joining me is seth jones, advisor to the commanding general to the u.s. oerpg forces in iraq and afghanistan and international security and defense policy center now. seth, in just the last hour or so the defense department -- secretary hagel, made it sound like a rescue mission may not be happening at all now. saying that there are actually fewer people on the mountain than thought and that they seem to be doing better than believed. what do you make of that given these images? >> well, first of all, i think the situation is dire. and it's more dire than some administration officials are letting on. second, this entire context is being argued by the administration as a humanitarian mission. as we can see we've got the best equipped, best organized jihadist group anywhere in the world right now pressing key areas of iraq and syria. this is much more than a humanitarian crisis. this is a serious security threat the u.s. needs to be concerned about. >> i know you feel like they're looking at a tree or two and that there's a forest that needs to be deeply und

joining me kevin sutcliffe, peter baker, seth jones and jeffrey goldberg. >> we often talk about iraq as an isis movement. the reality is of course there are many sunni groups that oppose the maliki government and have come together with isis on the battlefield like jrtn, like the islamic army of iraq, like the 1920 revolutionary brigade, which are not committed to an islamic emir at, certainly not like isis there are some sunni tribes that have supported isis at least for the moment. so one issue i think is to put together an iraq government that is more acceptable to sunnies. the other at the same time is to begin to break away some of the sunni support base for isis because again, many of these groups and individuals including tribes do not support a long-term, the long-term vision of isis. >> we conclude this evening with a conversation with keith olbermann. >> i think to some degree it is the fact that i have never, ever been afraid to say what i think. i might be wrong, but i don't care about the consequences. i also don't, i am interested to know the viewers' reaction but i'm n

. >> reporter: seth jones has advised u.s. forces in afghanistan. he says the vetting of afghan troops to make sure terrorists don't infiltrate the ranks has improved in recent years. it had, to he says, after the 2012 spike in attacks by afghan soldiers on coalition forces. >> part of what's taking place is we are transitioning to afghan security. and for us to train them effectively, we are much closer contact. our troops are in much closer contact with afghan troops on an ongoing basis. >> reporter: those attacks, often called green on blue, have dramatically dropped since then. now jones says every afghan soldier's name and background are run through databases shared between afghan intelligence and military agencies. soldiers in some units get psychological screening, and they revisit those checks periodically throughout their careers. >> if they pop up in intelligence collection as supporting or talking to in any way the taliban or other groups, that obviously causes pretty serious concern and relook at an individual, and in some cases it's mea

seth jones, director of the international security and defense policy center at the rand corporation. and peter baker, white house correspondent for "the new york times." with me is kevin sutcliffe, vice news' head of european news programming. let me begin with peter. we want to talk about what is going on in iraq. we have now a change in government there. tell me how you think at this moment the obama administration sees iraq and its decision to go ahead on humanitarian reasons and to prevent a genocide. >> iraq is the ghost that will never quite leave this president. he wanted to get out and get the country out at the end of 2011. yet, he keeps finding himself drawn in. some say it is mostly his own fault for not leaving troops in 2011. he says this was not anticipated and the iraqis did not want the troops anyway. he finds himself once again authorizing airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops. the rationale for it continues to evolve. it was originally to protect american who were stuck in the consulate and to prevent a humanitarian disaster. now, he is saying we will coordinate more

. >> seth jones advised u.s. forces in afghanistan.ys the vetting of afghan troops to make sure terrorist don't infiltrate the ranks has improved in recent years. it had to, he says, after the 2012 spike in attacks by afghan soldiers on coalition forces. >> part of what taking place is we are transitioning to afghan security. and for us to train them effectively, we are much closer contact, our troops are in much closer contact with afghan troops on an ongoing basis. >> those attacks, often called grown on blue, have dramatically dropped since then. now jones says every afghan soldier name and background is ran through data bases shared with intelligence and military. some get psychological screening. they revisit those checks periodically throughout their career. >> if they are talking to the taliban or o other groups that causes serious concern and relook at individual and in some cases it meant arrest or throwing out of these individuals from the afghan national or even in some cases, local security forces. >> but there are gaps, jo

jones? >> guest: seth got to the heart of the issues felt generally. a few of the doctors i interviewed talks about how alzheimer's disease is whispered about. it is the silent epidemic no one is talking about. there has been work done in the last few years. the national alzheimer's project act was passed in 2011 and created a national plan with the goal to treat and prevent alzheimer's by 2025 so that is important to note. and in january of this year alzheimer's funding received an additional funding of $122 million. there have been steps in the right direction but the additional $122 million is a step but not the leap forward that, you know, the napa council said we need $2 billion to reach our goal of prevention and treatment by 2025. >> host: gale is up. democratic caller. go ahead. >> caller: i am a nurse of 41 years and work with alzheimer's victims. alzheimer's is not really an old age disease. those of us working in the profession know. this disease starts as early as 30. i am going to put a famous name on the disease. rita heyward was one of t

seth: right. >> and me, old nordic jones -- was really hoping they were gonna get out and maybe move to the pooly. and i had to get out in these zebra underwear. and i don't speak spanish, but i know they weren't complimenting me. [ laughter ] i know they were talking about me and i know they weren't complimenting me. [ laughter ] >> seth: one of the things we've had to do over the years is give each other bad news. in that when we've had a family pet has died, mom and dad have called me first, they've given me the bad news and then they always end the call by asking me to give you the bad news. there was one time you sort of smelled this out. >> well, you came to my apartment in amsterdam and you said "hey, i'm going to stop at this sandwich shop and get these sandwiches we liked. do you want one?" and i was like, "sure." and then you came over and i opened the door and said "tulip died." and you said how did you know? i said because you've never brought me a sandwich. [ laughter and applause ] i mean, i knew it was tulip's time, but i really knew when he said "i'm picking up sandwiches." [ lau