Homeland Security Announced New Airport Security Measures; Tropical Storm Arthur Threatens Carolina Coasts
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto, reporting from Washington. Wolf Blitzer is off today. We have breaking news out of the Department of Homeland Security concerning passenger screening at airports. We've just learned the Department of Homeland Security could announce new airport security measures as soon as today due to increased concern that terrorists are developing explosives designed to avoid detection by current security screening. We're told these would apply to airports in Europe, in the Middle East, elsewhere around the world, that are not up to this current threat. I'm going to bring in our justice reporter, Evan Perez, to talk more about this. This is a story you and I have been looking into for some time. How severe do we think this threat is, one? And two, how much of a change will it be for screening measures?</s>EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're talking about additional screenings at these airports in the Middle East, and especially the Middle East and Europe. The concern is really AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as you know, Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: And their famous bomb maker.</s>PEREZ: And their famous bomb maker. And they basically been working on new bomb designs, the U.S. believes, and according to intelligence. They believe these bomb designs are possibly able to evade detection. So out of an abundance of caution, they're going to increase screenings at these airports. Now, this is not going to effect what passengers are able to bring on board their flights. But this is just something they want to do. Jim, talking to your sources, I'm sure, this is a big security threat, you know, and they know that these guys are working to -- changing their bomb designs to be able to defeat the procedures that are already in place. So they're trying to make sure they can counteract that.</s>SCIUTTO: The concerns are direct flights to the U.S. The security in the U.S. only as good as the security at those airports. Mideast, Europe even, as well.</s>PEREZ: That's right. These are airports that I think, you know, raise particular concerns because they believe these are the likely places where these threats could come from.</s>SCIUTTO: I know you and I have talked about this. They know they're constantly trying to get past security measures. They know what the measures are. I'm sure they tested them out.</s>PEREZ: Right. Right.</s>SCIUTTO: How confident do you think DHS, the other counter-terror agencies are that the changes they make can counter the changes that we know the terrorists always make. This is a running battle they have to fight.</s>PEREZ: This is a running battle. The thing is, you want to make these security measures strong enough to be able to deter, obviously, the terrorists. At the same time, you want to bring comfort and you don't want to cause too much disruption, prevent people from taking flight. It's a balancing act. They're really -- they're trying to strike here.</s>SCIUTTO: No question. They always say it's measures you can see, measures you can't see.</s>PEREZ: That's right. Right.</s>SCIUTTO: All right, thanks very much, Evan Perez, our justice reporter. New changes, security measures to come. As we head into the busiest travel weekend of the summer, a major storm is threatening to make a mess the July 4th holiday for millions of people along the east coast. Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, is churning off the coast of Florida now, and it's expected to bring heavy and fierce wind to the Carolina coast tomorrow. It could grow that a category 1 hurricane. That will likely happen, we're told, tomorrow. Wilmington, North Carolina to Nags Head will likely see the worst of the storm, including damaging wave, and dangerous riptides for swimmers. Officials in North Carolina are busy preparing for this storm and warning residents of the potential dangers. Joining us live from Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks, right in the cross hairs, we have Warren Judge, the chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners. Now, as you see it coming your way what are the biggest concerns about this storm?</s>WARREN JUDGE, CHAIRMAN, DARE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: Our biggest concerns, Jim, are the road conditions on Hatteras Island.</s>SCIUTTO: Now, so what do you tell people to prepare? I imagine, you're telling them, as the storm gets worse, stay off those roads.</s>JUDGE: Well, we ask everybody, visitors and residents alike, to stay tuned to all of our news outlets here in the county, the county website. We have direct e-mail responses to any your inquiries. Telephone bank, newspapers. The local newspapers cover us, the radio stations. We ask everybody to get themselves -- to make themselves aware of what's going on, to listen to reports, and to stand by for instructions from us. Right now, residents and people's businesses -- we ask people to put up loose items and begin to prepare for the high winds that will reach us along around midnight thursday night. But today, we want everybody to enjoy themselves, have a good time, but keep an eye and an ear open as things develop. We have great means of getting information out, but we also need the folks to pay attention and to follow the advice of the emergency operations center.</s>SCIUTTO: I always know it's a tough balancing act for you, because, on the one hand, you want people to be prepared. You want to prevent damage and injury. On the other hand, you want people to enjoy the weekend as best they can. How do you manage that now? Is it really just about giving the latest best information up to the minute? Is that how you get the word out?</s>JUDGE: Absolutely. Our county manager and his team are well trained, experienced people that are taking care of all the mechanics behind the scenes. We have a dedicated top-notch public information officer who takes all of that information and gets it out to the public. We ask the people to do two things. One, to enjoy themselves, but more importantly, to be safe. And to listen to the warnings and to follow all of the instructions that will come over the next couple of days.</s>SCIUTTO: All right, well, good luck to you. I know you've got a tough job in the next couple of days. Thanks very much to Warren Judge, Dare County Board of Commissioners.</s>JUDGE: Thanks very much, Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: Coming up next, Israeli police investigate the killing of a Palestinian teenager. Was it revenge for the deaths of three Israelis? We'll discuss what this all means for an already tense region. Later, the new "secretary of defense," Goalie Tim Howard, comes out on top, even if the U.S. team didn't.