, yes, the pentagon. by the time you get past the half of the country that believe kriemt clang is an outright hoax, how do you do the rational thing about something like gun safety? that's our problem, that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. ♪ >>> today was a huge news day in the ongoing political fight against gun violence in this country. the white house threw its most precious and powerful resource, the time and attention of the president of the united states, behind the issue today. the president traveled to denver, colorado, where he was introduced by the local police chief and planked by law enforcement officers to draw washington's attention, again, to gun safety. >> we need parents, we need teachers, we need police officers, we need pastors, we need hunters and sportsmen, americans of every background, to say, we've suffered too much pain and care too much about our children to allow this to continue. we're not going to just wait for the

move ahead 12 years, the pentagon plan is 2443 plants, and $397.1 billion. the design and production, $84 billion has already been spent. what happened? >> the price has almost doubled. we are getting fewer planes for much money. we have spent an enormous amount of money and the plane is only about 17% tested. the software code is to be written. the marine version still having engineering challenges. what that slide tells you is the sheer amount of money -- the growth of this program in terms of the initial estimate was so different from the reality. this reflects the technical challenges. what critics will tell you is that this is a program that has run amok. it has run aground. it has run out of control. >> more video of the marine version, trying to work for your article showing how these planes. here is the marine video. >> ?-- ♪ ♪ >> helicopter landing ship, not a regular carrier. why do they need that? >> the marines have 11 of those types of ships. they have short? where they can fly planes like that and helicopters. the marines want to continue t

the engine for the aircraft that the pentagon wanted is being built by pratt whitney. some members of congress were pushing a second engine built by the arrival contractor in large political -- the hope among some that it would lead to jobs in their states. it was a classic case of congress foisting on the defense department something it did not want to add it to another $3 billion. it was a double sideshow and distracted from some of the greater problems and challenges. >> does any other country in the world have this set up? >> no. no other country spends nearly what we do on this. >> is it good or bad that congress -- >> it is hopeful that congress acts as a check on some of these runaway programs. in many cases, congress is trying to sh the pentagon to do it staff that it does not want to do. members of congress wanted for their own interest. we continued to build tanks and ohio. why do we do that? members of the ohio delegation want the jobs. the army does not think it needs any more tanks. >> there is a " in your article about the marine corps is ability to get w

i feel like being the head of the pentagon is like being the pope. it's like when there's a new -- when there's a vacancy, well, this next one's really going to have to deal with reforming the institution. they need reform inside the curiam. there's a lot of rot in there. then you go in, and guess what, you get coopted by the institution. what is your feeling about where chuck hagel will fit into that trajectory? >> there's a joke among defense reporters -- >> my favorite genre of joke. >> naturally. outside of papacy jokes. a joke that in order to be defense secretary, you have to give this speech that hagel gave, that you come in, you're going to make sure acquisitions are going to get cleaned up, personnel policies are going to be aligned with what's actually in the national interest, costs are going to come under control. you also can't get out of the pentagon before you renege on all of that and the building has ground you down into a fine powder. in terms of everything hagel said today, there's a lot for reformers to get excited about. implemen

jennifer griffin on fox top story live at the pentagon tonight. stunning, jennifer. >> it's a pretty big revelation, shep. until now, the defense secretary and other pentagon officials had always said that the north koreans had not yet miniaturized device allowing it to be weapon niced. this is a huge step in the world of nuclear proliferation. here is what douglas lamb bourn of colorado revealed today on capitol hill. >> quoting from the unclassified portion which i believe has not yet been made public, they say, quote: dia assesses with moderate confidence the north currently has nuclear weapons currently of delivery by ballistic missiles however the reliability will be low. >> however the pentagon report indicates even if the north koreans have figured this out, their nukes probably aren't very reliable so they might not work. and there is no indication we're told that there are any nuclear weapons on the backs of these missiles that we are watching right now. waiting for the north koreans to possibly launch, shep? >> shepard: it seems that mos

most quote physical weakness with least evidence of bruising but the pentagon admits is hiding hundreds of photos of u.s. torture even worse according to senator ron wyden take the worst case multiply it several times over there are u.s. soldiers raping iraq he will be in close quote every indecency and abuse abu ghraib victims instead of those in the white washed official report first reuters this the result is clinton finds reaction to the must've told to cover up still going all. during tool sure and instills this solmes blasted at deafening levels the cloke one f.b.i. office that describes the us tool just sessions. i entered interview rooms to find the detainees chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the floor with no chair food or water most times they had urinated or desiccated on themselves and had been left there for eighteen twenty four hours or more interrogators the day before had made the temperature in the room well over one hundred degrees the detainee was almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of hair next to him he had apparently been literally pulling his

yes the pentagon is is is the pentagon general kelly from the southern command went on the record and said that look this is frustration because the president broke his promise that's unprecedented in our society to have a general tell the president that look this is what's causing it it's not about the qur'an it's about the frustration that is kuantan so look at a very small level the people running the prison are making huge mistakes and they are without logic and they're playing chicken as i said before but but the real issue here is at the foot of the president it's whether or not this president who said guantanamo is weighs on his conscious those were his words apparently it doesn't weigh on his conscience any more because he's been totally silent on it and we've heard nothing but for one or two comments in a briefing that that he remains committed to guantanamo we're just asking that he step up reaffirm it i want to hear it from his mouth just briefly in front of the we've got people here clearly you know being held without charge for a crime also we don't know how long they're

the pentagon officially says they haven't fully tested and developed one, but the pentagon isn't saying they're not doing it and i think that's really the key here. the pentagon is sort of parsing this, officially saying not fully tested, not fully developed, but people behind the scenes will tell you straight out that that is the north korean goal and they're making progress on it. and one of the real questions is how are they doing it. who is helping them? you know, a lot of rumors go through the intelligence community all the time that the iranians are helping them. this is highly technical work, very doubtful they're doing it all by themselves. they're getting help from somewhere and they are making progress, and i think that's really the key. people can differ over when it might happen, when they could really hit a target with any kind of reliability, but that's their goal. that's what they're working towards. i don't think there's a lot of disagreement about that. >> general marks, what do you make of this information? i'm still a little confused. it's not a warhead but could be a

he's now also brain damage he called recognize his mother's face but the pentagon photo is good it takes a toll to supporters just ten seconds to say waterboarding is both medieval and produces unreliable. everything completely goes all the way you know. you can't think about it in these mature waterboarding in the media they're not even getting near where waterboarding story they're just getting in the water in their sinuses it's when the water starts to push down and you start to gasp for air and when you take that gas. that's when it overrides your your cause will start pouring into your lungs and you start feeling it right about here and that's when you start to panic and you start to struggle and as you start to struggle you start pushing on your bike and then if you know if you've got to you start kicking your feet together and then you start violently spasming when the senate found tortured to produce no useful intelligence whatsoever cia counterterrorism boss jose rodriguez and his assistant panicked they rushed to an industrial shredder destroying knowing t two tapes of zayn and

the pentagon has postponed a planned ballistic missile. fearing it could be interpreted. and general james thurmon, the forces in korea to washington has been delayed because of the crisis. now, if any country has influence on north korea, it's china. it provides the majority of pyongyang's food and fuel. and china's president implied in a speech today, without naming north korea, the region shouldn't be disrupted by one country and australian prime minister warned that conflict here would be disastrous for the region. >> all countries in the region share a deep interest in strategic stability. but the consequences of conflict are ever more severe for us all. this is nowhere no clear than on the korean peninsula. there are any aggression is a threat to interest to every country in the region. >> reporter: secretary of state kerry will be meeting leaders from south korea, japan, and most importantly, the chinese leadership. back to you, harris. >> harris: david piper, thank you very much. in washington, north korea's growing antagonism is growing concern from the white hou

here at home the pentagon saying it postponed its own planned missile test from california's air force base. that delay they hope may help diffuse the situation on the korean peninsula. but north korea does not appear to be willing to drop the defenses any time soon. this video from the state showing pictures of attacking the defense minister. another video supervising a series of drills using an unmanned combat plan. the leading u.s. military commander in south korea to delay a trip to washington. he says he will remain in seoul for quote a prudent measure. steve centanni following from the nation's capital and streaming live from the south korean capital. david? >> it is looking increasingly likely north korea is going to conduct the text. >> the government. should be back where it starts from the embassies by that day. suet k south korea has been following the missiles to the east coast of north korea. it was 1800 miles. north korea has threatened the attack. the u.s. tried to make sure is it doesn't do anything to make the situation worse here. the pentagon postponed a test of ball

let's get to jennifer griffin at the pentagon. jennifer, any indication that the president has ordered the pentagon to begin positioning troops anywhere? >> no, not as of yet. the president again called the use of chemical weapons in syria a game-changer but there's still no indication the pentagon has been asked to act. >> as early as last year, i asked the pentagon, our military, intelligence officials to prepare for me what options might be available. and i won't go into he details of what those options might be, but it will clearly -- that would be an escalation. >> options are ready, and if it becomes -- either if it becomes clear to me or i'm ordered to too so, we'll act. but at this point that hasn't occurred. >> dempsey went on to say that in essence, no-fly zone may not achieve what some on capitol hill would like it to achieve, so there are a lot of caveats to the plans that have been presented to president obama. also, remember, there's still currently only one aircraft carrier in the region in the persian gulf. they wo

the pentagon is pushing back. >> what is the rationale for opposing this legislation? we're simply saying that our position has not changed. this is a matter that is pending before a court. i'm not going to get into it. >> reporter: cnn obtained the pentagon position paper which does. in it officials argue awarding the purple heart would taint the case against the alleged shooter major hasan. quote, this provision would be viewed as setting the stage for a formal declaration that major hasan is a terrorist. such a situation would fundamentally compromise the fairness and due process of the pending trial. >> that argument is total rubbish. >> neil share is an attorney for the victims and says it is absurd to think that high ranking officers who make up the jury will be swayed by an award and he argues hasan is a terrorist. >> as he was firing mercilessly on his victims, he was yelling, god is great. he was getting advice from al awlaki who was i believe in yemen. >> hasan corresponded with al qaeda leader awlaki a dozen times in the months leading up to the incident. bu

jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. have we crossed the readline? they want to say no. >> the letter from the white house to congress suggests a small out of sarin gas was likely used. this is blazed on fit rolling cal evidence or blood or tissue samples from the victims. the white house wants more evidence. the letter from the white house says the intelligence community assesses, quote, with dearth degrees of confidence the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale. chuck hagel appeared to be surprised when he left israel where there were initial reports that chemical weapons had been used. he was asked today about the report that chemical weapons had been used and the letter sent from the white house to congress. here's what he said. >> what was the evidence? >> i don't know the specific evidence. i haven't seen it. >> that's a pretty big caveat. he says he hasn't seen the intelligence suggesting chemicals weapons have been used. is this a redline? u.s. military forces say 20 people were victims of the alleged sarin attack. more tha

chris lawrence of the pentagon, thanks very much. just a little while ago, i spoke exclusively with the united nations secretary general here in washington. >> very high on the agenda, i met him. i asked what he meant by the nuclear capableties. and the secretary general of the united nations is joining us here in the situation room. thanks so much, mr. secretary general, for coming in. always nice to see you. i know you've just come from the white house. let's talk about north korea. the key question is have they miniaturized to the point where they could endanger south korea, endanger japan. >> we do not have any independent information. but they will continue to improve their technology. that will be against the resolution. the resolution most recently to refrain from generating nuclear weapons. clearly, the sanctions aren't working. >> sanctions are working. but it needs full cooperation. >> resolution 2094 is very comprehensive. >> how long will it take for it to bite? >> i don't have any idea. but it is very important that the

that's some comfort to officials at the pentagon. now, whether they are moving this to cullly carry out some attack or for another test launch, that's anybody's guess. we talked about april 15th, the 101st first of the norse of the berth of kim il-sung, the do it officials are looking at around which kim jong-un might decide he wants to take in sort of action. >> shepard: secretary of state john kerry is headed to the region next week. right? >> yes. this is all part of the message to south korea. you don't need to act or react. we've got your back. secretary kerry will hold talks with the president. president park is fairly new in office and may be feeling under some pressure to actually act. so the u.s., along with all the military movement we've seen, wants to send a clear message of support to its allies in the region. here's state department spokesman victoria knewland. >> we are taking the appropriate steps in terms of defense of the united states, in terms of defense of our aye -- allies, both the republic of korea and japan.

jennifer griffin with the news live in her position at the pentagon tonight. they are keeping close watch on, this i'm sure. >> absolutely, shepard, of course, u.s. satellites and spy planes such as the air force global hock are trained on kim's missile launch sites as we speak tonight. this is the first time north korea has tried to launch this medium range missile from a mobile launcher. that's what has the pentagon concerned there could be a misfire and japan and guam are both in range. secretary hagel isn't worried. >> we have every capacity to deal with any action that north korea would take to protect this country and the interest of this country and our ally. >> now all eyes are on april 15th. 100th anniversary of the birth of kim jong un's grandfather, shep. >> shepard: the president's just released new budget of the united states president. his budget. how does that effect the pentagon's ability to do whatever it needs to do in north korea? >> pentagon officials went out of their way today to make sure that north korea doesn't misunderstand the curren

that's not going to happen. >> want to bring in our barbara starr from the pentagon. barbara, we heard bill richardson say it would be suicidal for north korea to go through with its threats. he's a diplomat. how does the military see it? >> right now what they're focused on suzanne and michael, is the possibility of that north korean ballistic missile launch in the next few days. we have fresh information that's come to us in just the last few minutes. a u.s. official telling us that u.s. intelligence now has noticed in the last few days north korea has moved missile components to its east coast. and these are consistent with a mobile missile that is of such concern because it can be launched from a mobile launcher. and look at that map. if it goes off the east coast of north korea where that equipment is right now, it will by definition fly over japan. and that certainly will upset the japanese. the problem of course with the mobile missile launch, you get very little warning that it would be about to happen. so the u.s. now very much watching the east coast of nort

the pentagon made the announcement today. the laser gun still a prototype officials say it uses extremely focused beam of light to hit its target. they say it's not advanced enough to hit a missile but that it can down drones or sink small boats. jennifer griffin with the news from the pentagon tonight. where does the pentagon plan to send these new weapons? >> well, shepard, this new weapon could can be operational off the coast of iran as early as next year. this video released by the navy shows the laser locked on to a slow moving target in this case an unmanned drone which burst a flame in mid flight. the laser prototype will be mounted to the and sent out to the persian gulf where iran operates small summers drones and revolutionary guard is known for swarming and harassing u.s. navy ships with small armored speed boats, shep. >> shepard: this thing is, i don't know, relatively speaking mighty cheap to use. >> that's right. one of its major advantages the navy proudly says is its relatively low cost to operate. >> this d

a live report from pentagon on the next move. >>> the stabbing spree yesterday on a college campus in texas, the suspect claims he fantasized about killing people since he was in elementary school. it's all ahead unless breaking news changes everything on "studio b." >>> first, background checks are not gun control, they're common sense. those are the words the pennsylvania republican senator pat toomey announcing a bipartisan deal that could build support for prevention of gun violence. he joined joe man chen in supporting expanded background checks on gun purchases, expanding checks to coveralls commercial sales, including gun shows and on line. it would not require checks for private purchases such as a sale between relatives. the announcement a day after families who lost loved ones is he newtown massacre went to capital. the senator says that tragedy changed america's hearts and minds. >> this amendment will not ease the pain of the families who lost their children that day. but nobody here, not one of us in this great capital of ours with a good conscience could sit by and not t

more cuts ahead for the pentagon. little more from this story -- that's just a little bit from "the washington post" this morning. now north korea will be our topic as we move through this morning's "washington journal." josh rogan of foreign policy will be on here, along with the former assistant secretary of defense. and thomas hubbard who served as ambassador to south korea during the george bush administration will also be out here as we continue this conversation. this is the editorial from this morning's "new york times" regarding north korea. it's north korea, again. new york times" writes -- that's the "new york times" this morning. joe is a republican in washington, d.c. joe, you're on the washington journal. >> yeah, my statement is you need to fall back on what george washington's suggestions were, and with the light of recent events with gun control, we're getting away from the idea of what the second amendment truly was about. that's well organized militia. there's nobody at home protecting us right here

to rely on foreign companies now report from the pentagon says that so-called energetic materials and gradients for weapons like technics explosives got a rocket propellant well those are in short supply here in the u.s. this report listed one hundred eighty one at risk materials and four critically at risk materials that could soon be unavailable if action isn't taken. what kind of action are we talking about will the national defense magazine said that the option for the pentagon would be to subsidize domestic suppliers if their products are seen as essential however the ongoing cuts of government spending might make a bailout of weapon manufacturers a tough sell the taxpayers want to know the story of close up. news can become global in an instant especially with the help of video images and will there is a place for your news and video needs our t. has a sister station roughly which launched today it's a video service committed to capturing important moments as they happen but if you watch our t.v. regularly you are right you've already seen roughly video in our broadcasts from th

they have been working with the pentagon. it is more of a collaborative efforts. i think they're going to push hard to have some ambitious legislation. as far as afghanistan, it depends on the summer. they have indicated that they will wait and see it before making any recommendation. the hill at least will look to see with the military leaders have to say. , there wasfghanistan a recommendation for 13,600 after 2014. the demonstration has not made a decision on it yet. made athing day decision. they're pushing this often a little bit. the afghans are getting look very concerned about this lack of clarity on the future. it is causing them all to head a little bit. ae fear of abandonment is real concern. at some point the administration will have to come up with their plan for post-2014. it is 18 months away. aboutis is still debate the numbers. the size is important. it will tell what they can do. terrorism a counter- force they're able to go after al qaeda targets. >>

>> jennifer griffin at the pentagon. after weeks of bombastic threats about going nuclear leaders are taking a different approach. up set about joint south korean military exercises. today the economically strapped north severed one of its only reliable economic lifelines to the much wealthier south. reporter david piper has details from seoul. >> the south korean government says its neighbor to the north continues to keep tensions high here by doing something dramatic almost every day in order to capture the world's attention. today's headline grabbing move pulling its 50,000 workers out of a joint industrial plant with the south. >> as south korea and the united states insult the country's dignity and make the industrial zone a starting point of war, the complex will be halted from now on. >> north korea had already barred south korean workers from entering the zone when which is based just across the border. the industrial complex also had the last direct communication link between the two -- after pyongyang cut the e

news when someone--it's not clear who-- dumped 250,000 unredacted and classified state department and pentagon documents, which had been in wikileaks' possession, onto the internet. when we interviewed assange, he was already under investigation by the justice department for publishing classified material and possible violations of the espionage act. he was also under house arrest in britain, fighting extradition to sweden in connection with two sexual assault cases, which he has called part of a smear campaign against him. in what is still his most extensive television interview, assange talked to us about the idea behind wikileaks and the prospect of facing criminal charges in the united states. i mean, you've been called a lot of names. you've been characterized as a hero and as a villain, a martyr, terrorist. >> i'm not yet a martyr. >> right. >> let's keep it that way. >> for now, julian assange is holed up on this bucolic 600-acre english estate with an ankle bracelet, a 10:00 curfew, and a slow internet connection. he declined to talk to us about the allegations in sweden on the advice

and of course, the pentagon, god bless the pentagon, created the class for us. and it was twenty eight mind numbing slides to be given with a lighted detail on everything. but nevertheless, the session especially with the indonesia junior officers turned out to be exciting. these were captains that were fluent in i english or at least confident most fluent and they had done their homework. we couldn't get through the class in the a lotted time without all of these captains bringing up incidents from the american past we would prefer not think about or thought or talk about. it shows that they were thinking and people that are past a certain age lieutenant colonel probably not going to reach them. they are vested in the current system. they have a senior officer tendency say we have done this way and want to continue to do that. to be able to get in the country and work at the captain level with the junior officers and start shaping out or at least raising questions is far better than just cutting everything off and saying that you guys only have one choice and i

the pentagon is refusing to award them purple hearts y.? >>> plus, the irs says it wants to make it easier for you to file your taxes. is that a wonderful thing from the government? why is a company that bills itself as your best friend when it comes to your taxes spending billions of dollars to hurt the irs? >>> this is happening in this country caught on tape. wouldn'te it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache,

that is one of the reasons why that missile defense system is being moved there by the pentagon the pentagon has musadun missiles. one of the concerns about the musudan is that it can be launched from a mobile truck. that would give the u.s. and others much less time to react than if they had to mount it on a launch tower. that is one of the major concerns tonight, jon. >> jon: and there is a date coming up that could be significant in all of this? >> very significant date. april 15th. a week monday that will be the 101st anniversary of the birth of the founder of north korea, kim ilsun. kim jong un might decide that is a good date to translate his bellicose words into some sort of offensive action. here is the former defense secretary william cohen, listen. >> this is a young leader. we don't know whether he is in charge of the military or the military is in charge of him. and so we have to be be concerned on what our actions signal not only to the north but to our allies the south koreans, the japanese and also the chinese. everyone in the region has to be concerned about what this young l

the warning came as the pentagon moves to deploy defense systems in the asia pacific amid fears its response to pyongyang's aggressive rhetoric is disproportionate and could trigger a military standoff. and fierce clashes in the west bank turned deadly as rita falls as killer police scene and teenage protest are feuding tensions pond by the death of a former high ranking palestinian security officer and israeli trainer. and you saw russia and around the world this is the with me. hello and welcome to the program north korea's military says it's now officially or surprised to wage a nuclear attack against the u.s. to counter what it calls washington's aggression young young warns an explosion is imminent and war could break out today or tomorrow and soon all the latest in a series of threats let's now go live to seoul where we're joined live by south korean based journalist joseph came as of good morning to you nice to see you so is north korea really ready to carry out this threat are they even capable of doing such. well if we look at this doubt that they have just given the united states w

. >> it makes new investments in the flexible platforms needed for the future. >> pentagon commanders want money to build aircraft anghang and facilities. they want to deemployee f-35 jets and unmanned planes. the budget reflects concerns of the build up of the chinese military. >>> two senators from different sides of the aisle have agreed to work together on gun control. they are expanding background checks on buyers. the republican and democrat want to make background checks mandatory. right now licensed dealers are only required to carry out such reviews. president obama wants to ban assault rifles and restrict the size of magazines. the bill does not include those provisions. more and more americans have been talking about gun control since the shooting in december at an elementary school in connecticut. a gunman killed 20 children and six staff members. >>> millions of owners of japanese autos around the world may be asked to have their cars checked or repaired. toyota, honda have filed a recall for about 730,000 units. they plan to recall nearly 2.2 million additional units sol

channels and newspapers the country wide that it shall never be repeated again the pentagon instead wants to blow another forty nine million dollars expanding it even if you are one of the types of things that american gulags are super cool and awesome do you realize that it takes over one million dollars per year per prisoner to keep the place open are you sure you don't want that money to go toward something else like your children's education the thing that burns me up about this the most is that obama promised if elected to close guantanamo bay and as commander in chief of the armed forces he could do this whatever he wanted no amount of filibustering by the republicans could stop him obama you promised hundreds of millions of people to do something very simple start the paper work tomorrow buddy make the nation look better that's your job but that's just my opinion. that's how our life was. east and west. and. i'm a little boy they won't hurt me. yes it does it's. the jews chased us. and everywhere we went the jews would chase us to hear. from the.

they have been working with the pentagon on this. it's not an antagonistic relationship. it is more of a collaborative effort. i think he will push hard to pass some very ambitious legislation. as far as afghanistan come i think it depends in large part on the summer. general dunford hasn't negated that they will wait and see before making any recommendations on the numbers. so i think that he'll at least will look to see what the military leaders have to say. you think on afghanistan, know, there was a recommendation 13,600 afterr for 2014. the administration has not made a decision on it yet. i don't think they really need to make a decision yet. so they are pushing that off a little bit. the fear is that the afghans are getting very concerned about this. this lack of clarity about the future is causing them all to hedge a little bit. a result, this fear of abandonment is a real concern. on some part, the it ministration will have to come up with their plan for post- teen, 18 months away. i think there is still a debate about the numbers. 2014, 18- for post months away.

and that we already have one pentagon. so why do we need the smaller secretive pentagon when we already have, you know, joint special operations command and that type of thing? the other danger is just the secrecy and the transparency and the lack of transparency is that if the default way where you go to war is in secret with fewer people able to see operations, signing off on operations, the greater danger that things could go badly. so that's i think part of the risk. >> charlie: who is nick mohammed. >> nick mohammed was a pakistani taliban leader who rose to prominence in 2004. he was sort of an enemy of the state of pakistan and was facilitating some of the al qaeda figures who were coming over the border from afghanistan into pakistan. >> charlie: facilitating meaning? >> meaning they were escaping the war in afghanistan... >> charlie: finding a safe place for them. >> he was working with them and he was running attacks around the tribal areas into greater part of pakistan and over the border into afghanistan. he en

chris lawrence reporting from the pentagon with that breaking news. "outfront" tonight, gordon chang. we'll be joined by retired general cedric layton in a moment. let me start with you. this report that kcame out toda saying that north korea can put nuclear material into a missile. tonight an administration official to cnn trying to say that they don't believe the weapons have been tested and they haven't been fully developed. but how significant is this possible development? >> we knew all along that they would be able to do this at some point. i mean if it's not now, it will be a year from now. so you know, when we look at this, this is a predictable development. of course, it's significant. marrying a nuclear device to a long range missile means they can reach out and cause great devastation and even worse. you know, they can threaten to do this. and that's why i think that year's crisis is worse than before. yeah, there is a lot of internal reasons peculiar to the regime but also because they now have more capability. so they now feel they can th

the pentagon has a big problem. the can find a couple of navy units cannot involved in any political activities. you can train them maritime security or something. maybe. there's the maritime security in afghanistan. no maritime security in afghanistan. the whole entity is messed up to the core. there is very little to do. what do you do then with those countries? either cut them off or be very tough with them. that is where we are with cambodia and sri lanka. give them a road map like we're doing with burma. give them a road map. this is what you need to do. things will get better for you. >> the question here in the front. i do not know if we are including central asia in this discussion. if we are, can both give you [inaudible] >> central asia touches on what i was trying to indicate with the tactical and political agencies. we have something called the northern distribution network that is a vital and might become even more vital. we have concerns with the human rights record. thatve a base in kurdistan is probl

and other bombers that it sent to the region for the ongoing military exercises with south korea the pentagon is now deploying an advanced missile defense system to guam one post a major u.s. military base in asia north korea the north korean army has announced that it has the final approval for a nuclear attack on the u.s. as they tell us north korean rockets can't really reach the u.s. mainland but they can potentially attack u.s. bases in the region there are twenty thousand u.s. troops just across the border in south korea so could we see the worst nuclear standoff since the cuban missile crisis between the soviet union and the u.s. even though the rhetoric is probably as hostile as it's ever been no one really believes that north korea is actually going to carry out an attack north korea itself knows that if it did it for the attack the united states it would be committing national suicide the united states would retaliate in a tremendous fashion north korea does not want to commit suicide i believe north korea is doing all this sure it can get to a point to actually negotiate some kind

joining us now from the pentagon, we have nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, good morning. >> good morning. >> when did hagel make this decision? i heard it was a little bit back. >> it was several weeks ago as we understand it that he had decided if civilian employees in the pentagon were to be furlo h furloughed, during that 14-week period they would get a 20% cut in their pay that he too would take a 20% cut with whatever the other civilian workforce would have to take. >> speaking of cuts. he's sounding the same warnings now that leon panetta was sounding a couple weeks ago. haggel is saying the cuts to th pentagon are going to devastate the agency. and military readies readiness. >> we started to draw down in afghanistan and everybody here in uniform realized that cuts are coming. managing those cuts is what's important and the trillion dollars you're talking about, 500 billion of that, was already imposed and it began under defense secretary bob gates and so then the additional 500,000 or so or 500 billion or so came under this sequestration. so the

i'll tell you, pentagon officials have been more candid with cnn. they say that after accusing north korea of amping up its rhetoric, they're afraid they may have done the same thing. worried that muscular displays of military might may have pushed the north korean military too far, the obama administration is changing its tone and said north korea should, too. >> we've also been saying all the way through, that it does not need to get hotter. that it can -- we can change course here, if the dprk will begin to come back into compliance with its international obligations, will begin to cool things down. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry is leading the effort to dial back the discord, sources tell cnn, while behind the scenes at the white house attention to an increasingly threatening north korea is in overdrive. a senior administration source says top officials have been meeting for frequently in the situation room for the last week and a half. deputies from the president's national security council, the defense and state departments, the ci

let's go to our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence. chris, does the u.s. still think north korea is going to test the missile? >> reporter: they think it is a matter of time at this point, although obviously they would prefer he not conduct that test. they have seen north korea move two missiles to the east coast, they have seen him raise the launcher and then lower it, but they're not sure if that means kim may be backing off his threat or if they're just testing out before firing. key thing to look for, tomorrow night, sunday night our time, it is already april 15th in korea. that's the birthday of north korea's founder. a lot of folks we talk to say they expect to see a test on or before that date. >> what about the new intelligence assessment coming from the penalty gone that north korea may be further along now than we thought in terms of actually being able to put a nuclear war head on a missile? >> reporter: that's right. that was part of a bigger assessment that came from the defense intelligence agency. part of their job is to look at the missile

jennifer griffin at the pentagon for us. let's go to the stock exchange here as we shift to the markets and fickle, merck and fiez we are this diabetes drug, good news today. >> as we watched the nice on diabetes and obesity and all of that, this is important news. merck down slightly at 47.86. we'll take you over to pfizer as well but the two companies together, both of which are dow components and two leaders in the pharmaceutical industry are working together to develop jointly an experimental type two diabetes drug. and with this, late stage trials will start later this year. here's a look at pfizer, though. that's good news there, up 1.25%. pfizer has received $60 million up front for the milestones and will continue to receive money as this goes along. the revenue and the costs are going to share these both good news, the revenue and the cost as well. it will be used in combination with other diabetes drugs but merck will continue to retain the rights to the products. it's interesting news and obviously great news for