good evening, again. to our viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm ali velshi. if you're just joining us, we're learning more about what the white house is calling an attempted act of terrorism. a man said to be a nigerian national is accused of attempting to blow up a delta northwest flight as it was heading into detroit from amsterdam. there were nearly 300 passengers aboard the plane. sources tell us the suspect tried to light an explosive and was quickly subdued by other travelers. our sources also tell us the man claims to have ties to an extremist group and says he acquired the explosive device in

yemen along with instructions on how and when to use it. we have resources of cnn around the world trying to flesh this out. let's start with kate bolduan. >> according to a federal security bulletin obtained by cnn, this goes out in these major events to federal, state and local law enforcement officials. this all started with an in-flight emergency was called on that flight due to a fire indicator light. now we're told this is a nigerian national that ignited a small explosive device at the end of an international flight ending in detroit earlier today. also according to this federal security bulletin, this passenger is claiming to have extremist affiliation and claims the device was acquired in yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used. the fbi is leading the investigation now and obviously checking into this person's background and capabilities. the federal bulletin says this nigerian national is in custody and has also been taken to a hospital to be treated for burns sustained from this explosion.

an administration official tells cnn it's too early to know if this person was part of some broader conspiracy. and we should say at this early point, no charges have been filed, clearly early in this investigation. passengers leaving the plane speaking to reporters at the airport say the fire from the explosion was at least large enough to need a fire extinguisher to put out. it's very interesting getting these firsthand accounts as these passengers are being allowed to leave the security area of the airport. >> and we're going to hear from some of those to get a sense of what exactly happened on the plane. one of the issues you're trying to get to the bottom of and we are with peter bergen and others is how serious was this? what were the capabilities that this person had? were they working alongside a larger organization or were they working on their own? we don't have that information just now. >> we don't have that information. all the officials stress this is early on in this investigation. but in that conversation you had with congressman peter king of

the house homeland security committee, it was interesting that he commented that this could have been a much more serious situation and that in his opinion that he said it was not firecrackers as was first reported from delta airlines, that it was more serious, a more complex device is the way he described it. it's interesting. but too early -- we need the new details. what was this device? how did this person get it on this plane and get it through security in more than one place? >> and were they on some sort of watch list or no-fly list. there's a lot of information flying around. there are a lot of rumors and unconfirmed stuff. we're running with only things we have confirmed. we have confirmed there is a plane on the ground in detroit. it is a delta badged plane. even though we're talking about a northwest flight, people will see a delta flight. it's northwest 253. somebody was on that flight from amsterdam to detroit. peter king says this person

might have started in nigeria. we don't know about a lot of that information in the middle. but kate is staying on this. so is ed and our other reporters. as we confirm any piece of information, we'll bring it to our viewers around the world as we confirm it. but it is important in issues like this, in stories like this, to make sure we only go with information we've got confirmed. ed henry is traveling with the president. the president and his family are now in hawaii. and ed is there, too. ed, what do you know about what the president knows and has said? >> reporter: we've just gotten a little bit of new information in the last couple of moments. i reported earlier this president had a secure conference call with top aides. he instructed federal officials to beef up aviation security. the president has been updated a couple of more times by top aides john brennan and dennis mcdonough. they're giving the president paper updates about the situation on the ground.

we're told the president has gotten some sort of document briefing him from the situation room sending it here to hawaii so the president can then stay abreast of the situation. we're also told sometime around dinnertime, the president is going to get another update from the situation room back at the white house, a paper document to brief him on what federal authorities know up to the minute. and important to note what do those authorities know? what are they telling the president? we're told by a senior administration official the president has been told that officials believe this was an attempted terror attack, that essentially did not happen in terms of being terror. it was an attempted one. obviously there were some injuries and some concerns there on the ground. but as you noted earlier, the plane landed safely. the reason why the president increasing these aviation security measures is that we're told by officials obviously there is so much air travel

going on right now all around the country because of the holiday season, right through new year's that they want to make sure they're on top of the situation. >> we've heard from jeanne meserve, our national security correspondent, and from richard quest in rome. they both said even without raising the terror threat level in air transportation, without raising it beyond orange, which it's been since 2006, they can do a lot more even within those constraints. >> reporter: yes. and as jeanne meserve was reporting, they can send more k-9 dogs to various key roirpai, do more behavioral monitoring, checking people at these gates and security checkpoints to see if they're behaving in an odd manner that would suggest some problem. they could also obviously beef up the more tsa officials who are at these checkpoints. they can add more of them, beef it up and make sure they're on

top of the situation. if you take a step back, this administration has been skeptical of the color-coded system instituted by the bush administration and have been doing a review as to whether the woel system should be scrapped. it's not important necessarily what color it's at. it's what they're doing specifically. and we can expect a lot of specific measures on the ground in these airports rather than just some sort of a blanket color coding or announcement on the ground specific measures like that. >> specifically that's good information for people out there traveling over the christmas holiday. our experts have certainly said expect travel over the next couple of days might get a little more complicated because of added security. ed henry will continue to work his sources over there. kate bolduan is in d.c. now. on the phone, this is a passenger that was on the flight along with 257 other passengers. sayyid, you were sitting in 16g, is that correct?

sayyid joffrey, are you there? >> yes. >> you were in row 16g on this aircraft? >> yes. >> where were you in relation? where was the suspect in relation to where you were sitting? >> i believe he was in 19a and i was on 16g. so i was diagonally away from him for three years. >> a fairly large aircraft, 278 people on board. tell me what happened. what kudo you remember happenin? >> what we heard first is really -- we were pretty much getting ready to descend and ready to be landed. it was a long flight, everybody was tired. next thing we know, there was a pop. and everybody got a little bit startled. and then we looked around and saw nothing. after a few seconds or so, then there was a little bit of light,

a little bit of -- kind of flamish light and there was fire. and people began to panic almost. and everybody was rushing towards that area and tried to get water, a blanket and fire extinguisher coming through and passengers, everybody -- that's one of the things that i noticed. they put a lot of effort to get it under control. and we did. >> was there a struggle with this suspect? >> there was a young man behind me about three or four rows, and he took care of that suspect. he handled him pretty good, i think. there was a little bit, obviously, of a struggle. and i think he took it under control. >> what was the sense on the aircraft? was there a great deal of panic? were people sort of seeing that it was under control? were people screaming or crying? >> at the time, from my vantage point, i think there was only

panic around the sixth or seventh rows up and down. >> so basically the people who could get some sense of what was going on? >> right. but the rest of the plane -- i don't think all of them knew, no, i don't think so. but, again, i could be wrong. but what i see, there was a panic in the immediate area. and we took care of it within a matter of minutes. not only that, but we also with the young man's help, we just took over the whole situation. he subdued him and took him with the help of cabin crew, they took him on the side and kind of isolated him. >> were they holding him? did he look like he was struggling? >> no, i don't recall that he was struggling, that he appeared to be more stunned and surprised with the whole act. then they took him to the side.

he also got second-degree burns. so he was kind of -- >> he wasn't -- did you hear him -- did he seem to be yelling or saying anything, uttering any threats? >> no, nothing at all. i at least didn't hear anything. maybe some other people who were closer to him may have heard him but i did not hear anything. they took him to the side and all the way to the front. >> what went through your mind? did you think this was a terrorist attack? >> first i thought maybe -- he was a young man. i thought he was trying to smoke. the next thing, i saw flames and things. and i thought, maybe it's more serious than i think. and a lot of people got a little bit panicked. of course we were in that plane and we didn't know what was going on. but i tell you what, as soon as i got out of the airport after a four or five-hour ordeal and i got home, then i got really,

really -- reality sets in. >> you got more scared afterwards than you were on the plane? >> absolutely. >> i'm looking at an outline of the plane's seating arrangement. you say you were in 16g. that was an aisle seat near the right-hand side of the plane. you think he was in 19a which was on the left side of the plane as you're facing forward all the way on the left. you would have been three rows away and about six seats away from him. >> yes. >> did you have -- could you look over your shoulder and get some good sense of what was going on and were you sort of -- were all the passengers looking in that direction? did they all see what was happening? >> yes, i think so. the immediate passenger sitting next to him, whether it was front or back or side, i think they all saw him and they all took control of the situation. that's one of the marvelous things about being here, is that everybody got involved and took care of it. >> what happened then? was there some announcement where you evacuated as if there

was an emergency when you landed? >> there was no announcement except that cabin crew was announcing -- giving the direction that this is the situation right now, the incident. and things are under control now. everybody sit down, please. and it was handled very, very professionally by the crew. they handled it very good. >> they didn't say at any point that it was a terrorist act? they said there's been some incident? >> incident. and also the pilot came on. the announcement, he also explained what is going on. and the good thing about that, and thank god for that on christmas day at least, we were on the ground, i think between 10 to 20 minutes after the incident. that's a good thing. >> when this happened, were you already informed that you were on final approach? was everybody getting ready to land at that point? >> you know, i believe i am thinking more and more. and i believe it was. i could be wrong, again, ali.

but to the best of my recollection, i think we had started to descend into detroit. we started getting ready to get out of the plane. we were very tired. everybody was tired. very long flight. >> by looking at this layout of the plane, i can see that as he would have gone -- if the cabin crew had taken him from his seat to the front of the plane, he wouldn't have crossed by you. he would have been in the other aisle, over four seats to your left as he went by. did you get a good look as to what might have caught fire? was he wearing it? was it on him? >> i know that he has sort of white-ish pants and light shirt. he was burned a little bit. but it was not showing but he was subdued by people. they covered him up. i didn't get a good look at him.

but i looked at his face. looks like a young man in his 20s. >> you said you turned around and saw some kind of flames. did it look like a firecracker or a sparkler or what do you think -- what did you think it was when you looked at it? >> i think he was trying to do something that didn't work. that's what i think now. because at that time -- if you look at the time capsule, where i was at that time, i couldn't figure out what was going on. i saw the glow or fire or flame, whatever it was, i saw it with my own eyes. it glowed, lighted up a little bit. i see a lot of people were trying to take it out. when they tried to take it out, it went a little bit higher for some reason. >> and you didn't -- how did the cabin crew learn of this? did they click their little buttons to inform the cabin crew? did someone shout for them? >> no, it was like immediately. it was instantly. there was no time left.

that was good because everybody was trying to set it up -- there was an announcement we were about to descend because that was the case and we were busy getting ready to land. >> when you got off the plane, was it a normal disembarkment? was there anything unusual about it? were the police there when you got off? >> oh, yeah. the cabin crew instructed all the passengers that there will be an investigation, there will be law enforcement coming in the plane. they're going to take a look at it. they're going to talk to the suspect. they're going to take him away and they're going to do their investigation. and after that, then we can leave. we couldn't leave -- >> you and all the other passengers did talk to the police, you gave them a report -- >> everybody stayed in the plane. >> i see. >> and that took about half an hour. then after the law enforcement

left with the suspect, then we were able to leave. and when we left the plane, then we gathered down the stairs with the immigration and customs people. >> what was going through your mind? people wonder when there's just a little bit of turbulence on the plane. were you praying? were you unconcerned? tell me what happened. what was going through your mind? >> i think most of the people except for some people who were kind of panicking, most of the people were in control. i tell you that right now. and the majority of the people on the plane didn't know what was going on because there was only one section, as you know. >> yeah, it's a very large plane. it could be you wouldn't know anything was going on if it wasn't in your immediate vicinity. >> exactly. >> do you feel differently about this now that you're taking part in this conversation? if you can put that map up. syed jafry was in the middle of

the plane. the front of the plane is to your left. he was in an aisle seat in the middle section, he was on the right side of the middle section around the middle of the plane. according to what syed is telling me, the passenger was a few rows behind him but all the way on the left, or the bottom of your screen. he would have been about three rows behind him and four rows plus an aisle separating them. so he had a pretty good view of what was going on. did you at the time -- you said you thought he was up to something. but it sounds like you thought he could have been trying to light a cigarette. >> no, it wasn't a cigarette. as you look at it, you don't have a clue -- the first clue. things happen very fast. at the time, you look at it, first thing that comes to your mind is, it can't be. and then you try to get control of it. i'm more scared now getting out of the plane and knowing

everything what i know now than when i was in the plane. >> so now you have a better sense of the -- could have been a terrorist attack? >> yes, yes. we were able to handle it better that way. i think people did a marvelous job. so did the crew. >> thank you so much for giving us some clarity on this. this is a matter of a great concern to everybody around the country. but we are dealing with very little information. your firsthand information is remarkable. we're very happy you and the other 278 passengers on the flight were able to land safely. thanks for joining us. >> do me a favor, ali. i want to thank everybody else who helped us and also want to -- hello? >> yes, go ahead. >> i want to also tell you that i wanted to wish everybody in my plane who were traveling with me -- wish them a very, very merry christmas and happy new year. and this certainly was a very, very good day for all of us. >> sure. a lot to be thankful for. >> and i'm thankful to my family who waited outside for me for

four hours for me to get out of there. >> a very merrier christmas than it might have been for all those passengers. you make a point of noting the passengers around the area of turmoil on the plane all participated in trying to subdue the situation as did the cabin crew on northwest 253. looks like good work done by everybody to prevent something that might have been worse. with me on the phone now is cnn national security contributor fran townsend. i want to inform our viewers that have just joined us what is going on. a delta aircraft, northwest flight 253, landed at detroit today on its way from amsterdam. shortly before landing, a passenger who may have been sitting in row 19a on an a-330 aircraft tried to light somethi something. and it does seem that might have been a device intended to do great damage to the plane or those around him. fran, we've learned quite a bit since the first time we talked over an hour ago.

what now do you think about the situation now that we know we think the suspect has identified himself as having connections to an extremist group, says he acquired a device in yemen, according to the government, and was told how and when to use it from yemen? >> ali, no question that what the government will now do is try and go back and either corroborate his story or poke holes in it. oftentimes we find people who claim ties to al qaeda who don't really have them. on the other hand, i will tell you, the first thing i thought of was the richard reid case. that was right around -- several days before christmas years ago where he tried to light his shoe. he came to be known as the shoe bomber. this does have remnants of an al qaeda plot. we know that they return to failed plots frequently. i don't have any doubt that my former colleagues who are still in the government remember richard reid, remember that case and are going back now to understand how is it possible -- so many years after the richard

reid case that somebody could get on an international flight having some sort of explosive device on him. that rightly ought to be a real concern to the government and to flying public. >> fran, let's go back and compare these two a little bit, richard reid who we know as the shoe bomber. you're looking at him on tv here. fran, i guess we never really worked out -- a lot of people didn't work out whether richard reid was ultimately a major threat or just didn't have the capability to pull off the major threat that he could have been. what's your evaluation of this particular situation with that lens? do you think this suspect who identifies as a nigerian national working under possible yemeni orders, do you think he had the capability of doing more damage than he ultimate ri did? >> as you pointed out to our viewers, we don't know enough about the device to make a judgment about how big a threat this was. small incendiary devices tend not to be the type of threat to

an airplane that could bring it down. that said, it can do tremendous damage. let's remember, in any attack of this nature, the whole point is terror, to frighten people and intimidate them. regardless of whether or not it has the ability -- the capability to bring down on aircraft which would be tragic, of course, there's no question that such an incident does instill fear in the flying public. that is consistent with what we know about terrorism. and we have to distinguish between the two. >> i want to ask you one thing, fran. peter bergen made an interesting point -- i'm sorry, it was nic robertson who made the point a little while ago. that is that we don't maybe need to make the same distinction we used to about whether somebody is an operative of an extremist group or may have taken the messages of an extremist group and are trying to carry terrorist plots out on their own. what do you think of that? >> that's right.

regardless of whether they're closely tied to an al qaeda or an international terrorist group or they're merely inspired doesn't much matter if you're sitting on the plane next to him when he tries to light this thing off. this is an ongoing concern, whether there are direct links or not, these sort of likeminded inspired types can do tremendous damage and really instill fear and terror in the public. so either way, it's a problem that the government's got to deal with. >> fran, stand by. thanks very much. let's go back to new york congressman peter king, the top republican on the house homeland security committee. we do not have information on anyone having been charged with this report. that said, peter king, you do believe you have information as to who this suspect may be? >> yes. i do have a name. i can give it if you want. he is a 23-year-old nigerian. it's been confirmed to me that while he was not, as i

understand it, on a no-fly list, his name was in a database for having terrorist connections in nigeria, al qaeda-related connections. his name came up almost immediately once it became known to law enforcement authorities. >> representative king, tell me who you believe the suspect to be. >> his name i was given was abdul mudallad, 23-year-old from nigeria who boarded the plane in nigeria. it was a clm flight. then in amsterdam, switched over to a delta northwest. there's concerns here because there's a real worry about al qaeda activity, terrorist activity in nigeria, so much so that last year the american government gave body detection devices to the nigerian government to use at their airports. >> that is because there were

concerns that nigerian airports were not as far ahead in terms of security, maintaining security of people getting onto planes as other airports in the world? >> right. the combination of the two, of there being terrorist activity in nigeria and the fact that their level of security, we felt, was not satisfactory and was not comparable to others. on the other hand, amsterdam is generally reputed to have outstanding security procedures in their airport. there has to be a very intensive investigation to see what happened, why it happened and exactly where the responsibility is. also, if i can put in one very positive sign tonight. my understanding is that he was subdued immediately and very quickly and effectively by the passengers on the flight. and they came forward, which maybe would not have been the case prior to september 11th, 2001, but these people acted very quickly, very heroically and did bring him down. >> we just spoke to a passenger

from the flight that told us the same thing. he felt the passengers and the crew worked quite quickly to subdue the suspect. tell me something you alluded to. you said he was not on a no-fly list but he does have affiliations to extremist groups. huh does that work? >> i don't know. that's something we have to look into. this is all in the early fog of battle here. but the fact is, my understanding he was not on a no-fly list. but his name was in database indicating a significant terrorist connection and why somebody was in that type database and not on a no-fly list, i don't know. >> i want to remind our viewers, we haven't been able to confirm the name of the suspect nor have we been informed of any charges being laid. representative king, thanks for joining us and bringing us up to speed. you said we're in the smoke of this right now. we are trying to get as much information as possible. there is more information coming out and floating around than is

actually confirmable. here's what we do know. pictures on left side of your screen of northwest flight 253, a delta aircraft coming in from amsterdam to detroit. shortly before landing, someone tried to light something, according to reports we've gotten from the government, passengers and delta. the crew and passengers subdued the person in question and he was met by law enforcement as the plane landed in detroit safely. we do understand that at least two other passengers were treated for burns as was the suspect after he tried to light something but it did not end up setting the plane -- or doing any damage to the plane. however, it is being looked at by the u.s. government as an attempted terrorist attack. let's go to reporter michael rosenfield in detroit. this must have been quite a scare as that plane came into detroit, a plane where there was some sense of an attempted terrorist attack in an aircraft

landing at one of the busiest airports in the country. michael? >> reporter: yeah, passengers on board this flight telling us it was absolutely terrifying. flight 253 was en route from amsterdam to detroit this afternoon. it landed at about noontime here at detroit's metro airport. this incident happened just about 20 minutes before landing. passengers tell me all of a sudden they heard a pop and a boom, there was smoke and some flames and absolute chaos in that section of the plane. at that point, a very brave young man in his 20s, maybe his 30s, jumped over all of the chairs, climbing over to the other side of the plane and subduing the settlement in question. putting him in a headlock and dragging him to the front of the plane. at the same time, there was a smoke, a fire. passengers were calling out for water. the cabin crew got to the area with a fire extinguisher and put

the fire out. they put him in a seat in the front row. another passenger in row 1 tells me the man was burned on different parts of his body, that he was very quiet. he wasn't saying much and not reacting to anything that people were telling him or not reacting to any pain, just kind of subdued and restrained in row 1. we talked to several passengers when they got off the plane -- it took about five hours in between the time the plane eventually landed here in detroit, by the time they were questioned, their bags rescreened, every person was interviewed by federal officials. it took four to five hours for all the passengers to go through customs. here's what some of them had to say. >> we heard a loud pop and a bit of smoke and some flames and yelling and screaming. >> a lady shouted, what are you doing, what are you doing? then we looked back. there were some fumes and some

flames. >> they said, there's fire, bring water. people bringing water. then they brought a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. and one guy put a lock on his head and dragged him to the front, his pants down -- i heard the pants were on fire. i thought they pulled it down so he cannot run. >> he didn't say anything. he was injured. he was burned quite severely on his leg. they were very careful to make sure he had nothing else on him. so it was easy to see from the exposure he had gotten significantly burned. he was very calm, didn't show any reaction to pain or to any feeling of shock or nervousness. he just looked like a normal individual. >> reporter: several other international flights were also detained here at metro airport. these were flights coming in from london, paris, tokyo and another flight from amsterdam. all passengers were seated on their planes were several hours

while all this was figured out. it took three, four, five hours for all these other passengers on these other flights to go through customs and get into the terminal. terrifying moments for all these people aboard flight 253 from amsterdam this afternoon. we've also learned about another incident on board a flight from amsterdam to detroit this afternoon. another passenger was arrested on that flight as well. federal officials and local law enforcement here don't think the two incidents were connected but it also did happen on a flight from amsterdam to detroit. a passenger was yelling anti-american statements, throwing food on passengers in the back part of the plane. he was taken into custody. but law enforcement officials tell us they think it was a drunk passenger and that the two incidents weren't connected. >> was that a northwest flight as well coming in from amsterdam or a different flight?

>> reporter: also a northwest delta flight. but, again, law enforcement officials think they were not connected. but pretty coincidental that it happened on the same route the same day. >> michael, thank you. we've got our entire team on this story. an attempted terrorist attack on a flight from amsterdam to detroit landing safely in detroit after passengers and crew were able to subdue the suspect who is said to be a nigerian national who secured the incendiary device that he tried to ignite in yemen. he says according to the government -- he got instructions on how and when to use it. we are covering the story for you. cnn is on it. but only malibu has onstar. big deal. i'll just use my phone. let's say we crashed. whoops, you lost your phone and you're disoriented. i'm not disoriented. now you are. onstar automatic crash response can call to see if you're ok. onstar emergency. is everything ok howie? you don't answer, they can

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ali velshi here in new york with breaking news coverage of what the white house is calling an attempted terrorist attack. if you're just joining us here in the united states or on cnn international, here's what we know. you're looking at a passenger jet, northwest airlines flight 253, branded delta with delta markings on it. allegedly someone frooid tried to blow it up. this flight was an approach to detroit from amsterdam. a passenger tells us what she saw. >> we were in the back of the plane and all of a sudden heard some screams and flight attendants ran up and down the aisles. i think we knew at the point when we saw the fear in the flight attendants' eyes and they grabbed the fire extinguishers and all of a sudden we smelled a bunch of smoke.

apparently someone in the front of the plane -- i don't know if he lit himself on fire or lit something on his lap and it went up in flames. >> the would-be bomber was subdued. he is now in custody, a nigerian national according to the u.s. government who apparently flew from nigeria, connected with flight 253 in amsterdam. he's reportedly talking, claiming ties to an extremist organization. we have a team of reporters and experts on this tonight. kate bolduan in washington. head ren any in honolulu with president obama. jeanne meserve, peter bergen and many others. joining us is paula newton who's traveled extensively in the middle east and in yemen. this suspect says the incendiary device he had was procured in yes, ma'am p and his instructions came from yemen. paula, this is complicated but peter bergen was telling us earlier that yemen is giving

afghanistan a run for its money in terms of al qaeda and terrorist presence. >> when you think about what went on at ft. hood, a u.s. citizen with ties to al qaeda who apparently may have inspired the army major at that time in those shootings. he is also linked to yemen. he was wanted in yemen. it was just a few hours ago that with some u.s. intelligence support that the yemenis went after this cleric in yemen. yemen right now is a country that is incredibly vulnerable. the government barely has any control outside of its own city. there are extremists. what the big fear has been among security officials is that a lot of what's going on in afghanistan and pakistan, clearly, may be having an affect on al qaeda, many of them trying to re-establish those ties and key here, ali, the training camps are trying to re-establish some of those in yemen. i can tell you, i'm trying to

travel outside the capital, whenever i did, even with the government official, they seemed to have little control over what was going on. they themselves seemed quite intimidated in terms of what could happen at any time. they have a hard time trying to keep track of what's going on in the capital, even with all the checkpoints they have. osama bin laden's family, half yemeni. there are extremist ties there. when i was there, there was a lot of anti-american sentiment. it's clear to say that right now, american officials have had their eye on yemen for several months as they have found many militants trying to actually physically get to yemen so they can get this kind of training. >> you look at somebody from nigeria and yemen. the infrastructure in nigeria is more sophisticated than in yemen. is yemen a place that is a logical base for freelance terrorists who may have more tenuous ties to terrorist organizations to be getting their backing, financing and equipment? >> the thing is that they're

involved in what you call uncovered spaces. basically, they're in a no-man's-land. they're in the wild west and can do what they want most times without inspection. the u.s. has been putting pressure on yemen officials for years without any success. what you have are people who have been able to set up any kind of camps that they wanted to, perhaps try and launder money for any kind of terrorist tasks they might have ahead. i don't want to overplay it in the sense that it's not been seen as a major problem until now. and certainly the activity in the last few months, it bears notice that they have looked at this. if you look on a map, it's a hop, skip and a jump across the red sea over the somalia. we have had issues from that. tens of thousands of refugees are in yemen right now. it is clearly one of those places where the nexus of terror

definitely tends to unite across a singular purpose toshgs try and plan these type of spectacular attacks. speaking to officials just last week about yemen, one yemeni source telling me they have u.s. drone support in the country because the u.s. is becoming more and more concerned about what's going on in yemen and its potential to be that kind of a terrorist hub. >> there have been activities there and there is some speculation that this could be in response to that. paula newton is our international security correspondent. we heard from a reporter in detroit a few minutes ago about another passenger on a different flighting in from amsterdam. this passenger was arrested earlier today. now have word from delta airlines that that passenger was intoxicated, caused a disturbance and was subdued. that flight was met by

authorities at the request of the crew. delta doesn't believe that incident was related to the incident on flight 253. that is the northwest flight that came in from amsterdam to detroit and moments before landing, a passenger attempted to ignite something on the plane. we're covering that story with all our resources. let's turn next to cnn's nic robertson who's covered too many stories like this one. nic, you a lot of all the coverage we've had tonight, you said something that really stuck with me. we're going to take a break and talk to nic about whether or not this suspect could be tied to other terrorist organizations or could be working on his own. stay with us. new centrum silver ultra men's. a complete multivitamin for men over 50. it has antiodants and vitamin d... to support your prostate and colon. new centrum silver ultra men's. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry.

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screen, that is northwest flight 253. it's a delta-badged aircraft. came in from amsterdam to detroit today. about 20 minutes before landing or approximately, a passenger attempted to light a device. it did not succeed. the passenger was subdued by other passengers and crew. law enforcement met the plane upon arrival questioning crew and passengers. the suspect has been taken into custody. according to the government, he's a nigerian national. he's being treated for the burns that resulted from the attempt and he says that he has tied to extremist groups and got the incendiary device from yemen, got instructions on how to use it from yemen. the government is treating this now as an attempted terrorist attack on this flight. we are following this with all of our resources. kate bolduan and jeanne meserve in d.c. are following this. richard quest, paula newton, ed henry is in honolulu where the president is. let's go to him right now. he's been keeping up to date on

what the president knows and what he is instructed. ed? >> reporter: as you noted, senior officials telling cnn that the white house does believe this was an attempted terror attack. i pressed one of those officials on whether or not they believe there are others at large. was this person acting as part of a plot or was he acting alone? and they refuse to comment. officials are just not going there yet. they realize this is still very early in this investigation. they don't want to get ahead of any of that. so what they're sticking with is what they know so far. the president was briefed the first time about 9:00, 9:30 this morning here, hawaii time. that's five hours behind the east coast in the united states. we're told the president sat down and got the secure conference call going with two of his top security aides. homeland security as well as national security aides, and instructed federal officials to increase aviation security measures around the country to make sure there's no other

incident like this, number one. and number two, we're told since that security conference call, we're being told by officials the president has been getting regular updates from the situation loroom back at the whe house, secure documents being sent to him here. during this holiday, the president and his staff is very much trying to stay on top of this. and the white house situation room is not taking a break. they are open for business and giving the president updates, we're told the next update is expected supposed to be around dinnertime. >> you say the situation rool isn't taking a break. have they activated more people and more resources as a result of this or are they treating this as still routine? >> reporter: well, the president is still working 24/7 and they're always trying to be ready and anticipating any possible scenario. so it's not as if the situation

room would shut down, per se. but it would always be ready to go if something happened. but the key is that they are bringing in people to make sure that all these reports are being passed on to the president in real time so that this is not just languishing the information. they're trying to get it up the chain as quickly as possible. the president has already instructed federal officials once today to increase aviation security measures. officials here in honolulu, leaving the door open to any scenario as the president gets more information. so it's not like they would be shut down. but they are certainly working a lot more aggressively than they were planning to on this christmas. >> so are you, ed. thanks for the good work and keeping us up to speed on what's going on in honolulu. we'll check in with ed. joining us on the phone is r.p. eddie, a former director of white house security under president clinton. and also joining us is peter bergen. both of these folks are keeping a close eye on this.

i'm going to start with you, r.p. how serious of a threat do you think today's events are? >> we only have temporary and spotty information so far. but it seems like this could have been catastrophic and is extraordinarily serious. it comes in a wave of our attacks that have been thwarted in the last six months. this is real news and the fact that we're seeing a cresting of potential attacks like this is something we need to pay a lot of attention to. >> peter, the news has been coming out steadily over the course of the last hour or so. here's the salient information. this man, according to the government, is identified as a nigerian national. got the incendiary device in yemen and got instructions from yemen. congressman peter king says he may have been known to have terrorist ties yet he wasn't on a no-fly list. what do you make of it? >> the suspect's already

admitted he's part of a conspiracy, he's not acting by himself. he's been given the device. the richard reid case is very important here. richard reid -- there was another richard reid, number 2, a guy who also had a shoe bomb. he got a case of, if it were, cold feet. he didn't go through with the attack. he's a british citizen. this may not be the only type of attack or attacker with this kind of device. what authorities are going to be doing is obviously looking at what kind of device this is. i would suspect this is a hydrogen peroxide device. it's relatively easy to construct. that's what we saw on the plane in the summer of 2006.

an afghan american was planning to blow up hide dro general peroxide bombs in the manhattan area. these bombs have become a signature of al qaeda, whether in the united states or in the united kingdom. if it is linked back to al qaeda in yemen, as the suspect seems to be implying, that is likely the device we're looking at. >> r.p., you were saying the same thing. the issue is how you handle situations like this with the public. we know the terror level for air transport is at orange right now. higher than the national level of yellow. but it's been at orange for a couple of years. how do you measure an instance like this and decide, okay, we've got a serious problem? we've got people who are potentially freelancing as potential terrorist as opposed to just terror organizations which we have a better sense of,

perhaps, from a security perspective? >> it brings me no pleasure to say this. but the situation we've faced far long time pre-9/11 and even now, airline security is still insufficient. insufficient for cargo and for passengers. there's been initial reporting that there was some sort of powder using. it could have been any number of weapons. as you know, if you have black powder or other explosive powders with you when you go through security, it's unlikely those things are going to be found. the current screening right now is still insufficient. that means the entirety of -- and we also know that airlines and airplanes are very ripe and attractive targets for terrorists. so what's notable here also is sometimes different routes are targeted. this plane transferred through amsterdam and then was flying to the united states. amsterdam, we've seen recently, also been security instances on amsterdam departing flights. but amsterdam could be an area of increased al qaeda targeting

because of the mohammad cartoon that is came out of there a few years ago. ironically this plane was heading to detroit, which is the largest population of muslims in american. that also speaks to the hypocrisy of these terrorists. so there's a lot of issues going on here. but air travel is still a very ripe target for terrorist of all stripes. >> r.p. and peter, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> given what peter and r.p. just said, a lot of attention is now turning to security, as in where did it break down? hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks has new information on that and joins us on the phone. >> good to be with you. i'm hearing from my federal law enforcement and airline security sources that apparently this man got on this northwest flight off of a flight that originated in nigerian but it was a clm

flight. i used to travel from washington, d.c. to africa through the airport. and very, very good security there. when you get to the gate, you go through additional screening. they put you in a holding area. what a patdown search most likely would not have found, whatever it was -- i don't know exactly what kind of device this was. they said they're not sure if it was on the body, on his body, or maybe secreted in his clothes. he apparently suffered second and third-degree burns to his thigh area. he was hospitalized but is not in life-threatening condition. they don't know if the device was a black powder, flash powder or as peter just pointed out, could be like richard reid used, a hydrogen peroxide-based explosive. they're taking the evidence overnight to the fbi lab in quantico where the explosives

expert and examiners will try to determine exactly what kind of device this was. >> how long -- obviously that can be a very obviously investigation if they open it and it's got wires and fuses. how long would an investigation like this take? >> it's a fairly quick thing to tell what kind of explosive was use and what kind of device it was. we've seen a number of different devices that have been used. we talked about richard reid, the shoe bomber. the substance was in the shoes of richard reid. but through the screening right now, the airline security screening, it would not have detected this. and also any kind of black powder, unless you go through one of the puffer machines where it can detect explosive residue on your clothe, they're not going to be detect that either. >> mike, quick question. take yourself out of your own body because all of us who know

you know you're a big, strong guy in law enforcement. we spoke to passengers from the plane. they said it was passengers and crew members who subdued this fellow after they figured out what was going on. for people who are traveling and get panicked about something like this and see somebody doing something that could lead to setting the plane on fire or bombing it, what are you supposed to do as a passenger? >> i tell everyone, if you see anything at all or your gut tells you there's something wrong, you're not sure about something, let somebody know. they can do it very unobtrusi unobtrusively, go up to talk to someone. but this heightens everyone's awareness. if you think there's something on board the flight or prior to a flight in the gate area, let law enforcement know about it. >> mike brooks is working this story. here's the story, northwest flight 253, branded a delta airlines plane you're looking at right there, was incoming from

amsterdam to detroit shortly before landing, a passenger possibly sitting in row 19 attempted to ignite something. there was some sort of a fire. the passenger was subdued. whatever it was was extinguished. the passenger was separated from other passengers and upon landing was greeted by law enforcement. passengers and crew were interviewed. the government is treat this had as an attempted terrorist attack. we believe the suspect in custody is a nigerian national saying he has ties to an extremist group. we'll continue our live coverage with all of our resources here at cnn. make these savings even more memorable. gecko: all right... gecko: good driver discounts. now that's the stuff...? boss: how 'bout this? gecko: ...they're the bee's knees? boss: or this? gecko: sir, how 'bout just "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." boss: ha, yeah, good luck with that catching on! anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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