i want to go straight to alan chernoff in new york.llan, getting new information about possible suspects tied to this alleged terror plot around the 9/11 anniversary. what have you got? >> we've been talking about the potential for a truck bomb, a vehicle bomb in new york or washington, d.c. we have new information from my colleague susan candiotti who spoke to a u.s. government official briefed on this investigation. according to that information, the three people that are supposed to be be lined this alleged threat, two of them americans of arab descent. according to the official they entered the united states from the afghanistan-pakistan region last week. the u.s. has been using flight logs an manifests to confirm that information. the third individual believed to be traveling now in europe. again, these are described as credible, a credible threat, but again, not confirmed, meaning not confirmed by a second or third source to the united states. >> i think i heard you correctly. i want to make sure our viewers did as well. a little

senior correspondent alan chernoff joins us now on the phone from new york. ere he is not on the phone but there you are live and in person. alan, how are authorities, you know, reacting, responding to this possible plot? >> reporter: the police ourt in force all across manhattan today. there are checkpoints just like this set up in downtown manhattan near the financial district right near ground zero. midtown especially near times square and here at the beginning of the upper west side we're standing at 60th street and columbus avenue. what the police are doing is they are visually inspecting all vehicles. they have to pass just one lane, trucks and vans are being pulled over and asked to open up. police take a look inside. one truck pulling over. they'll ask the driver to open up so they can look inside. the police are wearing radioactivity detectors on their bodies. they're like large pagers and they'll go off if there is any radioactivity so they're checking for dirty bombs as well. on top of that the police have license plate readers at bridges and tunnel

alan chernoff at ground zero with how new yorkers are reacting the the threat. when we do see the former president come out, we will share that with you. alan, let me start with you -- if i have to break in, i apologize, alan. we're watching this live event take place in washington right now. ly start with you. tell me the mood of the city today, a day before the tenth anniversary? >> reporter: september 11th is a day that really haunts all americans, but particularly new yorkers. new york as a result of the terror threat and the fact that the tenth anniversary is upon us is really on high alert. there are police checkpoints throughout manhattan. police are very carefully reviewing cars that are moving by, especially vans and trucks. they've been asking drivers to pull over, open up their contents. they take a look inside. they're also wearing radiation detectors. they've been sweeping parking garages, all in search of a potential bomb. that is the believed threat. that is really what the police are doing. in terms of new yorkers, they are frankly prepared for al

let me turn to our senior correspondent, cnn's senior correspondent alan chernoff in new york for us. with a lot of security in new york. they're used to it. how are the police checkpoints still causing fits? >> reporter: certainly used to it, t.j. here we go again. a major police presence all through manhattan. we've got checkpoints just like this in lower manhattan, midtown near times square and over here at the beginning of the upper west side as well as further uptown. what's happening here is that the police officers are not only visually scanning vehicles, but they're also pulling aside trucks and vans. let's have a look over here. you can see an officer there has just pulled over a truck. he's asking the driver to open up. he'll talk a look inside. that's been happening on and on again. one truck driver just a little while ago told me that he had taken an hour and a half to travel three miles. t.j., that means the traffic backed up and you'll see it in a moment, the traffic is basically moving at about two miles an hour. now, in addition to the visual scans, the officers are al

eye on the increased security there and cnns a senior correspondent allan chernoff is at ground zero for me this morning. alant with you. what's the mood of the city? >> t.j., the mood is one of tension, but it's tension that has been experienced for the past ten years. so frankly, this tightened security that we have had in place since yesterday, something that new yorkers unfortunately are very, very used to. it's the drill once again. we all knew it would be tight before the tenth anniversary, but, perhaps a little tighter because of this newest terror threat. so police have had checkpoints throughout manhattan, stopping vehicles, especially vans and trucks, looking inside. they are, in particular, targeting license plates that are rentals. that the license plates indicate that these are rental vehicles. they've also been wearing radiation detectors and they've been scanning plates at bridges and tunnels, so t.j., tight stuff, long traffic yesterday, very bad traffic jams, but most new yorkers understand this is part of the new world created post-9/11. >> all right. and alan, to our athena jones, we'll go

i want to move on to al earn chernoff over the a check point in manhattan where inspections are under way. what's going on where you are, alanctions were so tight earlier that drivers and people in the community were complaining to the city. traffic was just crawling and crawling for miles back. so the cordon here. we know what type of vehicles to pull aside. earlier they were pulling aside every van and truck coming over. they say they are particularly looking for vehicles with license plates indicating that they are rentals. the officers here also have a device that can measure radio activity. it's larger than the box here. the audio box that i have. if there were radio activity detected, it would vibrate. the lead offs said he had vibration earlier. it was from an oil tanker turned out to be nothing. they checked the vehicle inside out. they have been toing away vehicles that are parked illegally. a lot of that going around the city and also they are checking license plates. the police have scanners at bridges and tunnels and uls in the streets that are able to scan all the license plates on a block. immediately put those