coming up on our t.v. since edward snowden revealed the expansion of the n.s.a. surveillance many have tried to discredit have among them like capitol hill lawmakers attacking both snowden and the reporter that helped him what this could mean for journalists and their sources ahead. and since news broke about the death of actor philip seymour hoffman the dangers of heroin is back in the news in afghanistan the heroin business is booming now lawmakers in washington are trying to figure out how to stop the flow of heroin into the u.s. more on this front on the war on drugs coming up. and we're only two days away now from the start of the sochi winter olympics athletes are gathering from all around

the world to compete and represent their countries a preview of the preparations from sochi later in the show. it's a wednesday february fifth five pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our team america. hacking the hackers for the first time a western government has launched an attack on hacktivists at least that we know of according to the documents leaked by former n.s.a. contractor edward snowden and i'm taken by n.b.c. the british intelligence agency called the government's communications headquarters launched the attack on members of the hacker group anonymous the type of attack method is using in this case is a denial of service attack or d.d. o. s. as it's known it's the same method hackers use themselves here is our work the

hacker uses a network of zombie computers to take down websites by overwhelming traffic to the targeted site anonymous has used this technique against government agencies and corporations hacktivist have targeted sites like pay pal and amazon to retaliate against their participation in blocking funds to wiki leaks now it looks like the spy agency of the british government wants to give anonymous a taste of their own medicine the documents show that the government group infiltrated chat rooms where anonymous members get together aiming to scare off about eighty percent of the hackers but some people think the government took it too far here and that british spies may have crossed the line on citizens freedom of speech and that's because the hacker group often targets sites for political reasons that acars say they are in gauging in civil disobedience not terrorism

meanwhile edward snowden the man that brought all these revelations to light is the target of debate on capitol hill one of the biggest critics representative mike rogers the chairman of the house intelligence committee he. says for stealing a secret documents but it's not just snowden he's after he's also speaking out against journalists that work with him. so if i'm a newspaper reporter for fill in the blake and i sell stolen material is that legal because i'm a newspaper reporter right if you're a newspaper reporter and you're hocking stolen jewelry it's still a crime and if the hocking stolen classified material that are not legally in the possession of for personal gain and profit is that not a crime i think that's a harder question because it involves a news gathering function could have first amendment implications it's something that probably you'd better answer by the department of justice. after that hearing

rogers zeroed in on a particular reporter he told politico that investigative journalist glenn greenwald was a thief for stealing government information at the time greenwald published the leaks he worked for the guardian now he freelances for various news organizations and continues to publish information leaked by his source he maintains that he never sold the documents and has been tweeting up a storm since the accusations he tweeted maybe there is something that has become pretty sick about the d.c. a political culture of the ideal prosecuting journalists is now this mainstream. for more on that of journalists and their sources i spoke earlier to journalist and wiki leaks spokesperson kristinn hrafnsson i first asked him what he thought of the accusation that journalists who publish snowden leaks are committing a crime. believe absolutely ludicrous and nothing new though lou this has been going on escalating for the past three years since we can force with it or

explosive revelations it is going to shoot the messenger and in effect to criminalize journalism. it's actually you know great you said that if this were to come from james clapper who lost freeing lied to congress which is of felony and nobody's talking about bringing him to justice which he should i mean he committed perjury was is can be mean up to five years in prison and you had mentioned that this is a way to go after journalists this language that we're hearing from people like clapper and journalists glenn greenwald shares the same sentiment as you want to bring up this tweet related to this he says quote the main value in bandying about theories of prosecuting journalists is the hope that it will bolster the climate of fear for journalism now chris and we saw the same attacks against julian

a songe for publishing leaked documents on his website wiki leaks i covered the bradley manning trial extensively there and this was one of the big issues that came into play what similarities do you see kristen between the two cases. well as you member i mean there was an attempt to to bring weeklies into the this. case against manning. in effect and it was an attempt to basically. create a pais who where we could be tried for a breaching the espionage act of one nine hundred seventy s. as ludicrous as it sounds and let's not forget that the the investigation into the leaks and into julian a science is still ongoing it has been going on for now the three and a half years. secret grand jury is still an operation in the us under the junior of

course this is an intimidation attempt against a journalist and against proper journalism and we have seen this escalating extremely serious tendencies there and this is something that all journalists have to take into account and finally stand together and push back against these attempts. now. they represent every heard from earlier and has really been at the forefront of launching these accusations and he actually went as far as to say that. actually you know what let's listen to this exchange between. at this hearing yesterday a question that was directed to the chairman of the defense intelligence agency mike flynn do you believe that. there's any indication that the n.s.a.

contractor who is now in moscow might be under the influence of russian intelligence services chairman i don't have any information to that effect excuse me. so rogers they're really trying to get some added ins that snowden is in fact working for the russians what do you think about this kristen about this claim that snowden is working for the russians now despite i mean we heard there at least we didn't hear any evidence yesterday in this hearing. of course he didn't have any any evidence because there is no evidence which was due to show just this but this is a feeling that has been going on for quite some time until as you know since last summer that there's some hope this all has been a big conspiracy it goes us conspiracy theory that three and a half years ago we can leaks greenwald and snowden planned the entire events of

last year and all of this is supposed to be plotted cooked up with. the f.s.b. and russia and putin's friends syria's people are putting forth these these these drage is failure is to conspiracy theories without any any evidence with any proof whatsoever and i have to say you know to it too to listen to mike rogers. is this is a person who in an open session in parliament claimed that a person's privacy was not a violated if the person didn't know that his privacy privacy had been violated this is the kind of politician we are dealing with here so it's hard to take this from a guy seriously to be honest i'm going to ask you because i know well what roger that what he would say and those that hold similar beliefs as him as i you know

what if you work with classified information and you have taken this elliptical bit of credit at this is violated it could pose a threat to national security where the fame the fame thing there and that manning case when it comes to regular leaks i want to ask you your response to this argument with richard here time and time again. well i've said this repeatedly we have to go to the basic principles here and the basic principle is that whistleblowers have to rely on their rights and even their duty to set aside lesser laws when a higher ideals are at stake and that in the instance of edward snowden in the instance of manning we are talking about the us congress constitution we're talking about international laws on on the on war we're talking about war crimes so you have. a right and almost a duty to set aside lesser law when when these high ideals are at stake this

gives whistleblowers the right to to breach whatever contract they are under they are exposing wrongdoing but what we talked about earlier was of course a different scenario where those who are criticizing the whistleblower outright whistleblowers are trying to maintain that the journalists working with whistleblowers. have committed a crime and this is something so serious that i don't think that the you have heard anything like this in the other states since the mccarthy era in of the fifty's so this is a serious serious situation we're dealing with and i just want to ask you if. roger is the man that is really launching there that invasion has and has really been at the forefront of that what would you say to him. well i would have to take some courses in that freaks and reasoning us as a duty or

a guy who says that somebody some some versions of privacy has been violated if he doesn't know it has been violated there's a provision that i don't understand it may be you have to you know do you really think that you wouldn't even tell you if you and your message will be easily and one should produce that you would have. approved of these position standing in such a powerful position as he has in the house i have a feeling we're going to hear a lot more from him and a lot more debate on this issue appreciate you coming on the show and weighing in that was wiki leaks spokesperson kristinn hrafnsson said when it comes to cyber security it looks like the u.s. may be vulnerable this out of a report just released by senator tom coburn the details the report details the federal government's track record on cybersecurity and critical infrastructure the mistakes made by key u.s. agencies are alarming most of them seem to be careless and sloppy here are some

common cyber failure as revealed agencies have failed to set adequate passwords by using obvious words words you can easily gas like the actual word password failure to change those passwords update software and install fire wall these weaknesses according to the report put everything from the electric grid to the financial markets at risk well this is unsettling for the very offices that are supposed to be in charge of security we are after all talking about the department of homeland security and other agencies like the nuclear regulatory commission and the i.r.s. colburn hopes that the report will shed light on some of these vulnerabilities so agencies can make the appropriate changes. now over in pakistan the number of u.s. drone strikes have dwindled over the past two months according to officials the drop is due to

a request from the pakistani government to curb the strikes as they are in peace talks with the taliban and it looks like the u.s. is listening you can see it the number of strikes has gone down drone strikes and deaths were reported during the last four months of two thousand and thirteen but in the month of january of this year no deaths were reported and in afghanistan president hamid karzai has also been working on peace agreements with the taliban it's happening apparently without the employed of the u.s. are to correspond marina pour in iowa has more on the secret talks one of america's longest and most expensive foreign investments is turning into one of its greatest obstacle the u.s. intervention in afghanistan. has essentially created a new taliban movement far more powerful you know no comparison really with the taliban that existed before nine eleven or before the u.s. intervention in afghanistan

a matter of fact as the taliban and afghan president reportedly remain in secret talks about reaching a peace deal washington's future in the country after twenty fourteen remains in limbo president hamid karzai still refuses to sign a long term bilateral agreement with washington and last week that the afghan leader cited poet percy shelley when describing the painfully streamed relations with america i believe the best way to summarize this is to put it in the words of shelley the great british port i met murder on the way the whole twelve years was one of constant pleading with america please treat our civilians respectfully and treat their lives as the lives of people. the u.s. has reportedly spent more than ninety billion dollars on reconstruction and relief in afghanistan adjusted for inflation that's more than any european country received after the second world war however journalist gareth porter says in this

case no amount of money can buy love what the united states has accomplished in its escalation of the war in afghanistan is exacerbated tremendous increase in anti american sentiment and a large part of that of course was the use of night raids on people's homes knocking down doors in the middle of the night and antagonizing hundreds of thousands. who was travel a friends neighbors were affected by this tactic and it's tremendously and tell you know is the afghan population and that is going to be a problem that will affect u.s. national security for many decades to come in the year to come for the u.s. may turn out to mean leaving afghanistan in the same circumstance it was when it was invaded. marina porton r.t. new york. but out of acclaimed actor philip seymour hoffman has highlighted the

rising problem of heroin a b. heroin abuse prescription drug abuse is on the rise and heroin is seen as an easier and cheaper alternative and the u.s. most of the heroin on the black market makes its way from mexico so it's a rising problem on the border but heroin trafficking is also on the rise in afghanistan it was the topic of discussion today on capitol hill and a hearing on counter-narcotics operations in afghanistan here is aaron logan from the office of the undersecretary of defense describing the threat of afghan heroin in the united states. with the governor of vermont issuing his state of the state speech focused entirely on vermont exploding heroin and opiate problem we have to realize be vigilant that there is a possibility that afghan produce heroin will become more available across the united states. the u.s. has spent billions of dollars in battling drugs in afghanistan but have there been

any real results i was joined earlier by anthony cordesman the arly aber chair in strategy at the center for strategic and international studies and i asked him if you can allow aberrated on how drugs are fueling unrest in afghanistan those if you made on rust in afghanistan it's clear that this is a primary cause so if you have is as i said if that's the forces that are the allied forces pull back you have seen enough take in taliban that today against the afghan forces what you did see in the u.n. survey is there's been a fifty percent increase in production in opium this year and you've expanded the area under cultivation by nearly a third now to the extent that there is always tension between the drug lords and

powerbrokers that kind of violence sort of goes on a steady level but when you look at the actual farming in the production of opium getting it out of the farm out of provinces like helmand that's not really a major cause of violence and rage. ok but you know you mentioned a fifty percent increase in the production of opium we've spent billions of dollars on fighting this and putting an end to this how is it possible that so many resources have been directed at something at you know receding arriva being produced. well you're talking about expenditures overturn the years and then extremely erratic program when the special inspector general for afghan reconstruction feels as not been affected. one that the u.n. data indicates is really very very little real impact what you see over

time is not that these programs are much impact but for example last year. people that originally predicted a much higher increase in production would have production what happened was the rains were very good and to the extent there isn't a limitation on opium output it had nothing to do with counter drug programs what you did do at one point was push the growth of opium out of the north out of the east where there was a much stronger troop presence and then to the south where you had more talk about in control but for example last year you saw areas that had been previously drug free at least according to the estimates producing again and as you say more and more troops pulled out of afghanistan. and to be blunt is a very corrupt police force been the only real barrier you're almost certain to say

a lot of those areas which were supposedly giving up drug production take up drug production again you add all that in any radek program and it's an erratic program to use the r word that had been an expensive program does that mean i mean should we keep funneling money into something that hasn't really seen results are that the approach need to change well it's too late to change anything and you aren't going to have anybody there to make the program work. you do not have a police force which is capable of honestly really affecting the drug crop you're going to be pulling aid workers and aid money out of the area because of the vulnerability of afghan farmers to the rains which can be extremely erratic opium is still one of the most attractive crops to virtually any form you watch a lot of road system deteriorate over the last two years and opium so easy to move

it's an area where farmers can get loans which they can on normal commercial crops so to be honest the idea that you're going to have honest manning for eradication is simply not going to happen and efforts to find a substitute crops and persuade farmers to move in there is like we had some success in some areas haven't worked in hell monitor the main drug producing areas and since we're going to have the aid workers out the police advisors largely out and not carry advisors largely out by the end of this year and afghans are going to have much less aid you can pretty well predict what's going to happen doesn't our comics production as it sounds like as long as there is an incentive to create that crop that there is it's going to keep happening we don't have that much time but i want to ask you seeing all these outside resources directed in the south in this

program do you think that change if it's going to happen in scale it's going to have to happen within afghanistan itself. it's going to have to happen within afghanistan and virtually every political security and economic force is going to push me back toward more production as soon as i see forces leave at the end of this year. very interesting what's happening over there and appreciate you sarah weighing in on it that was anthony cordesman the are really a burke chair in strategy at the center for strategic and international studies. but we are just two days away now from the opening ceremonies of the winter games in sochi the head of the international olympic committee has a message for world leaders who are using the games to score political points here says take we are grateful to those who respect the fact that sports can only

contribute to development and peace if it's not used as a speech for political dissent or for trying to score points in internal or external political contests druther political leaders we say have the courage to address your disagreements in a peaceful direct political dialogue and not on the backs of the athletes for the games russia has built new venues around sochi to host the events our team todd has more. the olympic hopefuls in bumps lady lucia and skeleton will be chasing the dream here at the sun sliding center.

the movie cool runnings say lose retelling of the true story of jamaica's bobsled team could perhaps resonate here in sunny sochi but i've always wondered how do they get the shape of the track to be the way it is and also how do they get it so smooth while i was on the onset today and it takes my college to actually call out of the shape of the track and once that's done this big baby here comes into action and what it does is it works sort of like a vacuum machine so it's something up all the ups the thighs also the track and then smooth stood over the causes of for us in russia to have three upward slopes which help to slow speed and keep athletes safe but competitors can still clog up to one hundred and thirty five kilometers an hour here and getting to try to level takes a few calming tools and educated converts i wasn't making my way all the way to an olympic track without testing my carving skills say i dig in. and.

and this is how we get the tracks native. well you know it really isn't as easy as it looks so you really need men like seeing a hero who know what they're doing has been trained to do what they're doing right now to actually call the ice now twenty seven of them including jamia how will be at junior olympics basically taking care of this entire tribe making sure that the walked slowly and the sledge and competitions go exactly the way it is because the truck is too big to get through the narrow lanes it's done the old fashioned way with this new shovel and a broom. for russians speeding down snow we use is a fun out of growing up and that's why this new has been called sunk the russian word the sledge to bomb would see at the sun these lines and lines.

here on our roads here we've reported on what's described as the military is a sharon of police departments here in the u.s. and we have another example tonight from iowa in the morning a family says police terrorized them inside their home in this surveillance video you can see police approached the home of sally prince police were there to execute a search warrant and look for items stolen by a with a credit card a stolen credit card there is a dispute over whether or not the police knocked before they broke down the door during the raid police realize the home had surveillance cameras one officer is seen pulling out the cables from the surveillance camera outside an officer inside covers up another one of the camera lenses two people in the house were arrested on unrelated charges and the family says none of the items listed on the warrant were

found now the family wants to know why police didn't know och before they served that warrant they also have questions about why officers tampered with those surveillance cameras the police department's. as they've opened an investigation into the raid and that is going to do it for now for more on the stories we cover check out our you tube channel you tube dot com slash r t america and our web site r.t.e. dot com slash usa and follow me on twitter at liz wall we'll be right back here at eight pm. eastern smart course never. be able. to near the finish line of the marathon. well it. might have been hearing nothing

but. i suspect. they would like to do the job that you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy albus. rule. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our press several we've been a hydrogen handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once will just my job market it on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world if we go beyond identifying the problem. rational debate and a real discussion critical issues facing the camera ready to join the movement then

welcome to the big picture. i. know c.n.n. the m s n b c fox news have taken some slightly but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate. that was funny but it's close and for the truth and might think. it's because one whole attention and the mainstream media work side by side with the joke is actually on here. at our teen years we have a different breed. ok but because the news of the world just is not this funny i'm not lying.