Things. Nypds secret spying unit. Today, pillow to prizewinning journalist matt apuzzo and adam goldman on how the new york Police Department, with help from the cia, spies on muslim neighborhoods across the city and northeast. The police targeted mosques, coffee shops, student groups and even a soccer league. First, they will talk about the mass shooting in washington. 50 years after the ku klux klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in birmingham, alabama, we will speak with Sarah Collins rudolph. She lost her eye in the blast that killed her sister Addie Mae Collins and three other little girls. I remember when the bomb went off, i said, jesus because it scared me so bad and i hollered for my sister. As she didnt give me an answer. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. 13 people have died after former Navy Reservist opened fire at a naval base in washington, d. C. Monday morning, killing 12 people and wounding several others before dying in a shootout with police. The gunman has been identified as aaron alexis a 34yearold who had been arrested at least twice in the past for shooting related incidents, but who got security clearance to enter the Washington Navy yard and worked for military contractor. Alexis was discharged from the neighbor reserve in 2011 following what officials termed a pattern of misbehavior. In 2010, he was arrested in fort worth, texas when his downstairs neighbor complained he had fired a bullet through his floor into her apartment. In 2004, he was arrested in seattle after firing his pistol into the tires of a car. At the time, alexis his father told police his son had participated in the 9 11 rescue effort and had anger issues possibly tied to posttraumatic stress disorder. Alexis told police 9 11 had disturbed him. Alexis did technologyrelated work for a Company Called the experts, subcontractor to hewlettpackard. Officials said he purchased at least one of the guns used in mondays rampage legally. He was found with three weapons. A shotgun, semi automatic historian an assault rififle. According to the Associated Press, alexis was being treated at the va for multiple disorders including hearing voices. Eight victims of been identified publicly, all of them are believed to be civilians or contractors. According to mother jones, it is the fifth mass shooting in the United States since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School less than a year ago. President obama responded to the shooting on monday. We are confronting yet another mass shooting. Today it happened on a military installation in our Nations Capital. It is a shooting that targeted our military and civilian personnel. These are men and women who are going to work, doing their job protecting all of us. The shooting comes just after a major report on gun ownership in the United States confirmed the link between homicide rates in the number of people who own guns. According to the study in the american journal of public health, for each one percent increase in gun ownership, the rate of people murdered by firearms increased by. 9 . The researchers found states with higher rates of gun ownership a disproportionately large numbers of deaths from. Rearm related homicides United Nations inspectors that have found clear and convincing evidence that rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin were deployed in three agents neighborhoods of the damascus suburb of ghouta in a chemical attack on august 21. The report cites medical and environmental evidence as well is more than 50 interviews with survivors of health care workers. It concludes the report did not assign responsibility for the attack. The United States, britain, and france seized on the findings to bolster claims that only the regime of president Bashar Al Assad could have conducted the attack, while russia accused them of jumping to conclusions. The u n secretarygeneral spoke to reporters about the report. The findings are beyond doubt. This is a war crime and grave violation of the 1925 protocol and other rules of international law, customary international law. It is the most significant confirmed use of chemical weapons against civilians since Saddam Hussein used them in 1988, and the worst use of reference of mass destruction and the 21st century. The u n inspectors plan to return to syria to investigate other suspected chemical weapons attacks, including some which the assad regime perpetrated by rebels. Turkey says it shot down a Syrian Military helicopter that straight about a mile into its airspace monday, marking an increase in tensions between the two countries. According to turkey, the helicopters crew failed to heed warnings to turn back. At least two people are dead and Dozens Injured after a powerful typhoon hit japan, imaging thousands of homes and prompting evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of people. The typhoon complicated cleanup efforts at the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where workers were forced to doubt more than 1100 tons of rainwater that had pooled around the storage tanks holding radioactive water. The Plant Operator said the waters radiation levels were considered safe. Meanwhile, the death toll from two storms that from mexico from opposite coasts has risen to at least 41 and did some of the worst flooding in decades. And the confirmed death toll from historic floods in colorado has risen to eight. Scientists have long predicted an uptick in such extreme weather events as a result of human caused Climate Change. A new report meanwhile has found 50 of the world corporations produce 73 of Greenhouse Gas emissions that fuel global warming. According to the global 500 Climate Change report, walmart and exxonmobil are among the top 50 polluters whose emissions have risen about 1. 7 since 2009. Events are planned in new york city today to mark the twoyear anniversary of occupy wall street. On september 17, 20 11,000 of people marched on the financial district, then formed in cam and his ducati park, launching a movement that shifted the conversation on economic inequality. And organize reflected on the Lasting Impact of occupy wall street. I think it is exciting what weve seen in terms of occupy inside and outside the political spectrum. We talk a lot about the street protest and the police and those are important issues, but we also seen the effect of occupy as high as congress. Senator Elizabeth Warren calls herself in many ways the inological mother of occupy the most important influential committee in the senate, the Senate Banking committee. You have mayors across the country who marched with occupy were standing up for underwater homeowners like in richmond, california. You have the foremost front runner for the mayor of new york city, bill de blasio, the only mayor who said he would not have shut down occupy. I think were seeing a new kind of social Movement Today that is having an effect within the political system without necessarily entering into it i traditional means. Occupy wall street organizer justin wedes. It brought wha widespread attention between the income gap. Revealedrs recently 95 of income gains since the recession ended have gone to the top 1 . On sunday, George Stephanopoulos asked president obama about the gap. The gains to the top 1 . The folks in the middle and at the bottom havent seen Income Growth or wage growth not just over the last three or four years, but over the last 15 years. House lawmakers are set to consider republican back bill that would cut food stamps by an estimated 4 billion annually and let states impose sweeping new requirements on employment for receipts of recipients of food aid. The bill would also allow states to report drug testing for food stamp recipients. The latest document leaks from Edward Snowden show the National Security agency is targeting International Financial transactions involving customers of major credit card companies, including visa. According to the german magazine der spiegel, the nsas financial records database housed 180 million records in 2011. Ae records included data from brusselsbased network used by thousands of banks to securely send information on transactions. One document shows the nsas british counterpart, gchq, expressed concerns about the bulk collection of financial data, which is said contained rich personal information, much of it not about our targets. Bill de blasio has cemented his degree the democratic primary to run for mayor of new york city after the secondplace challenger Bill Thompson conceded the race and endorsed a monday. Bill de blasio ran on a progressive platform to replace outgoing mayor muckle bloomberg, criticizing his support for the Police Tactic of stop and frisk them down to take on growing inequality between the rich and poor. Bill de blasio will face republican candidate joe lhota. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with aaron mate. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. 13 people died when a former Navy Reservist opened fire on a naval base and washington, d. C. On monday, killing 12 people and wounding several others before dying in a shootout with police. The gunman had been identified as aaron alexis, 34yearold who have been arrested at least twice in the past for shooting related incidents. He got security grants danger the Washington Navy yard. He was discharged from the navy reserve in 2011, following what officials termed a pattern of misbehavior. The Associated Press has just reported alexis was treated by the va for serious Mental Illness him including hearing voices. To talk more about the shooting, we are owing by matt apuzzo and adam goldman, they cowrote the new book, enemies within inside the nypds secret spying unit and bin ladens final plot against america. We will talk about the book in a moment. First, to the shooting. Welcome. Matt, what do you know the about the report youre putting out today . The ap moved a few minutes ago that said alexis had been treated relatively recently, in recent months, for a host of mental issues at the va, hearing voices was kind of the catchall. I think the question obviously is going to be, how far along was he in the treatment . What were they seen the medical record . Pulledhat have clearances to get in the building . At this stage, i dont think we know the answers to those questions and i think that is what investigators will be looking for. Were their missed opportunities like we saw at virginia tech, where he should have been able to do the things to get a hold of the guns given his mental treatment . I dont know if that was the case here, but it is certainly something the federal government is looking at, City Government is looking at, and reporters like us are looking at. Is something both having a clearance and having the guns. Right. Our reporter the guns are not something that adam and i focused a ton on, but our reporter in washington has really been trying to these together how they got the guns. We know there was a shotgun he used, a handgun. Unclear whether he got the handgun from a Police Officer or Security Guard on the scene. They are still trying to link up the Assault Rifle as to if that was his. Is what the federal government is trying to piece together as are we. Quite astounding, while being treated at the va for among other things, hearing voices, that he had other incidents in the past and his father saying to authorities that he perhaps suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder from helping people at 9 11. He had done violence incidents he was arrested for. Were 24 hours into this investigation and we still havent figured out the gun trace issue is always difficult. I think until we know how we got these guns and his clearances went, i just dont want to jump to conclusions about what should or shouldnt have happened. We are only 24 hours into it. Mental illness, adam, and being able to have guns legally . That is a big issue in this country. We see people repeatedly with Mental Illness obtained firearms. Newtown, virginia tech, and the horrific shooting in the suburb of denver. Of course we will continue to follow this issue. But now were going to talk about an issue you have followed for years. Thet is been 12 years since 9 11 attacks, but only now was a fuller picture emerging of what could be one of its most controversial legacies. In the aftermath of 9 11, the nypd established an intelligence operation that in some ways has been even more aggressive than the National Security agency. At its core, spying operation targeting Muslim Americans, where they live, work, and pray. The demographics unit, as it was known until 2010, has a grilli infiltrated Muslim Student groups, since informants into mosques, eavesdropped on conversations and restaurants, barber shops, and gems, and built a vast database on information of information on Muslim Americans. The program was established with help from the cia, which is barred from spying on americans. It emerged the nypd has labeled at least 50 muslim organizations as terrorist groups. This has allowed them to carry out what are called terrorism enterprise investigations, sending undercover informants into mosques to spy on worshipers and make secret recordings. That news came just weeks after a group of Muslim Americans filed a federal lawsuit against the nypds spy program, alleging what they call unconstitutional religious profiling and suspicionless surveillance. At a news conference, plaintiff asad dandia described his runin with the man who turned out to be a police informant. In march 2012i was approached by a 19yearold man who came to me telling me that he was looking for spirituality, looking to change his ways. He said he had a very dark past and wanted to be a better practicing muslim. I figured, what better way to have him perform its obligations than to join this organization . Released a Public Statement saying he was an informant for the nypd. When i found out, i had a mixture of feelings. Number one, i was terrified and afraid for my family, especially my younger sister will stop i felt betrayed because someone i took in as a friend and brother was lying to me. The that, one of was asad dandia, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. While the spy program has been intrusive, it is also been ineffective. The nypd has admitted the demographics unit failed to yield a single terrorism investigation or even a single lead. In a deposition last tear, the Commanding Officer of the Intelligence Division, assistant nypd chief, said the nypd spy program was first exposed to fillets are prizewinning series by the Associated Press. To lead reporters on the story have just come out the new book that expands on the Ground Breaking reporting. The book is called, enemies within inside the nypds secret spying unit and bin ladens final plot against america. Coauthors matt apuzzo and adam goldman join us here in new york. They sure the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. We welcome you both to democracy now layout this book for us. In a nutshell, how you got on the story, and what you found. Our book really goes a lot deeper in a lot broader than we were able to do even in all of the many stories we wrote for the ap. What we really focused on was how in the aftermath of 9 11, how the nypd working handin hand with the cia, built an intelligence apparatus that focuses on american citizens like no other Police Department in the country. And activeduty cia officer a retired cia officer built in apparatus by which it was sort of army informants out there and we have these demographic officers who their job is just to hang out in neighborhoods and listen for what people are talking about. Some of what we have seen in these files, we saw two men speaking at a cafe and they were talking about what they thought about the president s state of the union address, and heres what they thought. What a think about drones, foreign policy, what they think about american policies toward civil liberties, you know, tsa. Are we to discriminatory against muslims . All the stuff ends up in police files and the justification is, we need to know what the sentiment of these communities are so we can look for hotspots. Talk about how this plays out, adam. Ray kelly working with david cohen from the cia. They set out to create basically a map of all new yorks ethnic neighborhoods . That is with the demographics unit was doing. They wanted to literally map the human terrain of the five boroughs of new york. They went beyond they went to new york and new jersey as well. ,hey had this year after 9 11 looking at quee