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Philadelphia, Newark Airport Incidents; Raw Politics and the Fight for Congress; FBI Press Conference on Recent, Multiple D.C.-Area Shootings; Suspicious Items Found on UPS Flight

Aired October 29, 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. Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the big stories for this Friday, October 29th.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There'll be no compromise.

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HARRIS: The battle lines are drawn. Four days until the midterms elections, it seems no compromise is the rallying call as Republicans look to take control of Congress.

Plus, prepare to spread 'em the next time you fly. Transportation security out with a new pat-down procedure. Many say it's simply too invasive.

And shots fired again at the Marine Corps Museum near Washington. Authorities trying to find out who is shooting at the military buildings before someone here gets hurt.

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

So we start with breaking news. We're following two stories right now, one at the Philadelphia International Airport, the other in Newark, New Jersey.

CNN's homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, joining us live now from Washington.

And Jeanne, take a few moments here and tell us what you you're following.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, this is still very much an unfolding situation. We don't know yet exactly what authorities are dealing with. I don't think they know at this point exactly yet what they're dealing with.

There are two cargo planes, one at Philadelphia International Airport, one at Newark Liberty, that have come in, that they have isolated, are now taking a very close look at. Let me read you a statement from the Transportation Security Administration.

It says, "The TSA is aware of and monitoring reports of potentially suspicious items on board these cargo flights at Newark and Philadelphia. Out of an abundance of caution, the planes were moved to a remote location where they are being met by law enforcement officials, and they are being swept."

We've asked for more details. What are these suspicious items? Are they similar on the two flights? At this point in time, the TSA is not providing us with that information.

This is standard operating procedure, when they have a security threat involving an aircraft, to take it to a remote part of an airport so there's no threat to terminals, there are no threat to other aircraft that may be on the tarmac. We'll keep you updated as we get more information -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. And Jeanne, you're also following a second story for us, and you've got the latest information on that shooting, another shooting, shots fired outside of the National Museum for the Marine Corps?

MESERVE: That's right. And this is the second time there have been shots fired outside that building.

You'll remember back on the 17th of this month, there was a firing on that museum down in Quantico, Virginia. Then, on the 19th, it was discovered that shots had been fired overnight at the Pentagon. And then earlier this week, a Marine recruiting station out in Chantilly, Virginia.

And ballistics have linked those three shootings to one another. Now we have heard that indeed, there has been a fourth involving again the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico. We do not know yet if that shooting is going to be proven linked to the other three.

We do know that this is being investigated very thoroughly at this point in time. The Marine Corps Marathon is slated to be run this Sunday, and they are upping security around that as a precaution. They want to make sure that goes smoothly and that the runners and spectators are safe -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely.

All right. Jeanne Meserve for us.

Jeanne, good to see you. Thank you.

MESERVE: You bet.

HARRIS: Here we go. Let's get to politics now.

Four days until the midterms, and we are getting down to raw politics here. I'm talking WWE, main event, smackdown raw. The stakes pretty high here. The balance of power and control of Congress at stake. Republicans need a net gain of 39 seats in the House, 10 in the Senate. What happens if they take over one or both? Probably more of the kind of fighting you say you hate.

House Minority Leader John Boehner plans to take a no compromise position. He says Republicans will do everything they can to block President Obama's plans. The president is trying to reenergize his supporters and push ahead with his agenda.

Let's do this -- let's bring in our Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash. She's in New York. And Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar is in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Ladies, thank you. Help me out here. Talk me back, if you would, from the ledge.

Every major city has a freeway, a highway, an expressway that you don't want to be in at rush hour. That freeway, that highway in Washington, D.C., is 495, right? So, when Republicans take back the House, as everyone seems to think will happen, what kind of gridlock are we going to see here 4:30 in the afternoon, where the going is slow, but it is manageable, or are we talking about 6:15 in the afternoon, which is really sort of pounding on the steering wheel, frustrating?

Brianna, take that one on first, if you would.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that Dana and I could both tell you we wish that rush hour only lasted that long in Washington, D.C.. But I think that maybe what you could see here, if Republicans manage to take over let's just say the House of Representatives, the majority in the House of Representatives, which seems obviously more likely, that, yes, you would see gridlock up against a Democratic president. And you're going to see, though, Republicans -- it doesn't mean they're not going to try to deliver on these things that they're promising, no compromise, wanting to repeal unpopular initiatives by President Obama, namely health care reform.

They are going to try to do that, but trying to make good on that rhetoric, they're going to come smack up against reality. Because what is that going to be? Well, even though they would likely increase their numbers in the Senate, it's not seen as all that likely that they're going to get that filibuster-proof majority.

And let's just say that they're able to get something out of the Congress, or they're going to come up against President Obama, and then they're going to have some constitutional limitation that are really insurmountable, President Obama would obviously veto some of these things, two-thirds of both the House and Senate, they can't get those votes.

HARRIS: Are you kidding me?

Dana, jump in here.

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I was just going to say, Tony, the thing to keep in mind politically here is that Republicans in the House and the Senate have learned what they think is a critical lesson from the last two years, which is that early on, they decided that they were going to put their marker down and be pretty much lockstep against the president's stimulus plan. And it went on and on from there with every piece of his legislation, that they think that that has positioned them right now to be the answer to the very real anger that's out there, from the Tea Party on down, about the way Washington is working --

HARRIS: Dana, Dana, Dana, but that is an opposition strategy, as you know. That is not a governing strategy.

BASH: Well, that is true. But you know what? Guess what? Sometimes there is actually very little difference between an opposition strategy and a governing strategy if you talk to Republicans, because they say that opposing what the president is doing is in a way governing, because it's trying to prevent some things that they say that they don't want.

But I will tell you that also looking forward, Tony, they understand -- as Brianna was talking about, they understand that they do have limitations, that they are campaigning on repealing the health care bill and other things. But you know what? The next election is just around the corner, and the next election isn't just about Congress. It's about the big one, it's about the White House.

So they have very -- they're very clearly thinking about the fact that keeping that opposition is important, because they want to get that White House. And if they look like they're too much of a governing party, that could hurt them.

HARRIS: You are so good. You know what you just did? You are so good. You just teed up our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, doing double and triple duty here in Atlanta for us.

Suzanne, that big prize, right --

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The big one, as Dana said. The big one.

HARRIS: -- the White House, what is the president's strategy moving forward if, as everyone seems to suggest here, Republicans take over the House and we're talking about slimmer Democratic margins in the Senate?

MALVEAUX: Right. Sure. Right.

They're going to spend a lot of their time basically, Tony, trying not to have the Republicans undo what has already been done for the first two years. So you heard Brianna and Dana talk about that, because they're saying, look, we put out health care reform. This was huge legislation. It was a big, big accomplishment.

Well, the Republicans could try to repeal some different aspects of it and take away that aspect that you're talking about, Wall Street, regulations, big companies. These are the kinds of things -- they're just going to fight to see if they can keep it in place, and then, also, if they can implement their policies. Because it's not going to do anybody any good if you pass these laws and there's all kinds of confusion or people are fighting actually just to get this implemented. So that's the first thing that they're going to do.

The second thing they're going to try -- at least try to do something that they can work with Republicans on. So it's going to be smaller, less ambitious.

We're not talking about immigration reform, we're not talking about energy policy. We're now talking about specific ways to create jobs. Maybe there's a way to work with Republicans on smaller packages, smaller ideas for more job creation. That's what they're hoping for.

HARRIS: I'm going to tee this up with Dana, and then I'm going to come back to you on this one in just a second, Suzanne.

Dana, is there a way for the president to use the opposition he is likely to face moving forward here to his advantage in the next election cycle?

BASH: Absolutely. There's no question about it. And Suzanne knows this very well.

They know the history at the White House, and the history at the White House is that whether you look at President Clinton or President Reagan, they absolutely used the fact that they had Republicans in Congress -- whether or not they'll be a majority there, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, but there definitely will be a lot more Republicans no matter what, right?

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: So they've used that as political leverage for themselves for, again, the big one, for their own re-election campaigns. And that is something that is not lost on this White House.

Certainly, they're not campaigning hard for Democrats, and they want Democrats to keep control. But politically for the president, it would be a potential big positive for him to have Republicans if he can find a way to work with them, if he can find some way to have some accomplishments.

HARRIS: What do you think, Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: I think Dana is right. I mean, he certainly could use the party and the majorities as a foil. But the one thing that the president really want to do -- and if you believe what he says is true, that he'd rather be a good, effective one-term president than ineffective two-term president -- is that for his legacy and for the sake of the country, they want to feel like they got something done, they accomplished it, and it worked.

So, even if health care reform -- you know, they can blame the Republicans and say they repealed it, it didn't work the way we wanted it to -- that's not how they want to play it out. They want it to play out so that they really made some sort of significant, meaningful change on health care, on regulations, on the economy, all those kinds of things.

HARRIS: And Brianna, last one to you here. Really, give us a crystal ball look here.

I mean, this is your turf. You cover this beat every day, the congressional beat here. Look, Republicans, again, by all accounts, by all of the polling data, seems to suggest the Republicans are going to take control of the House.

What of the people's business is likely to get done under that scenario?

KEILAR: I'm sorry, Tony. I'm having a hard time hearing you.

HARRIS: And on that note, I've run out of time. I've got to get back to Jeanne Meserve. I apologize. For a moment here it was like "ON THE STORY."

You remember that show? It was a great show. It was "ON THE STORY."

MALVEAUX: Bring it back.

HARRIS: Bring it back.

MESERVE: We can bring it back.

HARRIS: All right, ladies. Good to see you. Thank you all.

Let's get back to Jeanne Meserve. She has new information on the incident and Philadelphia International Airport -- Jeanne.

MESERVE: Right, Tony. This has to do with the airplanes at Philadelphia and at Newark that have been isolated, that authorities are looking at.

We are hearing from a law enforcement source that they are looking out at these cargo flights out of an abundance of caution because of something that happened overnight. We are told by this source that there was a flight, a cargo flight flying from Yemen to Chicago.

It stopped in London. And when it stopped there, they found on board a toner cartridge which had been converted into an IED.

There was explosive material inside this toner cartridge. This, according to a reliable law enforcement source.

So they are looking now at similar cargo flights, particularly looking at flights coming from Yemen into the United States. UPS has told us that they are cooperating with authorities on this. They have told us that they are looking at two flights at the Philadelphia Airport, in addition to the one flight that we know of at Newark. So that's the very latest, Tony, on this situation.

HARRIS: OK. Let's do this -- let's get -- Jeanne, if you would stand by, because for folks who may be joining us in just a couple of minutes, I want them to get the benefit of what you're learning on this just moments ago.

But let's bring in Sarah Hoye. She's one of our all-platform journalists.

And Sarah, I understand you are at Philadelphia International Airport. Is that correct?

SARAH HOYE, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Yes. Good morning, Tony.

I am here at the airport, and there is a number of emergency management vehicles coming in and out. They've just arrived, so you have the planes that are on the side tarmac here, the UPS plane, and then a number of these police, fire department, emergency management vehicles, all kind of pulling in and out of this side area.

HARRIS: OK.

And let's get back to Jeanne.

Jeanne, are you still there?

MESERVE: Yes, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. So that's the information that we are able to get from Sarah on the ground, but your information is the really important bit here.

Repeat, if you would, what you're learning through your sources.

MESERVE: This comes from a reliable law enforcement source who tells us that these planes are being looked at out of an abundance of caution, because there was a cargo flight overnight that was en route from Yemen to Chicago. It put down in London, and on board they found a cartridge converted that had been converted to an IED.

They found explosive material inside that toner cartridge. And so they are looking at other cargo flights, particularly those coming from Yemen into the U.S., to see if they find any similar sorts of devices on board.

To our knowledge, they have not found anything, but this would explain why they're isolating the planes, why they are sweeping the planes. They are taking a very careful look to see if this is a multi-pronged sort of event, or whether this was a one-off and just involved that one flight where they discovered the toner cartridge in London -- Tony.

HARRIS: And if you would, remind us of the situation at Newark International Airport. MESERVE: Well, my understanding is that there was one plane there that they have similarly isolated and are also looking at, in addition to, according to UPS, two planes at the Philadelphia Airport. Those are the ones that we know of so far.

HARRIS: OK. All right. We'll keep an eye on this, and a live picture there just a moment ago of Newark International Airport.

Jeanne Meserve in Washington for us.

Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's take a quick break.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: All right. So we've got a developing story that continues to develop with new information and new strands to this story. Let's tell you what we know right now of the situation at Philadelphia International Airport and Newark International Airport, and then we're going to get to some new information.

A law enforcement source is telling CNN that officials have found what they're calling an IED. Just an IED, yes, disguised as a toner cartridge on board a cargo plane in London during a stop on a flight from Yemen to Chicago.

So out of an abundance of caution, law enforcement officials are now inspecting similar cargo planes and looking for similar devices. OK?

Now we are just getting word that laws enforcement officials in New York, in Queens, New York, are investigating a UPS truck near the Queensboro Bridge. That's all I have. That's all the information I have about the UPS truck.

But again, we're talking about cargo planes being investigated, being looked at right now at Philadelphia's International Airport and Newark's International Airport, and now word of a UPS truck being investigated near the Queensboro Bridge in Queens, New York.

Again, a developing story. We're trying to pull it all together, the latest information that we can get for you.

As soon as we get additional information -- our Jeanne Meserve is working the phones right now -- we will update this story.

Let's take a break. We're back in a moment.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. You know what? Let's get to Jeanne Meserve, our homeland security correspondent in Washington, D.C.

Jeanne, let's walk through all of this right now. I know you've been on the phone with your sources. I know if anyone has the latest information on this, it is you.

So do you want to start with the situation at Philadelphia, at the airports? And we're also getting new information about a suspicious UPS truck in Queens, New York. But I'll let you lead here.

MESERVE: Right. First, let's talk about the airplanes.

A told you a few minutes ago that they found a suspicious item on board a cargo flight that had landed in London. A second law enforcement source is now confirming, yes, it was a toner cartridge that they found on board.

The second law enforcement source describes the toner cartridge as having been manipulated, having been changed. This source says there were a few additional things in the box.

However, this source says they did not find any explosives, that the test for explosive materials on this toner cartridge were negative. Nonetheless, this is the kind of thing that gets law enforcement's antenna waving.

This was a piece of equipment that had been manipulated, had been changed. They aren't precisely sure why, as I understand it at this point in time. But out of an abundance of caution, they are looking at other flights that may be carrying packages that may have originated also in Yemen, and they're trying to track down packages, as I understand it, that may have left planes, packages that may have come from Yemen.

The may explain the interest in the UPS truck that you mentioned in New York. All of this a very fluid and developing situation.

We do have a little bit of contradictory information here, although our sources mesh on the fact that when this plane landed in London, this cargo plane, they found a toner cartridge that was suspicious. One source had told us that they did find explosives. Another source is telling us no, they did not find any explosives, the tests they ran were negative.

They have pulled these planes away from terminals and away from other planes at Philadelphia and Newark to look at them more carefully. They are obviously looking for anything suspicious that could be on board these aircraft -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK.

Our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve.

Jeanne, appreciate the updated information.

All right. Just time for a quick break, and we're back in a moment.

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HARRIS: OK. If you're just joining us, and perhaps you're at one of the airports in question here this morning, maybe Philadelphia International Airport, maybe you're at Newark International Airport and you're wondering what's all the commotion about, what's the fuss about.

Let us try to explain the situation here, which seems to be coming to a bit of a resolution here. Don't want to get ahead of the story, but it appears to be that all signs are indicating that this situation is beginning to come to a resolution.

Earlier in the day, investigators in the United Kingdom found a toner cartridge, right, a toner cartridge, aboard a plane flying from Yemen to Chicago and they found this toner cartridge that was suspicious because it had been manipulated when the plane stopped in London.

Now, that triggered an alert that went to airports in the United States, again the plane was flying from Yemen to Chicago. Cargo planes at the Newark International Airport and the Philadelphia International Airport came under some scrutiny, as you would imagine, here. Two planes in particular, I believe; there may have been a third plane involved.

A couple planes were moved to different areas, were moved to different areas of the airport so they could be searched. The information that we have at this point is that search continues right now. OK, out of an abundance of caution. And I think that makes sense to everyone.

We also received report of a UPS truck that was being investigated near the Queens Borough Bridge. We don't have the latest information on that search, but we're pulling information together as the story develops and we get it.

So that's where we are right now in the story. As we get more information, we will certain update it for you.

Let's do this, Chris Lawrence is -- is he standing by? Is he ready to go? OK, let's get to our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence, because, Chris, again, this is a very busy day, breaking news all over the place. And you're following a story of the National Marine Corps Museum being fired upon once again.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony. It's been fired on now for the second time in two weeks. We're literally just a few minutes away from an FBI news conference in which we may start to get even more information about what the investigators have been able to find, but here's the bottom line, they have already tied one gun, and we're told that it is most likely a high-powered rifle, one gun that's shot at three different military facilities here in the D.C. area just in the last two weeks alone.

It started at the Marine Corps museum about two weeks ago. Two days after that, someone shot here at the Pentagon, several bullets lodged in both the concrete and the bulletproof glass. And then, on Tuesday, someone took shots at a Marine Corps recruiting center in Virginia.

Thought that was it, and then last night, again, against someone took shots again at the Marine Corps Museum. Investigators are on the scene, the museum are closed. Obviously, it brings up a lot of questions about if this is one gun, if this one person or a group of people, what's going to what will happen next.

HARRIS: OK, Chris, appreciate it. Thank you for the update and if there's some news to report out of that news conference, just give us a heads-up and we'll get you right back up on the air.

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HARRIS: OK, we're got our hands full, as you mentioned a moment ago. We've got a couple of stories breaking, a couple of situations at airports in the northeast at Newark International Airport and again, at Philadelphia International Airport. Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is in Washington and she's following these developments and has the latest information.

Jeanne, back to you.

MESERVE: Tony, they're just looking at some cargo flights that are on the ground in Philly and in Newark. They've taken them to isolated parts of the airport, they're being swept looking for anything that might be suspicious aboard those planes.

They are doing this because of something that happened that happened overnight. We're told there was a cargo flight that flew from Yemen. It stopped in the U.K. While it was on the ground in the U.K., they found a toner cartridge onboard that had been tampered with.

We've talked to two different law enforcement sources who have given us a slightly different versions of what happened. One source says that it was manipulated, it was changed, it had been tampered with and there were some additional components that had been put in the box. But according to that source, it tested negative for explosives.

A second law enforcement source has told us they did find explosives. We're still trying to get to the bottom of what that situation is, but in any event, finding a piece of electronics or equipment like that that had been tampered in that way is a cause for concern.

So our understanding from law enforcement sources is that they are looking very carefully at other cargo that may have originated in Yemen to see if they find anything else similar. Tony, to our knowledge, they haven't found anything. We are keeping an eye on this very carefully, needless to say.

HARRIS: And the story is changing and the facts bouncing around a bit, but I know you'll bring it together for us.

Jeanne Meserve for us in Washington. Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

And I believe we're just a couple of minutes away. We will monitor this. Maybe we'll dip into it when it begins, on the FBI news conference where we're expecting to get new information on shots fired again at the National Marine Corps Museum.

I think you see the participants about ready to step to the microphone. Why don't we do this -- is that OK? Should we take a little bit of it? Let's do that. Let's take a little bit of this right off the top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've scheduled this press conference for the convenience of the media. We want to ensure you that you are working with accurate information.

Before we get started, I want to introduce my law enforcement partners. First of all, Director Steve Calvery and Chief Keable (ph) from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.

We have Fairfax County Deputy Chief Steve Sellers. We have acting SAC from WFO NCIS Susan Treesh (ph).

And standing with me today is Assistant Chief Crosby (ph). He's going to give you a few details of what happened overnight. Please hold your questions. I'll say a few things and we'll take questions after I speak.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometime last night between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 -- excuse me, 6:00 this morning, some unknown individual or individuals fired several rounds towards the Marine Corps Museum down in Triangle, Virginia. We don't know the exact time at this moment. It appears that the rounds came from the Interstate 95 side of the building.

That's all we know at this moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, folks, I'd like to say a few things.

Initially, I want to assure you that we are working with our agency partners to relentlessly pursue leads. We do not have information that the overnight shooting was related, but we're going to work with the assumption that the shooting is related.

As we continue in our efforts, we are calling for assistance of the public in helping us identify the subjects. We believe the subject is engaged in recognizable behaviors and activities during and around the times of the commission of these crimes. He was able to be out and unaccounted for during the overnight and early morning hours of October 16th through October the 18th, October 25th, and last night. There are others who are part of the subject's life and aware of his routine. He may have had to provide an explanation or excuse to justify his absence from home or work during these odd hours.

We believe this suspect has a grievance surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps. It may be that he feels he's been wronged by the Corps in his professional and/or his personal life. The subject of the grievance does appear to be the institution of the Marine Corps and not the individual men and women Marines for whom he may feel a great deal of respect, admiration and even loyalty. We'd like to know what this grievance is and what we can do to try to help resolve it. We're willing to listen to him and hear his side of the story.

This subject has likely experienced a significant personal crisis within the past several months. This event may have been the loss of a job or status, divorce, financial hardship, death of a loved one, or other perceived failure. Whatever it is that is bothering him, he may be often outspoken about what he perceives to be a deeply personal grievance.

We ask the public to carefully consider the information provided and consider whether they know this offender or have noted behaviors/activities suggesting involvement in this incident.

We believe the suspect has familiarity with the northern Virginia are from living or working here. If you see someone behaving suspiciously near a site related to the U.S. Marine Corps or if you hear gunfire in a related facilities or structure, please call 911 immediately.

Lastly, we obviously welcome contact from the individual responsible for these incidents so that we can better understand his grievance and work toward its resolution. We're cognizant of the fact that he has attempted to avoid casualties by acting at the nighttime and non-business hours.

We understand he may feel a great deal of stress in his life at this moment, however, relieving this stress by shooting at buildings puts others at risks regardless of steps taken to avoid accidental or unattended victims. We do not believe it his intention to harm innocent citizens or Marines. Acting out this way, however, can eventually lead to disastrous and tragic consequences that we all wish to avoid.

We'll take a limited number of questions at this time.

QUESTION: Do you believe the individual was a member of the Marine Corps?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're working on that assumption right now.

QUESTION: What should the individual do specifically if he wants to contact you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the individual should do, please, is contact 202-278-2000. Contact the nearest police department. If the individual wants to dial 911 and say I'm the individual responsible, please do that. We'll be able to -- our partners will reach out to us and we'll be able to get in contact.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) shots hit the museum and if so, where and can you tell the caliber of -- (OFF-MIKE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shots hit on the west side of the museum, which was on the Interstate 95 side. We know there are several shots. The building is unoccupied during those hours, so we don't know the exact time. Again, there was nobody in the building and we do not know the caliber at this time.

QUESTION: How many rounds?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several right now. We're still -- we're still --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) is there a reason you haven't put out the type of weapon being used or the caliber? Is it because it's too common?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to comment on that right now, thank you.

QUESTION: Have you or are you going to do a search like I did along 95 (OFF-MIKE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are currently processing the scene at this time and we are going to do a search along Interstate 95, as that appears to be from where the bullets came from.

QUESTION: Do you believe the person is firing from a vehicle each time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That would be speculation, but given the fact that it appears that at least three incidents came from the 95 or 395 area, that we would assume it may be coming from a vehicle.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) have you been provided any clues to those shootings?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to answer that right now. What we're doing, though, is we're trying to use all available resources, all available investigative techniques, we're working very closely with the partners standing behind us to see what we can do --

HARRIS: All right, let's do this, let's get to Chris Lawrence here in a second here.

The FBI, as you just heard, is asking really for your help in identifying a suspect in the overnight shooting. We're talking about shots fired again at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia.

Chris Lawrence is our Pentagon correspondent are correspondent. And, Chris, anything new you heard in that briefing? We certainly hard the FBI suggesting a profile of the possible suspect here.

LAWRENCE: Yes, exactly, Tony. You know, someone who has experienced some sort of trauma in their live very recently, a death in the family, a divorce, a loss of a job.

I think the thing that really jumped out at me is that he seemed to be almost speaking to whoever is the shooter --

HARRIS: Yes.

LAWRENCE: -- by saying we know you haven't tried to hurt anyone yet. We know you've gone out of your way to take these shots at night when you know no one is in the building or no one is likely to be around.

And he seemed to suggest that the person is very familiar with the Marine Corps. And he really made pains to say we know your grievance is with the institution of the Marine Corps, not with Marines themselves, which some would suggest seems to be that he may be speaking to someone who may perhaps be a former service member because he seemed to make that point that the person seems to be targeting the institution, not the individual members of the Marine Corps.

HARRIS: Chris, a little scary. This is the second time in a couple weeks, in at least a month, right? Where we've seen this kind of incident targeting that particular building?

LAWRENCE: That's right, and they've already determined that the three shootings, the ones that happened before today, were all done by the same gun. And we were told earlier in this investigation that that gun was likely a high-powered rifle.

So three have already been tied together and when you look at the similarities, all buildings relating to the military, all done at night, all done between, you know, say, 11:00, 12:00 midnight and like 5:00 in the morning. So a lot of similarities, several shots taken at each structure, many of the bullets lodging in metal or the concrete. In the case of the Pentagon, lodging in one of the bulletproof windows.

So obviously, a very distinct pattern here. All these, for people who don't live in this area, the Pentagon, the Marine Corps Museum and that recruiting dept, all of these are within, you know, 20, 30 miles of each other. So they're fairly close.

HARRIS: That's right.

All right, Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon for us. Chris, appreciate the update. Thank you.

And let's see here, let's see the pictures again of Philadelphia's International Airport and Newark International Airport. Cargo planes getting extra scrutiny this morning because of a situation in the United Kingdom. There was a toner cartridge aboard a plane flying from Yemen to Chicago. It landed/stopped in London, that's where the suspicious toner cartridge was found. It appeared to have been manipulate, so that has put investigators on high alert.

And again, cargo planes are getting extra scrutiny right now at these two particular airports. Nothing concrete at this point. The investigators continues, so we will continue to follow this and bring you any additional information as soon as we get it. We'll check in just a couple of minutes with our homeland security Jeanne Meserve.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: All right, without delay, let's get to Jeanne Meserve, our homeland security correspondent. She is following the story here as it unfolds of the activity going on now at Newark International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport.

Jeanne, what are you learning?

MESERVE: Tony, we still know that they're looking at those airport at Philadelphia and Newark. These are cargo flights, they are sweeping them very carefully to look for any suspicious items that may be on board.

This in the wake on a discovery on a cargo flight that landed in the U.K. overnight. On that flight, they found a toner cartridge that had been tampered with in some way, had been manipulated.

There are conflicting reports as to whether this was, in fact, an IED or whether it was something that was made to resemble an IED, but it was something that caused enough concern that out of an abundance of caution they are looking at other flights that might be carrying packages that came from Yemen is what we're told by law enforcement sources.

Tony, back to you.

HARRIS: OK, Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you.

For the control room for a moment here -- Is Nic Robertson ready to go on this information that was just sent to me? And that's for our control room. Is Nic ready to go?

OK, let's get to Nic Robertson. Nic, I'm reading through it myself, but I know this is information that you have, so if you would, pick up this story of the searches going on right now here in the United States at two airports here, but this is tied to events in London as well.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is tied to an event possibly -- and we do have to say possibly at this stage --

HARRIS: Take your time.

ROBERTSON: -- to an aircraft that was discovered overnight, about 3:28 in the morning British time at East Midlands Airport, about an hour and a half's drive north of London.

On board that aircraft was discovered an item we believe at this stage possibly to be a cartridge, a toner cartridge of a printer, and there was a suspicious -- something suspicious about that on board this particular UPS flight.

And out of an abundance of caution, that is what we understand may -- and we have to say may at this stage -- tied to these other incidents, but we don't know that for sure. We're seeking clarification at the moment from East Midlands Airport who reported this significant incident. Other London airports we have contacted so far cannot report a similar type of incident.

So at the moment this is what we're focusing on, but there's still a lot more information and a lot more digging to be done so we can be quite sure if there's a linkage in this particular case.

HARRIS: All right. And, Nic, bear with me, I know we have more questions than answers at this point, but let's just sort of walk through this in a common sense way here.

So you've got this suspicious item that's been manipulated. What happens with it at the point that it's discovered? At some point, it is tested and the test results come back indicating what, if anything?

ROBERTSON: Well, now that's part of the big question at the moment and another question is, what led the suspicion to this particular object aboard this airport that we understand on route from Yemen to Chicago. What drew people's interest and attention to that, which appears on the surface to have been a relatively small piece of cargo aboard a relatively large aircraft?

These specifics are still details that we're waiting to learn as we talk to airport officials, but at the moment very little precise detail is being explained to us. And I think that's quite normal in these situations where officials really don't want to show their full hand. They're certainly saying there's nothing untoward at the airport, that the airport is safe at this time.

But it does seem that in situations like this in the past, we've seen airport officials and intelligence, security authorities play their cards close to their chest. They don't want to tell whoever may have been responsible for tampering with this device what they know already about it.

HARRIS: OK, yes. And I only mention that because Jeanne Meserve is trying to confirm, to button-up information that tests were conducted on this toner cartridge and some conflicting information as to what the results of the testing indicate.

So, again, more questions than answers. I know you're all over it. I know Jeanne is working it as well. Let's leave it there and not get too far ahead of the story and the facts as we know them to be. And, Nic, appreciate it thank you and Jeanne as well in Washington.

We're back in a moment. A quick break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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