old today and life is quite strange, and there's this -- i really -- a really tragic story, but we have some kind of beautiful memory from it as well. >> reporter: today there is little trace of the disaster on thailand's holiday islands, but those awful images and memories live forever in the minds of people like this couple who fought to survive the tsunami. dan rivers, cnn, thailand. "cnn newsroom" continues out in with our fredricka whitfield. >> hello. >> hello. good to see you. have a great day. we, of course have a busy day ahead just as you've had a busy morning, particularly because of what u.s. official, calling an attempted terrorist attack on a u.s. airliner. bring you up to date on what has been taking place, and cnn first brought you the story yesterday afternoon. we have this exclusive photo of the suspect. there in the white t-shirt taken by a fellow passenger.

he is 23 years old and a nigerian national, identified as umar farouk abodulmutallab. the fbi has been questioning him and the associated press reports a prominent nigerian banker just might be his son. passengers aboard flight 253 say the man tried to set up a small incendiary device, or explosive device, it's still being sorted out what this device was, as the plane was actually approaching the detroit airport. a flight that originated in amsterdam. >> 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, and i think we knew at the point when we saw the fear in the flight attendant's eyes and they grabbed the fire extinguisher, and also we smelled a bunch of smoke. >> from what we can tell there was a gentleman that had some

sort of device on him that caused him 20 catch on fire. they put out the fire, brought him up front wrb they stripped hill down to make sure he had nothing else. >> we're seeing long lines, of course, at some airports across the country as a result of what took place and the fact that this is still the holiday season, lots of travelers. cnn was told passengers will see increased security. for how long? unclear. but no changes in the requirements for domestic or international flights as we know of yet. cnn is following this story from every conceivable angle. can you see our crews are simply across the map worldwide from amsterdam to hawaii, to washington and, of course, detroit. let's start with deborah feyerick at the airport outside detroit. deb deborah, what are we hearing from there? >> reporter: this investigation in full swing.

investigators both here and overseas tracking down whatever leads they have on this 23-year-old nigerian, umar farouk abdulmutallab. it appears he's a student at the university of london. university college of london, which is a premiere university in the uk. searches done of one of the place where is he is believed to have lived a very ritzy apartment in central london. a senior official told us yesterday he is talking to the fbi, and he is, quote/unquote, talking a lot. now, federal and international authorities are trying to retrace his steps. who he may have spoken with and where he may have been. four different countries we know he is at least connected with. one, yemen. he allegedly told investigators that he got the device in yemen and he got instructions there on how to use it. who was he talking to? that's under investigation. then his departure point, lagos,

niger nigeria, he flew to amsterdam, fifth largest airport in europe and there he boarded this flight to detroit, michigan. he was sitting towards the front of the plane. 19a, which is a window seat. not clear whether he received instructions that it would be an effective place to detonate this device. let's talk about that device. that also is under investigation. there was a lot of smoke. people heard a loud pop. the question investigators want to know is, did it actually detonate or did it simply burn and not do what it was supposed to. so they're looking at that as well. again, this man was sophisticated enough to at least bring this device on to two planes. why it did not do what it was supposed to, well, that's one thing that investigators want to know. now, an official document says that when this man was taken into custody, he did say he had extremist affiliations. what is not clear is whether he trained in some sort of al qaeda

terror camp or is simply a terror wannabe. a self-radicalized jihadi, lone jihadi, who funded this trip and planned to detonate this device. the device in his lap where he received second and third-degree burns. were it not for the bravery of some passengers on that plane it could have been worse. one man who saw what was going on lunged over a couple seats to subdue him. right now this investigation, fredricka, in full throttle as people are spanning out in several countries trying to figure out exactly how this happened. fred? >> deborah, you've spoken to a lot of passengers. they've spoken publicly. did anyone say there was anything peculiar about his behavior, his activity just prior to this device burning him on the plane? >> reporter: you know, it's interesting. one woman described him after the incident as calm. i did speak to another woman who

appears to have seen him prior to boarding in amsterdam and said he seemed to be pacing a little bit. you know, unclear whether that behavior becomes suspicious. you know, after the fact, however, he was sitting there. he was quiet, and he certainly doesn't seem to have attracted any unusual attention during that seven to eight-hour flight from amsterdam to detroit. it was only in the final moments everything sort of went chaotic. >> deborah feyerick, thanks soch from detroit. appreciate that. well, from hawaii where president obama has been spending the holiday vacation with his family harkes spoken out on this as well. was briefed right away early yesterday morning prior to the public learning about it. our senior white house correspondent is in honolulu, ed henry. you thought this might be a piece of cake gig in hawaii. lo and behold, something significant caught the white house's attention? >> reporter: that's right, fred. a serious national security

challenge that this white house knows it needs to treat very carefully, and that's why they are keeping this president in the loop both with briefings from some of his top security adviser, but also paper updates. getting secure communications from the white house situation room all the way back in washington. making sure the president stays in the loop. has the latest information. here's what we're being told the president knows right now. first of all, the president has been briefed that this was an attempted terror attack. that is what u.s. officials believe. secondly the president was told this suspect is being debriefed by the fbi and has been talking a lot. been giving up a lot of information. that coming to us from a senior u.s. official familiar with the investigation. this official also said the early impression in what the president is being told is that this suspect appears to have acted alone. does not appear to have direct connections to an organized terror group like al qaeda. nevertheless, this is still very

early in this investigation, this senior official and others are cautioning. they're still trying to gather as much as they can. in the early 125i67s they also do not believe there were other bombs or devices ready to detonate on other planes around the united states but have been running the traps, in other words, in the words of one official to make certain of that, to make sure there's nothing else planned or plotted that could be unfolding in the days ahead or today. finally we're told that the president yesterday during one of the secure briefings ordered federal officials to beef up aviation security around the country. as you've been noting. white house officials realize that could make an already difficult holiday travel season a bit more difficult, but obviously, they believe security is paramount in this situation, and so they say there may be challenges, may be hurdles but they've got to make sure that there are no more incidents like this, fred. >> ed henry, thanks for that updaut from honolulu where the first family is vacationing

spending the holiday week. of course, staying on top of this investigation, which is really in its infancy. cnn special investigation's unit drew griffin joins me live for a quick debrief on the security incident yesterday in detroit and other details emerging from this. what's interesting, too, while we hear this individual went through security in at least two airports, amsterdam being one of them, before this was to take place approaching the detroit airport, does this mean that investigators are starting to believe he may have had devices that were not necessarily unauthorized devices but somehow got creative on being able to use it and an incendiary device? >> trying to firger what exactly it is. that's what they're trying. was it meant to burn, blow up? did it act as it was? a piece of synthetic material, tall did, burn the person carrying it, or a bigger thing that didn't happen that could have happened. also they'll look how it did get through the screening and the

problem is, this device may have been small enough, may have been strapped to his body where they just didn't detect it through any machine or screening you would have other than some kind of behavioral notification, somebody who said something that the man was pacing before the flight. that may have been something that stuck out. brought limb aside, questioned him a little more. ta kind of additional personal contact possibly, but in a lot of cases, if this was a powder or a small liquid mixed way boweder onboard you're not going to detect t. except restrictions on liquids. that's something all passengers know about. really this kind of reminds you of the richard reid incident, 2001. same sort of thing. transatlantic flight, richard reid was eventually convicted of trying to light his shoe. >> that's right. >> and incendiary device, and all kinds of layers of security were put into place as a result of that. >> including taking off your shoes. putting them through a detector

to see if there's anything weird about that shoe. not just a metal plate but anything else they see in it. all of these avenues are being investigated from the forensics to what deb fair rik was fair fayrick, all of this looked as as they try to figure what happened and how to try to prevent this or see warning signs before it happens again. >> how it might be impacting travel in the immediate way. lots of people traveling right now during the holiday season. everyone impacted in some way, shape or form because of all of this. >> right. >> check back with you throughout date. we know the bomb suspect boarded this northwest flight in the netherlands. we'll tell what you they're doing at the airport there right now to stop something like this from happening again. crash sa. but only malibu has onstar. big deal. i'll just use my phone. let's say we crashed. whoops, your phone's gone.

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. very long lines across the country and around the world because of new concerns as result of that breach of security they potentially happened over the past 4 hour. the fbi questions the man in white t-shirt in this cnn exclusive photo right here identified at 2-year-old umar farouk abdulmutallab. the associated press reports a nigerian banker says the man may be his son. the suspect tried to light some kind of dwigs attached to his

leg. he was the only one hurt. this taking place as the flight, which started in amsterdam, was descending in detroit. that's when this device was lit, when the burning took place and that's when the tackling took place as well. today as a result of what took place on that flight, we're seeing long lines at various airports across this country. officials with the transportation security administration say they have definitely beefed up security, but there are no changes in the requirements for domestic international flights as of yet. so now there's going to be extra screening taking place, but could it have potentially been a lack of security overseas that actually got us to this point? joining me now from new york is international security analyst glen schoen. good to see you, glen opinion right now we really don't know what this device is. so how is that impacting security measures, not just at american airports but maybe those overseas as well? >> well, security is always a matter of layering your efforts.

so they're looking at different places in the process, what can we do to stop things? can we check and make sure we have the right person and their identity? that their ticket is correct. do they show signs of nervousness? when we check their back baggage, do we find suspicious objectses. something put together that might form a danger? is it possible people traveling together might be bringing different components of a device on to one plane. >> something you look to prevent something terrible from happening. now that something strange, alarming, has indeed happened, people at the white house calling it an attempted terrorist act, how is this impacting security measures in this country 57b abroad at arptsz? what is being done to try to identify another attempt like this? what can we say investigator security agents are looking for right now? >> some of it's out in the open

and some is not so visible. we can think about patterns by which we can search for people who might be traveling aileen or on one-way tickets or a particular age group, coming from particular destinations or trying to get on u.s.-bound flights at the last moment. there's different kinds of steps that are not so visible, but are used by analysts to pre-determine in support of security operations what flight should we especially target? and a lot of airports now are going through what they call 100% control measures, meaning that everything that they have, that they can use to deploy now to add to the security effort in any way, whether it's dogs or nitrate snitchers or extra people for an additional round of questioning people before they board the flight to detect signs of nervousness or deceit is now being put to use. >> and so while that's being used, this 100% controlled effort, as you say, these security agencies are now looking for guidance from the

fbi and others who are looking into this device. whether it was an incendiary device, explosive device, we still don't know. trying to examine the component and how might the discovery of these components impact air travel almost immediately? >> could be very significant. say we hear from the fbi today that certain viles or syringes or plastic tubes were used to make this device, and we're worried about copycats or follow-up attacks. then certainly that would be an immediate message going out to all airline security agencies worldwide. probably coordinated through the international aviation sarty authority to make sure those the kinds of things we'll be looking at targeting. as we had in 2006, it probably means there be a bit of a shock to the system, meaning that people haven't yet been instructed to please leave this or that type of object at home and now suddenly are faced with

extra scrutiny and people pulling out those viles, syringes, whatever it may be. extra difficult -- sorry. what makes it extra hard right now is it's wintertime. everybody is traveling with coats, extra luggage. probably gifts, electronics, computer articles they've gotten for christmas. it makes it extra difficult for security personnel. >> wow. all right. international security analyst glen schoen, thanks so much. we'll be talking to you throughout the day, because this investigation, as i mentioned earlier, is still in its infancy, which brings to us our legal guys joining us later on in the hour. no charges as of yet that we know, but the suspect is being questioned while he is also being hospitalized because of those burns on the leg. we'll talk to our legal guys about what potential charges might be in store for this suspect, whether it be here domestically or perhaps even abroad. much more straight ahead right after this. ( music playing )

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new developments in the alleged terror attempt on northwest airlines flight 253 friday. in detroit, here's what we know. police in london are searching the last known home the suspect. the suspect a 23-year-old

nigerian citizen in u.s. custody after the christmas day incident. the man identified at umar farouk abdul mutallabic nialled an explosive or incendiary device abourse northwest airlines flight 253 as the plane was about to land in detroit. british security officials described the attempt as a potentially serious security threat, and say police in britain are working closely with u.s. investigators to "uncover the full background to the incident." the associated press reports a nigerian banker believes the suspect behind this terror attempt on a u.s. airliner may be his son. 23-year-old umar farouk abdulmutallab is accused of ill night be this incendiary device. you're looking at exclusive aimages that came from a passenger onboard the flight. the suspect is actually in that white t-shirt if you can make it

out. a nerve-racking experience for all passengers particularly this one on the plane. >> we were in the back of the plane, and the all of a sudden heard some screams, and flight attendants ran up and down the aisles and i think we knew at the point when we saw the fear in the flight attendant's eyes and they grabbed fire extinguishers and also we smelled a bunch of smoke. >> the suspect claims to have extremist ties and he is being questioned by the fbi and officials say she actually cooperating as they continue to question him. u.s. military called the release of a new taliban video a "horrible act." the video shows army private first flas bowe bergdahl who disappeared from his post in eastern afghanistan back in june. one senior u.s. official says it looks like the video may have been shot several months ago offering no proof that private bergdahl is still alive. and tensions are reaching a

boiling point again in iran today. thousands of demonstrators clashed with riot police in tehran. police actually outnumber the anti-government protesters. you're looking at amateur video shot of the protest and things could get even worse apparently tomorrow. that's when even more demonstrators are expected to take to the streets to mourn the grand ayatollah hossein ali montazeri. right there's in the photo with the glasses. thousands turned out for the funeral this week. a leading voice of the opposition and critic of president mahmoud ahmadinejad. sunday marks the seventh day since his death. the seventh day is traditionally a time of mourning in islam. all right. so what next for this suspect that now fbi officer, investigating in detroit as his burns are being nursed as hospital. his name again, umar farouk

abdulmutallab. it is clear according to many passengers onboard he was trying to light something on the plane as the transatlantic flight was descending in detroit. now what for this suspect? our legal guys are with us. avery and richard with us. good to see you both. >> good to see you. >> richard, let me begin with you. apparently he is cooperating. talking about the suspect. with fbi authorities as he's being hospitalized in detroit. what kind of charges might come out of this? >> i'm sure he's -- >> too early toll say? >> it's a early but i'm sure voluntarily cooperating. no issue there. in any event he'll be charged in the united states with these actions, these criminal acts he committed while over the airspace of the united states. and certainly that's where we want him charged here, because he's going to be convicted and spend probably, probably die in prison. we don't want the netherlands to prosecute him because he saw how

they bomped the internationally holloway thinnatalie hol away c. and the haerngs who spub dude him. you can have all of these plans and controls in place walking through airports, but when you sit on that plane you have to be aware. it's sad, but you have to be aware of your surroundings and these passengers who subdued this guy are the heroes. >> avery, isn't that clear-cut? i'm talking about a transatlantic flight, and yes, while upon desent in detroit this incident took place, tell me, or is it cut and dry that u.s. authorities would be the ones taking charge of this? or would it involve a whole other body wah it originated overseas? >> not even a question, fredricka. it will be prosecuted here in the united states. many don't know next to new york or washington, the federal district court in the eastern district of michigan, that's detroit, has more experience than virtually any other federal

court. between new york's attorney's office in detroit, between the just it department officials in washington i can think of roughly nine federal charges that mr. abdulmutallab will are charged with. again, we're early on, but i actually an certain that this will be prosecuted by american authorities. >> okay. all right. let's move on to another case, even though we could delve into this aggressive lay long time. but we have a limited amount of time and other cases too. david goldman, new jersey dad reunited with his 9-year-old son sean. we've talk about it a long time now. is this case closed, done deal? back in the u.s.? or might the brazilian family in any way be able to make yet another legal issue as it pertains to visitation? anything like that, avery? >> i think this week was a great day for the rule of law. a great day for matters of the heart. the fact is that the brazilian family will fit into the

formula, not in a legal perspective, fredricka, but ultimately what we have to think about it 9-year-old sean goldman. the family, david seems like a very sophisticated dad. they'll be a period of time in which there will be reacclimation. don't be surprised to see the brazilian family factoring in, not a legal perspective but in the best interests of little sean. >> do you see it that way, richard? a good bond between the brazilian grandmother and sean and maybe something's going to be worked out where they can see each other? have contact? >> there may be some supervised visitation in the united states. >> yeah. >> in the town where sean lives but he's not going on any trips. he's not going back to brazil and chief judge gillmar mendes out of the supreme court of brazil overturn the corrupt judge who entered this stay and prevented the return of this young man. he is back with his father. they were at disney world this weekend, probably still there.

that's where he belongs and like you said if they factor in it's going to be supervised visitation, not back to this country again. >> 30 seconds for one last bit. the amanda knox case. both of you fired up about it. now we're talking about the first person who was convicted and serving time for this murder. he got a sentence reduction. wrap does that mean potentially for amanda knox? her family members here in the states hoping that maybe her sentens, what was it? 26 years might be reduced in some way? avery? >> i've been saying it all along. either a reversal reduction in the sentence. the fact that rudy gatee was the actual murderer, the drifter reduced from 30 to 16 bodes very well for amanda knox. >> i don't agree. it's meaningless. a simple calculation error, in calculating the time. it's not going to have any impact on amanda knox. trust me, there are people in the united states that get convicted of murder with less

evidence than was found in the amanda knox trial. >> all right. richard, and avery, thanks so much. good to see you all. happy holidays. >> you, too. >> thanks so much. see new 2010. we'll talk more about the incident that took place in the air in detroit. the suspect being connected to yemen. yemen is known as a magnet for militants, where the government has given ground to separatist and insurgents. what the connection just might be behind this attempted terror attack in the u.s. and yemen. welcome to the now network, population 49 million.

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welcome back. we're continuing to follow the attack on an airliner christmas dpap the man in the white t-shirt you're about to see in this exclusive cnn photo was taken into custody at the detroit airport. identified at 23-year-old umar farouk abdulmutallab.

this man, says a prominent banker in amsterdam, might be his son. tried to ignite an incendiary device attached to his leg. he was burned. the only one lurt. authorities are questioning him in detroit. as a result we're seeing long lines at some airports across the country. officials with the transportation security administration say they have beefed up security, but there have been no changes in the requirements for domestic or international flights as yet. the advice however if you're going to the airport you need to get in there early. so the suspect says the explosive or incendiary device came from yemen. yemen was where al qaeda attacked the "uss cole "in 2000 killing 1, 00 sailors. yemen remain as hot bed of

extremist thought. joining us now, spent time there. when it was learned this device may have come from yemen or may have been some corners between either someone in yemen and this suspect, what thoughts went through your mind? what thoughts perhaps went through investigators' minds in terms of the connection between yemen, the history of yemen and the u.s.? >> fredricka, i can tell you the security analysts i've spoken with and yemen officials told me it doesn't take a big leap of the imagination to think this person could have gone to yemen and these weapons taken out of yemen. a poor, dangerous country with porous, open borders easy to smuggle things into yemen and out of yemen pap hot bed of military activity for a long time even before 2001. it you're seeing the yemeni government seeing their coming out strong tries to battle al qaeda. a big deal. al qaeda is strong there. even stronger than the government, some say. the government is ineffective

there right noi. not just al qaeda the yemeni government has to worry about. a separatist movement in the south of the country going on. dangerous. and rebels fighting with the government on the northern part of the border with saudi arabia. try to contain all that, fight all that, keep everything together. everybody i speak with say yemen right now, not just it's a failing state. it's practically a collapsed state. very dangerous. people are really concerned al qaeda and militancy a bigger problem in the near future. >> the two things that stand out. talk about the porous borders and the government so weak perhaps al qaeda is stronger than the yemeni government there. when it is reported that this suspect may have gotten a device that came from there or may have interacted with someone in yemen it is no longer an outlandish thought? >> everybody i've spoken with say, no. by know means an outlandish thought. the yemeni government hasn't

commented or kermed he was ever in yemen, had ties there with al qaeda or other militant groups. some of the signs we've seen over the past months showing how concerned not just the region the neighbors of yemen but the u.s. 's in july general david petraeus going there talking to the yemeni president talking about the situation with al qaeda. in august, john mccain seeing what the u.s. could do to help the yemenese in the help with terror. clearly the u.s. is concerned, don't want violence spilling over or getting worse. beyond that, the yemeni government is saying they're taking aids from the u.s., getting intelligence from the u.s. but are fighting this. problem is all the other region, saying yemen isn't quite enough to fight this on their own. >> if the yemeni government is powerless in all this it's going to be difficult for eve be the u.s. to be able to count on yemen, right, to continue on or try to get ahead of any potential terrorism or planning. all right. thanks so much. appreciate that, mohammed

january joon. >> thanks. in that same region, protesters heating up. are you a cop? no. you didn't hear it from me, but this malibu, it offers better highway mileage than a comparable camry or accord. estimated 33 highway. i saw that on the epa site. so how come the malibu costs so little. it's a chevy. you have cop hair. now during the chevy red tag event, get an '09 malibu with o percent apr for 72 months. see red and save green. now at your local chevy dealer.

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taking place overseas in iran, then back to our continuing coverage of the suspected terror attack being investigated in detroit. in iran a number of protesters, not this time in protests of the disputed elections back in june, but this time over the death of a revered leader in that country. our reza sayah, who you often find during reporting from tehran is actually state side. he's philadelphia giving a thumbnail sketch of what's taking place overseas and why many are concern where is it may be going from here. reza sayah joining us now from philadelphia. explain to us why the protests have been going on for days now. not because of the dispute eade lections but because of something else. >> reporter: wells there's two reasons, fredricka, why this particular day and these few day, significant in iran. first of all, today is the eve of the seventh day after the passing of visiting cleric

ayatollah montazeri last week and it's customary to hold commemorations seven days after a passing. he was a huge figure to the opposition movement because we has relentless with the regime. today is the most important religious hall doi for shia muslims. it marks the day when one of the most revered figures was martyred. that did two things. marked a split between sunni and shia muslims but also defined shias as a sect that takes pride in rebelling against injustice and takes pride in being a mine morty. because when he was martyred, fought valiantly with dozens of supporter. fast forward, you have remarkable symbolism here. an opposition movement

outmuscled and outgunned by the irani regime but d.c. spite repeated violent crackdowns, this opposition movement has been defined and continues to come back in the streets to protest and we've seen widespread protests and clashes today, fredricka. >> while these protesters are directly related to the death of that ayatollah, explain to me what we saw in june with the protests that bubbled up as a result the disputed election, how these protests are being galvanized or fueled by what the world witness over the past summer? >> those protests we saw right after the disputed election of june 12th has completely evolved. initialingly the people in iran, the opposition movement, the exalt green move finance came out and said these elections were fraudulent. we want a new vote. president ahmadinejad is not the legitimate president. what the regime did was respond

way violent crackdown, and what these protests have evolved into is a move that's oftentimes regime change. sometimes if three or more open, society today on talking to witnesses. once again we are hearing direct slogans against the regime. against ayatollah's supreme leader, unheard of just one year ago. so the protests have certainly evochled from once going against the election result and now going directly against the regime and this government. fredricka? >> reza sayah joining us from physical. thanks very much. very familiar. you are with this region usually reporting from tehran. thank you. much more straight ahead in much more straight ahead in the "newsroom." really need to something with it...

weren't man found a way to turn his love for trains into a holiday tradition his entire community can enjoy. he's been collecting trains since his father gave him one more than 60 years ago. cnn photojournalist bethany swain takes us to pasadena, maryland, to show us how john sturgeon shares his elaborate collection with friends and neighbors. >> i didn't think my collection would grow this big. >> hey, look, it started out little section, little section, little section. >> 1200 people came through last year. >> he's been collecting since he was a child, and he just decided he wanted to build a train garden. i said, okay, i had quite a collection at the time. so i wanted to share it.

>> through an up around. >> so we built this building to set the trains up and give her back her closets. >> where? >> right there. >> it took meese several years to put them up. >> it basically is an all-year thing. >> here it comes again. >> each year i put at least 100 hours in here. >> he's right there. with his eyes moving. >> you leave it up. >> hey, grammy, look. >> in the summertime, a dehumidifier to take the moisture out. >> it's snowing on it. >> it's still better. santa claus is here every night until christmas. >> if you come every year at least once a week. >> at least. >> they've been looking forward to it about through months. >> this is our first time. it's absolutely wonderful. i just can't imagine the time andest mr. and mrs. sturgeon have put into this. >> there's a train we added this

dwleer has 30 cars on it. >> that is a long train. >> so it runs the whole lech of the board. >> the outside decorations are as beautiful as the inside. >> when the lights start flashing they can come in and have a good time. >> we love it. that's how we do it. >> lights my heart up. >> it's just such a wonderful thing to do for the community. >> very fun stuff. we're going to redirect efforts on a pretty serious investigation into its infancy. investigation of this, attempted act of terror on a u.s.-bound flight intensifying the uss security expert talking to us one on one and a passenger onboard the northwest flight who said he helped subdue the suspect is joining us for a conversation, right after this.

all right. the suspect in what's being called an attempted act of

terror is being questioned in detroit, as you know by now. this is someone who's suspected of actually trying to light an incendiary or close everybody device onboard a flight that was making a landing in detroit, a flight that originated in amsterdam, and now apparently he is being questioned by authorities. we're going to talk now to someone who has unique insight into this latest incident, and not only is he the former security director for northwest airlines, prior to its merger with delta, he is also a highly regarded former secret service agent of 20 years-plus. douglas lair joins us by phone from reno, nevada. good to hear from you. when you first heard of this taking place on a northwest flight, just as it was making a descent into detroit, your thoughts how in the world this could happen? >> i thought, here we go again. you know, hearken back to richard reid and if you go way back in time to yaramzi yousef

bomb on philippines airlines flight 434 during the christmas holidays in 1994. >> so were you thinking, here we go again? very similar incident could take place and how in the world given the security measures in place could it happen? or do you believe this individual maybe had some authorized materials on flight and simply got very creative. >> i believe we can't blame the security at the airport, for the simple reason, and it's the same in the united states. we don't provide the screeners with the technology to find what it is they're looking for. in this case, a powder or a small amount of liquid. more than likely appeared it -- >> what materials might security need in order to be more proactive? if it's belief that screeners simply don't have the right kind of material. what should they have? >> when you are screened to go on a flight you walk through a

metal detector. the metal detector finds metal it will not find liquids or powders, that sort of thing. i think the answer is that we need to do body scanning. that's called back scatter x-ray. it's very unpopular. if you want to keep this sort of thing from happening, it's a technology we need to provide screeners. >> body scanners, unpopular because they're expensive or because people were allegedly it's an invasion of their privacy? it can look right through your clothes and some folks are a little uncomfortable that. >> they're not that expensive. the issue is privacy. it's a -- i've heard, i don't know this to be true. i've heard at airports now in the united states we're doing patdow patdown. you can't find what you're looking for in a pat down because there are certain areas of the body that cannot be

touched. that's where you're hiding the item you're trying to smuggle. >> douglas laird, thanks for joining us. we still don't know what kind of device, items, this suspect had. we don't know what had uses to actually ignite it. whether it's an incendiary or explosive. that's perplexing about this in the beginning stages. fbi trying to get to the bottom this as they continue to question him, hospitalized as a result of burns but indeed being cooperative as yet. douglas laird, thanks so much. we're check in with you again. >> thank you. mr. laird talking about the airport in am sisters damg. exactly what kind of security measure dos they have there? josh levs has been looking into it as well. josh? >> you know, fred, interesting. hearing a lot of questions about this today. we're about to speak way frequent traveler who knows what it's like to be one of us, travelingaround non-security expert, what it's like to try to board a plane at schiphol

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originating in am sister damg. one of questions many people are asking, what kind of security step dos they have at amsterdam's schiphol airport? where flight 253 actually took off for detroit. our josh levs has been looking into this. josh what are you hearing? >> what's traeinteresting, we wd it know what it's like for the average traveler? not someone good in security. the after traveler. heard this from lee joining us by phone. will you there? >> yes. >> you're a frequent traveler and take this exact plane, exact jet on this trip all the tile. get really specific for me. you get to schiphol airport. what kind of security steps do you go through and what do you not go through? >> typically when i arrive i'm coming in from asia or another country in europe. from another country in europe i go through customs, checking out huge and you go through security again. then once you get to the gate you are confronted by