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new information about a possible al qaeda bomb plot. security intense ahead of tomorrow's anniversary of 9/11. this morning from the first responders to one victim's incredible story of survival. reflection on what happened that day and what has changed in the last ten years. did anything change after the president's speech, and could something actually get done? plus, the roughened to the week on wall street. what could happen if the markets don't settle down soon? good morning. i'm alex witt, and welcome to msnbc saturday. first up we have new details this morning on three unidentified men believed to be part of a credible al qaeda plot coinciding with the anniversary of 9/11. government officials say two of the men may be u.s. citizens, or at least have u.s. travel documents. the unconfirmed plot involves car and truck bombs in new york

and washington, and the fbi and homeland security are chasing down all leads and police manning checkpoints and securing likely tarts. nbc's pete williams has more now from washington. >> reporter: in new york police were out in force checking trucks and vans and posting extra security at bridges and tunnels, clogging the morning and afternoon commutes. similar scenes in washington as both cities jump to respond to an unconfirmed report from an intelligence source in pakistan who heard that three men, no full names given, flew to the u.s. to set off car or truck bombs in new york or washington this weekend. something that stood out in the flow of intelligence because the source had been reliable in the past. >> this is the first -- the first credible piece of information we've gotten. we cannot confirm it. we are doing everything within our power. all hands are on deck. >> reporter: new york's mayor

michael bloomberg and mayor vince gray in washington issued nearly identical pleas for public vigilance. >> if you see something, say something. >> if you see something potentially suspicious -- >> call 311. >> and if you see something that you think is potentially dangerous, call 911. >> reporter: while police made a visible show of force and checked packages on trains and subways, the fbi and border officials scramble to search travel records going back weeks looking for any signs that might confirm whether three such men actually did fly to the u.s. from the middle east. complicating that task, the intelligence said one or two of them might be carrying u.s. passports. police and federal agents also checked dealers who sell chemicals that can be used to make car bombs, expanding an effort already underway because of the date 9/11 anniversary. the intelligence source said this started with al qaeda's new leader. they wonder whether the u.s. will know whether this plot is

real or not. pete williams, msnbc washington. >> i'm joined live by roger cress. good morning to you. >> good morning, alex. s. >> how serious is this threat? >> well, i think it's serious enough to warrant the type of attention that we've seen and really what's driving a lot of this, alex, is the 9/11 anniversary weekend. were this a threat that had come out and was aimed at maybe the holiday season or somewhere further down the road at a different time frame, we would not have this type of public focus on it. tying it to the 9/11 anniversary weekend is what defines it as imminent, and that's why you are seeing things play out more differently than otherwise would be the case. >> okay, roger. we have these reports that saying two or three men are traveling within the united states. at least two possibly carrying u.s. passports. how does this complicate the investigation if they're already here and using u.s. passports? >> well, assuming that report is accurate and true, then what it is is a race against time. it is sifting through this massive database of travel information going back to

airline manifests, talking to different organizations overseas to piece together if there was a travel pattern here when it originated from, what were the stops along the way, and where was the point of entry inside the united states. it's crawling through that type of information and hopefully, if, in fact, this is a true report, identifying the individuals. >> you know, roger, we keep hearing that al qaeda's capabilities have been severely degraded and that anything on a large scale like 9/11 repeating itself is not possible these days, or extremely unlikely. a car bomb is an entirely different thing. it is a low tech terror weapon. how does the u.s. and security officials -- how do they prevent something like that? >> well, alex, you're right. al qaeda is simply incapable of that type of multi-facetted, spectacular attack that we saw on 9/11. they can't do that anymore. instead they're looking at other alternatives and a car bomb or any improvised explosive device is where they would like to go,

but even that is not that easy to do. as we saw with fisel shizad in times square a year ago. he had an elaborate device, and it failed. these are not that easy to do, and you have to have precursor chemicals like ammonium night rate. all those things are monitor and watched by sellers, and the police are involved in that process as well. while it could certainly happen, it doesn't mean it's that easy to do. >> yeah. look, we've all seen these checkpoints. i got to tell you, coming into work early this morning in the dark, we had police on the west side highway funneling everybody and making the cars slow down. i was glad for that, frankly. behind the scenes, what's going on? >> well, as i remind everyone, the two safest places in america this weekend will be lower manhattan and the national capital region. what's going on behind the scenes is tremendous information sharing. making sure at the federal, state, and local level everyone has the same information. they're coordinating and communicating. then also what you are seeing is

a lot of analysis of previously acquired information. is there anything that the government picked up over the past few months, particularly since the bin laden raid that at the time didn't seem to be relevant and now in light of this new information might actually make sense, so it's cross-checking, double-checking, and really going back to make sure nothing -- no stone is left unturned, and identifying whether or not this report is true and if it is, whether or not these individuals are really in the united states. >> okay. roger we'll see you again. thanks so much. >> you bet, alex. an army of extra security can be seen all over new york city this weekend. let's go live once again to ground zero and nbc's peter alexander. peter, i know you probably have a lot of security checkpoints to get through yourself getting to work. >> we did, and, in fact, today even early morning hours we experienced that security. there were those checkpoints you said on the west side highway throughout the city. you're going to see that tomorrow arks coringed to the police commissioner ray kelly. there will be thousands of additional security officers here around ground zero, but he made it very clear that this is not the only potential target in

this city. other places like grand central station, harold square station, penn station all seeing additional security over the course of the days ahead and with the u.s.s. new york, that's one of the ships just docked not far from where we are here. they're actually scuba divers that are going around that area securing it as well. all the precautions being taken in advance of what is really going to be a historic ceremony tomorrow. the president of the united states, barack obama, here. the governor of the state, the mayor of this city as well as the past president, governor, and mayor of this city as well. rudy giuliani will be here. america's mayor as he was dubbed in the days after 9/11. what we really want to do is give you a sense for those at home who are not here of what this place looks like. we're really having it revealed to us for the first time. if we can, we'll pan the camera off to the side and give you a look at one of the two reflection pools. if you have not seen ground zero in weeks, months, or years, you are just really struck by the dazzling nature of this new memorial.

there are two of these 30 foot waterfalls dropping into pools of darkness. this was the idea of the architect here. there should be areas of emptiness, but an emptiness that is filled with meaning. as we hope the camera up a little bit, the rim of that area will have the names or has the names of the victims carved into it, being revealed for the first time tomorrow at the official ceremony. those trees you see there, about 400 of them, all of them oak, making a forest of green in this area as well, just one tree preexisted. that is the survivor tree that they say saved from the rubble of ground zero now almost ten years ago. that is the situation here, though. for now, alex, obviously, a lot of formal ceremonies, but then tomorrow and then monday this area opens up officially for the first time to the public. >> well, that will be a momentous thing for many, many people who will flock there, no doubt. peter alexander, thanks. tomorrow president obama will visit all three sites where america was attacked on

september 11th. attending ceremonies in new york and shanksville, pennsylvania, and the pentagon. at his weekly address, he spoke about america's resilience. >> as we reflect on a difficult decade well, must look forward to the future we will build together. that includes staying strong and confident in the face of any threat. ten years ago ordinary americans showed us the true moneying of courage when they rushed up those stairwells into those flames, into that cockpit. in the decades since a new generation has stepped forward to serve and keep us safe. >> for for many of the 50,000 first responders, eat moeshl and physical scars of 9/11 remain with them. a new study by the british general lancet says in many of these rescue workers continue to suffer from respiratory illness, depression, post traumatic stress disorder and other things, and joining us me live now kenny, a 9/11 first responder and a cancer survivor. kenny, good morning. i'm so glad you're here where are i want to talk bshgs first

of all, where you were ten years ago tomorrow. >> i was off. i was scheduled to be in that night, which would have been the night of september 11th, which was tuesday. i saw what was going on the television. i called my battalion in queens. they said come to your fire houshgs pick up your gear, and go over to shea stadium. they were setting up a central location, taking role call, getting guys ready to go, putting them on buses and i made myself -- i made my way down to the trade center about 1:00 in the afternoon on the day of september 11th. both world trade center towers had come down. 7 world trade center hadn't come down yet. they told us to wait on the west side highway. pushed us all, all the firefighters, police officers, off to the west side highway and really we just waited until about 4:00 in the afternoon until 7 world trade center came down and then when that building came down, everybody just grabbed whatever tool was next to them or what they had collected throughout the day.

a lot of fire apparatus was along the west side highway, dropping off gear that we would ethwe'll need. it was a total free for all. you took what you needed, what you thought you might need, and like i said, when 7 world trade center came down about 4:00 in the afternoon, we took what we had and we all walked over to where we felt we could do some work. >> started dig. >> yeah. started digging. i stayed until about 4:00 in the afternoon on september 12th, and in and out throughout the next seven weeks i stayed down at the trade center until about the third week of november. >> tell me what happened when you knew you weren't well. what was going on? >> probably in 2006 i was still relatively young. i started to experience chest pains. my daughter w i thought i was having a cardiac related physicians. it wasn't cardiac-related at all, through my physicians. it was a severe acid problems. gerd, one of the medical sknz we suffer from from being down at the trade center because not only did we inhale the toxins

down trade center, but we ingested them, and that led to problems years later, and it was the acid that i was bringing up that was giving me the chest pains. >> and then cancer survivor. what happened there? can you point to your work at 9/11 as being the source of your cancer? >> well, i always have, alex, since the day i was diagnosed in 2007, thyroid cancer, immediately i felt to a man that absolutely i was sick from my time at the trade center. the new york city fire department has just published, auz smoke about earlier, the medical report in "the lancet." the medical report came out last week. it does correlate as far as their concern. thyroid cancer, along with about five or six other cancers. it's our hope now obviously that we'll have those cancers, but as at stands today, it's something that hasn't been done yet and something we'll continue to push for. >> your story is not unique. how many of your colleagues have similar terrible health

problems? >> yeah. there was a time down at the -- there was a time shortly after september 11th that they really closed the site only for first responders, police, the construction workers, the verizon technicians downtown. if you speak to a lot of those people, the people that have the extended stay down at the trade center, thyroid cancer, the gastroesophageal cancers are absolutely through the roof. they're off the charts. they don't compare to the national average. like i said, it's certainly something that we have to look into with the fire department report. we have to get that bill to start taking care of the guys to the best of our ability. >> we must take care of you and your colleagues. thank you, kenny, for telling us your story. thanks. continued good health. >> yes. thanks. you too. today at noon eastern we'll have live coverage from the commemoration ceremony from shanksville, pennsylvania, and then we'll have full coverage of

the ceremonies held at ground zero. there are some promising signs in washington. we're going to talk about them. also, men and women who went to war after 9/11. a live report from afghanistan on what this tenth anniversary means to them. here on msnbc saturday. ♪ [ male announcer ] unlike some car companies, nissan is running at 100%, which means the most innovative cars are also the most available cars. nissan. innovation for today. innovation for all. ♪ helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health.

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the swollen susquehanna river is receding today. life is just miserable for tens of thousands evacuated along the northeast. this video from pennsylvania shows that covered bridge there more than a century old and it's just being washed away by the rising waters. about 135 water and sewage plants in the state are flooded causing sewage to spill into streams and rivers, and that filthy water carried off at least ten houses in the state. nbc's ann thompson was live for us from wilkes-barre,

pennsylvania. good morning to you. this is also a deadly flood, ann. >> it has, alex. s in fact, there are at least five people who have died in pennsylvania and virginia during this flood. you mentioned those sewage treatment plants and the governor of pennsylvania said this flood is going to be a real health hazard, and they're urging people to stay out of these floodwaters because those floodwaters are carrying a variety of pollutants, including raw sewage, and so there's they're nothing to play in or stand in. you want to stay away from them. here in the west pitson area, the evacuation order is still in effect, but police are letting people come back this morning to assess the damage to their homes. it's quite extensive. the mayor estimates some 350 homes in this little burrough have been damaged. that's a quarter of all it is houses here, and so around me you hear the sounds of these portable pumps, which are taking water out of basements and

living rooms today as people begin the clean-up process, a process that's expected to go on for several days. alex. >> all right. ann thompson. we'll college in with you again and get an update. making the president's job act a reality. is he finding common ground with republicans? ♪ my subaru saved my life. i won't ever forget that. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. love. do you have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, or afib, that's not caused by a heart valve problem?

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i used that money to buy a falcon. ergo, you bought me a falcon. i should've got a falcon. most people who switch to state farm save on average about $480. what they do with it, well, that's their business. oh, that explains a lot, actually. [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] another reason people switch to state farm. aw, i could've gotten a falcon. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. [ falcon screeches ] america this weekend is marking ten years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. this afternoon the flight 93 memorial dedication will take place near shanksville, pen brern vice president biden and former presidents george w. bush and bill clinton will be among those in attendance. final preparations are taking place right now here in new york for the commemoration ceremony that will take place right there at ground zero tomorrow. lower manhattan and all of new york city certainly on

heightened alert today in the word of a credible but unconfirmed bomb plot. i'm joined like by congresswoman carolyn maloney who founded the 9/11 caucus. thanks for joining us. >> good to be with you, alex. s tell me what you know about this. when did you hear about it as a member of congress? sfoo my last meeting yesterday was with the fbi, the cia, and homeland security. it was a classified briefing with members of congress. the threat is real. the source is extremely credible, and the reaction of the mayor, police commissioner kelly and police have been extraordinary, and they need to rely on the eyes of thousands and thousands of new yorkers and if you see something, say something. call 311 or 911 and report it. the response to secure our areas has been phenomenal. i've been riding around the city this morning and seeing police everywhere. >> i know. i was saying as i came into work

and it was dark this morning, i was very glad to see police checkpoints funnel and having cars be looked at and took a little more time, but i was okay with that. how safe do you feel there right now? i had an analyst that said there's probably no safer place to be in this country than new york or washington given the stepped up security. do you get a sense of that? >> i do get a sense of that. the reaction is professional. we do have the best and the bravest here in new york. we know that from 9/11, and we know that from today. what the terrorists want is for us to be afraid and not continue in our democracy. the best thing we can do is go forward with our lives, but also be alert to anything that looks unusual. >> what runs through your mind as you reflect on ten years while standing right there where the twin towers once stood? >> well, certainly the horror of that day -- i rarely meet anyone

anywhere from a foreign country, america, whose first statement to me is what they were doing on 9/11. it is the first act of the war on terror, the war against terrorism, and new york responded brilliantly and bravely. this country has never been so united or determined. we pass the -- our caucus worked to pass legislation to create the commission, the 9/11 commission, that came forward with many recommendations. we then authored those recommendations into law. one was totally reorganizing our intelligence system. it was the first major reorganization since 1948 to make this country safer, and i saw that yesterday in the coordinated sharing of information. not only with the anti-terrorism task force here in new york, but nationally, internationally. they were saying they were reaching out across the world for any information that might

give us more information about an alleged threat here in america. we made our courts and our planes and our daily lives safer. we're an extraordinary country when we decide to do something and do it together. we make a tremendous difference. we're a different country. my daughter, i think, had one of the best descriptions. she was homesick that day and could see the parents of her friends ligue the towers with soot all over their places, and she said, mom, i feel leak alice many wonderland. you've gone through the looking glass, and nothing will be the same again, and i truly think that 9/11 reshaped our priorities, pushing homeland security is the number one thing to protect our citizens, and certainly to many other actions that grew out of that. today we're remembering the sacrifice and continuing to work. i heard you speaking earlier to a first responder. >> right. >> as the chief author of the bill just this week, we sent a

petition to the government asking them to expand the zagroga bill to cover cancers because of the cancers that are now emerging. we know that we lost almost 3,000 people on 9/11, but since then thousands and thousands more have lost their health, and we need to be there for them. they were there for us. >> well, i know kenny would be most appreciative of your efforts on that front, and i should say your daughter some ten years ago hied hit the nail on the head. this country will never be the same. representative carol maloney. thank you so much. >> thank you, alex, and thank you for your really coverage of this emotional, important remembrance. >> well, i'll be down there tomorrow, so it's going to be an emotional day for certain. thank you so much. the latest on the memorial service being held today in pennsylvania to honor those who died on flight 93. [ hayden ] what if there was a makeup

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the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 marks a decade of war for the united states. american troops in afghanistan recall what inspired them to join the sxefrt what they hope for the next ten years. let's go to attia who has been living in afghanistan for the past three years and has been in and out of the region for six. what do the service members think the successes and failures have been over the past decade, as we say good morning to you? >> good morning, alex. well, it's interesting when you talk to the service members here in afghanistan because many of these men and women have been on multiple deployments, whether it be in iraq or afghanistan, and we talk to them just as we did yesterday at a base here in kabul, they'll say that they are tired. they want to go home. they want their colleagues and their brothers and their sisters to go home, but at the same time they say that it's worth the fight here in afghanistan to prevent another 9/11. we actually went to a base at the cab ool military airport here, and we spoke to somary

force men and women, and what they told us was that they are doing their job. they're trying to train the afghan army because that's where they're at at the moment, and they don't want to leave until that job is done because they're afraid of what may happen fp they leave too soon. alex wrshs. >> atia, do you ever get a sense, though, despite what you have just said that there is any dilution of the focus of why they are still there? >> you know, that's a very good question, alex, because i've been out with the military in different parts of afghanistan and going to a base here in kabul is completely different from going to a forward operating base, say, down in helmund or kumar province. they're battling the insurgency. when you speak to these men and women, many of them will tell you it's a really, really tough fight, but they're also at the same time confused. is this fight worth it or not? not necessarily for the fight that they're seeing. it's because they're seeing

their comrades, some of them dying in battle. others being injured, but at the same time hearing the fighting back home between politicians saying we should pull out, we should stay. , the war is worth it, the war is not worth it. it's confusing to them, but at the same time each and every one of them will tell you that they have a job, and they're here to do their job and what they're going to do is follow what their commanders tell them to do. >> and how about the afghan people? to what extent do you think they are aware of the tenth anniversary of the huge deal that it is across this country and the sentiments that american people have? what are they feeling today? >> that's another interesting point that you made just a few days ago. we went to kabul university. some educated young afghans, we spoke to them. we also spoke to people out on the street to get their opinions of the last ten years, and the majority of them will tell you that in the beginning of the war, they were very excited

about the americans coming to afghanistan. they thought that their lives would change from the dismal lives that they lived under the taliban and before that a civil war and before that the soviet war. some of them will tell you that they're very, very disappointed in what has happened in the last ten years. they feel that not enough has been done. what has been shown for is a corrupt government, military force that's still fighting the taliban ten years later, but what's interesting, alex, is when you talk to afghan women and girls, women who lived through the taliban, women who were not allowed an education, were not allowed to have a job, were not even allowed to go outside of their homes without a male relative, they'll tell you their lives have drastically changed in the last ten years for the better. we spoke to girls going to university, going to school, having jobs, women who are in parliament now who are now business women here in afghanistan, opportunities that they would not have had if the international community did not

come to afghanistan. >> well, there is something that is very good to talk about and focus on. thanks for doing that. meanwhile, back here at home it's a time for reflection on many fronts, including those who covered the events of 9/11. in a special airing on msnbc tomorrow night nbc news correspondents and anchors share their stories about covering the attacks and focus on the family members who came to lower manhattan searching for any signs of their loved ones. here's nbc news special correspondent tom brokaw. ♪ >> reporter: that night we were starting to get the families coming into lower manhattan looking for loved ones whom they had not heard from, and i was particularly taken with a gray-haired mother from new jersey i later discovered saying has anybody seen tommy swift? >> who are you looking for? >> my son, thomas swift.

>> reporter: she looked like the mother of all my friends, and i remember thinking that's the emblematic mother. that's the mother of all of us. it's been ten years, and i'm still affected by it. >> can you watch the special 9/11 in our own words. it airs tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern right here on msnbc. and today at noon eastern we're going to bring you live coverage of flight 93 memorial ceremony in shanksville, pennsylvania. then at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow we're going to have live coverage of all of the ceremonies held at ground zero. president obama vowed to take his message on jobs to the american people. he is going to do just that in ohio and north carolina next week. in richmond, virginia, yesterday the president said he is optimistic about bipartisan support for his plan. >> to their credit, i was glad

to hear some republicans, including your congressmen, say that they see room for us to work together. i know that folks sometimes think they've used up the benefit of the doubt, but i'm an eternal optimist. >> joining us me now msnbc political analyst charlie coock, are you an eternal optimist? >> i've been pretty down, but thanks for having me on anyway. >> regardless of how you feel about it, you are a veteran of the politics and of reading the public mood, charlie. do you think the president's speech reached people in a different way than other jobs speeches? >> you know, i think a lot of it is how -- where you stand depends on where you sit, and i had lots of democratic friends that were so excited and energized and thought, you know, where has this guy been and i hope he sticks around. he was feistier. you know, when you sort of look

at the numbers and about 31 million -- the ratings show about 31 million people saw it in a country of 312 million. that means about 10%. you have to assume that the vast majority of people that watched it either were people that really liked and approve of the president or really dislike and did hes approve of what he says and does. so the thing is, very few people that watched it were really sort of malleable people. people whose minds were up in the air, up for grabs, that sort of thing. i think, you know, the proposals he suggested, you know, looch them were very, very, very reasonable, but i think there's a lot of doubt about how good it will do. that we should have done, you know, a lot of big, big, big huge amount of infrastructure back in 2009, 2010 that would be really kicking in right now, and, you know, instead it was sort of a little unphobinged, undirected, and so i think right now there's not a lot we can do right now. >> you know, you wrote this article that i've gone over with

a fine-tooth comb before the speech, and you write how the public may have already hit mute on the president, that they don't want to hear any more words. they just want some results. of course, you are getting that echoed sentiment from some of our elected officials. not surprisingly senator jim demint. that said, how do you think this is going to play into the next 14 months of the president's re-election campaign? >> i think when voters -- when americans get really, really down on washington and politicians, they just hit the mute button. were as the mute button on the president. i don't think they're listening to democratic or republican leaders in congress. i think they're not listening to politicians at all. they're just very frustrated. i think they've hit the mute button. nothing is going to get their attention until they see results, until they see, you know, unemployment coming down, until they see economic growth

returning. they've gotten cynical. speeches by either side really won't do a whole lot. >> i was going to ask you who is in the better position and give you an either/or, but i'll ask you who is in the best position today? republicans, democrats, congress, the president? i mean, who is hitting the right tone from the public's perspective, if anyone? >> well, i -- if i were running for president, i would rather be someone who is not a current member of congress, is not a member -- not anybody in washington right now. somebody that's on the outside that can say i -- you know, i would do x, y, and z and have no culpability whatsoever for anything that's happened the last two and a half years. that could be -- you know, that could be any number of people. >> any of those people come from those that were speaking the gop debate on wednesday night? >> well, i think being the alternative to an incumbent president with unemployment in the 9.1% range, somewhere in

there right now, any of those people have certain advantages. at this point the president, he is not just running -- he won't just be running against an opponent, is he going to be running against himself and running against where the country is right now, but, you know, what i see sort of happening on the republican side is this. among the somewhat conservative side, about one-third of the republican party, mitt romney has it wrapped up, and the real competition is on the side of the republican party that's really, really, really conservative, and the question in my mind is this. does michelle bachmann flood him out and basically start really dropping and allow rick perry to consolidate the far right side and then start sort of moving to the middle, be more presidential, maybe dial back the texan stuff a little bit and become more of an electable candidate or is there a perry-bachmann fight where

they're trying to out flank each other to the right for the next six months and where he becomes less electable. that's the $64 thou,000 question. >> it's all tbas. thank you so much, charlie cook. the sharp tip on wall street. what it could mean if the markets don't level out. [ male announcer ] the most headroom per dollar of any car in america. from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all.

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citracal. [ male announcer ] the most legroom per dollar of any car in america. from $10,990. the all-new nissan versa sedan. innovation upsized. innovation for all. 46 past the hour. we give i a look at teams square where there is definitely stepped up security. not only there, but throughout new york city. this, of course, as we approach the anniversary of 9/11 in this xhem raegs tomorrow. not the least of which being because of the credible terror threat of three men having traveled to the united states allegedly to perhaps cause mayhem via car or truck bombs in either new york city or washington. i'm joined now live by republican new york congressman peter king, chairman of the hmgs committee who joins me from ground zero. representative king, it's good to see you. my question to you, sir, when were you first notified about this potential al qaeda plot,

and what can you tell us about it? >> i was first notified early thursday morning. it was during the briefing of the homeland security and fbi. later on thursday i received another briefing from the president's homeland security advisor. until then there had really been no threats at all. there had been a full court press. this came up, as i understand, it late wednesday, early thursday morning, and since then, it's been very intense trying to track it down, trying to see if it's real or not, and if it is real, to make sure that we stop it. >> representative king, how much do you think our concern is attributable to this one credible source or to all of the information we found in the raid on osama bin laden's compound or the sheer fact that when you look at the calendar, the significance of this weekend? >> i would say all of that, but probably the most important is getting a specific plot plan. i had been doing this for a

number of years. usually you get bits and pieces and have you to worry about connecting the dots. that'sen the case here. it's also the way it was obtained. it was very reliable. however, it cannot be confirmed. there is no secondary source. that's what's being done right now. now, as far as what was found in bin laden's treasure-trove, if you will, obviously we found he didn't want to do something prior on or about september 11th, though that's a factor, but i don't believe this specific plot was hatched out of bin laden's compound. this was something that occurred sense then, but it's part of the overall osama bin laden theory of wanting to attack us on september 11th, and also, again, you put all that together, and that's why this is getting so much baenks e attention. i'm still hoping it's nothing, but i want to make sure that we track it down as much as we can. >> when you talk about the details, and you say this is the most specific/credible threat

that you have seen, how concerned does that make you? what was your first reaction when you heard that? does it strike fear? here we are ten years later. >> no, actually, it's more specific. whether it's the most credible or not, i can't say. it's the most specific. i don't have fear. this is not september 10th, 2001, where information was being pigeon holed or stowe piped and police ask fbi and cia weren't working together. now there's total cooperation. i am very confident. i would urge every new yorker, every american not to be afraid. do whatever you were going to do before. we can't live in fear, and i have tremendous confidence in the federal, state, and local officials. plus, our international allies are also working with us that if there is a plot, we can stop it and find out if there is one or not, and if there is, we're going to stop it. we can't give in, and, again, this is ten years later. we've made enormous progress. >> as you look behind you at the beautiful reflecting pools and

the trees that have been planted and all that is to come, what crosses your mind of how far we have come in the last ten years? >> thinking back down here with president bush on september 14th, 2001, and i used to work right across the street from the world trade center when it was being built. i remember that day thinking that i was in nagasaki or hiroshima. it was just a wasteland. it was devastation. i lost so many friends and neighbors that day. to be honest, i was wondering if we could come back, but we have come back stronger than ever. this is absolutely beautiful. it means so much to so many families here. tomorrow i'll be meeting with families today and tomorrow. in many ways september 11th, as tragic as it was, it was america's finest hour in many ways. it shows that that american spirit cannot be put down, that we will fight and fight and come back stronger than ever. thanks god for the police, the firefighters who started that

comback that day, and since then all our service men and so many people. really in the country and the national spirit. in new york, we take pride in saying that the spirit that really eminated right here from the flames of ground zero. >> yeah. we're also thankful for our political leaders, our elected official who's helped see us through as well. thank you so much, representative peter king. >> alex, thank you very much. next, the story of survival. you'll hear from a woman who was late for work that day and that saved her life. to keep in balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage

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oerl the morning september 3,slun laura manning waited in the lobby, a fireball exploded from the elevator shaft. her life was changed forever. laurenites wrights about her survival and transformation "unmeasured strength." look sog fabulous these ten years later. lauren, thank you for being here, and you were running late for work, and it saved your

life? >> yeah. through a bit of luck, as you'll have it. i was running late, and it saved my life. as many people felt that day, because they were late, they were stopping for coffee or whatever it was, it changed their world, and for me it was a narrow miss, but i still had a fighting chance. >> where were you supposed to have been, had you been on time? >> i would have been on the 105th flooth floor. >> you wouldn't have had a chance? >> not at all. >> not a prayer. >> my husband was due that day to be on windows of the world. we both normally would have cabbed it down earlier together, and our son would have been an orphan. >> you were hit by this fireball, as we said, coming from the elevator shaft, and that irrevokably changed your life. you almost did not make it. what is it that made you survive and be successful and healthy as you are today? >> i think it was a combination of things. certainly my odds dwindled and were near zero for a very

extended period of time. i saw the vision of my son as i ran across that street. we had tried so long and so hard to have him, and i hadn't had him long enough, so he was a primary driving force coupled with after coming out of the induced coma almost two months later i had not yet learned how many had died, so many friends and colleagues and so many others gone, and the way i figured it was i had a fighting shot and i was going to take it. i wasn't going let them have one more. >> how much do you remember of that day? >> i remember everything. i had absolutely the necessity to remain conscious and a part of the world. it would have been far easier to succumb to the agony and pain and let myself go under, so everything was very hyper-real, and i remember every moment, every breath, you know, every

hour that i rited in pain really before they were able to put my under. >> and here we are ten years later, and with so much being made of the events of that day, where does that put you emotionally this weekend, lauren? >> emotionally there is certainly an ever present sense when i simply look down at myself and know and understand that the tragedy and terror is in a sense never far away. i really pause at this time always particularly think of friends and colleagues and so many that are gone, and i rejoice really in that we as a people and a country have been able to move forward. maybe not move on, but we're all pretty tough, and we toughed this one out, and we're moving on. >> yeah. you moved on in a big way as a mom as well because you had your son at the time that was certainly an inspiration for you, and you have gone on to have another baby, who is almost 2, right?

>> yes. that's certainly a lot of what i read about later on when you cling to that hope and that belief certainly after what i went through, i thought having another child might be very difficult, but certainly something i could handle. it turned into a multi-year process with a lot of disappointment and frustration, and finally, against all odds, we welcomed our second son almost two years ago through a gestational carrier. wonderful woman. >> that's wonderful. your health, lauren, where does it stand today? are you through the horrible surgeries and all of the challenges that you had? i mean, are you ol solid footing now? >> i'm on as solid footing as i can be. there really is no end point. it's a continual struggle forward, but i've come a long way, and i feel good, and today i'll take that and i'll look forward in the next as long as i've got. >> what an aptly titled book "unmeasured strength." i can't wait to read it. you are an inspir