mullen saw this and said "i'm not taking that over." general cartwright... >> rose: said to be his favorite general. obama's favorite general. >> obama's favorite general said "i'm in not in the business of not providing options." and he goes to the law which says as a member of the joint chiefs-- which he is-- the chairman is obligated to present the alternative military advice. mullen won't do it. i'm sorry... >> rose: i'm asking you how duds he not do it? he says it's 40,000, that's it? >> that's it. >> rose: that's it. >> i'm not doing it. >> rose: he basically says you've asked me for an option, i'm giving you the only option there is. you either take 40,000 or there's no other option. that's what you're saying is the sum total of the chairman of the joint chiefs advice to the president of the united states? >> that's exactly right. and then obama gets wind that there's another option, he tells gates and mullen he wants it presented. >> rose: and what is that? >> that's the 20,000 troop option. it's presented but then they say we d

mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs. what's going to happen here, and at the end of this on the eve of the decision, tom donelan, the workhorse, national security advisor, when they go through this says to general lute who's the afghan coordinator on the national security council steps "my god, what have we got this guy into?" >> rose: there's also this, bob gates says of tom donelan he becomes head of the national security council and jones leaves. what does he say? >> he says it wouldn't work out because... >> rose: the language you use wasn't that it wouldn't work out. >> he said it would be a disaster. now, this was last year. the question is has donelan grown? can... does he have that relationship with the military that you need to have as a national security advisor. >> rose: but let's just stay with the president and how you saw him and his decision making and whether he was the right person to be making this decision in this case at this time. >> look, there's no choice. >> rose: but we're using this to make an a

talk with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff about the afghanistan war and asked admiral mike mullen about pakistan's place in this conflict. >> it's not just afghanistan. it's afghanistan and pakistan. you know, i've been to pakistan a lot. engaged with them. that's a country that's critical to the region and the strategy that we re-establish a relationship that we abandoned for almost a dozen years, and re-established trust that we had and no longer do. and we're trying to rebuild that, as well. that's -- that border area is the epicenter of terrorism in the world. not just in the region but in the world right now. and more and more of those organizations are reaching out globally, threatening us globally, talking about doing or executing the kinds of terrorist activities that we saw in detroit, we saw recently in times square. so, that's why that region is so important and this mission is so important. >> i have to ask you this. every couple of years it seems like we bring this question up in the media. do we need to find and kill osama bin laden to finally feel like we're gaining

jim jones is expected to leave as well as mike mullen.ohn, who are names that will replace these guys? >> this is washington's favorite par local game. who will re-- parlor game. who will replace bob gates? they shift every two or three weeks. we hear names like jack reid. hillary clinton's name goes in and out of the rumor mill. ray mavis is also a top name. his name has started to slowly creep into the debate over the last few months. he is very well respected in the democratic establishment. it would be seen as a gift to the base. >> i hear reid has turned them down. >> i'm convinced that the president has no idea who he would select and replace. this is a game we enjoy playing. it is an interesting one. i think michelle is an interesting possibility. >> she certainly has supporters. ash carter's name has been mentioned. >> in the end, it will be mavis. >> not john hamry? >> what this administration needs is a person to insulate it from partisan attacks on security. that is why they like gates. most of the names are tecnicrats. mavis h

mike mullen's tweet today.the chance that they are going to actually go ahead and the justice department is going to move aweighed with espionage charges here? >> according to the u.s. military and pentagon officials it's not very likely. although, the justice department, fbi, are looking into that possibility and, as you know, the cia director leon pinetta believes wikileaks and officials could be prosecuted under the espionage law. also jurisdictional problems and the fact that you don't really have your hands on any of these individuals right now, and u.s. military and pentagon officials at this point don't think it's very likely, andrea. >> it does create problems with the allies. you've got nick clegg, the deputy prime minister in that coalition speaking out saying that britain thinks the u.s. has to come up with some answers here. that's a problem with our allies. and also questions about the leader of wikileaks because a lot of reports over the weekend about his very strange behavior. how do you evaluate

mullens and others. i was away for a couple weeks so i didn't get a chance to talk to people from the development team to issue my concerns as far as this initiation today is concerned and i just feel really and truthfully, i felt a little bit pressured, actually, to support the initiation. there is always the justification of, well, you initiate, you're not voting for the project, it's just inform. it's moving everything forward on november 18 and really technically less than a month away. i think that i would like to do things in the reverse order, rather than move the initiation ahead, i would rather hear first, have the hearing on the development agreement that the city has, even though that's not really our purview, it's the purview of the board of supervisors to look at this development in terms of how it addresses the housing needs of the city. we have the abag numbers, we have the housing element. we have a lot of documentation and studies that always look at what are the needs of the housing in

mullen are here.pplause] representative brett guthrie of kentucky is here and obviously i am thrilled to not only see jill biden but also albert ojeda who introduced her because his story represents thousands across the country. i am so grateful for jill being willing to lead today's summit. first of all because she has to spend time putting up with joe and that is a big enough task to take this one on behalf of the administration is extraordinarily significant. i do not think that she's doing it for the administration. she is doing it because of the passion she has for community colleges. jill has devoted her life to education. as she said, she has been a teacher for nearly three decades although you can't tell by looking at her. [laughter] a community college professor for 17 years. i want this on the record, jill is not plying hooky today. the only reason she is yours because the college president gave her permission to miss class. this morning between appearing on the today sow, receiving briefing

that portfolio but the cuts are coming they know it and they're steeling themselves for the admiral mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff knows it i think the american people are going to demand it particularly when they begin to understand how bad this economy still is i hope they start demanding it but i know you're you say more convinced that i am that the defense cuts are actually coming to you and we have to work through the car is very nice they simply won't let secretary gates do it i guess though i guess laura thank you so much for being here all right still to come on the show tonight the apocalypse is coming or so glenn beck says his latest ploy to scare his viewers into enriching himself has to do with a very pricey food survival kit and forty six percent of americans think of the government poses a threat to their freedom as corporations continue to buy influence in washington are americans missing the point. if i were a favorite show host to hate is making me angrier than ever you know glen bag he loves talking about the upcoming apocalypse the impending doom of ame

emanuel has a well deserved reputation for colorful language, but joints chief chairman admiral mike mullenold a breakfast emanuel's fondness for four-letter words is overblown. he described emanuel as incisive, direct, engaged but actually not profane. but emanuel seemed to concede the point today, reminding the president of one of his contributions. >> i'm sure you have learned some words that you never heard before. and in an assortment of come -- accommodation of words. >> jim: emanuel said the words blank-you in his house is a term of endearment. al franken today recognized senator udall as "the senator from udall." udall reminded him he's from new mexico. franken apologized. "god, i'm sorry. the senator from new mexico." that wasn't his only embarrassing moment. franken doodled and nodded off in elena kagan's supreme court testimony. and he mocked mitch mcconnell who later admonished franken saying, "this isn't 'saturday night live', al." >>> students in suburbs will start selling advertising space with notes they send home with students. our affiliate there reports a school committee

in this e-mail, she says mullens is plans with one of her employees. that employee individual a up by oglesby in which her financial interest was not disclosed. the company got the deal and oglesby allegedly got the money. as a county employee, it's illegal to do business with your own company. >> given out to reputable companies. >> reporter: as questions started being raised about these 24-9 contracts, the stroger administration went into damage control. this e-mail talks about talking points for reporters. in one draft, it called oglesby a former manager. an hour later, it said oglesby owned the company. in may stroger suspended her for five days saying she made a mistake. >> he treated it as if it was a minor infraction like a jaywalking ticket. when in fact as the states attorney has connected all the dots, it's over $300,000 of state and federal grants that have been wasted. >> and now she awaits a court date. we asked stroger for a comment he said he'll have no comment while the case is under investigation. county state's attorney told us the sa

admiral mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs. secretary of defense gates. and then hillary clinton joined them in saying we have to add 40,000 troops. we have to be very aggressive in our strategy here. and so you have the top people saying to the president, not only should you do this, you have to do it. >> larry: when we come back, we'll find out how bob woodward gets the people to talk to him and did anybody absolutely refuse to? we'll be right back. >> larry: we're back with bob woodward. his newest best-seller is "obama's wars," available everywhere. do you ever wonder why a general would sit and talk to you, people who generally don't talk? >> i have time. i have 18 months to work on this. i've known some of these people. it's been published. i've known general petraeus going back to 1989 when he was a major in the army. i've known a lot of the other people and i just came in to the obama white house and said, i want to do this book. one of the key aides said, well, you're not going to find many deep throats around here. and at the end of the process,

fighting fire with fire, joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen took to the internet with a tweeting of stolen classifies documents by wikileaks puts lives at risk and gives adversaries valuable information. some documents say that british troops tortured detainees calling for an immediate investigation from the top. >> anything that suggests that the basic rules of war and conflict and engagement have been broken or that torture is in any way being condoned are to be looked at. >> reporter: a much higher number of iraqi civilians killed in the war and a widespread abuse of prisoners by iraqi forces. but the documents show that iraqi politics was greater than first thought and growing. i raek prime minister nouri al ma maliki was in iran last month. >> it needs to support its objectives. >> reporter: the u.s. military has a young army private in custody suspected of providing this information to wikileaks but their bigger problem is fixing this monumental leak in security that allowed it to take place in the first place. >>> forecasters say there's a risk of severe weather from al

admiral mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs. secretary of defense gates. and then hillary clinton joined them in saying we have to add 40,000 troops. we have to be very aggressive in our strategy here. and so you have the top people saying to the president, not only should you do this, you have to do it. >> larry: when we come back, we'll find out how bob woodward gets the people to talk to him and did anybody absolutely refuse to? we'll be right back. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. >> larry: we're back with bob woodward. his newest best-seller is "obama's wars," available everywhere. do you ever wonder why a general would sit and talk to you, people who generally don't talk? >> i have

mullen tweeted that wikileaks puts lives at risk and gives adversaries valuable information.ath toll in iraq was higher than previously reported. as wikileaks mounder brought attention to it during the iraq wall, he stormed out of an interview when asked about sex abuse allegations against him in sweden. >> he's not for disclosure there? >> he only wants to answer the questions -- >> for disclosure -- okay. >>> later today u.s. swimming federation reporters expect to receive the body of fran crippen who died in the united arab emirates. doctors say the severe fatigue was behind the 26-year-old's sudden death. the cause is under investigation. his long-time prep school coach says the swimmer told him before the race that the outside temperatures were 100 degrees and that the water was 87 degrees. obviously they're going to be looking into what happened there. time for more sports with willie geist. >>> according to nfl sources brett favre has admitted he left voice mails for the former jets sideline reporter but denied sending lewd photographs of himself. >> he was just trying

. >>> admiral mike mullen is blasting wikileaks.e pentagon ahead. >>> and prosecutors admit errors in the chandra levy murder trial saying focusing on the congressman hurt the homicide investigation. >>> plus, new details after a u.s. swimmer dies during a competition near dubai. conflicting reports on the conditions and whether anyone should have been swimming in that event at all. >>> and coming up in the scoop, the never ending music video is new from kanye west. it's 30 minutes long. is it any good? we're going to play some of it. msnbc is the place for politics and political watchers are predicting the upcoming election could put the gop back in control of the house. former president bill clinton served aside a republican led congress and won major legislation. so would president obama be able to accomplish the same without the democratic majority, or would a gop led congress make him, dare we say, a better president? with me now is nbc news deputy political director mark murray. so i was just talking with ken strickland in the

admiral mike mullen sent out a tweet saying another irresponsible posting of stolen classified documentsileaks put lives at risks and gives adversaries valuable information. jim miklaszewski is live to talk about this with us. >> these were raw battlefield reports for the ground commanders. those trigger pullers actually involved in many of the actions, so you can only imagine because they were unadulterated, unedited, that they were grim and gruesome. what has u.s. military officials upset is they reveal the tactics and techniques of the military soldiers. they think if the information, and leerily it will fall into the hands of the enemy, that could make troops vulnerable in future fights. >> the documents suggest that the u.s. knew that the situation in iraq was a lot worse than what they were letting on. what kind of impact do you think this will have on them. backlash that is? >> it's hard to say. they'll probably get criticism initially. the military thinks this is going to blow over in fairly short order. much of the information is reported in some detail. the problem is, there's

to reach out to the pakistani people, ambassador holbrook reaches out, admiral jones and admiral mullenorked hard. but the fact remains an elected government in pakistan is limited by public opinion to the extend of what it can do. people in washington sometimes get all excited, these days because pakistan's the story, therefore every john, joe, jane covers it and tries to cover the complexities of the story in a simplistic way. pakistan is an american ally. america depends on pakistan. we can and do not do everything the americans think we should do because sometimes we don't have the capacity, sometimes we don't have the means. we work those things out and that is exactly what we are doing right now. minus all of the political noise, the fact remains that we are working together. pakistan will go after all terrorist groups that are on the soil, and we have done it over the last 2 1/2 years and the few groups remaining we will tar get them. we will tar get them with american help, but it will be technical help, it will not be personnel on ground. >> you mentioned the supply line that's

now speaking in tucson, arizona yesterday, admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staffnd acknowledged that the united states has some responsibility for that anger. he said that we left them in a dark hole from about 1990 until 2002. and they don't trust us and we're trying to rebuild that trust. part of that pakistani anger is being expressed by closing the main crossing point for nato supplies between pakistan and afghanistan. they come into the area by sea, into karachi, go up by truck into northwest pakistan and that's been closed now since thursday, since the incident involving the three pakistani forces who were killed at a border post. and the nato says that there's not yet been any effect of this, they haven't felt the squeeze yet, but they are working to try to resolve this standoff. >> john yang is in kabul, afghanistan. >>> the mother of missing oregon boy kyron hormone is making a new emotional plea. kyron mysterious vanished from his portland elementary school. no suspects have been named in kyron's disappearance, but much of the investigation has focused o

. >> joint chiefs chairman admiral mike mullen says now this information released puts lives at risk. richard, i know you will continue to follow it. thank you. >>> people in the dallas suburb of rice are assessing the damage after a tornado tore through town. it was all caught on camera. the wind ripped off the roof of the building. tornado moved across the interstate. and at one point this same twister actually derailed a freight train. look at that. nbc's jay gray in rice, texas, right now. sq jay, give me a sense of what you're seeing on the ground? >> contessa, amazing video. look at the middle school here. nine weeks old. they had just gotten into this building. already the metal posts bent towards the ground. the awning has been ripped away. you can see what the wind did to the cinder block wall back there. understand it was not a huge storm but left a pass of damage here. just beginning to clean things up right now. >> what are they saying about the experience? the video is utterly shocking. >> to a man and woman, everyone we talk to in this area will tell you it's amazing tha

is coming on the heels of the woodward book, which talks about a real d division between admiral mullen and general petraeus and, the national security council staff, in charge of the afghan war. does it preclude -- the first step we are seeing in some kind of a policy shakeup? because, the news out of afghanistan has not been good. martha: it is very interesting and you, better than anybody, have spent owe many hours in these kinds of -- so many hours in these kinds of conversations and there are often deep divisions about which way to go, and the timeline is also a source of great controversy and a lot of focus on having to get a lot done and the general is on the job there and wants to prove that he can carry out the mission then timeframe he has been given and what do you think in terms of what may be coming back from the field and what is happening there and from general pet trace, even, in terms of who he needs to be in charge, back harry at home. >> here's the thing, general petraeus and admiral mullen have really staked a lot on saying, give us what we needed to do the job and w

adral mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff haass given several speeches saying thatur greatest natnal security cllenge is our cit d i believe tt that true because unls and untiwedeal with it, it will weaken us acrs the ard and it is true thattheoundation of america's strenh--nd let me emphasize that i believe that a strong america is vital not just for the united states but for the who world, evebody has an interest in a strong america and a strong america has to rest on a healthy, vibrant and growing economy. >> rose: and most of the world is looking to us for leadership? >> most of the world is looking to us for leadership, even those countries that criticize one or anothe of our policies. because th knowthere's no cbs tut snoochlt. >> rose: what would you recommend we do about iran? >> i do believe that iran is our moerio challenge. i believe that in... >> rose: second to the dt? >> well, second to the debt. the most serious extnal challenge and at e worst our economic situation. the less will be the willingness of the american public to coront iran actively it is vital for

you have admiral mullens and the secretary of state and secretary of defense gates who have agreed --> i'm sorry. wasn't there the same hesitancy when the military was desegregated. >> totally different issue. >> you needed to do this. >> no. totally different issue. what you have here is you interject into a small unit environment a sexual tension. we saw congress had a hearing last year on sexual assaults in the military. and amazingly, what the data showed was that the homosexuals were three times more likely to be involved in these sexual assaults even though they represent a very small portion of the military. >> look. i'm not familiar with that data you were simply referring to but in every other context in society where we have seen people more willing to be open and forthright about their sexual preference what it's led to is an easing of tensioning -- >> it's a different environment. >> we'll go over the numbers some other time and hope you'll join us again. thank you for being here. >> there's a reason why private thoughts were invented by generations before us and the fact

i have been able to do is for the first time get the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mike mulleno say he thinks the policy should end. the secretary of defense has said he recognizes that the policy needs to change. and we, i believe, have enough votes in the senate to go ahead and remove this constraint on me as the house has already done so that i can go ahead and end it, but this is not a question of whether the policy will end. this policy will end, and it will end on my watch, but i do have an obligation to make sure that i'm following some of the rules. i can't simply ignore laws that are out there. i've got to work to make sure that they are changed. >> while that was happening today the department of justice appealed to keep the don't ask don't tell policy in place, and the military said that they would stop enforcing the policy. confused? join the club. we will make sense of it with the help of some very, very expensive boos coming up. i used to see the puddles, but now i see the splash. ♪ i wanted love, i needed love ♪ ♪ most of all, most of all... ♪ [ male announcer ]

now, yesterday in the states, admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs, talked about thathe said some of the history of the united states' relationship with pakistan is actually responsible for these tengs. he said that we left them -- we the united states -- left them in a dark hole from about 1990 until 2002 and they don't trust us. and we're trying to rebuild that trust. and talks are under way between the united states and the nato forces, and pakistani officials trying to get that supply line open again. but fr o the time being nato says they are not feeling any effects of that closure of the shutdown of that supply route in operations so far. they say it won't have an effect for some time to come. alex? >> okay. let's hope it never happens to feel an effect. but anyway, thank you so much, john yang in kabul. >>> consumer confidence is down to its lowest level since february. in spite of data indicating the recession ended in june of 2009, it feels like a recession out there. how will you know when the recession is really over? vera gibbons is here to take us through

the details of highly sensitive tactical issues in which he is in very close dialogue with admiral mullen, as we speak, in fact. and with general petraeus. the situation along the border is extraordinarily difficult. that board certificate not sealable. we have trouble ceiling our own borders in a peacetime situation with mexico. but the pakistanis are doing more. say they want to do more, and we want to work closely with them. and that's about all i feel free to say on that subject. >> warner: when you first took this job, we've had interviews with myself and others here, you used to say, you weren't sure yet whether the isi, pakistani intelligence and or military, at least elements were aiding and abetting these extremists. is there any doubt in your mind now that that is going on? >> i think that's a very difficult question. because there is evidence on both sides of the issue. they, as secretary clinton said today, they are our closest collaborator in the counterterrorism efforts. and there's an he more-- enormous amount that goes on where we work together. on the other hand, there ar

helicopters, apparently warning shots, yesterday the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullencalled the chief of the pakistani military, general quiana, to personally apologize, and then today actually sent a letter which was released by the pentagon, so there were dual apologies from the head military guy here in the pentagon yesterday, and today. and in addition to that, you know, there's a report out of the white house to congress that, in which the white house found that the pakistanis are not doing enough to go after al qaeda. that is still embedded in those safe havens in pakistan, and still another report that members of the pakistani intelligence agency are actually encouraging the taliban in afghanistan not to reconcile, but to keep up the fight against the afghan government, and the americans there. now, all that said, american senior military and pentagon officials are saying, look, we understand all this. we knew this was going to be a very difficult relationship, and it has been for the past several years. but they still have confidence that much of the complaints

. >> lehrer: because not only the president but secretary gates and joint chiefs chairman mullen have all said it's time to get rid of it but they wanted a process. and that's... that process has just been preempted, has it not, by the courts? >> once again, secretary gates said today let's wait till december 1. let's wait until we get the results of the 400,000 service people we've surveyed, the 150,000 family members. so we sort of know how to deal with issues of barracks, issues of benefits. this stuff is complicated, he said. we're dealing with 1.4 million american men and women in uniform. it's not something you can simply stop on a dime and reverse. >> lehrer: finally, mark, just to pick up on something you said earlier, there may be some resistance still between military, particularly in the higher ranks and older members of the military, but generally speaking is it a done deal, too, do you think in terms of just the way people are thinking in the military? >> yeah, i think most folks realize that "don't ask, don't tell" is on life support and they'll be glad when this... i me