they updated reporters during the daily pentagon briefing. this is 25 minutes. good afternoon. the secretary will attend a summit in the philippines this philippines,the departing this afternoon. that severalseen militants were killed in a firefight with the armed forces of the philippines. we congratulate our filipino partners on their success of illuminating leaders of the month-long siege. we continue to stand with our partners providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as training. as they come that terrorist -- combat terrorists. the aspirations of isis to have a physical caliphate are crumbling rapidly, from mobile raqqa.l to many of their senior leaders have been decimated. our fight against isis is global and other groups who align with them or adopt their brand will face the same dead end. iss is on the run, and losing credibility, resources and losing every day. fightinga, we are also al-shabab, and al qaeda affiliate. earlier this week we conducted an airstrike -- airstrike against al-shabab. we will continue to use appropriate measures to protec

that is a question of transparency for the pentagon. dana white: we stay in pretty close contact with our authorizing committees and are appropriators. again, i don't know necessarily at what level. sometimes it is staff. sometimes it is members. but we will always stay in touch with them and if members have any sort of questions, we will be available to them. >> general mckenzie, one on the accountability of personnel. did the forces on the ground realize immediately that the folder had been separated? you mentioned there were u.s. forces or french forces on the ground. at what point were they separated? general mckenzie: i'm not going to go into the details. it is a difficult fight. it is very confusing. but i'm not able to give you any more details. an ongoingthere is investigation, but does secretary mattis have a tick-tock of the events of the ambush that took place now two weeks ago? dana white: again, we are gathering information from africom. he has every confidence in the leadership of africom that we will get all the evidence

tell me how you learned about these pentagon documents, e-mail exchanges between the pentagon and white house. >>> first of all you did a nice job summarizing it. and i can't really tell you how i learned it because that would be revealing a source, but i will tell that you i did see the e-mail chain which involved senior people in the white house, and the executive secretary for defense secretary james mattis. it was clear from the e-mail exchange that even after the president had said via radio interview tuesday morning that he had contacted virtually everybody, meaning virtually all the gold star families, that they in fact, as you summarized it nicely, they didn't even have all the contact information, and they were scrambling to make sure they had an up-to-date list of all those who were either killed by enemy fire, or who had died in some other way, say in military action. >> of course without revealing your sources, they were characterized perhaps the word choice, the tenor this in exchange that ensued after the president would publicly say this, i think it was october 17, and th

lucas tomlinson has the details live at the pentagon. lucas? >> trace, a short time ago i asked defense secretary mattis how he felt about the fbi and the four soldiers were killed. mattis joined temperature french minute stir to thank her in part for coming to the rescue of his forces including evacuation of two wounded soldiers. >> following the ambush to the u.s. troops in niger last week, thank you for your support and for your letter of condolence for our fallen following the attack. >> fox has learned the 12 men special operations team was ambushed at 11:00 a.m. local time. 30 minutes later, french mirage jets flew overhead. the jets were armed but did not drop any bombs because they couldn't tell the difference between friend or foe. the green beret's meeting went longer than expected, which could have tipped off the militants to attack. this video was given to fox news from a nonprofit in africa to show what the area near the attack looked like. the military sent a general officer to niger to investigate the attack and now the fbi is he

when the pentagon does agree to support a film that can. the some scripting strings attached and the vietnam war is clearly a sore point in the hulk a reference to a u.s. operation that poison vietnamese farmland was removed and in the bond film tomorrow never dies a suggestion that the us did not win the war was caught out in iron man a reference to soldiers suicides is removed again at the pentagon's insistence. the cia's presence in hollywood is harder to detect. and goes back to the early days of the cold war and was designed to counter a propaganda effort coming out of the soviet union. the cia placed undercover agents in major studios where they monitored leftwing screen writers and directors this was at the height of cold war paranoia and hollywood was under the scrutiny of the us congress is investigating alleged communist influence and infiltration in the moving picture industry the agency started influencing scripts one senior executive at paramount pictures working covertly for the cia described how to counter what the soviets we

is how pentagon officials say it happened. fewer than 10 special forces were at the village just miles from the mali border meeting with tribal elders. a smaller group stayed behind, guarding their vehicles. it was near dusk when an enemy force of nearly 50 concealed in brush attacked the u.s. green per rays firing machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. it took 30 minutes for french air support to arrive on scene. french helicopters evacuated the u.s. casualties in a u.s. contractor recovered the american dead. but sergeant la david johnson was separated from the group during the attack. aircraft flying overhead picked up a signal from a cell phone emergency beacon. but it grew faint as they were searching. more than 100 special forces from across the globe descended to join the search. roughly 48 hours later, johnson's body was recovered by nigerian forces. the pentagon challenging any suggestion that sergeant johnson was left behind. >> nothing could be further from the truth. that is an important myth that needs to be

pentagon correspondent hans nichols is in the pentagon briefing room waiting for that to begin. >> we expect to get some sort of timeline from general

-- the pentagon is sharing information with them. >> hans nichols at the pentagon, courtney for us as well. a big thanks to both of you. >>> i want to give an update on the back and forty, the war of words, if you will, between frederica wilson and the white house. kelly o'donnell continues to follow that story. >> reporter: if there was any intention on the white house's part to try to bring this kroefrs to a close by having chief of staff general kelly speak to reporters and by extension the public and talk about what he believed the president's intention was in speaking to the johnson family, it is not over pp, in part, because john kelly raised some questions and drawn some criticism himself for some thing he said about congresswoman wilson, questioning some of her behavior, being in on the call, although she was a family friend, and also stating she had personalized a ceremony in florida which was the sort of commemoration of a new building at the fbi named for some fallen fbi service members who -- this is her district. this happened a couple years ago. the criticism from john k

and the pentagon. really. this taking off from the stage on which to you know performing it gives the pentagon this opportunity for real spectacle you know that of real life living in celebration of what the defense department stands for it works both as a tool for. bryggman and also as a propaganda tool to solidify the american people support for the military and for american foreign policy an expansive american foreign policy more broadly in the national football league's its audiences. the military recognize this is a captive audience they're patriotic and yes he could use that to market some of the young men and women who may someday want to serve in the united states military . the pentagon's public relations budget is the envy of other government departments the department of the fence spends more on p.r. than the rest of the u.s. government combined to defeat. the american way. that budget pays for all the recruitment and american c. german football games and other sports broadcasts so why the need for

is a pentagon program. wonderful feel chilled out for our next week right from the head to. the six year old three year old not. upright at your point without crying. by. hand. america has pledged to turn these children into heroes these junior troops include five hundred thousand minus across the united states they're the hope of a fearful country they're destined to defy tera the first generation post nine eleven. s. i this public school in chicago's south one in five students opted for the army an hour of classes a day five times a week taught by retired service members i i i i. these youngsters are in year eight and then new to the program they'll receive their uniforms today. take. the u.s. army is teaching at more than three thousand public schools students who aren't for the army are exempt from physical education. the biggest thing a look at as just make sure your hair does not touch your ears. then facing a four year program created unfunded by the pentagon lots of finger nails right here what is authorized colors. let me see your nails all right now hold them up ri

general dunford also explained today that the pentagon timeline for the incident includes the add yet unexplained fact that it appears the soldiers who were ambushed on october 4th, they didn't -- they don't appear to have placed a call for help, a call for backup, until an hour after the attack started. we don't exactly know what that means but we know it's the subject of investigation. general dunford also explained today for the first time that an american remotely piloted vehicle, ease pas he put it, an american drone, hadn't been assigned as surveillance overwatch for the green berets' operation that day but once the u.s. military was aware this firefight was under way and this patrol was in trouble an american drone that was overhead and nearby for some other purpose was retasked to go fly over the scene of this firefight. according to general dunford, that drone was there within minutes. so that was all concrete and new information from the chairman of the joint heefz of staff today, who again spent almost an hour with the pentagon press corps taking lots and lots of specific q

mainstream media and the chattering classes obsess over donald trump's call to a gold star family the pentagon's growing footprint in africa was publicly revealed it would appear it does not matter who is president rather it is accepted the u.s. will fight and list wars. cross talking endless wars i'm joined by my guest in washington peter cosmic he is a professor of history and director at american university as well as co-author with all of the stone the untold history of the united states and we have michael flanagan he is president of flanagan consulting and a former congressman all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it peter let me go to you first here you know i live very far away from the media swamp in the u.s. and i've been watching this media circus with a president trump and this gold star family about a fallen soldier in niger at the beginning of this month here that is obviously sad but what really i found more troubling looking at all the networks the entire political spectrum there seems to be very little c

just the fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the one nine hundred sixty seven march on the pentagon here this past weekend in washington the united states has been at war but especially said in a different kind of war since nine eleven we've been fighting these endless wars and who knew we were in africa that was the reaction that people had when they announced that the four special forces folks were killed in the air most americans had no idea we had troops in africa we've got six thousand troops in africa at least the back in two thousand and six one percent of america special operations forces were in africa now it's over seventeen percent so we talk about the asia pivot that got a lot of attention when hillary clinton announced that in two thousand and eleven but the real pivot that's going on is not just the asia pivot is the africa pivot or the question is what are we doing there what do we know about it ok you know michael good point peter makes it i mean why are we there why aren't the american public in lies told more about this because you know all of us make an effort it'

jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. jennifer, what have you been able to learn about the attack? >> reporter: it happened in a remote desert area on the border between niger and mali. 12 soldiers from the third forces group accompanied 30 troops in niger on a routine meeting with elders in a village. the american green berets traveled in a convey just as they had done for similar meetings. the troops were ambushed after they left the meeting about 12 p.m. local time. 50 jihadists from a new isis affiliate riding motorcycles toting rocket propelled grenades sprayed the u.s. troops with gun fire. a gun fight ensued. 30 minutes later french fighter jets appeared in the skies above and the militants scattered. a french helicopter flew the american wounded back to the capital. a contractor then carried the three american green berets killed back to the capital. sar general ladavid johnson remains missing. u.s. officials feared he was kidnapped and asked the press to hold off reporting that he was missing. at 5 p.m. eastern t

the pentagon firestation which protects the helipad was destroyed by the crashing plane on 9/11. in the meantime, they've used temporary trailers. and foreign and domestic, we need to be able to have first responders right there. >> reporter: the price tag for this project is likely in the tens of millions of dollars and the wait will co funding new military projects until spring at the earliest. at the capitol, scott macfarlane, news4 i-team. >>> a celebrity chef from our area helping victims in puerto rico. doreen talks to jose andres and talks about what he plans to do next. >> road projects are never fun. a lot of work happening along this stretch of road. i'm adam tuss. where the projects are happening in maryland if you'd have told me three years ago... that we'd be downloading in seconds, what used to take... minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference... and do it like that. (snaps) if you'd have told me that i could afford... a gig-speed. a gig-speed network. it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of sa

government that can dictate to hollywood the pentagon and the cia we've examined the u.s. military symbiotic relationship with hollywood before how the department of defense offers filmmakers access to tell of janick military hardware and personality minimal cost in return for the right to alter story lines and veto scenes the pentagon does not like thanks to a neutral of documents a clearer picture is emerging of the cia's attempts to control its on screen image the intelligence agencies track record of political assassinations coup plotting overseas and occasional support for terror groups offer countless possibilities for potential screenwriters however the agency works with filmmakers to portray version of its activities removing scenes and changing plot lines the cia sees as unflattering listening posts may not show ravi now on america's military intelligence entertainment complex. much any big budget war movie by taking a spy thriller and you could walk away not knowing just how much your movie expedience was shaped by the pentagon or cia however the truth of officia

we have reports from the pentagon and the white house. we begin with nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols. and "the wall street journal" is reporting that the fbi has now joined the investigation. what can you tell us? >> well, nbc news has confirmed according to military official that is the fbi has joined the investigation. this is a formal investigation along with other investigations that are taking place. when the military looks into something that went this badly, they look at it from a variety of different angles. they need to know the result of the four deaths of the u.s. soldiers in niger. this happened around dusk. it was on tuesday, october 4th. you had several groups, but basically around a dozen u.s. soldiers. some of them were in their vehicles, others had been separated. they went to go to the village. when they are at the village coming back out of that village, that's when they were ambushed and came under heavy fire, rpgs, machine guns, you had this from this group that is likely linked with isis. a much larger g

. >> i expect that we'll hear mostly from the pentagon on this. you can sense the frustration coming off of capitol hill about why aren't they hearing more at this point. it's been days and days. we're just starting to hear some of the details, but not nearly enough to satisfy members of song. >> i think we forgot that u.s. forces are spread out all over the earth and the president and this administration has taken a more active role. >> i've got to tell you this show right after this ambushed right after we learned about it, we did a segment on it because we thought it was interesting that people don't seem to remember sometimes that you have u.s. forces in places like niger, in places dealing with some of this, and when you look at the questions raised, why? we were showing a little bit from him from this morning on "morning joe" as we take a look at the p ma. and when he talked about benghazi your head kind of snapped up. can we even say that that's a comparison we can make right now? >> that's a very political incendiary comment. these were u.

but the pentagon warns that such conclusions are premature. tonight the fbi is joining the investigation with forensic support looking into how a team of well-trained special forces was ambushed the pentagon says, by a group of roughly 50 isis linked fighters. military officials now say the special forces who were meeting with the tribal elders may have been delayed intentionally allowing isis to prepare the ambush. new questions as the team was exposed without drone support directly overhead. a coverage gap the u.s. commander for africa publicly complained about for more than a year. earlier this year, the commander for africa warned 20% to 30% of his intelligence requirements were satisfied. writing, this limits situational understanding, support to operations, and fails to offer threat indications and warnings. defense secretary jim matis summoned to capitol hill. >> we can always improve on communication and that's what we will do. >> we don't want the next 9/11. >> senator lindsay graham warning americans about a new stage in the war in i

but the pentagon warns that such conclusions are premature. still, there are urgent questions about why the team was exposed without drone support directly overhead. earlier this year, the u.s. commander for africa warned that only 20% to 30% of his intelligence requirements were satisfied. >> it's very dangerous when you carry out any mission and you don't have extended eyes and ears around yourself or the human intelligence to determine when you've met a threat. >> reporter: dara, we're learning even more this morning. "the new york times" is reporting that u.s. and nigerian forces are giving different accounts to the investigators about what happened, about whether or not they gave chase to islamists before they were ambushed. so there's a lot of unclarity here. yesterday on the hill, secretary mattis would not say whether or not president trump authorized this specific mission, but a pentagon official i've been talking to all week say this isn't the type of mission, this operation that would require presidential authorization. >> so many q

i'm sure the pentagon will do so. if not, certainly congress will prod them to do so and that is appropriate. we should have those answers. >> i'm asking for a classified briefing about exactly what happened in niger. >> and right now, answers are hard to come by. the scene on the ground only described by multiple u.s. officials as confusion. at the same time, there are more and more questions over why the white house hesitated in even talking about these soldiers' deaths. kaitlan collins is at the white house and barbara starr has the latest from the pentagon. what are you hearing over there today? >> well, let's be clear, secretary mattis is not trying to rush the investigation, but he does want some answers and is going to begin to get them in the coming days about what exactly happened as they look into this in greater detail. they're trying to establish a timeline, hour by hour, about how this all unfolded. what we do know, according to initial reports, is the team led by green berets, the 12-man team, had gone t

sh pentagon. she took care of her constituents. called up president obama and on that phone call he gave $20 million to construct the building. that's what general kelly said congresswoman wilson claimed in that speech. congresswoman wilson said kelly was lying about her. breaking this afternoon, the south florida sun sentinel newspaper released the video of the congresswoman's 2015 remarks. it shows that kelly's description of her remarks was simply not accurate. cnn's jeff zeleny is live at the white house. and, jeff, when a reporter pointed out just minutes ago that kelly had gotten his facts wrong about this speech, white house press secretary sarah sanders said one of the most shocking things i've ever heard from that podium, she suggested that currentjournalists cannot n generals. that's not how we do it here in the united states. >> jake, that's exactly what she said. she was asked a very simple question, if she had seen the video that was at odds with in fact what the chief of staff said y

the pentagon is trying to answer, what happened? what are changes that need to be made in terms of techniques, tactics and procedures? the f.b.i., on the other hand is trying to figure out two things. one, what kind of intelligence can they gather? and two, if we can find out the actual individuals who were involved in this ambush, that their plan is to then bring evidence force to then charge them potentially in federal court. >> did president trump authorize this mission? >> we don't know the answer to that. he was asked in the oval office today. he heard the question and did not respond. the white house press secretary was asked that, did not respond. james mattis was asked that. he did not say. it's very likely that a type of mission like this would not need presidential sign-off, because it was, in many respects, a routine mission. obviously there was some type of intelligence failure, because this happened. but it was actually more of a routine or seen as a routine operation. this is something -- it happened on the day the pre

but i need -- i need to see my >>> tonight new details from the pentagon on that deadly attack in niger. from the chairman of the joint chiefs ask a new report that the ambush was possibly a set up. the president 80s fight with a gold star widow entered its second week today after trump went back at it commenting yet again on that condo helps phone call. and on the issue of military service, john mccain is unsparing in his criticism of president trump. all of it part of the 11th hour getting under way on a monday night. well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. on day 277 of the trump administration, and in a squabble that now as we said, enters its second week, the president today could not resist an ongoing fight with a gold star widow who is pregnant and grieving and going through the darkest days of her life. she buried her husband and the father of her children on saturday, and today turning back to policy, we heard from the pentagon about the ambush that killed her husband and three other u.s. soldiers. there's also new reporting from nbc news

i can't speak to how the pentagon does that, but having worked in the pentagon four times, i can tell you that there is open communications and i would have to agree with general dunford that it would be -- it would be not typical for the, for the congress not to be informed about what is going on in africa. >> in march, general waldhouser went before the senate armed services committee and gave them a preview of what was happening in niger and what this was about. that was just back in march. so the political reality is, they know, it's whether or not they want to own it and debate it. is that a fair statement? >> that's a fair statement. you know, general wald hahausse gave a very good, excellent detailed rundown on the activities in africa and what his command is doing. and of course, what special operations command africa is doing to support that. i think that's a fair statement. >> the american people have largely bought on to these missions, because they're called dw advise and assist. and you know, the deadly reality is what we just saw in niger, you can call it whatever you wa

they're facing a four year program created unfunded by the pentagon rights of fingernails right here. authorized colors. let me see your nails right now hold them up right now tomorrow. if she doubt her nails like this right here she's going to lose points let me see goals come from so we come from structure to it and we know what it takes to create a structured environment regular teacher is a graduate teaches to to fit and then they start teaching but i don't think they really understand classroom management or manage in large groups of people. different. different ways of doing it like we do this and maybe that's why we can get the kids do push ups but a regular teacher could you know as i want to you know become more of a better citizen in the country well i just want to become stronger physically and mentally ill some of those kids would. listen to facebook. just like i was it's risky. business interests. will close i would like to say stuff like this as well but any question soul for. the j r o t c program was founded in one thousand nine hundred sixteen. one but over time its i

then facing a four year program created unfunded by the pentagon lots of finger nails right here what is authorized colors. let me see your nails right now hold them up right now tomorrow. if she doubt her nails like this right here she's going to lose points let me see goals come from back so we come from structured environment and we know what it takes to create a structured environment regular teacher is a graduate teaching certificate and then they they start teaching but i don't think they really understand classroom management or demand engine large groups of people in different. different ways of doing it like we do this and maybe that's why we can get the kids do push ups but a regular teacher could you know as i want to be you know become more of a better citizen in the country and well i just want to become stronger physically and mentally i was not opposed to. this listen let's face it. just like listen i wasn't interested. this is accomplished this. will go as i would like to say stuff like this it's all about what any question so far. j r o t c program was founded in one

i want to go to the pentagon. cnn's ryan brown is there. and ryan, just heart-wrenching comments from myeshia johnson. among others things, she says she hasn't been allowed to see the body of her husband. what's being done to answer her questio questions? >> well, there's an ongoing investigation being launched by u.s. africa command which oversees troops in the region. they're right to put what exactly happened together, including how sergeant johnson was separated from the rest of his unit, up to a mile away, when the fire -- after the firefight took place and why it took 48 hours to locate his body there in niger. so these are a lot of questions, the nature of the ambush, what the exact mission the green beret-led team was performing when they were attacked. these are questions that they're still trying to piece together with interviews through the surviving members of the team. a lot of these answers are being looked for right now, but one of the bigger questions being raised about this is what exactly they are doing in west africa, in

why isn't the pentagon and the white house forth coming? why is cnn having to go to these unnamed sources? we have invited the white house and the pentagon on to speak about it. but they're not doing so. >> good. i would do the same thing the pentagon and white house are doing. i would force cnn to figure out what happened out there for one simple reason. we saw it in benghaziing, we saw it in las vegas. somebody speaks, whether it's the sheriff in las vegas or about benghazi, the government says we'll give it to you immediately. let's correct it. we're half a world away in niger and they're still trying to figure out what's going on. if you're in the pentagon and white house, they are saying we will not talk because we will get eaten alive. i would do the same thing, i wouldn't speak until i know what's going on. >> there is a difference between not speaking until you know what's going on and knowing what's going on and not speaking. >> i don't think they know what's going. >> these basic details. if we're able to find out what's going in