FBI too PC? New strategies for containing HIV/AIDS. We check in with LAPD's next top cop Charlie Beck. And, Michael Specter warns us against "Denialism."
Fort Hood: how did it happen?
Did the military and U.S. intelligence officials miss the warning signs exhibited by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in last week's shootings at Fort Hood? Over the past year the FBI and the military intercepted emails between Hasan and a radical Yemen-based cleric with ties to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, but an assessment concluded that Hasan did not pose a threat. What role did political correctness and sensitivity regarding Hasan's Muslim faith play in keeping officials from taking further action?
Guests:
Greg Miller, National Security Correspondent for the L.A. Times, and co-author of The Interrogators: Inside the Secret War Against Al Qaeda (Little, Brown and Company)
Hal Kempfer, Retired Marine Lt. Colonel, who works on homeland security and counter-terrorism
Salam Al-Marayati, Executive Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Test & treat: a new strategy for fighting AIDS
Condoms? Check. Free anonymous testing? Check. Antiretrovirals? Check. Next up, test and treat. For years we've fought HIV by promoting safe sex and protecting the privacy of those already infected. And thanks to anti-retroviral drugs, many HIV-positive people can live long, full lives without developing AIDS. There are now a host of treatments for HIV which reduce the communicability of the virus in already-infected people. "Test and Treat" is a new approach under which communities with high rates of infection are targeted for near universal testing--and universal treatment of those infected, in a novel approach for containing the disease.
Guests:
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of medicine and epidemiology and director of the international center for AIDS program at Columbia University
Dr. Jennifer N. Sales, MD, Medical Director for the LA County Office of AIDS Programs and Policy
Dr. Judith Currier, MD, professor of medicine at the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UCLA H.I.V. care clinic
Council committee approves Beck as Chief
Charlie Beck is one step closer to being LA’s next top cop. The Los Angeles City Council’s Public Safety Committee unanimously confirmed his nomination Monday. The full Council is expected to vote on November 17. Larry talks with incoming Chief Beck about his vision for leading the post-Bratton LAPD.
Guest:
Charlie Beck, assumptive incoming Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
Denialism: the danger of irrational thinking
According to Michael Specter, Americans have come to mistrust science more than ever before. He uses the term "denialism" to describe when society ignores scientific fact in favor of myths or ideologies. Specter argues that denialism is at work when parents resist getting their children vaccinated, when faith is put in dietary supplements, and when officials ignore the potential of genetically engineered crops to reduce famine. In "Denialism" Specter advocates to embrace new technologies and advancements, while acknowledging their threats and limitations.
Guest:
Michael Specter, author of "Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives" (Penguin Press). Since 1998 he has written for the New Yorker about science, technology, and public health.