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American Morning

Foiled Plan to Blow Up Planes

Aired August 10, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A sophisticated terror plot has been foiled. Now worldwide aviation has been thrown into chaos as unprecedented security measures are now being put into place.
Complete coverage ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: OK, here is how the plot appears to would have worked.

An explosive brought on a plane in an innocuous form, maybe disguised as a common object. Then those explosives would have been detonated mid flight, while the plane was going from the United Kingdom to the United States, over the Atlantic. It would be mass murder, say British authorities, of unimaginable proportions.

Lots of unknowns, of course, at this point as the investigation is just getting under way. How many planes, for example? Was there a specific date planned? We do not know.

But here's what we do know. There have been 21 arrests in and around London. You can expect that number to go higher.

They say the main players in the plot are under arrest. And all those in custody are suspected of taking part in the plot. None of the arrests, though, were actually made, we're told, at any airports.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the plot was very sophisticated, international in scope. Also, a suggestion -- all that leading to a suggestion, I should say, of an al Qaeda connection, the sophistication, the organization, the financing potentially.

Passengers here at U.S. airports should expect long delays. They are being told to arrive at least two hours ahead of flights. And there is a total ban on bringing any liquids on to a plane. That would include beverages or hair gels or lotion. That's because the plot, of course, as we are told, would have involved liquid explosives and maybe small detonators maybe disguised as little key fobs or little electronic clickers that you unlock your car door with or your garage door with.

Heathrow Airport at this time almost completely shut down. All short-haul flights into the airport have been canceled. Long-haul flights like those that were headed to the U.S. are facing very severe delays.

Heathrow is normally the world's busiest international airport. It handles 186,000 passengers every day.

We begin this morning with Adrian Finighan. He's live at Heathrow for the very latest from there.

Good morning, Adrian.

ADRIAN FINIGHAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning.

Eerily quiet here on one of the main runways behind me at Heathrow. Normally there would be 1,300 aircraft movements a day. Now, that means 1,300 aircraft either landing or taking off.

In the last hour we have seen one aircraft. Normally at this time of the day jets would be screaming down that runway once every 90 seconds, two minutes or so.

We've just heard from Tony Douglas. He's the CEO of BAA here at Heathrow, the people who run the airport. He said that they continue to experience severe disruption to their operations, but thanks to a contingency plan that they put into operation early this morning London time, the situation is now beginning to ease.

As you just mentioned, short-haul flights from the airport to domestic U.K. destinations and European destinations all canceled. Long-haul flights into the airport have been canceled, apart from those who were already in the air when the ban -- or when the closure was announced. Some long-haul flights are getting off from the airport, but with, as you say, severe delays.

Now, Mr. Douglas said that the disruption is set to continue for some days. He urged passengers to arrive early for their flights if they are traveling tomorrow or over the next few days, and not to bring any hand luggage with them apart from the items permitted by the authorities in this flyer that they are giving to passengers as they arrive here at the airport.

He said that once you get through security, which is taking much, much longer than it usually does, you will be allowed to purchase items from duty free, as we call it here in the U.K., although if you're traveling to the U.S., although you will be allowed to consume items -- purchases that you've made at the airport, you won't be allowed to take them on board the aircraft. Anything that you bought, particularly in liquid form, will be taken from you at another security screening just prior to boarding the aircraft and will be put into the hold -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Adrian Finighan for us this morning.

Adrian, thanks -- Tony.

HARRIS: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says planning in this plot was well advanced and it had all of the markings of an al Qaeda operation. Let's go live now to the Homeland Security Department and CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

As you say, suggestive al Qaeda -- of al Qaeda, but U.S. officials not saying definitively that there is a link. They have said, however, that this was an extraordinarily sophisticated plot that was imminent.

Secretary Chertoff saying that they had accumulated the components that they needed and that they were ready to act. That is why the move was made to disrupt this plot.

Out of an abundance of caution, they decided to ramp up security, although officials say there is no -- there have been no arrests made here, no indications of plotting here in this country. They are aware that they may not have arrested everybody involved in this. They are wary of possible copycats, and so they are ramping up to red, the very highest level, flights coming from the United Kingdom to the United States, and the rest of aviation being moved up to threat level orange. And all liquids, as you've heard, being banned from flights because this plot did involve, Secretary Chertoff said, taking liquids on to planes, liquids that might appear quite innocuous, and then mixing them into an explosive concoction.

All of this being done out of prudence and precaution, they say, as -- as they review this plot which they say involved multiple attacks on multiple aircraft, on carriers coming into the United States. They say the investigation by the Britons -- by the British had been under way for some time, but it was only within the last several weeks that they became aware that the U.S. was targeted and then the U.S.-British cooperation ramped up.

We're told there was great cooperation between the two countries. And also, I'm told, amongst the different agencies here in the United States involved in this, as well as with the U.S. airlines.

Back to you, Tony.

HARRIS: And Jeanne, it looks like there will also be a greater role to be played by federal air marshals, as well.

MESERVE: That's right. They said they are dispatching federal air marshals to Britain so they will have better coverage of flights from Britain to the U.S. So there already are air marshals deployed all around the world on a number of international flights destined for the U.S., but now, of course, special emphasis on this particular route that's been moved up to threat level red.

HARRIS: Jeanne Meserve for us.

Jeanne, thank you. O'BRIEN: British authorities say they've work closely with U.S. authorities on this case. Security is tighter this morning not just at airports. Washington's Metro Transit has heightened security, as well.

Let's take you live to Washington and CNN Chief National Correspondent John King.

Hey, John. Good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, I'm sorry, I lost you in my ear, but I think you can still hear me.

I want to tell you that U.S. officials -- you just heard Jeanne Meserve say that U.S. officials publicly are saying there are links to al Qaeda, not making a definitive link. In private, they are drawing (ph) a bit more. One U.S. official telling me a short time ago -- saying, "The intelligence, we believe, outlines very strong links back to al Qaeda."

We're about a month away from the anniversary of September 11th, so there already was about to be a conversation in this country about where are we in the war on terror? What is the effectiveness of U.S. and global efforts to crack down on al Qaeda?

Bush administration officials, as Jeanne just noted, stressing their cooperation with the British on this plot. And again, stressing what they believe to be the serious, sophisticated nature of this plot.

One official telling me a short time ago it involved at least a half-dozen aircraft flying from the U.K. to the United States that they believed would be targeted. They don't have or they won't give us any specific date for the attacks, but this official saying this plot was, "very close to operational."

Another official I spoke to earlier saying this is not a group of disgruntled homegrown people looking to make a political statement. It's highly coordinated, sophisticated operation with international involvement and implications.

And again, they are being very reluctant to discuss much about connecting the dots of the intelligence. They say part of that is out of respect for the British legal system, part of that due to the fact that they are still conducting the investigation. And again, emphasizing what Jeanne just reported, they say there's no evidence at all that any suspects or anyone connected to this plot are here in the United States, but they say they still need to follow leads in Great Britain.

Perhaps the scope of the investigation could change. But, Soledad, again, they are saying at least based on what they believe so far, they think, given the sophistication, given the highly technical nature of the explosives that they believe would be used in these plots, that the U.S. officials saying that they believe in the end when they can talk more about this they will be able to connect the links and intelligence back to al Qaeda.

That, of course, will be the subject of some debate in the days and weeks ahead -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It certainly looks like it has all the fingerprints of al Qaeda without anybody officially necessarily saying it.

John King for us in D.C.

Thanks, John.

KING: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: There have been links, as well, between the U.S. and U.K. Leadership talking there. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow says that the British prime minister, Tony Blair, has been having conversations with President Bush and they have discussed the plot.

Let's take you right to the White House.

CNN Correspondent Elaine Quijano is there.

Hey, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Well, the president, as you know, of course, is making his way or will be later this morning from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to an event in Wisconsin later today. And, in fact, we do expect at some point to hear from the president himself.

For now, the response coming from White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, as you noted, talking about the consultations between the president and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. I'll read from some of his statement, which is a little lengthy.

But it says, "The president has been fully informed of the counter-terror and intelligence operation for several days. The president, prime minister and their key intelligence, law enforcement and security officials have been in close and regular contact, and as you would expect, he has spoken to Prime Minister Blair about these developments in recent days."

"The president has also been briefed on a daily basis during his intelligence briefings and homeland security briefings. Secretary Chertoff and the Homeland Security Council recommended increases in a threat level yesterday and they were approved."

Now, as to the nature of the threat, you heard John King, we heard about the links. Senior administration officials are saying that they very early on now believe might exist between this terror plot and al Qaeda, but no mention of that in the official statement.

Here is the rest of it from White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, saying, "This is an ongoing investigation that will play out over several days and weeks. Our British counterparts have made a series of arrests in the last several hours. We do believe the plot involved flights from the U.K. to the U.S. and was a direct threat to the United States. This was as serious a threat to our country and the U.K."

"We commend the counter-terrorism officials here and the U.K. for the cooperation and work to disrupt this plot. But it is an ongoing investigation and we will constantly evaluate the nature of the threat and adjust our measures," Soledad.

So that is the response so far. Again, what we are hearing is the president, of course, expected to make some sort of comment on this. He will be leaving his ranch in Crawford, Texas, as I said, due to make a stop in Wisconsin later this morning, a couple hours or so from now. Still no exact word, though, yet, Soledad, on when the president might be commenting on this -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano for us at the White House.

Thanks, Elaine -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, as we've been telling you, dozens of flights canceled in Europe right now. For travelers still hoping to get out of the U.K., there are some very restrictive rules in place. All passengers must be hand-searched, and I don't have to tell you that is slowing down the process.

All footwear must be taken off and x-rayed, plus all approved carry-on items also must go through the x-ray machines. Walking aids like canes or walkers must also be x-rayed, and only airport-provided wheel chairs can pass through the screening points.

Officials have banned almost all liquids from being carried on board. The only exception, milk for babies that must first be tested by the passenger before it will be allowed.

A liquid ban also in place here in the United States. The usual carry-on bags are now completely banned. No more garment bags or satchels of any kind. Large purses also are on that list.

Some individual carry-on items are allowed like wallets, eyeglasses and prescription medicines. Those are allowed, but all of those items must be put into a see-through plastic bag. And all passengers headed to the United States need to be ready for a second search at the boarding gate.

All that means long lines to get through security and airports today.

Let's go now to AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho. She is at JFK, John F. Kennedy International Airport, here in New York.

Alina, good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, good morning to you. If you are planning to fly out of a U.S. airport today, including JFK, some practical advice. Get to the airport at least two hours before your flight, and try to pack lightly. There will be restrictions in terms of what you can carry on to the plane.

If you're just waking up to this news, you need to know that you cannot bring any liquids or gels on to the plane with you. If you're planning on buying a meal, don't buy a drink. You can't bring beverages.

You cannot bring hair gel, shampoos, lotions, toothpaste, even perfume. Remember, this is for carry-on luggage only. These items can be put into checked luggage.

There are some exceptions, as you have been hearing, baby formula and medicine, but you may have to verify the authenticity of these items as you go through security.

Again, the headline is, pack lightly, get to the airport early. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said if you are planning to fly today, you don't need to cancel your flight, but keep these things in mind. Give yourself some extra time.

Some passengers we spoke to today said of course they are concerned, of course they are a bit inconvenienced. But they don't seem to be changing their plans today.

Tony, I can tell you that you can expect severe delays, particularly flights coming into JFK, and particularly those flights that are coming in from London. But there are some cancellations. Definitely some delays. But so far, passengers don't seem to be canceling the plans -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Alina, if you have a loved one who is traveling who may not have gotten word of all that is going on, it might be a good idea to give that person a call and to at least let them know what is coming, and to also let them know that if you have these kind of items in your possession, that you still can check those items.

CHO: That's right. That's an important point to make, because remember, this alleged plot involved liquid explosives that would have been smuggled on through carry-on luggage.

Checked baggage, you can put those liquids and gels, including hair gel, shampoos, toothpaste. All of that can go into checked luggage. You just cannot bring those on to the plane -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Alina Cho for us.

Alina, thank you.

O'BRIEN: We've got to take a short break. We're going to be back in just a moment talking with Bill Daly about this plot. More specific details as we piece together the various press conferences and news conferences that have been held on both sides of the Atlantic. What exactly was the plot? How did they thwart it? That's ahead.

Stay with us. We're back in a moment.

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O'BRIEN: ... here in the U.S. we get sort of dribs and drabs of information. Not a lot of specific details, but pieces that we can put together.

It sounds as if there was going to be a pieces of a bomb essentially that would go on -- get on board the flight. And get on board because they would be innocuous, no one screening would really think that anything was in liquid form would be a problem. Then maybe what -- the key fob, the electronic key fob would set off this bomb. That's essentially what we know.

Surprised by this, or does it sound like al Qaeda to you?

BILL DALY, CONTROL RISKS GROUP: Well, certainly the level of sophistication, as FBI Director Mueller says, seems to have the fingerprints of al Qaeda. No one is willing to be able to point that finger right on...

O'BRIEN: Seems to, may have.

DALY: But when we're talking about both sophistication, perhaps some funding, some type of training with regard to trade craft, it certainly -- certainly does sound like that. I think as this investigation unfolds, as the British put the case together, we'll learn more about it. But they are being very close-mouthed over in Britain because of their legal system.

O'BRIEN: They talked about an unimaginable number of casualties. I mean, you say, OK, well, if 9/11 had 3,000 casualties, they are talking about more than 3,000 casualties.

To you, that says what about the number of planes that would have to be involved if you're talking about a U.K. to U.S. route?

DALY: Well, if we're talking about sometime up to 300 people on an aircraft -- nonetheless, if we go to much larger jumbo jets how many people are on there -- we're also looking at how many planes could be in the air at one time. When you look at the flight distance between the U.K. and the U.S., and even points further in the U.S., like Los Angeles, how many planes could be in the air at one time?

It's possible that they could be looking, you know, upwards of -- I've heard numbers of eight, nine, maybe even 10 planes simultaneous, which would give them the ability to have planes in the air. And even as things occur, you wouldn't be able to recall those planes. You would be able to stop the new ones from taking off, but you'd have all these planes in the air. So, when we're talking about the numbers of people, we're really talking about probably on the level of the 9/11 attack.

O'BRIEN: How close do you think they were to an actual plot? We heard Secretary Chertoff talk about the design phase. He said it was way beyond the design phase. It was well advanced, accumulated, assembled what they needed. It wasn't sort of the thought stage, a bunch of guys getting together talking about a plan. It seems that they were monitoring it for months and then suddenly something triggered them bringing it to a close.

What could that be?

DALY: Well, Soledad, in these investigations -- we have even seen them here in the U.S. -- where's the right time to pull that lever and open the trap door? It's, you know, as they are just talking about it? Well, there's a certain level of conspiracy that they may be able to charge with.

As you get further down and see how many more people are involved, you know, where is the funding coming from, I think it sounds to me, according -- and also according to Mr. Chertoff's comments, being close to execution, meaning that they were starting to do some things. Maybe starting to assemble the devices, procure the equipment needed, perhaps going out and trying to buy the tickets that they would then put people on the plane and looking at those routes.

So, there was something that started to say this is serious, we can't let it go any further. We don't want any of these people to slip through our fingers. We have enough right now, we're going to -- we're going pull the string.

O'BRIEN: Secretary Chertoff said al Qaeda is not necessarily as motivated by anniversaries as we may -- "we," being those of us in the public might think they are. Would you agree with that?

And also, I'd be curious to know -- I mean, my sense of al Qaeda is that they like to revisit things that don't always go right for them. Re-bombing a building or attacking a building that they weren't able to fully get, going back to strategies that didn't work the first time.

DALY: Exactly. You know, the World Trade Center in 1993, again 2001. They revisited that.

When we talk about anniversary dates, certainly the fifth anniversary of 9/11, as Peter Bergen who was on before mentioned, is significant. And I think to them and in that world, that is really their hallmark. That is kind of the cornerstone of their kind of immersions as an international serious terror organization striking the U.S.

So I would agree to say that 9/11, in and around that time, could be an important date to them. But when we talk about, you know, why do they go after targets, again, why do they go after planes again? O'BRIEN: I mean, you'd think planes, there's more security than ever on planes. It's difficult to smuggle things through on planes. Why planes?

DALY: Well, you know, I go back to the old adage. You know, when they caught Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, he said, "I rob banks because that's where the money is."

In this case, why do you attack planes? That's where the people are. That's where the economic impact is. That's where the drama is.

O'BRIEN: Or you can kill 4,000 people in a coordinated attack.

DALY: People all at one time.

And we have ramped up security tremendously after 9/11. I mean, look at the precautions put in place. We have the Transportation Security Administration taking over security.

We looked right after that -- interesting -- you look at the migration of this -- we looked at those measures that would prevent an assault on the aircraft and the crew. We put in armored doors on the cockpits. We were taking away people's nail files to get on planes.

But now we see this level of sophistication going a little bit further on this continuum. Now we're not talking about people taking over the aircraft, we're talking about people willing to take their lives, or maybe several of them at one time, to take the aircraft down over the ocean. So we are now talking about a different level, different tactics, different things we need to look at.

O'BRIEN: There was a report out of the BBC that talked about how explosives might be hidden in fizzy drinks. And I'm wondering why fizzy drinks, as opposed to any other drink?

DALY: Well, you know, having only gone through high school and part of college chemistry...

O'BRIEN: I should call you Dr. Daly.

DALY: Yes. I can only surmise that, you know, we're looking at these more innocuous elements. And in some cases, you know, these could be benign in themselves.

You know, and they could be put into a fizzy drink. So if you open it up or people are drinking it, it has the appearance of what it is supposed to be.

O'BRIEN: Just carrying a soda on board your flight.

DALY: But you mix these chemicals together and, voila, you have a device which is highly concentrated and highly combustible. And perhaps combined with something we talked about before, which was a remote detonator. People sitting...

O'BRIEN: Like the key fobs for people, right. DALY: ... up in carry-on, you know, luggage overhead, could be set off.

So I think as we look at this, Soledad, we're going to see a change -- kind of a sea change in the way that we do security screening. As that security screening has been tight so far, we may start to see after this -- and right now, as we know, there's a prohibition about taking liquids on the aircraft -- but we could see perhaps more steps being taken, different steps.

Not only just liquids, but, you know, what about laptops, which have all the components? They have -- you know, they have drives, they have batteries, they have electronics, they have clocks.

O'BRIEN: Right. They make you turn it on and turn it off, and that's kind of it.

DALY: Well, I always say, if I was smart enough to put something in a laptop, I would be smart enough to make sure the screen light's out.

So, you know, we're going to be looking, I think, at another devil of sophistication in our screening mechanisms. And I think Mr. Chertoff had mentioned that. He mentioned things such as -- not only just the air marshals, but also teams to search the aircraft and other measures that we may not even see up front.

So, we could see more things happening in the next few months.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bill. Thank you. Appreciate your time this morning -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, I have to tell you, we're trying to get our Deborah Feyerick to Heathrow International Airport in London to do some reporting for us, first of all. But she is going through an experience now of getting through the checkpoints. Kind of a good case study of what it is like and what it will be like for you over the next couple of days if you try to fly, internationally.

Deb, where are you right now? And give us a sense of what your morning has been out.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Absolutely.

Well, right now I'm actually in my seat on the plane. I just got on a few minutes ago.

I have been told by an official about 30 minutes ago that, in fact, they were going to begin secondary screening. That, in fact, that is exactly what they experienced.

They had an entire secondary TSA team at the gate doing a thorough screening of everyone. They opened up my backpack, took everything out, confiscated a liquid eyeliner, went through my makeup brushes, went through all my electronics, and then I got a full and thorough wanding, the kind you get when you're usually pulled out of the line. Everybody was getting that. Doing the hand search, as well as the wanding.

They are taking this obviously, very, very, very seriously. There were a number of other agents. It looked like British Airways had other agents there, as well as air marshals and officials from the DHS and TSA.

So extra bodies here. But they are now doing a secondary screening, at least here on this flight.

HARRIS: So, Deb, how long did it take start to finish?

FEYERICK: They are very thorough, and it didn't take all that much longer. Our plane was supposed to take off about 9:15, so we're really not that late, though they are getting people on board. It's just a question that everybody thought that they were through the screening, but, in fact, they are giving a second screening as you get near the jetway.

HARRIS: Does it make sense to get there a couple of hours -- I guess the recommendation is two hours now. Does that make sense to you?

FEYERICK: Yes, it probably does. And I think in this particular climate traveling is going to take longer regardless. So, it's just a question of bringing -- bringing an extra book and just hunkering down for the long haul.

HARRIS: OK.

Deborah Feyerick on her way to Heathrow International Airport to do some reporting for us. Kind of a case study of what it is like to try to get through security now, now secondary security set up and in operation right now at airports. We can imagine around the country.

We're going to take a quick break and update our top story in just a moment.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING on CNN.

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