Transcripts For ALJAZAM Consider This 20140926

Possible terror plot by i. S. I. L. Aimed at subways in the u. S. And paris. U. S. Intelligence officials, white house Officials Say they know of no such plot. Hes one of the longest history. Attorney general eric holder is resigning. Ill leave the department of work. Countries at risk of rising works. Our days are number. A Succession Plan most of the islands will be under water. Does it make you nervous to get involved. Its great that its simply, and makes people think that anyone can do this. We begin with a possible terrorist threat against the u. S. And france reported by iraqs Prime Minister, and a round of Coalition Air strikes against i. S. I. L. In syria. Prime minister Haider Alabadi told reporters that french and american i. S. I. L. Fighters were arrested, planning attacks on subways in the u. S. And paris. New york police and the fbi both said they were monitoring the situation, a National Security Council Spokesperson said they had no confirmation a plot was under way. The federal bureau of investigation believes it has identified the i. S. I. L. Terrorist that beheaded two journalists james foley, steven sotloff, and british aid worker david haines, but did not reveal his name. U. S. And Coalition War planes targeted i. S. I. L. Fighters, vehicles and checkpoints after hammering 12 Oil Refineries used by the group on wednesday. At the pentagon, Rearadmiral John Kirby said most of the attacks were launched by saudi arabia, and the united arab emirates, part of the president obamas effort. We are trying to remove the means through which this organization sustains itself. That is the goal. The president s longterm strategy to degrade and destroy i. S. I. L. May get a boost from more than 20 syrian rebel groups, muslim and christian, who agreed to form an alliance to fight i. S. I. L. On a tactical level there were battles around kobani. Im joined by clark kept irvin, former inspect general with Homeland Security. Great to have you with us. I want to go down some of what iraqs Prime Minister told reporters on thursday. He said his Intelligence Service discovered a plot by i. S. I. L. Fighters to attack systems for the u. S. And france. He said there were roasts of a few elements and experts to have attacks on metros and paris. He was asked if the attacks were imminent. He was not sure. A spokesperson released a statement saying they have not confirmed a plot. And would have to review information before making further determinations. What do you make of the announcement itch the Prime Minister said in a casual fashion, and the American Government so far poured gold water an it. It said that it wouldnt surprise him. Subway stations have been in terrorist sights for an in the of years, mass transit called that for a reason, because a lot of people, thousands, millions, take it over the course of a day, and theres no question that against the backdrop of what we are doing against i. S. I. S. In syria, theres a greater likelihood of terror attacks against our interest abroad and attacks at home. Wouldnt information like this be handled behind the agencies. Absolutely. We may be experiencing learners ramping up curve for the Prime Minister. Hes new to the job. It was said casually as i understand. Well see if anything comes of it. Haider alabadi offered specifics, saying they were american and French Foreign fighters that joined i. S. I. S. , the network was discovered but not disrupted. Does that make it sound more credible. How prepared are we to deal with the threat of americans who have been radicalized by i. S. I. L. There are estimates that there are about 100 over there that may decide to come back to the u. S. Its incredible to the extent that there are 100 or so americans, 500 or so brit ans who a gone to iraq and syria, training with i. S. I. S. , and the fear is theyll come back to their countries, france or britain and the United States, france and britain are waiver companies, they dont need visas to come. It could happen. Thats a major fear. What could we do at home . Law enforcement put out a message raising alarm bells saying we should be on alert for attacks in the United States because of the backdrop of what is going on against i. S. I. S. Over there. How concerned are you that we are at risk. What you wrote a year ago was a complicated environment. Its worse sense you wrote that. The involvement in the war over there. How many do you think it increases the threat. Substantially. We saw the other day the beheading of french forces, in response to an i. S. I. S. Call, for their sympathizers to grab westerners. Stabbing, shooting, however they can kill them. There was a plot in australia that was foiled, the plan was to snatch an australian and kill this person in solidarity with i. S. I. S. We understand that there is a Filipino Group linked to i. S. I. S. That has a couple of german citizens now that much of the force is deployed against iraq and syria, they are forming a broadbased ing, notably and importantly sunni muslim states, i. S. I. S. Will trike back, and the only way they strike back is to ratchet up the number of snatchings that are undertaken, and killings of westerners who come into their sites. This Khorasan Group that we have heard about, again we had heard that al qaeda for years, that they vv decimated have been decimated, but these are al qaeda folks planning attacks pon planes. Are you comfortable that the security methods are enough to keep flights coming to the United States safe. Tsa, other security and intelligence professionals are doing everything they can. No, im not confidence. Terrorists only have to be right once, and security and intelligence officials have to be right 100 of the time. Odds are in the terrorists favour. Its a large open country, there are a lot of targets, its further heightened as you say from a few years ago, and for all these reasons, the chances of a plot succeeding is higher, higher than it was a month ago, two months before i. S. I. S. Was on the radar screen. How good a job is Homeland Security doing. When you left not quite a decade ago, you were critical of a series of things, including shipping containers coming into the u. S. There was no scralized list of terrorist suspects. Has there been progress. Yes, aviation has been tightened considerably, theres more intensive scanning of containers than a decade ago. We are not doing 100 . Its ipp feasible infeasible. I understand that there are technologies that could make it practicable. At the end. Day i think what we need to have is a partnership, a Robust Partnership between federal officials and state and local ones. Its the cop on the beat likely to spot terrorist indicators. Theres no such thing as a terror attack on the United States as a practical manner. Any terror attack here happens in a city, so the Police Officers and Community Leaders need to be alert for signs of radicalization, for abrupt changes in demeanour. For people who are taking weapons training, people who spend a lot of time on radical jihadi websites. The scenes of radicalization are scene by people in the community, if a partnership is formed, we are likelier to spot them. An important point. Clark kent irvine from the aspen institute. Pleasure to have you with us. Thank you. For more, im joined by brian fishman, a counterterrorism fellow serving as director of research at the combatting Terrorism Center at the u. S. Military academy at west point. Great to have you with us. I spoke to former Homeland Security official about the claim that iraqi intelligence discovered the plot to attack subways in the u. S. And france. What do you make of that . I think any time you get the United States gets information from a plot from a Foreign Intelligence Agency it needs to be taken seriously. Obviously the iraqis are closest to the ground. If something is going to percolate out of i. S. I. S. , its likely that theyll stumble on it. Its true that we want to make sure the information is vetted and analysed. Without detail, its hard to know. Its true as we step up military operations against i. S. I. S. , the risk that theyll dedicate time in energy to strike the west, the United States, goes up. U. S. War planes have been bombing the Khorasan Group facilities, which were supposedly used to plan plots against civil aviation. At this point, with i is the greater threat to america, i. S. I. L. , which is mostly focused on the middle east, or the khorasanal qaeda cell possibly directed from pakistan by alzau harry. Its true that a group focused on striking the United States thats the strategy of al qaeda. The Khorasan Group, what is interesting is not only the relationship reportedly back to central and south asia, but that they are bringing in skilled bombmakers to other parts of the region, that is scary, because, you know, the most unique aspect, the organization, is that they have had folks that have been able to build the bombs. That said, i dont think we should understate the threat from i. S. I. L. , even though its focussed on the middle east. Its a group with the potential to be destabilizing in the region. If they are not focussed on attacks from the west, if they did a series of terror strikes in jordan, that would create a destabilizing effect, bad for states. Going back to khorasan, imran khan reported on how his contacts from the middle east and pakistan had not heard of the name. He doesnt seem to question of groups insistence, but that it could be a u. S. Creation. Absolutely. We have known for some time that there was a movement in the Al Qaeda Affiliated individual, from iran to afghanistan. Its not surprising considering that it is the heart of jihadi activity. We have not seen the name used. There are public statements by the Khorasan Group. There is not a twitter account. So i think its more informal. Whether it comes from the u. S. Intelligence community, and whether its a name that other jihadis have used to refer to this group of people that have come from what they call khorasan, or the area of the greater afghanistan in central issua. I dont know. It is true, at least in my experience, we have not seen official statements by this as an organization. Irans president Hassan Rouhani accused some of the sunni arab allies of sponsoring i. S. I. L. And other groups. The Khorasan Group leader who may have been killed was one of many senior al qaeda terrorists fleeing to iran. Iran has said that these guys are under house arrest and later were allowed to lead the country. Do we know the relationship with al qaeda, and why the guys were allowed to leave. No, we dont know. Its an irony, and why this is a muddy world. Theres no black and white. Its a fact that al qaeda and sunni iranis despise iran and the alawite regime. At the same time there has been a tacit accommodation for a decade where iran was enabling and looking the other way as Al Qaedalinked folks crossed that country to take messages back and forth from afghanistan and iraq and vice versa, and so you see theres a fundamental strategic conflict, but at the same time it doesnt preclude tactical cooperation. We saw that at times during the heart of the war in iraq, where they look the other way. As former fighters travelled through syria. Today we see i. S. I. S. Pointing to the Bashar Alassad regime as enemy number one. So this seems like a caection, but the repeaty is all the actors in the middle east have their hands dirty, because they are strategic, doesnt mean they cant cooperate. You tweeted a story that quoted the army chief of staff, that the army will send a Division Headquarters to iraq, and given the complexity of the of environment that the u. S. Is operating in, now and the next 1015 to 20 years will instead the headquarters. Headquarters in iraq possibly for 20 years, is this preparing permission or are we way behind Mission Creep. I think the Mission Creep is high. I believe i. S. I. S. Is what true evil in the modern world looks like. Counselledering them is important, morally and strategically. That said, im concerned at a delta, a distance between what our policy is, to destroying the organization and what we said wed do with the air streaks. I dont think it will achieve the policy end. As a result i think Mission Creep is likely where we will over time recognise that we havent achieved final goals, and want to put and therell be pressure to put more and more resources into this. You can look at that a couple of different ways. One is we ought to put more resources in upfront. We need to have that conversation politically, in a north right and honest way, and we need to do it not because we need to put lots of folks in there in principle. If we sustain a fight against i. S. I. S. , sustain and win, we need to have a commitment on behalf of the American People, otherwise we do the worst outcome, which is put a lot of resources in and pull them out before the mission is won. I worry that our political debate today is such that that is the outcome that well have. Honest. It will be difficult but important conversation. Brian fish moun of the new american foundation, good to have you with us. Coming up attorney general eric holder announces he is stepping down, well have a look at the mixed legacy of the first africanamerica attorneygeneral. A number of leaders are mere for the general assembly, but do they get anything done. Harmeli aregawi is tracking the stop stoppies on the web. Muslims around the world are using social media to take a stabbed against i. S. I. L. More in a bit. Follow us so many money stories sound complicated. But dont worry. Im here to take the fear out of finance. Every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real. As we approach the midterm elections consider this will highlight an issue that it important to voters, economy, education, immigration, today in the America Votes 2014 segment, we look at National Security. Polls show concerns over the threat of terrorism because of turmoil in iraq and syria. You might want to get used to newhampshire. Anyone that turns on the tv nose we face changeses to our way of life. Radical terrorist are threatening to cause a collapse to our country. I want to secure the border. Keep out the people that harm that and secure the border. Protecting the homeland is the first step to making america strong again. We are joined from los angeles, which Robert Obrien a u. S. Representative to the u. N. General assembly, and a Foreign Policy advisor during the 2012 president ial campaign. From washington d. C. , lawrence koch, senior fellow at the center for american progress, serving as assistant secretary of defense from 1981 to 1985. Robert, before we get to National Security, we cant begin a politics segment without talking about attorney general eric holder stepping down. He has been a lightening rod for the ps critics. Republican congressman called him a divisive ag. And the best attorneygeneral for civil rights. Why the resignation a few weeks before the election . We had high hopes for attorney general eric holder when he took hopes. They were dashed. As a general law enforce. Officer, he should have policed the administration. He appointed himself as the defender in chief of the administration, and we saw that in the fast and furious case, and the high arrest where he stone walled congress and was held in contempt of congress. He has a divisive leg as si, as attorneygeneral, something not used to seeing. I think the resignation was smart. Hes probably anticipating a flip in the senate of 50 50. I think the oversight of the department of justices and himself would have been withering, hes making a smart decision, getting out at the right time, and may take the election issue away from the republicans. Its smart politics, and that is why the resignation is being down now. On the other hand the resignation could set up a tough politically charged confirmation for his successor, but it would likely be after the midterm elections. How do you see his legacy and the midterm regulations. I see it as good. Theres less people in federal presents. He tried terrorism suspects. Had more convictions than in military court. He challenged voter id laws. He got the arizona horrible Immigration Law overturned. I would like to have seen him be tougher on wall street and the c. I. A. For spying and he was too forceful going after journalists. But i think his legacy will go down, hes served more than all but three of his predecessors. Hes been wanting to leave for a while. He decided that now is a time. Most that go in and take the positions dont serve the 5. Lets turn to the topic. Night. The president s Approval Ratings are dismaam. He has a record 34 of handling, approval. And 58 disapproving, and we saw the campaign add of scott browns, theres a bunch of those out there. Robert, the g. O. P. Thinks that Foreign Policy is not what you would win a local election on. The g. O. P. Thinks its a Winning Strategy this year. You are right. Most midterm elections are focussed on jobs and economy. This one is a little different. Americans like winning. They dont like losing. The American People are watching the us lose the ukraine and be pushed around. They are watching iraq lose city after city. Young men and women are fighting in some places. They are concerned well lose an afghanistan if the president pulls out the same way he did in iraq, and the defense cuts have been massive and underreported, are taking a toll on the u. S. Navy, sinking in with the american ability. National security is not a big election issue especially in the mid terms, it may turn out to be this time, and because of the presence for the record. It may benefit republicans. What do you think. Terrorism, which seemed off the radar in polls as recently as the beginning of august has become a big issue for the American People. Yes, but its interesting. More republicans than perhaps what support president obama is doing against i. S. I. L. , and again, theres no doubt about that these messages will be mixed in the campaign. It was president bush who signed an agreement that we had to get out of iraq. In afghanistan we had the first peaceful transmission in the history of that country. Well sign an agreement that well keep troops there. You slow down Irans Nuclear programme. You rejuvenated n. A. T. O. Until Vladimir Putin acted up. N. A. T. O. The europeans werent spending much on defense. We have the World Community to put sanctions on russia which have cost them a lot. Their currency is devalued. They had to make a sweetheart deal with china, you know, on oil because we are not buying all their stuff, because he has a great record. The question is minister will be concerned, voting for this or on the basis of the economy. Normally at a 6year point in most president s history they dont do well. President clinton was an exception. Look what happened to bush in 2006, and the Defense Budget was cut by the tea party on the budget control act. President obama didnt cut it. He asked for 115 billion more than allowed by the budget control act. If the aggressive action against i. S. I. L. In syria and iraq goes well, could it turn into an asset for the democrats. Normally when the president deploys American Military force in a situation like this one, folks rally to the flag, to the president , and it may you know, in some instances it may help his party. The problem is the American People are no longer being fooled. They are watching i. S. I. L. Behead people, watching the president come out at a News Conference and say we dont have a strategy for dealing with i. S. I. L. They have watched the president talk about leading from behind. Larry does a great job spinning for the president. I dont think theres anyone in washington or america that thinks this is it a great Foreign Policy president. Hes been a failure. American people are concerned they see the border open, i. S. I. L. On a rampage, and understand that sequestration is something that the white house admitted they put into the control act to leverage the government. American people get it. They are worried and scared. There may be a sprus, and this may turn out to be an issue that is bigger than it would be in a midterm election. The president and his party will have to pay for the mistakes made, they can no longer blame george bush. Will it be a time word for the democrats. Until the we headings, the minister didnt want to do anything. We spent a million to get rid of muammar gaddafi, and spent a trillion, and hamas is iraq is a mess because we put in nouri almaliki. Well see how important National Security and Foreign Policy is in the next few weeks. Turning it the United Nations, growing threats to Global Security took center stage at the u. N. General assembly, we heard countless speeches on ebola, economist, Climate Change, and how the world countries need to cooperate. As the United Nations approaches its 70th birthday, how effective is the international organization. For more on the United Nations we are joined in new york which a former diplomat with the British Foreign service and the u. N. , a founder of the diplomatic advisory group, independent diplomats, advising marginalised countries and groups around the world. No one doubts that the undoes u. N. Does tremendous work. But critics say in germ its a bloated general its a bloated bureaucracy that has lost sight of its mission. We have seen people giving speeches at the u. N. , will anything come of it. Its a grosses mischaracterisation to say its no use. Like any bureaucracy, its bloated. That is not the point. If you didnt have the u. N. , youd have to invent it. Just having a place where countries can talk to each other like Climate Change or extremism is important. This week you had important results, the Climate Change summit that banky moon held on tuesday has added to the momentum for a solid climate treaty next year in paris, and on foreign fighters in northern iraq, on i. S. I. S. Strong resolution passed by the u. N. Security council under u. S. Chairmanship. Every country is obliged to stop their citizen going to join the extremist groups. Something. Its not enforceable. Well, it is. Hopefully on climate well see a legally binding treaty next year. The Security Council passed a chapter vii resolution under the peace and security mandate, which is obligatory under international law. You cant force countries to do it, thats correct. Theres a common interest, including in the region, amongst countries to stop the citizens joining the battles in iraq. Lets go down the list of criticisms. The main is the Security Council, the u. N. Structure created after world war ii, five world powers, u. S. , france, china, russia have veto powers. A lot of people say that is anna cannistic and the Security Council does more harm than good because they do get together as they did on wednesday. They are right. Its anabbing rannistic. Brazil and italy are left out, and those affected are never inside the discussions in the Security Council. On the other hand theres a paradox. Unless russia, china, u. S. , france, unless those countries agree about anything in the world, you cant get anything in the world done, if you exclude them, they impleme implementation. If you enlarge the council which many want to do, like india, brazil, japan, it will make the Decision Making harder, it will be blocked on more countries. Theres no good which through. A truism is that when the states agree, it can be poufrl. Only when. When they differ, like on syria or palestiners palestine, its not. You have the Human Rights Council which so often ned up having as ends up having as members, some of the worst offenders. Theres a criticism. I agree. Its better to have the human rights abusers on the room, when on the council. They are subject to what is called the universal periodic review. Im glad to say we have a powerful new humane decent man is the new u. N. High commissioner. The prince of jordan, who i hope will speak the truth, putting on the table where abuses is taking couny. Do you think the u. N. Can be effective and achievemt the most important of its missions, to maintain world peace, because we have conflicts everywhere. Im skeptical of the u. N. In many places, including the western sahara, where they decided there could be a referendum on selfdiscrimination. Where it agrees, it can be important. You say 100,000 civilians that are taking refuge this the u. N. Camps, you tell them its not important. Its saving their lives. Same in the democratic republic of congo, the w. H. O. s work on ebola, extraordinary important. Where the u. N. Is effective its extraordinarily effective. That should ner be dismissed. Important points you maybe, often overlooked. A pleasure to have you with us. Time to see what is thenneding on the web what is treing on the web. Aregawi. A lot of talk on the web was i. S. I. L. , but muslims around the world want to remind everyone i. S. I. L. Doesnt speak for them fighting back with a social Media Campaign not in my name. Because what you are doing is ipp humane. Because you abuse inhuge yin. Because you abuse heart and mine. Compassion. My religion promotes tolerance for women, and you have no reportism. The video was made by active change, a londonbased organization starting not in my name two weeks ago. It picked up steam. So much so president obama gave the campaign a shout out during hits u. N. Address on wednesday. Look at the young british muslims responding to terrorist propaganda by starting the no in my name campaign, declaring islam. Many say not in my name is a sort of apology, and muslims shouldnt have to apologise for i. S. I. L. Let us know what you think. Its powerful. Its a powerful message. Straight ahead, an island nations president pleads with World Leaders to act on Climate Change, saying his country could disappear. The president of kiry bass joins us. Elections may be around the corner, you may be surprised how many dont care. A new kind of electric shock on tech know, i landed head first at 120 mph a shocking new way to treat brain injuries transcranial direct stimulation. Dont try this at home. But some people are. Its not too much that weed fry any important brain parts. Before you flip the switch, get the facts. To say that passing a low level of current is automatically safe, is not true every saturday, go where Technology Meets humanity. Sharks like affection tech know, only on Al Jazeera America you are not alone if you have never heard of a country the subject of our next tory. Kirra bass is an island nation of palm trees, blue lagoons, 3500 miles of new zealand, made of up 33 islands. With an elface of 6. 5 feet, kir ib as believes its facing a challenge to its existence. Rising sea levels claimed two of its islands, and some predict the island nation could become uninhabitable in the next 30 to 60 years. I welcome to the show the president of kiry bass. He returned from a trip to the antarctic and spoke at ban kimoons climate summit. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Opportunity. I want to start with two animal metaphors. Both of which you made. You have spoken to how the nation is, effect, canary in a coal mine. Yes, indeed, its our attempt to get the focus of international tanks on our situation. The threat of Climate Changes is real for us. We are on the front line. Well be the concept, construct of violence, lying 2 meters above sea level. Whatever marginal rise in sea level happens in the next year or so affects us. Already we are feeling the effects. The point i make is the International Community is waiting for us to be gone, before it would realise that we have to do something about it . And to that point the other animal i wanted to refer to is the polar bear. You just, as i said, returned from a trip to the abbing tick, it was a arctic, it was a greenpeace sponsored trip and you are upset because you think people paid more attention to what is happening to polar bearses more that the 100,000 that live in kiry bass. I made that statement in a speech to the United Nations at the general assembly. It was annoying. There was more focus on the fate of the polar bears, and nothing much about people. So Climate Change has been such an issue where focus has been on the science, phenomenon of Climate Change, but not so much on the human area. What it means for people that would be affected most, initially. But more importantly for the rest of humanity. That is why we were upset, why that focus we tried to direct attention. My visit made that direct connection. What happens in the north poll, the melting of the ice will have direct consequences on what happens to us on the equator. What is happening to you. As you just said, the average height elevation of the islands is a little more than six feet, and rising sea levels have taken a village on one of your island. How threatened is kiry bass . We always had the problem with the tides. What we are witnessing, and i make the point na im not the scientist, im not saying that its a result of Climate Change, but we are experiencing some things that we never did in the past. The reality is some of our communities villages are gone. The seas is there were there used to be a village. Some of the communities on the isolated islands most of them have fresh water ponds. The sea has broken into these. Sea water contaminated the fresh water pond, killing food crops, contaminating the lands from which they draw drinking water. Its not just an issue of the islands getting swamped, but the fresh water is poisoned and the land cant grow food. People tend to think in terms of the island being submerged and we have a problem. The point is this. As the sea level rises, marginally we begin to face the problems. We our source of water is from the water lenz. Any marginal rise means that what was agricultural land. Will no longer be a source of fresh water. It affects the livelihood of people before it and renders it ipp habitable. You inhabitable. You and others talk about all you need is a wave, one big wave could swamp many of the islands. I was struck by ban kimoon visited at one point and one of his assistants was worried enough he made sure he had a life jacket in his room, which illustrates the dangers faced regularly. I know you took action and land in fiji. How do you see the future. Do you see the possibility of all the people in kiry bass having to leave. We have to be realistic. Its hard. Its not easy to imagine what is coming. No one wants to admit that maybe in the future all the land, which is the homeland will no longer be there. The reality given the predictions coming forward, a rise in sea level between 0. 6 to one meter within the century. Gone. How long do you have . I think less than that. Its not about half a meter or one meter. Its about the marginal rises which as you said, the next time there is a big wave, its over. We are experiencing that. Earlier this year we experienced extremely high tides, higher than predicted. For the simply reason that there was differences, making it a little higher than expected. A lot of people lost the property and homes. We are facing this, a damage to infrastructure, and so that is what is happening now. Level. That must be difficult. We dont get hurricanes, the highest wind about 30 to 40 knots. Anything above that is disastrous at any time. It must be awful to live with that threat. We probably will be Walking Around with life jackets. Floating for how long. Lets hope not. A pleasure to have you with us. We wish you the best of luck in your efforts and wish kiry bass the best. Thank you for having me. Coming up, could bathing the brain with low doses of electricity hep with diseases like kreb ral palsy. We pray for the children in the womb a divisive issue god is life , so its his to take see a 10 Year Old Girl whos pregnant, and you tell me thats what god wants. A controversial law where were you when the babies lives were being saved . Are women in texas paying the price . Whos benefiting from restricting access to safe abortions . Fault lines. Al jazeera americas hard hitting. Ground breaking. Truth seeking. Breakthrough investigative documentary series access restricted only on Al Jazeera America todays data dive looks at americas indifference when it comes to voting for congress. The elections could change the balance of power in washington, most americans dont care. A ballet poll showed three in five saying the elections dont matter or only moderately. The feels are bipartisan. The numbers on the left and right that care is the same, 43 , a drop for the democrats who when they took control of the house, 61 cared. Its not surprising that people are not particularly informed about who is in charge. 36 of adults knew that republicans controlled the house and democrats run the senate. Nearly twothirds on the left and right had no clue. That ignorance is not rare. A survey from the anam berg Public Policy center showed a third of those polled could name outline three parts of government, legislative, executive and judishial, one in three couldnt name a branch. Help may be on the way. Dozens nonpart sn organization teamed up to launch a pacific Renewal Network aiming to help schools increase knowledge of the government and how it works. Coming up, how array. If you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. Using electricity on human brains as had been controversial. Transcranial direct current stimulation, or t d. C. S may be turning into a do it yourself improvement claim. The claims about its benefits are extrav gan, some arguing it can treat depression, problemsolving and help you lose rate. On the next episode of techknow, we get an up close look. We are seeing the early pieces of what it can do. That is why people are excited. Not because of what it can do now, proven in Clinical Trials, but we dont think we have seen anything yet. Joining us in new york is crystal dil worth. She has a ph. D. And a contributor to techknow. Great to have you back on the show. This is not your fathers electro shocker or electro shocker, its different to what we see in one flue over the cuckoos nest. Different. How does it work, you put electrodes on someones head. Thats correct. You position the electrodes depending on the need and you run electrodes at a small level. They say it doesnt hurt, but people dont know what is happening sometimes. My good friend Cara Santa Maria had this done to her. Youll have to watch the piece to see what happened. Medicine works, changing the brains chemistry. How is this supposed to work in brain. The way that neurons behave. They transmit information electrically and chemically. When you take a drug you affect the chemical stimulation. When we pass an electric current, you talk about electricity. The brain speaks both lang wedges. The thing is its a lot more specific than taking a drug. You ipp guest the drug, it goes in your blood streams. Its specific. It targets certain areas. Some talk about improving deafness and blindness. Losing weight or dealing with, you know, cerebral palsy. How much do we know about the possible benefits . Theres a growing body of evidence for the effective n of the technique. That said, its not just the stimulation itself that is where we see the benefit, but how its paired with tasks. In our piece we look at how the technique is used on stroke patients, its not just the stimulation alone that is helping them improve the federation cupping, but the way that the clinicians peared a stimulation. What about the people doing it at home themselves. And the deck know story gets into that, because of that. When we first heard about t d. C. S, did it make you nervous to try and get involved in brain hacking in a d iy type of way . Not at all. Its straightforward. The currents we are talking low. I saw you nodding your head. You dont think thats a good idea much the lelts are not dangerous. Could this work. It is nod a low level of current that is a concern. Its whether the people that make the kids has the expertise to know what reasons or the positioning of current, the direction it is passed. It makes a difference. Its not just using the piece. These and d. I. Y. Ers are trying to compensate for a motorcycle injury, and you see it applied in different senses, in a cognitive sense. Camer are stimulating it. Getting a higher score. When they use it, they use the stimulation for hours. It could be danger there. How second before we see serious Clinical Trials and serious study that will tell us whether this works. They are being done now. In terms of when we get the results, science takes a long time. Hope to see it soon. Great to see you. Thank you for coming in. The episode of techknow premieres saturday, 7 30. Thats all for now. The convsation continues on the website aljazeera. Com considerthis. We are on facebook and on twitter at ajconsiderthis. You can tweet me at allied forces are taking the fight against isil to the groups oil revenue stream. Ill tell you why wiping out the illegal oil network wont be easy. And ill examine eric holders record on holding the banks accountable for the economic crisis. Im ali velshi. This is real money