[Becky Anderson:] The sky is the limit, right? Well, not quite. Restrictions on personal electronics on flights to the U.S. from 10 international airports in the Middle East and Africa is rolled out. We are live in Dubai and Washington and in London as the UK considers a similar ban. We'll break down what this all means for travelers and for the airlines. Also ahead...
[James Comey, Fbi Director:] The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
[Anderson:] As U.S. intelligence agencies ramp up their allegations against Russia. We get the take of an ex-Soviet spy on the new cold war. Plus, from armed struggle to peace negotiations we look at the life and legacy of the Irish politician, Martin McGuinness. It is just after 7:00 in Abu Dhabi. Hello and welcome to Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson for you. Well, no one really seems to know what's going on. A lot of people are going to be caught up in it, though, and some are wondering if it will even work. Yep, there is a new ban flying out of the White House. And this time, it is not about who you are, but about what you own. In just four days from now, anybody taking any direct flight to the United States from any of these eight Muslim-majority countries will be stopped from taking many of their electronic devices to their seats. Now, they'll have to go in their checked luggage instead. So, how do you know tell if you're allowed your stuff? Well it's bigger if it's bigger than a cell phone and it uses a battery, the answer is almost definitely no. And we're hearing that Britain could be about to bring a similar ban. So why is this happening? Well CNN's Muhammad Lila is down in Dubai for us. Dubai caught up in all of this, of course, and John Defterios has the bigger picture with me here in Abu Dhabi. Let's start with you, Muhammad, what's in the fine print here and what's behind all of this.
[Muhammad Lila, Cnn International Correspondent:] Well, Becky, one of the ways to understand this electronics ban is that it's not targeting specific people, but what those people are carrying with them on to certain aircraft. So, for example, it doesn't matter where you're from, what nationality is, what passport you hold or religion is, if you are getting on a plane from one of these affected airports with a direct flight to the United States, you won't be able allowed to carry any electronic device onto that plane's cabin if it's larger than a smartphone. Now, in terms of the number of airports, there are 10 affected airports involved, including, Ishould say, some of the world's busiest. For example, the Dubai airport right behind me, bills itself as a major transit hub, one of the busiest airports in the world, certainly in this region. While the Dubai airport is affected by this as is the airport in Abu Dhabi, other airports affected include Istanbul, Amman, Jeddah, and Doha. So, we could talk about thousands of people in these flights that are flying on direct flights to the United States every day that will be affected by this electronics ban. Now, we could talk about the confusion that this creates at check-in. We could talk about the lack of productivity that this means, as well as the security of the electronic devices. Now, the Trump administration says this is in response to a very specific terror threat that they've received, but the only problem with that is that there's no expiration date given on when this electronics plan will be lifted. So, effectively what this means is that this electronics ban is indefinite for now at least until the Trump administration decides otherwise.
[Anderson:] So, Muhammad, I hope you can hear me, you look as if you're having slight problems with your earpiece. But if you can hear me, how is this ban briefly going to be implemented?
[Lila:] Well, that's the big question, right. I mean if you think about the last travel ban that the Trump administration tried to implement, it was accused of being very haphazard and it wasn't organized and the rollout was very confused. Well, in this case they're offering, the Trump administration says, there will be a 96-hour implementation period. So, the directive was given today on Monday. What it means is that by Thursday or Friday, certainly by the weekend, all of the airlines are expected to be complying with this. And for those that don't, the Trump administration has threatened to withdraw the travel certification. In other words, if those airlines don't comply, their travel rights to operate those direct flights to the United States will be withdrawn. So, certainly, there's a very big threat there involved as well.
[Anderson:] Muhammed Lila is down close to Dubai International Airport. John is with me here in the bureau. You've been hitting the phones to all the big players all day, John. How are they responding?
[John Defterios, Cnn Emerging Markets Editor:] Well, we've had a variety of responses, Becky. But before we jump into that, I think we have to look at the very wide scope of it all. They've had eight hours to digest the information. They have 96 hours to comply. So, the hard deadline, if you will, to the sources I've been speaking to, is Saturday. Let's see the pace of implementation here, both Etihad and Emirates say they'll all the time and go into place on Saturday, that's the same for Turkish Airways. Egypt Air said they'll be ready to go on Friday. Now, the early movers are royal Jordanian. They said it goes into effect today. Then I spoke to the head of sales and marketing. And he told me, look, we're lacking some information. There's a lot of confusion, more questions raised from the statements from the TSA, the Department of Homeland Security than answers. So, they pulled the extra information off of their website. Saudi, which is based is Jeddah, has a flight a day to New York. They said they will start implementation on Wednesday. But to give you a sense of the challenge, Qatar Airways, who I spoke to at least five or six times during the day said, look, we feed passengers in, say for example from India, or Pakistan. Perhaps they get on the flight with the laptop because the authorities in those airports aren't aware of what's going on. We want to have a situation set-up so we can take that laptop or another electronic device and put it into the hull of the plane and still not have to take them off the flight. Trying to do that within a 96-hour window is not simple. So, it gives you a sense of the chaos that could be covered here. But the carriers not wanting to lose passengers because of this, what they see as a last-minute implementation of a very difficult task here with electronic bans.
[Anderson:] I mean, Muhammad pointing out that these airports are global hubs. The airports are incredibly important to the economies of this, the Gulf region. We've been talking about the idea of what happens to somebody in transit here. And we have very little information, like you say. What happens to people who fly from one place, say Pakistan into Dubai or Doha or Abu Dhabi and then on? It's really not clear.
[Defterios:] No, it's not clear. So, the reality is if you're a carrier that's flying from any of those countries that have been identified, you have to make sure you adhere to the directive coming from those two agencies in the United States. But Muhammad brought up a very good point. They thought it was never- ending this directive. I talked to sources at Emirates Airlines in the last two hours. They've repeated the email to me saying we see it as a directive that goes through October 14, 2017, for about six and a half months right now. But this raises other questions, Becky. And some political issues as well. First, two temporary travel bans. That scared off a lot of passengers. If you look at the Emirates details they sent to me today, they said that the pace of bookings from the very first travel ban, the second travel ban and now the electronic ban has slowed down by 35 percent. They're not saying revenues right now, but the rate of bookings that they're watching very carefully have slowed down. So they're saying one hurdle, two hurdles. Now this is the third hurdle. And this is a political issue. You know all about it, because that's the open skies agreement. You know that President Trump has been lobbied by the major U.S. carriers to do something about what they see as unfair competition by the Gulf carriers. Nobody is saying it right now, but it's a question mark being raised. Why is this being implemented at this stage after those two temporary bans?
[Anderson:] All right, that's the view, then, from this part of the world there will be those who say this stinks of protectionism. We have, though, been told this is a credible threat and a reaction to that. Let's get the wider picture for you now, including as I just mentioned, that there is some news out of Britain right now. Downing Street, considering a similar ban to that coming from the White House. CNN's Samuel Burke is at the center of that. He's joining us on the phone because he is on his way out to Heathrow Airport as we speak to get reaction from them. And Rene Marsh is in Washington for us. Stand by Rene. Samuel, tell us more about what the British government is mulling here.
[Samuel Burke, Cnn Money:] Well, Becky, government sources are telling us that the UK could follow the United States in preventing passengers on direct flights from some of these countries in the Middle East and Africa, just like the United States, on carrying almost all types of electronic devices. And in fact, the source telling us that a decision may be announced later today, Prime Minister Theresa May has been privy to the same information and intelligence as U.S. officials, Downing Street source is telling us that when you step back and look at this. And indeed if other European countries follow suit after this, this could be a huge sea change in how people travel. Think about how it changed after they banned liquids flying to the United States and some countries. And now imagine how that could all change if people are not allowed to bring on their devices. And keep in mind, people have become accustomed to traveling depending not only on working on these devices during these flights, but also using them once they get there, whether it's using Uber, to communicate with people would be a seismic shift in how people have become accustomed to traveling the year 2017.
[Anderson:] That's Samuel on his way to Heathrow Airport with the British leg of this story. Rene, what do we know about this intelligence behind this ban of personal electronic devices out of 10 airports, which are from Muslim majority countries? And why are no U.S. carriers affected?
[Rene Marsh, Cnn Correpsondent:] All right, so the Department of Homeland Security is saying officially that this move was prompted by intelligence, that suggests that terror groups are continuing their efforts to build unetectible explosives that could essentially slip past airport security and be smuggled on to a commercial airliner. That is what the Department of Homeland Security is saying is really pushing this move. CNN's Barbara Starr is reporting that another U.S. official says that the ban on some of these electronics is believed at this point, just believed to be related possibly to al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP. But as you know, Becky, the intelligence community has been tracking this threat concerning AQAP for quite some time. So, this official is saying that perhaps it's that longstanding concern coupled with a recent U.S. special forces raid in Yemen that essentially led to where we are today. Again, just back-story on AQAP, they have been very active in their effort to build these bombs with little to no metal in its content. And that would make it very easy to slip past a metal detector and on to a commercial aircraft. So as far as the reasoning goes, the government is not giving a lot of detail, but they are saying this is based on their intelligence assessment of terror groups continuing to try and build these advanced bombs. And very briefly, Rene, I've heard criticism in this region today that this smacks of protectionism given that this is to all intents and purposes, skewed at the well it's not skewed, it is a directive for airlines from this region where I am in the Middle East rather than for U.S. carrier who might be traveling from this region. Is there any intel on that?
[Marsh:] Right. So to answer your questions, which I didn't yet, you're right there are no U.S. carriers that are impacted by this. And the reasoning, we are told, is because there are are no U.S. carriers that do these direct flights that we're speaking about here. And the other issue is, we're told, that there is a level of confidence in airports here in the United States that they TSA has the checks and balances that are necessary to detect some of these very highly advanced explosives. We are told that the concern is, the insider threat at some last-point of departure airports overseas, as well as whether they have the proper controls in place to detect explosives before they actually get on to an aircraft. So, that is the line of reasoning that we are getting here from the federal government.
[Anderson:] Fascinating. All right, it's a preasure. Thanks out of Washington, Rene and Samuel Burke on the phone with with you earlier on. On his way to Heathrow with the British leg, as I say, of this story. Still ahead on Connect the World, the director of the FBI says he has no information to back up an explosive claim by President Trump. And that is not all. The details from Washington and from Moscow for you up next.