first time in six years. architect to isolate the regime under the bush administration argues that syria is now even more irresponsible actor on the world stage than it was when the obama administration took over. it is more repressive now internally. it is still, i am informed, helping jihads move into iraq to shoot at iraqi forces, americans and others there. it is still the headquarters of hamas. it is still funneling more and more sophisticated arms to hezbollah. when i asked about all of that the spokesman mark toner said i don t think we ever thought it was going to be an easy engagement, shep? shepard: james rosen live at the state department tonight. thanks. happy tax day by the way. returns are due at midnight. the white house today released details of the president s 2010 federal income and how much money the first family paid in taxes. and here s how it breaks down. the president and his wife michelle made $1.7 million last
terrorism. james rosen with the news from the state department tonight. lawmakers were briefed earlier today? they did. the contents of that closed door briefing remain classified. secretary of state clinton had little to say to reporters as she left the briefing. but the top democrat on the house intelligence committeeed news that we learned today that president obama, sometime in the last two to three weeks signed a secret order known as finding that authorizes covert operation in libya. first thing i m not going to discuss any covert action. and anything aware of what obama did or did not sign. buy will say again that intelligence is the best defense against terrorism and we in the united states it s to our advantage to collect and analyze intelligence 24/7. a bit of housekeeping here, shep. in washington s reading of things, cia agents on the ground in libya would not count as boots on the ground in libya.
muammar qaddafi. part of an international effort to establish a no-fly zone. today president obama said we are not specifically targeting muammar qaddafi. we are doing so in support of u.n. security resolution 1973. that specifically talks about humanitarian efforts and we are going to make sure that we stay to that mandated. shepard: the president says the united states will transfer leadership of the operation within days. actually, that s not what he said. he said that s the goal. james rosen life at the state department tonight. this is a delicate situation for america. it is, shep, because the u.n.-backed military campaign aims only to render qaddafi toothless militarily while it is u.s. policy to force him out over some unspecified period of time. neither secretary of state clinton nor president obama admits that their policy is one of regime change. but they continue to say they will keep the pressure on qaddafi until he leaves.
the united nations security council passed just yesterday. the one that banned flights in libyan airspace and called for an immediate cease-fire. and as we reported at the top of this newscast, libya denies completely that its military is advancing on a rebel strong hold at all. but ambassador susan rice of the united states disagrees. james rosen with that is he live at the state department tonight. james, it s not new that we are getting differing information from different people. yeah, especially when one of those people is muammar qaddafi, shep. rice told division interviewer tonight that unless qaddafi immediately comes in compliance with resolution. swift and quick consequences. that does not authorize military action against qaddafi directly but she also suggested that it remains u.s. policy to try to force him out. finally rice also indicated that her staff lawyers believe that that resolution does permit western nations to supply arms to libyan rebels, shep.
that is refined in libya. it s not a kind of oil that the u.s. uses. the french have felt very strongly about getting involved and about this no-fly zone. and you can expect their planes to be in the lead, shep. shepard: all right. that makes sense. jennifer griffin live for us at the state department tonight. working pentagon sources for us all the while. jennifer, we have just gotten brand new video. this is coming to us from tripoli and these are qaddafi loyalists who were just getting the word on the no-fly zone. hearing from colonel my maury qaddafi about how he was going to sweep right into benghazi. you remember the beginning of this crisis, the citizens rose up and we started calling them rebels and they overtook many of the cities in libya. it appeared in the early going that they might be able to overrun the permanent. then he started mowing down his own people. then he became stronger and stronger. putting down more of the rebellion and now we are down to