colonel rick francona, thanks so much. >>> there are new concerns inside the u.s.community regarding a russian satellite they say has been acting strangely. worry that this odd behavior could mean the russians are planning to use the satellite as a weapon. cnn's brian todd talked with experts who have been tracking it. >> blasting off from a russia koz mo dream a soyuz rocket explodes into space. its pay load a military shrouded in mystery. now space and military analysts are investigating whether that satellite is the same one which a top u.s. arms official said this week was exhibiting quote abnormal behavior. >> when you look at the entire russian catalogue, its satellite and children are the ones that jump out, the onesing a income an unusual way. >> reporter: the satellite's children? experts at the firm's analytical graphics, who have analyzed this satellite believe the larger satellite burst at couple months later a couple months after that a smaller russian satellite. >> almost like a russian nesting doll. >> they announced the first birthing, saying the sm

. >> joining us now to talk more about this, cnn transportation analyst and lieutenant colonel rick francona cnn military analyst. i'll start here, before we get into the psychology of this ground service agent and all the particulars, the big headline question is, how in post-9/11 america does a ground service agent get access to a plane and have the possibility of doing something like this? let me start with you, mary. >> well, this was a question that congress asked just last year. the house, homeland security committee and put out a report and they were calling on the tsa to do enhanced background checks, beef up this screening at airport workers. there are 900,000 airport workers at 450 u.s. passenger service airports and they, in some cases, don't receive the same screening passengers do. just last year, congress passed a bill to enhance the screening and the access controls for these employees didn't pass the senate. i think that will be the question that goes to congress and reviving congress again next week. big question. >> so, rick, with that said, what vulnerabilities did this hi

joining me now to discuss cnn military analyst lieutenant kerl rick francona and cnn global a fairs analyst and daily beast contributor kimberly dozier. good to see you both. all right, colonel, you first, is the president's strategy in afghanistan working? >> doesn't seem to me that it is. what we've seen last week. we've seen the taliban demonstrate, again, their ability to move forces quickly, get them to an area, marshal enough to threat and outpost of the afghan army. the way they pushed these people around in ghazni was quite telling and it took american intervention to put it back. the taliban has had trouble in the past taking ground and holding it. and they still seem to have that. i think the secretary's exactly right. what they're trying to do is get themselves into position of negotiating from strength. so they can extract more concessions from the afghan government. it looks like it might be working. >> kimberly, the president isn't excluding the taliban from a political settlement. but does that seem like a viable option given this? >> every military official you speak to says

cnn's david soucie and lieutenant colonel rick francona. dave soucie, how was this guy able to get into the commercial airliner? it was not a small prop plane and able to just take off. >> here's the thing that's odd to me, ana, the ceo said, yes, it was his job and authorized to be there but way out of protocol in that you never ever tow an aircraft unless there's two people involved. so the fact he was able to get the tow hooked up, aircraft out there and move it out there because he has to call and ask for clearance and that's usually what the second person does. so they need to really look at their process and procedures and see what fell through the crack here because this should not have happened. >> this is in the top ten busiest airports in the country at the very least. colonel francona, this we now know ended with one person who died. the person who was in the plane. it could have been so much worse. >> absolutely. that's why it was so critical to get the fighters into the area as fast as possible. they came from portland internat

colonel rick francona, cnn "no one knew what his intentions were. he could have easily turned north and gone through downtown seattle. he could have caused countless deaths on the ground."i'm kim hutcherson reporting.reporting. hutcherson i'm kim on the ground."i'm kim hutcherson reporting. reporting. reporting. (jrs) and new tonight at 10. we are hearing from the family of the man that crashed that plane. a family friend read a statement earlier where they referred to him by his nickname "bee-bo" and say they are shocked. (jrs) authorities don't know why he took the plane, but he could be heard on audio recordings telling air traffic controllers that he is "just a broken guy." his family says it's clear he didn't mean to harm anyone. (justine) a big day in san francisco -- with the grand opening of the salesforce transit cen

. >> rick francona says this reveals a lot about the system and what needs to be fixed. >> they're going to have to come up with specific guidelines for each airport. the problem is once somebody does this, he puts a lot of people at risk. one guy gets in one airplane, he takes off in a crowded metropolitan area, and look what happens. not only does it tie up the air traffic system but who knew, no one knew what his intentions were. he could have easily turned north and gone to downtown seattle and caused countless deaths on the ground. so this is a vulnerability that they have to address. >>> and this just in, indicted new york congressman chris collins announcing this morning he is suspending his campaign for re-election. he wrote this. i decided it is in the best interest of the constituents of new york 27, the republican party and president trump's agenda for me to suspend my campaign for re-election to congress. >> collins maintains he is not guilty of insider trading charges brought against him earlier this week by the justice department, but in the interim we know that speaker of

rick francona, a senior military analyst. he described the way the saudi coalition planned targets. >> reporter: this strike was probably a quick reaction strike. there was a houthi missile attack on saudi arabia the day before. one person was killed when the missile was intercepted. the saudis were looking for retaliation. that's the story for this war, tit for tat. it continues. so the saudis wanted to strike back. they probably had a quick reaction pack annual ready to go and said we know the houthis are using this area for their command and control and planning and probably launched a soared diright -- sortie right at that. i have no doubt they hit what they were aiming at. the problem is the target selection process really needs to be looked at. >> right. absolutely. you mentioned a school bus was right there at that market when it took a direct hit. the u.s. has worked with saudi arabia to protect civilians in this war. it's noth happening, is it? is there an explanation? >> explanation, the saudis are fought following