nick schifrin has the details. nick: judy, the u.s. is reducing its forces in three countries -- afghanistan, iraq, andia. there are currently more than 4,000 forces in afghanistan, and re000 in iraq. by january 15, till be 2,500 u.s. forces in each country. here's what acting defense about the withdraw fromoday afghanistan. >> this is consistent withta ished plans and strategic objectivesupported by american people, and does not equate to change in u.s. policy or objectives. nick: we now turn to a man who was at the center of president trump's decisions, serving as national security advisor. former national security advisor h.r. mcmaster, a retired general has spent multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan. his latest book is "battlegrounds: the fight to defend the free world." acting defense secretary saying that the -- the mission is not changing. gen. mcmaster: i don't think it changes. i think it goes beyond the paltry nbers of troops. these are historic lows anyway. i think it is the overall strategy. essentially in awehanistan, wh

to discuss this i'm joined by nick schifrin. hi, nick. first of all, tell us what did secretarhpompeo say andat did he do today? >> reporter: the first unprecedted step pompeo tooks waout travel. he visit add settlement in the occupied west bank with a winery that last year named a vintage after him. israel calls the settlement legal, palestinians who own the land call it stolen. he took an israeli military helicopter to the golan heights, got a tour miolitary along the syrian border.p the trministration recognized it last year. >> you can't stand here and stare out at wahat'oss the border and deny the central thing that president trump recognized that previous presidents had refused to do that this is a part of israel aeand a central part of i >> reporter: the next steps were on policy. he said any food noduced most settlements in the occupied west bank should be labeled "made in israel,t" that changes decades of policy that required the labeling of th west bank. and he also embraced the israeli government's argument that the boycott div

nick schifrin covering that part of today's fast-moving events. nick schifrin, yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you all three. as we reported, this is a transition of power unlike any we have ever seen. to help us understand what's happening, i'm joined by david marchick. he's the director of the center for presidential transition. it's a nonpartisan group that helps presidents and candidates prepare for the next administration. david marchick, thank you very much for joining us. how unusual is what is going on right now in terms of compared with other transitions? david: thank you for having me. there have been peaceful transitions of power for 223 years. this is very unusual. this is not like the year 2000 11 state, 500 37 votes determined the outcome of 270 electoral votes. here, there a very wide margin. the outcome is clear as president george w. bush said and the transition should be moved forward. judy: that's exactly what i wanted to ask you and i posed this question to ben ginsberg. you hear republicans saying we gave al gore 37 d

nick schifrin, thank you. william, finally, domestically, a lot of concerns about violence and voter intimidation. what is your sense of that right now? william: that's right there there is this militia or so-called patriot groups and what they might do, whther they hear the presid is called -- the president's call to watch the polls and then there's this plot against governor whitmer. there's been an increase in tensions. there was a report about a militi seeming group in oregon stopping people trying to drop off their ballots at a mail dropbox and questionin them. they were wearing weapons. according to all legalts exp that is clear and demonstrable voter intimidation and the police were notified.to it is importantress that we shouldn't let these isolated cases be exaggerated in any way. ase have talked about, tens of millions have already cast their balance. plyes, a lot of phad to wait in long lines, and that is a t'problem, bu's important to note we should not keep fear from -- we should not let ep fear -

to discuss i am joined by nick schifrin. t did secretary pompeo say and what did he do today? nick: the first unprecedented step pompeo took was about travel. he visited a settlement in the occupied west bank with a winery that last year named a vintage after him. israel calls the settlem t palestinians call it stolen. he took a u military helicopter to the golan heights. he got a tour from the u.s. military to the syrian border. the trump administration i recognizlast year. >> you can't stand here and stare out at what is across the border and deny the central thing president trump recognized that previous presidents have refused to do. this is a central part of israel. nick: o polic he said any food produced on most settlements in thbeoccupied west bank shoul labeled made in israel. that d changades of policy that required the labeling of the west bank. helso embraced the israeli government argument that the boycott divesting sanctions unit was anti-semitic. he pledged to cut funding to any group that supports the bds. this

. >> woodruff: and nick schifrin takes a closer look at the members of president-elect biden's national security team. >> schifrin: thanks, judy. tony blinken will be the secretary of state nominee. he was the deputy secretary of state and deputy national security advisor during the he is also one of president isect biden's closest, and most long-standing, as. avril haines will be the nominee for director of national intelligence, which oversees all u.s.' intelligence agencies. she is the former deputy director othe c.i.a. and was an aide to biden in congress. she would be highest ranking woman in the intelliitnce comms history. linda thomas-greenfield will be the nominee for u.n. ambassador. she is a longtime foreignwh service officewas the most senior black member of the stat departmeen she resigned at the beginning of the trump administration. and jake sullivan will be the national security adassor. hehen-vice president hiden's national security advisor in the w house and a senior advisor to then secretary of state clinton. he will be youngest national security advisor in 60 years. t

nick schifrin joins us now with the latest. so, hello, nick. ofhe names that had been mentioned for secretary of defense for the defense secretary was michele flournoy. reminds who she is and what the thinking was about her potential to be named. >> yeah, michele flournoy, judy, is still very much the leading candidate to be secretary of defense. she would be the first female secretary of defense. she receives widespread praises special for mentoring of young women. she has extensive pentagon experience, number three under the obama adinistration. but there is criticism we've heard in recent days of her over policy by people on both sides of the aisle, who thi th.s. has been too reliant on the military. these critics want to see military withdrawals, removal of support for the saudi-led war in prmen, and they are concerned about flournoy'vious support for military intervention. so take a listen to wisp low wheeler, a long-time former capitol hill aide. >> she obviously has a lot of experience inside the pentagon and knows how the building opera

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: in this increasingly divided time, a new book lookshistory to he find a path to unity and to look for new ways to move toward equality. paul solman is our guide, for his regular series, "making sense." >> reporter: harvard social scientist robert putnam, famous for his best-seller, 20 years ago, about increasing disconnectedness in america, "bowling alone." >> bowling is big in america, you know. but bowling in leagues, bowling in teams, is off by about 40%. so the fact that we're bowling alone represents one more missing occasion for connections. >> reporter: but this fall, putnam is in semi-seclusion, with wife rosemary, in resplendent rural new hampshire, and he appreciates the irony. >> i've taken a ton of criticism and teasing from my family for 25 years for writing about how important it is that people connect to one another. but in order to do that, i come up here in total isolation. of course, it's different now with the coronavirus. mostly because we're trying to escape from the risks down in-- down in the city. >> reporter: p

. >> woodruff: today in hong kong, the government removed four pro- here's nick schifrin. >> schifrinhe end, their final act of resistance, was solidarity. >> together we stand. together we stand. >> schifrin: today, the entire pro-democracy camp of legislators quit, and held a press conference alongside their ousted colleagues. >> there's no point to sit there like sitting ducks and be ousted one by one. >> schifrin: one of the legislators who resigned today was 63-year-old claudia mo. we spoke to her later, by skype. >> today would mean the final nail in the coffin of hong kong's being hammered in. they're telling hong kong people, especially those in the political sector, that if we don't like you in any way politically, we can just chuck you out. >> schifrin: hong kong's legislative council has been the primary arena for pro-democracy politicians. they fight, often literally, laws they say erode the city's freedoms. today beijing changed the rules to allow the hong kong government to remove pro- democracy legislators, even though they were democratically elected. the hong kong gov

our correspondents william brangham and nick schifrin have been following these issues closely and join me now. both of you. william, to you first, what are election officials mainly to?orried about you talked >> there is certainly the concern about cyber intrusion, somehow getting in, penetrating the election's infrastructure bo whichple cast their votes tomorrow or the votes get counted. so far we'en really minimal instances of that. there's this other qution of in-person threats to vote vote. ma yamichtouched in her piece earlier about these very aggressive eents that happened over the week weekend. the trump campaign has beenng recruihat they call the trump army, volunteers who are being dep deputized to go to the polls tomorrow to watch out for what they think are irregularities. the question is how much training do these people have, do they know what the rules are? how much of this edcould ble into voter intimidation? and there are very specific rules and lagaws ast that, and you can really get into a lot of trouble if yohassle vote when they're trying to cast their vote. it's wo

here's nick schifrin. ♪ nick: in the part of the world perhaps most excited for president elect biden- the irish celebrated their luck. after four years of america first, western europe expressed hope for change. >> joe biden has decades of experience in domestic and foreign policy. he knows germany and europe well. >> many european leaders have worked with joe biden and share his day one priorities. reentering the paris climate accord, extending the new start treaty with russia, and rejoining the world health organization. among his first phone calls were european allies, including french president emmanuel macron. >> i wanted to congratulate you and to congratulate kamala harris for this election. nick: in britain, prime minister boris johnson has been a trump ally. and biden has rejected brexit. yesterday johnson expressed relief biden emphasized shared values in their call. >> it was refreshing, i may say, to have that conversation and i forward to many more. nick: biden's second round of calls were with east asian allies, including south korean president moon jae-in and japan's n

nick schifrin joins us now with the latest. hello, nick. the names that have been mentioned for secretary of defense was michelle flournoy. remind us who she is and what the thinking was about her potential to be named. nick: michelle flournoy is very much still be secretary of defense. --be the leading candidate t secretary of defense. sheie rd widespread praise especially for her men of young women. she was most recently number three in the pentagon under the obama administration. but there is criticismen in r days over policy by people on both sides of the aisle who believe1, since 9he u.s. has become too, interventionio reliant on the military. these critics want to see military withdrawals and removal of support to the saudi led war in yemen. they are concerned about her previous support for military intervention. take a listen to winslow hill leader.g time capitol >> hsia bc has experience, but she has been wrong almost every time. it doesn't look like she has changed her views vy much. we have had disasters imghanistan, iraq, libya,

nick schifrin has the details. >> schifrin: judy, the u.s. is reducing its forces in three countries: afghanistan, iraq, and somalia. there are currently more than 4,000 forces in afghanistan, and 3,000 in iraq. by january 15, there will be 2,500 u.s. forces in eac country in total. here's what acting defense secretary miller said today about the withdraw from afghanistan. >> this is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives, supported by american people. it does not equate to a change in u.s. policy oobjectives. >> schifrin:e now turn to a man who was at the center of president trump's decisions, serving as national security advisor.d retieutenant general h.r. mcmaster also served numerous tours in iraq and afghanistan. his latest book is defend the free world." to >> general, welcome back." to the "newsho thank you very much. let's start on the afghanistan drawdown. as we heard, acting defence secretary chris miller says the mission is not changing. can the u.s. continue the mission if it goes down to 2500? i think it g

nick schifrin reports on who he was, and why his death is so significant. >> schifn: amna, iranian mediaorts that mohsen fakhrizadeh was driving east of the capital, tehran, when a car bomb exploded near his car, and gunmen shot and killed him. analysts say fakhrizadeh was the j. robert oppenheimer of iran's nuclear program-- its lead scientist, coordinator and manager. western intelligence assessed but in 2018, israeli prime 200 minister benjamin netanyahu unveiled a stolen archive of iran's nuclear plans, and said fakhrizadeh was responsible for continuing the program secretly. >> a keyart of the plan wa to form new organizations to continue the work. this is how dr. mohsen fakhrizadeh, head of project amad, put it. remember that na: fakhrizadeh. >> schifrin: nobody has taken responsibility for his death, but today, iranian officials accused israel. to talk about this, i'm joined by normaroule, who had a 34-year career at c.i.a., nncluding as station chief the middle east, and was the national intelligence nager for iran until september 201 >> norman roule, welcome to "newshour". what'

to help us understand where thingstand on those fronts are william brangham and nick schifrin join us no so, william, tell us, first of all, how has the voting process gone today? have there been glitches? what a you finding? what are you learning?dy >> reporter: jthere's actually good news to report here. overall, and there are sti p a lot ple out there who need to vote, but so far there has been a relatively issue-free day. there have been long, and we know that's a problem for people who have to have jobs.e thve been a few technical issues. the four of those counties had, to extend their voting because those precincts got opened late, but for the most part, no real technical issues. there has been one sort of sign of the times issue. apparently in des mnes, iowa, voters were going in and there was so h sanitizerand building up on the ballots, it was affecting the scanners. th were able to fix it. south pretty good. on the misinformation front, all the major gros that have ben looking at this have been saying they have not seen any abnormal uptick in misinformation. there have been