i'm joined now live by michael isikoff, national correspondent

michael isikoff joins us.. >> good to be with you. >> what do we know about the german passport holders? >> not a whole lot. because we don't know a lot about who gets killed in any of the drone strikes. by definition, these are sflix areas where u.s. intelligence and law endorsemeforcement does have easy access. nor, for that matter, do the pakistanis. that's why we're firg drones there. we can't put boots on the ground. we get claims of strikes, claims of people killed. and in the case, the spak st th said today that eight germans had been killed and told people that these are among the germans of pakistani descent believed to be connected with the plot that has everybody worked up in europe right now. >> they're asserting a connection between the threat alert between germany and other european countries and the victims, the targets of the drone strikes? >> yes. absolutely. >> in terms of the intelligence on the ground there, do people in national security talk, even aanonymously, do they talk about why we'r

michael isikoff, some common wisdom busting good news. about democratic prospects in this year's elections and by something we will see get set on fire that should never, ever, ever get set on fire. that's all coming up over the course of this hour. we're glad to have you with us. first, there's something you need to know about this year's republican candidates. if i tell you, however, i may have to kill you. turns out there are a lot of secret agents. fake secret agents running for office this year. running for major offices. they're connected. they're on the inside. and they have seen and done things that mere mortals like you and i can only dream of. today, the associated press revealed the identity of one of these fake secret agents among us. in today's political headlines, christine o'donnell is the candidate who upset her prohibitive favorite in the delaware republican primary. but in 2006, she let slip that she was fake secret agent 001. at the time, christine o'donnell was a protest candidate running in election after election aft

i'm joined now live by michael isikoff, national correspondent for nbc news. michael, good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm told that you have new information to share. what is that? >> i do. european and u.s. security officials and law enforcement officials are actually on the lookout of ifg abodentifying abn al qaeda operatives on the loose in europe as part of this plot hatched in pakistan by osama bin laden himself to attack public places in europe, simultaneous attacks in several european cities. there is specific intelligence about this and that they actually have identified some of the operatives who are believed to be in europe now for this plot. that's the intelligence that led to this rather unusual state department alert that came just today. there's a couple of extraordinary things about it. one is bin laden himself is believed to be actively involved in plotting and gave the instructions for this plot. as one intelligence official says to me, we haven't seen his involvement in a specific plot in a very, very long time, and i think that's one of the

i'm joined by michael isikoff. bring me up to date with what you're learning about this investigation. >> these terror alerts are mad endingly vague. they don't tell tourists or any travelers in europe any information at all. but there is a real thing there. u.s. and western security officials believe there are a number of al qaeda operatives in europe right now who have been trained in firearms, explosives training at training camps in northwest pakistan and are essentially on the loose and part of this plot. there is a lot of uncertainty about who they are. in most cases u.s. and western security officials from all yass. they don't necessarily know the ideas of who they are. in some cases i'm told they may know a little more than that. but the fact is that people are pulling out all the stops trying to identify these people, trying to find these people and that is what has led to the concern that led to this -- the terror alerts over the weekend. >> we know some of the information there getting from interrogating