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Tighter Air Security Measures; Airline Plot Investigation

Aired December 27, 2009 - 19:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: One of the busiest travel days of the year, and Detroit Airport again tied up in knots over a security scare. And get this, the same flight from Amsterdam that a man tried to blow up on Christmas day.

We're learning more about that terror suspect. He is out of the hospital and into a prison; his court-appointed attorney already planning her strategy for tomorrow's court hearing.

In Iran, some of the most explosive anti-government demonstrations; we have seen it for months. This one with deadly results; there are conflicting reports the nephew of a key opposition figure is dead.

I'm Drew Griffin, in for Don Lemon. Let's take a look at the top story of our news for a while today.

We are asking could this be happening again: a second security scare onboard a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines jet in three days.

CNN's Martin Savidge is at the Detroit Airport. Martin, same flight number 253.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable deja vu here in Detroit. It was just a shocking afternoon. Actually we have been gathered to await the arrival of Flight 253. We wanted to talk to the passengers about the new international security measures, and how tough were they and what was the flight like. We waited, we waited and waited.

And word spread within the terminal there was an emergency that had been declared on an international flight headed to Detroit, and then the shocker, it was announced it was Flight 253, that same flight that suffered the attempted attack on Christmas day. The same plane, and different crew, but they are flying in and they declare that there had been some sort of emergency on the aircraft. They wanted emergency people on the ground to greet that aircraft. That's exactly what happened.

The plane was taxied to a remote location. Emergency vehicles surrounded it. And the question arose, what happened? It turns out there was an unruly passenger. That was the declaration. Apparently he had been acting suspiciously, walking up and down the aisles, not listening to crew members' orders and spending a lot of time in the bathroom.

And that's what got the crew suspicious, and that's when they sent out the alert. It was later declared that this was not a threatening situation for any of the passengers onboard. It's believed that the affected passenger was actually suffering from an illness. And there also may have been a language barrier involved as well.

Nerves are very high and security is very high, but eventually it played out with everybody being safe with the plane safely on the ground. But still, for everybody gathered here, security and media, a very, very troubling day to see it play out once more. You almost had to remind yourself, this is not old video, it was live, and it was today -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: All right. Martin Savidge in Detroit. Thanks Martin. Just truly odd.

Trouble on a Detroit-bound plane has now interrupted President Obama's Hawaiian vacation twice in three days. He was notified about today's disturbance about an hour and a half after the plane was on the ground. We are told that the president asked officials to keep up the heightened security measures and he ordered another security briefing as soon as possible.

Meanwhile the man charged in the Christmas Day bombing attempt on Northwest flight 253 is out of the hospital. He's now in a federal prison. The Associated Press reporting that Umar Farouk Abdul- Muttallab has been moved to a facility in Milan, Michigan, about 50 miles outside Detroit. That's according to his attorney Miriam Seifer (ph), a chief federal defender.

She says she has not had an in-depth conversation with 23-year- old Nigerian man since he was charged yesterday but she is planning to fight the government's request for a DNA sample during a hearing tomorrow. Abdul-Muttallab will not be present for that hearing.

The FBI says the Christmas Day passenger in seat 19A was armed with PETN, an explosive related to nitroglycerin. PETN was developed after World War I. It is among the least stable of military explosives. But it is extremely powerful and can be stored for long periods of time without losing its effectiveness.

FBI agents also recovered a syringe from the suspect's seat or near there. It's believed to have been part of the device. PETN is the same substance Shoe Bomber Richard Reid tried to use eight years ago.

All this is happening and today is one of the busiest travel days of the year. Air passengers around the world are now dealing with tighter security than ever because of Christmas Day incident aboard that flight. It means a more visible police presence, longer lines and longer delays.

Airlines are implementing slight variations, but generally the new security rules require more physical pat downs at the gate, more frequent checks of carry-on bags. And in the last hour of flight, no standing in the aircraft, no blankets or personal items on your lap, no touching of carry-on baggage, no using of rest rooms unless escorted by a crew member and federal official urged passengers to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity.

So how are air travelers bearing in light of this new security measures and this post-Christmas travel crush?

CNN's Kara Finnstrom is live at Los Angeles International airport for that. And Kara, I have to tell you that a whole long list of the do nots in the last hour of flight sounds like a real pain.

Apparently we are having a little trouble with Kara's microphone. We'll try to get her right back. But she has been reporting today on the problems out in Los Angeles all day and how passengers have been coping with those new security rules, and coping pretty well although there are big changes.

If the Christmas Day bombing suspect was on a terror watch list why wasn't he stopped from boarding a plane for Detroit? How was he able to get explosives on to the flight? We are going to be displaying what those watch lists mean and why they don't necessarily work as advertised.

And later emotions are running hot in Iran as authorities crack down with deadly force against anti-government demonstrators.

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GRIFFIN: Busy day for folks flying home from wherever they have been for Christmas, and that has smacked run into the new rules by security after this failed attempt to blow up a passenger airliner over Detroit.

Kara Finnstrom is in Los Angeles, and Kara, we ran through all the dos and don'ts of the last hour of flight. Now we're saying, they sound like a real pain. You cannot even go to the bathroom for an hour of flight.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENTS: Yes, passengers here are saying it is an inconvenience. But you know what, Drew, most of them that we have spoken with actually say they feel good about these extra security measures. Everyone flying in the U.S. is being told to allow extra time to catch their flights whether they're traveling domestically or internationally.

And joining us live, we have a couple of young travelers here who are doing a little bit of both. Their flight actually was cancelled last night coming into LAX because of the weather. So they had a double whammy here; all that snow in the mid-West.

And so they got here late last night and then they did not quite have enough time to catch their flight here because of all of those extra security measures. Tell us Emmett, what you went through.

EMMETT ROSS, AIRLINE PASSENGER: They made all the bags go back through a second time or some of them at least because they had like water bottles in them or they weren't -- the laptops didn't come out. So it just took a really long time. And so we missed our flight to New Zealand.

FINNSTROM: So they're going to New Zealand as you can see. They're going to be in a big unicycle competition and they're still going to make it. Right?

ROSS: Yes.

FINNSTROM: Well, thanks for joining us live.

I want to give you a look here at the x-ray screening machine over here that's doing some extra checks of the luggage. What we have been hearing from passengers here on the international side is the changes that they are seeing, Drew, are some of the changes you mentioned.

Their baggage is getting extra passage through these machines. In many cases, they are saying that their baggage have been individually hand checked. They are also going through more pat downs of individuals that are coming through by security.

And they are also telling us that during the last hour of their flight into the U.S. -- because we did speak with some passengers coming off of international flights that they are going through that exact scenario that you described a little earlier. They are being told to stay in their seats. They can't get out to use the restroom. All of the in flight services are turned off. As they approach the U.S. or they are actually over U.S. soil, being restrained to their street area -- to their seat area, rather, as they fly into the LAX area.

So Drew those are just a couple of things we're seeing and hearing about here today. But again, everyone telling us that we have spoken to so far that the inconvenience is well worth it.

GRIFFIN: Kara, it just dawned on me, right behind you I saw a big screening issue that happens at the Bradley terminal, I guess where you are right around Christmas and huge boxes that are part of the luggage that people are bringing home presents and all that kind of stuff. Are they able to handle those huge boxes in the x-ray machines?

FINNSTROM: That's exactly right. Well you can't see them now, but you can see them over here, some big, big boxes. That's a good question. They are searching a lot of the boxes by hand. I am not sure what the size requirement is on these machines, but we are told hand searches have increased here because they are being extra vigilant. And a number of these folks going home for the holidays, and bringing home those Christmas presents are just going to have to wait a little bit longer.

GRIFFIN: All right. Kara Finnstrom in Los Angeles; thanks for that. The failed airline terror attempt on Christmas Day is already fodder for political bickering. Could the ordeal have been prevented? Was there a weak link in the security chain?

Michigan Congressman Peter Hoekstra is the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. He says the bomb attempt should be a wakeup call about the global terror threat especially because the suspect is claiming connections to al Qaeda, possibly in Yemen.

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REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: If you don't identify the problem, which is radical Jihadist terrorism, we will not be in a position to solve the problem and keep America safe.

I think that the other reaction is 90 people in Gitmo are Yemenis, and the president wants to send the individuals back to Yemen. That is a mistake. They will find their way back on to the battlefield. They need to stay in Guantanamo. Closing Gitmo is a bad idea. Sending these people back to Yemen and other parts of the Middle East is just a bad idea.

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GRIFFIN: Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, says that there is no indication so far that Friday's thwarted attack is linked to a larger terror group. And she says that even though the suspect was on a terror watch list, there wasn't enough information to keep him grounded.

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JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: You have to understand that you need information that is specific and credible if you are going to actually bar someone from air travel.

He was on a general list, which over half a million people, everybody had access to it, but there was not the kind of credible information in the sense of derogatory information that would move him up that list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: So what is the point of that list? We're going to take a closer look coming up in about 20 minutes from now. Meanwhile though, as security tightens across the world, the investigation into how and why Muttallab got onboard a plane with explosives has also gone worldwide.

Tom Fuentes is former FBI assistant director of international operations, a CNN contributor. Tom joins us from San Francisco. Tom good evening.

(CROSSTALK)

GRIFFIN: We have heard from this man's family that the country may be a link or the link. What are you learning about how we're trying to investigate that?

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, a senior security official from the government of Yemen just informed me a short time ago that they were working diligently with the FBI office in (INAUDIBLE) Yemen to determine if and when he entered the country. They said their databases are not as robust as the U.S. Systems, and they have not been able to determine whether he flew into the country or not and that it may be impossible for them to determine the dates of the entry or exit if you cross the land border with Saudi Arabia.

So they are working very hard. They will be issuing an official statement from the government of Yemen tomorrow to say just that, that they are working closely with the U.S. authorities, with the FBI to try and determine if he in fact went to Yemen; if he did, where he went. Did he go to a school? Did he go to a religious institution? Who are the people that he met with and associated with while in that country if he, in fact, was at that country?

The U.S. has a similar investigation going on by the FBI in Nigeria in the offices in Lagos and in the capital of Abuzha in northern Nigeria.

GRIFFIN: If he went into Nigeria or certainly if he flew out of there, which he did, we expect there'll be a paper trail. But if there is no paper trail or record trail in Yemen, is it just going to take human intelligence, basically cops on the ground in Yemen to find out where he went?

FUENTES: Yes, it is. And on that point, the FBI or U.S. law enforcement authorities do not have the authority to conduct investigation in sovereign countries, allied or not. It's going to take cooperation, partnership and assistance on the part of the authorities in Yemen and the authorities in Nigeria and the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia -- any other country where this investigation leads as far as who is associated with this individual, and you know, whether it be by cell phone or e-mail.

All of those records are going to require subpoenas or the equivalent of a U.S. subpoena in those host countries by those country services. This is not something the U.S. government can do on its own.

GRIFFIN: Tom, tomorrow there is going to be a hearing in Detroit. They are trying to get a DNA sample from this suspect. With all of the evidence that has already been collected, why a DNA sample? What are they trying to link?

FUENTES: There could have been objects that have turned up in searches in airports, in the airports in Lagos and Amsterdam. There could be objects that turned up in the restroom of the aircraft or under the seat or behind the seat that they may want to be trying -- may want to try determine if his DNA is somehow on those devices or on pieces of clothing or baggage, whatever it might be.

And also to help in just identifying him personally if his DNA shows up in a database in some other country to absolutely verify his identity.

GRIFFIN: I want to ask you one more question. He had a three- hour layover in Amsterdam. There has been some talk unconfirmed that he was talking with somebody, that maybe he used a telephone. Is there surveillance video and/or if he used a telephone will they be able to track who he called or how he called them?

FUENTES: Well, that's going to depend how he got the telephone, whether he paid for it or whether he had an anonymous Sim card or phone calling card in that phone. If he -- or if he used other phones like a pay phone. If he used a phone using an anonymous card or an anonymous Sim card, the only way that's going to come up is if he called someone who is already being monitored on their phone, and therefore is intercepted in connection with other monitoring.

That of course would have had to be done by the authorities in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam. So to link him to a telephone will help, but they have to determine that he actually did have a telephone, that it was in his name, it's the one he used at the time that coincides with when he was spotted using a phone.

So again, that's going to be a very difficult piece of investigation to link, and will require the cooperation and the assistance of the Netherlands.

GRIFFIN: All right. Tom Fuentes in San Francisco, thanks Tom.

The investigation in the attempted terror attack at Detroit's airport has ties to the United Kingdom as well. CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson live in London where the suspect previously lived. And Nic today, you were learning about this guy's history, who he was and who he talked to and a lot about really his political dealings and religious dealings there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Drew. We have been talking to one of his former high school teachers who is here in the U.K. at the moment. He tells us that Abdul-Muttallab was a very devout Muslim and very religiously oriented in his work at school.

He also told us of a debate that he had in the classroom that the teacher initiated in the classroom about the Taliban in Afghanistan. He said during that debate, Abdul-Muttallab was the only student in the classroom that came out in support of the Taliban, all the other students in the classroom argued against him -- against the Taliban. It gives you an indication of his background.

It was after he went to high school that he moved here, June 2005, three years living in this apartment building here. And it was when he finished university around the corner from here in London that his family was really worried about his religious views, feeling that he was becoming somewhat extreme, that he was mixing with the wrong people in Britain.

The counterterrorism police have been searching the building behind me now for two days. They've taken a break overnight again as they did the previous night. They will resume tomorrow. But it's very clear they are taking a very meticulous approach to the last known premises that he lived in, in Britain.

You might ask, why does it take so long? Well, on a previous counterterrorism search and investigation here the police had to take down a full ceiling. They found a computer thumb drive, a USB thumb drive, taped to a beam way behind a full ceiling in a hidden part of the apartment. And that thumb drive was absolutely full of very critical information for that particular terror plot investigation.

So that probably gives you an idea of why the police are taking so long. But the fact that they are pausing overnight does show that they don't appear, at least to have any red hot leads that are going to prevent an ongoing terror operation.

But another indication we've had today of what the British authorities thought about Abdul-Muttallab is when he applied recently for another student visa to come back to Britain, it's reported in British media that that was turned down. And when we asked the British home office here $about that today, they refused to knock that report down. And they would not confirm or deny it, but the indication there seems to be the British authorities also within the past year had concerns about this particular young man, and weren't not about to let him back in to Britain.

GRIFFIN: Very interesting Nic. Very interesting indeed. Thank you so much.

We're going to try to connect all the dots in a special hour of coverage: "TERROR ON FLIGHT 253" beginning next hour. We will look at what investigators are learning about the suspect, his possible ties to terror groups, the impacts his actions are having on the rest of us as we travel around the world.

And later this evening, "LARRY KING LIVE" will have the latest on today's news care on another Northwest flight into Detroit, two days after the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day. That's tonight 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN with Larry King.

A string of suspicious fires sparks fear in Massachusetts. The blazes have already killed 2 people. Residents want to know who is responsible.

Plus, could the snow-socked Midwest face even more winter woes?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. Tracking yes more snow for the Midwest and lake-effect snow which means heavy amounts for parts of Pennsylvania; I will have a look at that plus your travel weather coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.

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GRIFFIN: Parts of Northampton, Massachusetts, were on fire in the dark hours of this morning. Nine fires within about an hour all close together. Two people killed. It has all the signs of arson and the fire chief says he is investigating these blazes as suspicious. Members of the college town that's home to U Mass Smith and Amherst are on edge there.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they catch them. That is horrible. That's horrible for this community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Some residents say they have been reporting fires in this area for a year now. Neighborhood groups had held meetings with police and firefighter officials.

And there is a bit of a bag-log (ph) of flights out of Washington's Reagan National today, and blame it on the backlog of water yesterday. The water main broke and flooded a baggage claim area adding to the holiday travel crush and security headaches. This was an around the clock repair, and a cleanup job as you can imagine. Today we're told things are just about back to normal.

Bonnie Schneider that was a little weather on the inside that caused the problem.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, imagine going to get your bag and you're like it's raining in Washington only on the inside.

Well, Drew it's not over yet. The same storm that brought all the blizzard to the Midwest and the Northern plains for this week is back. And this time it just doesn't want to leave.

What that means is we are going to see more snow. For many places that have already seen quite a bit, Chicago, things are looking better for you but Detroit, the snow continues. Also down through Indianapolis into Louisville, Kentucky. And then in advance of it we have a little bit of a wintry mix affecting cities like Pittsburgh at this hour.

And if that's not enough, we are tracking some very heavy snowfall, the Midwest snow, 2 to 4 inches, and not so bad, you can shovel that right out. But when you have lake-effect snow, you could see 8 inches, 10 inches of snow, a lot of snow in a short amount of time, and that means we are watching the lake-effect snow with this winter advisory straight until tomorrow morning. Overnight you will get a lot of snow right here in Erie, and you wake up and you really have a lot of shoveling to do. And many of you are going back to work tomorrow.

So we will watch out for lake effect snow advisories straight until the early morning, the cool air coming in off the warmer waters of Lake Erie, and then it dumps that heavy snow as soon as it comes in contact with the land. So lake-effect snow is its own animal, very different than just a regular snowfall.

You can see not only are we watching the snow showers that are working their way across the Midwest, but it's a changing situation with more accumulation further off to the northeast. So you will see some of that snowfall even into Maine and upstate New York as I mentioned.

And finally, for those of you on the road driving; if you are heading to Cincinnati, if you're heading further to Pittsburgh to the east watch out for little bit of a change. We are expecting the wintry weather to bring about freezing rain tonight in that transition from rain to snow.

We'd like to show flight explorer just to show you all the activity in the air at this air, it's still a very busy Sunday evening. Many people still headed home from their Christmas destination. We have over 3,000 planes in the air.

One delay to tell you about in Newark, New Jersey; that's been continuing about an hour. The rest of the flights that you see here will be landing on time.

GRIFFIN: That is pretty good, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sounds good.

GRIFFIN: Thanks.

Well protests erupt into pandemonium in Iran. Anti-government rally has turned chaotic and then deadly; a high price for the opposition.

And in China, a virtual protest -- fighting for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter; is the great firewall of China getting stronger?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Checking our top stories, the man charged in Friday's attempted terror attack on Northwest Airlines flight 253 is out of the hospital. According to the "Associated Press," Umar Farouk Abdul- Muttallab has been moved to a federal prison outside of Detroit, about 50 miles from Detroit.

There was another incident today aboard Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam headed to Detroit. Emergency crews surrounded the plane after the pilot notified officials of a suspicious passenger who have locked himself in the restroom and became verbally disruptive. After investigating, authorities say the man was belligerent but today happened. A passenger was disruptive. The man was belligerent but genuinely sick. They concluded he did not pose any threat to that plane.

Violence, protests and deaths in Iran. A number of people have been killed and hundreds under arrest in fierce anti-government demonstrations in the capital. Clashes erupted today between protestors and security forces as huge crowds gathered for a religious observance.

CNN's Reza Sayah tells us that demonstrators defied a government crackdown. REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This turned out to be one of the deadliest days in Iran since the disputed elections on June 12th. Among the dead, according to an opposition web site and this could be the biggest development of the day was that a nephew of opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who according to the web site, died in Revolution Square on Sunday.

Iran's state funded Frez (ph) TV citing police reports that the young man killed in Revolution Square was not Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew. Meantime, let's show you some dramatic video that really illustrates how intense these protests have gotten. This is amateur video showing a group of protesters surrounding what appears to be a police van, smashing it out and dragging out what looks like a horrified driver.

This was not an isolated incident, more video showing protesters setting fire to a besieged headquarters. The clashes, according to witnesses, lasting throughout the day and into the night. Also reports of clashes in cities like Esbahan (ph), Mashad (ph), Tabreese (ph) and Iraq. All of this activity taking place on a major religious holiday of Ashoura, a day Shia Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of their prophet Imam Hossein.

Sunday in Iran marks the seventh day after the passing of Ayatollah Montazeri as well, the dissident cleric who was a huge figure in the opposition movement, who passed away last week. Symbolism and martyrdom are extremely significant in Shia Islam. And on Sunday, we saw the opposition movement use martyrdom and symbolism to demonstrate against what they call an unjust regime.

Reza Sayah, CNN at the Iran desk in Atlanta.

GRIFFIN: And the White House response to all that unrest in Iran is a statement "We strongly condemn the violent and unjust suppression of civilians in Iran, seeking to exercise their universal rights. Governing through fear and violence is never just."

Two explosions within 24 hours have Pakistan on edge. Here is a video of the last blast which injured at least 30 people who were taking part in a Shia Muslim procession today in Karachi. Pakistani authorities blamed this blast on a built up of gas from the city's sewer lines but admit an explosion hours earlier in northeast Pakistan was the work of a suicide bomber. At least five people died in that blast and 25 more were wounded.

Umar Farouk Abdul-Muttallab, that suspect in the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas day was on a terror watch list just last month. It turns out there are at least four different watch lists from least restrictive to no fly depending on the level of perceived threat of the individual.

Abdul-Muttallab was on the least restrictive, known as TIDE. It stands for Terrorist Identities' Datamart Environment. And about 500,000 names are on it. Within that is a somewhat smaller group, about 400,000 people who were on the TSDB, Terrorist Screening Database. Among them are about 14,000 names on the selected list, which means they must undergo secondary screening before boarding a flight.

And finally there is the much talked about no fly list. It comprises about 4,000 names of people who are absolutely forbidden from flying on a commercial aircraft. So what are the point of all these lists? Earlier today, a senior administration official told our State Department producer that Abdul-Muttallab should have gone through additional screening.

The officials says somebody dropped the ball. According to that official, the TSA and the National Counter terrorism Center would have known, Abdul-Muttallab was bound for the U.S., quoting here "One part of the system that absolutely failed was that he was able to board the plane with those chemicals." The officials suggested the guy should have gotten a secondary screening at the gate.

CNN international correspondent Richard Quest is in London. Richard, yesterday you we were in Amsterdam. We talked about this secondary screening that should have taken place. The obvious question tonight, were Dutch officials aware that Abdul-Muttallab was on this list?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there you have an interesting question. You have to understand how this whole process works. So it probably worth a second of two. Once you have made your reservation with the airline, the details, your name, your passport number, and all those sorts of details are sent by the airline electronically as part of the API, the Advance Passenger Information. You and I were talking about it last night.

It is sent across the Atlantic to the U.S. authorities. Now that is the point upon which they are then basically - the information comes back to the airline who should be screened and who should not be, whether they're on a particular list or not, whether or not further investigation needs to be made. It is really - the authorities in Amsterdam would only know about these things if the U.S. authorities had sent that information back to them.

So while it's fine for the authorities in the U.S. to sort of say that there should have been secondary screening and there should have been other searches, if, as there seems to be in this case, the U.S. authorities did not raise a flag. They did not ask for secondary screening, then the people in Amsterdam can hardly be blamed for not doing it.

GRIFFIN: So we can assume from this - and we only have to assume because we don't have the officials telling us all the nuances of these various lists at this point. We can assume that Dutch officials were not aware of this guy being on the list.

QUEST: I think it's a highly - I think it's a highly reasonable assumption to make. I mean, one would not want to necessarily nail your colors to the mask and go to battle on that particular thought, but yes, I mean, Amsterdam, Schipol, it's an extremely sophisticated airport. And so, and they're dealing with people. Don't forget, because Northwest has been flying to Amsterdam for years, decades and same with Delta and other U.S. carriers, they are all used to coming up against passengers who have to have secondary screening, who may be on a restricted list.

Remember also that when we talked about all these no-fly lists and watch lists, we are truly entering the twilight zone of the security services. They are only just about now admitting that these lists exist. They only just started to admit to anybody really how many people. And you have a balancing act that has to be performed.

On the one hand, yes, I can hear the righteous angle, why wasn't he searched, why he was on the list and what happened? But if you go on-line and you look at the number of people who are mistakenly on the list and who are having difficulty being taken off these various no- fly list and watch lists, you start to see that there is a real issue with putting so many peoples' names into a computer base that can suddenly throw it up afterwards.

Just one other thing, Drew, there is a way the U.S. government does have a way you can get your name taken off these lists, at the Department of Homeland Security, it's online, and it's called a TRIP system where you can register to have your name looked at and removed from these lists.

GRIFFIN: I know all about that one, Richard, because I had to go through that myself. We will talk to you later next hour. But there are lots of questions about to be had this week on this terror watch list and what the heck good does it do.

Just this year a government investigation found the FBI was mishandling watch lists, failing to add legitimate suspects, failing to remove U.S. citizens who should have not been on that list and that list included an eight-year-old boy, a former government official, commercial airline pilots and even me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): We are not terrorists, even though every time we went to the airport and tried to check in for a flight, we were told that we were on a terrorist watch list.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A watch list?

GRIFFIN: A watch list.

A just released inspector general's reports found 24,000 of us were on the FBI's terror watch list by mistake, like former U.S. Attorney James Robinson.

JAMES ROBINSON, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: So it seems for years now -

GRIFFIN: Those caught up in that watch list's nightmare hassled for years at airports did complain. They sent in paperwork to try and get off, and it didn't work. Denise Robinson, whose son, James, was on the list, found out it was such a known joke among the airlines that a few bucks to the sky cap could suddenly make the list go away.

DENISE ROBINSON, JAMES' MOM: My son here is on the terrorist list, can you help us, and now the sky caps will say sure, they will do whatever they need to do, and he comes back and they'll say here is your boarding pass.

GRIFFIN: That may seem funny but there is a very serious problem with the list as well. While many of us non terrorists were caught on it, some real terror suspects were not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: The government was highly critical of the FBI earlier this year when that report came out. We reached out to the director of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, the group that puts this list together. He agreed to appear on CNN this hour but cancelled just a couple of hours ago, saying they need to do more logistics.

Well, probably the shortest retirement on record. Florida football coach, Urban Meyer takes back his resignation. What gives? We will discuss this and other fair game topics with our sports business analyst, Rick Horrow. Stand by, Rick. There you go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Straight out of the Brett Favre play book. Yesterday he shocked the college football word with his unexpected resignation. This afternoon, Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer did it again, withdrawing his intention to quit and instead announcing an indefinite leave from the team after their sugar bowl team against Cincinnati.

The 45-year-old coach of the decade says he has health concerns that he will address, but says his decision to return is out of fairness to the team that he loves dearly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URBAN MEYER, UNIV. OF FLORIDA FOOTBALL COACH: We have had a heck of a run, a run we are very proud of. When you sat back and watched those young guys go at it today and the coaching staff and the program that we built, to not try would be not the right thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: After the Gators lost to Alabama in the SEC championship game, Meyer was hospitalized for chest pains. Earlier this month, the "Sports Illustrated" story elaborated on a brain cyst Meyer has been suffering with, reportedly worsened by stress.

CNN's sports business analyst Rick Horrow is joining us from West Palm Beach for a look at the top sports business stories of 2009. And Rick, a leave of absence sounds like college football is a good place to start.

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: A good place to start, Drew. And I am announcing today a present intention to stay with you, at least until next week. So you understand, it's very important. But number five is really big time college athletics taking center stage. Playoff, no playoff, 34 bowls, that's a lot. Florida, hundred millions of dollars of revenue every single year. Big time college program. That's why somebody like Urban Meyer has earth-shaking consequences. He is staying but it does highlight how big college football really is.

GRIFFIN: And number four this year, it has to be NASCAR. It took a hit with the economy?

HORROW: Yes, a little bit of turbulence at the beginning of the year. They also have less people watching and more people thinking about watching on TV, and the numbers were not as good. So what do they do, they have an iconic driver named Jimmy Johnson winning four straight titles, unheard of, and Danica Patrick who now starts in the nationwide series, and will be racing in NASCAR next year, maybe to save them, some people say.

GRIFFIN: The Yankees, number three. They are back. In my son's play book, they're number one.

HORROW: Hey, the evil empire strikes back. Thanks to your son, but $200 million payroll and a billion-dollar stadium means a World Series championship in New York even with a change of control from one Steinbrenner to another, and those famous $2,500 seats that are available and sold to the highest bidder for the World Series champion.

GRIFFIN: Unbelievable. And the price of A TV in Dallas has got to be what, number two in the countdown?

HORROW: Hey, but Drew, you forgot. It comes with a scoreboard and a stadium around it. So HKSR architects redefined the way these stadiums are done. $3.5 billion and three new stadiums, Yankees, Mets and the Cowboys. But also, it changes how these facilities are promoted. Basketball, boxing. It's not just for those 100,000 seats, but it's for people, 29 bucks, party decks, and they have the ability to watch these smaller events on the scoreboard. So it is going to change the way sports are promoted.

GRIFFIN: And the number one story I think in all of sports let alone business sports is probably the one so sad, and it just happened, Tiger Woods.

HORROW: Tiger who? Right. So the bottom line, 7,000 percent increase in pros. So he came on the scene in the last 11 in pro millionaire dollars, and by the way, he came on the scene 11 years ago, 12 years ago and now he very quickly falling from grace. EA is going to stay with him. Nike is going to stay with him because they have to.

Let's not hold a bake sale for our friend Tiger Woods, by the way, he is going to be OK, but it's going to make corporate contracts shorter, smaller and easier to terminate. And by the way, what about the tour itself, they got to find another superstar.

GRIFFIN: Just a quick follow-up, do you think as many people are going to follow golf now?

HORROW: Well, the numbers say half the people will follow based on last year. And the difference, by the way, is he had an eight- month hiatus. Everybody knew that's going to be a little more, a little less than eight months because that's the time it takes to come back from knee surgery. Now, a hiatus with a small H will be a big deal. Hiatus with a big H could be a year. It could be a couple of years. Nobody knows and that's the uncertainty that the PGA tour is going to deal with, Drew.

GRIFFIN: All right. Rick Horrow, top stories of the year in sports. Thanks, Rick.

HORROW: In fact, next week, on the big ones for 2010. Thanks a lot.

GRIFFIN: Great.

A big road block on the information superhighway. China's internet crackdown expands. What web sites are off limits in China?

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GRIFFIN: For many of us it's tough to imagine a world without Facebook, no YouTube, no Twitter, but that's a new reality in China. As Emily Chang reports, the list of forbidden web sites is getting longer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think here it's OK.

EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a brisk Beijing day, Sam Pang wanders the streets putting up posters with a message to the Chinese government. Give my Facebook back. Give my rights back. Give my Facebook back.

SAM PANG, CENSORSHIP PROTESTER (through translator): I've been dreaming that one day we'd be able to use web sites without any problem, he says, but after a long time waiting, nothing has changed and I can't bear it anymore.

CHANG: It's a message that could get him in trouble, but the 28- year-old Pang says it's worth the risk. Facebook has been blocked in China since July.

After bloody ethnic riots broke out between (INAUDIBLE) and Hun Chinese in (INAUDIBLE) province, web users hoped restrictions would relax towards the end of 2009. After the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China had past.

But if anything, it seems the list of inaccessible sites is getting longer, including Twitter and YouTube, photo sharing web sites like Picassa, Google documents and personal blogs.

(on camera): The Chinese government just announced it's more tightly regulating registration for new domains as part of its new campaign to block what it considers pornography. Many virtual private networks or VPNs that could once get around these so-called great firewall of China don't work anymore either. JEREMY GOLDKORN, DANWEI.ORG: It doesn't look like it is going to change. I think this is the new reality of the Chinese (INAUDIBLE).

CHANG (voice-over): Jeremy Goldkorn's site danwei.org was also recently blocked. The site follows trends in the Chinese media.

GOLDKORN: Turn the VPN off and try to reload it, connection was reset. It's blocked.

CHANG: Internet freedom was a hot topic during President Obama's recent visit to China. At a town hall meeting with Shanghai youth, the U.S. ambassador posed this question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should we be able to use Twitter freely?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes. I've always been a strong supporter of open internet use. I'm a big supporter of noncensorship.

CHANG: There was no response to that from the Chinese government, but officials have said restrictions are meant to target any site considered harmful to society, a position that frustrates users like Sam Pang.

PANG (through translator): Internet - the internet is an amazing invention because we have to many more ways to express ourselves. With all of these rules it's like history is going backwards.

CHANG: Emily Chang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: We have got a special hour of coverage straight ahead. We're going to take a close look at what investigators are learning about the support, Umar Farouk Abdul-Muttallab, what links he may have to terror groups and the impact on all this holiday travel?

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