john brennan had been a career cia figure. he had served as chief of staff to george tenet when george tenet under george bush developed their torture and secret prison program. john brennan's association with the torture and secret prison program of the george bush era of the cia is what sunk his chances for being picked as director of the cia at the start of the obama presidency. it's kind of weird. it's almost a foreign concept in american modern politics that the left might block something from happening, but it's true. liberals thought obama stopping the torture program wasn't enough. that people tarred by association with that program should not be promoted, that there should be political accountability for people who were close to the torture policy. liberals raised enough noise about john brennan's potential nomination to run the cia in 2008 and 2009 that it never happened. at least it never happened in the first obama term. now it is happening in the second obama term. now apparently with the official nomination of jo

obama decisions, the one to a centralized almost all of these decisions in terms of, it would be john brennan. and obama's first term, brennan has been the one who has been at obama's side for all of these national security decisions. >> i want to turn to his remarks last may when john brennan publicly confirmed the united states has used drones to conduct targeted killings overseas. >> president obama believes if done carefully, deliberately, and responsibly, we can be more transparent and still ensure our nation's security. let me say it as simply as i can. yes, in full accordance with the law and order to prevent terrorist attacks on the united states and to save american lives, the united states government conducts targeted strikes against specific al qaeda terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft often referred to publicly as drones. i am here today because president obama has instructed us to be more open with the american people about these efforts. >> that is john brennan who president obama has said will be nominating to be head of the ca. marcy wheeler, your comments? >

and to acknowledge the president's confidence and trust in john brennan. thank you, mike, for your continued service. i'm grateful for this opportunity to serve our country again. especially its men and women in uniform. these are people who give so much to this nation every day with such dignity and selflessness. this is particularly important as we complete our mission and support our troops to a sacrifice so much more than a decade of war. am grateful for an opportunity to help continue to strengthen our country and their alliances. and advance global freedom. we help build a better world for all mankind. i will always do my best for our country and those i represent at the pentagon and for all of our citizens. i will always give you my honest and most informed counsel. thank you very much. >> thank you for your very kind remarks and the trust you placed in me when asked me to be acting director twice. i have the honor of knowing and working with john brennan for the last 20 years. we have worked particularly closely the last three years. john brennan i

with regard to john brennan, i've known him since 1990. i worked directly for john brennan twice.hink he is a terrible choice to lead the cia. i think it is time for the cia to move beyond the ugliness of the post-september 11 regime, and we need someone who is going to respect the constitution and not be bogged down by a legacy of torture. i think president obama's upon of john brennan sends the message to all americans. >> you worked with him, directly for him. did he receive internal updates regularly about the torture techniques including waterboarding, as orders is reporting? >> i worked for him when he was an analytic manager. it was before he really hit the big time. but again, i think it is impossible for him not to have gotten these briefings, for him not to have been intimately involved in the policy by virtue of his senior position. some of the senior most positions in the cia, it is impossible he did not know what was going on. >> john kiriakou, you will be going to prison shortly. t know exactly when your prison sentence will begin? how are you preparing for this? you

and john brennan to be the next director of the central intelligence agency. kerry of massachusetts has already been picked as his nominee to become the next secretary of state. joining us now to discuss what's going on with all these nomination nominations, our white house correspondent brianna keilar, at the east room of the white house, and jim acosta at capitol hill and chief national correspondent john king and chief political analyst gloria borger. let's going to to the white house first. brianna, set the scene for us, and walk us through what we're about to see. >> reporter: we're here in the east room, wolf. we're expecting president obama will come out and say, obviously, a few words about former senator chuck hagel. we're also expecting in attendance the acting director of the cia and that we will be seeing john brennan here. obviously, as you know, wolf, some of the major issues that we expect critics already talking about having, for instance, with chuck hagel, that that perhaps may not be something that the president addresses very overtly. this w

defense and let me also add as former director of the cia to commend the president for his choice of john brennan. i've had the opportunity to work with john and counterterrorism issues, these last for you years. he knows the cia. he will be a strong leader of that great intelligence agency. i've also known chuck for a long period of time as well. i had the opportunity to work with him closely. particularly in his twaft as chairman of the president's intelligence advisory board. i greatly appreciate the work he has done to strengthen our intelligence enterprise. it has been extremely important to our ability to improve our intelligence capabilities. as secretary of defense i also benefited from his work when he served on our defense policy board. chuck hagel is a patriot, he is a decorated combat veteran, and he is a dedicated public servant. i believe his experience, his judgment, his deep understanding of the security issues facing this country make him the right choice to be secretary of defense. as for me after close to 50 years of serving the american people began in 1964 when i served as a

host: what about john brennan? guest: david petraeus resigned in disgrace after being revealed to have had an affair with his biographer. it left a vacancy that needed to be filled and president obama looked around and found the intelligence adviser he was closest to. john brennan has worked close to president obama antitrust him and he likes him and john brennan has been crucial in all the secret counter terror missions that the cia has been doing around the world including the expense of drone program. this seems like the perfect choice for obama to get his body in there and someone who was in the middle of the secret stuck the cia is already doing. host: what are the issues that critics would have with john brennan? guest: he is the architect and defender of the legal justification for going into other countries and killing people, even sometimes americans, through a process that is not transparent like the rdrones. that is one thing -- the other thing is that the role of the cia is just not well understood. tha

i served under nine cia director john brennan would have to be the worst. he is an open advocate of what is called extraordinary rendition kidnapping torture black prisons illegal eavesdropping and chillis from these rooms that they're so proud of flying over places like hockey star and almost compelled to be there is really dumb or he sees real profit corporation profiteering on these and list wars and in contrast to this the nomination for defense secretary that is very different in character in nature seen by many as a pacifist what do you make of the future of u.s. foreign policy if indeed haig will go to his top man in the defense. the difference between hale and his predecessors is this hagel has been there done that ok hagel served in war he was an infantry noncommissioned officer wounded twice to two purple hearts he knows what war is like that means the difference and when hague will says he would be very very careful about employing our forces in fool's errands such as afghanistan god help us iraq he's going to be a worthy stand up against people

let's talk about john brennan for a moment. john mccain saying he's going to have serious questions about where john brennan stood as far as those enhanced interrogation techniques were concerned dealing with detainees at guantanamo bay and elsewhere, the critics call it torture. you study this closely, peter. >> i think john brennan will be in an interesting situation when he goes to the confirmation hearing because on the one hand, there are plenty of people in the cia who would claim enhanced interrogation techniques are helpful in the war against al qaeda. and so if he says, well, they weren't, that is something that won't go down too well with some of his future colleagues at the agency assuming he's confirmed. on the other hand, you know, if he says that these techniques produced useful information, that may not go down very well with the senate intelligence committee, which after all has publicly said, senator dianne feinstein, the leader of the committee, saying the techniques have nothing to do with how osama bin laden

i have had the honor of aning and working with john brennan for the last 20 years. john is an intelligence professional with deep experience in our business, a public servant with extraordinary dedication. and a man of deep integrity. the senate confirmation, i know that he will be an outstanding director of the central intelligence agency. as the president noted john started his career at c.i.a. and spent nearly a quarter of a century. this is a homecoming for john. john, on behalf of the talented and dedicated men and women of c.i.a. it is my deep honor to say welcome home. >> it is a tremendous honor to be nominated to be the director of the central intelligence agency. the women and men of the c.i.a. are among the most dedicated, courage us, selfless and hard working individuals that have ever served this country at great personal risk and sacrifice they made countless invaluable contributions to our national security and to the safety and the security of all-americans. most times the successes will never be known outside the hallowed halls of langley and the ova

who worked at the working level of these departments be it chuck hagel as an enlisted man and john brennanl be able to move the agencies in the direction that the president wants to go. the drone program is one part of the broader part of counterterrorism that brennan will be responsible for. >> john: taking nothing away from brennan's extensive service and service to his country, it seems that a whole bunch of american haters are created. where is the debate about the drone program. besides liberal blogs is anyone in d.c. having a debate about the merits of it? >> well, no, and that's troubling on a couple of levels. when john brennan's name first came up in president obama's first term, he was roundly panned for helping advise the bush white house about enhanceed interrogation. he rejects that. he said he was not in favor of that, nonetheless he had to withdraw his nomination due to an outcry about that. the fact that there is not a lot of people talking about drone warfare indicates we've settled into a new normal where people have come to expect this. even the lawmakers are not putting

as the next director of the cia john brennan has been in charge of some of obama's most controversial policies including the targeted assassinations. program one where the administration determines who will be marked for execution without any due process oversight or transparency is the man who's been in charge of president obama's chiles last year john brennan claimed that the u.s. drone program called no civilian deaths seemed pakistan over the prior year which was an outright lie by so many accounts add to that the fact that as the bush era cia official mr brennan had endorsed torture and rendition and also was a vocal advocate of bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and we can see why he is deemed most fit for the job as the head of the central intelligence agency which over the years has evolved into a paramilitary force the logic some see behind nominating hazel and brennan for these top national security positions is that when accused of being hawkish the president can say does my defense secretary low kokesh do you ever choose the feeling soft he can point out

senate is nominated for a sanitary chuck hagel as the pentagon had on counterterrorism adviser john brennan to lead the cia the pex have sparked speculation that obama is actually trying to kill two birds with one stone as are his gun and she can now explains. by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obama is arguably trying to change the perception that he has embraced bush administration national security policies because after four years of militaristic foreign policy that's how people see it chuck hagel former senator from nebraska vietnam war veteran as being one of very very few u.s. politicians who opposed u.s. military expansion and who dared treasure initially sent from washington orthodoxy . one of them has to do with israel he dared to publicly point out we're using west in israel are separates countries and american interests. really interests when they can and that's a subversive thing to say here in washington could be a career killer yet it catered for direct negotiations with hamas he condemns the power of the pro israel lobby in washington here's one of his

america's senator braces for confirmation battle as obama picks a so-called assassination saw the john brennan and surprise maverick the pacifist chuck hagel a top security jobs. adama in downing street britain's coalition government tries to trumpet its midterm success on its future plans leave the public unimpressed. north korea lives that's why wolf will a visit of a hit although it's a giant google amid reports the secretive state is inviting german economists to help it open up foreign investment. and if it's not of writing in belfast flags up of the social and political divide the mildren island has police use non-lethal force on loyalists angered by restrictions on displaying the union flag. it's five pm in moscow and you're watching r t with me to bomb would say all top story this hour now a pacifist are accused of being anti israeli in charge of the military and an apparent supporter of. those in charge of intelligence that president obama's recommendations to run the pentagon and the cia and she can pull the nominees. by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obama is

america's senator braces for confirmation battle as obama big cell phone called assassination of dr john brennan and suppose the maverick has a visit chuck hagel for top security jobs. i don't know in downing street bridges coalition government tries to trumpet it midterm success well its future plans leave the public on impression. that north korea lives so why a wall for the visit of the head of the internet giant google i mean before the secretive state is inviting the german economy as to how to open up for foreign investment. and if they're not i don't writing in belfast of flags of the social and political divide in the world when i lose as police use non-lethal force loyalists angered by restrictions in this play the union flag. this is archie. a pacifist i q's job being anti israeli in charge of the military and an apparent supporter of the harsh interrogation methods in charge of intelligence president obama's recommendations to run the pentagon and the cia i wasn't in correspondent guy and she began profiles of the nominees. by appointing chuck hagel as defense secretary president obam

america's senator braces for confirmation battle as obama picks so called us estimations are john brennan and supposed maverick of has of this chuck hagel for top security jobs. down and downing streets of bridges coalition government tries to trumpet its midterm success while his future plans leave the public unimpressed. class north korea lives its why a war for the visit of the head of internet giant google amid reports the secretive state is inviting german economy is to help it open up for foreign investment. and a night of rioting in belfast of legs of the social and political divide in northern ireland as police use non-lethal force on loyalists angered by restrictions in displaying the union flag. at six pm here in moscow and you're watching r t with me to bomb would say our top story this hour now about sophistic use of being anti israeli in charge of the military and an apparent supporter of harsh interrogation methods in charge of intelligence that president obama's recommendations to run the pentagon and the cia a washington correspondent guy image again profiles the nominees.

braces for a confirmation battle is a bomb a pick so-called assassination john brennan and the supposed maverick pacifist chuck hagel the top security jobs. wilting under welfare one in three tax raised in the united kingdom a pumped into hand with the burden weighing heavier and heavier on working brits to take a close look at that. north korea lifts its fire wall for the visit of head of internet giant google amid reports the secretive states inviting german economists now to help it open up for foreign investment. the fifth straight night of rioting in belfast flags of the social and political divide in northern ireland as police shoes non-lethal force on loyalists angered by those restrictions and displaying the union flag. over a good morning to you if you just joined us here at the new center just after midnight moscow time now first a pacifist accused of being anti israeli in charge of the military and an apparent supporter of harsh interrogation methods in charge of intelligence they president obama's picks to run the pentagon and the cia a washington correspondent got a teacher

said he wants to take a closer look at the interrogation policies of the bush administration and john brennan's involvement in that. guest: i applaud with john mccain said about interrogation. he has been saying for ever that torture does not work and he should know. he was in the hanoi hilton for so long and tortured by north vietnam during the war. he is right, in my view. i did serve on the intelligence committee for eight years. i was there in the 1990's and came back and was a ranking member. i think we should look at interrogation policies and look at detention policies and we should look at drone policies. before this nomination, john brennan asked to come to the wilson center which i now head, he asked to comment talk about the legal framework around drone policy. it should not be our foreign policy. it is a tool but many of our tools should be developed through prom -- diplomacy and soft power and john brennan understands this. one thing i hope he will do after he is confirmed, and i predict he will be, is take a fresh look at the cia mission, reduce the paramilitary part of that missi

this past spring it was john brennan who gave the first ever u.s. policy address, admitting to some of our drone strikes. and defending them as both wise and legal. john brennan also this part fall told the "washington post" this -- "i think the rule should be that if we're going to take actions overseas that result in the deaths of people the united states should take responsibility for that. we should. but we don't. at least not for all of the drone strikes that we launch. the deniable drone strikes, the ones the u.s. does not take responsibility for, the ones the u.s. does not admit to even though everybody knows we're responsible for them, those are the ones that are committed as covert action. they're the ones that are launched by the cia. as john brennan has now been nominated to head the cia, he's being described as somebody who wants to bring this policy out of the dark. not that he wants to stop killing people using this particular tool, but he thinks we should do it in a way that is more accountable. he specifically thinks we ought to admi

coming up live this hour, president obama is about to nominate chuck hagel as defense secretary and john brennanhead the cia. we'll have the announcement just a few moments from now. plus, chuck todd, tom pickering, and one of his chief opponents, senator john cornin. chris alissa, and michael lighter, susan page, look marcus. andrea mitchell reports is next on mshs. not their short-term ag. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. face time and think time make a difference. at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >>> just minutes from now president obama will fill out his national security team by naming former republican senator chuck hagel as defense secretary and his white house counterterrorism advisor john brennan to head the cia.

>> as mentioned, there were protesters out in front of the white house over john brennan's nomination cia director. why aren't we hearing much about the controversy surrounding brennan? >>> plus -- >> you quarterbacks get all the good-looking women. what a beautiful woman. >> wow. >> aj's doing some things right down there. >> well, it's not politics out of d.c. but was it politically incorrect? an espn announcer, was he out of line with the reaction to the alabama's quarterback girlfriend? it is the "news nation" "gut check." check out the tumblr page. it is elvis's birthday. a producer and felt the need to send elvis the king a shutout. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] wonder what other questionable choices i've made? i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. on

trust in john brennan. thank you, mike, for your continued service. i'm grateful for this opportunity to serve our country again. especially its men and women in uniform. these are people who give so much to this nation every day with such dignity and selflessness. this is particularly important as we complete our mission and support our troops to a sacrifice so much more than a decade of war. am grateful for an opportunity to help continue to strengthen our country and their alliances. and advance global freedom. we help build a better world for all mankind. i will always do my best for our country and those i represent at the pentagon and for all of our citizens. i will always give you my honest and most informed counsel. thank you very much. bid>> thank you for your very kd remarks and the trust you placed in me when asked me to be acting director twice. i have the honor of knowing and working with john brennan for the last 20 years. we have worked particularly closely the last three years. john brennan

now if you're wondering why we should care about john brennan check this out in two thousand and eight pegged to be the director of the cia under obama however why spread protests against him took him out of the running so why were people protesting it well because he was a cia analyst under george w. bush and he was an enthusiastic supporter of bush's infamous policies extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation in other words brennan openly supported kidnapping and torture but then we didn't get the top spot at the cia brennan still got a seat at the high table and we all have enormous influence over obama's counterterrorism policies as his chief counterterrorism adviser and we all know that the white house counterterrorism policy is going a little something like this shoot first ask questions later and answer to no one catchy phrase for which we should thank john brennan in fact he coaches obama every terror today on who to assassinate around the world is he's a number one advisor overseeing the drone king's kill list john brennan nickname is the assassination czar for god's

we are talking about john brennan.l in devicing the strategy for wage what can is no longer called officially the war on terror but is something. you know, activities in a whole bunch of countries and a lot of targets killing. and one of the questions i think on the table is -- what role he has played in that. and also this kind of accountability question. i wanted to bring into the conversation, we were talking about the kill list. i also wondered when we talked about accountability, to bring in the story offen. >> -- i think it's important, these two things are happening in the same week. which he's the cia agent on the 25th and he agreed to serve 35 months. he e-mailed the name of a covert cia officer to a reporter and in the midst of a. >> reporter:ing out what was going on with the torture regime in the cia. he's the first current or former cia officer of disclosing classified information to a reporter and he is, as of now, the only person that's going to do jail time for their involvement in the torture regime. n

indeed what a sad death and a reality the fact that john brennan represents the most abhorrent aspects of the bush legacy has become completely a mute point welcome to the fourth term of the bush presidency. little older. little. girls love little. that speak. to. her. until. we're. oh. a little bit longer mislead and good. luck. to. the hour a little mouse run away a little.

contra de sanciones contra enemigos de estados unidos como irán y la dictadura de fidel castro. >>> john brennan prisioneros e la administración bush. >>> pero se espera que ambso funcionarios sean aprobados, la pregunta es si el costo político debilitará al presidente barack obama . >>> aumenta la trensión en venezuela adias que el presidente de venezuela, hugo chávez deba tomar el mandato. >>>e n perú los criminales son más jóvenes, incluso niños, envíe su comentarios a través de facebook y twitter, con el numeral o hashtag edición nocturna los tenemos más adelante ♪. >>> en cadena nacional el presidente de méxico enrique peña nieto envió el saludo de año nuevo a su pueblo, la paz que se logrará en conjunto con los gobiernos locales, educación así como la mejora de la economía y generación de nuevos empleos >>> diosdado cabello, el presidente de la ...de venezuela, ha pedido apoyo a hugo chávez pero la oposición dice que el gobierno viola al no declarar que el presidente no está en el país, sin embargo el gobierno de brasil dijo que el vicepresidente de venezuela, nicolás maduro puede asumir e

is confirmed, john brennan. is the cia changing? >> the cia has changed drastically drastically, charlie. one of the discussions about john brennan is going to be aside from the counterterrorism paramilitary and drone world they have to get back to regular spying. >> john miller, thank you. >>> the only suspect to be jailed after the attack that killed the ambassador to libya is free this morning. his lawyer says he was released last night because of a lack of evidence. on month secretary of state hillary clinton told her staff she will testify to congress later this month about the attack in benghazi, libya. >>> we look at secretary clinton back on the job, she was greeted monday by cheers of staffer, and gave her a football helmet because of her concussion and blood clot. the secretary said thanks and then went straight into a senior staff meeting. >> gripping testimony is expected at a pretrial hearing on the aurora colorado theater massacre. prosecutors are laying out their case against the suspect james hol

>> yes, very much. >> bill: hagel and john brennan. >> right. especially on hagel. a few critics because of the enhanced interrogation technique issue. but a lot of focus will be on hagel. frankly, i'm surprised. he heard he might not go with hagel. now he's going forward full blast. >> bill: they have a personal relationsship which is important to obama. in many of his picks. >> absolutely. he admires hagel quite a bit. when president obama went to the senate, hailingel is one of the people -- hagel is one of the people he looked up to and now he's repaying the favor. >> bill: yesterday he made a -- i thought a particularly important point about one distinction that chuck hagel brings to -- would bring to the office of secretary of defense. here's the president yesterday. >> obama: chuck hagel's leadership of our military would be historic. he would be the first person of enlisted rank to serve as secretary of defense. one of the few secretaries who have been wounded in war. and the first vietnam veteran to lead the department. >> bill: so first vietnam veteran wou

. >>> also, john brennan is the father of the drone policy in the u.s.is nomination could actually be the most important announcement of the day. >>> and later, i'll explain more about why the republican threats to breach the debt ceiling is very scary, it will be about life after default. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ >>> is the biggest national security threat facing the pentagon actually out of control spending? up next, why cutting the defense budget is job number one for the defense secretary, barney frank will be our next guest. >>> and later, the drama sounding the so-called trillion dollar coin. so, we all set? i've got two tickets to paradise! pack your bags, we'll leave tonight. uhh, it's next month, actually... eddie continues singing: to tickets to... paradiiiiiise! no four. remember? whoooa

here are remarks from the john brennan. >> mr. president, thank you for your kind remarks and thank you for the trust you placed in me. i have had the honor of knowing and working with john brennan for the last 20 years. we have worked particularly closely the last three years. john brennan is an intelligence professional with deep experience in our business. a public servant with extraordinary dedication. thought a man of deep integrity. with the senate confirmation, i know he will be an outstanding director of the central intelligence agency. john started his career at cia and spent nearly a quarter- century. so this is a homecoming for john. on behalf of the talented and dedicated men and women, it is my deep water to save welcome home. >> mr. president, it is indeed a tremendous honor to be nominated to be director of the central intelligence agency. the women and men of the cia are among the

. >>> also, john brennan is the father of the drone policy in the u.s. nomination could actually be the most important announcement of the day. >>> and later, i'll explain more about why the republican threats to breach the debt ceiling is very scary, it will be about life after default. what are you doing? nothing. are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my... this thing. i save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. that's a great idea. i'm going to go... we got clients in today. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping at fedex office. fourneau. >>> is the biggest national security threat facing the pentagon actually out of control spending? up next, why cutting the defense budget is job number one for the defense secretary, barney frank will be our next guest. >>> and later, the drama sounding the so-called trillion dollar coin. ♪ ♪ ♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >>> the con

i'm not going to confirm john brennan or anyone else until the administration shares information with congress about who deleted references to al-qaeda three weeks before the election. i think it was purposefully done and i want to know who did it before we move forward. >> you're committed to holding the nomination up? >> yeah. i don't want to. but i'm not going to let the administration get away from having to be held accountable. the state department, you will hear from hillary clinton. who did change the talking points and take al-qaeda out? what did the president do in seven hours? they are making two movies about the strong leadership and the bin laden raid. this administration leaked every detail about the bin laden raid so the world would know how strong their own national security. when you have a major debacle like benghazi you can't get basic information four months later. i don't think they are pursuing offenders aggressively, frankly. they are stonewalling the congress. john brennanbe nor anyone else should be concerned as the acting director of the c.i.a. until the c.i.a

>> no i don't know john brennan, jenna, so i can't say that.vidual that worked in the white house. this is somebody who is capable. the question is, are you supportive of their approach to these issues? that is the important thing here once again. like i said the train has left the station on the president's foreign policy and national security. for chuck hagel, what are his views in terms of defense cuts in the future? what are his views on iran? and our relationship with israel? there is a lot of very important questions that these senators who are the ones that will be able to ask those questions, will ask of these nominees. jenna: mark, you often brief lawmakers of both parties about a variety of international policies issues. what are some of the top questions that need to be asked of both of these individuals? >> i actually do think it is about iran, iran. after the dream team of hillary, panetta and pell tray you -- petraeus, the senate will have to scrutinize the records of all three of these gentlemen. for senator hagel his record on i

and let me also add, as former director of the cia, to commend the president for his choice of john brennan and. i've had the opportunity to work with john in counterterrorism these last four years, he knows the cia. he will be a strong leader of that great intelligence agency. i've also known chuck for a long period of time as well and i had the opportunity to work with him closely, particularly in his capacity as chairman of the president's intelligence advisory board. i greatly appreciate the work he has done to strengthen our intelligence enterprise. it has been extremely important to our ability to improve our intelligence capabilities. and as secretary of defense, i also benefitted from his work when he served on our defense policy board. chuck hagel is a patriot, he's a decorated combat veteran and he is a dedicated public servant. i believe his experience, his judgment, his deep understanding of the security issues facing this country make him the right choice to be secretary of defense. as for me, after close to 50 years of serving the american people, began in 1964 when i served a