sometimes it is hard for the pentagon to do that internally. that is our role as an independent branch of government, with the responsibilities -- that is our job. we can be more effective if we work at it in partnership. i don't know the pentagon agrees with everything, but i do know that we're headed in the same direction. we will continue to make refinements, and work with them. the goal is to speed up decision-making and ultimately get more resources in the hands of the war fighter. we've got to keep our focus on them. i think working together we can be much more effective. >> 10 minutes left. >> these are logical goals. it's something the pentagon and congress have struggled with her years. -- with for years. secretary gates previously tried to trim bureaucracy. how is this different than those past efforts? rep. thornberry: you are right. it will be something we have to continue to work at. we will never get pentagon bureaucracy or any other government bureaucracy perfect. what is different now are two things. we just talked about a partne

is this something the pentagon and congress have struggled with for years. secretary gates previously tried bureaucracyagon under the bush and obama administrations. how is this effort different from this past efforts? rep. thornberry: you are right. it will be something we have to continue to work at. we will never get pentagon bureaucracy or any other government bureaucracy perfect. i think what is different now are two things. one is a partnership where congress and the pentagon leadership both are trying to , move in the same direction and give us a chance to be more effective. the other thing that is different, and again this is all bipartisan sort of work, members and congress understand we face a wider array of national security threats than we have faced before. everything from russia modernizing their nuclear weapons, to the kind of information warfare that we were talking about. and lots of things in between. to deal with this array of threats we can't afford to just focus on one like terrorism. or another like the former soviet union. we have to be

a little bit but not a complete picture yet from the pentagon the pentagon was pretty clear on when they struck and where they struck and what targets were hit but in terms of the full analysis from the pentagon on what damage was done at least from their perspective that will be released saturday in a early briefing but when we did hear from joseph dunford chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the secretary of defense james mattis they were very clear that these were. what they view to persist in strikes on key infrastructure capabilities by the syrian government to produce chemical weapons is particularly interesting was how they pointed out this scientific research center outside damascus which the pentagon says very clearly was used by syrian government scientists to come up with the formulas in create the chemical weapons that the u.s. says that they then deployed so they said that the pentagon said that this strike against this particular facility should set them back years in their capability to produce more chemical weapons but in terms of how all of the strikes panned out fr

and gasping for air these are not the actions of a man they are crimes of a monster instead of the pentagon says the operation is over but defense secretary james mattis is calling for the international community to stand up against the assad government i want to emphasize that these traits are directed at the syrian regime in conducting these strikes we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. but it is a time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the seared syrian civil war by supporting the united nations back to an even peace process in accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons we urge responsible nations to condemn the assad regime and to join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. that is just gone three g.m.t. with continued our rolling coverage of the strikes on syria by us france and the u.k. president analyses strikes two hours ago and as he was announcing it we had reports of explosions in damascus he said they were precision strikes in response to last saturda

. >> jennifer griffin live at the pentagon thank you very much. let's bring in tonight's panel for reaction to former navy s.e.a.l. dave sears "fox news" contributor former utah congressman jason chaffetz. an oklahoma congressman steve russell who is on the armed services committee and a retired army lieutenant colonel. it's great to have you with us gentlemen. general i will start with you to the president said this is about two things a strong deterrent against the further use of chemical weapons in a message not only to syria but those responsible for supporting equipping and financing the criminal assad regime. how do you think the message went over tonight? >> i think you went over very well nationally and abroad. we have not two of our strongest allies in the uk and france behind us with military power and resources than at the end of the day shannon what the president is doing is living up to our national security strategy where we talk about two fundamental underlying principles through one is prevention of the proliferation of weapons of m

this is what the pentagon, the spokesperson, and the us joint what the pentagon, the spokesperson, and with general mackenzie. the three facilities are more appropriately, they were fundamental components of the regime's chemical weapons water infrastructure. the first slide... the research and develop and centre. the next slide... the chemical weapons storage facility. and lastly, the chemical weapons bunker facility. which is located seven kilometres from the previous site. their track aim to deliver a clear and ambiguous —— on ambiguous message to the syrian regime that the use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is inexcusable and to deter any future use of chemical weapons. we selected his targets carefully to minimise risk to innocent civilians. bristol conducting a more detailed damage assessment but initial indications are that we accomplished or military objectives without material interference from syria. i would use three words to describe this operation. precise, overwhelming and effective. we can go back to the first slide, please. the first target, the ba rzah

we have focused on improving the way the pentagon buys things. on is am trying to focus to streamline and make more .fficient the supporting the underlying supporting functions. the accounting, the logistics. like 28 something different agencies that are not part of the military services. my goal is to try to save some their backmlining office functions. ,he way they handle personnel but just ask within their own agency, the way they manage their real estate. tose limited discrete areas squeeze more money out of the le, which is the -- out of the tail. have --u feel as if you do you think this is the initiative that should've emanated from the pentagon? do you feel you have an ally with secretary mattis to see this through? how is it different? >> i do think we have a partner. since thek back pentagon was created, congress will help bring about reforms. sometimes it is hard for the pentagon to do that internally. that is our role as an independent branch of government --ith the responsibilities that is our job. we can be more effective if we work

but the pentagon says the russian guns remained silent. pentagon officials added syria fired 40 surface-to-air missiles wildly into the air after the u.s. missiles had already hit their targets. >> syrian response was remarkably ineffective in all domains. probably the best answer i can give you. they had no material impact on the strike. >> secretary mattis said last night, the russian disinformation campaign has already begun. there has been a 2,000 percent increase in russian trolls in the last 24 hours. >> in fact, general mckenzie said that if there were casualties in syria from last night, they likely were from those 40 syrian surface-to-air ballistic missiles that syria launched after the fact. those were unguided and who knows where they landed. kelly in kelly: jennifer griffin reporting from the pentagon tonight. thank you. >>> a number of lawmakers accusing president trump of going around congress on the syrian airstrikes. some even calling them illegal. we will look at the political implications. >>> plus, worldwide reaction to t

in the short term minutes ago. pentagon officials said the u.s. led air strikes achieved their goal was to cripple syria's ability to make chemical weapons. >> this strike aims to deliver a clear message to the syria regime of their chemical weapons use against their civilians is inexcusab inexcusable. we selected these targets carefully to minimize the risk to innocent civilians. initial indications we have accomplished our military objectives without interference from syria. >> barbara starr was at that briefing. it was interesting to hear the initial damage assessment as well as the array and u.s. allies forces used. >> indeed. they laid out considerable detail of the u.s. u.and milita forces and from the persian gulf area and combination of submarines and bombers and more than 100 missiles fired into syria at three chemical weapons and research development and storage site. the point the pentagon is making here is this is very different than what we saw a year ago when they bombed the airfield trying to keep aircraft from going into the air de

google employees remind their bosses of the company's motto and a call to end cooperation with the pentagon. that friday afternoon at two here in moscow money it's called a bribe welcome to the world news from the international first for you this hour russia says the u.k. is playing with fire when accusing moscow of poisoning form a double agent so i guess cripple and his daughter had an emergency meeting of the un security council on thursday russia's envoy pointed to major inconsistences in the claims being made by britain the u.k. once again reiterated its allegation that it was highly likely that russia was responsible for the attack unless of glows a little simple so glum witnessed how the main argument of the british side that russia was undoubtedly behind the attack has crumbled british intelligence has immediately rushed to boris johnson's rescue just like chippendale the daily mail has reported that u.k. intelligence has top secret information from sources that claim russia has been testing the novi choke nerve agent on objects like door knobs prior to the salisbury attack gentlema

military held a briefing at the pentagon and the joint staff director of kenneth f. mackenzie jr described the strikes as precise overwhelming and effective he also rejected russia's claim that the syrian defense force had shot down dozens off the missiles listen none of our aircraft are missiles involved in the software ration were successfully gauged by the syrian air defenses and we have no indication that russian air defense systems were employed we are confident that all of our missiles reach their targets at the end of the strike mission all our aircraft safely return to their bases. we assessed that over forty surface to air missiles were employed by the syrian regime most of these launches occur after the last impact of our short was over chalons standing by for us in moscow but first we'll cross over to our u.s. defense correspondent particle hain who's joining us from the pentagon and you were listening in to that briefing patty that officials in the pentagon were giving and what struck me really was they were questions and number of times about what eviden

and the third target also west of homs a command post according to the pentagon those were the three target areas they did stress that this operation is over in the words of the secretary of defense it was a quote one time shot it is not going to be extended at least not this particular mission so this is now over he also did stress that they did to target these trying to eliminate or alleviate any sort of civilian casualties as much as they could they said that they had multiple targets that they could have hit they specifically pointed out these three targets according to the pentagon because these are the ones that would make the most damage to the syrian regime's ability to produce chemical weapons and then deliver chemical weapons and then also these three facilities according to the pentagon were areas that would alleviate any sort of potential. collateral damage so to speak so that's the key facts that we have now how did the u.s. receive some incoming fire the short answer to that is yes we did hear that they did. surface to air missiles from the syrian regime when this opera

we will hear from the pentagon, a briefing. it seems that the president is putting an awful lot of focus and emphasis on the strength of our military. guest: i think the president is referencing in part the budgetary wins his administration has had in lifting some of the restrictions of the sequester, which fundamentally harmed american readiness and our ability to prepare for worst-case scenarios in a hope to avoid them. president has focused on deterring the next great power war so it does not become necessary so we keep americans safe. ,e is tying his action in syria the success of that action and the professionalism that the american military exhibited in executing those options, and tying that to his bigger program of supporting our armed forces. host: patsy is on our republican line. what she ispreciate speaking about this morning. i just want to applaud our president. he has shown he has the power and the strength and the know-how to get the job done over in syria. off of allem to lay of these chemical weapons. right.mal

google employees remind the bosses of the companies more so in a culture and cooperation with the pentagon. they often in this friday here in moscow money was called in by welcome to the world news from the international later will the happening in gaza that many screen that we've kept rolling with it over the past couple of hours also there are updates to tell you we're going to that live shortly first though russia says that the u.k. is playing with fire when accusing moscow of poisoning former double agent and his daughter an emergency meeting of the un security council on thursday russia's envoy pointed to major inconsistences in the claims being made by britain the u.k. once again reiterated it out again that it was highly likely that russia was responsible for the attack unless it goes a little simple so glum witnessed how the main argument of the british side that russia was undoubtedly behind the attack has crumbled british intelligence has immediately rushed to boris johnson's rescue just like chippendale the daily mail has reported that u.k. intelligence has top secret informatio

the world in the 1950s and sharon weinberger's the engineers of war, the untold story of darpa, the pentagon agency that changed the world. i want to welcome everyone on behalf of virginia humanities, producer of virginia festival of the book. before i start i have some announcements to make. first, please silence your cell phones. you may tweet about this event at hashtag va book 2018. we think the festival's many sponsors without whom the festival would not be possible. the festival is free of charge, not free of cost. please remember to go online with how to support your festival so we can sustain it for many years. we think the city of charlottesville as event sponsor and the host at this venue. the program is broadcast on the city's government access channel, charlotte tv 10 and streamed live on the city's facebook page at charlottesville city hall. this event is also being recorded for future broadcast on c-span. because this is a recorded event, during the q&a portion please raise your hand and wait for a volunteer to hand you a microphone before speaking. please fill out program eval

from the pentagon. to. in d.c. i apologize for that which happening of course let's just talk about the comments being made by the u.s. certainly how quick both the president and the defense secretary would take to the end waves late. friday night to explain to the u.s. public exactly what was going on and the reasoning for it. yeah that's right it was president donald trump that it nine pm washington time took to the airways and national address to the nation and really in some ways an address to the world said that the airstrike campaign in syria had begun and that that's when it really started in and then we heard from the pentagon and secretary of defense james mattis within the hour after that really laying out the specifics of what was going on there and also from jamie joseph dunford to the joint chairman of the joint chiefs of staff as well so they were very quick as they normally are in these kind of things to come out and say what is happening and what is that exactly going on because as you mention this h

jennifer griffin in the pentagon. the president said they rebuilt relationships with the countries in the middle east, jennifer it is it an important fact that we missed out of fear of iranian jimemmy, and obviously the russianrs. and what was unthought of. that is a corks alition with israel and jordan, and saudi and emirates and unprecedented cooperation and a new alliance emerging? >> it is interesting that coalesced around the fight with isis. u.s. has large air base in qatar and uae. and the air base in turkey. we just learned from u.s. defense officials that b- 1bombers were used in the strike and that is the first we heard that the air force was involve would. b1bombers typically fly out of the qatar and they are stealth and coming in to the damascus suburbs if you will. we are hearing explosions in holmes and it is not clear dpaktly what the targets are and the targets in the capital are designed to send a clear message to bashar assad. this was a different menu of options that the military presented to the pre

the line from the pentagon is very clear. s, they we re the air defence systems, yes, they were fired, but they did not down any of the missiles that were fired by this coalition of france, the us and britain. and one thing else to say about britain's contribution, there is a political difficulty for theresa may because she has an opposition that is questioning the legality of this military actions. some have been calling for a vote in parliament before she was allowed to authorise this military action so she had to tread carefully and that may explain in part why the british contribution was less than france's martinelli and those of the us's which of course is the biggest military power. but britain believed that they should be part of this military option. they believe that they have degraded president assad's chemical weapons programme and to be honest if the syrians say they did actually down these missiles they have got to show the proof. thank you forjoining us. in damascus today there were scenes of celebration. people

barbara star, at the pentagon, thank you very much. let's turn to our chief white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, after the missile strikes the president quickly declared victory. was that a bit premature? >> it may have been, wolf. the white house is putting the syrian government on notice as barbara said, there could be more air strikes if chemical weapons are once again used against innocent civilians in syria. that's despite the fact that president trump tweeted this morning as you said, that it was mission accomplished in syria. mission accomplished a phrase once used by george w. bush in iraq before that war dragged on for years. >> reporter: it was a sobering message delivered to syria. backed by u.s. military might. >> we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. >> reporter: while the pentagon insists u.s. forces along with britain and france achieve their objectives in striking syrian chemical weapons targets, it's one of president trump's tweets that may ha

to hanz nicoles we go back at the pentagon. hans, you've noticed something about the utterances by the u.s. >> as they say here at the pentagon, as you well know, they say the enemy gets a vote. i think what we're going to have in the next 10 to 12 hours as damascus wakes up is their view on just how successful this military action was. i think it's significant that we did not here from either chairman dunford or secretary mattis that this was a successful military operation. they gave us the legal justification. they gave us the rationale. they gave us the targets. they gave us the intent. the intent was deterrence. but we still don't know how successful it was in hitting the targets. we'll get all that tomorrow when we get something called a bda, battle damage assessment. i think that's key to look for in the next 12 to 24 hours. i also think it's significant, though, that they said -- and this came directly from general dunford, that the russians did not engage their air defense systems. they kept their guns silent. the fact

the pentagon will release more data after their full assessmentes. tv station, they are showing video of cheering crowds in the streets of damascus. and mike tobin connected the dots. you have to remember why they would celebrate and show proassad. there the sun came up in damascus following air strikes with u.s. and france and uk acting together. >> we have congressman steve russell with us. and we'll start with you. not surprising we are seeing this reaction there. what will be the broader academies in this u.s. getting involved. >> you will have sunni and shia. and turkey will cheer this and say it didn't go far enough and iran will condemn it and then you will have saudi and qatar and look at this. they want to go farther and want assad gone. there will be mixed reaction and largely supportive on the countries we are allied with. >> shannon: we have had critic and supporters, a mix of people who have different concerns. and we heard from many who supported the strikes, saying it is time for the president to sit down and what is the plan moving for

capabilities and the first target was a scientific research center in the greater damascus area the pentagon says it was used for the production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology two more sites were targeted west of homs both were chemical weapons storage facilities according to the pentagon one of them was also a military command center now we're tracking reaction from around the world to our correspondents in washington d.c. moscow beirut london and paris live to all of them after alan fischer wraps up everything we know so far a response had been promised predicted and no delivered by fellow americans a short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad donald trump has argued be us had to take action to protect its national interest at the stop the assad regime use of chemical weapons the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons establishing this deterrent

yeah that's for sure i mean the pentagon did say that this this is a lot more force than it was a year ago and the way they did this is they they say that a year ago it was a unilateral operation just the united states on its own now they're talking very much about really talking up how this was the french and the u.k. is involved in this as well and madison danforth had on the podium with them. military attachés from france and the u.k. there to really give this symbol of this is more than a military strike that's is primarily what it is but also trying to give a diplomatic cover as well on this now in terms of how much unishe ins were used by the americans specifically we don't know yet they didn't release that that will come early saturday morning when we get another briefing from the pentagon but clearly we did get a hint that this was a lot more because secretary of defense matt has said in the q. and a section part of the his briefing to the media he said there were more than double the amount of munitions used in this operation than what it was a year ago in that strike and a ye

don't be evil thousands of google employees call on the tech giant to end cooperation with the pentagon reminding the company that it's not so it doesn't fit with the prisoners of war. and r.t. visit the paris district where the soaring crime rate has been blamed on gangs of migrant. locals say they're being terrorized by a group of the round sixty juveniles migrants from the loco but because their teenagers the police rarely do anything move they give them with caution before letting go again to just be kids because it is not just here just because. a very warm welcome it's eleven am here in moscow and you're watching r.t. international with me and karen. now our top story this hour the diplomatic standoff between russia and the u.k. of the poisoning of former double agent so a script powell and his daughter has intensified at an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council on thursday russians said that britain was playing with fire by accusing moscow of perpetrating the attack the u.k. reiterated its a geisha and that it was highly likely that russia was responsible. i wish you wou

syria live to the pentagon now civilized nation would tolerate. we are encouraged by the support we received from the senators and congressman on both sides of the aisle we are also extremely proud of the united states service members who carried out this operation last night. they demonstrated unwavering courage and commitment and their defense of the american people and the values and ideals our nation represents this operation was carefully orchestrated and methodically planned to minimize potential collateral damage i can assure you we took every measure and precaution to strike only what we targeted and what we success and we successfully hit every target. this operation does not represent a change in u.s. policy. nor an attempt to dispose to oppose the syrian regime. the strikes were justified legitimate and proportionate response to syrian regime's continued use of chemical weapons on its own people. we do not see conflict in syria but we cannot allow such grievous violations of international law our goal in syria remains defeating isis by w

although the pentagon says this is one and done. what would you have the administration do with respect to congress, with respect to your committee? >> obey the constitution. and obey the law. the constitution says very clearly only congress has the power to declare war. article 2, section 2 which was cited by secretary mattis says very simply that the president is the commander in chief. doesn't say anything more. power delato raise war lies wit congress. all they want to seem to do is degrade or destroy the chemical weapons and the capability of developing chemical weapons. that would have passed the house of representatives and senate in a nano second had that been presented to congress. that would have been an authorization to use force against the foreign government. all well and good. didn't happen. now, we get to debate the powers of the president. what we have proven here, to what has been proven by this administration is that congress must reassert its constitutional authority. we cannot let this president who is a proven he

don't be evil thousands of google employees call on the tech giant to end cooperation with the pentagon reminding the company that its motto doesn't fit with the business of war. and our t.v. is it's a paris district where the storing crime rate has been blamed on gangs of migrant. locals say they're being terrorized by a group of around sixty juveniles migrants from more rocko but because they teach is the police rarely do anything more than give them with caution for letting them go again to just be careful because it is not just in the area just because. there is telling i am here in the russian capital and you're watching r.t. international with me becky erin good to have you with us. well the diplomatic standoff between russia and the u.k. over the poisoning of former double agent square powell and his daughter has intensified as an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council on thursday russia said that britain was playing with fire by accusing moscow of perpetrating the attack the u.k. reiterated its allegation that it was highly likely that russia was responsible. and fortuna

sites were targeted west of homes both chemical weapons storage facilities that's according to the pentagon one of them was also a military command center where the russian defense ministry says syrian forces shot down dozens of missiles launched by the u.s. and its allies. syrian forces repelled some attacks seventy one cruise missiles were intercepted syrian forces were activated russia has fully restored the system of air defenses over syria continues to improve it over the past six months we are few supplies syria with zeenat is three hundred massaro taking into account what has happened i consider necessary to reconsider this is not an aspect to syria but also in respect to other states we think that the strike was not in response to the alleged chemical attack but it is against the armed forces of syria the strike was inflicted on the day when damascus should start a special mission of investigation into the incident and allegedly chemical weapons we use the i want to call your attention that none of the objects of the production of chemical weapons exist in syria that was established

don't be evil thousands of google employees call in the tech giant to enter cooperation with the pentagon reminding the company that its multo doesn't fit with the business of war. and artie visits a paris district where the soaring crime rate has been blamed on gangs of migrant. locals say they're being terrorized by a group of lone sixty juveniles migrants for more rocco but because they're teenagers the police rarely do anything more than give them with caution before letting them go again just because because it is not. just because it's. a very warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me nicky aaron our top story this hour russia says the u.k. is playing with fire when accusing moscow of poisoning former double agent script powell and his daughter at an emergency meeting of the un security council on thursday russia's envoy pointed to major in consistencies and the claims made by britain the u.k. once again reiterated it sally geisha that it was highly likely that russia was responsible for the attack. unless it goes a little simple so glum witnessed how the main argument

does the pentagon concur? even though it says every one of the targets in syria was successfully hit? meanwhile, the russians are making the claim that 71 of the more than 100 missiles were intercepted. cnn's barbara starr was at the pentagon briefing earlier. is the pentagon still trying to assess the real accuracy of the rate of these missiles hitting targets? >> hi, fredricka. well, not really at this point. the briefing we got, they say their initial reports that they're very confident in are all of the missiles from the u.s., france and the uk, hit the targets they were aimed at, and this business that some 70 of 100 missiles was shot down by certaintyians simply is not true. that after u.s. assets left the area, after the attacks stopped, the syrians then launched their anti-air missiles and blindly fired into the air with no guidance, just firing their missiles, and it had no effect on the u.s. and coalition effort. so right now they feel very good about it here at the pentagon. mission accomplished. loo

google almost of the of all our director and i don't want the pentagon having my data and google may be a little naive here but the use is because once you start working with the military you have no control over what they use your product for and that's very worrying when you work for the military in one particular country that this part is a yes or a us company and yes the united states needs to have defense but nonetheless of your global company and your brand is global then you must not do this kind of work if you want to succeed in the in the world the u.s. has revealed its latest sanctions hit list against russian citizens and companies will have the details of that and more of our world headlines when we come back. for a world cup twenty eight team coverage we've signed one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time but there was one more question and by the way who's going to be our coach. guys i know you are nervous he's a huge star and the huge amount of pressure to come out you have to go i mean eighty percent of the tell with you and you will solo a great game the grid if yo

i want to get a couple people on before we go to the pentagon. also just read some of house democratic leader nancy pelosi's statement. she says the latest chemical weapons attack was a brutally inc. humane war crime that demand a strong, smart, response. one night of airstrikes is not a substitute. we will be taking you live to the pentagon as soon as the briefing against. statesville, north carolina color is on the line. on the line. it looks like we have got general matus heading up to the podium. [no audio] gen. mattuis: military force overseas to defend the united states national interest. the united states pres. trump: pres. trump: in averting last year, in response to a chemical weapons attack in -- we targetedlians, the military base from which the weapons were delivered. earlier today, president trump directed the u.s. military to conduct operations in consonance with our allies to destroy the syrian regime chemical weapons research development and production facility. france, the united kingdom, and the united states conducted an attack.

officials who are in the pentagon and in other areas around the world or the u.s. have bases and in school combing through all of the satellite imagery and all of the after action reports to give that report to in a couple hours or so that will give us a better sense of that but i will tell you overall the vast majority of americans knew that there was going to probably be some sort of military action in syria i think the whole world knew that if you were paying close attention of course i think there was a. prevention because the worst case scenario would have been that the u.s. and russia. engage amongst themselves and this turns into a war between those two countries i think most americans are going to wake up to this news saturday morning and that that that is not the case that this did not escalate at least not yet did not now and breathe a big big sigh of relief yet no escalation fall but how do americans feel that valve's these strikes about the u.s. striking civilian targets. well listen i mean you think people have a lot of different views on that i mean o

>> hans nicoles at the pentagon. appreciate it. >> thanks, hans. >> i want to bring in a member of the foreign affairs committee and former u.s. ambassador to syria, robert ford. thank you, both, for joining us on this saturday morning. congressman, you have been sitting next to us this entire time. >> yes. >> listening to that press conference from the pentagon. your reaction so far from what you heard this morning? >> well, there's still a big question looming above us which is whether we have eliminated assad's ability to continue to attack the defenseless people of syria with chemical weapons. >> okay. >> i think that happens because we have not been engaged in a long-term strategic discussion with congress to really cripple his ability to do that. for example, the civilian protection act goes right at that. it goes after the money. who are the people who are doing business with syria? who is aiding and abetting assad to do this? we must do that in order to both diplomatically and militarily deter the assad regime

you hear some of the the pentagon briefings what is your initial reaction that the pentagon believesyou talk about russia, their perception is that they're targeted strikes that, we re that they're targeted strikes that, were deliberately avoiding inflicting losses on either population. everything was done to avoid the direct clash with the russian military over there. so everything went from their point of view as it was planned and the perception is that to a large extent it was down by trump for internal reasons. for reasons related to the electoral campaign. although it has to be said that president macron of france and prime minister may of britain made it clear it is about respecting and safeguarding international norms regarding the prevention of the use of chemical weapons. yes. but i'm talking here about the russian reaction and there was a lot of very angry talk before the strikes coming from members of the strikes coming from members of the duma and from talk shows and promising very angry response in case any soviet or any sorry russian objects, military objects or person

how long did you remain at the pentagon? >> i was there until i got picked up on the command list. '82 to '85. i left there in the summer of '85. >> went back to fort campbell. >> went back to fort campbell to take over a battalion. >> when you got back to campbell, where did you work? >> i was already -- because i came on the battalion command list, i was slotted to take over the second battalion infantry in the second brigade. that command would not come available until summer of the next year, so i took over as brigade executive officer of second brigade. >> who did you work for? >> colonel john herling. and the division commander was major general burrtrand patrick. i met general patrick, he was in the pentagon same time i was. he found out he would be in the division, found out that i was going to take over battalion, we had lunch together. he said when i get to campbell, look him up. i got there on a sunday afternoon, told my wife this. she said go look him up. i said he is division commander, lives in that big white ho

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the pentagon says the u.s., the u.k. and france successfully launched more than 100 missiles and just hours after the attack russia and the united states traded barbs at an emergency u.n. security council meeting. kim has the details. >> russia condemning the u.s. and its allies over air strikes in syria. and demanding a vote at the end of the u.n. security council meet. >> a group of western countries decided to take military action. >> meanwhile u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley firing back and defending friday night's assault >> if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the united states is locked and loaded. >> president trump hailed the effort declaring mission accomplished on twitter and thanking france and the u.k. for their coordination. the pentagon echoing the president's assessment saying 105 missiles were launched and hit their targets. >> the strikes came a week after an alleged chemical weapons attack by the syrian government which killed scores of people including children. >> the pictures

government drones and sends the results to the pentagon. and while google's management described the project as known offensive in nature the tech giants involvement with the pentagon has still lead to divisions inside the company the military link was first reported last month and the employee's letter also points out that it could damage google's brand and its ability to compete for talent defined sexperts market said it's admirable that a corporation has defended their ideals it's very exciting to see a movement arise among google employees of concern about. their company's current tradition and the world structure towards trauma's weapons i'm not so sure that you know this letter or if google does what the letter asked them to do namely sever its involvement in this project maven how big of a difference that's going to make to the pentagon's africa i can't really say they're using open source software that google makes available to anybody so somebody else could just come along and use the google software and and other resources to do th

we're still waiting to hear from the pentagon on their assessment of how it went. france and the uk launched military strike on syria targeting its chemical weapons program. the operation is a response to the suspected chemical attack last week. we know that aircraft, missiles and warships were used in the joint strikes. >>> this video posted online by the french armed forces minister shows a cruise missile being launched from a ship in the mediterranean. we're also seeing video like this from cyprus that shows british war planes and air crew preparing for strikes in syria. >> the attack has many political agendas at play in an area that is very complicated with this war that's ongoing. leslie joins me. she's an associate professor of international relations. hello, leslie. this was a statement of sorts by the uk, france and the u.s. the question is, we've seen syria acting like it wasn't any big deal. apparently assad has been seen walking around. the question is, will it have any kind of effect? >> well, this is the outstanding question, and i think that, you know

hundred twenty missiles had been fired at its territory and that it had intercepted many of them the pentagon says the strikes were a one time shot and that no further attacks are planned. now this is the biggest intervention by western powers against the assad government since the start of syria's civil war president trump announced the operation in a televised address my fellow americans a short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom is now underway we thank them both ok let's get the very latest now from washington we're joined by did abuse claire richardson here in the studio we have analysts and journalists yakob oh i see morning to both of you thanks for being with us i clarify can start with you president from said earlier that the u.s. was prepared to continue strikes and toll syria as he put it stopped its use of chemical weapons but the fence secretary james mattis is saying

jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you, appreciate it. e wait for white house meeting to happen on what to do with syria. i will speak with a former senior director at the national security council sill. michael says a strike on syria does not just risk raising troubles with russia but also could raise tensions with iran. that's coming. ♪ ♪ >> shepard: so, they know we're coming because the president told them the missiles are coming. so they know that and jennifer griffin is reporting from the pentagon that the syrians have taken their best air assets, meaning helicopter fleet that they use for dropping barrel bombs and all of these -- the air force if you will and put them on russian bases. they know we are not going to bomb the russians. you figure we're not. so, what's the plan? turn to michael, former senior director national affairs now director at the washington institute works to improve the quality of washington middle east policy. good to see you. >> good to see you, shep. >> shepard: we don't know what the plan is, right? >> we

the southern border. it's been light on details. pentagon officials said they did not know how many troops the white house and dhs are requesting, nor do they know where they are being sent or what their assignments will be. officials tell me it will take up to two months before any national guard will be in place. that's the way bureaucracy work works. they can assign those trips using title 32 authorities and pentagon money but then the state governors have to sign off and as we've said, there's no indication governor jerry brown will agree to having the national guard activated in his state along the border. kirstjen nielsen was on fox and friends this morning talking about previous presidents who have sent the national guard to the border. >> governors and members of congress, it certainly their strong belief that it made a huge difference and in some cases, they believe it ended all of the illegal traffic. i think we have good case studies at work. >> one area of the president hopes the national guard can assist, according to nielsen, i

we have hans nichols at the pentagon. we begin with danny mackie who is inside damascus, the capital of syria. i'm sure that you were aware, as we were, of the conversations taking place over the last seven days about how the u.s. might react to that chemical weapons attack. let me just get a sense from you of what happened last night or early in the morning your time. what did you realize what was happening? >> well, it was around 4:30 in the morning yesterday and after what was a build up for about three or four days of you sensed the deescalation toward syria. at 4:30 exactly, a number of missiles and rockets began landing on different areas of damascus, which are unlike the average sounds of war. you can tell immediately that this was high-end staff. definitely cruise missiles. you had jets in the air. after 10 or 11 bangs, after the start of the offensive, you can sense different strikes or curing in different areas of damascus. immediately after that we had syrian air defenses firing back using s 200 missiles attempt

at the end the operation lasted for less than an hour it was limited to destroying what the pentagon said was syria's chemical weapons infrastructure in the words of the u.s. defense secretary james mattis a one off shot just like was executed with that. doesn't the russians particularly or not the russians and very difficult position and push them to retaliate so i think everybody i mean i said it before everybody seems to have been relieved and some seems to be happy because this like was not as bad as it was a few days ago. the western alliance said the strikes were about deterring the use of chemical weapons but the syrian opposition leader nasser and how d.d. once and on all attacks against civilians by the syrian government on twitter he said maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again but it will not hesitate to use weapons this was never about regime change nor was it about reducing the syrian government's military strength and it's not just about punishing the government for the alleged use of toxic materials. on the main issue is iran's presence in syria so this sor

british and french ships submarines and aircraft the pentagon says russia didn't try to fire back and they claim all of syria's attempts to shoot them down failed we've attacked the heart of the syrian chemical weapons program i'm not saying they're not going to be able to reconstitute their theory then it's not saying that it's going to continue but this is dealt them a very serious blow so that i think it's that's the core of what i'm saying u.s. president donald trump was quick to claim victory on twitter writing mission accomplished a spy. person here at the pentagon tried to clarify that rather broad statement saying this particular mission was successful or accomplished they admit though they didn't destroy all of syria's suspected chemical weapons russia and syria have denied that chemical weapons were used investigators from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons arrived in syria hours after the strikes the u.s. says it didn't need to wait for their findings they have evidence enough but they've provided none of it to the public one a lot of this has to do wi

google on most of the of all our data and i don't want the pentagon having my data and google may be a little naive here about the uses because once you start working with the military you have no control over what they use your product for and that's very worrying when you work for the military in one particular country that this part is a yes or a us company and yes the united states needs to have defense but nonetheless of your global company and your brand is global then you must not do this kind of work if you want to succeed in the in the world the u.s. has revealed its latest sanctions hit list against russian citizens and companies are correspondents on top of that and we'll have the details when we come back. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm sure business i'll see you then. can you. not. know. that. if you speak french. about ninety minutes ago that the u.s. has impose new sanctions on russia targeting twenty four officials and businesspeople as well as fourteen entities let's go live t