cia director john brennan was upset with the media was how as he said distorted the narrative is with regard to the work that the cia is doing all these reports about drone strikes edward snowden's revelations about the u.s. government trampling on civil liberties all of this is not to john brennan's liking his mission is to restore the public's trust and not only of the american public but also of the public global foreign governments are becoming embarrassed of their cooperation with the cia because of the bad perceptions that are out there and that worries john brennan to have been dismissed. the narrative seems to be skewed. the narrative may have been. after nine eleven a lot of trust was put in the cia then as the director said it went the other way he obviously did not focus on how the agency managed to squander that trust either by providing flawed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in iraq or maybe due to the drone operations which reportedly kill more civilians than terrorists or due to how the agency managed to miss the boston marathon bombers even though they had

government and i'm playing on civil liberties all of this is not to john brennan's life his mission is to restore the public's trust and not only of the american public but also of the public globally foreign governments are becoming embarrassed of their cooperation with the cia because of the bad perceptions that are out there and that worries john brennan have been dismayed at the narrative seems to be skewed. the narrative maybe. after nine eleven a lot of trust was put in the cia then as the director said one the other way he obviously did not focus on how the agency managed to squander that trust either by providing flawed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in iraq or maybe due to the drone operations which reportedly kill more civilians than terrorists or due to how the agency managed to miss the boston marathon bombers even though they had the warnings john but it was not there to talk specifics journalists were not allowed to ask questions only the participants of the conference and those were scholars georgetown foreign service students intelligence professionals the

no program has none. >> john brennan is now head of the central intelligence agency.n a minute we will continue with richard clarke who served as the nation's top counterterrorism official under president clinton and bush. in the last segment of today, we ask clarke of president bush should be tried for war crimes. he has just published a novel titled, "sting of the drone." stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our conversation with richard clarke on drone warfare. he served under president clinton and bush. a year before the september 11 attacks, he pushed for the air force to begin arming drones as part of the u.s. effort to hunt down osama bin laden. richard clarke is just published a novel titled, "sting of the drone." this is president obama in may 2013 giving a major counterterrorism speech in which he spoke about drone strikes. >> the for any strike is taken, there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. the highest standard we can set. yes, t

you, wheni am asking john brennan became the cia director, he said i don't think we should be doing thati want to go back to our mission of finding secrets. am i right? arehe basic parameters right. it never went as far in the paramilitary direction as people expected. brennan understands the cia's , whichterrorism mission runs the drone program -- >> which is run by the army? >> no. well, in pakistan, where we have many droneed attacks, i believe it is run by the cia. and in yemen, which is the other major theater, the idea was to turn it over to the military. some operations did not go well. there were terrible civilian casualties. it is my understanding it was handed back to the agency. >> talk to me about snowden. what did you think of this interview with brian williams? fascinating it was because it was almost as if he was opening renegotiations with the government. home, he said. i am a patriot. towas saying i am willing plead to reduced charges. i might be willing to serve a prison sentence. that is what i took away from it. the second thing was that he heted people to understand

. >> what do you think about the cia director john brennan, don't think that these five taliban leaderse a threat to the u.s., that they might be dangerous to afghans but they don't pose any threat to the american people? >> well, first of all, at the very least, they are threats to the american interests in afghanistan and that part of the world. secondly, there were no americans in afghanistan on september 11th, 2001, and they certainly presented a threat to the u.s. so the whole idea of them going back to afghanistan and being able to re-establish afghanistan and al qaeda rule represents a threat to the united states. and also, remember, we're leaving many people behind. there are going to be civilian workers there, troops there for the next few years and many allies on the ground. people in afghanistan that we have asked to step forward and work for us or stand by us and fight off the taliban, we're putting them at much more risk and their lives are worth something since they have been willing to make a decision to stand with us. >> democratic senator dick durbin told reporters that

john brennan hosted a meeting, eight to ten intelligence service heads here in the united states andohammed hosted a meeting of the service heads in saudi arabia to talk about the difficulty and corporation in tracking them. what happens is these guys use false documents, war names, not true names and so it's very difficult, u.s. intelligence alone can't do it, and so they sought the help of their intelligence allies, especially in the arab world closer to the problem and can provide assistance in doing the tracking but very, very difficult. >> it's also difficult in many cases for europe traveling to turkey and jordan and other places and then crossing over. it's not like they are taking direct flights to isis controlled areas. the question becomes, what does the west do about this? >> we're in an unprecedented situation, and i believe that we are willingfully unprepared because more foreign fighters have gone to syria than ever went to -- from europe that is that ever went to afghanistan and we heard of the afghan blow back and not prepared for the syria blow back and not enough is

top advisers, including secretary of state kerry, defense secretary chuck hagel, cia director john brennan and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey. meanwhile, the u.s. and and iran briefly discussed the crisis in iraq on the sidelines of the nuclear talks in vienna. speaking to katie kouric of yahoo news, secretary of state john kerry said the u.s. is open to working with iran to confront sunni militants in iraq. he did not rule out the possibility of military cooperation. >> we are open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by iran, if iran is prepared to do something that will respect the sovereignty of iraq and the ability of the government to reform. >> could you see cooperating with iran militarily? >> at this moment, we need to go step-by-step and see what i might in fact, might be a reality but i would not rule anything that would be constructed to providing real stability, a respect for the constitution, and a respect for the -- the ability of the iraqi people to form a government that represents all of the interests of barak. >>

>> there's a difference in using, as john brennan used to say, the counterterrorism forces of the u.slike a scalpel to try to hit certain targets, take out certain leadership, and from what i understand, that's the kind of aid being considered to being given to iraq. >> here's my point, both of you. we in the united states senate, i didn't get to vote, i'm not a certain. hillary clinton voted for this one. john mccain always does. to declare the iranian revolutionary guard a terrorist organization. now there's talk by mccain of joining them on the same side. fighting the rebels over there. fighting the sunnis because there in there fighting on behalf of the maliki government now. if they're the terrorists, are we on their side now? or are there terrorists op both sides? >> what administration officials would say is that the iranians are in there, backing the shiite side of the government and possibly to meanting more of this sectarian violence, making matters worse, what the u.s. would provide this kind of aid. as the president said today, they have to clean up their political act and

. >> tuve la oportunidad de ir a la cia y hablar con su director, john brennan.dea de que todo es posible con tal de evitar otro ataque terrorista? >> creo que uno ve ciclos, despuÉs del 11 de septiembre la gente estaba muy asustada y decÍa "hagan lo que sea para parar el terrorismo", pero despuÉs de ver lo que pasÓ en los aeropuertos, con la agencia de seguridad en el transporte, las intervenciones, todos estos problemas la gente reaccionÓ, y ahora la agencia de seguridad en el transporte se estÁ comportando mejor. yo promovÍ la idea de los viajeros frecuentes para que no los inspeccionen tanto y eso cambiÓ. es alentador, se pueden cambiar las cosas si uno habla, pero si uno no habla no cambia nada. tambiÉn pienso que si uno permite que solamente los espÍas creen las normas ellos siempre dirÁn que espiar mÁs es mejor, asÍ que hay que tener gente como yo que cree en las libertades civiles, en la libertad, para contrarrestar esa tendencia, asÍ que es un tira y jala. hay que tener mucho cuidado, creo que la mayorÍa de los estadounidenses, si usted les pregunta: "¿d

>> there's a difference in using, as john brennan used to say, the counterterrorism forces of the u.s. like a scalpel to try to hit certain targets, take out certain leadership, and from what i understand, that's the kind of aid being considered to give to iraq. >> here's my point, both of you. we in the united states senate, i didn't get to vote, i'm not a certain. hillary clinton voted for this one. john mccain always does. to declare the iranian revolutionary guard a terrorist organization. now there's talk by mccain of joining them on the same side. fighting the rebels over there. fighting the sunnis because there in there fighting on behalf of the maliki government now. we're talking about sending air force strikes in there on their behalf. if they're the terrorists, are we on their side now? or are there terrorists op both sides? >> what administration officials would say is that the iranians are in there, backing the shiite side of the government and possibly fulmenting more of this sectarian violence, making matters worse, what the u.s. would provide this kind of aid. as the p

when john brennan became the c it a director he basically said i don't think we ought to be doing thatt us to go back to our core mission of finding secrets. am i right about that. >> i think the basic parameters of that are right. never went as far in the paramilitary direction as people expected that he might. and brennan has understood that the c.i.a.'s counterterrorism mission which is what runs the drone program and other efforts -- >> rose: which is the army, isn't it. the drone mission is run by? >> well, in pakistan where we have not conducted the drone attacks i believe is still run by the c.i.a. in yemen which is the other major theatre where droanlz are used the idea was were to turn it over to the military but the operations didn't go over well. there were casualties and it's my understanding this is something we never really know but it's my understanding it was handed back at least temporarily to the agency. snowden. you know this world. what did you think of his interview with bryan williams. >> i thought it was fascinating because it was almost like he was opening up ne

john brennan hosted a meeting of eight to ten intelligence service heads here in the united states, andhosted a meeting of the intelligence service heads in riyadh, saudi arabia to talk about the difficulty and the cooperation in tracking them. what happens is often these guys use false documents. they use nom de guerres of war names, not their true names. so it's very difficult. u.s. intelligence alone can't do it. so they have fought the help of their intelligence al lie, especially in the arab world who are closer to the problem and can provide assistance in doing this tracking. but very, very difficult. >> it's also difficult in many cases, especially from europe they're traveling to turkey, traveling to jordan, other places, and then crossing over. it's not like they're taking direct flights to isis-controlled areas. maajid, the question becomes what does the west do about this? >> we're in an unprecedented situation and i believe we're woefully unprepared. more foreign fight verse gone to syria than ever went from europe that is, than ever went to afghanistan. and we have all hear

vickers, you probably remember at the o, -- oss dinner john brennan got up and said there was not a better relationship that exists today. how much of that is personality driven? and a few years ago the former dni testified in front of the senate committee about do we need to relook at title x and title 50r authorities? do we need to look at something to codify those relationships under something like a title 60? >> the fact that a number of us have worked together for a lot of years clearly helped, but i forgot the french politician who said graveyards are filled with indispensable men. i think that we've put enough things in place that it will survive the current leadership. it's a very good way to do business and the challenges we face dictate it. i don't think we need a, you know, we've evolved a lot since 2009 and beginning of the administration and the title x, title l, title lx debate. we are very, very integrated and go back and forth, and that part of the system's working very well. >> right back here. >> peter humphrey, i'm an intel analyst. are you happy with the level of our de

you had john brennan suggest al qaeda would be eliminated all together about it end of the decade.wasn't i then, it's fantasy now. we need to stop seeing the world as he wants it to be. bill: if you believe -- back to this question about a surprise, why do it appear that there is a series of events now that have followed a similar pattern whether it's iraq, whether it's assad crossing the red line in syria. the va scandal, the healthcare scandal and healthcare.gov that apaintly surprised -- that apparently surprised the white house. >> the administration keeps blaming everyone else. they keep saying this is much harder than we thought, we had terrible things we had to overcome. we elected you for this job so stop whining and start solving the problems. all the problems are happening someplace else. but in the next couple years you will have the problems coming here. you will have american passport holders who are battled hardened in iraq will come to the united states. that's when the white house need to start profiling for terrorist behavior. bill: why the surprise in story after

kathle kathleen, you eluded to the relationship between the cia and john brennan got up and said there is not a better relationship in the history but how much is driven by your background? a few years ago a former dia actived about relooking at title 10 and 53 authorities and do we look to need to codify the relationships under something like a title 60. >> you know, so the fact that a number of us have worked together for a lot of years clearly helps but i forgot who the french politician said graveyards are filled with indispensable men and i think we have put enough in place it will survive the current leadership. it is good way to do business and the challenges we face dictate it. we have evolved a lot since 2009 and the beginning of the administration and the title 10, title 50, title 60 debate. we are very, very integrated and go back and forth easily and that part of the system is working well. >> right back here. >> peter humpry. intel analyst. are you happy with the level of our dependence on foreign intelligence services? or maybe possibly should we be moving a fraction of t

director, at that time was john brennan, the director of intelligence, james clapper, the secretary of defense was leon panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was general dempsey. all of them were acknowledged when the annex was hit in benghazi it was an organized -- that same day -- an organized terrorist attack. they you a knew it. they expected it, but then they knew for a fact it was. now, so you're talking about the -- the individuals who are responsible for advising the president, all of them were well aware that on the day of the annex attack in benghazi that it was an organized terrorist attack. and it was several days later that they sent susan rice to all of the shows in order to try to make it sound like it was some video that somebody had. why would the president not want to admit that this was an organized terrorist attack? it's right before the election, and he had a lot of the people, the polls showed loot of the people thought with osama bin laden been captured there was no longer that big threat out there in the middle east and that would inure to his be

as cia director, at that time john brennan, the director of intelligence, james cropper, the secretary of defense, leon panetta, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general dempsey. all of them were acknowledged when the index was hit in benghazi that day that it was an organized attack. they suspected it but the new for a fact that it was. so you are talking about the individuals who are responsible for advising the president to all of them were well aware that on the day of the end next attack in benghazi it was organized terrorist attacks. several days later gave rise to the shows in order to try to make it sound like it was some video that someone had. now, why would the president not want to that meant that this was an organized terrorist attack? it is right before the election, and he had a lot of people who thought that then on and having been captured, there was no longer that big a threat out there in the middle east. so it was for political reasons that we ended up losing four lives. and then just recently they're saying now, they found someone who has been around for

you probably remember at the oss dinner, john brennan got up and said there was not a better relationshipn history than exists today. because of your background, and secretary gates and pineda -- there was testimony in front of the senate committee about, do we need to relook at thai till -- title 10 thosetle 50, and codify under something like a title 56? fact that a so the number of us have worked together for a lot of years clearly helps. french politician said, graveyards are filled with indispensable men. we have put enough things in place that it will survive our current leadership. way to do business, and the challenges we face. need -- weink we evolved a lot since 2009. the beginning of the administration, title 10, title -- we are very, very integrated, and go back and forth very easily. that part of the system is working really well. >> peter humphrey. i am an intel analyst. are you happy with the level of our dependence on foreign intelligence services, or maybe moving a fraction of our budget to get independent capabilities? or are we going the other way just to save money? >>

john brennan and over at the cia has talked about it. that's a challenge we are up front about. i don't think you can argue that when it comes to the afghanistan, pakistan region that the strategy of going after core al qaeda leadership has not been effectively prosecuted. >> has it been equally dangerous or more dangerous to have an al qaeda-linked group in charge of major iraqi cities than in the mountains of pakistan? >> i would have to remind you that the most severe military attack on the united states in our lifetimes occurred and was ordered out of afghanistan and pakistan by core al qaeda. >> is there any concern here at the white house about a disruption of oil supplies? >> i have obviously -- i don't have any specific information about that. i can tell you when it comes to the oil fields in -- let me make sure i get it right -- there is a refinery and we understand that remains in the control of the government of iraq. but i have not -- i don't have any other additional information about that issue. >> americans north of baghdad, the a.p. had a story that three plane l

john brennan in his confirmation hearing admitted he's abused stuff that came out of the cia's interrogation program in fisa court, had to have a bad, bad, bad threat. torture, all derived from fear among herring, torture, used it to find informants and send fbi out to go find it. it's all interlocking. i do think it's true that average white people see themselves as part of a surveillance in a way they don't see themselves as indefinite detention or having our faith communities infiltrated or what have you? >> if i may again exercise the moderate prerogative and take the last word, it seems to me a final reason is that torture, war, drone strikes, all those certainly abuses don't cut at the heart of our possibility for self-government the way the prospect of whole surveillance does. that may be one reason, too, why it's attracted so much resistance. unfortunately we have to conclude, so i'd like to ask you to join me in thanking the panelists. [ applause ] and i hope you'll remain where you are or tuned in for the next panel on political realities prospects for realism and reform in the dem

margaret brennan is traveling with john kerry and joins us from amman, jordan tonight.argaret, isis appears to be taking this fight to jordan now, what is the secretary hoping to accomplish? >> reporter: well, jeff, the secretary's leaning hard on arab leaders to use their influence in baghdad to get iraqi politicians to quickly form a new government, one that has support from tribal leaders that the u.s. hopes will then stand up and resist the isis offensive. kerry is also trying to cut off funding for isis. the u.s. believes that it's private donations from donors in gulf countries that are fueling these insurgents. >> iran is playing a role now, they made new comments today. how does the u.s. view the role of iran? >> reporter: well, the u.s. acknowledges that any new leader in iraq is going to need the support of iran, but so far, tehran is sending some mixed messages about whether or not it will continue to back prime minister maliki or whether it will broker the type of political solution that the obama administration wants. i asked kerry today about the supreme l

overnight secretary of state john kerry makes a surprise visit to iraq. margaret brennan him in baghdad. >>> and norah asks president obama about the threat to americans. >>> an unfolding disaster in the midwest. several communities could face weeks of flooding. >>> and last-minute goal stuns team usa. what is next for their world cup hopes. >>> but we begin this morning with a look at today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry has arrived in baghdad to deal with the growing threat. >> isis militants close in on the capital. >> capturing more

john mccain. let's bring in our state department correspondent margaret brennan. margaret, the u.s. has a clear policy of not negotiating with terrorists so what happened here? >> reporter: well, that's the policy, but in this case, the president directed u.s. diplomats to deal through a third party, in this case, the country of qatar, which has relations with the taliban. so when president obama and secretary kerry said today qatar's help was vital, that is what they meant. before going through with this swap, president obama spoke with the ruler of qatar and got his personal assurances this deal was legitimate. it was very risky, because a past try by qatar to broker a peace deal between the taliban and the afghan government feel apart because of some basic missteps, but this time qatar delivered. >> axelrod: now secretary kerry also reports, that afghan president karzai was only informed of the swap until after it happened. what does that tell us about the state of relations between the u.s. and afghanistan? >> reporter: well, remember karzai is about to be replaced by a newly el

brennan, erin ukraine. >> secretary of state john kerry will head to are iraq. in the worldwide diplomatic situation, earlier today one of the most powerfu powerful clerid ayatollah ali al sistani. north of baghdad claimed the lives of almost 36 people. most were shia leaders, in one attack a truck loaded with explosives rammed a building filled with soldiers and not far away antigovernment forces targeted a convoy carrying new army recruits. the increased violence is having a profound effect on the lives of many iraqis and you can see the impact in places you might not expect like the baghdad book market. iraqis tend to gather that on fridays so al jazeera's jane arath went there as well. >> reporter: this is the friday book market. here you can find textbooks, children's books, poetry. it's part of a culture iraqis hold dear. he has a library of 2,000 books but in these troubled times they don't hold any answer he. >> believe me i'm an iraqi. i don't know what happened. iran, saudi arabia, i don't know. >> reporter: with his son in the u.s. he plans to join hi

overnight secretary of state john kerry makes a surprise visit to iraq. margaret brennans with him in ghdad. >>> and norah asks president obama about the threat to american. >>> an unfolding disaster in the midwest. several communities could face weeks of flooding. >>> and a last-minute goal stuns team usa. what is next for their world cup hopes. >>> but we begin with today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry has arrived in baghdad to deal with the growing threat. >> isis militants close in on >>e capital.