tonight on "cnn presents," anonymous. their tactics have created a movement around the world. a rare look inside the shadowy group's secret ops. >> there was a building that was scoring chemicals and cancer causing agents and because of the vicinity and the children that are involved, you didn't care. >> these parents have every reason to be angry. their children's school had

toxic chemicals and even worse, they were the last to know. >> prescription for cheating. they read our exx rays but we reveal a disturbing revelation about many radiologists. revealing investigations, fascinating characters, stories with impact. this is "cnn presents" with your host brooke baldwin and dr. sanjay gupta. >> good evening. we begin with a rare look inside anonymous. >> this shadowy and motley group of hackers and activist who is answer to no one, drawn together by love of internet mischief. >> now they're evolving into this movement of social change, a real driving force behind the wall street occupieroccupiers. they're hated by skurntd hunted by the fbi. >> who are these people and why are they taking to the streets? to get some answers, amber lyon stepped into the shadows.

>> reporter: it's a dark and disturbing vision. a world where riot police attack with impugnity. >> what happened? what happened? >> he got hit. >> he got shot! >> reporter: where democracy is constructed by greed and dissent is crushed. that's how anonymous sees america and they say that's why they're fighting back. >> we are legion. we do not forgive. we do not forget. >> reporter: it a movement that defies description. leaderless, faceless, anarchic. >> this is our space! >> reporter: a loose collective

born on the internet, it has no official members and no hierarchy, but within the group some individual anons have greater standing, earned by their skills as hackers, video makers -- >> to see it with my own eyes and record it myself. >> reporter: -- and increasingly street level activists. troy, not his real name, is one of them. >> this is what happens when the people have had enough. this is what happens when greed goes unchecked. >> reporter: troy said he was drawn to occupy wall street after watching his mother struggle with medical debts. he himself is working two jobs to make ends meet, despite having a college degree. >> you lose track of day, lose track of time but it worth it. it's all worth it. >> reporter: we met him at the occupy wall street camp at the park. >> it's move like a hive, an idea is brought up and whoever agrees with it, if the overwhelming majority of people agree with it, then we go with it. >> reporter: so we're following

troy and he's been out here policing, kind of making sure that all of these protesters are getting along with the community and not causing any problems. >> we're handling internal affairs as far as damage control within the community, making sure that everybody is respecting the local small businesses around here. >> reporter: but he's not just watching over the protests. he's also watching the police. part of the evolution of anonymous from hackers to activists. anonymous was born a decade ago in one of the weirdest and darkest corners of the internet, an anything goes board called 4chan. the users post anonymously and the name stuck. the group adopted a distinct identity and its own symbolism, a mask taken from the movie "v for vendetta," a retelling of the story of the english rebel

guy fox and his plot to blow up the house of lords in 1605. instead of gun powder, anonymous uses the internet. anonymous attacks its targets by flooding and crashing corporate and government web sites or digging up and publicizing highly embarrassing information. it's called trolling. they troll targets out of genuine outrage but also just for fun. >> lulz -- it's a bass a-- bastardization of laugh out loud. it's a term that sort of denotes the sort of pleasure, humor, laughter, everything from something which is quite playful, harmless to engaging in a full-fledged trolling attack that humiliates. >> reporter: anonymous's campaigns, known as operations or ops can be dramatic.

in late 2010 a distributed denial of service attack took down the web site of paypal. after the company cut off support for theline whistle blower site wikileaks. >> they continue to withhold wikileagues. >> reporter: 16 anons were arrested by the fiebs charged with intentionally planning to damage the paypal computers. >> reporter: this assumer anonymous attacked the san francisco area's public transportation system bart. bart had cut cell service within the transit system as a way of disrupting antipolice brutality protests. anonymous's reaction was devastating and vicious. >> we will not issue anymore warnings. >> reporter: onbart included the release of a naked photo of a senior bart employee. >> sometimes it makes you laugh,

sometimes it makes you cringe, sometimes it makes you laugh and cringe at the same time. all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, there is this dagger that's being thrown. >> reporter: and a naked photo? >> yes. >> reporter: do you feel there is a fear out there of what they could possibly find or leak about a certain individual in. >> absolutely. i mean, that's what makes them who they are is that they are kind of bad boys and rude boys to some degree. there is a dual sort of fascination and horror that goes on at the same time. >> be aware. >> reporter: anonymous was evolving, use being its power to shock and disrupt to effect social change. during the arab spring, the collective emerged as a full fledged activist group. taking up the cause of tuof tu s

tunisians. >> reporter: they did everything from take down government web sites, they wrote scripts to stop the fishing of password, bros massive media attention to tunisia. >> reporter: and last fall anonymous broke cover here at home, stepping out from behind their secure computer screens for a new cause, occupy wall street. >> there is a revolution brewing. >> reporter: suddenly the symbols of anonymous were everywhere, in flags, masks, banners. >> we are the 99%! >> reporter: when we return, pepper spray and anonymous strikes back. how are they getting the personal information of these officers? >> i'd rather not say. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze

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sign. announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, talk to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at... will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. the shadowy internet group known as anonymous has grown far beyond its hacker roots and is emerging as a forceful public relations weapon for the occupy wall street movement. amber lyon takes you inside anonymous. >> reporter: anonymous likens itself to the air force of the

occupy movement. >> everyone, everywhere will occupy their capitals and other public spaces. >> reporter: anonymous has an array of people on the streets, we're talking medics in san francisco, tech support in washington, d.c. and here in new york guys like troy. troy, not his real name, is part of an army of citizen journalists documenting the movement and the police by broadcasting live video over streaming sites. when they see evidence of what they believe is police misbehavior, anonymous strikes back, releasing personal information about specific officers. >> hopefully he'll think twice before he pulls out his baton against somebody who is holding a sign saying we just want peace. >> reporter: how are they getting cell phone nms and personal information of these officers or bankers? >> i'd rather not say.

>> reporter: in september an nypd officer was filmed pepper spraying two protesters. anonymous took action. one of the most active subgroups within anonymous is called the cabin crew. their specialty is doxing. it's shorthand for combing the internet for all the information you can find about a target and then releasing it publicly. >> cabin crew have noticed injustices being committed by the new york police. >> reporter: cabin crew compiled bologna's name, his home address, past legal actions, even the names of his family members and put it all online. after a police investigation and public pressure, bologna was placed on leave and reassigned to staten island.

what do you think that did to the nypd when they saw this officer's information get posed online? >> i think they would see it as a form of vigilanteism. they're pushing the boundaries of the law. but i think their actions reveal the ways in which either private security companies or police are also acting outside the boundaries of the law. >> reporter: its biggest coup in the propaganda wars was this. an anon group by the name operationleaks posts the clip on youtube. the next day the clip tops 100,000 views. three days later one and a half million. the casually spraying cop had it all. it was outrageous, ridiculous, lulzy and effective. >> pepper spraying student protesters. >> reporter: the incident was

picked up by mainstream media and picked up over and over again. anonymous wants to frame the narrative of the occupy movement as a contest between peaceful protesters and a militarized police state. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: reality, though, isn't quite so clear cut. at occupy oakland, some protesters attacked the police with rocks and bottles. others erupted in a fury after the city tore down their encampment. >> some people are trying to tear down this fence and head into the main area but others are trying to keep them quiet and calm so that the police don't have to get reinvolved. >> we need some more help over here. >> we're non-violent. >> you're willing to fight us but not the police? you're doing their job. >> reporter: the anonymous pr machine focused solely on instances where the cops got out of line. and they have plenty of ammunition.

>> what happened, what happened? >> he got hit. >> he got shot! >> reporter: during one night of chaos, police apparently fired a project aisle at a former marine. anonymous went into overdrive, scanning the video for police badge numbers and names, offering a reward for anyone who could identify the officer responsible. the case is still under investigation. the department of homeland security has put out several alerts to law enforcement and corporate security focused mainly on the group's hacking activities, and the fbi has made more than a dozen arrests. >> we are living in a police state. >> reporter: but there's no indication that has cramped anonymous's style. their latest op? >> merry christmas and a happy new year to all on planet earth. >> reporter: on christmas day

members crashed the web site of a security research company, hacking its client list along with their credit card numbers in order to steal $1 million for donations to charity. >> we are anonymous. expect us. our correspondent amber lyon joins here in studio. a little frightening, a little scary. >> especially for law enforcement in many aspects. >> what if they get it wrong? what if they put up personal information that is inaccurate? do they have any accountability? >> there's very little accountability because of the way it's organized, anyone can claim to be anonymous. there's a lot of extreme outliars. law enforcement is intimidated by anonymous. we tried to get an interview with anyone federally or locally and they refused to send an officer forward to the chopping block because they feared he

could become a target of anonymous. >> coming up, is it possible your school could be making your child sick? my investigation finds it's a hidden problem all around the country and it's one the kids can't avoid. hut up." in business, it's all about reliability. 'cause these guys aren't just hitting "print." they're hitting "dream." so that's what i do. i print dreams, baby. [whispering] big dreams. i'm forty-nine years-old, i love gardening, and i love volleyball. i've been taking osteo bi-flex for several years now. i really can't see myself not taking it. osteo bi-flex is a great product. i can go back and do gardening with comfort. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex, the glucosamine chondroitin supplement with 5-loxin advanced. shows improvement in joint comfort within 7 days. [ jill strange ] since taking osteo bi-flex, there's nothing that i can't do. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex. the #1 doctor and pharmacist

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the parents say public school 51 in the bronx, they thought they had won the jackpot. their children won the lottery to get coveted spots in one of new york's best public elementary schools, but they found out the school had a problem. it wasn't the teachers or the test scores or even the other kids. the problem was the building. it's toxic. that's right. it wasn't safe for the children. and ps-51 isn't alone. it's part of my ongoing reporting on toxic towns, our investigation found all over the country children are going to schools that can make them sick. our first stop was ps-51. >> i need your lunch bag. >> okay. >> mayor i sol is helping her son brandon get ready for the

first day of school. brandon seems excited but marisol seems nervous. this is more than just a case of first day jitters. ♪ i cannot wait to get to school ♪ >> reporter: in august just weeks before school started, marisol saw this emergency meeting notice taped to brandon's sool, p.s. 51 in the bronx. that night she joined an auditorium packed with worried parents. chancellor dennis wolcott opened the meeting with a dramatic statement. >> first i want to start out by apologizing to all of you. >> reporter: he followed the apology with disturbing news. >> we decided to do environmental reviews. your school came with a result that we were not satisfied with, with an elevated level of tce. >> tce is a carcinogen, prolonged exposure can call parkinson's, cancer, even death.

tests at p.s. 51 showed tce levels at a hundred times worse than what's considered safe. >> based on the final confirmation, we thought we needed to shut the building down. >> reporter: parents are upset. >> you are using euphemisms. you're trying to be nice. that was a building that was scoring chemicals that were cancer causing agents and because of the vicinity and the children that are involved, you didn't care. >> and you guys, board of ed, first allowed it to be used as a school for our children. i think it's so inappropriate. >> reporter: but the parents were even more upset by the fact that the department of education discovered the contamination in january, yet parents weren't told and their children were kept in class through the end of the year. >> i voiced my displeasure with our folks as far as the

timeliness of the notification. from this point on, whenever we great positive notification around some type of environmental issue, the parent community, the staff and the school community will be notified immediately. >> reporter: i met marisol outside that contaminated school. so the staff, the kids, all the people essentially in this building a good chunk of their days knew nothing about in? >> no. the chancellor said he was sorry. >> reporter: how worried are you? >> very worried. this is the school right here. >> reporter: marisol says even brandon, who is normally upbeat, is worried. >> you like this new building? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: you know why you're in the new building? >> yeah. >> reporter: why? >> because it closed down because of tce, a chemical. >> what do you know about tce? >> it's a cancer causing chemical.

>> reporter: we wanted to ask chancellor wolcott about why he didn't tell parents about it until months after he knew about it. his office declined to speak with cnn. >> for the sheer callousness and recklessness of the behavior toward kids, there is as bad as i've ever seen. >> reporter: lawyer sean collins has won a number of tce contamination suits for communities around the country. >> the people who ran this school and their environmental consultants knew for at least six months that there were dangerous levels, in some cases off-the-charts levels of chemicals in the air that these kids were breathing and yet they let those kids go there day in and day out every day for the rest of a semester. unconscionable. >> reporter: collins said the building should never have been a school. >> it's an old industrial site, not a place to have kids going to school. >> reporter: new york city records show p.s. 51 did house a car garage and a lamp factory. tce, once used to degrease

metal, could have been leftover waste. many schools around the country are built on old industry sites according to lenny segal, who digs up the past of toxic schools. >> we don't consider contamination before we decide where to put the school, and particularly in new york city where they have so many schools on leased properties, most of which are former industrial sites or at least many of wirks i don't know the exact number, they had a policy of not looking for problems. >> reporter: segal believes ground and water testing should be mandatory. he also says p.s. 51 was probably always problematic. just weeks before brandon and the other p.s. 51 kids started school, parents were hit with more unsettling news. tests revealed slightly elevated level of a common but toxic dry cleaning chemical, pce. parents showed up at another

meeting in october to confront the chancellor. >> i first have to say dennis wolcott, how dare you? >> reporter: the chancellor dismissed the results at the new school as insignificant. >> there was an open container and so once that was corrected, the levels came back down. it was fine. >> reporter: but parents like marisol no longer trust the school system. what are you going to do? what's the plan? >> i'm just going to watch him consistently. any little thing that he gets is going to be an alarm for me. he's 8 years old and it's scary and i have to see what's going to happen with him. i pray that nothing's going to come of this but you just don't know. >> reporter: when he come back -- >> about a third of our schools have some kind of problem that causes respiratory problems in children. it is horrific. man: my eltrill s king ban

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. we've seen a school contaminated by a toxic chemical in new york where many schools still sit on those old industrial sites. >> my investigation also found the problem goes far beyond toxic chemicals. the best estimates are one third of our public schools have air quality that can cause respiratory problems in our children. >> our kids actually spend about half of their waking day in school but already no air quality standards for classrooms in the united states. >> it's quite shocking. in the second part of my investigation, we found schools that are literally making children sick. >> reporter: in picturesque win stead connecticut, a typical school day at hinesdale

elementary. but one fourth grader, math urks went be there this morning or any morning. >> now, when you look at him, do you think he's going to be friendly? >> reporter: his mother, melissa, is home schooling his son this year. >> when he was out of school he was well. and when he was in school, he became ill. last year was by far his worst year. he missed more than 50 days of school. >> reporter: mold at hinsdale, she says was making her son sick. >> this bag represents most of the medications that matthew was on last year. this was right before he went in the hospital. when he left school hereby left all this behind, too. he needs none of it. so this is garbage. >> this is actually a zero. >> reporter: alexandria's parents pulled her from school this fall after a persistent cough wouldn't go away. it was a tough decision because

her father, paul, was principal at the school. >> since she's been at parochial school, she hasn't been on any of it. >> reporter: the school system spent $16,000 to get rid of the mold at hinesdale. the school board is trying to decide whether to close the school to make other repairs. only about 20% of the population is susceptible to indoor air problems like mold or dust. but for those who are, the symptoms get increasingly severe. in fairfield, connecticut, so many of the students were getting sek, officials decided to tear down mckinley elementary and start from scratch. the school was riddled with mold. >> i started to get sick the second year when they put me in the basement classroom. >> reporter: the special ed teacher taught for 23 years before she became permanently

disabled with a serious lung condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. >> there are three levels, mild, moderate and severe. because i've lost 50% of my lung capacity, i'm considered a moderate copd person. i've also never had a pain-free day since then because have i chronic pain, have i muscle spasms. >> reporter: you can see another source of pain for joeellen, if you ask her if she misses teaching. >> i'm sorry, that's a really loaded question for someone who has been forced to leave the profession when they didn't want to. i'm sorry. >> reporter: if you think connecticut is somehow unique, consider this -- a 2010 survey of school nurses nationally found 40% knew of children and staff sickened by their school environment. and not all school districts have the money to fix the problem.

here at southern middle school in reading, pennsylvania, concerns about air quality closed the basement gym. and mold is visible in the computer lab. >> and we see some colonies, probably two, three different kinds of mold there. >> reporter: and take a look upstairs. >> when it rains heavily, the water actually rains into the room. what we do is we take buckets, these trash cans and we collect the water. >> it's raining outside and inside. >> reporter: a teacher shot this video. what about mold? >> one of the residual effects to the water would be mold certainly. >> reporter: drew miles is acting superintendent of redding schools. he's seen the video and he says there's no money to replace that roof. >> the buildings continue to deteriorate and we only have a small amount of dollars to spread to do just some minimal

things like new roofing. >> there are some people who would say this would never happen in my school. >> reporter: lilly of the national education association, which is the largest teachers union, agreed to teach me in reading, pennsylvania. how big a problem would you say indoor air quality is to a student's health? >> right now the last estimates said about a third of our schools have some kind of problem that causes respiratory problems in children. >> that's remarkable. >> it's horrific. it is horrific. >> reporter: would you send your kid to this school? >> to this school, would i send my child to this school? for the quality of education that i believe that these teachers can provide and the principal will demand, yes. from a facilities standpoint, if i had another option, i would exercise it.

>> reporter: you're the superintendent. people are going to be surprised because, i mean, you're the guy who they're going to say, look, make it the school that you want to send your own kid to. but you can't do that. >> i can't with the financial means that i have now. >> i know the solution to this and it costs money. and this, it's the right thing to do to get these schools the money they need so that kids have a healthy place to learn. >> sanjay, that is stunning to hear that superintendent say he wouldn't even seasoned his own child to the school and it's something that's intangible. we're talking about air. i didn't realize a third of schools have air that's unhealthy? for parents who are watching who don't even realize this, is there anything that they can look for? >> i think about this all the time as you might imagine, with little ones myself. there are some things, visiting your kids' school, looking for simple cleanliness.

there are sometimes inspectors that do that kaund ask for those records. looking for obvious things like mold, which can be a significant problem in terms of people who are susceptible to it. but also this idea of buses and cars idling for a long time in front of the school. that wasn't obvious to me but exhaust fumes get into the school. the other thing was clusters of kids, a lot of kids suddenly have headaches and asthma, that's a warning sign as well. >> thanks, sanjay. up next, a stunning cnn investigations reveals doctors cheating on medical exams. and they say, "shut up!" and i'm like, "you shut up." in business, it's all about reliability. 'cause these guys aren't just hitting "print." they're hitting "dream." so that's what i do. i print dreams, baby. [whispering] big dreams.

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it's a critical specialty in medicine, radiology. these are the doctors who examine exrays and other imaging to diagnose if you have is a serious disease. to get board certified, radiologists must pass a series of tests during their residency. but a cnn investigation has found many of those doctors have taken shortcuts along the way by getting exam questions from doctors who have taken the test before. there's even a name for it, recalls, because the doctors memorize the question and then they write them down. and now a national crackdown is under way by the group that certifies radiologists which calls the practice downright cheating. drew griffin reports. >> this is absolute definitive cheating. >> reporter: dr. matthew webb is

is a 31-year-old army doctor accepted into one of the military's largest medical residency programs. a san antonio texas based complex that includes the renowned brooke army medical center where webb trained as a resident, but it wasn't long before he was stunned to learn an open secret about most of his fellow doctors. they were, he says, cheating to pass medical exams. >> it wasn't until i took my physics exam that i found out that the way the residents were studying for the exam was to actually study from verbatim recalled back tests that had been performed by prior residents. >> reporter: to become certified by the american board of radiology or abr, doctors must pass two written exams and an oral exam. webb says he took that first exam in the fall of 2008 and to his surprise he failed the first

test, which focusses on physics. he says he went to the director of the radiology program at the time. >> he told me that if you want to pass the abr physics exam, you absolutely have to use the recalls. and i told him, sir, i believe that's cheating, i don't believe in doing that, i can do it on my own. he then went on to tell me you have to use the recalls, almost as if it was a direct order. >> reporter: and an order easily fulfilled. webb found the recalls, the tests almost verbatim on the military's web site for the radiology residents. cnn has obtained all of these tests, at least 15 years of recalls stored on a shared military computer server. the test questions, the answers, even presented as a powerpoint. cultivated from years of residents taking tests, recalling the questions and

adding them to what appears to be an ever-growing database, a glorified cheat sheet. >> residents knew about the recalls, the program directors knew about the recalls, large portion of people were using them and it was just accepted. >> reporter: that bothered webb. not only was this cheating, this was the army. but he says his supervisor in uniform didn't seem to care so he took his complaint of cheating to the very board that certifies radiologist. dr. gary beck ser the american board of radiology's executive director. >> we've heard about these, you know, recall memories come out of the test, write down 20 questions here, you take the next 20 questions. they almost sound like well organized schemes to skirt the very certification you're trying to ensure. >> i don't think we know how well organized they are. we have inferential evidence. >> reporter: isn't it cheating? >> we would call it cheating. our exam security policy would call it cheating, yes.

>> reporter: now for the first time in more than ten years, the board is revamping its entire testing procedures, at the same time cracking down because so many certified radiologists may have gained their certification at least partially because it was so easy to cheat. right now about half of the written test questions are the same every year. >> we take it seriously because when we put the stamp of certification on an individual, that means that the public has trusted us to do so. >> reporter: and from any of the investigations or inquiries you've done, you don't really have a sense of how long it's been going on? >> no. it's been going on a long time, i know. i can't give you a date. >> reporter: because this goes right to the heart of the value of the certification. >> that's exactly what it's all about. >> reporter: we showed becker copies of the recall exams from the military san antonio program. >> we're outraged by this and we took this case to our professionalism committee.

the result of the deliberations there and the decision of the board was to go directly back to the training director, the dean of the institution, and we've had those discussions. >> reporter: he acknowledged the recalls were very close to the actual test. in fact, i think you even have them sign a statement at that they know that this material is copy righted. >> that's correct. and that's where the illegal comes in. >> reporter: so it would be a crime. >> it would be a crime. >> reporter: despite repeated requests, the military refused to answer our questions on camera. it did send a statement acknowledging residents shared exam questions in the past and it does not encourage or condone cheating of any kind. the military also admitted some faculty members and program directors were aware of the use of recalled examination questions by residents. in fact, the military admits a smaller number of faculty in a past program leader encouraged the use of recall questions as

one of several tools to improve medical knowledge and prepare for the exam. the military now says the recall exams have been removed from its computers and residents must sign this statement that they won't use them. but has the damage already been done? dr. webb, the complaintant, he told us to find out that some of these physicians don't have the knowledge but are able to still get through by cheat, it's despicable. do you agree with that? >> i agree. i agree. now i can say we don't have any more information on other programs. we haven't heard similar reports from other residents, but if and when we ever hear of any, we're going to track them down. >> reporter: we wanted to find out just how wide spread the use of recalls really is so we figured we'd come here to chicago, to the largest medical convention in the united states,

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cnn investigation reveals that radiology residents at a well known military program use what are known as recall test questions for years just to prepare for a critical exam. >> now the executive director of the american board of radiology calls this cheating. but as we've learned as well, it doesn't stop there. the question is how wide spread is the cheating and what did doctors have to say about it? drew griffin investigates. >> reporter: if you want to find out just how widespread the cheating is on radiology exams, there is no better place than chicago's mccormack place in late november. for most of the last 36 years, radiologists from across the world have been gathering here for the largest medical convention in the united states. 60,000 strong, the radiological society of north america is the place to show off new

technology, new techniques and to find out that an old bad and perhaps even illegal practice has been going on for years. dr. kay lasano, a practicing radiologist for seven years says she never used recalls but admits they were easy to find. >> i didn't know a person who didn't have access to those, but it was -- i think part of it is how you use it. >> reporter: residents here told us off camera recall use is widespread, not just at the army program in san antonio but at programs across the country, including prestigious ones like harvard's teaching hospital, massachusetts general. the chief of radiology there says he didn't know personally of anyone using recalls but also says "we did not officially sanction or organize the recalls." was using recalls cheating?

>> i think when something's so widespread, it feels less like it's cheating. >> reporter: how it works is simple and a longstanding practice. residents take the american board of radiology's certific e certification test and immediately upon finishing write down a portion of the test they are assigned to rrl. >> people folks on what portion do i focus on to recall though questions and answers? and immediately after the test, people put to the to put these down on paper or word processor to be able to share it with the classes coming behind you. >> reporter: dr. john yoo says residency programs even share their recalls, helping each other build as close to a copied test as possible. yoo says it's not exactly cheating, especially when

passing the test, getting certified could mean the difference between getting a job and being unemployed. >> it's sort of out of necessity to pass these examinations that you have to rely on the recalls. >> reporter: you, lozano and dr. joseph dieber all say residents have used the recalls primarily as guides to help narrow down topics most likely to be covered on the exam. and dieber says the radiology test is almost impossible to pass without the recall exams because many of the questions are obscure, irrelevant facts. >> we've known people who have tried to study just out of the books and people don't pass that way. >> reporter: nonsense says dr. gary becker, executive director of the american board of radiology or abr. >> there are people who say that because the abr writes arcane questions or random medical

facts. we don't believe that. >> reporter: board officials say there's no reason to believe the widespread use of the recalls has led to unqualified doctors because they still must pass a rigorous oral exam. but these are doctors, medical doctors and it seeps like there should be a higher standard. >> i agree with you. that's why the abr does not want to tolerate this behavior. >> reporter: do you think it's a big deal? >> yeah, i think it's a big deal and i think recalls are cheating and the abr isn't going to tolerate it. >> reporter: that may be so but residency program directors like dr. king li who doesn't endorse the use of recalls says it's been going on for so long it's difficult to stop and any resident who speaks out may find few friends come test day. >> so if a particular trainee is not willing to actually use recall to help them to pass the exam and culture of that particular training program is

that everyone does it, then that particular person can be singled out as a social outcast. >> reporter: which brings us back to dr. matthew webb who tells us that's exactly what happened to him. he says he's been shunned by fellow residents. and he was fired from the radiology program after something unrelated to the recalls. he was reprimanded by the army for making sexual comments to another doctor and for other conduct unbecoming an officer. webb calls it a personality dispute that escalated. now the army has other plans for dr. webb. as this story was being prepared, he says the army called him in and grilled him on why he spoke to cnn. while he remains an army doctor, he does fear his military career is in jeopardy. >> it's a fascinating investigation, lots of questions it raises. drew griffin joins in studio

now. >> here is my question. what is the army saying about webb's claim they just wanted to get rid of him? >> the army flatly denies they retaliated against this guy for speaking out against this. but as far as dr. webb is concern concerned, we got an army document that said this guy was a remarkably talented resident who demonstrated conduct unbecoming an officer. i think what they're saying is is a good doctor, maybe not a good soldier. he did have the right to speak out, says the army, but they wanted to be notified in advance. >> did you get an idea of how often this occurs in other medical specialties, this test sharing? >> we only found hard evidence with the american board of internal medicine. they suspended 139 doctors back in 2010 who they found were leaving the test exam and going to a test exam company and helping that company to generate a recall exam. the director there told