since the pentagon papers. explain what you meant. mr. powell: i would say there was the pentagon papers to the era of the internet and the balkanization of the media. probably was stable for a long time. in terms of a certain number of networks and newspapers that invested in this area and they were regular discussions when topics would come up. now, of course, you have just the publication of raw material , without any type of responsible reporting on it. you just have what's happened with wikileaks and manning, the dumping out, hundreds of thousands of pieces of material , names of people who are democracy activists, names of people who have been helpful to the united states. there's been negative consequences to that. so that is very different, i think, than the past where jude see an article and there may be -- where you'd see an article and there may be discussions between the government and the newspaper and some of the responsible places would say, if you can show us hample, you know, we're not just interested in putting out the n

have pointed out that there is a lot of waste at the pentagon. and that something needs to be done about it before they give more money. trump has said that the savings for this will come from the state department, from cuts to foreign aid and the epa and he is offsetting that with the mystic cuts. host: we have heard for auditing of the pentagon. will that happen? guest: the pentagon has never had a successful audit, it is so large. but many people think that is what needs to be done. especially if you boost the money you are giving them. reginald is up next in texas on the independent line. go ahead. said 50you know, dr. t years ago that america was the biggest conveyor of violence in the world. and instead of the money being in the military budget, we should be using it for the poor pull thempaign to help poor. i think that is what we should be doing. the congressional black caucus and my congress member voted for -- on homeland security. we need representatives -- democrat and republicans -- hold them accountable for this budget. remember thi

>> well, why is it the pentagon papers? >> otherwise, we wouldn't walk in the door for fear we would be walking out in handcuffs. >> and that's not a joyously good day. >> that's right. so i mean, there's a reason for this process and the reason for this process is that if we're walking in there is to say, look, we have the story. we think it's important and raises the following big policy concerns for the united states, the moral concerns for the united states whether it's the wireless, warrantless wiretapping thing or the use of cyber weapons by the united states against another state for the first time and the precedent that it sets and what we're >> understand king hussein is on the payroll. what's your comment and the code i remember vividly, the code word for the operation is no beef and i remember powell saying, no. and the president wants to see you, ben bradley in the oval office tomorrow morning at 9:00 so, we went. and went through. and carter said, i want to talk off the record and bradley said, fine, but i had

aaron: pentagon reviews are known for being speedy and easy, generally. rebecca: right. aaron: let's go to today. the trump administration has launched its first nuclear posture review, and that's about all we know. >> during the presidential campaign and since president trump was inaugurated, the president has said on number of things about nuclear weapons that republicans and democrats have found deeply concerning and also raises questions about whether the president appreciates the nuclear weapons pose. what president trump has said since the election has done little to clear up that uncertainty or concern. a likely wildcard in the coming nuclear posture review will be secretary of defense james mattis. he's a marine. he was not brought up in nuclear weapons culture within the military and within the pentagon. he has said a number of things in the past that suggest he has thought seriously about the key money on of spending the nuclear policy, and as this moves forward, he is more likely to be a check on proposals to go beyond the status quo in terms of the nuclear mo

pentagon, the pentagon papers looks more innocent in some ways because it was back ward looking -- >> it was historical. >> it was historica historical raises a different set of issues. this process that we discussed of going to the government, i agree with you this worked with the washington journal and the ap and others coming into the door, where i think it gets worrisome, a lot of stuff that leak out over the internet, gets published over the internet by people who do not have the journalistic standard, if i was the government i would be worried about that than i would about the time, the post and the others. >> another question. right here in the blue. >> thank you for speaking today. my name is shan dra. there's a clear distinguish i think is not being made a distinction of revealing classified information which is classified not because of the content necessarily of the information but the sources means and methods by which is a collected. am i seeing -- that was felt to be important compared to hlc manning or snowden who was releasing information without going through it and

as the pentagon comes up with a plan to defeat isis in less than a year. special prosecutor. while a key republican law enforcement says a special prosecutor should investigate alleged contacts between the trump campaign and russian operatives, the white house is pushing back. supported by the house intelligence committee chairman, who warns against a witch hunt. >>> plugging the leaks. the white house launches an extraordinary crack-down, including checking staffers' cellphones to see if they're sharing information with the news media. sources say the president signed off on the move. >>> and teams of assassins. can kim jong un order hit teams with female assassins to kill his half brother. if so, why. >>> i am wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." >>> a day before his big speech to a joint session of congress president trump is making it clear he is planning a big boost in defense spending while other government agencies will be forced to make big cuts. as his first budget blueprint is passed around washington, the president says the government must learn to tighte

okay. >> well, you know, i mean -- when the pentagon -- the whole pentagon papers case was taking place i was in high school, so -- but you know, i mean we had at the time an administration that was incredibly hostile to the press. very similar to what we have today. incredible attacks on the press. the vice president at the time, spiro agnew, was constantly going after the press. he was the attack dog for the administration and obviously nixon himself was -- he had a deep level of animus toward the press. you know, as sandy mentions in this book, prior to the pentagon papers case, that had a chilling effect on the press. he cites an aclu report that said that the press had gone from an extreme level of security prior to the nixon administration and an extreme feel of vulnerability and than has res -- that resonates today i think in some ways. i think it's very important that make sure that there is no chilling effect today. you know, i mean, i do think that the pentagon papers case had an impact over all these decades since by energizing the press. and reminding the press about its pub

prior to the pentagon papers case, that had had a chilling effect on the press. and he cites in the book, aclu reports that said the press went from an extreme level of security prior to the nixon administration to an extreme feeling of vulnerability and that has -- resonates today in some ways. it's very important that we make sure there is no chilling effect today. you know, and i do think that the pentagon papers' case had an impact of all these decades since by energizing the press and reminding the press about its public service role. and i think that the press has tried to pursue that public service role, perhaps more aggressively in the years since than it did in the years prior to the pentagon cases. you know, when i was thinking about this, as i was looking at the pentagon papers, i was saying looks like an easy decision to publish compared to the things we are dealing with today, it dealt with the history of the vietnam war and involvement in vietnam. and it was kind of a history report. report. it had regulatory information, but didn't involve current

prior to the pentagon papers case that had had a chilling ifect on the press. he site in the book in a report that satd that press had gone from an extreme level of security and a feeling of vulnerability. that has rez nates today. i think it had an impact by energizing the press and reminding the press about a public service role. i think that the press has try today pursue that public service role, perhaps more aggressively in the years sense than it did in the years prior to the pentagon cases. when i was thinking about this as i was looking i was thinking wow, it looks like an easy decision to publish. it dealt with a report that involved history of the vietnam war. and it was kind of a history report. it didn't involve current operations and so some of the kinds of things we have been dealing with and talking about disclosures have involved current operations. it's a much more difficult territory. in fact i think one of the defenses on the pentagon papers is it involved historical information. i do think that the pentagon papers case helped obviously estab

. -- pentagon is paying actors hackers to test for weaknesses. this week we will be at the goldman sachs tech and internet conference. joined by many big-name guests covering tech industry. joining bloomberg television for an exclusive interview wednesday. this is bloomberg. ♪ i've spent my life planting a size-six, non-slip shoe into that door. on this side, i want my customers to relax and enjoy themselves. but these days it's phones before forks. they want wifi out here. but behind that door, i need a private connection for my business. wifi pro from comcast business. public wifi for your customers. private wifi for your business. strong and secure. good for a door. and a network. comcast business. built for security. built for business. anchor: the dollar index fell after president donald trump lost the first senior member of his team after less than a month in office. resigned overhas his contact with the russian investor to the u.s.. steve mnuchin has been sworn in as the treasury secretary. the formervor of goldman sachs banker who had t

symposium looking at how journalism has changed since the pentagon papers of 1971 and the implications for national security leaks and sources in the digital age. we saw "the washington post" bob woodward in the first panel. "the post" executive editor martin barron will be on the second panel. we'll have that for you in about 15 minutes here on c-span3. in the meantime some news to make awe ware of senate republicans plan to confirm president trump's nominee to lead the environmental mental protection agency. scott proulx pruitt is closely aligned with oil and gas companies democrats say and they want a delay in the vote. senator susan collins is the only republican voting against mr. pruitt and a couple of democrats said they're voting for him. watch that vote live on c-span2 starting at 1:00 eastern. also this news, former republican house leader bob michael has passed away. he served as minority leader for 14 years, and he managed passage of many initiatives by two republican presidents through democratically controled congresses. mr. michael retired one election too soon to be a p

traditionally the state department and the pentagon have worked hand in glove with the pentagon doing the military preparation and state department leading the way on representing american interests on a diplomatic front. what you're seeing now is essentially a fracturing of this type of relationship because of the ideology coming out of the white house and a lot of the personality driven policy. when we used to have an agreement on putting american leadership overseas, we're now seeing -- trying to -- folks trying to figure out what america first means. and it seems part of the america first agenda is to really go at it with iran. someone like michael flynn, who has had an obsession with iran over several years, now by coming out and speaking directly to the white house press corps, really escalated the level of dialogue and conversation, forcing now iran likely to have to respond and even stronger words and measures. in previous years, we've often seen these conversations happen in back channel or with written statements. a former general now responsible for u.s. national security a

now i will tell you that the leadership of the pentagon is not in favor of them come up if they are in favor of any change and i have a saying i've used over the years. i congratulate you and your performance. i had two tours in vietnam and i would like to ask you a questi question. were you affected in your unit in your 70, 71? we never had an opportunity for the troops to interface with that. they would fall asleep on watch in the middle of the night. if you send out a squad in an ambush that is 12 marines gone and even if you only have 25, it wouldn't be good to send only five athletes to send ten out. that means you have a 360. three would sweep and won with a 25% of the time we were lucky to never have to so that is a big problem that i had. >> you were lucky that you were not involved in a performance te from 71 to 72. >> i knew it was a huge problem. the other problem i had is 100,000, the secretary defends during the vietnam war and i don't have any charitable thoughts about him at all. he's passed on for this world and i shouldn't say where i hope he is but i hope he is and he

the pentagon is seeking to work more closely with the satellite industry. welcome to "defense news." i'm aaron metta. for years, the military put out a monthly report, surveying the number of airstrikes in iraq, afghanistan, and syria. andrew did grand prix and sean stone explain what they found. >> air force central command keeps this law of how many bombs dropped, and they've been keeping this data pays and publicly publishing it online for some time, since the start of the war on terrorism, and these numbers used and provided to the department of defense and given to the public to provide some kind of picture of the number of combat strikes in afghanistan in operation inherent resolve. report were doing a looking into airstrikes in afghanistan, we reached out to operation resolute support, and we were given a different figure between the strike figure they had and the strike figure that was tallied in the air force de database.nd's . that kicked off our research into why there were different numbers. why did it seem there were two different measures for

already the pentagon has said foa month, including obama's pentagon, that any icbm test fired in the direction of a u.s. territory or its friends and allies would possibly be shot down. the north koreans said that would be an act of war if it happened. it just sets up a lot of questions that are involved. all of them dangerous. >> msnbc national security and military analyst for us, thanks so much for getting in front of a camera for us very quickly on this breaking news. more on the breaking news when we come back. much more on judge neil gorsuch, president trump's pick to replace justice antonin scalia. we'll talk to people who know him. we'll take a close look at some of his past rulings and what they tell us about how he might act on the supreme court. boost it's about moving forward not back. it's looking up not down. it's feeling up thinking up living up. it's being in motion... in body in spirit in the now. boost. it's not just nutrition. it's intelligent nutrition. with 26 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. all in 3 delicious flavors. it's choosing to go in one di

the pentagon submitting its isis strategy review today. lester? >> cynthia mcfadden in new york tonight, thank you. >>> nbc news confirmed there has been another wave of bomb threats at jewish community centers and schools across the country today in 11 states, triggering evacuations of children. also another despicable act of vandalism at a cemetery. nbc's anne thompson has details. >> reporter: more anxiety-filled moments at america's jewish community centers and day schools evacuating today. >> it was scary for everybody. i'm not going to lie. it's a horrible situation what's going on these days. >> reporter: the latest wave of bomb threats targeted 21 places in the eastern half of the country. but they were just threats. in philadelphia, this is why the fbi opened a hate crimes investigation. more than 100 headstones toppled at mt. caramel jewish cemetery. here mark weissman, alone and with strangers, tried to summon super-human strength to right the memorial of his grandparents, arthur and frida stern. >> it had to be hatred. not specifically

barbara working your sources at the pentagon. thanks very much. >>> let's get some more on all of this with former state department official and hillary clinton national security adviser, jake sullivan. jake, thanks very much for coming in. >> good to be here. >> what do you think, the president said to a group of germis i journalists including me today, let me read specifically what he said. i'm quoting president trump. "the time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides." i assume you're encouraged by that. >> well, i'll believe it when i see it. this is somebody who during the campaign talked about a deportation force to round up millions of people who gave a speech in phoenix after he went to mexico and said 11 million people would be subject to deportation. and who has presided over in his first weeks in office the raids and roundups of mothers and grandparents and people who are just law-abiding and going about their lives so the words he said today are one thing, his actions so far and h

the pentagon plan, according to a senior u.s. official, lays out how to rapidly destroy isis in less than ten months. >> i have also directed the defense community to develop a plan to totally obliterate isis. >> part of the 30-day review, significantly increasing the u.s. military presence and risk to u.s. troops inside syria. options being explored include sending u.s. artillery units into syria for long-range support for local units moving on the city of raqqa and putting u.s. troops near the front lines to look for isis targets. it's already happening inside iraq. >> if we bring out the smoke, they can take it now, move up and try to mark the location. >> the plan also includes diplomatic and financial options. but the pentagon leaves stepping up the military campaign something president trump has long advocated. >> i know more about the isis than the generals do, believe me. i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. >> top u.s. generals warn, even with more than 50,000 isis operatives killed, the international reach of the thr

but its release comes as the pentagon intensifies a review of civilian casualties in the raid. the seals met fierce resistance from al qaeda fighters in the compound, purportedly seen here, who appeared to know the americans were coming. s.e.a.l. william ryan owens was killed and three other americans wounded. president trump flew to dover air force base with his daughter ivanka this week to receive owens' body. his first casualty as commander in chief. >> martha, did the pentagon explain why it posted the video in the first place? if it was under any pressure to put the video up? >> reporter: first of all, they didn't realize it was already public. they said they posted it to show what al qaeda is up to every day. they said there was no pressure from the white house or anyone else. >> thank you. >>> president trump, finishing the week with another round of executive actions. calling for a change in the rules for how financial advisors make recommendations. the president saying the law hurts small businesses. >> i have so many friends of mine, that can't get any money, because

but its release comes as the pentagon intensifies a review of civilian casualties in the raid. the seals met fierce resistance from al qaeda fighters in the compound, purportedly seen here, who appeared to know the americans were coming. s.e.a.l. william ryan owens was killed and three other americans wounded. president trump flew to dover air force base with his daughter ivanka this week to receive owens' body. his first casualty as commander in chief. >> martha, did the pentagon explain why it posted the video in the first place? if it was under any pressure to put the video up? >> reporter: first of all, they didn't realize it was already public. they said they posted it to show what al qaeda is up to every day. they said there was no pressure from the white house or anyone else. >> thank you. >>> president trump, finishing the week with another round of executive actions. calling for a change in the rules for how financial advisors make recommendations. the president saying the law hurts small businesses. >> i have so many friends of mine, that can't get any money, because

were you chief of staff at the cia, were you chief of staff at the pentagon. what do you think the cia and the pentagon would have changed about this order if had gone through a normal procedure? obviously at the pentagon you would have carved out iraqi interpreters who were on the battle field with american soldiers. what else would you have changed? >> i actually think the entire thing would be different was it would be informed by intelligence. one of things the court said tonight is the administration came forward with he precisely zero evidence that there is any credible threat that the administration has described. and when this goes back down to the district court, the administration is going to have to come forward with intelligence, information, maybe secret information reviewed by the judge. and i think if this had gone through the normal process, the intelligence community would have provided input into the process. you might have different countries, you might not have had a total ban, you might have had vetting procedures changed. the whole thing

but its release comes as the pentagon intensifies a review of civilian casualties in the raid. the seals met fierce resistance from al qaeda fighters in the compound, purportedly seen here, who appeared to know the americans were coming. s.e.a.l. william ryan owens was killed and three other americans wounded. president trump flew to dover air force base with his daughter ivanka this week to receive owens' body. his first casualty as commander in chief. >> martha, did the pentagon explain why it posted the video in the first place? if it was under any pressure to put the video up? >> reporter: first of all, they didn't realize it was already public. they said they posted it to show what al qaeda is up to every day. they from the white house or anyone else. >> thank you. >>> president trump, finishing the week with another round of executive actions. calling for a change in the rules for how financial advisors make recommendations. the president saying the law hurts small businesses. >> i have so many friends of mine, that can't get any money, because the banks won't let them bo

i was at the pentagon that day. that didn't go over well at all. he is already spending some of his political capital with the military. >> never underestimate the capacity of people who have power or who want power to rationalize what might seem as irrational behavior. every political leader. why is every ceo continuing to meet with him? they understand it's better to be in the room with him doing business than it is fighting him. uber made a different decision looks like this afternoon and they'll pull out of the ceo council. that's a rarity. most are trying to play ball. most politicians will whine but play ball. >> i want to table the second discussion here because that was a fascinating development that i think gets at what is happening outside of washington here and the anti-trump wing of the country. you guys are staying with us. >>> coming up, after a big loss in november, how do democrats move forward? i'll talk with former clinton campaign manager robby mook. >>> this sunday on "meet the press," i sit down with the vice president, mike pe

centcom said they decided to release the video and told the pentagon. officials telling nbc news, we naught it was new, but now we know it wasn't. the data intelligence gathered in a raid authorized by mr. trump where navy s.e.a.l.s were met with muzzle flashes on a moonless night. their decision to publish the video raising more questions into an operation that killed a navy s.e.a.l. and many civilians. >> to see this a rush to the press is surprising and -- quite unfortunate in how it's turned out. >> still, military leaders insisting the videos were found on computers from the raid. and among the 14 al qaeda combatants killed were two known operational planners and weapons experts. hans nichols, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> the notorious drug lord known as el chapo appeared in federal court here in new york today. he's being held and moved under intense security. prosecutors say with his record of escapes, they're taking no chances. our justice correspondent pete williams has more. >> security worthy of a presidential motorcade sped joaquin guzman the

wolf. >> barbara starr at the pentagon. we're back with representative scott taylor, former navy seal. is this realistic that isis will be obliterated in ten months. >> i was proud to serve. >> in virginia. >> anytime something happens our people are there. it's am birks. i want to hear the plan. when you hear ground troops in syria, it scares me. right now we have other powers that are there dealing with the issue. how do you want it to not escalate to some world conflict. i'd like to hear that and hear the plan. i have confidence in mattis and mcmaster. but i want to hear about the detail. >> and chairman dunford as well. >> yes. >> 5,000 u.s. troops in iraq. they're in dangerous situation and wearing boots on the ground and a few hundred in syria right now. very special operators. >> sure. >> very, very dangerous. if you're to defeat and destroy isis in mosul. iraqi troops are there, but in raqqah, the so-called capital of the caliphate, you have to send in a lot of troops and the u.s. will be involved? would you support

thomason is live from the pentagon come he explains. how is general mcmaster's appointment as national security advisor helping the military expand if that is what happens? >> the first time since 1987 at the president has appointed an active-duty general to be the national security advisor. this past spring, lieutenant general hr mcmaster sounded the alarm on capitol hill when he said this about the state of the u.s. army. "we are outraged, outgunned by many of our adversaries and our risks are that we are too small to protect the nation." it was at the smallest level since between world war ii. at his press conference, president trump says he hopes he never has to use the military and anger. >> they do not have the right equipment, and their equipment is old. i used it, i talked about it at every stop. depleted. it is depleted. it will not be depleted for long. >> for some services, the expansion will be gradual. for others, the ramp up will be steep. the air force wants 30,000 more airmen, army 30,000 more soldiers, navy, 82 more shi

the pentagon is paying hackers to test its internal systems for weaknesses. we will hear from the so-called ethical hackers, next. and this week, we will be at the goldman sachs tech and internet conference. ,e will cover the tech industry plus a chief officer at goldman sachs joins us on wednesday. this is bloomberg. ♪ will you watchingr: you are "bloomberg technology." universities, including harvard and yale, are joining forces to wage a legal fight travel president trump's ban involving seven muslim countries. they say it affects their hire people from abroad. and continuing the choice of a , whor goldman sachs banker ran one west bank. they say he failed to protect homeowners from unnecessary foreclosures, and the united nations envoy for syria has begun sending out invitations for upcoming peace talks in geneva. in nearlynegotiating 10 months among the warring sides. the talks are to resume. it were last held in april but were suspended because of new fighting. at least 30 people dead and 60 others wounded after a palm at a pakistani city -- after a b

a pentagon official told nbc news today they do not dispute these numbers. meanwhile, the pentagon already has at least three investigations into the raid under way. >> i think we need to understand why this mission, why now, what happened, and what the actual output was. >> a defense department official pushed back this afternoon claiming that there was "a significant amount of intelligence collected." all of this happening as the administration is looking at its counterterrorism policies. the pentagon submitting its isis strategy review today. >> cynthia mcfadden, thank you. >>> nbc news confirmed there has been another wave of bomb threats at jewish community centers and schools in 11 states, triggering evacuations of children. also another despicable act of vandalism at a cemetery. nbc's anne thompson has details. >> reporter: more anxious moments at jewish community centers and day schools evacuating today. >> it was scary for everybody. it's a horrible situation what's going on these days. >> reporter: the latest wave of bomb threats targeted 21 places

but its release comes as the pentagon intensifies a review of civilian casualties in the raid. the s.e.a.l.s met fierce resistance from al qaeda fighters in the compound, purportedly seen here, who may have known the americans were coming. s.e.a.l. william ryan owens was killed and three other americans were wounded. president trump flew to dover air force base with his daughter ivanka this week to receive owens' body. his first casualty as commander in chief. >> martha, did the pentagon explain why it posted the video in the first place, if it was nearly ten years old? and if it was under any pressure to put the video up? >> reporter: first of all, they didn't realize it was already public. a spokesman said they posted it to show what al qaeda is trying to do every day. and why these special operations missions are important. they said there was no pressure from the white house to post it, or from anyone else. david? >> martha, thank you. >>> president trump, finishing the week with another round of executive actions. and one that could affect retirees across the country. and

were you chief of staff at the cia, were you chief of staff at the pentagon. what do you think the cia and the pentagon would have changed about this order if had gone through a normal procedure? obviously at the pentagon you would have carved out iraqi interpreters who were on the battle field with american soldiers. what else would you have changed? >> i actually think the entire thing would be different was it would be informed by intelligence. one of things the court said tonight is the administration came forward with he precisely zero evidence that there is any credible threat that the administration has described. and when this goes back down to the district court, the administration is going to have to come forward with intelligence, information, maybe secret informati reviewed by the judge. and i think if this had gone through the normal process, the intelligence community would have provided input into the process. you might have different countries, you might not have had a total ban, you might have had vetting procedures changed. the whole thing wo

. >> breaking news, here's what we have out of the pentagon. the defense department is considering sending proposing combat forces into northern syria for the very first time with the aim of speeding up the fight against isis. i have barbara starr standing by, our pentagon correspondent, as well as gayle, senior fellow at the council in foreign relations and contributing editor that focuses on national security. barbara starr, first to you. this is huge, huge, huge news. where is this coming from? >> well, brooke, hi there. what we now know and have learned here this afternoon is the pentagon is looking at this idea because, as you will recall, president trump has given the military until the end of the month to come back with some ideas how to speed up the fight against isis. this is one of many ideas. it is not fully baked yet. we want to emphasize that. they have not yet proposed it to the president by all accounts, but it is significant that they are talking about it. what they're talking about is the notion of sending, for the first time,

. >> shepard: the pentagon might disagree. the white house will ask congress for an additional $54 billion for the u.s. military. jennifer griffin reports, that would raise military spending to just more than $600 billion. she reports that only 3% increase from what president obama had requested. the u.s. puts far more money towards military spending than any other nation on the planet. more than twice as much as china and russia combined. the "wall street journal" newspaper reports the president will not make cuts to social security or medicare in an attempt to pay for spending increase. those two programs and other entitlements account for the vast majority of federal budget. according to "the new york times" reporting, president trump will ask for deep cuts to other areas of the government with targets including environmental protection agency and the state department. we'll have much more on the president's proposals including his plans for obama care. first, there is more news on the investigation into russia's influence

all right, barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks very much. congresswoman kathleen rice is joining us. congresswoman, you're a member of the house homeland security committee. your district, by the way, is on long island, not very farah w a from that russian spy ship lurk ug off the connecticut coast right now. only 30 miles or so off the coast. what do you make that of? >> i think it's just another incident, wolf, of provocation by russia and now it's directed at america. and the question is how is president trump and his administration going to answer this? and that's why all the issues that are going on here, domestically, are affecting i believe the president's ability to have an objective response to clear provocations by one of our enemies. so, it's a very fluid situation right now and i think what we need to do is try to resolve as many of the issues that are going on. it's only been 25 days or so since trump has been in office. there's a lot of disorganization, a lot of disarray. there's no national security advisor at a time when we d

that's from the pentagon spokesman. i'm joined live from moscow. claire, how is the kremlin reacting to those comments and indeed the assessment of the conflict in ukraine by the pentagon? >> well, no official comment out of the kremlin as yet to those pentagon comments, but it's worth noting that all along russia has said that it's not party to this conflict, that it's not -- that it's armed forces are not involved, despite the fact that at least the previous u.s. administration and its european allies have agreed on the fact that russia wields considerable influence over those separatist forces in eastern ukraine. angela merkel on the phone to vladimir putin yesterday asking him to end the violence in eastern ukraine. but as for the assessment by president trump to that situation in eastern ukraine, that got a seal of approval on tuesday from russia's foreign minister, he praised the approach that president trump took, saying he doesn't know yet what's going on, but he's going to find out. he said this marks a qualitative shift from the approach

cnn's barbara starr joins me live now from the pentagon. barbara, what might president trump say about this this evening? >> reporter: well, that's what we don't know just yet, jake. what we do know is last night the white house came to pentagon officials and said what could be made public about this highly classified, highly controversial raid? the white house clearly feeling some of that heat because the navy seal died. several were wounded. civilians on the ground were killed. a u.s. aircraft was destroyed. a very controversial raid last month by special operations forces in yemen, the first of the trump administration in that country. they were going after an al-qaeda affiliate. they were gathering up intelligence. what everyone is waiting to see, what the president might address, we don't know for sure, is did they get enough valuable intelligence on this raid to make the high price of it really worthwhile. there is a lot of dispute about that. there have been some news reports that they got no valuable intelligence. sources are tellin

the pedestrian tunnel in pentagon city is still off-limits. as abc7 transportation reporter brianne carter reports that is finally about to change. brianne: it is a pedestrian-heavy area. >> wait. wait. brianne: the intersection of 12th and hay street in pentagon city. and now this long-awaited pedestrian tunnel is soon expected to open. the tunnel is designed to offer a new safer option for folks to not only cross the street but access the pentagon city metro station. the tunnel was first built in 1984 but was never open due to issues with maintenance and operation. over the past few years the county rehabilitated the tunnel and the work is in the final stages. even once this finally opens there are still some concerned that this new pedestrian tunnel won't be accessible for everyone. access issue for people with disabilities. brianne: floyd says the tunnel won't work for people with disabilities because there is no elevator. however, arlington county says constructing elevators on that side of the street isn't structurally feasible. adding b

they asked the pentagon for a plan on isis. inklings today from sean spicer that that plan has been presented to the president. >> reporter: these are the recommendations, the 30-day review that president trump asked for when he came to the pentagon. how to accelerate more rapidly the defeat of isis. understanding it has sort of three parts. one is that this is very much a preliminary plan. it's a framework. everything that the pentagon is presenting to the national security council today, the principals committee, will need to be approved by the president. two, this will have a big inner-agency role. this won't just be about military might. this will be across the whole force of government. third part is this plan is going to include transregional approaches. this isn't just about iraq and syria, of course, that's where there's the most kinetic activity right now. it's being presented to the principals meeting. we believe secretary mattis has already presented that at the white house, according to sean spicer, was taking place

steve. >> hans nichols over there at the pentagon. thanks for that. >>> still to come, polls showing the president at a record low when it comes to his approval rating. record low compared to any new president in modern era. but how much do approval ratings mean anymore? there are some numbers we're going to get into very deep in our new nbc news wall street journal poll. we will show them to you. talk about what they might mean. that is next. it's an important question you ask, but one i think with a simple answer. we have this need to peek over our neighbor's fence. and once we do, we see wonder waiting. every step you take, narrows the influence of narrow minds. bridges continents and brings this world one step closer. so, the question you asked me. what is the key? it's you. everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. i did... n't. hat? hey, come look what lisa made. wow. you grilled that chicken? yup! i did... n't. smartmade frozen meals. real ingredients, grilled and roasted. it's like you made it. and you did..

"the pentagon is monitoring a russian spy ship off the east coast near great and, conn mattis tempered hopes that the u.s. military believes they can work with russia. >> 2014 was a watershed year, a year many of our hopes for some kind of partnership with russia were shown to be unavailing. what we have to do is adapt and make certain that the transatlantic bond remain strong. >> the pentagon and nato are concerned about russia's plan to deploy a nuclear capable cruise missiles in violation of a treaty between moscow and washington. in an incident similar to last year's buzzing of a u.s. ship in the baltic sea, the russian defense ministry denies its warplanes buzzed a u.s. destroyer and the black sea in recent days. flynn's ousting threatens to -- trying to find ways to counter mounting evidence of russian aggression. traveling with the defense secretary, jennifer griffin, fox news. >> bret: up next from the nixon presidential library in california, what president trump might learn about dealing with leaks from president nixon. first here's what some of our fox affiliates around the

hans, i want to go to you to get the reaction out of the pentagon. we've had a full weekend since the courts in seattle blocked this immigration ban. there's been a lot of reaction, a lot of folks in senior -- official intelligence positions and former state department positions saying this ban is -- does the opposite of what the donald trump administration wants it to do. it, in fact, makes us less safe. is that the way the pentagon is feeling behind the scenes, or what are you hearing? >> i wouldn't go that far. what we did just hear is president trump directly refute that argument. saying we're not going to let people into our country that seek to do america damage. just take three big takeaways from this. number one, expect more special operations raids. that's clearly what the president was telegraphing there. remember, he's speaking at centcom, at the southern command as well, where they plan this raid in yemen that didn't go great. there was one navy s.e.a.l. dead pp, civilian causalities. military nerve likes that. number two, expect more spe

for the pentagon, that would be about a 10% increase in defense spending. good idea? >> i think it is really important that we increase defense spending because it has been artificially kept low by the sequester, by these artificial caps that reduce defense spending below what was necessary to keep the united states safe. but here's the problem. at the same time, the trump administration is proposing massive cuts to diplomacy and development, more than a third cut to the state department budget. that would be a huge mistake. >> tell us why because the argument is all this foreign aid going into these countries, u.s. taxpayers can't afford it. there's so much work that has to be done here in the united states, instead of building schools in pakistan, let's say, they should be building schools in new jersey. you've heard those arguments. >> of course. well, first of all, foreign aid represents 1% of the federal budget. 1%. second, that plan that the

jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon for us. why did the u.s. military release what they said wrr videos captured by the yemen raid earlier today? >> reporter: well, sandra, pentagon officials have been frustrated that news organizations have called it a botched raid. today, as you mentioned, they pushed back, releasing five video clips they say were captured during the yemen raid that appear to show an al qaeda bomb maker showing how to make a bomb and attack a christian cross. moments ago they took down that video and cancelled a background briefing for reporters here at the pentagon. this was supposed to be a prime example of some of the intelligence the seal team gathered as part of that thumb drive, computer hard drive. now it turns out those videos may have been ten years old and already in the public domain. in other news, fox learned the uss cole is now patrolling off the coast of yemen in the wake of increasing tensions with iran. it is, of course, symbolic that the uss cole has been deployed since it was attacked 16 years ago resulting

barbara starr at the pentagon. let's talk about the president's response to north korea. democratic senator chris kunz of delaware is joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> are you worried about the trump administration and its response to the north korean threat? >> i'm very worried. both about the lack of confidence expressed in the national security adviser because of credible reports that he lied to the vice-president and that he misled the administration and because of how this incident at mar-a-lago was conducted. there is serge enough evidence here to suggest that in a meeting with a head of state with a close ally in a close circumstance, president trump was showing off for his country club guests. these sorts of important briefings between heads of state should be happening in a classified setting not over cocktails and appetizers. i'm concerned that north korea continues to make steady progress, and we don't have a plan to deal with this other than looking to china in being our partner in reigning in north korea. >> the chinese don't seem to be doing much. >> what c