so let's start, susan hennessey, but i just want to ask both of you in brief, what do you make of thisort? >> right, so for the moment, the real story is the allegations themselves are unverified. they're obviously quite salacious in nature. the real story is the intelligence community thought it was appropriate to brief the president of the united states and the president-elect. that means that serious people are taking this seriously. that's different than saying that the intelligence community believes the allegations, or has substantiated them. but this is a matter that's-- is not just simply a matter of fake news or something that we should disregard. clearly it passes some degree of preliminary credibility. >> woodruff: john sipher, your take? >> i think the question is, is this real? there are things on the positive side and the negative side. the positive side, for those who have lived and worked with the russians, it feels right. a lot of the details fit. also, i think, the author had some credibility which is on the positive side. >> woodruff: this is the former british intel