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Bomb Suspect 'Caught at Last Second'; Faisal Shahzad's Background; Are Terrorists Changing Strategy?

Aired May 04, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: To our viewers, we are back here now at the top of the hour, 2:00 on the East Coast. We need to reset this whole thing for you, because there have been a lot of developments.

Let's tell you what we've got "On the Rundown," the new details, the very latest. This stuff is flooding into our newsroom about this attempted car bombing in Times Square over the weekend. We heard from top administration officials just minutes ago, and we are also hearing of new arrests.

We will have the very latest.

Also, do you have clean skin? Better hope you do. If you don't, no soap in the world can help you out. We'll tell you in today's "Word Play."

Also, if your college kid had a 2.0 GPA, would you be happy? Maybe not. But what if I told you he was about to become a millionaire? Does that change your mood?

If your kid goes to the University of Kentucky, it might. We'll explain in the "XYZ" today.

But first, the bomb was crude, the plot was foiled, the suspect arrested, and the last possible second he was arrested. Now, from Washington to New York to Islamabad, authorities want to know who else had a hand in the attempted car bombing of Times Square on Saturday night.

If you have been watching CNN, you know the 30-year-old Pakistani American was hauled off a Dubai-bound airliner at JFK Airport late last night. Within the past hour we got word that raids in Karachi, Pakistan, have led to arrests tied to Faisal Shahzad, who is due in court any time now.

CNN is covering this story like only CNN can. This hour, we have live reports from Tom Foreman. He's in Washington for us. Our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff, he is in New York for us, outside the courthouse, where we're expecting the suspect. And also, Mary Snow is at the suspect's last known residence in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

We will be checking in with all of them shortly.

But first, 53 hours, 17 minutes, that's how much time elapsed between the first appearance of a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square and the arrest of the suspect, Faisal Shahzad. It was 6:28 p.m. Saturday when a surveillance camera spotted that 1993 Nissan Pathfinder entering West 45th Street in Manhattan.

Two minutes later, a T-shirt vendor told a mounted patrol officer the SUV was filling with smoke. The cops moved in. The streets were cleared.

And at 2:00 a.m. Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the NYPD announced the vehicle did in fact contain a crude homemade bomb.

Some five hours later, the threat was removed and the streets were reopened.

At 3:00 p.m., police revealed video of two people that they didn't necessarily call suspects, but "people we would like to speak to." That's how they phrased it.

And then yesterday, the SUV and bomb materials were taken to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. And over the course of the day President Obama was briefed on the case six separate times.

Last night, the dramatic arrest of Faisal Shahzad on board an Emirates airline flight that was about to take off for Dubai. President Obama got the word about that some 20 minutes later.

Like I told you, we have our reporters fanned out all over the place, so I want to start with our Tom Foreman, who is in D.C. for us.

I know you've been following this like so many of us have, and this thing has been changing minute by minute.

What is your up-to-the-minute update?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what I want to look at and show you right now is a diagram just released by the Department of Justice of this bomb in this car. This is really an extraordinary inside look of the construction of this.

If you can bring that graphic up right now, I'll explain to you how this thing was put together.

This is the vehicle here. You can see the front of the vehicle off to the left, and off to the right is the rear of the vehicle.

See those two red things in the middle? Those are gasoline cans, gasoline containers. I presume they are the plastic kind because they certainly look like it.

Right in front of them, it's rather hard to see unless your TV is big enough, there are two clocks. The one nearest the driver's side door is facing up. The one looks like maybe eight inches to a foot away, toward the passenger side door, is facing down.

They appear to be connected by a line. And up between those two gas cans you'll see a little dark box there. And that was an M-88. It's also called Silver Salute fireworks. They found some of these not long ago, we are told by The Associated Press, at the home of the suspect in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Silver Salute firework is one that's not so much for a show, although it produces a very bright flash, but it also creates a very loud boom and a quick explosion.

Then further back you'll notice the three round gray things back there. Those were the propane tanks that were all lined up in that area, and then there's a smaller round thing toward the passenger's side, way near the back. That is another M-88 of some sort here.

So, the question is how, how would this bomb have worked? Initially, there was some notion that this was a very crude bomb. And I have to tell you, as I look at this, this bears a little slight resemblance to what the kids at Columbine tried to do with propane tanks there.

This is a little more sophisticated, but not much, depending on how he tried to use it. If they were counting on this M-88 to blow up between these gas cans, for that to fire off an explosion which would then create enough heat to light the propane tanks, I think the odds of that are not good. Likewise, the M-88, back by the propane tanks, I don't see any reason to believe that an explosive like that would penetrate tanks like that.

However -- and here's the important part -- if the idea was that these propane tanks were supposed to be open, filling the car with propane, and then these things went off, then you would have had a really pretty horrific explosion combining both the propane and the fuel, the gasoline, inside of there. So, this was the design of this whole thing.

I don't yet quite know what the ignition system was, unless this was actually wired into the car's ignition system to light off these Silver Salutes, the M-88s that should have started the whole thing. But this is a rare look. You often don't get a look at the layout of explosives like this until much, much, much later.

You may notice one more thing. See that metal box that was near the -- in the back there. There was a large metal green box. That was a gun locker. A cardboard box, actually, is what it was, where apparently he had some weapons at some point, or that's their thought.

So, this is a very rare look at how a bomb was designed to work. Obviously, it didn't work, but again, depending on how you approached it, the elements were there to make a very horrific explosion. But also, as I mentioned, like the Columbine guys, if they were used improperly, relatively hard to get going.

HOLMES: And it sounds for a lot of people, Tom -- and you're right, that is a rare illustration of exactly what was going on in the car. Because so many people hear these rudimentary items, gas, propane, clocks, batteries, and, well, it sounds pretty simple. You light something and maybe all that stuff goes up. But it's not that easy to do, and thank goodness it's not -- and he proved he was not very adept at doing something like this, and thank goodness he wasn't. Tom Foreman, we appreciate that breakdown. Thank you so much.

Also, as you know, our Allan Chernoff is also standing by at the federal courthouse. We're expecting to see the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, at some point this afternoon.

And Allan, you were giving us an update a short time ago. We were expecting maybe sometime after 2:00, but you've got something a little more specific than that now.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, the clerk of the court has not yet received the call from the U.S. attorney, so it has not yet been put on the docket of magistrate Judge Kevin Fox. We know that he would be the judge presiding. He is the judge handling all of these incoming cases today.

So, it could happen any time this afternoon. The clerk for the judge had told me she didn't think it was going to happen before 3:00. And as we said before, these things can easily be pushed forward and forward. So, that much we know.

Let me just talk for a moment about what Tom was discussing with regard to that bomb, because this is very interesting.

That night, Saturday night, the hot dog vendors who were right across the street from the vehicle, they told me that they saw flames, they heard explosions. Now, that, indeed, seems to have been some of those firecrackers going off.

There was a bit of a fire inside of the car. There was speculation that maybe some of the materials, some of the fabric in the vehicle, actually caught on fire. But some of the firecrackers did go off.

I spoke with a bomb expert yesterday, and he said, look, this thing really could have been quite lethal, and that was reinforced in the press conference we heard just minutes ago. The issue, he said, was the igniter did not deliver enough energy to actually detonate the explosive. But the mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, described the wiring as "amateurish." The bomb expert I spoke with said that's a mistake, to describe it that way -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes. You're absolutely right. And this guy would have been an expert had that thing gone off. So, it's a fine line between being an amateur and being good at your job.

One more thing, quickly, if you can. I know we keep saying we expect him in court.

What do we expect to happen once this suspect gets in court today?

CHERNOFF: Right. He's going to identify himself. The charges will be read in open court.

And we know from the press conference, those charges would include an act of terrorism, and also trying to operate a bomb of mass destruction, right? And so that would be included. There will probably be more charges as well. But this is only a presentation. He is not likely to be required to enter an actual plea.

HOLMES: OK.

CHERNOFF: The judge will also determine whether or not there will be bail. Pretty safe bet, no bail.

HOLMES: That's probably a pretty safe bet there.

All right. Allan Chernoff, we appreciate you getting the updates for us. We'll check in with you again.

Also, another one of our reporters, our correspondents -- and, again, we have them fanned out all over the country and the world today. Our Mary Snow has uncovered new information about the suspect's background. She is at his adopted home state, if you will, of Connecticut.

Mary, I know you have been there and they have been hauling, I would assume -- if you can, give us an idea of what authorities possibly have been hauling out. Have they been taking a lot of things out of the home today?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And T.J., I just want to tell you that, just moments ago, while Allan Chernoff was speaking, police have reopened the streets. So now you're seeing people behind us for the first time. And in a minute or two we'll be able to get a closer picture of the last known residence of Faisal Shahzad as investigators left.

And investigators, you know, swarmed on this street last night with FBI, forensics teams, coming to this home. And they were seen with plastic bags leaving. We were kept a distance away, but we have been reporting on CNN that a federal law enforcement source was briefed on the investigation, did say that 15 bags of standard green fertilizer were taken from outside Shahzad's home during these searches.

And as for the man himself, we are being able to piece together a little bit more information of who he is.

We know that he is 30 years old. We also have learned that he went to the University of Bridgeport, and he received a degree in the year 2000 in computer applications and information systems. And then he went back again for his MBA and graduated in 2005.

Two very different pictures emerging here, T.J., because here in Bridgeport, the people we've been able to speak with say they really didn't know much about him, that they saw him walking around. Some neighbors thought the house was actually vacant.

But in Shelton, Connecticut, not far from here, we were able to speak to a number of neighbors, one including a woman named Brenda Thurman (ph), who said that Shahzad had lived there with his wife and two children. We know they bought the home in 2004.

There had been foreclosure proceedings, and neighbors say that the house has been empty for several months, that they last saw the wife and children around July. And they believe that Shahzad had left about a month or two earlier than that -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. And Mary, you are absolutely right. So many different views of this man, from an educated man, a family man, and also, according to authorities, a terrorist as well. It just doesn't mesh.

We will try to learn more about the suspect, but we appreciate you today, Mary Snow.

And we appreciate all our correspondents who, like I said, are fanned out across the country and literally across the world. And that is where the investigation is going now, outside of our borders, where we are getting word that a couple of arrests have been made in Pakistan. We are waiting to get more details about that.

So, thanks to all of our correspondents today.

Police, meanwhile, now trying to figure out if the attempted car bombing was the work of a single person or possibly a group. If it was a so-called lone wolf, does this herald the future of attempted terror attacks against the U.S. homeland? We're talking to New York's former top cop.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Want to turn now to more on our top story, the arrest of a suspect in the failed car bomb attack in Times Square. A lot of people asking the question, was the suspect acting alone, the so- called lone wolf? Investigators certainly trying to figure that out right now. And if he was, what does it say about the strategy of terror groups plotting to attack the U.S.?

Let's join now the former New York police commissioner Bill Bratton.

Sir, we appreciate having you here and your expertise.

This idea of the lone wolf, I had some suggest to me over the weekend, former investigators, FBI guys, talking about, you know what? It might seem like the simplest items in that vehicle, but it took effort, it took time, it took planning, it took money. It took a lot more than some people believe one man could do.

What do you think?

BILL BRATTON, FORMER NYPD COMMISSIONER: Well, we'll soon find out as the investigate proceeds, but let's take into account the past year in the United States. There have been at least 10 incidents of terrorism, seven of which were interrupted and infiltrated by the U.S. government intelligence agencies and police.

Three, the Christmas Day bombing, Major Hasan at Fort Hood. And this most recent one that operated below the radar.

But think of that, 10 incidents within the last year. The pace is quickening. Quite obviously, individual, small groups. A very different focus than what al Qaeda on 9/11 was able to pull off in a very organized way. So, the nature of the threat is changing and changing, and changing dramatically.

HOLMES: Is that what that tells you, not so much that there's a ramped-up effort necessarily to attack the U.S., but just a new method now to attack the U.S. that, quite frankly, makes it easier and makes it obvious that we're going to have more frequent types of attacks just by smaller groups?

BRATTON: Both approaches -- al Qaeda encouraging its network, its supporters, those that support their ideology, encouraging them to engage in self-initiated activity that oftentimes is not supported by them.

I think the U.S. government and its allies have gone a great job pushing down al Qaeda's ability to operate openly. Their leadership does not have the freedom that it had pre-9/11.

However, we are now seeing it morph into a new type of threat which is more problematic to deal with and is going to require that here in the U.S., that we are going to have to have much more involvement of local police being in the know, much more sophistication of exchange of information, and much more involvement of the public. The expression "See it, report it," "eye watch," much the same as we faced traditional crime in the '70s and '80s with neighborhood watches. Dealing with terrorism is really going to require all levels of American society to get engaged much more so than we have in the past.

HOLMES: And you talk about all levels though. You spoke on the local level. You talk about more of a sophistication. But also about the everyday citizen, and that is what seemed to have foiled this plot.

Of course, this guy wasn't a very good bomb maker, thank goodness. But is more of the onus going to be, quite frankly, on the everyday American citizen to stop something like this from happening even more so than any law enforcement official?

BRATTON: I believe it will require the involvement of America, all of America getting into the game, if you will. While the attention has been focused on the Islamic threat, if you will, the 10 incidents I related are all Islamic inspired, if you will, the radicals. But we also have within our country the Timothy McVeighs and many others who have been apprehended, the individual who flew his plane into the IRS building because he was mad at the IRS, the individual who attacked the Holocaust Museum.

We have a lot of homegrown individuals who are not necessarily affiliated with al Qaeda and its cohorts. So, there is a growing threat.

But the good news is we are getting much better at coordination among law enforcement communities. We are getting much better at bringing to the attention of the American public the need for them to be aware, to be engaged. Not to be fearful, but to be aware and to be engaged.

HOLMES: Mr. Bratton, don't go too far. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back and discuss some more of this case with you, including the investigation, which took some 53 hours from finding the bomb to arresting the suspect.

Stay with us. Our conversation continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And once again, giving you a live look in New York, outside the courthouse. We're expecting to see the suspect in that attempted bombing in Times Square. Faisal Shahzad expected sometime after 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time now, him to make an appearance in court. Not exactly sure if he's going to enter a plea, but he is at least going to be hearing the charges against him, which include trying to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Want to return now to that top story, that arrest of the suspect in that failed car bomb attack on Times Square. We just were having our conversation with the former New York City police commissioner, Mr. Bill Bratton.

Sir, thank you again for sticking around here.

And I don't know if you were able to hear the press conference, and Commissioner Ray Kelly talking about the comparison to Jack Bauer, who can do this in 24 hours, but they did it in 53. I had some FBI investigators telling me over the weekend -- he said, "We got this car. This thing will be wrapped up. They'll have a suspect in no time."

Were you surprised at how short amount of time it took to actually find this guy?

BRATTON: Not surprised, but very pleased that the NYPD, federal agencies, Joint Terrorism Task Force, of which I had a lot of experience with over the last seven years in L.A., they are great at what they do.

The late, great Jack Maple, who was my deputy commissioner for crime strategies in the '90s, in talking about criminals, said, "It's not that we're so smart, the police, but that the criminals are so stupid." And fortunately, oftentimes they are. And the mistakes made by this individual that contributed to the quick solution of this crime are phenomenal in the sense of the mistakes all along the way, including buying a ticket at the airport in cash, if I understand it correctly.

HOLMES: And we were talking about -- I don't know if you heard Eric Holder say as well that there was no chance we were going to lose him. We've been reporting this story, and he was on the plane, and it was about to take off, but -- and it seems like it might have been a last-minute quick thing. But do you think there was any chance, even though he was on the plane, but they had him under such close surveillance, there was no way he was about to get out of this country?

BRATTON: I think that aspect of it is going to require some clarification as to how he got on the plane if he was on the no-fly list. No-fly list is intended to keep them at all costs off the plane.

So, there's been some discussion back and forth, and until the actual facts come out, we're going to have to see what happened that he was allowed to get on the plane. And if so, why?

And if he was not allowed to, how he got on, one, having purchased a ticket for cash. Two, having been placed on a no-fly list, which was a great strategy. But fortunately, he didn't decide to leave Saturday or Sunday night. He waited too long, and by that time, he was on the no-fly list.

HOLMES: And the last thing to you, sir, oftentimes this issue I'm going to ask you about gets politicized a bit, but the idea of Mirandizing a suspect in a case like this. You heard Eric Holder say he wasn't read his Miranda rights initially. We were getting a lot of information from him. We read him his Miranda rights, and we continued to get information.

What's your take on if and when a suspect of this nature, a possible terrorist, should be Mirandized and how it could jeopardize a case?

BRATTON: Well, it seems to be working for us. We are a nation of laws. We celebrate that we operate under the rule of law.

Under Miranda, that if he wants to talk to you, fine. And after you advise him of his rights and he wants a lawyer, you give him that lawyer. It would appear in this case he gave information voluntarily, initially. When advised of his rights, he continued to give information. I think, if I'm not mistaken, the Detroit bombing incident had a similar chain of events.

HOLMES: Yes.

All right. Well, Commissioner Bratton, we appreciate your time, your experience, certainly, and lending it to us today, sir. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day.

BRATTON: Great to be here. Thank you.

HOLMES: All right.

Want to certainly continue you give you an update on the things we are keeping an eye on today, the updates on what sparked the chat with Bill Bratton in the first place, the latest on that Times Square attempted bombing.

We're hearing from a Pakistani intelligence source several arrests have been made there in connection with the case. Faisal Shahzad, the suspect here in the U.S., was pulled off a departing flight yesterday from JFK. He's originally from Pakistan and spent some time there last year.

Also, nine members of a Michigan militia group will spend at least another day in jail. The judge in their case gave prosecutors until tomorrow to decide if they'll appeal the Hutaree members' release until trial. They've been charged with conspiracy to commit a rebellion against the government and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

Also, Boston's boil order has been lifted. About two million people in the metro area had been boiling or buying their water since a 10-foot-wide pipe failed on Saturday. Officials gave the all-clear this morning after tests showed the water supply is clean and safe once again to drink.

Well, of course we've been covering as well over the past several days, even weeks, a lot of severe weather, but some storms that have been hitting the nation over the past few days have just been stubborn. They will not go away.

Our Chad Myers not going anywhere either. He's tracking them. We'll check in with him in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Take a look at this, folks. That is where the Tennessee Titans play football. Chris Henry going to have a hard time racking up 2,000 yards this season on that at least. But no, I mean, they'll get it fixed in time for the season.

But this has been a problem in Nashville for the past couple of days. It has gone away, at least the weather system has, but it hasn't gone too far, Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No.

Do you know what, from when it started raining on Saturday to when yesterday was the high, the crest, that water went up 33 feet in 48 hours. Now it's coming back down. What goes up fast comes back down fast, that's good, I guess.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: You were speaking on the oil situation and you've been keeping an eye on the oil situation and "Off the Radar" --

MYERS: Here we go.

HOLMES: "Off the Radar" now.

MYERS: Here's what's happened to the oil over the past few days, and you can go to NOAA and find this map. It's day after day after day. April 29th is the blue, and then you can look for the green, and then you look for the yellow. So, a couple days ago it was actually you at way over here past Breton Island, and today it's kind of slid off to the east because of the way the winds have shifted.

But it has not really made any great landfall yet, and that's fantastic. The older the oil is, the more it will actually be easier to pick up, because it will be clumpier and a lot of it will evaporate. They'll lasso it and burn it or at least they'll try again.

Or they'll do this, this is actually our "Off the Radar" for today. They are trying to build these booms. They are making these containment barriers and these barriers are going to catch the water. Almost think about getting a leak in -- in a puddle or a pond and all of a sudden you put a cup over the top of it, and you can stop it with a cup. It's almost like -- what was the guy that put his finger in the dike? Was that, I don't know, Tom Thumb?

HOLMES: You got me, man.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: It's an old nursery rhyme. I don't know, I guess I don't read those anymore.

But it's a very big project and they're going to put it on top of these leaks. The oil still going to be allowed to leak and then they're going to vacuum it off.

HOLMES: What is the timeframe now? They were still getting the thing ready, when could they actually can get it on there?

MYERS: I don't think it'll probably will happen until the weekend or Monday.

HOLMES: OK, Chad, "Off the Radar," we appreciate you as always.

Well that investigation into the attempted Times Square bombing stretches all the way to Pakistan now. We're going to tackle this link in our new segment "Globe Trekking." Our reporter in Islamabad has some new details for us. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And giving you a live picture here. We are waiting for the suspect in the New York terror scare, the attempted bombing in Times Square, to actually appear in that courthouse. Expecting it sometime this afternoon, maybe around 3:00 or at least after 3:00 Eastern time. Faisal Shahzad is going to be making his first appearance in court where he will at least hear the charges against him.

This investigation certainly happening here in the U.S., but it's also expanding a bit over to Pakistan. Want to bring in our Josh Levs who is part of the new segment "Globe Trekking." And again, we've got the big dot up there on the northeast of the U.S., yes it started there, but it's gone way beyond those borders now.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, this is where the investigation is moving literally and figuratively. This is Times Square, obviously, but we're going to zoom all the over here because I want you to see a few key locations.

First of all, we're talking about Karachi today. Karachi is where this is moving to in a lot of ways. He was carrying identity cards or he has identity cards from Karachi. There have been some arrests, we're getting that, on the ground from Karachi. Karachi is a hotbed of insurgency, it's a mess in a lot of ways. It's also, we're told, a really easy place for some people to hide when they're in Karachi. So there's a lot going on there, investigations.

But this is something else I want you to see. This right here is a place called Poppy. This is a small village, it's in that northwestern section. And this right here is the village where he came from, the suspect was from this village. And this area, when you're looking at this section of Pakistan right there, is a hotbed of insurgency. There's an area there nearby considered the gateway to the insurgency, lots of militants in that area.

So, as we take a look, as we go "Globe Trekking" right here, we're looking at an area where there's a lot of insurgency, a lot of militants. We're going to be looking at what Pakistan does about that.

I spoke with our Reza Sayah not long ago about whether the United States can trust Pakistan and Pakistani leadership to really crackdown on the militants in that area and to take action. A lot of people in this country very wary about whether the Pakistani government is doing enough, will do enough, in this case. Here is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's Washington's position, and president Barack Obama has said it over and over again, that Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border is the central front of the war on terror. He's pointed at Pakistan and the tribal region, and he said this is where al Qaeda is and this is where they're plotting the next attack on U.S. soil.

And Washington has put tremendous pressure on the Pakistani government and the security forces to go after the Pakistani militants. They haven't always delivered in the past few years. It's widely believed that over the past few years that security forces, intelligence agencies here in Pakistan, have maintained links with militant groups along the Afghan border for the end goal of having a friendly relationship with the government in Afghanistan, once U.S. forces pull out.

But we can tell you, over the past year especially, they have -- Pakistani security forces, have made an earnest effort to go after militants in Swat in northwest Pakistan, south Waziristan, which is one of the districts in the tribal regions. And in return, they've received a lot of praise from Washington. So over the past few months, you've seen this relationship between Islamabad and Washington improve and you've seen instead of criticism and condemnation, praise coming from the U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Our Reza Sayah there, answering a lot of the questions that you're asking.

And, T.J., before we go, I'm going to mention one more location on this globe trek, because we don't want to forget, the plane he was on was actually going through Dubai. And what we're looking into Dubai, he's been there before, the last time he went to Dubai, he ended up staying out of the country for months.

So, we can't say definitively he was going to go on to the rest of the flight into Pakistan, but that is how it was booked. So we'll keep an eye on the investigations happening in all of these locations around the world.

HOLMES: Well, authorities say he has been talking, maybe he has given them some insight exactly what his plans were, but we don't know just yet.

LEVS: That's right.

HOLMES: Josh Levs "Globe Trekking" for us, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Of course, one minute they were selling hot dogs and T-shirts in Times Square. The next minute, they're helping to fight terrorism. Next, we're tipping our hats to the heroes of Times Square.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Street vendors in Times Square showed the world on Saturday that they can do more than just hawk T-shirts and hot dogs. They can fight terrorism as well. They were the first to tip police when a car bomb started smoldering, and we'd like to salute these everyday heroes in today's "Mission Possible."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TEXT: Times Square, NYC -- May1, 2010

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At about 6:30, an alert T-shirt vendor who is a Vietnam veteran, noticed an unoccupied suspicion vehicle on 45th Street.

TEXT: Street vendors Duane Jackson & Lance Orton took action --

DUANE JACKSON, TIMES SQUARE STREET VENDOR: When the flash hit, it was a little scary moment.

QUESTION: Do you feel good that you pointed this out?

LANCE ORTON, TIMES SQUARE STREET VENDOR: Of course.

QUESTION: That you made a difference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could have been a very deadly event.

TEXT: Everyday people -- helped prevent a potential disaster.

QUESTION: Your message, Lance, to the people of New York?

ORTON: See something, say something.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Saluting a couple of everyday heroes there. Now, want to give you some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on this hour.

Iran plans to hold military exercises in the strategic waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman tomorrow. The war games will likely heighten tensions with the West over the Iranian nuclear program, but the exercises aren't anything new. In fact, they were just a few weeks ago in the Strait of Hormuz, that's the waterway nor about 40 percent of the world's oil and gas supplies.

Also, the need to clean up that Gulf of Mexico oil spill is growing more urgent by the minute. Fishing has already been shut down in many areas. A special shrimping season will close tonight. The rig's company, BP, hasn't found a solution yet on capping off that oil, and they say they will compensate people with, quote, "legitimate and objectively verifiable claims," but many have questioned just exactly what that means.

Also, we've gotten some big updates in the past few hours about the car bomb found in Times Square Saturday, now officially called an attempted terrorist attack. Authorities say Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad was caught at the last second and arrested last night trying to leave New York for Dubai. He's due to appear in court anytime now, sometime this afternoon, any time after 3:00 Eastern time is what we've been told. Security forces have seized at least two other people in Pakistan in connection with this case.

Boy, it's always important for us here, and Ali as well, to talk to Ed Henry. Such a pleasure to get to talk to Ed on these days. He's coming up in just a moment. And usually, Ed, we usually like to have a lot of fun on the segments, maybe we'll get in some after the break. But still, some big, important news coming out of the White House. We'll get the update from you in a moment.

Standby, Ed's up next.

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HOLMES: All right, a segment so important that he gets his own graphic there -- "The Ed Henry Segment." Ed Henry, of course, at the White House for us. Always good to talk to you, my man. It's really one of the highlights of being able to fill in for Ali is getting to talk to you on this segment.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's good to hear.

HOLMES: Some really fast-moving developments. It's really been an extraordinary couple of days since we heard about the attempted bombing on Saturday. How much has the president been updated, and when did he actually get word of the arrest of this suspect?

HENRY: Good question.

He got word of the arrest just after midnight this morning in the wee hours by his top homeland security aide, John Brennan, and he's somebody briefing the president over the last couple of days or so pretty frequently. In fact, Robert Gibbs saying the president was briefed since yesterday about six times going into this morning. There will be more briefings undoubtedly today as more information comes in. We've now heard from the attorney general, top officials at the FBI.

The president himself, as you know, spoke earlier. And I thought it was interesting, he said, we will not be terrorized, we will not cower in fear, we will not be intimidated. And for the first time he called this a terror attack, he had not commented that explicitly yet. And then he added, we will be vigilant. And I think the vigilance part is so important because you were just pointing out, a lot of this was basically deterred not by the traditional law enforcement ways but by a T-shirt vendor in New York City who saw something and spoke up, and an employee for the Emirates Airlines who noticed something -- that this suspect was buying a ticket at the last minute with cash, and that was a red flag.

And we're now learning that even though the suspect was on the no-fly list, he was only added, we should say in fairness, sort of a few hours before he got on the flight, but even though he was on the no-fly list, he was still able to get on the plane. You can bet that's a question that they're going to have to answer here at the White House, how did he get on that plane.

HOLMES: You know, another question maybe someone's going to direct to the White House, and I'm curious what they're saying about it, it just seems like we have seen so many high-profile, failed attempts -- thank goodness -- lately, but also some successful attempts, some would say -- the shooting in Texas at the Army base down there. But just a succession, Najibullah Zazi, the Christmas Day attack and now this.

HENRY: Right.

HOLMES: What does the White House possibly saying now about what seems to be at least in the public's mind some kind of a an uptick of attempted attacks on this country? HENRY: You can bet 3:30 Eastern time Robert Gibbs is going to be briefing reporters for the first time since the arrest on camera, and he's going to be asked about that. The attorney general, in fact, was asked about it.

It seems like there's been, you know, a whole series of -- of these events as you just laid out. And I think it was Ray Kelly, the New York city police commissioner, who jumped in at the news conference a short time ago, said, look, in New York there's been something like 11 attempted terror attacks since 9/11. So while it does seems like an uptick in recent months, this has been going on since 9/11. Perhaps we don't always focus on it as much as we should, but I think it's very clear that there will be a lot of questions that need to this be answered.

If you think back, you mentioned the underwear bomber on Christmas Day, I was in Hawaii with the president at the time, everyone caught off-guard at first of course, but the president ordered review at that time about all these terror watch lists including the no-fly list. And here, again, we have someone put on the no-fly list and yet got on the plane anyway.

In the case of the underwear bomber, he was not on the no-fly list and that was one of the problems there, he was on a separate terror watch list. And so all these various lists -- and remember, the president or ordered a review shortly after Christmas Day and you have to wonder now, several months later, where does all that stand, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, well, our Ed Henry, I know a lot of people follow you and your reporting, of course, as well, but also you give these updates out on your Twitter account. And I know you and Ali have a little competition you going back and forth. Let me see, I think they got the numbers up. You actually have more followers.

HENRY: Our friends at CNN international. Yes, they put together a graphic and it looks like I've got more followers than Ali. And it looks like, frankly, it's increasing, so the lead.

HOLMES: But, again, good information.

HENRY: I feel bad he's on vacation.

HOLMES: Yes, good information, edhenryCNN -- go ahead.

HENRY: @edhenryCNN. But I need to say, T.J., I'm at like almost the 14,000, you're over 15,000. You're ahead of me and I was trying to figure out why. So I printed it out right before I came out here. You tweeted before the show, "Ready for the show, I just need to find 65 cents so I can get some candy out of the snack machine."

HOLMES: Yes.

HENRY: That's clearly why you're ahead of me. And by the way, do you need me to send a couple bucks? HOLMES: They've got me covered now on the 65 cents. But as we say down here in Atlanta, we keep it real. All right? I told people exactly what was going on. You spinmeisters in D.C., you can do what you want. No, I'm teasing, Ed. No, I recommend, please, by all means, everybody follow edhenryCNN.

Ed, good to see you, as always, buddy. We'll talk to you again soon.

HENRY: Thanks, T.J. See you tomorrow.

HOLMES: Well, it's a word that popped back into the headlines less than 24 hours ago, one you might have heard in the thick of the war on drugs. Today's "Word Play" straight ahead for you.

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HOLMES: Yesterday, along with the new studio, we launched a new segment called "Word Play" and the idea is to take a term that keeps popping up in the headlines you might be unfamiliar with and explain it to you. Today, "Word Play," we're going to go with something you've been hearing in association with the New York plot story, it's called clean-skin. Let me explain.

It is someone with a spotless police record who wouldn't raise suspicions or red flags. Again, clean-skin. Someone like Faisal Shahzad, the guy now who has been hauled off the flight trying to get out of the country yesterday apparently wasn't on anybody's radar, kept his nose clean enough to get U.S. citizenship.

And now for the polar opposite of a clean-skin, see also the notorious OBL, one of the world's most wanted, Osama bin Laden.

That is your "Word Play" for today. I'm taking over "X-Y-Z." We'll try not to get in trouble today, all right? Stick with us.

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HOLMES: All right, for today's "X-Y-Z," imagine this -- if your child was a freshman in college, calls you after his first semester and said he had a grade point average of 2.0, you'd probably have a problem with that, wouldn't you? But what if your child then in the next breath said he was going to drop out of college after one year to take a job that would pay him millions of dollars? Would you still be putting as much emphasis on his grades?

I bring this up because of a recent story that's gotten a lot of attention. University of Kentucky basketball team had a collective GPA of 2.0 last year. That was the worst out of any other team at Kentucky and it was the worst among the conference's basketball teams. People immediately decried the low GPA saying schools put too much emphasis on athletics.

Not really a new debate there. There was a backlash then against the school and its coach, John Calipari. But I ask you, why? They were just playing by the rules. The NCAA rules say a player can play with a 1.8 GPA. You heard me right, folks, a 1.8. Clearly, the emphasis is not a academic achievement for many of these players, so let's not pretend like it is even if we wish it were. Until the NCAA is willing to raise the standard or a school is willing fire a coach for his players' academic achievement, we got to live by this.

Plus also, you've heard this argument before. What is exactly is the purpose of going to college? We're told we need to go so we can get a good paying job when we get out, right? Well, aren't that many jobs that pay better than the NBA. Keep in mind, I'm only talking about the very elite players in the elite programs in the country. For them, some of them, very few, basketball is their vocation.

It'd be great if we put more emphasis on education. I'm the son of educators, I know the value of an education. College degree pays, but so does a wicked jump shot sometimes. Five of Calipari's players have declared for the NBA, four of them are freshman. Clearly, they had their mind on their career in basketball where they're probably going to make more money than they could do anything else.

Calipari won 35 games this year, the team was a win away from the Final Four. His incoming recruiting class is the best in the country. College coaches, folks, are hired to win basketball games, not produce honor roll students. John Calipari is really, really good at his job.

That's my "X-Y-Z." Here's Rick.