government for publishing the pentagon papers. it is well-known how "the new york times" first published exits of the secret document -- exerts of the secret documents, but less well-known is how the beacon press, a small nonprofit publisher, came t to publish the pages that exposed the history of the u.s. involvement in vietnam. the publication led the press into a spiral of two and a half years of fbi arrested, intimidation, near bankruptcy, and the possibility of criminal prosecution. this is a story that has really been told in its entirety. back in 2007, i moderated this historic event at the annual meeting of the unitarian universalist conference in portland, oregon, in front of about 5000 people, commemorating the publication of the pentagon papers and its relevance today. we hear the story from the three men at the center of the storm. grand rentagon and executive, and we also hear from mike gravel, who will tell the dramatic story of how we entered the pentagon papers into the congressional record and finally, robert west

first meeting at the pentagon president said to then secretary of state bob gates, i think of myself as parallel parking. in other words i'm coming in there, two wars going on, host of hold over policies from the previous administration, i just want the fit myself in between what is going on. now you've had three secretarys of defense all leave saying they felt micro managed like the white house was controlling everything. new person who comes in as to figure out whether they're go to have autonomy or seen just as puppet of the president. >> o'donnell: michael, is this sort of bellyaching by people who don't like the process that goes on or is the process really dysfunctional? >> well, as i think some of both. what you see is gradual centralization of foreign policy not just national security military, but foreign policy in this white house. to degree that people say is unprecedented where few people in the white house, national school and advisor susan rice and white house chief of staff who has foreign policy background really have their hands on the controls here in way that drive

once jsoc submitted their game plan to the pentagon, the brass at the pentagon took about, by all reckoningsix hours to say, good. heather: that's fast, right? >> that's fast. get it over to the white house. that's where i think there's a combination of things. right now you've got a very political white house, it looks at everything through a political lens. you've got a collaborative, deliberative process in the white house, they want everybody's opinion. so i think it took about 48 hours or so based on the timelines that we're seeing from the pentagon and national security team information that's released about this. now, you could argue that after all these years of dealing with the terror threat once a plan is reviewed, approved by the pentagon and handed over to the white house and it involves the lives of u.s. citizens, that it shouldn't take that long. and it's very interesting because the national security spokesperson said, well, look, the president approved it as soon as he had unanimous approval or recommendation from the national security team. heather: so it becomes a decision

, his understanding of the pentagon, how he's seen by officials of the pentagon?'s this different from his predecessors? >> he was deputy secretary for some time, was the head of procurement there. he's had several stints within the pentagon. he knows the military brass, the bureaucracy, he understands how to make it work and has been effective in making it work in the past and that is quite different from the folks that precede him there in this administration. >> woodruff: but you still believe he's going to have difficulty getting done what he believes should be done because of the white house. >> well, look, you read the gates or the panetta book and you see the frustrations. you saw the frustrations in thenned of hagel's term in office. i think the problem is this: first of all, the white house does micromanage. the white house does tend to a top-down style that has alienated some of its cabinet. but secondly, it's seeking to pursue course in a place like syria and iraq that is full of ambivalence and half-way measures and he's going to have military brass at

has extensive background at the pentagon. if confirmed, he would be president obama's fourth defense secretary in six years. we will bring you that announcement when it happens but let's get to our other big story this morning. actually, we're going to go to the white house. i want to go to wolf blitzer as we get ready for president obama to make his nomination. sfwhofl. >> the fourth defense secretary secretary if ashton carter is confirmed. all indications are he will be confirmed. he'll have to go through republican majority. the new chairman will be john mccain and then he will have to be confirmed by the entire 100-member senate. a bit of a surprise, we thought chuck hagel would be coming to this announce. the president is about to make at the white house but we heard from barbara starr that chuck hagel decided it would be perhaps more appropriate for him not to attend this formal announcement. jake tapper is our cnn anchor. there's been a lot of awkwardness, jake, as we look at what's going on right now this transition

a time uncertainty at the bent pentagon.nt he has to shake some things up in the foreign policy. it needs a reboot. he has decided to do that by changing the position at the top of the department of defense, now white house officials who i've been speaking to said carter was tapped because he's not afraid to deliver bad news or challenge the president. the counter to that is he has been at the pentagon for quite awhile. some critics argue he might be more of a yes man. that, of course, remains to be seen. he's going to face some steep hurdles from the escaladeing crisis against isis which i mentioned and looming budget cuts jose as a part of the sequester. still the rest of the sequester sit to kick in. chuck hagel stepped down last week amid reports he was too passive in the face of the new challenges. on thursday hagel pushed back that he was forced out. he said the decision was mutual. based on my conversation has been largely bipartisan support from capitol hill. republican senator ted cruz saying he's skeptical that car

carter is a pentagon veteran.o live to the white house as soon that happens in a few moments at the top of the hour. martha: so we're just moments away now. the president is going to announce his pick for the next secretary of defense. it is really the worst-kept secret in washington and it has been confirmed it will be former pentagon official ashton carter. we'll watch that as it plays out moments from now. we welcome everybody on friday, brand new "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. eric: i'm eric shawn in for bill hemmer this morning. carter is no stranger to the halls of the pentagon. he was in the clinton administration as deputy defense secretary and well-known defense expert. why this pick? ed henry on the north lawn with the very latest. there are a lot of accusations that the white house micromanages pentagon policy. would you describe carter's style? is he somebody that can stand up to the president and be independent? >> reporter: they tell us ash carter is independent and bold, willing to stan

will he be a yes man for the pentagon? and work then to bring the president around to the president's thinking on tactics and strategies on issues ranging for i.s.i.s. to afghanistan and iran and iraq. the real question for him is not so much the policy, but the budget. will they stay within the sequestration limits or will they cabinet relief. -- will they get relief. chuck hagel tried to get relief, was not successful. it will be interesting if carter can next year. remember, he has a short time to change things. we are almost into the presidential election year. >> what do you think - broadly speaking, what do you think of the critique of this president. robert gates - that suggests that the white house micromanages the pentagon, and people with no military experience or involved in military decision making. >> i think that happens all the time, there's always tension between the white house and the agencies. the real question is is the secretary of defense able to go to the president and say "look, if this doesn't stop

contracts to supply psychological expertise to the pentagon.re is all kinds of unfortunate overlap and conflicts of interest that seem to press the apa to support military policy uncritically and sometimes perhaps behind the scenes. james at thatry meeting, who is now dean at wayne state in detroit of the, to psychologist at guantÁnamo and a member of the apa governing board, said at the meeting, defending military psychologists said they held make interrogations safe, ethical, and legal and cited instances where psychologists allegedly intervened to stop abuse. he said if we remove psychologist from these facilities, people are going to die. but then dr. lori magner got up, , and said,hologist why are people dying of the was military is in charged dust is in charge? the may put the question to professor al mccoy. apa whole debate within the and the role of psychologists, as you see it? >> amy, we can put this in a wider context. psychologists are critical, but there could ago because psychological torture is in effect enshrined within the u.s.

nato presence in europe are funded from the pentagon base budget but overseas contingency operations a separate pool of cash not subject to congressional budget caps. >> congress is very low to cut the war budget because they don't want to be accused of under cutting the troops when the troops are engaged in the field and the war budget supports the troops. >> reporter: there is also plenty of room for noncombat belt tightening says america universities gordon adams. >> pentagon as 1.8 million people who are essentially the back office for 1.1 million people in uniform. so there is a great deal the pentagon could do starting now to trim back the size of that huge overhead. >> reporter: while president obama under scored friday the necessity for a leaner military going forward the incoming republican congress will likely give the new defense secretary plenty of breathing room with the nation's defense budget, patricia are al jazeera. >>> for more on the nominee for defense secretary we turn to jamie at the white house for us and good to see you, what are your thoughts on this? >> well

barry goldwater and others were behind the chain of power in the pentagon. crow had become the most powerful peacetime military officer in american history? >> right. >> what -- is there anything else you can say about the upshot of that law and is that law a good thing? >> the law was designed to give the chairman of the joint chiefs more power to express his opinion and more power to speak his own mind in the interagency battles that took place. therefore, bringing them up closer to the power of other cabinet members in these sorts of -- in these decisions. i think the real difference there's an imposition where he could speak his own mind. but the admiral crow himself was an effective man in that position and was hand picked by ronald reagan to take that job in the reagan administration. so very often we know james baker's power in this administration comes from his close relationship to george bush, not because he's secretary of state. he's more powerful as secretary of state because of his close relationship. i think that ronald reagan trusted admiral c

that is very important if you are going to get things done in the pentagon.also told me when it comes to issues that he cares about like increasing the body armor for troops, that he is a fierce advocate, basically saying you do not want to tell him you will get something done and then not get it done because you will pay for it. his relay lay shunship with the white house will probably be the most difficult part. he doesn't have a long-standing relationship with the president. and the president tends to trust the people who have been with him since his days in chicago. those are the people that past secretaries of defense have said were listened to above the secretaries of defense. i think it's interesting that the president began with what secretary hagel has said about him in the past. because he was supposed to be leer. and then defense officials said the secretary chose not to come because they wanted it to be ash carter's day. and that's a giant slap at president obama, and confirms that secretary hagel was very much forced out. >> this comes at a very

let's begin with barbara starr over at the pentagon.ave caused the internet in north korea going down? what's the u.s. say? >> well, right now, wolf, the obama administration isn't saying anything. very interesting. the white house, the state department, the pentagon, all quiet about this. but you will recall that the administration said it would respond to north korea's hacking of sony, it would respond at a time and place of its choosing, and that response may not be made public. it may be very secretive. and that's leading some of the speculation around the world tonight that the u.s. may be behind this hacking attack against north korea, retaliation. a lot of people say maybe not. that the u.s. wouldn't want to do something so overt. you can't always measure north korea's response. maybe the north koreans took themselves out of the internet business to protect their small network. maybe the chinese took them out, you know, getting annoyed with north korea's constant rhetoric and leading to more instability in the region. the north k

also ahead, barack obama picks former pentagon official ashton carter to be the next u.s.efense secretary. a pitiful response to a refugee crisis amnesty international accuses the world of abandoning syria's most vulnerable people. >> one and lift off at dawn, the dawn of orion. >> reporter: and we have liftoff. nasa launches a rocket that could one day take us all the way to mars. ♪ >>> the case against the kenyan president for crimes against humanity have collapsed. all charges against him have been dropped. he was accused of orchestrating post-election violence in which over 1200 people died in 2007 and 2008. prosecutors were unable to collect enough evidence against him to take the case to trial. violen violence broke out in 2007 in kenya days after the presidential election results were announced. in 2009 icc prosecutored opened a request to open an investigation into the killings, and two years later charges were brought against six people, including the president, and the current deputy president. but in december of 2013, the prosecution requested a three-month post

the 2012 pentagon budget had the word "cyber" in it 12 times. the 2014 pentagon budget has the word "cyber" in it 147 times. so a twelvefold increase just in the mention of the world. n., it's become sort of a -- in fact, it's become sort of a joke that it's really the only part of the dod budget that's growing. if you want money for your project, just slap the word "cyber" on it. [laughter] a couple of weeks ago, the senior dod official joked he was starting to see a lot of proposals for things like cyber tank crossing his desk. [laughter] no such thing as a cyber tank. so government officials have really taken to talking about our vulnerabilities and the way that we're victimized, the way that our companies are being robbed by spies which is true. but i think that they're doing this, there's a bit of a cynical calculation in here. kind of playing the victim is a good way of focusing national attention and drumming up money for defense programs. but it tends to obscure the other side of the story, which is what this book is also about. we're qu

the pentagon didn't think it was a great policy. the congress and treasury didn't think it was a good policy. the sanctions were decided upon because they were the only policy everyone could agree upon. >> let me read you a line about admiral crowell. he was authorized to express his opinions. unilaterally he solve conflicts among the chiefs. this is a result of a 1986 law that was passed. mostll had become the powerful piece to officer in hamburg in history. is there anything else you can say about that law? designedk the law was to give the chairman of the joint chiefs more power to express his opinion and speak his own mind in the interagency battles that took place. bringing him up closer to the power of either cabinet members. difference,real certainly he was in a position where he could not speak for himself. effective man in that position. he was hand-picked by ronald reagan to take that job during the reagan administration. know, powers we comes from his close relationship to george bush, not because he is secretary of state

the pentagon said to have a security problem therefore we have a security problem. if you want to continue to be contractors you will take our help. once again in epitomizes the national approach the pentagon team up with contractors with information and intelligence sharing. contractors agreed to report the threats they would see on their network and when it was breached and the pentagon agreed not to disclose publicly and in return they would provide the corporations with the affirmation that was gathering from its own intelligence six operation and what nsa was gathering. so this partnership is set up private-sector and public come together for the purpose of the computer networks this is true across the board company's own roughly 85 percent of the network infrastructure in the united states. the government to sadistically control and so they have to participate in this intelligence sharing if we protect the internet. of the effort that began was the defense industrial base initiative called the dib 100 members of members today barely a dozen originally but it i

pentagon correspondent barbara starr is standing by. barbara?perhaps members of baghdadi's family have been captured, will they have the intelligence the u.s. needs about where the isis leader is hiding? pressure now rising on isis' reclusive leader abu bakr al baghdadi. this woman is believed to be baghdadi's wife or ex-wife. she and her child arrested by lebanese authorities when they tried to enter the country from syria. secretary of state john kerry ruling out any swap for hostages held by isis. >> we don't negotiate and i think people know that. >> reporter: inside syria, near raqqa, electronic warfare garrison in raqqa, a building to detect and potentially target u.s. and coalition aircraft. near aleppo, the u.s. struck yet again al qaeda operatives known as the khorasan group. in iraq, iran flying phantom jets in eastern iraq. the u.s. military watching closely and a u.s. official tells cnn so far the iranians are not flying near coalition jets. the next major move by iraq, u.s. officials tell cnn that iraqi units plan to start moving no

i think you'll hear republicans talking about the white house micromanagement of the pentagon.e've heard a lot of that over the past year from predecessors like robert gates and leon panetta. others say it's hard for us to do our jobs at the pentagon and hard for secretaries of defense to run the pentagon because the white house has been micromanaging and doing it in a way that has been indecisive or vague on what the policies should be. so it's a real combination of problems in dealing with the white house. what mccain was getting at when he made the statement to ashton carter, look, we don't have a lot of faith even though we think you're pretty qualified that your arrival is going to make any big changes because it's a bigger issue. it's how the administration deals with the defense secretary. and that's a big deal, so i think these hearings will really focus on the white house perhaps more even than the nominee himself. >> yes, back to that statement that you mentioned, senator john mccain saying that carter should expect micromanagement. in his statement he says "i hope th

why is the pentagon unhappy? >> this one dollar and one cents trillion spending plan has almost half of the resources devoted to the pentagon, $554 million. you think the pentagon would be happy, but this bill contains things the pentagon didn't ask for and doesn't want. >> air force pilots love the low slow, an attack jet for it's survivability. the air force hates it for its fiscal survivability. the cold war relic has survived every attempt by the pentagon to kill it because it has powerful backers in congress, especially from the state where many of the states where they are based. >> the air force has fought congress to retire the a10. why they weren't focused on other important issues, i don't know. >> the air force would argue the four billion-dollar cost of maintaining the a tens is an important issue in these tight budget times, but it's a tiny fraction of overall pentagon spending. the add have a kaz groups citizens against government waste that exiled pork products and unwanted weapons. $90 million to

his primary role may be to mollify a reck bureaucracy at the pentagon.formed military, concerns about what's happening with isis, concerns about what's happening with iran, concerns about the u.s. military overall. and there's been some restlessness to be sure. i think chuck hagel had a hard time keeping a lid on it. >> one of the things that's popping up is obviously the fight against isis in iraq, now we have reports that iran is striking isis inside iraq. how does that three dimensional chess factor in, because we're obviously negotiating with iran and now we're, what, cheering for them to take out isis too? >> it's a strange alliance, right now we don't want to sign over power, to be honest with it, we want assad to be dashing the -- we want iran to help in the same way. we don't want to admit it, it would be toxic to admit it. we are in alliance with iran and with russia against the vietnamvietna vietnamvietna slauislamic state. >> there's concern on capitol hill about that? >> and again, it comes back to an overall broader strategy, which you heard

jim miklaszewski from the pentagon of course. heard from our own chuck todd and moderator of "meet the press." it's somebody who knows how the pent gon works ala gates and rumsfeld who knows the inner workings and mechanizations. is that accurate and will he be respected in that building overall? >> actually, he knew more about the pentagon than either gates or panetta as well. as deputy defense secretary. this guy was in charge of just about everybody, including the massive multibillion budgets. and it's one of the issues that the obama administration and the pentagon are going to have to struggle with over the next couple of years as those budgets are shrinking. it will be ashton carter's responsibility to figure out how to keep from hollowing out the military forces. i think the big change will be in the atmospherics. the white house will have far more confidence in ashton carter in the next two years than they would have in chuck hagel. >> he was the guy the white house wanted to have all along. i want to switch to luke summe

he's a civilian analyst at the pentagon with one of the nation's highest security clearances. his companion is tai shen kuo, a spy for the people's republic of china. bergersen knew a secret that the chinese desperately wanted to know, and neither man knows that what they're about to do is being recorded by two cameras the fbi has concealed in their car. >> let you have the money. >> oh, oh. are you sure that that's okay? >> yeah, it's fine. >> welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm bob simon. in this edition, we turn our attention to some foreign intrigue. first, a story about a mysterious computer virus that struck an iranian nuclear plant. later, the report of how american agents hunted a notorious arms dealer. and finally, an account of a chinese-american spy trying to steal u.s. military secrets for china. we begin with the story of stuxnet, a computer virus considered to be the world's first destructive cyberweapon. it was launched several years ago against an iranian nuclear facility, almost certainly with some u.s. involvement. but as steve kroft reported in march of 2012,

in the budget for the new fighter the pentagon requested $6.3 billion for 34 planes. but congress decided they need 37 aircraft. what will the air force and navy do with the extra planes they didn't ask for? military leaders are not sure. the f -35 is the most expensive aircraft built in history. >>> the obama administration asked for a 475.5 million for research help, but congress decided to give them $571 million. the united states in richmond corporation, the nuclear related company filed for bankruptcy last march. logically the department of energy has subcontracted some research with the company but decided to stop. tennessee lawmakers are not ready to declare the company a failure just yet because jobs are there. a bankrupt company that even the federal government does not want to deal with any more is going to receive another $97.2 million. joining us now from los angeles is michael shure. a company that went bankrupt in march gets $97 million. detroit gets nothing but scorn for its bankruptcy. what's going on here? >> it's a typical budget bill where things--t

the pentagon strongly opposes such a change. karen traverse, abc news, washington. >>> comedian bill cosby is striking back at one of his accusers. today, his lawyers filed a lawsuit claiming judith huth tried to extort a quarter million dollars from him. cosby wants her suit dismissed and monetary damages as well. meanwhile, the u.s. navy is revoking cosby's title of honorary chief petty officer over the sexual abuse allegations made against him. the navy issued a statement saying the allegations against cosby are serious and conflict with its core values. cosby served four years in the navy starting in 1956. the honorary title was presented to him back in 2011. >>> one florida community is hailing a school bus driver a hero today after she safely got nearly 40 kids off of her burning bus. >> i'm the bus driver. i was driving down the interstate and my bus started smoking and now it's in flames. >> line up against -- move down, please. >> that was driver christina berman making the kids stayed a safe distance from the fire. she

the pentagon to some extent, as far as the pentagon is concerned, the white house to some extent felta bit passive. it's not entirely clear where ash carter will stand on this. but he has a lot of grounding in this. and may with a sort of academic background have a lot to input into this. but it's going to be difficult for him i think to have an impact on the actual strategy. >> if he gets through the congressional hearings, we'll find out, won't we? thanks very much. >>> south africans are marking one year since the death of nelson mandela. the father of the nation was credited with guiding the country from apartheid to democracy with mandela himself the first president. that solitary bell ringing kicked off a three-minute silence, which was recognized across much of the country, in fact. and then followed by the singing of south africa's national anthem. there have been commemoration ceremonies taking place around the country, including at mandela's ancestral home in the country's eastern cape province. speaking at a wreath-laying ceremony in pretoria, mr. mandela's widow graca mach

ash carter very well-known around the pentagon. he served as hagel's deputy. he has served in a number of jobs in the past to the pentagon, including the top acquisition official, essentially the top weapons buyer. he knows the budget. he knows how billions of dollars in taxpayer money is spent buying weapons with budget cuts come, he will be very experienced in being able to formulate any budget plan, what to keep, what to cancel potentially. those are all the pluses that are seen for ash carter, he knows the military, he knows the military leadership. part of the big question jim may be better to answer this, does this answer the mail for the white house? they pushed hagel out saying they wanted to transform to new leadership. ash carter well respected but he's really part of the old existing leadership here at the pecht go pentagon. will he be able to deal with the white house micromanagement, will he be able to offer new ideas and have them accepted? >> jim, take it away. >> reporter: yes. well, you know, the term white house micromanagement, that seems to

mick at the pentagon, appreciate it. let's turn to doug olivant who knows a thing or two about national security. not only did he serve two tours in iraq, he also served in both the bush and obama administrations on counterinsurgency and now is a senior fellow at the new america foundation. thanks for being with us. >> good afternoon. >> what do you make of the fact that the president is elevating here a pentagon insider, someone who can really hit the ground running? >> well, i think it shows that at the very least -- perhaps this wasn't the intent, but he's getting someone who can run the building very, very effectively. his previous bosses, referred to his tenure both in the very unglamorous world of acquisition, technology and logistics and as deputy of defense secretary. as git who was down in the engine room, who really had his hands on the lever. he really understands how the building works two or three levels down and will be -- you can't -- you won't be able to bluff him on a policy issue o why something can't h

he's a heavy weight and a steady hand and he knows his way around the pentagon.e's been a major player for national security in this town for more than 30 years. he's not an easy guy to push around and i wouldn't be surprised if the pentagon is able to give a little pushback against the white house on the issues that he chooses to take on, but again, there's a colossal mountain of problems that he's going to have to deal with and he's going to have to pick and choose. >> is he a hawk, dave? there's been a lot of talk about a paper he wrote in 2006 advocating for involvement in north korea. how would you classify him on the spectrum? >> look, i don't think those labels apply anymore because the national security threat we face are so different from what we faced even ten years ago. what analysts are starting to call gray war which we've seen in ukraine with the sort of slow motion and denied russian invasion of the sovereign country and it's very hard to put traditional military assets against that kind of thing. so whether we call him a hawk or not, he's going to

then again it's also the pentagon. >> the pentagon wants to know what to do. come to me i will do it 40 million. i may even do it -- >> -- i will do it. >> 15,000. >> okay. i will do it for 10. >> anyway. general scales, always nice to see you, sir. >> thank you, greta. >> george h.w. bush releasing a statement saying in part nearly four decades ago it was my privilege to go to langley to lead the men and women of the cia at a contentious time. during my short time there i learned firsthand that they are among the very finest people serving in the united states government. i felt compelled to reiterate my confidence in the agency today and to thank those throughout its ranks for their ongoing and vitally important work to keep america safe and secure. and if you want to see president bush completed statement go to gretawire.com. and straight ahead. well, all eyes are locked on the chaos on capitol hill. what about isis? is president obama breaking his promise? kid: hey dad, who was that man? dad: he's our broker. he helps looks after all our money. kid: do you

. >> schieffer: david, what did they did i of this over at the pentagon? >> cuba had lone been seen as national security threat. not like an opening to cuba suddenly releases the pentagon from great burden of defending against an attack from cuba. it was always just a nuisance value. it was favorable developer but not game changer for the pentagon. >> schieffer: what i thought was interesting about the president's end of the year news conference. not a mention of terrorism. isis did not come up once. syria did not really come up. did immigration come up? i'm trying to remember? i don't think it did. mostly about cuba, mostly about -- >> right at the end of the year it dominated discussion but i think in the new year, north korea and possibly cuba are going to recede because you have pressing issues, president wants authorization of military force to go against isis that is going to be a huge debate. talking about iran these are the foreign policy issues that are going to dominate. >> the president wanted to put a bow, literally, on the economic year for th

yes, the pentagon papers, everyone agrees, the pentagon paper were stolen material and everyone agreesy were stolen from the government, a government of the people and by the people, and so the pentagon papers belonged to the people and the pentagon papers told the most important government story of that era, how the united states government made the horrific mistake of escalating the unwinnable vietnam war and losing 58,000 american lives in the process, the "new york times" did the right thing publishing the pentagon papers in 1971, and it was a brave thing for the "new york times" and the washington post to do at that time. the "new york times" at any time so clear about how to handle the stolen sony documents. this morning, the editor of the "new york times" issued a statement in response to a letter that the times and other outlets have received today from sony's lawyer warning them against using stolen material of the editor's statement appeared on the times' website under the headline, hacked sony documents are not pentagon papers, editor's view. it is hard to determine how to h

military base is unneeded according to a pentagon study. but the congress argues, before it turns out every base is in someone's congressional district. john. >> jamie mcintire, in washington. uber the popular taxi service banned in several countries and more big american cities are fighting the service. jonathan betz has more. jonathan. >> yes john. first now scrutiny is also shifting to whether the service is actually safe. more speed bumps for uber. now from los angeles and san francisco. both cities have sued the company, accusing it of false advertising and fraud. >> the company repeats this misleading statement giving consumers false sense of security. >> this has countries including thailand, spain and the nerld allnetherlands, via smartphone apps instead of waiting for cabs. >> the court confirmed that uber is working outside the law. >> after months of protests, critics say every driver is not fingerprinted. >> you shouldn't jump in the car blindly feeling you're protected, clearly you're not. >> the company says it offers the safe

he has been the top weapons buyer here at the pentagon. he knows how billions of dollars of taxpayer money is spent and with budget cuts coming potentially from congress he will be on the hot seat to figure out what is cut, what is kept. he's someone who is likely to get readily easily confirmed by the republican-led senate arms services committee. they know him. he shouldn't run into any particular problems. perhaps the biggest question, though, you know, hagel was pushed out because the administration, the white house said it was time to transition to new leadership. is ash carter really new leadership? probably not. and a big question about whether the white house really wants that. you hear an awful lot about micromanagement from the national security council from the president, will a new secretary of defense offer new ideas? will he will listened to? will the white house even want to hear new ideas or is it basically full steam ahead with what the status quo is for the next 18 months or so. >> interesting thought. peter, let's bring

a pentagon university he rose to the number two spot under leon panetta.e's seen as an unusual and unorthodox selection. he pushed back against america before facing america's enemies. the infighting and micromanaging of the administration's inner circle. former defense secretary robert gates complained about the white house interference just last month. >> i told the commanders you get a call from the white house, you tell them to go hell and call me. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> with carter's nomination the resolving door at the pentagon may have stopped but the bigger questions are these. key roll back putin's aggression against ukraine. can he direct the final defeat of isis and the taliban. can he stop iran from having the ability to build a nuclear bomb. >> all the right questions. thank you. now to my interview with senator john mccain. earlier while i was traveling i asked the senator about the president's choosing ash carter. >> also i hope that ash carter, unfortunately, like his three predecessors in this six year period understands that he has

. >> when it comes from the budget the pentagon has two complaints. it doesn't give it enough money for the things it wants and forces it to spend too much money on things it really doesn't need. >> air force pilots love the low slow a 10 ground attack jet for its comeback survivability. the air force hates it for its fiscal survivability. the cold-war relic survived every attempt by the pentagon to kill it. it has powerful backers, especially from the state where many of the 40-year-old a 10s are based. >> the air force spent most of this year fighting congress to retire the a 10. why they weren't focussed on other important issues, i don't know. >> reporter: the air force argued the $4 billion cost in keeping the a 10s is important, but it's a fraction of pentagon spending. >> the advocacy group compiled a list of dubious projects and unwanted weapons in a pig book. among them upgrading the m1 abrahams tank, $60 million for alternative energy research, and biofuel costing $400 a gallon. and $24 million for the star base youth programme, teaching sci

he knows the pentagon inside and out. was sort of the coo in many ways of the pentagon, chief operating officer. he really will be the type of secretary of defense that we haven't seen since bob gates and maybe the most prepared for the job, really in the modern era, only gates and rumsfeld had more experience working in the national security realm and the defense department in particular than carter. >> it's a good thing, too. carter is facing threats like the war against isis. he's under pressure to reduce and reform pentagon spending. on top of that he'll do it with a republican congress. how do you think this all plays out? >> well, i think it's going to -- i think he'll have pretty good relations with the important republican members of the new senate. i think the confirmation process will be interesting to follow. he's going to get confirmed fairly easily, 60, 70, maybe even 80 votes confirming him into the job. the hearings themselves will be noisy. i think you'll have a lot of republicans who will use the confirma

pentagon officials say they believe iran used u.s. made jets in the ait tack, so not only do the iranian air force strike isis as we're striking isis they did it in our jets. f-4 phantoms like this one. officials say the bombing raids hit target nears a 25 mile buffer zone that iran has declared along its border. "the new york times" cites an iranian official or series of officials actually who say that the jets flew over and around those two cities in iraq just beyond the buffer zone. but experts warn this does not mean the iranians are interested in cooperating directly with the united states even though they are fighting the same enemy and have some of the same allies. jennifer griffin has the confusing news from the pentagon this afternoon. getting it all out and having it make sense it's hard to make sense we're fighting sort of kind with assad and iran. it's just weird. >> it doesn't make sense, shep. publicly the u.s. military is not confirming that there are iranian aircraft over iraq targeting isis, but privately we are told

and has been in the pentagon for decades. he's known as a -- an acquisition guy and his focus has been on the budget and one of the biggest accomplishments he's had is really streamlining contracting at a time when it got out of control during the wars in iraq and afghanistan. gwen: but he does not have any military experience unlike -- that's what was heavily touted for chuck hakal, his predecessor because he was a vietnam war veteran. >> we saw with chuck hagel that doesn't necessarily guarantee that you have a successful long career as defense secretary. what he does have is a long, long career. he's considered a real thinker and an intellectual. and an expert on budget matters. and when you look at some of his writings that he has a real keen interest and been quite prescient on key policy issues like terrorism. >> what does ash carter have that chuck hague the didn't have? gwen: such an impolite question. >> well -- gwen: but a real one. >> well, let start with what chuck hagel did have. a close friend of obama's and he

he is a pentagon veteran, the pentagon says chief operating officer, rhodes scholar and theoretical physicist>> executives from takata set to appear before congress in a few hours facing scrutiny over fault eye airbags. the company miss add federal deadline for a nationwide recall. five deaths are linked to the airbags. >> police in ferguson, missouri are looking into possible charges against the step four of michael brown. when the grand jury decided not to indict darren wilson for brown's death, he made an emotional on camera plea. police want to know if he in cited the violence that followed. jonathan, first let's listen to the comment that is at the center of all of this controversy. >> burn this [bleep] down! >> those comments made right after darren wilson was cleared, the officer in this case. what do we know about the to president obama 10 she will case this time against brown's stepfather? >> we know that the st. louis county police, the absolute county police will be handling the investigation to determine whether or not he was trying to incite a riot after all that we saw on novemb