just people sense. >>> we are talking with former cia director general michael hayden at the aspen security left you before the break here, let me show some of our most recent polling here when it comes to these candidates in foreign policy. 53% think president obama would handle foreign policy better. only 41% think mitt romney would do better. that's a 12-point margin. general, you served briefly under this president. how do you think he's handled foreign policy thus far? >> well, brooke, i'm going to probably disappoint you here and not answer the question -- >> no, don't disappoint me. >> i'm a career intelligence officer. not my job. and give you another reason. the semester's not over, all right? we still have a lot of quizzes and exams before we get to the end of the president's term here. >> give me a highlight and low light for the president. >> let me give you a spotlight. >> okay. >> and the spotlight is this, and something i find very heartening and satisfying both as an intelligence professional but also as an american. and that's the powerful continuity between two very differ

>> kroft: few people know more about the dark military art of cyber war than retired general michael hayden. he's a former head of the national security agency and was cia director under george w. bush. he knows a lot more about the attack on iran than he can say here. >> hayden: this was a good idea, all right? but i also admit this was a really big idea, too. the rest of the world is looking at this and saying, "clearly, someone has legitimated this kind of activity as acceptable international conduct." the whole world is watching. >> kroft: the story of what we know about the stuxnet virus begins in june of 2010, when it was first detected and isolated by a tiny company in belarus after one of its clients in iran complained about a software glitch. within a month, a copy of the computer bug was being analyzed within a tight-knit community of computer security experts, and it immediately grabbed the attention of liam Ó murchÚ, an operations manager for symantec, one of the largest anti-virus companies in the world. >> liam Ó murchú: as soon as we saw it, we knew it was something completel

general michael hayden up next live. >>> two american tourists and their guide were kidnapped today in say the kidnappers want authorities to release a relative who is in detention in alexandria on drug charges. the americans have been targeted by kidnappers several times this year. in february two tourists were kidnapped and released. the same thing happened in june to two others. well, today we are learning just how bad off some of the most fragile countries are in the world. details were just released by the fund for peace and foreign policy magazine in what they called their failed states index. it's a snap shot of social, economic, and political development in every country on the planet. once again the most fragile countries are in africa with somalia and the democratic republic of the congo in the worst shape. they are followed by some familiar countries, sudan, afghanistan, haiti, yemen, iraq, and pakistan. experts say that their instability is having an impact on the rest of us. retired air force general michael hayden spent several years leading the national security agency t

michael michael hayden the former director of the cia who introduced the drone strikes back in two thousand and four recently said these warry about building america. foreign policy or no on the memos locked up in this that no one's allowed to see and that's the reality merican administration keeps telling us that these drone strikes are legal but they won't charge was the basis for that decision and just to be clear pakistan whatever private agreements you have had with the united states has very publicly rescinded those now every time the u.s. bombs pakistan that country is standing up and saying please stop this is against international law so we now have america bombing an ally against allies which is this is a very disturbing development that the u.s. administration really isn't dealing with right now it raises some very uncomfortable questions for all of america's allies bill how do you respond to that and i was going to go to bill in philadelphia go ahead yeah i actually agree with you chris i agree this is why they came should be made as far as pakistan's denouncements they've been

that were later ignored by management at that place at that agency but the director at the time michael hayden. prompted largely by nine eleven in terms of speed decided that we needed to have industry come in big time and solve the problems of in a say regarding the digital age and it was all about networked communications that was the target if you will how to deal with. and the fundamental decisions made to buy this solution not make it and i say historically have been a center of innovation at the forefront of the computer technology going back to the fifty's and this particular case yes they had show they chose to go out to the defense industry very large defense contractors and by the solution rather than take full advantage of the incredible innovation judy was actually produced within n.s.a. and as they had faced a critical challenge during the ninety's and it was certainly compound by nine eleven and nine eleven the country had failed government had failed to provide for the protection of the country under the constitution and so the work force took a really hard management shows most

. >> kroft: we wanted to know what retired general michael hayden had to say about all this, since he. director at the time stuxnet would have been developed. you left the cia in 2009? >> hayden: in 2009, right. >> kroft: does this surprise you that this happened? >> hayden: you need to separate my experience at cia with your question, all right? >> kroft: all right. you can't talk about the c.i.a. >> hayden: no, and i don't want to even suggest what may have been on the horizon, or not on the horizon, or anything like that. >> kroft: right. if you look at the countries that have the capability of designing something like stuxnet, and you take a look at the countries that have... would have a motive for trying to destroy natanz... >> hayden: where do those two sets intersect? ( laughs ) >> kroft: you're pretty much left with the united states and israel. >> hayden: well, yes. but... but it... there is no good with someone of my background even speculating on that question, so i won't. >> kroft: iran's president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, shown here at natanz in 2008, blamed the cyber attac

former cia director general michael hayden. he was the keeper of secrets during president george w.on and we talked about syria and other failing states around the world and hayden says he is convinced syria needs the attention of the united states and other world powers. take a listen. >> this looks like even from the outside the problem from hell and i don't think anyone in or out of the administration believes what it is we're doing now is or will be sufficient. so i fear we and other members, responsible members of the international community, are going to face some very difficult choices because right now we have stasis between the government and the opposition at a horrific level of violence. that just can't be sustained. >> what would you recommend in that position today? >> who are these folks? so we can have some reasonable confidence that what follows the assad regime isn't as bad or even worse. frankly, i'm a little troubled right now. this is a bit, the assad regime against the sunnies and other groups in syria are on the sidelines. the kurds for one. the christians. the

michael chertoff and former n.s.a. chief general maden. they -- general hayden. they wrote the following. "we carry the burden of knowing that 9/11 might have been averted with the intelligence that existed at the time. we dot want to be in the same position again when cyber 9/11 hits. it is not a question of whether this will happen. it is a question of when. and, mr. president, this time all the dots have been connected. this time we know that attacks are occurring against our internet systems, our cyber systems each and every day. this time the warnings from all across the board are loud and clear. i urge our colleagues to heed these warnings and to support the motion to proceed to the cybersecurity bill. thank you, mr. president. mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i thank my dear friend and ranking member on the homeland security committee for her excellent, thoughtful statement. i thank senator rockefeller, chair of the commerce committee, for his, i thought, compelling statement on behal

director general michael hayden, former vice chair of the joint chiefs of staff marine general jim cartwright and former deputy defense secretary william lynn. and i quote from the letter -- "we write -- quite an impressive group, clearly bipartisan, nonpartisan. we write to encourage you to bring cybersecurity legislation to the floor as soon as possible. given the time left in this legislative session, any upcoming election this -- and the upcoming election this fall, we are concerned that the window of opportunity to pass legislation that is in our view critically necessary to protect our national and economic security is quickly disappearing. these security leaders went on to say infrastructure that controls our electricity, water, sewer, nuclear plants, communications backbone, energy pipelines and financial networks must be acquired to meet appropriate cybersecurity standards. we carry the burden of knowing -- it's really chilling -- we carry the burden of knowing that 9/11 might have been averted with the intelligence that existed at the time. we do not want to be in the same position

michael hayden, the former director of the national security agency, michael chertoff, the former secretary of homeland security who served under president george w. bush, agree. they and many other officials have joined current secretary of homeland security, janet nap, the current -- janet napolitano, and keith alexander and others in warning as follows "the cyber threat is imminent to america. it poses as serious a challenge to our national security as the introduction of nuclear weapons in the global debate 60 years ago." the experts are sounding the alarm, calling us to take action now. to prevent a catastrophic cyber attack that could cripple our nation's economy, cause widespread loss of life, sadly, send our economy into free fall. when the cybersecurity act of 2012 comes up for a vote the senate will have an opportunity to take action on this critical bill that will enhance our national security. in light of these warnings from the experts, the least we can do in the senate is to vote to open the debate on this critically important bill. i want thank its sponsors, senator lieberman