0 intelligence community, but others in government and outside of government, how we might apply and incorporate their recommendations and i'm going to make a pretty definitive statement about this in january. >> so, what can we expect to see from the administration? peter alexander is working in honolulu where the president is vacationing for the next couple of weeks. hello to you, and tell us, what changes can we possibly look forward to with the president and these nsa surveillance programs? >> not to worry. i think we'll make a dip in the ocean before this trip is over. it is a working vacation for the president, but we'll keep a close eye on things, including this nsa conversation. the president is going to be signing off on some major changes as to how the u.s. gathers intelligence. that could include making it so that the nsa is not the one that stores that significant data, girls out for a little bit of shaved ice. there are no public events scheduled during the course of the time that he's here. obviously, he'll likely have some morning workouts and golf time, none of which people back at home will see. not a lot of news is expected to come out of the time here, but of course, he has his daily briefing each morning. it's actually his wife, the first lady's brother, craig robinson, also the head basketball coach at oregon state university, they are playing here in a tournament in week, so at some point, it's possible we'll see the president making a little jaunt over in that direction to watch the oregon state team play as well. >> peter alexander working in honolulu. thank you so much. want to turn now to the war on drugs. this week, president obama commuted the sentences of eight people serving long prison terms for crack-cocaine convictions as part of the administration's effort to reduce what it calls undually harsh sentences for drug crimes. let me turn to charlie wrangle who's on views on drugs have evolved. you think this was the right thing for the president to do, to commute these sentences, an should he do more? >> i hope he does more. when i was prosecuting in the federal courts, we were going against drug cartels that were in turkey and france and when you had a good bust there, you could see the impact on the streets. now, everyone's an independent dealer and i have thought that the severe sentences would be a deterrent, but actually, it's really been a war against poor folks and people that didn't have lawyers and with mandatory sentences, it's been totally unfair. >> as you look back now as being one of those advocates, one of those prosecutors, one of those congressmen, you talked about pushing nixon, pushing reagan to have this war on drugs. do you look back with some kind of i don't know if regret was the right word, but different eyes now to know that you are really a part of pushing what the ag holder has decimated some minority communities? >> not at all. i'm talking about cartels where drug traffickers were killing up communities. internationally. and dead men told no tales. we weren't talking about street peddlers. but we did have the foresight to think these laws would have the impact on the person on the street. >> obviously, it was a very difficult time for politicians and i'm not one of them. to be afraid of saying they're soft on crime. this is one of the things that the president in his last term, can do a whole lot of things and perhaps make it easier on public officials to know that this doesn't make sense. we have more people locked up in our jails and prisons that all of the countries in the world and it's costing us $80 billion a year. >> part of this, do you think the fair sentencing act should be made retroactive? it was put in place, it should be. >> of course. >> kids in jail that serve 15, 20 years or three life sentences. the insanity of this whole thing to take away discretion away from the judges, it doesn't make any sense and if you're talking about economics of it all, it costs about $40,000 a year to keep some person in jail who in the additional cost of medical care, clothing, they don't make any productive contribution to society. and more often than not, they return. so, this doesn't make sense. the president has started an initiative. i hope governors start looking the same way because it's really causing an impact on their budgets. >> the president commuted the sentences of eight people who had been in prison 15 plus years already. is that enough even if the president commutes more? can't commute enough to have the impact that making the fair sentencing act retroactive, or are you saying congress should do something? >> i'm saying that if there are people in the congress that if the president got out of the boat and walked on water, they would criticize him for not being able to swim. we have to see if common sense could reach the republicans because we can set an example for the whole world in saying just jailing people, poor folks without lawyers and keeping them locked up in warehouses is not good for the country or the economy. >> you still character ooiz it as a war on drugs? >> no, no, this is a war of the united states of america. this is a war against young people. if we would spend $30,000 a year on kids and education and giving them job opportunities, they wouldn't be in jail today. if you don't have hope, a track, if you don't believe that you can make it, jail doesn't deter anyone. >> last thing here. no doubt, you're a young 83. i don't think there's any question about that. another term in congress. it would be your 23rd. why are -- how, i guess is one question. how do you keep going? why keep going? do you think there's still more to do? is it time for a new look, some fresh blood in that seat? you could go off into the sunset right now. >> i really cannot afford not to take the excitement of the last years of president obama. i'm so excited in being involved in national health care. it came out of my committee. it's not working completely yet, but it will work. the despairty between the rich and the poor, no president has ever talked about the middle class, the way he does and about the right of education. all of these things are with him in the beginning and i feel there's a lot of things that has to be done and quite frankly at this point in time, the community really hasn't found anyone that knows the full new district and many of those who want to succeed say hey, a couple more years, i'll be ready to go. in a couple more years, i'll be ready to go, too. >> you're looking good, always going strong and all the times i've seen you, you always have more energy than i do. >> have a great holiday. >> topping the headlines, four u.s. service members wounded after a mission to evacuate from south sudan. the country on the verge of civil war. president obama released a statement about the situation in the country thursday saying quote, south sudan stands at the precipice recent fighting threatens to plunge south sudan back into the dark days of the past. also, same-sex couples in utah rush to salt lake city to a courthouse there to get married friday after a federal judge ruled the state's same sex marriage ban uninstitutional. the judge said the ban violated the right of gay couples to due process and equal protection under the u.s. constitution. they will seek an emergency stay while they appeal it to a court. an estimated 95 million of you are set to hit the roads and skies this holiday weekend, but the weather may not be cooperating for a lot of folks. a massive winter storm bringing snow and ice to parts of the country already caused problems on the road in washington state. the south getting a dose of severe weather that will include rain, flooding and yes, even possible ly tornados. let's check in with mike bettes in greenville, mississippi. just how bad could things get down there? >> it's amazing to think this is the first day of winter and we've got an ice storm, a snowstorm and a tornado outbreak on the same day. we're in greenville, mississippi. kind of seems like this is the epicenter of what happens today. behind me, an ominous sky. going to show you just an instant of what's happening here. you see this flag right here? winds are very, very strong out of the south and temperatures are 75 to 80 degrees. that strong wind from the south at the surface and a very strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere from the southwest that causes this rotation in the atmosphere and that will cause supercell thunderstorms to rotate today and possibly spin up tornados and we think it could be a lot of tornados. tornado watches are in effect from houston up through memphis, so millions of people that would be impacted by not only flood g floodinging, not om thunderstorm, but yes, tornados and they could last past sunset, so a nighttime threat for a lot of people. once we go to bed, tornados will not quit. also, awful travel conditions. significant ice in the south and maybe as much as a foot of snow in milwaukee today. one of the worst weather days we've had of the year. >> we appreciate you. thanks so much. also, coming up, mission almost accomplished. nasa astronauts have just wrapped up a daring repair mission on the internashl space station. how it all went down. probably shouldn't say went down when i'm talking about space, huh? also on the home front, as america winds down, the war in afghanistan, are we prepared to help the thousands of veterans and their families make the transition here at home? also, a photo fight. team obama trying to control the message by shutting out the media? nah. how are things with the new guy?