morning is break nugs. defense secretary leon panetta arrives in afghanistan unannounced. brand new video of the defense secretary's arrival. he stopped in afghanistan for a real-timeup date from nato top commanders on how prepared allied troops and afghan security forces are to confront the taliban as they gear up for the summer fighting season. just yesterday, a twin suicide bombing in a market near kandahar killed 22 people. 50 other people were injured. nato is under scrutiny after an air strike killed 18 people. that number includes women and children, who were believed to be civilians. the u.s. is also saying that one of its armed helicopters was shot down by enemy fire and killed two crew members on board. let's get right to cnn's mohammed jamjoom in kabul for us this morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. surprise visit by secretary of defense leon panetta was his fourth to afghanistan. he met with u.s. troops and u.s. officials. he acknowledged the uptick in violence the past few days and the concern about it, and that there needs to be an assessment in what all this means because of the coordination level in the attacks that have gone on. he also mentioned that pressure needs to be put on pakistan, neighboring pakistan because of the al qaeda-linked terrorist network that has been accused in the past of conducting cross-border raids, coming into afghanistan and targeting u.s. troops. here is more on what the secretary had to say. >> we are reaching the limits of our patience here. and for that reason, it is extremely important that pakistan take action to prevent this kind of safe haven from taking place and from allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces. >> soledad, those remarks came in a joint press conference the defense secretary had with the minister of defense here a few hours ago. he was meeting with him in order to discuss joint areas of cooperation and especially the security transfer. all this coming at a very critical time here in afghanistan as more and more provinces and regions of this country are handed over to afghan security forces so they can start taking the lead on the responsibility of security in this country. in light of these attacks the past couple of days -- yesterday was the deadliest day for afghanistans all year. there's concern about the readiness of the afghan forces to take over security of this country. soledad? >> thank you, mohammed. christine has a look at the top stories. >> the president waking up out west this morning with another fund-raising breakfast planned in l.a. before he heads to las vegas. a pilot is being questioned after he flew a small plane into the president's air space last night. norad says an f-16 fighter jet intercepted that plane and followed it until it landed at an airfield in camari will llo, california. a vacuum cleaner may be responsible for the fire on board a submarine that caused $400 million in damage. u.s.s. miami's nuclear plant was not operating when a forward compartment caught fire two weeks ago. investigators believe the fire was started in a vacuum that's used to clean work sites on that sub. chilling 911 call recalling the injuries suffered by bryan stow in a vicious beating in dodgers stadium on opening day last year. prosecutors played the tape at a preliminary hearing for two men charged with attacking the bay area paramedic. >> is this dispatch? >> yes. >> i'm off-duty paramedic. my partner here, who is also a paramedic, was punched from the side. didn't see it coming. unconscious. bleeding out of his left ear. no response to stimuli. we need an ambulance right now. >> the beating left bryan stow with permanent brain damage. a teen is convicted with homicide for texting and driving. aaron devo will spend one year in prison and will have his license suspended for 15. he denied he was texting before the crash. he said he was tired and got distracted. nasdaq says willt will pay back $40 million to trading firms for losses caused by the trading glitches that delayed the opening of facebook's ipo. exchange owes the industry an apology. they'll be given about $14 million am cash with the rest coming from trading fees. the nasdaq plan must still be approved by the s.e.c. the new york stock exchange, competitor, soledad, says hold on. that's not fair. you can't go in and be giving lower -- they don't like it either. this story is not over. >> no. no, it's not. the fbi is now investigating whether the white house leaked classified information to try to score some political points. it's a claim that has the white house firing back. here is press secretary jay carney saying this. any suggestion that this administration has authorized intentional leaks of classified information for political fwan is fwroesly irresponsible. and then shortly after that, senator john mccain said this. listen. >> well, i would expect nothing else from the white house. but the fact is that portrayal of the president in these stories is obviously nothing short of heroic. i don't think there's any doubt, according to mr. sanger, that dozens of administration officials who were involved in this. >> democratic senator bob casey of pennsylvania is with us this morning. he is the member of the foreign relations committee and chairman of the economic committee. appreciate you talking to me. you heard senator mccain saying he thinks the administration leaking is very likely. what do you think? >> well, that's a very serious charge that's been made against the administration. i think that the proposal that senator carl levin has made, chairman of the armed services committee, to have a hearing in closed fashion makes the most sense. any time you make a charge like that, it's very serious. we have to make sure that we're resolving this in the right way. >> the fbi is investigating and if, in fact, they can figure out where the leaks are coming from, do you see potentially charges coming out of that? >> it's hard to say. i'm not going to speculate. but this charge is made in every administration. sometimes it's accurate. sometimes it should lead to accountability and sanctions, but we're -- i think we're at the very early stages of this. i don't want to prejudge it. >> when you look at a book like "killer capture," we had the author on the other day. and he describes very personal accounts of experiences, from attorney general eric holder, the state department legal adviser, harold coe, secretary of state hillary clinton. do you think that that's what should be investigated, go through and sort of figure out who these reporters are talking to and see if those leaks are coming from those specific individuals and their offices? >> well, certainly when someone writes a book and has information in it about national security or even potential breach of national security, that becomes the body of evidence. a book is like any other statement. it's an assertion, an assertion of fact, we hope. that assertion has to be tested and closely examined. so, this is going to be, as any situation like this is, an adversarial process to arrive at the truth. you'll have charges and counter charges. i think it's pretty early to make determinations based upon any book or even a series of books. i think we need to be thoughtful about making determinations at this point. >> what do you think the impact has been? if you look at the leaks overall, yemen bomb plot was a big leak, details on that new underwear bomb, the administration's kill list, which detailed the targeting of terrorists, detailed account of cyber attacks on iran's nuclear program. that's sort of the short list. here is what your colleague, senator feinstein, had to say. listen. >> i think what we're seeing, wolf, is an avalanche of leaks. and it's very, very disturbing. you know, it's dismayed our allies. it puts american lives in jeopardy. it puts our nation's security in jeopardy. and if you look at terrorism, intelligence is fundamental to knowing what's going to happen and prevent it from happening in the first place. >> what do you think the literal specific impact of those leaks has been or could be? >> well, soledad, it's difficult to quantify that. but every administration that has had leaks has tried to plug them and stop them and to mitigate the adverse impact. we don't know the extent of this yet, but it should be closely examined. it shouldn't be part of the in washington. it needs to be fair and balanced so we can arrive at the truth. we can all have interesting debates in washington but have to take this seriously and not just prejudge it. i'll say this. if someone working for me leaked information like this, i would make sure they were sanctioned severely. >> let me ask you a question, turning to wisconsin and the fallout for wisconsin. what do you think is the message to democrats from the governor's ability to keep his seat in the recall election? >> well, i guess i would leave it to the pundits to do most of the analysis. i think a lot of it, frankly, is wrong. in the end by election day this year, the main issue will still be jobs and the economy. that's why congress needs to get the transportation bill out of the house, get the farm bill done, get some tax strategies in place to create job. >> right, but everyone looks at these elections and says, wow! there was a high turnout. the mayor said if there's a high turnout, i think i can win this thing. there was a higher turnout. he did not win. we're all analysts at some point at the end of the day, i think. what do you think is the takeaway message from this recall election? >> i really don't think there's one. what i hope people don't conclude is that somehow if you take away collective bargaining rights that that's somehow good for workers and the economy. that's one of the last things we need right now, is to undermine workers at a time when the economy is in tough shape for so many families. i think some of the analysis has been a little bit hyped. by election day in pennsylvania, at least, and across the country, the number one issue, the number one concern is jobs. that's why they want us to come together in bipartisan ways to create jobs or at least create the conditions for job creation. >> you have a hearing with the fed chair, ben bernanke. it will be the first time since that dismaljobs report. what do you want to hear from him? >> just an assessment of where we are and some of the steps we could take to move the economy forward. i mentioned a few with regard to attack strategy, transportation bill and issues like that. but i think he provides a good assessment of where we are. we'll see what he says on some of the monetary policy questions, but i hope members of congress don't just have kind of a lecture series on monetary policy. we need to do our job, come together as democrats and republicans, move forward an agenda that will result in job creation. that really right now is all that matter sfwls b. >> senator bob casey, democrat from pennsylvania this morning, thank you for joining us. >> you bet. 2,000 retired nfl players and their families joining forces to sue the nfl today, accusing the league of deception and denial when it comes to brain injuries. we'll talk this morning to the whipp widow of a former star who ended up taking his own life. a romantic hot air balloon ride with a proposal involved ends up with everybody in the hospital. we'll tell you what happened. also actress, singer, model mandy moore is on a mission to help every young girl find their inner celebrity. ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. free streaming quotes, all your investments, positions, and even your trade ticket are all on one customizable page. see the all-new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. welcome back to "starting point," everybody. a massive new class action suit against the nfl claims that the league knew that hits caused long-term brain injury. it combines more than 80 lawsuits from more than 2,000 former players and their families, including mary ann east sterling, who is the widow. what would you like to see come out of this lawsuit? >> good morning. i would like to see the nfl provide testing for players that are showing symptoms of dementia, alzheimer's and als. the early symptoms that ray displayed were insomnia and depression. i had no idea it was due to the brain trauma that he had suffered during football. didn't really know about it until 2010. and it was hard to go through for 20 years. he suffered greatly. and i don't want to see other players suffer. i want to see the ability to diagnose it early and to be able to treat them. >> is your big issue that the nfl isn't doing enough to help the players after they get out of the game or is it they're not doing enough while the players are actually playing, or both? >> both. i think the -- what can be done in the game can help the players to realize that they don't have to tough it out. they don't have to soldier on and pretend that nothing is wrong to even their family nothing is wrong. but i would also like to see the retired players get this treatment that is sorely needed. i would like to see the study that's being done now in boston be funded even better so that they can diagnose ct in living players. >> your husband retire friday football in 1979. you say it had been something that he really had a terrible struggle for 20 years. >> yes. >> what made you think, finally, that this was something that was caused by his job, football? >> i was online at a certain point and saw something pop up about a former nfl player committing suicide and that he had had an autopsy showing that he had cte. the case studies that you can see online from boston university will -- it lined up with everything that ray was experiencing. and a light went on. sure enough, when he was given tests, given the pet scan, the mris, it showed brain damage. and it showed the cause for his symptoms, which were severe by that point. >> he ended up taking his own life. and i have to imagine for you that some of your work in this lawsuit is to -- i hate the word closure, but i can't think of another one, to kind of understand what brought him to that terrible point. >> i would like to see families not suffer and not be clueless about what is going on with the husband and their family, and the dad. it's very important for them to be able to see an end -- have hope and realize that there's going to be help in this situation. that's what i want more than anything else. >> mary ann easterling joining us this morning, part of that lawsuit against the nfl. thank you for joining us. >> you're welcome. have a good day. >> likewise. she said yes, but the hot air balloon proposal didn't really go all that well. it's of the story in our "get real." and our panel is joining us. we start with margol's -- margaret's music. >> shiny happy people. >> there you go. our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. dude you don't understand, this is my dad's car. look at the car! my dad's gonna kill me dude... [ male announcer ] the security of a 2012 iihs top safety pick. the volkswagen passat. that's the power of german engineering. er is differentwagen passat. but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. cuban cajun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at restaurants. it pays to discover. let's just take a minute to listen to that. i do love prince. it's a good way to start the morning. birthday today. how old is prince? >> early 50s. i'm not sure how old he s he needs to do a rock tour. hard core. people don't even realize, he has become such a better guitarist in the past 15 years of his career. >> i saw him when he was at the garden. starting team -- i'm struggling this morning. it's thursday. starting point team is what i was trying to say, john fugelsang, margaret hoover, author of american individualism and will cain is a columnist at the blaze.com. our "get real" kind of a shocker. ha, ha, ha. you'll understand why i'm laughing. thank you, will. little late. >> i just got it. >> you did? they're never going to forget this engagedmement. it was supposed to be romantic. it sounded romantic. in a hot air balloon, the young man got the courage to ask the young lady. she said yes. that's when it all went bad. as soon as the air balloon landed, the grass was too tall. they had to go back up in the air and hit a power line. that shocked the pilot, knocked him out, unconscious. he fell on top of the young lady, who had said yes, the now newly engaged young woman. gave her a jolt, too. the future groom had to perform cpr on the pilot, who was conscious. thank goodness. the bride-to-be and the pilot had to be hauled off to the emergency room to be treated for burns. >> he saved a guy's life with cpr. they all made it out. what's the failed part? it's like the most awesome proposal ever. >> not starting off on a great foot. you say yes and it goes to pieces. >> if the pilot didn't make it, you're starting off on a bad foot. this guy is the avenger. >> marry him. >> if you can get through that four minutes into your proposal, you can do anything in your marriage. it's all going to be good from that point on. >> like a scene out of a movie. >> could be. could be. stead still ahead on "starting point" this morning, an uncomfortable moment for president obama caught on tape. the president mentions first lady, michelle obama, in a speech. the audience, though, completely misinterprets the joke he's making. we'll show what happened straight ahead. also one on one with jill biden, the second lady of the united states. she weighs in on her husband's reputations for gaffes, including what she thought of the "snl" skit that was hilarious and made fun of him. do you see it ? there it is ! there it is ! where ? where ? it's getting away ! where is it ? it's gone. we'll find it. any day can be an adventure. that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. wow, there it is. how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! welcome back to "starting point." let's get right to christine romans with a look at the day's headli