i'm joined now by michael sheehan. orning, michael. >> good morning, alex. >> let's talk about the timing of this. what's the ideology behind trying to blow that plane up midair as opposed to there or philadelphia or somewhere else. >> obviously, a modern terrorist would prefer to get his attack on video and get that loop on the cable channel. but for an aircraft that's flying over the ocean, you're probably not going to get that vid video. on the other hand, that small plane will blow a hole in the airplane and at those high altitudes, it will make the plane break up. without video or blow it up or a tarmac but maybe not at devastating -- >> when they say eastern seaboard, were they hoping it would open up over ground and things would come raining down? perhaps, but that's risky. what if you don't get that right and it's ove some remote area? again, it's a trade off we're trying to reach between getting this spectacular video. >> let's talk about this crucial tip which came from a saudi ip formant. the department of ho

joining me now is michael sheehan. are you surprised by the report? what is happening there? tamron, i'm not surprised. it's not the first time and it won't be the last time someone is swindled by an afghan war lord. it's a very difficult environment. it's really an embarrassment for the afghan political leadership who are supposed to have a better hand ob who these people are. we also have to sort these people out. it's very important that we continue to probe the taliban. and try to peel portions of the orgs off. >> you have the pentagon spokesperson saying he doesn't know if the story is true, but listen to the details that this person, supposed to be number two taliban official, wouldn't they have a photograph, some intelligence before having high level or secret conversations with this individual? >> well, i'm not sure he met with the president. if he had gotten all the way up to the president, this would be a major mistake on the part of the officials in charge of that. but they really need to know who they're dealing with and continue this initiative to find out who th

well, michael sheehan, as always, many thanks. >>> 200 students involved in a cheating scandal at the florida have come forward and confessed. a professor got an anonymous tip that students had got advanced copies of his midterm exam. any student who turned themselves in could stay in that class after taking an ethics course. students who kept quiet would be expelled. nearly 600 students had to retake that exam this week and 15 students believed to have cheated did not confess. >>> some big surprises at the box office this weekend. "unstoppable" is proving to be very popular with moviegoers. the total adrenaline rush stars densele washington in a race to stop an unmanned train. check it out. >> you're going to get us killed. >> hey! [ train horn blows ] >> yeah. okay. joining me now in studio, dawn yan yanek. did you see this one coming, this runaway train? >> "mega mind" was supposed to dominate the box office for the second weekend in a row. family fare does really well at the box office. people had been comparing its trajectory to "how to train your dragon" but it's neck and neck w