majority in the house try to roll back all of president obama's accomplishments in 2011? we'll talk about that. and to russia with love. russia's favorite spy. opening up about her espy nanlg secrets. it is final countdown to 2011. just 16 hours, 16 hours left to 2010. final preparations under way at new york's times square where roughly a million people are expected to pour into the cross roads of the world to watch that famous ball drop. thousands of police will also be on hand to keep everyone safe. nbc is live in times square. nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent richard i thingle here to talk about this. mara, let's start with you. >> in just a few hours crowds of people are going to begin streaming into times square to secure their spot here to see the ball drop. a lot of planning goes into the massive celebration, with all the crowds come concerns about security and potential for a terrorist attack. this year mother nature threw anth added everything into the amp my indications here, dumping almost two feet of snow on this city less than a week before new year's celebrations. >> three, two, one. >> a run-through of the famous ball drop. >> happy new year. >> a test of confetti showers, barricades being put into place at the cross roads of the world, party planning is under way. >> actually very excited. i'm really looking forward to it. >> reporter: almost a million people are expected to pack into new york's times square to watch the famous ball drop at the stroke of midnight and welcome the new year. >> the world is watching. the ball is dropping. and everyone is going to be watching new york city as they dovery year. >> reporter: but as excitement grows, so do security concerns. the massive crowds make the new year's celebrations a potentially attractive target for a terrorist attack. just this spring times square itself was targeted when a naturalized u.s. citizen tried to detonate a car bomb there. while officials say there is no specific threat against the celebrations this year, they are not taking any chances. >> we have a track record of success. as i say, we're not going to rest on that. we are going to be very much pro-active. >> reporter: police are implementing a number of security measures, including more than 17 miles of steel barricades to keep revelers in place. entrance point searches, and teams of uniformed officers and canine units. as security measures are being brought in, tons of snow are carted out. this year city officials have the added task of cleaning up after a monster storm dumped almost two feet of snow on the city. mayor bloomberg has been widely criticized for bundling preparations leading to unplowed roads and storm related deaths. >> response to the storm was inadequate and unacceptable. >> reporter: as sanitation department works to clear out leftover mounds of snow and ice from times square, the weather finally seems to be cooperating. temperatures are expected to hit a relatively balmy 39 degrees, thawing out the city and ensuring 2011 gets a warm welcome. now, some cities are already celebrating the new year. we're looking at live pictures here of fireworks at the sydney harbor as they welcome 2011. now, in terms of the security concerns here, despite the concerns and the preparations, this is a relatively safe celebration, one of the safest big celebrations in the world. in years past there have been relatively few problems or arrests. craig? >> down in the heart of it all, thank you so much. we'll come back to you later. appreciate that report. all across this country law enforcement out in full force keeping an eagle eye on new year's celebrations and other potential terror targets as well. joined now by nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle. no credible threats in new york city. go ahead. >> i wouldn't say any specific threats that i've heard of. there's always the general threat. you have a lot of people, hundreds of thousands gathering in one place. new york city, attractive target for militant groups. they've attacked twice here before. so there's obviously concern. but no specific phone calls were coming tonight, so far so good. >> as mara just mentioned there, times square, the largest public party in this country every year. prime target for terrorists. but there's never really been any major problems there. what is it that new york city police do to make sure that doesn't happen? >> since 9/11 the new york police department has really created a world class intelligence and counter terrorism organization. the country as a whole is focused on fighting wars in afghanistan, fighting wars in pakistan, yemen, going abroad. nypd has internalized its focus and spent a lot of money on infrastructure, on radiation detection equipment, on security cameras, software to use the security cameras, sbintelligenc. it's created a world class system. if you saw on that interview in mar a's package there, there was commissioner kelly, police commissioner kelly. he was in a room, if you noticed there were monitors behind him. that room takes in security camera feeds. but it's much more sophisticated than that. it takes in thousands of security camera feeds. there are about 400 security cameras just in times square. and they don't just look around like you would expect a security camera scanning in a basement. they are programmed with algorithms effectively to pick out patterns. so if you typed in to the computer and you set up a program, you could say, i want to pick out every person in new york that has been seen by these cameras wearing a red jacket. >> wow. >> and they will identify that. if you set an alarm on these computers and say, i want an alarm to go off every time the same vehicle goes around a block three times or you can set it to four times or five times, it will set an alarm. obviously if you set to it one alarm, it would go off all the time. you determine the threshold. >> thank you so much. always a pleasure. happy new year to you. >> thanks. not just new york, fellow authorities are hypervigilant this time of year keeping close tabs of potential terror targets overseas not just in the united states. homeland security secretary janet napolitano is in afghanistan to meet with u.s. troops for a look at what we should focus on in the new year. joined now by nbc terror an lais and also a senior partner at flash point global partners. let's start with your read on the situation in afghanistan. right now troops remain on track. set to start leaving in july despite the fact that recent gains are described as fragile. what will you will looking for? >> well, look, there's two different problems in afghanistan. we have the problem of the afghan taliban and foreign fighters. the good news is over the past year we've scored impressive gains against foreign quifighte al qaeda. we've damaged their infrastructure. we've taken out of a lot of their senior citizenship and their funds. as long as the afghan taliban are in charge in southern afghanistan there will continue to be a sanctuary and foreign fighters will try to go there and join al qaeda. we have to be careful here that we don't withdrawal prematurely. if we do, al qaeda will simply regroup and rearm itself and, once again, they're going to try to strike at the ice. what we know now is that despite all pressure that we're putting on al qaeda in afghanistan, that they are still plotting to try to attack the continental united states. so it is a continuing threat. >> "new york times" reported that militant organizations along the afghan/pakistan border are starting to band together, starting to join forces and coordinate attacks and raids and even sending out patrols. could that give the enemy the upper hand there? >> this is something rich engel and i were discussing. this is not new news. this is cross filtration between the network, the pakistani taliban, and even foreign fighters. it's true that we're going to have to break up these networks because as long as the foreign fighters have local base, have local allies, they're not going anywhere. so it's important to focus in on that. >> outside of afghanistan, which country poses the next greatest threat, is it still yemen? >> i think yemen is a good pick. al qaeda and the arabian peninsula just put out a statement saying, await, our surprise, america, they are coming. we don't know what they're talking about but it's ominous message. and given the cargo bomb plot, sheikh, the yemeni-american cleric out there, there's every reason to believe they will try to strike at the united states and they have the capability to do so. they've issued some pretty serious threats in the past few months and i think we have to take that seriously. >> evan, thanks so much. appreciate that. >> thank you very much. tail end of 2010 and folks out west just cannot seem to catch a break from all the wintry weather. especially in arizona where the white mountains are experiencing whiteout conditions. check this out. driver visibility there down to barely a foot. phoenix also feeling the subfreeze thanks to a mixture of sleet and snow there. hundreds of miles of roads are closed as a result of the storm and many motorists are stranded. forecasters say more snow is on the way. speaking of bad weather, state police are sorting through an ugly mess on the highways of north dakota this morning. 100-car chain reaction pile-up on i-94. there it is. what a mess it is. whiteout conditions on icy roads there being blamed for that the tow crews have spent hours hauling off the damage. states now under a blizzard warning, so if you're out that way, stay off the roads. out with the old, in with the new, and with all the wicked whether that we've seen at the tail end of this year plenty of people are going to be glad to see it go. but we are not out of the wintry woods just yet. you just saw it out west. nbc's meteorologist bill karins looking at the forecast as we say so long to 2010. >> happy new year's eve to you, craig. this weather mat tern is amazing. i've got it all, blizzard warnings, very cold windchills and tornados this morning, believe it or not. the last day of december. we've had an official confirmed tornado report out of cincinnati, arkansas. it's a little small area. a house's roof was torn off and two barns destroyed in last two hours. it's still in the area of northern arkansas, crossing 540 heading out of the fayetteville area of arkansas. moving up through the ozarks, eventually up towards branson, missouri, is in the line of fire for that storm. we'll continue to track that and the possibility of any more tornado damage. crazy morning in chicago, too. thunderstorms going through chicago in the last day of december. we have heavy rain and also thunderstorms popping up throughout much of missouri and illinois. a very dynamic storm. on the back side we have heavy snow being reported through much of nebraska. omaha is about to get hit. same as lincoln. the temperatures are very, very cold. with all these thunderstorms, i was looking at the airport delays. right now o'hare is at 30-minute delays. yesterday we had over 3 00 flights canceled because of fog. blizzard warnings continue throughout much of south dakota. the areas of red there. north dakota. do not travel unless you really have to in the northern plains because this storm we're expecting one to two feet of snow to be blowing. it will be drifting. look at denver, you had snow yesterday and last night. now your windchill is minus 15. dangerous concerns for your travel and new year's eve. i'm happy to report, this storm heads up into canada. not a lot of bad weather left. it's probably the worst winter day you've seen yet. >> folks trying to head to pittsburgh for the winter classic, capitals/penguins, what are we thinking? >> 50 degrees and the chance of rain moving in during the day. and i know that they're very nervous about the safety of the players. the ice, it's refrigerated so the ice, if it rains, it will freeze when it hits the ice and make it more slick. a lot of guys wear the vicers. if it's raining they may have to wait until sunday to play. >> 50 degrees and rain doesn't make for -- >> no, may have to wait until sunday, unfortunately. >> thanks. a lot of heartbreak at uconn this morning now that one of the most impressive streaks in basketball history is over, last night, stanford beat the uconn women's basketball team, 71-59, ending the lady huskies '90-game rein. it just so happens that the last time the uconn women lost was two years ago and, you guessed it, to stanford. also, check out just who happened to be in the crowd cheering on stanford. condoleezza rice, now a professor there. perhaps she was the good luck charm the team needed. if you're planning a geta y getaway, the lowdown on the travel deals. plus, the green lantern is just one of the much anticipated films coming your way in the next year. we'll raise the curtain for a preview of what's ahead at the box office. we're just getting started. a volkswagen for just your signature. like the cc, or the tiguan. huh. yeah, plus every vw includes scheduled carefree maintenance. really? that's great. there you go. oh, that guy's pretty good too. yeah, he's ok. [ male announcer ] it's amazing what you can do with a pen. sign then drive is back. for a limited time get any 2011 volkswagen for practically just your signature. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t and blackberry have teamed up to keep your business moving. blackberry torch now just $99.99. only from at&t. rethink possible. people are finding downtime in the holidays, it's not always easy to get away. nasty weather. airport delays we've been dealing with. traffic problems can make vacationing, can make it even more difficult. if you feel like you've missed out on travel deals don't worry just yet, it's plenty to be found. joining us now is the senior traveled or for travelocity. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> they're called dead weeks? >> yes. little known industry secret. first few weeks in january are known as dead weeks because to the general public has been traveling so much, we traveled over thanksgiving and christmas. most people want to stay home. but the you want to get away i've soon prices up to 70% off as compared to the peak travel week that we're in right now. >> we're talking airfare and hotels? >> and most importantly vacation packages. that's the easiest way to save book at the same time. >> if you could pick the best, most popular place this year, where would it be? >> las vegas. it's always vegas. it's always super, super hot. right now perhaps more than ever because just about two weeks ago a new hotel hoped there called the cosmopolitan of las vegas at the center of the strip. got almost 3,000 rooms. most have balconies. all have custom in-room bars. they have spas, blue ribbon sushi. if you go on january 2nd the rates drop to $135 a night, plus a free bottle of wine, plus $50 dining credit for the restaurants. not a bad deal. >> these are deals that can be found on various websites. i know you don't like to promote other websites but are they all over the web or directly to the airline or directly to the hotel? >> these deals i found all on travelocity. they're definitely on travelocity. >> for travel in 2011, good year, bad year? >> it's going to be a good year, i think. majority of deals will be found on hotels and resorts, more so than, say, airfare. it seems like people are ready to travel again. hopefully they will be out there taking advantage of the deals. >> genevieve, travelocity, thank you. have a great new year. as we end 2010 america online just released the annual list of the most sought after search items of the year. aol says that bedbugs was the hottest health topic on the web. the bp oil spill topped the list of the most searched news stories. and shoppers search for apple's ipad the most. of course, nothing fuels online traffic like controversy, right, propelling tiger woods as the top celebrity this year searched on aol. tiger, of course, started 2010 with his marriage in shambles, sponsors were dropping their endorsements. we all remember that disastrous press event he had in february announced his return to golf in march. officially divorced in august. better luck in 2011, tiger woods. accelerate into it. it's not too late to get behind the wheel of a cadillac cts during our season's best sales event. with a direct-injection v-6 and cadillac premium care maintenance for four years or 50,000 miles, it's one gift you'll never want to return. see your cadillac dealer for this attractive offer on an exhilarating cadillac cts. but hurry -- the season's best sales event from cadillac ends soon. ♪ finally, after 58 days in limbo, senator lisa murkowski was officially declared the winner of alaska's senate seat yesterday. the governor there signed the paperwork certifying her win over tea party-backed joe miller. late yesterday afternoon, t. murkowski the first senator to win as a write-in since 1954 when strom thurmond did it in south carolina. as 2011 rolls in so will a new majority in the house right after the new year, john boehner will be formally elected speaker of the house and leader of the new republican majority. what's first on the gop agenda? joining me now, senior reporter for politico, jonathan martin. jonathan, boehner has started to layout that agenda. let's hear what he said a few weeks ago. take a listen. >> sure. >> we'll start first by cutting our own budget. it will be one of our first votes. then we'll turn our attention to the rest of the federal budget and the job killing policies that are denying economic growth, an opportunity for the american people, including killing the job-killing health care law. >> all right. let's start with the health care law, jonathan. >> sure. >> that's going to be the first order of business for the gop. is that realistically possible for those guys? >> yes, yes, no. yes, craig, in the sense that it's going to be probably first couple of weeks that they come back here in january that they will take that to the floor. try to repeal the health care reform law. of course, passed last year. given their majority in the house, the gop probably will have the vote to do that. but here's the issue. the senate, of course, still controlled by democrats, still a democrat in the white house. this is mostly a symbolic move. speaker boehner knows that. but you've got to bring it up for a vote at least because so many of the freshmen, so many incumbents ran on it so you have to vote on it symbolically to try to start the process of killing it. but, of course, harry reid is never going to bring that up for a vote in a million years. >> president obama's got new type of swagger coming out of this lame-duck session. do we see him continue to act as the compromiser in chief or is he going to have to move back to the left to appease some of th aggressives? >> depends on what he wants to do going forward in 2011-2012. given divided government on capitol hill, he's probably going to have to compromise more if he wants to get anything done substantively. if he wants to stake out his ground, obviously he could, you know, stand the thwart, the gop controlled house. if he wants to try and sort of make progress, try and get some more bills done, take some of those recommendations, buy his deficit commission to try to address big picture issues he's going to have to work with the gop in the house and mish mcconnell over in the senate, too, for the senate you have to have both parties to get anything done, especially when you have a majority like democrats do there now. >> before i let you go, john non, let's talk quickly here about the president's popularity. gallop tracking poll shows his approval rating is at 47 %. at this point in their presidenc