yesterday john brennan implied bin laden participated in the firefight. >> the concern was that bin laden would oppose any type of capture operation. indeed he did. it was a firefight. he therefore was killed in that firefight. and that's when the remains were removed. >> reporter: brennan also said bin laden used his wife as a human shield. >> she served as a shield. again, this is my understanding. and we're still getting the reports of exactly what happened at particular moments. >> reporter: today, press secretary jay carney read an updated version of events, provided by the department of defense. >> in the room with bin laden a woman, bin laden's -- a woman, rather, bin laden's wife, rushed the u.s. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. bin laden was then shot and killed. he was not armed. >> reporter: so brian, the reason for the change, right now all of those navy s.e.a.l.s that participated in this fight are doing after-action debriefings at a base in afghanistan. and as they get more information, the story does change, and as somebody at the white house said to me, th

. >> john brennan monday gave one name. >> this is an important point. the transcript -- he gave a name, a correct name. when the transcript was listened to on a put on paper, an error was made made in transcribing that name. john brennan's -- i think we corrected that and what he said was accurate. >> was any other person dead or alive taken from the compound and transported from the scene by u.s. personnel? >> no. >> on tomorrow, is there -- does the president have concern about possibly avoiding 9/11 families? >> he's meeting in private with 9/11 families. no press. >> what are the public events then tomorrow. >> he's going to the world trade center site and laying a wreath in public. >> why did he decide to make these meetings private? >> i think you said so in your question. you succeed why that would be the case. he wants to meet with them and share with them this important and significant moment. a bitter sweet moment for many families of the victims. and he thinks it's appropriate to do that in private. >> why did he want to invite president bush

. >>> let's put the questions to the counterterrorism adviser, john brennan, who was in the situation room with the president on sunday. so many questions for you this morning. thanks for getting up early, sir. let's start with the terror threat here at home. in the hours since osama bin laden has been killed, have you detected any increase in terror chatter? or seen any credible threats pop up? >> we have not seen specific threats at this time. but what we're doing is we're taking all those prudent measures that we need to when there's an incident of significance like this. so, we're working closely with the department of homeland security the fbi and others so that we understand here at the white house what those measures are as well as what threats might be out there. right now, we feel confident that we are at the right posture. >> that's good news. and jake tapper reported a few minutes ago, that the white house could release as early as today a photo of osama bin laden? >> we are looking at releasing additional information. details about the raid, as well as any other types of m

. >> yesterday white house counter-terrorism advisor john brennan said the navy seals were prepared for a capture or kill mission. if in fact they had taken osama bin laden alive, what were the plans? >> i think we always assumed from the beginning that the likelihood was that he was going to be killed. perchance he were to be captured, i think the approach was to take him quickly to bagram, transfer him to an offshore ship and have the principals at the white house decide the next steps. >> you can catch the full interview on the cbs evening news right after this newscast. >>> and stay with cbs 5 and cbssf.com for continuing coverage of the death of bin laden. >>> coming up, pg&e feeling some heat over its smartmeters. the defect that could end up overcharging customers. >>> doctors taking a cue from airlines and tacking on fees. why struggling doctors say they have little choice but to get creative with special charges. >>> and for some, it's become a wardrobe staple. but how those skinny pants could be making you fat. ,, [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wante

the answer to your question is no nothing and white house deputy national security adviser john brennan went on the record this morning to also knock down the myth that waterboarding provided any intelligence that led to the location of osama bin laden and obviously there is word out today that waterboarding played a very big role or a role in actually getting the information that was in finding bin laden is not the case. so does bush really deserve any credit or is this just right wing nonsense alex sites wall is a reporter and blogger with think progress and joins me now alex welcome thanks for having me you've been looking into this digging into this checking this thing out does bush really deserve any credit i mean this is nothing more than an effort to relive again the failed bush legacy you know obama had this huge national security victory and just like we've seen in other instances of major national security incidents under obama bush apologists and conservatives are going to use this to a you know try to legitimize which is the legacy and to try to attack obama i mean you know

. >> couric: yesterday, white house counterterrorism advisor john brennan said the navy seals were prepared for a capture or kill mission. if, in fact, they had taken osama bin laden alive, what were the plans? >> i think we always assumed from the beginning that the likelihood was that he was going to be killed. perchance he were to be captured, i think the approach was to take him quickly to bagram, transfer him to a ship off shore and then have the principals at the white house decide what next steps would be taken. >> couric: in a "washington post" op-ed today president zardari of bin laden was not "anywhere we had anticipated he would be." given he was hiding about a half mile from pakistan's top military academy, somehow that possible? >> we don't really have any intelligence that indicates that pakistan was aware that bin laden was there or that this compound was a place where he was hiding. but having said that, this was a location that was very close to a military academy. it was close to another sensitive military sites. it had been there since almost five years ago. it was very u

john brennan and a couple of highlights to tell you about john brennan, the counterterrorism adviser to the president said that if they had the opportunity to take osama bin laden alive they would have, but clearly they did not. and another thing that was interesting is the build-up of the confidence once they started to learn they had the man. first they knew that the injured man looked like osama bin laden and then they did the facial recognition technology and then the dna testing today, so they are confident they had their man and they talked about how it felt to announce that to the world we got him. and as far as the release of the photographs of osama bin laden, they are not sure if that will be released. in the meantime, i can tell you that in the meantime, osama bin laden had taken lives well before september 1 1th. certainly well before the attacks in 2001, and a year prior al qaeda bombed the "uss cole" injuring 70 sailors and injuring 30 more. and joining us is the ship commander who was aboard when it was attacked. commander, thank you for coming on the show today. what

>> well, what john brennan and others have said that we are interested in finding out the details of the support network that helped obviously mr. bin laden hide in abottabad. we don't know the members of that support network. we also note that the pakistani government has launched an investigation of its own, and we think that is a good thing, and when we work to find out as much as we can about how that happened. i would then further state that our relationship with pakistan while complicated is very important and it is very important precisely because of our need to continue the fight against al qaeda, to continue to fight against terrorists. the fight is not done. and we look forward to cooperating with pakistan in the future. as others have said, more terrorists have been killed on pakistani soil than probably any other country. the cooperation that we have received from pakistan has been very useful in that regard. i thi >> and one more. >> i think that is the third. >> and the president said that this is not a war against islam or the muslims, but my question is to including t

brennan said torture did not lead to finding bin laden dianne feinstein chair the senate intelligence committee also says that torture now play a role so why are republicans obsessing over war crimes. so thoughts well i think george w. bush did do a great job in starting the process that led to the capture and killing of osama bin laden oh well first of all i'm going to anymore he doesn't invading afghanistan this mission was launched from afghanistan. and starting guantanamo bay going tony mowbray if the president had his way president obama had his way you wouldn't shut it down preemptively and we didn't get a say in the intelligence that we got other got a grant of a bit in the last two years and the fact that we have military bases in afghanistan but it possible for us to go to pakistan and i thought we had gone into pakistan from a base in germany we had to you know you can't take away from the fact that president bush helped start the process that president obama finished both deserve credit and enhanced and interrogation techniques did help get this information is curious shoul

was that argument's been largely dismissed not only by bush's own deputy national security adviser john brennan the chairwoman of the senate intelligence committee dianne feinstein even donald rumsfeld himself all of whom said torture had nothing to do with funny bin laden although romney did eventually backtrack once you get the right wing talking points so why is the right so obsessed with torture now and even if a shred of evidence the point of bin laden's whereabouts was procured thanks to torture does not make a right joining me now to offer his take is david selig former marine and federal tax practitioner and advocate david walker of the program. thank you for having me on and thank you for your guests the last time i was on i got a lot of really nice letters and supportive remarks so i appreciate it that's great . david fellow by the new matthew alexander a senior u.s. interrogator who oversaw and performed over thirteen hundred interrogations of iraq guy you know he basically done everything requestion question a waterboarding said this to any good man on her democracy now prog

. >> journalist terrorism expert john brennan watched the mission unfold recorded by cameras strapped to the helmets of the navy seals. meanwhile, they are poring over other documents obtained at the compound. the white house says they have not seen any increased chatter of terror threats in the aftermath of the killing of bin laden. >> for those on the front lines on war on terror, there is mixed reactions, many veterans on active duty they didn't feel like dancing in the streets like others have done. jordan powers says he got a sobering reply after he facebook a marine buddy and say, we got him. >> i'm glad you found osama bin laden and killed him, but i'm still out fighting. taliban is still a real threat for me. >> towers who served in iraq realizes it does nothing to relieve the pain of losing people at war. we have more on the developments on the story at abc7news.com. >> for the first time, pg&e is admitting a problem with it's new smart meters. yeiy is preparing to replace 1600 of them and refund money to some customers. terry mcsweeney is live at pg&e headquarters in san fra

. >> that's john brennan, of course, saying we've cut off the head of the snake called al qaeda, but is al qaeda still a threat to the u.s.? former senator bob kerrey was a member of the commission and a navy s.e.a.l. howard drum for the cia in europe. in america we have crime and organized crime. i have to talk about organized terrorists. what's left? >> these affiliate groups, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, and group inspired by bin laden, but not controlled by, because after 9/11, the invasion of afghanistan really destroyed the past for the management infrastructure, but these groups are every bit as dangerous, in some ways more dangerous. >> can they pull off something big with the combination of hijackings, are they capable of the big operations? are they going to blow up whatever? >> you don't want to discount that, but really there was an attack in marrakesh last saturday in a cafe where a lot of french tourists do. that's typical. >> they blew up a cafe and killed like 17 french tourists. that's what we're facing now. >> they're trying to establish themselves in this new

that is coming from john brennan, the president's counterterrorism chief. he said minutes passed like days. people were holding their breath, speaking about president obama specifically. he was particularly concerned about the safety of the s.e.a.l.s. there on the ground. it makes you wonder, what about the moment where they realized they had osama bin laden. was there an aha moment? john brennan said there was a growing confidence that there was the visual identification, and the height was correct on osama bin laden and more confidence and when the preliminary dna came in, that was certainly when people had a sense that they had gotten the right guy. they could breath a sigh of relief. >> i don't mean to make light of it. it just so reminds me of the series 24. it just does. it is just surreal. >> reporter: it is very surreal. it makes you wonder if it did play out like something that you would see on tv. i don't think we are going to get all of those details unfo h unfortunately. in the popular imagination, it does play out like that. >>> beyond all the

brennan. >> it's called courses of action, or coas. the president was presented with four main coas for the bin laden operation. he narrowed it down to two, having dismissed this idea, chuck, of doing -- dropping the 32 2,000 bombs which would have obliterated the compound but no body or dna. >> they won't tell us what the other coa was that he allowed to have planning going forward for those three weeks. i was told it was really, really cool one, is what i was told. >>> we'll be right back. a lot of times, things are right underneath our feet, and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning natural gas. this deposits can provide us with fuel for a hundred years, providing energy security and economic growth all across this country. it just takes somebody having the idea, and that's where the discovery comes from. we could do weig

counterterrorism adviser john brennan says the minutes passed like hours. >> some very tense moments, and we were just saying our prayers that everything was going to go according to plan. but as i think you can tell from the photograph, there was a period of intensity there, unlike none other we had here at the white house to date. >> well, we are learning the white house could release photos of osama bin laden's corpse as soon as today, but officials haven't yet made the final decision. brianna keilar joins us live. what is the latest? >> reporter: drew, a government official familiar with intelligence matters says right now there isn't complete consensus, but these discussions about whether to release photos of a dead osama bin laden, they're leaning towards doing it. the administration is leaning towards doing it. there is growing consensus they should do it. and the source who told us that we could be seeing these photos released today, this is a government official, actually engaged in these discussions, told cnn's john king that if their release will see them put out through th

john brennan the white house counterterrorism adviser was quick to point out that no one technique, including waterboarding led to the tip. >> it was information that i said was acquired from individuals, including those in detention. sometimes they gave up information willingly, as far as offering some details, some of it was dis information. sometimes they provided information that they didn't realize had embedded clues in it that we were able to exploit. jenna: j.d. gordon former defense department spokesman joins us. you started working for the administration after the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were used. during the time that some say that's when the information came out that led to what we're seeing today, what do you think happened that gave up that information? why do you think the happened several years after the enhanced interrogation techniques? >> reporter: well first to clarify jenna waterboarding happened to just three detainees. none of those were at guantanamo, they were at cia sites overseas. they were able to provide a composite picture to intelligence autho

the president's counterterrorism adviser, john brennan, states today that osama bin laden that in the compound first exteriors and john brennan's words, it's inconceivable that bin laden did not have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time. members of congress have a responsibility to ask, what kind of support system or nurse could have enabled in london to maintain this safe even? what should pakistani officials have known about such support systems and who should have known it? how should a mansion complex of the team for laws can avoid the scrutiny the investigative military and government officials who make it their business to know what's going on around them. why'd he pakistani not investigate other tremendous time of fiscal challenge here at home, the united states is asking citizens to support the expenditure of billions of dollars of military and pakistani and foreign aid to pakistan. before i turn to ranking member, i'd like to make one more important point about osama bin laden's killing. i'm heartened to note the last

>> i don't have any updates on that except to echo what john brennan said this morning, which is that we're obviously reviewing information. we've made a great deal available to the public in remarkable time. we're talking about the most highly classified operation that this government has undertaken in many, many years. and the amount of information we tried to provide to you in this short period of time is quite substantial. we will continue to review that and make decisions about the appropriateness in of releasing more information as that review continues on. >> the pakistani government put out a statement which said the isi has been providing information about the compound since 2009. whereas, all we know about it in terms of the media is that we've known about the compound since 2010. could you explain the discrepancy and also has the isi been providing information about this compound? >> well, what i will do is point you to the comments that john brennan made and others have made which is that the pakistanis have in general been very helpful in many ways in the fight against al

john brennan seems to think so. he told the "today" show there was a support group that helped bin laden. you can see the interview at 7:00 this morning. >>> today is election day. people all over the bay area being asked to help out cash strapped schools. in allen dentameda county and pn school district. contra costa impacts la fayette. santa clara four on the ballot. the los gatos-saratoga, sunny veil and cupertino. one office is up for election. san mateo county's district one supervisor. if you live in district one, your ballot must be cast by 8:00 at your local city hall or elections office. >>> pg&e is admitting there might be trouble with the smart meters. they are ready to replace 1600 smart meters because they inflated the customers energy bills. pg&e says it is a rare defect. they have trouble in high temperatures. pg&e is calling the affected customers now and will offer you free refunds to people who received inaccurate bills. laura it is now 6:34. the smart meters had a tough go since they started. >> j

also gathered around, secretary of state hillary clinton, vice president joe biden and john brennan. he described it as time passing like days and it was the work of the special operations forces. here's the latest on the raid and the impending investigation. >> three simultaneous investigations this morning, some in congress wanting to look more deeply into how bin laden has aided capture for so long. senators getting a cia briefing today. then the pakistani government claiming it did not know bin laden was on its soil says it is investigating. and finally the cia poring over a treasure trove of information about the raid and figuring out what we need to know and what we do not. >> they're waiting for the code word, geronimo, to indicate success. >> we were not confident the mission was a success until all of our brave soldiers were able to come out and bring the body out. >> finally, a transmission from the ground commander. for god and country, he said, geronimo, geronimo, geronimo. we know two special ops teams infiltrated the property. one commando put two bullets in bin laden's

>> that weird, because that morning john brennan sang a different tune. >> there is word out today that waterboarding played a very big role or a role in gathering information that was integral in finding bin laden. is that the case? >> not to my knowledge. >>> and quote -- they say a closer look says the harsh techniques played a small role, at most, in identifying the trusted courier. two of the waterboarded lied to their interrogators about the identity. apparently the name was given up much later under standard interrogation practices. even panetta's claim doesn't make much sense. listen to what john mccain had to say. irges so far i know of no information that was obtained which would have been useful by, quote, enhanced interrogation. >> so what's going on here? is there any merit to this tortured hypothesis? or is this an attempt to rewrite history to try to grab credit for something they clearly did not do? let me bring in national investigative correspondent michael isikoff to help answer that question. great to have you here. >> great to be with you. >> i know you did some rep

brennan on monday. >> the concern was that bin laden would oppose any type of capture operation. indeed he did. it was a firefight. he was engaged in a firefight who those that entered the area of the house. whether or not he got off any rounds, i quite frankly don't know. just thinking about that from a visual perspective, here is bin laden who has been calling for these attacks living in this million dollar plus compound. living in an area that is far remove from the front, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield. >> the white house had already amended brennan's account saying bin laden was not armed and did not use anybody as a human shield before the latest version of events emerged tonight. in an interview today with cbs news president obama explained why he will not release the photos of osama bin laden's dead body. >> there's no doubt that we killed osama bin laden. it is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence as a propaganda tool. that'

as john brennan said, we're also going over the question of what systems there were to support osama bin laden in abbottabad and to make it possible for him to live there unmolested for such along -- a long time. i do think it's important to emphasize, as our secretary said this morning, our relationship with pakistan, while it occasionally has its challenges, is a productive one. that more terrorists have been apprehended or killed in pakistan than anywhere else, and that this collaboration between our countries has been absolutely vital to degrading the al-qaeda threat over quite a number of years. so it is a complicated picture but it is a vital relationship and we need to keep working at it. >> i understand it's complicated, and my question is, do you believe that the pakistani government knew that osama bin laden was in their country? that's just a simple yes or no. >> i believe that they thought there was a good chance that he was somewhere in pakistan. i can't imagine, given all of the focus on fighting extremism, particularly in the federal tribal areas that they were certain

brennan who is a smart individual and very experienced, as he pointed out, it is inconceivable to think that there were certain individuals within isi, the intel service and the military who did not know about the whereabouts of bin laden and did not know that he was, you know, on the outskirts of abottabad, and what is a garrison town. >> and former pakistan president pervez musharraf has praised the military's success, but with that, the criticism of the u.s. forces have breached the sovereignty of pakistan, and do you think he should shut his mouth and stay in the curby suburbs from the millions of dollars that he has gotten from the country? >> yes, about musharraf and so many others and we could marchp on and not have the issues, but the relationship with pakistan, and both with the military and the government and the isi has always been somewhat dysfunctional, right. and you know, it has the ups an downs and it is like a bad marriage at times. you have to keep going and trying to make it work. but there's no surprise here. for years and years, we have been talking and been aware c

and the way it is explained to us is when john brennan, the president's top counterterror adviser was out monday morning, this whole raid was, you know, less than 24 hours old. all the interviews had been done. and it was kind of a fog of war and they since have corrected the record. so they say, look, perhaps we're going on incomplete information at the time, but they moved as quickly as they can to make the record as accurate as they can according to the white house. >> better to fix it quickly inde indeed, savannah guthrie, who broke the story that the president will not be releasing the photos. thank you so much, savannah? >> sure. >>> joining us now, barbara mikulski who has been briefed along with the other members today. it is great to see you. thank you very much for joining us. >> andrea, it is wonderful. >> your reaction to the decision, senator, not to release the photos? >> well, i support the president's decision. the president has to always weigh what is in the long range national security interests of the united states. i'm sure he consulted not only with his own advise

john brennan said it's inconceivable that osama bin laden wouldn't have had some kind of support in pakistan, whether from the government on an official level or some sort of unofficial, nongovernmental level. so there are a lot of questions being asked about that. as you know, he was there at this compound for around five years. he wasn't somewhere off in the mountainous border regionen in a cave. he was 35 miles north of islamabad. with this "new york times" report that officials are looking to find out more from pakistani officials, pakistani intelligence officials what they might have known and what kind of contact they had from bin laden, you can expect that to continue. >> incredible to think of where he was this whole time. may i ask you about the recent drone strike in yemen this week. it was the first one since 2002 targeting al maliki. >> you can be certain that the white house -- this white house, this obama white house has made it a top priority to track these members of al qaeda, track down other extremists who could be associated with al qaeda in any way. of course, this is say

john brennan. >> he's the guy sitting next to bin laden here. always trying to prove himself. he's been his second in command in al qaeda since 1998. by a bunch of different accounts, he's not a likable terrorist. he is from egypt. in al qaeda, that's not good. an fbi special agent who interviewed many wrote all though al qaeda recruits come from many countries, apparently, it's everybody who is not egyptian against everyone who is egyptian. sucker games put egyptians against arabs. soccer. they can't do shirts versus skins so it's everyone in shirts versus the egyptian guys in shirts. why is being an egyptian a strike against you in al qaeda? i do not know, but it is. it sounds like cause for disunity in al qaeda. it's great news for the rest of the world. also in a post 9/11 world of an already fragmented al qaeda, the work of power and authority the way bin laden did, there's never been another leader. it will fall to mr. not so charismatic, mr. egypt and being on the run. from on the run, when he's been able to put out statements in the past few years, they have served to

. >> white house terrorism adviser john brennan. mr. not so charismatic zawahiri is a doctor, he's the guy on the -- sitting next to bin laden here, always trying to prove himself, see how close we are? zawahiri has been osama bin laden's second in command in al qaeda since at least 1998. by a bunch of different accounts he's not a very likable or inspiring terrorist. even if you are a hair on fire extremist, yourself. for one thing, zawahiri is from egypt and in al qaeda, apparently that's not good. an fbi special agent wrote in a "new york times" op-ped, though al qaeda recruits come from many country, within the organization apparently it's sort of everybody who's not egyptian against everyone who is egyptian. quote, even soccer games pit egyptians against persian gulf arabs. al qaeda soccer. they can't do shirts versus skins, modesty. so it's everyone in shirts versus all the egyptian guys in shirts. why is being an egyptian a strike against you in al qaeda? i do not know. apparently it is. with an egyptian guy as the apparent next

no, that is all that i know. >> [inaudible] >> i have no knowledge of that. >> john brennan yesterday spoke almost mockingly of osama bin laden using his wife as a human shield. now there are reports that that is not accurate. i wanted ask you what is your level of confidence in the information coming from senator brennan and the administration? >> i have a very high level of confidence on information coming from the administration in coming from john brennan. this is a problem with everybody wanting to ask questions so fast, so soon, and it is very difficult to sort everything out. he did correct himself, as you know, and we are all subject to that kind of thing. apparently there was a wife who stood in front of her husband, and i believe the person may well have been the courier i have been talking about, but whether she was forced to do it or she did it voluntarily, i have no idea. >> she was married to the courier? >> that is my tentative understanding, subject to change. [laughter] >> will the committee be reviewing that those of the video of the burial? >> i expect us to ask to

this was an interagency discussion and as john brennan and others said it was a deliberative process towards making this decision, and she conveyed the state department's views but i don't want to get into the substance of those views. >> did she think the rosslyn to be a detriment into future relations with pakistan and other countries that may still be involved in looking for members of al qaeda and terrorism? >> will again, i think my colleagues of the white house have spoken and addressed some of these concerns are not to release, possible release of a photo. the secretary was part of this discussion, conveyed the state department's views and i will leave it there. >> and a follow-up. >> the photograph was released the other day, the secretary obviously in the situation room, has she specifically announced what she was looking at, what she was doing that the time? was there any discussion of her feelings at that point? >> not that i'm aware of, no. i think everyone knows in the room or john brennan spoke to the tension in the room and it was a very refitting obviously moment. but

john brennan, the deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism says it's inconceivable osama bin laden had no support system to help him inside pakistan. a year ago, hillary clinton following a trip to pakistan, said in an interview with fox news that elements within the pakistani state know the whereabouts of the al qaeda chee chief. so it seems to me that pakistan was totally incompetent in their security issues or they knew of the location of osama bin laden and hid him out. if pakistan was helping bin laden hide from us, i sefrnl don't think we should be giving them $3 billion of american aid. it doesn't seem to make us any safer to give american money to a country that may be playing both sides of the field. i've introduced the pakistan foreign aid accountability account, which freezes ny foreign aid to pakistan until it's proven pakistan didn't know about osama bin laden's wheres abouts. they have opportunity to make their case before we give them any more money. america just wants some answers. where do we stand? where does pakistan stand with the u

clearly there was some excitement in the -- among john brennan and some of the team that knew they finally had gotten their man. but yet there were shifting stories. let's play a piece of tape that kind of spells it out. >> the concern was that bin laden would oppose any type of capture operation. indeed, he did. it was a firefight. he was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. whether or not he got off any rounds i quite frankly don't know. >> there was concern that bin laden would oppose the capture operation, rather, and indeed, he did resist. in the room with bin laden a woman, bin laden's wife, rushed the u.s. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. bin laden was then shot and killed. he was not armed. >> jonathan martin, i'll start with you. what do you make of this? is the media being too tough on the white house, or has the white house, in the rollout of this complicated narrative, maybe undercut some of what otherwise would have been a week that was nothing but basically a victory lap saying that finally, at last, america has gott

that's homeland security director john brennan of course saying we've cut off the head of the snake called al qaeda, but is al qaeda still a threat to the u.s.? bob kerry was a member of the 9/11 commission and navy s.e.a.l. in vietnam. the former chief of operations for the cia in europe. i want to ask you about this. i try to visualize, in america we have crime and organized crime. terrorists, organized terrorists. what's left of al qaeda? >> what's left of al qaeda is affiliate groups. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. and groups that are inspired by bin laden but not controlled by him. 9/11, the invasion of afghanistan really destroyed the path for the management infrastructure for al qaeda. these groups are dangerous and more dangerous because they're smaller, less and harder to find. >> can they pull off these, we're going up and doing something big, combination of hijacking and buildings and all? are they capable of the big operation? these groups that are still out there? are they just going to blow up whatever? >> don't want to discount them. really what they're looking at, there

and then what you're hearing out of the white house is that jay carney today said that john brennan implied it as well that, number one, there doesn't seem to be a need to do it. meaning that there aren't these big conspiracy theories popping up in the muslim world where there is somehow some doubt about whether this raid successfully was able to get and kill bin laden. that's one. and two, that there is some concern about the photo becoming inflammatory. and that is what -- you know, carney said, there's not a huge debate inside the white house. but this is among the concerns that they're talking about within the national security community. >> chuck, thank you for the new information and the reframing and clarity. we'll surely get more of it as the days unfold here. >>> i do want to bring in a couple of great guests today. dr. christine fair, who was departing for pakistan in a few hours. she is an assistant professor in the center for peace and security studies at georgetown university. also we're joined by brett mcgerng gherk, who served under both presidents george w. bush and barack o

john brennan said people were referring to it as hiding in plain sight. he said the u.s. will be looking into whether pakistan set up a support system that allowed bin laden to be there for that long. pakistan's president has denied they had any kind of support for him. but certainly, this proximity is going to set up close scrutiny. rob and peggy? >> some big question marks, for sure. emily schmidt, in washington. thank you so much. >>> well, we have new information this morning about just how bin laden was positively identified. we're told that at first, he was i.d.'d by two women inside that compound. the cia then used facial recognition analysis. finally, two dna samples were used to make a 99.9% match, with samples from bin laden's relatives. the body was flown to the aircraft carrier, "uss carl vinson," from which it was buried at sea. there is video of that burial. but there is no decision on whether it will be released. >>> a recording may be released from bin laden himself. intelligence officials believe he recorded a message shortly before his death. the tape is

there has been conflicting details two different presence conferences, one with john brennan, one with jane carney, offering different cribbing reports about what happened in this takedown of bin laden. that is not great for the president. >> do you think that was done, though, because of the appetite of the media to get this information out? is that what it is all about? >> i think that's pardon of it. there was an attempt by the white house to try to control the narrative. but you do need to have the facts. this was not a lengthy operation. it was about 40 minutes. so i think that while, you know, they get huge points for what actually happened, there have been some unflattering headlines. that said, most people want remember that, they'll remember that bin laden is dead. >> as a result, the new york times/cbs news poll shows his approval jumped up. as we look ahead to 18 months or so from now, does this give him a long-term boost ahead of the elections? >> it helps with the confidence numbers and concerns that the president seemed like something of a foreign policy nafe. this helps

john brennan, when he first gave the detailed rundown of what happened, did so less than 12 hours after the mission had been completed. in fact, the s.e.a.l.s weren't formally debriefed until yesterday as part of the hotwash process. so it's not entirely surprising that as memories are being deacon flikted, critical parts of the story are changing. it is absolutely crucial for the white house to get as quickly as possible out these questions, for example, was osama bin laden armed? it's going to make the case for what the u.s. did, the legality of invading essentially a sovereign cannot tri and assassinating somebody a little more difficult if the person was unarmed, but they have to get that out early. >> matt, isn't it better that is the white house and the government changing the story first before our reporting, talks to somebody? >> of course. >> in this case, they sit there and say hey, look. we're trying to get the information, when we realized new information, we gave it. >> it undercuts anybody if they deliberately lied. if they themselves correct the record. >> they've been so

brennan, the top counterterrorism adviser at the white house came out on monday. the explanation for this is that simply all of the after action reports weren't in. but it did change in some key respects in particular, we now know, of course, that osama bin laden was unarmed at the point he was shot. but there is growing frustration among some u.s. officials to the extent that it feels that the s.e.a.l.s are being second-guessed in what they decided to do. it was pointed out to me that in the room that osama bin laden was in on that third floor there was an ak-47 and a pistol within reach. he was certainly rushed by osama bin laden's wife and made a split-second decision. as one senior official said to me they weren't raiding the girl scout troops looking for overdue library books. they were on a kill mission for osama bin laden. norah? >> savannah guthrie who is travel with the president today as he goes for the first time as president to ground zero and into the pit there. savannah, thank you so much for all that great reporting. >>> more now on the newest accou

john brennan is the president's top counterterrorism adviser. mr. brennan, good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. >> you were in the situation room on sunday as this raid went down. you described it as the minutes passing like days. can you tell me about that moment when you realized the raid had been a success? >> well, i think we were increasingly hopeful as the operation was going on, that we were able to get the person we were after, but we were not confident that the mission was a success until all of our brave soldiers were able to come out and bring the body out. so, one of the things that the president was most concerned about was ensuring the safety and security of the u.s. personnel that were involved in this mission. >> at this point you the administration has not released either video of bin laden's burial at sea or video of his dead body. does the administration plan to release that? if so, when? and what is the hesitation at this point? >> we have been releasing a lot of information to the american public the last 36 hours. we