[Blitzer:] Carol Costello is off for the day. Fredericka Whitfield is monitoring the wires. She's keeping an eye on the video feeds coming in from around the world. She's joining us now with a closer look at some other important stories making news hi, Fred.
[Fredricka Whitfield, Cnn Correspondent:] Hello to you, Wolf. Well, it could be as early as today that the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee get their hands on key documents surrounding the government's so-called warrantless surveillance program. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today announced plans to turn the information over to Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter. Leahy and Specter have been demanding for months to see the secret court documents that led to the reversal of the controversial intelligence program. And this today a leading London-based security think tank says Iran is only two or three years away from being able to build a nuclear bomb. The International Institute for Strategic Studies says Iran is on track for producing 3,000 centrifuges to create weapons grade uranium by the end of March. In its annual publication, "The Military Balance," it does say domestic opposition to nuclear development efforts may help to slow the process. And new movement today in the global war on terror. British police staged a series of early morning raids they say thwarted what they call an Iraq-style abduction. The raids in Birmingham, England netted the arrests of nine men. A source tells CNN the plot centered around the torture and beheading of a British Muslim soldier who recently returned home from Afghanistan. The soldier was not identified. And then this message today from the travel industry to the U.S. government tourists are not terrorists and should not be treated as such. Industry leaders, meeting in Washington, called on the Feds to take steps to reverse the steep post-911 decline in overseas travel. They say travel to the U.S. has fallen 17 percent in the past five years and U.S. travel abroad is off 9 percent Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All right, thanks very much. I want to go to Boston right now. The police chief there is meeting with reporters, explaining what was going on a traffic nightmare, as a result of some sort of scare. Let's listen in.
[Edward Davis, Boston Police Commissioner:] ... as a result of the investigation, I'd like to remind citizens to treat any suspicious devices with care and to call 911 if any such device is found. I'd like to introduce Governor Patrick. Governor?
[Gov. Deval Patrick , Massachusetts:] Commissioner, thank you. I think we are all relieved that the devices found so far have proven to be hoax devices. We are very gratified by the prompt and professional response of all of law enforcement the commissioner and the mayor and his team, the transit police from the T, the state police, working cooperatively with the ATF. And we're very, very gratified that the response has been as prompt, as professional and as cooperative as it has been. The investigation continues. There is more information to be developed. But I think we feel at this point that there is not a reason for anyone to panic, but there are reasons for us to be vigilant. And, as I say, we are relieved and pleased that none of the devices have so far been found to pose a threat to public safety. And I want to commend all of the leaders and members of law enforcement represented here with me and the lieutenant governor and Secretary Burke for the cooperation shown in pursuing today's events. Mr. Mayor?
[Mayor Thomas Menino , Boston:] Thank you. Thank you, Governor. Early this morning, I received a call from Commissioner Davis of a suspicious bomb in Sullivan Square in Cambridge. And from that point until right now, the Boston Police, the state police, the ATF and the BRIC, which is the Boston Regional Investigative Service, have been working together investigating all calls that they've got about suspicious bombs being in Boston and in Somerville. I just want to say that every one of those so far has been investigated, either the Boston police and the federal and state folks are working on those investigations. I just want to say to the public, you know, public safety officials, both the federal, state and city side, are all working together. Like the governor says, at no time anyone should panic. We believe we have the situation in hand and that to go about your business. And Commissioner Davis said, we will have additional officers at different locations during the transit time this evening, as people make their way home, just to give the sense that we are out there and doing our jobs. And it's just about all of us. And the individuals who might have placed these bombs, or these packages, I should say, should be warned that this is a heavy penalty. It's imprisonment, two to five years for each one of them. So, it's not we're not playing around. This is about keeping the city on edge. It's about public safety. When it comes to public safety, we're throwing everything at it.
[Question:] Mr. Mayor, we're hearing that Turner Broadcasting is saying...
[Menino:] Well, Joe, I'm not finished yet.
[Question:] [OFF-MIKE] apologize. We thought you were finished, Mr. Mayor.
[Menino:] You're last in questions now. I just want to say that we're staying we will stay focused. The unified command center will stay open as long as we deem necessary. And I just want to finish up and say thanks for everyone working together. This is when public safety really rises to the occasion, because public safety, both in the federal, state, and seaside, have been doing their jobs since early in the morning, this morning, and they will continue the rest of the day. Thank you.
[Question:] Mayor, do you have any idea about who might be behind this?
[Menino:] I will ask the commissioner to answer those questions.
[Davis:] This is a very active investigation. We are following numerous leads right now. And we're confident that those leads will bring us to an individual who was behind this.
[Question:] ... connection on some of these devices?
[Davis:] Well, this is part of the ongoing investigation. And I wouldn't make any specific comments at this point in time. This is a very active investigation. We hope to have additional information for you specifically about individuals or parts of the investigation later this evening.
[Question:] Did you search...
[Davis:] We did not.
[Question:] Commissioner, can you speak to the toll that this has taken on the city, both in police resources and the time and the money in operating the command center, if this is a fact a hoax or some sort of advertising campaign?
[Davis:] This has taken a significant toll on our resources. Emergency deployment teams were sent into the center of the city immediately upon these reports. Bomb squad units from the transit police, the state police and the Boston police were fully deployed. There were significant shutdowns of not only highways, but rail traffic with the MBTA. And this has created an enormous inconvenience to people in the city. So, we're going to fully investigate this and get to the bottom of it. And, thankfully, none of these devices have proven to be lethal.
[Question:] Commissioner, do any of these devices have any common characteristics, or is there any indication at this point that any of the devices are connected in any way?
[Davis:] Yes, several of the devices do have common characteristics. But it's too early to say specifically how many are connected and how many are not.
[Question:] ... ease public fears and say either this is definitely not terrorism, this is some whack job, or this is a prank? Can you go in one direction there for us?
[Davis:] There are no indications in the investigation at this point in time that will indicate that this is a terrorist act. But, as to exactly who was behind it, the reasons, the motivations, I can't comment on that right now.
[Question:] One person though, right, one person?
[Davis:] I can't comment right now.
[Question:] ... that someone thought this was funny, that this was a prank?
[Davis:] I would not comment on any of the ongoing investigation.
[Unidentified Male:] Last question. Last question, please.
[Question:] Commissioner, apparently, Turner Broadcasting has issued a statement saying that this is some sort of marketing campaign for some cartoon. Have you heard this? Are you aware of this?
[Davis:] We're investigating numerous leads, numerous comments that were made that were phoned into us. We're looking at that as a possibility. But we're looking at all sorts of possibilities at this point in time. It really is premature for us to talk about where this investigation is going to go. I want to make clear that people should not be afraid to come into or leave the city of Boston right now. There is nothing that we have found that indicates any danger to the people who are coming into and out of the city. We have additional police resources out there to make people feel safe. We're working very closely with the other police agencies represented here. The governor and the mayor have joined us here at the police department. And we're doing everything we can to assure people that they should be safe right.
[Question:] ... commercial interests involved? ... any commercial interests who are involved in this in any way...
[Blitzer:] All right, the police chief up in Boston, Ed Davis, speaking to reporters. We heard from the mayor. We heard from the governor this investigation continuing. But we're getting some new and significant information coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now. Dan Lothian is joining us from Boston. What are you picking up, Dan?
[Dan Lothian, Cnn Boston Bureau Chief:] Well, you heard at the press conference where someone kept asking law enforcement officials if this was part of some kind of advertising campaign. And law enforcement officials said that they did have some leads; they were talking with some people, and that they would have more information later on. We can report this, a statement from Turner: "The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company, Turner Broadcasting, is in contact with local and federal law enforcement officials on the exact location of the billboards." And, then, from Turner Broadcasting, "We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger." So, that's the very latest information. Obviously, this is something law enforcement is looking into. And this began this morning, the first incident that occurred this morning just north of downtown Boston, where there was some kind of package device found on I-93. They had to shut down the northbound lanes. They brought in bomb teams, exploded that device safely officials saying at that time that it was not an explosive device. And, then throughout the day, we saw these other devices, at least five of them, if not more, showing up across the city Wolf.
[Blitzer:] So, it looks like this may just be a huge misunderstanding, some advertising devices put out at these billboards in these cities, part of a promotional campaign for the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim animated television programs. That's what it looks like, based on the statement from our parent company, Turner Broadcasting. Deb Feyerick is getting some more information as well. Deb, what are you picking up?
[Deborah Feyerick, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, we can you tell that apparently this was done by a third-party marketing campaign, interference marketing, is what we are being told. According to intelligence sources, the device itself was a circuit board about 15-by-12 inches long, with a character put together by LED light bulbs, almost like the lite-brites that you may remember. It was powered by four Duracell batteries. We actually were able to call up an image of that device on a blog, makezine.com. It tells exactly how to make these things. So, whether that was something that was put out by the marketing campaign, but that is the image that was appearing. And when we went on the blog, we even found somebody that said: I saw the same thing up in Seattle. So, this has been out there for a little while that posted about a week ago Wolf.
[Blitzer:] And our parent company, Turner Broadcasting, is in contact right now with federal and local law enforcement to try to work this out clearly apparently, at least, a major misunderstanding. These packages, as they were described, magnetic lights that pose absolutely no danger, but law enforcement authorities clearly taking no chances whatsoever. We're going to continue to follow this. But it looks looks like a major misunderstanding caused this scenario to unfold in Boston. Still to come: Senator Biden's underdog race for the White House stumbles out of the gate. Is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee suffering from what his critics are calling foot-in-mouth disease? Mary Snow will have a live report. And will the war in Iraq be the cloud hanging over the GOP's head for generations to come, or will Democrats overplay their hand? Bill Schneider's analysis straight ahead. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.