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bob simmons, staff director of the house armed services guest of the speaker. matt leatherrer, publisher of and stripes. westing, united states navy, retired. john don ollie, editor of c.q. roll call executive briefing defense and chair of the national press club, freedom of committee. [applause] congressman buck mckeon, chairman of the house armed guestes committee, is our today to discuss the u.s. effort in afghanistan. gallup poll says that for the first time in the nearly more americans, think the 2001 invasion was a think it was, than think it was the right action. the unitedsays states' duties in afghanistan are far from complete. obama has notent disclosed his true plan for focusedtan and has elsewhere. he's also been critical of president obama's role as in chief, saying that a president must better communicate with the troops and obama has.than chairman mckeon, a california has announced he will not seek a 12th term in congress. he cited in part, gridlock on capitol hill. in congress, years mckeon has been an advocate for increased spending for the pentagon

keir simmons has more on the decision and fallout. keir, good morning to you. >> hey, matt, good morning. shaun white's dedication is legendary, so this would have been a difficult decision for him to make. he wasn't at practice this morning. now he has told "today" that after much deliberation, rather than try to compete in both the slopestyle and halfpipe, he'll focus on the halfpipe. >> reporter: shaun white was on the slopestyle course tuesday looking confident. later, he wiped out injuring his wrist. but there was no hint of his dramatic decision at a team usa news conference this morning. >> i'm really excited. this is my third olympics, and my third chance to defend my title on the halfpipe. it's great. >> reporter: in a statement he told "today," the difficult decision to forego slopestyle is not one i take lightly as i know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slopestyle event for the first time in olympic history. however, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other olympic goals. shaun already has two olympic gold medals

simmons in sochi. good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, matt. you left me behind.nd what an incredible night you missed. this morning, sochi is getting ready to host the paralympics with the tremendous performances from those men and women. but the closing ceremony last night was astonishing, it had music, it had dance. oh, and a few fireworks. >> reporter: sochi ended as it began. with spectacular, uniquely russian closing ceremony. watched by president putin, smiling. the games successful enough for the organizers to laugh at themselves. a dance recreating the olympic ring included the fifth ring that failed to open at the opening ceremony. this time, eventually, it did. >> the producers have a sense of humor. >> reporter: the end of a weekend that brought bronze for team usa in the four-man bobsled, but more heartache in hockey. team usa failing to medal after losing 5-0 to finland. canada won gold last night. and more controversy. the sweden hockey team's nicklas backstrom didn't play. the sixth agent lead to be banned while testing positive at the olympic game

we sent keir simmons to the heart of the russian intelligence agency. what did you find there? >> that's right, mattway back. when the u.s. and russia faced off in a cold war that was often fought through spying and in fiction, a certain british spy got involved, too. >> reporter: the name, simmons, keir simmons. a city of spies and secrets. at least that's how we thought of moscow a few years ago. >> get in, mr. simmons. >> reporter: giving me the tour, security expert andre -- >> this building, the central one is the main headquarters of the kgb. the kremlin is also a fortress. >> reporter: in the bond movies, there's always a man in the kremlin on the end of a phone. >> yes, of course, we'll send our best agent in immediately. >> reporter: real russian agents like allegedly ana chapman have even been discovered in the heart of america. but the year that inspired a thousand spy thrillers was a frightening time. there was the threat of nuclear destruction. russia and america locked in a cold war divided by a so-called iron curtain. and for westerner russia, the soviet union was full of mysterious p

matt and meredith. >> all right, savannah, thanks. nothing says red carpet like a great pair of crutches. well done, lindsey. let's get to the opening ceremony. keir simmonsxcitement building because that olympic torch after its epic tour around russia will be brought here tonight. it will be used to light the giant caldron out here beginning the 22nd winter olympic games here in sochi. the preparations already underway. there have been fears in the build-up about terror and today the tsa is saying out of an abundance of caution, it is banning liquids onboard flights to russia. that is an abundance of caution. we've seen no sign, matt, here of any kind of terrorist scares out here, which puts the attention where it should be on the support, the games have begun, bode miller at the men's downhill yesterday, not so good for the u.s. team in the ice -- team figure skating, matt. they struggled yesterday. all three competitors fell. this weekend, though, we see the finals of the slopestyle on those snowboards. and if that's not enough excitement for you, matt. wait until we see the speed skating get going. >> we look forward to that, keir. thank you very much