host: what are arguments for the shift for giving the pentagon to act?trol and ability guest: right, the pentagon felt frustration under the obama administration, they needed permission to do everything. they might be actively involved in a hunt for somebody and would have to go to the white house to considered if it was high-value target or risky operation. and it seems that shift would be more the pentagon knows the ground rules for taking action, necessarily need permission every time it did something. host: what was reasoning the administration required that permission? guest: they were concerned about civilian casualties, concerned that could undermine the mood for u.s. operation. so there was certainly that concern. pentagon was the making decisions it might edge forward and go further here than the white house wanted. so without taking sides and there objections here, were two conflicting arguments and the pentagon felt pressure, military is the more pleased with what it is hearing so far from the trump administration. host: do we know what the tr

the last four were at the pentagon. and while it's deeply appreciating they're getting $54 billion, it's very important to note that i believe they should be audited. you need to do that top to bottom review of the pentagon. there's a tremendous amount of overlap and waste. you have more contractors than soldiers working there. there are things that can be done to maximize those dollars. they also need to be given the various army, air force, marines, cost guard and national guard, you need to have transfer authority. the ability to transfer funds within the budget you. president obama didn't allow that. he allowed the faa to do it. but he didn't allow the military. there's monies available, but they need to be able to do it appropriately. so i think that needs to be done before we continue to throw more money at the military. listen, i want them to have every tool and resource. i want them to prioritize. i want them to use the money that's within the system. you get to the state department, we have been giving, there's

and a lot of ways this is pentagon-driven. they didn't want to always go up the chain of command, always ask for it. so i would look at this as less the white house trying to wash it's hands of potentially politically complicated operations that go badly, and more of the pentagon trying to assert a little bit more control and not always having to ask maybe beg is too strong, but always ask for permission things that they think slow them down. >> given the -- okay. then let's look at this raid. right now, this is a raid that ken just reported that many in the pentagon wanted to do during the obama administration, the obama white house wouldn't give him sign-off. the trump white house did. we see what we got. is the pentagon prepared for that kind of accountability? >> you know, my understanding is that this raid because of where it was, just what we know about what happened to the obama administration at the principles level at the national security council, then it was going to go up and filter up even higher. my understanding

the g.a.o., do they take a auditing the pentagon? guest: absolutely. one of the issues on the "high risk list." financial management that in fact, the inability of the get to undergo rigors of financial audit and get a clean opinion, that would be a step, inability to undergo rigors of financial odd sit one major factor that forces us to have disclaimer on the government-wide financial odd year.we do each .o.d. is taking steps, enormously complex enterprise over there. hey need better financial information. host: what is the response, you make that recommendation that helpful here. guest: they get it. they understand it. think the big challenge they confront and this is something we work with them all the time that t, is making sure program managers, decision-makers within the pentagon and of course the elsewhere in the executive branch have routinely available financial information make decisions. that is what rigor of financial audit would give them, underlying systems that would produce what they could do, statement they could produce and so we thin

the pentagon's loathe to kind of acknowledge that, but there is some presence there. but they don't appear to be doing a lot of ground combat right now. >> sreenivasan: did anybody from the pentagon says that the intelligence gathered from the raid on january 29 is contributing to any of these air strikes? >> right, they actually made a point of saying the intelligence from that raid did not driv drie these strikes over the last few days. they're kind of separate and distinct. that intelligence gathered there, they're still assessing it, and these targets that have been hit the last couple, few days, were also entrained prior to the 29th raid. so, really not. >> sreenivasan: basically, the al qaeda and the arabian peninsula has flourished in the middle of this active war. >> the chaos in that country, you know, kind of breeds the terrorism that u.s. allies are concerned about, and it's, you know, obviously a very poor country, large youth bulge, as they say, not a lot of water, resources. it's kind of ripe for growing terrorism, and i think that what we're seeing and

what came to the white house shortly before christmas was a proposal from the pentagon to expand the authorities and resources to allow special operations forces to more actively engage in direct raids to go after compounds, like the one that we saw in january. but a couple of things i think are important to note. first, they never briefed a particular raid. they didn't say, we're going to go after a particular target or a compound on this night or this day." instead they asked for a broad set of authorities to do this type of thing. and importantly, when the deputies convened, kind of a subcabinet level of government, convened in early january, they recommended that this decision get deferred to the trump administration so they could run their own careful process, and president obama agreed on that, that he would make no decision whether bwhether to do things like this and instead trump should do his own process. instead, trump had a dinner party and decided it over dinner. >> woodruff: gl you're saying the category of raids was what was discussed, not this specific raid. we heard r

. >>> new this morning, pieces of a plane, the pentagon on fire and wreckage from inside the building. the never-before-seen pictures from 9/11 just made public. >>> plus, strange sight on an american road. why this man was duct taped to a sign. >>> and we do say good morning, everybody, on this friday. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm mara schiavocampo in for diane macedo. we begin with the latest twists and turns in the search for answers on russia's interference in the u.s. election. weeks after he was fired over his conversation with a russian official, former national security adviser michael flynn is now offering to testify in exchange for immunity. >> and as senators heard stunning testimony on russia's efforts to sway the vote, a bombshell report said the head of the house investigation received intelligence material directly from the white house. abc's kenneth moton has the latest right now from d.c. kenneth, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the attorney for president trump's first national security adviser said it's a highly politicized witch-hunt environment and his cl

. >>> new this mo the pentagon on and wreckage from inside the building. the never before seen pictures from 9/11 just made public. >>> plus, on an american road. why this man was duyt taped to a >>> and we do say good morning, everybody, on this friday>>nd i for diane macedo. we begin with the latest twists and turns in the search for answers on russia's interference in the u.s. election. weeks after he was fired a russ official, former national security adviser michael flynn is now offering to testify in exchange for immunity. >> and as senators heard stunning testimony on russia's efforts to sway the vote, a bombshell report said the head of the house investigation received intelligence material directly from the white house. abc's kenneth moton hasm td.c., morning. t national security rning. adviser saidd witch-hunt protection. this morning, general michael flynn says he has a story to tell butators gie him immunity from prosecution. >> yeah, that's right, lock trump supporters with those "lock her up" chants against hillary clinton on nbc in september

we'll go to the pentagon with the latest. repealing obamacare. new word of a vote could happen within weeks. we're learning what the republican plan may include. from doing away to penalties to taxes on your workplace health insurance and possible higher premiums for older americans. we'll look at how the gop plan could affect all of us. let's get to it. first from the news deck, president trump is blaming democrats for the problems of jeff sessions. the president says the democrats are trying to make up for their election loss and the entire russian narrative is a "total witch hunt." president trump even sparked a twitter ward with chuck schumer over the russian matter. more on that in a moment. this comes a day after the attorney general jeff sessions recused himself from the investigation into russia's interference in america's election after admitting that he spoke twice with the russian ambassador in the campaign season. sessions didn't disclose those discussions in confirmation hearings. the attorney general claims that's because he spokes

>> barbara starr at the pentagon. also in yemen u.s. war planes care iring out air strikes against al qaeda and in the arabian peninsula. u.s. forces hit multiple locations targeting militants, equipment, frulkt, heavy weapons systems and fighting positions. the u.s. defense official say the attacks were not linked to the intelligence obtained in january and had been planned for sometime. >> could president trump's call for more defense spending set up an arms race of sorts with russia? generals in russia are calling for a new cache infusion, motivated by that big spend in washington. we're live in moscow. but everybody gets dry skin. feel moisturized without feeling your moisturizer with lubriderm. absorbs in seconds. moisturizes for hours. lubriderm. every body care. >>> president trump's call for another $54 billion in defense spending is reverberating far beyond u.s. borders. one unintended side effect being felt in russia. the 54 billion would only be a 10% spike for the pentagon, but it's more than the entire defense budget in mos

a live report from the pentagon and marine one has just landed in florida. donald trump going there for his -- i think it's -- i'm sorry, marine one landing at joint base andrews will donald trump will take off from there and go down to mar-a-lago, florida, for what i believe is his fifth or sixth trip to what they like to call the winter white house. that costs tax payers about $3 million per trip. we will see donald trump when he gets off that helicopter in just a second. stay with us. e*trade's powerful trading tools, give you access to in-depth analysis, and a team of experienced traders ready to help if you need it. it's like having the power of a trading floor, wherever you are. it's your trade. e*trade when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ ♪ everyone deserves attention, whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than ju

as the pentagon rushes to complete its investigation into the civilian casualties officials say there are no plans to change the way they carry out air strikes against the islamic state. hans nichols, nbc news, the pentagon. >> our thanks to hans nichols for that report. >>> we want to turn our attention to a major deal for american airlines. cnbc's landon dowdy joins us. >> american airlines striking a deal to buy a small snake china southern airlines, the world's fourth largest carrier, giving america better access to one of the biggest travel markets and helps them better compete with delta which has been investing in foreign airlines in recent years. meanwhile, comcast, the parent of nbc universal, plans to rebrand a streaming option for broadband customers who don't want a traditional cable package. it will cost between $15 and $40 a month and include major networks along with options to add sports and other channels. it's expected to be available later this year and more than 50 million homes within comcast's territory. >>> apple knows you're probably worried about losing your n

that is funding the pentagon and most other agencies runs through april 28. it allows them to keep funding on autopilot like they were on every program in 2000 a few exceptions. that is coming up fast. there are 10 legislative days in april. there is a dwindling amount of time they have. they have nine other appropriations bills that they need to take care of. there is a lot of republicans in the house that are fine with only funded the pentagon. the republican leadership says they want to fund these nondefense bills, but we will see how many of them go over to the senate. the senate democrats are not going to be happy about funding only the pentagon and maybe one or two other agencies putting the rest of the government on a continuing resolution for the rest of the year. they are going to take in their heels. we will have a game of chicken coming up in the next few weeks. >>. about 2018 spending. we get a preview last week of president trump and his speech, to -- increase in defense spending. what do you see shipping up for the debate, any other supplementin

now to the pentagon. commander of the join task force in iraq and syria says he does not expect a large increase in u.s. troops there after the pentagon turns in new battle plans. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. jennifer, what more do we know about the plan to defeat isis? >> reporter: welsh dana, monday defense secretary mattis presented the plan that president trump had given them 30 days to come up with defeat isis. we just had a conversation with the top lieutenant in iraq. he was asked whether he was concerned about having too much u.s. troops on the ground. >> i think if we showed up with a number of troops unannounced and uninvited i would be concerned that that would cause a problem here. but i don't think that's the way we'll go about it. i think we'll be smarter than that. >> reporter: the commander may request more u.s. troops, especially special operations forces for syria, where general townsend said in the past he does not have enough trained forces to take raka. today he said syri

the pentagon promises a full investigation into military personnel who shared nude photographs of female colleagues on social media. volkswagen pleads guilty to us emissions charges and agrees to pay fines of $4.3 billion. divide and conquer — with nine songs in the the uk's top 10 even ed sheeran says it's time to have a rethink about the charts. fears are growing for the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in iraq's second city of mosul as government forces try to recapture it from so—called islamic state. fifty thousand people have fled the west of the city over the last fortnight alone. the iraqi army is now pushing deeper into the extremists‘ stronghold in the city. our correspondent orla guerin and cameraman nico hameon have sent this report from the latest areas to be taken back from is control. escaping the battleground and the terrors of the caliphate. fleeing western mosul on foot during a lull in the battle. countless numbers are likely to follow, their life reduced to a few bundles. streets, now liberated, but deserted, many didn't leave until the fight came right to

officials at the pentagon. now, this wasn't the big test that kim jong-un bragged about saying he would do the intercontinental one, a miss that will could reach the west coast of the united states. these missiles all traveled about 600 miles, fell into the sea of japan. in a lot of ways it looks similar to a test they did back in september. again, they make incremental, knowledgeable increases about what they know, how their missiles behave. that's going to get them farther down the road to doing something that could be intercontinental. >> hans nichols at the pentagon for us, thanks. >>> up next, the latest on this, the white house coming under fire for president trump's tweets, alleging former president barack obama ordered a wiretap trumpower without citing any evidence. >> the president of the united states is accusing the former president of wiretapping him. >> i think that this is, again, something that if this happened, martha, if -- >> if, if, if, if. >> i agree. >> why is the president saying it did h

jennifer griffin live from the pentagon with more. jennifer, what do we know about the white house response to what secretary mattis is looking for in the under secretary of defense foreign policy? >> reporter: anne partyson served as the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs from 2013 to 2017. she would work very closely with brett mcgirth who was asked to stay on. she was ambassador to pakistan from july 2007 to october 2010. but it was her role as ambassador to egypt from 2011 to 2013 that has given some pause in the trump administration. she encouraged the state tkeplt to work with egypt's president whose party you'll remember the muslim brotherhood was democratically elected after president mubarak fell. she downplayed the protest so the current egyptian president, a military general who took over in a coup, would likely not like her. sources i speak to in the pentagon tell us patterson is by no means soft on terror. she works very well with the military and was a tough advocate for the u.s. military in pakistan.

the pentagon promises a full investigation into military personnel who shared nude photograph of female colleagues on social media. volkswagen pleads guilty in an american court to charges related to its diesel emission scandal. and if you need to escape reality, step into infinity. we go in on a journey of the senses. fears are growing for the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the second city of mosul iraq as government forces tried to recapture it from so—called islamic state. 50,000 people have fled the west of the city over the last fortnight. the iraqi army is now pushing deeper into the extremist stronghold in the city. 0ur correspondent has just sent this report from the latest areas to be taken back from is control. escaping the battleground and the terrors of the caliphate. fleeing western mosul on foot during a lull in the battle. countless numbers are likely to follow, their life reduced to a few bundles. streets, now liberated, but deserted, many didn't leave until the fight came right to their door, like abdul razsack. at 76, forced to leave home for the first tim

the pentagon promises a full intervention into military personnel who shed nude photograph of female collea g u es who shed nude photograph of female colleagues on social media. volkswagen pleads guilty in american court to charges related to its diesel emission scandal. prosecutors say that the fraud went to the top of the organisation. popstar ed sheeran achieves nine songs in the british top ten. even he says it is time to have a rethink about the charts. and the pitfalls of live tv. the moment a guest is art stayed upstaged by his children, right here on bbc world news. to serve. fears are growing for the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the second city of mosul iraq as government forces tried to reca ptu re iraq as government forces tried to recapture it from so—called islamic state. 50,000 people have fled the west of the city over the last fortnight. the iraqi army is now pushing deeper into the extremist stronghold in the city. our correspondent has just sent this report from the latest areas to be taken back from is control. escaping the battleground and the terro

there are still 14 left at the pentagon. mattis is the only confirmed appointee out of 53 such positions as of right now. joining me to discuss the obama left over and north korea and america first proposal. fox news military analyst and u.s. army general jack keane. >> good to be here. >> lou: and i and discussed this. this is a pretty good down payment. >> we need four years of this to make a difference and avoid the dangerous road we are on with the depletion of our military. and the fact that you know, that they are not increasing the deficit is certainly something we applaud. the fact that we are not increasing it is good news as well. >> lou: looks like good stewardship and the president for the first time in my memory delivering on his promises and high order of specificity. and it is wonderful to think of what our military can be given the reenforcementes that are on the way? >> absolutely right. and you know and you are aware of how serious the challenges are we have in the military. they only have three combat brig

are authorized allowing the pentagon to green light some actions on its own. i'll speak with democratic senator chris murphy and our correspondents, analysts and guests. they're standing by with full coverage of today's top stories. let's begin with senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, the president getting good marks for the way he laid out his agenda last night, but checking off all those boxes may be a different story. >> reporter: wolf, he is getting rave reviews. house speaker paul ryan told me last night it was a home run. other democrats are calling it presidential. but one question still hangs overall of that today. how will he pay for it? as president trump basked in the glow of his big speech to congress, the hard work of turning those promises into reality was the first order of business today at the white house with the president sitting down for lunch with republican congressional leaders. >> we're just here to start the process. it begins as of now and we think we're going to have tremendous >> reporter: yet tremendous success depe

the pentagon admits us—led coalition aircraft did strike an area of the iraqi city of mosul, where dozens of civilians were reportedly killed. also in the next hour, a thrilling start to the formula one season. the beginning of the end to mercedes‘ dominance. ferrari‘s sebastian vettel pips mercedes‘ lewis hamilton to the chequered flag in melbourne — his first win since 2015. coming up in half an hour, as theresa may prepares to invoke article 50, we investigate scotland‘s brexit dilemma. good morning and welcome to bbc news. police say they might never find out why khalid masood killed four people near the houses of parliament on wednesday. scotland yard now say they believe he was acting alone and that the attack was over within 82 seconds. the family of pc keith palmer who was killed by masood have released a statement, thanking those who were with him when he died. alexandra mackenzie reports. 82 seconds. that‘s all it took. in that time, khalid masood caused the deaths of three people on westminster bridge and injured many more. he crashed his car into the railings, ran

i was pleased to get a telegram from the pentagon invitingly to come to the pentagon invitingly to come to the pentagon and they wanted to talk to me. i arrived and they said dear, sir, they had never called me serve before, they wanted me to go back to germany to help with warcrimes trials. i had done that during the war days. the last several months in the war as we occupied portions of germany and france that had been occupied, we ran into examples of crimes of all kinds, the most obvious ones, what we called the allied flyer cases, very little is known about that. fliers were being shot down in german held territory and they were almost invariably the can to death by the german mob. it was probably our first war crimes cases “— was probably our first war crimes cases —— part of. i had that kind of experience with me as when i left the army. i took that back to germany when i agreed without hesitation to go back to germany and help with trials which would follow the international military tribunal. why did you hesitate? it's a horrible experience for anyone. germany was assoc

in fact, donald trump has talked about the huge cost overruns on pentagon projects. so we'd be much better off managing those resources better than simply writing new checks to the pentagon, which, by the way, is the one federal government agency that has not been able to pass an audit. i'm all for investing on national security. we have to do it, but we also have to recognize our national strength includes making sure our kids get a good education, and he cut the department of education by close to 15%. it includes making sure we have a healthy population, and he dramatically cut funding for medical research to help develop cures and treatments. so this is really something that's going to hurt most of the country, you know, the folks at the very top who just got a big tax cut as part of the trumpcare plan aren't going to be hurt, but everybody else is. >> woodruff: senator, again, i'm sure you know, this but i heard the budget director making the argument today, he was pressed on these cuts, for example, education, he said the administration has looked very closely

president reagan delivered the speech here inside the pentagon courtyard. the backdrop was to tell military personnel they mattered. >> it's time to show our pride in them and to think them. >> in the audience was a young steve bannon, now special counsel to president trump. then, a 27-year-old junior lieutenant. his longtime friend was standing next to him. >> this speech was a game-changer. it was the first time anyone had ever shown appreciation. >> bannon would tell bloomberg news, "i wasn't political until i got into the service and saw how badly jimmy carter messed things up." bannon joined the navy the same month carter took office. in six months, he got promoted, an accomplishment he elects to point out he achieved on merit. >> i am a naval officer. a real naval officer. >> bannon spent half of his career on this decommissioned destroyer. as a junior lieutenant, he was in charge of engineering, overseeing maintenance of the ships water purifiers and propulsion engines. bannon move topside where he became ship navigator. >> i understand one thing, ma

i was going to do the pentagon papers joke. >> everyone loves a good pentagon papers joke. >> give the nation 30 seconds to stop laughing. >> max, something tells me you have a tidy desk. >> my december is being a nightmare. >> really. >> books everywhere. podcasts micro phones, anaheim angels -- it's retched. >> this is why universities and kpwhrosy men magazines should be destroyed in a gasoline fire. >> why? >> who is studying desks. >> oh they shouldn't be talking about this? i think you can learn a lot. >> a neat desk? >> no, messy. >> i said the opposite of what i thought. >> messy. i don't know if you know this study. a study i read is a messy december is being the sign of someone selling you crumby steaks. no, that's not true? i hear a messy desk is a busy desk. you are moving, have a lot going on. i think at the end of the day it's the sign of a person not giving a crap of what someone thinks of their appearance. >> it doesn't surprise you that trump has a messy desk. >> not at all. i would be surprised he's at the desk at some point. >> you know he's always up and restless an

the nsa is in the pentagon. it works for the pentagon it's a military entity. he says i want a transcript of what donald trump said to lou dobbs -- i'm making this up hypothetically -- the transcript shows up on his desk. lou: i watched three days of reporting on this and they didn't hear any major news organization point that out. they also did not hear any representative of president obama at corically -- categorically say there is no way we would have permitted the president of the united states to wiretap, to surveil, to read the emails of a candidate for president. >> the way the intelligence community is selectively concealing and revealing to manipulate donald trump and infuriate him and embarrass him, it wouldn't surprise me if there were people on the intelligence community that might do the same to the former president if he throws them under the bus. the statement that you just read from his spokesperson said the president didn't interfere in any department of justice investigation. this would have been the president -- politically motivated curiosit

. >> reporter: with the battle to retake mosul ramping up, pentagon officials today on defense. assessing whether u.s. air strikes may have killed more than 100 civilians in the heavily populated western part of the city. defense secretary jim mattis responding for the first time. >> we go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people. the same cannot be said for our adversaries. >> reporter: the pentagon reviewing roughly 700 video feeds of air strikes hitting mosul over the past ten days. the investigation one of more than 30 separate inquiries into allegations of multiple civilian casualties. human rights groups reporting a clear increase in civilian deaths under the trump administration. >> in the month of march we recorded over 1,000 allegations in iraq and syria tied to coalition activities. in some cases, in fact, in a lot of cases, you can't tell who was responsible. >> reporter: defense officials insisting the rules of engagement have not been changed under president trump, but mosul, ordinary iraqis a

the pentagon maintains the rules have not changed. we'll have more on u.s.-led airstrikes, including the devastating strike in mosul later in the broadcast. the washington post" reports james mattis is asking the trump administration to lift obama euro restrictions so the u.s. military can provide more support for the saudi led war in yemen. the u.s. already authorizes weapons sales to saudi arabia provide other assistance, including mid air refueling to saudi warplanes for the ongoing bombing campaign. on sunday, tens of thousands of yemenis rallied in the streets of sydney -- sanaa to protest the war. the fifth round of syria peace talks have begun in geneva. at least 16 civilians including women and chilled were killed by an airstrike on a market in the suburb of damascus on saturday. and russia, as many as 600 people were arrested amidst nationwide anticorruption demonstrations sunday. the tens of thousands of protesters were demanding the resignation of the russian prime minister. among those arrested was an anticorruption activi

nbc news pentagon correspondent, hans nichols has the latest. >> reporter: tonight, according to a pentagon official, defense secretary jim mattis is troubled by the alleged behavior of marines, after nude photos of more than two dozen female service members were circulated on a private facebook page with nearly 30,000 followers called marines united, coinciding to the first female marines at camp lejeune, one of them said being sexually harassed online ruined the marine corps for me, the scandal first uncovered by "the war-horse", run by tomorrow as brennan. >> that's what sent it home for me, seeing a woman that i knew, and then, you know, later on the next morning, like getting my daughter ready for school. >> reporter: brennan now receiving death threats after reporting on the images, showing women in various stages of undress. some of the pictures, he says were taken without consent, and identified some of the service members by their full name, rank and duty station, from the marine leadership, harsh condemnation. there's no place for this type of demeaning and degrading behavior in o

tonight, nbc news has been briefed on the secret plan the president requested from the pentagon to, in his words, obliterate isis. nbc news senior nbc investigative correspondent cynthia mcfadden by why president trump might be surprised by what's in the report. >> reporter: according to two senior officials who have reviewed the document, what may have surprised the president is that the new military plan seems to be a lot like the old obama plan, just more of it. what one administration official calls an intensification. >> the current plan to defeat the islamic state is like that old saying, plan "b" is just try harder at plan "a." we have not come up with new ways of approaching this. we need more creativity in our attack ideas. >> reporter: during the campaign, donald trump made crushing isis a signature issue. >> they're going to be gone. isis will be gone. if i'm elected president. and they'll be gone quickly. they will be gone very, very quickly. >> reporter: mr. trump calling president obama's strategy a failure. saying he had a secret plan of his own. >> i know more about isi

the pentagon issued their annual reminder to pentagon workers not to stream the games from the tournament. the reason? eating up valuable internet bandwidth could slow the computers running the u.s. military. >> national security is the priority. >>> the u.s. military is denying that it bombed a syrian mosque after human rights activists said at least 42 people were killed in one. ali arouzi, what can you tell us about the latest conflicting reports here? >> reporter: that's right, frances. conflicting reports indeed. the white helmets said 42 people, mostly civilians, were killed in an air strike in a rebel-held village in northern syria. the raid was carried out by unidentified planes in a province in aleppo. u.s. central command says u.s. forces carried out a strike on al qaeda in syria killing several terrorists, but they didn't target or strike a mosque. they struck a meeting of al qaeda in a place called idlib. the centcom commander says the mosque was 30 or 40 feet away but was still standing after the air strike. witnesses said the mosque was hit when it was full of people praying

let's bring in cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr now. barbara, first, the president asserted last night james mattis, the secretary of defense, told him, quote, ryan owens was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemies, unquote. your reporting supports that a assertion. have you learned anything new? >> vital intelligence that supports huge victories, we should expect to see more missions like this. what we are being told by senior defense officials is part of the intelligence that they gathered up specifically gave them clues about additional camps of al-qaeda operatives inside yemen. and if they can work that intelligence into precise locations, you can bet they're going to move against them. they also got intelligence about the group's efforts in training fighters, training for what, recruiting them, and especially in explosives manufacturing. that is particularly interesting because al-qaeda in yemen has been expert in t

our pentagon reporter is joining us with more information. the timing of the new deployment is is interesting. do you think or are you hearing it's related to the investigation of the airstrike? >> this deployment had been in the works for some time, we understand. but however, it is related to this intense battle that is beginning to take place inside mosul in that older part of the city where you're seeing this it fierce resistance by isis, as they dig in and hide amongst the civilian population. so the iraqi troops are struggling in this kind of critical part of the battle. so they are bringing in more advisers. u.s. defense official tells us in the low hundreds to hept a significant uptick in u.s. forces advising iraqi troops in this battle. >> today we also heard from the u.s. central command, as we mentioned earlier, what more have you learned about this investigation now into the deaths of all the civilians from the u.s. side? >> that's right. the military has con if you remember firmed is an investigation is ongoing. they have reviewe

rorter: the pentagon reviewing roughly 700 video feeds of air strikes hitting mosul the past 10 days. the investigation one of more than 30 separate inquiries into allegations of multiple civilian casualties. human rights groups reporting a clear increase in civilian deaths under the trump administration. >> we recorded over 1,000 allegations that are tied to coalition activities in some cases in fact in a lot of cases you can't tell who was responsible. >> reporter: defense officials insisting rules of engagement have not been changed under president trump. but mosul, ordinary iraqis are demanding answers while searching for their loved ones. as the pentagon rushes to complete its investigation into the civilian casualties officials say there are no plans to change the way they carry out air strikes against the islamic state. >> a robber who stole $2,000 only to lose the cash to bystanders. security footage captured the owner chasing down the robber with a gun. you can see the cash littering the streets before the owner shot the thief twice. onlookers swarmed in nabbing as much as th

procurement hasn't faired well almost always the way the pentagon reacts to down turns in the budget and it happened again this time. we do need increases in procurement. i would hope we would see some of that in this budget amendment. he said or promised an aggressive program of business reform in the department of defense continuing what i believe was aggressive in the obama administration. probably too early to expect specifics in the amendment and maybe some indication of commitments to things that will be contentious with the problem being seeing more specifics in the fiscal '18 budget. so that's a sensitive priority. let me turn to how they handle budget control act. any additions will violate the budget control act. the requested up there is right at the x limit. there are several ways to handle this. one way would be to repeal at least defense portions of it or declare all money in the '17 budget amendment emergency funding. i hope they don't do that. it would increase the deficit which remains substantial or nearly full employment. we are thinking of balancing the budget ove

>> pelley: david martin at the pentagon. coming up next on the cbs evening news, the philadelphia soda tax. sales fizz el and so do jobs. later, scientists on the trail of the killer whale. ssolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum -tum -tum -tum smoothies! only from tums yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day 50+ a complete multi-vitamin with 100% daily value of more than 15 key nutrients. one a day 50+. how to brush his teeth. (woman vo) in march, my husband didn't recognize our grandson. (woman 2 vo) that's when moderate alzheimer's made me a caregiver. (avo) if their alzheimer's is getting worse, ask about once-a-day namzaric. namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimer's disease in patients who are taking donepezil. it may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. namzaric does not change the underlying disease progression. don't take if allergic to mema

the pentagon has never passed an audit. it has over, has trillions of dollars in accounts that are not reconciled. general mattis will have to get control of this and tell the pentagon that it is not exempt from ordinary oversight. and we've got to find out how the money is being spent. so you know, you want to drain the swamp in washington, mr. president, you don't have to look too far from the potomac. charles: you would not disagree that our military has been he depleted? that our military readess is really shaky lows as the world is coming on? combination of bad actors who are lethal, isis, al qaeda and larger adversaries like china building man-made militarized islands in the south china sea? zooms to me the most obvious part of the plan is increase in pentagon spending? >> well, excuse me, but the pentagon has over, about 800 bases in 130 countries. we have problems here at home. that we are not taking care of. and the priorities are misplaced. i'm telling you again, it is not fiscally conservative when a department h

what more is the pentagon now saying about this formal investigation and the rules of engagement? >> wolf, right now, military officials across the board are insisting there is no change in the rules that would permit greater tolerance for civilian casualties. but, consider this. they are also noobacknowledging good example. mosul, in the month of march, they are dropping about 500 precision-guided bombs every week now during march in mosul. 500 bombs a week, in very crowded areas where civilians may be. there is precision guidance, but it just tells you what is happening to the people on the ground who are, you know, stuck between isis, they're holding them as human shields, and the military action on the ground, as the u.s. tries to support iraqi forces moving forward. so it's becoming an increasingly difficult situation. the attack in mosul underscoring all of this, more than 100 bodies now pulled from the rubble. and indeed, that formal investigation underway. top commanders know they owe answers about exactly what happened, wolf. >> at a reception at the white house last nigh

this is in some ways wikileaks' biggest pentagon. this is in some ways wikilea ks' biggest release pentagon. this is in some ways wikileaks' biggest release yet because these documents, from the heart of america's top intelligence agency. the source of the leak isn't clear, but more than 800,000 people have top security clearance. the man who previously ran both the nsa and cia said that if this was a leak the issue could be that the next generation recruits have a different mindset. i don't mean to judge them at all, if this group of millennial is and related groups simply have different understandings of the words loyalty, secrecy and transparency, that's a my generation did. that is people like edward snowden who previously embarrassed the nsa when he leaked their secrets. he tweeted that he thought the leak was real. if it is, it raises questions about exactly how secure the central intelligence agency really is. a rhino has been shot dead by poachers at a zoo in france in what is believed to be the first such incident in europe.