says help block brennan confirmation but will the tactic work to discuss i was joined earlier by tom juneau writer at large for ask choir and he says rand paul's demanding answers are likely won't get them. john brennan has been silkily that is likely to be those questions for quite a while now the obama administration just recently. in answer to. a seal use request for information has said or the cia has once again said that it can't even say whether the drone program exists even though it had last week a full senate hearing on that you know that touched upon the drone program so i would be very surprised if rand paul got the answers that he was looking for well he is demanding the answers and he's saying that if he doesn't get he is not going to let this nomination or confirmation of this nomination go forward do you think that maybe this is an effective way to shine a light on this secret program is that i really welcome anyway or like to be shot of this on this program i was i was disappointed in last week's senate hearing there was this there was a sort of expectation that was you know

to wait and see if we're going to get any answers appreciate you coming on the show tom that was tom juneau writer at large for ask wire. it's always human now on a new technology that the pentagon is banking on it's a smartphone tool that would be able to scan your face as reported in wired the defense department has awarded a three million dollar research contract to a california based company called a optics and what it does is transform a smartphone into a gadget that can literally read someone's face and it does this by scanning and transmitting data that recognizes unique features like eye of space thumbs and voice how can the military use this you may wonder well the idea is a soldier can scan a suspicious person nearby or at a distance and identify if he or she is a threat so as civilians conduct more of their day to day life they have lives on their smartphones it seems members of the military are no exception. well if you watch the. you've heard a lot of the warren whistle blowers but here's a new twist in indiana farms in agricultural businesses want to outlaw videotaping on thei

we have cnn senior legal analyst jeff toobin here sitting with me in new york and in atlanta, tom juneau, esquire writer at large. tom, let me begin with you. you and i have talked multiple times about drones, ad nauseam about your piece in "esquire" last july, you write about anwar al awlaki, his son who you call collateral damage. in learning of this sort of secret memo coming about, was there anything in it that surprised you? >> yeah, a few things. number one, you know, this is the -- we're familiar with the sound of the administration speaking to us about these -- about this program. they have justified it in various different venues. but this is the sound of the administration speaking to itself. and when the administration speaks to itself, it gives itself even more power than i think than anybody thought. it sort of -- it is a hypothetical situation it describes. it keeps on describing an informed high level executive who can make these decisions. and it is amazing how much power this white paper gives that informed high level executive. it even really gives him power to decide w