stimson's co-founder barry blechman spearheaded the study. the report has become a must- read for anyone involved in the coming defense review or budget planning team. barry, welcome to the team. >> thank you, vag go. >> congratulations for your slot on the defense news top 100 most influential people. >> that was the biggest thrill of the year. >> so let's start off with the report. each report begins with assumptions about threats to the united states to be facing and what's going to be needed to meet them what. are those threats and what's the right strategy to address those threats as cost efficiently as possible? >> the group was more optimistic than many people in looking at the world. they see russia as a country that doesn't pose any threats now and really won't, can't for many years. they see china as a potential threat in the future but recognize we have common interests in china which would ease that threat. and they see the great instability in the middle east as posing specific threats to us such as the chemical weapons in syria

stimson says very clearly, stimson secretary of war and he understood and he says the soviets have amuch better understanding of their own security especially around poland and we do. >> host: if i could and drop for a minute, stepping back from those details do you think it was realistic for these two powerful nations, continental powers each of whom had i think it's fair to say an empire, one informal and won a little more formal because the soviets obviously had different smaller states under their control and couldn't keep control of the baltic states are moving into eastern europe with the red army dominion wasn't realistic for these two powers of very different ideological bases to really get along and were they really destined to have a cold war and luckily never really had a hot war except through proxies. these details are important but who knows of course if roosevelt roosevelt -- and stalin as you know himself through the heads of the french communist party told the american communists in april 1945, get ready for the class were to continue in effect. don't believe that pe

host: mona yacoubian, the senior middle east adviser for the stimson center daily d.c.ly, she worked for the state department and the u.s. institute of peace. you lived in syria for how long? guest: 4 year-and-a-half and i went back through the state department for another summer. host: on the phone from walker, louisiana. caller: good morning, steve and mona. it's time to stop carrying the water for the white house. with the rebels in damascus, isn't it too late? if you try chemical weapons in his own city, it's going to be worse for him, don't you think? host: is referring to a story that is on politico.com in what a lot of reporters are talking about the inauguration. guest: it's important to underscore the likelihood of assaad using chemical weapons may be quite low because it would, in fact, essentially be a suicide mission given the response it would detract from the international community. that being said, given the arsenal he has a and concerns about chaos in the country, it is a contingency that needs to be planned for. that is why i think we are seeing what w

as you can see by this large tree motorists stuck in the area had to go all the way back to stimson beach and use highway 1 south to get back on the freeway. >>> when the storm got to the sierra, it dumped a ton of snow. they got 6 to 8 feet of it above 7,000 feet. skiers, snow boarders and sled riders headed to the high country to enjoy it. with the winds gusting to 70 miles per hour, driving was dangerous and only slow-going for the ski resorts. if you're heading up there, chain controls are on the highways this morning. on interstate 80 chains are required for eastbound traffic about 7 miles east of truckie. there are chain criminals westbound. and highway 0 has chains from twin bridges to my years. and on 88 chain controls begin at cook station. >>> things should be better today for local christmas air travelers. it was a mess at the san francisco airport yesterday. high winds, wet conditions canceled dozens of flights. others were delayed two hours. fortunately there were no major delays at oak international or monetta international in san jose: and you can get the latest on any stor

. >> motorists had to go back to stimson beach and use the highway to get on the freeway. >>> high windsconditions canceled dozens of flights, and a lot of other flights were delayed two hours or more than that. that disappointed a lot of travelers trying to get to their christmas destinations. >>> you can get the latest on any stormy weather headed our way by checking out our live high-def doppler radar on our web site cbsss.com/weather. >>> 0:37 now. gun control is not normally a topic of conversation over the holidays; but the mass shooting in connecticut has changed all that this year. as tara mergener reports, the tragedy is keeping the debate on the national front burner. >> hundreds of protesters marched across the bridge asking for new gun control legal cause, and there were demonstrations outside a gun shop in a washington, d.c. to burr,. >> to allow the guns that have no other purpose than to murder, slaughter innocent children is just insane. >> reporter: fear of gun control legal cause has made the weapons one of the hottest selling items christmas. >> going buy things not go

different interests but a very good wartime alliance, and on april 23rd crucial meeting, marshall and stimson said that the soviet union gave more than promised. eisenhower was sure they would be post-par friends and didn't doubt that until august 1945 when he got word of the atomic bombing. eisenhower felled strongly, and roosevelt felt strongly along those lines. that why focusing on this. >> it is just two weeks -- how rapidly things change -- first two weeks when truman takes over, and truman is way over his head as he admits to everybody. he had this ecurrent nightmare as vice president, he would get a knock on the door and the secret service would say, the president is dead, you're president now. and this was a nightmare. he was not prepared. he was not chosen because he was qualified to run. when he was chosen, it was asked why did you peck hari true. pendergast said i wanted to show the world a well-oiled machine could take an office boy and get him in the senate. he was shunned by the other senators, and even in his second term, develops more but not an expert on these issues. so, he

earlier this year, we funded a project by the stimson center, which brought together 15 defense expertso examine our strategic defense priorities in some detail and how they should be reformed. today, we announced a new coalition for fiscal and national security. the coalition chaired by admiral mike mullen in regards to defense of both republican and democratic administrations, stretching back more than 30 years, as well as leaders to the congress including the very distinguished gentleman here today. all that served our nation, and they are joining together now to say very clearly that our leaders must find solutions for the long-term fiscal challenges, because our nation's security depends on it. it is now my pleasure to introduce the chairman of this coalition, admiral mike mullen, a very distinguished 43 year career in the united states senate, including service in the naval operations. while serving in the navy, he also managed to obtain advanced management training at harvard business school. he has a combination of practical military experience in budgeting and management knowle

earlier this year we funded a project by the stimson center which brought together 15 defense expertsexamine our strategic defense priorities in some detail and how they should be reformed. today we announce the new coalition for fiscal and national security. the coalition, chaired by admiral mullen, includes senior national security defense and economic officials from both republican and democratic administrations stretching back to more than 30 years as well as leaders from the congress including some very distinguished gentlemen here today. all have served our nation with distinction, and they are joining together now to say very clearly that our leaders must find solutions to our long-term fiscal challenges, because our nation's security depends on it. it's now my pleasure to introduce the chairman of the coalition, admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, capped a very distinguished 43-year career in the united states navy including service as chief of naval operations. wile serving in the -- while serving in the navy, he also managed to obtain advanced managem