our chief national correspondent jim sciutto is here. what are you learning? >> this goes right to the core of the drone program, as to how targets are selected, glenn greenwald quotes a former drone operator saying that these targets are chosen really by metadata analysis and phone tracking rather than human intelligence on the ground. his reporting partner, jeremy scahill called it, quote, death by metadata and what this does is encompasses two of the programs that obama has expanded while in office and he's had a backtrack on mass surveillance. >> jim sciutto, thanks very much. let's talk about the u.s. drone policy and whether it's ethical to target u.s. citizens with these drone strikes. we're joined by jameel and alan dershowitz. there's no due process, the only information is reliable but then you go ahead and order a drone strike to kell an american citizen. is that right? >> well, there's much debate about whether or not we should be using drones, how we gather the information to determine whether somebody is a combatant but the one thing that shouldn

jim sciutto, just got this in.he ukrainian interior ministry announcing that seven police officers were killed in today's violence in kiev. earlier the interior ministry said the police had confirmed seven protesters, one other person also killed. the overall death toll for this day now 15. almost 300 people have been injured. so if seven police officers have been killed let's say in these demonstrations, you know the pressure is going to be on the regime, the government in kiev to respond with brutal force. >> absolutely. and you also have reports that protesters lit government buildings on fire. the violence is going in both directions here. and as you say, it's hard for the government not to respond in those circumstances and i think the white house earlier in the day made that point encouraging both sides to refrain from violence here. and this shows a situation spiralling out of control. and i have to say, looking at these pictures here, it harkens back to tinamen square. i think we're watching history unfold

. >> let's bring in chief national correspondent jim sciutto. a senior official who points out that the russians have a base and the question is whether what they are doing is out of line, crossing over what they should be doing. the administration not clear right now. but that is the biggest concern. what are you hearing from your sources? >> reporter: i'll tell you this, jake. i'm hearing increased anxiety. i've been hearing it all day. more anxiety today than yesterday and more yesterday than the day before. so these moves have made them nervous. yes, it's true they have a base there and there is an argument i'm sure they will make that they have a right to do what they are doing. remember, you have some very stern public warnings from every single u.s. official in lock step in verbatim rhetoric, really, don't do anything that could be misinterpreted but clearly these are the kind of actions that we're seeing. soldiers without insignias on their uniforms, more than a dozen planes landing at that air field. troops surrounding a pro russian tel

jim sciutto's our chief national security correspondent. the president is clearly concerned right now and his aides are telling our white house correspondent jim acosta, that they may actually consider boycotting the g-8 summit in sochi, russia, in june. that's a huge deal. >> that's right. the president said there would be costs, he'd impose substantial costs and beginning to define what those costs are. they might not attend sochi. granted it's four months from now, but it's a marquee event for russia at the site of the olympics. if you can get some of your allies to join in, recently in the last hour, we had britain's ambassador to the u.n. also condemn the deployment of troops inside ukraine saying the united kingdom believes that any newly deployed troops that do not belong to the ukrainian government should withdraw. the g-8 becomes the g-1 or the g-2 and that's a big blow. the white house has also referenced the russians wanted to reach out for improved economic ties with the u.s. and this is something they would conceivably cancel,

let's begin with jim sciutto. what is the precise information, jim? >> we always take new warnings seriously, but let's talk act what it is and what it isn't. it's based on new intelligence that terrorists are working on new shoe bomb designs. this is a trette threat that u.s. intelligence has been watching closely ever since richard reid, the attempted shoe bomber. what we will not see is any new measures as folks are getting onto these flights. shoes are already required to be taken off, that kind of thing. they won't institute any new measures as a result of this, but they are asking airlines to give additional scrutiny and they're giving this out in terms of an abundance of caution. here's what it's not, and i've been told by a u.s. official that the threat is not specific or credible enough to require a specific response. generally in a situation like this if they had specific and credible information you would see something major, more guards at the gates. you know, we would be subjected to more procedures as a result of this because they had so

our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto has been tracking the developments for us. he begins this hour with the very latest. jim? >> this is exactly the target authorities have worried about. a passenger jet. we have the very latest. within the last two hours, turkish special forces boarded the plane in a swift operation and took the hijacker into custody. the hijacker, we're told, did not go volume lnteerly. now, during the flight the ukrainian national attempted to have the plane diverted to sochi from istanbul. he said he had a bomb on board. pilots alerted the authorities about the hijacking but ignored his demand and continued on to istanbul. turkish f-16's scrambled to protect that plane. police found no bomb on board and at no time was the hijacker able to enter the cockpit post 9/11, in turkey they have reinforced doors like they do here. they do not believe that extremist groups in the caucasus were involved. immediately, wolf, as you watch this from the beginning, his m.o. was different, particularly the groups that threatened the game in the past if they h

we were talking to jim sciutto earlier. he said they look like they are special ops guys from russia. to be honest, wolf, they look very young. i've been looking at their faces. they look very young. it is difficult to believe that they are anything other than russian military personnel or in the pay of the russians because of their organization. they have been fairly peaceful. they haven't halted airport operations. they are now surrounding the main state broadcaster here in crimea. the direct general told us they were doing that for the broadcasters' protection. remember, this is a very pro-russian part of the ukraine. the majority are ethnic russian and it's not a message that will sit well with the majority of people in crimea who do not feel that their interests are represented. >> stand by, diane. i want to go to kiev right now. ian lee is there. that's the capital of the ukraine. i sense there's a totally different attitude of the russian as opposed to what we're hearing in kiev, there's a difference attitude in crim

jim sciutto, what are you learning?ce efforts and the talks going on for 22 hours. we're also getting u.s. officials confirming that the ukrainian president viktor yanukovych left for eastern ukraine but the state department says it's not unusual for him to visit his base of support there in the eastern ukraine. there is a new u.s. diplomatic initiative under way as the u.s. works to ensure implementation of this. bill burns will be traveling to kiev. we're getting new details on president obama's call today with russian president vladimir putin. we're told it was the white house that initiated this call. it lasted about an hour. senior state department officials telling us that it was a constructive phone call, that all sides, they want to encourage all sides to refrain from violence. the russians saying as well that the call was substantive, although they were placing the blame more on the protester, which shows one of the differences between the u.s. and russia on the roots of these demonstrations and this violence.

jim sciutto is joining us with that side of the story. so, in your mind, does the u.s.nt? >> well, that's a good question. in those words, there's a lot of meaning. officials delivering very stark warnings to the russians to be careful not to move in. you heard secretary of state john kerry saying yesterday it would be, in his words, a grave mistake in the russians move in. now you have defense secretary chuck hagel who is traveling saying that russia should not make any moves that could easily be misinterpreted. we know they are watching closely. i think we can assume that they are working very much behind the scenes to deliver that message as well. and that shows that they are concerned. what else can they do beyond those concerns, it's a fair question. we don't know. it's hard to say what else they can do. >> what is the biggest concern? >> the biggest concern is that russia moves in. we've seen this story before. you remember in 2008 when russian troops moved in to georgia, as it happens around the time of another olympics, when eyes were looking in another directio

jim sciutto as well. let us know what you think. >>> just ahead tonight, president obama warning ukrainian leaders as we mention not to cross a line which sounds a lot like his warning to syria. we'll talk about questions of presidential credibility and go back to kiev. >>> also tonight, his killer painted him as a dangerous thug. those who knew him say that couldn't be further from the truth. the jordan davis they knew and loved and why a jury could not reach a murder verdict in his killing. a juror speaks out. we're going to talk to jordan's aunt when we continue. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. sta

for that we're joined by national correspondent jim sciutto. the white house and state department who are they pointing the finger at? >> reporter: directly at russia. the state department called it a new low in russian craft. it was tweeted out by the aide to the deputy minister of russia. the account on youtube was called madon puppets, the name of the square where protesters in kiev are gathering. puppets is a russian charge that they are puppets of the west, puppets of america. this whole thing is an american instigated aware. i think frankly i don't know if the russians would push back too hard on them being behind this. so i think we kind of know where this is coming from. >> but why would the russians release it? what's in it for them? just embarrass the united states? >> reporter: i think to embarrass the united states and also fuel this idea that the protesters are not independent, that they're being fueled and prodded and instigated by the americans. that fits that narrative for them to have that and kind of undermines the public supp

our chief national correspondent jim sciutto has details. >> officials now have a better idea who's behindts. >> reporter: u.s. officials tell cnn the threat is tied to al qaeda. when the threat came out there were natural suspects, and they really were al qaeda proper in pakistan formerly led by bin laden or al qaeda in the arabian peninsula based in yemen. in particular because that's where a famous and feared bombmaker, ibrahim al asiri does his work. he's the one behind the famous underwear bomb struck on christmas day in 2009 though it failed to detonate as well as other attacks. and this is where they believe that this plot, this new intelligence about al qaeda working on a new kind of shoe bomb ultimately lies in his hands. >> so does this mean that there's some kind of plan that officials believe is actually in the works? >> no, it does not. here's the distinction. the threat in the view of many intelligence officials i've talked to is not specific. that means no particular target or timing. but that doesn't mean it's not serious. because they do know they've been trying to perfect

but our own jim sciutto is here, looking at this story very closely.ms to be echos, echos of that cold war rivalry developing in recent weeks and months. >> no question. the president said yesterday, he doesn't want to look at this as an old cold war chess board, but in effect, that's what we have here. and you're not talking about returning to the soviet union, necessarily. but russia wants to keep the country and its fear of influence inside that sphere of influence. and that's what really started these protests, when the ukraine was going oh to sign the agreement with the eu, closer into the sway of the european, the west. russia comes in, offers them $15 billion ask says no, join our union. they want to start their own eurasian union to be a counter balance. so the president may not want it, but in effect, it is something of a cold war chess board. >> certainly has that feeling, especially those of us who remember the bad old days of the cold war. the senator, john mccain, he was on with piers morgan, last night. he's very tough in his criticism of

chief national security correspondent jim sciutto joins us. exercises, troops mobilizing on the border, the obama administration seems confident russia will not be moving troops into ukraine? >> reporter: that's the pentagon's assessment they're not going to act. what's changed in the last 24 hours, because the russians have moved these troops, mobilized these war planes, put them on alert as well, if president putin decided he did want to go in they could poomove so quick u.s. would not have a chance to react to it. that's increased the level of nervousness among administration officials. what would the u.s. do in reaction? we're talking really about only diplomatic means, protests, et cetera. because the supreme nato commander and american general breedlove says europe is not planning certainly any military reaction if the russians were to go in. >> it would be a huge deal if they went in obviously. the question is what would happen inside the ukraine. people there, the country dividing. what about putin? i know he spoke to president obama b

jim sciutto as well. let us know what you think. >>> just ahead tonight, president obama warning ukrainian leaders as we mention not to cross a line which sounds a lot like his warning to syria. we know how that turned out. we'll talk about questions of presidential credibility and go back to kiev. >>> also tonight, his killer painted him as a dangerous thug. those who knew him say that couldn't be further from the truth. the jordan davis they knew and loved and why a jury could not reach a murder verdict in his killing. a juror speaks out. we're going to talk to jordan's aunt when we continue. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] lo

jim sciutto as well. let us know what you think. >>> just ahead tonight, president obama warning ukranian leaders, as we mentioned, not to cross a line which sounds a lot like his warning to syria. we'll talk about questions of presidential credibility and go back to kiev. >>> also tonight, his killer painted him as a dangerous thug. those who knew him say that couldn't be further from the truth. the jordan davis they knew and loved and why a jury could not reach a murder verdict in his killing. a juror speaks out. we're going to talk to jordan's aunt when we continue. asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. instead of paying too m

and james clapper who you saw in jim sciutto's feed also very dire today about how he looks at karzaisly takes two to sign this. and it's my own view, not necessarily company policy. i don't believe president karzai is going to sign it. >> the top man in u.s. intelligence not a very optimistic outlic. >> clearly a serious problem. we are learning new information about some of the most controversial photos taken. pictures showing the dead body of osama bin laden. were they destroyed in what some critics charging as an illegal cover up. brian todd investigating this part of the story. >> this information coming out two years after the raid. a freedom of information quest bringing it to light. this e-mail saying to subordinants if you have the photos, get rid of them. >> reporter: in the highly charged days after the killing of osama bin laden news consumers searched for any morsel information about the raid. the obama administration faced intense pressure to release photos of bin laden. the associated press and the conservative group judicial watch filed requests for the photos. and jud

jim sciutto and barbara starr are here with the significant statement from the white house. >> the blunt message is, enough is enough. to underline it, it comes directly for the first time from the president of the united states. the administration is saying that time is running out to adequately plan to keep forces in afghanistan beyond 2014. they told the pentagon to begin planning for a complete withdrawal. a deal is still possible with a new afghan leader. remember, elections to succeed karzai begins in april even if karzai refuses to sign before them. however, the administration making clear that some damage is already done. here's jay carney today. >> the longer we go without a bsa, and we've been making this clear, the more challenging it will be to plan and execute any u.s. mission. furthermore, the longer we go without a bsa, the more likely it will be that any post 2014 u.s. mission will be smaller in scale and ambition. >> that's interesting because that has already prompted some quick reaction. >> no question. when you look at this, no one has more to lose than the pakistanis

our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is joining us. jim, you're learning about new action being taken to counter some of these plots? >> that's right. this is the first skourt security measure in response to a new threat of bringing explosives on to airliners contained in toothpaste tubes and it came within 24 hours of the threat first being released to the public. this is what we are learning from the tsa. they have directed that no liquids, gels, aerosols be allowed on flights to russia. so something unusual here that this check will take place at the gate of those flights rather than at the tsa checkpoints that serve many flights around the world and around the country. different from the 2006 bomb plot when all liquids were banned on all flights in the u.s. additionally, we're told that people traveling to the russian federation will personally need to check in. they won't be able to use online check-in. these measures showing how secu serious officials are taking this threat. u.s. authorities are tracking a number of terror threats

our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is joining me here in "the situation room." how are officials reacting to this situation? >> they have made the argument that it's in no one's interest to have a violent outcome. that's on the streets or military intervention. at the same time, the u.s. is laying out a vision with a path forward with four key elements, first, de-escalating the violence on the ground, representative of all sides and, three, that has a technical focus to stabilize the economy that's a real priority going forward and that all of this would lead up to early elections. here's how jay carney put it today. >> it's certainly not in russia's interest to have tens and thousands of people in the street deeply discontent with the government that they were closely backing. instability and violence in the ukraine is certainly not and should not be seen as in russia's interests. >> now, u.s. officials realize they have to get russian buy-in but the russians are not sold by a long shot. you can hear it from russian officials, russians saying that the west is e

jim sciutto, thank you very much. outrageous development. >>> rand paul, by the way, is hitting the administration with a major class-action lawsuit. the potential 2016 contender is challenging the nsa's electronic surveillance program. senator paul, by the way, is standing by. we'll discuss this live in a few moments. first, background. joe johns is here. he's got the details of the lawsuit. joe? >> wolf, is it law or is it politics? senator rand paul's lawsuit is a bit of both. a legal challenge to the obama administration that will only increase the speculation that paul might run for president. at the very least, he's raising his profile and developing another piece of a national message. senator rand paul's lawsuit joined by freedom works is the latest legal effort to put the heat on president obama and the national security agency over collection of telephone metadata. the numbers, dates, and times of calls but not the content. >> this, we believe, will be an historic lawsuit. we believe it will be the largest c

jim sciutto is following developments for us.ng is dire here. >> there are no -- the violence is getting worse, the peace process is stumbling. these last 24 hours have been particularly devastating for the peace process. it had been difficult for days to even get the syrian opposition and syrian government at the same table, now one of the key backers of the talks, russia, long a supporter of bashar al assad is refusing to accept one of the key bases of these negotiations. at the same time the violence and the suffering in the words of secretary of state john kerry, have become grotesque. this is the sound of a country in chaos. tens of thousands of syrians desperately trying to escape the besieged city of homs. epicenter of their country's two-year-long civil war. many now starving, forced to eat grass to survive. and these are u.s.-led syria peace talks near collapse following russia's stunning refusal for now to even discuss a political transition. a key foundation of the negotiations. today secretary of state john kerry said

jim sciutto, thank you very much. more on the rising tensions in the u.s. former chris christie aides contain new information about the bridscand and they are sparking new outrage. in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique, so help protect your eye health with ocuvite. ♪o help protect your eye health ♪ ♪ humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures, living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where, if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liber

our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto joins us. >> reporter: we have new death totals. 100 people have been killed since thursday. 500 injured. and this is this truce dissolved overnight. we're hearing more and more of firearms being used by both sides and this is really a worrisome development. this is how that death toll can rise so quickly and our own reporters on the ground seeing that with their eyes, bloodied bodies, lifeless bodies in the lobby of a hotel there turned into something of a makeshift hospital. now president obama commented on this yesterday during his trip to mexico. he and other u.s. officials very much placing the responsibility on the ukrainian government. here's what he had to say. >> we expect the ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peaceful protesters. >> for americans to understand why this is important, we have to understand this is a brewing war, civil war arguably, if it gets to that stage, right on europe's doorstep. this is not a million miles away. this is right within europe. it's becoming

here's jim sciutto. >> reporter: cnn has learned u.s. authorities is working with russia and other countries to disrupt several plots related to the olympics. beyond the toothpaste tube terror threat it sparked a warning to airlines flying to the games. >> there are some very specific threat leads that we have, but at the same time it's difficult to ascertain whether this is aspirational or operational. >> reporter: u.s. officials are concerned the intelligence regarding the threat of attackers using toothpaste or cosmetic tubes to hide explosives originated from the group led by this man. he leads chechen terrorists. >> the leader of the chechen rebel extremist, that's where this plot hatched out of. >> reporter: while u.s. officials have increased confidence about security inside the olympic venue, transportation hubs leading to the games including planes, trains and automobiles are still seen as softer targets and more vulnerable. russia's deputy prime minister insisted sochi is safe. >> translator: i would like to repeat once again t

let's bring in gail, a senior fellow with the council on foreign relations program and our own jim sciuttowith the reaction to arwa's piece. it's just devastating. >> it is. it's just incredible and it's incredible reporting. inaction would lead to syria today becoming 1980s afghanistan on the mediterranean where foreign fighters would retrin and use wa they learned. the children are the ones who pay the price. you have 1.1 million children refugees and about half of those, three-quarters to half are under the age of 12. >> and we're seeing this huge destabilizing impact on the rest of the region. we saw president obama meeting with the king of jordan. jim, john kerry not only criticized assad, he krcriticiz russia. he used the term enabling by saying, quote, russia is always being urged to make more of an effort to resolve the syrian conflict. we have done everything we promised. they don't seem to actually want to stop. >> this is the trouble with policy. urging the russians and seyrian to be good actors. that kept the assad regime in power and saved them from military strikes from the u

our jim sciutto reports that a senior government official in pakistan said that a complete withdrawal will lead to a, quote, holocaust. i know you've had your issues with karzai in the past. are you comfortable with a zero presence, no u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> well, look, i think even the administration is not comfortable with the context of the zero option but one thing that i support the administration on is for us to continue to have troops in afghanistan, even at a diminished amount of troops, we need a bilateral security agreement. it's under u.s. authority and without that, it's very difficult for us to leave troops in any country without such a bilateral security agreement. at the end of the day, we've made it very clear that we are willing to keep a presence in afghanistan and that we want to continue to help the afghan forces and work in counterterrorism but cannot do that without bilateral security agreement. >> it's a very tense time in venezuela. the state department reported that three diplomats have 48 hours to leave the u.s. in response to the three u.s. diplomats

jim sciutto is in washington. what are the areas of disagreement?as about pause, pausing iran's nuclear program. a long-term deal is about deleting parts of it. they are going to be talking about how many centrifuges is iran going to dismantle. he has 19,000 of them. they are getting close to it. again, they have paused that enrichment but will they stop doing it? will they take away capability? there are also other facilities there. there is a heavy water reactor known as the iraq reactor, a second path tie bomb, a plutonium reactor. the west wants this deleted, dismantled. the iran avians want to modify it. one more, the west, including the u.s., want iran to admit to its past lies about its nuclear program and due so in writing as a sign of how serious they are going forward. that would involve some leaders going back to the time when there were lies about it, when things were concealed, admitting they did so. these were difficult areas. they got six months initially in this interim deal. >> i am thinking that lie thing isn't going to fly. what a

our jim sciutto joins us now. jim, there's this talk of the u.s. sort of stepping back and thinking about new policies, new strategies. realistically what does the u.s. have that it can bring to this table? >> not much. the administration policy has depended at this point on peace talks which just ended with no progress, no date said and as you said violence accelerated while the talks were under way and those talks are dependant in effect on the russians pressuring the syrians to be actors in this process, and it was a really damning moment in these talks when the russian deputy foreign minister refused to even discuss political transition, which is one of the key foundations of these talks. >> sort of code for bashar al assad going. >> absolutely. if that's not on the table, then the opposition is not truly going to be involved in these. the trouble is the other options, as the president is looking for other options, have in effect already been eliminated, military intervention, no-fly zone. there's a number of tell the bashar al assad to stop an

our chief national correspondent jim sciutto is in washington tonight. jim, what more do you know about this warning and about this situation? >> is the official said the threat is related to al qaeda. whether to al qaeda core and pakistan led by bin laden and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and growing in strength in recent years tied to the master bombmaker for al qaeda al asiri and someone they have been watching for quite some time. the intelligence or the warning was based on intelligence that this bombmaking was working on a new design for shoe bombs intended to get past airport security. as you know, we take our shoes off and already looking at this ever since richard reed attempted this bombing in 2001, just after 9/11. their concern overtime with al qaeda-like groups they're honing their methods better. this guy, al asiri who they believe can do that. as you mentioned, the underwear bomb christmas day in 2009, but also this is a guy who sent his own brother with another bomb somehow carried on his person that nearly killed the saudi prince and

the former explained to cnn's jim sciutto that contrary what washington claimed iran did not agree tomantle anything. later in an interview with me also on cnn president rouhani explained iran would not destroy any existing centrifuges. it's clear iran and america have different views about what an acceptable final deal would look like. on the basis of my interview with rowhani and talks with other iranian officials my sense is as follows. iran will provide the world with assurances and evidence its nuclear program is civilian, not military. this means the country would allow unprecedented levels of intrusive inspections at all facilities. this process has already begun with inspections of iran's mines for the first time in a decade. but iran's officials are determined not to accept any constraints on their program beyond that. they speak often about the importance of being treated like any other country that has signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, which means to them, they have the unfettered right to enrich uranium to produce electricity. now the american vision of the final

i'm jim sciutto in for wolf blitzer. darkness cannot hide the scars and stains of a bloody day in kiev square. those are snipers taking aim at antigovernment protestors. those protestors say 100 died today in the clashes with government force easily making this the deadliest day since november when the prorussia government and prowest antigovernment demonstrators. the white house has condemned the fighting saying we're outraged by the images of ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons. the last part is important. there are reports protestors have taken as many as 70 hostages from among the security forces. police say they've had dozens injured and many police killed in the fighting. joining me live from kiev, our own senior international correspondent, nick walsh. right in the middle of the violence. what can you tell us? >> behind me now over the crowds chanting, dark has fallen. they fort fied the barricades. we've seen the bodies taken out of the hotel where i'm standing. we heard some talk about fallen hero

. >> our national security correspondent, jim sciutto, is here watching all of this. it's fast-moving right now. and a lot of us didn't think it was going to get this bad. but there is potential for a whole lot worse. >> no question. that's been the consistent warning from u.s. officials. don't -- to the russians. don't do any actions that can be misinterpreted. right? and now on the ground there, you are having actions that can easily be misinterpreted. are those forces that you're seeing there supported by the russians, directed by the russians? we don't know for sure. >> are they russians? >> or are they russians, exactly. we don't know for sure, but that's exactly the kind of thing that can be misinterpreted and can further inflame the situation on the ground. >> the outgoing -- now the former u.s. ambassador in moscow, mike mcfaul, he spoke out on cnn's "new day" today, 48 hours since he left moscow, back at stanford university. but i want you to listen to what he said, because it's ominous. >> it's a very dangerous situation, extremely tense. you have soldiers w

jim sciutto is our chief national security correspondent. what's going on? >> it's extremely rare to get this video from inside the labor camp where he is being held to a very rare view of him, and he's the longest-held american in north korea. and what we see is some sobering video of a tired and noticeably thinner bae in this conversation with a swedish diplomat recorded on friday in this labor camp. remember we reported friday he had been sent back there from the hospital where he had been treated. and we get a rare view of him there, certainly not himself. we also got a view earlier of the kind of work bae is doing in this prison camp, working in a field. you can see on the left-hand side, one of the guards overlooking him. now, in this video, bae says he's doing his best to stay strong, but he's very worried about his health, and he says he's lost as many as ten pounds while he's in camp. here's what he had had to say. >> i'm trying to stay strong mentally and spiritually, and trying to stay strong emotionally as well. but my main concern right now is t

cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is here.s cut through the noise, the politics and spin. what are we talking about in terms of cuts to the military? break it down. >> reporter: you look at the numbers. the current budget is basically halfway between what the pentagon wanted and the more draconian cuts that came during sequestration. the real headline number is reducing the size of the army from a peak during those two wars in afghanistan and iraq from 570,000 to 450,000. cutting the wart hog designed to attack soviet tanks, also cutting benefits such as housing allowances for soldiers, subsidies to stores on military bases. some of these are politically sensitive things. but as always the military is trying to make a balance of priorities with the numbers that they've been given. >> so in terms of the cuts, obviously the things like housing allowance, that's going to affect the livelihood, the lifestyle of soldiers which is obviously an incredibly important thing and marines and sailors and others. in terms of the danger, cou

cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto has been looking into this for us.r: wolf, this is really the starkest warning we've heard from u.s. officials on syria. it's part of a broader narrative about the evolving terror threat to the u.s. the bottom line, that threat is becoming more diffuse. you have offshoots of al qaeda, home grown terrorists in the u.s. and now with sear yarks veterans of that war, some of them americans, to return home to carry out attacks. >> thank you for the opportunity to be here. >> reporter: today america's top homeland security official said that syria may be the most serious terror threat to the u.s. homeland. >> i would say that for us in national security and homeland security in this government, this particular issue is t the top of list or near the top of the lis for us. we talk about it all the time. we're carefully monitoring the situation. >> reporter: syria's brutal civil war has provided al qaeda-tied terrorist groups the perfect combination of violence and lawlessness. train and plan attacks targeting american interest

let's bring in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. that's very clear is that russia and the u.s. and the west have vastly different views of this crisis. the west sees ukraine increasingly as part of europe, russia sees it very much in its sphere of influence, even different views of the protesters. many here see them fighting for their democratic rights. in ukraine, the russian government will call them terrorists, extremists, thugs, that sort of thing. but one thing that's very clear is that russia has a key involvement in ukraine and has for some time. political support, financial support and on the ground even stories of russian security forces fighting the protesters. today it is kiev in flames and ukrainian protesters under fire. u.s. officials are increasingly watching russia. >> our approach as the united states is not to see these as some cold war chessboard in which we're in competition with russia. our goal is to make sure the people of ukraine are able to make decisions for themselves about their future. >> reporter: russi

. >> jim sciutto, thanks very much. >>> as a result of our own cnn investigation, there are changes totes that tricked democrats to donating to the gop. cnn's chris cuomo will discuss this extraordinary interview with george zimmerman about the night that he killed trayvon martin. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ] nearly 7 million clients. how did edward jones get so big? let me just put this away. ♪ could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. it's how edward jones peace of mind is important when so we provide it services you bucan rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. centurylink. your link to what's next. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this c