captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: a decision has been reached, but not yet announced by a grand jury in ferguson, missouri on whether to indict police officer darren wilson in the death of michael brown. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. also tonight, homeland security chief jeh johnson weighs in on ferguson, and on president obama's executive order to halt deportations for millions of undocumented immigrants. >> woodruff: defense secretary chuck hagel announces plans to resign, opening up a change of command at the pentagon at a time of multiple crises abroad. >> ifill: the deadline to resolve disputes over iran's nuclear program is extended

after failing a second time to reach a deal. >> woodruff: and arctic ground squirrels give scientists clues about how warmer temperatures are affecting tundra ecosystems. those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

>> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions 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: a st. louis county grand jury has reached a decision on whether to indict darren wilson, the ferguson, missouri police officer who shot and killed teenager michael brown. the decision has not yet been released, but is expected some time tonight. the newshour's stephen fee traveled to ferguson, missouri, where a community waits. he filed this report.

(chanting) >> in st. louis' shaw neighborhood sunday night, dozens of protesters marched through the rainy streets, calling for justice in the august killing of 18-year-old michaemichael brown. >> as a black woman, this hits close to home. >> the two-hour demonstration a include add weekend of uncertainty. many here thought a grand jury decision about whether or not to bring charges against darren wilson, the white police officer who killed brown, would be announced sunday, but then it wasn't. >> i was just anxious. i'm not sure what to expect out of who. i'm going to be out here in the streets. >> reporter: the prevailing hope is what any demonstration's following the announcement will be equal to. antonio french, community leader. >> i am expecting large crowds of people in the streets. i expect most of them to engage

in non-violent protests. some may engage in civil disobedience, again, nonviolently. >> reporter: even with those expectations, missouri's governor declared a state of emergency last week. law enforcement and even the national guard are on standby. sphwhrncht (chanting) at the demonstration sunday light, protest leaders said they were not marching just for michael brown but all victims of police shootings. >> far too many names have become hash tags and that we learn after they are lost. they never get to fulfill their dreams or live to their pull potential. >> reporter: the alderman says he understands the anger and frustration show cased sunday night. >> i am stru administrated by the system like many folk out there. without a doubt, we need a dramatic and drastic change in st. louis, but i know that is a long process.

for some of the younger protesters, my message is, you know, be angry and frustrated but also be patient. >> reporter: it's that patience, he says, that will help keep the peace. >> ifill: we'll talk to stephen in a moment. joining us now from st. louis is cornell william brooks, the national president and ceo of the naacp, which has been monitoring the situation in ferguson. so much conversation over the years of the naacp's existence about non-violent protests. how do you advise or imagine that the local leaders, local activists, local residents of ferguson tonight are bracing for this? >> the local residents and protesters and families and certainly our naacp branches in the community are branching for this decision and we are in fact committed to non-violent action. we are in a moment where we have to challenge or rather channel

anger into action, frustration into focus and focus on seeking justice for a grieving family and also systemic reform for an outraged community. michael brown is only the latest tragedy in a series of tragedies and we can't forget the importance of responding to this crisis, seeking individual justice, but really turning this tragedy into racial profiling and police misconduct. that's the challenge here. >> ifill: but if the grand juror were to decide not to indict darren wilson, there are those who say that is a form of just cities as well. >> yes, there are those who say that, but my challenge here -- and i think the challenge and the question the community has -- is we have a teenager who meets a police officer with a gun, badge and training. the teenager ends up dead.

the teenager was initially suspected of jaywalking. we have a major and fundamental challenge in the way we conduct policing in this community and in this country. that needs to change. justice here is justice for family and justice for community. we need both in equal measure. >> ifill: there are those who say justice is also justice for law enforcement, the job they have ahead of them tonight. is this a local or a national discussion? >> it's a local discussion and a national discussion, but we need to keep this in mind -- when we consider the police and we consider the protesters, the responsibility for keeping the peace is asymmetrical. that is to say, the police officers have the responsibility for keeping the peace, for acting in such a way as to allow for constitutionally-protected civil disobedience, and to allow these protesters and allow naacp branches and members to do the work that they have taken upon themselves to do, and that is

really a right and responsibility of citizenship. so the point being here is we need peace across the breadth of the community, but peace in the context of a pursuit for justice. we have to have that. >> ifill: there has been a lot of attention paid to what happened in ferguson. we would have been surprised at talking about this still at thanksgiving. on balance, is that a good thing to have that conversation spread out over such a long amount of time or has it hurt the discussion? >> i think it's helped the discussion. when we think about these facts, one out of every three african-american men can expect, according to some studies, to spend some time in prison. one out of every four african-american men report being treated unfairly or unjustly at the hands of the police in the last month according to a gallup poll.

when african-american men are 21 times more likely to have their lives ended at the hands of the police, we have a major problem. so the point being here is we have a generation of young people who see the death of mike brown not as an individual incident of police brutality but a generational assault. so the point being is we've got to talk about this as a nation. we as people of conscience, as communities of conscience have got to talk about this problem with an urgency, that is to say to bring in interracial profiling and one of the benefits of that is we need police departments that protect their communities by respecting them and engaging them, making the communities safer and also ensuring police officers are, in fact, safer. >> ifill: reverend cornell william brooks, c.e.o. and president of the naacp. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, gwen. >> ifill: and the newshour's

stephen fee joins us now from ferguson. what's the mood where you stand tonight, stephen? >> well, gwen, it really is a moment where everyone has been holding their breath for so long, and now that moment that everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived and the real question is what will come next. as we showed you in the story earlier, we were at a protest just the other evening, and it was peaceful, well-organized, the police are respectful. they kept a distance from protesters. there really wasn't any kind of an tag nism that we could at least see. the question is what comes next, if there's anger after an indictment or no indictment, what charges may or may not be brought against officer darren wilson. it really is uncertainty at this moment. >> ifill: part of the uncertainty is the timing of the announcement that it should happen at night after schools are closed for the day and maybe the holiday as well. does that make -- does it ratchet up the apprehension by what could happen later on

tonight? >> well, i think so. the whole community heard the decision would come out sunday, then it didn't happen then. then this whole day of uncertainty, yo. the school system in ferguson was open today. we saw kids getting on school buses on our way to the courthouse about 20 minutes away, but they announced they will be closing schools tomorrow. we saw a little rush hour traffic in the community, a lot of folks going home. i know you've seen a lot of pictures of boarded up businesses. certainly not every business in the community is boarded up, but we saw a few more securing their doors, making sure things were safe before leaving work this evening just to see nhat happens as evening falls here. >> ifill: we've seen in your report and others lots of conversation about the people who are speaking out in support of michael brown, who are very unhappy about what they anticipate this decision will be. do you hear at all from people who are in support of darren wilson or in support of law enforcement in this? >> you know, we did.

it's easy for us to go and film a protest. it's a little harder because a lot of the folks we spoke to didn't want to appear on camera or give us their names. i spoke to one woman today who organized an online community that does support darren wilson and says he deserves due process, he is indent until proven guilty. they feel he has been unfairly treated in the public and by protesters alike. so there's a lot of folks out here who seem very far apart in their feelings on this, but they all feel the same degree of anxiety, i think. >> ifill: the alderman said people should be angry but also patient. is that message resonating? >> it seems to be. they're the ones training and flanked by fellow organizers. they are very well organized in that regard. the question alderman french brought up is who knows who else

might show up tonight, who is angry who haven't been in the organized groups, they haven't received the training from the disciples of justice clergy group in the community, so there are a lot of unknowns as we move forward into the evening hours. >> ifill: stephen, we know you will be watching that for us. thank you very much, stephen fee in ferguson. >> thank you. >> woodruff: another fatal police shooting-- this one in cleveland-- was also in the spotlight today. an officer shot and killed 12- year-old tamir rice on sunday, near a playground. he was carrying a pellet gun made to look like a real weapon. police chief calvin williams says the boy was ordered to raise his hands, but pulled out the pellet gun. he says the officer had to make a split-second decision. >> he didn't want to do this. but he had to protect himself. and as the investigation goes on other things will come out. we know that the family maybe

does not want to hear that part of it but the investigation, all the video evidence, the scientific evidence, will show everybody exactly what happened. >> woodruff: the chief said a surveillance video captured the shooting, and is "very clear", but he gave no details. a 9-1-1 caller had alerted police, and said the boy's gun was "probably fake", but it's unclear if the officer ever got that word. >> ifill: in afghanistan, two u.s. troops died in a bombing attack in kabul today, the latest in a new surge of violence. it came a day after the afghan parliament approved an agreement keeping some u.s. troops there after 2014. their mission will now include new operations against the taliban, but-- the white house said today-- only with clear limits. any sort of combat operations carried out by u.s. military personnel will be for force

proterksz or to go after remnants of al quaida or extremists like al quaida that work with al quaida that pose a threat to u.s. homeland or u.s. interests around the globe. that's the change in the mission that will move forward at the end of the year consistent with the directives the president has been discussing for some time now. >> ifill: all of this followed the deadliest attack of the year so far, sunday's suicide bombing at an afghan volleyball tournament. the death toll from that attack rose to at least 50 today. >> woodruff: government troops in iraq recaptured two eastern towns from islamic state militants today. fighting was continuing in pockets outside the towns in diyala province. shi-ite militiamen and kurdish forces joined in the fight. the two towns had been taken by islamic state militants back in august, when they tore across northern and western iraq. >> ifill: back in this country, there's word that the price of gasoline has hit a four-year low. it fell to an average of $2.84 a gallon in the past week.

gas prices are down 88 cents over the past six months. >> woodruff: on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained more than seven points to close near 17,818. the nasdaq rose almost 42 points to close near 4,755. and the s&p 500 added about six points to finish at 2,069. >> ifill: president obama today awarded the nation's highest civilian honor-- the medal of freedom--to 18 artists, public servants and activists. three civil rights workers were honored posthumously: james chaney, andrew goodman, and michael schwerner were murdered by the ku klux klan in mississippi, in 1964. other recipients included singer-songwriter stevie wonder, actress meryl streep, nbc journalist tom brokaw, congressman john dingell-- who's served longer than anyone, ever- - and ethel kennedy, widow of senator robert f. kennedy. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour: chuck hagel steps down

as secretary of defense, homeland security chief johnson on the president's executive actions on immigration, extending the deadline for a settlement on iran's nuclear program, and how squirrels in alaska are helping scientists measure the effects of climate change. >> woodruff: now to a major shake up in the obama administration-- the resignation of defense secretary chuck hagel. the move comes as u.s. expands in mission to go after the islamic state group and just weeks after the after the president's disappointing mid- term election results. >> it's been the greatest privilege of my life-- the greatest privilege of my life-- to lead, and most important, to serve with the men and women of the defense department, and support their families. >> woodruff: hagel's announcement came amid widespread reports that he's

leaving under pressure after 21 months on the job. publicly, at least, president obama offered only praise. >> when i nominated you for this position, you said that you'd always give me your honest advice and informed counsel. you have. when it's mattered most, behind closed doors in the oval office, you've always given it to me straight. for that, i will always be grateful. >> woodruff: the vietnam war veteran had served as a republican senator from nebraska for 13 years, alongside then- illinois senator barack obama. like the future president, hagel was a critic of u.s. involvement in iraq, and became an obama friend and supporter. but that stance put him at odds with fellow republicans, as evident in his rocky senate confirmation hearing in january 2013. at one point, arizona senator john mccain challenged the nominee on whether he was wrong to oppose the 2007 "surge" of

u.s. troops into iraq. >> i'm not going to give you a yes or no, i think it's far more complicated than that, as i've already said, my answer is i'll defer that judgment to history. >> i think history has already made a judgment about the surge, sir, and you're on the wrong side of it. >> woodruff: hagel eventually won confirmation, and faced a shifting list of tough challenges, including syrian president bashar al assad and the on-going civil war over his rule, and more recently, the threat from "islamic state" militants in iraq and syria. even winding down the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan took an unexpected turn this past weekend, with word that american forces will target the taliban after all. even so, hagel today pointed to achievements. >> i believe we have set not only this department, the department of defense, but the nation, on a stronger course toward security, stability and

prosperity. >> woodruff: for now, hagel will remain in office until the president nominates-- and the senate confirms-- a successor. for a closer look at what's behind the hagel resignation we get two views. thomas donnelly is the co-director of the center for security studies at the american enterprise institute. and p.j. crowley is a distinguished fellow at george washington university's institute for public diplomacy and global communication. he had a career as an air force officer, and was an assistant secretary of state under president obama. we welcome you both back to the program. i think the president, tom corbett -- tomdonnelly, was onew that said this decision was chuck hagel's and wasn't forced on him. what's your understanding? >> it's difficult to tell. probably by mutual agreement. it doesn't really reflect a change of policy, maybe a change

of personnel, be u -- but the president did not announce his departure from past policy. >> woodruff: what's your understanding, p.j.? >> i think chuck hagel offered his resignation and the president accepted it. i think the administration is in, perhaps, a different position as it enters its last two years in often. they probably expected it and this president probably felt there was something else he'll need in the coming years. >> woodruff: was there any question he was under pressure to resign, do you think? >> i think, you know, you can make it clear that you would like to see a resignation. >> the term "scapegoat" has been making its way through the press today and that's probably fair. >> woodruff: a lot has been written all over the map about his relationship with the white house, how he got along at the pentagon. what's your idea of how he was

seen at the pentagon? >> both his predecessors have expressed repeated frustrations at the inability to really influence policy. i can easily believe secretary hagel came to the same sorts of frustrations and decided it wasn't worth it anymore. >> woodruff: how do you see it? >> well, i think you have to look what changed in the past six months that moved us to this situation. there is a change in the political climate. chug hagel is a very self-effacing guy and, so i think the president may think he needs a more vigorous voice to defend the administration's policy in the next two years. you have the challenge in iraq and syria, and perhaps the president is looking for to understand and clarify the strategic underpinning.

>> woodruff: -- how to deal with syriaageed they weren't getting that. >> the underlying problem is there. whether a more convincing presentation of that, happier face, that's still possible but you will still have to sell the same message. >> woodruff: meaning what? ell, it means the war policy is going to be limited to do the minimum amount possible. the defense budget is not going to change, the white house is sort of happy with the way things are. so whoever follows secretary hagel's position -- has the job will still have the same task at hand to try to carry out.

>> woodruff: so, p.j. crowley, we don't look for a significant policy change or tweaking. >> i agree with tom. i don't think this was about disagreements with policy or strategy, but i think we also should be -- we should recognize that this is a very, very tough job, and if you serve four or five years as the secretary of defense, it's the largest enterprise in the world, getting your arms around a building that is always pulling in different directions is hard. this is not a challenge that the average human being, you know, can necessarily do. >> but it is a little bit of a contradiction because as we heard in that report, this is someone close to the president who came in having this somewhat long-standing relationship with the president going back to their days in the senate together, and then not to be able to work at the white house, explain that. >> it's a tough task but a particularly tough job now to preside over a pentagon that is being drawn down, is being cut

in every way imaginable, yet the demand in the world for american military power is the same or going up. nobody anticipated the i.s.i.s. war when chuck hagel came into office, so it's naturally frustrating. he just doesn't have the resources to do what he's being asked to do. >> woodruff: what is your sense, p.j. crowley, or who the successor names may be? >> well, i think the administration is a pretty tightly-bound group. i think you look first at those who have already served in the administration and, you know, can work within the inner circle that the white house has. ash carter was the deputy secretary of defense, michelle floinoi. someone who can work on policy in syria, is someone to look at.

>> woodruff: not an odd side name. >> no, and it's hard to see who will change the policy picture or becomes a more convincing representative of the administration policy. >> woodruff: but and there's -- something was made today of the fact that this is the president's final quarter of his time in office, final two years, that he wants this person to be the person who stays there until the end of the term. >> i think he would have liked to have secretary hagel serve out the full four years as the secretary himself anticipated, but it's a tough job. >> woodruff: well, that's certainly what's coming across today. tom donnelly, thank you. p.j. crowley, thank you. >> thanks, judy. pleasure. >> ifill: last thursday president obama announced he would take steps to reform the u.s. immigration system without the approval of congress.

among other things, the president's executive orders will defer deportations for up to five million immigrants, in addition to expanding border security. that task falls to the department of homeland security. secretary jeh johnson is just back from a trip to the u.s. mexico border. he joins us now. before we turn to the discussion about immigration, i have to ask you about ferguson, secretary johnson. how is the federal government or is it bracing for whatever happens there tonight? >> well, gwen, we have enhanced the presence of the federal protective service around federal buildings in the st. louis area. the larger point i would like to make is over the --

(technical difficulty) -- people were disappointed by the process to channel disappointment and energy into positive forms of engagement to bring about change to the process they're disappointed with. >> ifill: and to lean away from violence. >> yes. >> ifill: you went to the border last week after the president's announcement. >> i have been to the border many times. >> ifill: in the wake of the announcement, how was that received and what was the purpose of your visit? >> the purpose of my visit to south texas where i had visit add number of times over the summer was first and foremost to meet with the workforce there, the border patrol agents are immigration enforcement officials to review with them the executive orders and the changes in policies that we're making. i feel as though i've gotten to know that workforce in

particular and wanted to meet with them first in the numerous engagements i'll be having with the workforce around the country to explain our policies, and after that, we had a press engagement. one to have the things i wanted to do, which i will be doing over the next several weeks is to high light the border security components of our executive actions, the things that we are going to bolster border security and to prioritize recent illegal rivals arrivals in this country. we need to send a message that the executive actions the president directed last week are for those who have been in this country for a number of years, who have become integrated members of society. the reality is they were not going to be removed and deported from this country, and those who are not criminals who don't have a criminal record but who have kids in this country who are citizens, lawful, permanent residents, will not be

priorities. de facto, they have not been priorities for years, so we're simply acknowledging that. we're also emphasizing the elements of border security in our executive actions to say, if you are a recent arrival here or contemplating coming here illegally, you will be a priority for removal. >> ifill: but as you know, the president came in for some criticism in the manner in which he announced this executive order. at the same time a lot of people who app pliewded him doing this criticized the border security component and said it's a little too tough. >> ifill: our executive actions have many components to them. it's important in our view that while we exercise prosecutorial discretion, and we have to make the hard choices for the benefit of public safety, border security, a lot of that should include sending the message our border is not open to future illegal migration.

so we came out with that policy with the support of the enforcement community in d.h.s. to send the message that we are going to prioritize going forward those who would come here illegally. >> ifill: many republicans in congress, in fact even the governor elect of texas where you just were, said the president overreached here, that the office of legal counsel continuing supporting his actions really didn't give him the power to do what he did. what is your response? >> the office of legal counsel is like the supreme court for the executive branch, the lawyers who provide opinions for how the executive branch should govern itself. we took a very hard look at what we believed we had legal authority to do. we spent a lot of time with lawyers. the president is satisfied and i am satisfied -- >> ifill: by the way, you're a lawyer, too. >> i'm a lawyer, too. i enjoy now being a client. we are satisfied we have within

our existing legal authority considerable flexibility to revise and reform our priorities. there are a number of things that we identified that we should do to fix the broken immigration system without action from congress. it would have been preferable if congress had acted but we waited over to a period of years, and there are things that we can do that are compelling things that need to be done to fix the system that we can do by way of executive action. >> ifill: and you disagree with that reading of that office of legal counsel document? >> absolutely not. >> ifill: the reading to have the republicans, the ones who say the document does not say what you say it says? >> i am fully confident that our lawyers in o.l.c. reached a correct judgment and that the actions we are taking are well within our legal authority. i could not publicly promote something if i did not think there was legal authority for it. >> ifill: what do you say to people who look at this action and say you're basically going

to send the signal to another wave of illegal immigrants that it's fine, okay to come in now and that the president is saying y'all come? >> well, that's why it's important that we continue to high light that the new policy draws a sharp distinction between past and future. for those who have been here for years, who are integrated members of society, who are children, who are u.s. citizens and lawful permanent residents and who are not criminals, the reality is we don't have the resources to invest in trying to deport those people. we need to focus on those convicted of crimes, those who represent national security threats and securing our borders. the new policy does that in a very clear and concise way, and we are going to send the message that, in the future, those who come here illegally will be priorities for removal. that's what the new policy says. so i will continue to high light that. we are building additional

detention space for any future potential spikes in illegal immigration. next year, we're open -- we're opening a facility in two weeks and i will be president of that facility. >> ifill: one of the things that didn't get a lot of notice is the ending of the secure communities program which would allow local law enforcement to share things like digital fingerprints with federal authorities. why did you end that? that didn't get a lot of the attention. >> the sharing of the fingerprints will continue. the overarching goal of secure communities is to better enable my department to get to local and state authorities, to transfer to us those who are undocumented who are criminals. the overarching goal is -- >> ifill: it wasn't working? t had become politically and legally controversial. so we're ending it and starting a new program i'm confident

governors and mayors around the country will want to work with us on to get at public safety threats. >> ifill: as you focus on something else that's politically and legally controversial and that's this entire executive order? >> again, i'm convinced we have the legal authority to do a number of things to reform the broken immigration system. presidents have done that in the past with or without legislative action. >> ifill: jeh johnson, department of homeland security, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: after a year of negotiations, today was deadline day for a nuclear agreement with iran. despite an intense six day push by the u.s. and other world powers, an agreement with the country did not happen. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> warner: what was supposed to mark the end of negotiations to sharply curb iran's nuclear program is now just another stop along an uncertain road.

>> we are jointly extending these talks for seven months with the very specific goal of finishing the political agreement within in four months. >> warner: a new deadline, but many of the same challenges. >> these talks aren't going to suddenly get easier just because we extend. they're tough and they've been tough and they're going to stay tough. >> warner: still, secretary kerry insisted much had been accomplished under the interim agreement struck in vienna one year ago today. >> today iran has halted progress on its nuclear program and it has rolled it back for the fst time in a decade. >> warner: iranian president hassan rouhani also put a good face on today's news. >> ( translated ): the negotiating positions have come closer together and many of the points of disagreement have gone

away. but of course there are other steps to take and other paths to follow. >> warner: under the new two- stage timeline, the world powers and iran have until march one to agree on a political framework, with technical details to be done by july one. the u.s. bottom line is to increase to one year the time it would take for iran to produce enough fissile material to produce a bomb-- so the world could react to prevent it, militarily or otherwise. the bottom line for iran is to preserve some enrichment capability-- and win quick relief from sanctions that cut its oil revenue in half, driven down its currency and curtailed its access to the international banking system. under last year's interim deal, iran receives about $700 million a month in frozen oil revenues in return for the enrichment limits kerry cited. under the extension, those payments would continue. but this latest extension could run into trouble in washington. the incoming senate republican leadership has vowed to allow a vote on a bill-- supported by many democrats, too-- to tighten sanctions on iran until a deal is reached.

the white house warned today that imposing more unilateral u.s. sanctions now could cause cracks in the international sanctions coalition that's held firm so far. leading republican senators lindsey graham, kelly ayotte and john mccain vowed to press on, however, saying: hardliners in iran may also be emboldened, reflecting the views expressed by iran's supreme leader ayatollah khamenei, a year ago. >> ( translated ): we insist that there should be no withdrawal from the rights of the iranian nation, even one step. >> warner: secretary kerry said talks can't go on forever, but insisted it would be foolhardy not to pursue them further. >> we won't sit at table forever absent progress.

given how far we have come over the last year and few days, this isn't the time to get up and walk away. >> warner: experts from both sides are expected to resume meeting next month. >> ifill: finally tonight, the second of two field reports from alaska on the impact of climate change and warmer temperatures. science correspondent miles o'brien reports from the 49th state on how those changes are affecting greenhouse gas levels, and the consequences for the local ecosystem. >> reporter: to get to the root of global warming in the arctic, scientists need to pull out some serious tools. >> yep. (laughter)

>> reporter: but that doesn't mean they have to take themselves too seriously. new alaska's field station, caught up with a pair of researchers on a back-breaking mission to drill cores in soil frozen hard as concrete. >> it's hard work, especially hard to pull up frozen soil. >> it's something we're very passionate about because it's so critical to understand the functions that are beneath our feet. so that motivates us and we have fun doing it. >> you think about here? eah. >> reporter: megan is a postdoctoral fellow and laura lynch a graduate student at colorado state university, part of a team trying to understand how and when the huge store of carbon, methane and other gases permanently frozen in the arctic tundra might be released into the atmosphere.

>> right now our current estimates is that the arctic stores more carbon in the landscape than is currently held in the entire atmosphere. >> reporter: just mention the word "tundra" and you probably think of a barren, lifeless landscape. looking across the horizon here, you might think, well, that is, in fact, the case. but on closer inspection, this place is just brimming with life. the plant life is vibrant and diverse and the soil is rich with chemical compounds and thousands of kinds of organisms. soil ecologist matt wallenstein is the leader of the team. >> h since the ice age the plants have been taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in the soil. so this has essentially been depositing carbon from the atmosphere into this vault. >> reporter: and in the arctic the climate is warming twice as

fast as the rest of the world. as things heat up, microbes thaw out, feed on the soil and expel carbon dioxide. >> when it's colder, activity is limited. the arctic as we know is warming at an unprecedented rate. so it's going to be a very unique situation for this ecosystem. under warmer conditions, we may see a release of carbon back into the atmosphere. >> it's easy to feel that you live a few thousand miles from the arctic and that you're safe, but we're not because, as we're finding out more and more, our atmosphere is connected and we are all kind of in this together. >> reporter: to find out how much carbon the microbes might release, the team ships the cores back to their lab in colorado where they determine the chemistries and composition of the soil and they extract dna from the microbes in order to identify them. the data they gather will be

incorporated in computer climate models that aim to predict where we are headed. iis there a sense we're near a tipping point? >> the data is not in. if we reach the tipping points, the consequences would be really dramatic and nothing to do about it. so it's really important to think about what we can do now while there's still time to act. >> reporter: here on the tundra, another team is focused higher on the food change, on an animal whose sleep and hibernation patterns take subtle cues related to the climate. they are arctic ground squirrels. during our visit in may, the sun never set in this beautiful and you might guess the squirrels would take advantage of all the extra daylight to forage and fatten up for the long, dark, cold winter. but it turns out they don't. the skirls stick to a rigid schedule. on sunny days, they are out of their bourroughs by 9:00 and

underground by 7:00 like clockwork. this begs a question -- >> the questions are what is the function of maintaining circadian rhythms in an environment that never becomes dark, and what are the cues these animals use to keep their rhythms entrained in a natural environment in the absence of a light-dark cycle. >> reporter: williams, a post-doctoral fellow at the university of alaska in anchorage. he and his friends have their hands full at tulak capturing, gassing and drawing blood and gathering data from loggers and light sensitive collars worn by squirrels they are studying. >> these light collars provide us information on when they're above ground and below ground. >> okay, girl. and the body temperature provides this information on the circadian body temperature rhett ms they have. >> reporter: he said the squirrels get cues from subtle

fluctuations in light intensity and temperature, and he is testing their ability to adjust by time shifting, essentially giving them jetlag and then returning them to the valley. the squirrels also have a very strong sis annual clock ridetermines when they hibernate and wake up in the spring. >> we want to understand how much plasticity they have in terms of being able to adjust their annual timing based on spring snowfall. >> there we go. and we want to know whether this is going to change over time in response to climate change. >> reporter: will warmer temperatures cause them to wake sooner? >> 650... >> reporter: and then could the added precipitation in the form of late-season snowfalls predicted with climate change make it hard for them to forage for food? the questions are hard enough to answer for the squirrels alone,

but, of course, they are just one piece in a big, complicated puzzle. >> i think one of the difficulties with a species like the arctic ground squirrel is that they're on the food chain for a large number of animals. so wolves feed on them, foxes feed on them, ra raptors and ows feed on them. in order to make predictions about what's going to happen to the species, you have to understand what's going to happen to all the predators in the system as well. >> reporter: the system is intricately connect bid causes and effect. the transalaska oil pipeline that passes through is a reminder that humans are more than just observers and changes. we have done much to dig the hole. miles o'brien, "newshour", alaska.

>> woodruff: finally tonight, stories of the iraq war and the struggles of warriors coming home. they're told in a collection titled, "re-deployment," which last week was given the national book award for fiction. it's the first book by its author, phil kly, who served as a marine in iraq. jeffrey brown talked with him this weekend at the miami book fair. >> brown: phil kly, hello and congratulations to you. >> thank you so much. >> brown: did you know you would write while you were serving in iraq? >> i always wrote. not about war, necessarily, but i always wrote stories. i tried to write while i was in iraq. i didn't do a very good job. and not about war. but when i came back from overseas a couple months after, i started writing the first story in the book. >> brown: that quickly. yeah. >> brown: i've talked to other writers of war in the past and sometimes it takes a long time to process. >> well, i started writing, but it took me about four -- a

little bit longer than four years to finish the book and that first story i started writing, it went through about 15 or 20 different versions before it ended up in its final state. >> brown: what did you want to convey of the experience of war? >> well, there's no one thing, and part of it was -- i mean, everybody has such a small piece of the war, right? i have two friends named matt. they're both scouts in the cavalry, served in the same sections of iraq. one was there in 2006, one in 2008, and their stories are so different. if that's true for them, how much more or a chaplain, a specialist, infran triman or adjutant. i want to get at the ways people experience war and also the ways

they experience america when they come home. >> brown: there is the language of the military, right. >> right. >> brown: that the soldiers use. >> definitely. >> brown: it's something to use and play with as well. >> yeah there's a very particular way that the military speaks. a lot of profanity and a lot of acronyms. my mother read the book. she said, you use add lot of words you weren't allowed to use growing up. yeah, well, it's the marine corps. trying to get the rhythm of the speech and the way people interpret the experience. with the profanity, there's a thing where an 18-year-old and 19-year-old person seeing a lot of things happening in war which are obscene, the language they will use to tree to describe that will match it. so, you know, the young character will talk in one way. an older chaplain trying to work through some of the things the guys are dealing with will talk an entirely different way. it was important to try to figure out who the people were. >> brown: one of the things

that comes through is on the one hand sometimes a cluelessness of somebody who served. you know, not knowing what's going on, what are we doing here. >> right. >> brown: but then an intense awareness and intelligence of what they're all about, and an awareness of the world in a way we don't often see it. >> right. >> brown: there's a section of the character talking about walking down the street -- >> i could spot a dime in a tree a mile away, told to me by a friend of mine in battle in fallujah. he has to be aware not just to protect himself but also the men around him. he carries that state with him when he comes back home. you know, immediately after he comes back home. >> brown: yeah. and so much of the story has become about coming back home. >> right. >> brown: and some of the difficulties of that. was that hard for you? >> you know, i was a staff officer. it wasn't as hard as it was for

some other people that i knew, but definitely there is a disconnect. it's very peculiar to go back to new york, right, and i live next to the surgical where they bring in wounded, american and iraqis, and to see that level of violence done to people and then walk down madison avenue with zero sense that you're at war, that'ser are strange. it's also strange to get out of the military, live your civilian life -- you know, i went to the northeast, every once in a while somebody tells me they're the first person who went to iraq and afghanistan they've met. yet you know people go back time and time again. >> brown: there's a lot of disconnect between the military and the civilian population. is it something that worries you? >> it does and i think that's part of the reason i wanted to write the book was to try and

talk with people and start conversations about the experience of war and to invite people to imagine different experiences because, i mean, it's important just for understanding and thinking about the veterans in our communities but also, you know, marines don't issue themselve themselve. we as a country are responsible, we as citizens are responsible for what we push our elected leaders to do and whether we hold them accountable. so i think there's a lot of veteran writers out there who are, you know, trying to share those experiences, reach out to, you know, civilian audiences and there are civilian authors who are doing the same thing and it's gratifying to see. >> brown: let me is ask you, finally, about yourself. you won a big award with your very first book, so that's got to be a little surprising. perhaps terrifying as to what happens next. >> yeah, we'll see. yeah, it was quite a surprise, and a very good one.

>> brown: do you see yourself writing more about war, about that experience? >> i'm going to keep writing. we'll see what it's about. >> brown: yeah? yeah. >> brown: well, we'll see. phil kly's book is "re-deployment," and winner of ththe national book award. thanks. >> thanks for having me. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day: the people of ferguson, missouri waited to hear whether a grand jury has indicted a white policeman-- darren wilson-- for killing a black teenager, michael brown. the decision is being released this evening. and governor jay nixon appealed in advance for calm. ogether, we are all focused on making sure the necessary resources are at hand to protect lives, protect property and protect free speech. several churches will provide

food, shelter and medical care. medical providers helped team up to help ease the emotional strain these events have caused. these health professionals are working now to provide counseling and other services to the people who need them. >> ifill: in the day's other major news, defense secretary chuck hagel announced he's resigning after 21 months on the job. he's come under mounting criticism, but president obama said he's given "exemplary" service. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now: you may have thought quantitative easing was over when the federal reserve announced the end of its bond- buying program last month, but it's not gone, argued economist terry burnham. what he calls "stealth q.e." continues in full force. read his guest column on making sense. and a new study reveals that emergency treatments delivered in ambulances offering "advanced life support" for cardiac arrest may be linked to more deaths than those providing only "basic life support." read more on the new report, published today in "jama

internal medicine," on our health page. all that and more is on our website: pbs.org/newshour >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we travel to the mountain peaks of chile to find out how to take a picture of a black hole at the center of the galaxy. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> lincoln financial-- committed to helping you take charge of your life and become you're own chief life officer. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

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