for answers. a circuit board found and lid of pressure cooker apparently found on top of the one of roofs behind me here. heather, great to be with you as our coverage continues out of new york as well. >> bill, thank you so much. "happening now" starts right now. jenna: we have brand new stories and breaking news this hour. jon: some new information on the boston marathon bombing. what we're learning how the ex-plos serves were built as pictures of bombs go public. the fbi is asking for extra help from people who were there. new concerns about iran this morning. diplomats say that the rogue nation tripled high-tech machines at the nuclear enrichment facility. what that could mean for its suspected nuclear weapons program. gun legislation taking center stage on capitol hill as we learn that a drive to expand background checks could be in trouble. it is all "happening now."

jon: and we begin on this wednesday with brand new developments in the boston bombing investigation. good morning, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. as the fbi appeals to the public to come forward with photos or video or any other evidence in the deadly terror attacks, some dramatic new photos are turning into key clues or some say. take a look at these. the one on the left show as bag sitting on the ground near a mailbox outside the crowd barriers at the location of the second blast. then in the picture on the right, taken just after the explosion the bag seems to disappear. that image is blurred due to some of the graphic nature of casualties we talked about. dozens of the injured are still in the hospital. we'll keep you posted what investigators learn from these photos. mike tobin is live in massachusetts at the general hospital in boston. mike? >> reporter: the news coming out of the hospitals is generally optimistic. we heard from tufts medical

center, boston medical send ister and massachusetts general here. all of them are saying they are optimistic there will be no additional loss of life. however a sober note coming from boston medical saying now is the time to keep an eye out for post-tramatic stress disorder. >> this is a subject that is very important and we start from the beginning and we try to get to be sensitive and to work with these patients and their families as well. ptsd is not just about the patients. it is about their families as well and we work with them from the beginning. there is no, as far as i know, any magic bullets to prevent this but we need, it is again a process and it evolves over time and something people need not to forget about. that it's something that can be with these patients forever. >> reporter: the hospitals have differing descriptions of the shrapnel they are taking out of the victims. massachusetts general, brigham & women's describe ball bearings and nails.

we heard about that. however, when you look at boston medical and the descriptions coming from tufts medical center they are all describing random bits of metal and debris, the kind of things that could have been picked up from the environment when the woman went off, jenna. jenna: mike, no arrests yet and we're seeing video from the scene that day, how is security in the city of boston? >> reporter: we are really seeing an increase in security. just behind me there is a armored vehicle parked in front of massachusetts general hospital. we see an increase in the yellowjackets of city police officers who are out there. state troopers increased their numbers in the city of boston by 100 to augment the city police there. they're deployed at every hospital. they're deployed at the statehouse and they're deployed at the metro boston transit authority stops. additional troopers have been sent to the airport, jenna. jenna: more on this as we get it. mike, thank you. jon: we are also following some breaking developments out of capitol hill after a letter sent to the office of

senator roger wicker tests positive for the potentially fatal substance ricin. peter doocy is live outside the senate mail facility in hyattsville, maryland where the letter was intercepted. what is the latest, peter? report report jon, the latest, and this is brand new, there are two letters. one was sent to u.s. senator roger wicker and the other was sent to president barack obama. they both can takened powdery substances. we're learning this from an fbi operations bulletin that went out we exclusively obtained. the it confirms both letters were sent from memphis, tennessee on april 8th. they contained the following message. to see iran and not expose it to become a silent partner to its continuance. both letters were signed, i am kc and i approved this message. the initial tests on the wicker letter were positive for ricin. we don't know what any test

results were on the obama letter. both letters were intercepted before they reached their intended address, the u.s. capitol building and the white house. moments ago, senator minority leader mitch mcconnell says that means that security systems that have been put in place worked. >> i would like to recognize the postal and law enforcement officials for their excellent work in detecting and preventing this threat before it even reached the capitol. they proved the proactive measures we put in place do in fact work. >> reporter: and this fbi operations bulletin we have excuse i havely obtained that all exposed individuals are asymptomic which means they're not sick. that is good news because ricin poison can be deadly and there is no antidote for it. jon? jon: any idea who sent the letter? >> reporter: this bulletin says the fbi is following up on multiple leads about

potential senders but their investigation continues. last night we herd democratic senator claire mccaskill from missouri say, her understanding was that investigators were zeroing in on someone who is known to send in the past lawmakers a lot of letters. sources have told us that authorities have a general idea where this person might be. we don't know their identity. we know now two letters, jon, one sent to senator wicker, one sent to president obama. now we're awaiting a final tests from what the fbi says is an accredited lab to confirm the initial field testing on that powdery substance. we're waiting now 24 to 48 hours to make sure it is in fact ricin. jon: flashbacks of the anthrax mailings that killed so many people in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. peter doocy in maryland. thank you. jenna: "happening now", not far from maryland, secretary of state john kerry is testifying on capitol hill about u.s. security abroad including what steps have

been taken following the deadly attack on the consulate in libya that left four americans dead. we're learning key changes, key changes promised in the wake of this attack will not take effect for months, possibly even years. shannon bream is live in washington with more. what are we learning about what steps have been taken so far? >> reporter: jenna, secretary kerry says the state department is requesting $4.5 billion in the wake of gaunz gaunz with the specific aim of i am using that money to improve wordwide security for diplomatic employees. he says it is part of his commitment to implement the full recommendations by the accountability review board. a number of lawmakers are still fighting to get answers about benghazi including republican ed royce. >> we have outstanding requests for information from your department, mr. secretary, that must be answered. these include why the four state department employees the board singled out for

poor performance are still on the payroll. seven months after benghazi, the terrorists are still alive and free. >> reporter: lawmakers say they're not the only ones who have these questions. that family members of the four americans who died in benghazi are also questioning why they haven't been given more details, jenna. jenna: we heard from some of those family members here on fox news, shannon. what is the response from secretary kerry? >> reporter: he says video related to the incident is available and he encouraged all lawmakers at the hearing to watch it. he called it very helpful for understanding what exactly happened. he also said that others who were on site at the benghazi attack have been interviewed and those transcripts are available to lawmakers. he says he is not delaying and he is not hiding anything. >> i'll work with you and you will have me up here again. if i haven't worked with you, i'm sure i will know about it. so i promise you we'll work together to try to do that. >> reporter: just moments ago as i was coming in to

give you this report things got very heated in that hearing between republican dana rohrabacher and kerry. rohrabacher saying he believed the american people were flat-out lied to. he is demanding access to the survivors. kerry says he does not believe the american people were lied to by anyone but appointed specific people to work with members of congress to get that information they have not gotten. jenna. jenna: thank you, shannon so much. >> reporter: you got it. jon: we're going to take you now to oklahoma city where nerves are a little bit on edge this morning after a u-haul truck is found parked in a space where it just shouldn't be outside the city hall there. now, flash back to 18 years ago this week. april 19th, 1995, when a ryder truck packed with explosives blew up outside the murrah federal building killing 168 people, many of them children. timothy mcveigh as you know

was tried, convicted and executed for that attack. now they have got this u-haul truck sitting outside the city hall. the ap is reporting that the truck had been stolen. authorities say there is no indication that there are explosives inside but they obviously want to treat this with an abundance of caution. that's what they're doing. they have evacuated a five to six-block area. there's the truck. they have evacuated a five to six-block area around city hall and opening the door there now, that is a critical piece of information obviously. they're sending the bomb squad members to take a look inside the back of that thing. is there anything in it? doesn't appear to me to be. we know it was stolen according to the associated press. we do not know stolen from where. was it taken from a u-haul lot? was it taken from somebody who rented it? maybe thieves thought they were getting a house full of furniture and other goods. who knows, jenna. jenna: that is a good point, jenna. remember the oklahoma city marathon is coming up in a

few days. there is heightened concern about races around the country in light of what happened to boston. as you mentioned frayed nerves and we'll bring you the latest on the situation in oklahoma and a ruling from the supreme court today. what the highest court in the land saying about checking the blood-alcohol level of some drunk driving suspects. is it legal without a warrant. we'll tell you what the supreme court is saying today. new details emerging about the kind of bomb used in the terror attacks. fbi says it was made from a pressure cooker packed with metal shards. why the device works and why it is becoming the bomb of choice some say for terrorists. we'll go in depth next. of

jon: fox news alert. and we have confirmed now at fox news that a second letter sent to president obama is being tested for ricin right now. ricin, the very deadly poison. this follows on the heels of

a letter that was sent to mississippi senator roger wicker's office. it tested twice positive for ricin. now these letters did not actually make it to the white house or the capitol building. they go to a processing facility in maryland for testing and for sort of a decontamination if you will before any of those letters get out to the lawmakers or the chief executive. but again, a second letter addressed to president obama being tested right now for ricin poisoning. it is believed both letters were sent by the same person. the investigation very much underway. and this fox news alert. the supreme court right now issuing a key ruling affecting how police officers can deal with drunk driving suspects as the justices reject routine no warrant blood tests in a missouri case. they say police must usually try to get a search warrant before taking a blood sample from an unwilling dui suspect. the high court rejects missouri's arguments that blood levels taper off

during the time it takes to get a warrant, blood-alcohol levels i should say. the obama administration also was hoping the supreme court would endorse a blanket rule, that would have allowed the tests without any kind of a warrant. we'll keep you updated. jenna: breaking information on the boston bombing investigation. what the fbi releasing this photo showing the mangled remains of the alleged pressure cooker lid used in the bomb. apparently it can be packed with nails and ball bearings in an effort to inflict the most damage on its victims. when all pressure builds up it can force out some of these items at some 200 miles per hour. joining us now, kevin berry, retired detective first grade bomb squad and former nypd. and he worked on the first world trade center bombing and the nine 11 attacks. we have seen the video of these parts and. what is the biggest tell for

you? what gives you the most information? >> i think the pressure cooker is going to be the item that is going to break the case. if it was purchased recently they will be able to track that. not too many people today have pressure cookers. it is something that was used by our parents and our grand parents. jenna: so when, what you're saying where we may find these, the pressure cooker, where it was purchased, that might be the key finding out who actually did this? >> yes, i believe possibly a sales clerk, this may ring a bell with a sales clerk that may have recently sold one. and that may lead to a break in this case. also the forensics that are going to be recovered from the scene of the explosion, from the container and from the file footage of video and assistance from the public. without the assistance of the public this will be a difficult one. jenna: well some look at the appeal to assistance from the public, love to have your opinion on this, wondering, does anyone know anything? are they asking the public

because these investigators simply don't have any leads? how should we take that request? >> they're looking for file footage just like they did afterwards with the kennedy assassination from anybody in the area that had images of the so that they can look and compare those images and try to look for suspects. jenna: let's go back to the pressure cooker, the bomb. some are describing it as a rudimentary device. are we doing a disservice by talking about it so much, kevin? because, you know, the question about copycats is emerging now and everyone says the information on how to build one of these things is on theou think it is a disservice to talk so much about it? >> it's, it's always a possibility to have copycats come out and people try to disup are our -- disrupt our way of life again, but no, to talk about it, we have to discuss it. that is the only way to enlist the assistance of the public and anyone else there

that may have information. they might be hesitating and not want to come forward because they are not sure. but they should come forward if they think they have a solid lead. if it is not a solid lead. they will look at it and they will inventory that information and record it whether it is used or not. jenna: we heard from the former mayor of new york city, rudy giuliani earlier today and there are some questions about the investigation is being handled. here is what he said about what we know and what we don't know. take a listen. >> don't exclude the fact that they have already found something but they're not telling us for which they are perfectly correct. you have to have a different theories about different investigations but if there is some people on the loose right now, i'm not sure i would want them to know how close i was to catching them. i would want them to stay fat and happy and exactly where they are, rather than giving the sense that we're, hey, we're almost ready to catch them, maybe they will take off. jenna: so we have information about the

pressure cooker. we don't have that much information about suspects. kevin, do you think that is part of tragedy? >> very much so but i'm sorry he gave that information out. jenna: i guess that is a good observation as well. kevin, final thoughts here, just as we watched this investigation over the next several days, how critical are the next several days? and what are you yourself watching for as we get more news on this? >> we're going to see more evidence recovered from the scene of the explosion. we're going to get information about what the explosive itself was from laboratory examination. when there's an explosion a lot of people think everything just disappears. it doesn't. there is evidence there, it is buried. the people working in the tyvex suit are recovering evidence as they dig down in the scene of the explosion. they will put this device together and probably within a short period of time give you actual mockup or re-creation of the device. jenna: good to know there is lot of people working behind the scenes of the kevin, thank you so much for your time today. we appreciate your insights

and look forward to having you back. >> have a good day. jon: here's an update. authorities investigating the murders of a texas district attorney and his wife have just made a new arrest. the person taken into custody early this morning and the connection to a former justice of the peace currently charged with making tariffsic threats. also, a major showdown today in the senate on gun control. will the bipartisan measure to expand background checks make it through? "washington times" columnist charlie hirt joins us next

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jon: a fox news alert and the letter that tested positive for the poison ricin was in fact sent to

president obama. we are now hearing that from "the wall street journal" which is owned by the parent company of this network. we are also hearing that a second letter sent to another u.s. senator is also being tested for ricin poisoning at this mail facility. that is the mail facility where the letters were intercepted and where the irradiation and other tests are done on the incoming mail to make them essentially inert. so we have at least one letter sent to a senator. a second letter sent to another as yet unnamed senator and a third letter sent to the president which we are told tested positive for ricin. the secret service as well as the fbi are on the case. we will certainly expect to learn more in the days and weeks ahead. as soon as we do we'll bring that to you. jenna: well this just in. authorities investigating the murders of a texas district attorney and his wife making a new arrest today. rick folbaum has more from

our new york city newsroom, rick? >> reporter: we're tracking this from here in the newsroom because the developments are just breaking, jenna. eric williams was arrested over the weekend. we told you about that. today police arresting his wife. both now in custody as investigators are working to build a case against them in connection with the murder of the d.a. and his wife. eric williams is a former justice of the peace there. he lost his job after he was caught on surveillance video stealing a bunch of computers. he now been charged with sending an e-mail threatening more violence one day of at d.a. and his wife were murdered. he is held on $3 million bond. not yet charged with the murder but they have got him. his wife kim was arrested this morning though it is not clear yet what she is being charged with. the bodies of kaufman county d.a. mike mclelland and his wife cynthia were found march 30th. an assistant d.a., mark

hasse was killed earlier this year. mclelland and hasse took part in prosecuting williams. prosecutors are looking for some sort of revenge motive as they continue the case. jenna, back to you. jon: we're hours away from a vote what could result from the biggest changes in gun laws in two decades in this country but a bipartisan drive to expand background checks appears to be in deep trouble. 60 votes are needed to from the senate to pass the amendment. it calls for broadened background checks from gun purchases at gun shows as well as online. a growing number of republicans are expressing their opposition to the idea. let's talk about it with charlie hirt a columnist with "the washington times." 60 votes they need, charlie. do they have them? >> we heard from senator joe manchin from west virgina earlier today sounding very pessimistic about whether they would actually have the votes to get, to get to 60.

you know the important thing to remember here is that the senate is controlled by democrats now. harry reid is sort of running the show. and, i know that he has been working his caucus very hard to try to get, and president obama has been working democrats very hard but it sounds like they're still three or four votes shy of that 60. jon: it is my understanding harry reid who has been pretty coy on his intentions about this bill and came out with statements how he intends to vote. >> yeah, this whole bill is a very thorny problem for harry reid. in pass elections he run cam panes that very much focused on his very pro-gun stance. out in nevada it is a very important issue there. now that this is coming up, and as you pointed out in the your invery we're talking about the biggest changes to gun control

legislation in decades or at least 15 years now. so how harry reid comes down on this and how much he really wants to see this bill, see the light of day is still up in the air a little bit. jon: as i understand it, there are only four republican senators who have, who have signified they will vote in favor of this manchin-toomey amendment? >> yeah. and there is even talk of amending the amendment so it might collect a few more republicans but the problem with doing that is, that if you were to do that you wind up very likely losing, losing votes on the other end. people saying that it is getting watered undo too much or that it is too, that the bill is turning too pro-gun and then you still have the same problem that harry reid and joe manchin, pat toomey have now, which is not enough votes to get to 60. jon: this comes against a backdrop of declining support among americans for additional gun control

efforts. in january, not long after the attack at sandy hook elementary school, 58% of the americans were saying they favored stricter gun curbs according to one poll. now that number is down to 49%. >> a real problem especially with this particular bill the fact that people are talking about, acknowledging that this bill wouldn't do anything to have prevented the sandy hook massacre and that is a real problem. so we're coming up with a solution to a terrible, terrible event that wouldn't have prevented the event. and so i think that as sort of cooler heads prevail and people start thinking about this stuff and they start reading about the legislation itself, obviously that support begins to wane. if a opponents are able to point out that this wouldn't have done anything to have prevented adam lanza from getting his mother's guns and walking into that school and shooting 20 children. jon: interesting point there. charlie hirt again from "the washington times." good to talk to you. thanks, charlie.

>> thanks, jon. jenna: still watching a developing story about this deadly poison ricin and whether or not it was on some letters sent to lawmakers. just learning, fox news confirming, that the letter that was being sent to president obama did in fact test positive during initial tests for ricin. this is still very much a developing story. we're not sure exactly who sent the letters and what the intention was. according to reports there were two letters in question. one was sent to senator wicker yesterday. the other sent to the president. we expect a press briefing, 11:45, about 15 minutes from now. hopefully we're learn more information about this incident coming up in a short time. new signs that ten years of diplomatic efforts have failed to persuade iran to curb its nuclear program. we're now learning that iran has dramatically stepped up its nuke technology. adding high-tech machines that could be used in a nuclear weapons program. ambassador john bolton joins us next when you have diabetes...

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jenna: just past 11:30 eastern time. here is the latest news on the ricin incident we're following on capitol hill. that apparently includes the white house. fox news confirmed there have been two letters that have been located. one was sent to a republican senator out of mississippi and one sent to the president that in initial tests that have tested positive for this deadly poison ricin. judy miller is joining us live on the phone.

she has reported on a series of things but it a bit of an expert, judy, about germ warfare. you wrote a book about it after the anthrax letters were sent to the capitol in 2001. what do you make of this developing story? >> well, i think that obviously the press, -- question we all have to be asking are these two letters connected in any way, shape or form to the bombings that occurred in boston at the marathon and, i don't think at the moment you can leap to a conclusion that they are. and, secondly, we, you know while i understand that ricin is technically a weapon of mass destruction it is not contagious person-to-person. it is a deadly poison but only if ingested or injected into the bloodstream in some way or into the body. so not, it doesn't pose on its face the kind of problems that the anthrax letters posed when we had

that terrible set of attacks back in 2001. jenna: when you looked at this story in 2001 when it was anthrax and point well-taken for us all, judy, because we were talking about this on set as what exactly with ricin, what's the big side-effect? we know that it is deadly but knowing it needs to be ingested gives us a different picture. >> or ingested. you have to a eat it. it is made out of castor beans. jenna: it doesn't appear like there is any start of lead. you mentioned the boston attacks. apparently the letters came in yesterday. the boston attack certainly a monday. it is all part of the week's story. judy as we await the press briefing from the white house, what would be the key questions that you're looking for answers to here? >> well i want to know whether or not the government has any idea who might have sent these. we were told in connection with the letters were sent to the republican from,

senator from mississippi, that if it came from someone who had repeatedly sent angry letters to the government before. does the government believe that these, the sender of these letters is the same? in other words, is he an equal opportunity potential terrorist to go after republican senators and democratic presidents? jenna: judy, sorry to jump in there but i just got more news into our urgent queue where we get information coming from reporters and producers on capitol hill. apparently one senate aide telling rich edson who works at the fox business network, capitol aide is saying there is suspicious package in the atrium and suspicious envelope on the third floor they're looking at here. let me check one more thing before i go on from the secret service. i will read through some of that. judy, we want to put all of this in context too. sometimes in the nice in a series of stories you get overwhelmed by bizarre

events that start happening because people are so much more aware than they would have been otherwise. >> exactly. that is the mantra of the nypd and now with the homeland security department. if you see saying say something. people are speaking up. they are seeing suspicious things and reporting them. the thing to emphasize right now, jenna, so far our system at least with respect to the letters and interception of packages has worked. this letter, the first letter sent to the republican senator did in the reach him. it was intercepted. the second letter has not reached the president of the united states. so the deadly intended to is son has not been delivered. so far the civil is working. jenna: this facility is a remote facility we should mention far away from capitol hill as well as the white house. judy, if you stand by for us, jon has more information for us. jon: jude i did, i want to help everybody go back to the attacks of 9/11 when the nation was very much in shock and on the heels of

that came the anthrax attacks. apparently anthrax first mailed to a tabloid newspaper in boca roo tone, florida. where a photo editor was ultimately killed as a result of inhaling the anthrax spores. there were letters sent actually to this building where the "new york post" is in residence among other facilities. and as well as -- >> to me. jon: and to you as well. take us back to what the thinking was at that time. it just seemed like the entire world was coming apart at the scenes. >> it did and that was exactly the intention of the people who were trying to tear or eyes us -- terrorize us at that moment. these are weapons of terror -- [inaudible] because of that, you recall the mail system shut down almost throughout the country. there were people who were not getting needed essential letters, packages.

the country went into a panic and that's what we hope to avoid through this elaborate system of defenses we erected since then, the protection we give our postal workers. the existence of these remote facilities where letters and packages and that are suspicious can be inspected with safety. we have a whole variety of mechanisms now meant to protect the public and restore confidence in the mail and our transportation network and our ability to carry on as a calm, civilized society. what we saw in boston after the response, the first respondsers, the fact that these letters have not gotten through should reassure america even though bad stuff will continue to happen the nation is not without defenses. -- is the most important thing, one of our most important weapons against mass terror. jon: let's bring into the conversation, former u.n. ambassador john bolton.

also a fox news contributor now. judy says we're a civilized society, ambassador, but we are also a society that, well, is open and this kind of thing can happen especially to people in high-profile positions. from your own experience how worried have you been? how complacent have you been? or how assured have you been in dealing with, you know, some of the angry people that you have had to deal with over years? >> well, it's true we're a civilized society. it is not the civilized people i'm worried about so much. it is the people who are prepared to use chemical or biological or nuclear weapons as part of their terror system. you know ricin is classified as both a chemical and a biological weapon. it's a poison. you can be fatal if it's inhaled and maybe delivery by way of a letter isn't the smartest way to kill people but if you put it into the

ventlation system of a large building it could have devastating effects. so these risks are out there. whether this is connected with the boss ton marathon bombing or not. obviously at this point we don't know one way or the other. jon: one of the concerns obviously always has been some foreign state, a bad actor might conspire, you know, to do that kind of thing in our country. it is a question we'll get into if you can stick with us over the course of the break, mr. ambassador in a moment. more updates on the ricin attack that apparently found letters testing positive for ricin delivered, or sent to the white house as well as a couple of u.s. senators. back with more on that in just a moment.

jon: a fox news alert. and we now know that an envelope laced with the deadly poison ricin was mailed to president obama as well as to u.s. senator roger wicker of mississippi. another u.s. senator also

the target of a suspected letter although it has not been confirmed that second senate letter contained ricin. continuing our discussion with former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., john bolton. ambassador bolton, there have been concerns over the years, you know, that some of these states that don't necessarily see eye-to-eye with the united states, countries like iran and or north korea, might try some of these relatively crude methods to sow the seeds of disruption in this country to cause chaos and panic. do you see any indications this kind of thing is happening in this case? >> i don't think we have any evidence of that here but for many, many years, biological and chemical warfare has been called the poor man's nuclear weapon. it's not nearly as expensive to put together these programs. there are more states that have chemical or biological weapons perhaps than have nuclear programs.

of course the risk is the perfect storm, putting one of these weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists so that iran or assad in syria or anybody that has one of these programs could give it to a group like al qaeda that could bring it to this country or to europe. so i think it's a very real concern. there is no telling whether these letters are part of that or not but i think frankly over the years we haven't focused enough concern in the public debate anyway about the possible threat from chemical and biological agents. jon: and there is no question in your mind some of these bad actors out there have laboratories that are actively working on programs like this, whether they intend to use them or not? >> right. at a minimum they could be for defensive purposes. we have focused on the potential use of chemical weapons by the assad regime in syria. but the fact is that the risks that these could --.

jon: we just lost our satellite connection to ambassador john bolton. apologies for that. that happens when you don't book enough satellite time and apparently we didn't. jenna: when we have breaking news and sometimes things run over that can happen. we'll look forward to try to have the ambassador back. meantime we do have someone that will join us in just a moment. congressman ruppersberger. ranking member of the house intelligence committee. he received a briefing about the ricin story. that is developing story. we'll have a quick break. more developing news in just a moment. party! awwwww... arigato! we are outta here! party...... finding you the perfect place, every step of the way.

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jenna: fox news alert. breaking news. fox news confirming that a letter intended for the president and one letter intended for a senator, gop senator, has tested positive in preliminary tests for the deadly poison ricin.

joining us right now, maryland congressman dutch ruppersberger. from maryland. he just exited a briefing on all of this. congressman, what can you tell us about the breaking story, the ricin? >> basically i can tell you we have two incidents. one letter containing ricin. that has been confirmed to senator wicker on the senate side. we just recently received information there was a letter sent to the president that contained ricin. i can't confirm whether that has been confirmed or not but that initial reports are that it might be ricin. yes. jenna: go ahead. just clarify it for our viewers. often times there are preliminary tests in the field. the fbi brings it back to the lab and does the final tests. go ahead, sir. any person of interest, sir? >> yeah. before that, ricin is very dangerous. it is a substance that can kill people so we have to be concerned. there is what we're told a person of interest, not a suspect, but a person of

interest who has been sending letters on a regular basis to the senate. that is all we know about that situation now. jenna: is there any indication at all that this is connected, the ricin letters, to what happened in boston? >> no. but you raise a good point. we, are the united state of america. we have some of the best law enforcement officers and professionals who provide security. and we have to make sure that we continue to do our jobs every day and that this does not affect what we're doing or be, we need to be concerned. we need to make sure we protect lives. we have to provide security but let our professionals do the job that is extremely important we continue on with our lives. we have a lot to do over here in congress right now. jenna: we know that. you guys are certainly busy. congressman, i would like to ask you a little bit what you learned about the boston terror attack. >> sure. jenna: we had a detective, a former detective on our show earlier today, a former bomb techs, and he said the key to this case is finding out this device, where was it bought, where was it

manufactured? what do we know about this so-called pressure cooker? what can you tell us? >> well, what we know that the pressure cooker was used in at least one of the bombs that went off. the pressure cooker has been used especially by terrorists in afghanistan, pang stan and -- pakistan and india. unfortunately the terrorists have, al qaeda, has a magazine called inspire. it literally sent to people in the united states. in that magazine it talks about how to build a bomb and to use a pressure cooker. it has been used again as ieds in afghanistan, iraq and pakistan. now what we, what we, want to make sure is, and getting evidence, forensic evidence, is that we find out, fir hopefully where this was bought and we follow through with that. jenna: do we not know that yet, sir? do we know, any indication about where it was purchased? >> no, we don't at this time. again, we have to step aside and let the fbi, federal,

state all working together in this case. the fbi are probably some of the best investigators in the world and they will use their expertise and be able to get all the data, scientific data we need to take this to another level. it raises another issue. the public can help. anyone with pictures who was around there, we need to make sure we get all that information and data. by getting that we need a break. we need to find someone with a picture of this. jenna: sir, if i could, i have only 30 seconds here. do you have any indication or any information about whether or not this device was assembled near the site? >> no, we don't at this point we don't but we do know that there were two bombs that went off. it is not easy to go into a crowded area and place two bombs but that, we don't know that. but we will find this and get this information. but the investigators need time right now. jenna: congressman, you have been most generous with your tile and breaking news stories. we appreciate it very much. look forward to having you

back, sir. >> okay. bye. jon: we'll continue our discussion of what is going on in washington with these letters containing ricin mailed to important political figures. that's ahead "happening now."

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jon: fox news alert. two letters, one to a republican senator, and one to president barack obama have been intercepted at mail facilities that serve our elected officials outside of washington. those did test positive for the deadly poison ricin. judith miller joins us now. she wrote 0 book on germ warfare and is something of and expert in this unfortunate area. judy, ricin, it comes from caster beans, that is the strangers thing. how does it get turned into a poison. >> it has to be move manufactured into a poison.

if it's treat ned lab, if -- treated in a lab, made in a lab it can be highly, highly toxic but it has to be made by someone who knows what he's doing. i mean, caster beans become ricin but accrued form of it is not likely to do you a lot of harm. if it is refined and deliberately made into a powder that can be breathe ned or in jessed -- breathed in or in jessed or in skwrebgted into the system -- injected into the system you can die, because the problem with ricin is we don't have an antidote to it. jon: if you're exposed to it, if somehow it's injected into your person or in a powder form you inhale it there is no anecdote, no hope, really? >> if it's a high quality, everything depends on the quality. the united states did not weapon nice this during its own program, the soviet union did. by and large it's a very difficult agent to work with. it won't be anybody's first

choice for a weapon of mass destruction as a biological agent, simply because it's so hard to work with. jon: kind of interesting, then, that these letters that we know were sent to president obama and senator wicker of mississippi, that they have ricin on them. i mean somebody with some amount of chemical knowledge put these things together. >> we don't know that yet, because it could be a very crude form of ricin, it could be a caster bean that's been permitted to become ricin, it's been very crudely treated. it might not in any affect at all. everything fends on the quality of the ricin and how much much it is in the envelope. jon: you mentioned during the break one of the most interesting uses of this poison and people with long memories probably know this case. >> right, this is the same or in tpa must subway case in britain where -- famous subway case in britain where a man was a sass kwraeuted with ricin that was

put on the tip of an umbrella and he was -- assassinated with ricin that was put on the tip of an umbrella. he was on the staircase of the london tube and he was stuck with this umbrella and he died shortly there after within several days. and it was hard for the authorities even to detect what it was that he had been infected with. jon: skewed de miller. thanks for -- judy miller. thanks for the information. >> you're welcome. jon: letters with ricin sent to president obama and sent to at least one u.s. senator, perhaps more. the letters have been intercepted and neutralized. they are being tested right now in fbi labs, the secret service also involved. so far no danger to the -- no successful delivery i should say to the elected officials to whom those letters were addressed, but somebody has been mailing poison letters to our elected officials in washington.

heather: somebody, somewhere knows something and the fbi wants that someone to come forward to help solve the boston terror attack. it's a brand-new hour of "happening now," brand-new information and we are glad you are with us, everybody, i'm jenna lee? it's coming fast and furious. i'm jon scott. investigators gathering key evidence including pieces of the bomb has survived the deadly explosions. the killer apparently using metal pressure cookers, ordinary kitchen devices, packed with nails and ball bearings as well as an explosive charge. part of a bag, wire and batteries and some circuit boards also recovered. and take a look at this photo, it's been turned over to the fbi, it shows a bag near a mailbox at the spot where the second bomb went off. meanwhile we are learning more about the youngest victim, 8-year-old martin richard was watching the marathon with his family pwh-t second blast went da da when the second blast went off killing him. his youngster is in danger of

losing a leg, his mother also hit in the head. there was a candlelight vigil in massachusetts. hundreds gathered to say a prayer for those killed and say a prayer formatter ti for formatter inch and dream of world peace. >> i can't believe this whole thing has happened. i watched him grow tprup a baby. >> i feel scared. you know know where they are. >> you know why we're here? i said we are here because a little boy went to heaven yesterday, and at a place that maybe we might have been at. jon: molly line is live in boston for us. share more of what you know about the people who lost their lives in this horrific attack. >> reporter: yeah, the three people that were killed could have been from anywhere around the world. the boston marathon draws people from across the globe to run in it and watch. all three of the victims had some sort of boston tie here,

and you mentioned the youngest among them the 8-year-old little boy richard martin from dorchester, right here in the boston neighborhood, his face became the first to really symbolize the great loss experienced here in boston that was incurred by this violence. then there is 29-year-old crystal marie campbell. she grew up just outside of the city of boston in medford, massachusetts, a restaurant manager. she was at the finish line standing with a friend when the bomb went off. her family initially thought that she was headed for surgery, in reality she had been killed, it was her friend that survived with serious injuries. a third victim a boston university grad student, a chinese national here to learn and explore the world, and to take part in the watching of one of the great iconic races, one of the great american events here, the boston marathon when she lost her life. jon: the community is just trying to pull together now, huh? >> reporter: yeah there have been a multitude of vigils

held. there is one going on at emerson college right nowment last night there was one held here in the boston common, a candlelight vigil, hundreds of people attended. there are many, many more vigils to come including the one that you highlighted that happened in the dorchester neighborhood of richard martin. tomorrow the president will be arriving to take part in an interest ter interfaith ceremony. he'll be here at 11:00. he's called this a heinous and cowardly act, the attack here in boston vowing to find the people who harmed our citizens and to bring them to justice. that will be taking place at the cathedral of the holy cross. jon. jon: molly line, live in boston. thank you. heather: back to that other breaking news story out of washington. according to an fbi report obtained exclusively by fox multiple mailings received at government facilities have now tested positive initially for ricin including a letter to republican senator roger wicker of mississippi. a second letter to president obama as well. this as we're getting word of a

possible person of interest in the case. just a little background on this poison, ricin is a poison that is found naturally in caster beans, and any amount, an amount in fact the size of a head of a pin can kill an adult. there is no specific test for exposure and there is no antidote once exposed. there have been two cases recently the fbi discovered several vials of ricin in a motel room near the vegas strip in 2008 and in 2004 authorities discovered traces of the poison on a letter opening machine in the office of then senate majority leader bill frist. what have we learned from this fbi bulletin. >> reporter: the secret service is acknowledge thag a letter addressed to press was received at a remote white house mail screening facility, the emphasis being that it never got close to the white house complex or obviously the president himself. as for that fbi operations bill

tin we've obtained, here is some of what it says. that there were two letters one addressed to republican senator roger wicker of mississippi and the second to president barack obama. both mailings have been determined to be related based on the u.s. government target, post marked an identical srerb verbiage of the enclosed later. both letters are signed, i am kc and i approve this message sounding like a campaign ad. there is a person of interest, someone who is known to frequently write to officials here in washington. we believe from our sources that they are keeping a close eye on this person of interest and we are obviously waiting for developments, jenna. heather: we'll look forward to more information. i want to take a beat here mike, we were talking to a congressman about this. he told us just out of a briefing that there is no connection to boston. i want our viewers to know that right now at least initial low it doesn't point to that. sometimes we get a series of news and a lot of bizarre things

start happening . we want to make sure we keep this all in context. obviously the people that you work with, the lawmakers on capitol hill have to be a little rattled and concerned about all the news this week. any treasury action today? >> reporter: there is definitely a sense of nerves on edge in capitol hill and heightened security when you look at boston, the recent mailings and suspicious package delivered a short time ago to alabama senator richard shelby's office. we are told everybody is okay. but when you have these incidents and heightened security these are the things that happened a short time ago. the senate republican leader had this to say on the senate floor. >> this morning i'd like to recognize the postal and law enforcement officials for their excellent work in detecting and preventing this threat before it even reached the capitol. they proved that the proactive measures we put in place do in fact work. >> reporter: he's making reference to suspicious letters that were sent to capitol hill after the 9/11 attacks and these

letters have been kept away from the people that they were addressed to, jenna. heather: mike emanuel live on capitol hill. thank you. jon: let's talk now with texas congressman michael mccaul, he is chairman of the homeland security committee and has received several briefings on what happened in the boston marathon attacks. these have been informal briefings as we understand it, congressman, and certainly we are not asking you to divulge any information that is going to hurt the investigation, but how confident are you that the fbi, that local authorities are on a track toward apprehending whoever is responsible? >> let me say first that the tragic death of 8-year-old martin probably one of the most devastating things of this whole terrorist attack. with respect to the fbi, i got briefed by the national counterterrorism center. they are very much on top of this. they are putting all the resources into this case. the pressure cooker bomb that they've been talking about is being evaluated for forensics at

quantity quantico lab as we speak. i think we will get a lot of answers, a lot of clues, footprints, signatures that come out of that test that will hopefully lead us to the terrorist. but the other thing, the other information that i got was very helpful was the fact that we are receiving a lot of video coverage of the event itself, but also prior to the event, a lot of standby good citizens are turning in their videotapes, and i got the sense of optimism that through these videotapes we perhaps will be able to identify the perpetrators and the terrorists who dropped these bags with these pressure cooker bombses that caused so much devastation in boston. jon: we are going -- closing in on 48 hours since the attacks. we know that, you know, the first 48 hours are critical in any murder investigation. can you tell us, i mean, do authorities know more than they are releasing publicly? a lot of people have been sort

of unnerved by the request for, you know, people to come forward with photos and videos, because to some extent, whether intentional or not it makes it feel like authorities are grasping at straws. what can you tell us? >> you know, i share that concern i. was a federal prosecutor. any murder case the first 24 hours is the best evidence we have right now is the bomb forensics examination. we do have some leads but to be honest with you that's why they are asking the public to come forward, and i am concerned about this case becoming a cold case. so every day that goes by is absolutely critical in terms of trying to apprehend these terrorists out there. hopefully the bomb is i going to show us where these materials originated, what search warrants result from that examination that hopefully will lead to us the terrorists themselves, and again this video footage is critical if we can identify the facial recognition of the

terrorists as help dropped the bombs near the trash cans stphaoeu want to talk -- dash. jon: i want to talk to you about ricin in a minute and the scare that is underway on capitol hill where you are. i want to take you back a little bit by means after poll asked whether men's were worried, or how worried they were that someone in their families would become victims of a terror attack. right now the number stands at 36%. this is in august of 2011. go back to december of 2005 when asked that question the number was 41%. and in october of 2001 a month after the 9/11 attacks 59%. clearly we have lost some of that worry that we had after 9/11, and on the heels of 9/11 came the anthrax attacks. now here we have these ricin mailings that have been sent out to members -- to senator wicker and to the white house, president obama, another deadly

poison arriving by mail on capitol hill. what do you, as a member of the homeland security committee, what do you say to the american people right now? >> look, i think we can't afford to go back to the pre 9/11 mentality. we have to be vigilant. the threat is still very real. if anything the boston bomb incident teaches us is that there is still a great threat to this country that i get briefed on every day. and we can't afford to go back to the pre 9/11 mentality. i think americans are safe by and large, they still try to target the larger cities, new york, washington, chicago, l.a., possibly houston, but, you know, look, in these ricin incidents, they are very reminiscent of the anthrax attacks after 9/11. i will tell you ricin is a little more lethal, more assassin like. it's not designed to cause mass casualties, which some would speculate does not tie to a quote unquote terrorist, because

it doesn't cause mass casualties, which is what their playbook always calls for. but there is great concern here on capitol hill for the safety of the members. the good news is that the mail site is off-site from the capitol, and the good news is the process worked after 9/11, they were able to apprehend this toxic substance coming through and it didn't make it to capitol hill. jon: congressman michael mccaul of texas is the chairman of the house homeland security committee. congressman, we thank you for your expertise today on this very important topic. >> thanks for having me. jon: we are awaiting a briefing from the white house. once again a letter containing the deadly poison ricin was mailed to president obama, however, it was intercepted at a mail facility. one test has turned positive for ricin, we are awaiting confirmation in a second test. we are also awaiting the white house briefing, and here is jay carney the president's spokesman. let's listen to his opening statement.

>> thank you for being here today. i know there are several matters that i'm sure you'll be interested in discussing today. a couple of issues that are under investigation by the fbi, and i thought i would start with that and then take your questions. as you saw from a statement from the fbi as well as a statement from the united states secret service there was a letter sent to addressed to the president that an off-site mail facility was noticed to have contained a suspicious substance and tests were undertaken. the tp*rbg f shall bi has the lead in that investigation and has said they will be conducting further tests to determine what the nature of the substance is. there was another letter as you know sent or detected by capitol police that was sent to a united states senator, that also has been -- is the subject of the investigation by the fbi, and for more information about these

matters i refer you to the fbi. the president, i'm sure you'll ask, the president has of course been briefed on these letters, he was briefed last night and again this morning. secondly, there is obviously a lot of interest in the explosions in boston, and i wanted to make clear as you heard from the president yesterday, that our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and to their families who were injured. those who were injured as well as killed in this heinous and cowardly act. the full weight of the federal government is behind this investigation, which is being led by the fbi. and as the president said, we will find out who did this. we will find out why, and we will bring those responsible to justice. that said it is very important that we allow this investigation to run its full course and to insure that we retain the integrity of that investigation. therefore, on matters related to the investigation i would direct

you to the fbi. as you know, the fbi is giving the press briefings on the ground in boston, and i believe they will be holding another briefing today. the president, as you know, has been briefed regularly on the incident in boston, beginning almost immediately after it took place. this morning the president again convened a meeting in the oval office with his national security team on the ongoing investigation. participating in that briefing was the attorney general, eric holder, the fbi director, robert muller, the president's chief of staff, his national security adviser, tom done lan. his homeland security adviser and counterterrorism adviser lisa m monaco. deputy national security adviser tony blink and white house counsel. deputy chief of staff, deputy national security adviser ben rhodes. and the president's national

security adviser jake sul a van. tomorrow morning the president will travel to boston to speak at an interfaith service dedicated to those who were gravely wounded or killed in monday's bombing. i have an scheduling update for you on that the first lady will be joining the president on the trip to boston. with that i will take your questions. julie. >> obviously the public is already pretty nervous giving the situation in boston. has the fbi told the white house anything about whether the letters that have been received are related to the boston incident? >> i would point you to the statement that the fbi put out, it is my understanding that they have not made that connection, but i would refer you to the fbi for that. >> do you know, if they are not making that connection or ruled out that connection. >> i would refer tout fbi. >> at this point there is nothing you can say to the public to reassure them dash ash. >> i can tell you as you know for a longtime now there have been long stabbed procedures and protocols. any time a suspicious powder is locate ned a mail facility it is tested. and i would underscore that the

mail is screened, the mail sent here is screened and that these tests are undertaken at remote sites to mitigate the risk both to those recipients than and to the general population. the fbi has the lead in determining whether a suspicious powder ace dangerous substance such as ricin and those take place at accredited facilities and they take a certain amount of time as the fbi has indicated. these procedures are in place. the procedures are effective, and in operation now, and we um are in the midst of that process which the fbi is undertaking at this time. >> again there is nothing you can say about whether there is any connection between the letters and the bombing incident. >> i would point you to the fbi which has the lead in the investigation into each matter and what they have said about this. and their assessments on any connection between these two matters. >> i imagine you'll probably point me to the fbi on this as

well. i'll ask it. is there any indication on the boston explosion on whether this looks to be a foreign terrorist incident or a domestic incident? >> what the president said yesterday remains true today, which is that there is an active investigation ongoing. we have the full weight of the federal government behind this investigation being led by the fbi. all components of the federal government are assisting, including the intelligence community, and others. a assisting state and local authorities and the fbi in this investigation. as the president said, we do not know at this time yet whether it was an organization or an individual, foreign or domestic, but we will find out. and we will hold accountable and bring to justice whoever is responsible. but this investigation is now not even 48 hours old, and it is

important that we maintain the integrity of the investigation. it is important as both state and local law enforcement officials and government officials, as well as federal officials have made clear that the american people provide whatever information they might have that could be of assistance in this investigation. there is an 800 number h1-800-call fbi which has been put out to provide a method for individual who might have information to contact law enforcement on this matter. and that is absolutely the responsible thing to do. but the details of the propers of the investigation -- progress of the investigation, assessments about -- preliminary assessments about who may be responsible, i will not make and i think that as a matter of upholding the integrity of the investigation others will not as

well. yes. >> jay, is still police tape up around pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house. is that a temporary measure? or has there been any other threats to the white house other than these letters in. >> i'm not aware of any, jeff. i think the secret service said yesterday through form normal procedures and through an abundance of caution that certain actions are taken. but i would refer you to them for any details about the perimeter and any actions the secret service might be taking today. >> is the president discouraged at all by the fact that there are not more leads in the boston bombing? >> i wouldn't say one way or the other because i think it's important to allow the investigators to do their work. he is being briefed on this regularly. he had a substantial meeting earlier today. lisa monaco his counterterrorism security adviser is updating him

continuously throughout the day and the evening and the night on these matters. but i wouldn't characterize his view of the investigation, because that would then characterize the investigation. [inaudible question] >> it will be one of resolve, it will be one of the commonality that we all feel as americans with the people of boston and those who were visiting boston for the marathon, and who both endured this horrific event, and then demonstrated their bravery in its immediate aftermath. i mean i would obviously ask you to wait until you hear his remarks, but as you heard him say yesterday from this podium, the way that the people of boston, the city of boston responded remind us and remind

the world of just who we are as a people. >> last question, how did he react to the briefings about the letters that were addressed to him? >> the president was briefed on these matters. i don't have a way to characterize his reaction. obviously he unders, and we all understand that there are procedures in place as the fbi has said there is a process in place that insures that materials that are suspicious or substances that are found to be suspicious at remote locations are then sent for secondary and more intense testing and that process is underway now. yes. >> jay following on julia's question at the end of the fbi's statement they say there is no indication of a connection to the attack in boston. why -- they won't explicitly rule out a connection, or will you, why is that? >> i would point to the fbi which you've just cited in which

they say there is no indication. that is a pretty clear statement. >> there is still a possibility of a connection. it would be reassuring if you could stand there and say there is no connection. >> i think that is for the authorities to say. they have made a fairly clear statement which i was suggesting to julie that was available in a statement they put out. i'm not going to assess it further from here. i would remind you that these investigations both of the bombings in boston and the letters in question here are just underway, and, you know, i won't presume to characterize the nature of the investigations. i would point to the statement by the fbi as you said that they've made that says they have no indication of a connection between the two. >> there are a lot of letters now -- well first may i clarify the statement refers to two different facilities. we also know of a letter that was sent to capitol hill. can you clarify is that three

facilities and letters total or just two? >> i would refer you to the fbi. my understanding, what i'm aware of is a letter sent to a member of the senate and a letter sent to the president. there have been reports i think the fbi has said of other potential letters, i don't know if that is the case. i would refer you to the statement by the fbi. >> given the number of letters, and possible packages, suspicious packages up there is it concerning to the administration that there is something else going on here that there is somebody trying -- a follow on, a lone wolf, somebody trying to capitalize on the concern after boston? >> i think those are questions that the investigators are looking to answer. i would point to you what the fbi has said already, what the secret service has said, and make clear that we have had procedures in place for quite some time now when it comes to the processing of mail sent to the white house complex that

insure that that mail is processed at an off-site facility to mitigate any risk to potential recipients here and to the general public, and that those procedures have been in place for some time and have been effective. i would ask you to check with the fbi to see what assessments they'll make along the lines that you're asking, but this is again very early. >> can i just ask one more, which is is this something that happens every so often and we just don't hear about it because there is not that much interest in this kind of thing or is this an unusual occurrence? >> well, again, the fbi and the secret service are best to ask these questions of, because they handle the processing, or the investigation of in one case, and capitol police and the secret service handle the assessments of it. it is certainly the case, i think as the fbi has pointed out

that when preliminary tests are done, secondary and i suppose other test -r tests are made because of the need for accuracy and to be sure about what the substances might be. but for the history of this. i would refer tout fbi and the secret service and the capitol police. john. jon: that is the president's spokesman jay carney confirming what we've been telling you throughout the morning here on "happening now" that letters containing the deadly poison ricin were mailed, one to president obama, one to senator roger wicker. those letters were intercepted. they did not cause disruption, cause a problem, but obviously nerves on edge on capitol hill, especially in the wake of the bombings at the boston marathon. the investigations into both incidents, the bombings, as well as the ricin mailings very much underway. we will be back with the latest on "happening now" in just a moment. anyone have occasional constipation,

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heather: "happening now," investigators are hunting for the person or people who planted two ied's near the boston marathon finish line killing three and injuring more than 170 people. while we rarely talk about the threat of ied's on u.s. soil just over a month ago the white house issued a report called countering improvised explosive devices. it was released on the 20th anniversary of the first world trade center terror attack. in it the president says

countering ied's is a policy priority take a look at this. saying quote, this administration is expanding and broadening it's counter ied focus, building upon existing policy and strategy which establish an implement measures to discover, prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate ied attacks and their consequences at home or a broad. scott webber is the former senior counselor to former homeland certificate michael chertoff. it was a little eeery about that six weeks ago the white house released this. and the plan they laid out for this year about how to develop better policy to prevent ied's. >> the report concludes that this will last for at least a decade, but. heather: that's right. >> and in my opinion it's generational.

it will be more than a decade. but what we need to do is take best practices that have been developed, for instance by dod with an organization they have the joint ied defeat organization started in iraq in 2003 looked initially to disarm ied's and have got even more sophisticated to prevent ied's before they are actually made. heather: let's show our viewers. we have a screen that shows the different security by the numbers that was out at the boston marathon. it's impressive. you see a big presence of law enforcement at these. taking a look at that list, how do we truly prevent an ied attack that seemingly can happen anywhere at any time? >> it's difficult. i was out there dinner with my wife and some friend who were in from overseas on friday and they commented about how secure the country is coming into it, how much security there is. then once you get here you're able to sort of flow freely throughout. you talk about an event that is over 26 miles that you have to cover the entire route. it certainly seems that the force that was put out to

protect the event should have been sufficient but you can't cover every square inch of every single 26 miles, that's a problem. heather: it's easy to make us feel very vulnerable. this report from the white house, again a policy change by the president, more attention being called to this got virtually no media attention at all. >> right. heather: but you say when you were working in the department of homeland security you talked about this. >> there were two things, there were a number of things we were concerned about. on this particular topic there was homegrown radicalization, how we ebgt pebgtded a wave of that to occur in the united states as well as the ied threat. the press and others don't really play a lot of eupl mort on a change in policy or pronouncement of what we are going to do regarding strategies for something like ied's. it's also call the taourl lee. when you go to a country like israel if a package is left on the street people report that instantaneously. here in the united states we are on our blackberries and iphone

and we have not been educated enough according to the see something say something campaign to be proactive. if something doesn't look ordinary, it looks a strange to call the authorities immediately. that is the problem. we need to educate the citizenry of the united sthaeutsd on that. heather: it seems we are getting more attention on it now. hopefully it remains there. scott it's great to have you on the program. thank you so much. >> thank you. jon: right now in the terror attack at the boston marathon investigators saying they have found the lid of one of the pressure cookers apparently used as explosives in the deadly blast. the lid found on the roof of a neighboring building. an atf official says the distance it traveled shows the great force of the explosion. chief intelligence core respondent catherine herridge joins us now live from washington with more. >> reporter: thank you, jon and good morning. fox news is also told that the circuit board has been recovered. investigators are working two tracks on the at the time nation a time error remote cellphone detonation. the fbi as we reported yesterday is stkrapbing cellphone tower

records to identify positive hits for both explosions. in this bull finance obtained by fox news it weighs out the most current information on the investigation and the devices. it says one. devices was an ied using a pressure cooker and the shap rel included nails, bb's and ball bearings. the main charge, po position plea a low explosive has not been identified. the other device was in a metal container but there was not enough evidence, it was too fragmented to confirm another pressure quiching. so one pressure cooker is confirmed. the bun tin goes onto say the pressure cookers, quote had been used in a number of high profile bombings in indian, pakistan and afghanistan. they've also been referenced in extremists publications such as inspire and the and arkh*eus handbook. the spaoeurpb is the al-qaida magazine. one leading working theory is that the device using that low explosives which is highly unstable, the device was likeee assembled close to the blast site. the "wall street journal" reporting this morning that the

fbi and boston police are canvassing hotels as well as short-term rentals. >> the appears, again, if what they know now is accurate, that this bomb was very unstable, this device was very unstable and that it could not have been transferred a great distance at all. >> reporter: two congressional sources confirm toking fox that there has been no formal briefing for some of the intelligence committees by the fbi because this investigation remains so fluid, jon. jon: clearly they are making good progress and -- >> reporter: good forensic progress, that's for sure. jon: thank you for that update. heather: for more on the investigation let's bring in robert mcfadden koerpler coinvestigator of the tere owe attack on the u.s.s. cole and former agent in charge with ncis. we all like to think we are part of ncis, we see the television shows and that is leading us to asking a lot of questions about the photos and videos. what stands out in the investigation, what you've

learned so far. >> tremendous amount of activity would be underway in the investigative element, interest viewing witnesses, comparing photographs and all the other video coverage and other items available with eyewitnesses and others who may have been there at any time during the day getting the meticulous very detailed account as to what was seen and then comparing some of the photographs with individuals seen. heather: one of the things that we've talked about that you've done in your career is you've sat down face-to-face and interrogated terrorists before. i'm curious when you're thinking about the profile of this person and i know there is very little out there so far, what questions do you have as you're trying to imagine who did this and why did they do this here and now? >> one -- one of the first question, if not the first question if i have somebody who has placement and access to information, what is coming next? okay. who else is involved in the conspiracy? and questions all around that in order to prevent something that may happen and then throw the net out for the wider conspiracy, if it's not a lone

individual. heather: do you have any indication, base owed than the information you've seen of whether or not it is? >> at this point it gets into speculation still so quickly, because i know it's a natural tendency that just thirsts for information about this but it really is in the preliminary stages. now law enforcement intelligence can go by historical models and available intelligence as to say, for example, to rule out modus operandi. this is not to say you can do this. but the core, former al-qaida, this would not fit the modus operandi as far as the size of event and claiming responsibility. heather: just real quick here you say one of the things we are not paying attention to is whether or not the person had knowledge of the city of boston and the area in particular and what can that tell us about the suspect potentially. >> definitely. from experiences in working terrorism cases, and criminal conspiracies, there is often no substitute for actually being in the location where you're going to try to pull off the crime, or

the event, to get that feel through a visceral sense what obstacles to overcome. in this case of course the boston marathon, one of the most famous marathons in the world, an international event, but if you know boston and you know that event it is huge repopular local, so much a part of the culture. that might provide an indication that those involved had a really good feeling and awareness of what that event is like, as well as the timing, and the amount of family supporters he, support people, pedestrians in that area at the time of the explosion. heather: jay karen me just pointed out to us moments ago we are not even 48 hours into this investigation so we'll have to have prudent patience in all of this. great to have your exer tees. thank you. >> thank you. jon: we will continue to follow these breaking developments as they come in in the ricin investigation, the letters mailed to our political leaders on capitol hill and elsewhere, and also into the boston marathon bombing. and then there is this.

a nightmare for tens of thousands of airline passengers, new information on what caused a technological meltdown that canceled flights all across the country.

jon: new progress right now following a nightmare for tens of thousands of airline passengers, a huge computer outage grounding american airlines flights across the country. rick folbaum as the update. >> two-thirds of american airlines and american eagle flights canceled for delayed yesterday, jon, because of that computer meltdown. these are the computers that do everything from issue boarding passes to tell the flight crews how much fuel is in the plane's fuel ta*p p tanks. listen to some of the passengers whose travel plans were ground towed a halt. >> i'm upset and angry. i'm tired, i want to go home. >> scary, i'm worried, very worried that we are not going to get out. >> no answer, just go to the end of the line and see what happens. >> reporter: they were long

lines as passengers waited for answers. american canceling a hundred flights today because of bad weather in chicago, and to help fight flues and planes get back into position for normal operations. they say they apologize to everyone affected. the p. r. aspect not good, doesn't come as a good time as american proceed pairs for a merger with u.s. airways that would make it the world's biggest air carriers. we'll keep an eye on flights today. we expect more delays. we'll keep you posted. jena: continuing breaking developments out of washington today, fox news confirming a letter sent to the president initially tested positive for the deadly poison ricin. the similarities this letter has to one sent to a u.s. senator. we'll bring you the latest on the investigation coming up. anyone have occasional constipation,

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call the number on your screen now! jon: new questions in the massive search for whoever was behind the deadly terror attack in boston. state and federal investigators right now pouring over mountains of potential evidence, but without a suspect they are asking for the public to help. let's talk about it with mike baker a former cia covert operations officer, now presence of diligence llc, a global intelligence and security firm. mike, you come from a background where information wasn't shared anyway at the cia. but let's talk about this. a lot of peopleeard the appeal for photographs, for video that kind of thing and they instantly said to themselves, wow, the police don't have any information to go on. how should we feel about that request? >> well, i think we should realize that it's a common practice, regardless of whether you're talking about a terrorist

incident or a criminal act, for the authorities to call on the public and ask for assistance. a tip, you know, in this case an awful lot of cellphone, camera footage, it's not something that the public should be concerned about, in fact the public should appreciate the fact that they are calling on the community to help with the investigation. it doesn't mean that they don't have any leads, it's a real fascinating part for me, jon, this impatience in part kind of fed by this demand, this almost expectation of immediacy that the public has nowadays for answers. this is not an episode of 24 or csi, this is a major -- this is the biggest most complex incident that boston police have been facing ever. jon: in an era of twitter and facebook, when the information and the questions can fly around the world in a nano second people kind of want the answers that quickly as well. >> right. absolutely.

but what they have to understand is that, again, look at lockerbie, it took us seven years to nail that one down. the time that it took us to follow onto other terrorists incidents, ha they are doing right now -- what they are doing right now is painstaking and labor intensive, and they are very, very good at it. as an example piecing back together these explosive devices to understand how it was put together, what resources, what components were used, and then following those components to the final source saying, can we identify who actually purchased this pressure cook stpher can we identify -- shall cooker, can we even identify this purchased this board, whatever it may be. this doesn't happen in a 60-minute episode. jon: i have to say that one of the most photographed sporting events in the world is ultimately going to his. to have on the front page of newspapers today what appears to be the bomb itself just sitting

there by the side of the race course before detonation that is absolutely astounding and that's just what's been released to the public. we have to believe that the fbi and boston police and so forth have a lot more information that they are not sharing. >> absolutely. between the local, state and federal authorities that are all working together on this case and working extremely well together. this is not, you know, ten or 12 or 15 years ago when there was still a lot of territorial issues. i'm not saying it's perfect but it's a vastly improved coordination of systems and sharing of information. as you said all the cameras that were there for coverage of the marathon, all the security cameras, surveillance cameras from the local retail area. imagine the amount of footage. i've heard everything up to the equivalent of sitting and watching 6,000 movies and you're putting that together, that is a very good resource but it does take time. as you pointed out we live in this age where people expect things immediately. jon: it will be helpful we

hope. mike baker, mike, thank you. jena: we want to take a quick look at wall street today as we continue to watch what is happening there with stocks. stacks are down today more than 170 points, concerns of course about the global economy and some concerns as well about some earning inks reports particularly from bank of america here at home. we'll keep an eye on the dow and more breaking news in just a moment. girl vo: i'm pretty conservative.

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. >> trace: the information coming fast and furious, thank you for joining us. >> it's a good reminder it's developing, a lot of answers to be found. thank you for joining us, everybody, "america live" starts right now. >> megyn: fox news alert. two big stories we're following. word out of boston we could see a fbi news conference any moment now in the search for clues to this marathon bombing. second, a major investigation right now in our na