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CNN Live Saturday
North Carolina College Student Shows Weakness In Airport Screening Procedure
Aired October 18, 2003 - 16:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The apparent new threat from bin Laden comes just as new concerns have been raised about U.S. airline security. A probe of some suspicious items left on two Southwest Airlines jets has led to a college student who may have been trying to teach all the airlines a lesson.
CNN's Mike Brooks joins us with this story. Mike, quite a lesson that he'd want to be teaching the airlines. I understand we now know who he is. What can you tell us about him?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Quite a lesson indeed, Andrea. And we do know who he is. In fact, he spoke with the "Greensboro News and Record." He attends Gilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and right now he is at his home in Damascus, Maryland.
Late yesterday, the FBI interviewed him for quite some time in their Baltimore office of the FBI. The "Greensboro News and Record" said that they spoke to him, and here's what he had to say. He said, "they were pretty quick. I wasn't surprised." Nathan Heatwole also quoted as saying, "I'd love to speak to all of this. I have a ton of stuff I would love to say, but now is not the time." He went on to say, "I have to work with the government before I work with the media."
We know, Andrea, that apparently they'd been looking at him for some time. About a month ago, the Transportation Security Administration received an e-mail describing the plastic bag that contained some bleach in a suntan lotion bottle, some clay that was shaped to look like a plastic explosive, and box cutters. They found them on two separate flights. One was found from a plane that had traveled from Orlando to New Orleans, and the other one on a plane from Austin to Houston.
Now, he said in the e-mail that TSA received, that this was an act of civil disobedience. So he knew what he was doing was wrong. So he went on to say this, but the TSA spoke with CNN earlier today, with Kathleen Koch, and they said that they are going to change their training at their contact centers.
Now, the contact center is where all of the e-mail and all of the telephone messages for TSA come into one center. They're going to teach -- train their people to be more aware of possible threats like this so they can act on it more readily -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Okay. Mike Brooks -- and I think it's interesting to note that this young man is not detained and he's not in custody right now.
BROOKS: He is not detained. He is not in custody. He is not an airline employee and apparently has nothing to do with any of the airlines.
But we still don't know if the FBI has charged him with anything. He apparently is not in custody right now. But in a statement by the FBI yesterday, they said that some proceedings could happen on Monday in U.S. district court in Baltimore. So we'll wait and see if that will be his initial appearance -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Mike Brooks, thanks for coming in. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Screening Procedure>
Aired October 18, 2003 - 16:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The apparent new threat from bin Laden comes just as new concerns have been raised about U.S. airline security. A probe of some suspicious items left on two Southwest Airlines jets has led to a college student who may have been trying to teach all the airlines a lesson.
CNN's Mike Brooks joins us with this story. Mike, quite a lesson that he'd want to be teaching the airlines. I understand we now know who he is. What can you tell us about him?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Quite a lesson indeed, Andrea. And we do know who he is. In fact, he spoke with the "Greensboro News and Record." He attends Gilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and right now he is at his home in Damascus, Maryland.
Late yesterday, the FBI interviewed him for quite some time in their Baltimore office of the FBI. The "Greensboro News and Record" said that they spoke to him, and here's what he had to say. He said, "they were pretty quick. I wasn't surprised." Nathan Heatwole also quoted as saying, "I'd love to speak to all of this. I have a ton of stuff I would love to say, but now is not the time." He went on to say, "I have to work with the government before I work with the media."
We know, Andrea, that apparently they'd been looking at him for some time. About a month ago, the Transportation Security Administration received an e-mail describing the plastic bag that contained some bleach in a suntan lotion bottle, some clay that was shaped to look like a plastic explosive, and box cutters. They found them on two separate flights. One was found from a plane that had traveled from Orlando to New Orleans, and the other one on a plane from Austin to Houston.
Now, he said in the e-mail that TSA received, that this was an act of civil disobedience. So he knew what he was doing was wrong. So he went on to say this, but the TSA spoke with CNN earlier today, with Kathleen Koch, and they said that they are going to change their training at their contact centers.
Now, the contact center is where all of the e-mail and all of the telephone messages for TSA come into one center. They're going to teach -- train their people to be more aware of possible threats like this so they can act on it more readily -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Okay. Mike Brooks -- and I think it's interesting to note that this young man is not detained and he's not in custody right now.
BROOKS: He is not detained. He is not in custody. He is not an airline employee and apparently has nothing to do with any of the airlines.
But we still don't know if the FBI has charged him with anything. He apparently is not in custody right now. But in a statement by the FBI yesterday, they said that some proceedings could happen on Monday in U.S. district court in Baltimore. So we'll wait and see if that will be his initial appearance -- Andrea.
KOPPEL: Mike Brooks, thanks for coming in. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Screening Procedure>
