By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• SIX IN 10 AMERICANS SEE CIA ACTIONS AS JUSTIFIED: Six in 10 Americans say the CIA's treatment of suspected terrorists was justified, more than half think it produced important, unique intelligence, according to ABC's GARY LANGER. Those results in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll underscore the public's sense of risk from the threat of terrorism, and specifically the extent to which majorities support controversial measures to combat it. Indeed just two in 10 flatly rule out torture in future cases. A plurality, 49 percent, believes the CIA did in fact torture suspected terrorists; 38 percent think its actions did not amount to torture, with the rest unsure. Regardless, the public by a broad 59-31 percent also says the agency's interrogation actions were justified. http://abcn.ws/1uNnVi2

• SUBSTANTIAL MISGIVINGS ABOUT THE SENATE COMMITTEE'S REPORT: Americans by an 11-point margin, 47-36 percent, are more apt to see last week's Senate Intelligence Committee's report as unfair rather than fair in its description of what occurred. The public by 52-43 percent feels more that it was wrong to release the report because it may raise the risk of terrorism by stirring anti-American sentiment - as critics say - than right to release the report in order to expose what happened and prevent a recurrence. Additionally, Americans by 57-34 percent oppose criminal charges against officials who were responsible for the agency's interrogation activities. http://abcn.ws/1uNnVi2

• A SOURCE OF SUPPORT FOR THE CIA: Looking ahead, most Americans are unwilling to rule out torture of suspected terrorists. Fifty-eight percent say it can sometimes or even often be justified. Nineteen percent say it can be justified, albeit just rarely, while 20 percent rule it out entirely. FULL POLL: http://abcn.ws/1uNnVi2

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: CIA 1, Senate Democrats 0? The new ABC News/Washington Post poll suggests that the firestorm started by the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA tactics is already settling down - if it wasn't settled down from the start. The poll out Tuesday morning finds a near-majority (49 percent) convinced that the CIA did engage in torture. A larger portion of voters (59 percent) say it was justified, while 53 percent say it produced valuable information. That puts the public on the opposite side of the Senate Democrats who prepared and long pushed for the report's release, in the hopes of having the national debate the nation didn't or couldn't in the scary and secretive aftermath of 9/11. It's not just former Vice President Dick Cheney who remembers 9/11 as the date that changed everything, up to and including what we should or could be doing to terrorism suspects. The most startling number in the poll may be one that looks forward: Only 2 in 10 Americans say they would flatly rule out torture in future cases.

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Hillary Clinton appeared with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday bringing attention to an initiative to help improve the tracking of data about women and girls worldwide. The project, Data2x, is a joint venture of the Clinton Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the United Nations Foundation. There was no 2016 or political talk at the event, instead Clinton stressed her longtime focus on improving the lives of women and girls around the globe, something we are sure to hear if she does make a run official. She said the data must be combed through in order to "build a case strong enough to convince skeptics based on hard data and clear eyed analysis that creating opportunities for women and girls across the globe, directly supports everyone's security and prosperity and therefore should be an enduring part of our diplomacy and development work." Bloomberg introduced the possible presidential candidate calling her a "great Secretary of State, a great senator for New York" and the billionaire even joked to the crowd: "If my mother and father knew that I was on a first-name basis with Hillary Clinton, it would be a very big deal."

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

LIBERTARIAN TAKEOVER: THADDEUS MCCOTTER PREDICTS A NEW WORLD ORDER FOR GOP. Former Republican presidential candidate Thaddeus McCotter is not himself a libertarian, but the former Michigan congressman predicts an approaching libertarian takeover of the Grand Old Party. At least, that's the premise of his new book, "Liberty Risen: The Ultimate Triumph of Libertarian-Republicans." "The reality is you want to conserve what's best but you want to go forward, you want to go forward from the industrial era to the Internet age," McCotter told ABC's RICK KLEIN Yahoo News' JON WARD, hosts of "Top Line" in a recent interview. "Government has to be reorganized for the future." Though he sees the march toward libertarianism as inevitable with the rise of the millennial generation, which he sees as forcing change within the party, he qualifies that this trend is gradual and has been going on for quite some time. http://yhoo.it/1zlF6NW

THE BUZZ

DONALD TRUMP 'VERY STRONGLY' CONSIDERING 2016 PRESIDENTIAL BID. Here we go again. In a Monday evening appearance at the Economic Club in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump seemingly did all but file the paperwork in announcing his intention to run for president in 2016, ABC's ALEX MALLIN reports. "I am considering it very strongly," Trump said near the beginning of his discussion with philanthropist David Rubenstein. Rubenstein pressed Trump over a recent announcement that he will be heading to Iowa in late January to attend a dinner party with Gov. Terry Branstad. "A lot of people think I'm having fun with it, that I'm playing games, that I enjoy the process. And I do enjoy the process to a certain extent," Trump said. "Frankly I just think we need something very good, very fast or we're going to be in very big trouble as a country." http://abcn.ws/16oZPWv

NO 2016 TALK, BUT JEB BUSH GIVES THREE PIECES OF ADVICE TO GRADS. As he suggests interest in a possible 2016 presidential campaign, Jeb Bush gave the commencement address at the University of South Carolina yesterday afternoon and decided to take his mother's advice, getting some laughs from the audience of graduates and families, ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE reports. "As I was preparing my remarks I asked the chief adviser of all important things in the Bush family, Barbara Bush, what I should speak about and she thought about it briefly and said, 'Jeb, speak about ten minutes and shut up,'" Bush said. Bush, who is the focus of buzz and speculation about a potential 2016 run for the White House, didn't mention his political future, but gave graduates three pieces of advice. "Dream big, don't be afraid of change and find joy everywhere you can," Bush told the attendees. He cautioned the possibly nervous graduates that once they leave school "every day is an exam, every day you will get graded." http://abcn.ws/16oPOZA

THE TWO THINGS MICHELLE OBAMA WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS. First Lady Michelle Obama wants to sleep late on Christmas and, ideally, in a new pair of comfy pajamas, notes ABC's DEVIN DWYER. Mrs. Obama revealed her wish list during a Q&A yesterday with kids at the Children's National Health System. Her appearance, which included a reading of "The Night Before Christmas," is an annual first lady tradition that dates back to Bess Truman. First dogs Bo and Sunny tagged along for the fun. "What do you want for Christmas?" one child asked. "I don't really have a long wish list for Christmas, because I pretty much have everything I need. Moms and dads, we're not that big on Christmas," the first lady replied. "I just want everybody to be happy, and I want to sleep in. That's what I want for Christmas. I want to sleep late. Maybe I'll get that." http://abcn.ws/1IV2yWv

WHO'S TWEETING?

@amieparnes: Clinton allies say they're not fearful of Warren jumping in, say Clinton would work across the aisle. http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/227212-clinton-quiet-as-warren-rises#.VJAsdr8X4_Q.twitter …

@evale72: We'll miss you, see you in 2015! xoxo MT @PhilipRucker SC was Jeb Bush's final public appearance of 2014.

@mattgutmanABC: Taliban: We Slaughtered 100+ Kids Because Their Parents Helped America http://thebea.st/1Gqv7co via @thedailybeast

@politico: The world according to Garth: Remembering the pioneer of the modern political ad. http://politi.co/1zryZ9O

@PostRoz: . @Fahrenthold with the amazing story of how NASA spent $349 million on a tower it will never use. http://wapo.st/1vTCIYO