a pentagon leaked report, is it worth the $1.4 trillion price tag? the defense department insists the answer is yes. with no more vigorous supporter than middle eastern. "america tonight's" sheila macvicar spoke with an official that says that's premature. >> reporter: what does it mean if the marine corps declares ioc in 2015? >> it's a sham what it means. >> tom christie, from 21 to 2005 he was the senior advisor to the secretary of defense for weapons. the sham he says, is whether the marine corps should declare ready for combat or in military speak, ioc. >> the program has been embarrassing and they're just at the point to say you know we're going to take whatever we get. >> do you think that this plane is combat-ready? >> no, absolutely not. that combat capability is years away in my vote. >> reporter: the f 35 is the most expensive weapons program in american history with an estimated price tag of $1.4 trillion. it's also been one of the most problematic beset by safety reliability and performance issues ever since the first f 35 rolled off the

they try to do something in the pentagon.hey freaked out and said we have to get this up to the general who is the head of the entire middle east because east because he will know you can't stop this. they are saying you can't do this. this is going to cause severe shortages. this is a strategic disaster. it's all documented in the book and these prosecutors and these authorities were actually inside of the pentagon. they imagined themselves and this is a statement on how pathetic things really are in government. they imagine themselves to be solving a great case in the global war on terrorism getting three kids in miami beach stopping them from shipping him them out of afghanistan was then winning the global war on terrorism and that is literally how it was discussed inside the government government side of the the what to say except they were right try to hide it because who wants this stuff out but i hope people will engage with it and see. and as for what's going on now she said i don't write about this some more but no o

nonetheless, the pentagon plans to bay some f 25s, 50 for the marines. >> assessment by the pentagon's own assessment the office christy identified, showed up some problems with the f-35 some so severe they could is flight critical effects. >> let's look at why the airplane is dangerous to the pile. >> reporter: pierre once evaluated planes for the department of defense. he was part of a team designing the f-16 fighter in the early 1970s. he has since left the pentagon, he spoke with pilots that flew the f-35. >> we asked about the document. it says life fire test and evaluation confirmed vulnerabilities of the fuel tank structure. what does that many. >> they implemented tests where they took pieces of the air plane, they found it was bad as you expect. >> reporter: they catch fire burn and explode, because there's too much flammable stuff located in the organization. thing of it as a blow torch surrounded by fuel. >> behind safety. the f-35 is crippled by floors limiting its utility in combat. problems stepping from the design of the marine corp. the idea was the airplane rise and la

the only armed people are the pentagon force protection. the pentagon police are well armed. that's standard procedure at most military facilities. you'd think they'd have a gun or side arm, it's not the case. >> it's something of concern in recent years, a notion of soft targets. places that may be targets for domestic terrorists or people that act from outside the united states as well. there are a lot of things that escape a lot of the news attention, but amount to attacks or intended attacks on military facilities. >> we don't hear about a lot of attacks. the fbi director talked about how over the 4th of july, law enforcement thwarted a number of attacks, but he didn't give details, and research department was looking at the history of some of these attacks. when you look at it, these are people that, the fbi or law enforcement discovered that was a person that wanted to bomb soldiers who were eating at a restaurant at forted hood, a guy that wanted to nigh an explosive packed model airplane into the rafael benitez. a lot are caught by fbi stings, they get a whiff that so

the pentagon not confirming anything. authorities, we continue to wait for some sort of a press conference that has not happened yet. what are you hearing? >> i will not speculate. i know what i am hearing may not be too much different from what you are hearing, but i will not speculate, particularly on whether there have been fatalities and the number of those fatalities. i will leave that to either announcement at the press conference for for the military to make that determination. what i do know is that we've got a tragic incident here. everyone who lives in the area and particularly the guests you have had on. dan barks, he and i went to the same high school. as did mayor berk. we all know each other. this is a tight-knit community. when something like this happens, it's amazing how our community pulls together as we did today and responded magnificently from law enforcement to health care providers, first responders and citizens clearing the way so that our law enforcement can do their job efficiently and effectivel

. >>> coming up the pentagon considers making major security changes at recruiting offices.hose changes have been sparked by the recent killings of five service members in chattanooga, tennessee. >>> police have completed their investigation after a man struck a barricade near the u.s. capitol building this morning. the man crashed full speed head on into the barrier. the driver was taken into custody. >>> some prison inmates will beel ij to get federal pell grants for college while still behind bars. prisoners who are eligible for release within five years can qualify. officials say the program with will not take funding away from other pell-grant eligible students. >>> the pentagon is moving closer to arming troops at thousands of military facilities in the u.s. this comes in the wake of an attack at a recruiting station in tennessee earlier this month. five service members were killed there. >> reporter: defense secretary ash carter says the july 16th attacks in chat gu ga illustrate a continuing threat to military personnel in the united states posed by what he called ho

that is the best information the pentagon has right now. now, what they are telling us -- again, many people are reporting this at cnn -- is that this began at 10:50 this morning when an unidentified -- >> at two different locations, people who proudly serve our country. over the last couple of hours, i have spent a lot of time with individuals who work for the city of chattanooga and hamilton county who work at our med kaical facility at erlanger who deserve our praise for the way they responded. they were amazing in what they did and we know of no active issues right now. we do know that we have four individuals who were killed who are victims. the shooter was killed at the scene as well. also one chattanooga police officer was shot in the ankle and has been treated very well at erlanger as well as other individuals who have been shot and treated. i want to say again, it is incomprehensible to see what happened and the way that individuals who proudly serve our country were treated. two different locations this individual went to and as a

>> the pentagon does have an enormous amount of civilian fat that it can cut. there's an enormous growth just as there's a growth in the administration rather than the faculty of universities the growth in the civilian side of the pentagon does leave room for lots of cuts. with that said china, the second on the list it's expensive to have navies. aircraft carriers and their groups are tremendously expensive. this comes at a time when china is creating islands, building landing strips on them one island is 750 mileschina, 250 miles from the philippines, and china claims it as its territory and challenges our right to use what the navy is good forks which is to defend the world sea lanes. >> julia, i covered the pentagon for six years. there's always this sense that you want to protect or expand. but talking to senior -- former senior commanders they truly believe that this could be a breaking point for the army. in fact one of them said to me privately that on background that he thought the chairman of the army the chief staff of the army should step down resig

and so weinberger have left the pentagon and if you go to the pentagon there is this always.hey have portraits of all the former defense secretary's. the day came when they were going to unveil weinberger's portrait. and the marshall have been invited. they did invited. they did not have a good relationship. and so is going to be about 5:00 in the morning. so finally were at the office. marshall's there my colleague said them are you going to the weinberger ceremony. he he said very uncharacteristically, like up go up there and hang weinberger instead of his picture. [laughter] but it was not always everyone appreciating what he had to offer. the other thing i would say is the matter what happened in terms of the ups and downs in the relationship with the defense secretaries two other things really stand out. one is his mentoring of people and the impact it has. and so in 1957 looking for a topic to write about and marshall suggests a topic commanded ends of being pearl harbor which ends up winning are all kinds of book awards the medal of freedom president bush i think, 1990

>> the pentagon does have an enormous amount of civilian fat that it can cut.normous growth just as there's a growth in the administration rather than the faculty of universities the growth in the civilian side of the pentagon does leave room for lots of cuts. with that said china, the second on the list it's expensive to have navies. aircraft carriers and their groups are tremendously expensive. this comes at a time when china is creating islands, building landing strips on them one island is 750 miles from china, 250 miles from the philippines, and china claims it as its territory and challenges our right to use what the navy is good forks which is to defend the world sea lanes. >> julia, i covered the pentagon for six years. there's always this sense that you want to protect or expand. but talking to senior -- former senior commanders they truly believe that this could be a breaking point for the army. in fact one of them said to me privately that on background that he thought the chairman of the army the chief staff of the army should step down resign. >> y

what did he learn from top generals at the pentagon?> down to the wire with a deadline just hours away tracking urgent round of clock talks to prevent one of america's most dangerous adversarieses from developing nuclear weapons. tonight, there's new reason to fear failure. >>> and blood stained politics. the deadly shooting of a young woman by a repeat felon from mexico gives donald trump more fuel for his rant against illegal immigrants. are fellow republicans following his lead or are they fed up? we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. you're in "the situation room." >>> observers say isis has retaken control of a key town near its self-proclaimed capital despite a new u.s.-led bombardment in the area. the coalition is intensifying its air campaign against the terror group targeting the isis stronghold of raqqa. president obama wrapped up a meeting with top military leaders at the pentagon. he's reminding the nation the battle against isis will not be quick and it will include set

colleague, the minister of defense, jean-yves le drian come here to the pentagon. france, as you may know, is america's oldest ally. too short. >> i had a french girlfriend once. can you just hold it like this? highly motivated. >> let me start again and thank my good friend, my colleague my admired colleague, the minister of defense of france, jean-yves le drian, here to the pentagon. france is america's oldest

but it does tell them that they have the existing authority to do that. >> reporter: the pentagon says are more than 7,000 u.s. military facilities not on bases or other areas where restrictions on access provide a basic first line of offense. those include recruiting stations, rotc units and reserve centers. but here is what the pentagon does not want, well-meaning private citizens to show up outside of military facilities with gun to protect the unarmed military work force. the press secretary peter cook issued a statement last week saying: one big problem with the citizen protection force, it's not always clear when someone approaches a military facility with a gun if they are a friend or foe. >>> the army may miss its recruiting goal this year. it is nearly 14% short of the recruits it needs to fill its ranks. this is the first time that has happened in six years. the top army person for recruiting says the economy makes it difficult to attract young men and women. >>> an oil train on fire a scene we have seen before. jacob ward shows us how firefighters are preparing. >> reporter:

jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon.ing any idea what we'll hear from the president? >> reporter: not expecting any large announcements or change in strategy. the president will make a statement from the briefing room but will not take questions. the president still meeting with about 30 of his top national security advisers to talk about the strategy. this visit is more about optics than substance. the last time the president was here at the pentagon was in october. two months after airstrikes against isis began. ahead of his visit, white house spokesman josh earnest took the opportunity call out republicans in the senate by name for not confirming the president's nominee to serve as treasury undertake who will be responsible for the financial fight against isis. >> nearly three months ago subeness was nominated to take over the post but senate republicans have not scheduled a hearing for him. >> we did not expect the president to announce any major changes to his ban on ground troops fighting in iraq. >> what progress,

. >> reporter: tom christy is a former high-ranking pentagon official. he was the senior advisor to the secretary of defense for the testing of weapons. the sham as christy calls it is a decision by the marine corps to declare its version of the f35 fighter plane ready for combat, or in military speak, ioc. >> the program has been embarrassing and they are just at the point to say we're going to take whatever we get. >> reporter: a recent assessment by the pentagons own director the office christy once occupied, has identified safety problems with the marine's f35,

what further details has the pentagon provided? >> it does not give a lot of details. it says that this airstrike took place july 8th, and targeted while he was in a moving vehicle. it would indicate that the u.s. had pretty good intelligence about his wear abouts and movements in syria. he was the leader of this al-qaeda off shoot that was sent from pakistan to syria, and was believed to be actively plotting attacks against western interests from the base there in syria. this was considered by the pentagon to be a significant victory in the ongoing battle of al-qaeda. he had a $7 million bounty on his head, and he was reported to have been killed last year, reports that turned out to be incorrect. the pentagon said that if did not disclose how it had confirm confirmed his identify in this case but they did say that they were highly confident and in this case he had been killed in this airstrike 37 this would certainly degrade and disrupt al-qaeda's intents to launch attacked in the weiss, it's a group. how much are me focusing on this group? >> they don't believe that

most of the cuts will be in the smartphone sector. >>> the pentagon's top officials are defending thent's strategy to fight isil. defense secretary and joint chiefs of staff chairmen faced some tough questions on capitol hill, but they also dropped a hint about what they hoped would be a huge victory. jamie mcintyre has more. >> reporter: it was a strengthly hearing, but general martin dempsey revealed what all of those advisers in iraq has been up to. pentagon sources tell al jazeera america, the campaign to retake the city from the isil forces that captured it two months ago is set for this month. and shaping operations could begin in days. in his testimony, general dempsey revealed one of the first things u.s. advisors did was stop iraqis from rushing back into ramadi without an adequate plan. >> the ramadi campaign which was about to be executed precipitously, is now a very deliberate campaign, first to isolate it and then to go back and recapture it with a supporting effort in fallujah. so our presence in the anbar operations center is allowing the iraqi security forces to take a

what does it do in terms of the pentagon deal whether or not a strike should be ordered.bviously they would follow through. is there a sense from the pentagon about whether it's a wise idea in. >> two points i make on that - one is after secretary carter said it would only set them back four years, the chairman of the joint chiefs chimed in, don't forget the military option is not something you used once. in other words suggesting that one strict could follow a few years later. but, of course, there's wider consequences to striking iran, unlike iraq, where the united states had the ability to bomb iraq, in a sense with impunity, because iraq had no ability to strike back. the risk of a military strike is not so much what would happen after a single strike, but you could end up with a war in iran against the middle east. that would like different. iran has a navy, we could see naval battles, and it would be a more difficult scenario. any time you unleek the power of war, iraq has shown that. >> jamie mcintyre, thank you as always, we appreciate it. >> next - what happiness

. >>> president obama heads to the pentagon to talk about isis strategy. he will talk publicly about his plan, this comes after a weekend against stepped up airstrikes against the terror group. here's more from washington. >> reporter: the president has come under a great deal of pressure to detail a strategy to take on isis. he has said he's waiting on the pentagon and that is where he is headed today. while much of the country was concerned about the possibility of a terror attack over the fourth of july weekend, the u.s.-led air campaign against isis went on offense, taking out isis vehicles and bridges in eastern syria, the city that serves as the capital of isis. the pentagon says this is one of the coalitions large's gagements in sirah. >> i'm glad we're returning the strikes. a lot of people are saying, please, let's start hitting them hard. we know that's where the heart of isis is. >> reporter: despite being pounded by nearly 20 airstrikes and suffering some casualty, isis has remained on the attack, withdrawing concerns that the network will cont

>> it's a sham. >> reporter: tom christy is a former high-ranking pentagon official.e was the senior advisor to the secretary of defense for the testing of weapons. the sham as christy calls it is a decision by the marine corps to declare its version of the f35 fighter plane ready for combat, or in military speak, ioc. >> the program has been embarrassing and they are just at the point to say we're going to take whatever we get. >> reporter: a recent assessment by the pentagons own director the office christy once occupied, has identified safety problems with the marine's f35, some so severe they could have flight-critical effects. >> let's look at why this airplane is so dangerous. >> reporter: pierre is an engineer who once evaluated planes for the department of defense. spray was part of the team what designed the f16 fighter in the early 1970s. beyond safety issues spay says the f35 is also crippled by flaws which limit its utility in combat problems stemming from the design requirements of the marine corps. >> the truth of the matter is it could never be a fast a

jeff: that is right, and the pentagon has tools to handle that. the big question is vertical integration, and you say that like it is a disease. it is not. it can b be efficient and pro-customer. there e are some cases where it can be anticompetitive in nature and the focus of that here would be because it and subsystems - would be because lockheed -- couldn't deny -- couldt deny other subsystems and what that disaantage them?m? do they have equalent substutes s theyould obtain that would allow them to have substitute, and flip the other way, can the entity foreclose other suppliers from supplplying better and cheaper subsystems to e platform?? what i would say about these theories are they are hard to prove.e. vago: steve? steve: if f i were in the pentagon, the facts on the face of it would not alarm me, but on the other hand t there are a lot of facts they have tdevelop. there is hardly a competition orr helicopter program in the last decade were lockheed martin does not turn up as eithe a prime contractor -- they competed as a primime contract

hours before the president's pentagon's remarks, the chairman said: u.s. central command says i.s.i.l. has given up almost 2,000 square miles of territory in syria, including a border town lose last month to kurdish fighters. the president argues while i.s.i.l. scored tactical victories, including taking ramadi in iraq it has weaknesses. the president says i.s.i.l.'s days are numbered because it is surrounded by countries that seek its destruction and has no air force or allies. one of the administration's sharpst critics dismissed that as self dilution saying nothing the president said shows that the u.s. is on the path to success in defeating i.s.i.l. >>> jamie mcintyre reporting from the pentagon. the clock is ticking on a self-imposed deadline for the united states and other world powers to strike a deal with iran over its nuclear programme. negotiators have until tomorrow night to reach an agreement. if not reached before then afterwards it will double the amount of time the u.s. congress has to undermine it. at the end several issues are unresolved.

that's the case here at the pentagon and around the country. so it is up to individual base commanders to decide how that will be implemented but it colludes things like bases that are secured full i.d. checks making sure that they go by the book for all the procedures sometimes it slows down access to sort of these facilities. but again this recruiting station is not someplace that has any kind of security, because it isn't designed to be a secure location, it is a location that is friendly to the public to come in and find out about military careers. so i am not sure about the second low us ca, whether there may have been more security, but probably not considering that's where the four marines died. >> jaime, thank you very much, also our thanks and the headline is that four u.s. marines were killed this morning shot to death in a second shooting scene in chattanooga this happened at 11:15:00 a.m. police responded to shorts being fired first at an armed service recruitment center. with a high caliber weapon, shooting up the glass in that rec

obama made a rare appearance in the pentagon briefing room. flanked by his defense secretary of state ash carter and key personnel, he stated, the i.s.i.l. defeats. >> can and will be defeated. indeed we're intensifying our efforts against i.s.i.l.'s base in syria. continuing to target the oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations. >> over the weekend the u.s. unleashed a wave of air strikes against i.s.i.l. positions in iraq and syria which the u.s. military called its largest deliberate engagement in syria so far. of the more than 3 dozen air strikes conducted july 4th two-thirds were in syria in and around ak ca, raqqa i.s.i.l.'s de facto capital. in other words to confine i.s.i.l. to the northern syrian you city. earlier in the day in a joint appearance with his french counterpart, defense secretary carter said the strikes were possible because of the effectiveness of the kurdish force he who in carter words could nominate targets. >> we validate those cargts includingthose targetsincluding validating that there won't be

the pentagon to and have that rule. this photograph really by implication showed this was what kids were shipping. it was completely and totally wrong. it was not what kids were shipping. it was as misleading as an image can be. the rounds the kids shift, hundreds of millions they got to about 100 million rounds they shipped to this chinese ammunition to cobble there were never any complaints, it worked. it was strategically vital. as our results of the new york times story and how bad the government looked with these kids on the front page the shipments were stopped. the result, the afghans ran out of ammo in summer of 2008 which was a crucial time in that war as barack obama kept saying on the campaign trail. these were in the times when that war was lost. none of this, none of this, department of justice, state, pentagon, none of it has ever been reported until now. so one of the great pleasures of my kind of journalism is that you get the chance from time to time which i guess you would call not to burn a few bridge

talking to my contacts at the pentagon i'm hearing that the pentagon isn't developing a plan and sending it to the white house it's the other way around. the white house is basically telling the pentagon this is how we're going to do this and this is how we're going to continue. it's just throwing good money after bad. >> and critics predicted this would happen. here it is. we see increasing concerns relating to the effectiveness of a program that trains a local fighting force to combat isis in syria and as you mentioned in iraq if this isn't working, what is the answer? what is the plan that's going to be the answer to the problems here? >> well there's got to be somebody's boots on the ground. let's talk iraq forward. in iraq the boots on the ground were supposed to be the iraqi army. that failed. the iraqi army has proved itself incapable of operating in the field. the only effective force in iraq are the kurds. and we are shortchanging the kurds by not sending them weapons directly. we send everything to baghdad and most of it stays in the iraqi army and never gets to the peshmerga.

let's get straight to the pentagon and to barbara starr.stion is we were just getting the video coming in of them sitting around the big tables there. is this a decision-making meeting or is this a status update? >> well all indications are that the president is here for a status update. don't expect any big decisions when he appears in the bridging room about an hour from now. at least not public decisions. but it's been a very interesting weekend for those air strikes in syria, especially about 18 air strikes around the city of raqqa, which is isis declared capital, a very heavily populated area. u.s. and coalition planes going in and pounding targets. it doesn't happen very often that we see air strikes on this scale directly in an isis stronghold. so the president will get an update about all of that and an update about isis in other areas besides iraq and syria. tunisia, libya, we have seen a good deal of activity there. recent attacks in tunisia and north africa is isis' new front in their effort to exert their influence and barbaric

a lot of people in the pentagon were upset. that is one of the reasons he is at the pentagon to present a plan. is it possible to have a finalized plan how to destroy isis? >> this is definitely a good way to start it off. get the president with the pentagon and get congress involved ba we're going to do. they did admit they didn't have a plan. some frustrations from some of my friends still serving the frustration is there isn't a plan. they don't really know what they're doing. i'm hoping we get good news and get their heads together to come up with something to let isis know we're serious. david: the plan to get osama bin laden started with george w. bush. it took years to execute. president obama benefited from the planning that was done before him by previous administrations. so in a sense he kind of helped out gw bush helped out obama actually get bin laden. as you guys that pulled the trigger but i'm wondering if the next president will have it easier or more difficult to deal with isis on the basis of what president oba

. >> the pentagon has made several high-profile strikes at i.s.i.l. tart in recent months. critics say president obama is not doing enough to fight the drop. the east from former officials next. >> allegations of u.s. spying on top german officials causing tensions with a key ally. >> allegations of u.s. spying on >>> the obama is claiming a significant blow against i.s.i.l., the pentagon confirming a coalition air strike killed a key leader and recruiter of fighters. the death of the so-called amir of suicide bombers comes about two weeks off the c.i.a. announced a drone trike in syria killed al qaeda's second in command. a number of former administration officials say the president's bombing campaign in iraq and syria is not going far enough. david setni who resigned as a point man in pakistan and afghanistan told the press that drone strikes are creating enemies, and air strikes in syria and iraq are too limited. the former secretary of defense said the u.s. should use special forces on the ground in both countries, former defense intelligence agency chief michael flinn

the president went to the pentagon to discuss his strategy on isis. there are obviously crcritics who want a more muscular appach. one person said we could send 100,000 americans, solve the problem temporarily, and the minunute we leave, we go back to square one. >> think the president's approach makes sense if you matchh it with other comments. if we want to do toes in the water for 20 or 30 years, that's the way to go, but it's not going to achieve the objective of t destruction of isis i think you are either at zero or one on this. either you don't do anything, pull outut entirely, lethe borders arrays themselves, everybody fights themselves, -- borders in race -- erase themselves, everybody fights among themselves, and we deal withtever power emerges. i don't think we want to do that. the other is to be strategic in shaping the region. crush isis, which needs to be done, then stay there a while. vago: doesn't that make you an occupying power and expose you all of t challenges we faced the last time around? >> what is the culturere you are dealing

we had the president at the pentagon today saying this would be a generational struggle and not justmilitary. but trying to strike an optimistic note in terms of what can be achieved against the islamic state so far. is he right to do so? matthew: politically he has to do so. every so often, to show that we are making progress. when he first started talking about the progress, it doesn't make any difference how many fx we have. that is not a metric of success. what have those airstrikes achieved? this will be a long haul and there is no great alternative to the current government in iraq it is more inclusive of the sunnis. there is no alternative to the government of assad in syria. that is why we are not doing more things in syria against isil because the degrading the opposition to much can be seen as helping the assad regime. we need to do more to undermine the assad regime and build up political stability and inclusiveness in iraq and then you can get more people into the program. katty: right, but that has proven very difficult. even finding those moderate syrian is a hard task.

we get more from our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: on the day after president obama came to the pentagon and laid out his strategy to degrade and destroy isis, republican senator john mccain claimed the president is delusional. >> isil is not ten feet tall. it can be and must be defeated. but that will never happen if we continue to delude ourselves about our current campaign. >> reporter: mccain claimed that u.s. air strikes and unreliable iraqi military forces have had little effect on isis. and the u.s. is training only 60 syrian fighters to take on isis inside syria. far short of the 5,000 goal. >> i've got to tell you, after four years, mr. secretary, that's not a very impressive number. >> reporter: also today, joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey revealed that iranian militias killed 500 american troops during the iraq war. and while dempsey supports the current nuclear talks with iran, he warns iran still poses a serious threat. >> ballistic missiles, sea-based mines, cyber activities, arms trafficking and surrogates and proxies. >> reporter: despite th

he's the one who leaks this to the press. >> i was the lead reporter in the pentagon papers.inst the war, and he copied these papers with the hope that eventually they would be used to embarrass an awful lot of people and which would show that we had made a terrible mistake. fighting this war in vietnam. >> starting with the ellsberg story front page. >> i think kissinger was obsessed with secrecy and so was nixon. my first three articles were published. and the nixon administration then wanted to stop the whole thing. >> my argument inside was, if you want to make the case against the pentagon papers, get up and charge "the new york times" with publishing national security secrets, gross irresponsibility, and sabotaging the war in vietnam. >> the justice department went to court in new york today and got a temporary order restraining the "times" from publishing the next and last two installments. >> attorneys for "the new york times" claim the protection of the first amendment which embodies the concept of the freedom of the press as sufficient to protect their memorandums.

>> well, one of the arguments that the pentagon says. let's say they launch a series of air strikes. that by the estimate might set back the program two or three years. maybe. this deal, is designs to set the program back longer than that the joint chief has made the point, that look, just because we set it back once, doesn't mean we just strike and stop, that can be exercises over and over again. it involves great risk, and great instability in the region. i want to ask you about the conventional weapons that would be lifted after several years but that was also an issue that several senators brought up did you feel that secretary kerry had a good answer as to why that was added? the lifting of conventional arms. >> he essentially said that would be down the road anyway, it appears that it was thrown in at the last minute as a sweetener but the secretary also said there's a long list of provisions and this is where the nuance comes in. one is arms going in, the other is arms going out and there was a lot of provisions that prevent those

. >>> welcome back, the pentagon about to follow-through on budget cuts that could reduce the military ranks by 40,000 troops and the -- that may be the start. >> goo morning the cuts are the result of a couple things. the draw downs in iraq and afghanistan and budget realities in washington. the u.s. military will pack less of a punch. the numbers weren't sustainable. the pentagon will move forward on a plan to redeuce army troop levels by 40,000. >> the army is tasked from going from 4,090,000 to 450. there's no choice in the matter. there's a choice of budgets and more cuts are down the road. >> we have a trillion dollars less. it's a disaster. >> the pentagon and domestic programs were hit by sequester cuts and these will be revisited in the months ahead. the democrats want domestic cuts restored and many republicans will push for more military experiencing. >> our response is to come up with a strategy and to cut our budget. this is nuts. it's possible congress will vote to restore the cuts, that would have an impact on the deficit. >> on goring story -- going story. >>> a governm

and president obama is heading to the pentagon today to talk about the strategy against isis. it comes after a weekend of stepped-up air strikes against the terror group. doug luzader has more on the president's plan moving forward this morning from d.c. doug. >> reporter: and good morning, brian. the president has come under criticism for not detailing a specific strategy to go after isis. he's said he's waiting for plans to be presented from the pentagon and that is where he's going today. much of the country was concerned about the possibility of a terror attack over the 4th of july weekend, the u.s.-led air campaign against isis went on offense, taking out isis vehicles and brumes in and around morocka in eastern syria, the city that serves as capital of isis. the pentagon said this is know woke of the coalition's largest engagements in syria. >> and i'm glad we're running the strikes and a lot of people in the intelligence community and hope are saying please, let's start hitting them hard. >> reporter: despite being pounded by 20 airstrikes and suffering casualties, isis

barbara, the president's pentagon statement came after the u.s.pent the day -- is there any occasion why the u.s. ramped up the number of air strikes over the weekend. >> this is an interesting part of syria, the town of raqqa. the kurds, obviously in strong opposition to isis they're less than 50 miles north of the city. they've been pushing towards raqqa, giving them the ability to pick up targets for the u.s. to strike. we saw really unprecedented 18 air strikes just on july 4th alone, over several hours. isis controlled bridges, about 16 bridges taken out. a number of other targets in what the video shows is very calculated areas. the question now is how will eye says react? the u.s. is hoping at least that the pressure from the kurds, the pressure from these air strikes lead to isis leadership to begin moving around at least go on the run a bit. reposition men, materiel but make no mistake, what we are about to see from the president is an optic. we don't expect any major announcements, but he is here at the pentagon his commanders including

he doesn't have to call the not pentagon.ld tell those people who he represents, calling asking wlor the use military is invading, no. the fact that we're talking about there at all is the height of ridiculousness. >> are you saying to me that he actually draws a check from the u.s. government on a monthly basis? that he actually has 100 staffers being paid by the government? that all his expenses and everything, his health, segregate covered by the federal government? are you saying he's part of the federal government? ted cruz? thank you very much. when we return, let me finish for what must be called the deal. >>> let me close with the iranian nuclear deal. here's a blunt direct way to look at the deal now facing the u.s. congress. if they dump this deal, no one believes there will be another deal for the basic reason we will not have other major countries in on the deal. they believe we've gone as far as we can with diplomacy as far as the iranian government goes. if you dome like this deal, you're calling for a military

firing back top pentagon officials offer new defense of their battle plan against isis.rogram falls significantly behind. >> up in flame, learning more about the possible cause of the newest fire at a southern black church. are fears of racially motivated arson attacks easing? >>> towering trumping his mouth is costing him more money. tonight trump is talking to cnn and-up never know what he will say next. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> new details about the unprecedented security for july 4th. they're driving home the gravity of the terrorist threat right now. a top new york city counterterrorism

pentagon officials say.ressure from the white house to show action on beefing up troop protection. >> the president believes it's appropriate for the department of defense to conduct a review. >> reporter: ash carter is asking commanders to take another look. several republican presidential candidates calling for troops to be armed. >> these are the most highly trained people in our country to handle firearms. it's ridiculous to make them check their weapons at the door. they can't defend themselves. >> reporter: there are two problems military officials say. on large bases like fort hood increased security is in place. letting thousands of troops on base carry firearms could cause havoc. hundreds of recruiting stations around the country, there is vulnerability, since the offices are open to the public. the military under law cannot conduct deadly operations on american streets. there are questions whether military personnel are trained in the same skills as law enforcement. >> many of them don't qualify ev

patti ann: president obama with a rare visit to the pentagon.administration a strategy for defeating isis. bill: witnesses holding their breath here. check it out. that is a plane landing on a beach in california. plus there is this. >> lloyd with morgan streaking. by the post it is. hat trick for lloyd! patti ann: what a game. team usa bringing home the women's world cup in soccer. brian kilmeade up next about the big win against japan. nyet ♪ super poligrip seals out more food particles. so your food won't get stuck and you can enjoy every single bite. eat loud, live loud, super poligrip. usaa makes me feel like i'm a car buying expert in no time at all. there was no stress. it was in and out. and it was just easy. usaa, they just really make sure that you're well taken care of. usaa car buying service. powered by truecar. save money zero hassle. when you travel, we help you make all kinds of connections. connections you almost miss. and ones you never thought you'd make. we help connect where you are. to places you never thought you'd go. thi