napolitano. and in due course, people spoke and your contributed to that debate. we also came up with an joint statement. it's a eu-u.s. statement. it's an important resolution. it's based on aviation security in particular. and you'll get that text at the end of this press conference. we mention a number of points that are dear to us all. we're talking here about the risk of terrorists, basically the same risk on both sides of the -- i think we want to protect our principals and values. our way of life. and those attacks of course by terrorism. we also share -- say that we share responsibility for fighting terrorism to ensure safety and security for our citizens. i think we all share many of these international values. we talk about a number of objectives and measures. objectives have a lot to do with aviation security. if we've learned anything from the spoiled attack over detroit is that flighted still subject to terrorism. we tried to include this in a sense of general objective. obviously th

then you had napolitano last week saying the system worked.listen to what senator susan collins said this morning on abc about janet napolitano's comments last week. >> i do but i will say that her initial comments were bizarre and inappropriate. it baffled me that she said that the system worked very, very smoothly when clearly it did not. >> clearly this was a pr fumble by napolitano. she owned a problem she didn't have to own. michael feldman, is this devastating for napolitano and the administration? or can they get it over it quickly? >> i think they can get over it. the president has trusted her and believes she's doing the job very well. i will say this, this was a communications error. this wasn't a massive systemic failure like katrina was where it was very clear that the country was not ready to support that kind of tragedy in louisiana. the president came out right away, to ryan's point, and took responsibility which is something we never saw president bush do very often. he's asking all the relevant agencies. he's having an intense

we are not calling a's h janet napolitanoead-- janet napolitano's head.eople keep picking up the elements. john brennan, a longtime cia analyst. she was in an drumheadst of the nttc. he is the head of the homeland security council. he is a guy with a lot of government background. he was briefly in charge of the analysis corp., which did some work on the terrorist and watch list. the announcement that goes into who goes on the terrorist watch list. he did a500, running00 -- why t move from the 500,000 list that would have gotten an additional security checks. host: did security work on christmas day? here is an excerpt from that program. >> the system did work on that day -- because he did not -- he should never have gotten on that plane with those explosives. the system did not work. we were able to award other attacks. -- a we weretw able to -- we were able to thwart other attacks. we want to make sure we put together pieces of information that allows us to stop every single terrorist out there. >> this seems to be a big issue in terms of how certain thi

at a homeland security hearing today, secretary janet napolitano told senators she believes new screening techniques are a key part of a larger strategy to stop terrorism. >> once you've identified a problem, you've got to fix it. but we also need to be thinking ahead to be proactive. that's why, for example, we've entered into this agreement to really get some of the best scientists in the world who are

napolitano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. mrs. napolitano: thank you, chairman rahall and ranking member hastings for all your hard work. three pieces of legislation would help indian nation in new mexico and arizona. these people on these reservation, the sacred lands of their fathers, grandfathers and many generations before. these bills would provide them with the water their ancestors were entitled to but never received. we all take for granted the most basic of our resources, water. the people of the pueblos in the high country of arizona never have. they understand the value of water and its importance to the cultures and their well-being. water is the lifeblood of these individuals, and when they were assigned reservations of land, their assumption was that they would have access to the water they needed to survive. they were not and for the last 140-plus years these individual americans have been fighting for the right to this most basic of resources, water. it is time today for us to do something about this for these six

the presiding officer: the senate homeland security secretary janet napolitano met yesterday with the e.u. interior ministers in spain to talk of ways to improve international aviation security following their meeting they held a joint news conference with reporters installing body scanners and issue of privacy dominated the questions during this 50 minute event. >> i want to apologize to all of you for the delay and the start of this press conference. the reason for that is we were having a very in-depth discussion informal council this morning an ongoing to tell you quite briefly about some of the things we concluded and get a number to the vice president of the commission and he can tell what he is taking away from the meeting and then i will give the floor to the secretary napolitano who was kind enough to come to the meeting today and as you know there were two items on the agenda is an informal council for the first time in the council we were discussing a presidency document that we've called the internal security strategy it's something we've been working on for a long time no

napolitano. she has shared her views of the suggest with her. and i would publicly like to say what i expressed actually in the private session of some sort of a thank you to all of the ministers of the -- and i'm doing this on behalf of all of the ministers of home affairs. i'd like to say thank you very much secretary napolitano for coming along. this allows us to send out a message that the the europeans and united states are going to continue to cooperate so as to be more effective in preventing radical islamic terrorism and prosecuting it when it arises. we shared information with secretary napolitano. and in due course, people spoke and your contributed to that debate. we also came up with an joint statement. it's a eu-u.s. statement. it's an important resolution. it's based on aviation security in particular. and you'll get that text at the end of this press conference. we mention a number of points that are dear to us all. we're talking here about the risk of terrorists, basically the sam

secretary napolitano, intelligence chief blair, c.i.a. director panetta.uestion, have you lost question in any of those? >> well, i work very closely with leon panetta and admiral blair. i think, i think they're doing the best job they can. the problem with the director of national intelligence denny blair, he has all of the responsibility and not enough authority. i voted against the bill because he does not have the ability to control all the elements of the i.c. i have not worked with secretary napolitano, but when she said that the terrorist act should be called a man-caused disaster, or when she said recently the system worked perfectly, i think it raised a lot of eyebrows, but those statements, misstatements are certainly not grounds to relieve her. i think we need to find out what really happened. >> chris: finally, i want to talk with you as i did with mr. brennan about politics. former vice president cheney and a number of top republicans have really gone after this administration for its response after christmas day and suggested this is another

has secretary napolitano? >> i don't think, certainly, president obama has not sustained long-term damage. janet napolitano, we'll see. we'll see how congress treats her coming up in these investigations. i, for one, was pleased to see a president who had a measured response, who didn't immediately come back to the white house. the purpose of terrorism, after all, is to terrorize. why allow al qaeda to terrorize us? he had all the instruments of state at his disposal. in hawaii. he reacted appropriately. i don't think there was a need for a "the sky is falling" response where the president immediately comes back. >> should secretary napolitano have come back from san francisco? >> i think wherever she was, she should not have used the phrases man-caused disasters. they have been aggressive, part of what we're seeing is al qaeda trying to adapt to the increased pressure. if you count, as being damaged, this making it more difficult for him to do some of the things he wans to do, in that sense, i think he has be

>> no, i wasn't. >> secretary napolitano?ess i have to ask your opinion, admiral blair. should the christmas bomber be tried in civilian court, or should it be under military tribunal? since they wouldn't ask you, maybe i should. >> i'm not ready to offer an opinion on that in open session. we can talk about it in closed session, senator mccain. >> mr. leiter? >> senator, i honestly don't have a position. i have been fully engaged in trying to fix this and have not engaged in where he should be charged. >> classified information indicates that the christmas bomber was providing information that was necessary to try to crack this case, and when he got a lawyer, he immediately stopped that information. now that is according to public documents. i do not have any classified information. if that is the case, i think the a terrible mistake. i think the a terrible, terrible mistake when the pretty clear that this individual did not act alone. admiral blair, in your testimony before the committee, you stated you would exercise your

. >> napolitano's boss the president concluded that was hog wash. >> without this one report there were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together. >> and republicans went for the jugular. >> the president has been downplaying the threat of terrorism since he took office. >> that is was south carolina senator jim dimint preceded by janet that poll tan no, the director of homeland security. this was a very near miss. aside from the fact nobody spot add guy who paid $3,000 cash for one way ticket to detroit, carried no luggage and walked into an airport with explosives in his underpants, aside from that we have a major lapse in our intelligence eight years after 9/11. evan how did that happen? >> inconceivable after all this money spent, the national terror center couldn't connect the dots. i mean, most americans are used to google and twitter. and myriad of i was to connect the dots. isn't there any program that connects the dots for the federal government? >> good question. colby. >> this is really hard. i've work

janet napolitano will discuss and review of the aviation screening. how the terrorists -- the terrorists boarded an airplane that could have killed -- and cut that killed 300 innocent people and the aviation security going forward. i want to summarize the conclusions, and the steps that i have ordered to address them. the first line of defense is timely, accurate intelligence that is shared and integrated, analyzed, and acted upon quickly and effectively that is what the intelligence reforms achieved after 9/11 and what the intelligence community is doing every day. but that is not what happened leading up to christmas day. shortcoming's happened in three broad and compound in ways. first, all of the intelligence community learned a great deal about the al qaeda affiliate -- the al qaeda affiliate, in the arabian peninsula, we do that they were wanting to strike the united states and they were recruiting operatives to do this. they did not aggressively follow up and prioritize the streams of intelligence related to the possible attack against the home

j janet napolitano seven days ago said the system did work.journalists rejected napolitano's spin as being ludicrous? >> i think she probably rejected it herself the minute after she said it. it was clear to everyone the system did not work. as you saw today, the first thing practically that john brennan said to us was, look, the system did not work. the system failed. so it was one of those cases of spin that she probably wishes she could take back. >> changed the tune within about 24 hours. gloria, thanks very much. >>> as we look back at the press's performance in 2009, there were times when the news business was swept away by strange and sensational stories. these range from the death of world famous celebritys to run-away reality shows to high-profile hoaxes. they all became category five media storms. >> michael jackson had an extraordinary career and a troubled life marked by incredible highs and terrible low lows. >> the child prodigy who lived through illness, a sex scandal and massive money trouble. >> enormously talented but such a

it's my take because janet napolitano and robert gibbs said that the system works, that this was a collective message strategy on behalf of the white house, that they absolutely got wrong. >> larry: tanya. >> it's interesting that michael chertoff said on sunday along with the last head of cia, they talked about that response that janet napolitano made. one of the things is that most folks know -- and she's recanted it. i find it interesting this need to seize on that, to sort of suggest that the administration doesn't care about the war on terror. most people know that there have been a number of foiled attacks this year. i think this attack certainly -- >> ft. hood. >> shouldn't have happened. one second. there were lapses. there should have been better screening mechanisms. by the same token by and large our system has worked in terms of foiling some of these other attacks. so i just -- i think we have to be careful about trying to use this in order to, you know -- again, i disagree with andrea. i don't think we should get hysterical. >> janet napolitano said to call it an overseas conting

judge andrew napolitano is a senior analyst. michael chertoff and senator, welcome.o surprise there is a not guilty plea entered on all six charges. >> it's standard operating procedure. the government and defense counsel have probably not even begun to talk about the ultimate disposition of this. not guilty is the default position. idea of a detention hearing is going through the motions. it's inconceivable the court would award any amount of bail. what happened today was routine, quick and to be expected. martha: when you look at it, are you surprised there are not terrorism charges on this list and there is no mention of al qaeda? when you compare this to the richard reed case those charges were mentioned. >> i don't know why those charges are not there except the six charges that are there. each of them carries a life sentence. the evidence for each of them, the evidence of guilt, the federal definition using the word terror requires two or more criminal acts of violence threatened or planned or actual intended to affect the policies of the government. one could

first of all, janet napolitano has done a tremendous job over the past year. i work very closely with her and i know there were a number of criticisms about her comments about the system works. what she was referring to, the system worked after the incident. what the president wants to do is make sure that we're able to take the corrective steps necessary to prevent this from happening again. he needs to hold everybody accountable including me. >> "newsweek" has a cover story coming out this week about the children of bin laden. in it there is reporting about specific information that you received before the christmas day plot. in terror warnings about the use of explosives being hidden in underwear to get through airport security, and other specific information prior to the act about the potential for a plot that would be based out of yemen on a u.s. airliner. what did you know prior to this? >> i think what you're referring to is the attempted assassination against a prince in saudi arabia by an individual who had concealed on his person the same explosive u

. >> janet napolitano is the homeland security secretary. as far as we know, no one has offered a resignation. >> that's right. the president did say, though, yesterday, of course, there are going to be accountability mechanisms within agencies. i'm not sure what he means by that. perhaps he means inspector general investigations. but if we don't have ultimately resignations or firings, it seems to me we'll talk about this again. >> you had a chance to sit down with janet napolitano this week, jeanne. you got a sense of where she approaches all of this and we saw her later in the week at that briefing at the white house. how is she dealing with all the pressure on her right now, because she is sort in of in the bull's eye. a lot of republicans are saying, you know what, she didn't step up to the plate. >> she didn't talk a lot about it except to say i've admitted i didn't perform well those first appearances on sunday morning after the attempted attack when i went out and said the system's work could have been more clear. i think the fact yo

i would like to yield now to the secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano. >> thank you, mr. vice president. i echo our thanks to all the men and women who are here, and your colleagues working on this effort, and our thanks to those already in haiti and those who are waiting at home ready to stage into haiti, has the bowling ball moves through the straw, to use the metaphor. i would just want to add a couple of things. first, as the vice president has said, the united states is fully committed to this effort, not just today and tomorrow, but for the long term. a lot of rebuilding will need to be done in haiti with the haitian government and the united nations as an overall effort. as the rebuilding is done, in the short term our needs are very definite. we need to be able to get in medicine, medical supplies, medical personnel. we need to be able to get in water systems so that potable water can be restored. we need to be able to get in the men and women who are skilled in the urban search and rescue. those very precious air frames that we have are really dedicated to those

he made it napolitano has a lead spokesperson on this.he immigration issue going forward. i think they're taking it very seriously, as our congress. senator schumer is working diligently. i think this is the year where we will see immigration and people will have to discuss the tough issues. it is coming. have to discuss the tough issues about immigration. it is coming. host: is there anything in the house and senate legislation that you know of that deals with this? guest: not really. the senate bill does not exist yet. the house bill is out there. it is almost a parody of a bill that i could have written tongue in cheek. it legalizes all the illegal immigrants. it has a very small find that people have to pay. it has one requirement after another that prohibits enforcement of immigration laws. it is the maximalist position that the other side wants. what you will see from senator schumer and senator graham is something that is not as over the top end of served as the house bill. the house bill, hr-4321, really has the agenda that the ot

last week, january neat napolitano said that the system worked. do you agree? every other day, this is in the works so far every day this year, we've been able to thwart attacks by david headley and others and clearly what the president wants to do is make sure that we strengthen the system. it's not that it's broken but there's ways to improve the system, strengthen it, and put together variouses pieces of information to stop every single terrorist out there. >> let me get to that. >> when a family member says i'm worried, that should be a big red flag. and in fact, abdulmutallab's father, a prominent figure, goes to the u.s. embassy and says my son went to yemen, he's become a radical. that doesn't shoot to the top of warning signs for u.s. intelligence. >> every day there are people who bring to our attention concerns that they have about family members or others who have joined the ranks of extremists. the five guys from northern virginia that went to pakistan, was because the families brought it to the attention of the families. pakistanis were able to put

we have john -- janet napolitano talking about the right-wing conspiracy.going to hover over me like this, at least ditch the frank lutz hair cut. i need something a little more together. bill: ok. i am trying to picture frank and napolitano and it is not working. >> i love it when you lose control. bill: president obama did not bow before the king of saudi arabia. he was reaching down to shake his hand. what say you? >> as far as the jester goes, i do not know what you want to call it, but you might want to go back to the previous administration with bill clinton. i am pretty sure he had an accurate phrase for that gesture. i look -- i like gates and the way we are handling iraq. i like him going to the mat in afghanistan. we have to quit apologizing to every d-lister in a leopard skin fez. america is a great country and we need not constantly tied ourselves. they are the ones who whipped themselves in the back, not us. bill: the white house says it was not a bow you are saying what? >> i do not want to get into what it is. >> it depends on what the meanin

witnesses include all my security sick -- secretary janet napolitano, james blair, and the head of the national counter -- counter-terrorism center. this is a little more than 2.5 hours. >> good morning and welcome to the hearing. as we all know, on this past christmas day, 2009, a man slipped to the multilayered defenses we have directed since 9/11 to stop attacks against our homeland, and boarded a northwest flight 253 from amsterdam to detroit over which he attempted a suicide bombing. a faulty detonator and a courageous and quick action by the passengers and crew prevented the deaths of 290 board -- to under 90 people aboard that plane and many more on the ground below. we were lucky, we were very lucky. because it is not in five years since the enactment of the 9/11 commission recommendations for intelligence reform, senator collins and i decided last year to initiate a series of oversight hearings this year to examine how well these reforms have been implemented and whether it further -- whether further changes and all law, regulation, or implementation are needed to protect our

we will hear from president obama and homeland security secretary-general napolitano. then a discussion about u.s. policy in afghanistan. later, we will hear from richard holbrooke, u.s. special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. >> on fed chairman ben bernanke and the role he played after the economic collapse of 2008. he will discuss his book with the former federal reserve vice chair and first director of the congressional budget office. part of this weekend's "book tv globo on c-span2. >> president obama outlined new procedures designed to prevent such attacks in the future. from the white house state dining room, this is 15 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. the immediate reviews that i ordered after the failed christmas terrorist attack are now complete. i was briefed on the findings and recommendations for reform, and i believe it is important the american people understand the steps we are taking to prevent attacks. this afternoon, my counter- terrorism and homeland security adviser john brennan will discuss his review into our terrorist watch lis

and secretary napolitano, i should ask you, you know, these questions of grandma getting screened or this young boy, michael hicks, the name sticks out in my point, there was somebody on the list getting screened all the time. there's got to be a commonsense way when there's a little boy coming through to not subject them to this. it's not a terrible price to pay, frankly, to protect the country. but we ought to try to avoid it if we can. >> indeed, mr. chairman. but i can talk about those -- that particular case in classified setting. what we are going to have to build or have as we make the actual watch list and no-fly list more robust is a greater ability to have redress and remove people who are improperly on the list from the list in a clearly understood non-brewer -- brewer -- this is a question of prescreening international air travel passengers to the united states. customs border protection accesses the airlines' passenger name records 72 hours before a flight is set to depart. but those records don't typically include important identifying information like passport or visa

he clearly has secretary napolitano's back.the statement he gave over the course of the week, he said, she was right in saying that after the bomber was subdued, the system worked. in other words, flights in the air, 160 flights in the air were notified of the issue. mores were measurers were taken to toughen security at the gates. it seems that he's trying to protect her from the long naives in washington, d.c., that are already out for her. >> thank you, terry. he'll be talking to john brennan, joe lieberman and others this morning on "this week." >> we're going to be hearing a lot about yemen. >> that's right. >>> now a look at the headlines. >>> the massive search for a florida man accused of shooting four family members to death on thanksgiving day is over. this, after a viewer of "america's most wanted" called in a tip. abc's todd connor has the latest. >> reporter: police arrested 35-year-old michael paul merhige. late saturday night. only an hour after the show "america's most wanted" profiled him for a fourth time. the

commit am -- napolitano on the u.s. commitment to rebuild haiti. tomorrow on "washington journal," a discussion on the obama administration's policies on jobs and the economy with democratic strategist karen finny and republican strategist kevin madden. also a look at how poorly equipped haiti is for natural disasters. and following that, a discussion on the special election in massachusetts to fill the late senator edward kennedy's seat with senator paul kirk. "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. coming up monday on c-span, new virginia governor bob mcdonald delivers his state of the commonwealth speech. see that live at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on see spanl. -- c-span. a look now at search and rescue efforts going on in haiti from earlier today this video comes to us courtesy of united states -- united nations tv. it's just under 5:00. -- five minutes. >> we are heading >> we are heading to a university that collapsed with many students inside. so, they've been stranded for almost 70 hours and we were still hearing voices

see how much damage the janet napolitano did to our state. thank you. host: speaking of "washington journal", tomorrow juan zaratti , who served as the deputy national security adviser and the last four years of the bush administration, will be joining us at 9:15 a.m. eastern on "washington journal". the white house briefing room is where we will hear from former arizona governor janet napolitano and others. that is expected to take place at 5:15 eastern time. during the course of the day, these things tend to run late. john is joining us from san antonio on the independent line. thank you for joining us. caller: hello? i think the president did a good job with his speech under the circumstances. al qaeda and taliban -- their favorite station is probably c- span and watching american media and watching all politics is going here. from this attack, it was obviously hastily put together. and it is almost like they created this attack -- they knew it would cause a lot of problems with politics in the u.s., and they won. we have not even got into the congre

. >> sean: janet napolitano said the system works. every single time there's an incident, mr. secretary, every single time, we hear, i don't care if it is fort hood this airline attack, we keep hearing almost immediately, this is not terror-related. why are they say quick to calm the waters and the fears of the american people instead of saying we don't know whether it was terror related? >> that would be my preference. it is difficult to suggest that the fort attack was not terror-related. i don't know major was given guidance orders or took inspiration from the cleric but to suggest it was a criminal act defies what i think most americans -- doesn't pass the sniff test, most americans understand that >> sean: two have spoken out, one democrat, one republican. lee hamilton, democrat he says what he thinks is pervasive throughout the country, complacency, inertia, business as usual attitude, he thinks it is harmful and he thinks the president has a major share of blame. do you agree the president himself, is to blame in a lot of this? >> well, i think there's a lot of politica

secretary napolitano, i actually owe her an apology. she was talking about the system after this incident happened. it clearly didn't work before it happened. that happens often in pundits. >>larry: even before he took office, mr. obama was on fire in closing the prison in guantanamo. he spoke about that today. watch. >> given the unsettled situation, i've spoken to the attorney general and we've agreed that we will not be transferring additional detainees back to yemen at this time. but make no mistake, we will close guantanamo prison, which has damaged our national security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al qaeda. >>larry: nancy, should he have, based on his promises, have closed this sooner? >> i think it was a mistake, and i think the fact we're shipping these people to northern illinois is ridiculous. you know, we're all concerned about traveling at this point, but i'm sure not flying through chicago. as much as i love the people and the food there. this was the type of thing where it was press release policy

were having a congress hearing this afternoon and i will ask secretary napolitano this this afternoon. >> i'm happy to discuss this in a closed session after the capabilities of technology and how it's used to deploy, but it would rather do that in the session. it is important to note that technology is part of the solution. it is not the only solution. >> i'm not saying it is. i mean, the president has clearly sent a message to 450 more of the scanners out. i was doing the math. with 2100 planes at the airport and now there is, i don't know, just dozens of them out there right now. so the plan would be to triage these and put them of certain locations? >> that's correct. the technology has the advantage of being able to put nonmetallic substances such as liquids or powders, much like with you on the 25th. and as such, provides enhanced capabilities of the standard walk-through metal detect yours. >> all right. and so, do you know what the timetable is for this? >> for deploying? i can get back to on this. in the beginning of this year we are on the process of looking at that. >> i ca

of attacks, but if you do want to talk about somebody that should be blamed is secretary janet napolitano. she was asked what was the most surprising thing that you -- >> larry: one at a time. one at a time, girls. >> we never politicized this after the shoe bomber. the right is the one -- >> larry: let me get bay and marc in. hold it, hold it. let marc comment then bay. marc? >> i tend to support president obama on some of these tactics. the reality is the obama administration certainly dropped the ball here. there's no doubt about that. president obama was courageous enough today to step up and say, look, there were enormous intelligence gaps. we had enough information to stop this from happening and we failed. should someone lose their job? perhaps. president obama is doing something wise by being deliberative and not reactionary. my concern with president obama with regard to yemen and iran, iraq and afghanistan, if we continue to engage in militaristic policies that galvanize terrorists and engage in language that's anti-muslim rather than anti-terrorist, we're going to continue to r

to hover over me, get rid of the hair cut. >> bill: i'm picturing frank and napolitano and it's justng for. >> i love it when you loose control. >> bill: the white house says obama was not bowing before the king of saudi arabia, he was reaching down. >> as far as that gesture, you might go back to the previous democratic administration with bill clinton because i'm sure he had an accurate phrase for that gesture that just happened there. listen, i like gates, the way we're handling iraq, which is staying in like bush would, i like him going to the mat in afghanistan. but we've got to quit apologizing to every b-lister in a leopard skin fez and a doorman's outfit from the plaza hotel. america is a great country and we need not constantly chide ourselves. they're the ones who whipped themselves on the back, not us. >> bill: okay. now, the white house says it wasn't a bow and you're saying what? >> i don't want to get thoo that what is this? >> it depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is. >> a guy came up to a guy dressed like sergeant billco in a sketch and bent over at the hi

napolitano went on to say she was surprised that individuals would attack us. there's clearly a problem here. i disagree with george. i don't think that the briefings have begun to give americans comfort. >> does the president have to do more? >> i think neither the bush administration or, so far, the obama administration has geared up the groups to take account of what is not a single al qaeda. it's a hydra-headed monster. the strategic direction is centralized. maybe some training. that's difficult to get at all of this. yemen, who really thought about yemen? why yemen is on the map at all. yemeis running o of oil, water. i mean, i'm reminded of what small countries used to do in the colder war. if nay wanted attention and aid, they would say there's a communist insurrection here. yemen has an al qaeda branch. yemen is not fighting that al qaeda branch all that hard because it's way of getting international aid and attention to yemen. >> and what i think is stark is that we're now talking about yemen. the u.s. is spending i think $63 million in yen this year

host: we are keeping an eye on the briefing room to hear from janet napolitano. what did you learn from dianne feinstein about all this? caller: the standard is now too tough to get someone on the no- fly list. in hindsight, it is clear that he should not have been allowed to get on the plane. the president also talked about that, and we will be seeing some changes there. host: how much is it going to cost, over all in the effort that we put forward for all lan security? caller: this is clearly making terrorism and somewhat higher priority for the ministration. that will come at the expense of some other areas. maybe not the economy, but when it comes to issues like education or immigration. you might find somewhat less focus on that as the administration focuses more on terrorism. host: we are talking to susan page, washington bureau chief. why do you think something like this could still happen? caller: because terrorists are smart and organized. the chairman of the 9/11 commission said we are looking at what happened on christmas day for what went wrong. al qa

were having a congress hearing this afternoon and i will ask secretary napolitano this this afternoon. >> i'm happy to discuss this in a closed session after the capabilities of technology and how it's used to deploy, but it would rather do that in the session. it is important to note that technology is part of the solution. it is not the only solution. >> i'm not saying it is. i mean, the president has clearly sent a message to 450 more of the scanners out. i was doing the math. with 2100 planes at the airport and now there is, i don't know, just dozens of them out there right now. so the plan would be to triage these and put them of certain locations? >> that's correct. the technology has the advantage of being able to put nonmetallic substances such as liquids or powders, much like with you on the 25th. and as such, provides enhanced capabilities of the standard walk-through metal detect yours. >> all right. and so, do you know what the timetable is for this? >> for deploying? i can get back to on this. in the beginning of this year we are on the process of looking at that. >> i ca

, cancelled twice, the predent finally did it, acquiesced to that, all did he was appoint janet napolitanoormer congresswoman - >> bonnie: sheas a governo >> formerovernor to head this. they want t preside to tak e lead. you had the head the hispanic caucus oraucus leadership work together for an immigrationill because they felt the democrac leadership we not taking action. >> the reason why -- >> bonnie: o wait, so you're saying, i do remember candidate obama h it on his website that he was going t create a path to legalition for the 1 millin legals -- illals. he did win hispani vote for that. is he going to win forispanics support whh is the quickest growing minority in the country if he puts off immigration rerm? >> i tnk unfortunately it is going to be a politicalotbed that gets lost in aesty and anticorpate rhetoric. very little wille de. the president is rig on tha e republicans are stonalling, the reality is hispanics in congre want to move forward. >> let' look back at the realityf this predent's first year. he was met with an unprecedeed set of challens when he took office. heas f

and michael lighter who runs nctc, you're going to hear a lot of republican chatter about janet napolitano, head of homeland security. but i can tell you this, the president has 100% confidence in her. probably one of his favorite cabinet secretaries personally. they're very close. and a lot of white house aides believe she's gotten a bum rap in that she wasn't, when she said the system worked, which, of course, got a lot of criticism for that, she wasn't talking about the intelligence aspect, but about what they were doing on her end, after the terror attempt was thwarted. >> what is this likely to do, chuck, to the president's agenda going into the new year? because there are only so many major issues that can be fought. and there are so many issues that are brought about by this, from guantanamo, to airport security. how do we deploy our resources abroad? where does yemen fit in to all of this. what might this mean for the bigger picture? >> well, think about this. the president delayed the start of his vacation from december 23rd to december 24th because, remember this issue called hea

the's been criticism of his tional security team, especially homeland secuty secretary janet napolitano, who initially saidhe "system worked" in the aliner attack. >> now, at ts stage in the view process, it appears tha this incident was t the fault of a single individual or organization, but rather a systemic failurecross organizations and encies. moreover, i am less inrested passing out blame than i am in learning from andorrecting these mistakes to makes safer, for, uimately, the buck stops with me. as president, i have a soln responsibility to protect ou nation and our people, andhen the system fls, it is my responsibility. >> it s a failure too connect, intrate and unrstand the intelligence we had. we didn'followup and pry torize a stream of intelligence indicatinthat al qaeda a in a did abian pen insurance wsuit sought to strike our meland because no one team or tas force was signed responsibility for doing that followup investation. the intelligence fell through the cracks. this happed in more than one organization. >> brennan concluded by conceding the enormous challeng the nati

. >> so, given these new parameters that the president called upon for janet napolitano and homeland security to put in place, do you think enough is being done right now in terms of aviation security? >> well, it's a step in the right direction, alex. certainly we need to redouble our efforts to deploy technology like whole-body imageers that can see through clothing and spot concealed guns and knives and explosives. had those machines been used on this suspect, mr. abdulmutallab, that device would have been discovered. we also need trace explosive detection machines, because obviously, explosives are the weapon of choice for terrorists. we need these threat image projection screens as a training tool for screeners. because to be fair to them, it's mind-numbing work, and there's a limit to the human mind's ability to concentrate for prolonged periods of time. and so, it's a step in the right direction. it's not an antidote, though. there are a number of layers to airport security. we need to redouble the number of air marshals. there are too few, and that's going to happen as well a