Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4pm on CNN.
Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, plus Shonda Rhimes.
world lead
There's a new colonel in town in Libya, modeled on America's Colonel Sanders. Libya's "Uncle Kentaki" is an American fast food knock-off. Anothony Bourdain visited the fried chicken eatery for his latest installment of "Parts Unknown."
Check out the video above.
world lead
To really understand the push-pull over the bungled talking points in the wake of the Benghazi attack, you have to understand the nature of the U.S. presence in that city.
Officially, the U.S. presence was a diplomatic compound under the State Department's purview.
"The diplomatic facility in Benghazi would be closed until further notice," then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland announced last October.
But in practice - and this is what so few people have focused on - the larger U.S. presence was in a secret outpost operated by the CIA.
About 30 people were evacuated from Benghazi the morning after the deadly attack last September 11; more than 20 of them were CIA employees.
Clearly the larger mission in Benghazi was covert.
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world lead
The Egyptian prosecutor's office says evidence shows three suspects linked to al Qaeda targeted the U.S. and French embassies in Cairo, as well as an Egyptian army facility in the Sinai Peninsula, according to state news.
CNN has not been able to independently confirm the reported targets.
Over the weekend, Egypt's interior minister announced the arrests of three militants who allegedly were plotting to attack a Western embassy and other targets. Both the U.S. embassy and a spokesman for Egypt's interior ministry have refused to comment on specific targets.
"Al Qaeda and groups like it haven't traditionally been operating in Cairo very much," said CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.
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world lead
Call it the second-term curse. Up until now, President Barack Obama has for the most part avoided getting caught up in scandals. But this month's triple whopper of the Benghazi debacle, the IRS fiasco and, now, the news that the Department of Justice seized the phone records of AP journalists puts the Obama administration in good company with other second-term presidents: Nixon, Clinton, Reagan, George W. Bush, and more. All suffered through scandals that would have threatened their re-elections, had they happened sooner.
"Part of it is just the odds catching up with you, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a dangerous place, you stay there long enough bad things happen," said CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. "You stay there long enough, someone, somewhere does something wrong."
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world lead
The Russians say they caught an American spy red-handed, and they are kicking him out of the country. Ryan Fogle - if that is his real name - works as a diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. At least that's his day job, according to the Russians. The FSB - Russia's successor to the KGB - believes he is actually a CIA agent.
The Russians say they arrested him while he was trying to recruit a Russian official. Russian TV cameras were there when Fogle was hauled away. The Russians say he had a whole spy kit on him, complete with a wad of cash, a compass, maps, and wigs. The FSB also claims he had a letter on him addressed to a recruit, with instructions on creating a Gmail account for secret communications.
Former CIA officer Peter Brookes said the letter could have been planted, saying CIA agents would not be caught with such items in their pockets.
"There could be some theater here," said Brookes. "If they did get someone involved in espionage, they may want to deter further espionage, as well as Russians from participating in espionage."
Fogle was brought in for questioning, and later turned over to the U.S. embassy. But Russia has ordered him out of the country.
There has been no comment on this incident from the U.S. embassy.
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