he is someone who has been there at least ten years according to elise labott.as served with the senior foreign service. he's someone who's been an old hand around there. originally from northern california. tell me what this does in the wake of arab spring for the, i guess the sentiment for people who were looking for some sort of peaceful -- here's what i was trying to read for you. ambassador chris stevens considers himself fortunate to participate in this incredible period of change and hope for libya. his job is to develop a strong, mutually beneficial relationship between the united states and libya. clearly that strong relationship has been strained. ambassador stevens was the american representative to the transitional national council in benghazi during the revolution. this is a sad day for revolutionaries, isn't it? >> this is a horrendous day for revolutionaries. because our revolutions whether in egypt or libya or in syria now, where hundreds of people have been massacred by the regime, they have been revolutions for freedom, social justice and digni

first, we want to bring in elise labott. she has known ambassador stevens for ten years. she works at the state department for us. elise this is a tragedy for the entire diplomatic community this morning. >> yes, yes. john, this is a terrible day for the state department. everyone is going to be in mourning today. it's not just the fact that chris stevens was such a popular figure of the state department. really, one of the cream of the crop of the u.s. foreign service. but it's been many years since someone of this level has been killed in an attack like this. so i think there's going to be a lot of shockwaves through the state department. after all the u.s. has done for the libyans. using force to get rid of moammar gadhafi, to help libya stand up as it moved towards elections, as it tries to start anew. i think there's going to be a lot of gut checking right now about how the u.s. wants to proceed. not just with libya. but with a lot of countries in the middle east. i mean if you look at the islamic wave that has swept the middle east in terms of these revolutions, the

foreign affairs reporter elise labott is here with a preview. so elise, good morning. abbas and the israeli prime minister today? >> let's start with president abbas. last year everybody remembers this dramatic show on the floor of the u.n. general assembly when he said it was time for a palestinian state to be recognized by the u.n. afterwards, there was so much consternation, international community, the united states started withholding some aid for u.n. organizations, considering this. and so i think this year, he's going to be a little bit more subdued. he's going to talk about that it is time for this. but i think he's going to hold off calling for a vote. >> it has something to do with the u.s. elections, doesn't it? he's mindful of that? >> i think he's waiting until after the election, until he really makes the case. so i think -- and there are some efforts to try to get him to talk with prime minister netanyahu this week at the u.n., but prime minister netanyahu has one agenda in mind. and this is iran. and i think that he's really going to kind of give a fin

elise labott is our senior state department producer. you knew chris stevens, and it was the secretary of state described him as that he had that california thing about him that made him amazing. and he was amazing at his job as an ambassador. >> reporter: laid back, don, california cool, but very serious about the work that he was doing in the country that he loved. i think secretary clinton and president obama really brought life to these men, not just about what they were doing in libya, but who they were and something that secretary clinton kind of said about ambassador stevens was that he made the libyan people's hopes their own. it was true that his own hopes were kind of wrapped up in what he was hoping to help the libyan people do. and so i think that what everyone is feeling right now is just such shock in terms of our hopes for the region, fading along with these men, wonder wlag is ting what is the u.s. doing in this region, when you see the protests endeveloping the region against the united states, so they're trying to strik

our foreign affairs reporter elise labott is following that angle for us. things are going to boil over, the thought is this is when it would happen right? >> that's right. in 48 hours or so since the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya and in light of these protests at u.s. embassies in cairo and yemen, embassies everywhere, in the middle east muslim world, particularly in these fragile countries, have been kind of seeing what they can do to beef up facilities, president obama ordering all u.s. facilities to review their security, and that could mean more u.s. personnel at these facilities, or it could mean going out to the host country and saying we need you to give us more personnel we need more barbed wire, we need barriers, road closures anything that can be done to make sure that nothing happens. >> and obviously to not -- to try not to have a repeat of what we saw in yemen and in benghazi. former u.s. administrator elise, in iraq, paul bremer he criticized the obama administration. let's listen to what he said. >> i think we should be concerned, bec

we go to elise labott to put this in -- excuse me, secretary hillary clinton is now speaking.n. >> let me take a moment to address the video circulating on the internet that has led to these protests in a number of countries. let me state very clearly and i hope it is obvious that the united states government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. we absolutely reject its content and message. america's commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning oour nation. and as you know, we are home to people of all religions. many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including of course millions of muslims. and we have the greatest respect for people of faith. to us, to me, personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. it appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. but as i said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. we condemned the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and we greatly appreci

. >> we're going to bring in foreign affairs reporter elise labott. elise, what's the deal?lot of things going on, guys. basically, president obama, i think, misspoke a little bit. because basically what you heard secretary of the state department spokesman victoria knewen say yesterday, egypt is what they call a non-nato ally. a major non-nato ally. that means that the u.s. doesn't have any treaties with egypt, per se, but does consider egypt a major ally in terms of a very strategic partnership with this country. so even jay carney who yesterday, this white house press secretary, who said we don't have any treaties with egypt, in april he called egypt an important ally. what president obama was trying to do here is send a message to egypt's president mohamed mursi that, listen, we give you a lot of aid. we're talking about $30 billion or more in u.s. aid to egypt every year, and that aid is not guaranteed if you're not going to if you're not going to condemn this violence that's taking place at the embassy and also protect our diplomatic facilities. the thing is, though, i

"outfront" tonight, elise labott. se, this seems like it's wrapped up more and more from the israeli side, they want the world to know the u.s. is not standing where they think it should be standing. >> reporter: well, i think, erin, a couple things are going on. prime minister netanyahu asked for this meeting with president obama on the same day that he was making some very tough comments about what he conceives as foot-dragging by the obama administration when it comes to iran. secretary of state hillary clinton made some comments to a news reporter earlier over the weekend, saying that the u.s. is not going to impose any deadlines on iran. and so prime minister netanyahu didn't like that. he started talking yesterday in some other interviews and today. and so on the same day he asked for the interview, u.s. kind of looks like the white house was trying to put him in his place by saying we don't know what the schedule will allow. but there's no love lost between these two leaders. every time they're scheduled to meet

our foreign affairs reporter, elise labott, is here. you knew him for ten years? >> i did.s one of the first people i met when i came to the state department in 2000 as a producer there, wolf. >> and you actually worked with him, traveled with him a little bit. tell us about chris stevens. >> well, chris stevens was a man who everyone knew. he loved libya. i first traveled with him in 2007. zane and i traveled with secretary of state condoleezza rice where he was the head of the u.s. embassy as it was standing up. we took a trip, for instance, to the ruins. it was the three of us. just really standing in these ruins right there, wolf. i mean, it was just -- i thought what was amazing is chris saw it and said, look, this country really has so much potential for tourism. he always saw the good in libya, the potential in libya. and he was someone that was seen as having -- this was not a pinstripe diplomat. he was somebody who really got his hands dirty, rolled up his sleeves and went into the trenches working with the rebels. someone who really always tried to find the good i

elise labott broke this story.of it, iran group removing from terror list makes a lot of us go hmm. >> that's right, carol. well the mujahadin, we know it in the united states pretty much as the mek, has been listed as a terror group in the united states since the 1970s for the killing of americans. in recent years what it's really been is an opposition group to the iranian regime, and a lot of its members were put in a camp called camp ashraf in iraq, after the iraq war. they've been under the auspices of the united nations, and there's been a lot of pressure in the united states, both from the group and from its supporters in congress, and very high-paid former officials speaking on their behalf, to delist the group. secretary of state hillary clinton has been under a court order, which is coming up in september, october deadlines, to delist the group. there's been a contentious debate here at the state department and throughout the administration because even though the group does pretty much meet the criteria o

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over to you, elise labott.embassies in consulates in your time covering the state department. how should this have worked? how should security have worked in benghazi if it was working correctly? >> well, john, in an ideal world what you have outside the embassy or consulate walls is some kind of outside perimeter where there's a local guard force. in this case the assailants, the militants, were able to overrun what was a small libyan contingent of local security contractors, libyan security contractors. but inside there's usually a heavily armed u.s. presence and also from the local government. and we understand from officials i've been talking to today that there was a pretty robust or significant number of libyan armed security officials by the government and also a significant number of u.s. armed shooters. now, also there were at annex there was also you are the security personnel that rushed over to the scene. but, john, this consulate in benghazi had about two officials detailed to it at the same time.

. >> cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott is with us this morning.hink more of the same. i mean, in previous years you've seen president ahmadinejad say such fiery things, such outrageous things that many delegations have walked out. i think right now there's so much tension between iran and israel over a possible military strike against iran's nuclear program, i think he's going to double down, up the ante, and say something pretty fiery today. >> and president obama gave a stern defense of freedom of speech. share some of that with us. >> well, he was speaking in the wake of this -- these protests throughout the arab world, as a result of this video decrying the prophet mohammed and all these attacks on the u.s. embassies as a result. what he was saying is as you look at the arab spring, he's saying that democracy is akin to free speech and that if you're looking to have a democracy, you have to think that everybody has to be able to speak their minds. let's take a listen. >> the strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more

foreign affairs reporter elise labott is live from washington this morning.>> reporter: well, zoraida, in the recent days, senior state department officials offering the most vigorous defense of ambassador stevens' security and the security of the diplomatic office in benghazi. teing me that although there was no threat specifically on the consulate, that they knew that, you know, things were, as you say, heating up in benghazi. so starting in june, when there was actually an ied attack at the consulate, they started reinforcing the facility, in addition to barriers, in addition to steel doors on the whats, adding a lot of reinforcement, some physical security, also adding guards to the consulate. our understanding is, the night of the attack, there were five armed u.s. shooters, in addition to a group of armed libyan militia, living on the compound. and they say what these senior officials are telling me is, they don't believe it was an issue of actual physical security at the consulate. they say the amount, zoraida, of manpower, of firepower, that the consu

. >> foreign affairs reporter elise labott is with us this morning. that was very powerful. >> well, i think it got people's attention. and then when prime minister netanyahu said, listen, iran could have a bomb by next spring or summer of 2013, i think people took up and noticed. he got a lot of applause in the hall. and i think that the world has a new urgency about needing to do something about iran's nuclear program. everyone very concerned that israel could launch a preemptive strike, and you know, what that could do to the region. oil markets, i think everyone now is looking a little bit more closely at it. >> he went out of his way to praise president obama in his speech before the united nations. i thought that was interesting. >> well, you know, there's been a lot of tension between these two leaders over the so-called red line. this threshold over which, if iran were to cross, what could spark military action that the u.s. might get involved with? president obama went in his speech and said, i will do what i must to stop an iranian nuclear weapon, and i think becau

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and then you heard elise labott talking about the ambassador, how he liked to have fun and he was alwaysy jovial. this ceremony is getting under way. it is in washington, d.c. at joint andrews base there. and you see the four coffins up on the stage. this is going to be handled by the u.s. military according to our barbara starr. barbara, if you're there, let's talk a bit more about the ceremony and what we are watching right now. >> reporter: well, this is something really quite extraordinary. this is inside a hangar at andrews. and you see a c-17 there. they came from germany on board this c-17. this is the kind of aircraft for so many years now has brought back the fallen from whatever battlefield they fall on. the marines are the ones that have carried the caskets, the transfer cases, off the plane, are with them right now, and will carry them back to the plane. quite extraordinary, don. marines have a long relationship with the u.s. state department around the world. >> we want to listen in now so that we can honor these men. let's take a listen. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> let us paus

. >> elise labott, stand by. i want to bring in jim frederic. this is the cover of the magazine.ll thought it was interesting, if we could just share this. lifting the veil of why, how you chose this cover, how you knew this story wasn't going away. >> wednesday is when we're supposed to finish the issue. we had something completely different planned. yesterday morning we had the morning editorial meeting, how big a story is this going to be? obviously, the death of the ambassador is a huge tragedy. it's not really clear how it's going, but just sort of fete like it was building and building, and let's go ahead and do it. we ripped up the magazine, we decided to do this cover story. probably six, eight hours into it as the whole staff is going crazy trying to finish this, one of our very top editors said it was a great choice, because, you know, late last afternoon, he said, it's very clear that this story is going away, that the bad news is i have no idea where this story is going. so it's just changing. >> we went to bed last night, it was libya and cairo. woke up this morning,

. >> cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott is with us. what can we expect from ahmadinejad today? will he tone it down or go out as fiery as he always does? >> i think he's going to double down, up the ante, and hear more of the same. previous years he's talked about american officials being responsible for 9/11, talking about that the holocaust never exists. i think he's very sidelined at home. not very strong right now. i think he'd like to use the world stage as a bullying pulpit, if you will, and then when he talks about this new world order, it has a lot of resonance in some of the countries that do feel like the united states and the western countries, the permanent members of the security council, call all the shots. so while he says a lot of things that are, rhetoric that's very fiery, at the same time, he does have an audience, he's not just speaking for himself. >> people have been asking to tone it down, ban ki-moon -- >> ban ki-moon, u.n. secretary-general said, listen, your last time, why don't you go out like a statesman, to

also joining us this morning, elise labott, cnn's former affairs reporter. nice to have you both with us. we'll start with you, senator. you wrote an op-ed in politico and you listed what you thought were three critical things that the president had to hit on when he gives his speech before the general assembly today. can you lay out for me what you think he needs to say? >> the first thing he is needs to acknowledge that the war on terror continues. look at what you discovered from cnn, the private journals of chris stevens. who said, a number of things. this was not about a video. he was being targeted by al qaeda. he said al qaeda was growing in libya. he said there was a rise in islamic extremism in that area. there truly is terrorism that continues. this is not because of a video. number two, the president, when he says for the people of israel he has their back. he needs to outline exactly what that means. at the time iran gets closer and closer to having a nuclear weapon. and third is the american people need to know what the president's foreign polic

cnn foreign aaffairs reporter elise labott is at the state department. you've known ambassador christopher for years. tell us about him. >> carol, what can i say? he was considered, really, at the state department the cream of the crop in terms of diplomatic foreign service officers. this was not a -- we're seeing him in a pinstripe suit right there. he's not really what you consider a pinstripe diplomat, sitting in his office. he was out in the field, working with all sectors of libyan society. i first met him in 2007 when the u.s. was trying to restore its ties with the regime of gadhafi. and he was the head diplomat on the ground there. and then after the fall of gadhafi, he was sent as the envoy to the opposition. on the ground in benghazi with the rebels. that's where he was really the most happy, just trying to get this country working with this new government to be ready for the day after. and then after moammar gadhafi fell, he was really considered the only man for the job. he had such an affinity for libya. fluent arab speaker, really considere

. >> for more on the speech we're joined by elise labott.ngs that the international community is looking at right now is a possible preemptive strike by israel against iran for its nuclear program. so, president clinton has to -- excuse me, president obama really has to take a good look at this, and try and urge prime minister netanyahu of israel not to do anything too quickly and wants to -- let's take a look at what he says in one of these excerpts. america wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy. we believe that there is still time and space to do so. but that the time is not unlimited. we respect the right of nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but one of the purposes of the united nations is to see that we harness that power for peace, make no mistake, a nuclear-armed iran is not a challenge that can be contained. and that is why the united states will do what we must to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. and this is one of the things, right now, that the debate between the u.s. and israel over how far can iran go

our foreign affairs reporter, elise labott, has been looking into this part of the story for us. e, very worrisome. what's the latest as far as protecting american diplomats around the region? >> well, there's been a lot of talk, wolf, about protecting american diplomats and american facilities. in addition to making sure that the u.s. has all personnel it needs and working with the host governments in terms of providing extra security, extra barriers, things like that at the embassy. they're also very concerned about u.s. americans around the world. and what the americans can do, they're urging all americans, wolf, to -- that are in the region, to log on to the state department website. they have a lot of travel information. that's travel.state.gov. we'll put that up on the screen for the viewers. to make sure they have the latest information to keep themselves safe, wolf. they're saying stay away from embassies right now. not so safe to be. keep a low profile. avoid these demonstrations where these crowds can get out of hand. and also might not be a good idea to frequent areas w