brussels airport. we'll pause for a moment and allow more of our stations to join us as you just stand by. good morning, breaking news. this is a special edition of "today." chilling images out of brussels, belgium today. the scene of terrorist attacks. 11 people killed in a suicide bombing at the airport. at least 15 others killed in an attack on brussels subway system. >> keir simmons joins us now. what can you tell us? >> across europe people have been prased for something like this. the prime minister saying what we feared would happen has happened. nbc news confirming so far that 26 fatalities. matt, this was a clearly coordinated and terrifying series of attacks in the heart of europe. brussels airport rocked by those explosions around 8:00 a.m. and then the metro hit.

close to the european government. the city is now on lock down. transportation shut down with images emerging that tell a story of substantial blasts causing extensive damage. there you can see terrified passengers fleeing from metro cars heading down what must be dangerous rail lines just to get away from the explosion that has taken place in another carriage, in another part of that metro station. meanwhile, at the airport, the pictures we are seeing of windows blown out of debris strewn around and tell a story of a substantial explosive device. you simply have to look at this to see that this was a serious blast, two blasts, we are being told, by belgium officials. and this is having a profound effect in europe, matt and savannah. the president of france saying this morning, of course, that

france has suffered its own attacks in november. saying this morning through brussels attacks the whole of europe has been hit. france will continue to relentlessly fight against terrorism, both internationally and internally. this morning, the belgium prime minister is telling people to stay in their area. the u.s. embassy urging u.s. citizens not to use public transportation. there are troops on the streets of brussels this morning as officials scramble to establish whether more attacks are planned, matt and savannah. the people who carried out the november paris attacks. many of them came from brussels. one of them arrested just friday. the fear now is that this has some connection to that same group who are self-declared. a self-declared isis terrorist cell. >> by the way, we should mention you brought up the terrorist attacks. after those attacks in paris on

november 13, there were a lot of people who were stranded in that city with no where to go and on social media, the hashtag became very popular. basically suggesting if you needed a place to go to find shelter, those people were offering shelter. something similar now in brussels in belgium after these attacks. the #openhouse. keep in mind, a lot of people going to that airport this morning turned away after these attacks were not from belgium. they were trying to travel to their home countries and then left with no where to go. people coming out of the subways, couldn't get home. couldn't get to work. needed a place to find shelter. so, the #openhouse on social media has become popular in belgium just as # did after the attacks in paris on november 13th. >> we're starting to see these fresh images of what appears to be a smoky terminal in the aftermath of these attacks. let's go to pete williams who is our justice correspondent who

has been following this from washington and, pete, do you have any extra information for us and, if not, remind everybody the context in which this happens where you have one of the paris attacks arrested in brussels and a lot of people are concerned that these attacks may in some way be connected to that. >> either as a retaliation for it or plans that were in place that were accelerated because the police involved were closing in on him. who carried out these attacks. in terms of the united states, there is, we're told, today, no intelligence indicating any plans to attack subways, trains or airplanes in the u.s. no recommendation from the u.s. for those facilities to make any big changes. nonetheless, many major cities are increasing security on their commuter trains, their subway

systems. we've been told in new york and in washington and in other big cities, you'll see much more visible security on subways and commuter trains. more of those bomb sniffing dogs. a lot more reminders for people to report anything that they see suspicious. you're going to hear that. see something, say something message a lot here in the coming days. in terms of airport, no recommendation to change security. there will be, you'll see more of those people in the airport areas. you're going tasee those detectors. those behavioral detector people watching for folks and looking for unusual behavior. but without any specific intelligence to act on, there's no big change, i don't think, that the travelers in the u.s. are going to see other than more visible security. but in terms of actual access to airports, curbside check-in. being able to drive up to airports to drop people off. we haven't heard of any changes along those lines. the federal government continues to follow this with their

counterparts in europe. everybody has been briefed and they're all talking to their european counterparts to get more information, but that seems to be the picture so far this morning. >> by the way, you made a good point earlier, pete, when you were talking to us. security in airports are handled by the tsa. the exterior of airports is handled by local law enforcement. you also brought up there is a coincidence here at the new head of the tsa is in belgium. >> that's right, the new transportation security administrator was in brussels for previously scheduled meetings with his european counterparts. he's safe. there are federal air marlss in and out of that airport all the time. they're looking after anybody that they need to watch for. but, you're right about security of airports. not only outside the airports, but inside the airports all the way up until you get to the tsa checkpoint. all that security in the major waiting areas. the airline ticket counter check-in points.

where you drop off your baggage and all of that security is the responsibility of the airport operator. the local authorities who run the airports. not the federal government. they certainly make recommendations, but tsa's responsibility, the federal responsibility begins when you show your i.d. and actually do the security screening. >> all right, pete, thank you very much. >> the reuters wire service reporting that there are now house-to-house searches being conducted and investigators going through the potential suspects or anybody in connection with these attacks. and we'll turn to tom costello who covers aviation and familiar with belgium. his family is from there. we talked this morning earlier, tom, about the situation in brussels. in particular this region. the neighborhood of brussels which has lately become a community that has housed in recent days the paris attackers. and also become something of a center of this kind of islamist, radical activity. >> yeah, i think if you talk to

belgians and i know many of them because they're family members, they will tell you over the last 20, 25 years they have felt like they're losing their country. they have felt like because belgium has such an open immigration policy or the last half century in which they have really allowed almost anybody, especially from these areas that are now breeding terrorism. they have allowed these people to come in as refugees and yet many of them not being thoroughly vetted and given a generous siphon to live off of and many belgiums feel like this is now they're bearing the fruits of that. that the fruits of that policy where they have seen this kind of terrorism in belgium. let me give you an update from the airport where now we're hearing of 11 people dead at the airport. we just double checked. it now appears that delta flight that was sitting on the ramp in brussels in which they really did not want to deplane anybody. they didn't want tadeboard the passengers. they have now deplaned.

delta flight 80 from atlanta to brussels. those passengers have gotten off the plane but not into the airport as you would expect. they are out on the tarmac, out on the ramp. brussels flight was diverted to amsterdam and a united flight 950 landed safely at 7:01. an hour before this attack occurred. i think what we're also seeing here on the metro attack is important. just draw your attention to the fact that the dateline or the locater for that metro attack explosion is different from keeping in mind that belgium is a trilingual country. a very small portion that speaks german and an awful lot of

names. the brussels airport is in a town called zaventem. we're lucky tahave you with us this morning. ryan from brussels joining eu correspondent and lived in belgium for eight years. ryan, good morning to you. >> good morning, matt. put into perspective what you're seeing and hearing this morning and i would like to ask you, also, about the level of fear that the people of belgium have been living in over these past several months. >> to be honest, quite ciotic. i have been unable to get back to our offices. 100 yards from that station. i'm back at home which is 300 yards and it has been quite cichaotic this morning. you hear sirens in the back xwrnd the whole time and people have given contradictory instructions. it wasn't clear how severe all

these activities were. locked up in the european headquarters and others are told they must go to work or they'll bed. quite a lot of confusion out there and then, of course, you have the scenes in the airport where most people were evacuated. some were stuck at their gate and others have been sitting on the plane until the last few minutes. really been flying in all different directions and i think after four months of gravstating between the full terror lockdown in november and wondering when on earth the authorities were going to catch him and his accomplices it has been a time for people here in brussels where they are starting to lose the trust in authorities and at forced at time with gut instincts. that's never the position you want to be in when you know the threat is out there. >> based on events of the past several months and the past several years. not a lot of people surprised

there by something like this brewing in their town, but it doesn't lesson the shock of it actually happening. >> exactly. a kind of resignation or wariness about the town where it doesn't mean that people lock themselves up in their homes but in a sense know this isn't over and done with. they know more than 90 people who had become trained and radicalized in syria have returned back to belgium and those people are out there somewhere. even if you do catch the people behind the paris attacks, there are others who are still operating and we were warned by the interior minister earlier this week and does not mean all the other terror cells were shut down. we were told to be on alert and that has come true this morning. >> ryan heath, interesting perspective. ryan, thank you so much. >> pressure. >> adding to everything that has unfolded there. can you imagine the chaos some people told you have to get to work.

in some cases we are told that schools are still in session. kids are there. the trains are shut down and the cell service are not available. these are very trying houses for the people of brussels, belgium. we're back with more of our coverage.

good morning, we're covering breaking news. these attacks in brussels, belgium. two locations. the airport and a met station there and the death toll at this hour, 26 people. many, many more injured. we want to talk to a witness right now. jeff is an american working for nato in brussels and, as i understand it, he was at the airport and witnessed the explosions and the aftermath. jeff, good morning. first of all, tell us how you are doing and how those you love are doing and what you saw and

heard this morning. >> good morning. it was very interesting morning to say the very least. i am doing okay right now. i actually have my girlfriend here as well as an american from ohio we brought back here since i'm assuming hotels are pretty much jammed up. the three of us were actually essentially right next to the explosion. >> were you inside the terminal, jeff, or were you in curb check in area? >> nope, actually, girlfriend was flying back. she was booked on the 940 american airlines departure to philadelphia. so, we were checking in roughly about 7:40. and i was waiting outside the check-in line. it wouldn't let me go through to help with bags and she was at the counter. i'm assuming probably around 7:40 something in the morning and the first explosion occurred to the right of me. delta airlines has actually has

its check in was my guess from where i saw. the first explosion hit and i felt the shock wave hit me and basically you turn and a lot of debris just comes flying at you. i turned to her and the entire check-in queue, as well as everyone behind the check-in counter and at that point i started to move towards her and that's when the second one went off which was a little bit further away over towards. actually a starbucks in the main terminal before security. and i believe it was essentially right next to the starbucks. so, at that point, you had no doubts whatsoever what was going on and everyone kind of hit the floor. and there was what was kind of shocking to me was the fact that the air inside the terminal is immediately just full of smoke and debris and dust and everything else you could think of. >> jeff, you would say, what, about ten seconds between these

two blasts and you now told us something we didn't have before. we were told originally one of the explosions happened outside the terminal at the curbside check-in area and the other inside. are you saying both were inside the terminal? >> from where i was, both appeared to be inside the terminal building because once the first explosion was followed and this is going to sound pretty horrible but followed by screaming. the second explosion was greeted with dead silence. i have been here for a bit of time and you have taken notice ever since the attack and ever since pairs and the lock down that we had the second week of november, especially at the airport. and i guess what shocked me at first was no one was moving. no one appeared to be standing. no one was around. but when i glanced over to where the second explosion had occurred, given the fact that the ceiling was mangled inside the terminal and next starbucks

there is what, if i can remember correctly, a brussels airline kind of customer service desk. that appeared to be completely demolished. so, once i was outside of the airport, i didn't see any damage. it was all inside the terminaling. >> did you see, jeff, some of the casualties. making your way out of that building, what did you see? >> there when i glanced over and i grabbed her and we started to move towards the front entrance, a soldier came running by with his weapon and i looked down at the floor and there was a blood trail kind of leading out. when i had glanced over and hustled her past what i saw a large number of casualties on the ground and, again, 30, 40 feet away. but it certainly did not look like we were going to be looking for survivors in that immediate vicinity. once we exited the terminal building through the glass doors, an individual.

he was in tact. but he was bleeding from the face. and propped up against the wall and then you would see other people. we ended up crossing the terminal road and kind of sheltering in the garage area for a few minutes. and then probably there for 15 minutes and that's when they start wheeling the gurneys past that. >> other people on stretchers and other people moved out of the terminal on luggage carts. how are you able to get away from the airport? >> you know, we checked over and all i had was a small cut on my finger. we grabbed our new american friend from ohio and we began walking. so, at that point all traffic in and out of the airport was completely shut down. and we ended up in an area over by the cargo terminal. a large mass of people and probably there for 30 minutes until authorities began pushing us out. and i actually lived downtown so we wanted to get back to the apartment, but we ended up going

to the town of zaventem and attempted to find a cab which took us quite a bit of time. we ended up walking about two miles out of the airport and that's, you know, you get to a point and look down and why is the luggage still in my hand and it's still there. >> jeff, based on being there, do you have sense of the magnitude of this blast? did it seem to be a very powerful explosive? >> i think they were fairly powerful, but if i were to venture to guess and also hearing what others who were there with me, it was definitely a suicide, suicide bomb. i think there were two individuals. that seemed to make the most sense. security has been here for quite a long time. you wouldn't be able to drop a package and walk away. so, i have assume that i'm no expert, but suicide bomb and, yes, powerful enough. i felt the first shockwave hit

me and that was a bit of an ear ringer and the second one was probably even more powerful even though it was further away. >> your work for nato requires you to be there. any second thoughts given the events over, really, the last several months in belgium and in brussels about staying there? >> yeah, probably too early this morning to comment. just to clarify i'm a consultant for nato. i'm not a direct nato employee. i don't know. i think right now it is a case of girlfriend is still here. as i said, we have an american guest who will be staying here because i can't imagine there will be hotel rooms. first assessment do i get them back home and then we'll kind of go from there. i think speaking personally i was in istanbul one week before the suicide blasts there. i've been around so many of these that part of me does wonder that perhaps i'm getting

a signal to go home. >> i hope your girlfriend has been able to communicate with her family back home and your friend from ohio has been able to tell or her family that they're okay, as well. >> yes. we managed to make contact with everyone. so, just kind of spare them. 7:40 in the morning, very early in the morning didn't want anyone waking up on the east coast and not having some sort of message to take down the tension. >> we so appreciate you spending time with us this morning. we send our best to your girlfriend and your friend and thank you for sharing with us what you experienced. our very best to you. can you imagine so many of us have been in a situation where you're just getting on an airplane and just seeing a loved one off and kissing them good-bye and can you imagine what it would be like to be there. >> where he was not further to the right or if together the left where these explosions went off. let us pause now and give some stations an opportunity to do their local news and weather.

okay, you've been watching nbc news coverage of the brussels attacks. good morning, i'm sam brock. >> i am laura garcia-cannon. we will momentarily continue that coverage but first get updated to our own local weather. first kari hall with a look at our weather. >> we have been tracking the rain as it moves through the overnight hours and a downpour that moves through the south bay and that has since tapered off and seeing spotty sprinkles out there this morning. that will be the case as we go through the rest of the day. here's a look at the rain timeline. we are looking at some of the rain that will be passing over some of the hilltops. most likely some of the valleys looks like they have a chance to clear out. a chance of rain as we go through the day. here we are at 4:00 and still showing some of those spotty showers moving through parts of the east bay hills and then, once again, the valley staying mostly dry. we do still have some light rain out there this morning.

some wet roads and puddles still left on the streets as you head out and temperatures are cool. only 40 degrees now in the north bay. but 52 degrees in san francisco. highs today will stay on the cool side. cooler than average for this time of year reaching 60 degrees in san francisco. 62 degrees in the peninsula and 63 degrees in the south bay. it will also be windy, too. we'll have winds sustained at 15 to 20 miles per hour with higher gusts and mostly sunny skies and the winds also picking up as we go into tonight. so, the breezy, cool conditions still continue today and we will have a high surf advisory that will continue until 9:00 this evening. waves will be anywhere from 15 to 20 feet and also the risk of some risk currents. over the next three days, our highs will be in the low 70s as we go into tomorrow, as well as thursday. peninsula will also look at more of the same. san francisco up to 67 degrees on thursday. let's head to the south bay and check on traffic now with mike. >> yeah, kari, the recent rain

left the wet roadways or at least damp the water kicking up not so much in the live shot right now. the map on the road weather index and green highlighted throughout portions of the south bay. watch those slicker conditions and no major incidents here or as we move up blocking any of the freeway roadways and, however, overnight rain and floodinged. and typical spot and, again, that overnight rain should be easing up as far as the effects on the roadway. we still have that b.a.r.t.m with delays between pittsburg bay point and the north concord station. we're running 15-minute intervals between trains there. the bus bridge is not in place. looking over towards the north bay, as well. san rafael a live look shows you the traffic flow southbound on the curve right here and starting to pick up the volume and no surprise for the volume. farther north eastbound 80 we do have a crash involving a big rig that is blocking a number of lanes. back to you. >> if there are any upwhen it comes to our morning commute,

we'll tweet those up for you. we'll update local news on our website, nbcbayarea.com. in the meantime, horrifying images continuing to pore in from europe and brussels. attacks there overnight. a series of blasts at the airport and the metro. nbc news has been covering the very latest for us. >> 26 people have died. we will join nbc news for special coverage and should you have any local news updates, we'll provide those on nbcbayarea.com. being the victims of a soft target attack by terrorists and suicidebers. at least we know in a couple of these locations, we know 26 people are dead. 15 of those from that metro attack and 13 from the airport. as brussels wakes up to yet

another terrorist incident. and we're going to bring you more of this coming up in just a couple of minutes. we'll pause and let our stations join us and be right back. 8:30 here on the east coast and we have special covera agag this morning of tragic news out of brussels, belgium. terrorist attacks rocking that city. at least two explosions at the airport there. at least one in a metro train underground in downtown brussels. want to be joined now or we are going be joined by nbc pete williams. our chief justice correspondent. pete, i know you've been on the phone and talking to a lot of people. there are concerns about what they may have learned leading up to this and more selfish concerns about what consequences this will have on us in this con. >> so far those consequences seem to be limited, matt. what you're definitely going to see in major cities at airports

already in the dulles airport here in washington and in other airports, much more visible security. more uniformed officers out. more bomb sniffing dogs. this is the kind of thing you're going to see at airports all over the u.s. today. weapons at the ready. weapons deployed. these are airport police officers because, as we said before, these pictures look like they're from dulles airport right outside washington, d.c. you're looking at the sort of counterparts of the area of that airport that was attacked in brussels. this is the area where would come in and enter the airport and go to the airline check-in desk. so they're going to be walking around. they're going to be having a lot more bomb sniffing dogs and the behavioral detection people are out in force today. they are the ones who work for tsa to try to spot suspicious behavior and we'll see a similar scene. we have already been told about this in major cities in new york

city. commuter lines coming into the city and on subway stations because one of these attacks in brussels was on a subway train. actually on the train car, which is reminiscent of the kind of bombings that were carried out in london when the subway system there was attacked. these are pictures from the train station. the subway station, rather, that was attacked in belgium earlier today. a devastating attack inside one of the subway cars. so, other than that, i think travelers are not going to see a lot of changes that don't peer to be any word from any major airport about restrictions on where you can go in airports or whether you can check in curbside or whether you can drive your car up to the airport to drop people off. we haven't heard of any changes of those, just more visible security, more reminders of people to report suspicious behavior. why is that? and the answer we're told is that there is no intelligence indicating any kind of a threat to those facilities inside the

u.s. that's the natural thing that they would respond to. they're doing all of this, not because of any intelligence information that they have that they're not sharing. rather a response to what we all know and the kinds of message traffic that we've seen from the u.s. government to these local authorities is passing along basically reported and what they're seeing on social media. what is obvious and what has happened is enough for them to pass along these statements of concern to local officials. but they're not recommending or requiring any changes in operations here. >> but there is, also, as you pointed out earlier, pete, only so much you can do at an airport in terms of extending the perimeter. you can't go off airport property and stop people as they start to drive on to airport property. you really start that kind of security procedure in those roadways that lead right to where you drop passengers off.

and there's not much you can do beyond that. >> right. and we've talked about this before, but perhaps it bears repeating that the security situation involving isis actual operational people who have been to syria and trained is a light years difference in europe than it is here. the intelligence authorities in the u.s. estimate that almost 7,000 people, 7,000 people from western european countries have gone to syria to train with isis and returned to europe. that is a huge number of people to track. it's tiny in the compared to that. so one of the problems that european authorities have had is that they're simply overwhelmed trying to follow this rapid developing threat that they have. now, that is separated apart from the focus on this specific group in brussels and i'm sure we're going to hear a lot more in the coming days whether authorities in belgium were doing enough. but the complaint that we

consistently heard from authorities in europe, intelligence and local police is that this is such a big problem. that they have to try to focus on the worst of the worst. they can't follow everybody. >> exactly. we remember from the paris attacks, i believe the ringleader had been to syria and come back and his name was thrown to authorities and even that was a challenge. so, just the magnitude of what is before these counterterror officials as they try to detect these before they happen can't be overstated. pete, stand by there. you would. we'll turn to pete costello who is working his sources. tom, i don't know if you heard, we had a witness on a nato consultant very close to the explosions and he described those two explosions and sounded to him both had taken place inside that terminal. what did you make of? >> i got to tell you, when i, we talked about how well i know that terminal. matt knows the terminal well. the devastation there looks really, really quite significant.

i'm not sure that they're going to be able to reopen this airport as quickly as they originally thought. by the way, every u.s.ier that was flying into brussels. the planes have been diverted or the passengers are safely on the ground and have been diverted. several flights into brussels were already in the air from other longer destinations, but the united states have been detoured to amsterdam, paris and small, regional airports but putting some planes on the ground there. i think you think of this as belgium's 9/11 in terms of completely putting the entire city and the entire country of 11 million into a lockdown here. i was on the phone with my wife who was on the phone with family in belgium. all the schools on lockdown. but primary schools through high school, so, kindergarten through high school are on lockdown. probably not a safer place for

them to be. several individuals in belgium are telling them their cell phones are not working for voice calls and they are speculating that that could be the government or the police trying to shut down the cell phone network to make it more difficult for any potential suspects to communicate. but that is strictically conjecture and talk. you can imagine the terror we felt on 9/11. especially of us on the east coast and how the people in brussels are feeling at this very moment with the am tire country locked down. no rail service, no subway service, no plane service, buses have been shut down to a large extent. buildings closed. schools on lockdown and it is a state of deep, deep fear and concern at this hour. >> indeed. tom costello, thank you. we know you continue to stand by. let's bring richard engel back in and more on the terror investigation. richard, good morning. >> good morning. senior counterterrorism officials says that this is clearly a coordinated attack.

described it as sophisticated. and they are concerned that there could be follow on attacks. intelligence sources tell nbc news that syrian trained isis militants are in europe looking for targets. they don't know exactly what countries they're in. they don't know exactly what targets they're looking for but that is a significant number. going back to what pete williams was saying earlier. thousands of europeans have to link up with isis and many getting combat training in iraq and syria. and then returned home. that's compared to only 70 americans who i've told either went to join isis or tried to join isis. still 70 is a number, a high number and nothing compared to the thousands in europe. so far there has been one claim of responsibility from isis. we have not verified it yet but what we have seen is many isis

supporters online, on facebook and different social media platforms celebrating this attack. cheering this attack. isis had been actually weakened just as of yesterday or a few days ago. their number of tweets was at an all-time. might interpret this as a way for isis to show it is back, it is strong and has recovered from territorial losses and personnel losses that the group has been suffering in iraq and syria. >> but, richard, as we've seen and you and i talked about this earlier, it's not necessary that isis even directs or coordinates from its stronghold in syria. a lot of times these are fighters who get some measure of training. come back holding western passports and then are virtually on their own and have a good idea of what to do once they're there. >> that's usually the way sis operates. it is very cellular organization

that you could have a small go maybe one or more of them actually go to syria get combat training, operational training and then they come back and they find their friends, relatives, associates and they form a very secretive cell. and those cells can operate quite autonomously. they don't need moment by moment directions by iraq and syria. you've seen groups from isis saying don't come here at all. just do these operations on your own. be inspired by the message of isis in iraq and syria. but order to carry out a sophisticated, coordinated attack, counterterrorism officials say if you make the trip and militants actually go and get practical bombmaking experience, it elevates their capacity very significant. >> back to a point you made a second ago where there could be dozens of isis-trained operatives or isis sympathizers

in europe looking for targets to strike. one of the very things that yours love so much about the european union is that they can move freely between countries and that is the very thing that makes it so hard to stop terror suspects from moving freely between countries. >> the open border system that has been inside europe has come under a tremendous amount of pressure for two reasons over the last several months or about a year. one is the migrant and refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands of people have been leaving primarily iraq and syria and going, making their way up through turkey, greece, macedonia, serbia and following that migrant trail into europe. and the second is because of the terrorist implications. because of the security implication. and where those two meet is a very sensitive and exclosive issue for europe. we are already seeing the rise of the right wing and we're already seeing a rise of hate

attacks where people will use these kind of terrorist attacks. these kinds of incidents to vilify all of the muslim makes the situation worse , only because then people feel isolated, ostracized and they retreat into their own community. >> all right, foreign correspondent, richard engel. stand byp thank you very much. let's go back to keir simmons who has been following these developments from overseas. good morning. what have you been learning? >> good morning. we are looking at the people the authorities in belgium were trying to track down before these attacks this morning. savannah, i think in some senses we should talk about this as not just one attack today, but as an ongoing attack. if you think back to france, to the attack on charlie hebdo and then the attacks in paris in november and now these attacks in belgium. they are part of a continuum

really because many of the people who are volved in each of the first two attacks i mentioned came from brussels. now, this strike in brussels. now, we've been talking about arrested by belgium authorities on friday and then through the weekend news emerged that he may have been talking and saying that another attack was planned. let's talk about someone else, too. a man called najim laachraoui. his details were released just yesterday and they're still there and they wanted to hunt him to find him. they said he was dangerous. his dna was found in apartments where they also found explosive material. there has been reports suggesting that he may have been on a cell phone communicating with the paris attackers while oz attack was taking place.

we are talking about the suearc for arrest and we should also be talking about the other people connected to him that the authorities have been saying openly they want to find. and what are those people will have felt like they were under a good deal of pressure. >> connected loosely or directly. it's hard to know how. >> right. >> all right, thank you. >> exactly. >> thank you very much. >> yeah, matt, was just going to say, you know, i think just to add to that, you know, we are going to look at growing criticism of the intelligence agencies in europe because every time one of these attacks happens, the dots that connect it they don't seem to be able to connect those dots enough and richard was just saying isis jihadists may have come from syria and people are going to start asking in europe, how come we aren't able to stop this when we daappear to have the

intelligence available. that is just dpoeg to agoing toe sense of insecurity and fear. another attack, another attack, again. the risk that it will have a profound effect on the psychology in europe. >> well, just as 9/11 had a profound impact on the psychology in this country. all right, thank you. we want to pause for just a moment and give our other stations a chance to join us as we continue our breaking news coverage. early morning their time and overnight here. >> we are joined by a familiar face to our viewers and special agent from the fbi and someone whose expertise and what are

your initial impressions. >> the network that allows abdeslam stay hiding in the middle of the area that he is known to be in for four months and yet it took that long and nobody came forward and it took that long to unravel the intelligence. the amount of logistical support and people involved. really, we don't know how big this is. there was talk about an attack planned and more attacks planned and this could go on for a while and it is very scary. >> when you look at the scope of what happened at the airport and this metro train, in your gut, and you see the images from the airport at the devastation of the devastation. in your gut, don, does this look like something that was pieced together hastily following the arrest of abdeslam or was this in a plan that was in the works and always going to include these targets and may have been

moved in terms of its date? >> i it's the latter. i think these attacks were planned. obviously, you know, it takes a level of training and sophistication when you bring these explosives into the picture. >> when you say that, a lot of people watching saying what level of sophistication? yes getting the explosives. putting them in a suitcase and walking into an airport. >> once you have that. still, i think, as we've seen in the past and you have these multiple simultaneous attacks that are somewhat coordinated. there is a level of command and control somewhere. and that if i had to guess, i would say that this was planned, but maybe the timing was moved up based on the arrest because of possibly people cooperating. possibly evidence that was seized that could have identified these cells and these attacks. so, instead of risking, you know, sitting around getting caught. time to move up the attack. just a guess, though. we'll see what happens.

abdeslam a fixer now under arrest and reportedly being intear intearigated. someone like that is sitting in custody and something like this happens and i have to imagine that officials go back in there and say, all right. what more do you know? have you been truthful with us. take us into what that scene might look like? >> that is exactly what is going to happen. they are going to be inigating him and showing him pieces of evidence to say, what does this mean? whose phone number was this. things like that. who are these people? they'll show him photographs and showing him a map and say, okay, what place did you say this week and that week and try to unravel this network of support that allow him to stay on the run for so long and allow people to build explosive devices and stockpile weapons and everything else. >> thank you very much. stay with us and we'll take another pause right here as more

stations join us. this is "today" on a tuesday morning. this is "today special coverage unfolding. as you know, explosions at the airport in brussels, as well as at a subway station. are seeing these images. quite a powerful blast by the looks of it and we have tom costello who covers these issues for us and is intimately familiar with this. tom cosstelo joins us now. >> unconfirmed by nbc news, but the read the dialect, the language spoken at the airport and reporting that a third suicide belt has been found at the airport undetonated and they are looking for the possibility that somebody got away.

a suicide belt found undetonated and belgium police looking very much for a potential suicide bomber maybe got away and didn't detonate that belt at all. in the meantime, inundated with phone calls and tweets from people concerned about their relatives or students studying abroad in belgium. 16 university missouri students are said to be fine and well and not harmed at all. but, of course, many of these universities that have study abroad programs are right now reaching out to those students and trying to find them. it is going to be difficult because cell phone service through most of the country or at least around the capital region has been shut down. it's not clear whether that's an official police action, although that is the rumor on the street. but cell phone conversations in and out of brussels right now are very difficult as parents and concerned individuals on this side of the ocean try to reach their kids on that side of

the ocean or their loved ones on that side of the ocean. 200 flights canceled so far. all of the u.s. flights inbound into brussels are on the ground safely or have been detoured to other airports. guys? >> tom, thank you for that information. don, let me go back to you with that information. he now says according to some sources that a third undetonated suicide belt has been found inside that airport. what is your first reaction to that and then i have another question for you. >> a great piece of evidence is my first reaction. i mean, you can get dna. you can get fingerprints. you can look at the device itself and a lot of times, you know, we talk about how bombmakers have their own signature. they may be able to trace it back to the origin to see if it is the same person that made the explosives in paris in this one. so, a lot going from that. >> now, given that, that there may be someone and probably still other people on the loose as a result of something like this. if you're the person making the decisions, when does brussels,

when does belgium get back to business? do you allow people tomorrow morning who weren't directly affected to get back on buses to go to their jobs and to go to the banks and to go to school? how do you start to gauge this sort of thing? >> that is a very difficult situation. obviously, with somebody potentially entering the earl hours, they're going to be operating under the assumption that there is another person, whoever left this belt behind and are the attacks over with? the first priority has to be public safety. so, until the officials feel like they've got their hands wrapped around the situation, i can't see they'll be opening up the subways and airports. we saw what happened in belgium and i believe it was around christmas time when things shut down and here we go, again. i know they are going to be under pressure to make that decision soon because commerce has to continue. but public safety has to take precedence. >> the hunt for a suspect or suspect that might somehow be

connected and perhaps the third would be suicide bombers. and now we know that there is this section of brussels known as maalbeck where abdeslam was able to live, perhaps not well. perhaps not out in the open but to be for the last four months without detection. what can authorities really? we heard a reuters report of going door to door and house to house. >> a network of your own intelligence people that can infiltrate a community like that and it does not appear they have that. or if they have an intelligence network and certainly not robust. so, you know, you do go door to door but you can't plant yourself in front of that door 24/7. you need intelligence. you need the cooperation of the community and we said that all the time. prevention is the key to this thing and the best way to prevent is not rings of physical security. yes, you need those.

but you need people that will come and tell you that an attack is in the works. >> richard engel, i believe it was richard engel but there has already been criticism within europe of their intelligence gathering capabilities and their ability to stop things like this. although it's extremely difficult. an attack like this in belgium will amp up that criticism. what cooperation is there between european officials and american officials and can american officials really have any impact when we're talking about what goes on places like pairs and belgium? >> first off, very good cooperation between our european partners and the u.s. certainly, we share even some of the mostified information with our trusted partners in europe. and expect the same from them. there will be a lot of pressure for belgiums to step up what they're doing and the u.s. will offer whatever resources can be brought to bear. but at the end of the day it's their country and it takes a lot

of resources to build a robust counterterrorism network. like we have in the united states, we have joint terrorism task forces that are run by fbi all over the country. i think the notion of that is still somewhat new in europe. i mean, imagine if each state in the united states didn't coordinate with one another through the fbi and through other organizations. i mean, it would be, it would be chaos. >> people in your business called these soft targets. but to the lay person watching this, this is real life. i mean, it's a cafe in paris or a concert hall or an airport or a train station and it's so terrifying to think that these areas are so vulnerable. >> that's really a lot of the key that what makes isis and other organizations so successful. you don't necessarily have to kill thousands, but that is the psychological effect. that fear. that's what these groupsy trigger is that gut, that fear that makes you not want to go

out of your house. when you do that, they win. >> don, thanks very much. stick around. we have much more to get to this morning as we continue to cover this breaking news coming out of brussels in belgium where at least three explosions have rocked that european capital overnight. two at the airport, one on a subway train. and many more developed headed our way. we'll bring them to you as soon as we have an opportunity. good morning to you. we hope you'll continue our coverage with nbc news about the terror attacks in brussels as well as bring you any local connections that they may have for us here in the bay area. first, good morning to you. . thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. a bit soggy on your tuesday morning. let's get a quick check of the weather with meteorologist kari hall. >> as you head out now the

streets are wet and in the south bay where we have that rain most recently. we are seeing everything starting to taper off and partly cloudy skies will be with us as we go through the rest of the morning. maybe even some clearing as we go through the day. looking at these temperatures now, it is very chilly behind that system that moved through with that rain. it's only 39 degrees now in napa and 42 in livermore and san francisco at 52 degrees. highs today reaching into the low 60s. which is cooler than average for the middle to end of march. up to 63 degrees in san jose and 62 in half moon bay and san francisco 60 degrees and napa also in the upper 50s into the lower 60s and the north bay. oakland 61 degrees and pleasantn 62. we will still have a chance of some spotty rain. mostly over the hilltops and some of the valleys mostly look to stay dry through the day with some clearing and some sunshine and the rain timeline there shows that it could be a little bit of wet weather today but a general clearing trend is expected through the day. also some gusty winds. stained at about 15 to 20 miles

an hour and there could be some higher gusts as that breezy and cool weather continues, we will have a chill in the air for the next couple of days. also, a high surf advisory will be in effect until 9:00 this evening and waves up to 20 feet and the strong rip currents will also be possible. that will expire at 9:00 this evening. into the next three days, high temperatures will be warming up significantly. we're up to 70 degrees in the south by tomorrow. on thursday, 74 degrees and 60s in the peninsula and upper 60s in san francisco and we'll also have 70s trending in the north bay by the middle to end of this week this weekend also looking very pleasant. let's get an updalt te on the roadways now with mike. >> overall pretty predictable and here at the coliseum we don't see slowing past high street and look north of there and a big jam from downtown oakland down and this is

blocking a couple of lanes and this investigation will not clear before 7:00. although chp hassant given us a time. i know it won't clear for the next 90 minutes or so and looking towards westbound 590 to get over to the bay bridge where the metering lights are on. now, remember the pittsburg north point to concord station running every 15 minutes. no more bus bridges but creating a bit of a delay. and look at the rest of the bay. a smoother drive south bay and northbound 101 a little build here and north 280 at saratoga. we have a tree down blocking part of the slow lane. it right back to you. >> good to know. we'll keep watching local conditions. again, if you're just waking up. a fresh wave of terrorist attacks from europe's capital city of brussels. we'll continue to follow the latest developments. we'll update you on our website nbcbayarea.com. >> we have crews throughout the bay area gathering that information as we speak. we'll keep updating our twitter accounts and facebook and try to

join you for local news updates like this. now back to "today" show. let us reset for you at 9:00 on a tuesday morning. 6:00 a.m. on the west coast. this is a special edition of "today" as we cover this morning's deadly attacks on the airport and subway systems in brussels, belgium. >> a morning of fast-moving developments. as it stands 26 dead at the airport and subway station and a major western european capital. all but shut down this morning. let's go to nbc and she has been traveling to brussels all morning. not an easy trip. but, kelly, good morning. tell us what you see and hear. >> good morning, savannah and matt. just arrived at the metro station where that blast happened several hours ago now.