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The Situation Room

Rove to Testify Before Grand Jury in Plame Leak Case; Vaccine Offers Hope for Cervical Cancer

Aired October 06, 2005 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Harsh language from President Bush on the war on terror, about al Qaeda killers committing acts of madness, and what the U.S. will do to stop them.
And a major development to a disease that kills almost 4,000 women each year in the United States -- cervical cancer. A new vaccine is offering plenty of hope.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We begin with that developing story that we've been following. The presidential adviser, Karl Rove, will testify for a fourth time before a grand jury here in Washington. Our national correspondent, Bob Franken, joining us now live with details -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, his lawyer says it's entirely voluntary that the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, contacted Karl Rove, and asked that -- contacted his lawyer and asked that Rove testify again and that he readily agreed. No timetable is set.

Rove, of course, the deputy White House chief of staff and top political adviser to President George W. Bush, is among those who have been central figures in the investigation into the disclosures that lead to the outing, so to speak, of Valerie Plame who was identified in print in July of 2003 as an undercover CIA operative.

There's a possibility under the law that by disclosing that identity, the law was broken. Rove is among those who has been named by reporters as a source. His lawyer says, however, that Rove did not know she was an undercover agent, had no intention disclosing that she was, which might mean that that law that we're talking about did not cover him.

Another name is that has come up is Scooter Libby. Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, also named as a source by, among others, Judith Miller, the "New York Times" reporter who went to jail for 85 days before she testified.

The Valerie Plame investigation involves that leak of her identity in 2003, rather. It was in some newspaper columns. She was the wife of Joe Wilson who had been a harsh critic of the administration's claims about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.

The -- according to the attorney for Rove, he says that no decisions have been made on whether to file any charges, charge possibilities, including that law that we specified and also according to a variety of sources the possibility that there might have been some illegal false statements, all of that still being determined.

One other thing, Wolf. The attorney says absolutely Rove has not received what is called a target letter. That would be a letter telling him he's subject to indictment giving him one last chance to testify. This is entirely voluntary says his attorney -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bob Franken, reporting for us. Thanks very much, Bob.

Let's immediately go to New York, Deborah Feyerick is standing by with information. What's going on, Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're waiting for a press conference from New York City's police commissioner Ray Kelly. We are being told that he is raising the level of alert in the New York City subways. This after some potential information in a possible threat in the city's subways. New York City now at level 2 mobilization.

What that effectively means is that all police that are on duty will now work 12 hour shifts. Also, we're being told that police are gathering in Brooklyn, and that unit will be mobilized to the affected area.

Now, keep in mind that rush hour is underway right now. The police commissioner going to make a statement very soon. We're being told that Archangel -- that is the dedicated counter-terrorism plan -- now in effect, being run out of the Special Operations Division. So, again, they are treating this very seriously, but we're not being told what kind of threat it is or what the viability or the credibility of this threat is.

The police commissioner, again, set to make some sort of a statement within the next couple of minutes, of course, so we're waiting to hear exactly what this is. We spent all day, Wolf, trying to track this down to find out exactly what kind of threat they were talking about. Right now, it's still very, very vague and there's no credible -- sorry, there's no determinant statement as to what exactly the threat is or how high or serious this threat might be.

And I just want to keep using the words potential and possible, because we still don't know exactly what it is. We're just awaiting for a presser by New York City's police commissioner -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, we'll bring that news conference from Ray Kelly live once it happens. How unusual though is this? Because a few months back, there was an elevation of security, not only the subways, but the buses and elsewhere in New York. What about this current situation? How unusual is it?

FEYERICK: Well, whenever they get any sort of information, they definitely act on it. But, again, we got word very early this morning, around 9:00, that there was a potential threat to the New York City subways. It's now 5:00. So a lot of hours have gone by from the moment we learned that there was a potential threat to actual press conference being held by the police commissioner.

So, again, that's a lot of hours. If it were immediate, usually the police commissioner would have been out making a statement, either calming the city or giving additional information. So the police commission may step up to the mics and simply say everything's okay, we got this word.

But, again, New York City very careful. They always treat these very, very seriously. And that's why they have activated this sort of counter terrorism plan, this -- Archangel is what they call it. And, again, all of this just a precaution, but again, we're really waiting for specifics, rush hour underway. The last thing we want to do is scare people, and that's why we're just as eager to hear what the police commissioner has to say as anybody else -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, stand by for a moment, Deb. Ali Velshi is in New York as well. I want to stay in New York. Ali, what are you picking up?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deb pointed out we are in the middle of rush hour right now, about seven million people a day use the subway in New York. There are 27 different subway lines. Obviously, the difficulty with -- you know, until we get more information on this, is that people don't know what they're actually supposed today do about that.

And right now, everybody who came to work this morning, all those seven million people, are trying to get out. There are also major subway connections here that get a lot of people out of the areas that they live in outside of the city. So at the moment, as this information develops, the question on a lot of people's minds is what they actually do.

We are looking at a subway system that's usually comprised of over 6,000 individual subway cars, almost 650 or 660 miles of track in New York. We don't know where these perceived threats might be, but there are 490 subway stations in New York. And that's just the subway. That's just not the buses and matters like that.

So, obviously, these matters are hard to pinpoint. It's hard to get more specific, but you are talking about the busiest subway system on the continent, Wolf.

BLITZER: And about now, it's about as busy as it gets, the specific rush hour time travel, time segments. I want to show our viewers a live picture we're getting in. This is where the news conference will be held. You see the police department, City of New York NYPD. Ray Kelly, the commissioner, expected to go to that microphone very, very soon to explain to the people of New York, to explain to all of us, what exactly is going on.

This is a story that Deborah Feyerick is covering. Let's bring back Deb Feyerick. She's in New York, and update our viewers on specifically, Deb, how we learned about this, because you've been working on this story literally all day, and we don't want to overly alarm our viewers, especially in New York if this is a false alarm. FEYERICK: That's absolutely right, and that's why we've been so careful about this. But, again, I began making calls on this about 9:00. We got a tip that perhaps there was some sort of a threat. And we didn't know whether it was a real threat, whether it was just one of those rumors that we end up chasing down, turns into nothing. We didn't know.

But I made several dozen calls to all different agencies, and again, early in the morning people were saying that they were hearing nothing about this, that this was all new to them, and then it began to shift around 1:00, 2:00 where all of a sudden people started saying, you know what? I am starting to hear things.

And so then we had to go and see whether in fact they were just hearing what we were calling them on, as to whether it was, in fact, real or whether it was something -- sort of that rumor mill, that telephone game that's being played. But, again, it started being real around 3:00.

We were told that the police commissioner had a regularly scheduled meeting, but there were some people that went to that meeting that don't usually go. That's according to one source, who when I called back, said actually yes, there's a meeting going on right now.

But, again, we're not sure who was at the meeting, who was called into that meeting, if it involved the subways. If it involves the subway, then, of course, you're looking at transit, you're likely looking at FBI because they're always involved in this kind of thing.

The fire department had not been notified as of early this morning. That may have changed, obviously, because they're first responders so the fire department's going to be called in on this. Again, very much a fluid situation where we're just waiting to hear exactly what's going on.

Again, it's rush hour. It's important now that the police commissioner make some sort of a statement just to allay fears, because people are pretty savvy here in New York, but this kind of thing definitely puts people on edge. That's why we're careful in terms of what we are reporting. We're just sort of standing by to hear exactly what he has to say.

But, again, mobilization level two, and just to clarify this, all that means -- it's not as if we're going from orange to a higher level. What it means is that the police officers are going to be working longer shifts to make sure that the whole city is manned over the period of time that this potential threat is in place. Again, it may have just been a call that authorities are just trying to run down, but again, we're waiting to hear that as well -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And we're now told that statement from the police commissioner, Ray Kelly, expected at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. That's in about 20 minutes -- a little bit less than 20 minutes or so from now. We'll of course bring that news conference, that statement from Ray Kelly live. If this were a major development, major threat, I suspect -- and you know New York matters a lot bet are than I do, Deb, that the mayor himself, Michael Bloomberg, would be at this kind of a statement, not just the police commissioner. What are you hearing about the mayor?

FEYERICK: Well, there's no question, we have a call into the mayor's office as well just to hear. But again, the fact that the police commissioner is handling this, he is the one who is charge. Whenever there is a sort of a threat at least on the local level, obviously other agencies are called in, especially agencies like the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Again, we had heard what the potential rumor might be. But again really just from one source, hesitant to even report it in terms what kind of threat it might be. So, we're waiting to look into this. But again, they need to take this kind of precaution.

Commissioner Kelly is a very careful man. He's a very logical man. He was here during a time when New York City was the center of an attack. And he always makes sure to point out that in fact, the city has been attacked not once, not twice but several times, or at least has been the target of an attack. So, he's very aware of this. And whatever statement he's going to make is going to be very carefully thought out in terms of what it is we're looking at.

BLITZER: All right. Deb, stand by for a moment.

Ali Velshi is also following this story in New York. Ali, you're getting some more information on that special task force?

VELSHI: Well, Deb was just talking about it, the Archangel is part of the Operation Atlas. This is a unit of the NYPD that has been in force since after September 11, since the beginning of the Iraq war. They bring together the various agencies and police specialists who would need to react very quickly to anything that happened in the city.

We don't see it as much anymore, and Deb would know more about this. But there's a certain time where you would see them staging around the city. The idea is that they are well equipped, well armed. They have bomb units. They have all sorts of units. And there was a sort of period of time, where they would be rushing to various parts of the city in drills and tests to see how quickly the NYPD could assemble emergency responders in an event of emergency.

So, Deb Feyerick mentioned the earlier that that -- the Archangel unit may be involved in response, which would be typical if there were any threat to anything in New York City.

One of the lessons after September 11, is the police want to be able mobilize and get as many responders to places where there may be trouble as soon as possible.

So, it's all to say that -- as Deb said -- New Yorkers take a lot in stride. These are not the kind of things they necessarily want to take in stride. So while nobody -- New Yorkers don't get alarmed terribly easy about this thing? It is serious enough to give people second thoughts about the subways.

As I mentioned to you, several million people -- over 7 million people use the subway system to get to and from work every day, many of them coming from well beyond the New York area. This is an unusual subway system as far as subways in North America go.

So, the police, I think, just wanting to be prepared for everything. But it's not atypical to see them drilling and being ready for threats. It's unusual when that talk gets loud enough that we're following it, which means that there's definitely something to look into.

But at the moment, just bringing you up to speed on the fact that the police have special units that are designed to respond to large scale emergencies.

BLITZER: All right. Ali, stand by. Deb stand by as well. We have just been informed that the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, will also attend the news conference at the bottom of the hour, about 16, 17 minutes from now, 5:30 p.m. Eastern, together with Ray Kelly, the New York City Police Commissioner.

Bloomberg and Kelly will be making a statement on what is being reported as a possible New York City subway threat that has emerged over these past few hours.

Let's bring in Pat D'Amuro, our CNN security analyst, former assistant director of the FBI in New York.

Pat, what do you make of all of this?

PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Well Wolf, I found out earlier this afternoon that there was some information that was being leaked out by the New York City Police Department to the financial community that there was a potential threat in the subway system.

I still have not been able to get all the facts on what is actually occurring. I think what you're end up seeing in New York right now, they're going to mobilize additional law enforcement presence into the subway system. The NPA will then increase their presence. The Joint Terrorism Task Force will more than likely start having rover teams, unless they have some idea as to where the actual threat is.

BLITZER: Knowing New York as you do, Pat, you hear the words, New York subway threat, especially at this time of day when 7 million people potentially are going to start using those subways during rush hour, I suspect a lot of those people are just going to say, you know what, I'm not taking any chances, I'm not going into one of those subways.

D'AMURO: That's quite possible. And that's why I was surprised when I heard earlier that there was in fact some threat information floating around that we didn't see more of this information coming out quickly. Because you are going to see rush hour commuting traffic during this time frame right now. BLITZER: And if a lot of people don't take the subway, they're going to look for alternative means to get home, that could cause additional problems in New York City.

Stand by, Pat. Our homeland security Jeanne Meserve is joining us now. She's working this story. What are you picking up, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I've been talking to officials over at the Department of Homeland Security. They tell me they are not aware of any specific or credible threat against New York City transit. They said they have been in conversation with New York City throughout the day that any time there is any sort of threat information they try to coordinate with the locals. But they do not seem to be aware of what it is Ray Kelly is going to announce, or at least they are not conveying to me what it is that Ray Kelly is going to announce at this press conference that's coming up.

The headline from them, they are not aware of any specific or credible threat information against the subways in New York City, Wolf.

BLITZER: If this were a major, major threat though, Jeanne, correct me if I am wrong, you got to believe that Homeland Security in Washington would be all over it. They would know everything that was going on?

MESERVE: Well, you would certainly hope that would be the case. And as I say, they have been in communication with New York today. I spoke with officials over there earlier this afternoon when some of these things started moving around, some of these rumors. At that point, they told me no specific credible threat information. I've gotten back with them again within the last five minutes. Again they tell me that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Jeanne, thank you very much.

Pat D'Amuro, what do you make of that -- what Jeanne is just reporting, that the Department of Homeland Security here in Washington is saying they don't know of any credible or specific threat to the New York subway system?

D'AMURO: Well Wolf, there have been situations in the past where the New York City Police Department has not been providing timely information to the federal authorities. I don't know if that's the situation here or not. We just don't know.

BLITZER: We do know that New York City, since 9/11, especially since Ray Kelly has been commissioner, has instituted one of the best local intelligence networks of any community, perhaps the best in the world in terms of their own analysts. They have got a former CIA official who is running it, David Coen, who is working this intelligence gathering operation on any potential threats to New York City. They're pretty good at this in New York, aren't they, Pat?

D'AMURO: Yes. The intelligence bureau in New York is probably 500 or 600 detectives strong. The joint terrorism task force also has an additional 145 plus detectives on the task force itself to include all of the other 36 that have investigators assigned to that task force. It's quite large. It's the largest in the country.

So, yes. New York is very good at trying to gather this type of information. But I'm not quite sure why it's being put out in this way. And why Homeland Security is saying they're not aware of it.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by, Pat.

Our Kelli Arena is also working this story, checking with her sources. Kelli, what are you picking up specifically about the FBI?

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, I just got off the phone with an FBI official here at headquarters in Washington. And he told me the FBI is aware of the threat information. That information has been analyzed. That local authorities were notified as a precaution, but that the information does not indicate that there is any imminent threat.

Sources that I spoke to in law enforcement say that the -- that law enforcement actually had access to this information for several days. And that it was not determined that there was any imminent threat, which goes back to what Pat was saying as to why New York has decide to handle this information in this way.

But what we are hearing, absolutely parallels what you heard from Jeanne Meserve which is that this information has been analyzed, people are aware of it, but nobody, at least here in Washington, sees this as leading to any imminent danger or threat -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We are getting this from the Associate Press, Kelli, Republican Congressman Peter King from New York state is saying that New York officials are increasing security on city's subways after word of what King calls a credible security thread to the city's transit system. Peter King saying that, according to the Associated Press.

I don't know what specific information he's getting, but he is the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives.

ARENA: Well you know, Wolf, sometimes, you know, local authorities act out of an abundance of caution when they do get information. New York, as you know, is usually on a higher state of alert than the rest of the country is on a regular basis. And so they do have to take these threats seriously.

But, what I can tell you -- and what I know my colleague, Jeanne Meserve has said -- is that right now, they're not using words like specific and credible. They're saying they do have information. And that that information has been analyzed, and at least no one that I've spoken to, sees that it means any imminent danger.

BLITZER: All right, Kelli, stand by. I know you want to work your sources a little bit more. We've got a lot of our reporters working this story. For those of you who are just tuning in, some sort of threat, potentially to the New York Transit System, the subways. We're getting sort of conflicting information right now. We're standing by for a statement, a news conference.

The New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and the New York City Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly -- they're expected at the podium at the bottom of the hour in about ten minutes or so from now. We'll bring you their statements live when they happen. Pat D'Amuro is our security analyst, a former assistant director of the FBI. He's joining us from New York. Are you surprised we're getting these conflicting accounts whether it is a specific or credible threat or not? -- Pat.

D'AMURO: No, it doesn't surprise me, Wolf. When information starts getting out there and it starts leaking out that there is a threat, everybody starts getting very, very concerned. As Kelli said, there isn't a threat that comes into the New York Joint Task Force or into the police department that isn't run to the ground completely. We cannot let those threats, the government cannot let those threats go on unaddressed.

So, they'll take this as seriously as they can and deploy the units they feel necessary to address this level of threat. We'll learn much more when we hear what the threat is all about.

BLITZER: According to the Associated Press, Congressman Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee is saying that he has been told that there has been what he calls a credible security threat, that's a quote, credible security threat, that he has been told this in a conversation he had with the New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

We're standing by for his news conference. Ray Kelly and the New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, expected at the podium shortly less than ten minutes from now at the bottom of the hour to tell all of us what exactly is going on. How unusual is this that we're getting these dribs and drabs coming out? Because I can certainly see a situation, Pat, whereby people are getting very, very nervous as they're waiting for some specific answers.

D'AMURO: It is, Wolf, and this has been one of the problems coming out of Washington and trying to coordinate with local authorities when and how to disseminate this information, so that when it does get disseminated it gets to every place it needs to go simultaneously. They still haven't worked out that system where the information can get out to the public without it leaking out in bits and spurts and start causing more concern than what we could potentially have.

BLITZER: Start causing a lot more panic than is certainly justified. Pat, stand by, Deb Feyerick, our reporter there. Deb, are you picking up some more information?

FEYERICK: Well, we spoke to somebody down at One Police Plaza, that's where the police commissioner has his headquarters. We're being told now that the expected at this press conference will be the police commissioner, of course, as well as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and somebody from the FBI. So, that room is now being set up, and the press conference expected to happen in about seven minutes.

And, again, concerned because this is obviously rush hour right now. It's the first that we're hearing, even though this sort of rumors have been floating around all day. But, again, various agencies throughout New York City did not have any information about some sort of subway threat and these are agencies that would be in a position to know, if in fact, this were be a really serious threat.

But, again, that was early in the morning. Later in the day it began to change. Where people were saying yes, we are beginning to hear things and we are starting to look into this and, then police being mobilized to level two. And again, somebody I spoke to, within the police department, said that basically that's not a stretch, that happens more often than you think. All that means is that when they do get some information, they make sure that they staff properly and that they call in a unit from another borough, who can then be there to respond, additional manpower as it were -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Deb Feyerick, stand by, we're going to be speaking with Representative Peter King, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee momentarily. We are just establishing that connection with him right now. He's quoted by the Associated Press as saying that there has been a credible security threat to the New York City Transit Systems, including the subways. He's quoting New York officials, including the commissioner of the New York Police Department, Ray Kelly.

Peter King expected to be speaking with us shortly. Pat D'Amuro is our CNN Security Analyst. He is a former New York Assistant Director of the FBI. I'm just wondering, Pat, on the standard operating procedure, if there were nothing there, you would think they would immediately rush out and tell us, you know what, calm down everybody this is just a false alarm, go about your business as usual. To let everyone hang, as we are hanging right now, for word from Kelly and Bloomberg on whether this is real or not real, seems almost like the worst of all worlds.

D'AMURO: Well, in a way it is, Wolf because it started leaking out, as I said, around 3:00 today. I started getting phone calls from the financial community saying that they're hearing rumors from -- or information from the New York City Police Department that there's a potential threat in the subway and they were looking for some additional information.

By the time that happens, that information is going to start flowing throughout New York and then to do a press conference this much later, after you had that information and you could have calmed the situation down, if that's the case. Or if this threat is real you obviously want to let the commuters know as soon as possible that there is a real viable threat and why it is being done today. There must be some type of information that would indicate that today is a potential threat.

BLITZER: We're looking at these live pictures from New York City. This is the subway station, the entrance to a subway station that we're seeing right now and you see people walking up and walking down. I suspect a lot of people have -- word has not filtered out on the streets, necessarily that there is potentially some sort of security threat.

We don't know the nature, we don't know how reliable, how good, how credible, how specific this security threat might be, but you see people, especially during this rush hour traffic walking up and down subway stations. Right now a lot of people going into the subway to get home after a full day of work. Talk a little bit about the extra security that was put in place in New York City, the transit systems, Pat, since the bombings in London in July.

D'AMURO: Well, you have additional resources from the NTA. Commissioner Morange, Bill Morange is a former New York City police chief, is the head of the NTA. So, he's increased his presence in the system. The New York City Police Department has started several different types of teams that would increase and go into a certain area in New York. The subway system, I believe you even commented earlier, the Archangel System that would get an emergency response very, very quickly.

There are different teams that respond on the streets. Emergency services in New York is -- they're a very competent group, I've worked with them over the years, with many of them and they're professionals at what they do. I would believe that if this was an extremely serious threat, we would have heard something, hopefully, we would have heard something by now and not waiting for a press conference at 5:30 when people are getting ready to utilize the system in a much more heavy volume.

BLITZER: And we're hoping that Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly will come out and simply say false alarm, go back to business as usual. There had been some sort threat, we checked it out, it's not specific, it's not credible. That's what we're hoping to hear, but there's no guarantee we'll hear it. Peter King, Congressman from New York, Republican from New York, saying -- telling the Associated Press a little while ago that he has been told by New York City officials that there has been word of a credible security threat to the New York City Transit System.

So, it is only a few minutes away. Peter King is actually on the phone with us. Congressman, tell our viewers what you know.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Wolf, actually, about an hour and a half ago, Commissioner Kelly called me and told me there was a credible threat to the New York City transit system and that he and the mayor would be making an announcement sometimes after 5:00 and that basically the NYPD was on top of the situation.

He called me as a informational since I'm chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and also I worked very closely with him. He did not seem at all panicked, and certainly Ray Kelly wouldn't in any event, but he felt as if -- again, this is my reading into the conversation that he thought it was, you know, serious enough that the mayor was going to make an announcement and the police were going to take certain action. BLITZER: Well, this news conference is expected momentarily. We'll go there live, Congressman, as soon as it starts. But did he give you any specific details? Because you're quoted by AP as saying it's a credible security threat. How exactly did he phrase it?

KING: I actually -- what Commissioner Kelly said to was -- he said there was a credible threat against the New York City transit system.

BLITZER: A credible threat.

KING: Against the New York City transit system.

BLITZER: And did he say where it was coming from or did he give you any specific details?

KING: No, he did not.

BLITZER: Did he say they're getting information from the Middle East?

KING: He didn't say that to me, no.

BLITZER: Did he give you any other specific information?

KING: No, just the mayor would be holding a news conference, that extra police were going to be deployed, that he was going to take whatever steps he, you know, has planned to take in a situation like this, basically that the NYPD knew what had to be done and they were going to do it and the mayor would be making the announcements.

BLITZER: You have got a lot of constituents who use that subway system, the transit system, on a daily basis. Seven million New Yorkers use the New York subway system every single day. Potentially, Congressman, give us some perspective. What's going through your minds right now.

KING: Well, I have many concerns. I have members of my family that are on the subway right now, so that's certainly, you know, something I should be concerned about. And also as being a Congressman from the area, thinking of all of the people on the subway system. On the other hand I have ultimate faith in Ray Kelly and the NYPD.

They're as efficient and as effective as any police unit in the world could be. Ray Kelly has been monitoring these situations. For him to take action means it shows some concern on his part. On the other hand they're so well-trained, so well-coordinated that if there's anyone who can do the right thing, it's the NYPD. I have absolute faith in them.

BLITZER: Congressman King, have you checked this out with other federal authorities, the Homeland Security Department here in Washington, the FBI, others that you as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee might be in regular contact with? KING: Yes, I have had conversations and I've been in contact with them. But I would prefer to let Commissioner Kelly have his news conference before I make any other comment on this.

BLITZER: How worried are you personally?

KING: Since 9/11, I've always been worried. I'm actually assured by the fact there are threats, but we're on top of them and that the NYPD is taking action. In the event there -- you know, that there is anything to this, I have faith in the NYPD. But I think we -- you know, we do live in a dangerous world. This is another example of that, but I'm confident that things will turn out OK.

BLITZER: We're showing our viewers, Congressman -- I don't know if you're seeing CNN -- pictures, live pictures of one subway station. We're seeing people walking down those stairs, some people walking up those stairs to take the subway. Would you recommend that people take the subway at this moment?

KING: I would say -- you know, again, I'll wait and see what Commissioner Kelly says in the news conference. I have faith in the NYPD, and I would think that if Commissioner Kelly thought people shouldn't be taking the subways, he would have made that announcement by now. So if it's OK with Commissioner Kelly, I'll accept that.

BLITZER: And how much more security can they do in these subways? Because they bolstered security in recent months, especially after what happened in London, what happened in Madrid earlier.

KING: I think Commissioner Kelly will be saying at the news conference what additional steps have been taken.

BLITZER: Would it -- do you think it's wise at this point -- I know it would be a huge logistical nightmare to get metal detectors for people walking down those stairs to go into the subways.

KING: It will be almost impossible to do that. I mean, the NYPD has taken additional action. There is further technology that's being looked into. But to put seven million people through metal detectors would be absolutely impossible.

BLITZER: But they've added a lot of uniformed officers on those subways, haven't they?

KING: Oh, they have. The NYPD has taken additional action. They are monitoring the subways. There are additional cops on the trains, on the subways, both in uniform and in plain clothes. There's also coordination with the MTA police, so this is a well coordinated effort, and whatever additional action Ray kelly feels has to be taken will be taken. And I have ultimate faith in his judgments.

BLITZER: When, if ever, was the last time that Commissioner Ray Kelly, called you, Congressman, and gave you this kind of head's up?

KING: Well, I've only been chairman of the committee for three weeks. You know, Ray Kelly and I have been friends for years, but this is the first, you know, official call I've gotten. But, again, I can't speak what happened prior to when I became chairman of the committee.

BLITZER: Can you stand by for one second? Out justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, has got some additional information. Congressman, I might want you to respond, to what she's picking up. Kelli, what are you picking up?

ARENA: Well, Wolf, I spoke to some sources on this, and I was told that the information that came in, while it's still being debated as to whether or not it was credible, was deemed not viable, that after being analyzed, basically the conclusion was drawn that this was a plot that could not be carried out, that according to several sources.

They did not offer for me any detailed information exactly what that plot was, but did say that it was deemed to be not viable. I did go back to FBI Headquarters and ask them, again, for some official comment, and what the spokesman in Washington said, again, was that the FBI is aware and engaged in an active investigation.

A little differently this time said they have not corroborated or discounted this information, meaning just what they said. The investigation is active, but again they emphasize that they do not believe there is any imminent threat. They continue to work with the Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement officials.

And, as Deb Feyerick said, there will be an FBI representative at that press conference later, possibly get some more illumination on the viability issue here. But that's the very latest, Wolf, on what I was able to gather.

BLITZER: All right. Kelli, thank you very much. And we're standing by for that news conference to begin. The mayor of New York, the police commissioner of New York, Congressman Peter King is still with us on the phone. He's the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

That's a live picture we're seeing from the podium of the news conference where it will take place, and we'll get official word from New York authorities on what's going on. It's not viable. It may be credible, it may be specific, but not necessarily viable. These words take on enormous significance, Congressman.

KING: They do, and it's why all of us should listen to exactly what Commissioner Kelly says at his news conference. He's an expert on this. He's been analyzing it. Obviously the FBI has been analyzing it. I think it's important to see what Commissioner Kelly says at the news conference as to what action he's going to be taking.

BLITZER: I've got to believe, Congressman, and correct me if I'm wrong, if this were an immediate problem, a real serious immediate problem, they wouldn't have waited all day to a 5:30 or 5:40 news conference that we're waiting for right now. They would have come right out and said, you know what? We're shutting down the subways. KING: I wouldn't think so, but, again, I really just -- we're talking about such very delicate and sensitive area. I think it's important to let the police commissioner tell us exactly what he has to say, because I think for us to speculate, again that can create other problems.

I'm content to wait and see what the commissioner says. And, again, he's the guy who's on the ground. He's the one who has set up probably the best counter terrorism force in the country and let him announce what he's going to do. And we'll take it from there. Again, I'm very assured knowing that Commissioner Kelly is the person who's handling this.

BLITZER: He's widely respected, Ray Kelly. He's by all accounts done an excellent job in New York City dealing with this problem in the aftermath of 9/11. I want to thank Peter King, Congressman Peter King for joining us. We'll check back with you later, Congressman ...

KING: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: ... if we can. Congressman Peter King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Jeanne Meserve is joining us once again -- rejoining us. She's our homeland security correspondent. What are you picking up, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, AMERICAN BUREAU: Wolf, a U.S. official telling me that this information is of doubtful credibility. When I pressed and asked what do you mean about that, I was told the source is not credible and the information is not viable.

Now, at the same time, I also had a conversation with someone in New York with the Metropolitan Transit Authority. He tells me that police presence is indeed being beefed up. He specified it's being beefed up on the commuter rail system at Penn Central and at Grand Central Stations.

So that's the information we have here. Doubtful credibility, the watch board (ph). from at least one official I'm talking to here in Washington.

BLITZER: Did you get the impression that the security would be beefed up at those locations in New York out of an abundance of caution, Jeanne, or that there was some specific information targeting those specific locations?

MESERVE: It's very unclear at this point in time, Wolf, because we're getting such crossed signals from different places, from Washington and New York, different kinds of officials unclear about that.

BLITZER: Anything else that you want to offer, Jeanne, in terms of some perspective? Because a lot of our viewers watching these live pictures coming from New York, watching people walking up and down those subway stairs to take the New York transit system -- they're probably very concerned right now. MESERVE: Threat information comes into the U.S. government on a constant basis. They're constantly analyzing it. In some instances they do pass it on down to the local officials. Sometimes it comes up the other way, from the local officials to DHS.

What's particularly interesting about this case is the fact that federal officials and the local officials appear, at this point in time, to be on somewhat different pages of paper. Why, I can't explain to you at this point in time but it's an interesting phenomenon.

It's happened before. We'll remember that there were some instances, now sometime in the distant past, where there's concern about bridges in the state of California. And officials there went out and publicly spoke about that threat. Officials in Washington were not happy about it.

They didn't feel the information that was available at that point in time warranted that sort of public exposition of what was known but California officials did it anyway. Whether that's the case here or whether New York has developed very different information, we just don't know.

BLITZER: All right. Stand by, Jeanne. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat of New York, is speaking about this right now on Capitol Hill.

QUESTION: Given what you said about, you know, you can't -- not being too careful and taking this threat seriously and you balance that view ...

BLITZER: I'm going to go to New York and interrupt. Bloomberg -- he's getting ready to speak to reporters. He's flanked. As you can see behind him, that's Ray Kelly on the right part of your screen.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: Good evening. As we've known since 9/11 and even more so since the Madrid and London attacks, our mass transit system is a potential terrorist target. Since the London attacks, the NYPD has taken additional measures to ensure the security of New Yorkers.

The FBI has recently shared with us a specific threat to our subway system. Commissioner Kelly and FBI Assistant Director Mark Mershon will go into more detail, but I wanted to assure New Yorkers that we have done and will continue to do everything we can to protect this city. We will spare no resource. We will spare no expense.

We increased our police presence on our subways. Our Hercules teams and critical response vehicles are focused on mass transit. We will continue random searches of bags of people entering the system.

A news outlet was aware of this report two days ago, and they were asked to hold it for operational reasons. They did, and we are grateful for that.

We have put extra protective measures in place now, however, that are noticeable to the public. And we do want the public's help, as I said. If you see something, say something. Then the professionals will make an assessment.

This is the first time that we have had a threat with this level of specificity. The commissioner has been updating me on it throughout the week. I believe we have an obligation to share information with the public, as long as it doesn't jeopardize their safety, and they can make their own decisions.

I believe that they should live their lives like they always do, and have faith in the world's greatest police department.

We ask that the public remain vigilant. If you see something, say something. Call 311 or 911 if it's an emergency.

In the meantime, you should know that tonight I'm going to take the subway going uptown, and tomorrow morning I'm going to do what I always do, get on the train and go to work. And I know a lot of other New Yorkers will do exactly the same thing.

Ray Kelly will now give you a little more detail -- Ray.

RAYMOND KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I also want to thank Assistant Director Mershon for joining us.

The New York City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have received information which indicates that the city subway system may be the target of a terrorist attack in the coming days. While the information has not been fully corroborated, it has been deemed of sufficient concern for police department to enhance its counterterrorism coverage of the subway system and to advise the public of the threat, and to ask its assistance in reporting immediately any suspicious individual or activities to police or transit personnel.

Because of the heightened concerns, the police department will be paying particular attention to briefcases, baby strollers, luggage and other containers.

The department asked the public to curtail the use of these items, if possible, in the transit system.

Additional bag searches and other measures are being taken to provide added protection to the city's subways, buses and ferries.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal agencies are working diligently to further evaluate the credibility of the threat.

The New York City Police Department has coordinated the increased coverage with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey transit, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and Amtrak.

In addition to the stepped-up bag searches, we're increasing both the uniform and plainclothed police presence throughout the transit system. Detectives from the Organized Crime Control Bureau and warrant squads will be supplementing the coverage that we already have in place at major transit hubs.

Our critical response teams are paying particular attention to subway stations throughout the system.

Train order maintenance sweeps in which police officers board each car of the subway have also been increased.

These and other measures will continue until further notice. New York City remains at level orange, the second highest alert level, where it's been since September 11th.

And now, Assistant Director Mark Mershon of the FBI. Mark.

MARK MERSHON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: Thank you very much.

Good evening. I know you don't like to hear this, but the detail of this specific threat is, in fact, classified. We put down threats, multiple threats every day, but the detail of this specific threat was so on point that we did raise this concern with the New York City Police Department. Commissioner Kelly and allied law enforcement agencies have, in fact, ramped up security procedures, I think appropriate so.

The encouraging news is that classified operations have in fact partially disrupted this threat, and I'd like you to know that FBI agents and other U.S. government personnel continue to work around the clock to fully resolve this particular threat.

Thus far, there is nothing that has surfaced in that investigation, or those enforcement actions, which has corroborated an actual threat to the city.

Thank you.

BLOOMBERG: We'll be happy to take a few questions. Sir.

QUESTION: You say you partially disrupted the threat, at the same time you say you can't corroborate it. Can you clear that up for me, please?

BLOOMBERG: Mark, there are operational things taking place and have been for a period of time. And you have to understand that in cases like this, there are lots of different pieces of information, all of which are not necessarily consistent one with another.

Mark, do you want to add anything?

MERSHON: Well, without being too specific, to say there are multiple individuals involved in this, and some of them have -- have been resolved, so to speak, is my intent here.

QUESTION: Just one quick followup. There have been reports on the air that there were three people arrested in Iraq, (INAUDIBLE) in Iraq, and that the information came from one of these sources?

MERSHON: I appreciate that there may be other reporting on this. Please understand our operations are classified, and we cannot discuss them.

BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) unusually specific threat that pertains to the next couple of days? Is there any reason that people when they hear it, shouldn't say to themselves, I'm going to stay out of the subway for a couple of days?

KELLY: Well, people have to make that decision on their own. But they'll see a significant police presence in the subway system itself, and around the system, certainly at station entrances.

But we feel an obligation to put this information out. The public has to make a decision by themselves.

BLOOMBERG: And, as I said, I've looked at the information, and I'm going to take the subway.

Sir.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE). Could you explain a little more why you waited two days to tell what you knew?

BLOOMBERG: There were operations taking place that we thought were in the interest of ending the threat, and to release the information earlier could have jeopardized the lives of those conducting those operations.

It is also true that we had enough specificity to be comforted that it was going -- nothing was planned to happen for the next few days. So I did not think, in making the judgment to withhold it, that we jeopardized the public safety. At the same time, we wanted to make sure that the people who were doing everything they can to protect this city and our subway system had the flexibility and the opportunity to go do that.

Yes, miss.

QUESTION: This is for either one of you or all of you. Would you tell us whether or not there had in fact been an arrest in Manhattan regarding this threat?

BLOOMBERG: There has not been an arrest in Manhattan at all. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Are there a specific set of subway stations that are listed as part of this threat, and will there be an officer outside every single subway station?

BLOOMBERG: There has not been specific subway stations mentioned, and I can just tell you that that person you see sitting next to you on the subway could very well be an undercover detective. You will see heightened police presence. You will, however, not see, by any means, all of the police presence, and that's by design. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Would the operation that may have been planned (INAUDIBLE)?

BLOOMBERG: I don't know what we can say. I think we can't really describe in any more detail.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) arrests (INAUDIBLE)?

BLOOMBERG: Nobody in New York has been arrested or detained. Sir, you had a question?

QUESTION: I wanted to know, what is it about the nature of this information that lends it credence or credibility?

BLOOMBERG: It was more specific as to target. It was more specific as to timing, and some of the sources had more information that would lead one to believe that it was not the kind of thing that appears in the intelligence community every day.

QUESTION: How (INAUDIBLE) subways in New York City or subway in general?

BLOOMBERG: We've never had before a specific threat to our subway system. There have been people all the time on the Internet and every place else that, you know, I'm going to go get those guys. But this was, suffice it to say, that this had -- its importance was enhanced above the normal level by the detail that was available to us from various intelligence sources. Sir.

QUESTION: You said nobody in New York has been arrested?

BLOOMBERG: That's correct.

QUESTION: People can read that both ways. That is, you don't think there's any operational cell in New York or you can't find them. Is it one or the other?

KELLY: No. I think the statement stands on its own. We have not taken anyone into custody here in the city. Operations continue outside the city, and obviously...

QUESTION: Are you looking for individuals in this city?

KELLY: Well, we have ongoing investigation, along with, certainly the federal authorities in this matter. And I don't want to get into any more specific information than that.

BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: Well, if you're going to carry a bomb on to a train or a bus or down the street, having some ways to carry it is obviously one of those things -- we are going to, when you try to get one of the stations where we have bag searches, you may rest assured that we will search your backpack with the same diligence we would look at anything else you had with you where you could conceivably conceal something.

QUESTION: Is the threat Islamist? Or can you characterize it any way?

BLOOMBERG: I don't know that -- I don't think we can characterize it coming from any ethnic group. It was -- it originated from overseas. And we'll have to leave it at that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: That's one ever the more difficult things. We live in a dangerous world. We've heightened our presence. We've heightened our security level before where there have been other things. With time, you do more research and more analysis of the information, and gather more information. And hopefully what we'll find is that any plans that did exist have been dissolved by the actions that have been taken by various security groups around the world. And there's not going to be any one day where you wake up and say, ring a bell and say, OK, no more threats.

What we have to do is continue, I think, what we've been doing. We have stayed at level orange. We have been particularly, since the London attacks, searching bags. We have had a heightened police presence in the mass transit system and elsewhere in the city, but mass transit by its very nature is potentially a more inviting target.

And we will continue to do that, and the level will presumably decline over time. And I can't give you any one day to say it's over. We live in a world where it's not over, unfortunately. We learned that less lesson '93, maybe we should have. We certainly learned that lesson on 9/11.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: I don't know -- anything that we can say, Mark?

MERSHON: No. Unfortunately, again, the predication investigative details are classified. We can't discuss those. But I have shared with you that there are ongoing enforcement and investigative activities. And there is a possibility that this particular threat will be resolved in the coming days.

BLOOMBERG: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: Yep.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: Security detail would not help me if there was a terrorist attack. The truth of the matter is, I've always believed that the subway system is safe and efficient. And while I don't know I'd use the word pleasurable, it's certainly not onerous to ride. It gets you there, air conditioned. And I've always thought there are always risks in the world. But I have no qualms if my -- I would have no problems with my daughters taking the subway anymore than me. Yes. I'm trying to get different people. Miss.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: I think you can rest assure that the bigger the stop, the more trains, different modes of transportation that come through there, the more people, the more the presence will be. But that's true all the time. And everything will get ratcheted up.

Yes, miss.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: No. There did not seem to be any tie to the Jewish holidays. As you know, Rosh Hashanah is finished yesterday and Yom Kippur isn't until a week from today. So, there did not seem to be any ties to that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: I'm going to an event for Ramadan tonight. I'm sure I'll get that question. We did not get that question. We do not know, as far as I know, any tie to religion, or time or event.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: You mentioned baby carriages.

BLOOMBERG: No, I think somebody here mentioned it.

QUESTION: I believe you said try not to...

BLOOMBERG: Yes, yes. Anything that would make the job easier for the police.

QUESTION: Was there any specific threat regarding baby carriages in particular?

BLOOMBERG: I don't think that we can, without jeopardizing the ongoing investigations, say specifically what the threat was. But I think common sense says, that to make the job easier for the police and to avoid you getting slowed down, if you have to have a baby carriage with a baby, that's fine, but it would be easier for everybody, the fewer backpacks, the the fewer baby car carriages, or whatever, the fewer packages you carry, it's just common sense. And we just live in a different world.

Yes, miss.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BLOOMBERG: We do not have any reason to believe that any of them are in New York at this point in time. I think that's fair to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything else? Thank you.

BLOOMBERG: Thank you.

BLITZER: The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, the police commissioner, Ray Kelly, the FBI representative in New York, the officer, assistant director there, Mark Mershon, all explaining what the mayor called as being a specific threat to the New York transit system. The mayor saying we have done, and will continue to do, everything to protect this city.

He says this is the first time that this level of specificity has been reported in a specific threat involving New York's subway system.

Let's get some more information. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is watching this story. Jamie, what are you picking up from your monitoring base at the Pentagon?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you heard the New York city officials say they delayed this announcement two days so that an operation could take place. A well placed military official tells CNN that that operation was a raid conducted in a city south of Baghdad called Musaib (ph) where al Qaeda operatives were raided by a group of -- a U.S. group that included the assistance of the U.S. military but wasn't exclusively U.S. military. That raid was a result of the same intelligence about this threat.

You heard the references there to perhaps the threat may be resolved. That's because the people that they rounded up last night, Wednesday night in this raid south of Baghdad, may have been involved in this threat.

We do know that the raid was conducted as a result of the same intelligence that resulted in the threat against the New York City subway system. The operation was highly classified, very few details are being released, but I am told by this well-placed military official that significant intelligence was also gathered in the raid along with al Qaeda operatives who were rounded up, again by a team that was supported by the U.S. military but may have also included other government agencies.

And you know, Wolf, that's usually code for the CIA or perhaps sometimes the FBI, but again, no specifics are being given on exactly who conducted this raid.

But again, this was not the raid that produced the intelligence, this was another raid as a part of the intelligence and appears to be the reason that New York City officials delayed by a day or two announcing this threat. They didn't believe it was imminent, and they wanted to make sure that the U.S. government had the ability to move in on these people who they thought might be responsible for it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And briefly, Jamie, removing a -- or attacking this target in Musaib (ph) south of Baghdad, that's only one piece. The threat is not necessarily over to the transit system based on what we just heard.

MCINTYRE: Well, we don't know that. I mean, you heard the officials in New York saying that perhaps it might be resolved soon. I think what needs to happen here, is they need to figure out exactly who they've got, exactly who was behind the threat, whether they believed they're confident that they thwarted or whether, as you say, there might be more pieces in motion.

So at this point, they're not taking any chances with the elevated threat level in New York, the new searches. And again, it was a very highly classified operation. So, it's not clear how much detail we're going to get.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thanks very much.

We're not going to go away from this story. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" picking up the story right now. Lou is standing by in New York.

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