Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20131011

Issues related to meat and poultry is closed. In japan, radiation levels in seawater around a damaged reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant have hit their highest level in two years. The Plant Operator said contaminated soil was displaced by pressure as workers pumped chemicals into the ground in an attempt to harden it and prevent water from leaking into the ocean. On wednesday, the operator said six workers were doused with radioactive water after an employee mistakenly detached the pipe connected to a Water Treatment system. In france, the Constitutional Court has upheld a ban on fracking, the gastrointestinal, saying the measure legitimately protects the environment from the damaging effects of blasting water and chemicals deep into the earth. France first band fracking in 2011 despite pressure from the gas industry. Thanrth dakota, more 20,000 barrels of crude oil have leaked into a week field from a pipeline and owned by the company tesoro. The leak covered about seven acres of land, the size of seven football fields. It was roughly four times the size of the exxonmobil Pipeline Leak in mayflower, arkansas in march. A farmer found the leak on september 29, but north dakota governor said he was only told about it wednesday night because its eyes had been underestimated. He said the state is reviewing its procedures for reporting spills. Egypt, canadian doctor and film maker have been cleared to leave the country after being imprisoned there for nearly two months. Don greyson and dr. Tariq loubani were freed on sunday, but barred from returning home under a travel ban it was lifted thursday. They were arrested in august after rushing to the scene of a mass shooting by state forces of supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi. A group of u. S. Whistleblower advocates has met with Edward Snowden in russia to present him with an award for his revelations about nsa spying. On wednesday, snowden met with attorney jessleyn radack and her Client National Security Agency whistleblower thomas drake, as well as former cia analyst ray mcgovern and former fbi agent coleen rowley. They gave snowden an award from the Sam Adams Associates for integrity and intelligence, a group of former cia officials. Jessleyn radack describe the impact of snowdens disclosures in an interview with rt. It is a dangerous time for whistleblowers in the United States, but the effect the snowden effect has been the opposite. We have more and more whistleblowers coming to the government account ability project than we have had before. I think if the u. S. Is trying to clamp down and send a message by making an example, courage is contagious. I really think he has had a wonderful effect for the u. S. And for the world. Edward snowdens father has also met with his son after arriving in moscow on thursday. Russian state tv said details about the meeting are being kept secret for security reasons. Snowden addressed reporters at the same airport were his son was stranded for more than a month to summer before receiving temporary asylum. Ask i want to learn more about my son situation and im thankful, extremely thankful, to the russian people. President vladimir putin. The New York Times report said snowden was hired as a contractor for the National Security agency, despite earlier suspicions among his supervisors that he tried to break into classified computers without robert authorization. Unnamed official said the cia sent snowden home due to the suspicions. A supervisor enclosed a report in his personnel file but also described changes in snowdens behavior. I was in 2009, four years before snowden began leaking classified documents he obtained as in nsa contractor. A republican congressmember who coauthored the patriot act is poised to introduce a new bill to curb spying by the national. Ecurity Agency Commerce member Jim Sensenbrenner helped expand the spying powers of u. S. Intelligence agencies under president george w. Bush. But he now says the programs have gone too far and that its time to put their Metadata Program out of business ergo the guardian reports among other measures, his bill would limit the collection of phone records to terrorism suspects and allow companies to say how many government requests for user data they receive. Highesttagon second ranking official has announced he will step down in december. The view defense secretary Ashton Carter was seen as a possible contender for defense secretary before obama chose chuck hagel for the post. A new survey shows most americans to attended to sign up attempted to sign up for help insurance exchanges through the new Affordable Care act werent able to do so last week as the websites were beset with technical issues. The poll released found 73 of enrollwho attempted to and exchanges experienced problems, 65 were unable to sign up. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons has been awarded thebased in the organization was established to enforce the 19 97 chemical Weapons Convention. It recently sent inspectors to carry out the dismantling of syrias stockpile of chemical weapons. This the region about Committee Chairman praised the opcw. In world war i, chemical weapons were used to considerable degree. The Geneva Convention of 1925 prohibited the use, but not the production or storage of chemical weapons. During world war ii, chemical weapons were employed in hitlers mass exterminations. To michael weapons have subsequently been put to use chemical weapons have subsequently been put to use by both states and terrorist. 1993, prohibiting the production and storage of such weapons. 1997. E in force in has sought thew implementation of the convention. To talk more about the Nobel Peace Prize in the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, were joined by two guests. Us fromker is with washington, d. C. , Program Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability Program at green cross international. He has just won the 2013 right livelihood award for his work on chemical weapons. Also with us is Stephen Zunes come a professor of politics and International Studies at the university of san francisco, where he chairs the program in middle eastern studies. Lets begin with paul walker. First, congratulations on your own on getting the right livelihood award which will be awarded in the Swedish Parliament in december. But your comments on the opcw, the announcement today they are receiving the nobel prize . Good morning, amy. I am delighted to see the opcw has won the Nobel Peace Prize. It is a wonderful occasion, a wonderful award for them, well deserved. They have been working day and night for the last 16, 17, 18 years to free the world from a whole class of weapons of mass distraction, chemical weapons. It is very well deserved and a pleasure to talk about that. Do. Alk about what they the opcw was established under the chemical Weapons Convention, which was open for signature in 1993. It is the limiting agency. It has about 500 people working from all over the world. Agency. Multilateral with the cereplast a session, it has 198 countries with syria, it is now 198 countries. They inspect 24 7 aroundthe clock the destruction of those weapons, which is required under the treaty. They also inspect chemical industry. We have over 5000 to michael plants all over the world which can produce chemicals. They are the International Multilateral watchdog to illuminate a whole class of chemical weapons and make sure they never reappear somewhere in the world. Professor Stephen Zunes, can you talk about its history . Thehe opcw has overseen destruction or close to 80 of the world chemical arsenals. Thes quite effective given technical complexity of it. They have had to do so amidst occasional hostility, particularly from the United States. For example, the director in 1997 whonning oversaw the greatest expansion of the treaty, the largest amount of destruction of weapons were under his leadership. Yet in part because he was so effective, he was forced out by the Bush Administration because he insisted the United States chemical weapons stockpile should be inspected just like everybody else. And he was close to making a deal with allowing iraq to become a signatory so inspectors could come in and prove that in fact iraq had eliminated their arsenal, contrary to the claims of washington. I think theects, awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the opcw is a means of saying, hey, look, great powers dismiss ando discredit the opcw, but multilateral actions based on treaties are a far better means of controlling the spread of these Deadly Weapons than unilateral military action. Paul walker, can you talk about that pressure that was brought to bear on the first head of the opcw, right before the iraq war, that could have averted the u. S. Attack on iraq . One of the major catchwords to the opcw and all multilateral organizations is, you want every country in the world to join these regimes. We have been working very hard for the last 15 to 20 years on trying to universalize the chemical Weapons Convention. From brazil was the first director general of what we call the dg, and he was outreaching to a wide range of countries to join the treaty. I think by the year 2000, 3 years after entering the force, we maybe had 125 members, 130 members of the treaty. There are 196 countries in the world. Of outreacheries was to iraq. We knew iraq had chemical weapons, had used them in the 1980s in fact, brutally murdered kurds in 1988. His outrage in the early 2000s, i think was very appropriate. The u. S. And the Bush Administration took umbrage at that, however, and eventually made a Public Campaign to oust pose a bustani and he was ousted prior essentially fired by the Opcw Executive Council in 2002. Subsequently, he went to the thernational labor court, Labor Organization and sued the opcw and won the suit in violation that he was fired in violation of his contract. He became the brazilian abbasid or to britain. He went to london. A second director general came on board. He was from argentina oh. He turned out to be very good. Now the current rector general, a turkish ambassador, is likewise very good. The whole pose a boost on the jose bustani affair was embarrassing. That they would preclude iraq from joining the treaty before shock and awe, which happened in march 2003. It was a very sad time. I think frustrating for everybody. The United States has moved on from that and so as the opcw. Who has and has not signed onto the chemical weapons treaty . What does that mean . Still five countries remaining outside the treaty. It is a strange mix. Now that syria has joined, you have israel, which has not ratified the treaty yet. You have egypt, which has neither signed nor ratified. You have angola, which is thinking about joining. Burma, and then you have the african countries, south sudan, brandnew, very difficult to get them to join guess it isand i actually six. You have north korea, which of course is the high hanging fruit, the most difficult country of all. But other than those six countries, 190 countries have joined. Haveber of those have to deployed. India,ller possessors or south korea, albania, libya, iraq with the leftover chemical agents and materials that we still dont have a full handle on from the 1991 gulf war on. Hough they did sign ironically, iraq came on board in 2009. They have been a very positive addition to the treaty. They have declared two large bunkers of old chemical agents from the Saddam Hussein pre1991 gulf war era it was sealed up in the mid1990s by the United Nations inspectors, but there were never any additional chemical weapons as the Bush Administration claimed in 2003 when they attacked iran. Professor Stephen Zunes, talk about egypt and israel not being signatories to the chemical weapons treaty. I think the very fact we do have the opcw you getting a process of disarming syrias chemical weapons, where we dont have such activity in israel and egypt, is indicative that even the best International Organizations are limited by what the great powers can say they can or cannot do. The United States blocked an create asyria to weapons of mass destruction freezone throughout the region. Resolution that was tabled because it threatened the United States veto. The iraq disarmament resolution it was only aaid first step in a regionwide disarmament of these kinds of weapons. The United States has shown no interest, interestingly, in bringing this clause forward because, obviously, israel and egypt are close strategic allies of the u. S. It is not just a matter of, well, syria has used them, it should be a priority because egypt used chemical weapons back in the 1960s when they intervened in the civil war in yemen. Theres is no indication the generals in charge of egypt right now made any effort to stop the production or eliminate their weapons or join the treaty. While im certainly glad we are in the process of seeing a disarmament, ia think it raises questions around this very issue of universality. I think the u. S. Has not been so hostile to that concept, 10 or 12 years ago, then we may have weapons may have been eliminated in the recent tragedy that took place in syria and the crisis that nearly led us to war never wouldve happened. Just a correction, israel is a signatory to the chemical Weapons Convention, but they have not ratified the convention. I want to talk but the significance of that and the connection between chemical weapons and Nuclear Weapons. We are speaking with paul walker who has just won the right livelihood award for his work around chemical weapons. He is with green cross international. Fromrofessor Stephen Zunes san francisco. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Want to go back to the Norwegian Nobel Committee chair, thorbjorn jagland, from earlier today announcing the opcws receiving the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, particularly talking about their work in syria. The opcw has not been given and foremostrst because of syria. As i said, it is because of its longstanding efforts to eliminate chemical weapons and that we are now about to reach the goal and do away with all category of weapons of mass destruction. That would be a great event in history if we achieve that. That is why we are highlighting this and getting a message to all those that have not ratified the convention, and to those who have not honored their obligations under the convention. Please, ratified. Please, honor your obligation. Then we can reach this honorable goal and do away with a whole category of weapons of mass destruction. Committee the chairs and the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, opcw cotta is not getting their work first and foremost for their work in syria, but their overall work over these years. That they have been dismantling chemical weapons. Our guests are paul walker of green cross international, who is just won the right livelihood award for his work around chemical weapons, and professor Stephen Zunes at the university of san francisco. How theker, talk about actually does dismantle chemical weapons. ,or example, in syria especially now in the midst of the civil war. Complicated process, amy, but in short, what you have to do is locate the weapons first, do an inventory and see how many you have. You have to investigate what the weapons hold, whether it is mustard agents or nerve agents, and i think in syria, we have both those cases. Then you have a variety of causes as you can use. In the case of syria, because most of the weapons appear to be in precursor chemicals in other words, chemical be mixednts that can just before they are used as a weapon, and because they are stored in bulk containers of some type, most of that material can be fairly easily neutralized. And by that i mean mixed with other reagent chemicals. Mustard, for example, self destructs easily with hot water. We have done that for decades. Then you have to take a secondary process with the toxic liquid waste. In some cases you can burn the weapons. This is the primary role be method the u. S. Has used in the last 20 years. Has the u. S. That its goals and getting rid of chemical weapons . Yes and no. I would say yes and the since the u. S. And russia, too, fully committed to completing the destruction of their stockpiles. Had toa sense they finish their destruction of their stockpiles under the treaty regime by law by april 2012. Neither country has accomplished that, for whole number of reasons. Both the u. S. And russia had asked for an understanding from the opcw. There was a long debate between 20102012 over what to do about this potential violation of the treaty by the two major possessor states. Both are still working hard to destroy their stockpiles, but the u. S. Is another decade ago where are the u. S. Chemical weapons . We have to stockpiles left of seven originally and they are colorado and kentucky. Together, close to 3000 metric tons. Where do they destroy them . Onsite. Congress prohibited transportation. These weapons are not moved anywhere except on the military base. So all the destruction facilities in the u. S. Have been. N site, on the military base the farthest they have been moved is probably half a mile, perhaps, in very protect this, heavy trucks protective, heavy trucks. Every thing is done onsite, very sophisticated, very and the total program cost since 1990 has probably been 40 billion. It is a bit expensive, dangerous, contentious difficult process. Professor Stephen Zunes, on the u. S. Not meeting the deadline that it had agreed to . Unfortunately, it does undercut the credibility of the as far as we know, the delay has largely been the just tickle and technical and not a deliberate attempt technical and not a deliberate attempt. Like a lot of areas regarding weapons of mass destruction, and not the least of which is the u. S. Refusal to live up to it and of the nonproliferation treaty. It has deftly hurt the credibility it has deftly hurt the credibility of the u. S. And trying to be an enforcer of these universal disarmament resolutions. Paul walker, what are the chemical weapons the u. S. Still has . The u. S. Chemical weapons stockpile had act solely everything in it. The ones remaining now has absolutely everything in it. The ones remaining, we have mustard agent in pueblo, colorado and in bluegrass, kentucky, we have all the nerve agents plus mustard agent and lewisite, which are blister agents. It these are large and, faded stockpiles. These are large and constituted stockpiles. Ill miss all of the agent is in landmines, artillery shells, rockets, spray tanks, aerial bombs in kentucky. Some of us have said many times, why in heavens name to the u. S. And russia produce all of this 19 60s,rough the 1950s, 1970s . They are enormously dangerous, leaking risky stockpiles. It is in everyones interest to get rid of these weapons as quickly and safely as possible. The main goal is safe and sound and a reversible. Paul walker, what about the and action between to michael weapons and Nuclear Weapons, particularly the thing at the released . Thehe step up of syria to treaty is a major step. I keep emphasizing that. Syria maintained its chemical weapons stock ill, it said publicly, many times to defend against israels Nuclear Weapons stockpile. Egypt has followed the same suit. There is a linkage between chemical and Nuclear Weapons. None of those countries have ratified the biological Weapons Convention. Our hope is with growing pressure to build a weapon of mass distractionfree zone in the middle east, the steps by syria, and hopefully followed by israel and egypt, together, perhaps joining the cwc, will lead them to further join the biological Weapons Convention and then to begin to address Nuclear Weapons, particularly the existing arsenal of israel. Step in the good right direction. The americans have been nervous and the israelis have been nervous, but we all think in the abolition community, we are very much in favor of moving forward. Professor Stephen Zunes, can you comment on the u. S. Role in the possibility of there being wmdfree zone in the middle east . Then addition to blocking efforts of the United Nations theyve2012 2002, been hostile to these types of efforts. As we saw the hostility and the Reagan Administration on the nuclearfree South Pacific and other efforts, but despite that, wmdfree zones have been established in major parts of the world. Latin america, southeast asia, South Pacific the central asia and subsaharan africa. There is certain precedent for this sort of thing. There was suchs, a thing as the opcw, made it war justto prevent the a few weeks ago seemed inevitable when president obama announced the intention to attack syria. I think it is significant that despite the efforts by the United States to try to control if you can call it that to michael weapons and other weapons of mass destruction through military means, the ability of the International Community to organizations like the opcw, as i think has been an Exciting Development and demonstrated there are far better ways of arms control than the military intervention. I want to thank you both for being with us, professor Stephen Zunes at the university of san francisco, chairs a program in middle east studies. And paul walker, Program Director of the entire middle security and Sustainability Program at green cross international. Right just won the 2013 livelihood award, which will be awarded in the Swedish Parliament and the beginning of december. The same week that the Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded in oslo. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we shift gears and turn to the first report on press freedom in the United States ever published by the committee to protect journalists which usually advocates for press freedoms overseas and the news is not good. Titled, the Obama Administration and the press. Many wayst the president obama has ushered in a paralyzing climate of fear for both reporters and their sources. Among the cases of details six Government Employees, plus two contractors including Edward Snowden, have faced felony, the prosecution since 2009 under the 1917 espionage act for leaking classified information to the press, compared with just three inss such prosecutions all previous u. S. The ministrations. The department of justice has also sick really subpoenaed and seized Associated Press reporters phone logs and e mails, and New York Times reporter james rison was ordered to testify against a former c. I. A. Officer who provided the information to him or go to jail. In a report is written by Leonard Downie, former executive editor of the Washington Post. He spoke with dozens of journalists who told him officials are reluctant to discuss even unclassified information. It comes as when greenwald, columnist for Britains Guardian newspaper who is based in brazil, and his partner David Miranda testified before Brazilian Senate committee this week about his work with nsa whistleblower Edward Snowden. In reality, there is a war against realism and the process of transparency and this is with the u. S. And its closest allies, mostly the british government. Theyre doing a lot of things against the freedom of press to hide this whole report which generally the u. S. Were english government say these things only happen in china or iran or russia. And now we can see the u. S. Government is doing these exact same things. That wasnt Glenn Greenwalds voice that you mainly heard. Glenn greenwald was speaking portuguese in the brazilian hearing. This comes as the Obama Administration seized the e mails of fox News Reporter james rosen as part of probes into the leaking of classified information. In may, president obama said he made no apologies for seeking to crack down on the leaks. Leaks related to national risk. Ty can put people at they can put men and women in uniform that ive sent into the battlefield at risk. Some of our Intelligence Officers who are in danger situations that are easily compromised at risk. I make no apologies and i dont think the American People would expect me as commanderinchief not to be concerned about information that i to compromise their missions or might get them killed. For more we go to washington, d. C. , were reare joined by Leonard Downie, author of this new report, the Obama Administration and the press. His 44 years at the Washington Post included overseeing much of its watergate coverage during the night 17 years as executive editor, the paper 125 Pulitzer Prizes and now is professor at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Leonard downie, welcome to democracy now talk about your findings, this conference of, firsttime report of the committee to protect journalists on press freedom here in the United States. Ask a program called the Insider Threat program instituted since the Bradley Manning leaks, that requires Government Employees to monitor each other to make sure theyre not leaking information to anyone, including journalists, to really have frightened government officials. Many reporters i interviewed here in washington say government officials are afraid to talk to them. They are afraid their telephone conversations in their email exchanges would be monitored. That is to say investigators could come in later, as they did in several leaks investigations, and use their telephone and e mail records in order to find the contacts between government officials and reporters. They are scared to talk to reporters. This is not good because i just heard the president saying he was concerned about the safety of our troops and our Intelligence Officers. Responsible,nt knowledgeable government officials be able to talk to reporters about these matters so among other things, they can alert reporters to information that might be harmful to National Security or human life, in which case no responsible News Organization would publish those. What were you most surprised by . Im used to reporters complaining about access because we all want more access we can get all the time, and that is understandable. But i was surprised by the pervasiveness of this administrations control over information, by how much it discourages leaks of all kinds and not just classified information leaks. And how much it does not allow for unauthorized contacts with the press if he can help it, and how much it uses social media and other digital means to put out a lot of its own story and information that makes the administration look good, while restricting access to information that would hold government accountable for its actions. You spoke with scott shane. We just interviewed him. He said sources are scared to death to talk about unclassified everyday issues. He said Leonard Downie . That is exactly what he told me. This is exactly what i heard from dozens of reporters around washington, from News Executives and even former government officials who are concerned, as i said earlier, about the fact it is important knowledgeable reporters like scott shane earned so much about National Security and its editors that can make good decisions about what to publish if theyre cut off from this information heres a good example. Look at how much the administration has revealed now about the nsa Surveillance Program only because Edward Snowden provided that information to the press. The press published it and forced the administration to make Public Information about this program that americans ought to have so they can make decisions about it. In may, reporters asked president obama whether his administrations probe of the e mails of Associated Press reporters and editors, recalling president nixon. This is part of the exchange. I would like ask you about the Justice Department. Do you believe the seizure of phone records from the Associated Press journalist this week was an overreach . Do you still have full confidence in your attorney general . Should we interpret yesterdays renewed interest as a response to that . How do you feel about comparisons by some of your critics of this weeks scandals to those that happened under the Nixon Administration . I will let you guys engage in those comparisons. Ahead and read the history and draw your own conclusions. My concern is making sure if there is a problem in the government, that we fix it. That is my responsibility. That is what were going to do. And this is question in may about the aps spying program. This administration in the last four years has prosecuted twice as many leakers as every Previous Administration combined. How does that reflect balance . I would say the president is committed to the press possibility to pursue presss ability to pursue information, defending the First Amendment. As a citizen and commanderin chief, he is committed to the proposition we cannot allow that cand information do harm to our National Security interests or endanger individuals to be leaked. That is a balance that has to be struck. But the record in the last four years does not suggest balance. That is your opinion. Twice as many prosecutions, that is not even close. There were ongoing investigations that preceded this administration. I can play with the president s views are and they include his defense of the First Amendment, is believed that journalists ought to be able to pursue information his belief that journalists ought to be able to pursue information backed up by a shield law. It is also true he believes a balance needs to be struck between those goals and the need to protect classified information. If you could respond to both of those, Leonard Downie . That was jay carney, who is the chief Washington Bureau of time magazine. I interviewed him for my reporting he stated response similar to those you just heard. First, there is too much that is classified. The president repeatedly has had too much information is classified. It is not just information that might be harmful to human life or others, it is just millions and millions of documents and pieces of information that are classified that shouldnt be. It occurred previously, but it has not improved in this administration. The president promised to reduce overclassification and make it easier to obtain government information to the freedom of information act. So far none of these promises have been cap. Part of the reasons i agreed to do this report is i would like to alert the president to the fact this is one of the first promises he made. These are not being carried out by his administration. He still has time for his legacy to make good on his promises. Talk about the Justice Department acknowledging seizing the work, home, and cell phone records used by almost 100 reporters and editors at the Associated Press. The phones targeted included the general ap Office Numbers in new york city, washington, d. C. , and hartford, connecticut, and the main number for the ap in the house of representatives press gallery, which means many other reporters were speaking on it. The action coming as part of a probe into leaks behind an ap story on u. S. Intelligence operations. This has had a Chilling Effect on both government officials, government sources, and journalists. It is not the only one of these investigations in which such records were secretly subpoenaed. Half of the eight investigations that took place. Reporters and sources no records have been seized in the past and as a result, reporters 20 people are afraid to talk to them on the telephone, afraid to engage in email traffic, and reporters themselves are concerned about putting their sources at risk. Which means we have to go back to secret meetings, like the underground garage meetings during watergate. Reporters are trying to figure out if they can encrypt their e mail, but we now know nsa is trying to figure out how to get past the encryption. Reporters are very, very worried about putting their sources in jeopardy merely by trying to talk to them about the peoples visits. What is the Insider Threat program . It was first described by the mcclatchy newspaper in the last summer, a president ial order that came after the manning case. The government was very concerned about other meanings mannings because so much of this information is digitally available to clever people. So they instituted this program where they ordered every Government Department and agency to order their employees and there are directives that have gone out which Mcclatchy Newspapers obtained that instruct employees to monitor each other to make sure there are no leaks of classified information. It has been interpreted as some of the agencies as you look at their plan to go beyond classified information from the team permission about anything going on in that agency. How do you think overall, Leonard Downie, the press has been impacted . The committee to protect journalists has never issued a report on press freedom in the u. S. Before. Correct. Effect on a chilling not just coverage of National Security, but the government in general. Along with the other policies in the administration that have exercised such tight control over their message, information, and makes it difficult for the press to hold the Administration Accountable for its actions. It does not mean reporters are going to stop. Or is still good coverage of a lot of things, but we dont know what we have not been able to find out about how this government works. The president says he wants to be able to have his government held accountable to the American People, then i think they should change their policies. Why is president obama doing this . Under the Obama Administration, more than twice the number of journalists and sources have been gone after for prosecuted then all administrations combined. One pattern began with 9 11 and the fairness of the administration, the patriot act was passed under george bush. Some of these leaks investigations to begin during the Bush Administration is jay carney. They were prosecuted under the Obama Administration. Nuven to get ans began, like the one with fox news that you talked about. The atmosphere been concerned about National Security leaks and pressure from the Intelligence Community to stop these kinds of leaks began during the Bush Administration and accelerated during the Obama Administration. At the same time the obama people discovered during the two election campaigns from a tight message control in which they tried to get their news out to people, news they generate to americans but make it more difficult for reporters to hold them accountable worked very well during the campaigns and they been much more successful than Previous Administrations and carrying that control over into the workings of government itself once they took office. Other administrations have tried this, but not been as successful. And the third factor is, obviously, the new Digital World we live in, which gives a much more levers for controlling the message than ever before. What needs to be done . The president needs to keep his promises. He needs to reduce overclassification and make it easier to obtain affirmation through the freedom of information act. He needs to put the word out that government officials should be able to talk to the press unless it is harmful to National Security. Leonard downie, thank you for being with us, author of the new report, the Obama Administration and the press. It is the first time the sea pj has looked at freedom of the press in the United States. We will have a link to that on democracynow. Org. We will be back in a moment. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The u. S. Supreme Court Appears poised to strike down most of the remaining limits on massive spending by wealthy donors on political campaigns. On tuesday, justices heard arguments in mccutcheon versus federal election commission, which has been referred to as the next Citizens United. Republican leaders and wealthy gop donor Shaun Mccutcheon want the Supreme Court to throw out aggregate limits on individual contributions in a single two year cycle, saying they violate free speech. On tuesday, chief Justice John Roberts indicated he is prepared to strike down caps on donations to individual candidates, but perhaps not on donations to political committees. The mccutcheon case marks the first major challenge to Campaign Finance rules since the 2010 Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on elections. For more we go to Burt Neuborne, law professor and founding legal director of the rand center for justice at nyu law school. Talk about the significance of this. This is the first time people have zeroed in on contribution limitations. The law is expenditures. If you spend your own money, that is now completely uncontrolled. You have these extraordinary extraordinary wealthy people like the Koch Brothers pouring in huge amounts of their own money. Nothing can be done about that. Up until now, contributions were treated differently because the idea of a contribution created the possibility of a quid pro a candidate. So contributions could be limited. There are two kinds of limitations. Something called base limitations, which limits the amount that can be given to any particular candidate or any particular committee, then the aggregate limitation, which is is a total that can be given to everybody. The numbers are huge. The existing numbers now are 5,200 a candidate in an election cycle that you can get. 32,400 on top of that to the National Political party. 10,000 dollars on top of that to the state party, and 5,000 to as many packs as you want and there is an unlimited number of them. The only thing that prevents them from spinning out of control, about 3. 6 billion in each election cycle per person. The looking up keep separate spinning out of control is the aggregate limitations, which are 123,000 100 23,000. During oral arguments, the justice said Justice Antonin Scalia responded sarcastically saying and that is the gulf that derives the court on these cases. Justice ginsburg thinks we should use campaignfinance reform to advance equality so that everybody has roughly equal political influence. Scalia says, look, if youre rich, youre entitled to have as much influence as you can buy. That has now been the illusion and the scalia side has won 54 consistently in recent years. Senator Bernie Sanders said unlimited private spending undermines u. S. Democracy. The bottom line here is, if we do not want to move this nation to an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires can determine the outcome of these elections, it is imperative not only that we overturn Citizens United, but that we put a lid on how much people can contribute in elections. [applause] freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom tobuy. The United States government any have Shaun Mccutcheons lawyers comments saying Burt Neuborne . That is the collision. Some like Bernie Sanders say it is too much First Amendment activity when you can spend so much money that you have a hugely this proportion influence and they owe you favors later. What kind of a democracy is that . Ruth ginsburg said it perfectly. She said if these aggregate limitations go down, 500 people who control well control american democracy. And that is the risk. Burt neuborne, we will certainly continue to follow this case. That does it for our show. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] tavis good evening. From los angeles, i am tavis smiley. Tonight a conversation with danai gurira. For her rolenown fighting zombies in the hit series the walking dead which returns for its fourth season. She can also be seen in the independent film mother of george, which is getting outstanding reviews. Immigrantlight in the community in brooklyn. We are glad you joined us. A conversation with danai gurira coming up right now. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Versus warrior in the hit series the walking dead name muchnounces her more beautifully and lovely than i do. What is your name . Danai gurira. As sheseems invincible battles throughout the apocalypse. In a new independent film entitled mother of george, a nigerian immigrant struggling to have a baby. Lets take a look at a clip from mother of george. I went to the doctor today. What dr. . Fertility specialist. This, her business . X she can help us. Her, i not talking about am talking about us. The doctor can help us. Everything, on me. And you. Me. Than likely it is onis i am glad to have you the program. To the walking dead for all your fans. And there were a significant amount of times you turn down of the inauthentic way that African Women are portrayed. There must be something authentic about the way you are played in this or portrayed that you wanted to do so tell me more about why you wanted this role and you did not turn this one down. This one was a nobrainer, really. The director was fantastic and he is nigerian and has lived in the u. S. A very long time but is still connected to his homeland and telling stories from the continents perspective. He is a fantastic artist. He is a photographer and has been in the fashion world and doing television and going into film and he had such a tangible and palpable vision of celebrating the african expression on american soil which he has been around in brooklyn for the past 20 years and what he was missing and not saying and i felt the exact team way so connecting with him, i knew i was in the exact right hands to tell the sort of a story which is rarely told but is the new american story. Unpack that statement, the african expression on american soil. Unpack that for me. For me, a goes way back, back