joining me now, pentagon correspondent barbara starr, who broke the story.d that you're learning new information about this senior isis official? >> reporter: more information coming to light. the name that the u.s. is using is abu sayyaf that clearly not his real name but the u.s. government not yet releasing the main's real name or the real name of his wife. what we are being told by officials with direct knowledge of the operation inside syria is they were able to capture the wife she's undergoing interrogation in iraq. he was killed in a firefight with u.s. forces but they were able to capture a good deal of communications equipment, a good deal of intelligence now being gathered. one official telling me a short time ago, that the u.s. now has what the official is saying reams and reams of data on how isis communicates operates and what they may be up to. that is now what they are going through. abu sayyaf is characterized as the cfo, if you will of isis which special expertise in oil and gasp their money making operations in resent months. but the u.s.

barbara starr, thank you so much for that report. great interview. away from losing significant weapons in the war against terrorism. that is what some supporters say of the controversial spying program under the patriot act which is due to expire. there's been a dramatic new move in the senate to block the measures from being extended. our white house correspondent mi michelle kosinski is following that story for us. michelle what's going on? >> reporter: at the heart of this is a real battle now over national security in the face of today's threats versus personal freedom from large-scale is your surveillance and republicans now saying more than ever he we need the patriot act to continue intact allow the government to collect this data that most of the time isn't even ever accessed but, were, there is politics at play here. i mean to see rand paul stunningly thwart his own party from extending that authority even for a day. on this memorial day the president honoring those fallen in battle. while overseas isis gains ground. here in washington new

yeley, david starr and joey gase the final car in the top ten. heard from him on our xfinity race day pre-race, a great story, good young man and an opportunity for a career best at talladega. >> you know when i thought about this opportunity for me coming up here for my final race with you guys i felt talladega is so cool. so many different story line. why die underestimate the number of story lines. the points implication. ty dillon has a great opportunity here to bounce back. we got buescher up there that has a great opportunity to make up some points on these guys. the different incidents that have happened on the track. the bump drafting. >> the underdog stories. >> underdog stories. >> landon cassill, j.j. yeley, david starr all inside the top ten. what about joey gase down in the tenth spot. so many wonderful stories and those guys like gase, j.j. yeley this might be their best chance to win of their career and they just want it so bad and push so pardon to the so. >> this is their opportunity. they know this is their chance to shine and t

barbara starr reporting the u.s.deadly live anthrax to several states -- i think nine states as well as to a u.s. base in south korea. here is the question a lot of viewers were asking me. why is the military even shipping anthrax around right now? >> wolf it's all about this. everyone knows that america's military fights our nation's wars. when they're not fating, they're preparing to fight the next war. it may be chemical biological or radiological weapons. you have to learn to detect treat, and immunize against it. what's going on here these dry spores as they were called were not supposed to have any capability were sent to different location ss to develop training kits. that's part of the assessment and detection. they were in the middle of an anthrax detection program. that's what happened the executive agent for department of defense and chemical weapons is embarrassed by this. early interkators it was a process ing processing error. >> all of us remember the anthrax terror attacks after 9/11 that occurred her

two beatles -- paul mccartney and ringo starr getting ready to do their rehearsal.e around the musicians and crew has been electric. the presence of two beatles on this stage and they had not even played a note yet. ♪ >> rock 'n roll is the art form of our generation. we support the museum here in cleveland. we produce the ceremony. we run the whole nomination process. we raise money and help in everything they do. john: the work they have done -- the scale of it is titanic and it is amazing the stuff that is there. ♪ john: what is amazing about this place -- it is a little overwhelming. i feel like i can spend three days here and see only about a third. green day, the youngest band of this set of inductees. billy joel armstrong, the voice of a generation -- political. >> ♪ everybody hears the propaganda and sing along to the age of paranoia ♪ john: "american idiot" is a full frontal assault of the bush administration. an explicitly political record. and later became a broadway show. that is what happens in american capitalism. music turns into mass commerce for a b

cnn's chief pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining me now by phone. barbara, what's the latest from the pentagon on this? >> well we have been talking, michael, to a number of sources that will say to you are directly familiar with the operation on the ground in syria overnight. now, while this man, abu sayyaf was in charge of oil and gas operations there may be other reasons they went after him. we need to remember that the u.s. assessment was he was increasingly involved in isis day-to-day operations, command and control. this is the key thing that the u.s. wanted to get some insight into. two sources telling me that there is reason to believe he may have been in some level of contact with the isis leader. we don't have details on that. but the fact that two sources familiar with the operation on the ground are able to tell us at cnn that there's reason to believe he may have been in contact with badgdadi begins to shape the picture on why they were willing to risk u.s. troops to go get him. it wasn't just to get him, but his communication's equipme

. >> let's bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr, senior international correspondent nick paton walsh and national correspondent sunlen serfaty and cnn military analysts retired lieutenant general mark hertling and retired major general james spider marks. let's start with barbara starr, who broke the news this morning, tell us what we know. >> good morning, well it was a -- commando raid overnight, deep into syrian isis-held territory. u.s. army special operations forces and that means delta force, went in by helicopter under orders to try to capture this man. but apparently a firefight broke out, hand-to-hand combat. he resisted. he was killed in the firefight. along with other isis fighters there. his wife captured and taken back to iraq. the big question why this guy? why was it worth risking so many u.s. military lives to go after him? what we're being told is he was an isis leader if you will in their oil and gas operations. so that's very key because of the financial impact. the financial benefit to isis. but perhaps more serious, even there had been a sense by the u.s. t

larry bowers took the job when starr resigned.week the board of education announced they had selected a up to candidate to replace starr, but that candidate has now backed out. today, the board will formally ask bowers to stay on as interim superintendent for one more year. bowers had planned to retire this year. >>> it has been a difficult year for the university of virginia but the board of visitors is not blaming president teresa sullivan. she's getting an extension. the new deal lasts until 2019. she makes $647,000 a year. the school recently was the focus of a now discredited "rolling stone" article about rape on campus. >>> 11 before the hour now. an air bag maker has put out a recall on millions of car that are believed to have a defective air bag that can explode. we first told you about the problem months ago. the takata air bags can explode instead of inflating launching shrapnel in your face. 33 million cars have been recalled. that is the biggest recall ever in this country. we have put a link where you can check to se

>> barbara starr, barbara starr is still with us. you are, barbara, aren't you? for you. >> i was fascinated hearing your reporting. the indication from anybody that this was the man they were after or whether they thought, perhaps, the familiar names. we've seen them on the wanted list. and endless reports he has been injured by your sources and others we have spoken to, too. the spokesperson, anointed after the big number two operation and be out of the picture. many more significant names that you might think a raid of this quite substantial risk would be aimed at trying to kill or capture. i am just wondering, barbara, if you had any indication of anyone else potentially who was in their crosshairs who just turned out not to be here? >> at the moment, there is no indication that you've pointed to the exact question which is if president obama would have been the one to sign off on an operation like this. he would know all about it. why would the president go for this type of risk? one of the things that, again, our sources familiar with what happened on the g

larry bowers took the job in february when joshua starr resigned. last week the board of education announced they had selected a top candidate to replace starr. but that candidate has now backed out. today, the board will formally ask bowers to stay on as superintendent for one more year. bowers had planned to retire this year. >>> it is now 6:05. today the alexandria council will hold a vote on where the new metro station should go. northern virginia bureau chief julie carey says they want to put it in between the parkway and the tracks. >>> there's still no word on when a westbound lane on the arlington bridge will open. it was closed closest to the curb more than 24 hours ago now. engineers found some corrosion during a routine inspection. >>> in the district transportation officials plan to discuss how to make it easier to bike and walk to and from metro and vre metro stations. the meeting is a study, the study shows that more than 3,000 potential bicycle and pedestrian improvements to handle more riders. metro will update us on how it's priorit

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> now, will sayyaf's death leave a void in isis? let's ask. jamana, tell us more about what we know about this abu sayyaf and what it would mean that he no longer, apparently, is leading these operations of isis. how significant is it? >> well, that's the big question. up until yesterday, people who have covered isis for a very long time, isis experts in the region, you and i, who have reported on the names of the isis leadership we have heard over the past couple of years have not heard of abu sayyaf until that announcement. so there are lots of questions about who he is. very little that is known. oil and gas used to be, up until the start of the u.s.-led coalition air campaign against isis, one of their main sources of revenue, not so much any more. i think we're going to have to wait and see what more information comes out about abu sayyaf. now this is believed to be his -- or possibly he has a son tra translates into father of sayyaf into arabic. there's been some second lagz from isis experts in the region and elsewhere saying that possi

barbara starr, thank you very much. lieutenant colonel james reece, springboarding off of barbara's point when she talks about imagine you're on this huey, after midnight, it's dark mountainous, as she was pointing out. communication can be a challenge. can you walk through and -- and if these reports accurate they could be worried about fuel -- just the challenges there. what you would be thinking as the pilot? >> sure. right now, that altitude where these guys are flying is challenging, not for the pilots but the aircraft themselves. it's burning a lot more fuel. it's challenging aircraft's capability. one of the things, if they had a fuel problem, the pilots know how to put them down safely. can be a hard landing, but nay know how to put it down safely. if there's injuries, they'll they have with the injuries. if they're not, if they can get to high ground get communications up. the best thing is to stay with the aircraft, with everything they have there until a search party can come out and continue to look for them

so barbara starr, she's the one who got the interview with the defense secretary. let me just begin with that interview and tell me more about what he shared with you, barbara. >> he was talking a good deal about the situation in ramadi as you pointed out. one of the things that secretary of defense is coping with right now is a lot of political pressure from the republicans in washington to make a commitment to put troops on the ground. so he apparently wanted to spell out in detail his views about the capability of those iraqi troops that the u.s. forces would have to deal with on the ground. listen to what he had to say. >> the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact they last i have outnumbered the opposing force. yet they failed to fight. they withdrew from the site. and that says to me and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis. >> the will of the iraqis to fight, especially in ramadi. he's really focusing on that because the fall of ramadi is so serious. it's a major city in iraq. brings

right to cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. pentagon officials and sources in the intelligence community outright dismissing these reports, baghdadi was injured in a coalition strike. what makes them so confident he's fine? >> reporter: you know it can always change but right now it is based on the intelligence that they do have and it is what they believe is happening right now on the ground. u.s. intelligence believes isis leader abubakar al baghdadi for now remains firmly in charge no intelligence indicating he's been injured in a recent coalition air strike, despite press reports. the u.s. has already identified these men as potential successors to the isis leadership putting millions of dollars of reward on each of their heads. there's no shortage of supporters on the ground or online. >> we're very definitely in a new phase in the global terrorist threat, where the so-called lone wolf could strike at any moment. >> reporter: those attacks are toughest to detect especially when the internet can so easily recruit isis sympa

let's bring in cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr.reporter: good morning, carol. it may be known as the saddest acre in america but right here right now today this is a place full of love and memories and remembrance. this i must tell you, is where history of brothers in arms is written for wars in iraq and afghanistan but also so many other conflicts in the nation's history. we are seeing just dozens and dozens of families relatives, battle buddies turning up here to pay respects to their loved ones. so many people coming here on this memorial day to pause and remember. a short time ago we spoke to a young mother and her son. she lost her marine corps husband after he served several tours in both iraq and afghanistan. >> it's wonderful that people are coming out here and these people aren't forgotten. sacrifices aren't forgotten. >> i love you, daddy. i hope for you to be here and i know you will be here and i love you. >> so sweet. >> he always watching over me. >> 4-year-old chris jacobs talking about his father who served in iraq

let's bring in cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, i don't know if you remember cassidy and the sundance kid, but who are these guys? >> there is the question michael. what is going to happen to them? look, these are a number of top-level taliban operatives. they have been held at guantanamo bay until they were traded for that release last year to get bowe bergdahl back into u.s. hands. the titles these guys have. chief of intelligence ministry of interrier and top taliban official in communications. these are the kind of titles if you will that they are associated with. look clearly, they were top taliban operatives. the u.s. a lot of controversy about that. but people will tell you that they were going to be due for transfer out of guantanamo bay anyhow. these are not the top, top tier. these are not, you know the top guys responsible for the 9/11 attacks. these are the kind of people that the u.s. is planning to transfer out anyhow so they did it in return for bowe bergdahl. very controversial. not insignificant players. b

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let's bring in cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr.n't know if you remember butch cassidy and the sundance kid, but here's my question. who are these guys. >> there's the question michael. and what is going to happen to them? well look, these are a number of top-level taliban operatives. of course they had been held at guantanamo bay until they were traded for that release last year for bowe bergdahl to get him back into u.s. hands. now, the titles that these guys have is things like chief of intelligence intelligence, minister of interior, top taliban official in communications. these are the kind of titles, if you will, that they are associated with. look clearly, they were top taliban operatives. the u.s. took them off the battlefield. a lot of the controversy about that. but people will tell you that they were going to be due for transfer out of guantanamo bay anyhow. these are not the top, top tier. these are not, you know, the top guys responsible for the 9/11 attacks. these are the kinds of people that the u.s. is planning to tr

let's go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. she's got the very latest. >> reporter: wolf the centers for disease control and the defense department looking into all of this. right now, they know that last friday a shipment of live anthrax inadvertently went to one lab in one state. but overall, shipments were made to nine states. so now the cdc is collecting up all of those samples and trying to make sure that none of the other samples were actually live anthrax agent. but look at how widespread this problem is. the states that got the shipments in this original situation were wisconsin, delaware new york texas, maryland new jersey tennessee california and virginia. they're not saying yet which lab in which state got the live agent by mistake. that lab reported it to the cdc. the pentagon then informing labs in all the other states. so they're trying to get a handle on it. right now, they don't have any reports that anyone is ill. but the problem here wolf is how did it happen? it's not the first time. how does this happen that

pentagon correspondent barbara starr reports. >> reporter: isis gaining ground not only in ramadi miles from baghdad in libya tunisia and syria. >> reporter: hundred may have been killed. >> one of the horrific aspects. as isis fighters want through the town they massacred children, wives of the townspeople. >> reporter: less than 70 miles from baghdad, ramadi extend isis' influence. some iraqi troops had to be air lifted out of the city. >> the iraqi army didn't have a good sense what was happening. the islamic state was making inroads over weeks and months. and ramadi was rotting from within. >> reporter: shia militiamen are gathering for possible counterattack. sunni tribes are asking for arms. despite ramadi, the white house is insisting they're making progress. >> reporter: trending in the wrong direction, there is no reliable partner to help fight isis on the ground. >> barbara starr reporting. now so far there is no timetable for iraq's plan to try to retake ramadi. cnn's correspondent joins us live from amman, jordan, with more on this developing story. and, for all of the fear

as barbara starr reports they believe isis is showing growing signs of strength, particularly when it comes to cyberspace. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence believes isis leader baghdadi remains firmly in charge. there's no intelligence indicating he's been injured in a recent coalition airstrike despite press reports. the u.s. has already identified these menace potential successors to the isis leadership, put being millions of dollars of reward on each of their heads. there's no shortage of supporters on the ground or online. the latest, this video from a fringe, pro-isis hacking group threatening a seeker attack is coming. >> the thing i always look for is at what point do groups decide that they need to move from viewing the internet as a source of recruitment as a way to spread ideology, do we see it more of greater concern, as viewing it as a potential weapon system. >> reporter: those attacks are toughest to detect, especially when the internet can so easily recruit isis sympathizerisympat. >> you have a lot of people springing up in various areas of the world that are all interes

pentagon correspondent barbara starr shows us these isis advances are major blows to coalition forcester: isis solidified control around ancient syrian city of palmyra friday. in iraq it pushed east of ramadi, taking the town of husayba. iraqi security officials tell cnn. a desperate situation as residents continue to flee ramadi and other towns in anbar province. and for the u.s., presidential rhetoric may be sorely outdated. >> in iraq, in syria, american leadership including our military power is stopping isil's advance. >> reporter: president obama says the u.s. isn't losing to isis. but senior u.s. military officials privately acknowledge the terror group's takeever of ramadi is showing a key flaw the pentagon had long worried about. air strikes alone can't defeat isis. unless iraqi forces step up and fight. and in ramadi, that did not happen. and there could be political fallout. >> they have had now a fairly serious defeat in ramadi for which the prime minister and defense minister are taking the blame. this was not a particularly stable government before that. we should be con

pentagon correspondent barbara starr reports. >> reporter: ramadi residents continue fleeing the city as isis consolidates its position. across the border in syria, the ancient city of palmyra with artisfacts dating back thousand of years in the hand of isis. experts fear scenes of look this in iraq when isis destroyed museum antiquities. >> caught in the cross fire for some time. the pentagon insists its anti-isis strategy is not changing. it will train iraqi troops, there will be no u.s. force in comb battle on the ground. >> what this looks like, in fact on the ground is containment. that's not what president obama says his policy is. that's not what he is selling to the american people. >> after several day saying the loss of ramadi was just a set back. u.s. officials increasingly are acknowledging behind the scenes how serious the situation is, and are watching for signs of what may happen next. if iranian backed shia militias move in could there be a new sectarian bloodbath? will isis expand into shia areas beyond the traditional power base in sunni dominated regions. a u.s. int

starr begins his new job at pdk june 8th. >>> another mild day today. plenty of clouds for now. humidity still on the intense side esis how i describe it. 79 in frederick, maryland. 79 manassas. 83 warrenton. 81 fredericksburg. cooler in an an list. future weather, here's the way the computer believes that we're going break out for the afternoon. a couple of showers rumble or two of thunder starting after 1:00 or 2:00 and up through 4:00 5:00 6:00 this evening as the cold front presses down around the corridor around the time the sun goes down than will turn off rain chances we should be in comfortable air tomorrow. >>> new report out says, d.c. is the most physically fit city in the u.s. annual fitness index examines disease, food habits and exercise to find out how healthy cities are. minneapolis and san diego took second and third place. indianapolis came in last place. read the full rankings on the american college of sports medicine says all of the parks put d.c. on top. we wanted to find out why d.c. is so fit. we asked you earlier how you stayed healthy. here are the resu

barbara starr is at the pentagon and has more for us.d morning. >> right now the pentagon says there are no signs anybody is ill but they are moving to take the actions you just described. what we do know is the military contracted with fedex sometime ago to undertake these shipments, but that may be about all we know. this morning the pentagon really scrambling to come up with a set of facts about what happened here. this morning fear up to 22 personnel may have been exposed to anthrax in an air base in south korea, and an investigation underway after an army lab in utah shipped live an anthrax samples to them and nine states over the last few days. 22 people being monitored in south korea join four workers in the u.s. who received preventive post exposure treatment, and a lab in maryland was the first to report receiving the live bacteria after handling the samples, and the question now is how could this have happened? >> that's a great question. that's why we brought in the center for disease control and their investigators. >> the ce

barbara starr at the pentagon. thank you.w cnn counterterrorism analyst and cnn national security analyst with us the former homeland security advisor to president bush. so we see what's happening now in syria, isis controls half of it phil this includes a key syrian border crossing. we know that the air strikes aren't enough, there fleeds toneeds to be boots on the ground. the solution moderate rebels be the boots on the ground. where are they in this training process and is it going to be enough? >> we're not far along in the process. they've started modest training. you have to look at two timelines not synchronized. the president, assad, of syria, talking in more serious tones about the opposition he's facing. hasn't seen that in past years. an insurgency several years old. a militancy we don't like and years into the insurgency we're starting to say with partners we're going to train. the timeline for the demise of assad accelerated. the timeline the u.s. is using to train people is slow. not synchronized. it's not enoug

>> barbara starr reporting for us. thank you. >>> bring in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto also would go the story for us and learning new information. how often to these alerts go into place, jim? >> reporter: not often, wolf. a handful of times. look here. force protection bravo in the middle of the scale, yellow increased and predictable threat. that is key. alpha and charlie, and look at the timeline here for when we've seen these threats on u.s. bases in the past. one february 2003. to be clear at that time not just u.s. military bases under threat. there was a broader department of homeland security threat because generalized tied to al qaeda. in the holidays december 2003 bases but also general areas around the country that were under threat. not specific to u.s. military bases. we saw force protection bravo come up again just after the benjamin netanyahu raid inbnin laden raid in2011. remember the color-coded scale and rail travel not specific just to bases. finally again the last time we

let's go straktight to the pentagon to our correspondent there, barbara starr.ials. how did they explain this to you? >> good afternoon. we're beginning to fill in the blanks about what the concerns are that led the military to sign this order last night raising security levels at u.s. military bases across the country. there have been several things that have caught their notice and concern. just this week a known jihadist apparently tweeted the home address of a very significant u.s. military official his home address. this military official is involved in the u.s. program to train syrian rebels. obviously we're not going to say his name his address, or any further details about that. but this also -- this british jihadist that apparently tweeted this was tied to the attack in garland, texas, said to be inspired by isis. this is causing a lot of consternation, a lot of notice. this comes after several weeks ago also tweets of personal information, home addresses of nearly 100 military officials. so this kind of information is getting out there and causing conc

. >> barbara starr reports. >> isis gaining ground, not only in the key city of ramadi just miles from baghdad, but in libya, tunisia .syria. tens of thousands are now on the run in iraq, fleeing ramadi from isis's brutal takeover. hundreds may have already been killed. >> one of the most horrific aspects of this, of course, is as these isis fighters went through the town, they massacred children, wives of the towns people -- >> less than 70 miles from baghdad, ramadi extends isis's influence. some iraqi troops had to be air lifted out of the city. >> police are abandoning positions one area after another. >> reporter: in the end, there was no help from the central government in baghdad. >> the iraqi army didn't have a good sense of what was happening in the city. clearly, the islamic state had been making inroads over the preceding weeks and months and ramadi was a foundation rotting from within. >> shia militia men are gathering outside of ramadi for a possible counterattack. sunni tribes are asking for arms. despite ramadi, the white house is insisting they are making progress. >> a

>> barbara starr for us at arlington national cemetery.rbara points out, this is a day without politics. a day without cynicism. a day only with gratitude. i want to bring in a retired brigadier general who served no many years including iraq where i covered what he was doing over there. general, as someone who has led so many young men and women in battle, today is a particularly poignant heartfelt day. >> it really is. while barbara is with the most recent of those that have fallen in combat over the years, we have to remember in arlington there are those that have served all of the way back through the civil war. the reason there aren't large crowds in the section that houses the civil war or world war ii or korea veterans is quite simply those comrades are laying next to those comrades that fell so this is one of those days as you say is not about politics. it's not about parties. it's not about elections. it's about america coming and recognizing those that have fallen, some not chosen or voluntarily served who were drafted who served

barbara starr? >> this happened five hours ago, and we are told by u.s.ls the reports are that the cargo vessel was transiting in international waters when it was approached by the five essentially gun boats from iran believed to be from their revolutionary guard corp. navy. the iranians firing shots across the bow of that cargo vessel and we don't know if any of the shots hit the cargo ship. we are told the next thing that happened -- and there is a lot of drama, here -- the cargo ship turned and made its escape into the uae, a very strong u.s. persian gulf ally and they went into uae waters and the uae sent out three of its own patrol boats to help out the cargo ship and the iranians obviously turning back and not taking the risk of entering another country's waters as they were firing shots. a lot of turmoil here and a lot of uncertainty about what the iranians are really up to. this is not the first incident in recent weeks, of course and it comes as president obama hear in washington is meeting with the persian gulf leaders, and iran one of the subje

barbara starr is live another the pentagon.t sound like a joke but the governor of texas is not treating it like one. >> not a joke at all. governor abbott says he and texas respect the military troops. but make no mistake, he wants his people to keep an eye on what they are doing. >> by directing the state guard to monetary the operations -- >> don't mess with texas is republican governor greg abbott's message to the pentagon. abbott called out his state guard to keep an eye on u.s. special operations forces. the governor says he wants to make sure that text san's constitutional rights with private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed during an upcoming military war game called jade help 15. 1200 personnel army agree berets navy sales and air force troops will train across seven states this summer. do texans have to worry their own freedom is at risk? >> there's no texas takeover. the united states government already controls -- >> stewart even broadcasts attempts. >> it is a preparation for marshal law. >

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has this story. >> reporter: an intense fighting near these 2000 year old rooms, activists say executions are already under way. the ancient city of palmira now firmly in the grip of isis, the world holding its breath, worrying isis may destroy these priceless ruins. it's already destroyed artifacts in iraq. isis now controls 50% of syrian territory. an activist group says. the state department and the u.s. intelligence community now focusing on how to get ramadi back and save anbar province in iraq, a key approach to baghdad. pressure is mounting after the administration's earlier somewhat unconcerned views on the fall of ramadi. >> i am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed. >> are we going to light our hair on fire every time that is there a setback? >> congressional republicans heavily disagree. >> isil's victory gives it the appearance of strength and boosts its ability to recruit more fighters. >> u.s. intelligence officials are looking for any new indications isis could attempt to assault baghdad. >> we have to do

anchor: tributes are pouring in from lenny kravitz to ringo starr as celebrities are saying goodbye to blues legend bb king who died today at the age of 89. brian: he won 15 grammy awards and known for his unique guitar sound that helped shape early rock 'n roll. he continued to perform well into his 80's even though he suffered from diabetes. ♪ reporter: he was known for his world-weary voice. and his trademark black gibson guitar. on september 16, he would have turned 90. he was born on a plantation in mississippi. as a child, he sang in a gospel choir. he started singing the blues in the late 1940's and went from playing dive bars and dance halls to worldwide acclaim. rumor has it he fathered 15 children with 15 different women. but his music was his first and last in love. >> it's good for me when i'm feeling bad and good for me when i'm feeling good. it's kind of like what religious is -- what religious music is to a lot of people. >> influencing generations of musicians. he played with rocks biggest stars like here and eric clapton. a few years previously, he shared the stage wit

barbara starr has more on this. >> good morning, carol.ven there is no indication the police officer on the street in garland who opened fire on the attackers knew anything about them and what they were up to. now federal law enforcement officials are saying simpson, in fact, did have contact with known isis overseas and are they inspired by isis or directed by isis? it may not make much difference anymore with so much online activity going on. and comby had this to say. i want to read it directly. the fbi director saying quote, i know there are other elton simpson's out there, and it's like there's a devil sitting on their shoulder saying kill kill kill kill all day long. they are recruiting and tasking at the same time. militants, many of them isis adherents doing just that, and they are trying to get activity going that leads to attacks. later today, in fact state and local officials will have a private phone call with federal officials about some of this. comby. it's supposed to be about this and you can sure bet this entire issue is g

let's get right to cnn's barbara starr at the pentagon. this is one of the deadliest pathogens in existence and it was just sent out for delivery like anything else? how did this happen? >> reporter: that is the question, jake, at this hour. that the centers for disease control and the pentagon are trying to answer. here's what happened apparently last friday. some anthrax was shipd. it was supposed to essentially be dead spores shipped under less stringent circumstances for research programs than what the pentagon ships live spores. this time the lab receiving it reported it wasn't dead it was live. and it was shipped in these circumstances, it wasn't supposed to be. it was supposed to be dead. it was shipped from utah to private commercial labs in eight states. wisconsin, delaware new york texas, maryland new jersey tennessee, california and virginia. now the cdc is collecting up all the samples that the military shipped, looking at all of them to make sure it wasn't just this one lab, that there are no other live samples out there that

let's go to barbara starr. the canadian government is appealing the decision. could we see the u.s.try to intervene? >> not at this time. it doesn't appear so because, of course it was the u.s. that agreed to the arrangement to ship him to canada in the first place. at this time it's the canadian government objecting to the judge's ruling. the judge apparently feeling he didn't pose a danger to society. he is out on bail while all of this is being appealed. there are restrictions on him. he will have to have a -- he stays with his lawyer. he will have to have a curfew between 10:00 at night and 7:00 in the morning. he will be subject to electronic monitoring. his communications will be monitored. look he now until this gets a final resolution essentially is a free man. canadian press is reporting there have been a number of instances where he has gotten support from people in canada some students trying to visit him, help him with his education, help him socialize if he is going to be back in the general population of canadian society. remember he was captured at the age of 15. he i

barbara starr has the latest. we know him by abu sayyaf. what's his real name barbara? just a short time ago a u.s. official gave cnn what they now believe is the real name of the isis commander they killed over the weekend. let me read it to everybody. we'll talk about it. according to the obama administration the real name of this man is something that means to most of us this guy had a number of aliases, a number of names of war that he used but after looking at all of this, these aliases for the last several days they believe this is now his real name. this is the name they settled on. it's been a very sensitive matter for the intelligence community because, remember this guy not very well known outside of isis and perhaps u.s. intelligence circles so how they came by the name appears to be quite a sensitive matter. let's be clear. we still only really know what the administration has been telling us that this man is a top commander in the isis organization was in syria until he was killed. was in charge of oil and gas financing. had taken on an increasing role in i

first let's get to reporting from our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. also joining me i have retired lieutenant colonel rick francona. barbara, first to you. looking at the clock here knowing it's near midnight in nepal. what do we know about this helicopter? >> reporter: brooke this is a u.s. marine corps uh-1 huey. there were six marines on board, two them -- two nepalese. it's missing, a search underway. we're facing a difficult situation. we know military families may be watching, and there just are no answers now. it is possible that the helicopter simply ran into some trouble and put down in a remote mountain area, and they're having trouble locating it. we do not know on the other hand if this is a crash situation. what we are told is another helicopter from the indian military was flying in the area at the time. it picked up radio chatter from the american crew that they had run into some sort of fuel problem. we do not know what that fuel problem was. we don't know if the pilot, the american marine corps pilot was simply able to set his helicop

barbara starr, back to you at the pentagon.let's talk more about the importance of ramadi and what has happened including the participation of iranian backed shiite militias the u.s. backed coalition air power, lots at stake. ramadi sits at the west of baghdad, to the west of fallujah also under isis control. the anbar province the site of the most deadly battles for u.s. troops during the war in iraq more than 1,000 american military personnel were killed in the battle for anbar province. joining us now is our global affairs analyst retired colonel james reese, former delta force commander. from toerntto mubean sheikh former terror operative. give your quick analysis ramadi a city of half a million people 120,000 of them have already fled. it looks like a disaster that's unfolding right now. what's going on? >> yeah wolf. i mean it is a setback, no question. the coalition have been doing pretty good bombing out there, but you have to be able to follow it up with ground forces to seize that terrain. i think one thing you will w

and barbara starr joins us live from the pentagon and barbara, i have to say, i was taken aback by theom the defense secretary. how are iraqis taking his harsh words? >> reporter: now john we're beginning to hear from iraqi opposition politicians who are also weighing in perhaps expectedly on their dismay about the performance of the iraqi military in that battle for ramadi. whatever did or did not happen in ramadi, it has set off a seemingly un-ending controversy. a chaotic firefight just before ramadi fell. filmed on a cell phone by an iraqi soldier. the strategic city now in the hands of isis and the u.s. defense secretary not mincing words in an exclusive interview with cnn. >> what apparently happened was that the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force, and yet they failed to fight. they withdrew from the site. >> reporter: a comment that set off its own firestorm. vice president joe biden calmed called the iraqi prime minister pledging more training and equipment, countering the defense secretary,

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> and that is a fascinating report, barbara.et's talk about it with bob baer former operative, and kimberly dozier, and cnn analyst and contributor the daily beast. bob, is the government good and strong at combat ingting the dark web? >> well, the national security agency, and they have private kon trak contractors who are all brilliant, but the problem is, poppy, the islamic state is moving as fast as the federal government, and for instance they started to communicate with the satellites hot spot and deliver a message from one part of the world and then take it down and it will have disappeared and you can't really combat that. they are doing other things like using the odd languages like uzbek or chechen to communicate, and using the sites and apps that are difficult like wicker and it cannot be tracked. >> kimberly, there is a big difference between finding the true isis sympathizer and sn who someone who is trying to act, and someone who is just spout ing it online, and how does the u.s. government differentiate who is goi

barbara starr has more on that. good morning. >> good morning, carol. now we see u.s. military bases at a higher state of alert. we see more concern about lone wolf attacks in the united states. we see the fbi and federal law enforcement trying to find ways to track down more closely. hundreds if not thousands of people who may be following isis online. this is social media gone viral with isis. a lot of concern about people acting online. i want you to listen to more about what jeh johnson, the secretary of homeland security had to say about all of this. >> we're definitely in a new phase of the global terrorist threat where the so-called lone wolf could strike at any moment which is why the fbi in my judgment has done an excellent job of interdicting those who are attempting to travel to syria who commit overt acts and provide material support to terrorism. it's a new environment. we are not discouraging americans from doing things they do on a daily basis. >> so here's the problem with this trend on social media. we used to talk about our attacks inspired by isis or

in an exclusive interview with c-n-n's barbara starr, carter blamed the weak state of iraq's militarye major reason for >> : : "the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. and yet, they failed to fight. they withdrew from the site, and that says to me, and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis to fight isil and defend themselves." >> reporter: in the wake of isis advances, some have called for more iraq. three-thousand u-s military personnel training iraqi forces areas. isis has steadily been gaining ground in iraq. they captured ramadi a week ago. and also claimed a major victor in syria.gaining control of the historic city of palmyra. isis is now pushing east towards a military base in habbaniya.and iraqi troops have launched a counter-offensive to stop their advance. c-n-n's arwa damon is in baghdad where fear set in of a possible isis occupation. >> : the shop promotes its expertise in encapsualting joyous moments but its been nearly two months since such a job has

barbara starr is out front from the pentagon. >> isis gaining ground. not only in the key city of ramadi just miles from baghdad, but in libya, tunisia, and syria. tens of thousands are now on the run in iraq. fleeing ramadi from isis' brutal takeover. hundreds may have already been killed. >> one of the most horrific aspects of this of course is as these isis fighters went through the town they massacred children wives of the townspeople. >> less than 70 miles from baghdad, ramadi extends isis' influence. former defense secretary bob gates. >> i think that it is a serious loss. >> some iraqi troops had to be air lifted out of the city. >> police are abandoned positions one area after another. >> in the end, there was no help from the central government in baghdad. >> the iraqi army didn't have a good sense of what was happening in the city. clearly, the islamic state had been making inroads over the proceeding weeks and months and ramadi was a foundation rotting from within. >> shia militiamen are gathering outside of ramadi for a possible counterattac