober, everyone will focus on russia investigation. that's a sober comment from the attorney general. that was on the policy question posed by sasse. is the justice department doing enough to prevent this in the future. just before that a more personal back and forth with al franken going backing to sessions confirmation hearing where he was asked a question did he have any meetings with russians and what the democrats say is he said no. jeff sessions says no, in the context of your question, my answer is truthful even though he had to antidepressant it. but the democrats al franken at the latest, pat leahy before him hip trying to say the chief law enforcement of the united states officer is a liar. >> yeah, he was ready for that question, too. he had sessions pulled out a piece of paper and basically read al franken's question and this is how i answered you and this is why. he was trying to make some sort of justification the reason i said i had no contact was it was

it's the department of defense is jump to defend this nation that's why it's called the department of defense. mr. krebs, numerous expert over the past few years have highlighted the need for dramatic change. according to the presidential commission on enhancing national cybersecurity, and i quote, the current leadership and organizational construct for cybersecurity within the federal government is not commensurate with the challenges of securing the digital economy and supporting the national and economic study of the united states. general keith alexander, one of the most respected men in the world, said before this full committee in march quote, when we talked to the different agencies they don't understand the roles and responsibilities. when you ask each of them who is defending what, you get a different answer. admiral jim cerritos, quote, the need to be a voice in the captain that focuses on cyber. obviously there supposedly one there but he is not appearing before this committee, and that diminishes our ability to carry out our responsibilities. the list goes on and on. janua

call it foreign internal defense and we actually do these kind of missions by with and through our allies and the loss of our troops is under investigation. we and the departmentike to know what we're talking about before we talk and so we do not have all the information yet. we will release it as rapidly as we get it because we are very proud of our troops. as you know, we investigate any time we have our troops killed whether it be a training accident or combat. i don't care if it's in the a car accident, we investigate the circumstances surrounding and see how we can address the questions you brought up about what can we do in the future. at the same time, war is war and these terrorists are conducting war on innocent people. of all religions. conducting war on innocent people who have no way to defend themselves. i would just tell you that in this specific case contact is considered unlikely. but there's a reason we have u.s. army soldiers there and not the peace corp because we carry guns and so it's a reality, part of the danger that our troops face in these counter terrorist campaigns but remember, we do these kinds of missions by, with and through alli

john mccain says he is more satisfied now with the level of cooperation he's getting from the defense department. he tells manu raju significant questions about the operation remain. >> what is the question you have after -- >> questions about why four men died. that is the question most americans want to know. >> the white house pushing back after senators from both parties complain they had no idea how many u.s. troops were actually in niger. the trump administration insisting it notified congressional leaders in june about 965 troops conducting counter terror operations. >> building a drone base among other things and helping local army there and to try to keep pa pace. >> the white house hopes the controversy surrounding president trump's condolence call to the widow of la david johnson is cooling after wilson said it was trump's benghazi. >> i personally see no utility in comparing this incident to any other incident. what's most important to me aside from getting the facts is identifying those things that we can do better in the future. that's my focus. >> johnson's widow telling abc monda

university and catherine austin say its former assistant secretary of housing shows the between the department of defense and the department of housing and urban to develop. nearly twenty one trillion dollars has been lost missing or unaccounted for from nine hundred ninety eight to two thousand and fifteen and while much of that twenty one trillion dollars has an actual cash but fraudulent unreported accounting it's still enough to wipe out the entire u.s. national debt and still have enough to get everyone a pizza that would be nice i would love it if the government bought us all a slice of pizza for the. wasted over the years just just from you reach into your pocket and take him from you and this is one of the this see this is totally bizarre it goes down bad accounting if you how what i want to know is what were the democrats doing and what was obama doing for each year when his housing and urban development department was in a shambles shambles well i mean look at look at look at the way the v.a. is but in shambles almost every government agency across the board is but in general look at the pentag

the department of defense is actually a much more powerful player in the entertainment industry for basically financial reasons the department of defense had. expensive toys they have some marines they have aircraft carriers they have tanks and they have the personnel. to operate things so the filmmaker wants to make a war movie they often will approach the department of defense and basically asked to borrow that equipment and the department of defense will say maybe but can i see your script and they will either say this is great we love the way that the military is portrayed in the us we will go ahead in collaborate with you or they may say we hate the way they were portrayed and refused to participate. when the pentagon does agree to support a film that can. the some scripting strings attached and the vietnam war is clearly a sore point in the hulk a reference to a u.s. operation that poison vietnamese farmland was removed and in the bond film tomorrow never dies a suggestion that the us did not win the war was cut out in iron man a reference to soldiers suicides was removed again at the p

you are saying, we are, in real-time, raising this as a reality at the department of defense and your goal is data. >> my goal is to get department leadership more aware, not necessarily getting the details of the science, but telling them the implication and where the trend is because we need to make investments in our r&d funding, which is significant, their 70 billion. year, we need to make smart choices we made to shift resources from areas in the past that are no longer -- >> i would ask you one more before we go to the floor. what are, in your view, the actual realities of real-life axmen? these genetically altered super soldiers, super athletes run farther, you need less sleep, feel less pain, is that something you think about? is that real. >> i had to think about it because someone in the audience asked if we were working to make a human swim as fast as a shark and i said were not but i would volunteer to be that person. >> he didn't invite them to washington where we have plenty of people that fit that description. >> i could write the real shark, that's hard for me, not in

they were actually developed by the defense department in case we ever have a nuclear war.eveloping them for. thank you for having me. we are looking at 29 minutes now before the closing bell rings. all of these indexes on your screen have been hitting all-time highs. they lost it all. can they gain it back. is the fact that nearly all of the major health insurers are mostly down at this hour as is it proof that allowing people to shop for healthcare plans the man who was front and center to push it across the finish line. [vo] when it comes to investing, looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. it can provide what we call an unlock: a realization that often reveals a better path forward. at wells fargo, it's our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and wealth management firms in the country. discover how we can help find your unlock. listen up, heart disease. you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're talking to you, cost inefficiencies, a

>> what you are saying is you are as a speaker real-time raising this as a priority at the department of defense in your sort of -- >> michael is to get depart the leadership more aware, not necessarily getting thin the details of the science, but telling them what the implication is and where the trend is. we need to make investments, r&d funding which is significant, 70-ish billion per year. we need to make smart choices in buyer every may need to shift resources from areas of research in the past that are no longer -- >> i just want to ask you one more before we go to the fore. what are the actual realities of a sort of real life x-men? these augmented genetically altered, super soldiers, super athletes, run farther, jump higher, need less sleep, feel less pain. is that something that you think about? is that real? >> i had to think about at sxsw this year because someone asked if we were making a human swim fast as a shorter i told them we were not but i would volunteer to be that person, and -- >> you didn't invite him to washington? >> michael phelps, shark week. that's hard for me. that k

dave mccitizkenzie, thank you. >>> the defense department identifying 36-year-old jacob simms from juneau when a chopper went down in afghanistan on friday. six other u.s. crew members were also injured. they're undergoing medical treatment. the pentagon said the crash was not the result of enemy action and is under investigation. >>> an investigation under way in london after a man said he found a usb memory stick on the street belonging to heathrow international airport. it held security files including the route the queen takes when she uses the airport and maps pinpointing is surveillance cameras. it included a network of tunnels and escape routes. no crime was reported but heathrow airport officials didn't alert them that the memory stick was recovered. can you imagine? just found on the street. >>> maryland is investigating part of jared kushner's family business looking a at certain apartments. hi, i'm johnny bench. after a hall of fame career of taking shots like that, it's no wonder why i use blue-emu maximum arthritis cream. blue-emu's non-greasy, deep-penetrating formula gets d

if somebody wants to broadcast where we are and what we're doing t defense department does that from time to time to showcase the fact we're out there helping others, but if anybody wants to disseminate that information on mass. >> some people are making the comparison to the fallout of benghazi. is that fair at all. >> no. there was nobody near who could have discovered in advance there was going to be an ambush. i know i didn't. i can tell you that much. >>> now the latest on the recent travel ban blocked by a federal judge earlier this week hours before taking effect. says announced in late september, one fwlglaring quest. why is chad on that list. the associated press is now reporting that it's all due to an administrative issue. chad did not have the appropriate paperwork required by the trump administration to provide a recent passport sample due to paper shortage. chad's government offered to provide a preexisting sample of the same type of passport, but homeland security refused to make an exception. officials tell nbc news the decision was made without the input of the state

and we have many vulnerabilities and are defense department and our missile systems perhaps. and then we've got the commercial penetration that we have some cases that ongoing now that validate that concern quite clearly. >> that is looking chiefly at current hardware and software exposures and retrospectively, but you think the department of justice has a proactive role in looking at hardening our democratic process? >> i think you make a valuable point. if the legislation had thoughts on that, i'd be glad to hear it. i'm not sure we have a specific review underway. at this point in time. of course, most of this has to be coordinated with the intelligence community, nsa, cia, director of national intelligence. >> i appreciate your responsiveness to me on a number of other issues so i will follow-up with you in a less public form about that. i'm nearly had time and i won't ask for president of the 13 minutes and 20 seconds mr. chairman of the questioning that preceded me pretty but if i could run over by 30 seconds. i would like to just draw to your attention, general, the fa

. >> meantime, the defense department is conducting an initial review of the mission in niger and the deadly ambush by isis-affiliated fighters. it is an effort to "get all the fac facts correct." why are they still out there? why do they have such light armaments? they were surrounded by 40 or 50 quite quickly. >> let's hope that is the focus going forward. good morning to you, zach. a tough situation no one wants to determine what ought to be said to the widow of a soldier. all right. let's talk about i think what the president said about general kelly's son when pressed on this issue. listen. >> you could ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama? you could ask other people. i don't know what obama's policy was. >> now, general kelly lost his son on the battle field. he is fiercely private, as you might imagine anyone would be. what does that answer reveal to you about this president? >> well, i think it suggests that probably general kelly or white house chief of staff kelly and president trump have talked about this and trump feels he's in the right or, you know, in some wa

according to the defense department the u.s. military has almost 200,000 troops serving in more than 170 countries. everything you see here, every country that you have read on, which is most countries, with a few key exceptions, the u.s. has acknowledged having troops in. now, some of that makes sense, right. if you're talking about canada, it's part of nato and nor add, so you're going to have troops there. we know we've got basis in other places. the department of defense's website says that more than 11,000 troops are in places unknown. now, the defense department assigns these troops to work under six combatant commands or headquarters around the globe. you often hear us talking about u.s. north comm. you've heard references to u.s. south comm which deals with south america. that connects over here. so these are the different command centers. the united states africa command launched in 2007. it's in charge of all u.s. military relations, operations and exercises on the african continent. its island nations and its surround

i can tell you is there is a rigorous review participated in by the energy department, the defense department, the treasury department, the defense department, on down the line to ask the question, does a particular transaction like this harm the national security of the united states? career professionals took a look at that and concluded it didn't. i can't tell you what their reasoning was, but i can't substitute my judgement for theirs. >> and the accusation that some of these russians who were involved were giving the clinton foundation thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars and bill clinton was going to russia to deliver speeches for huge speaking fees. >> so, first of all, hillary clinton wasn't actually involved in the decision about the uranium mine, which is kind of a fundamental point. >> wasn't she on that nine-member panel? >> the justice department state department was on that panel. >> she was secretary of state. >> she was the secretary of state. this decision was taken by a lower level official within the state department. which is fairly common when th

sanders: as we said, as general kelly addressed, the department of defense has initiated a review which occurs anytime there is an american killed in action. we are going through that process. the president, the department of defense, and frankly the entire country and government want to know exactly what happened. the president and the nation are grateful for those american four heroes, and we won't rest until we get some answers and , that is part of this process. that is what we will do when the , time is appropriate, we will talk about the details of the investigation. reporter: "the florida sun sentinel" released a video of congresswoman wilson's speech in 2015. in the speech, it doesn't appear she referenced funding for the fbi building. does general kelly stand by the statement he made yesterday that he felt she was grandstanding? that she was taking credit? press sec. sanders: absolutely. general kelly said he was stunned that representative wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring fbi agents about her own actions in congress, including lobbying former president ob

of defense should be the department of war because that's what they do is wage war and unfortunately now they're going to look at space as possibly the next or new battlefield i'll tell you you know it makes me worry man's biggest enemy is him self exactly and governor by the way this may not be the frontier where we see actual physical war for a while it could also be a place where nations attack another nations satellite communication systems. oh yeah i mean it's not a limitless you know it could be a war a cyber space war a computer based war it could be a war and fought on multiple multiple fronts when you're dealing with space why can't we you know go up there with a flag with a p. symbol on it make everybody salute that you know that wouldn't be as controversial as cap or nic a flag would have peace symbol on it. as a soldier governor do you think it's a viable to attack another nation's communication systems. isn't viable certainly in war there's an old cliche vergina anything goes in war you know it's he who is lef

i said on the house armed services committee and the over the defense department and the intelligencecommunity. what is your recommendation for elected officials and the big questions we need to be asking in the process we need to go through to be in a better place to do for years from now when it comes to information warfare? >> guest: i would say the biggest thing congress could do would be to help the american people understand the threats that we are facing. that is really the key. people don't think there's a threat or they think the foreign threat is just a reflection of the same thing that the u.s. government does. there's a misunderstanding there. congress can be a valuable resource in helping the defense department to promote things like understanding the chinese information warfare threat or the russian information warfare threat. the intelligence community as well. they have information but their whole culture is we can't let anybody know this and the cyber realm again the information explosion around the world, things travel at light speed and yet we can't get information

you are, inaying real time, raising this as a priority at the department of defense. >> my goal is to get department , not necessarily getting the details of the science, but telling them what the implication is. we need to make investments, which is significant. it is about $70 billion per year. resources.shift >> you mentioned this. oft are the actual realities real-life x-men? these augmented, generically altered -- genetically altered super soldiers? is that something that you think about? is that real? >> i had to think about it because someone in the audience humanif we were making a i could swim as fast as a sharp -- shark. shark onace a real shark week. that is hard for me to see. .ot in my timeframe thinking about the next war. i can think about modifications that can make people more alert, to have better attention spans to deal with more data that avoid the need for rest immediately, to give people better stamina. , to go out approved in the battlefield for the u.s., there is a mountain of law and policy makers that have to be approved. ,f you want to change the mre that is

that is all still part of this ongoing investigation by the defense department. julie? julie: switching gears here now, what are you learning about president trump spending his own money in order to help with his staff's mounting legal bills? >> yeah, this is according to a white house official, julie, and this official told us that president trump has promised and is prepared to spend more than $400,000 of his own money to pay for some of his staff's and former campaign acquaintances pay for some of their legal bills. these are mounting legal bills as part of this ongoing russia probe. there's a lot of questions. you know, who decides which staffers get the money? could it possibly include paul manafort and michael flynn? the president meanwhile he's continuing to dismiss these investigations as a hoax and a witch hunt, but make no mistake, the legal bills are very real and wracking up at a rapid rate, so by offering $430,000 of his own money, he's hoping to offset some of those legal expenses for his staff. julie? julie: all right, with more on this and we thank you,

observed with the sony attack, you know, the critical part of the response, as aaron said, the department of defense had options. i suspect the state department had options. i suspect that treasury and department of justice had options. and others. but at the end of the day, i think it's important for us to elevate our thinking that at the end of the day it's about the political objective and the policy objective and whether, good, bad or indifferent, while there were several options available to the government at that time, the government chose to pursue a legal and diplomatic response. two points. attribution, hard but necessary. second, whole of government interaction to be able to define that which is necessary. >> aaron. >> there is a bunch in your question there, but one of the points i took out was the -- the adequacy of our plans and coordination. one of the things we were able to codify and get president obama's signature on before the end of his term was really formalizing the incident response framework and the cyber response group and the roles and responsibilities of who would be conven