Page 40 - Daniel Benjamin News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

As a foreign terrorist organization. >> reporter: so reluctantly, benjamin's department had them removed from the list. m.e.k. operatives are still believed to be conducting covert operations inside iran. but these days they do most of their fighting on capitol hill. where their regime change message has been embraced by politicians from both parties. >> they see this group who says they have popular support, who's making all the right noises about overthrowing the mullahs. and they see that as a group that they can support. >> reporter: journalist joanne stocker has been investigating the m.e...

Vacant the deputy secretary of state, we don't have one of these. these are people that are serving in these roles, but they have not been named. it's number two person, the deputy secretary to rex tillerson, an understaffed department that is really, really important. the solicitor general also. what about ambassadors? these are all the ones we do not have. the president only nominated 11. six, awaiting confirmaon. 60 remain. the adviser for the trump transition on hiring is the president's ceo of partnership for public service. daniel benjamin is at large and coordinator for counter terroris...

Disbanded. he was even in ai document that aired recently. some questions as to why some of these people weren't on their radar, particularly the british man in question. chris? >> once again showing the difficulty of that volume of cases that they have there to look at. in the wake of that attack, president trump is renewing his criticism of the mayor of london. but what is the president doing to fight terror here at home? let's discuss with cnn counter terrorism analyst phillip mud, former u.s. ambassador at large and state department coordinator for counter terrorism, daniel benjamin. that ...

Lot of sense. he's actually the kind of deputy we need. he served previously as the deputy at the commerce department and the bush administration. but he is the exception, not the rule. there are only 39 senate-confirmed people across the entire government. there are 1100 senate-confirmed position. >> and in the case you mentioned, it's an acting -- >> no, he is actually, in fact, confirmed. and he is a trump appointee who's senate confirmed. so he's exactly what we need in the other jobs. you're right that across the board, there are gasp everywhere and it's also true that even when you don't...

Diplomatic establishment, know this is a problem. the people who are on the inside know that their departments cat run without these people. is the administration hearing this? are the people at the highest levels getting in the president's ear and saying, we really have to make this a priority. >> well, i think secretary tillerson has fallen down on the job here and isn't pushing hard against the white house and telling them that it has to be done. and there's no one else who has the authority to do this. you know, the undersecretary -- i mean, there's almost no one home. and you know, we go ...