outfront tonight, a bombshell from the president. he has made it clear, finally, that he supports gay marriage. now, the announcement comes after days of mounting pressure to explain his, quote unquote, evolving position, his words, on the controversial issue. here's how he put it to abc news' robin roberts. >> i have just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> the human rights campaign immediately released a statement saying obama's presidency has shown that our nation can move beyond its shameful history of discrimination and injustice. and celebrities and politicians took to twitter to celebrate. ellen degeneres tweeting thank you, president barack obama, for your beautiful and brave words. i'm overwhelmed. michael bloomberg wrote president barack obama's announce maenlt is a major turning point in the history of measure civil vierights. there were even tweets from former bush administration officials. with the praise came immediate outrage. the family research council released a statement saying redefining marriage remains outside the mainstream of american politics. mitt romney wouldn't comment on what the president said, but he did take the opportunity to explain his position on this issue. >> i have the same view on marriage that i have -- had when i was governor and that i've expressed many times. i believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. >> outfront tonight, we're going to go straight to barney frank, the chairman of the house financial services committee and the first openly gay member of congress. chairman frank, good to talk to you again, sir. it's been a while and i'm glad it's under circumstances like this. what does this mean to you personally that the president did this today? >> well, i'm very pleased. it's both a cause and an effect. obviously as well intentioned as the president is, as much as he is opposed to discrimination, lots are constrained by public opinion. it is a sign that things have evolved. no president could have done this ten years ago. secondly, it will be very helpful because it will help persuade other people about this and i think about 15-year-olds in school somewhere being picked on and bullied. now the president of the united states has said, hey, you know what, you're as important as anybody else. you have the same worth as anybody else. that has an enormous impact. >> did the president talk to you about this before? any of his senior staff? did anyone reach out to you before he decided to say this? >> not recently. i have had conversations with him over time. back before he took what was actually the most important step, which was his repudiation of the discriminatory piece of legislation known as doma, the one that says that people of the same sex who were married don't get any federal benefits. at the time i told people in the white house -- i haven't talked to them recently about it. >> some of the things you said before, gavin newsom came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2004. at the time you said it was a symbolic point but diverted attention from the real struggle of rights. >> no, no, you've gotten the quote wrong. i was all in favor of his being for same-sex marriage. it was not a dispute about whether he was for it. my problem was at the time we were fighting hard to save same-sex marriage in massachusetts, which had been decreed and we were trying to defeat mitt romney's effort to undo it, gavin newsom, what i objected to -- i was glad he was for it, i objected to his announcing that the city of san francisco could now, regardless of california law, allow same-sex marriage. that was the problem. he was wrong. he said you can all get married. people got married. their marriages were annulled. there was a great deal of heart break. i thought it was an irresponsible thing to do because there was never any chance those marriage would be valid. so what i was critical of, i was in the federal congress and in massachusetts fighting to protect it but doing knit a responsible way. what gavin newsom was announce to people i can marry you, when he couldn't. >> that's the symbolic move you were referring to. you said something else, chairman. you said 15-year-olds could look at what the president had said and it would make a difference for them. you know, if you're a teenager and realize that you're gay, that you have the same rights as somebody else and it could change the way that you see the world and deal with people who are bullying you or looking down on you, what was it like for you? you have been someone who has been a trail blazer in this, a person who is open about your sexuality before pretty much anybody else was. in what really is an old boys club, and it couldn't have been an easy thing to do. >> well, you're right. let me put it this way, i didn't think it was going to be easy. i agonized over it. i'm about to have a 25th anniversary of my voluntarily coming out. i said if they asked me, i'd tell them. i thought it would be a problem. i think i caught the wave. that is, things are getting better. and i hope i've helped with that, but i've also been the beneficiary of it. but for me now, i'm getting married in a couple of months. when i was 15, when i was 35, even when i was 55, if someone had had said to me, you know what, you're going to be retiring from congress, you'll have been chairman of a very important committee, you will have done very significant work in the field of financial services and you're going to get married to a man whom you love very much as a member of congress, i would have been disbelieving. so, yeah, that means a great deal for me and i must say it makes me feel even better about my country, that this is a country that has the capacity to deal with it in a constructive way and help things get better for all of us. >> you know, i had an experience today that happened before the president's interview. i ran into a friend i haven't seen in a long time. i was walking on fifth avenue from a doctor appointment. i ran into him and he got engaged this weekend. you know, sort of like you. now that he can get married. he gotge and had this really great ring. he was showing me his ring and we were joking about mask lyn h lynn mculine and feminine engagement rings. >> let me get into this. mine is tungsten. he's a welder and he picked out these rings. tungsten is symptomatic and he's a very practical giechlt he knows my propensities. i break things. so he told me this is unbreakable. we'll see. >> i love it, i love it. thank you for sharing that. i got engaged myself recently, so i was curious. >> mazeltov. >> and to you as well. wonderful to talk to you again. >> thank you, erin. outfront ahead, an exclusive investigation into a murder at the kentucky derby. we found the dark side of horse racing and have an exclusive report for you of what we found in the past 24 hours. and the new face of terror. just who is the al qaeda bomb maker who's determined to attack this country? ♪ [ piano chords ] [ man announcing ] what we created here. what we achieved here. what we learned here. and what we pioneered here. all goes here. the one. the accord. smarter thinking from honda. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likes a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪ the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ outfront 2, the political fallout from the president's announcement today. the national organization for marriage was quick to point out saying president obama has now made the definition of marriage a defining issue in the presidential contest, especially in swing states like ohio, north carolina, virginia, florida and nevada. but was this move really risky or not? john avlon, roland martin and clark cooper are with us now. good to see you all of you. john avlon, risky or not risky? >> this was considerable political risk. there's no question. you look at some of the swing states at play in this election. north carolina, which last night overwhelmingly voted to ban same-sex marriage. virginia, even ohio, pennsylvania, so this is high stakes. but this is also moments where character is revealed. i'm reminded about a quick story of lyndon johnson when his advisers told him not to do civil rights because it wasn't pragmatic. he said what the hell is the presidency for? i think we just had one of those moments. >> here are the differences. lyndon johnson signed a law passed by congress. we talked about all these national polls showing that the majority of americans support same-sex marriage, yet there have been 32 referendums where the voters have gone to the polls. same-sex marriage supporters are 0 for 32. it's hard to sit here and say what a poll says when really in politics, votes matter. >> people are not pro the issue. >> we have 2.1 million people who voted yesterday. president obama won north carolina by 14,000 votes in 2008. if 15 to 20,000 people say i don't want to vote for him this time around, he loses north carolina. >> that's why it's a profile in courage, because it goes against the polls and many of the votes. >> clark, let me get you in here. let's talk about what the president has done on this issue in the past. i am one who believes on some issues it's okay to flip-flop because you do evolve as a person. the president wrote in a questionnaire i favor legalizing same-sex marriage. two years later he wrote undecide and since then, here's the president. >> there are a whole host of things that are civil rights and then there are other things, such as traditional marriage, that i think express a community's concern and regard for a particular institution. >> so marriage is not a civil right as far as you're concerned? >> i don't think marriage is a civil right. >> my feelings about this are constantly evolving. i struck el with this. >> there's no doubt that as i see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that that has an impact on how i think about these issues. >> i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> so lots of back and forth there, but clark, you're frustrated because he waited too late. a day late, a dollar short. >> we're talking about what happened yesterday. there's north carolina, we talked about that ballot measure that took place. so there was some calculus there. but to go back to the issue of where elected lawmakers, where policy makers can get to the point where they're actually saying they're for marriage equality isn't unique. we certainly saw it happen at the highest level so far to date. so prior to today and joe biden earlier in the week, the most senior voice out there for a while on marriage equality was dick cheney. so this has really turned it up a notch. but we have seen this on both sides of the aisle. my former boss, the most senior woman in the gop conference, she's a committee chair, she was not initially in favor of same-sex marriage and she's there now and she's the first republican on the repeal of the defense of marriage act. so people are getting there and it does reflect a trend analysis not just in the general electorate but amongst self-described conservative voters. >> the president of the united states now says he's for marriage between a man and a man and a woman and a woman and mitt romney says i do not favor marriage between people of the same gender and i do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage. >> we do differ with governor romney. he knows that not only from our positions but we had that conversation in february when he spoke at the american conservative union cpac. he knows we're working to repeal the defense of marriage act and we are for same-sex marriage and freedom means freedom for everyone. when it comes to the endorsement process, it's not unilateral. i have a board of directors, chapter leaders and there's a multi-step process and it's not just one issue. >> are you going to vote for mitt romney or barack obama? >> well, i can tell you right now, we are looking at all the issues on the plate. as i said, the economy is the number one issue right now. marriage does factor in. so i don't want to belittle this at all but it is not the only issue. >> clark, you said we. you. the question for you, as an individual, not as the head of a group, will you support mitt romney or president obama as a result of this announcement? >> that's a point i'm not just an individual, i do represent a constituency within the republican party so at this point, we're working with a number of republican candidates up and down, including openly gay republican candidates for congress, which is a first from our party. so as far as the endorsement process is concerned, we're not there yet and we won't be until august. so this is not completed. and there's some room for grow for candidate -- there's room for grow for mitt romney on this portfolio. >> well, that would be a huge flip-flop if he goes back on that. roland, this is interesting. when we talk about a party that's becoming more owned by its base and a platform that continues to be defined by social issues, i think this is a very key example of that. >> of course. but this is what we've heard. we've heard this from democrats and republicans that one issue will not determine who they actually vote for. you have pastors who are surrogates of president obama in 2008 who are not happy at all today. >> right. >> when they go into that pulpit on sunday, they have a decision to make. that is will i stand here and criticize the president but then say i still support him or am i putting my voice before my partisan voice. >> that's one of the reasons this is so politically risky. let's just recall the irony. here the republican candidate mitt romney wants a constitutional amendment and the president seems to be standing for states' rights. >> there's an irony. >> and what else, log cabin republicans in 2004 when bush/cheney went with their battleground, a lot of republicans sat that one out. so this is an issue where principles get skewed. >> senator john kerry can tell you when there's a ballot initiative. 2004, the gay marriage issue was on the ballot in ohio. he lost by 100,000 votes to bush, many people say because of this initiative. so again, it's very risky for the president. i think today he's helped mitt romney out in terms of closing the gap. what i'm looking for the next seven days, those first round of polls in those battleground states, if we see shrinkage there, we can tie it to today's decision. >> people focus on the negative. outsourcing overseas, and positives on prices. negative on gay marriage, negative on abortion. >> so all the talk, this election will be about the economy? it might be about a social issue. >> the american way. thanks to all three of you. we appreciate it. coming up, the dark side of horse racing. we have an exclusive investigation outfront tonight. and how did a mole get inside al qaeda and foil a bomb plot? well, tonight we have a double agent, former double agent, coming out front. you'll see him in shadow and his voice will be disguised. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ outfront 3, the money and horse racing is big-time. for example, the new york horse racing association recently increased the purse size for the belmont spring meet by more than 26% to $9 million. the average daily purse for this meet will be $620,000. but it comes with a lot of risk. the most expensive horse -- racehorse called green monkey sold at auction for $16 million. that horse raced for just two years. it won only $10,000. tonight we have a special report on a story that began this weekend in the dark of night after the world watched the pomp and circumstance of the 138th kentucky derby. when the crowd left churchill downs, one man stayed behind. 48-year-old adan perez was a stable worker from guatemala. he was found murdered just steps away from where the winning horse, i'll have another, was being kept. our ed lavandera had an exclusive interview with perez's son who gave us details on the murder mystery and a look at the darker and seedier side of horse racing. >> reporter: the mystique of kentucky derby day draws tens of thousands. the glamorous fashion, a tip of the hat. what many might not know about horse racing is that on that side of the racetrack, it's a completely different world. that's where all the fan fare and the beauty of race day takes place. it's a different story on this side of the track. this is the forgotten side of a horse track. it's called the back side. a secluded world of transient workers in the horse racing industry. some 600 people live on the back side of churchill downs in louisville, kentucky. it's where 19-year-old wilson perez worked alongside his father, adan perez, until adan's body mysteriously turned up in barn number eight just hours after one of the most famous horse races in the world. wilson perez is speaking about his father's murder for the first time. [ speaking in spanish ] >> how difficult have these last days been? >> wilson says it's been very hard supporting everyone in my family. he's one of seven children. wilson begged his father to bring him to the united states two years ago so they could work together. they groomed horses. son walking in father's footsteps. wilson says the last time he spoke to his father was around 11:30 saturday night, just a few hours after the final race of derby day. wilson says his father called from a restaurant. he was out with friends. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> reporter: he said everything sou sounded normal in that phone call. he called to ask where he was and what he was doing. >> reporter: five hours later, adan perez turned up dead. this is where the body was found and the barn backs up to the racetrack itself. this is the back stretch. you can see the twin spires in the background. this is where the horses ran on the back stretch of the kentucky derby. a stable hand shows us where perez's body was left. access to the back side of churchill downs is mostly restricted. workers are registered and carry special identification. which heightens the mystery. is the killer living among those who work here? >> the outside world doesn't see this world. they don't know what the back side of a racetrack is like. >> reporter: churchill downs chaplain says this mostly hispanic immigrant community keeps to itself. workers here are transient, move from horse track to horse track. the work is exhausting, seven days a week, no vacation. some clean barns, groom and feed horses. workers can live for free on these grounds. most come from central america. workers tell us most people earn between $250 and $800 a week. wilson perez hasn't stopped working, even as he tries to get his father's body buried in guatemala. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> reporter: he says he wants answers for what's happened here and he wants whoever is responsible to be found guilty. he can only wait for investigators to solve his father's mysterious murder. ed lavandera, cnn, louisville, kentucky. ahead outfront, a massive manhunt for a man wanted for the deadly kidnapping of a tennessee family. and who is the al qaeda bomb maker? i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about market volatility. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 in times like these, it can be tough to know which ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 way the wind is blowing. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we're ready with objective insights about ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 the present market and economic conditions. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 and can help turn those insights into ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a plan of action that's right for you. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 so don't let the current situation take you off course. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 welcome back to the second half of "outfront." we start with the stories we care about where we focus on our own reporting from the front lines. first up a bombshell announcement from the president tonight. he says he now supports gay marriage. it comes after days of mounting pressure to explain his evolving issue on the issue. we spoke to barney frank who praised the president, saying no president could have done this ten years ago. barney frank is getting married in july to his long-time partner and he opened up and showed me his own engagement ring. >> here's mine, it's tungsten. tim, the man i'm going to marry, is a welder. he does welding and he picked out these rings, tungsten is symptomatic of where he's been and also he's a very practical guy. he knows my propensity, i break things. so this is -- he told me this is unbreak al. we'll see. the man suspected of kidnapping a mother and her three children is on the fbi's ten most wanted list. he is accused of killing the mother, joann bain and adrienne. he and his wife have been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. the reward is now $175,000. the u.s. postal service is changing course, so instead of closing thousands of low revenue rural post offices, like the one in my hometown, they are instead going to trim the office's hours. it's going to take a while for the changes to be implemented. the new strategy will be phased in over the course of two years. it will go into full effect in 2014. early retirement packages will be offered to 21,000 people. the changes will save the post office half a billion dollars a year. jurors have become deliberating in the case of the man accused of killing the family of singer jennifer hudson. the jury consists of six women and six men. they had to give up their cell phones before deliberations. william balfour is charged with killing hudson's mother, brother and nephew. hudson was in the courtroom but kept her head down throughout the prosecutors closing argument. it's been 279 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? well, the market is not helping. the dow has closed down for six days in a row. we are solidly below 13,000. thank, greece. outfront 4, al qaeda's top bomb maker and why he's america's worst nightmare. let's tell you a little about this man. he is believed to be behind this week's foiled plot to get a bomb on board an american-bound plane. tonight abc news is reporting he may be trying to get a bomb on a plane hidden inside a pet carried on board. here's how the chairman of the house homeland security committee describes him. >> he is clearly a genius at this and it's important that we do what we can. we are doing everything we can to get him. >> this is what might amaze you. he's only 30 years old. he is originally from saudi arabia and he's ruthless. once he used his own brother in a suicide bomb attack against a member of the saudi royal family. he is believed to be the man behind three attempts to blow up airliners headed for the united states. the first was the 2009 christmas day plot by the so-called underwear bomber. in 2010 he hid bombs inside printer cartridges and tried to get them on cargo planes bound for chicago. they were found before they could be detonated. and this week's plot, that bomb in the hands of the fbi. it's similar to the one used by the underwear bomber but much more sophisticated. that's why intelligence officials so worried. they say he is smart and adaptable, but the biggest worry of all is that he's still on the loose and they know that he is working on making bombs and training others to make bombs and perhaps even speeding all of that up because he's worried he could be killed. outfront tonight, alex berenson and fran townsend, cnn's national security commissioner. thanks to both of you for coming on to talk about this. this is a race against time, you're saying, alex. because he thinks he could get killed? >> this is as close to a movie as you can have in real life. he knows we are after him. he knows we have the power to hit him with a drone at any time if we can find him. and he knows that he may only have time to get one bomb out there onto a plane. if he can get that bomb onto a plane from cairo or nairobi, hundreds of people will die. so we have to get to him before he figures out how to get that bomb on that plane. >> fran, you were saying that one bomb was found even before he had this pressure. traditionally he's been known to do bombs in clumps, more than one. >> al qaeda is known for multiple simultaneous attacks, so rarely do they launch an attack where they only have a single bomb. so one of the concerns of investigators now in the intelligence community is were there other volunteers to carry more of these sorts of devices that would have been put together by him. he has been under pressure since 2009. since the assassination attempt he's been at the top of the saudi list, who have very good information inside yemen but he's also been at the top of our list since the christmas day, 2009, attempted bombing. >> fran, they had known who he was, jailed him and actually let him go? >> in 2007 they have a program where they take guys into custody and put them through sort of a brain wash -- >> rehabilitation. >> rehabilitation program. >> saudi gitmo or something? >> it's actually been a pretty successful program in the sense of what the saudis will tell you is if you stop one in ten from going back to the battlefield, we've taken one off the battlefield. so for a time they were pretty up on this program. now, this is not a success story. these guys flee across the border where they have more freedom of action inside yemen. >> i think the saudis have taken these threats a lot more seriously since the bomb that almost took out mohammed benai. since then we've gotten a lot more cooperation from them because they have seen the threat is really at their most senior members of the monarchy. >> tell me about this he used his own brother. >> so he did. there's differing interpretations of whether the bomb was actually inside his brother or whether it was carried closely on his brother's leg. but he strapped the bomb to his brother. he sent his brother on a suicide mission to try to kill this very senior saudi royal. and he did it, knowing his brother was going to die. you have to be pretty cold. >> where did he -- what do we know about his education? 30 years old, is very young. he's been doing this for a very long time. making bombs at this level of sophistication is not something you can just do. >> he grew up in riyadh. beyond that i don't think there's been very much disclosed. >> that's right. i don't think we know very much about him. we know that he's been very active in al qaeda and because of his incredible bomb-making skill, he's also been sort of mentor to others. so the fear is even if you get him, he's at the top of the target list, you know who you're looking for and we will eventually get him. >> but he's trained others? >> he's likely trained other, who may not have his creativity or innovation, but they'll have some of his skills. >> but these bombs are much more difficult to make than a big truck bomb would be. so taking him out would be helpful. >> how significant is he for al qaeda? you know, the president -- i brought this up recently, 30 of the top members of the al qaeda is out. is he someone who could become a figure head like bin laden, like a leader? >> i don't think so. he's a lot closer to killing people. he is somebody who actually could kill americans and that's not something you could say about too many people in al qaeda right now. >> this is a tactician. this is the execution guy. when they get a great idea, the guy they go to for execution and to build the device is al assiri. what you see is his sophistication. he's adaptable, he's learning and he adapts to our measures. >> is the window in which if he were successful was got to be pretty quick? >> listen, i think he knows he might have -- if he survives 2012, i think he would consider it a great accomplishment. >> i like to say this is a game of beat the clock, right. he's got a very short window in which he can try to launch a successful attack. but he knows all of the resources of the u.s. government and our allies in the region are targeted at capturing or killing him. >> and we did think we killed him. >> once. >> last year we thought we killed him and we were wrong. >> how are we going to find him? >> nsa drones, maybe some human intel, maybe some help from the saudis. >> it's all of the above. human intelligence becomes very difficult to come by when people feel like they're put at risk. >> one good thing about this leak is it puts pressure on the organization. now if you're inside al qaeda, you can't be sure, is this person who came to us two years ago a saudi mole. is this person working for the jordanians who we thought we could trust and that is good for us. so i'm not sure this leak was all bad. i'm not sure this leak was unintentional either. >> thanks very much to both of you. a lot of you are probably wondering how does a spy operate? how do you infiltrate al qaeda and actually have them believe that you believe everything that they believe and get them to have you be the guy to blow up a plane? well, we wanted to know so we found a former double agent for the cia. he's next. you'll see him blacked out with his voice distorted, but he's going to tell you how he got recruited to work for this country, betray his own and what he did. plus the man who changed an industry. we honor the passing of vidal sassoon. rk assist? 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[ bird cries ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. would you mind if to be i go ahead of you?omer. instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. we're back with tonight's outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world and we go to indonesia tonight. a new russian civilian plane disappeared during a demonstration flight today. the super jet 100 had 50 people on board. a lot of bigwigs for the airline, when it dropped off the radar flying south of jakarta. officials think the plane may have crashed but they haven't found it yet. it was supposed to be the new hope for russian's aviation industry and this could cause real damage to the plane's reputation. phil black is following the story from moscow and i asked him what he knows at this moment about what actually happened to the plane. >> reporter: erin, the superjet 100 was on a demonstration flight out of jakarta. its second of the day. it was only supposed to be in the air for 30 minutes, but 21 minutes into that flight, it dropped off radar and dropped responding to radio calls. there were 50 people on board, including the crew. most of the passengers, we're told, were indonesian. an initial search had to be called off because of low light and poor weather. this is a new model aircraft that's considered high tech and sophisticated. it is designed and assembled here in russia but with lots of international input. the u.s. company boeing is a consultant on the project. it was in indonesia as part of a six-country tour through asia designed to drum up business and publicity, aircraft sales. before beginning the tour, they said this aircraft and its safety performance so far has been remarkable. erin. >> thanks to phil. now let's check in with anderson with a look at what's coming up on "ac 360." >> we'll have a lot more on the president' reversal on same-sex marriage. he says he supports it. we'll talk about the political implications and what could have influenced the president to make this announcement now. a new congressional report outlines government waste at the tsa. nearly $200 million of airport screening equipment sitting inside a warehouse not being used. how is that possible? we're keeping them honest. a mind-boggling response to a report we brought you this week. it's about a group that claims to be raising money for disabled veterans. so far not a penny has gone directly to those vets despite the tens of millions they have raised. their president responded to the accusations directly and her response is, frankly, shocking. you'll want to tune in for that. tonight's ridiculist as well. a lot more at the top of the hour. >> all right, saurnd. now outfront five, the mole who foiled al qaeda's plot to blow up a jet. u.s. intelligence working with saudis were able to get a spy inside the ranks of al qaeda. the scenario, though, is all too real for our next guest. he led a double life for years, as a cia agent. reza kahlili is what he goes by but it's a pseudonym. he made his way into the ranks of the revolutionary guards of iran as a spy for the american government. he wrote about his experiences in a real-life spy novel, "a time to betray." we've checked with sources we trust who say his story checks out. he is outfront tonight and what you see will be a little strange. his face cannot be shown so you'll see him in the dark and we've also distorted his voice for his safety. he's going to talk to you about that. i spoke to him and asked him how difficult it was or it must have been for the saudi agent to keep his cover in al qaeda. >> it's a complex operation, a lot of risks. they have the paranoia of infiltration, so everyone is vetted. you've got to be able to behave like them, dress like them, think like them in order to infiltrate them. you've got to have a history of being in the region and communicating with the same type of people. so it is very difficult to infiltrate, but nonetheless, as i've explained in my book "a time to betray," i did even recruit for the cia deep within the revolutionary guard. so cia obviously tries its best to infiltrate, to gather intelligence and to prevent disaster, such as this one. >> how did you, reza, make the decision in your mind, in your heart, to do what a lot of people would say is betraying your country. in this case your country was iran. how did you decide to become a spy to work for the cia? >> i had a lot of anxiety about it. actually you are right because part of me felt that i'm betraying my country. i always tried to think that i was betraying the system, trying to help my people. but on horrific events, i saw suppression, rape, torture, execution and i saw injustice and i couldn't stand by and witness it and just come to u.s. and live my life. so i contacted the u.s. authorities on a trip in the u.s. and one thing led to the other and i met with the cia officer and i passed on everything i knew about the guards. then he asked me if i was willing to become their eyes and ears and he told me point blank that should i get arrested, they would deny any relationship and that there won't be a navy fleet coming to my rescue. so i knew that my life was in my open hands, but i made the decision because i was desperate to do something to bring change to iran. >> and was, at that point when your case officer said to you if you're found, we're going to say we don't know you, you know, you knew death would be the outcome. what made you feel the mission was worth dying for? even now, we can't look at you. your voice here is modulated for our viewers. was it worth it? >> you know, my life has changed. i live two lives, both in shadows. a lot of anxiety still. i can't tell you if it was worth it or not, but i can tell you if i had to do it all over again, i would have, because that was the right thing to do. even if any information i passed saved human lives, if i were able to bring awareness to the atrocities going in iran, if i was in any way helped in protecting people, then yes. and still i have hopes that even my activities now will result in a change of policy by the u.s. administration in helping the iranian people to bring change from within. >> and reza, how did it work? you said you were in the united states. you reached out to u.s. authorities. then from there when you were back in iran being their eyes and ears, how did you communicate with them? how were you able to get information back? how were you sure you weren't observed? >> well, you see, i was sent to europe. i was trained there to write invisible letters and decipher codes. i would receive my codes in the middle of the night and i would decipher and see what the request was. more so it was the flow of information. sometimes i would write four or five letters a week passing information to the u.s. and looking at the saudi infiltration, i can tell you that some of my reports prevented disaster. one was that they had planned attacks in saudi arabia. another one was collaboration with china. and so there are many people risking their lives, trying to make a better world and help the u.s. realizing the threat in inner but there is a lot of anxiety and a lot of anger. death would be an easy way out. torture is like dying over and over again. >> does your family know, reza, what you were doing? >> no, because i would have been risking their lives. i know my mother, she died without knowing what i was truly doing and she always objected to me collaborating with the regime. my wife resented me collaborating with the regime. now she knows and still she's anxious about what i'm doing today. >> and do you still -- do you still fear for your life now? >> absolutely. i have no doubt that should my identity be revealed, they're going to take me out. they're going to take out a lot of people who are in contact with me within the revolution guards, as i still reveal their secrets. and all my relatives, innocent people who have no idea what i've done, their lives would be in danger. >> and was there ever a moment, reza, where you said, oh, my gosh, they know what i'm doing, they're on to me? where your heart fell and you thought that moment had come? >> absolutely. there was this one time that i thought i was arrested. this guy who was always looking into my activities took me to a prison. it was a soft interrogation and i can tell you honestly, had i had some kind of poison pills, i would have taken it at that time because i thought that i have come to an end, they have arrested me. in order to save my wife and child, i would have killed myself because when they arrest you, they bring your wife, they bring your child and they torture them. they rape them in front of your eyes just to break you down. and so it came very close. but i thank god every day for being here today. >> and that's a double agent. outfront honors the passing of legend vidal sassoon. the e block is next. you do a lot of kayaking? no. look i'm going through the rapids. okay... i'll take it. sync your card with facebook, foursquare and twitter for savings. that's the membership effect of american express. outfront is the title of our show and it's also our mission statement, because we try to showcase people and ideas that best represent being outfront. innovators, trail blazers and style makers. and we lost one of those today. vi dal sassoon has been described as a craftsman who changed the world with a pair of scissors. he was born in london in 1928. he spent the first part of his life in an orphanage and eventually trained with what became the israeli defense forces. at the end of his service he began studying hair design. in 1954 he opened his first salon. one time he was asked about that first salon and he said i gave myself five years. if i couldn't change anything, i was outta there. but of course he did change things. during the '60s and '70s he revolutionized the industry with his cutting-edge hair styles and hair care products. by the 1980s, his name was on shampoos and conditioners worldwide. vidal sassoon, a lot of people probably didn't know it was a person. in recent years he distanced himself from the products and salons and focused on charity work. in fact he was scheduled to attend a fund-raising event on monday but he cancelled because he was very, very tired. now, we actually spoke with someone who was going to be seated with him at that event. one of our economic strike team members, the co-founder of paul mitchell hair products. john paul told us this. i've known vidal sassoon for 40 years. he was probably the brightest light in the beauty industry and the most famous hairstylist ever. he helped change the entire industry. he was kind, considerate and couldn't do enough for you. he'll definitely be missed. i never met anyone in 40 years who didn't like vidal sassoon. when i was thinking about what john paul said, i was realizing that was true. it was the coolest thing to have, my sisters had it, i wanted it. here's hoping that the name vidal sassoon remains on that wonderful brand. thanks so much for watching. we'll see you again tomorrow night but "anderson cooper 360" is ready to start right now. good evening, everyone. we begin with breaking