Closed as of today. Those include iraq, egypt, and libya. The state Department Says al qaeda and other groups might be targeting u. S. Government or private american interests. That travel alert is set to expire at the end of the month. This morning on nbcs meet the press, two senators talked about the situation. Senator saxby chambliss, the Top Republican on the Senate Intelligence committee, talked about the alert. Iowa senator dick durbin talked about the embassy security. We will take a look at that now. The chatter out there chatter means conversation among terrorists about the planning that is going on. Very reminiscent of what we saw pre9 11. We did not take heed on 9 11 the way that we should. I think it is very important that we do take the right kind thelanning as we come to close of ramadan. We know that is always an interesting time for terrorists. We are also, what, 38 days, 37 days away from the september 11 anniversary. Are paying very, very close attention to the chatter that is going on and i can tell you, david, this is the most serious threat that ive seen in the last several years. Can i just press a little bit . What makes it so serious . Is it the nature of what the attack could be . Is it that it could be in different places . Because we are such a wide area that is being covered. Obviously, we dont know where the location is. That is part of the problem. But what we have heard is some specifics on what is intended to be done and some individuals who are making plans such as we saw before 9 11, whether they are going to be suicide vest that are used suicide vests that are used or planning on vehicle borne bombs being carried into an area. We dont know. But we are hearing some kind of that same chatter, david, that we heard pre9 11, leading up to anecdotes like that taking place by the terrorists. And its a big deal. Vice President Biden gave us a classified briefing this last week. They identified more than 25 of our embassies around the world that are particularly vulnerable. More than 25. In the defense appropriations bill, which we wrote and sent to committee this week, i included 48 million specifically to great in 35 embassies around the world the security that we need to upgrade in 35 embassies around the world the security that we need. We need to realize were living in an increasingly dangerous world. This specific threat that we been briefed on over and over again has reached a new level. Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger is the topper Top Republican in the he said that the threat was from a highlevel person or people in al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and that the threat dealt with a major attack. Here is a portion of his remarks from his interview this morning. , what we have to do now is the most important issue is protect americans throughout the world, whether in intelligence community, military, or people in the state department, and citizens living throughout the world. We know that al qaeda and other people out there want to attack us and kill us and our allies. The good news is that we have picked up intelligence. That is what we do. That is what nsa does. And as a possible purpose is to get information intelligence to sole purposeas is to get information and intelligence you have heard that operatives are in place. Those operatives are in place because we received information that is that highlevel people from al qaeda in the any villains are Arabian Peninsula are talking about a major attack and these people are highlevel. Whatever that intelligence is, we act upon it. Our first job is to protect the americans and other parts of the world. Commerce and king, this is , this congressman king has also spread domestically. We have beefed up security. I think americans dont really understand why this keeps growing in the last few days. First am a it was the embassy closings. Now domestically. Embassy, it was the closings, now domestically. Why the higher alert in america . Because this threat was so specific as to how in or miss it was going to be. Enormous it was going to be. The assumption is that it is probably most likely to happen in the middle east, at or about one of the embassies, but there is no guarantee of that. It could be europe, the united eight, a series of combined attacks. It could be the united states, a series of combined attacks. It could be like the liquid explosive where there were going to be a series of attacks carried out almost simultaneously. The administration has tried to, first with the embassies, then with the Global Travel advisory, and also readying state and local governments leading state and local governments know the nature of this threat oh that so that we can be on guard. We are stronger than we were al qaeda is stronger than it was on 9 11. Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is probably the most deadly. Ron paul also talked about the u. S. Embassy closings before the Young Americans for liberty conference. He is a former representative and was a 2012 residents are candidate. Lets take a look. I lean toward optimism. I am concerned of it about what other countries have done. They usually go toward a totalitarian. People get frightened. They scare people. Just like whats going on right now. We are told there are going to be a lot of attacks around the world. They are closing down the embassies. See, we just saved you from all this grief . We just saved all these attacks. The last 100 attacks that they said they stopped, the fbi, one of them was a real one. 99 were ones that they participated in and set up and enticed people, and trapped people into doing. And trapped and trapped entrapped people into doing. These are the lies of the government. We need to have an honest government is what we need. [applause] ron paul before the Young Americans for liberty conference. You can see those remarks in their entirety at 6 30 p. M. Eastern time after newsmakers. Embassy closings were also a topic on todays washington journal. Ee, who follows the state department for the Associated Press is joining us live on the phone. Thanks for being with us. What can you tell us at this hour . Guest there is not much new that we know since thursday or friday when the the notice of the embassy closures, and friday when the alert came out. I think right now, we are in kind of a wait and see mode to see what if anything is going to occur today, which is obviously, clearly a day of great concern, but also through the rest of this week, which marks the end of ramadan. And as you just mentioned, the alert expires on the 31st of august. I think right now that everyone is on their very on a very heightened sense of security. Intel people redoubling their efforts to see if they can get anymore specificity in terms of the threat. Unfortunately, in a situation like this, it is kind of just waiting to see what, if anything, happens. Host we should point out this is the start of the workweek week in muslim countries, correct . Guest correct. Most u. S. Embassies as well as embassies of other countries are open in much of the muslim world on sundays. It is the beginning of their work week. They work sunday to thursday. Host there have been some reports over the weekend that this as been too much information provided by the obama administration. How have state Department Officials or those that you have been able to talk to responded to that . Think it is difficult, the criticism. It is hard to find merit with a lot of this criticism. Because the state department, since the lockerbie bombing, you 1988 the pan am bombing in , has been operating under a no doublestandards rule, which means that threat information goes that goes to official American Employees and diplomats and others serving abroad needs to be or has to be shared with the american public. If they have a threat that they believe is specific and credible enough to close and embassy, any ash close and embassy, any embassy, to close an embassy, any embassy, they are required to shared with the public. I do not see really much merit in the criticism. I know some people have been complaining that the amount of specificity and the location identification of the closed indices may have tipped off or did tipped off potential attackers and may have alerted them to how their communications were intercepted or compromised, but i think in the interest of safety of official americans and private americans who are traveling, the state department is operating with out of an abundance of caution here, as they said, and they are required to do that. Host with nearly two dozen embassies closed this sunday, give us a sense of what has been happening behind the scenes. We know that the former ambassador to the united nations, susan rice, has been holding a series of closed door meetings. The president was briefed on this yesterday before departing for camp david. We assume he will also be briefed later this morning. Today, by the way, is the president s birthday. What else is happening, from your Vantage Point . Guest i think there is an increase and intensified interagency discussion about the situation out there. One thing i think that is interesting is there are, as you areioned, 21 embassies that usually open on sundays that are closed. These range from north africa, from mauritania, the western coast of africa, all the way through the middle east, but there are some interesting omissions in the list that the state department provided. There are several countries where embassies are open on sunday that have been targets of terrorist attacks, not the embassies themselves necessarily , but that are not on that list. If you look at it, morocco, tunisia, lebanon, turkey, and the big one, pakistan. Those embassies are not closed. What i think we can infer from this is that the source of the threat is specific enough and well known enough in terms of their area of operation that these facilities have not been closed. I also noticed that a country like indonesia, a moslem country Muslim Country that has been the site of numerous terrorist attacks, it is also anomalous. Also not on the list. So, i think that what we will see is the National Security officials, the state department, the pentagon, the intelligence agencies, really doubling down and taking a close look at what is going on throughout this broad swath of the year for the swath of the earth that is covered by this warning. Host the president this past week, meeting with the president of yemen in the oval office. That seems to be the key target at the moment, or the key source of questions from intelligence officials . Guest that is correct. While the u. S. Has closed this broad array of embassies, some european countries, the british, the french, the germans, notably have identified yemen as not only the possible source of the attack, but also the possible location. The have not issued a broader they have not issued a broader warning to their people. Host thank you for getting up early on this sunday for the latest on this story. We appreciate your time. Guest thank you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] the embassiesk at that will be closed as of today, a total of 21 embassies and consulates. Also in the news, Hassan Roman Rouhani has taken the oath of office. The new president of iran. It might lead to making a ran less isolated. Representatives from her or from more than 50 countries making iran less isolated. Representatives from more than 50 countries attended his swearingin. . If we turn away from the needs of others, we align ourselves with those forces which are bringing about the suffering. The white house is a bully pulpit. We ought to take advantage of it. Obesity in this country is nothing short of a Public Health crisis. I think i had little antenna. They told me when somebody had their own agenda. There is so much influence in that office. It would be a shame to waste it. I think they serve as a window on the past to what was going on with american women. She becomes the chief confidante. She is the only one in the world he can trust. Many of the women who were first ladies, a lot of them were writers. They wrote books. They are, in many cases, more interesting as human beings than their husbands. If only because they are not first and foremost defined and limited by political ambition. Edith roosevelt is one of the unsung heroes. When you go to the white house today, it is really Edith Roosevelts white house. Breathless, too much looking down, and i think it was a little too fast. Not enough change of pace. Yes, maam. I think in every case, the first lady has really done whatever has been her personality and her interest. She later wrote in her memoir she said, i never myself made any decisions. I only decided what was important and when to present it to my husband. When you stop and think about how much power that is, it is a lot of power. Part of the battle against cancer is to fight the fear that accompanies the disease. She transformed the way we look at these bugaboos and made it possible for countless people to survive and to flourish as a result. I dont know how many president s realistically had that kind of impact on the way we live our lives. Just Walking Around the white house grounds, i am constantly reminded about all of the people who have lived there before and particularly all of the women. First ladies influence and image, a cspan original series, produced in cooperation with the White House Historical association. Season 2 premieres september 9 as we explore the modern era and first ladies from Edith Roosevelt to michelle obama. In about half an hour, cspan will be taking you back to milwaukee, wisconsin, where the National Governors association will be wrapping up today. Their final panel of the day inl look at states roles cybersecurity. That will start at 12 15 pm eastern time. Until then, we will take a look at John Hickenloopers appearance on this mornings washington journal. Host this weekend, we are live at the nga summer meeting in milwaukee, wisconsin. We are pleased to be joined by governor John Hickenlooper, the former mayor of denver and now the democratic governor of colorado. Thank you for being with us. Guest you bet. Glad to be on your show. Host let me begin with one of the panels yesterday that people might have found interesting. The amount of money that states spend on incarceration and health care for inmates in state prisons. You were part of that panel discussion. What was your take away takeaway . Guest budgets have gone up continually in terms of incarceration. Some states more than others. The real trick is, a lot of the people we end up locking up for years have mentalhealth issues, other health issues. If we can address those Mental Health issues, they can live constructive lives outside and we are not spending 45,000 or 50,000 a year to keep them locked up. Host one of the goals of the governors meeting is to learn best practices when it comes to incarceration rates and the cost that states put forth to keep inmates in jails. What did you learn . Guest i thought the lesson from the state of washington, one of the best practices, they put together a framework to measure risk. If someone is really a threat to commit a violent crime, they want to make sure that person stays in prison as long as they should. If someone is nonviolent and has a high potential of getting a job and keeping a job and rejoining the flow of society, lets get them out of prison and get them through the Halfway House or whatever the Remediation Program is a take that burden off the taxpayers shoulders. Host we have one line set aside for those of you who live in colorado to talk to john 3883. Nlooper. 202585 you can also join us on facebook or send us a tweet. cspanwj. Implementation of the president s healthcare law continues, where is colorado at the mome . T moment . Guest i think we are on schedule. This coming winter and spring we will be able to achieve i have every confidence we will get it open and time. In time. The very ambitious registration numbers and targets we have got, were going to push real hard to make sure we make those as well. Host you were quoted that you were nervous when it came to those marketplace practices. Can you explain what you were talking about . Guest this is a new program that is very ambitious. It is not an existing program were trying to tweak. We are creating something new. That always has some risk with it. We have been spending a lot of time looking at the technology and software. Part of this is the regulations are very complex and we dont want people to be turned off by having to go through too much red tape. Were trying to say, how can we make this as simple as possible, make it easy for people to join . For many people, it will be the first time theyre able to get inexpensive health care the in their lives. Host as you know, House Republicans voted on 40 separate occasions to defund the to defund or eliimi eliminate the president s healthcare law. If you see what is happening here in washington, what is your reaction . Guest im not going to criticize people. You get dug into these positions sometimes. There were laws that came from the republican side maybe i did not like, but they are laws. We try to make them work the best we can. Healthcare is our law. Burgoyne to do everything we can to use that framework to lower cost. We are going to do everything we can to use that framework to lower cost. Costs have been going up out of control. You go back just four years ago. Only 10 of the doctors used Digital Information systems for their patient records and prescriptions. Only 20 of the hospitals. Everyone else was on paper. Now over half the doctors are using technology of one sort or another. Almost two thirds of hospitals. As that change occurs and allows us to contemplate controlling cost for the first time in a decade, there is an awf