dr matthew burris a cia veteran analyst and a former national intelligence council who welcomed to the show it's really great to have you on our program so matthew the world is no longer split into one during the cold war and clearly u.s. isn't leading the world like it's tried to in the ninety's so she will be bracing ourselves for a cast in this new lateral reality chaos may be a strong word certainly instability because i don't think we have really achieved some sort of equilibrium the us is trying to find a new role for itself other powers as well so why though why it why is it so bad i mean we've had it leaderless world for nanny centuries before and we were find well that leaderless world had quite a few wars in it and obviously i think you know our own. advertise to mean for conflict is very very low these days and public server much more eager to see economic improvement than they are to. actually get into a fight with a neighbor or or with other powers in the world how volatile is to current state of u.s. russia relations i mean do you see more a sort of a stability within thi

let's listen to richard burr just introduce it. >> director of national intelligence dan coates. director of the central intelligence agency mike pompeo. director of defense intelligence agency general robert ashley. director of the federal bureau of investigation chris wray. director of the national security agency admiral mike rogers. and director of the geospacial intelligence agency robert cardila. >> we'll bring that to you as news is made at this hearing. coming up, the republican party appears to be cozying up to deficits after years of attacking president obama over that issue. now president trump's just released budget proposal has a price tag in the trillions. we're going to break it down next. i needed legal advice for my shop. that's when i remembered that my ex-ex- ex-boyfriend actually went to law school, so i called him. he didn't call me back! if your ex-ex- ex-boyfriend isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal. people are fighting type 2 diabetes... with fitness... food... and the pill that starts wit

we're talking to the maurice and cia veteran analyst and former national intelligence counselor about all the major challenges that put our paul and order to task for this edition of the next time. brunt of the blow to the fished out of the gills with. the concepts was plain to perform i had to actually prepare myself to die i. don't know said he'd what to say trust me. as most of. you. in the homo stuff her. scanty was. really good. so we'll see if it. was any good with us. yes more here to keep me she. said to finishing a couple so kind of b.s. get her that. was. what. was. done oh it was god. russia mourns the loss of a pilot who was shot down over syria's province on saturday and died fighting islam is militants on the ground. the. video appears online apparently showing a russian pilot surrounded by extremists just before he blew himself up to avoid capture. also this hour we look at the devastation and suffering still blighting the iraqi city of mosul months after it was liberated from islamic states broken bread and i challenge any member of the army to live in the conditions w

and we're back with dr matthew barra's a cia veteran analyst and a former national intelligence council are discussing u.s. russian spat and other issues causing global concern and i think turkey a nato member waste currently attacking the syrian kurds who are here u.s. allies as washington going to do anything about this so are they going to throw the currents to who are lying on and on to the bus i think. washing it is very concerned about turkey. where turkey is heading. so yes there are efforts to to or to warn turkey against its attacks but you know it is a nato member when there is an effort not to alienate for their turkey there's been you know tense relations between u.s. and turkey for some time so i think the effort is to handle this in a very low key manner out of the public eye. destiny you are seven have enough leverage to stop turkey anyway i don't think we have the leverage you know there's. i mean in the past turkey has taken unilateral actions that have highly displeased the washington. turkey believe this is very much a threat and you know in the case of any country th

have that or an analyst and a former national intelligence counselor and we'll talk more about the challenges they today's world order stay with us. the memo has come and gone but this controversy is far from over the political bias of the deep state has been revealed and the legal activities exposed if anyone will be held responsible. despite it's tough going into history the soviet union i know has dominated international sport however this was not about the lives of those champions from the. right moment you're worth. more moved there with the ball for the think you're going to do with your brother this is for the lord your god what i wish was the most good example for you if you were to the first some of you to limp a team of nine hundred fifty two with some good seeds of life as concentration camp prisoners and frontline soldiers. maybe even though it's good to go from here with europe sure you get a much needed new ship because your first move but you're in for the one for yourself or where they're going to have a wonderful future you think that the area we're going to go with. the vari

you're director of national intelligence.re there any politics involved when you were there? >> well, i don't think so. people will argue that until the cows come home. but i know in the preparation of our intelligence community assessment, we tried to keep the politics out of it and just report -- and we did so with pretty high confidence in the findings of the intelligence community assessment. obviously when we went to the hill to brief it, there were varying reactions to what we said in the intelligence community assessment. and some republicans did look fox political motives. but we tried very hard to keep that out of it. certainly not among the analysts that did the work. >> i want to ask you questions on other news today. we learned mike pompeo met last week in the united states even though one was listed under russian sanctions. they went through the proper processes to okay this meeting and certainly former u.s. intelligence chiefs had met with russian leaders before. what do you make of this meeting? >> well, sort o

and we're back with dr matthew barra's a cia veteran analyst and a former national intelligence council are discussing u.s. russian spat and other issues causing global concern and i think turkey a nato member who is currently attacking the syrian kurds who are here u.s. allies is washington going to do anything about this or are they going to throw the kurds too who are lying on it under the bus i think. washing it is very concerned about turkey. where turkey is heading. so yes there are efforts to to or to warn turkey against its attacks but. you know it is a nato member when there is an effort not to alienate for further turkey there's been you know tense relations between us and turkey for some time so i think the effort is to handle this in a very low key manner out of the public eye does do us didn't have enough leverage to stop turkey anyway i don't think we have the leverage you know there's. i mean in the past turkey has taken unilateral actions that have highly displeased the washington. turkey believe this is very much a threat and you know in the case of any country that bel

and a former national intelligence counsellor. chaos in the middle east the nuclear threat in korea the trade war between russia and the west the world order is being tested on multiple fronts and without a clear bipolar a system or sole superpower could well we know all be on the verge of collapse will and lead in this world balance itself out and find ways to move forward was a doomed to descend into chaos and anarchy. dr matthew burgess a cia veteran analyst and a former national intelligence council while come to the show it's really great to have you on our program so matthew the world is no longer split into like during the cold war and clearly u.s. isn't leading the world like it's try to in the ninety's so she will be bracing ourselves for a cast in this new lateral reality chaos maybe a strong word certainly instability because i don't think we have really achieved some sort of equilibrium the u.s. is trying to find a new role for itself other powers as well so why though why it why is it so bad i mean we've had it leader

and they reportedly met with the director of national intelligence and the head of the cia. e service, the gru, which is now famous in our country for having been the lead russian government agency responsible for attacking our election in 2016, the head of the gru also came to washington. quote, current and former u.s. intelligence officials could not recall so many heads of russia's security apparatus coming to washington at once. what were they doing here? well, we know that the svr guy and the fsb guy, roughly, the equivalent of our cia and fbi, we know while they were here, they met with the director of national intelligence, dan coats, and the head of the cia, mike pompeo. so, two of the three russian spy chiefs that came over, we know both of them took meetings with these two guys. but remember, there were three of them. the gru guy, the military intelligence guy, still a total mystery as to what he was doing in washington. we have no idea who he met with or even where he traveled once he was in the united states. remember, it was his agency that led the attack on our

mike pompeo, director of the defense intelligence agency general robert ashley, director of the federal bureau of investigation chris wray, director of the nationality agency, admiral mike rogers and director of the geospatial intelligence agency robert cardillo. we have a long day in front of us. i thank you all for being here. i know how forward you look to this one occasion on an annual basis. since 1995, this committee's met in open forum to discuss the security threats facing the united states of america. this has never been nor will it ever be a comfortable conversation to have. the threats this country face are complex, evolving and without easy answers. they exist in multiple domains. they're asymmetrical and conventional. they can be launched from across the ocean or be planned in the heart of our homeland. nonetheless, this conversation serves a vital purpose. and it's essential it takes place in the public square with as much detail and candor as is possible. in my view, that is the true value and public service of this hearing. it provides the american people with insight that they just don't normally get. those insights are about the

. >>> back here in the u.s., a harsh grilling of the nation's intelligence community today over russian election meddling. the nation's top election chiefs warn that not only did russia interfere in the 2016 u.s. presidential election, it's intrusion into this year's midterm elections could be even worse. members of the senate intelligence committee are frustrated. >> unless they face clear repercussions for their cyber operations, right now there are none. is that not the case? there are no repercussions. >> also the rob porter scandal isn't going away. today the fbi director said porter's initial background check was finished last july. the white house staff secretary stepped down last week after his ex-wives claimed he abused them. a u.s. official tells nbc news up to 40 white house officials are still working without permanent security clearances, including the president's son-in-law jared kushner. >>> and the wall comes tumbling down. >>> they are asking for action. the family of a man shot and killed by bart police want that officer prosecuted. among the question now what does the

-- the director of national intelligence the cartels make money trafficking in people, drugs or other contraband and they are exploiting the porous nature of our border with our neighbor to the south, mexico. an even young children are being sent up through the borders, exploiting a loophole in the law. the president has also said in addition to dealing with border security, he wants to change legal immigration to focus on the neural family -- mom, dad, and the kids. if other people want to come to the united states, then they can qualify for various employment-based visas. they can come study as a student, they can qualify with an h-1 visa, but we're going to limit the number of visas and green cards based strictly on your family relationships. and then he said he wanted to deal with the diversity lottery visa. this is perhaps the most difficult to understand visa our government issues. basically what we say is there are 50,000 diversity visas, and for those countries that aren't otherwise represented, we're going to spread those like -- like bread on the water and welcome 50,000 peo

national intelligence crimes are crimes. i would disagree with the prior guest on that. there are a lot of people sitting in jail on counterintelligence investigations. host: first call for christopher o'farrell is philip in michigan. democrat line. go ahead, you are on. my answer to the previous caller is the opposite idea. the president should come on and go, i'm going to take the fifth amendment. i have a right to take the fifth amendment. he should announce that he will do so in a double blow all of the air out of the issue. if clinton had taken the fifth, it would have destroyed the whole thing, they would have never been able to impeach clinton. president -- when it comes to the information that we talked about, can the president just release it at will? guest: he has absolute discretionary authority with respect to classified information. the thing that i always harken back to is president carter made the intelligence community crazy when he got up in a campaign event in miami and started discussing national intelligence collection platforms from satellites. that

. >>> a startling new national security alert from the nation's intelligence chiefs about the midterm elections just six months away. what's being done to protect your vote. >>> team u flying high here in pyeongchang. chloe kim strikes gold. and we're with her for that triumphant moment. >> it hasn't really sunk in yet. and i still feel like i need to go back out there and compete again. >> and tonight we're with shaun white before his shot at redemption. >>> another tragic turn in this flu epidemic. a mother dies after putting off medicine because it was too expensive. tonight, why has the price of tamiflu doubled? and how can you get it for less? >>> and the superhero blockbuster making history tonight. the creative force and the stars share the powerful messages of "black panther." >> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening, everyone, from pyeongchang there is lots to report from here coming up. >>> but there is breaking news in oregon tonight. a climbing accident and a risky high altitude rescue mission under way right now for more than a dozen stranded climb

will president trump do about it, particularly given what we learned from his director of national intelligence this past week. dan coats appeared at a senate intelligence committee hearing and said that russia feels emboldened by what they did in 2016 and is intent on targeting the 2018 midterm elections. we learned in that same hearing from fbi director chris wray that president trump has not directed his national intelligence chiefs to do anything to thwart russia's interference. now, a white house official tells me this morning that all options are on the table. but alex, to this point, president trump has not elected to use any of the newer options available to him to retaliate against russia. >> okay, geoff bennett, thank you for that report, we'll see you again. let's bring in katy faang, let's get to it. does this indictment at all debunk the president's position that the russia investigation is a hoax? >> absolutely not. in fact it refutes trump's assertion that that is a hoax. if you think about the fact that trump is now making a big stink that it proves there's no collusion, you kno

there's no doubt that north korea is seen as an existential as the threat, as dan coats the national intelligence. there isa intelligence director put it. there is a feeling that they have to be, despite all that's going on regarding the olympics and so on, on alert and mindful of the threat that is posed by north korea. mr coates said the goal was to get a peaceful settle m e nt said the goal was to get a peaceful settlement to the situation there, but he said north korea was expected to continue weapons testing throughout this year, 2018, and he said that washington has repeatedly said that washington has repeatedly said that washington has repeatedly said that all options are on the table as far as dealing with north korea is concerned, including a military strike. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the american ambassador to the united nations has called on the security council to put pressure on the burmese leader, aung san suu kyi, to acknowledge that horrific acts are taking place against rohingyas in myanmar. nikki haley said the burmese military must be held accountable a

. >>> the nation's top intelligence official sending a unanimous full-throat warning to the white house -- russia is already meddling in the 2018 midterm elections. director of national intelligence dan coates telling the senate intel committee russia is convinced its previous meddling efforts were successful, and he says the kremlin will continue using propaganda and social media to widen the political divide in the u.s. listen to senators questioning the intel chiefs about president trump's role in combating the russian threat. listen. >> making a lot of specific efforts to blunt directives by the president? >> not as specifically directed by the president. >> okay. not direct, the presidential direction to take steps to disrupt his activities? >> not sure -- >> could you -- >> sorry. i'm not sure how specific. >> despite the testimony from his top intel agencies, three sources familiar with the president's thinking say he remains unconvinced russia interfered in the 2016 election. >> staggering. >>> president trump calls the immigration debate now underway in the senate the last chan

today the director of national intelligence dan coats weighed in on this security situation telling the associated press, quote, we have a broken system and i think everybody's come to agree with that now. coats was later asked about the risks of temporary clearances at today's senate intel hearing. >> i think sometimes it is necessary to have some type of preliminary clearance in order to fill a slot, but i have publicly stated if that is the case, the access has to be limited with the kind of information they can receive or not receive. the process is broken. it needs to be reformed. >> these latest developments have intensified the focus on this man, white house chief of staff john kelly and how he has handled the domestic abuse allegations against rob porter and the questions about his security clearance. "the wall street journal" reports when kelly was asked if the situation should have been handled differently he responded, quote, no it was all done right. tonight a new report in the "the washington post" indicates that a number of white house staffers don't agree. in fact, this r

. >> reporter: today's indictment comes just days after the nation's intelligence chiefs warned russia is determined to influence the next elections. >> this is an attack on our national security. and as if it was a b-2 bomber coming and dropping a bomb over the united states, we have to be prepared to take every step possible to protect our country. >> reporter: security experts say the 2016 elections proved to russia that its tactics worked. they're cheaper than buying a fighter jet, nobody dies and they can deny responsibility. the cyber security chief. >> we've seen russia adopt its long-term strategy to include an information warfare component. we need to adopt to that. >> reporter: among the options open to the u.s. -- enforce current economic sanctions or consider tightening them and a potential cyber retaliation. >> i think our intelligence community, our dod has the best of the best at their fingertips. the dynamic in skish securi -- cyber security, offense is better than against. >> reporter: going tit for tat has risks. much of the u.s. infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber

i have that iran analyst and a former national intelligence counselor and we'll talk more about the challenges they today's world order facing stay with us.

normal non—partisan scrutiny of the nation's intelligence services has 110w nation's intelligence servicesnder, with democrats branding the republican memo a misrepresentation of the fa cts , memo a misrepresentation of the facts, and say there are accounts of the fbi will provide crucial contacts to the agency's actions. they have also branded the intelligence committee's chairman, nunes, asa intelligence committee's chairman, nunes, as a stooge doing the bidding of the white house. for his part, donald trump to the twitter to hail him a man of tremendous courage who will some day the recognised as a great american hero. he previously referred to the minority leader on that committee as a little adam schiff, one of the biggest liars and lea kers schiff, one of the biggest liars and leakers in washington. and this was the response of. people would appreciate it if you turned off the tv. democrats say that by calling into question the integrity of senior law enforcement officials, the republicans are simply seeking to undermine the work of this man, the special counsel, robert waller, whose

it was director of national intelligence dan coats. he said exactly that.ere was, quote, no doubt that russia perceives its past efforts as successful. and really all of them agreed that the sights are now set in the midterms this year and then on to the next presidential election in 2020. and we know that this russian interference campaign, it really does extend far beyond the elections themselves. we've seen this repeatedly. russian bots have been targeting social media. they've made up fake accounts, fake events. we saw this in the election. even just recently, we know that russian-linked twitter accounts, they were found to have been pushing that release the memo hashtag all across social media. of course that was part of that effort to get out of the republican memo that was eventually released that accused the fbi of abusing surveillance court warrant processes. so of course we know that in the end, that release the memo hashtag, it was successful in some ways. president trump approved the memo for release just about a week and a half ago. but these r

he should know better about national security and intelligence. it's not that the fbi is challenging their president. it's rather that the fbi is trying to explain that there are extremely sensitive sources and methods here. so the rank and file in the fbi is wondering whether their human sources, their technical penetrations, are worth anything anymore if the white house can release and expose them simply for political reasons. that's the worry going on right now inside the hoover building on pennsylvania avenue. >> i wanted to share a tweet from john brennan, former cia director. i had as many fights with congressional dems over the years on national security matters but i never witnessed the type of reckless partisan behavior i am now seeing from nunes and house republicans. absence of moral and ethical leadership in the white house is fueling this government crisis. we know he's been a sharp critic, but jeffrey smith, you asked the top lawyer at cia and as a career intelligence official during those years, know very well that this is even bigg

corp. 2018] >> next, "newsmakers" with .ongressman bob goodlatte after that the director of national intelligencend the directors of the fbi and cia testified on a senate hearing on global threats. "newsmakers" is pleased to welcome bob goodlatte representing virginia's sixth district. congress, hes in has announced he will not be running next year, but he has a full plate between now and in the end of the term. we will talk about the issues. thank you for being with us. -- let me introduce you will be asking questions of representative goodlatte. i think that we are starting with you. >> thank you for being with us, today. unfortunately, we saw another tragedy with the school shooting in parkland, florida. secretary, we just learned, has made comments that congress needs to hold hearings looking into these types of issues dealing with school shootings. , youleadership committee have not chosen to go that route into gun violence. 'o you think that mrs. devos recommendation is a good one? we will consider that. we do think that communities need to make sure that they're doing everything to keep th

testifying to a senate committee, the national intelligence director said russia believes its interference2016 presidential election largely achieved its main aim to weaken faith in american democracy. jane o'brien has more. part of the job of america's intelligence chiefs is to sound the alarm and dan coats rang it loud and clear. the united states is under attack. under attack by entities that are using cyber to penetrate virtually every major action that takes place in the united states. and while iran, north korea and china were all named, russia was emphasised. we expect russia to continue using propaganda, social media, personas, sympathetic spokesmen and other means to influence to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the united states. us intelligence agencies all agree that moscow meddled with the presidential election and will try to mess with november's mid—terms. it is an assessment apparently at odds with the president's view. we can't confront this threat which is a serious one with the whole of government response when

that's the other big headline from the blockbuster hearing where the nation's top intelligence chief and they are now warning the nation the last time the russians tried this, they considered it a success. this news coming next from the fox news deck. liberty mutual saved us almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. >>hey. oh, that's my robe. >>is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782 when liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. >> there should be no doubt that russia views the 2018 u.s. mid-term elections as a target for russian influence operations. >> the director of national intelligence, dan coates, testifying to senators that russia is already taking steps to meddle in the mid-term elections. his warning from his federal intelligence chiefs. they told the senate intelligence committee expect russia to pick up the pace as americans g

a veteran analysts and a former national intelligence counselor. chaos in the middle east the nuclear threat in korea the trade war between russia and the west the world order. and without a clear. superpower good well we know all be on the verge of collapse. this world. and find ways to move forward. dr matthew burrows a cia veteran analyst and a former national intelligence council welcome to the show it's really great to have you on our program so matthew the world is no longer split into one like during the cold war and clearly u.s. isn't leading the world like it's tried to in the ninety's so she will be bracing ourselves for a catalyst in this new. reality chaos in libya. strong words certainly instability because i don't think we have really achieved some sort of equilibrium the u.s. is trying to find a new role for itself other powers as well so but why why why is it so bad i mean we've had it leaderless world for many centuries before and we were find well that leaderless world had quite a few wars in it and obviously i think you know our

. >> reporter: well, it was a blunt message from the director of national intelligence who warned that russia will use propaganda, spread false information, and carry out cyber attacks ahead of the november election to stir up divisions in the u.s. >> frankly, the united states is under attack. >> reporter: dan coats, the director of national intelligence, said russia is already working to disrupt this year's midterm elections. >> we need to inform the american public that this is real, that this is going to be happening, and the resilience needed for to us stand up and say we're not going to allow some russian to tell us how to vote, how we ought to run our country. and i think there needs to be a national cry for that. >> reporter: senate democrats said that national cry needs to begin with president trump. >> i believe that he feels that he and russia did not meddle in the election. as to whether i believe it or not, i'm with our agencies. >> reporter: but he has sent mixed messages about russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. rhode island senator jack reed: >> has the

he could instruct the director of national intelligence to take a shot in that direction. not hearing ae clamor from either the president or house intelligence committee either to release the underlying application or that they cannot release the application, i think it is further proof that this whole parade has looked to do with transparency and a lot to a preset andlling rather partisan political narrative. host: stephen vladek joining us from the university of texas. he is joining us from austin, texas. if you want to asking questions about the release of the memo, what it does for the larger aspect of the mueller investigation and other matters, 202-748-8000 for republicans --202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8002 for independents. does the onus come upon those who presented to say where the information is coming from? guest: to a point. it is incumbent on any law enforcement officer applying to a court for a warrant to provide at least some information about the source of the information, about the identity of the informant or at least

we heard from the director of national intelligence, cia chief, fbi director and the nsa director. national security agency. with each headline seemingly more alarming than the last. starting with this warning from the nation's top spy chief. >> frankly, the united states is under attack. under attack by entities that are using cyber to penetrate virtually every major action that takes place in the united states. there should be no doubt that russia perceived that its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 u.s. midterm elections as a potential target for russian influence operations. >> so that is pretty straightforward. but surely there is no indication that russia is meddling right now, right? >> have you seen russian activity in the lead up to the 2018 election cycle? >> yes, we have seen russian activity and intentions to have an impact on the next election cycle here. >> director coates? >> yes, we have. >> anyone else? admiral rogers? >> yes, and i think this would be a good topic to get into greater detail this afternoon. >> the this afternoon part is a closed door ses

another big headline from that senate intelligence hearing. nation's top intelligence officers all agreeing that russia will keep meddling in future u.s. elections. >> we had then and continue to have now grave concerns about the accuracy of the memorandum because of omissions. we provided thousands of documents that were very sensitive. and lots and lots of briefings. it's very hard for anybody to distill that down to 3 1/2 pages. >> robert costa, msnbc political analyst. and mika oyang, vice president for the national security program at the centrist think tank third way. she was also a staff member on the house intelligence committee. the fbi director chris ray was asked specifically if president trump has ever asked him to disrupt russian meddling. >> we're taking a lot of specific efforts to -- >> directed by the president? >> not as specifically directed by the president. >> so why hasn't president trump actively done anything about what his entire intelligence team unanimously agrees was russia interference in our election? >> because the presid

national intelligence director dan coats also weighed in on the background check process. was the fbi aware of allegations related to rob porter and his domestic abuse? and if so, was the white house informed it could affect his a , when wereearance they informed and who at the white house was informed? >> senator, there is a limit to what i could say about the content of any particular background investigation for a variety of reasons you could appreciate. i will say the background investigation process involves an elaborate set of standards, guidelines, protocols and agreements that have been replaced for -- that have been in place for 20 plus years. i am confident that in this particular instance, the fbi follow the established protocols. s thewyden: but wa white house informed of his security clearance? >> i cannot get into the content. submitted you the fbi a partial report on the investigation in question in march. and then a completed background investigation in late july. soon thereafter we received requests for follow-up, inquiry. we did the follow-up and provided

the director of national intelligence, dan coats, told the senate intelligence committee this about russia we expect russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas, sympathetic spokesmen and other means to influence to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the united states. there is no doubt that past attempts have been successful and views the 2018 midterm elections as a potential target for russian influence operations. >> let's go to our senior congressional correspondent manu r raju. he is watching these threats. you heard director coats warning that the risk of global conflict is higher than any time after the end of the cold war. some of the major threats identified from the panel included what? >> reporter: they also raised serious concerns about north korea, the threat it poses to the united states, and every day the united states, they're raising concerns about north korea's nuclear capability. but one of the big concerns, wolf, coming out of that hearing is whether or not the united states is taking e

dr matthew burgess s c i have that are an analyst and a former national intelligence council welcome to the show it's really great to have you on our program so matthew the world is no longer split into like during the cold war and clearly u.s. isn't leading the world like it's try to in the ninety's so she will be bracing ourselves for a cast in this new lateral reality chaos maybe a strong word certainly instability because i don't think we have really achieved some sort of equilibrium the us is trying to find a new role for itself other powers as well so why though why it why is it so bad i mean we've had it leaderless world for nanny centuries before and we were find well that literalists world had quite a few wars in it and obviously i think you know our own. avatar i mean for conflict is very very low these days and public server much more eager to see economic improvement than they are to. actually get into a fight with a neighbor or or with other powers in the world. how volatile is to current state of u.s. russia relations i mean do you see more a sort of a stability within

tonight the nation's intelligence chiefs say russia is targeting the midterm elections.isn't trying to stop it. >> has the president directed you and your agency to take specific actions to confront and blunt russian influence activities? >> not as specifically drektsed by t directed by the plus.

you were the director of the national intelligence at that time. about those operations and why wasn't more done to stop it before it became a problem? >> the first point i'd make is, this is not the first time they've done things like this. we have records of their attempts to interfere in our election and electoral process going back to the '60s. there's always been this sort of am byient level of soeft or russian activity involvement in attempts to influence our election. when these things start and this is typical trade craft, they start innocently, innocent looking and passive and so when a cell like this starts, it's fairly innocent looking. i personally, no, i wasn't aware of this activity going back to 2014. we certainly became aware of what was going on in '15 and '16, no question about it and i think what was a big revelation to me was the never before have we seen an effort like this mounted by the russians with the multi-dimensional nature of it and its aggressiveness and directness. this was unprecedented. >> before i let you go, i hav

the director of national intelligence warning that people with interim clearances should have limited access to secret information. so beyond jared kushner who we already know do we have a sense of how many staffers within the white house have only interim security clearance and could this snoel snowball from here? >> there's between 30 and 40 officials and these are mostly white house officials don't have those permanent security clearances. last year they actually prohibited new people from getting interim security clearances because of that national security issue and so for all of those people that we talked about, you know, how many have, you know, things in their closet that like rob porter that they would not want out there. and so they're still looking into, you know, people's security clearances because jared kushner does not seem to ever -- is ever going to get a permanent security clearance. >> i have a feeling the white house is scrambling to go through all those files. all right. we'll check in with you in about 30 minutes or so. >> the trump administration calls for majo

that's especially true at a time where we've heard from the director of national intelligence, dan coats, and others yesterday. really saying, look, russia and other adversaries are actively trying to interfere with western governments. they have an interest in doing it, we have seen them attempt to do that. and when you have people who don't have full security clearancs dealing with the most sensitive information that comes across the white house, that just opens up a number of potential loopholes where people, espionage can take place, blackmail. it's really serious. you would think that the white house would want to do everything it could do to guard against that. and heed director coats' suggestion that people without the full clearance should stop being given this information. but so far we have not seen that urgency from this white house. >> jonathan lemire, you did some great reporting on the white house today. what is the level of comprehension in there as to the scope of this problem? >> i think it's another moment where the white house is having trouble sort of all getting on t

the vice president now sides with the cia director, the director of national intelligence, the directority agency, the director of the fbi in saying what the president is reluctant to say, that russia did interfere in the presidential election and is still interfering. listen to this. >> there were efforts by russia and likely by other countries to involve or influence american elections, and we take that very seriously. as we speak, that inquiry investigation continues to be ongoing, but it's also forward looking. in my briefings at a variety of our intelligence agencies, we have discussed plans going forward to ensure that meddling in our elections by russians or other powers around the world will be rebutted and we'll continue to develop the kiennd technologies that ensure and maintain the integrity of our electoral system. >> okay. he may say that, the intelligence chiefs may say that, but the president apparently still doesn't believe it. >> right. and he's not going to change. this is a threat, he believes, to the legitimacy of his election, and he's not going to get off of that.

this was briefings done by the department of homeland security as well as the director of national intelligence offices. we are preparing local and state election officials to prevent these types of things from happening in the future. we're also working with vendors, private sector vendors on ways to prevent election hacking. to the president's tweet this is something we think there is a bit of a revision of history going on about how this president has confronted russia and dealt with russia and how the last administration dealt and confronted russia. remember, the obama administration implemented the russia reset policy of failure of making concession and concession after concession to putin with very little in return. you know, this president has confronted russia when appropriate. he has stepped forward and authorized the sale of offensive weapons in ukraine and authorized air strikes in syria over russian objections. last week the white house called out russia for the largest cyberattack in global history. we have been tough, we have been measured smart and appropriate in dealing with rus

and you heard in director of national intelligence coates' testimony the other day, he said he thought this was a major problem and one that needed to be resolved. now, i've heard from sources on capitol hill that members of congress are taking a look at exactly what they can do to plug that hole, maybe limiting the types of secrets people with only interim clearance are given access to. but it does just seem odd that if there are enough red flags in your background, that you are not granted a security clearance, you would still be allowed access to the secrets with that kind of uncertainty hanging over your head. i think that's made a lot of people, lawmakers especially on capitol hill, really start asking questions about what they can do to fix that. >> kimberly, where the other story that has taken up our majority of time and attention this week is concerned, i want to show you a clip we've all by now seen and heard, president today broke his silence on abuse, apparently reluctantly. let's listen. >> we're leaving, make your way out. >> i'm opposed to domestic violence. everybody he

now the director of national intelligence dan coates is calling for a revolutionary change. he spoke to the associated press saying we have a broken system and i think everyone has to do agree with that. he then echoed a similar sentiment this morning on capitol hill. listen. >> the process is broken. it needs to be reformed. as senator warner has previously said, it is not evolution, it is revolution. >> okay. let's just take a closer look at what the director of national intelligence is talking about. more than one year into trump's first term there is still a significant number of officials working in the white house without permanent security clearances. nbc news has confirmed that number is between 30 and 40 officials. one possible reason could be the white house's very high turnover rate. the "new york times" reports this administration has a rate of 34%, that is higher than any administration in decades. and it is not just low profile staffers either. jared kushner the president's son-in-law and senior white house adviser does not have a permanent security clearance.