whether or not the breakdown in security came in nigeria or amsterdam, it's surprising for amsterdam.s to be looked at very, very carefully. after what we've gone through over the last eight years, no one should be able to get devices on the plane. between nigeria and amsterdam something happened in one place or the other. or maybe both. >> you don't know yet specifically whether this person who was on the plane from amsterdam to detroit originated in nigeria? in other words, whether their immediate previous flight would have been from nigeria? >> he did border the plane in nigeria. >> i just know he got in nigeria. whether he left one plane for another, i don't know. >> i understand that -- or you believe you know the name of the identity. we're not in a position to say that on cnn yet. we are working to confirm that. that said, representative, what do you know about the motivation behind this or the connection this person might have with terrorist organizations? >> caller: my understanding is his name was in the data base. he has al qaeda connections. extremist connections. his name

amsterdam, we've seen recently, also been security instances on amsterdam departing flights. but amsterdam could be an area of increased al qaeda targeting because of the mohammad cartoon that is came out of there a few years ago. ironically this plane was heading to detroit, which is the largest population of muslims in american. that also speaks to the hypocrisy of these terrorists. so there's a lot of issues going on here. but air travel is still a very ripe target for terrorist of all stripes. >> r.p. and peter, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> given what peter and r.p. just said, a lot of attention is now turning to security, as in where did it break down? hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks has new information on that and joins us on the phone. >> good to be with you. i'm hearing from my federal law enforcement and airline security sources that apparently this man got on this northwest flight off of a flight that originated in nigerian but it was a clm flight. i used to travel from washington, d.c. to africa through the airport. and very, very good security there.

one of them going back to amsterdam. asked our pilot just after we landed whether he had heard anything about this incident. and he recapped what we had initially heard. there was a guy with a firecracker. but we have spoken with officials familiar with current airport security in the united states. that official tells us within the next 12 to 24 hours what law enforcement is really working to find out is whether this was a lone jihadist or some sort of a internet recruit who's identified himself with al qaeda or whether he's part of something larger. it likely comes down to the explosive device itself. the big question on law enforcement's minds right now, this passenger was able to get the device from lagos, nigeria, to amsterdam virtually into u.s. air space. the question, why did the explosive device burn and not necessarily detonate or did it detonate but not burn as fully as it was supposed to? and that really is a big question because being able to bring it on but having it not work properly at the last moment, th

didn't say pacing oddly but pacing during that layover in amsterdam. but that wasn't enough to alert authorities to do any further screening. >> larry: we'll pick up with this panel in a few moments. what is president obama's reaction to this yesterday and today? ed henry will tell us right after the break. (announcer) nothing matches that dentist level of clean. but you can take home that dentist smooth clean feeling with oral-b rechargeable brushes. dentist inspired cupping action sweeps away up to twice as much plaque as a regular manual brush. oral-b rechargeable brushes. starting at $22. >> larry: we'll be right back with the panel. president obama is in vacation in hawaii. what kind of briefings has he gotten about the terror incident and what is he saying? ed henry joins us. what is he saying and getting? >> reporter: larry, behind the scenes this president is getting a lot of information. it started very early this morning, about 6:20 hawaii time, about five hours back from the east coast of the united states. the president got a secured briefi

then he went to amsterdam.nderstand he was held in a sanitized area, in other words an area that would segregate him from the general population of the airport because he is transiting to another transatlantic flight. no screening. he is being held in this sanitized area. now from there to detroit. so what we're talking about is a possibility now, i'm saying a possibility, that the only screening this guy had was lagos, nigeria. give me a break, okay. if he did, in fact, get screened in -- >> larry: not screened in amsterdam? >> if he was screened in amsterdam, the screening was typical to what we do today. certainly he did not have what we call whole body image screening which is the only answer to this problem. >> larry: back with more after this. this is a honda pilot. and this is the chevy traverse. it has more cargo space than pilot. and traverse beats honda on highway gas mileage too. more fuel efficient and 30% more room. maybe traverse can carry that stuff too. now during the chevy red tag event, get an

same flight from amsterdam to detroit. disrupted and attacked on christmas day. what sparked the security alert this time? and then controversial remarks from the homeland security. >> everybody is traveling today. if you get past security. >> larry: the airlines flight that was the target on christmas day, the security scare today. and larry, it's the dramatic de ja vu that be began shortly afternoon. there's word inbound coming to detroit, where on board the pilots have declared and it revealed. and coming from the same city of or wry jin, amsterdam, and discovered the flight. and and eventually federal authorities revealed that it was a passenger and without this dramatically different and passengers were called off. but it shows you, larry, that two days after the attack, the nerves are high and and it turns out and going back and forth and fairly innocent and in 250u today's modern world nick robinson, you're in london where the suspect and and very, very devout and a trusting point that the teacher told you about. and students in the classroom told apart fr

he was screened in amsterdam. if the united states authorities had not sent information from their watch list back down the line to the airports in those various places, why would they have thought to do a second research on him? there has to be a reason. unless of course, as we've now moved to the new situation, larry, where everyone is being patted down and everyone's hand baggage is being opened up. but that is creating delays. i can tell you flights today from britain to the u.s., some of them left three or four hours late. >> larry: you're familiar with watch lists. can you break down how they work or how they don't work? >> larry, with watch lists we are entering the twilight zone. the fact is 500,000 people on one list, tens of thousands on another, and a few thousand on the famous no-fly list. the crucial part is not how you get on them but how you get off them because remember, there are many americans who are on one or other of these lists who are desperate to try and get off them. this is all about a ba

he arrives in amsterdam on christmas day. the dutch interior minister says nothing seems amiss before he boards northwest flight 253 for detroit. >> ( translated ): the suspect did not leave the customs area at schiphol during his transfer. he spent the usual transfer time, a couple of hours as per the norm, in the airport's international lounge. as per protocol, he had to pass a security gate within the customs area at schiphol, a metal detector, and this presented no irregularities. >> reporter: hours later, abdulmutallab's flight was on final approach to detroit, when he allegedly tried to set off the bomb and was overpowered. now, as he sits in a federal prison in michigan, his ties to yemen and its growing al-qaeda presence have come under intense new scrutiny. today, security forces stormed an al-qaida hide-out along yemen's western coast, and arrested at least one suspect. and the deputy interior minister declared his government "will continue its strikes against the group until it is totally eliminated." and officials

it was unclear friday why he allegedly wanted to attack the flight already from amsterdam.passengers subdued him as he allegedly tried to detonate a -- an explosive device that failed. it was unclear how the man identified by federal officials managed to get the explosive on the plane. it was a plane carrying 270 passengers that departed from amsterdam with passengers who originated in nigeria. a senior administration officials said the government did not yet know whether the man had the capacity to take down the plane. the article goes on to say that a federal counterterrorism official who asked not to be identified said that the suspect was apparently in a government law enforcement intelligence data base but it is not clear what extremist groups or individuals he might be linked to. ubt "the washington post," the suspect's name appears to be included in the government's record of terrorism suspects. he has told federal investigators that he has ties to al qaeda and traveled to yemen to collect the incendiary device and instructions on how to use it. we want to find out f

flight 253 originatein amsterdam, and the dut terior minister said initial findings appear to conrm al- qaeda's claim of resnsibility. >> ( translated ): the first nclusions of the investigati are that thereparations for the failed attack wereairly professional, but that t execution was amateurish. secondly, thexplosives used wereeither easy to handle r risk-free to prere. the way it was used d the explosives compa to those used in previous attacks. the spect had a valid visa for e united states. e passenger list presented prior to the flight did not ve the us a rean to ask for additial security measures. >> reporter: the bom- made of the chemical p.e.t.n.-- wa hien in abdulmutallab's clothi, and failed to go off. that lefthe airliner intact on e tarmac, but it also left continuing questio about what u.s. intelligence knew ahe of time. was widely reported today the had been al-qaeda "chatter" about a "nigian" being prepared for an unspecified tack. that information hasurfaced in a revi that president obama ordered. and made clear yesterday, he's not happy with whate's hearing. >> when

kooch amsterdam.look at how airport security is already changes. the new policies that have been put in place. if you're flying, you definitely want to know what they are. it's a busy he night, larry, and starts at the top of the hour. we'll see you then. >> larry: that's erica hill on top of the scene. we meet representative sheila jackson-lee, a member of the homeland security committee and chairs the subcommittee on transportation security and infrastructure protection. representative ron paul is a republican of texas, member of the international relations committee. he was a flight surgeon in the air force and obgyn in civilian life. and ben stein the economist attorney, former presidential speech writer, columnist with "fortune" magazine. representative lee, were you satisfied with the president's statement today, and do you think we're now getting on top of things? >> absolutely, larry. i believe the president has always been on top of this issue of securing the homeland. it is not a partisan is

an incident on a plane from amsterdam to detroit today. we have found out that the president has been briefed and homeland security speaking out about what was a disturbing and confusing incident on the northwest flight today. the plane was at the end of the journey from amsterdam and landing in detroit when this all happened. a lot of new details coming in within the last hour. kate bolduan has been on the story for us all day since has happened. what is the latest? >> well, bear with me, t.j., because i am going the read a little bit because we are getting new information from a source in detroit. i will give you a couple of lines and then some background here. this is a federal bulletin that has been obtained by cnn, and we are told that the passenger we have been talking about on this flight from amsterdam to detroit is a nigerian national, and the bulletin says that this person has been taken into custody and has been taken to a hospital to be treated for burns received from the explosion. it goes on to say, and i will read what this

they saw a mysterious well-dressed man helping the suspect board the flight in amsterdam. all that and plus a look at how airport security is already changing the new policies that have been put in place, and if you're flies, you want to know what they are. it's busy and starts at the top of the hour. we'll see you then. >> larry: that's eric hill on top of the scene. we meet representative sheila jackson-lee and she's a he member of the homeland security committee and she chairs the subcommittee on transportation security and infrastructure protection. representative ron paul is a republican of texas, member of the international relations committee. he was a flight surgeon in the air force and ob/gyn in civilian life and ben stooin and columnist with "for tyne." >> were you satisfied with the president's statement today? >> absolutely, larry. i believe the president has always been on top of this issue of securing the homeland. it is not a partisan issue, democratic issue or republican issues. he stood today and indicated we're now moving forward to some items we've alrea

not something you do every day. >> ricky, what did you think about the security in amsterdam?at too? do you now go back and think, how did this guy get on and go through in your head what you had to go through to get on the plane? >> yes, well, unfortunately, when i thought back, we were talking about him, my family and i, and the security was nothing compared to how it is in the united states. we walked through and did not have to take our shoes off. also, my mother had a water

it was unclear friday why he allegedly wanted to attack the flight already from amsterdam.passengers subdued him as he allegedly tried to detonate a -- an explosive device that failed. it was unclear how the man identified by federal officials managed to get the explosive on the plane. it was a plane carrying 270 passengers that departed from amsterdam with passengers who originated in nigeria. a senior administration officials said the government did not yet know whether the man had the capacity to take down the plane. the article goes on to say that a federal counterterrorism official who asked not to be identified said that the suspect was apparently in a government law enforcement intelligence data base but it is not clear what extremist groups or individuals he might be linked to. ubt "the washington post," the suspect's name appears to be included in the government's record of terrorism suspects. he has told federal investigators that he has ties to al qaeda and traveled to yemen to collect the incendiary device and instructions on how to use it. we want to find out f

he boarded the plane in lagos and cleared security there as well as in amsterdam where the flight made a stop-over. the jet was on final approach to detroit when abdulmutallab allegedly tried to ignite explosives concealed under his clothing. authorities said he used a syringe to inject triggering chemicals into a small bag of crystal even explosives known as pcpn. instead of blowing up, the bag simply caught fire then passengers and crew subdued the suspect. abdulmutallab was treated for burns and sent to a low-security federal pli son in michigan, about 45 miles south of detroit. on sunday homeland security secretary defended the government's handling of the case. >> the system worked. everybody played an important role here. the passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action. within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 flights in the air had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred on the northwest airlines flight. >> ifill: but by this morning napolitano did concede that system failure. >> i don't any think s

he had a one-way ticket from lagos to amsterdam and amsterdam to detroit. he checked no bags, carrying just a small backpack. the suspect's banker dad had warned the u.s. embassy in november that his son had become radicalize and had mean a danger. the ongoing assault on al qaeda in yemen, including two massive rounds of air strikes at terrorist leaders, should have heightened vigilance for revenge. and they also write here in "the daily news," an al qaeda operative in yemen made an online video december 21 threatening the u.s. for revenge on the air strikes, saying, "we are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of god." and a look at the suspect from "the daily news." am illinois, good morning to phillip on our independent line s. more airport -- good morning to you, phillip. go ahead. caller: happy new year, sir. this is such a complicated course here. as far as more security at the airports, granted, it could be a little bit more secure, a little bit like i've heard the zearls, it's like a four-hour wait to get on a plane compared to america. they say two h

alleged underwear bomber, details, of course, which did not stop had him from boarding that flight in amsterdamast week. we are keeping them honest tonight, taking a look as well at the recommendations made by the 9/11 commission. those recommendations came out five and a half years ago, all made to prevent exactly this type of scenario, recommendations to keep us safe. knowing that, you might think all the things the panel suggested were put into place or at least the majority of them. think again. joe johns breaking it down for us. >>> a much lighter note, ready for tomorrow night, anderson and cathy griffin lighting up times square. cathy is going to join us live to tell us what we can expect. also hear from her what she thinks are the top stories of the year. one of the favorite people i know, so brace yourself, larry. at the top of the hour. >> i will brace. erica hill, 10 eastern, 7 pacific. we all better brace. we reach you had out to charlie sheen or his representatives to come on the show, they declined or they didn't even give us a statement. with us is yale galanter, old friend, atto

robert khan of baltimore said everything happened so fast on the northwest flight from amsterdam, he sat six rows in front of abdulmutallab who is charged with trying to destroy an airliner using an explosive hidden in his underwear. president obama said on tuesday, the intelligence community had bits of information that should have triggered red flags and possibly prevented the attempted terror attack. >>> the time is 5:05. time for a "living $mart" report. our first one of the morning. digital correspondent jessica doyle is here with a look ahead on wall street. >>> i will tell you the six-day rally came to an end on wall street yesterday. but we have high hopes. we will have to see if investors will buy again. trading was light yesterday with the dow down a point and a half. it stands at 10545. the nasdaq lost nearly three points and the s&p 500 fell by 1.5. >>> outback steak house is settling a discrimination suit. it will pay $19 million to female workers and hire. the ee cbs c filed a lawsuit against outback in 2006. it claimed that female workers were denied favorable position

the problem is, this happened over in amsterdam and nigeria.he problem is not the united states right now other than we are not getting all of the information from our cia and it is not being passed on. the problem started overseas. these people should not be allowed to come to the united states unless they are fairly vetted, before they even get on the airplanes. that is the problem. thank you, pedro, and i hope you do have a happy new year. host: two perspectives on imaging machines. it says full body imaging machines can show potential weapons underneath but it is also -- concerns over privacy over renewed debate over airport security. one quote comes from stored baker who says we need to begin looking more carefully and more nuanced, not just weapons. it means we are going to that and getting used to the idea that people doing the screening will know more about you. but also quotes a representative, republican from utah who sponsored a bill to limit the use of imaging machines. he writes, the big question to our country is how to balance th

is true, thatis -- someone needto look really seriously w that happened >> ifill: thatirport in amsterdam at you are saying whate have in place nowthe screeng process is just not adequate? >> oh, totally inadequate. younow, iheard on the ld-in that they were not oing checks at the now doing checks at t gate. unless you do aery trusive pat-down, i.e., you have toeel parts of the bodyhere people don't like to be touched , that's where peopl would hide the explosis. unless they do a pper search, i would call i a police search, e se event could happen tomorrow. >> ifill: larry johnson, we've heard some description of how the man planned to pul this off. an explosivethat was somehow concealed his ody that he attempted to ignite. what dwe know about th substance. >> not a lot rightow. the initial report of petn but as it goes they will find anoth elosive called tapt, whichas been a hamark, a snature explosive used by al qaeda. ious ef first used it in decemberf 94 en he put a bomb on board an air philippines plane thatlue up. richard reed hadt in his shoe board with tetn that didn't blow up. an

it happened as the airbus 330 was coming in from amsterdam, the netherlands. a senior counterterrorism official quoted as saying the suspect tried to set off a bomb but it failed. initial reports said passengers set off firecrackers before being subdued. there were minor injuries reported. police in pakistan say they plan to charge five american muslims with violating their antiterror laws. the men were taken to a magistrate today after being detained earlier this month. they allegedly had maps of a pakistani air force base and power plants, plus emails linking them to militants. the pakistan case could hamper efforts to return the men to the u.s. to face charges of aiding a terrorist group. a christmas-eve bus crash in the andes mountains of peru killed at least 42 people, most farmers and merchants on their way home from the holidays. the bus plunged 250 feet into a ravine. the peru accidents often blamed on poorly maintained mountain roads and underregulated bus companies. at least 40,000 filipinos spent christmas day in shelters to escape the eruption of t

is tarted over in amsterdam. i'm sorry to interrupt the president's golf game, but two things he did not say. he did not say he made a call to the leaders of yemen. he did not say he made a call to anyone in amsterdam. to find out what was going on. he should have at least said we're investigating and i've made calls to the leaders to find out why this guy was let on a plane in the first place. the second thing is, the faa just spent $5 million on some lavish party. how much of that $5 million would have went for more dogs, more security in the united states? it seems like we're wasting money in one place where we should be spending money in another place. i used to be a screener at metro airport. this was before the tsa. this was well before the 9/11 issue, and we had maybe a two-day seminar on how to learn to screen and find bombs on people's luggage and stuff. we had people that were falling asleep if they come and work drunk just like the past laissez. but hopefully, that issue will be taken care of. but the

she wrote straight to am amsterdam and they sent the goods directly to her, and she did quite well. another source of income of hers and i hesitate to use that phrase because it was a long-term investment that didn't pay off during the war buzz vermont. was vermont. by the time the revolutionary war, the indians had been driven out of vermont, but it had not been thickly settled by europeans coming up from other colonies, so it was the wild frontier, a great place to the speculate in land because everybody knew it was eventually going to be settled. but also a risky place to do that because, you know, new york claimed most of vermont as part of new york easter story, and new hampshire -- new york easter story and new hampshire claimed the rest. people like ethan allen at the same time they were fighting the british were also fighting new york and new hampshire to claim that land. and some of these vermont representatives came to abigail adams and said, wouldn't you like to buy, buy in early to some of this land in vermont on behalf of your husband? and she did. now, there was a limi

umar had a one-way ticket from lagos to amsterdam and amsterdam to detroit.e checked no bags carrying just a small back pac. the suspect's banker dad had warned the u.s. embassy in november that his son might be a danger. the ongoing assault on al-qaeda in yemen including two massive rounds of air strikes and terrorist leaders should have heightened vigilance for revenge, and a an al-qaeda operative in yemen made an online video december 21st threatening the u.s. for revenge on the air strikes saying, quote, we are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of god. and a look at the suspect from the daily news in new york. good morning to phillip on our independent line, is more -- good morning, phillip, go ahead. >> caller: happy new year, sir. jeez, this is such a complicated course here. as far as more security at the airports, granted it could be a little bit more secure, i guess, a little bit more like i've heard the israelis, it's like a four-hour wait to get on a plane compared to america they say two hours. so i think they're a little bit more strict on their

on christmas day, northwest airlines flight 253 was en route from always always -- amsterdam, netherlands, to detroit. as the plane made its final approach to detroit metropolitan airport a passenger alleged tried to ignite an explosive device on his body, setting off a fire. thanks to the quick, heroic actions of passengers and crew, the passenger was immediately subdued, the fire put out and the plane landed safely. the suspect is now in custody charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft. a full investigation has been launched into this attempted act of terrorism and we will not rempt until we find all who are involved and hold them accountable. this was a serious reminder of the nature of the danger we face and of those who threaten our homeland. had the suspect succeeded in bringing down that plane it could have killed nearly 300 passengers and crew, innocent civilians preparing to celebrate the holidays with their families and friends. the american people should be assured we are doing everything in our power to keep you and your families safe and secure during this busy holiday

christmas day bomber, i do not understand why it is not brought up time and time again -- i think it was amsterdam-- my those employees -- why those employees are not held accountable. flying overseas with no luggage? host: thank you. talk about her intentions with bush and cheney, having a declining influence on the decade. guest: when you look at the major events of the decade, you can look at it in two levels. specific stories, like 9/11, like the 2008 election, iraq, afghanistan, hurricane katrina, or more thematically, and she did hit on some of the more important themes of american politics, such as the return of the imperial presidency. the return of a very assertive -- power accruing executive, which we saw in the bush years. guest: i wanted to make a comment about one thing she said -- bush not been the brightest light bulb in the house. he graduated four years from yale. jenny fluncked out. i think some of this name calling is not accurate. host: oregon. on our line for independents. caller: i think one of the defining event of the decade would be the shaping and evolution of the enterta

[applause] you came from near and far, you came from amsterdam, holland.al set in france, a distinguished senator of the parliament came from france. others came from all over, from the caribbean, from california, from miami, every place on earth i have lived and i have lived in a lot of places. [applause] you are here and and i'm not going to say you made an old man happy, you made a young man happy. and to have my family, my wife of more than 30 years it has given me his best years of my life. [applause] my son and daughters, stepdaughters and grandchildren, cousins and so many, many others. i cannot begin to name the because it would take too long and what i think of the times the speaker has given to this and the other members of the senate and house have given to this, i cannot intrude upon their job. this is a heady thing for me. it would be for anybody. i love this country. since the day i was born, and i was born here in the nation's capital. on october 26th, 1919. most of you were not there at that time. [applause] [applause] i'm here to tell you

christmas day bomber, i do not understand why it is not brought up time and time again -- i think it was amsterdam-- my those employees -- why those employees are not held accountable. flying overseas with no luggage? host: thank you. talk about her intentions with bush and cheney, having a declining influence on the decade. guest: when you look at the major events of the decade, you can look at it in two levels. specific stories, like 9/11, like the 2008 election, iraq, afghanistan, hurricane katrina, or more thematically, and she did hit on some of the more important themes of american politics, such as the return of the imperial presidency. the return of a very assertive -- power accruing executive, which we saw in the bush years. guest: i wanted to make a comment about one thing she said -- bush not been the brightest light bulb in the house. he graduated four years from yale. jenny fluncked out. i think some of this name calling is not accurate. host: oregon. on our line for independents. caller: i think one of the defining event of the decade would be the shaping and evolution of the enterta

[applause] you came from near and far, you came from amsterdam, holland.nce, a distinguished senator of the parliament came from france. others came from all over, from the caribbean, from california, from miami, every place on earth i have lived and i have lived in a lot of places. [applause] you are here and and i'm not going to say you made an old man happy, you made a young man happy. and to have my family, my wife of more than 30 years it has given me his best years of my life. [applause] my son and daughters, stepdaughters and grandchildren, cousins and so many, many others. i cannot begin to name the because it would take too long and what i think of the times the speaker has given to this and the other members of the senate and house have given to this, i cannot intrude upon their job. this is a heady thing for me. it would be for anybody. i love this country. since the day i was born, and i was born here in the nation's capital. on october 26th, 1919. most of you were not there at that time. [applause] [applause] i'm here to tell you that politics

on christmas day, northwest airlines flight 253 was on route from amsterdam to detroit.as the plane made its final approach to detroit, a passenger allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body, setting off a fire. thanks to the quick and heroic actions of passengers and crew, the suspect was immediately subdued and the fire was put out in the plane landed safely. the suspect is in custody and has been charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft. a full investigation has been launched into this attempted act of terrorism and we will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable. this was a serious reminder of the dangers we face and the nature of those who threaten our homeland. the suspect succeeded in bringing down that plane. it could have killed -- if the suspect succeeded it could have killed passengers and crew, innocent civilians preparing to celebrate the holidays. the american people should be assured we are doing everything in our power to keep you and your family is safe and secure during this busy holiday season. since