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Times Square Attempted Bombing; No Success in Fight Against Oil Spill; Ahmadinejad in New York

Aired May 03, 2010 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters.

It is Monday, May 3rd, and here are the big stories for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A CNN iReporter captures the chaos in Times Square. Today, New York police look for a man who may be linked to the car bomb that was a dud.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: If Iran is coming to say we're willing to abide by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, that would be very welcomed news. I have a feeling that's not what they're coming to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A U.N. conference to rein in nuclear weapons. What's Iran's president doing there? He is speaking this morning.

Also this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH DELCAMBRE, OWNER, BOZO'S SEAFOOD MARKETS & DELI: Seafood after Katrina was good. With all the oil on there, I mean, I don't know what to expect. All this is brand new to all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, a financial uncertainty is spreading on the Gulf Coast as spreading oil jeopardizes a way of life.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now.

Right now, New York police are poring over hundreds of hours of videotape, part of the manhunt under way following an attempted car bombing in Times Square. They are especially interested one particular piece of video showing a man they want to interview.

Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff live from Times Square with the latest.

And Allan, this is a video of a man taking off a layer of clothing, a shirt, correct?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony.

Somebody walking through Shubert Alley. Shubert Alley is a little pathway that's underneath the Minskoff Theater. That's where "The Lion King" plays, so any of our viewers who have seen that, you know exactly where it is, between 45th Street, where the vehicle was parked, and 44th Street.

So, the man taking off a layer of clothing, a shirt, stuffing it into a bag, looking furtively. And so that's just one reason the police would like to talk to this individual.

It's not the only lead. There are many leads in this case. But it is certainly a focus right now. Indeed, the attorney general spoke of the videotape earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have some good leads, and the investigative work, I think, has begun. I think you have seen released a video that shows a person who may be involved in the incident, and he is certainly somebody that we are looking for and want to speak with. But we are following a number of other leads as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Included in those leads, a videotape from a tourist from Pennsylvania who shot tape of a person running up Broadway northward. So that would have been towards us, because we're two blocks north of 45th Street, where the SUV was par parked.

Inside of that SUV were firecrackers, propane, containers of propane, containers of gasoline, electrical wiring, and also some fertilizer inside of a metal gun locker. All of this connected to two clocks, battery-operated clocks.

Now, it was vendors who were across the street from the SUV who noticed smoke emerging from the SUV. One of them spoke to a police officer, a mounted police officer. And we caught up with one of the vendors Saturday night.

Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you hear an explosion?

RALLIS GIALABOUKIS, WITNESS: Did we hear it? Yes, of course we heard it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A big boom, or what? GIALABOUKIS: A big boom. A big boom. Everybody started scattering. Everybody, you know, was panicked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Fortunately, it seems those explosions were just some of the firecrackers going off. The bomb itself did not go off, fortunately -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Allan, let's get back to that vehicle, the SUV, the Pathfinder.

What do we know about the license tag?

CHERNOFF: Right. That is another area of investigation.

The license plate did not actually belong to the Nissan Pathfinder. It belonged to a Ford pickup truck that was up in Connecticut awaiting repairs. So the police have been speaking as well with the owner of that repair facility trying to figure out, OK, how did that Connecticut plate get from that Ford on to the Nissan Pathfinder? That may be a very, very important route of inquiry -- Tony.

HARRIS: And you know what, Allan? Earlier this morning, on "AMERICAN MORNING," Commissioner Kelly was talking about the plan from police to release another video. I think you alluded to it just a moment ago.

What can you tell us about that?

CHERNOFF: Yes. That's the videotape from the tourist from Pennsylvania.

The police went out to Pennsylvania, interviewed these tourists. So we expect that videotape of a man running up Broadway will be released this afternoon. So, hopefully we'll have more video to bring to you. And we should point out, Tony, they have been going through dozens and dozens and dozens of videotape, surveillance cameras all over Times Square, and clearly tourists as well taking pictures.

HARRIS: All right.

CNN's Allan Chernoff for us.

Allan, appreciate it. Thank you.

Got to tell you, those surveillance cameras positioned strategically around Times Square show the moments leading up to the failed attack, but some people have real issues, big issues with big brother watching everything all the time.

Josh Levs joining me with insight on that delicate issue.

And it is a pretty hot debate.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a hot debate. And look at what Allan was just saying, right?

You've got dozens of cameras in one area. You actually have hundreds all over that general area of New York, let alone tens of thousands or more all over the country. This is what allowed authorities to get images like this. And we, using Google Street Viewer, are actually able to figure out where that even came from in the first place, where this key image is even coming from.

We're able to travel along streets in that area, see exactly what it's like. And we're going to be telling you more about that this hour.

Right now, though, we want to pose a question to you. What do you think is too many? Ad when do these things go from being great and helping authorities to big brother?

We've got a question posted on the most at the most important Web site in America, CNN.com/Tony. You can also get to it at CNN.com/Josh. And tell us what you think about security cameras, where you want them, where you don't. I'm also up on Facebook and Twitter at JoshLevsCNN.

Tony, I'll be back this hour with some maps that you can see where some of these are, and some of your reactions as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: Very good. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.

LEVS: You got it.

HARRIS: Got to tell you, we are going to dig deeper into the investigation of the Times Square attempted bombing. We are following every development until we find out who was behind the car bomb.

CNN National Security Contributor Fran Townsend and Bill Gavin, former assistant FBI director in New York, joining me later this hour.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Still no success in efforts to corral that giant oil spill off the Gulf Coast. Efforts to cap the leaking sea well not going well either. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil gushing into the water every day.

Let's get to Rob Marciano. He is in Gulfport, Mississippi.

And Rob, if you would, explain to us where what we're calling that rainbow sheen of oil, where is it right now?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, from what we can tell, it's about nine miles off shore at its closest point to southeastern Louisiana. So, therein lies the good news.

About 20 or 30 miles from where I stand here in Gulfport, Mississippi, where they thought at one point that that sheen may have made landfall later on today. I don't think that's going to happen now, but it did make landfall across southeast Louisiana over the weekend, skimming those sensitive wetlands there and damaging certainly wildlife and some of the ecosystem there.

But the bulk of the oil right now remains off shore. And the good news is that today, we have lighter winds. So, it won't be driving that oil right on shore right away.

Where it goes from here though is still up for debate. I was just on the phone with one of the NOAA forecasters. Didn't get to ask him all the questions I wanted, but it's just -- the challenges are out there as to try to figure out where this sheen is going.

And now that we have lighter winds, some of the microcurrents in the Gulf will take over. And it's just anybody's guess as to what's going to happen there.

But it's no picnic as to what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico. No doubt, wildlife has been damaged there. But I guess the other piece of good news is that it looks like they are making some sort of progress. Not in stopping, not in plugging that hole, but at least working on what's going on above, because the satellite pictures really show today that that heavy sheen, or that heavy spill, seems to have shrunk.

So, maybe the chemicals they're dropping on there is spreading that out a little bit, and they are having some success in that. But they haven't contained the spill itself, so that continues to be a huge issue.

Here, along the Mississippi coastline, they are watching, they are waiting, they're trying to prepare as best they could. Yesterday, for the first time, fishermen both here and in Louisiana were allowed to join the fight and go out there and lay some protective boom. And also, with the lighter winds, Tony, the boom will remain in place.

The problem we've had with those strong winds, some of those booms have been breaking apart. So, lighter winds certainly over the next couple of days will help.

It would be nice if they were from the North. They are still out of the South, so the urge will be for that slick to heading more towards land. But at least today they are lighter. And with that, lighter seas. They might be able to get those skimmers out there and help sweep up some of that oil as well later on today.

HARRIS: So, Rob, what about this -- you mentioned a couple of times lighter winds. Does that make it more likely that perhaps we'll get back to attempting those controlled burns?

MARCIANO: Yes, but the direction is the problem. Those controlled burns work the best when you have light winds or a northerly wind component so that the smoke from the burn doesn't come on shore. And that's been the biggest issue.

We haven't had those north winds in four or five days, and I don't think we're going to see them for the next several days. So, no word yet today as to whether or not they're going to go out there and try to burn some of that oil. But you know, Tony. They didn't really burn that much last go-around.

HARRIS: That's right. That's right.

MARCIANO: So I'm not sure how much an effect that really has when you consider the size of this thing.

HARRIS: OK. Appreciate it.

Rob Marciano for us in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Rob, we'll check back with you in just a couple of minutes.

We will be, of course, following every development in this effort to keep the oil spill contained and the ongoing investigation into exactly what went wrong.

Got to tell you, this is just what New York didn't need. With the Times Square bomb investigation under way, Iran's President Ahmadinejad is visiting the United Nations today to talk about nuclear weapons. We will have a live report.

Big Board now a couple hours into the trading day. And take a look at the numbers now. We're in positive territory, up 72 points.

We will be following these numbers throughout the morning, throughout the day for you, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, we are bringing the world to your fingertips on CNN.com. And there is my blog page. If you've got some comments, you can send them to CNN.com/Tony. And, of course, there's the main page at CNN.com.

We're following stories from -- boy, right now, though, we are going to focus on a speech to be given to the United Nations by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is set to speak in this hour. Maybe in the noon hour, as a matter of fact.

CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jill Dougherty is in New York for us.

And Jill, this is a 30-day conference to review the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. Now, Iran, as we all know, is a signatory.

What is the Iranian president likely to say next hour?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You know, his idea, basically, is that the powers that control nuclear weapons like the United States and big countries like that are the problem, that Iran is not the problem. And why he says that is because the United States has nukes. And until, he would argue, they give them up or diminish them, they don't have the right to tell anybody else what to do. I mean, that's a simple version of what he is going to say.

Now, for the United States, this conference is really important. It's high profile. The Obama administration has made nuclear issues a priority. You have the secretary of state here. She's going to be speaking. The Bush administration did not send a high-profile person like that.

And then, also, there is another issue, and that is that there is a crisis of confidence in this treaty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): Message to American diplomats: Practice your juggling. Top diplomat Hillary Clinton must keep alive the 190- country agreement to control the spread of nuclear weapons and simultaneously bring new pressure on the Iranian leadership to stop a nuclear program which the U.S. insists will tempt other countries to go nuclear.

Since Iran is a party to that treaty known as the Non- Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, it can torpedo any agreement.

STEPHEN RADEMAKER, FMR. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Iran will be present. Iran will have a veto over any action at the conference that might relate to their nuclear program. So, as much as we would like a unanimous statement by all of these countries in New York that Iran needs to come back into compliance with the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, unless Iran decides to agree to such a statement, it's not going to happen.

DOUGHERTY: The Obama administration set the stage with its nuclear spring, a new arms reduction agreement with Russia and a nuclear summit in Washington.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will join with nations from around the world to strengthen the NPT as the cornerstone of our global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, even as we pursue greater civil nuclear cooperation.

DOUGHERTY: Secretary of State Clinton takes a tough line toward Iran.

CLINTON: The path Iran is on poses a threat.

JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, PRESIDENT, PLOUGHSHARES FUND: Iran is desperate. They are in a tight corner.

DOUGHERTY: And some arms control experts say that gives the U.S. an opening.

CIRINCIONE: If Iran blocked progress and it's seen as a spoiler, that actually plays into the diplomatic gain the United States hopes to achieve here. It will isolate Iran further and increase the chances of getting tougher sanctions at the Security Council and getting close allies to add sanctions of their own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: And we're expecting that the United States today will reveal what used to be classified information. And that is the total size of its nuclear arsenal. We're expecting that that would come in the speech of Secretary Clinton. And this is another -- getting back to that original point, Tony, this is an indication by the United States that it's serious, it's transparent, and it wants to reduce the number of weapons that it has.

HARRIS: OK.

Our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, in New York for us.

Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.

Got to tell you, international security analyst Jim Walsh will be joining us for analysis of President Ahmadinejad's speech. It is scheduled for noon Eastern, and will have, of course, live coverage for you.

In central Tennessee, deadly flooding turns roads into raging rivers. Thousands are out of their homes. CNN iReporters are on the front lines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: New York police go to the videotape searching for clues in the attempted car bombing in Times Square. We are following every development. You will hear from the police commissioner about where the investigation stands in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Now more on our top story, the investigation of the attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square. The suspect is still on the loose, the manhunt still under way.

We will be following every development until we find out who was behind the car bomb. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." CNN's Kiran Chetry talked with him about surveillance cameras.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": This video is from one of the several -- as I said, 82 different cameras that you have in Times Square. You guys are in the process right now of combing through all of the video on those many cameras.

RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: Right. Well, there's a lot more than 82 cameras. Those 82 cameras are just New York city Cameras, and that's from 51st Street to 34th Street, 6th to 8th Avenue. But it's a laborious process. It takes a lot of time. CHETRY: Yes, understandable.

KELLY: And when you look at the private sector cameras, many times the time is not correct.

CHETRY: Right.

KELLY: So it means you have to sit down and look through it and try to match it up with some other events to get at the time of what you're looking at.

CHETRY: Right. So you're talking about your own cameras, on top of that you have tourists. In fact, one from Pennsylvania, a man came forward and told you guys that he had some video.

KELLY: Correct.

CHETRY: What did you see on that? What did you want to know about this tourist visiting from Pennsylvania that has a tape?

KELLY: Well, again, it happens just around the time that the fire starts or the popping starts in the car. It's a picture of an individual running north on Broadway. And we'll be putting it out later today.

You know, again, we just asked anyone with any information on the event to call us at our tips hot line, 1-800-577-TIPS. And this individual, we would like to speak to him.

CHETRY: The license plate on SUV is from a pickup truck at an auto repair shop in Connecticut is what we've learned. They've also been able to trace the car through its vehicle identification number. Apparently, also identified the owner. Have you spoken to the owner of that car?

KELLY: Investigators have spoken to the registered owner of that car, yes.

CHETRY: And that car was not reported missing, correct?

KELLY: That car is not reported stolen.

CHETRY: So what does that tell you, if anything?

KELLY: You know, the investigation is going forward. This is going to take awhile. The JTTF (ph), the Government Terrorist Task Force, is this entity doing this investigation. They are doing work in Connecticut, obviously here in New York, and other places. So you know, we're hopeful that this will come to a successful conclusion for us, but still a lot of work to be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So, as you heard, security camera footage could help police develop leads in the New York bomb attempt, but privacy advocates raise concerns about so many cameras watching us at all times. Josh Levs is here with a look at privacy versus protection -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really striking, Tony, when you look at what we are talking about right here. You know, you keep seeing this image and you can watch it yourself on CNN.com. A lot of people, millions all over the world are looking at the image right now. And what we did, Tony, is using Google street view, we're able to figure out exactly where around Times Square that image was taken and from where. In fact, we can pretty much figure out the restaurant in which that image was taken. We just called them, they are not commenting yet at this point.

But this is a reminder of how incredibly many cameras there are. Google street view isn't live, but what they have are these images from all over the country that capture what in different areas are like. It looks like this is what you see on the image there.

And what was really striking to me is as we were starting to see this pop in yesterday and as we have been seeing more throughout the day, every time I start to look into where are there lots of cameras, how do we know where the cameras are, the places that have compiled them are places that are often very concerned about privacy and are complaining about how frequently we see things like this.

And this to me, Tony, this is right here the tension in protecting a democracy. You have the people who say we have to keep our privacy, watch out for Big Brother. You have the opposite argument, which is security, security, security. Let's watch everything, let's have satellites watch everything.

So we reached out to you on the blogs and also on Facebook and Twitter, because we wanted to hear what these different sides are and where you stand on this and what your take is. So what I have now are some of your quotes that you've been sending to us interactively throughout the day. Let's take a look here, we're going to start off with some of the ones that we're getting here. Let's go to Facebook.

"I strongly feel cameras should be utilized as much as possible especially in cities like Washington DC. If one is not doing anything wrong, they shouldn't have to worry about invading their privacy." That's from Raza.

Let's do one more. "In public we should not expect any privacy," that's from Chris.

Let's check out a tweet that I've been getting, this one comes from Clair, "I hate it, is big brother, do not like the feeling of every move being monitored. Only in very high traffic areas."

And one more over here, this is from our blog, CNN.com/Josh, "Until people behave better and terrorism is on the decline, cameras are our best way to apprehend the person responsible. As long as they are not on private property or looking in my home, I don't have a problem."

So, Tony, that's why I wanted to really reach out to people on this because to me, this is the two sides of the debate that we as a nation will face every step of the way. The worries about Big Brother versus the worries about security, Tony.

HARRIS: All about striking that proper balance. Hard to know where the balance is at this point.

Josh, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

Again, we are following every development in the Times Square attempted bombing and we will until we find out who is behind it. A former FBI assistant director and our national security contributor weigh in on the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, we are following several financial stories, all of which you can find at CNNMoney.com, our financial website. It is one of the best operations in the business on the web, CNNmoney.com. Goldman has a big legal problem. That's the lead story right now at CNNMoney.com.

One of the other stories we're following, it's a big one too, a major merger in the airline industry that will create a new number one. United and Continental are combing. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange, she's on the floor of the exchange.

Alison, good to see you. What's the reaction so far to this news?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, tony, to my right here is exactly where Continental shares are traded, and I'm hearing that this combination is pretty sweet. That, for Wall Street, it's a pretty sweet deal.

At the open, we saw United shares and Continental shares jump over 3 percent. They have backed off a bit. But overall, when you see a merger like this, it is a good sign. It shows confidence in the economy, that companies are feeling good about where the economy is going and they are willing to put their money out there, put their money on the line.

And speaking of money, this combination between United and Continental could be a money-saving deal. They are looking to save $1 billion over the next three years. And that's because this consolidation could cut costs and they could wind upturning a profit, something we don't hear much about in the airline industry.

Now to some quick facts about this deal. The deal itself is valued at around $3 billion. Here's what's going to stay the same. This new company will be called United, the Chicago headquarters will remain the same. The Continental logo will be on the planes and the Continental CEO will remain in the back office but leave this new company called United Airlines -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Alison, you mentioned consolidation and possibly saving some money here. I'm wondering about flights. Could we see flights cut through the consolidation? KOSIK: And that's a good question, because usually in a merger you do see flights cut. That is usually what is going to happen. We are not hearing a whole heck of a lot of details at this point, but what we are hearing is that it could lead to higher ticket costs. And that's really Economics 101 -- when you have less competition, that means higher prices. You could see higher fares on the routes that Continental and United competed on. I'm talking about routes from New York to L.A. or New York to Chicago.

But overall, United and Continental, really there's not much overlap. So you may not see much of a price hike in their fares, but you may see, Tony, is that if you're connecting flights, you may have more of a choice. And that's good news if you're the flying public.

HARRIS: Got you. That sounds good. All right, Alison Kosik on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, good to see you.

Let's do this very quickly here. Let's get you caught up on our top stories right now.

Iran's president addresses a global disarmament meeting at the United Nations. That's scheduled to begin in about 20 minutes. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will talk about his country's nuclear plans. We are on that story live for you. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak later this afternoon.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is reportedly is visiting China. South Korean reports say he crossed over the border early today by train and will likely travel to Beijing.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tells CNN they are fighting that massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast on three fronts. One is to cap the well which hasn't worked so far. They are also fighting the slick before it reaches land and preparing to clean it up immediately when it does.

It is still about nine miles off Louisiana. We'll let you know if anything changes as soon as it happens. We will be following every development in this effort to keep the oil spill contained and in on the ongoing investigation into what went wrong.

Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, want to get this story to you. The Associated Press is reporting that the terrific actress Lynn Redgrave has died. Boy, she was 67 years old. This according to the Associated Press.

Let me read a bit of the statement from her publicist speaking on behalf of her children saying that Redgrave died Sunday night at her Manhattan apartment. You'll recall that in 2003 Lynn Redgrave had been treated for breast cancer. Boy, and her death comes just about a year after her niece, Natasha Richardson died from head injuries sustained in a skiing accident.

So once again, the terrific actress Lynn Redgrave, according to the Associated Press, has died at the age of 67 years old.

The Better Business Bureau is out with a new warning, beware of some debt settlement companies. Ines Ferre is here with tips on what you should do and how to avoid these scams.

What's going on here, Ines?

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, it's not only the Better Business Bureau sounding this alarm. The Government Accountability Office just came out with the results of an undercover investigation of the industry. It found that some debt settlement companies engaged in fraudulent, deceptive and abusive practices. And just last week, new legislation was proposed to regulate this industry, Tony.

HARRIS: Wow. So how do they work? Do we -- how much information do we have on how they actually work?

FERRE: Well, first, not all debt settlement companies are out to deceive you, but there are some rogue firms that claim they can negotiate a settlement with your creditors for less than what you owe after you pay an up-front fee. A company might charge up to 20 percent of your total debt. Then, the debt settlement company sets up an account where you deposit money that's used to pay for negotiated settlements and it usually takes about a year before there's enough money to start settling accounts.

And during this time, you won't actually be paying payments to your creditors, and that's where you can get into trouble. You risk piling up more interest and penalty charges, getting dragged into court by your creditors or your wages can actually be garnished.

HARRIS: Well, Ines, let's get to the nuts and bolts of this. What do people need to be aware of here?

FERRE: Here are red flags to look out for -- high upfront fees; promises that your debt can be cut in half; claims that it's a fast, easy and painless process.

Now, if you must work with a debt settlement company, check them out first with the Better Business Bureau or call your creditors directly. You can go to a legitimate credit counseling service that can help you work out a payment plan. And you can also check out nfcc.org.

And of course, if you have any questions, send them to us at CNNhelpdesk@CNN.com.

HARRIS: Love it. Love it. Ines, appreciate it. Thank you, good to see you.

FERRE: You're welcome.

HARRIS: We are following every development in the Times Square attempted bombing and we will until we find out who is behind it. A former FBI assistant director and our national security contributor weigh in on the investigation. That is next right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW DERBY, IREPORTER: We really heeded the warning when the New York police detectives said that this is an emergency and everybody needs to wake up and get out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Some of the first images of the evacuation of Times Square shot by iReporter Matthew Derby on his iPhone. Derby described the scene as controlled chaos with police and first responders calm but firm.

New York police expected to release a second videotape today of a person they want to talk to about the Times Square bomb attempt. An earlier tapes shows a man, a white male in his 40s they want to question.

And we will be following every development in this investigation until we find out who was behind the car bomb. Joining us now to go inside this investigation, CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend and Bill Gavin, former assistant director of the FBI in New York.

It's great to talk to you both. Fran, let me start with you. Let's deal with this piece of surveillance video of a guy taking off a layer of clothing, a shirt here, and then moving on. He did this in close proximity of the SUV, and very close to the time of the pops from this SUV.

Now, Police Commissioner Kelly isn't calling this man a suspect, or person of interest. Would you be calling him both of those things?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Commissioner Kelly is in the position of having to run the investigation and to be very careful, particularly publicly, not to prejudge it.

Look, he very clearly is someone that they are interested in. And those, by the way, I should say, Tony, you know, whether somebody's a suspect or person of interest, those are very loaded terms that have standards associated with them inside the government. And so, it's understandable he wouldn't have used them.

I think to the average person, you and me, he absolutely is a person of interest. They need to talk to him. He was very close, the timing is such that if he's not involved, he's going to have to convince them. Because plenty of people watching that videotape are going to believe that he has some knowledge or involvement in this.

HARRIS: Yes. And, Bill, do you expect that the grid of surveillance cameras in that particular area, mixed with the, sort of the private sector video, tourist video, will reveal a suspect in pretty short order here?

BILL GAVIN, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, NEW YORK FBI: It's pretty difficult to say, Tony, at this point. But I agree with Fran, you look at this individual, naturally the police department wants to talk to him.

But there again, if you look at the rest of the photo, the pictures in the photo, people have short sleeves on. He came out with long sleeves on, took a jersey off and he had a short-sleeved jersey underneath it. Who knows? Anybody knows at this particular point. But that is definitely a person they want to talk to.

Will those cameras bring something additional? That remains to be seen. It could very well happen.

HARRIS: So, Fran, this might be described by some as a rather crude device that didn't work as it was intended. How difficult, the larger question here, how difficult has it become to get real explosives, the kind of bulk fertilizer, bulk fertilizer of an explosive nature, detonators, blasting caps -- the real hardware is what I'm getting at, necessary to craft a legitimate bomb of doing real damage here?

TOWNSEND: Well, Tony, I think we ought to acknowledge to our viewers, you know, even a crude device hurts and kills people. And so, NYPD officials, the mayor were rightly treating this very seriously.

That said, your point is well taken. You know, in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing where they used ammonium nitrate and fertilizer, there were controls put in place. Commissioner Kelly has one of the best programs in the country for tracking the movement of the kinds of materials you're talking about, because, of course, those things trigger an investigation.

Is it a foolproof system? No. But in this case, you know, this was not a fertilizer with a high explosive capability and it was put together badly. And so, for all those reasons, it didn't actually turn into the incendiary device obviously the bad guys were hoping for.

But there's a process in place to track large shipments and the movement, particularly fertilizer, but other critical components that will trip the law enforcement system in and around New York.

HARRIS: Yes. Bill, if you would take us into this investigation. What are you looking at now? What investigative avenues are you pursuing?

GAVIN: I think the very important thing right now is to get the ideology of that 4x4. You know, here you've got -- I totally agree with Fran about the unsophisticated way in which this would-be explosive was put together and it would have caused havoc. But here you have an individual who pulls a 4x4 up, puts the flashers on, leaves the engine running, has keys in the ignition and walks away. The only thing this person didn't do to draw attention to that vehicle was put the alarm on. It was pathetic the way they did it.

But they still have to find out who was driving that vehicle. Now, I heard the commissioner say earlier this morning that the vehicle was not reported stolen. With that said, somebody knows who had that vehicle, who borrowed it maybe and had the keys to it. The other side of the coin is, they tried to disguise it with a stolen license plate and by tearing the VIN off the dashboard. That's not too sophisticated at all.

HARRIS: Right, right.

Fran, last one to you here. Is there anything more that can be done to prevent something like this -- this idea of a lone wolf or someone acting alone, attempting something like this?

TOWNSEND: You know, Tony, you and I have had this conversation, unfortunately, in the past.

HARRIS: Yes, we have.

TOWNSEND: And these are the most difficult things. I think that the great success here is the Commissioner Kelly "See It, Say It" campaign. The vendor, when he was walking and when he was approached by the press and asked for a comment, didn't really want to talk to the press but did say to people in New York, if you see something, say something.

That whole mentality of individual responsibility, of people on the streets of New York working with the cop on the beat is the only hope you have to prevent this sort of thing ultimately. Because if it turns out this is a lone wolf, as we've seen in the past, those are the most difficult to detect before the incident takes place.

HARRIS: Boy, that's a good conversation. Thank you both, Fran Townsend and Bill Gavin. Terrific stuff, thank you.

GAVIN: Thank you.

TOWNSEND: Thank you.

HARRIS: Got to tell you, we are working on getting answers to your questions about how the oil spill off the Gulf Coast will impact the beaches and vast wetlands this summer. Loyola University scientist Robert Thomas, his name is Robert Thomas, he's going to be joining us live next hour.

Plus, as United and Continental prepare to merge, you need to know how it will affect what you pay to fly. That, and much more coming up next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Bozo's Seafood Market & Deli, a coastal Mississippi landmark. The family business in Pascagoula beat Camille and Katrina, but how about the oil spill? Who knows? Here's CNN's Amanda Hoy (ph). (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH DELCAMBRE, OWNER, BOZO'S SEAFOOD MARKETS & DELI: I mean, I hope we can weather the storm. I mean, we weathered Katrina, but the shrimp out of Katrina was good, seafood after Katrina was good. With all the oil on there, I don't know what to expect. All this is brand- new to all of us.

TEXT: Seafood is life for Keith Delcambre.

DELCAMBRE: I started working here when I was a little boy and this is all I know.

TEXT: His family has operated Bozo's Seafood & Deli in Pascagoula, Mississippi since 1956.

DELCAMBRE: It's a lot of ifs, ands, buts. I'm really worried. I hope we can -- I can hope we can keep getting a little bit of stuff where we can stay in business, but I don't know. I don't know what the future is going to bring.

TEXT: The family business could be at risk if oil runs the shoreline.

DELCAMBRE: But this, this is a day-by-day thing, you know, maybe even hour by hour. I'm hoping everything is all right and works out, but, you know, I don't know.

TEXT: He knows how to prepare for hurricanes.

DELCAMBRE: A lot of local people depend on seafood, and being able to go and catch and harvest seafood. So it's going to affect all of us in every way possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)