00:00For everything else, Iran is. Iran is a big country, more than 90 million people,
00:06and they are a powerful country with a sophisticated, intensively resourced,
00:12world-class, ruthless set of intelligence and security services, which, of course,
00:18target their own people at home to disastrous, murderous effect, particularly recently.
00:24But those security services and intelligence services also have tentacles all around the world.
00:30And they have used them to target the regime's perceived enemies all over the world,
00:34including in the United States of America.
00:37Luckily, the U.S. government has been all over them on this.
00:41They know what the Iranians are capable of. They know what they've been trying to do.
00:45Among other things, the United States government has specialist counterintelligence agents in the FBI
00:50who specialize in these kinds of threats, specifically emanating from Iran.
00:57It's a group at the FBI. It's a unit called CI-12, CI for counterintelligence, CI-12.
01:03And thank God we've got them now, right?
01:05Now that we just killed Iran's supreme leader and started a huge new war with Iran,
01:09with apparently no idea what the consequences would be of us doing that,
01:12at least here at home, even if we're just going to be selfish in terms of the risk to us.
01:17Well, thank God we've got a unit like CI-12 that really uniquely knows this stuff that's on it, right?
01:25The group that got that Air Force intelligence spy who defected to Iran,
01:31that got the people who tried to assassinate John Bolton
01:33and discovered the plots to kill Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook,
01:37and even the plot to kill Donald Trump.
01:39Thank God we've got this group, CI-12, right?
01:43Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel,
01:46while he was coming off a wave of terrible press about U.S. taxpayers paying him to fly to Italy
01:52so he could go to a hockey game and chug beer in a locker room,
01:55while he was heading into a whole new round of fresh reporting about how he has ordered
01:59an elite FBI SWAT team to be personal bodyguards and basically a chauffeur service for his girlfriend,
02:06in the middle of that bittersweet symphony of competence,
02:09Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff
02:16in the elite counterespionage and counterintelligence unit CI-12.
02:22We don't know why Donald Trump just started this war in Iran.
02:28Washington Post reported this weekend and the New York Times reported today
02:32that Trump did it basically as a favor,
02:36that there was no U.S. intelligence, that Iran posed any imminent threat to us,
02:41but Saudi Arabia and Israel told Trump to do it, and so he did it.
02:47Because, hey, you know, America first.
02:51Strong man.
02:53We're just going to put our military at the disposal of other countries
02:57because they can tell Trump what to do with it?
03:01Quote, the attack came despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran's forces
03:05were unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the U.S. mainland within the next decade.
03:12But he did it anyway.
03:14Because Israel and Saudi Arabia told him to, and he apparently does what they say.
03:19And now six American service members are known to have been killed and many more injured.
03:25There's also new reporting tonight that the U.S. embassy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia
03:29has been hit by two drones.
03:31The Washington Post is now also reporting that two Defense Department employees,
03:35U.S. Defense Department employees,
03:36have been wounded in an Iranian drone attack on a hotel in Bahrain.
03:42And I mean, in terms of what we are heading into and the kind of risk we're heading into,
03:46these are the sort of headlines that we're seeing tonight.
03:48Quote, earthquake in the Gulf, Iran war expands to a dozen countries in 72 hours.
03:55Just 72 hours after the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran,
03:58the war has already consumed nearly the entire Middle East,
04:01reached the gates of Europe, and raised new fears of attacks on American soil.
04:06This is the front page of the New York Times that we woke up to today.
04:10U.S. troops killed as blasts jolted Mideast,
04:13fear of wider war after Iran's response.
04:18Here's the headline at the Washington Post.
04:20Quote, Trump pursues Iranian decapitation without a plan for what comes next.
04:25Quote, security officials in the Middle East and in Europe have raised concerns
04:29that the U.S. is unleashing forces that could spill across borders,
04:33disrupt global trade, and lead to asymmetric terrorist attack reprisals.
04:38All with no certainty that the remaining Islamic hardliners
04:41won't ultimately retain their hold on power anyway.
04:47Spill across borders, disrupt global trade, lead to asymmetric terrorist attack reprisals.
04:52Given those kinds of threats that Trump has just unleashed with this war,
04:59that he started for reasons he still cannot clearly articulate,
05:03given those kinds of threats, given that Pandora's box that has just been opened,
05:08do you feel like we've got all our national security ducks in a row here in this country
05:13now that we've started this thing?
05:15Do you feel like our leaders in the U.S. government are really on the ball right now
05:20when it comes to national security,
05:22when it comes even just to domestic national security,
05:25when it comes to managing potential fallout from this thing that Donald Trump has just unleashed?
05:31I mean, you can start with our Secretary of Defense, right?
05:34I mean, his immediate previous job before Donald Trump gave him the keys to the U.S. Defense Department
05:39was that he was the weekend co-host on the cable news show Fox & Friends.
05:44Now we're at war with Iran.
05:47Six U.S. service members killed so far, many more wounded.
05:52Hegseth also apparently just lost three F-15 fighter jets to friendly fire
05:57because the U.S. military did not de-conflict with our allies in Kuwait.
06:01So Kuwait shot down our planes.
06:06Great.
06:08Here at home, we're, of course, protected by the FBI.
06:11Yeah, about that.
06:12Again, we'll have more on that with Carol Lenning in just a moment.
06:15We're also protected by the Department of Homeland Security,
06:18which is run by this person.
06:21Kristi Noem, who you will remember,
06:23took the Coast Guard Commandant's house for herself,
06:25who has been mostly focused,
06:28who's been focused most intently during her time in office
06:31on sending militarized mask federal troops all over the United States
06:36to kill and terrorize people here at home.
06:39Kristi Noem is currently trying to stand up a huge new network of prison camps
06:43for Donald Trump to send people to without trial.
06:47Now, Kristi Noem already doing great.
06:49She is in charge of our homeland security right now
06:52at this incredibly fraught, stupid, dangerous time
06:56now that Trump has started this war.
07:00Specifically, I should mention that also means
07:02that Kristi Noem is in charge of our cyber defense.
07:05I mentioned that Iran's security services and intelligence services
07:08are pretty sophisticated and well-resourced,
07:12and they're thought of as having a pretty wide international reach.
07:16One of the things they're best at and most ambitious at is cyber warfare.
07:21While Kristi Noem, in her infinite wisdom,
07:23put who in charge of America's cyber defense?
07:28It's this gentleman.
07:30Politico just profiled him.
07:33You see the headline there,
07:34canceled contracts, a failed polygraph,
07:36and personal disputes inside the turbulent tenure
07:39of Kristi Noem's former cyber czar.
07:42It's former.
07:43He's only been former since Thursday
07:45because they finally kicked him out of that job on Thursday.
07:49The nation's top cybersecurity official lost his job on Thursday,
07:54less than 48 hours before the Trump administration
07:57started a war with Iran,
07:58a particularly adept cyber rival.
08:04I mean, this is the Homeland Security Department's
08:06premier cybersecurity division.
08:08And who is this guy?
08:09Quote, he had no prior experience in the federal government
08:13before Kristi Noem appointed him to leave the agency last May.
08:17But he had served a 10-month stint under then-Governor Noem
08:21as South Dakota's chief information officer.
08:24Okay.
08:25Quote, in August, he triggered a DHS-wide damage assessment
08:29by uploading sensitive agency contracting documents
08:33into a public version of ChatGPT,
08:37information that other staff at the agency
08:39weren't permitted to use for security reasons.
08:42He also failed a counterintelligence polygraph exam.
08:46Last July, he failed the polygraph?
08:49Yes.
08:50Homeland Security later dismissed the polygraph
08:52as, quote, unsanctioned
08:54and accused staff of, quote,
08:56misleading him about the need for the test.
08:58So to be clear, Kristi Noem put this guy
09:02in charge of cyber security for the country.
09:06He then failed a counterintelligence polygraph exam.
09:11And Kristi Noem's response to that was,
09:13well, you shouldn't have made him take that test.
09:16And she kept him on in the job.
09:20Well, he was fine in South Dakota.
09:24So you can just imagine the kind of brilliance
09:26we have had at the helm
09:28of the nation's top cyber security agency
09:32in the United States.
09:33A particularly key job
09:35now that Trump has started a war with Iran.
09:37What else do you need to know about him?
09:38Well, there's this.
09:39Well, last summer,
09:40he temporarily suspended a CISA employee
09:43who had flashed a middle finger
09:45at his Tesla cyber truck
09:46while it sat unoccupied in an agency parking lot.
09:50Footage of the incident was captured
09:52by the car's onboard camera.
09:53The director had the CISA security office
09:56identify the employee.
09:57The employee did not appear to know
09:59whose car it was at the time.
10:00He or she flipped off the vehicle.
10:03The employee was frustrated
10:04because the truck had been left
10:06in a shared electric vehicle charging port
10:09four days at a time.
10:12So this employee gives the cyber truck
10:15the finger in the parking lot.
10:17And this guy goes into his dash cam footage
10:20and figures out who gave his truck the finger
10:22and then has that employee
10:25who works at the nation's
10:26premier cyber security agency
10:27suspended from his or her job
10:29because that person had the temerity
10:31to flip off his truck
10:33while he was not in it.
10:36That's who Kristi Noem put in charge
10:38of America's cyber security.
10:40And he only got relieved
10:43of his responsibilities in that job
10:45on Thursday.
10:47How did he last so long in that job?
10:49According to Politico's reporting today,
10:52quote,
10:53Noem was hesitant to remove him
10:54until recently because she
10:56and Homeland Security Department
10:57Special Advisor Corey Lewandowski
10:59feared that firing him would,
11:02reflect poorly on her.
11:06Okay.
11:10Homeland Security also oversees
11:12Customs and Border Patrol,
11:13which accidentally shut down
11:15the airspace over El Paso
11:16a couple of weeks ago
11:17because Customs and Border Patrol
11:19used a military laser
11:21to shoot down
11:22Happy Valentine's Day
11:23Mylar party balloons.
11:27Oops.
11:28Then last week,
11:29some other Texas airspace
11:30had to be shut down
11:31because this time
11:32it was Pete Hegseth's
11:33Fox and Friends Defense Department
11:35also using a laser gun
11:37to shoot down a drone this time.
11:39Who whose drone was it?
11:41Oh, it was a drone
11:42from Customs and Border Protection.
11:45Because this punch-yourself-in-the-face
11:47staggering genius
11:50is the level of talent
11:51we have handling
11:53our national security right now.
11:57As President Donald Trump,
11:59for no reason he can articulate,
12:02sets off what may end up
12:03being a worldwide conflagration
12:05with one of the most capable
12:06and unpredictable adversaries
12:08the United States
12:08has faced off against
12:10in generations.
12:11Yeah, it's a good thing
12:12we've got people
12:12of the caliber of
12:13Kristi Noem
12:15attacking,
12:16I mean defending,
12:16the homeland
12:17and geniuses like
12:18Kash Patel
12:19at the FBI.
12:21Instead of the experienced
12:23Iran specialist
12:24counterintelligence agents
12:26who Kash Patel
12:27just fired
12:28literally last week
12:30right before we started
12:31bombing Iran.
12:32Iran.
12:35They are not sending
12:37their best.
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