that was the message from admiral mike mullen as he wraps up his last trip to visit troops in iraq and afghanistan. the outgoing chairman of the joint steep -- joint chiefs has been in the post since 2007 and is set to retire this october. we were given rare access to the trip and said this report from afghanistan. >> the admiral knows the drill. he has made this trip many times. but every detail is sorted, even where he stands when he takes the first questions from the small group of journalists traveling with him. >> i tried to go during the summer, because it is brutally hot. >> the engines are revving. >> we are having onto the plane. it is a really tense and worrying time for afghans and their supporters. what are your thoughts? >> i guess it is tense and worrying, but i can tell you this has been a tense engagement and worrying campaign four years. -- for years. >> first stop -- what they call all hands call. the 64-year-old admiral like to share his experience with young troops. >> many of you succeeded because somebody made a difference in your life. you figure a way to make a

with him and making this pilgrimage to dover has been the secretary of defense leon panetta and mike mullen, the admiral of the joint chiefs and the secretary, and this is a high tribute to dover air force base to pay tribute to them and 22 of them navy s.e.a.l.s and in total, all 30 of them represent the graetest loss of life in a single attack. back to you. >> tom, in the intro i used dignified transfer and that is a term of art and can you explain briefly what that means? >> well, the military takes great pride in making sure that they honor the dead, and they do it whether there are cameras there or not, and they do it whether there are military families there are or not, and it is simply the way they do business. as you know, and under president bush photographs were not allowed to document the returning victims if you will or those who gave their lives in afghanistan and iraq. that changed under president obama and with the family's consent, the media can photograph or videotape the return of the remains. what makes it particularly difficult in this case is that they have not yet been

news confrerngs secretary of defense leon panetta also sitting alongside joint chiefs chairman mike mullen, and they have been talking about cuts and specifically what's handed to em because of the debt ceiling deal reached earlier this week. initially they know they have to cut 350 million which more or less they are okay with and won't necessarily sacrifice our national security, but where the big question mark comes is if that committee can not decide on how they will make those additional cuts to equal around or about $1.2 trillion, they will have to cut hundreds of billions, 500 billion, 600 billion, 700 billion just to defense, and to quote, i want to get this precise for you, the defense secretary said those cuts will be completely unacceptable. we're all over this story with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr and let's begin this hour staying with the money theme, i suppose. we're watching this very closely. has not been a day for investors with weak stomachs. stock markets all over the world have been racking up some huge, huge losses, and u.s. markets have lost their gains

chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mike mullen will deliver the remarks at the opening of the pentagon's new uso exhibit. the exhibit focuses on the uso's 70-year history of serving american servicemen and women throughout photos and artifacts. >>> nba owners and the players union are set to meet for a second time in an attempt to end a 2-month-long lockout. david stern, the commissioner, previously said progress would have to be made by labor day to avoid canceling part or all of the season. >>> and on this day in 1997 princess diana died in a car crash in paris. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc, and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. with flooding and widespread power outages still affecting millions in the aftermath of hurricane irene, fema's administrator general speaks out on relief efforts. >>> from fried food to huge animals, a little bit of country comes to the plaza

members of the fallen, along with defense secretary, leon panetta, and joint chiefs chairman, admiral mike mullen. >>> in wisconsin last night, republicans fend off a stated senate recall election, that was largely described as a referendum on the policies of scott walker. walker drew the ire of many unions in march, when he used a majority to strip public employees of their right to bargain collectively. it sparked widespread protests across the state. democrats were able to capture two of the six seats up for grabs last night. dashing their hopes of gaining a majority. in a statement last night, governor walker took a more conciliatory tone saying, in the days ahead, i look forward to working with legislators for all parties to grow jobs for wisconsin and to move our state forward. it was a local election. but it drew big national money. special interests poured as much as $31 million into those recall races. >>> and the controversy continues to grow over "newsweek's" latest cover, over michele bachmann. the feature is calling what some are calling an unflattering image of the presidential hope

. >> earlier today joint chiefs of staff chairman mike mullen said iraqi officials plan to meet soon to discuss the option of keeping some u.s. troops in their country past the 2012 deadline. out of briefing from baghdad, chairman mullen praised the government for taking steps that have dramatically decreased the number of violent attacks in that country. this is a half hour. >> good morning. thank you all for coming. first of all, i'd like to address the question of u.s. troops remaining in iraq post-2011. i met with prime minister maliki and the president last night and they assured me that they understood our intent to abide by the security agreement to withdraw all american troops by the end of the year. i believe they also understand that time is quickly running out for us to be able to consider any other course. my government has made it clear we will entertain a request for some troops to stay and i was encouraged to learn last night that iraqi leaders plan to meet to discuss the merits of such a request. i remain hopeful therefore that we will soon achieve some clarity and i

mike mullen speaking to reporters in baghdad said that american troops must be given protection from legal prosecution as part of any agreement to keep them in iraq beyond the end of the year. iraq's president and prime minister had agreed to consider that are -- that, but the parliament is leery of extending u.s. troop presence past the current deadline. the federal government wants to keep track of who has ammonium nitrate. that is the chemical used in a fertilizer bomb that blew up the federal city of oklahoma city building and used in the bombed in norway. under this proposal, anyone selling or transferring at least 25 pounds of chemicals would have to register with the government and be screened against u.s. terror of watchless. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> every weekend it is american history tv on c-span3. telling the americans corporatewatch personal interviews about historic events on "oral history." some of the best known history writers. revisit key figures, battles, and events during the 150th anniversary of the civil war. as a college classr

commander has criticised pakistan for not doing enough to root out al qaida on a visit to kabul admiral mike mullen said the border region between afghanistan and pakistan remains a safe haven for terrorists moderns torta the war their colors i think the u.s. begins to withdraw its combat troops from afghanistan and in control of a part of the country to local forces but the taliban remains defiant the latest suicide bomb killing in lebanon people in the south of the country on sunday washington is racing to cut its war spending which is going rocketed since the invasion of afghanistan ten years ago. contributor thinks the u.s. should abandon its conventional military strategy. what is the most obvious and the most necessary measure to slash the u. s. budget deficit for the first time in the us history it was not the democrats it was their republicans who launched a fiscal counter-offensive against the a sleepy white house regarding how to sledge the budget deficit specifically in military and security failures the main challenge for the fiscal sanity of the united states is american military doctr

commander has criticised pakistan for not doing enough to root out al qaida a visit to kabul admiral mike mullen said the border region between afghanistan and pakistan remains a safe haven for terrorists whelan's toward the ones that comes i think u.s. begins to move towards quebec. guys don't control their parts of the country to local forces the taliban remains defiant insists to see me and the people of the south of the cultural thing washington is racing to cut its will spending which is going to look at it since all. these dead bodies and religion contributed thinks the u.s. should abandon its pension strategy what is the most obvious. the most necessary measure to slash the u.s. budget deficit for the first time in the u.s. history it was not the democrats it was the republicans who launched fiscal counter offensive against the sleepy white house regarding how to assuage the budget deficit specifically in military and security fears the main challenge for the fiscal sanity of the united states is american military doctrine of strategic over which has to be various to ditch their preventio

commander has criticised pakistan for not doing enough to root out al qaeda when the visit to kabul mike mullen said the border region between afghanistan and pakistan remains a safe haven for terrorists. towards the war zone comes as the u.s. begins to withdraw its combat troops from afghanistan and the control over parts of the country to local also its taliban remains defiant into suicide bomb strike killing eleven people in the south of the cultural sunday washington is struggling to cut its way all spending has increased dramatically since that is down ten years ago ati's military contributor thinks the u.s. should abandon its conventional military strategy. what is the most obvious. the most necessary measure to slash the u. s. budget deficit for the first time in the u.s. history it was not the democrats it was the republicans who launched a fiscal counter offensive against the a sleepy white house regarding how to assuage the budget deficit specifically in military and security fears the main challenge for the fiscal sanity of the united states is american military doctrine of strategic

he will -- is kept in contact today with defense secretary leon panetta, admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the u.s. military, they have continued to brief him on these developments as they move forward. the next step, of course, will be for the arrival of the remains of those who have been killed at dover air force base, that is now where for so many years, we have seen these very somber ceremonies of flag covered caskets come home, there will be quite a number of them coming in the next few days, joe. >> barbara starr, thanks very much for that, a very sad day in washington, d.c. and around the country as we look for more details on that helicopter crash in afghanistan. thanks, barbara. >>> a little while ago i talked to a retire u.s. army general who told me the impact on the special operations cannot be overstated. >> my recollection, there are probably seven s.e.a.l. teams in the country, i don't know the exact number in each s.e.a.l. team, but probably not more than a couple of hundred at most. so when you start talking a total s.e.a.l. population of perh

admiral mike mullen, as you said, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff along with his wife willof those u.s. troops return to dover air force base in delaware sometime today. the return of the fallen troops is being classified as a dignified transfer. and will be closed to the media. in an advisory statement to the media, the pentagon states "due to the catastrophic nature of the crash, the remains of our fallen service members will be returned to the u.s. via dover air force base in unidentified status until they can be positively identified by the armed forces affairs office at dover. because the remains are unidentified at this point, next of kin are not in a position to grant approval for media access to the dignified transfer. therefore, in accordance with the department of defense policy, no media coverage of the arrival and transfer is permitted. families will, however, be given the opportunity to be present, rather, for the arrival. now, this is a change, of course, for the obama administration which lifted the ban in march of 2009 of being able to cover that. as long as

admiral mike mullen says that reintegration is the next great battle for the american military.ay to give them jobs. give them the skills that they need and to deal with their emotional issues. we can't let that get lost in the debate on the debt limit or what we're going to do about 2012, the flubs of the tea party, who's ahead or who's behind in the republican primaries. these are the people who represent all of us often at great price. >> and in fact, tom, it is so disappropriation. the fact that rural america, small town america sends so many more men and women into our military. and the big cities, the heats are benefitting from their sacrifice, their service disappropriationly. >> well, as i often say to my friends and even people who ask me about this, nothing is asked of the rest of us. if you're a parent or a young personnel jibl for military service, it's your call. you can decide not to go and there is no penalty for that under the voluntary military. but here there has been a long tradition in rural and, withing class america from coast to coast of military service.

joints chief chairman admiral mike mullen says if american troops stay in iraq past the end of the yeart be given amunety from pros -- immunity from prosecution. meanwhile, christians are being targeted in iraq. 23 people were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a catholic church in kirkuk. authorities found two other bombs at different parish locations. three iraqis were convicted in a church siege that killed 68 people last year and sentenced to death today. the state department has signed off on papers that allow the libyan embassy in washington to reopen under control of the opposition transitionm national council. a son of libyan leader muammar gaddafi says the war against the rebels will continue even if nato stops the bombing campaign. venezuelan president hugo chavez says he has received a letter from gaddafi thanking his allies in latin america for their support. >>> the state department is exploring the scope of additional sanctions against syria. the u.s. is also pushing the united nations for a stronger response to the syrian government action against its own people. dominic

president obama, defense secretary leon panetta and joint chiefs of staff chairman admiral mike mullen were there. also included, the remains of seven afghan troops and a civilian interpreter. the remains will be returned to afghanistan once identifications can be made. all were killed, you may recall, when their helicopter crashed in central afghanistan on saturday. >>> we want to tell you more about one of the victims and his 10-year-old son. brian nichols was a u.s. army pilot from kansas who flew helicopters. when his son braden learned about his father's death, he couldn't understand why the navy s.e.a.l.s who were also killed were getting so much media attention so he sent us this photo in an ireport and this request. quote, my father was one of the 30 u.s. soldiers killed in afghanistan with the s.e.a.l.s rescue mission. my father was the pilot of the chinook. i have seen other pictures of victims from this deadly mission and wish you would include a picture of my father. he is the farthest to the left. we all want to thank you for sending the picture of your dad. we are very so

and we are expecting defense secretary panetta here and the chairman of the joint chiefs admiral mike mullenell today, and then we expect this actual ceremony to be in private and the dignified ceremony will be with family members who decided to attend as well as mr. pa net tashnettpanel mullen, and this is a horrific event here, as they welcome home the last time the 30 men and the 8 afghan men, and this represents the biggest loss of life in the nearly ten years of the afghan war. >> and tell us that the pentagon is reviewing the chinook helicopter and reviewing the equipment used to see if it is needing to be put to pasture? is that what i am hearing? >> well, the chinook is a phenomenal and versatile helicopter, but the question is whether it was the right piece of equipment to go in on this mission, and it was a rapid emergency response mission where the s.e.a.l.s were going in to help colleagues undergoing fire. they quickly got on the chinook and took off. and a lucky shot it is said took it down. whether this is the appropriate response with an emergency on the ground with troops und

>> well, admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs, the white house security, national securityff, defense secretary leon panetta. these are the normal chain of command personnel in washington that are immediately notified when an incident of this magnitude and tragedy takes place. clearly they move very quickly to notify the president, bring him up to date and continue to brief him throughout the day. you know, i think one of the real indicators of the magnitude of this is the white house put out a statement, the nato secretary general put out a statement. this is a, they typically don't do that for each and every sadly, combat death in the war zone. the fact that this went right to the level of the war house and the nato shows how it is unfolding and taking place. >> absolutely. thank you so much, barbara starr in washington, d.c. the navy s.e.a.l.s the best of the best. the united states puts a lot of time and effort and money, quite fra frankly, into making sure they can go anywhere and do anything. thanks for your reporting. >>> the former prime minister of ukraine went to

mere here by the secretary of defense leon panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs admiral mike mullenthey will be meeting in private with members of the military, we presume family members. we don't know how many family members will be here. 30 members of the u.s. military were brought back on the c-17s today. they include 22 navy s.e.a.l.s. but also representatives of the army and the air force all of them were lost in this ferocious attack on the chinook helicopter in afghanistan over the weekend. along with them of course, there were eight afghans because they still need to identify all the remains, that process will take some time. a mortician experts here at dover air force base will begin that very difficult job we presume rather quickly. the ceremony that you spoke of is going to be held within the 2:00 hour. again, the president will be there. we don't know how long he plans to be here. we're told it will be for some extended period of time. but as we have said over the last few days, andrea, this single incident is the single greatest loss of life with the united states and a

private, here on the base, and family members are invited to attend, and we do know that admiral mike mullenint chiefs will be here as well as leon panetta, the secretary of defense, and then the very difficult task will be for the mortuary services people here at dover to begin the difficult work of trying to separate out and identifying the remains of all 38 men, and then eventually sending the eight afghans back to afghanistan. this is a horrific series of circumstances here at dover air force base as it is coming on of course the worst attack of any team or military attack in afghanistan. >> thank you sh, tom. >>> and there are random acts of violence that are happen iing i philadelphia, and mayor michael nutter is imposing a curfew -- >> chris, if you will allow me, chris, we are guards to the service members back, and our hearts go out to all of the families. tlt there is an impact here in philadelphia where one of the service members michael strange is from philadelphia. his mother, betty strange is a philadelphia police officer. our hearts go out to all of the service members, but ce

national security adviser, the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen and others. obviously the president interrupting his location to be on top of what's going on in libya. michael holmes is watching what's going on. this is one of the moments that the president obviously has all of the communications equipment at martha's vineyard in order to deal with an urgent national security crisis as is the situation in libya now. >> right, wolf. absolutely. the u.s. state department as well watching developments in libya. i understand dan lothian is on martha's vineyard where the president is vacationing. we heard the statement from the white house from wolf. we heard brief comments from the president as well. so this is happening during the president's holiday. what happens in a situation like this when a major foreign policy development occurs, what happens in the president's inner circle, dan? dan, can you hear me? you're on the air. >> reporter: okay. sorry, i didn't hear you. can you ask the question again? >> what happens when the president is on holiday

take a listen to chairman of the joint chiefs admiral mike mullen. >> i think programs that can't meetcan't meet costs, their costs and schedule requirements are very much in jeopardy. >> that could be bad news for the f-35 joint strike fighter the stealth jet that is being developed. we went to see its first public test flight on friday. on tuesday, yesterday, the pentagon's largest weapons program the f-35 was grounded due to power problems. >> shepard: billions lost in afghanistan. and missing somewhere. maybe they can put a curtail on that. jennifer griffin live for us. jennifer, thank you. cameras captured two suspects in a violent armed robbery. but the cops say they have caught only one of them. and it tops our news across america. >> utah. police say this surveillance video shows the two suspects grabbing cash from registers at a salt lake city market while a terrified young mother and her child lay on the floor. cops say the suspect also pistol whipped a woman out of camera range. texas. more than 100 firefighters battling flames at two homes near the fort hood army post. crew

. >> that's admiral mike mullen describe possible cuts to the deficit budget.f defense leon panetta saying they expected these cuts as a result of the debt ceiling agreement. but moving ahead, he has great concern believing there is fiscal discipline that can be had but also a balance with our national security. much more reaction to this. >>> and we have developing news out of virginia tech. the campus has now lift that had alert. they will continue to be a large police presence on the campus today after two teenagers attending a summer camp on that campus reported they saw a man possibly holding a gun. right now, the campus has lift this had alert. they've issued this information on their website. we'll keep you posted. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. you can catch "news nation" each day. er class. morning starts with arthritis pain... that's two pills before the first bell. [ bell rings ] it's time for recess... and more pills. afternoon art starts and so does her knee pain, that's two more pills. almost done, but hang on...

the chairman of joint chiefs admiral mike mullen says the united states still has no plan to get involvedhe country's president has killed more than 100 antigovernment protests just since sunday. attacking with artillery and government tanks. this is ed to be amateur video of the scene. but accurate information out of that town is very difficult to come by. journalists aren't allowed anywhere near the scenes of a blood shed. "the fox report's" chief correspondent jonathan hunt is here. if military action is off the table, what is on the table for solving this? >> one word, shep. sanctions. beyond the verbal condemnation of the assad regime, that is the only real punitive measure that the u.s. is considering right now. as confirmed today by state department spokesman mark toner, listen. >> we're exploring the scope of those sanctions. but our goal here is to ice late and deny revenue. >> while the war in libya continues to achieve little if nothing, there is no appetite whatsoever to undertake any other military action against yet another dug in dictator, shep. >> shepard: united nations g

they introduced admiral mike mullen to come. the president will be expected to speak about the better than expected jobs report. right off the top of his remarks. we're going to cover that for you. let's take a look at the markets though, because i'm getting new information that the markets now are dropping some roughly by about 80 points now, 89 points. yesterday was such a volatile day. people reacting. we've seen trends coming back roughly this morning where we had some green arrows. today we're seeing a little bit of capitulation after yesterday's big reaction. there has to be response, we talked to ron ansanaa before. we'll be waiting for the president to speak. >>> in other news, reports are out this morning that libya's moammar gadhafi has lost another son to nato air strikes. the rebels trying to topple his regime have reports that thomas gadhafi was one of 32 people killed in a strike. another gadhafi son was killed back in may. however, the libyan government is denying his death. >>> former beatle, paul mccartney says

you had mike mullen two weeks ago saying military action is essentially off the table.ne of the things you need to leave open is the possibility that assad could think that we going to come in particularly given the developments in libya right now. don't want to say that is not going to be your fate? >> assad needs to go. the question when first came in was the son going to be like the father. he now answered that in the absolutely affirmative yes and the question is low temperature military stay with them as they continue to kill their people or look he has to go to try to cut a better deal for our future in the new syria. this is made more difficult by the visuals of mubarak in a cage in egypt. qaddafi and assad and all those guys go that is not going be me. >> i'm going to fight until the end because i don't want to be in the cage. >> he will continue to fight his people for as long as he has to to stay in power. >> bret: bill, on to libya where the rebels are moving in. they now control a number of towns just outside the capital city of tripoli. h heavy fighting sti

admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff put out a statement just a little whileago about all of this. he, of course, a longtime senior navy officer, asking people to be very sensitive to the notion of reporting information that will catch these families off guard. but they are clearly aware that this has happened, the families, and sadly, so many of them now really waiting to see how and if it affects them. that news should be emerging for them in the coming hours, deborah. >>> and obviously, the u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s critical to some of the tactical stuff that goes on there, because they are so highly trained. recovery right now, is that what's going on now? at least, is the site secure? >> reporter: for the last several hours, u.s. units have been in the area recovering those who have -- those who have been lost, bringing them back for quick, immediate identification, as soon as they can. this is a very specific process that the military goes through. you know, even if they think they know who's on the helicopter, they will do forensic medical identification and

. >> reporter: panetta and his joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, cited a packed list of military missions: the wars in iraq and afghanistan; supporting nato operations in libya; and disaster assistance in haiti and japan. the death toll in syria's crackdown on anti-government protesters climbed higher today. activists reported more than 100 people were killed in the past 24 hours in hama, the city at the heart of the latest assault. we have a report narrated by harry smith of independent television news. >> reporter: despite four days of military operations by syrian forces, these pictures suggest that the people of hama are as rebellious as ever. reports which accompanied these postings on the internet say people have been shot dead during demonstrations in hama and other cities, including the capital, damascus. in these pictures apparently showing the attack on hama, gunfire can clearly be heard. bullets striking the buildings can clearly be seen, but there's no way of telling where the gunfire is coming from. more pictures are emerging of tanks on the streets of hama, firing i

and mike mullen who you quoted recently, he said -- >> chairman of the joint chiefs. >> yes, chairmane joint chiefs of staff and he said that the greatest national security threat is the debt. >> this is the backdrop, but how do you unwind something so big when there is a real prospect here of financial calamity? >> i understand that, and if you look at what happened last night and this morning, john boehner has been saying this entire week that the bill he first introduced in the house of representatives was actually a bill supported by harry reid, and harry reid has been denying it all week and not telling the truth the entire week saying that is not the bill he agreed to. then this morning we find out that the only difference between harry reid and john boehner was the triggers. that is the only thing that -- the only distinction and now we know that john boehner has been telling the truth the entire week. the bill he first intro dulsed in t-- introduced in the house s the bill he and harry reid worked on and if he had enough democrats to vote with john boehner, this would have pas

mike mullen, who you quoted recently, he says -- >> chairman of the joint chiefs. >> chairman of the staff. he said that the greatest national security threat to our nation is our debt. >> but we know this. we understand the backdrop. it's a question of how you unwind something so big when there is a real prospect here of real financial calamity. >> and i understand that and look at what happened last night and this morning. john boehner has been saying this entire week that the bill he first introduced in the house of representatives was actually a bill that was supported by harry reid. harry reid has been denying it the whole week. he has been not telling the truth the entire week, saying that was not the bill he agreed to. then this morning we find out that the only difference between harry reid and john boehner was the triggers. that's the only thing, the only distinction. so, now we know that john boehner has been telling the truth the entire week. the bill that he first introduced in the house was the bill that he and harry reid worked on last week. if he would have had enough

and then a meeting on the violence in libya. >> now the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mike mullen. he spoke with reporters for a half hour tuesday in iraq. >> i believe they also understand that time is quickly running out for us to be able to consider any other course. my government has made it clear that we would entertain a request for some troops to stay. i was encouraged last night that iraqi lerds plan to meet and discuss the merits of such a request. i am hopeful that well achieve some clarity. serious attempts to resolve the issue are now under way. in the mean time we will continue withdrawing our troops on schedule. to do otherwise would be to violate an agreement we signed. regrettably, not every one of iraq's neighbors are committed. the iranian regime continues to intervene in iraqi social fares, training and equiping militants and thwarting efforts by the reak people to pursue economic growth, development and independence that geography and democracy have bestowed upon them. these are hardly the acts of a friend. it is clear that tehran seeks a weak iraq and an iraq

world mike mullen is also in the audience today -- admiral mike mullen is also in the audience today. this speech at the navy yard, president obama's only official public item on his agenda today. he adds to the maryland mountains, camp david, over the weekend. the president will be talking about employment opportunities for veterans. "the washington post" this morning says that the steps he will talk about include tax cuts for companies that hire unemployed veterans, and the creation of an intergovernmental agency task force to explore the idea of "reverse boot camps to better prepare veterans for reintroduction to the civilian workforce." again, this is the navy yard, not far from the white house in washington. at the navy yard in washington, d.c., waiting to hear from president obama about employment opportunities for veterans. this on a day when at the labor department announced the unemployment rate ticking down slightly to 9.1%, with the economy adding 117,000 jobs. on capitol hill today, both bodies, the house and senate, in for a pro forma session, although the senate did appr

. >>> the washington navy yard right there, admiral mike mullen speaking. momentarily president obama will be entering the room and he, too, will be taking to the microphones talking with a jobs program for military vets and of course likely responding to today's news about i guess encouraging news about the u.s. job markets, as well. meantime, you can't escape the heat. it's everywhere. and it really is pretty unbearable for many people. rob marciano, we better figure out ways to live with it. >> we're into august now and august especially as we get in the next couple weeks is cooler than july. folks across the northeast, you're done with the heat at least. folks who live in atlanta, it's not quite done yet. we're not out of the heat advisories that have been plaguing much of the south. that has been reserved for folks who live dallas to oklahoma city where temperatures right now feel like they're well up over 90 degrees. but they'll get into the 100s easily. wichita falls have had a streak of 100s. these are some of the more populated areas. we'll probabl

among those who will be there will be secretary of defense leon panetta and admiral mike mullen and his wife, deborah, also the chief of naval operations, admiral gary ruffhead. the pentagon is not allowing press to go to dover to see the coffins as they return. you'll remember they did change that policy under secretary gates and did allow press to start -- to meet the planes but they're not allowing it. here's a statement from the pentagon as to why press won't be allowed there, they say due to the catastrophic nature, the servicemen will be returned in unidentified status until they can be positively identified by the armed forces mortgage area affairs office at dover. they've not identified those returning today. bill: i know you're talking to people there at the pentagon and also overseas. what can you add to the possibility that this helicopter was lured into a taliban trap? >> reporter: well, what we certainly know is that the army rangers on the ground in tanke called in for this immediate reaction force. the seals were part of that reaction force. the question that is are going

we have a briefing with leon panetta and also the chair of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen. that is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. eastern. we will have live coverage of that hear on c-span. also today, a congressional hearing on federal real -- federally leased properties. it is approximately 635 sq 4 -- 635,000 square feet of leased space. that is on our companion network, c-span2. now a discussion on the debt ceiling from this morning's "washington journal." from of bloomberg "business week," the economics editor, joins us. all of the economics news in this morning's paper is not positive. is the u.s. poised to go back into a recession in your view? guest: i would say there is a good chance -- i do not want to put a percentage on it. president reagan's chief economic adviser told bloomberg television yesterday that he sees about a 50/50 chance of a recession. most of the economists put the number slightly lower, but if you look at the numbers lately, most of them are pretty bearish. look at the gdp growth over the last two quarters. look at the factory index, dipping almost into

among the vipss present will be secretary of defense leon panetta, admiral mike mullen, chairman of theoint chiefs, the new head of centcom, special operations command, but the pentagon is not allowing media coverage. this is their statement as to why, quote, due to the catastrophic nature of the crash the remains of our fallen service members will be returned to the u.s. via dover air force base in unidentified status until they can be positively identified by the armed forces mortgage area affairs office at dover. in fact we've learned the remains and ashes are comingled at this time and some of the families did not give the pentagon permission for the media to observe and record the ceremony. the afghans whose remains also arrived at dover will be sent back to afghanistan once they are identified. u.s. navy seal aaron vaughn from virginia is among those killed, a father of two who loved his family and serving the country, his widow remembers their life together: >> it's funny the things you remember. the smell of their skin. the way they walk. you know, just come in the door, put the

gets when he enters the room and sit down with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullenweeks. they talk about this. admiral was just in afghanistan. admiral mullen wanted to talk about the war and the troops wanted to talk about whether or not they would get paid when this was all going on a few days ago, an indicator of the massive concern in the u.s. trlt right now about where all of this is heading and what cuts they had be facing here. they have had unfettered spending for eight years and that won't condition. the troops want to know that they will get paid and that's what we are going to hear from the new secretary of defense >> do you think he's been in the's ear about this one. >> there has been a lot of talk about that, but now it will shift back to capitol hill. lobbying to the pentagon. coming into the room now, so we'll sit down and hear what he has to say. >> good afternoon. >> this is my first press briefing here at the pentagon as secretary of defense, and let me begin by saying how important i think these briefings are and regular engagement with all of yo

i want to compliment admiral mike mullen for his remarkable service over more than four decades as he nears the end of a distinguished career. i would as well like to add my condolences to the family of general john shalikashvili. she was an accomplished sol jerp and a great american. as always when something important is happening in my life i'm joined by my wife. i met her 41 years ago and she's been my wife for over 35 of those years. i've asked a lot of her and she's always given more than i've asked. we have three wonderful children, three near perfect grandchildren and three for on the way. we're blessed to have several brigades of men and women in uniform with whom we've served and consider our extended family. it's on their shoulders that i've been lifted up today to be considered for this position. it won't surprise you to know that the glue that holds all of that together is my wife. i can't thank her enough for her love and support and for her dedication to our military, its families and our nation. i appear before this committee a few short months ago. as far as i can tell

you see admiral mike mullen, he's going to be introducing the president, by the way.eople in the audience. again, we'll bring you back to this washington navy yard when the president steps to the podium. >>> now to florida. court just going into recess in another hearing for casey anthony. as you might recall last month, casey disappeared from public eye when she was acquitted in the death of her daughter. but today her lawyers were fighting an order that would force her to return to florida. phil keating is live in orlando in a familiar spot, i'm sure. phil? >> reporter: yeah. jenna: will casey come out of hiding? >> reporter: that's a big question that we still to this day do not know the answer. it was one month be ago today, july 5th, when that jury came back acquitting casey anthony of the first-degree murder charge of killing her daughter, convicting her of four counts of lying to investigators. since that time, casey anthony has disappeared, presumably, somewhere outside of the state of florida. reportedly spotted one time in ohio. but as for whether she'll hav

traced to iran contribute tog a surge of violence this summer, but joint chief's chairman admiral mike mullen says a new approach to the problem is dramatically reducing a number of attacks. jennifer griffin is on that from the pentagon. i know 4 that admiral mullen was in iraq. what has he said about change there, jennifer. >> reporter: he noted that the number of attacks in the last two to three weeks has gone down markedly and he said that it was basically due to a number of special forces raids against iranian-backed groups that were iranian weapons, and also from pressure placed by the prime minister nouri al-maliki who has gone to iran and asked that the attacks stopped. if you look at the number of u.s. service members killed in action in june it was at its highest there were 14 u.s. service members killed in action, nine of them by iranian-made rockets. try were killed in action in july. that is remarkably lower than in june. 41 service members have been killed this year alone. a spokesman says a contribution of iraqi special forces operations backed by u.s. forces have cut down on th

strike in pakistan since july 12th and comes as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mike mullenan interview with the bbc, mullen said the country with afghanistan is a lot more secure. but, it is still the epicenter of terrorism. >> security is much better, but certainly the spike in violence brings alarm to them and to all of us and we're figuring out a way to get ahead of all of that. i'm not completely surprised. >>> activists say the syrian government is shelling the city of hamas for the second day now and what is becoming the bloodiest crackdown in country's four-month long uprising. at least four civilians have been killed today. security forces backed by tanks and snipers reportedly opened fire on pro democracy protesters yesterday, killing at least 70 people. >> killing at least 70 people. i mean, these were the sort of activities that actually got us into libya. >> reports say -- >> and this continues. >> stormed the city to quell and continues for calls for president bashar al assad to be removed from power. hama has a long history of defiance against the assad family

see the news conference with secretary leon panetta and a chief chairman, at a role mike mullen, and the o'clock p.m. eastern on c-span -- at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. it is senate majority leader harry reid says there's an agreement on a bipartisan compromise to end the as a shutdown which left 74,000 transportation and construction workers out of work. "the washington post," writes that they will pass legislation that will clear the house but the transportation secretary ray lahood would use his authority to waive those cuts. the article says the current deal does not resolve underlying disagreements, in particular over the house gop's demand that the long-term reauthorization weakens unions. they expect the senate to accept a measure on the faa as early as tomorrow. j kearney briefed reporters about the partial faa shot down. this briefing had been before the announcement of a compromise. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. welcome to the white house. this is your daily briefing. before questions, have a couple of anno

advisers, including his chief of staff, bill daley, secretary of defense leon panetta, admiral mike mullenis statement. i'm going to read a brief part of that to you now. he said tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant. the surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple. moammar ga dar definitefy and his regime need to recognize their rule has come to an end. he needs to relinquish power once and for all. essentially, president obama and others are ramping up power on gadhafi to leave. what you didn't hear in his statement, willie, is a discussion about where gadhafi must be. just mentioned the fact that there's a recognition that power is slipping away. that's because the united states doesn't know yet. they're still trying to get confirmation about that and we don't expect to hear from the president, to hear him speak out verbally until they can confirm that 100%. they're being very measured in their response, willie. >> yeah. i don't think there are a whole lot of people on the fates of the earth who know exactly where he is. governor rendell has a quick question for you. >> krist

. >> ladies and gentlemen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen. [applause] >> on behalf of men and women in uniform and their families, thank you for being here. welcome to the washington navy yard, our navy's oldest shore establishment. this is a special place in american history. through war and peace, sailors came together to build and repair america's fleet. here opportunity was created and innovation rewarded. here was spent the sweat and muscle and sinew of our overseas security. the "uss constitution" was brought in for repairs during the war of 1812 not far from here. and here scientists and engineers fashioned the components that made possible the accuracy of those guns. it is fitting that here today the president announces a new initiative to put the muscle and sinew and intellect of a new generation of veterans to work again. many of these young people have served five and six and even seven tours. some of them suffer from serious wounds seen and unseen. all of them what the chance to pursue the same dream as every other american. i thi

already there is word defense secretary leon panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs mike mullenre very likely to travel to dover to welcome the families who are there to receive their fallen. christine? >> thank you. barbara starr, thanks. >>> talk about china now, it's bracing for a tropical storm right now the coastal region is getting pounded by wind and rain, more than 600 thousand residents told to leave their homes. planes grounded, boaters not allowed at sea. the storm was downgraded from a typhoon. >>> cocktails on the rock. the multimillion-dollar rock got stuck on cape cod and ran into rocks that ripped a a 20 foot hole in the haul. the coast guard was called to give it a tow. >> diana nyad began her swim from cuba to florida. 61-year-old champion swimmer dove into the water last night in havana at 7:45 eastern. could take her up to 60 hours to finish. attempting to set a record without a shark cage. that's not the only thing she hopes to accomplish. >> i also wanted to be a moment for thousands and i dare say millions my age and look and say 60, the joke is the 60 is

trillion and, of course, on the hill, we got to hear from secretary of defense panetta and admiral mike mullenwhat this would do on our ability to defend ourselves. take a listen. >> as i have said many times, our growing debt remains the single biggest threat to our national security. the military exists to eliminate or mitigate security threats so we will do our part in this regard but we can't allow this effort to go so far and cut so deep that it jeopardizes our ability to deal with the very real and very serious threats we face around the world. >> if it did happen, it would result in a further round of very dangerous cuts across the board. defense cuts that i believe would do real damage to our security, our troops and their families and our military's ability to protect the nation. >> somewhere in there was the troops because our own jennifer griffin reporting from the pentagon saying there's a lot of smoke and mirrors in these numbers. >> a trillion dollars would be cutting it to the bone in some projects. this is a scary world we're living in. that's way too much. obviously what they'