Before those four tours in vietnam, before that remarkable tour in korea David Hackworth also served at the very tail end of world war ii. And the reason his career was able to span that distance, to span all those different conflicts over those decades is in part because he started really, really young. He used a fake i. D. To sign up in the first place when he was 15 years old. According to his New York Times obituary he, quote, paid a wineo to pose as his father to certify he was old enough to join the u. S. Army. He signed up at 15. In his career in the army David Hackworth was awarded ten silver stars and eight bronze stars and eight purple hearts. David hackworth was his name, one of the most decorated soldiers of his generation or of any generation. David hackworth was just 40 years old and a full bird colonel in 1971 when having just served those four hard tours in vietnam he decided back in the United States that he would go on tv as a serving u. S. Army colonel because he felt like he had something to say to the American Public about the vietnam war that this country was still in, that he had been fighting in for all those years. On june 27th, 1971, David Hackworth appeared on an abc news show called issues and answers. He called vietnam a bad war. He said the United States should get out. He basically made the case that it was unwinnable. It is a powerful thing in our country when a veteran, especially a decorated veteran like him decides to speak out about a war that america is currently engaged in. When David Hackworth went on tv in june 1971 and called vietnam a veteran at that point, i wasnt a veteran. He was still in the army. He was still serving as a very, very highly decorated u. S. Army colonel. So that decision from that position to make that dramatic pronouncement about war on the tv news, that was how the u. S. Army lost the best Battalion Commander i ever saw in the u. S. Army. After he made those public remarks criticizing the war David Hackworth got out of the army in 1971, he had to after criticizing the war as a serving officer in that way, at least he believed he had to. Gave up his medals in protest although they were eventually reinstated years later. David hackworth moved halfway around the world. He lived in australia and became a successful businessman there. Then he started writing books, acclaimed books about the u. S. Military and about our modern wars and ultimately he ended up coming back to the u. S. To become a military journalist. For a long time he served as defense editor at u. S. News magazine and he started to write a syndicated column for king features. In november 2004, a year and a half into the iraq war, David Hackworth in one of his syndicated columns, he broke the news that Donald Rumsfeld was using an auto pen, a machine or stamp to automatically sign more than 1,000 condolence letters that the Bush Administration had to send to families of soldiers who had been killed in iraq. They were machine signed, form letters. Pentagon initially denied it and then they repeatedly denied it, but David Hackworth turns out had him dead to right. He had great sources. He had interviews with a dozen family members who were next of kin to family members served in iraq. He found two pentagon concerns who were said to be indignant about rumsfelds decision even after they decided on anonymity. Once David Hackworth broke the story, other news organizations were able to follow his reporting, track down those letters. In fact, he was proven to be right. It was november 2004 when hackworth wrote that column. The following month, december 2004 it was leo shane writing stars and stripes, ivan med a medina, a new york resident, whose twin brother irving told stripes, quote, to me its an insult not only as someone who lost a loved one but also as someone who served in iraq. Illinois Betty Sullivan whose son was killed in 2003, she was incensed when she and her sons wife and her grandchildren all received the exact same condolence letter with the apparently stamped signature. Sullivan told stripes, quote, how many signatures does this amount to . For those of his wife and children and mother, no, no, no. So David Hackworth started off that reporting. The pentagon denied it, but hackworth was proven out and Donald Rumsfeld and the pentagon ultimately relented. December 16th Donald Rumsfeld put out a surreal statement which i should note never technically admitted it. I have directed that in the future i sign each letter. Okay. And the surrealness of that statement and the behavior of Donald Rumsfeld, it was a little snapshot of the george w. Bush administration on this issue. Beyond that personal strangeness from rumsfeld, this is not the issue on which you find a lot of dissent. You might find denial, but once it was known what they were doing, there really wasnt anybody in the country who didnt have the same feeling about what the Bush Administration had just bumbled into them there and what hackworth discovered they were doing. Who thought that was a good idea . You might have disbelieved it when you first heard the reporting. Once you found out it was true, callousness and impersonal treatment of soldiers killed in battle and their families back home. It is a hot third rail, not just in american politics but in american values, american ethics. The george w. Bush administration had also banned any public footage of soldiers remains being transferred home on flights from iraq and afghanistan at dover airbase. They said at the time it was somehow out of respect that they wouldnt allow anybody to see those dignified transfer ceremonies. There was a fierce fight about how that decision by the Bush Administration also shielded the public from the cost of the war by effectively hiding the loss of those service members. When barack obama was sworn in in 2009, he immediately lifted the blanket ban on that transfer. We are once again able to see ceremonies like this. He lifted that ban in 2009, february 2009 right after the inauguration. A couple years later in 2011 president obama changed the policy on the condolence letters further. They were sent to soldiers family members after a soldier dies in theater. President obama changed the rules around those in 2011 so in addition to writing those condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in combat, president obama in 2011 also started sending the same kind of letter to families of soldiers who committed suicide in the war zone. Since, after all, those are war deaths, too. But this is just incredibly solemn, incredibly serious stuff for all the obvious reasons, right . Theres one thing a country should keep faith about. Its the thanks and respect to the families of the people who gave their lives for this country, right . If theres something that should be handled solemnly in this country. And, you know, if there ace anything that everybody can agree should be taken with solemnity and respect, it must be this. Today President Trump in the rose garden claimed offhandedly that president obama never called the families of Fallen Soldiers. When President Trump said that today nobody had actually asked him about president obama. Nobody had asked him about the policy and practice of calling families of Fallen Soldiers at all, but President Trump just threw it out there. Casually asserted that his predecessor never called the families of Fallen Soldiers whereas he, donald trump, he sometimes does. When President Trump was challenged on that plate tent falsehood by nbcs peter alexander, the president then immediately backtracked and said it was something he had been told, i was told that. He didnt know if president obama had called the families of Fallen Soldiers. He had heard he heard maybe he didnt. How could he know . Just something he had been told. Who knows if its true. Dont know. Whatever. So the president flippantly today throwing that out there and then half retracting it and not seeming to know or care about the truth even on that subject. That is that will go down in the annals of the Trump Administration, but in terms of the environment that were in right now in which this white house is operating right now, there also remains the original question that actually led to that falsehood and that fl flippancy. It has been two weeks since four american soldiers, four green berets, were killed in the west african country of niger. There are still things we dont know about that ambush. How dozens of isis fighters took them by surprise in an area of the country that was reportedly considered low risk. We dont know why it took an hour for a plane to come in. We dont know why one body wasnt recovered until 48 hours after the attack. We also do not know why President Trump has said exactly nothing about that ambush or about the deaths of these four american highly deck core raided, highly trained soldiers. America doesnt lose four green berets every day. This happened almost two weeks ago. The president has not even acknowledged that it happened. You know, to be fair, sometimes there is an important reason why Public Officials dont acknowledge combat deaths abroad or incidents in which american personnel are killed abroad. Sometimes there is something covert about the mission. Sometimes there is some other reason why a civilian official, even a military official cannot acknowledge that american deaths have happened in some country around the world. There are whether or not you think its reasonable, there are explanations for why sometimes those comments cannot be made. I mean, in this case that may yet be the reason why the president has said nothing, but weve had no explanation from the white house at all. I have to tell you, i was at a National Security forum this evening with the former defense secretary ash carter. I asked him if he knows of any operational reasons why the president couldnt acknowledge the deaths of these four green berets in niger. Secretary carter pointed me to the fact that the current secretary, james mattis, has acknowledged and tried to explain what happened with these green berets in niger and that means, de facto, theres no reason, no prohibition on u. S. Officials, civilian officials, not being allowed to talk about it. So the question remains, the question is sharpened, why the president has been pretending for two weeks now that this didnt happen. For the last two weeks he has not admitted this happened. He has said nothing about the loss of these four american soldiers. Today in the rose garden when he was asked he still had nothing to say about it. That was his chance, right . But what he came back with was this lie about barack obama never calling the families of Fallen Soldiers. There are hundreds of u. S. Special Operations Forces currently operating in niger. We have hundreds of troops operating in somalia. Somalia just suffered one of the worst recent attacks. The truck bombing in mogadishu, the death toll is over 300 people already. The size is 2 or 3 football fields reduced to rubble. In a civilian area. Nobody has claimed responsibility. Al shabaab said they would increase their attacks on civilians after the Trump Administration announced the stepping up of u. S. Military operations in that country. There is news that the u. S. Military will be running an evacuation drill for americans in south korea next week. This is a drill called courageous channel. You know, tensions are so high in the Korean Peninsula right now that they felt the need to issue what the New York Times called a rare news release stressing that the noncombat tanlt exercise is a routinely scheduled drill. Its scheduled from next monday through friday. Its aimed to train people to respond to a wide range of Crisis Management events such as noncombatant evacuation and natural or manmade disasters. What could that possible whether i be on the Korean Peninsula. That drill evacuation of american noncombatants will take place alongside military experts that will involve a u. S. Submarine and aircraft carrier. Nothing to worry about there. Nothing to see. New york times is also reporting today that north korea has become very, very good at offensive Cyber Operations now by which i dont mean good for north korea, but good. The north Korean Military a top tier cyber opportunity now. Now i have to cough for a second. Actually, i have to cough for more than a second. Allergies. Ill be right back. Whoa. This looks worse than i thought. Mike and jen doyle . Yeah. Time for medicare, huh. I have no idea how were going to get through this. Follow me. Choosing a plan can be supercomplicated. But it doesnt have to be. Unitedhealthcare can guide you through the confusion, with helpful people, tools and plans. Including the only plans with the aarp name. Well that wasnt so bad at all. Thats how we like it. Aarp medicare plans, from unitedhealthcare. Whstuff happens. Old shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. Im very embarrassed to have had to have taken a coughing break. Now it looks like ive been crying for an hour and a half. You know what, i didnt have allergies until i was in my 40s. I got them in my 40s. I have no ability to cope with them whatsoever. Not that i envy people who have had allergies for their entire life. I feel like when you got them when you were 8 you figured out how to deal with them. Now every year whatever happens that brings on my allergies comes on in the fall. Its like im a goldfish swimming around the bowl seeing that castle for the first time. Oh, my god, castle. Shocks me every time. I have no ability to deal with it. So forgive me. I know i sounded terrible on the show on friday night. I realized i had to take a break for coughing, but keep hope alive. All right. As i was saying, New York Times had a remarkable report today on north korean National Security issues unrelated to their Nuclear Program and their threat on being able to rain artillery down on south korea. One of the things that north korea is very, very good at now is Cyber Operations. Weve known that north korea has maintained a hacking operation, a statesupported hacking operation for a long time now. Just ask sony pictures. But as a military operation north korea is now considered to be a top tier cyber operator. Quote, north koreas army of more than 600,000 hackers is undeniably persistent and improving. The North Koreans have also quietly developed a Cyber Program that is stealing hundreds of millions of dollars and is proving capable of unleashing global havoc. One former british chief says the take may bring the north as much as 1 billion a year, which is 1 3 of the value of the nations exports. So all the things that north koreas able to export to the world, theyre able to get a third of the value of that economic behavior. Hacking and information worker has always been an effective tool of actors that are weaker on other fronts. If north korea got good at it at the international level, the lack of transparency that we have, the opacity in terms of their goals as a country and their military operations makes the possibility that they have a very strong weapon in cyber a whole new level of threat from north korea that we sort of havent had our hands around yet and one for which theyve never paid any price thus far with everything theyve done up until now. So scary new reporting in terms of north koreas National Security capabilities. Were also simultaneously getting fwran granular detail to rebalance its relationship with the great powers in the world. Russias Cyber Operations, including the one last year against our elections. Yahoo is talking about a former member of the sbrer net research agency. Thats the st. Petersburg socalled troll factory. Theyre asked to troll. It was a key part against voters last year. Its part of where the Russian Election facebook ads came from. The trolls who worked at this russian spam factory were required to watch the tv show, house of cards. Also learned to undermine it, also learned never to sleep with your biographer. What we learned is interesting in terms of understanding how this all worked. Everybody who worked on the American Election at the st. Petersburg troll farm apparently had quotas for how many comments they needed to post on mainstream news stories. According to this guy who worked at the troll farm, they were told they were paid specifically to complain about Hillary Clinton in three ways. To complain about Hillary Clinton in terms of bill clintons scandal. To complain about Hillary Clinton being wealthy and to complain about her using a private emails. They were paid to complain about these things