Sunday: Feinstein, Paul, McGurk, and McCaul
Last week's deadly terrorist attacks in Paris have ignited a furious debate in the U.S. about whether Syrian refugees should be admitted to the country, and the controversy is making big waves in the 2016 presidential race. This Sunday on "Face the Nation," we'll tie it all together for you.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will join us for an interview. In the wake of the attacks in Paris, she aired some reservations about President Obama's strategy to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. "I don't see the strategy working. I believe they'd have an expanding capability," Feinstein told KCBS this week regarding ISIS. "These attacks have changed my view."
We'll sit down with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a GOP presidential candidate, to get his take on the attacks in Paris and the debate over refugees back in the U.S. Is he worried that his foreign policy prescription of a smaller American footprint abroad might hurt his candidacy amid the focus on national security?
We'll hear from Brett McGurk, the president's special envoy to the global coalition to combat ISIS, about the administration's ongoing strategy to defeat extremists in the Middle East. Did the Paris attacks force them to rethink their current strategy? And what does the administration say to critics who worry they're not responding forcefully enough to the threat?
We'll also speak with Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who's been very critical of Mr. Obama's strategy to fight ISIS. What additional steps would he like to see the administration take? Why has he spoken out against allowing Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict to settle in the U.S.? And is he concerned that a similar attack could strike a U.S. city?
We'll get analysis on the attacks - and the administration's response - from former Michael Morell, a CBS News Senior Security Contributor and the former number two at the CIA. He'll be joined by Fran Townsend, who was a homeland security adviser to former President George W. Bush, and Tom Donilon, Mr. Obama's former national security adviser.
Turning to politics, we'll have new results from the latest CBS News Battleground Tracker poll, which looks at the state of the primary race in both parties across the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. We'll examine the movement at the top of the polls, and we'll look at how the Paris attacks are impacting the Republican field. CBS News Elections Director Anthony Salvanto will be on hand to help us make sense of the numbers.
And finally, we'll get some expert political analysis from our sage panel, including Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, the National Journal's Ron Brownstein, and Karl Rove, a senior advisor to former President George W. Bush and the author of a new book on the 25th president, "The Triumph of William McKinley."
It's a lot to talk about, but we're up to the task. We hope you can join us for an exciting broadcast! Check your local listings for airtimes.