what was your dad doing in pakistan? >> my dad was working on projects with local industries in pakistan, helping them to improve, to produce more, and to -- that their goods would have more value in the global economy. so he was working with people on the ground. he would be at those projects, traveling all over the country to those projects all the time. he was just zooming back and forth. all the people that worked with him remarked on what incredible energy he had and how he just worked all day and late into the night. he was so passionate and devoted to his work. he cared so much about helping these industries to improve and to creating more opportunities for everyday people in pakistan. >> jennifer, we were just looking at some pictures of your dad holding a baby. and there is a beautiful little baby on his shoulders. i can only imagine what it's like for him to be missing out on all of these family milestones. >> it's been really difficult for us and as a family and for my kids. to try to explain to them why he is

pakistan. we had the taliban, we had al qaeda and afghanistan. al qaeda moved into pakistan in the winter of 2002, embedded itself in '02, '03 in the travel areas of pakistan. the past 11 years, we've been locking and loading with drones and no boots on the ground in pakistan. i was listening to what barbara starr said. i guarantee already there are task forces at the pentagon and cia who already have targets sets in syria and are watching through intelligence the flow of fighters coming across the border. that target set exists already. the last thing i'd say, i'll bet you a paycheck that the decision to go in has already been made. they're just setting us up for it. >> fran, do you think that as well? you've been in these rooms as well. >> no, absolutely. and by the way, just because you may not have u.s. boots on the ground or u.s. targetieres on the ground, you've been working with your foreign intelligence committees, there are people on the ground that you can trust, you can train, and th

drone strikes in pakistan and yemen have killed dozens of civilians there. is there any weapon out there that can accurately pinpoint an enemy? >> well, you know, a weapon is only as good as the people guiding it. and a weapon has a certain lethality to it. when you fire into a car, you're going to take out more than the car. you're going take out something like 100 meters. the united states has developed a smaller weapon that we use in urban combat. well developed this for iraq where you can drop an area weapon that destroys a house rather than a city block. i don't know if the israelis have that technology. but that's certainly something we could be using in gaza. >> so you think this is going to happen? >> i think hamas has been beaten up pretty badly, and they don't hold very many cards right now. that's the only reason they're agreeing to this. the israelis feel that they have achieved much of their objective. and the fact that the israelis are allowed to still go after these tunnels during a truce tells me that hamas is really under the gun. >> and the

has been accused of secretly sort of funding these jihadist groups, other governments have done it, pakistan kind of helps the taliban. so how do they have the influence to get curtis freed without paying any ransom? are they lying about paying a ransom? they were able to get about a dozen nuns released that were also help by al nusra. again, curtis was held by a group aligned with al qaeda, but somehow qatar gets him out. and i'm just -- it's very -- it's terrible when these governments have these double games when they work with jihadists on one hand and you know, deny it -- >> and arguably, you could say, well, look, they have some influence if they're the unwithes funding these jihadists. at the same time, it's hard to see how they would make a deal without more money being passed or some other kind of deal. >> these groups, i saw it in my case, they spend lots of money feeding the hostage, they spend manpower, all these guards, they move the hostage around to different areas, controlled by different commanders. so they can't just give up the hostage and have nothing to show, clearly for

they are spread out across the world and cities, not isolated in remote areas like afghanistan and pakistan. is this why so many counterterrorism officials and people like hagel seem so alarmed and concerned? >> well, they are alarmed on a couple levels. one is isis is much bigger than the 10 to 15,000 people we keep hearing. they are supported by the tribes and eastern syria by the tribes, not all of them, some of them and by the sunni middle class. we're seeing a sunni rising. they are going to use them until they don't need them anymore. additionally, they have seized gold. they have got the old fields. they have got wheat production. they are part of a tigerous river. they are self-sustaining. if we think isis will go away in six months, i think we're badly mistaken. if we have to go in and destroy them, which is possible, our military can do it, will they take revenge against the united states and i think it's almost certain, although they don't have a track record so far of international terrorism. >> thank you so much. >>> just ahead, did president obama misfire with his messages whe

they did it like in pakistan to kill bin laden. you go in literally under the radar and make it happen. but it's interesting, you talk about fitting in the narrative. this new relationship with syria. it also fits the facts on the ground at the end of the day isis is the bigger threat than the assad regime so hasn't changed the administration's decision-making but it is changing the calculus on the ground, more of a threat to the u.s. homeland and have a totally new view. >> without human intelligence on the ground there's only so much one can do from the air without, you know, someone with a -- >> the real question is who holes the ground once it's taken. can you use bombing to take a lot of territory, but you can't hold it unless you've got boots on 9 ground. somebody's boots and what our reporting at "the daily beast," a lot of those forces that we might rely on, the free syrian army that we sometimes train, sometimes fund, sometimes don't or the curds that were supposed to be the greatest fighters in the middle east aren't up t

i agree that compared to what i witnessed in places like pakistan or saudi arabia, somali, this is complex because international borders have been erased, the number of people who are involved, 100 plus americans, which might be a low estimate. in my old world at the fbi, watching kids like this come home, that's an incredibly high number of people to follow. the reason i'm skeptical, look, we've been at this 13 years. the blue team, the americans, the brits, the home team, we're a lot better too, we've learned a lot about how these guys communicate. we've hardened borders and hardened cockpit doors in aircraft to keep them safe. we've worked with parents like the jordanians and the turks to keep kids if going out and flag them when they do move back through western europe. we've figured out intelligence tools to target these people on the battle field. so, yeah, this is really complicated. it's different than what i witnessed in 20-plus years of following terrorists, but we're pretty good too. i would say if i were in washington, you got to relax a little, and the message to the american