>> narrator: tonight on frontline... >> black: after 9/11, the gloves come off. >> narrator: ...ten years after september 11... >> immerman: what happens after 9/11 is this tremendous ramping up. >> priest: the money just came out of congress. it was flying out. >> narrator: ...pulitzer prize- winning journalist dana priest investigates the creation of "top secret america." >> stanger: it's shrouded in secrecy. >> schroen: we weren't going to play by the old set of rules. >> radsan: go out and get the bad guys; disrupt them, interrogate them, kill them. >> narrator: tonight on frontline, "top secret america." >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan. committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public a

i lost control. >> narrator: by the next morning, one of them was dead. kevin shields had been shot three times at point blank range and left by the side of the road. two of his fellow soldiers would be convicted of conspiring to murder him. the other, a decorated infantry gunner, would be found guilty of accessory to murder. >> i decided to do some things i shouldn't have been doing, and it all just came tumbling down like a house of cards, one thing after another. i got locked up, and i've been here ever since. >> narrator: kenny eastridge is now two years into a ten-year prison sentence. he once had a promising military career ahead of him. from a poor kentucky background, eastridge had joined the infantry at the age of 19 and rose quickly through the ranks. >> hey, good job, eastridge. good soldier. good guy. congratulations on everything. you had a hell of a last couple of months. >> thank you, sir. >> all right. you guys go ahead and congratulate specialist eastridge. ( applause ) >> narrator: he was mentored by a charismatic and experienced sergean

no incidents and... >> narrator: o'neill was one of those two million people. al qaeda struck here, this was where he wanted to be. ( crowd cheering ) >> five, four, three, two, one! ( loud cheering ) ( music playing ) >> and i remember talking to john shortly after midnight. there was a sense of accomplishment. we had just made the arrests in the... the ressam spin-off, and, you know, certainly we believed that we got everybody that we needed to find, but, you know, you're never really 100% sure of that. >> and so, i think a lot of the fbi leadership for the first time realized that o'neill was right, that there probably were al qaeda people in the united states. they realized that only after they looked at the results of the investigation of the millennium bombing plot. so, by february of 2000, i think senior people in the fbi were saying there probably is a network here in the united states and we have to change the way the fbi goes about finding that network. >> narrator: if the bureau was finally going to reorganize itself to take on terror, o'neill wanted

. >> narrator: san francisco, like the phoenix emblazoned on the city's flag, re-emerged from the ashes with breathtaking speed. it was a time for bold initiatives. in mid-december, a group of 10 civic-minded music lovers met at the mercantile trust company's offices on california street. their objective -- to augment the city's resurgent cultural life by establishing a professional orchestra. >> for years people had been thinking, "we must have an orchestra here. we must have an orchestra," and there had been some tries before. there had been earlier attempts. >> there had been a number of different symphonies in and around san francisco, but this was now the moment to put this totally on the map. >> narrator: by august 1911, the musical association raised $220,000 through the contributions of 2,400 san franciscans. it was ready for the next step -- hiring a conductor. [ richard wagner's "pilgrim's chorus" plays ] among the candidates were two renowned europeans and one american, henry hadley, the music director of the fledgling seattle symphony. >> so that was most significant, that t

narrator: without half of its water supply, the city would shut down. for nearly 40 years, new york has been in the process of constructing a solution. man: this project is water tunnel number 3. we started on this project in 1969. i'm a sandhog. i've been a sandhog for 37 years. narrator: sandhogs are the men of local 147, who work deep below the city. they began building the infrastructure of new york in 1872. from the subways to the sewers, the water tunnels to the highway tunnels, new york city thrives because of their work. ryan: you got one little hole in the ground, and nobody knows we're here. see the empire state building, right. that's 1,000 feet. so you figure, you go down 1,000. how high that is -- that's how far we go down. narrator: stretching more than 60 miles under the city, tunnel 3 is taking generations of workers to complete. ryan: i don't even want to imagine what my father had to go through. when we first started, it was a rough job. everything was dynamite. now, they have these machines called "moles." it's like a big drill, and i

>> that's correct. >> narrator: the fusion center's new technology was not involved. nor were the cctv or license plate cameras. there was no sar report. >> ...thank you for the information. you're free to go. >> narrator: next time on frontline... >> they still had iraq inside of them. >> i didn't even want to come home. >> you took a broken soldier and you sent him back. >> i didn't want to live anymore. >> you just feel like everybody's against you, and if you don't know them, they're your enemy. >> narrator: frontline investigates the invisible scars of war. >> we give up part of our morality to go to war. it allows us to survive. it allows us to kill. >> narrator: "the wounded platoon." >> frontline continues online. more from our interview with ali soufan... >> how many people need to die? >> the stories of his al qaeda interrogations. what are effective interrogation tactics? >> okay. >> and from "are we safer?" >> so, maybe you should put the camera down now. >> ...a closer look at how authorities define suspicious activity. plus, find your local fusion center

>> narrator: there were always tensions in the home around religion. soon after el-gamal's parents split, his mother died. he went to live with his father. >> i had a very rebellious teenage and early manhood stage of my life, and after september 11 there was a change brewing within me as an individual. >> narrator: el-gamal got into real-estate and rediscovered islam, his father's faith. >> what i want to take you to is where my journey with my faith started in new york city. my journey started right here at 1214 warren street. it was packed. people were praying on top of each other. i mean, my head would be in the legs of the man in front of me. that's how-- we were packed like sardines. you know, i didn't feel proud of this mosque. they had been there for close to almost 40 years, in this neighborhood. right here, four blocks from the world trade center. the building ended up getting sold and they ended up getting evicted. and they ended up underneath that 20-20, in a basement, in a bar. the majority of them were immigrants. coming back with a very

narrator: atlanta is a rapidly growing urban area. its primary source of drinking water is the chattahoochee river, which also provides water to many downstream communities. but its infrastructure is dangerously old, without outdated facilities and combined sewer overflows polluting the watershed. the city faces strict consent decrees and lawsuits, along with a severe lack of funding. man: when i started working for the city of atlanta in the late '70s, we were approaching that point in time where a lot was going to be needed, in terms of rehabilitation and upkeep. most of the very large pipes were at least 80 years old. we had needs that were identified in the '50s and in the '60s and in the '70s that were deferred. woman: we are urging that we all try to find a way to overcome the obstacles and limitations that might exist. woman: when i was running for office, i met someone who knew mayor hartsfield, who, in the late 1960s, said, "i don't know who the next mayor will be, "but i know they'll have to fix the water and sewer infrastru

narrator: kobayashi is ever vigilant. worried that the rains might bring too much water to his fields, he visits them at night and adjusts the water level. farmers in japan, especially here in the northeast, have developed labor-intensive means to protect their rice crop from the ravages of nature. during the growing season, a farmer can never be too careful. kobayashi works hard, so his fields are in better shape than those of his neighbors. this farmer is not harvesting at all. giving up on this year's harvest, he is mowing down his useless crop. ( speaking japanese ) translator: there are no kernels. no sense in borrowing a combine, there's nothing to harvest. better to cut it all down. narrator: tohoku is called japan's rice bowl mostly due to the volume of rice produced here, but also because of the research efforts in new varieties and production techniques. even so, some years, the efforts are not enough. the few kernels of rice will be burnt along with the empty hulls. in bad years, many farmers have to buy rice t

narrator: over 300 million people live in the united states. and each person uses an average of 100 gallons of water every day. man: what it takes to actually make clean water is somewhat a mystery to most customers. woman: so how does water get from the river into your house, or here at school? woman: somebody has to bring that water to us, and somebody has to take it away when we're finished with it. man: the water infrastructure is vital for disease protection, fire protection, basic sanitation, economic development, and for our quality of life. man: you just can't visualize all the assets that are under our feet. we have about two million miles of pipe in this nation. if you're walking around in an urban area, you're probably stepping on a pipe. man: our grandparents paid for, and put in for the first time, these large distribution systems. woman: and in many cases, it's not been touched since. man: we're at a critical turning point. much of that infrastructure is wearing out. narrator: our water infrastructure is made up of complex, underg

[narrator] clare swan is chairperson of the tribe. i just looked back at my roots and began to put them together and realized really how much of that was important to me, and i had tried to, like everyone else, change that because in order to fit-- there was a time when it wasn't fashionable to be native. you were lucky if you were blond and you were light enough that you could pass. no one was allowed to speak the dena'ina language. they didn't allow it in schools, and a lot of the women had married non-native men, and the men said, "you're american now, so you can't speak the language." so we became invisible in the community, invisible to each other, and then because we couldn't speak the language-- what happens when you can't speak your own language is that you have to think with someone else's words, and that's a dreadful kind of isolation. [narrator] today the kenai river has become a tourist destination. tourists are drawn here for the same reasons that the native alaskan inhabitants came-- the abundant fish and game. it was a

narrator: large amounts of rainwater can cause flooding. engineers developed two approaches to stormwater infrastructure to transport water away from the urban environment. one approach was to carry waste and stormwater through the same pipe. this combined system was less expensive than building two individual pipe networks. and stormwater was seen as a way to flush out the sewers. through the 19th century, the combined system was considered state-of-the-art throughout the world, and is still in use in many cities today. but cities constructed these systems before treatment was the standard. and even today's largest treatment plant doesn't have the capacity to treat the sudden volumes of water rushing through a combined system during rain. the plant is overloaded, and the excess rainwater, mixed with untreated raw sewage, is diverted straight into local waterways, creating a combined sewer overflow, or cso. there are over 700 communities in the united states with combined sewer systems. the other approach was to separate wastewater from sto

(narrator) while materials and construction are critical in determining the timbrel capabilities of an instrument, it is the musician who makes the instrument come to life. in essence, the instrument becomes the unique musical voice of the player. (redman) i think the connection that you feel with an instrument is oftentimes beyond literal or verbal description. but i think one thing that really attracted me to the sound of the tenor saxophone was its incredible emotional range. [saxophone plays jazzy staccato music] the tenor saxophone can be a very, very tender and sensitive instrument. [resonating, mellow melody] or it can be a much more commanding, aggressive, powerful instrument. [dissonant bellowing melody] and i like having those expressive options, and i like having them integrated into the sound of one instrument. [rapid drumbeats] (spiegel) the tabla drums are actually a set. it's two drums or individually called tabla, baya. together it's called tabla. it's made--the right-hand drum is the tabla-- and it's the pitch drum-- the high-pitch drum. the left hand, the baya, is the

>> narrator: it's been a decade now. >> the heavens were blue and clear and perfect. >> religion drove those planes into those buildings. >> narrator: there were so many questions. >> if there is a god, what is happening? >> narrator: including the ultimate question. >> how could god be in the horror of what i saw? >> narrator: tonight on "frontline," an intimate and profound investigation of the spiritual aftershocks of september 11. >> i asked god in the beginning, you know, "if you can give me just one, i'd appreciate it." ( laughs ) but i knew from being a fireman that my son couldn't have been in a worse possible position. >> narrator: those who lost loved ones, and many other americans, are haunted by questions of faith. >> today our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. >> narrator: was it true evil the world witnessed that day? was religion itself to blame? and where was god on september 11? >> i couldn't believe that this god that i'd talked to in my own way for 35 years turned this loving man into bones. and now i can't bring myself to speak to him anymore because

narrator: an important piece of the program is the construction of an 8-mile-long storage tank that will significantly decrease combined sewer overflows. man: right now, we're at the bottom of the rockdale construction shaft. we're 310 feet below grade, deep under atlanta in hard rock. in the downtown area of atlanta, the sewer system and the stormwater system are combined and there are overflows during storm events, and so the purpose of this system is to relieve that flow, take it into the tunnel, transport it to a brand-new treatment plant, clean up the chattahoochee river. narrator: instead of the combined sewage overflowing into the river, it will flow into this tunnel that acts as a storage tank. the water will then slowly empty into the new plant for treatment before it's released back into the river. man: the system in total is about 8 1/2 miles, 27 feet in diameter. most of the time it will be dry. the only time it will fill is when the sewer system is overwhelmed by the storm. it is a massive project. our budget was $210 million. we've worked about a million and a half man-hour

what i was hearing on my phone from my editor was a narration of the second plane hitting.he told me later when he was looking across the room at us it was like watching a silent horror movie. he could tell that looking at our faces that something terrible was going on. it was moments when helened over in that iconic image. >> two planes. >> absolutely. he had again, he was frozen in the moment. he was doing an event. and was surrounded by all these young children. the tension in the room was growing by the second. >> let's go to colonel darling right now. thank you for joining us. you were on duty in the white house. you were in the bunker. tell us about how the vice president assumed the authority basically of the chief executive absent the president, absent the secretary of defense who was busy putting out fires at the pentagon at that time. >> that's right. it's great to be with you. the minute we walked in there about 9 v 9 clj 50. i went down to the president emergency op centers. they told me to answer the phones. my first phone call was that we have another hijacked

[woman narrator] it's your car. you take it to people you trust. [mechanic] to avoid a total rebuild, ah, you'll wanna retouch your leakage and that's just an estimate little lady. [woman narrator] it's your finances. you want to go to the experts. [man on tv] cut your payments by 50. we've got all these credit card bills. we've got to find a way to get out from under this debt. we can help. [woman narrator] the national foundation for credit counseling is a non profit organization that has been helping people for sixty years. visit debtadvice.org. >> >> our top story >> we will begin this half hour along the alaskan air lines flight that made an emergency landing they found a note that indicating there was an explosive on board >> it was specific enough information a potential bomb on that flight >> the guy is now saying it was not a credible threat and how all unfolded >> at 6:10 a.m. alaska airlines 342 departed seattle bound for oakland at 645 d s a u was notified at a bookstore at mecca plane a fully loaded with passengers that a bomb was on b

what you're about to hear is the voice of that man calmly narrating what he saw. >> the remains of an airplane crash over on lambertsville road. and probably a terrorist bomb on board that blew up. don't know anything more than that. that's what i heard on the scanner. i just saw the smoke come up and the explosion shook the house clear over here. and we are, what, 15 mile from lambertsville. and it shook the heck out of the house. >> the man you heard from is now deceased and his family wishes to remain anonymous. we want you to see the entire video. in the next half hour we will play it for you. >>> we here at cnn will bring you special 9/11 coverage beginning next sunday morning at 8:30 eastern. anderson cooper and candy crowley are among the many people who will help us remember the tragic events of 9/11 and honor the lives that were lost. >>> dominique strauss-kahn once favored to become the next president of france. now that the u.s. rape charges have been dropped against the former imf chief, does he have a shot at a political comeback? it certainly wouldn't be the first time.

you will hear the voice of a man calmly narrating what he thinks he's seeing.ow deceased and his family wishes to remain anonymous. watch and listen. >> the remains of an airplane crash over on lamertsville road, probably had a terrorist bomb on board. it blew up. i don't know anything more than that. that's what i heard on the scanner. i saw the smoke come up and the explosion shook the house clear over here. we are, what, 15 miles from there and it shook the heck out of the house. i don't know what else is happening. they ran one into the pentagon and into the world trade center. we're watching it on tv. and this one happened. >> it has been said that because of the passengers on that flight the plane did not hit its intended target. it may have been the capitol or the white house. you may remember todd boehmer was on that plane. his last words "let's roll" meaning toward the cockpit. this is believed to be the first known video that shows the smoke from the crash flight 93. cnn will bring you special 9/11 coverage beginning next sunday morning, 8:30 eastern.

i was hearing from my phone, from my editor, a narration of the second plane hitting.e told me later when he was looking across the room at us it was like watching a silent horror movie. he could tell from looking at our faces something very terrible was going on and it was just moments after that when andy car leaned over in that iconic image of that day and whispered into his ear. >> two planes, a hell of a lot different than one. shows it wasn't an accident. >> absolutely. he was frozen in the moment, doing an event, surrounded by all of these young children, and the tension in the room was growing literally by the second. >> let's go to colonel darling now. colonel, thank you for joining us. you were on duty there at white house. you were in a bunker. tell us about how the vice president assumed the authority basically of the chief executive absent the president, absent the secretary of defense busy putting out fires basically at the pentagon at that time. >> right. great to be with you, chris. the minute we walked in there it was about 9:50 that morning. they evac

he'll narrate what he's seen next. i thought those days might be over.cribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ whistle ] with copd, i thought i might miss out on my favorite tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today i'm back with my favorite team. ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication

captioning sponsored by nbc/universal narrator: it had been raining in the country a lot.. renkins grunting) but not for tractors. (sighs) i'm going to need a tow truck. (allie sighs) i wish we had something fun to do, huh, george?

i was hearing from my phone, from my editor, a narration of the second plane hitting.e later when he was looking across the room at us it was like watching a silent horror movie. he could tell from looking at our faces something very terrible was going on and it was just moments after that when andy car leaned over in that iconic image of that day and whispered into his ear. >> two planes, a hell of a lot different than one. shows it wasn't an accident. >> absolutely. he was frozen in the moment, doing an event, surrounded by all of these young children, and the tension in the room was growing literally by the second. >> let's go to colonel darling now. colonel, thank you for joining us. you were on duty there at white house. you were in a bunker. tell us about how the vice president assumed the authority basically of the chief executive absent the president, absent the secretary of defense busy putting out fires basically at the pentagon at that time. >> right. great to be with you, chris. the minute we walked in there it was about 9:50 that morning. they evacuated th

captioning sponsored by nbc/universal narrator: there's nothing like spending a long weekend in the countryeeded all those pool toys, george. (sighs)

captioning sponsored by nbc/universal (lively latin music playing) narrator: neither rain... nor snowvorite band, lobos de plata, perform in endless park. ♪ (chattering, whooping) gracias. thank you so much. and now i'd like to ask if george would come onstage and play with us.