Inclusion. Good day to you, im peter alexander. Weve been listening to the House Minority leader nancy pelosi as shes been speaking her first News Conference since donald trump elected as if president praising Hillary Clinton for efforts in the course of her campaign and saying its important that this country moves forward together. Right now, expecting to hear any moment from president obama alongside Angela Merkel in berlin, they will both be taking questions as well. This, of course, part of the president s final overseas trip as commander in chief. In fact, his final trip to europe as president. We will bring you that News Conference live but we do want to begin with some breaking news that weve been reporting here on msnbc. It comes from the pentagon. James clapper, the director of National Intelligence announced his resignation from his post. I submitted my letter of resignation last night which felt pretty good. I got 64 days left and i think id have a hard time with my wife with anything past that. Nbc news correspondent hans nichols who was at the hearing and a sense not so much a surprise, clapper had said that this was going to be happening nonetheless. It does sort of indicate the real wholesale changes that are about to take place in terms of the american intelligence infrastructure. Reporter peter, thats exactly right. President elect donald trump needs to fill a variety. We have a clear telegraph and did this early, giving them plenty of time but essentially putting the trump team on notice. I am not going to stick around. He said this before, its not a huge surprise. He will serve up until the very end. Thats vejanuary 20th when the inauguration takes place to be there for the next 64 days. His office is making that very clear. Whats also clear is the trump team has not contacted the pentagon and we do not have a lot of indication that these ground teams are up and running and this transition is moving fast as some in the Intel Community might like it to move. Peter . Hans nichols reporting. The head of the dni. Hans, thank you, as we wait to hear from the president. This News Conference taking place in germany with that countrys chancellor, Angela Merkel. Worth noting president elect donald trump will be an extremely busy day for him at trump tower and the first meeting with a foreign leader and tweeted this morning, my transition team, working long hours and doing a fantastic job will be seeing many great candidates today. That revolving door should be spinning all day. Kellyanne conway confirming on morning joe the president elect will meet with japanese Prime Minister shinzo a abe, his first face to face meeting with a foreign leader. She confirmed the president elect to meet with nikki haley, South Carolina governor, a short list of secretary for state as first reported here on msnbc and heres what conway said about former new york city mayor Rudy Giulianis public pronouncements indicating he wants to be secretary of state. These conversations are always best in private. Particularly when you form a cabinet and a senior staff, no question. Thats why i wont say too much about myself. He would have a certain presence around the world but someone highly involved with the transition, we have long short lists for every position. Expected at trump tower, this man. Florida governor rick scott fueling speculation hes considered for a job in the Trump Administration. Cnbc last week, doesnt plan on being a cabinet member but he was certain one of the first on board with the Trump Campaign and as we await announcements of picks for this new Trump Administration, a top official telling nbc news that the president elect expected today, retired army mike flynn whos been a trump advisor as his National Security advisor. Nbcs kristen welker, my friend and colleague with us in the washington bureaus. You were among the first to get this new information that he is the leading contender to be clear for this role. Weve been talking about his sort of proximity to trump. I traveled with him for months, trump, and flynn was there much of the time. This is a guy that he relies on closely. All signs are pointing to Lieutenant GeneralMichael Flynn but nothing is finalized until we hear it come from trumps mouth or a press release as it were. This is someone who, as you point out, essentially serving in the role of National Security advisors throughout the campaign and i think theres a couple of key things to think about here. He has the loyalty aspect that trump values so much. Were seeing in number of these picks or the people hes eyeing, folks who have been loyal to him and then second of all, hes a little bit controversial. Hes someone who kind of eschews Political Correctness and i think appeals to president elect trump. He is unconventional. That has given some democrats pause for concern. Hes someone who has. Hes turned off most of the intelligence community. He has. At the Republican National committee, stood on the stage, said lock her up, you dont typically see these folks engage in politics. And questions about how he handled sensitive material. He said, look, all of that is false and misinformation. Bottom line here, theres some questions about his past that undoubtedly the Trump Transition Team is looking into. Theyre going to have to determine if theyre comfortable with that and president elect trump will determine if hes comfortable with that. I think whats striking though, peter, we see the the urgency inten start to fill out some of the blanks of whos going to be in this administration. Among the blanks is secretary of state. Worlds top diplomat, traveling around the globe as Hillary Clinton did recently and john kerry does now and the idea of a secretary of state nikki haley is an interesting one for a variety of reasons. We know little about her Foreign Policy, not just credentials but her positions and the fact that she was not a trump loyalist. This is a person very critical of him over the course of the campaign and remember stand by side with marco rubio which seemed to be a shot across with jeb bush back in the primaries. This is what trump tweeted then. The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by nikki haley. So what message is donald trump sending by, in effect, taking this meeting with haley right now . I have to think about the team of rivals, right . I think that theres a lot of people who are saying to him, its important to expand your scope beyond just loyalists. Nikki haley would obviously be a diverse choice. Shes a woman. Shes a minority. Shes someone who is widely respected in South Carolina. I think your point about, does she actually have the Foreign Policy credentials . That was the key question. Donald trump doesnt. He needs someone an anchor in the role undoubtedly. She may be and thats what hell find out when talking to her today and you recall at the rnc, one of our reporters asked a question to him. Are you going to vote for donald trump . And she dodged that question. So i think thats going to be an issue. Thats going to be a real question, something hell have the get over but who did president obama pick for secretary of state . Hillary clinton, one of his rivals. The bottom line, they try to create diversity, not just demographically but geographically, check all the boxes as well which matters in a cabinet as well is. Good to see you. Thank you. We follow breaking news from germany. We expect shortly to hear from the president and german president Angela Merkel. You can see the scene, flags in position. Theyll hold this News Conference after having a private meeting. This is, we reported, president obamas last trip overseas and trying to assure world leaders, many rattled by the election of donald trump and america is committed to strong relations. Nbc news senior White House Correspondent chris jansing. Shes been traveling with the president through europe on this trip. The german media has called the election, a quote, dirty mud campaign and characterized the presidency as apocalypse now. Has the focus of the leg on Donald Trumps trip been . Reporter everyone including the president by his own admission was stunned by what happened and they dont know what to expect. Take a look. This was after the election, oh my god, with statue of liberty over her face but the main magazine here, the end of the world with a meteor that looks like donald trump. To say the people here are unsettled is again, an understatement. You have issues from the economy, trade, huge trading partners, the u. S. And germany. Climate change. All those things that the president thought he was going to come here to kind of take a victory lap, he has such a close relationship and such a meeting of the minds on so many issues with Angela Merkel and obviously, peter, its turned into something very different. Some reporting, not yet confirmed by nbc news but mike pence meeting privately with House Republicans a short time ago that pence told republicans according to these reports right now that donald trump told the president to reassure european allies that the president elect does believe in a strong nato alliance. Whats striking is it comes on top of this joint oped today for a german business magazine, the future of these Transatlantic Relations right now. What was the message delivered in that sort of shared statement . In effect, a rebuttal from merkel and president obama to donald trump . Reporter i mean, obviously, they have this world view that they share. They want the world to know where they stand. I think, nato, a strong support for nato is important. Donald trump has talked about how many countries dont pay their fair share into nato. I think this was really trying in many ways to refocus attention on the issues at hand. I talked a little earlier, peter, to the National Security advisor, susan reiss. A lot this was going to be in some part a fun trip for them, a place where the president had 200,000 people screaming for him when he first visited berlin in 2008 but instead talked about the intensive meetings going on, peter. Chris jansing, traveling with the president in berlin. Thank you very much. Outstanding reporting over the course of the last 72 hours. I want to get right now to our panel, ryan crocker, the former ambassador to syria, iraq, and now executive professor at texas a m university and nbc news chief correspondent Richard Engel joining us as well. Ambassador, ill start with you. Quickly to get your reaction if i can to the National Director james clapper. He resigned, not going to be here for the transition into Donald Trumps presidency. What is the impact in the handoff from Barack Obamas administration to the one that will follow . As you said, this was widely expected by people whove followed National Security developments. Director clapper has been saying it for months in private so this is not something we need to spin up into another mini crisis of competent people. Talk about intelligence passed from one director to a next, in effect. Theres a whole new community of Intelligence Leaders that are expected to come not the least of whom is the potential nsa, the new National Security advisor of the president , likely to be the Lieutenant GeneralMichael Flynn. I think that is why general clapper announced this as soon as he did. So there will be a lot of time here and more than 60 days for the new administration to decide who they want to go into that job, so whatever else happens in this transition, this should be fairly seamless. The security and intelligence front, the White House Press conference josh earnest on morning joe today asked about a concern of a postelection terror attack either here or abroad as a way in effect to test president elect trump. Heres what he said. There is always vigilance about doing what is necessary to protect our homeland and to protect our allies and the truth is that vigilance would be in place whether or not an election has just occurred. And this is the kind of cooperation and coordination with diplomats, military, Law Enforcement thats critical to the success of our efforts to keep our country and our allies safe. Richard, talk about that coordination, that effort. The Foreign Community right now, what theyre saying as they witness donald trump coming to power about the cooperation for terror attacks and threats around the world. Frankly, he was giving a diplomatic answer and always on alert but the fact of the matter is i think that isis right now has a lot to prove and isis sees this as a good opportunity. One, it has to prove that the group is still relevant. Its taking losses in iraq and in syria but mostly in iraq right now around the city, in and around the city of mosul. So the group is trying to come out and come out swinging. Also, isis has made it clear that it sees Donald Trumps asen d ascendancy. Antimuslim statements. Perhaps isis could use to their advantage to attract recruits, so i would say that there is a possibility that isis could try and make hay in this period, carry out some sort of attack whether the group has the ability to do that remains to be seen and most Security Experts were talking to say that the threat continues to be against the american interests, abroad more than in this country directly. Ambassador, what keeps you up at night on this front . What are the things you worry about most as we lead into a new administration in terms of the security, National Security as it affects americans and this country . I would really agree with richard in terms of the motives of our enemy. They are going to want to cause us pain. I think theyre less encumbered by the calendar. Its when they can get something together to pull the trigger on it and weve got to be ready. What keeps me up at night . I worry about the structure of transition. What do you mean by that . President elect does not have experience in the National Security world. Thats important in and of itself but also very important what team he surrounds himself with. Thats why, whos going to be named to state, to defense, National Security advisor. Its got to be a strong team. And i would also say, it kind of needs to be composed of people who are not exactly like the president elect himself. Once we see those three key appointments, i would add dni to it now, i think that will tell us a lot about how the Trump Administration is going to function at the highest levels. So what do you make of nacme like nikki haley, no Foreign Policy experience or credentials like donald trump. Is it necessary to have that experience on the foreign stage to serve in that capacity . Its always a good idea. Is it absolutely essential . No. We have had instances of very capable cabinet level individuals who also didnt have that kind of experience. But again, im certainly not going to sit here and speculate who the president elect is going to pick. Its a Great Washington parlor game but i think we need not to get ourselves all spun up until were looking at the shape of the administration. Richard, the reporting today is that the leading contender for National Security advisor is the Lieutenant GeneralMichael Flynn. Give us a sense. Obviously, hes a controversial figure. Even in republican circles, recommending regime change and close ties to russia. Can you give us a better understanding of his bio and why it poses some concern for some people right now . Hes seen as quite aggressive. Hes seen as someone who is not, doesnt have great diplomatic skills. He wants what he wants. Believes what he believes. Hes been seen as quite hawkish against islam, believes that islam is truly, or a part of islam is truly at war with the United States. Hell say to his credit, he was an early recognizer of the dangers of isis. But he is not necessarily seen, hes seen as someone who looks to the hammer, frankly, more than diplomacy and if that is the case, hes talked about his close ties with russia, hes gone to russia. I think thats going to create a lot of concern right now. Lets take it issue by issue. If you look at syria, for example, is he going to get more involved in syria or agree with russia that what Bashar Al Assad is doing right now is in fact a counterterrorism campaign, joint alliance with russia . Frankly, there are a lot of concerns and some are legitimate. Nbc news chief foreign correspondent. Gentlemen, thank you, we appreciate it. Breaking news right now fr