we learn more about the attempt on delta flight 253, a passenger allegedly tried to detonate a device and blow up the airbus a-330. the flight was on approach detroit inbound from amsterdam when it happened. passenger syed jafry was sitting just three rows ahead of the would-be bomber.

>> 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. >> the would-be bomber was subdued. he's now in custody, a nigerian national who apparently flew from nigeria, connected with flight 253 in amsterdam. he's reportedly talking and he's claiming ties to an extremist organization saying that he got the device in yemen, as well as instructions on how and when to use it. as we've been reporting, the white house is calling the attempt a terrorist attack. ed henry is traveling with the president who is in hawaii. ed joins us now with what the president knows and what he's instructed his staff to do. ed? >> reporter: ali, good evening. the president early this morning, we're told, convened a secure conference call with two

of his top aides, john brennan, his chief homeland security adviser, as well as dennis mcdonough. basically he was briefed on the situation and then ordered federal officials to take all means necessary, all appropriate measures to increase aviation security all across the united states. officials stressing that the president is not raising the color-coded level beyond orange where it is already. but that there will be other measure, some visible, some perhaps not to flyers around the country to show that it's beefed up at key airports all around the country. white house knows that this is obviously a peak time for holiday travel. people moving all around the country and around the world. and they do not want a repeat of the situation. that's why i'm told the president since that secure conference call this morning has had a series of paper updates from the white house situation room back in washington, sending secure communications to the president so he has the latest

possible information. i'm told he's expected to get one more around dinnertime here in hours, a couple of hours from now. we're five hours back into the east coast. even while the president is on vacation, this white house realizes it needs to move quickly to stay on top of this situation and make sure there's no repeat of this situation and make sure this is not some bigger plot and that they get to the bottom of this with this investigation. >> that, of course, is a major issue here. is this part of a bigger plot? is this suspect tied to some larger organization or is he a freelancer, as it were? is he carrying out his own views with the assistance of a larger organization perhaps based in yemen? the other issue that you brought up, ed -- i think this is interesting to get into a little bit with our viewers. that is, while the threat level for air transportation in the united states has been at orange since october of 2006, we were talking to jeanne meserve earlier who was saying there's a great deal of latitude within that color system. so without changing the threat level to a level higher than orange, passengers over the next few days may see changes at

airports. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. important to note that in recent months, this administration has expressed a lot of skepticism about the whole color-coded system that was instituted by the bush administration and has actually been reviewing whether to scrap that system altogether. so they're not focused on just the broad outlines as you noted. instead, the latitude within each of those colors, in this case, orange, to basically say, what can we do within there? as jeanne meserve has been reporting, that could mean more k-9 dogs, more behavioral mo monitori monitoring. you put more personnel at various security checkpoints to look at people and see whether they're acting suspiciously, doing more check, et cetera. goes without saying that that makes it more likely that they'll be some delays at airports all across america and that's going to add to some of the pain people have been feeling with all these delays with the holiday travel. but it also goes without saying that security comes first here. and the administration is going

to try to do everything it can whether it causes more delays or not to make sure that there's not a repeat of this situation. in fact, just got a statement a few moments ago put out by senator susan collins of maine, she was saying she's expecting a briefing from the department of homeland security because she has a lot of questions starting with how did this person get these materials on the plane in the first place. >> larry: there's going to be a lot of questions asked of this administration about what security officials have been doing and have not been doing. >> and whether this person had any ties to an extremist organization as the government claims he said he has. if he did, should he have been on some list somewhere? there are a lot of questions. ed getting us a lot of answers in honolulu. we'll check in with you again. you're looking at a delta plane that was a northwest flight. delta and northwest have merged. the planes are all in the process of being changed over to delta planes but there are still northwest flights. that plane went from amsterdam to detroit. detroit is a major hub for what

was northwest airlines and a longstanding relationship with klm. we did learn from representative peter king earlier that he believes that this passenger, the suspect, may have started in legos, nigeria, also on a klm flight connecting in amsterdam and going to detroit. let's turn to kate bolduan. what's going on? >> we've learned from this federal security bulletin that was put out that this was a nigerian national that ignited some type of a small explosive device. but real questions remain as we've been discussing and gaps and details remain about what type of device this was. we had early reports from delta airlines that this was firecrackers. we hear from congressman peter king who is briefed on the situation saying it was a fairly sophisticated device. the fbi is leading this investigation and are obviously checking into this person's

background and capabilities. i spoke with a dutch aviation security expert just a short time ago. in general, we were talking about general security issues. he tells me that amsterdam is one of the busiest airports in europe and a very popular route for people traveling from africa. he says that the amsterdam airport is working under a heightened alert now and that there are extra security measures in place, as we've been discussing, here in the states as well. he says from his perspective, the real concern in the near term is the possibility of any copycats over the next 12 hours. we don't even want to talk about that. but in terms of timing, he says choosing this holiday is not surprising. it's a period of heightened alert for a reason as people trying to do harm see it as a chance for maximum impact as these flights are so packed. and we also talked about how he possibly got through security with this device, whatever it was. he was talking about feeder

flights and how in general talking about security issues, after you're on one of these flights that goes to a larger airport, these feeder flight, security seems to be a little less stringent. maybe they think they can get around some of this security by taking a feeder flight, starting in nigeria and going through amsterdam in order to get to the states. >> and representative king saying nigeria was one of those countries where security was thought to be lax in the years after 2001. >> right. >> and was increased in fact with help from the united states. the other thing, kate, that's interesting is we're not quite sure -- we're using the term device but we don't know whether it was powders or liquids, whatever. mike brooks mentioned to me he believes whatever it is is on its way to the fbi lab in quantico to get some analysis of what it was, at least to term what of our major question, how did something get on a flight

with all the security we have there today? how do you get something you can set fire to onto a plane? another one of the unanswered questions you're continuing to track down for us. kate, thanks for your great work. >> richard griffith was on the plane in question sitting in seat 36b. that was -- we think the suspect was in 19a. this is what you're looking at on your screen. on the left side of the plane as you are facing the front of the plane, this passenger was some distance back in another cabin. but he spoke at length to the gentleman who was sitting next to him. richard joins us by phone. richard, you spoke to the man who was sitting next to the suspect, is that what the story is? >> i was talking to the guy that was sitting next to him, yes, sir. >> and you believe he was in row 19. does that information make sense? >> yes, sir. that seems right. >> tell me what you heard. >> he told me that he was just sitting there and sounded like a champagne bottle -- the cork off

a champagne bottle went off. and looking around trying to figure out what it was and they couldn't find out what made the noise. then he looked down and said, there's smoke coming from the guy's crotch. >> wow. >> and there's fire. the guy was sitting on -- i was told the guy was sitting on like a pillow and the pillow started catching fire and some blankets underneath the seat. they stood the guy up and stripped him down trying to get the fire out. >> that makes sense because we heard people say there was a pop. nobody could see what it was. and moments later they saw flames -- saw something burning. there was some sort of delay. that would make sense that something caught fire. but did the passenger who was sitting next to the suspect tell you that he saw what it was that might have set the cushion or the blankets or his clothes on fire? >> no, sir. he said -- thinking about it, he

said, it must have been in his pocket -- in the guy's pocket because it was right there at his crotch. just kind of weird that somebody would do something like that. >> so you were in 36b, which would be in the cabin behind the cabin that this took place. did you know any of this? did you know anything was going on in the cabin ahead of you? >> no. it sounded like there was a baby crying and all of a sudden there's chatting going on. but i looked up and it looked like there was a medical emergency. and trying to figure out what was going on because the stewardesses were all doing what they had to do to take care of the situation. and running up there with fire extinguishers. and then they came out and told us what was going on and they took him to the front of the plane. >> you were not under the impression that there was something going on that might have been an attack or a terrorist attempt? >> not at that time, no, sir. >> when did you first get that sense? >> when i started seeing all the fbi agents there in metro detroit.

>> so you got all the way down. you were landed before you realized there was a problem. what communication did you get from the crew or the pilot to indicate that there had been some incident? >> that there's just a fire -- maybe firecrackers that went off. they were trying to make everybody calm. it got a little exciting up towards the cabin there. >> i spoke to somebody who was in the cabin ahead of you who said there was some excitement and perhaps the fringes of panic. but he said it never really got all the way to full-out panic. seemed to be contained fairly early. is that the sense you got? >> yes, sir. it's just different ways there. they took care of it. my hat's off to them. they did a great job. >> when you got some sense -- when you got off and realized what had happened, now that you think about it in hindsight, obviously didn't worry much when you were on the plane. now that you look back at this, do you think you were on a plane where there was a terrorist attack and how does that make you feel?

>> well, i don't know if it was a terrorist attack or not. i'm just glad it's been taken care of. and that's about it. >> tell me one other thing. we're trying to get time lines established here. this and 20 or 30 minutes before touchdown? about how long before you landed? >> yeah, about that time. it was unbelievable how fast we got to the ground. when the pilot found out what was going on, he come on and told us what was going on. and then we were headed down. >> you never saw the suspect, either seated or being removed from the plane? >> no, sir. >> did you see anybody injured or did you hear of other injuries on the plane? >> yeah, i heard there was one other guy that was injured trying to take care of the situation with the gentleman there. >> meaning trying to subdue him? >> whatever was going on. i don't know if he was trying to subdue him.

if it was me, i would have tried to take the guy out. >> we're hearing a lot about the role the passengers and crew played in this sort of thing. if you were right around this and you had seen somebody set fire to something around them or try to set a fire, how would you react? >> i would take care of the situation. i would take care of the primary situation. try to get the fire out and take care the individual that caused the problem. >> the passenger you talked to, the one sitting next to the suspect, was he injured in any way? >> no, sir. >> so the fire fortunately, whatever the fire was, didn't seem to get him. it seems that one or two other people were injured. they may have been injured in trying to put the fire out? >> that's just -- yeah, you could say that. but i'm not sure. >> did you smell smoke at any point? >> no. >> all right. we're getting a lot of information. thank you for clearing up a lot of this thing. we're glad that you're on the ground safely and enjoying the rest of your christmas night and that this didn't turn into

anything more serious -- >> i'd like to say one quick thing here. the guys that took care of us up here in detroit, the fbi and the staff at the airport, we were there for quite a while. they did what they had to do and they did a great job. interviews and everything else, they did a great job. >> we're hearing a lot of that. we're hearing it was handled very professionally. thanks very much for joining us. we're glad you're home safe. >> thank you. >> richard griffith was sitting in row 36 on the plane on northwest airlines flight 253. we want to take you inside the flight as the suspect was allegedly trying to ignite an explosive. listen to what those passengers on board had to say about it. >> 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. >> investigators will no doubt pay close attention to those first-person accounts. they have interviewed everybody or are in the process of interviewing everybody from the plane. let's get reaction from our next two guests. clark kent irvin is a former inspector general for homeland security. also with us, terror expert glen skoon. mr. irvin, let's start with you. your evaluation of this situation as you've heard it? we're getting more and more details over the last few hours. we seem to have a relatively good picture of what happened. we're lacking a good picture of who the suspect is and why he did it. >> right. this just serves to underscore that aviation for some reason continues to be a real focus for terrorists in general and al qaeda in particular. it's still unclear as to whether this particular nigerian had ties to al qaeda. but clearly he had terrorist intent.

and the reason for focus on aviation is clear. it's a mass transportation mode, involves a lot of people. visually impactful. and we in the united states have spent the bulk of our resources and attention since 9/11 on shoring up the aviation sector since 9/11, since that's the means we were attacked on 9/11. if there were a successful terror attack on aviation post-9/11, god forbid, it would show we remain weak even at our strongest points -- >> what does today's incident tell you sna that there was an attack or it was a failed attack because we've managed to handle these things? sounds like somebody got something on a plane that effectively allowed them to set fire to something. >> right. it raises a number of troubling questions. we've heard conflicted things about whether this guy was on a terror watch list.

he was known to have terrorist ties but wasn't on a watch list. we need to nail that down. if he was on a watch list, then obviously he should not have been allowed to fly on any plane and certainly not a plane bound for the united states. you may recall that a couple of years ago right around christmastime, the holiday season, there were a number -- i want to say about a dozen flights that were headed for the united states who were then diverted in mid flight from the united states back to their points of origin in europe when it was learned by dhs officials that somebody on the plane manifest had a name that was apparently connected to terrorism. what i don't understand in this case is if in fact -- whether he was on a list or not, if somebody knew apparently that this fellow had known terrorism tie, why was he allowed to stay on a plane that was bound for the united states? the second issue what we've been discussing for a number of hours is exactly how this incendiary device made its way past airport

screeners. we don't know whether he had it with him when he boarded the flight in nigeria. if he did, that's somewhat understandable since nigeria is known for having lax aviation security. he ought to have been rescreened once he boarded the flight in amsterdam, especially since that flight was bound for the united states. that should have happened. if it did happen, why wasn't the device discovered then? if it wasn't discovered, it certainly should have been. it also points out, by the way, that there are a number of things that can be detected. we're not very good at detecting explosives and liquids as a number of people have said. this just points to continued vulnerabilities in our detection technology. just last week or a few -- about a week ago or so, there was in big snafu about tsa releasing its screening protocols. it underscores that it's easier than it ought to be to get guns and knives and certainly

explosives which appears to be terrorist weapons of choice all over the world. >> it does bring it into two areas. one sa policy issue, whether or not we were able to track somebody who's connected to a terror network or whether or not this was somebody largely operating on their own with limited capability. and then the second issue a technological issue. what did he have and how did he get it on the plane? >> that's right. it's going to take some close looking at the situation in amsterdam, obviously. one question, too, separately, if he did get the device in yemen, how did it get from yemen to amsterdam to get aboard the flight? did it travel with him from nigeria or not? amsterdam is one of the largest airports in europe. it's on the scale of, say, heathrow or frankfurt in germany. around 40,000 to 50,000 people a day. security there is headed by military police and have a platform in which different

operators in which private security operate. u.s. flights definitely get more -- additional security coverage than others. but clearly this is going to be a focal point. i just spoke to some people in amsterdam two hours ago. and there's a major operation under way there to support homeland security and the fbi in its endeavor to figure out what's going on. >> clark, let's talk a little about next steps. we spoke to mike brooks who said fbi is involved in this and are probably taking this incendiary device or whatever liquids or powder, whatever it is, to quantico and trying to get a handle immediately on what it is. until we have a handle on what it is, are we likely to see increases in airport security? >> we absolutely are. as jeanne meserve and others have been reporting, we are definitely likely to see that. the terror alert level, the color code has been high, at orange, for a number of years now. that's not going to change. but as she and others have noted, there are likely to be some increased measures within

that color level. for example, we'll surely see increased armed police presence in airports around the countries, certainly in the significant cities. we'll see bomb-sniffing dogs. probably see an increase of behavior, detection officers who tend to be plainclothed officers who are trained to look at behavior and things that might indicate anger, anxiety, terrorist intent. a number of things are going to be going on at airports in these next few days. that's important. there are two things going on. we have to focus on the investigation, how did it happen and how can it be prevented? and in the meantime, we have to step up aviation security around the country. >> thank you both. we're continuing to follow the story and get every individual thread that we can. we want to get a bigger tapestry of where this all stands. joining us with that is cnn's

jeanne meserve. >> reporter: listening to this conversation you've just been having about airport screening, can't help but note that there's a misperception that screening catches everything. and the fact of the matter is, it doesn't. most of us when we get on an airplane, we walk through a m magnotometer. you might go through a puffer machine, or an imaging machine which might catch something strapped to your body if that was the case in this matter. but here's the puzzling thing. if this individual was indeed on some kind of a watch list, even not a no-fly list but on a watch list, one would have thought he would have flagged for secondary screening. and you would expect them to do an explosive trace detection test. and you would think that would pick up the trace of an explosive, if in fact that's what he was carrying. if it was a liquid, it becomes

infinitely more complicated. they have been working very hard to develop better technologies to better detect liquid explosives. but they do not have anything deployed at airports now that does that effectively. >> we're going to talk in a minute about the type of explosive it may be. i want to ask you this. you cover this very closely. one of the questions is, is this a simple act? what are your sources saying? is this a simple act of somebody acted alone or is it sophisticated that he may have managed to get something through security that otherwise shouldn't? he was on a big plane. it had 278 people on board, going from a major airport to another major airport. what's the initial view of this? >> reporter: right now they're saying it's just impossible to tell at this moment exactly how serious this was. they don't know yet exactly what this explosive or whatever was that he was carrying. they don't know enough about this individual. they don't know who he is

networked with. those are all the courses that this investigation is taking right now to try and figure out exactly what the dimensions of this situation are. they don't have a handle on it. >> interestingly, though, he apparently has said, according to our reports, he's said he's got tied to an extremist group. so it doesn't look like there was much of an interrogation before they got to that part of it. it's curious as to -- >> reporter: but isn't that suspicious? you would not suspect that somebody who was actually an al qaeda operative might be anxious to throw that out in front of investigators without prompting. so i think they want to look at this very carefully. another thing on the sides of the aircraft, a couple of years ago, i went out to a tsa testing ground where they were working with liquid explosives and computer modeling and trying to figure out exactly how much liquid it would take to bring down an airliner. and it is possible if this was a small enough quantity of

whatever it was he was dealing with, it would not have done grave injury to that plane or to the systems on the plane. but that clearly is another thing they're trying to get a handle on. how much did he have and how much damage could he have done. i have a friend who always says the biggest improvement to aviation security since 9/11 is the empowerment of the passengers and the crew. if they see something suspicious on an airplane, they act to stop it. >> from the reports we've been hearing, that's what happened, that passengers and crew got involved very early to subdue the suspect. thanks very much. you've been working the story and we'll continue to come back to you with every new piece of information you have, jeanne meserve in washington. here's the situation we're tracking an ongoing situation. there is a plane on the tarmac in detroit. passengers have been released

from that plane, 278 of them. but the government is treating it as an attempted terrorist attack. that flight, northwest 253, even though it is badged a delta flig flight, somebody tried to light something on fire about half an hour before landing. the person is in custody. he's a nigerian national and he has, according to the government, said that he is part of an extremist organization or has tied to an extremist organization. we do not know what he was trying to light on fire. but we are getting to the bottom of that with all of our resources here at cnn. we're following the story very closely. ed henry is with the president in honolulu. we have our reporters in washington and across the globe. we'll be talking to paula newton in just a moment to find out a bit more about what the explosive might have been.

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some kind of device that sent fire and smoke into the cabin. the man who sources say claimed to have ties to a terrorist group is now being detained in detroit. the white house calls it an attempted act of terror. president obama who's in hawaii has been briefed and is receiving regular updates from washington. team coverage with ed henry in hawaii, jeanne meserve in washington, paula newton in london, our reporter in atlanta and cnn's resources around the world. just in now, cnn's deb feyerick with new information about the suspect. she is at detroit's airport. >> reporter: we landed a short while ago here at the detroit airport. police have blocked off an area of the north term gnat outside of the airport. inside, it is relatively quiet. only about a dozen flights scheduled to leave tonight. one of them going back to amsterdam. i asked our pilot just after we landed whether he had heard anything about this incident. and he recapped what we had

initially heard. there was a guy with a firecracker. but we have spoken with officials familiar with current airport security in the united states. that official tells us within the next 12 to 24 hours what law enforcement is really working to find out is whether this was a lone jihadist or some sort of a internet recruit who's identified himself with al qaeda or whether he's part of something larger. it likely comes down to the explosive device itself. the big question on law enforcement's minds right now, this passenger was able to get the device from lagos, nigeria, to amsterdam virtually into u.s. air space. the question, why did the explosive device burn and not necessarily detonate or did it detonate but not burn as fully as it was supposed to? and that really is a big question because being able to bring it on but having it not work properly at the last moment, that is something that's under investigation right now. >> deb is one of our best when

it comes to terrorist issues. she's followed that beat for a very long time. interesting points there, whether this was somebody acting on his own or as part of a larger group. he has identified with and what that incendiary device, he claims it came from yemen, according to our sources. he claims he got it in yemen. how it got from yemen to lagos to amsterdam and to detroit. at detroit, reporter frank holland. frank, what do you know? >> reporter: you can feel the tension here at detroit metro as people get dropped off and are waiting for holiday flight, a lot of people hearing about this incident a short time ago or hearing about it when they arrive here. what's being called an attempted terror attack happened at noon eastern time here in detroit. for about six hours, the 278 people on that plane were held here, interviewed by the fbi, the tsa and other federal agencies about what they saw, what they heard, what they might knowment we actually spoke to a

number of those people. i spoke to one family from amsterdam myself. they say it was very terrifying. for minutes, first all they heard was a loud bang. then they saw flames. then they saw smoke. they say the man who is now the suspect, a 23-year-old nigerian man, actually lit himself on fire. they say they believe he hit his leg on fire. here's more firsthand accounts of what happened inside the cabin. >> right at the end of the flight when we were about to land, there was some commotion in the back. from what we can tell, there was a gentleman that had some sort of device on him that caused him to catch on fire. they put out the fire, brought him up front where they stripped him down to make sure he had nothing else. and they brought him -- took him off the plane. we landed at about 12:40-ish. around there. around 12:00 or so. we landed quick. but we've been in containment ever since then. >> what we heard at the beginning was a bang, sounded

first like a balloon being popped and then it was a minute later, a lady was shouting back saying things like, what are you doing, what are you doing? >> reporter: according to these passengers, the first person that realized what was going on was another passenger and he jumped on top of the man and put out the flames before this man could continue doing whatever he was trying to do. we've also confirmed the suspect was taken to the university of michigan hospital to be treated for his injuries. other than that, we're still waiting for more confirmation from the fbi as well as delta airlines. here at the detroit metro airport, frank holland. >> frank, we've been hearing that your person you spoke to said it sounded like a balloon popping. we heard champagne cork, sort of thing. it was an initial noise and then sometime before people started to see smoke and flames, some little time in between. that seems to be consistent. but nobody's been able to tell us what the device was or what he might have been setting fire to. you don't have any more on that, do you? >> reporter: the people we spoke

to said it wasn't clear. but they said it created smoke and flames. i think the fbi is trying to figure that out themselves. >> frank, thank you. more now on the suspect. we've been reporting that the alleged bomber is nigerian, that he departed from lagos and joined northwest flight 253 in amsterdam. paula newton has done intensive reporting in nigeria and yemen where this suspect reportedly says he got the device. also with us, cnn international's muhammad jamjun. our sources are claiming he says he got the device in yemen. the question seems to be surrounding what this thing is that he tried to set fire to and how he got it from yemen to lagos to amsterdam and to detroit. and what is the connection to yemen? >> what's interesting here -- let's talk about -- jeanne meserve was bringing up earlier

about what you can bring onto a plane. the difference between being able to bring something -- a small quantity of something that's dangerous on a plane, which you can still do right now. but the fact of trying to detect it all is impossible. what authorities have tried to do is make sure they can contain the threat. we had the liquid bomb plot here in august 2006. many americans will remember that. these guys never got on the planes but they were convicted of trying to blow up nine airliners transatlanticically. how are they going to do that? hydrogen peroxide and tang. the detonating device was hallowed-out double "a" batteries. the key here is that authorities that i've spoken to in britain, even though we've been in labs and seen things for ourself, kind of -- i wouldn't call them explosive. they are, in fact, more of something that can cause smoke, can cause a small flame but not

explosive. and a lot of authorities here have done a lot of research into this and think, look, so that we don't have to shut down travel, so that we're not sitting there with absolutely ridiculous safety concerns at the airport, this is a reasonable risk to take. we've all been there with our plastic bags at the airport. we can get probably a half liter of liquid in there altogether if you really jam them in there. but the point is, they're saying this was called the liquid bomb plot for a using. they used soft drink bottles, gatorade bottles. in doing that, they are saying those were huge quantities of liquid that could have done some damage. what i just explained to you, this gentleman, if he had an opportunity, probably could have gotten those component parts on the airplane and done damage. i have no confirmation that's what he tried to do. this stuff is all over the internet for people looking for those kinds of things. where does yemen play into all of this? after the experiments people might want to run undetected, he

could. he could have been able to look at some of this either remoteedly through the internet of what was being done in yemen or been trained in yemen. this is complete speculation. the liquid bomb plot, they got the tang from pakistan is what prosecutors said during the court case. these kinds of centers, things like yemen where they can unfetter try to experiment with these and obtain the chemicals they need, these are important hubs of terror that aid them in trying to get these kinds of liquids on an airplane. >> you brought up a point earlier that the similarity some of our viewers make between yemen as a hub for terrorist activity like afghanistan is that they're a large, ungovred part. there are places where people can establish centers where they can be training people or equipping potential terrorists. >> absolutely. and that's what has concerned the government. i remember in the bush administration having talks with officials about africa and huge ungoverned spaces there. in the middle east, they have been concerned about this for sometime.

the difference in the last few months, they've seen yemen becoming more of a problem and have confirmed reports militants moving from the afghanistan/pakistan regions into yemen. what's going on in those areas, not even the yemeni government has a good handing on what could be going on, both north and south in these regions in terms of aiding al qaeda. >> our reporter, muhammad jamjun. what do you have for us? >> speaking about yemen specifically, people ask is it easy or difficult to smuggle weapons in or out of yemen? it's not difficult at all. yemen is in a very tenuous situation right now. there is the problem of al qaeda in yemen. last week over 34 al qaeda-linked suspects were in that area. over 30 militants in al qaeda, suspects killed. yemen is going after al qaeda in a big way because right now in yemen, you have other portions of al qaeda coming there. last year, you had saudi al

qaeda and yemen al qaeda merging. that's a big regional threat. al qaeda there is saying they're going to carry out attacks not just in yemen or in the west but other middle eastern countries. not only do you have the problem with al qaeda -- it is a huge one -- you have the problem of a separatist movement in the south. and you have these clashes that have been going on for months in the north of yemen, on the board we are saudi arabia, with the shiite rebels. the government is going after them. the shiites are fighting back. it's so bad, in fact, in the past week, we spoke to a yemen expert who said it's practically a collapsed state. u.s. is concerned, regional neighbors are concerned. is the yemen government going to be able to get this under control? >> so we're still prooigt trying to make the connection. this story has gone far and wide from a plane that you're looking at on your screen, a delta plane that is a northwest flight 253, that originated in amsterdam and landed in detroit with somebody

who tried to set something on fire on that plane. now we're having conversations about yemen and nigeria. the suspect who is in custody, our sources tell us, is a nigerian national, may have started his flight in nigeria. he was sitting on seat 19a that you can see there, on the flight from amsterdam to detroit. about midway on the plane, it was an a-330 air bus330 plane. he apparently has told authorities that he got the device or whatever it was he was trying to set on fire -- we have heard that he got it in yemen. that's why we're making these connections, why paula is helping us understand yemen's connection and what it may be that he put on that plane or why he tried to set fire to and why mohammed is trying to help us understand about yemen serving others. let's go back to paula for a second. you pointed out these are little threads we've got. we don't know any of this to be

a fact just yet. but it is possible that he could be part of an extremist organization in yemen. it's also entirely possible this guy could be what we call a freelancer. >> absolutely. he could have been acting alone. it really will stand to reason exactly who he claims to be with. that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous, whether or not they have these affiliations or not and what they actually had connections to. when we've followed these terror plots in britain, and there have been a few attempted and obviously unfortunately some successful. in following those plots through the court cases, some were fre freelancers. but there was a wealth of information and also physically in trying to experiment with these kinds of things. you can still find the information on the internet through intermediarintermediari. means they have access to figure

out how to get a small amount of powder, to get some hydrogen peroxide and perhaps a small detonator on to an airplane. as i said, the key thing here for authorities has always been to try and contain the threat. that's what they have tried to do, even in the small quantities that are allowed on airplanes, there are some things you can still get on in certain airports that are dangerous. how dangerous? we'll figure out today exactly as they test these things that are apparently on the way to the lab, how much damage it can do. important to bring up, they cannot find everything. it is not that sophisticated. in britain they have been experimenting with different surt apparatuses to see if they can figure out the density of certain liquids to figure out if it is liquid or hydrogen peroxide. those things are held by authorities here and they continue to experiment. you can get those things on to

airplanes in small quantities. >> who is this suspect? what did he try to set fire to? where did he get it from? and is he working alone? we'll continue to cover that breaking news story. also breaking news across the country. dangerous weather as people are coming home from christmas dinner. chad myers is in the severe weather center. he joins us with that news. >> a couple of things, ali, blizzard warnings all over the upper midwest. seven states with blizzard warnings posted. you might be asking yourself, what's going on in the air space? are planes flying? are they grounded? no. 3,000 planes still in the sky at this hour. and for this hour of the night, that's a pretty high number. i'm thinking some planes probably got a little bit delayed, tsa lines were a little bit long today as all of the extra security, going into probably place. i have a 6:30 flight tomorrow morning. i can imagine what my line is going to be like already. that's the snow from minnesota back into kansas.

that's the entire area with the blizzard warning. so flying might be your best bet tonight considering what visibility is like in here, basically zero. winds are 40 miles per hour. heavy snow coming down. and it's not going to get better until at least morning. and for the most part, i wouldn't say travel would be at least until the noon hour tomorrow as at least you'll be able to see something. the sun may come out a little bit for you and you may get roadways clearing out there. >> chad, thanks very much for that. we've been talking about how it's going to be tougher to travel at airports because of increased security. after the break, we've been talking a lot about who the suspect is, where he got his incendiaries and who he's working with. but what is it like to be aboard northwest flight 253 when this alleged terror attempt unfold and what happened right after it? we'll take you aboard the flight through the eyes of one of the passengers. a man with quite a story to tell. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!?

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in a world of doesn't... (announcer) some people just know how to build things well. give you and your loved ones an expertly engineered mercedes benz at the winter event going on now. but hurry - the offer ends january 4th. 278 passengers were aboard that plane that you're looking at on the right side of your screen. northwest delta flight 253 from amsterdam to detroit. one of them was allegedly trying to take it down. 277 others, plus the cabin and

flight crew, now have quite a story to tell. one of those passengers, syed jafry, told us in detail how it all went down. on the phone now, mr. jeffrey. he was on the flight in question. northwest flight 253, along with 257 other passengers. you were sitting in 16-g, is that correct? are you there? >> caller: yeah, i'm here. go ahead. >> you were in 16-g is that correct? >> caller: yes, i was. >> where was the suspect in relation to where you were sitting? >> caller: i believe he was in 19-a and i was in 16-g. so i was diagonally away from him. >> fairly large aircraft. 278 people on board. tell me what you remember happening. >> caller: well, what we heard first, really is we were pretty

much getting ready to descend and be landing. it was a long flight. everybody was tired, you know. and next thing we know, one pop. and everybody got a little bit startled. and then they look around and see nothing, so 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 a fire. and then people started to get concerned and panicked almost. and everybody was rushing towards that area and trying to get water, blankets and fight extinguishers. so that's one of the things that i noticeded. a lot of efforts to get it under control, and we did. >> was there a struggle with the suspect? >> caller: there was a young man behind me about three or four seats.

and he took care of that suspect. he handled him pretty good, i think. and there was a little bit, obviously, 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 seeing that it was under control? were people screaming or crying? >> caller: at the time from my vantage point, i think there was only panic. i would say about around six or seven rows up and down. >> okay. so basically the people who could get some sense of what was going on? >> caller: right. but the rest of the plane, i don't think all of them knew. no, i don't think so. again, i could be wrong. but what i see there was a panic in the immediate area. and then we took care of it within minutes. a matter of minutes, not only that, with the young man's help, we just took over the whole

situation. he subdued him and took him with the health of the cabin crew, they took him to the side and kind of isolated him. >> were they holding him? did he look like he was struggling? >> caller: no. i don't recall that he was struggling, more that he appears to be more stunned and kind of surprised with the whole act. then they took him to the side. because i think he was -- he also got second degree burns. so he was kind of -- kind of more surprised. >> did he seem to be yelling anything or saying anything, uttering anything threats? >> caller: no. nothing at all. i at least didn't hear. maybe some other people who were close to him may have heard him, but i did not hear anything. they took him on the is side, took him all the way up front and isolated him from the rest of the passengers. >> did you at any point -- what went through your mind? did you think this was a terrorist attack?

>> caller: i thought he was trying to -- he was a young man. i thought he was trying to smuggle something. when i see flames, i thought maybe this is more serious than i think. a lot of people got more panicked. of course we were in that plan and didn't know what was going on. but i tell you what, as soon as i got out of the airport after four or five hours' ordeal and i got home, then i got really, really -- kind of reality sets in, you know you? >> you got more scared afterwards than you were on the plane. >> caller: absolutely, absolutely. >> i'm looking at the outline of the seating assignment. that was an aisle seat on the right-hand side of the plane. and he's on 16-g, all the way on the left. you would have been about three rows away and six seats away from him. >> caller: yes. >> could you look over your

shoulder and get some good sense of what was going on? were all the passengers looking in that direction is? did they all see what was happening? >> caller: yeah, i think. the immediate ones sitting next to him, i think they all saw him and 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? were you evacuated as if there was an emergency when you landeded? >> caller: there was no announcement except cabin crew was announcing -- giving direction this is the situation right now. there was an incident and things are under control now. even sit down you, please. and it was handled very professionally by the crew. they handled it very good. >> they didn't say at any point that it was a terrorist act or something like that? they just said, there's been some incident. >> caller: incident. and also 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 -- that we were on the ground, i think, between 10 to 20 minutes after the incident. so that's a good thing. >> when this happened, were you already informed you were on approach? was everybody informed at that point? >> caller: i'm thinking more and more -- and i could be wrong -- but to the best of my recollection, i think we started to descend. and we were starting to getting ready to get out of the plane because we were tired. all of us were very tired. very long flight. >> again, by looking at this layout of the plane, i can see as he would have gone -- if the cabin crew you 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. this is a wide-bodied plane, 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? >> caller: i know that he has sort of a whitish pants and light striped shirt or white shirt. and i think he was burned a little bit, but it was not showing. he was subdued by people. they covered him up. i didn't get a good look at it. i looked at his face. looks like a young man in his 20s. >> you said you turned around and had seen some kind of flames. did it look like a firecracker or sparkler? what did you think it was when you looked at it? >> caller: i think he was trying to do something but didn't work. that's what i think now. because at that time -- and if you look at that time frame and look where i was at that time, i couldn't figure it out, what's going on. except the glow of fire or flame, whatever that was. i didn't see with my own eyes,

but it glowed. it lighted up a little bit. then i see that a lot of people running after it and trying to take it. when they tried to take it out, it had gone a little bit higher for some reason. >> how did the cabin crew learn of this? did they click their buttons to inform the cabin crew? did people shout for them? >> caller: no. it was immediately, instant. there was no time left. that was a good thing, because everybody was trying to set it up. there was an announcement that we started to descend because that was the case. and we were kind of busy getting ready to land. >> when you got off the plane, was it a normal disembarkment? was there anything unusual about it? were there police there as you got off? >> caller: oh, yeah. 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 and take him away. and they're going to do their investigation. after that, we can leave. >> you had to stay. you and all the other passengers did talk to the police. you gave them a report? >> caller: everybody stayed on the plane. >> i see. >> caller: and that took about half an hour. then after the law enforcement left with the is upsuspect, the were able to leave. when we left the play, we gathered down the stairs with the immigration and customs people. >> what was going through your mind is? people worry when there is a little bit of turbulence on a plane. were you praying? were you unconcerned? tell me what happened. what was going through your mind. >> caller: i think most of the people except for the -- some people who were kind of panicking -- most of the people were in control. i tell you that right now. the majority of the people on the the