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CNN Live Today

Authorities Report Foiled Terror Plot

Aired August 10, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're at the half hour. Let's take a look at what we know right now and what authorities say was a foiled plot to blow up flights from Britain here to the U.S.
Airline passengers may face longer lines due to extra security. The terror threat level, an unprecedented red, severe, for flights from the U.K. to the U.S. It's orange or high for other U.S. flights.

Flyers are not allowed to bring carry-on drinks, lotions or other liquids. Scotland Yard says it's arrested 21 suspects and raids are ongoing.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the plot was in the final stages and bears the markings of al Qaeda.

Our justice correspondent Kelli Arena has been working her sources and she joins us now on the phone with some new details on the alleged plot.

Kelli, hello.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Daryn.

Well, let's start with the al Qaeda mark. Several sources, government officials that I spoke to, say that there's no definitive link yet that has been established to al Qaeda proper. What they say is that the definition of al Qaeda has changed quite dramatically, that it could be an al Qaeda-inspired plot. So a little bit of a difference there, Daryn.

I'm also told by government officials that as many as six to ten planes were targeted. At least that's the information that they're getting. And that several of the men who were arrested in Britain were British citizens of Pakistani descent; that these were alleged terrorists of the homegrown kind, Daryn, not people who had come into the country to carry out an attack like we saw here on September 11th.

I'm also told by some law enforcement sources that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent out another bulletin to their state and local partners, telling them about the plot, reminding them of an earlier bulletin that had gone out in the summer of last year that describes how liquid-based explosives could be put together and used. In that bulletin, it says that there's no information that there was any plotting within the United States, but that such a possibility cannot be discounted.

They also made reference to the videotape that was released on July 27th, featuring Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's number two, and said that that reflects the groups continued interest in targeting the U.S. and conducting another spectacular attack in the United States -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And Kelli, getting back to this point that the -- many of the suspects that are in custody are British citizens of Pakistani descent, would that not be similar to those that they believe carried out the train bombings last year in London?

ARENA: That's right, Daryn. And this is a trend that has many in counterterrorism very concerned, because there does seem to be that radicalization that's happening throughout Europe and they worry even here in the United States.

KAGAN: All right, Kelli Arena on the phone. Thank you.

Our John King also working his sources, has some new information for us -- John. John, can you hear us? You're with us.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry, Daryn, I can hear you now.

KAGAN: That's OK. All right. You have new stuff for us.

KING: Yes, I just want to relay to you some -- the details we're getting from a counterterrorism official, an intelligence official involved in counterterrorism. It's pretty scary stuff; scary because of how simple it is, actually, according to this official, for these plotters to do what they are alleged to have been doing.

British investigators are telling the United States apparently that, quote, "The design of these terrorists was to get on board with liquid substances that, when mixed, could be turned into something that could be detonated." The official refused to get into the specifics, but said, "We're talking about things you can get onto an airplane with without raising suspicions."

"What makes it frightening," this official says, "is you can turn relatively common materials into a dangerous IED." Now, IED, a term we hear day after day after day about the deadly explosive devices in Iraq. This official saying they're talking about very small IEDs that these terrorists allegedly were planning to put -- to concoct, essentially; mix on the planes and then detonate. The goal, this official telling me, was to perhaps cause structural damage to the planes, or perhaps just cause serious catastrophic fires. And if you do that over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, obviously the pilot would have no option to bring it down.

Now, Daryn, again, the official stressing that they believe because of the sophistication -- that is why they think that this can eventually traced back to some form of an al Qaeda link. And they say what's happening here is that terrorists are studying every airline security measure and counter-measure that is put in place, and they're finding ways to get around it.

I want to talk a quick bit more about this. They say why the al Qaeda allegation? Because it's very reminiscent about the 1990s alleged plot to blow up as many as a dozen airliners over the Pacific Ocean. He says al Qaeda goes back to things that they know, that they study. Now, he says they're hearing somewhat different numbers, but in the six to ten range of airliners targeted. And he said -- this is the ominous part -- the Brits would not have taken this action had they thought they had more time to gather information and evidence. They had indication these guys were ready to go.

Now, he would not say -- this intelligence official would not say what that evidence was. He said the obvious things you would look for in such a case is perhaps a communication out to a number of the members of the cell or perhaps evidence that some had purchased airline tickets. But again, the official said he would not say. I can't tell you what that evidence was, he said. But the trip line had been reached. They dropped the hammer when they did because they thought they were out of time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And when they did it, they did it fast and across the world. John, thank you. John King from Washington, D.C.. We'll be checking back with him and all of our Washington correspondents as they develop more information.

I also want to let you know, we've booked an explosive expert to explain to us a little better how this works. It's not like we're going to show you how it works, exactly, on television -- but so we can understand a little bit more the great concern over just everyday items. And that does affect your carry-on luggage if you're traveling today or onward. Liquids or gels now forbidden.

What about the other dos and don'ts? A quick checklist with our personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

Gerri, good morning.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, Daryn. Good to see you.

As you know, you cannot bring the following on your carry-on luggage: liquids or gels. That means shampoo, beverages, sun tan lotion, hair gel and toothpaste. Don't bring it in your checked baggage. Some exceptions here, baby formula and medicine. But they must be presented at the checkpoint. Other no-nos, always: lighters, box cutters. Can't bring those on board. And here are some things that are still OK: small scissors, nail clippers, tweezers. According to the TSA Web site, you can bring those on board.

KAGAN: So you're going to help yourself out if you bring -- or bring what you're supposed to bring and don't bring what you're not supposed to. Also, you can help yourself out if you dress properly for going to the airport?

WILLIS: That's right. You definitely want to arrive early, two hours early as well, Daryn. Minimize your wait by avoiding to wear metal in any circumstance. Wear beltless pants or skirts. Skip the jewelry. And if you can, put on the sneakers. Bring plastic baggies with you to hold loose change or watches before going through the security. And to check on the security checkpoint wait times, go to waittime.tsa.dhs.gov.

KAGAN: And meanwhile, when you're out and about, keep your guard up. Keep your eyes and ears open.

WILLIS: That's right. You know, if you see anything suspicious at all, let the authorities know. Never touch anything that looks questionable. And here's a big point that I've never heard until today. Don't use your cell phone within 50 feet of a suspicious object. You could unexpectedly detonate something.

KAGAN: Yet another thing to think about.

WILLIS: Right. Keep your boarding pass and your I.D. with you at all times. And of course, don't leave your bags unattended. I think everybody knows that at this point.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Gerri, good tips. Thank you.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: All right. The markets have been open just over an hour. Let's see how they've been affected by all this news of the day from overseas. Kind of mixed. Not moving a lot. You can see the Dow is barely up, just a little bit, up four. And the Nasdaq also up, but just barely a point. Just a little bit. We'll have more business news ahead. Also get back to the latest. And we'll talk about the security alert.

You are watching CNN, which is the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We continue our coverage. Let's tell you what we know right now in that alleged terror plot out of Britain.

Twenty-one people have been rounded up so far in what Scotland Yard says was a plan to blow up flights to the U.S. flights from Britain are under an unprecedented code-red terror alert. All U.S. air travel is under an orange alert. This means more security and longer lines. Passengers can't carry on water bottles, sun tan lotions or other liquids.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the plot was far along and suggestive of al Qaeda.

With more on that, let's bring in our homeland security correspondent. Jeanne Meserve is in Washington this morning with more details.

Jeanne, hello.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Just to fill you a little bit, on how the information flowed in the early hours of this morning. At about 1:22, an alert went out to state and local Homeland Security officials advising them of the arrest in London. Later there was a phone call with Homeland Security officials in which they briefed them. The intent being to give them as much information as was available so they could make their decisions about what to do security-wise.

I am told by homeland security officials that there were no recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security about specific steps that should be taken because there have been no indications of a plot in the U.S. There have been no arrests in the U.S.

But there have been some instances where security has been stepped up. For instance, here in the Metro system, in Washington D.C., A decision was made to ratchet up a security a bit.

Of course it's the airlines where you are seeing the big step-up in security, threat-level red on the flights from the U.K. into the United States. Amongst the things that are happening, passenger manifests are being looked at much more carefully to see if there are no matches with the no-fly list. Federal air marshals have been deployed to Britain to increase their coverage on flights into the United States, and flights that are landing here are being met by additional resources of Customs and border protection who are looking more carefully for anything suspicious and anything that might be explosive. In addition, as has been mentioned, liquids and gels banned from domestic flights here in the United States in carry-on luggage.

Secretary Chertoff explained in a press conference this morning why the U.S. is taking these steps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECY.: We're going to learn a lot more in the course of the investigation, and I would rather have more protection and then scale it back as we become more reassured than underestimate the problem and find out, God forbid, we've made a tragic mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Secretary Chertoff said in that press conference that the alleged terrorists had accumulated the resources they needed, that they were in the final stages of planning this attack.

According to one official I talked to, this was, quote, "the real deal."

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Jeanne, let's talk the color alert here. First of all, red. Unprecedented; we've never seen it before.

MESERVE: Never seen it before. It is at the very, very top of the scale. U.S. officials were asked today why they went to that. It usually signifies that an attack is imminent. They say they did it in part to bring our color-code threat level in alignment with the British and what they've done in that country, where obviously the threat very high.

KAGAN: But it only applies to flights coming from the U.K. here to the U.S..

MESERVE:: That's right. Threat level orange for the flights here.

And I should say all of this tailored just to the aviation sector. Secretary Chertoff said they tried very much to sculpt this to be in line with this specific threat. This is something they have done in previous instances, as well.

They've been criticized roundly for doing a blanket hike of the threat level, because it's so expensive for states, and localities and industries. Here they're trying to target it to that one area where there is indeed a threat.

KAGAN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington D.C., thank you for you that. Let's go in and check on the busiest passenger airport in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson International, right here in international. CNN's Sumi Das is there.

Sumi, good morning.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, officials here at Hartsfield-Jackson have been in constant communication with the Transportation Security Administration to make sure that things run smoothly here at this, as you mentioned, one of the busiest airports in the world.

Throughout the morning, we have seen police and fire department vehicles circling around the airport. An airport spokeswoman that we spoke to said that that is part of the procedure when an incident occurs that raises security concerns.

Now combined, Delta Airlines and British Airways operate 34 flights from this airport to the U.K. And so far, there are no cancellations, but there are some delays, up to three hours with some flights.

Now, because of the changes of what's allowed in checked-on baggage, there have been notices that have been handed out to people who are waiting in line, basically saying no liquids.

They look like this.

And that's because a lot of team are arriving at the airport and simply don't know what is going on. They're very curious as to why they're waiting in these very, very long lines that snake through the terminal.

Also, we are seeing a lot of people who are repacking their bags.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually had to switch everything over to our big bag, all liquids, toothpastes, anything. So, yes, so we had to actually pay an extra $25 because it was over the weight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAS: Now if you're flying Delta Airlines, you won't have to pay that extra $25,and that's because they are waiving their excess baggage fee. We haven't heard that any other airlines are doing that at this point.

Currently, the lines to get through the security checkpoint is about 90 minutes long. There are over 700 people in line. However, the screeners and the employees here at the airport seem to be a good job at -- seem to be doing a good job at speeding up that process. The line seems to be getting shorter, not longer -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Sumi Das, live at Hartsfield International Airport, thank you.

I want to pick the brain right now of our CNN security analyst. Clark Kent Ervin is a former Department of Homeland Security inspector general and author of "Open Target." He is in Washington D.C.

Clark, good morning.

CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's Start with some broad questions here. What do you make of what you've heard so far this morning?

ERVIN: Well, as you know, I've not been one of those counterterrorism experts who believes that we've solved the problem of aviation security. It's true that we've done a lot of things since 9/11. We've spent $18 billion to $20 billion dollars. Cockpit doors are hardened. We have a larger number of air marshals. Some pilots are armed. But it is clear that al Qaeda, in particular, continues to focus on the aviation sector. And for every measure that we put in place, they're working to develop countermeasures.

For example, just a few months ago, a little noticed GAO report pointed out that their investigators, congressional investigators, were able to sneak bomb components, bomb parts, through 21 airports undetected without attracting the attention of the screener workforce. And if bomb parts could get past, then obviously things like liquid gel, which nobody would typically think of as a bomb component, could do so, too.

KAGAN: So what about the reaction you've seen, both on the British side and U.S. side today?

ERVIN: Well, I think both governments have reacting absolutely perfectly. The British and the Israelis are the very best at counterterrorism, so I think there's a lot that we can learn from them. I applaud the British authorities. Likewise I applaud what Secretary Chertoff and other federal officials here in the United States government have done. Secretary Chertoff is right to say that we should ratchet up security to the highest levels now. And if subsequently we learn that we can relax things a bit, then fine, but certainly we need to err on the side of caution. So red alert from flights originating from the U.K. makes perfect sense to me.

KAGAN: Let's see the lessons in this. What can the U.S. learn from this thwarted plot?

ERVIN: Well, I think they can learn a number of things. The first thing to learn is how I began, and that is, we should not think that we are completely safe in the aviation sector, and that another 9/11-style attack cannot be perpetrated.

I think, to be more specific about that, the second thing is there are a number of specific vulnerabilities that we need to close. For example, most people don't realize that a lot of cargo, about 20 percent of the cargo that flies on airplanes flies not on dedicated cargo planes, but on passengers planes. Unlike luggage, virtually none of that cargo is inspected before it gets into the cargo hold. We need immediately, it seems to me, to go to 100 percent inspections of air cargo, which is exactly what happens in Britain, Israel and the Netherlands.

KAGAN: The other part of this is, you know, there's been a lot of suggestions that al Qaeda could have something to do with this. One thing we know about al Qaeda, they come back and they learn from things that don't work. What do you think they would be learn everything this thwarted plot?

ERVIN: Well, you're quite right to say that al Qaeda is a learning organization, and that they're also very, very determined to try, try again until they succeed. You know, people forget that 1993, the World Trade Center bombing was attempted the first time. So I think what they're learning is that the Americans and the British and governments throughout the world are vigilant. And that's a good thing for them to learn, needless to say.

But that is not the suggest that they're going to stop trying. And so as I say, this is not a time to relax security measures. It's a time to increase them. You know, recently, last fall, TSA relaxed the rules on carrying small knives and small scissors on airplanes. You can do that now. I thought that was the wrong move to make back then. It's even clearer now, in retrospect, given the events of today, that was the wrong move to make.

KAGAN: But, you know, it's interesting, with all the liquid you're not allowed to bring, you're still allowed to bring those onboard today. They didn't change that.

ERVIN: Sorry?

KAGAN: Even with everything you're not allowed to bring on board today, the liquid and everything, you're still allowed to bring the clippers and the...

ERVIN: That's exactly right. So that's an example of a security vulnerability that obviously needs to be tightened right away. That was a mistake on TSA's part to have done last fall.

KAGAN: All right. Clark Kent. Have a -- we'll have you back next hour, continue our conversation.

ERVIN: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you, Clark. And, by the way, we expect to hear from President Bush today around 12:30 p.m. Eastern. He'll be in Wisconsin. We'll bring that to you live. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're getting close to the top of the hour. Let's take a look at what we know right now in that alleged terror plot out of Britain.

Twenty-one people have been rounded up so far in what Scotland Yard says was a plan to blow up flights to the U.S. Flights from Britain are under an unprecedented code red terror alert. All other U.S. air travel is under an orange alert. This means more security and longer lines. Passengers are not allowed to carry on water bottles, sun tan lotions or other liquids.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the plot was far along and suggestive of al Qaeda. A U.S. administration official says that terror plot was aimed at least three carriers. American Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines were said to be targets. A U.S. government official says some of the flights would have been headed from the U.K. to New York, Washington, and California.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

KAGAN: We expect to hear from a number of officials over the next hour or so, including New York City Mayor Bloomberg. He'll have live comments, coming up. President Bush also expected to speak in the next hour. You'll see all that live here on CNN. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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