Here to analyze the weeks news. Those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by charles schwab, proud supporter of the pbs newshour. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan after months of leaks and growing criticism, president obama laid out surveillance reforms today. He said the National Security agency must no longer be the storehouse for phone metadata that it collects. And, he promised an end to spying on allied leaders. We will hear some of what the president said, and have reaction, right after the news summary. Later the president signed a spending bill that puts an end to the budget wars for now, he held a ceremony, the bill funds Government Operations through the rest of the federal fiscal year. A miss miss man accused of sending poison sreenivasan a mississippi man accused of sending poisoned letters to the president is pleading guilty after all. James everette dutschke changed his plea today, at a federal Court Hearing in oxford, mississippi. He was charged with mailing letters tainted with ricin a highly toxic substance to the president , a u. S. Senator and a judge. Sreenivasan california governor jerry brown has declared a drought emergency, amid the states worst dry spell in 100 years of recordkeeping. Reservoirs are drying up, and snowpack in the mountains has dropped to 20 of normal. Speaking in San Francisco today, brown appealed for voluntary Water Conservation and he left open the possibility of making it mandatory. We are in a unprecedented, very serious situation and people should pause and reflect on how dependent we are on the rain, on nature, and one another. Im calling for a collaborative effort to restrain our water use. Im also setting in motion easier water transfers. Sreenivasan the parched conditions are also fueling wildfires. One blaze burned today in the foothill suburbs northeast of los angeles, keeping thousands of people away from their homes. The fire was 30 contained. Sreenivasan scores of bushfires raged out of control in southern australia today, fueled by high winds and a searing heat wave. The combination fanned the flames, forcing hundreds of people to flee. At least one person was killed. Police Officials Say at least a dozen of the fires were intentionally set. Sreenivasan the Syrian Government has floated an offer to negotiate a partial cease fire and prisoner swap with rebels. Syrias foreign minister presented the offer today, as he met with the Russian Foreign minister in moscow. It came just before scheduled peace talks in geneva next week. In washington, secretary of state john kerry warned syrian president Bashar Alassad must agree to give up power. There is no political solution whatsoever if assad is not discussing a transition and if he thinks hes going to be part of that future. Its not gonna happen. The people who are the opponents of this regime will never, ever stop. It will be a low grade insurgency at least and worse, potentially even a civil war, if it continues, because they will not stop. Sreenivasan meanwhile, the main westernbacked Opposition Group met today on whether to attend the geneva conference. Our chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner will have more on all of this, later in the program. Sreenivasan pennsylvanias attempt to impose a photo i. D. Requirement for voters has run into a legal roadblock. A state judge struck down the 2012 law today. He ruled the statute does not fair elections, as republicans had argued. The ruling likely will be appealed to the state supreme court. Sreenivasan republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma will retire at years end, with two years left in his second term. In a statement, coburn said hes shifting his focus elsewhere. He said a recurrence of Prostate Cancer did not affect his decision. Coburn is 65 years old. Hes been a fierce advocate of cutting federal spending. His announcement is the latest in a spate of congressional retirements in recent days. Sreenivasan the Surgeon Generals office has significantly expanded the already long list of diseases caused by smoking. Todays announcement follows the 50th anniversary of the 1964 report that formally declared smoking a human health hazard. Acting Surgeon General dr. Boris lushniak said cigarettes are still killing people. Since the first surgeons general report in 1964 over 20 million premature deaths can be attributed to cigarette smoking. Today the annual death toll from smoking is approaching 500,000 per year. The science has revealed in stark clarity that common disease such as diabetes melitis Rheumatoid Arthritis and colon and rectal cancer are also caused by smoking. Enough is enough. Sreenivasan lushniak called for more aggressive action to make the next generation of americans, smokefree. Sreenivasan the Company Involved in the West Virginia water crisis filed today for federal bankruptcy protection. Freedom industries owns the plant that leaked a chemical into the elk river last week. The contamination cut off water to some 300,000 people in charleston and nine counties. Officials began restoring water service, in stages, on monday. Sreenivasan on wall street the Dow Jones Industrial average gained 41 points today to close at 16,458. The nasdaq fell 21 points to close at 4197. For the week, the dow gained a. 01 the nasdaq rose half a percent. Sreenivasan the last japanese soldier to surrender after World War Two has died at a tokyo hospital. Hiroo onoda hid out in a philippines jungle for 29 years after the war ended in 1945. He finally emerged in march of 1974 and returned home to japan and a heros welcome. Later, he became a rancher and even ran a childrens nature school. Hiroo onoda was 91 years old. Sreenivasan still to come on the newshour; president obamas push to limit n. S. A. Spying; a former Health Insurance c. E. O. On the challenge of cutting costs; eradicating polio in india; a preview of next weeks syria peace talks; plus, david brooks and ruth marcus on the weeks news. Sreenivasan now, we look in depth at the president s surveillance speech today at the justice department. Newshour correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. As a president who looks at intelligence every morning, i also cant help but be reminded that america must be vigilant in the face of threats. Reporter the president presented a measured defense of u. S. Surveillance, and he largely left the operations intact, citing a president ial advisory panel. What i did not do is stop these programs wholesale, not only because i felt that they made us more secure, but also because nothing in that initial review, and nothing that i have learned since, indicated that our Intelligence Community has sought to violate the law or is cavalier about the Civil Liberties of their fellow citizens. Reporter at the same time, mr. Obama sought to reassure the public by calling for several changes. The reforms im proposing today should give the American People greater confidence that their rights are being protected, even as our intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies maintain the tools they need to keep us safe. Reporter chief among those reforms the National Security agency would continue its sweeping collection of phone Call Information or metadata, but it would no longer store the data. I believe we need a new approach. I am therefore ordering a transition that will end the section 215 bulk Metadata Program as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the Government Holding this bulk metadata. Reporter a review panel has recommended the n. S. A. Shift control of the phone data to phone companies or to a third party, but the companies are resisting. The president said hes giving attorney general eric holder and the Intelligence Community 60 days to study the options. He further said he wants to inject new perspectives into the workings of the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, the body that oversees terrorism investigations. I am calling on congress to authorize the establishment of a panel of advocates from outside government to provide an independent voice in significant cases before the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court. Reporter president obamas speech was intended first and foremost to address americans concerns about surveillance and individual privacy. But it also was directed at global audiences, who have joined in the debate and criticism on the scope and targeting of u. S. Surveillance. In october, the world learned the u. S. Has monitored german chancellor, Angela Merkels phone calls, and those of other allied leaders. Today, the president banned such eavesdropping. The leaders of our Close Friends and allies deserve to know that if i want to learn what they think about an issue, i will pick up the phone and call them, rather than turning to surveillance. Reporter he also noted however that leaders some of the countries whove criticized american intelligence gathering, are relying on the data themselves to protect their own people. And, he did not hide his disapproval of Edward Snowden, the n. S. A. Contractor whose leaks exposed u. S. Surveillance efforts to the world. Moreover, the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come. Reporter after the speech, democratic senator patrick leahy, chairman the judiciary committee, voiced support. He said in a statement i commend the president for taking important steps to maintain our National Security while protecting privacy rights and Civil Liberties, both here and abroad. Reporter some Civil Liberties advocates said the reforms dont go nearly far enough. But in his own statement, Republican HouseSpeaker John Boehner warned the opposite may be true. He said reporter that sets the stage for congressional debate and action already on tap for this year. So did the president rein in the n. S. A. Enough, too much, or is it too early to tell . We got two views. John mclaughlin was the cia Deputy Director and then acting director during the george w. Bush administration. He now teaches at the Johns Hopkins school of advanced international studies. And kate martin is the director of the center for National Security studies, a Civil Liberties advocacy group. So mr. Mclack hundred i want to start with you first, first your reacts on todays speech. Well, i think the president did a very good job of talking about the nsa in the context of american intelligence. And explaining to the American People why what they do is important. I think he also made an important statement that needed to be made by a senior official in telling the American Public directly from the president that the nsa does not read allofyour erck mail. The nsa does not listen to all of your phone calls. Because that, that perception is alive out there. So i think he did a good job on those scores. Where i would comment though is that as i listen the speech i think the phrase or two that kept coming to my mind is the definite sill very much in the details here. And well have to wait and see whether the major changes that he proposed on the on the Metadata Collection Program and particularly on the insertion of Police Officer see acts, whether these ultimately help, hurt or make no difference whatsoever in the tectiveness of our intelligence collection. Your initial thoughts well i thought that he made two very significant improvements to the Current System which i think in the long run will help our intelligence as well as our Civil Liberties and that was to recognize the serious risks involved in government collection of bulk data on americans and announce on the 215 program that that would be ended and secondly to recognize the importance of having a judicial order before the nsa asks for information on americans. And the government, you know, for the last 25 years has taken the position that the government doesnt need a judicial order to get Third Party Records like these telephone records. And now this president has recognized that the technological changes are the last 20 years have increased both the intelligence capabilities but the risks of government intelligence activities. And move we need to address both of those. Mr. Mclaughlin, will this change the cell phone collection data or that everyone is so concerned about, will it make a difference . Well, again, it depends a little bit on the details if you want to move this information as he proposed into some hands other than the nsa, the first question you have to ask is that safer alternative than leaving it with the nsa i challenge the basic premise that there is a danger or a threat to americans privacy by the nsa holding this material all of the investigations so far have uncovered no abuse. Theyve uncovered no illegality and part of the nsas mission and expertise is actually protecting information. I dont find that private entities whether its my phone company or Internet Services i deal with are all that good at protecting my private information. The ns a a is, i dont feel threatened at all and i dont feel americans should feel threatened by having this information held by the nsa despite this perception. So i think how thats done, it may be a way to do it, that gives everyone the assurance the information is safe, secure and protecting their privacy. But well have to see the details of that. Because i dont think its really challenging their privacy to you. Miss martin . I think the president s review group outlines the real risks that our history has shown us when the government has access to information about americans that the government is tempted, an administration can be telled to use that information for improve purposes to skew the democratic process. And the fact that the nsa hasnt done that in the last seven years is no, you know, assurance that it wont happen in the future, especially if you go back just as early as 2001 and 2002, you have the clear example of the, a white house going to the nsa and saying check on american approximates on americans, never mind the legal restriction. That just happened and we have in my lifetime, in your lifetime, the example of the government, the nsa and other intelligence agencies collecting on the civil rights movement, et cetera, in order to discredit those movements. And so the review group said to the president thats the risk of the government creating enormous databases of information on americans and you can accomplish the intelligence that you need to get, without creating such government databases. And i think the president correctly recognized that that is what he needs to do and is going to do. Mr. Mclaughlin what about these steps that he has tried to outline about increasing transparency, at home and abroad saying that im not going to be spying on other World Leaders and im also really going to be starting to extend protections for citizens around the world, similar to protection that citizens have here in the u. S. Does that increase our risk . Well, i dont think it increases our risk, necessarily. And as usual the president s speech is a it if you look at the language carefully, as the chief executive he always has the option of making an exception if he finds that it is in the National Interests to take a look at some foreign country that hes taken off the list here. One thing i would suggest is that we ask Foreign Countries for reciprocity because we will be the only country in the world that is that careful in monitoring the activities and intentions of other countries, although he was quite clear to say we will continue to check on the Foreign Policy and other intentions of countries. But i dont have any problem with him taking our close partners off of that list and providing he knows and im sure he does, that he can always make an exception. If one of our partners, for example, is debating policy on Something Like iran sanctions and its not possible to get a straight answer from them by just asking, it may be quite likely that the president will want to know what are they really thinking but if he as a