Habitat. What was supposed to be a lovely sunset wedding in a hot air balloon ended this way. You see that lovely lady thats a. Y. Mccarrons girlfriend. What a beautiful woman. Whoa a. J. s doing it right. 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. Come to america, you can become an american and join the republic. Are you finished . On cbs this morning. Some people are seriously floating the idea of a trilliondollar coin as a solution to the countrys next fiscal crisis. We should have known a coin was obamas solution to everything. It was right there in his slogan change. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs this morning. There is at least one more issue for congress to fight about in the new year president obama announced yesterday he is nominating former republican senator chuck hagel to lead the defense department. At the cia the president wants his chief counterterrorism adviser john brennan to be in charge. Both must be confirmed by the senate where the former senator faces intense criticism. Bill plante is at the white house. Good morning. Reporter good morning and good morning in the west. The president praised hagel as a vietnam vet who bears the scars of his war wounds the first enlisted soldier to head the department of defense, it was a clear effort to convince skeptical republicans and democrats in the senate that hagel is the right man for the job. He understands that sending Young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, thats something we only do when its absolutely necessary. Reporter praising hagels independence, mr. Obama seems to challenge his opponents in the senate. In the senate i came to admire his courage and his judgment, his willingness to speak his mind even if it wasnt popular. Mr. President , im grateful for this opportunity to serve our country again, and especially its men and women in uniform and their families. Reporter pushback was swift from members of hagels own party. Senator john mccain warned i have serious concerns about positions senator hagel has taken on a range of Critical National security issues. Top Senate Republican leader john cornyn went further i will not support chuck hagels nomination much of the criticism on his opinion on iran in favor of talks. Dan coats. When it comes to National Security you need a top rated person, i dont think chuck hagel fits that bill. Reporter coats tells cbs news he has not decided if hell support hagel. Democrats also have tough questions about what critics call antigay comments that hagel made more than a decade ago. Hagel has since apologized. To see if his apology is sincere, and sufficient i want to hear how hes evolved on this issue in the last 14 years. Reporter hagel came to his own defense monday saying in an interview that critics have completely distorted his record adding all i ask is a fair hearing, a full open transparent hearing about my qualifications and record. Hagel also faces criticism hes not sufficient and has had criticism to israel. Theres also some pushback to the nomination of john brennan to lead the cia. Some senators have questions about his involvement in harsh interrogation techniques when he served at the cia during the george w. Bush administration. Norah charlie . Bill plante, thanks. Former georgia senator max cleland went on to serve from vietnam to capitol hill with chuck hagel. Good morning. Good morning. You say the charge is baseless, the opposition is baseless. Where do you think it comes from . I dont know where it comes from. I think anybody that gets nominated for such a top position here as secretary of defense is going to be fully scrutinized and thats the role of the senate so the next step in this process is the Senate Hearing but theres no doubt in my mind that the senate will ultimately confirm chuck hagel for the secretary of defense slot because nobody is going to really seriously consider vetoing this choice of the president in the middle of a war. Do you think we will have modify 1 2 the positions hes expressed in order to suggest that is he in fact exactly where the president is for example, on iran . No. No, i dont think chuck hagel has to modify anything. I think he has to clarify before the senate and before the public exactly where he stands and what his record is, because his record has been distorted. Lot of that has been shadow boxing by his critics, theyre swatting at nothing, and when you see chuck hagel before the United StatesSenate Armed Services committee where i sat for six years, youll see that chuck haguele is exactly the kind of person we need. Hes been shot at and hit and got holes in his tshirt on the battlefield, that will bring him great credibility in the department of defense because thats exactly what happens to our young men and women abroad especially those in afghanistan. Senator, lets talk then about some of the specifics of what senator hagel has said in the past. He has called for direct unconditional and comprehensive talks with the government of iran, and he has opposed unilateral sanctions in the past. What do you say to those critics of senator hagel who say his record shows hes not been tough enough on iran . Express those concerns in the hearing, thats exactly the forum that should be the proper forum for these concerns to be expressed. Thats the next step in the confirmation process. That is where the senate plays its role to advise and consent, but theres no doubt in my mind that ultimately the senate will consent to chuck hagel being secretary of defense. Not only has he been shot at on the battlefield hes been shot at on the battlefield in washington, he understands whats going on and able to defend himself. He has also called for direct talks with hamas, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and in 2006 he was only one of only 12 senators who refused to write the eu asking them to declare hezbollah a terrorist organization. Why did he do that . Chuck hagel is his own man. He wears no mans collar and he will continue to be his own man. That is the kind of person you want as secretary of state, when youre in the room deciding about war and peace. You want somebody to give their honest opinion. Chuck hagels opinions can come out in the hearings and the American People can decide. Theres no question about the fact that the senate i think will ultimately confirm by an overwhelming majority chuck hagel as secretary of defense because nobody is going to really seriously consider violating the president s choice here in the middle of a war, in the middle of a shooting war. Senator cleland, its good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. On monday the president said his cia nominee, john brennan, helped him create the strategy that has devastated the leadership of al qaeda. Senior correspondent john miller former Deputy Director of National Intelligence is with us. John thanks so much for joining us. Good morning. Welcome back. Thank you, sir, nice to be back. We were talking with senator cleland will senator hagel nominated as defense secretary, john brennan to head the cia. What does this tell us about what president obama wants in his new National Security team for the second term . I think with both of these nominations nominations especially brennan with the first administration, we thought of these people the first time around and didnt want to get into a messy fight this time we dont care well pick the people we want and going to get them through. Doesnt mean the process is going to be pretty but they seem confident. Theyre looking from john brennan is somebody who can hit the ground running, met all the world leaders, worked in the cia, understands counterterrorism first understandss peenage understands espionage and the rest of it. Hes pushing for the drone attacks. He is one of the architects of the drone process. He didnt invent it but as it went to use, he is one of the key people who built the rules around it and the processes for it, and the fact that these strikes had to be approved through a process at the white house level. Do you believe as director of the cia he will be enthusiastic about a more paramilitary cia . I think what john brennan has probably come to learn in the transition through his last tour three jobs the cia, the National Counterterrorism in the white house and the National Counterterrorism adviser is the shape and size of war has changed, that its not just today about putting a big green machine of 20 or 40 or 50,000 soldiers in a place. Its about using intelligence from satellites from signals intelligence, from human sources and careful deployment of special forces like drones that can take care of a problem in a place. So i have two questions, one is on the drones and one is on the enhanced interrogation policy. First on the drones theres an interesting section in the Washington Post today which points out how much the drone attacks have soared under president obama and john brennan, who served under him, 390 in the past decade in pakistan and yemen, and 340 of those were under obama and brennan, while brennan was serving him. What does that say . Is brennan partly responsible for these drone attacks . What does that say about, people are very critical of these drone attacks. Well success has many fathers and controversy has feuders, the drone attacks brings both. This process was fathered and naureur ud by mike hayden when he was the director of the cia at the very tail end of the bush administration. John brennan comes in at the beginning of the Obama Administration and builds white house policy and process around it. Thats also one of the reasons there are few Al Qaeda LeadersWalking Around today. Weve gone from leon panetta to David Petraeus briefly and now if john brennan is confirmed, john brennan. Is the cia changing . The cia has changed drastically drastically, charlie. One of the discussions about john brennan is going to be aside from the counterterrorism paramilitary and drone world they have to get back to regular spying. John miller, thank you. The only suspect to be jailed after the attack that killed the ambassador to libya is free this morning. His lawyer says he was released last night because of a lack of evidence. On month secretary of state Hillary Clinton told her staff she will testify to Congress Later this month about the attack in benghazi, libya. We look at secretary clinton back on the job, she was greeted monday by cheers of staffer, and gave her a football helmet because of her concussion and blood clot. The secretary said thanks and then went straight into a senior staff meeting. Gripping testimony is expected at a Pretrial Hearing on the aurora colorado theater massacre. Prosecutors are laying out their case against the suspect james holmes. The hearing is expected to last all week. Barry petersen is at the courthouse in centennial colorado, good morning. Reporter good morning, charlie and norah. It was a difficult day in the courtroom, difficult for the Police Officers who were first on the scene, difficult for families of victims who came to hear the testimony, a difficult day with one apparent exception, james holmes. He was shackled as he was led in, showed no emotion and never looked at the families of victims who were there. Among them tom teves whose son, alex, was shot and killed in the theater. He had a message for holmes. If i could Say Something to him id ask him to be courageous and kill himself, because hes a coward. Reporter officer jason oviatt spotted holmes standing by a car wearing body armor and arrested him at gunpoint when he realized hoem was not a policeman. Holmes reaction said oviatt he was very relaxed. There was no normal emotional response. He seemed very detached from it all. Ambulances were slowed to arrive so officer justin made four trips taking the wounded to the hospital in a squad car, one of them caleb medly, i screamed he said dont die on me dont die on me. Medly survived. 6yearold Veronica Sullivan did not, Mary Ellen Hansen was with us and described her lifeless body. It was gutwrenching, it really was to think that a 6yearold childs life was snuffed out in seconds. Reporter some families sat in nearby rooms listening to the testimony, but sam soudani whose daughter was shot and badly wounded was in the courtroom in part to see holmes in person. What do you want done with him . I dont care. Hes just a piece of trash put him in the dumpster. Reporter later this week its expected that the defense will call experts to testify about holmes mental state. Some courtroom observers say this could be a prelude to an insanity defense. Charlie and norah . Barry petersen thank you. As the testimony resumes, Gabrielle Giffords is launching a new effort to reduce gun violence. She was wounded two years ago today in a mass shooting that killed six people. Vice president joe bidens task force is Holding Meetings to discuss new gun regulations. Cbs news political director John Dickerson is following that story. Good morning. Good morning, charlie. How much pressure comes from the gun control lobby . Well theyre trying to increase their pressure. If you think of this debate one way to think of it is sort of organization that the nra has longstanding organization in washington versus emotion and what the gun control lobby is trying to do is keep people, remind people of situations like in tucson two years ago or aurora or newtown, and when you talk to people who have been working with the biden task force and who have been trying to rally new support here they say they have about 30 days after one of these massacres before Public Opinion starts to go back to other kinds of issues and so theyre trying to grab that window to make Something Different this time. Do they believe that there is Something Different, though because this was about those 20 young kids rather than a normal kinds of awful tragic shootings . Thats exactly right, charlie. They think that something has changed here theres a boiling point and the strategy is to take the awful nature of this most recent mass shooting and to try to do two things one, break the nras membership apart, to argue basically the nra membership is different than the leadership of the nra and also to go to gun dealers like walmart and to say, look responsible gun dealers join us in trying to deal with some of these issues were trying to get past in terms of background checks or in terms of high capacity magazine clips, and to try to break apart the coalition thats been so hard to break apart over these last years. John, what do we see now mayor Michael Bloomberg has sent some of his staffers down to the white house to work with Vice President joe biden. Do you expect at the end of the day there will be more executive action than legislative action on gun control . Thats the big question. When you talk to people who have been in these meetings they say its a broad series of things theyre discussing. The key question, what president obama going to do . He can keep something on the agenda and thats the big question all these folks are waiting to see answered. John dickerson, thank you. For the third time in four years alabama is number one, the crimson tide rolls over notre dame 4214 last night to win the bcs College Football championship in miami. The undefeated fighting irish were no match for a. J. Mccarron who threw four touchdown passes. It is time to show you some of this mornings headlines from around the globe. The New York Times reports an effort to stop syria from using chemical weapons. Israeli intelligence reported syrias government was preparing it for forces the United States gave a public warning and assad regime got private messages from iraq turkey and others. The syrians backed down. The San Francisco chronicle says an empty oil tanker sideswiped the bay bridge between oakland and San Francisco. No oil spilled into the bay and the bridge was not damaged. The boston globe says investigators are investigating a mishap aboard an empty boeing 787 dreamliner at logan airport. No one was hurt. According to the telegraph the captain of the Costa Concordia says he was painted worse than osama bin laden. We are starting out with patchy dense fog in spots although this is a nice shot. Looks like sunrise. A gorgeous day outside, some of that patchy fog showing up in the east bay valleys and a dense fog advisory through 9 a. M. 30s and 40s right now. By the afternoon, hazy sunshine and the warmest day of the week 50s and some 60s outside. Next couple of days big changes. Slight chance of showers tomorrow. Very cold into thursday and friday. Announcer this National Weather report sponsored by subway restaurants. Amazingly under 200 calories. A new report says every year americans are dying of cancer but some forms of the disease are killing more of us. Well go inside the numbers this morning with a doctor who says one simple change in lifestyle could reduce cancer deaths dramatically. Doctors suspected heart trouble after a chicago Lottery Winner died suddenly. The initial investigation didnt suggest anything suspicious about his death, no flags. A few months later, they looked again, and well show you why police now suspect the man was poisoned for his lottery check on cbs this morning. Announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by h r block. These sweet honey clustery things have fiber . Fiber one. Almost tastes like one of jacks cereals