to talk about this, steven cook, council of foreign relations. david rhodes, held by the taliban for eight months. he wrote beyond war, imagining american influence in the middle east. and david pollock, a former state department official, and now for institute of near east policy. and so with mub artic being ousted, it seems to be a return to that era. and we have all of these very violent clashes, and one has to ask ones self, is egypt better off today? >> it's a good question. there was been a lot of twists and turns since hosni mubarak fell almost three years ago. and exceeded control from mohamed morsy, and then of course we have the coup of july 2013. there are some indications that the old order, the uprising that brought mubarak down is coming back, and they lay out personal and political freedoms, but it does institutionalize the autonomous rule of the military. and egyptian is have laid out personal freedoms, only to have them undermined by laws and be actions from the government. it doesn't look good three years hence from egypt is the

and the last word on choosing a defense minister greater constitutional autonomy than ever, says steven cook. >> it institutionalizes the situation in egypt that's existed for a long time, which is that the military is a law unto itself, it makes its own >> constitution commissioner vice chair makes no apologies for granting the military protective status amid all of the turmoil. >> the egyptian army has always >> reporter: the outcome of this week's vote, the turnout as well as the margin, is sure to be read as a referendum on egypt's turn under the military- appointed government. last weekend, gen. al-sissi urged egyptians to turn out in large numbers and said would consider running in the upcoming presidential election, "if the people request it." it seems a far cry from the dreams of the tahrir square revolutionaries who set all this change in motion three years ago. >> ifill: new revelations have come to light in the past several days about the massive hacking attack of consumers' information affecting customers of some major retail stores. they're raising more concerns over how many pe