here's pierre thomas with our report. >> reporter: this is the dresden nuclear power plant in illinois. located within 50 miles of the 9 million people who live in and around chicago. but less than two years ago, in 2009, the nuclear regulatory commission cited them for allowing unlicensed operators to work with radioactive control rods. the workers allowed three radioactive control rods to be moved out of the reactor core when they should not have been. worse, the workers initially ignored alarms. that wasn't the only problem at dresden. four years ago in 2007, nuclear material literally went missing from the plant. federal regulators fined the company, saying it failed to keep complete records showing the inventory and disposal of all special nuclear material. >> history tells us that utilities, some utilities, cut corners, and then when the day of reckoning arrives, they won't be ready to respond in the same way that the utility executives in japan were not ready to respond. >> reporter: today, officials from dresden issued a statement to abc news acknowledging the vi violations and

pierre thomas was there, and he has a reality check on the two key questions at issue. are terrorists here in the u.s. disproportionately muslim, and is america's muslim community doing enough to stop them? >> reporter: emotions were raw. >> mohammed salman hamdani was a fellow american who gave his life for other americans. >> reporter: the first muslim member of congress wept as he told the story of a young man who died on 9/11, trying to save others. >> his life should not be identified as just a member of an ethnic group or just a member of a religion, but as an american who gave everything for his fellow americans. >> reporter: congressman ellison said the hearings devalued the patriotism of muslims and paints them all as terrorists. "hogwash," said the committee's chairman. >> there is nothing radical or unamerican about holding these hearings. this threat is real and it is serious. >> reporter: the debate was heated and mostly partisan. >> i'm overwhelmed by this hearing and lack of factual basis for it and i don't believe muslims should be compared to nazis and

our pierre thomas has more. >> reporter: a police car with flashing lights at an elementary school.erous show and tell, children experiment. according to a statement released by d.c. public schools, four of the students who received the cocaine ingested it. some orally. and others inhaled it through the nose. five children were sent to the hospital for treatment. they're apparently okay. but the fact it happened at all is tragic. parents picking up their children at this elementary school were shocked. and some were angry. >> this -- i have no words right now. >> it's not just dealing with life without having to go in and talk about drugs when she's, you know, 10 years old. >> reporter: like many other major cities, the nation's capital has the share of drug crimes and narcotics are readily available. from 2007 to 2008, 18,000 adults were arrested on drug charges. 660 juveniles. in this case, the student who brought the drug and his parents are being investigated. in d.c., another case of innocence lost. for "good morning america," pierre thomas, abc news, washington. >>> and now, d

but pierre thomas starts us off with the backstory. >> reporter: at a recent protest in orange county, california, outside of a fund-raiser for muslim charity, it got ugly. >> mohammed was a child molester. >> reporter: it's images like this that some muslims say have made them feel that their faith is being unfairly maligned. the concern has been so high in recent months, they've even launched a p.r. campaign. >> i'm a new york city firefighter. and i responded to 911. and i'm a muslim. >> reporter: now with a key congressional committee holding hearings entitled, radicalization of the muslim community, some muslims are feeling under siege. >> peter king, we're on to your game. dividing people and using fear. >> these hearings, as presently organized, won't do any good. and they may well do a lot of damage. >> these hearings have the potential to demonize islam. >> reporter: but king says his hearings here on capitol hill is not to target all muslims. but to deal with reality. 49 suspects charged with acts of international terrorism in the last 2 years. nearly all muslim men, typical

officials have told our justice correspondent pierre thomas that they don't think gadhafi has the capabilities to carry out attacks here in the u.s. do you think that's right given how much money he has? >> i think that's a bit overstated. i honestly believe that he still has those capabilities. he has a lot of money at his dispostal. he can use proxies which he has done over the years so i'm a little concerned with what the report has stated. >> you've been working on this case for a long time. why have we never taken out this individual? >> well, there's a number of reasons. some of them are bilateral relations and our relations with other countries but right now we've called for regime change and there's no turning back. we have to take out gadhafi because we cannot allow him to reconstitute power because what we will be worrying about at that point, him sitting in the corner like a snarling dog ready to take revenge against the united states. regime change means he has to move. we need new leadership. >> the question is how to get there. jack cloonan, thank you very much for coming in this

thomas christie, franklin spinney and pierre sprey are contributors to the book the pentagon labyrinth. >> good evening. thanks for being with us tonight. i am the executive vice president for the world security institute. the institute is the nonprofit organization that is home to the center for defense information and our military reform project whose latest work the capacity the cut pentagon labyrinth is recently gathered here tonight. the goal of the straus military reform project is to transform u.s. national-security to meet the threats of today. and believes it is essentials that we consider both the fiscal and the strategic implications of the defense programs. and it promotes informed oversight in the pentagon activities. the pentagon labyrinth is edited by the project director winslow wheeler are who is one of an extraordinary group of experts, pentagon insiders and retired military officers who collaborated on this work. the book is intended for both newcomers and also for seasoned observers to learn how to grapple with the significant problems of our national defense. for t