that an individual who voted 95% of the time for every budget that came before you, you've raised the debt limit nine times in washington, d.c., and to stand here in front of the people in the state of texas and say, trust me, i'm going to balance the budget, that's a little tough to understand. up first, though, breaking news tonight in libya. there are missing missiles, thousands of them, and mounting concerns here in washington they could fall into the hands of al qaeda or other terrorist groups. and as we speak tonight, the libyan rebels who forced moammar gadhafi from power claim to have their former dictator surrounded. they won't say where, but they insist he won't escape this time. cnn's ben wedeman live for us in tripoli. ben, the rebels have claimed to be on gadhafi's close trail before. do we view credibly these indications tonight from their spokesman that they have gadhafi surrounded? >> reporter: i'm approaching these claims with a certain amount of skepticism. we've heard them before. we've heard a variety of officials with the national transitional council making these claims and then it sort of comes to nothing. i think we really have to wait until they can really come forward with some solid evidence they actually know where he is. this is a vast, a huge, country. and there's a lot of territory in which to hide. moammar gadhafi is known for his like of road trips, being able to move around the country. he doesn't like to fly. he prefers to drive, and he may be doing a lot of driving. the rebels don't have a lot in the way of surveillance equipment to know where moammar gadhafi is. it's all rumors and hearsay really. so, i think we can hold off on concluding that they actually know where he is just yet, john? >> we will continue to press for more details and evidence. as we do, ben, another alarming story, you and your team have been able to see, these stunning weapons depots that have been cases and crates but missing the main ingredient, up to 20,000 surface-to-air missiles missing in libya. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: well, actually, according to estimates, libya had 20,000 of these surface-to-air missiles ranging from fairly old ones like the sa-7 to the sa-24, which is the top of the line russian surface-to-air missile with a range of 11,000 -- 11,000 feet. and we saw the empty boxes for those sa-24s. now, this is not the only arsenal that's been looted. now, we spoke to human rights watch, and they say -- and this particular member of human rights watch i've been with really throughout the country, and he said that in every city they went into, where arsenals were looted, the first thing to go were these surface-to-air missiles. so, it's a cause of real concern, not just in libya, but, of course, in places like washington and european capitals as well. now, when we approached the ntc with this information, asking them why they hadn't secured the sites, whether they knew where these missiles were, they were really stunned, taken off guard by this information, and they -- we have been pursuing them throughout the day to see if they have any information as to whether their troops took it or they know who took it, and they seem to have no clue whatsoever. but i think some of the clues are there on the spot in these warehouses. if these were ordinary rebels in an organized military unit, they would have taken them in their boxes. instead, you can see they've been pried open, in some cases with crowbars, and the contents taken away. john? >> ben wedeman live for us in tripoli, urgent reporting, ben, thank you. let's take just a closer look at what the threat ben is talking about and what people are worried about if they fall into the wrong hands. you hold a surface-to-air missile and you fire it up, and i'll give you a picture of it, shoulder mounted surface-to-air missiles that can be fired off. what are the potential targets, a plane, a helicopter, a drone, the united states has used those throughout the middle east they can also take down a cruise missile if properly administered. the question here is what is the range as well. they can shoot something flying as high as 11,000 feet. they can reach from where they are fired off the shoulder for about 3 1/2 miles. again, a huge concern. and here is the number here, 20,000 as ben just noted coming into the connell flict. some of them obviously used during the conflict, the question is now how do you possibly get a reliable inventory? and the obama white house said it's urgently pressing the transitional government to do more to find the missing missiles, but the house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers said the president needs to take much more aggressive steps. >> you know, the united states brings some unique capabilities to this fight, so with their permission, i think, and working with our nato allies, we should be bringing today this special capability to this problem. but, remember, the politics of should we be there and no boots on the ground, and i'm not talking about boots on the ground, big military, anything like that, you know, surge of diplomacy here with the special capabilities and i think we would do ourselves, the region, the world, a great favor by finding, accounting for this and then rendering it safe. >> you talk about should be there today, which implies we are not there today, at least not at the level which you think is necessary, with each passing day and the things floating around and the thriving black market in that part of the world, what are the risks? >> it's huge, we know al qaeda has expressed an interest of getting their hands on it. other groups on the state sponsored terrorist list are interested in getting their hands on it. we know that. we do believe there was some public reporting, some open-source reporting by folks in the northern africa that they believed some of these weapons systems already moving around and they're very, very concerned about it. and here's the thing, john, on this, we know from every kind of endeavor that happens this way where there's a radical change in the government like this, there's a takeover, throwing a dictator out, there's a sense of economic hardship for, you know, weeks, months, maybe sometimes years after. well, these weapons systems are in such high demand in the world and people are willing to pay for them, it gets pretty easy for desperate people to get ahold of these things and start selling them to anybody that will buy them. >> you mentioned people want to buy these things. one of the concerns outlined by the president's top counterterrorism official, he said they are pressing the government, but he is talking about them being in libya and john brennan raised this concern -- >> if you look at al qaeda and it's not the islamic fighting group that is real concern and still has people in different places but a lot of the senior al qaeda members are libyans, you know, you know, al libbi, senior ones are libyas. >> so, you have a senior al qaeda leadership that has many libyans in it. the weapons are floating around in a country where presumably these people have contacts and friends, right? >> absolutely. and think about it, you had the tauregs tribe there that gadhafi supported in overthrow in niger some years ago that are very loyal to the regime, but i'm sure would love to try it again and they're kind of the organized nomaedic groups and there's a whole spectrum of bad actors that want to get their hands on it, and that's why i've been concerned. we need to act now. i would not wait too long to try to deal with this problem. >> what's the hang-up? you say you want to act now, we shouldn't wait too long. the administration says it's worried, too, what is the hang-up? what do they need to do tomorrow or should they have done yesterday? >> well, it's political will. i know we have capabilities that aren't in use and i would argue that we need to put the capabilities to use for our national security use. >> what are we talking about? when you say capabilities, you mean people that can hunt them down, intelligence resources to find them, be as specific as you, sir? >> i'll say, yes, john, we have people unique set of capabilities that can help locate these materials that can help render them safe in all cases, not only the missile systems but the chemical weapons. we need to -- there's been several solutions that have been put on the table. all of them take too long, and they're old models. i argue we have a unique opportunity here because the national council is interested in solving this problem to get that sign-off, working with our nato partners and get our special capabilities people on the ground so that we can deal with these weapons systems. and that to me, it's really not happening at the pace i believe it better happen, and just the reporting i think cnn has done, too, on the fact that some of these weapons systems are already talked and rumored about being moved around in tripoli and other places causes even greater concern and the urgency here is i think significant. >> let me ask the chairman of the intelligence committee one last question, and that is based on the latest information you have received, does the united states government have any clue where moammar gadhafi is? >> this is the where's waldo question. i think it's a matter of time and we have some good ideas, but it's going to take a little bit of time, and the rebels are even having some difficulty locating him. i think we're going to find him. but, remember, he controlled a lot of these areas pretty well and pretty tightly and has a good deal of support in certain areas. so, we believe that he's probably going to be attracted to one of those areas where he has that local support and can hang on as long as he thinks he's going to be able to do. >> chairman rogers, appreciate your time tonight. >> thanks, john. >> cnn national security contributor fran townsend is with us now, she was president bush's national homeland security adviser and sits on the external advisory boards for the cia and the homeland security department. in 2010 she visited high-ranking libyan officials at the government's invitation. i want to start on the report that the rebels have gadhafi surrounded. do we trust them to be credible? it's in their interest to let the libya people know that. >> it's the same propaganda, they had the two sons in custody and they didn't have them in custody. i think we've got to view any public statements with them with a great deal of skepticism. >> let's come to the urgent security concern i was just discussing with chairman rogers. you are well plugged in in the intelligence community. what is the fear, 20,000 surface-to-air missiles at the beginning, there are other weapons, automatic weapons and the like, but these seem to be the biggest threat that people are worried about. what is the latest intelligence about where they are, have many crossed the border? >> that's not good intelligence. when you look at the sa-24s these are high-capability surface to air and all nato is used in libya has been air power, so it's a direct threat to not only to nato's mission but, of course, if they cross borders, potentially to the u.s. i mean, these are the sorts of things they're very, very difficult, once they start moving around and the weapons depots are split up, it becomes much harder to ever put back together an accurate inventory. >> you heard the chairman and he's trying to be, "a," diplomatic and, "b," protect sensitive information about he thinks the administration is using old-school ways of going about this and he wants to do things faster. what are the unique capabilities that he's talking about? are these special operations, intelligence, spies on the ground? is there special technology that the united states has at its disposal? help us. >> there's overhead special technology that the u.s. can begin to try to start the tracking process, but the chairman is suggesting that alone isn't enough, you need human intelligence to help get and get back either to disable them or buy them back. remember there were programs after the afghanistan war decades ago to buy back surface-to-air missiles and i think that that's what he's making to there. that's not enough. you do need clandestine operators on the ground who can either seize and disable them or buy them back and that you need to do quickly if you're going to be effective. >> you know gadhafi and his regime, we're going to play some video that casts him in a somewhat favorable light, but i'll call this the gadhafi home video. i want to show you this because i want to see if you understand this side of moammar gadhafi. this was obtained by reuters and it shows family members apparently, hopefully we can put it up on the screen. he's with family members and apparently a grandchild here and the like. after the video's showing torture chambers and prison cells, this suddenly comes out. it's a, quote-unquote, lighter side of moammar gadhafi. what does this tell you? >> you know, frankly, john, i don't think it tells me anything. do i think that there are war criminals, whether from hitler to saddam hussein to moammar gadhafi that have a different side with their families? absolutely. i don't really care. i'm not interested. what i care about is how they treat their populations and it's been unlawfully in using torture and using oppression. so, the fact that he may have kind to a grandchild i don't think is relevant to how we see him. >> is this in your view they happened to find or is it because there were so many horrible things out there about gadhafi that it was orchestrated? >> i think it was orchestrated. the head of the intelligence services still at large with gadhafi, he's the type of person that could have moved such a video so i think we have to presume it's a calculated effort by pro-gadhafi forces. >> fran townsend, thank you for your help. appreciate it. a cold-blooded assassination by syrian security forces captured on tape. it will shock you. and next new details of the jobs plan president obama will present to congress this time tomorrow night. 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[ trapp ] creating an experience instead of just a meal that's endless shrimp. my name is angela trapp. i'm a server at red lobster and i sea food differently. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. this time tomorrow night president obama will be addressing a joint session of congress to outline a new white house jobs proposal. administration and democratic sources tell cnn the price tag could reach $400 billion. we're told the president will promise to find a dollar in spending cuts for every dollar of new spending. let me give you some of the highlights here. we're told the president will have about $50 billion for unemployment insurance program to extend unemployment benefits for those who have been out of work some of them for so long. about $300 billion to $400 billion total here, $120 billion to extend the payroll tax cuts for employees. the president said that would put more money into the economy. there are at least $30 billion here in funding here to refurbish schools, billions more to state and local governments to keep teachers on the payrolls and the likes as well as new money for infrastructure, to repair roads and bridges. the president presents this proposal to a joint session of congress and to the american people at a time as he gears up for re-election public opinion of his handling of the economy -- of the economy -- is at an all-time low, amid all of her reporting on the details of this, i spoke to our white house correspondent, jessica yellin. so, jess, from a policy impact proposal, what does the white house think this package will do in terms of creating new jobs, how many, how fast? >> they argue it will have an enormous impact if passed in its entirety. they say it would impact state job growth because as you know when there are layoffs at the state level, that has a ripple effect. so, if there's hiring of teachers and first responders, there's state aid in there as we've learned. that this jobs program for school renovation gets laborers quickly to work at schools. and then there's also these tax credits that i've been hearing about that would incentivize hiring of unemployed workers who have been out of work for a long time. there's a lot in this package, john, that would incentivize hiring of the chronically unemployed, seniors and low-income workers and veterans and that's where they're targeting all of this. of course, republicans have a very different take, but here at the white house they're terribly optimistic. >> so, you mentioned a different take from the republicans. how do they deal with the very, very difficult politics? the republicans control the house, they say this is stimulus deja vu and we're hearing from some democrats who think at least from what they've heard so far that it's too small, too timid. >> absolutely. and they know they're going to get, you know, on the one hand republicans rejecting it outright, many of them, democrats saying not even close to enough. the bigger picture is if congress does nothing, you're going to see the president, first of all, making his case to the american people, and then effectively campaigning against a do-nothing congress. not just for the next few weeks and months as congress debates this up until christmas, but even through next year and as part of his campaign, a president campaigning effectively against washington if they don't do something about jobs. >> and also, jess, we will get this new proposal, new details, but it will immediately lead us into a chapter a little bit of movie we've seen before in the sense that how does he pay for it? >> right. >> the republicans say no new taxes, mr. president. and the democrats are nervous, well, what are you going to cut? >> right. and, you know, we've heard him talk about no doubt he's going to talk about closing tax loopholes, we've been told this, and also paying for some of this by raising taxes on the wealthy. but we also know that there will be proposals before the supercommittee, he will make a proposal to the supercommittee that's likely to include changes to the entitlement programs likely medicare and medicaid and democrats are deeply concerned that it will include cuts to these programs that are key priorities for democrats. and in this environment, even if the republican house won't support this jobs plan, they're more likely t lly to support th to medicare and medicaid and that's what the democrats are really worried is coming down the pike and deeply upset that the white house will allow that to happen, john. >> a big night ahead for the president tomorrow, jessica yellin with many of the details. jess, thanks. >> thanks. and among those who will be listening most closely are democrats who will share the ticket with president obama in tough 2012 battleground states like ohio democratic senator sherrod brown who is with us live now. senator, from e