Rice steps aside, what's next?

>>> amid all the talk of fairness or unfairness concerning susan rice , it remains a critical time for president obama on the international front. the u.s. is sending patriot air missiles and 400 troops to turkey as a possible defense from syria . and a senior official said syria 's president bashar assad is losing control. and north korea is celebrating it's most controversial rocket launch . i want to start by asking you about susan rice because you did release a statement, she's meeting with the president today, your statement said the president and country will be denied the opportunity to have one of the nation's most capable ambassadors serve as secretary of state. but just a few minutes ago, your colleague tom cole had this to say.

>> the country would be best to find somebody who can be a unifying figure. it's unfortunate for the individuals involved but it's a smart and very clear eyed decision by the white house .

>> was susan rice too divisive of figure, congressman?

>> i don't think so. she's a very accomplished public servant and i think the attacks on her were unfounded and unjustified. gop lawmakers are the ones who made this distraction to begin with, relying on a trumped up attack on her for relying on the cia and following her best judgment. it shows what a difficult town washington can be when someone performing their job with great integrity is attacked in this i think completely unjustified matter.

>> should the administration have fought harder for susan rice ? that's a decision for the president to make, i don't know if ambassador rice was the choice he wanted, if she was the choice for him, he should have fought for her if he wanted her.

>> let me ask you some of the things that this new secretary of state will face. as we said the u.s. is sending patriot air defense missiles and 400 troops to syria . the goal clearly is to show that they're going to make a commitment to deter a syrian attack.

>> i think so and hope so. i can understand what why turkey would be very concerned and we have seen indications that syria has prepared in some respects these chemical weapons that is deeply disturbing and we have also seen that the mean sheen guns would be fired against the syrian people themselves, so if you have a government that's going to file -- chemical weapons and and as a neighboring -- regime you got to think, if they're willing to take the steps against their own people. i think it was a prudent step to take and i hope that she knows that any step it takes, it's chemical weapons against their own people or others would be met with a severest of consequences. do you believe his role is almost over?

>> well, he's certainly lost control , but this week, we're only stating the obvious. but they can't help but see the deterioration in the position of the assad they're having to resort to more dire measures. it's pretty clear that the assad regime i think will not survive, but weather it will fall in a week or month, or whether we can soldier on for a year, that's very hard to predict. but i think we are definitely beyond the point now where from's any possibility of survival of this regime.

>> also making news after launching that rocket on wednesday, defying international warnings. willing to defy the international community , what do you see, congressman, as the risk of that for the, not just international community , but for the u.s. as well.

>> not only is this missile technology and their nuclear technology a problem and a threat to the north koreans . we have to be concerned about them assisting the iranians or others in this work which is deeply disturbing, we need china's help, we need china's cooperation. and perhaps the only way that we can get china to cooperate that china understands that the north korean threat escalates a military presence in the region and that's something that china desperately doesn't want to see. but we have to make it clear that as north korea continues to capos a risk to us and a greater risk to us with missiles that could possiblily hit our shores. and that puts significant pressure on china in terms of its fuel supplies to north korea and other leverage that they can act in a way they really need to and they can act responsibly.

>> congressman adam shift, always great to have you on the program.