i put the question to the former cia director michael hayden.hink there is significance to the fact that so many people who hunted down bill bin laden were woman. >> i will confirm, you are right. this is a band of sisters that led this analytical hunt. two were jennifer matthews was there and elizabeth hanson. both had briefed me about the hunt for bin laden. they were phenomenal. they were obsessed. they were focused. >> somebody said to me there are all of those macho guys out there but you wouldn't want these women after you because they are relentless. >> they were absolutely relentless. this is a decades-long hunt and for these women, longer than a decade. these people were hunting bin laden before hunting bin laden was cool and popular. they were back in the day, prior to 9/11 and in fact, opening line from homeland -- >> missed something once before. >> where she says i missed something that day. i think a lot of people at the agency, including these folks were animated by the fact that if that even had taken place and now they wanted to

i put the question to the former cia director, michael hayden.ere's any significance to the fact that so many of the people who hunted bin laden down were women? >> i will confirm, you're right. this was a band of sisters that led this analytical hunt. two of the sisters were killed at cost. jennifer matthews was there and elizabeth hanson. both briefed me about the hunt for bin laden, both were phenomenal and focused and obsessed. >> there are all these macho guys out there, but you wouldn't want tease women after you, they're relentless. >> this is a decade's long hunt and for these women, longer than a decade, these people were hunting bin laden before hunting bin laden was cool and popular. they were back there in the day prior to 9/11. in fact, that opening line from "homeland." >> i missed something once before -- >> where carrie mutters, i missed something that day. a lot of people in the agency, including these folks, were animated by the fact that that event had taken place and now they wanted to set things right. they really were focuse

. >> michael hayden agrees, but says we should also be mindful of the circumstances. >> suppose you had a situation like the boston bombings, except this time, you caught one guy and he was able to talk and you thought there was a ticking time bomb somewhere. do you believe that in those circumstances, torture would be appropriate? >> torture is never appropriate. it's like asking me do you think murder is appropriate. no, by definition, torture and murder are wrong. now, would i attempt to question that individual beyond the normal practices of massachusetts state police? perhaps. beyond the 19 techniques that are allowed in the army field manual? perhaps. but no one claims, for example, the army field manual exhausts the universe. you need to keep your options available because you can't predict what circumstances you might find yourself in the future. >> we'll go right up to the lines? >> exactly. if i don't, what i'm doing is protecting me and my agency. not america. >> remember that the u.s. government has mostly stopped using interrogations since 2006 and it's completely stopped s

but, the counterterrorism relationship with the russians isn't all that intimate. >> general michael haydenr cia director, former nsa director and principle with the chertoff group we appreciate your insight this morning. >> general hayden seems to be offering restraint is the best policy right now. not willing to say anyone did anything wrong. >> step back for a minute and let the process happen. >> all right. 21 minutes after the hour. ahead on "starting point," yahoo's marissa mayer making more changes for her employees. her updated plan for new moms and dads. this is going to surprise you. we'll tell you about it. party! awwwww... arigato! we are outta here! party...... finding you the perfect place, every step of the way. hotels.com it begins with your skin. venus & olay -- gently exfoliates with 5 blades. plus olay moisture bars help renew goddess skin. only from venus & olay. >>> welcome back to "starting point" i'm zain asher in for christine romans "minding your business." the headlines are quite simply amazing. the s&p 500 record high. the nasdaq 12-year high, and take a look at t

as general michael hayden the nsa director who took charge in 1999 put it, in an age of telecommunicationsreakthroughs the nsa was becoming deaf. but 9-11 delivered a shock that was loud enough for everyone to hear. the nsa got a bigger budget and a new mission, stop the next attack. which leads us to a massive data center being built by the nsa in the utah desert. it's capacity to collect and analyze data so enormous it has even former nsa staffers worried. >> it is really a turnkey situation where it could be turned quickly and become a totalitarian state pretty quickly. >> how comfortable are you with the government being able to know so much. that's next. alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone. ♪ right. but the most important feature of all is... the capital one purchase eraser. i can redeem the double miles i earned with my venture card to erase recent travel purchases. d with a few clicks, this mission never happened. uh, what's this button do? [ electricity zaps ] ♪ you requested backup? yes. yes i did. what's in your wallet? >> even electrons take up space though not mu

as general michael hayden the nsa director who took charge in 1999 put it, in an age of telecommunicationsreakthroughs the nsa was becoming deaf. but 9-11 delivered a shock that was loud enough for everyone to hear. the nsa got a bigger budget and a new mission, stop the next attack. which leads us to a massive data center being built by the nsa in the utah desert. it's capacity to collect and analyze data so enormous it has even former nsa staffers worried. >> it is really a turnkey situation where it could be turned quickly and become a totalitarian state pretty quickly. >> how comfortable are you with the government being able to know so much. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. >> even el

michael hayden led the effort in the days right after 9/11. >> hayden: i did it at nsa, george did it at... at cia. we... we all did it. it was a way to go out there and... and to get these capabilities into the flow infinitely more quickly than you would have been able to do had you gone through the government personnel system. >> narrator: in office parks near the nsa, thousands of private contractors-- many making much more money than federal employees-- help digest data. >> priest: this war was not a war that required a lot of tanks, a lot of fighter jets. it required information. and information flows in a different way and is... is analyzed by machines. >> narrator: exactly how much money the nsa was spending in the years after 9/11 is one of the government's most closely guarded secrets. the agency's budget, like it's work, is a state secret. >> arkin: well, have you actually looked at this building on a satellite map yet? >> priest: no. >> arkin: it's gigantic. i mean, it's... it's... >> narrator: in vermont, a reporter and former defense analyst, william arkin, spent years tr

>> narrator: at that time, michael hayden ran the national security agency, the nsa. >> hayden: we began a conversation with the vice pridenand then with the president, saying that, "here are some additional things we could do, but we cannot do them because we do not currently have the authorities to do them." that was the basis of the evolution of what became the terrorist surveillance program. >> narrator: the terrorist surveillance program authorized the nsa to intercept certain telephone calls and emails of american citizens without a warrant. >> hayden: it clearly was atypical when it came to where the traditional boundaries of the national security agency had been, when it came to communications, one end of which was in the united states. that was a change. >> priest: nobody was in a mood to say, "well, wait a minute. are you infringing on privacy?" you know, privacy versus another 9/11 attack, there was no real question about what was going to win over that. >> narrator: from inside their secure maryland headquarters, the nsa was now focused on trying to prevent the next terrorist

as general michael hayden the nsa director who took charge in 1 an age of telecommunications breakthroughs nsa was becoming deaf. but 9-11 delivered a shock that was loud enough for everyone to hear. the nsa got a bigger budget and a new mission, stop the next attack. which leads us to a massive data center being built by the nsa in the utah desert. it's capacity to collect and analyze data so enormous it has even former nsa staffers worried. >> it is really a turnkey situation where it could be turned quickly and become a totalitarian state pretty quickly. >> how comfortable are you with the government being able to know so much. that's next. did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age? [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. ocuvite. help protect your eye health. this tree has deep roots, strong limbs... things are pched and not pinned. nicely done. thboys love it. they are up there day and night. well that might be because y overlooked o

was effective, lawful and appropriate. >> as the director of the nsa from 1999 to 2005, general michael haydennd binny's boss. >> they may have a different view. god bless them. this is america. have a different view. i think it made america safe during a period of great danger. >> hayden says binny and drake were simply wrong, uninformed when they said the program was illegal. apparently congress, which in 2008 explicitly legalized much of the surveillance going on, and president obama who recently reauthorized the law agreed. that makes drake as worried as ever. he believes president obama has used that power even more aggressively than the man accused of shredding the constitution, george w. bush. >> the reaction is whoa, we never could have gotten away with half of what the obama administration is now doing. if anything, it's significantly expanded. >> far less transparent than the bush administration? >> slul actually, yes. >> that's another reason that they're fierce critics of the utah data center. >> the real mission is what will the government do with it, what could they do with it sn

. >> michael hayden, former head of the cia.statement, we steal secrets, the title that alex used for his documentary. your response, have you seen this documentary? >> the claim and the title are false. it is being spread everywhere, as i have seen it in all sorts of publications. by promotion is being done $2.5 million hijab on my reputation. what is the equivalent title? i make fraudulent films, the story of alex gibney. in response, we have published the full transcript ahead of the movie release, showing line by line, how he edited statements, stitched them together, et cetera, and did not engage, it seems, into any fact checking. for example, i make a statement that begins with, what they say alex and then i quote gibney. we have just 10 seconds. we would like to ask you to stay with us for a post show discretion. we have many more questions to ask you. speaking to us from the ecuadorian embassy, founder in chief of wikileaks. democracynow.org. >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we are a

bill: general michael hayden is here to react to a lot of this. former director with the cia.e chertoff group. welcome to "america's newsroom." what do we take from yesterday? >> first of all that testimony you just showed was heartbreaking, wasn't it, in terms of what the deputy chief of mission, mr. hicks, was trying to do. but, bill, when i look at it and try to take a step back, you know, it's possible that most of the actors in this play were doing exactly what we would have expected them to do. the special forces team like good american soldiers, wanted to go to the sound of the guns. the deputy chief of mission wanted to protect his friends and perhaps people back here in washington having a bit of a broader view of what was going on, knowing that they would be second and third moves down the board here, wanted to conserve resources. what disappoints me, bill, not that the decision that was made but that everyone trying to make a decision was choosing from a very short, very bad list of options and how did we get ourselves into that place? that to me is the real key her

. >> from 99 to 2005 general michael hayden was drake and benny's boss. >> they may have a different view, god bless them. this is america. i think it made america safe during a period of great danger. >> he says benny and drake were simply wrong uninformed when he said the program was illegal. in con gri congress legalized w was going on. president obama who recently reauthorized the law agreed. that makes drake as worried as ever. he believes president obama used that tower ev-- power more aggressively than the man accused of sledding the co-- shg the competition. >> their action is low we should have never gotten away with even half of what the obama administration is doing. t >> far less apparent than the bush administration? >> yes. >> that's another reason why benny and drake have been opponents of this. >> what could they do with it what are the controls what does the over sight mean? >> one man they hoped would do it is the national security agency general alexander. when he applied request to sit down with the interview we sat down with a washington think tank where he was s

as upcoming cybersecurity special, we spoke with former cia director michael hayden.he u.s. is putting hacker countries on notice. >> we'll respond to the effect based on effects of the attack, not the means of the attack. that is pretty stark statement, all right? if you cause great physical harm and destruction by taking down critical networks, even though you have used a cyber weapon to do that, we don't confine ourselves to cyber weapons in response. >> meanwhile energy companies say they are investing in cybersecurity and working with the government to secure pipelines, power stations and networks from computer attacks.% back to you. david: let's hope that security works. thank you very much, rich edson. appreciate it. liz: as we just mentioned iran is the largest country to target u.s. companies by hacking u.s. companies. what can businesses do to limit risk and fight back? a cybersecurity expert weighs in. david: love this stuff. also more than 70 million wireless customers are about to be stuck with a higher phone bill. you could be one. the extra charge is ex

that's michael hayden, former cia director saying we steal secrets from other nations.film does a great job of exposing the very shadowy world of intelligence-gathering, as much as raise questions about national security and terrorism. >> one of the staggering facts is that the national security agency is sucking up 60,000 e-mails and phone calls per second. you know, this is the big net into which all of our stuff is falling. and then they scan the stuff later on. so, you know, this is a massive surveillance operation that our country is conducting on us. >> let me follow up on that. the justice department would say we got these phone records from the a.p. only after an exhaustive sort of review of other documents and given the size and scope of the missions, domestic and international. were you surprised at the outcry around it? or given how much we're doing elsewhere? >> well, i -- i wasn't surprised, i was glad. if there wasn't an outcry, i really would be worried. there are supposed to be rules about this stuff, but i think you'll find in practice the rules get blu

our producer sat down with former cia director general michael hayden. >> we have officially stated thatnd to an attack we will respond to the attack based upon on the affects of the attacks. not the means of the attack. if you cause grave physical harm and instruction by taking down critical networks, even though you have used a cyber weapon to do that, we do not confine ourselves to cyber weapons in response. the five joining us from milwaukee we have former security advisor to president obama. thank you for being with us, howard. a new report comes out. the chinese have cracked into 40 pentagon weapon systems, 30 other defense systems. what should we do about this right now? >> one of the things he really need to look at is not where it is coming from. why are they able to get into these systems to begin with. 1998 president clay and signed an executive director. again, president obama in 2011 signed an international strategy for cyberspace. yet, the vulnerabilities exist and while china is the noisiest, these systems are so wide open. so vulnerable. dennis: we have not closed yet. i

the larger point of this story what wes essentially have from former cia chief michael hayden.e may find this particular plot was preventable. but it was inevitable. small-scale plots in the modern world -- no matter how good the government gets, essentially there is always going to be some way, if it is not with a pressure cooker, it is with something else. there is always somebody who wants to do harm. the question is -- how do you get the most security for the least and friends on right is the? infringement on privacy? on a your story focusing new cnn poll, looking at the concern of american people, whether they could be the victim of a terrorist target. but you also draw an analogy between what we saw during the olympics in atlanta and what we're seeing today. a a change of attitude. what was that? guest: we are seeing across the board the maturation is the word ,e're using -- people do not they feel slightly more likely that they would be a victim of a terrorist attack. how theyes in terms of will change their lives after atlanta, after 9/11. in terms of the surveillance,

. >> former cia and nsa director general michael hayden and law enforcement analyst tom fuentes will. >> and the desperate search for missing mother jessica heeringa continues this morning as police try to identify a possible suspect. we'll talk with her mother and fiance about the search. >> and it is may 1st. but you would not believe it in boulder, colorado, also the midwest. they can expect serious wintry weather this week. we're going to have a live forecast of what's behind the temperatures at the top of the hour. >> and sheryl crow is on a mission to feed 50 million americans at risk of going hungry. she is going to join us live with her call to action. looking forward to talking with her. >> very exciting. >> 44 minutes past the hour. there are new developments in the ricin investigation in mississippi. an fbi affidavit unsealed yesterday shows why officials have arrested james everett dutschke. he is accused of sending letters tainted with the toxic substance to president obama and two others but the affidavit does not provide a motive. here's alina machado. >> reporter: we

we heard from general michael hayden, former director of the cia as well as the national security agencyas talking to us about cybersecurity. at your nomination hearing, you sate thed that one of your -- you stated that one of your priorities is to put the sec in a position to fully understand today's high-speed, high-tech, dispersed marketplace and to examine developments in the market that can unexpectedly affect investors. there's no doubt that markets are constantly changing, and advancements in technology have a lot to say about that. while there are undoubtedly benefits that have accrued, there have also been, as you're well aware, a number of very high profile technological failures including the recent hash crash that affected the market very dramatically at least for a couple of moments. so the question is, how much are you concerned about this pattern of technological fall your? how does the sec propose to address it, and is this an area where regulation has some effective limits? >> i've actually solved it in my first 18 days. [laughter] but there's no question that, you know,

. >> i know after 9/11 michael hayden said the people were given a blank check and were doubling down as far as the security measures and then the series in the washington post about the hidden government, about all the -- it seems to me nobody in congress really knows the cost of our security. do you feel like all that happened since 9/11 from your personal knowledge is making us any -- a lot, lot safer or just spending a lot of money that we as taxpayers don't know about and it's a lot of duplication. >> we're throwing tremendous amounts of money, without accountability, without responsibility, without oversight, at a problem that is more of a police problem and an intelligence problem than it is a military problem involving the use of tens of thousands of troops. when we saw the television coverage of the tragic events in boston, the boston marathon, and you could see equipment roll up, and i saw these huge armored personnel carriers, marked cape cod s.w.a.t. team. can you realize, ever think about the money we have thrown at communities all over this country to build up the police