At his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday, John O. Brennan tried to restore Americans' faith in the C.I.A. While Brennan expressed his disapproval for torture, he staunchly defended the C.I.A.'s drone program.

Keri Russell is back on TV. The former Felicity star, along with Matthew Rhys, portray a Russian spy couple living in suburban D.C. on the new FX series, The Americans.

If confirmed, how would Brennan shape the C.I.A.? Glenn Greenwald is a columnist on civil liberties and U.S. national security issues for the Guardian. He explores Brennan's foreign policy influence in the region, and his potential role in Obama's second term.

In the midst of a contentious national debate about the Obama administration's use of drone warfare, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will question John Brennan, chief counterterrorism advisor to President Obama and the president's pick to lead the CIA. 

In recent years, the CIA has authorized many of its former operatives to land lucrative book deals and pundit gigs — a fact that would have horrified previous generations of spooks. And yet, notes journalist Ted Gup, the agency remains notably selective about the information it allows to be disclosed. Bob talks with Ted about what he calls the CIA's "double standard" on secrecy.

Yo-Yo Ma - Bach's Suite for Cello #6 in D Major

President Obama is set to announce two high-profile nominations today. The president is expected to nominate John O. Brennan, his counterterrorism advisor, to lead the C.I.A. The president will also nominate Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska, as secretary of defense. David Sanger is following the nominations for our partner The New York Times.

In the aftermath of the David Patraeus scandal, Michael Morell is serving as the acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency. And if the speculation is to be believed, he’ll soon be Patraeus’s permanent replacement. But who is Morell? And is he really the best man for the job? Brian Fung, associate editor at The Atlantic, recently profiled Morell for The Atlantic.

Journalists that covered David Petraeus, both in his capacity as a General in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later as the director of the CIA, have done a lot of public soul searching in the wake of his recent scandal. Bob speaks to international investigative reporter Jon Lee Anderson about what he sees as the media's failings in covering Petraeus.

Can we stop to think for a second about how staggeringly pointless it is to expect sexual and moral purity from the head of the CIA?

When I met General Petraeus I thought I was in the presence of a great leader. Perhaps I was. But that leadership has been entirely undone.

Antonio Mendez, former CIA technical operations officer, author of Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History, and A. O. Scott, chief film critic at The New York Times, discuss the events depicted in the new movie "Argo" and Mendez’s role in it.

Every so often, we pick a popular movie, play, or TV show and talk about the real-life context. Today: Showtime's "Homeland."

Bob Baer, the Intelligence Columnist for TIME Magazine and 21-year veteran of the CIA, talks about what "Homeland" gets right and what it says about counter-terrorism. Then, June Thomas, a culture critic for Slate and host of the new Slate podcast The Afterword, discusses what the show says about the evolution of spy thrillers after 9/11.

The CIA drone program in Pakistan has targeted and killed more low-level militants than senior commanders, according to a new report by Stanford University and New York University. The drone program, according to the report, traumatizes communities in Northwest Pakistan and results in civilian deaths and injuries.

Antonio Mendez gives an account of leading the 1979 rescue of six American hostages from Iran. He's joined by his wife, Jonna Mendez, also a former CIA agent. Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled off the Most Audacious Rescue in History, written with Matt Baglio, tells the full story of how Mendez, a top-level CIA officer, devised an incredibly risky plan to rescue the six escaped hostages. He disguised himself as a Hollywood producer and traveled to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for a fake science fiction film called “Argo.”

Closing a controversial three-year investigation, Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that no one will be prosecuted for harsh interrogation techniques carried out by the CIA that resulted in the deaths of two prisoners.

In 2003, an Egyptian terrorist suspect was abducted and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and interrogated by the CIA. Years later, several Americans were indicted in Italy and found guilty in absentia for kidnapping. Now one has the chance to have her conviction overturned.

Members of congress met yesterday with the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, to discuss recent government leaks about two of America’s newest weapons: computer worms (like Stuxnet) and drones. They asserted that each leak puts lives at risk and makes America's allies less likely to trust our government with their secrets.

John Hockenberry visits the new spying exhibit at the Discovery Center in Times Square. He peruses hundreds of artifacts from the CIA, FBI, and National Reconnaissance Office with Tim Weiner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former New York Times reporter who wrote the definitive history of the CIA.