0 administration about steps next and working with russia and the change in behavior from syria and russia because of the threat of a possibility military strike. >> indeed. you've been watching "around the world." thanks so much for your company today. wolf blitzer in the cnn newsroom next. >> happening right now, a ceremony is getting under way over at the pentagon on then, the anniversary of the september 11th attacks. earlier, a moment of silence marked the exact moment of impact. also right now, authorities are inspecting trucks at two bridge and tunnel locations in virginia after a threatening phone call. state police are on high alert in the hampton roads area. also right now, the obama administration facing new questions on syria after the president's primetime speech last night. reporters are looking for answers at today's white house briefing. >> i'm wolf blitzer in washington. president obama hits the pause button on military action against syria to give diplomacy a chance. but how long can he wait and what happens in the meantime? later this hour, i'll give you my take on what's going on. last night in a primetime speech, the president made his case for military action and he pushed congress to give him the authority to strike syria. at the same time, he said he's willing to give a diplomatic effort by russia some serious time to play out. >> it's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed. and any agreement must verify that the assad regime keeps its commitments. but this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force. particularly because russia is one of assad's strongest allies. >> so here's where things stand. military ablgz against syria clearly on hold for now. the president has asked kong are esto post phone any votes on authorizing a u.s. military strike. one big question is whether syria will comply and surrender its chemical weapons. the president says the u.s. military will keep the pressure on and be ready to responsibility if diplomacy does not work. the next crucial step in all of this, trying to iron out the details of this russian plan to be put syria's chem weapons under international control. now we're getting a report that russia has given the u.s. its plan for initial review. let's bring in foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty watching what's going on. jill, what are you hearing about this report? >> well, wolf, those reports are coming in from the russian wires and they're coming from kazakhstan where the minister lavrov, foreign minister is currently. he will soon be on his way to geneva to meet with secretary kerry. and they are saying that a plan, no details yet on that plan, has been turned over to the united states, and it has a plan of implementing that initiative for putting the chemical weapons under international control. now, just a couple of minutes ago, in the briefing at the white house, jay carney outlined three parts that would go into that. he said they'd have to be secured, they would have to be moved from assad's control, and then ultimately they would have to be destroyed. now, we do know that secretary kerry and lavrov also will have technical experts who will be sitting down in geneva when they meet on thursday. they'll be going over all of these details because after all, this is a complex thing to do, and even more so in a war zone. wolf? >> you know, the secretary of state and the foreign minister of russia, as you know, jill, they've spoken at least nine times we know of since that august 21st chemical weapons attack in syria which the u.s. says killed 1400 people. so the stakes are enormous really for tomorrow's meeting in geneva, right? >> reporter: they are because really, this is the way either something is going to be worked out or it isn't. because right now, this really is what's stopping president obama from going forward with that vote. it's the diplomatic initiative they're hoping. and it's really a technical initiative that they're hoping can actually work. there's a lot of doubt. you'd have to say as you well know, in washington, this might be a delaying tactic. might be a delaying tactic by russia or by syria. so they have to test it. that's the word you're hearing from a lot of u.s. officials, testing it, making sure that it really holds up and it's something that can be done realistically as opposed to just pushing off some type of deadline. >> jill dougherty for us in moscow. thank you. so what is president obama's next move on syria in what about the u.s. congress? what do lawmakers do right now? brianna is at the white house. the diplomatic efforts by the president, some serious time on syria. what is he planning to do during this pause, shall we saw? >> you know, right now, wolf, the focus is very much on what comes out of this meeting with secretary kerry and his counterpart, sergey lavrov. it does appear at this point at that time white house is trying to regroup and sort of figure out what their next step is. if you ask them, they'll say plan a was military force. plan b is now this diplomatic effort. if that is to fail, then we could go back 0 plan a. of course, as dana will tell you, the appetite for military force on the hill was already small before, and it has only diminished because of what has happened with this being a potential diplomatic i guess off-ramp you could say for the white house right here. so they're putting a lot of emphasis on the meetings that are going to happen in geneva. i think they're hoping that buys them time here through the weekend, and as well as they're looking to the u.n. to sort of buy them time, as well, wolf. >> and the president is making it clear, did he last night, his aides are making it clear, they're going to continue to hold this military threat directly over syria right now because they believe that's giving the impetus, if you will, to the syrians and russians to at least consider some sort of diplomatic move. >> yeah, that's what they say. there's a couple ways to look at this. one they do feel that this development did come about because they had this military threat, but at the same time, i think they were also searching for a way to justify why president obama essentially as we know now, wolf, kind of took the u.s. to the brink of their being a strike. so i think in a way, they're also looking to save a little face in what appears to be president obama kind of going back and forth. we heard last night in the speech he argued for military force but he also argued against it. so there certainly is that element they're trying to make sense of some of this here. >> brianna keilar at the white house, thank you. let's go to capitol hill right now where the president made an in-person appeal yesterday to both democrats and republican boston now the action clearly on hold at least for now. let's bring in our chief congressional can correspondent dana bash. where do the senate and the house stand right now, dana, as far as a formal syria resolution is concerned? >> reporter: everything is on hold. the pause button has been pressed. that is at the direct request of president obama. i'm told that's actually what he said in the republican lunch that he attended yesterday. but in the meantime, there is some discussion, actually significant discussion going on behind the scenes, particularly in the senate with senior republicans and democrats trying to come up with the proper language that they would not need if in fact they would need to push the diplomatic process forward by keeping the teeth of military activity as an option. so that is being discussed. but it really is on the back burner. meanwhile, we're seeing something that we have not seen very much of at all in recent years. and that is bipartisan praise for russia. watch this. >> i believe that russia's goal is, in fact, to eliminate these weapons. and i would point out that that is also our goal. so i very much hope that the pathing to settlement although complicated, no ubt do, but if well intentioned by all participants, it can be accomplished. >> last night, he stepped back from an international crisis that could have had catastrophic consequences by deferring to the russian diplomatic initiative, thank god. >> that kind of sums up the feeling here. he's pretty candid about the relief a lot of people feel here but they also understand as much as they want to trust that the russians will be able to work this out with the u.s. and then of course, more broadly at the u.n. they're not entirely sure this is not going to come right back into their lap. wolf? >> so do they get back to some domestic agenda issues during this pause right now? they've got to fish the spending bill by the end of this month, a debt ceiling they've got to raise next month. other issues like immigration reform. what's going to happen as far as that domestic agenda is concerned? >> already yesterday afternoon, there was talk in the hall about an energy bill which we hadn't heard at all discussed. anything of that ilk, you know, since congress came back or when they were on recess. of course, the big issue is that this is what we thought we were going to be talking about all of september, and that is the deadline for the government to run out of money at the end of september. september 30th if congress doesn't pass a bill to extend it. and what's going on right now is absolutely a turn to that particularly in the house where republicans have a proposal for a three-month extension and they're struggling to get the votes because of opposition on the right and the left. ta probably sounds familiar, not just with syria, but also domestic issues, as well. >> these are really, really important issues that have to be resolved in the next few weeks. thanks very much. the controversy over u.s. military action in syria even surfaced today at a ceremony be in new york marking the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. listen to this. >> and my uncle salvatore, i was only 3 when you were taken from us and we love you and miss you very much. and president obama, please do not bring us to another war. >> that was part of a somber remembrance ceremony held in morning at ground zero, 2,753 people were killed when terrorists flew two planes into the world trade center towers back in 2001. another service is happening right now at the pentagon. 184 people were killed in the attack there. defense secretary chuck hagel will speak this hour. president obama was at a separate pentagon service earlier this morning. he spoke to the victims' family members telling them the hearts of the nation still ache for all the lives lost that day. a service in shanksville, pennsylvania, commemorated the heroic passengers and crew members of united airlines flight 93. they tried to overtake the terrorists when the hijackers crashed the plane into a field. 40 people were killed. and on the first anniversary of an assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya, a car bomb exploded outside a foreign ministry building in benghazi p while no one was hurt, the blast did blow away large parts of the building's facade. it was exactly one year ago today, four americans including the ambassador chris stephens why killed in a terror attack on the consulate in benghazi. security has already been tightened at western diplomatic posts around the world on this dale because of 9/11. the syria debate on capitol hill, we're reaching out for reaction from both sides of the aisle. one for, one against. did the president's speech change anyone's mind? 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