Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff theres word tonight that President Trump may have jeopardized a secret source of intelligence on the Islamic State group. The Washington Post reports the president divulged highly Sensitive Information when he met with the Russian Foreign minister and ambassador last week. The account says an ally provided the intelligence, but had not given permission to share it with russia. Were joined now by greg jaffe, one of the post reporters who broke the story. Greg jaffe, tell us exactly what happened, as you know it. The meeting with the transportation and the Russian Ambassador was taking place and the president was sharing information with regard to the laptop threat that had been an issue a concern the threat posed by laptops, the threat pose bid aviation to laptops which had been an issue and he was describing the nature of that threat, was boasting about the great intel he had and, in doing so, may have overstepped the bounds. Woodruff so this is information that had come from a u. S. Ally, is that correct . Yeah, thats exactly right, and its particularly sensitive, and i think the ally which controls the dissemination of the information would be upset to have learned it landed in the russians hands. Woodruff sounds from your reporting, greg, that the white house recognized quickly what happened because you wrote they contacted both the c. I. A. And the National Security agency afterwards. Yeah, thats exactly right. And, you know, they controlled dissemination of the transcripts immediately afterwards, and they struck the references to a sort of memo summary that went out in the white house describing the meeting to ensure that the information didnt get out any further than it already had. Obviously, the problem is not internal to the u. S. Government, the problem is the dissemination to the russians. Woodruff what is the damage done here potentially . You know, i think there are a couple of concerns. You know, you worry first and foremost about potentially compromising sources and methods that allowed us that have allowed us to gather this intelligence over a period of time. My understanding is that this is sort of a stream of intelligence thats been useful over quite a period of time, so i think thats the first and foremost worry. The secondary worry is you compromise a relationship wan important ally. Woodruff im going to read back to you what you quote in the story and youre quoting h. R. Mcmaster, the president s National Security advisor. He said to you that, at no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were not already disclosed that were not already known publicly. Yeah, i think thats right. I think the worry is, by sharing this intelligence with the russians, that it potentially compromised the sources and methods. In other words, this was information shared the russians werent aware of. They didnt know how we had access to it, so i think the worry is their ability is to reverse engineer, to sort of figure out where this information was coming from. Woodruff clearly, greg geeing, youre not going to tell us your source on this story, but is it fair to say the white house did not want this information revealed . Yeah, i think thats very fair to say that the white house is very concerned i think both about the information shared in the oval office and about the story. Woodruff where does this go from here . So the president has shared this in a conversation with the Russian Foreign minister, the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. What can one expect . Has there been an apology made to the ally, the country, the officials from whom the information came . You know, i dont know the answer to that. You know, i think this is one of those issues where its so unprecedented,ip not sure where it goes from here. I have been reporting on National Security matters for quite a while and its hard to recall Something Like this. Woodruff are president s given some sort of training or guidance on how to talk about intelligence . Well, you know, they get talking points prior to the meetings, and this is where its important to have talking points and have a staff prirp the president and the president willing to listen and be prepared and i think thats the concern that this is a president who doesnt have a long history in government, is a president who relies on his gut and likes to wing it in meetings, and i think thats the concern here, you know. You have to be open to being staffed, and i think thats potension hi what was worrisome here. Woodruff greg jaffe of the the Washington Post, one of the reporters on the story that has just broken within the hour. Greg, we thank you. Yeah, thanks for having me. Woodruff in the days other news, President Trump says the white house is moving rapidly to replace fired f. B. I. Director james comey. At least eight candidates were interviewed over the weekend. They included, among others, acting f. B. I. Director andrew mccabe, plus republican senator john cornyn and republican congressman mike rogers. Meanwhile, the White House Press insisted today the president wants a full f. B. I. Review of russian meddling in the election, no matter what it concludes. The actions that he took he knew could be detrimental to himself, but none of those things mattered, because the president had to do the right thing for the American People because he believes that jim comey was the wrong man for that position. Woodruff the president himself has called the investigation a charade. Spicer also refused, again, to confirm or deny the president taped his conversations with comey, or anyone else. Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein will brief the full senate on the firing, this thursday. The United Nations is nearly doubling its appeal for humanitarian aid in south sudan, facing a brutal civil war and famine. The director of the World Food Program warned today the suffering is unimaginable. U. N. Agencies said they need at least 1. 4 billion to provide assistance to refugees. The United States accused the government of syria today of killing thousands of prisoners, and burning the bodies to hide the evidence. A Top State Department official said mass executions are taking place about 45 minutes outside damascus, at a large prison. The regime is responsible for killing as many as 50 detainees per day at saydnaya. Credible sources have believed that many of the bodies have been disposed in mass graves. We now believe that the Syrian Regime has installed a crematorium in the saydnaya prison complex, which could dispose of detainees remains with little evidence. Woodruff state Department Officials also called for russia to use its influence with the damascus regime to stop the atrocities. The u. S. Supreme court will not hear an appeal to reinstate north carolinas voter i. D. Law. Todays announcement leaves a Lower Court Ruling in place. It found the law targeted africanamericans with what it called almost surgical precision. The law imposed stricter i. D. Requirements, rolled back early voting and eliminated sameday registration. For the second monday in a row, a federal Appeals Court has heard arguments on President Trumps travel ban. This time, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of appeals, in seattle, heard a challenge by the state of hawaii. Judges pressed a Top Justice Department lawyer on whether the ban on travel from six muslim nations is, indeed, religious discrimination. Has the president ever disavowed his campaign statements . Has he ever stood up and said, i said before id wanted all members of the islamic faith from the United States of america i was wrong. Over time, the president clarified that what he was talking about were islamic terrorist groups, and the countries that shelter or sponsor them. And over time, he and his advisers clarified that what he was focused on were groups like isis and alqaeda. Woodruff last week, an Appeals Court in richmond, virginia heard similar arguments in another suit against the travel ban. The trump cabinet is now complete. Robert lighthizer was sworn in today as u. S. Trade representative. Vice president mike pence presided over the ceremony. Lighthizer is the last cabinet official to be confirmed. Hes expected to play a key role in renegotiating trade deals. And, on wall street, stocks rose, as oil prices surged. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 85 points to close near 20,982. The nasdaq rose 28 points, and the s p 500 added 11. Still to come on the newshour the president of microsoft on how a global cyber hack could have been prevented. Heightened threats from north koreas latest missile launch. New limits by the Trump Administration on foreign aid to groups that provide abortion services, and much more. Woodruff the worldwide cyberattack appeared to slow today. Since friday, the malware has blitzed more than 200,000 victims in more than 150 countries. The worst of it today was in asia. William brangham reports. Brangham at a Movie Theater in seoul, south korea, screens flashed the bad news now playing, a global cyberattack. In indonesia, the waiting room at a Cancer Hospital in jakarta was packed with patients, their records also held hostage by this socalled ransomware. translated its the number of people. There are always so many people, thats why its taking so long. Were tired, but we need the treatment. Brangham in china, state media reported some 4,000 schools were among the hardest hit there, including two prestigious universities. translated if we pay the ransom, then we are risking getting our personal information, including our account information, recorded and stolen. Brangham Japanese Companies hitachi and nissan were affected as well, but japans chief cabinet secretary said the damage was minimal. The virus first struck on friday, primarily at hospitals in britain and Companies Across europe. This particular kind of ransomware takes advantage of a security flaw in Microsofts Windows operating system. It locks users out of their computers until they pay a ransom to get it back. This strain of ransomware was apparently built in part using software created by the National Security agency, the n. S. A. , which was then stolen by hackers. Microsoft patched the flaw in its system in march, but many users either ignored it or refused to pay for it. In an open letter sunday, microsoft president brad smith blamed the n. S. A. And called it yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem. Russian president vladimir putin, who is visiting china, also criticized the u. S. , amid reports that his interior ministry has been hit hard. translated the primary source of the virus happens to be the Intelligence Services of the United States. Russia here is absolutely uninvolved. Brangham but at the white house today, tom bossert, President Trumps Homeland Security adviser, said the n. S. A. Had never intended its tool to be used by foreign criminals. This was a vulnerability exploit as one part of a much larger tool that was put together by the culpable parties and not by the u. S. Government. So this was not a tool developed by the n. S. A. To hold ransom data. Brangham meanwhile, theres been political fallout. In britain, where a general election looms, Opposition LeaderJeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister theresa may traded jibes, Long Distance over the past seven years, our National Health service has been driven into crisis after crisis. A and e departments last week, the tory cuts have exposed Patient Services to cyberattack. Cyber security is an issue that we need to address, thats why the government, when we came into government in 2010, put money into Cyber Security, its brangham the cyberattacks effects in the United States have been limited, except for for the pbs newshour, im william brangham. Woodruff lets turn to microsoft now, which has been responding to the attacks and criticizing the n. S. A. For its alleged role in exploiting the vulnerability to begin with. Brad smith is the president and chief legal officer of the company. He joins me from redmond, washington. Brad smith, welcome back to the newshour. First off, what is the status of this cyberattack . There were reports today about the new variant surfacing in parts of the world. What do you know about that . I think, as the report just showed, things seem to be calming down a bit, but its too early to declare victory or say that this episode is over. As you mentioned, new variants can be created. Thats not uncommon in knees kinds of situations. Well have to monitor them. More broadly, even as we help customers dealing with this particular attack, this is a wakeup call for all of us, whether were in the tech sector, customers or in government, we need to do more to address this problem. Woodruff and you did say in the memo that microsoft issued yesterday, you did say this is a powerful reminder, Everybody Needs to keep their Community Center current and patched, but you did go on to point that finger at governments and what you call stockpiling of vulnerabilities. What did you mean by that . Well, we have been pointing out in recent months that more and more, in multiple countries, certain agencies and some governments are stockpiling vulnerabilities, meaning the flaws they find in software, theyre crating their own exploits so that they have them available, and this causes us concern. We believe the world needs some new rules to govern this. We need governments to act with restraint, and we certainly need governments that are creating these kind of cyberweapons to be effective so that theyre not stolen or get leaked out. Out. Woodruff we want, i want to ask you about that because, at the white house today, the president s Homeland Security advisor tom bossert, i think you just heard him say this, he said the n. S. A. Never intended for this tool they created to be used as part of some ransomware attack. I think thats got to be the case, and the reality is this was an unusual attack. It involved the combination of a very sophisticated piece of software of the type we sometimes see in governments then combined with a much less sophisticated piece of software, in effect the ransomware component. In all probability, its some type of organized criminal group that took what came out of the government and put it to use in a way that no one ever intended, but the damage is still done, and we cant assume that this is the last time well see this type of problem if we dont find a way to take new steps. Woodruff well, brad smith, what do you say about microsofts role in this . Im sure you know there are security analysts out there who are saying not only because these flaws existed if something that your Company Created but also that the company apparently hasnt done enough to alert people that these flaws are there, that they need to patch. There are some nonprofit organizations, governments we have been discussing that just havent gotten around to it, and these analysts are saying microsoft should have done more to alert people. The very first thing i said in my statement yesterday was microsoft has the first responsibility to address these issues. I think thats unquestionable. We look at everything that were doing today. We have 3500 security engineers. We worked over the weekend to provide help to customers around the world. We acted in march to patch software. We acted in march to talk about the importance of this as we do all the time, but this is a wakeup call for us, for customers. None of us should assume that were doing everything that we can possibly do. Lets all learn from this together. I would be the first to say that, just as government needs to do more, we need to ask ourselves what more we could do as well. Woodruff can you say at this point what more microsoft can do . One of the issues that i think we need to think through around the world is how to help customers, especially in sophisticated, diversified, complicated Information Technology environments to deploy patches more easily. The National Health service in the u. K. Is a good example. Its a very large inst