>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. you're watching "cnn news central." i'm boris sanchez in washington. we want to talk about the breaking news at a new york border crossing. the fbi is investigating a vehicle explosion there. this is at the rainbow bridge, u.s./canada border crossing. it's get to brynn gingras with the latest details. >> reporter: the fbi, the atf, the joint terrorism task force,

federal authorities on the u.s. side and on the canada side are monitoring the situation trying to figure out what happened. what we know is that there was a car crossing into the u.s. from canada and what has been described as a crash at that crossing there at the rainbow bridge. then, a subsequent explosion is what the fbi is describing. whether or not this was sinister is not clear at this point. as you can imagine, at this point of entry it's going to be an uptick in security across that area. that is what we're seeing currently in response as this is still being investigated. we're hearing there's a system-wide security uptick at this point due to this explosion. that means there are going to be more security checks of cars in that area, around the airports and more security screenings of passengers coming in and out of

the area. with the holiday there was an uptick as we've seen more travellers during this time. this is definitely raised to another level. it's unclear at this point what exactly happened at that crossing. we're still trying to get answers as authorities are also on the ground there investigating. again, there is an uptick in sk security. we also know all points of entry into the state of new york are being closely monitored. trying to get some answers, boris, but that's the latest on the ground there. >> brynn, stand by. these are live images of the scene that we're watching. it appears that law enforcement is there in large numbers diverting traffic away from the crossing area. i hav i want to go to cnn's john miller. john, you spoke to multiple law enforcement sources. you have details about some of what unfolded. what are you hearing? >> reporter: boris, right now

they're looking at trying to get to all the video so they can piece together what happened. all of this is preliminary. what we're being told is this car was coming into a check point, went through the first check point where they examine driver's licenses, passports and so on and was deferred to a secondary check point. from people who looked at the video, they say the car reaches a high rate of speed, apparently crashes into some kind of barrier and there's an explosion. so that's what we know from what they think they have pieced together at the scene. here's what we don't know. these are important questions. what was it that made the car increase speed and strike the barrier? did the explosion happen because there was something inside the car that blew up or because it impacted something hard, flipped over and exploded as a result of

the accident? i use the word accident. what i mean is collision. who are the two individuals who were in the car who were seriously injured? we don't have their condition yet. it is supposed to be, according to my sources, what they believe to be two males. as soon as they have those identities they'll be going backwards through their records, their intelligence. who are these individuals? where were they coming? where were they coming from? meanwhile it's a crime scene. the fbi bomb decktechnicians wie looking to determine what may have been in the car, whether it was the car that exploded or whether it was something inside the car that exploded. these are all very serious

questions. >> it's literally unfolding before our eyes. john, just to clarify a point you made. it appears from the reporting that this car went through the initial security screening and then there was a second search or there was an attempt at a second search and it was at that point that the car sped and collided? >> reporter: well, at that point the car increased speed. right after that there's an explosion. this is where, depending on which witness you talk to or who viewed which video, the story becomes divergent because what is not clear is did the car explode because of or upon some impact or did the car explode because there was something in the car that blew up and then caused the impact? that's what they're trying to look at every angle of the video, talk to every witness, but also forensically identify what's in that car.

at the same time they're dealing with a suspicious package found at the scene which may or may not have anything to do with this. that's common in these situations. the best piece of physical evidence that macy contain evidence is going to be in the vehicle. that means chemical tests, going through the wreckage, looking for signs of something that blew up to determine was that a spontaneous combustion upon impact fueled by the gas tank or was there an improvised explosive device. these are questions right now, not answers. >> i do want to note we just got word canadian officials will be holding a press briefing to provide us with potentially some of those answers to the questions that john brought up. i want to bring in former boston police commissioner ed davis. thank you for joining us, ed. i want to ask you about

something john brought up, the fact that this car was selected for secondary screening. what is it that would prompt some official to see something in a car and say that vehicle needs to be screened further? it sticks out to me that between getting from that first check point to the second one the car sped up and then there was an explosion. >> good afternoon, boris. yes, this is a clue, i think, as to what may be going on. it's hard to say at this juncture. john is correct in saying it's early in the investigation. all the agents on the borders are trained in something called suspicious indicators. anything that might have happened, either in the exchange with the driver of the vehicle or his passenger are, you know, something they saw inside the vehicle that caused them concern.

they do have explosive sniffing dogs there. again, that's speculation. there are a multitude of things that could have happened that raises suspicion of the border patrol agents and that's exactly why they're there. they're doing their job. if they started to expand their search and the two suspects knew they were going to get caught, anything's possible. >> ed, i want to pause for a moment. it appears we just -- okay. the canadian officials are set to brief at any moment. it's not yet started. we'll bring it to you as soon as it does. again -- okay. ed, please stand by. i believe we have josh campbell with us. josh, you just heard the latest details about what is unfolding at the rainbow bridge, u.s./canada crossing. what stands out to you? >> reporter: it's too early to

tell whether we're talking about terrorism, whether this was an accident. there's so many possibilities here. what is clear is that the fbi -- every field office, 56 offices across the country, have a joint terrorism task force. what those agencies do is a host of other agencies, custom and border protection, local police, state police, all the resources you would bring to bear to determine who are these individuals, do they have a criminal history, that would help piece together a motivation here. obviously conducting interviews with these people as well. within the fbi there's a specialty, special agent bomb technician. they would launch to the scene. we would be able to be able to quickly rule out whether there was an incendiary device. they would do their testing and see if samples match with some type of explosive.

that's happening behind the scenes and that wouldn't take long to make that determination. you have multiple moving parts. as far as the border check point, among the tens of thousands of law enforcement agencies throughout this country, there's one that has the greatest power when it comes to stopping people and that's u.s. custom and border protection. officers can stop anyone for any reason or for no reason at all. it's too soon to determine why this vehicle was called to secondary inspection. that's the power and authority that they have. that would obviously be a key question for authorities. was there some type of indicator that the border check point officers, something that raised their suspicion? we have to wait and see what the chemical analysis does and the interviews and looking into the background of these people. the last thing i'll say, any

time there's some type of potential terrorism -- we're not saying this is that -- you start looking at targets of terrorism. you know, you don't think a booth at a border check point would be among those. if someone was trying to get into the country to do something incendiary, multiple potential targets. we don't know what happened at the border. there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes. far too soon to tell whether this was something sinister or accidental. >> josh, stand by. we're getting new reporting from arlette saenz traveling with president biden in nantucket. the white house is closely monitoring the incident at the rainbow bridge crossing. they say law enforcement is on the scene and investigating. president biden being brought to speed with the latest on what is happening there. i want to go back to former commissioner ed davis. obviously, ed, the spector of

what's happening in the middle east has heightened the sense of potential danger for different points of entry into the united states and for different landmarks across the country. it's obviously the thanksgiving holiday too. with so many people traveling, it seems like soft targets are especially vulnerable with just the shear number of people that are at airports and different locations. talk to us about the complicated process when something like this happens of then buttoning down and protecting other areas that might be vulnerable. >> yes, it's a very good point, boris. just a little over two weeks ago christopher wray, the fbi director, talked about an increase in potential terrorist acts. this is thanksgiving. there's a bunch of different things going on. the problem with the soft target

is there's thousands of people coming to an event. you can't stop everybody and everything. this is exactly -- whether or not this is terrorism, this is a timely reminder to everyone in security and policing that they need to stay on their game right now. >> i do want to bring in cnn's wolf blitzer live in tel aviv reporting on what's been happening in the middle east. wolf, we don't know exactly what has unfolded here in the context of whether it's a terrorist attack or not. this is something personal for you because you're from buffalo. you're from this area. i'm wondering what's going through your mind as you're watching these images. >> it's so sad because those of us who grew up in buffalo close to niagara falls, one of the great tourist attractions in the country. this rainbow bridge i've gone

over many, many times. every time we had visitors we went to niagara falls. this rainbow bridge was always so popular. it's sad to hear that an incident like this could take place in a place i love, having grown up there. my family grew up there. we would always be frequent v visitors at niagara falls. when you cross any of the bridges from the united states to canada, whether the rainbow bridge or the peace bridge, you would go through and it was very quick. they would say, where are you from? you would say, buffalo. they would say, go ahead. later you needed a passport once terrorism became an issue.

if there was a problem, they sent you to a secondary location for a second screening, whether looking at paperwork or looking at what you're bringing into the united states. it was never a big deal to go between the u.s. and canada. this is worrisome for those of us who grew up in the area. >> no question about that. i want to point out for our viewers, several border crossings in that area. all four border crossings between the united states and canada near niagara falls have been shut down as investigators work through the scene. we got word from cnn's paula newton that canadian prime minister justin trudeau has been briefed on the situation. essentially the prime minister's office saying they're in contact with u.s. officials. they are fully engaged offering all necessary support. i want to go back to cnn's john miller for a moment. john, as you were reporting,

your sources have shared there were two suspects in this car. it's unclear at this moment exactly what caused the explosion that we've been monit moni monitoring. would we soon know whether that potential explosive material was detected on the scene? how long does it take to sort that out? >> reporter: so we're learning a little bit more. the initial report was that the car was passed the first check point and referred to secondary. ed talked about the indicators that get you referred to secondary. now they reviewed video from multiple angles. it's telling a slightly different story which is the car comes on to the bridge and accelerated to an extraordinary high rate of speed. we're talking shy of 100 miles an hour. it strikes the curb, a divider and literally goes airborne flying through the air, smashes

into upon landing the secondary inspection area. it wasn't really referred to seco secondary. it literally crashes into the secondary air and the engine is separated from the car on impact. the car is in pieces and so on. this adds a layer of uncertainty to what we're talking about because it starts to drift away from the theory that the car contained an improvised explosive device. it starts to move towards the theory that this was some kind of high speed accident. then we have to look at the word accident. what do we have here? do we have a car out of control? do we have a malfunction? do we have an accident or a ramming attack? it still leaves us with more

questions than answers. it gives us a better picture of what occurred in the seconds before that car landed and came apart in so many pieces at the secondary inspection area. >> that is a significant point. it's not out of the realm of possibility this was some kind of medical incident. to that point, let's get to cnn's josh campbell. josh, in the process of this investigation, how is it that investigators go about potentially ruling out terrorism? >> reporter: well, you have characteristics of the incident itself to start with. as we've been reporting, far too soon whether to say it's terrorism. that's something that investigators would work to try to rule out. looking back at past incidents as we've had with terrorist groups, the likelihood that a terrorist, two terrorists would conduct some incident like this at the bridge, potentially losing both of their lives, is

not the typical characteristic of a terrorist group. you have cells out there, but they try to conduct a massive amount of harm. if you have two people in one vehicle, that in and of itself is an important indicator. also, as you were talking with john miller, john has long been involved in the law enforcement bomb tech community. these are specialists who work every day responding to incidents and honing their own skills. they have highly sophisticated technology they deploy to scenes to take samples to conduct forensic examinations in the field to determine what kind of substance they might be working with. all that would be done to rule out an incendiary device. then characteristics of the individuals themselves, if they're conscious and able to be interviewed, that could help authorities. is it someone that panicked and

wasn't paying attention? particularly with the high rate of speed. that would be important to gather from these individuals. once you identify them, you look at their past. are they in any criminal industries? are they known or suspected terrorists? do they have a criminal history? the u.s. government has numerous watch lists we've all become familiar with in the wake of 9/11. there's also something called tied, if any of those agencies gets an indication of a known or suspected terrorist, that goes in the database. they can run the name and determine if there was any derogatory information on those people. that would be happening behind the scenes. that helps them try to rule things out.

a lot going on behind the scenes forensically and if they're able to conduct interviews, that would be important. the final thing, as we've been indicating, there are other bridges on alert. that's standard. you're trying to rule things out. you want to get information to those check points just in case. i say just in case there's any other type of follow-up type incident. >> hey, josh, sorry to cut you off. we're going to canadian officials who are giving an update on the incident. let's listen. >> on a minute-by-minute basis with our american counterparts. i hope to speak to u.s. secretary majorca in the coming moments. >> reporter: from a national security perspective you're in touch with u.s. officials. what are the major national security concerns at this moment based on what we know? >> obviously any time a piece of infrastructure as important to

canada and the united states like a border crossing sees this kind of violent circumstance, it's a source of concern for the government of canada and for the united states. we're taking this circumstance very seriously. to speculate on the origin of this particular circumstance, the reasons why this may have happened, until we have more accurate information is not responsible. >> reporter: people want to understand is there a current risk to public safety for canadians? >> canadians need to understand that the royal mounted police, transport canada, the border services agencies are doing everything canadians would expect to ensure the border crossings can operate safely. their security is ensured. that work happens in collaboration with our american count counterparts. that's why the prime minister

and i will be briefed again in the coming moments and we're receiving regular updates from the canadian authorities who are coming to ground on those very details with their american counterparts. to stand here and speculate on a series of circumstances when we don't have reliable verified information is not responsible. [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> we were listening to canadian public safety minister dominic leblanc giving an update on

what's happening at the rainbow bridge. he said as of right now there's no reliable information as to whether there's a threat or risk to anyone on the canadian side. he insists officials are working with the united states to get to the bottom of what happened there. we will continue to monitor those remarks from the canadian public safety minister. right now we have juliette cayenne with us. juliette, i want your thoughts on the latest reporting we got from john miller that, according to officials he spoke to that have reviewed security footage of the incident, the vehicle sped up before it reached the crossing and then went airborne and crashed into an area where secondary searches are conducted. when you hear those details, what stands out to you? what comes to your mind? >> so first is this purposeful

or intentional? unless there's some medical explanation for what happened that the driver lost control of the car. that seems unlikely, but you have to rule out everything. the second is that it's serious enough to have both the canadian equivalent of the secretary of homeland security as well as the governor discuss it and head there. this is a major -- this is a major crossing. i mean, this thing does not close. it is fortified. it has multiple screenings. you can't even get close to it without surveillance screening. so it would be a natural target, but -- this is just where we need to be careful as reporters and analysts. people can assume they know what the intent is. i'm not going to assume that yet. we don't know. the fact that the joint terrorism task force has been deployed is absolutely accurate at this stage.

the threat environment is, to quote fbi director wray, high. we know it because of international terrorism and what's going on in the middle east and how domestic terror groups have been activated. >> juliette, stand by. prime minister justin trudeau is updating the press. >> there are a lot of questions. we're trying to get as many answers as rapidly as possible. we're in close contact with u.s. officials and will work closely with them. we will continue to be engaged. we'll provide updates. updates i can give is there are four border crossings that are closed. additional measures are being contemplated and activated across the country. we're taking this extraordinarily seriously. mr. speaker, i have to excuse myself to get further updates and work on this serious

situation. thank you, mr. speaker. >> that was canadian prime minister justin trudeau updating members of the canadian parl parliament. we have a panel of experts with us. i want to go to former boston police commissioner ed davis who has been watching this closely. obviously, ed, when we were speaking previously, the characterization changed about what exactly happened when the vehicle was approaching the crossing. what are your impressions from the latest reporting that the vehicle accelerated before it was even screened by officials there on the ground? >> well, it brings me back to a potential forcible entry into the united states. it does -- you know, it's possible this is some kind of

medical incident, some kind of accident. a vehicle going over 100 miles an hour that causes the engine block to exit from the vehicle is extremely -- it's indicative of an extremely serious crash. but, if there was a ball of fire, if there was some type of indication of explosion, this is a whole different category. we have to look at what's coming out of the information, the jttf and fbi bomb experts, i'm certain, are on scene. they'll be able to tell us quickly if there's evidence of an explosive material in the car. if that's the case, it's a whole different category. >> ed, stand by. i want to bring in evan perez. evan, you have new details about the occupants of the vehicle. what can you tell us? >> reporter: boris, law enforcement is not making any conclusions based on this. there were two occupants in the

car and they're both deceased according to law enforcement. that obviously makes things more complicated for the fbi, for the authorities there at the border who are trying to get to the bottom of this. obviously if there was a person who they could detain and question and ask questions of they could get to the bottom of what happened more quickly. again, right now what we know is that this vehicle was coming in and was directed to a secondary screening point there at the border. there was -- appears an acceleration happened. it's not clear why that was, whether it was intentional or the person tried to speed through the secondary screening or whether there was an accident, whether there was a medical incident that could have caused this. again, there are a lot of questions the fbi is still trying to get to the bottom of,

homeland security, atf, everybody is there. they'll be examining the vehicle to see what caused that explosion. was it something that happened after the car crashed into the object -- into the infrastructure there at the border post or whether there was something on board the car that would have been triggered and caused an explosion? those are all the questions that the investigators are still trying to work out. at this point we do know -- at least the initial part of the investigation indicates that there were two people, two occupants in the vehicle and they're both deceased. this investigation gets more difficult because there's nobody there to question or ask about what was the motive or what was the reason why this crash happened and why this explosion happened. obviously they're taking all

the -- the abundance of caution, you can see it everywhere. they closed all the border crossings and the joint terrorism task force is being activated there. we can't draw any conclusions from that. obviously they would be there when you have an incident like this to figure out why it happened. boris? >> evan, please stand by. i want to go to josh campbell again. josh, evan brings up a good point about investigators interviewing those involved in the incident. now we learn the two men in the car are deceased. how does that complicate efforts? >> reporter: it rules out being able to know what the stand of mind was. again, was there a medical incident? was there a mechanical issue?

that means this other type of evidence will be so much more important, including cctv. we're talking about a border check point blanketed with security cameras. they'll be looking at all that footage and i would suggest within canada -- this is why international relationships are so important. on that side of the border authorities want to track back where were the individuals coming from to establish some type of pattern, direct evidence about where they were to try to understand what was taking place in the moments leading up to this. boris, this is something we want an answer to, as far as whether this was terrorism. based on experience covering these stories with the suspect -- i keep saying suspect. the individuals now deceased. it's going to take longer for authorities to come out and say, we have ruled out terrorism. at this point they have to do

their due diligence to gather information at the scene, understand the full picture of who these people were. the fact they don't have that direct ability to interview them is complicating. i don't think we'll see authorities come out quickly saying, we've ruled this out. these are questions we'll continue to ask. >> patience of the utmost importance here as we get details piece by piece about what happened and try to paint a picture without making any assumptions about what happened. josh, please stand by. we want to go to andrew mccabe, the former fbi deputy director. andy, overall your read on what you're watching in fold right now? >> yeah, it's really fascinating, boris. i think there's a number of things that cause us immediate concern. obviously the involvement of a national border during a time of elevated crisis around the world

when we know that the fbi was ramping up focus on international terrorism as a result of events in the middle east. this raises a lot of real concerns. but the narrative that we've heard so far, and we have very limited information, we certainly can't draw any conclusions yet. the narrative we heard about a vehicle proceeding from an initial screening to possibly a secondary screening at accelerated speed and resulting in a crash doesn't clearly point to an intentional act or certainly an intentional act of terrorism until we know more facts. we're at that awkward point of the beginning of a situation where we don't have enough detail to look in one direction or the other. however, we know the fbi's significant response with the jttf out of buffalo, augmented

by resources from other field offices, new york city and albany to support, very close relationship with the canadians, canadian intelligence and law enforcement through the fbi jttf, joint terrorism task force infrastructure. i'm sure those sides are linked up very closely. should be just a matter of time before we start hearing some informative updates. >> we'll keep an eye on any statements made by officials, whether canadian or american. andy, please stand by. if you're just joining us, there's been an explosion at the rainbow bridge crossing that connects the united states and canada near niagara falls. it's been shut down now. you're looking at live images from a camera focussed on that crossing. we've learned that two men in that vehicle were killed when the car exploded as it was trying to get through the crossing. we have brynn gingras following

the latest details on all this. brynn, walk us through what you're learning. >> reporter: as we're hearing from the panel, there's so much information that needs to be gathered on the scene. federal authorities there from the atf, the fbi, the joint terrorism task force on the ground there trying to answer those questions. what we know at this point, there are four land crosses that are shut down in response to this explosion that happened at the rainbow bridge, the cross entry between the u.s. and canada. authorities on both sides working this, trying to get those answers. from our understanding, what john miller has been learning, is that a car accelerated at some point during the check point process and then, as it's been described, exploded. we know from evan perez that two people inside that car are deceased. as evan pointed out, it might be hindering a little bit this

investigation. not able to get questions answered from those people who were the occupants of the car. unclear what the motive was. was someone doing something sinister? was it a medical incident? all those questions need answered on the ground. authorities are notifying justin trudeau. we just saw him talking on the floor. he's getting updates. the governor of new york is getting updates. the president is getting updates about this ongoing situation while he's vacationing with family in nantucket. we also know that currently right now the threat environment at this time in this country is at a high level. we've been talking about this, not only just because of what's happening in the middle east, but also of course the holiday. we know that authorities have sort of raised the risk assessment and we know they're in that area and there's a

security uptick, that means for the airports in that area, for cars traveling through that area. certainly there are going to be more check points. there are going to be more screenings of cars. there's going to be more screenings of individuals getting on and off planes. there's an uptick in security in that area. much of this information still getting relayed to us from sources up there on the ground and we'll continue to update you. >> brynn, stand by and please bring us the latest you get from your sources on the ground. i want to go back to andy mccabe for a moment. andy, ultimately one of the key questions investigators will try to answer is whether or not there was an explosive device that was on the vehicle. walk us through the process of what it's like to gather that kind of evidence and what are they testing for when they go through a scene like this? >> so part of the initial response will undeniably include

bomb technicians. the fbi refers to them as special agent bomb techs. they're trained to do exactly this work. they'll -- of course, as soon as it's deemed safe to go forward and get close to that vehicle, they will, using all source of pieces of bomb technology, they'll do a visual inspection of the vehicle. then they'll also test that vehicle for residue of explosive materials, evidence of devices, explosive devices that might indicate that the vehicle was being used as an explosive device itself. that kind of -- the result of that initial search will tell us a lot. the primary question is whether or not the explosion was caused by the accident or caused by

some intentional detonation of an explosive device. that's the first big fact i'm looking for here, boris, and hopefully we'll get that upfront as soon as we get some information from the authorities. those bomb technicians are an absolutely essential part of this response and should be able to tell pretty quickly whether or not there was an explosive device in that vehicle. if the answer is no -- this is entirely the result of an i inadvertent vehicle crash, that will tell us how quickly they can restore service to that bridge. they're going to review engineering to see if there's been any damage to the structure, but they may be able to open other lanes to allow the border to operate as close to normal as you can. that's the initial threshold we need to get over to have the

bomb techs make the determination was there, in fact, an explosive device in the car or did it burst into flames as a result of the collision with the structure will. >> one of the key questions. we want to pivot to pete montine live at reagan national airport in the nation's capitol on the heightened state of security. pete, obviously it's the thanksgiving holiday. you've seen enormous lines all day, peoplie trying to get to their loved ones for the holiday. what's it like where you are now? >> reporter: there's a lot of things you can see at the airport, like the dogs put in place here and they've been sweeping the airport all day, but also many things you cannot say. the tsa has entered this heightened state of security after this incident. we heard from the buffalo

airport and the niagara frontier transportation authority which oversees the airport. they say all cars coming into the airport will be screened. they will be doing that because they entered a heightened state of awareness there. they're trying to make sure things are getting out to the public because so many people are traveling today. 2.7 million people is estimated by tsa to pass through airports nationwide. the airport of buffalo relatively busy. it's a pretty significant impact. i want to read you the statement from the tsa. it says the tsa are in close and ongoing touch with all partners and continue to monitor the situation and may adjust security postures as or when necessary. so, we are only seeing this now develop just in this moment. the tsa is essentially telling us we may see more things

develop at airports nationwide. right now at reagan national airport things seem roughly normal. we've been through ebs and flows all day of huge traffic volume. now we're about to be on the precipice of the afternoon rush. around 3:00 p.m. is when things start getting going again and we'll see the impact here as it unfolds as to many people are trying to get where they're going on this big day before thanksgiving, the biggest day for holiday travel. >> pete, thank you so much for that update. we want to go back to josh campbell. josh, just given your general impression of what you're seeing, you mentioned previously that this doesn't necessarily fit the profile of what traditional terror attacks have looked like. is that a fair assessment? >> reporter: yeah, i'm not seeing it yet. i worked terrorism a long timement when you think about what terrorism is, most

terrorists, their intent is to cause mass loss of life, as much loss of life as they can. the very nature that you have two individuals in a vehicle at the same time, that's not usual. i mean, typically if you have two terrorists, they would select different targets in order to maximize the harm. we're in the grim business of these national security issues. that's just the reality. you know, again, you look at the actually incident and what happened at the bridge. this isn't a place where a terrorist coming at a high rate of speed -- if their goal was to attack border guards, this wouldn't cause that maximum harm that most terrorist groups attempt to do. a lot we don't know right now. any time we're dealing with an emergent situation, you look at the characteristics and what was the potential target and i'm not seeing it. that could change obviously on a dime if authorities get any indication there's some type of

incendiary device residue at the scene. that would change this completely. that's something they would be trying to rule out. was it an incendiary device or a vehicle going at a high rate of speed? vehicles have gasoline that can cause explosions when there's a collision. that's something they would be trying to rule out. if there's no incendiary device, that would be telling. they're not going to send out an all clear especially with the two suspects -- i shouldn't say suspects. these two individuals now deceased. based on working terrorism cases, i'm not seeing it yet based on the little we know. >> let's get more details from john miller. john, you've been on the phone with sources in law enforcement that have been looking closely reviewing some of the footage. what are you learning? >> reporter: this is buffalo joint terrorism task office.

this is the custom and border protection people who operate the security cameras on the bridge. this is the buffalo agencies including the sheriff which has the bomb squad. they've been going backwards looking at this from different angles. the most telling piece of video shows the car on a local road, on the u.s. side in niagara falls, suddenly begin to accelerate and moving towards the check point at a high rate of speed and then striking a curb and then flying over a barrier, crossing over to the other side of the road and then landed in a secondary inspection area and then bursting into flames on impact. we have a very active investigation, but we're past the first version that a car exploded at the secondary check point after being referred there. it actually flew there after

impacting the curb and the barrier and then exploded upon impact after landing. that could mean an accidental acceleration. it could mean a motorist who suffered a medical issue with his foot on the accelerator. it could mean a ramming attack, which is intentional, where he got up to a high rate of speed and struck the barrier. what we again have here is we are far away from being able to call this a terrorist attack or even an attack and we need a lot more information from the forensics at the scene, the identity of the person in the car and what that tells us about that person and whoever was with them in terms of background. >> john, i wanted to go back to a point you made, the surveillance video reveals this video was on a local road on the u.s. side, is that correct? >> reporter: that's correct.

starts at a local road on the u.s. side and begins to accelerate and then on the road towards the check point at a high rate of speed -- they're estimating somewhere from 80 to 100 miles an hour speed strikes the curb, then the barrier and then goes airborne and ends up at the secondary check point. >> john, bring us any new details you get from sources and alert us as soon as you get them. let's go back to andy mccabe. andy, as you're hearing these details from john miller, the vehicle accelerating to roughly 80 miles an hour before hitting the curb and becoming airborne before bursting into flames on impact, what does that say to you? >> well, the first thing, boris, that detail about being at a high rate of speed, being airborne and bursting into flames on impact, that's something that any car could do. you don't have to be a car

intentionally packed with explosives to end up as a fiery mess after putting it through that sort of a situation. i think that's one indicator that points away from the possibility of this being an intentional vehicle incendiary device. there's a lot of circumstances that point in that same direction. as josh campbell was saying, from what we know about terrorist operatives and the way they stage attacks, if you had a vehicle that was loaded with explosive that is you intended to detonate, you wouldn't crash the car and detonate the explosives. you would wait. you would take the car in an intensely detonate it. and that doesn't fit the circumstances that we're aware of so far. we also know that there are many

people that are stopped at the border every day who are trying to slip through for one reason or another, right? if you were a fugitive or someone with a criminal record and you were trying to sneak back into the united states, you might do something rash or make poor decisions or try to speed your way through the border to evade law enforcement. so there's a lot of possibilities there. so just think that when you look at the low likelihood of the first thing we were worried ab about, and a possibility of all of these other potential drivers, it's just -- it seems to be pointing more and more in that direction. but as john said, the video is probably the most powerful indicator we have so far. we need to see where that developments. >> the other detail is that stands out to me is that apparently this vehicle was on a local road on the u.s. side.

that changes the characterization that we had officially, that this was a vehicle trying to get into the united states. that perhaps changes the perception that this is some kind of an attack. >> it certainly does, right? it starts to look more like trying to potentially, you know -- two people trying to essentially push their way across the border because they're afraid of getting stopped if they tried it in the lawful way. so that's a possibility. but we can't rule out the fact, boris, that this could have been two people trying to make some sort of a statement that ended up, unfortunately, in a life-taking way for themselves. so there are -- there are all sorts of -- it's a very gray area of what was their intent in were they simply trying to get to the other side and slip through in an area where they normally would have been caught and detained? were they trying to make a

statement almost like an act of suicide or protest? we just don't know at this point. but i think that the less likely answer to these questions is that it was some sort of an intentional terrorist attack with a vehicle bomb, especially. >> please stand by. i want to get a read on this from ed davis who has been standing by. ed, your thoughts on the latest details that we got from john miller? how do you see this? >> i would totally agree with andy's assessment of it. this changes the whole scenario. there's not a lot of terrorists that are in the united states that are trying to get into canada to do something, right? it would just be the opposite. this information, i just viewed some video of the explosion, and i'm not an expert on this, but it could have been a tank or

vehicle that caused that level of explosion. i didn't appear to be a huge truck laden with explosives. this could very well be some type of medical situation or accident. and it's really that critical piece of information that the vehicle was on the u.s. side going the other direction i think changes everything. >> josh campbell is still with us as well. josh, you sort of talked about how there are a lot of different players investigating this and overseeing the investigation. does it complicate it at all that it's two separate governments, the u.s. and canada, that are now coming together to look at what happened at this border crossing? >> that relationship both at a law enforcement level, an intelligence level, a government-to-government level is strong. you have fbi agents that are assigned to canada. you have canadian intelligence and law enforcement personnel assigned to the united states. these agencies are talking to each other daily on a host of

issues, everything from national security issues, counterintelligence, typical crime, border smuggling, those types of things. those relationships exist for situations just like this, when you need to share information, and so that would be happening very quickly. again, obviously canadian authorities want to know why this vehicle was attempting to enter their country and if these individuals were from canada, that would be information that obviously the u.s. authorities would want to know. it is seamless when you're talking about the u.s. and the canadian relationship. and, you know, in the u.s. as well, there's the joint terrorism task force that every fbi field office has that -- speaking of relationships, has a number of law enforcement personnel from various different agencies assigned so that jt tf for the very same reason. when something happens, you want to bring to bear all of the resources of those different agencies, the computer databases, state, local, federal government. there's so much value to investigators when they're trying to identify an individual

person and as i was mentioning earlier, the intelligence community, they don't publicize their role in a lot of these things. but their databases would also be searched. if there's some kind of identifier, the name of the individual who was driving, the name of the passenger, that would all be run against the databases just trying to determine is this someone that we, the u.s. government knows is has some kind of connection to terrorism. just because it doesn't show up in the database doesn't mean you rule it out. but it is certainly very helpful in order to trying to determine is there interrogatory information that's out there. that would be happening at the u.s. level but then that government-to-government level between the u.s. and its canadian partners, boris. >> thanks so much for that perspective. i want to let our viewers know that the two senators from new york, chuck schumer and kirsten gillibrand say they're closely monitoring the situation in upstate new york. if you're just joining us, an explosion at the rainbow bridge crossing that connects the united states and canada at

niagra falls, near niagra falls, two men that were in that vehicle have been found to have been deceased. we've learned from john miller that the vehicle was on the u.s. side of the border, on a local road and then accelerated reaching speeds of up to 80 miles per hour before crashing into the border crossing and bursting into flames on impact. we'll, of course, keep you up to speed with the latest details on this. we're going to take a short break. stay with cnn. we're back in just moments.