it's one of the u.s. military's most important weapons systems playing a critical role in the fight against terror. and now there's new growing concern over the computers that concern drone aircraft. they're infected with a persistent virus but it is only part after much, much bigger threat. our correspondent chris lawrence is investigating all of this for us. chris, what are you picking up? >> right now, officials don't know if this virus is benign or truly doing harm. it has not stopped the pilots from actually flying the drones over their missions in places like afghanistan. but right now, they are in the midst of an investigation to find out if any secret data is being transmitted outside because of this virus. they've become one of the linchpins of u.s. military power in war zones around the world. but a defense official confirms these drones are now flying while infected with a computer virus. >> military officials are more confused than panicked by this virus. >> noah shackman first reported this story for wired magazine. they don't know if this is accident or deliberate. >> they have tried over and over again to get rid of this thing, using fairly con conventional anti-virus methods and it hasn't worked. it seems the only way it get the virus off is to wipe the hard drive eps entirely and rebuild them str scratch. >> 150 drones can be flying over afghanistan at any moment. but the predators are kpon trolled from u.s. soil. cnn got access to kreech air force base where pilots steer the drones remotely. this is where the virus effected the secure computer system. >> in the 21st century, bits and bytes can be as threatening as bullets and bombs. >> this is part after bigger problem. cyber thieves have stolen specifications for parts of thanks and submarines. it took 24,000 military files and a single intrusion this year. pentagon officials admit there have been multiple intrusions over the past few years, and more destructive tools are developed everyday. >> the most malicious actors have not yet obtained the most harmful capabilities. but this is a situation will not hold forever. there will eventually be a mare achblg capability and intense where those who mean us harm will gain the ability to launch damaging cyber attacks. >> now the former deputy secretary of the defense says the pentagon has a limited window to securities systems. in fact the pentagon launched a pilot program to try and secure some of the defense contractors. they are the ones who lost those 24,000 files i mentioned. and whatever happens with this particular virus, almost everyone is convinced that it will not be the last one to hit the drone program. >> chris, what's the most damage this current virus potentially could do? >> in one word, from officials i spoke with, trust, wolf. it's not like this virus will bring down a drone, it will fall out of the sky. but if there is a gap in trust, if officials start to not trust that information that they're getting has not been compromised, that could start to effect missions in the long run. >> chris lawrence, watching this story with enormous ramifications, thank you. let's go to where serious crack down on protesters is ratcheting up to deadly new levels. it is not surprising there is financial support from iran. but in a very, very troubling development for washington, he's also now enjoying some serious backing from iraq. joining us now from beirut, spending a lot of time in iraq, why would malachi be signeding with alassad as he continues a crack down on peaceful demonstrators? >> well, it most certainly seems, wolf, as if malachi is adopting the stons when. that is not surprising how close the countries are and how indebted malachi is to the iranians for his current position in iraq. at the same time, though, what many are saying is quite hypocritical is that malachi is the same man who has come out in the past and directly accused syrians of being the ones to fuel the insurgency when especially notable occasion in 2 2009 after attacks and malachi pointer the finger of blame directly at syrians. there is not much love lost between baghdad but this is where the regional dynamics are more at play. >> loosing thousands of lives, does malachi really believe his relationship with iran is more important than his relationship with the united states? >> well, a lot of critics of the malachi government have said that yes, that is in fact the case, that malachi views the u.s. as being a country that eventually is going to be leaving iraq, that he has to maintain close ties with a neighbor at the end of the day. but at the same time, there is growing concern because of just how cozy the two countries are becoming and their relationship seems to beship strengthening by the day. and they do not want to see them enjoying this type of a relationship. this would not serve the u.s.'s interest in the region. this is one where u.s. officials have come out and reluctantly admitted or perhaps -- some have reluctantly admitted, that perhaps the entire invasion of iraq will result in effectively handing the country over to the irani iranians. >> we have seen more brutal crack downs, brutal violence, against these demonstrators in syria by the alassad regime. what is the very latest you are picking up? >> well, there have actually been a number of clashes that were reported over the weekend that left at least 31 people dead according to the syrian observatory for human rights. 17 of those were of syrian security forces. the observatory reporting they had occurred at the hands of individuals believed to have defected from the syrian military. we have been seeing in recent weeks, a growing number of defeks taking place. we have also been seeing violence concentrated in specific areas where those detectors are concentrated. this, of course, is a very chilling development in what is happening in syria because many people fear that this could potentially propel the country towards a civil war. and yet the defectors will tell you that virian government left them no choice but to take up weapons. because they say after seven months of peaceful demonstrations, the syrian government has made it clear that it intends onslaughtering every single individual who has dared stand against them. and at the same time, there is a growing albeit reluctant conversation between them as to whether they should all take up arms to defend themselves. >> arwa, thanks very much. check out my blog. i write about this very subject today. the terrorist group al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is promising to retaliate soon. the group finally confirmed the death to his followers ten days after he was killed by a u.s. drone strike. the obama administration under fire for killing al-awlaki, who is an american citizen. we are also learning more about a memo that laid out the case for killing him. our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty is watching this situation for us. what is the legal argument that obama administration had, jill, for killing an american citizen. >> well we talked with an official who ran us through some of the rational for where you would be able to kill an american citizen. so maybe we ought to go through it point by point. maybe we start with the fact that he was an american citizen, right? >> let's talk about that. go ahead. >> okay. sew is an american citizen. however, as the add menstruation looks at it, he is an american citizen who is also part of al qaeda. he is a leader, in fact, they started to use this word, leader of external operations for al qaeda. that means, according to the administration, that they have the right to go after him. so that's part one. >> what's part two? >> part two, hot battlefield. this is a phrase you will hear a lot. in international, let's say the war, how you conduct war, it is sometimes said that a if somebody isn't in a hot battlefield, in other words, if they're not shooting at you right now, then it's not fair game to go after him. but the administration would make the case that a hot battlefield essentially could be a butte kpoouter that a terrorist son, that is telling someone to carry out a terrorist act. let's listen to john brennan, president's national security advisor. >> al qaeda does not follow a traditional command structure, wear uniforms, carry arms openly or mass troops at borders of the nations it attacks. nonetheless, p has the capability to strike with notice and cause significant civilian and or military casualties. >> the other factor is he was not in afghanistan or iraq, he was in yemen. >> right. that is really an important point. because the administration would say, yemen was either not willing tore incapable, and in this case, probably more incapable, of getting al-awlaki. the u.s. has the right. and wolf, i have to tell you, it is very important that they are not making a case against every american who a abroad. they are making a case against al-awlaki. there is no broader, at this point, point. the administration is saying right now, least our understanding, there is a debate in the administration as to whether they should release more of this rational. whether they should explain it better. because a lot the u.s. allies do not agree on some of the points and would like to know more. >> even the senator from vermont, i interviewed him the other day, he was queasy about this rational. and i know there's pressure from members of congress on the obama administration to go ahead and release the legal document, justifying the killing of an american citizen in this war on terror. thanks very much, jill for that. massive government loans to this so-called green company sparked outrage after it went bankrupt. now we are learning about another green company after it got milliones from washington and it it's on the brink. plus, rick perry's new video attacking mitt romney. is it effective or just desperate? (announcer) everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing businesses use machine-to-machine technology from verizon wireless. susie ! the vending machine... already filled. cool bike. because the business with the best technology rules. only moments ago, markets closed on wall street stocks. made a very, very strong showing. let's go straight to karina. what happened karina? >> the focus really was on europe. the news was pretty good. we heard from france and europe that they were committed to the banks. we saw the financials take off today, even though it was was a broad-based rally. the banks really shown. we saw bank of america close up more than 6%. citigroup up more than 7%. keep in mind, the devil is in the details app and at this point, we don't know what is happening with the debt crisis. those are expected to come in about three weeks from now. we will have a lot of uncertainty in weeks to follow. we have seen the wild swings throughout the past two months. which is signs of an unhealthy market. so do expect volatility in the days ahead. snrs goes up 330 point, that's good news for a lot of investors. karina, thanks very much. first, a california solar panel maker received huge loans from the energy department only to go bankrupt. now we are learning details of another troubled investment by the obama administration in the so-called green energy company. lisa sylvester has been following this for us. all right, lisa, what's going on now. >> yeah, wolf. the obama administration has been betting big on green. it provided hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and grants to companies that make advance batteries for electrical vehicles. the department of energy is hoping that this brand new industry will help bring back the manufacturing sector, particularly in states like michigan hit hard with job losses. but fiscal conservatives are calling this a waste of taxpayer money and they are predicting that there will be more failed companies in this industry, like we saw with the solar panel company, s ole ndra. 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. a goal laid out in president obama's state of the union address january of this year. the very next day, joe biden visited an indiana manufacturer that makes the batteries that powers those cars. >> we have to create whole new industries for the 21st century. >> awarded a $118 million in federal stimulus money in 2010, part of $2.5 billion taxpayer dollars no help companies. the energy department says these are the new jobs of the future. and if the u.s. want to compete, it has to help these start-up companies. >> the u.s. government needs to be in the game working with our companies, with our workers, to be sure we have a big piece of this growing global market. >> but the promise as ener 1 has grown dim since vice president's visit the stuck plummeted 95%. a class action lawsuit has been filed alleging violation of securities law. we contacted ener 1 for comment but they did not return our calls. the story might sound a little like solyndra. they received aid from the federal government only to file for bankruptcy. representative cliff stern says these troubled investments point to why the federal government shouldn't play the vol of venture capitalist. >> i think the overall concern i have, is the administration wants to industrialize using the government to control and make decisions on who is a winner and loser in the market. you cannot do that in a free market. if you start to predict who is winner and loose losers are, then you socialize this country. >> the problem for the lithium ion battery is competition from overseas. china. and the lack of customers. there aren't that many electric cars on the road. and using stimulus money to fund multiple companies at the same time. >> i think it was misguided. in the sense that russia building five plants at the same time with given production capacity for a markets that did not need it yet, was a mistake. so the whole project was misguided. >> the obama administration acknowledges some clean tech companies are going to succeed and some, like solyndra, are going to fail. >> should the government place bets, essentially, that says maybe some will succeed and maybe some won't. >> this is an issue of whether the governments are in the marketplace or not. governments are in the marketplace. chinese, japanese, european governments are all here. the question is whether the u.s. government and people of the united states will stand behind our companies and workers here. i hope so. >> the obama administration says it wasn't just democratic lawmakers though supporting ener1. representative dan burton an governor mitch dan else also on ener1's behalf. it trading for pennies, far cry from january when vice president biden visited the company. >> i don't under why they let the president or vice president go out there and underline support for the companies that may be so risky, maybe in some political danger for these administration officials. >> you know, that is an excellent question, wolf. if you look at timing on this, for instance with ener1, it was the day after the president's state of the union address. they wanted to fan their officials out of the country and talk about initiatives. in this case he was talking about the battery industry, electrical vehicles. same thing with s 0 lyndra, there is a jobs report. you have to see what is going on, on the day of the event, when they are out there visiting their companies. off then there is a political timeframe as well. >> and the same pocket of money went to solyndra as well. >> it is a different department, but again the department of energy program. >> basically american taxpayers lost $500 million in solyndra and could lose another hundred million in ener1. >> and republicans believe there are more solyndras out there. >> we are keeping an eye on it. >> i know you are. an evangelical leader is calling mormonism a false religion. so what to can dates have to say about this? jon huntsman is joining us live in "the situation room," that's up next. >> can some profit create jobs here in the united states? the idea is creating momentum. could it work? you can decide for yourself. stay with us. seem like a trumpep hollywood premise. ♪ but if you take away the dramatic score... take away the dizzying 360-degree camera move... [ tires screech ] ...and take away the over-the-top stunt, you're still left with a pretty remarkable tale. but, okay, maybe keep the indulgent supermodel cameo... thank you. 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