Woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. Ifill and im gwen ifill. Those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill our lead story tonight a fuller picture is emerging of the man who opened fire, killing a dozen civilians at the navy yard in washington. Aaron alexis had a history of trouble during his military service, and may have had mental problems in recent months, but it remained unclear what drove him to start shooting. Well have more on his state of mind, and the state of the investigation, right after the rest of the days news. Woodruff five former new orleans policemen won a new trial today in the shootings of unarmed civilians after hurricane katrina. Two people were killed and four wounded on the citys danziger bridge. Today a federal judge today threw out the officers convictions on civil rights violations. He accused prosecutors of truly bizarre actions, including posting anonymous comments online. The toll of death and destruction in the colorado floods climbed again today. Authorities confirmed eight dead, with several hundred still unaccounted for. At least 1,600 homes were listed as destroyed. Meanwhile, new evacuations began as the flood tide moved downstream. In new jersey, investigators have ruled a fire that destroyed more than 50 beachfront businesses was accidental. The fire spread up the boardwalk in seaside park and Seaside Heights last week. It engulfed a number of buildings that had only just been repaired after last years superstorm sandy. Today officials said they traced the fire to wiring that was submerged during the storm. That i believe the wiring was sometime after 1970. Its possible that the wires just because of its age alone could have started this fire but we also know that not only is age a part of it, the storm is very clear that were seeing the effect of this particular area of the board walk. Woodruff the officials warned there may be compromised wiring at a number of places that were hit by sandy. The five permanent members of the u. N. Security council met today on disposing of syrias chemical weapons. The u. S. , britain, china, france, and russia are trying to craft a resolution based on a u. S. Russian agreement. The western powers want the u. N. To authorize military force if syria fails to comply. Russia does not. In iraq, baghdad was hit hard again by car bombings that killed at least two dozen. And in the west, suicide bombers attacked a Police Station in fallujah, killing eight others. The death toll since the violence began in april is well over 4,000. The president of afghanistan, hamid karzai, made clear today hes in no rush to sign a security deal with the u. S. It would set legal conditions for some foreign troops to remain after 2014, when combat forces withdraw. The u. S. Wants a deal by next month, but karzai insisted his demands for security guarantees and better weapons must be met. translated if the americans do not give us the guarantees we have asked for until october and we do not reach an agreement they can wait for the next government. Its not necessary for me to sign it. The next president will come. There will be an election and they will sign it with them. Woodruff the afghan president ial election is next april. Brazils president , dilma rousseff, has delayed a state visit to the u. S. To protest spying by the National Security agency. The announcement today followed revelations that the n. S. A. Intercepted rousseffs communications and hacked computers at the staterun oil company. Her office said the visit can be rescheduled when the u. S. Provides satisfactory answers. The wrecked italian cruise ship Costa Concordia was pulled upright today off the coast of tuscany. The operation drew worldwide attention, just as the ship did when it capsized in january of 2012. We have a report from emma murphy of independent television news. And so after the 21 months the Costa Concordia is righted in the water which is engulfed her. But shes a ship damaged beyond repair and bound for a scrap yard. Its very clear to see why this 114,000 ton vessel tipped. Now the full extent of the damage can be assessed, those who raised her are amazed she stayed in one piece. Ensure she didnt break up, this prevented an environmental disaster and the man who masterminded the salvage has become something of a local hero. So what about how it sfwhent. It was better than we expected but, you know, the result is right there, its perfect. Reporter and are you hopeful now that you might be able to recover the remains of those who are still lost . Thats what were hoping for. Reporter you must be very proud of what weve achieved. It was a Wonderful Team effort. Reporter the 500 Million Pound operation took 19 hours. This time lapse footage shows how the vessel was raised through 65 degrees in order to rest her on a false seabed designed to support her until she is taken from here. For the 3,968 people who were able to escape from the sinking concordia these images will be a dreadful reminder of that ordeal. But theres relief the ship was righted, shell forever be associated with tragedy. Woodruff 32 people died when the cruise liner struck a reef and rolled over. The u. S. Poverty rate failed to improve in 2012 for the sixth year in a row. The Census Bureau reported today that some 46. 5 million americans were considered poor in 2012. That amounts to 15 of the population, statistically unchanged from the year before. The poverty line was set at an annual income of just under 23,500 for a family of four. The Congressional Budget Office now estimates the government could default on its debts between the end of october and midnovember. The new timeline is about two weeks later than the previous estimate. Congress can prevent default by raising the National Debt ceiling, but in exchange, some republicans are demanding the president S Health Care law be defunded. In economic news, the Labor Department announced Home Health Care workers are now eligible for the federal minimum wage and overtime pay. Their ranks have grown to nearly two million. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained almost 35 points to close above 15,529. The nasdaq rose more than 27 points to close at 3745. Still ahead on the newshour, what is known about yesterdays tragic shooting in washington; communities devastated and families displaced by the colorado floods; answers to your questions about Health Care Reform; melting arctic ice opens up uncharted waters; and Edwidge Danticat on her latest novel. Ifill now, more on our lead ifill now, more on our lead story, the Washington Navy yard shootings. Investigators turned up more details today on the gunman, as the Nations Capital honored the dead. It was a day for mourning and solemn tribute in washington. Defense secretary chuck hagel and other military leaders laid a wreath at the Navy Memorial in honor of those killed in mondays massacre. And at the u. S. Capital, Senate Majority leader harry reid led a moment of silence for 12 t 12 victims. Officials also released the names of those killed. All of them civilians. This is a met cal process. Reporter investigators confirmed 34yearold aaron alexis killed by police during the attack was the lone shooter. Alexis, a buddhist convert who grew up in new york city, served as a Navy Reservist based in fort worth, texas, for four years. He was cited at least eight times for insubordination and disorderly conduct. He was given an early but still Honorable Discharge in 2011. Alexis also had repeated runins with the law, arrested in seattle in 2004 for allegedly shooting at a construction workers car tires and again in 2011 in fort worth, accused of firing a bullet through his apartment ceiling. The f. B. I. s valerie pilate said today that he came to washington last month. We can say we have determined mr. Alexis arrived in the washington, d. C. Area on or about august 26 and he has stayed at local hotels in the area since that time. Most recently, he is known to have stayed at a residence inn in southwest washington, d. C. Starting on september 7. Ifill at the time of yesterdays shooting, alexis was an employee with w a department subcontractor, the experts, working on a navy yard computer project. To do this work, he had a valid pass granting him access to the navy yards building 197 where he opened fire with a shoot schott gunn he brought with him. Plus two handguns he took from police. Friends and family expressed disbelief at the news. He didnt seem like he would be that kind of person that would be that upset enough to do Something Like that. As a newcomer to the family, somebody should have been watching him. Reporter questions were raised today at alexiss mental state. The f. B. I. Refused to comment that hed been treating at Veterans Affairs hospitals far series of problems including pair paranoia, a sleep disorder and hearing voices. The navy had not declared him him mentally unfit, that meant he would have been stripped of his security clearance. Jay carney said today administration is already reviewing contractors in the wake of leaks by Edward Snowden at the National Security agency. We can tell you that the president s reaction, o. M. B. Is examine standards for contractors across federal agencies. So this is obviously a matter with that the president believes and has believed merits review. Ifill tagon officials also said today defense secretary hagel will order his own security review of department irns lagss worldwide. So how did aaron alexis gain access to the tightly secured navy yard, and could officials have seen it coming . For the latest details, we turn to Ernesto Londono, who covers the pentagon for the washington post. Thanks for joining us. Today has been a day full of whys and hows. Lets start with the how. How do we know he gained access to this installation which is considered to be very sdmur right. The answer on that different appears to be pretty straightforward and that is he was working there. He had a legitimate need to be in that building based on the work he was doing as a subcontractor for the department. The broader question that people are raising is in light of all the troubling information that we found in just a few hours and you can find easily by a simple Google Search what this man given his security clearance and a military badge that gave him unfeter access to a security facility. Ifill did we get to the the bottom of any of those questions today . Not substantively. I think people at the pentagon are determined to do a wholesale review of access at installations worldwide and theres a huge interest in trying to figure out whether the the mechanisms we have there n place to screen job candidates and contractors are adequate. Very troublingly, there was an inspector generals report released today suggesting that the navy in the past in the recent past, has cut corners when it came to vetting people who were requesting access to installations. This report was in the works for some time and its not related to this case but what investigators found was this the navy was doing bad job of screening people and at least 52 cases it gave blajs to felons who are not supposed to be given access to military installations. Ifill 52 cases. That sounds like a lot, especially light of what we saw yesterday, but we know now that secretary hagel and the secretary of the navy and we heard the president launching all kinds of investigations. Have there been investigations into this sort of access before . There have. However, you know, if you look at the serious Security Breaches that have happened at military installations, sort of the massive shooting incidents, theres two major ones yesterday and the 2009 shooting at fort hood. In both cases they were perpetrated by people who had access to be there in the first place. So i think focus will likely be whether there were red flags that were ignored. Whether there were people who ux you know, knew about the behavioral issues that these two individuals had who could have flagged them somehow. Where there were Mental Health providers who were in a position to know that these people were unstable and showing signs of distress and once that information is shared with the proper authorities could these incidents have been stopped earlier. Fill fail somewhat predictable debate erupted in washington today about how he may have gotten his weapon. What do we know about how he did . We know he purchased a handgun at a gun store in virginia on sunday. It appears to have been a pretty straightforward transaction. They did a check on him. They run his name through Law Enforcement databases. There was no red flag. There was no indication that hes a convicted felon which would have made him ineligible for a gun purchase so the gun owner sold him the weapons and he walked out of the store with it. Ifill what do we know about his clear from the navy at the time he was serving as a naval reservist . I was able to reach one former colleague who said very early on he was a bit of an introvert, he was somebody who wasnt very outgoing and was kind of quiet and reserved. In recent years, though, she told me she saw troubling changes in his personality. He became very aggressive. He was prone to outbursts of anger when they were out in social settings. He would sometimes just erupt in shouting matches with people around him for causes that didnt seem to warrant that reaction. He didnt like authority. He was constantly challenging his superiors. So she told me that, you know, it was concluded he was not a good fit for the military because if youre serving you need to know how to take orders. Pelley and do we know what his motives may have been . We did not. Increasingly, i think were seeing sign he is had some fairly serious Mental Health issues. He had complained to authorities he was hearing voices. Behavior that appears to have been delusional, paranoid from what weve been able to glean from Law Enforcement sources. But there is no clearcut motive. Nobody has really articulated that he had a huge ax to grind with the navy, that he was furious at the navy, that there were any individuals working at that the facility that he knew, that he may have been trying to settle scores with. So at this point no irrational motive has emerged. Ifill awfully troubling. If thank you very much. My pleasure. Woodruff mondays shooting raises questions about how someone like aaron alexis is screened and allowed access to a u. S. Military base, and whether his past should have raised alarm in the screening process. Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie had a 24year career in the army as a psychiatrist. And dr. E. Fuller torrey is a psychiatry professor at the Uniformed Services university of the health sciences. We welcome both of you to the newshour. Dr. Ritchie, to you first. What have you heard both just now in the interview with the reporter Ernesto Londono and with that youve been reading today that raises questions in your mind about who aaron alexis was . There is a lot that raises questions in my mind. First, though, i want to send out my condolences sotothe family members of the deceased and to the friends and colleagues of those who died because theyre really important to keep them in our thoughts. In terms, though, of this gentlemans mental state, when you look back, theres red flags all over the place. Theres a problem he had when he was in the navy. Theres these episodes, the hearing voices pieces and you say how did this person ever get a security clearance . Having said that, what ive seen often is in retrospect you can look back and see the problems, but at the time people were not putting that information together. I seriously doubt the people who granted the security clearance knew that he was hearing voices. What i do wonder, though, it sounds like his behavior was pretty bizarre and i wonder why nobody picked it up earlier. Woodruff dr. Torrey, what about you . What are you hearing and reading about him that causes concern . Judy, it sounds to me i havent examined him but all the information thats now out there it sounds like a fairly typical case of paranoid schizophrenia, lateon set paranoid schizophrenia begins later than other forms of schizophrenia. He thought people were following him, he thought people were use magazines to cause vibrations in his body. This is a brain disease. Its a brain disease like parkinsons or alzehimers disease. Something along with his something went wrong with his brain in his 20s and youre looking at symptoms of the disease, one of which is acting out and in this case killing people and in his mind he was doing it based on delusions. My guess is that he was terminated by the navy, more or less, discharged. He probably think it is navy were doing all these things that hes experiencing in his mind and he was going to get back at them and so this episode makes no sense to us but to him it made perfect sense. Woodruff and were still looking for more information that would confirm your theory. Dr. Ritchie, what about his the fact that the veterans administration, theres a report that they were treating him. Now, that has not been confirmed. What are the what would the normal procedure be if someone who is a retired Navy Reservist has clearance to work