[John Berman, Cnn Anchor:] Good evening, John Berman here in for Anderson. Two big breaking stories, each involving your safety. A major storm on track to hit the Eastern Seaboard and fresh concerns that terror groups have found a new way of getting bombs on to airliners. We start, though, with Tropical Storm Arthur very soon to be Hurricane Arthur, and our first clear indication of where peak impact will be. For that, let's check in with Chad Myers at the Weather Center. Chad, you've been in the Weather Center all day tracking this storm. How are things looking right now?
[Chad Myers, Ams Meteorologist:] The pressure is getting lower and the winds are picking up. That means Arthur is about to get to that hurricane strength. Weather Center, Hurricane Center saying sure, by morning, probably this will be above that 74-mile-per-hour threshold. Everybody wants to know, will it affect me a little bit inland? And we don't know that. You know, there's going to be these outer bands here, John, that are going to come on shore, maybe a rain shower. You can see one right there in Georgia. A big one right down through here in Florida. But there's no way to predict whether one of those ends up over Washington, D.C. or New York City as it gets closer to the northeast. There is just no possible way to predict that. We can predict where the eye is going to be. We can probably predicts its size, about 80, 85 miles per hour. Yesterday Hurricane Center was thinking 90. That's still not out of the question. You can see the eye here in this three-dimensional depiction of what the radar looks like. The eye is right down there in the middle. Hurricane hunter aircraft flying through it right now. Finding the pressure going down, wind speeds picking up, and the storm doing exactly what we thought it was going to do. This storm by tomorrow is going to be affecting the coast of South Carolina right through there and then it's going to be affecting the coast of North Carolina with onshore waves probably six to 10 feet tall. Over washing beaches, washing away beaches, maybe washing away some roads, certainly some devastation to the homes along those beaches as it does move right on up toward the north to the northeast. This is as close to approach to D.C. and New York. Sometime around 2:00 tomorrow. Is it close enough to make a lot of rain? No. One band, maybe. Now is it close enough to make some showers and rain in Boston tomorrow night? Yes, absolutely. That's about 8:00 tomorrow night and then it moves over Newfoundland, and all the way out even to Atlantic Canada, completely gone. That's the good news. The computers are agreeing. I think all you need to do is stay out of the water, stay away from the windows if you're in the Carolinas. You'll be fine but these things still could get stronger. We'll watch it for you tomorrow if it does John.
[Berman:] Certainly looks like it will keep you busy, Chad, over the next few days. Thanks so much for that. We all do need to keep a close eye on the storm over the next 48 hours, and you can bet CNN will. Our other big story tonight, action being taken to mean what is being described as a different kind of threat to what is sadly a traditional target air travelers. Ever since Richard Reid tried and failed to set off explosives in his sneakers aboard a flight from Paris to Miami, there has been a kind of race between the bad guys and airport screeners when they started screening shoes. The bad guys tried explosive underwear and managed to get a guy wearing a pair of them onto a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The fact that he and Reid failed to make their bombs detonate was welcome but not entirely comforting. After all they both did make it pass security. Tonight the fear is that one or more bomb makers that come up with an even harder-to-detect device. Jim Sciutto now on what's being done to answer that threat.
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn Chief National Security Correspondent:] They are the first line of defense for the American homeland foreign airports with direct flights to the U.S. And now the Department of Homeland Security is directing those international airports to step up their security screening. In a written statement, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said, "We are sharing recent and relevant information with our foreign allies and are consulting the aviation industry." Among the changes passengers may see, more screening of electronics in shoes, more explosive detection machines and in some cases extra screenings at boarding gates. Driving the new directive is increasing concern that terrorists from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP are refining bombs designed to avoid detection by current airport screening methods.
[Seth Jones, Rand Corporation:] Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has long looked for vulnerabilities in airport security and in particular finding ways to put together bombs using non-metallic material that can make its way through metal detectors but also try to hide bombs in body crevices that will not be easily identified by some of the newer machines in placed at airports.
[Sciutto:] This is the man believed to be behind the threat. AQAP master bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri. In recent months, U.S. officials have warned that Asiri and AQAP terrorists trained under him were improving designs of new explosive devices such shoe bombs that could fool screening systems. We spoke about the new measures today with former DHS secretary, Michael Chertoff. [On Camera] How concerned should flyers be about what this means about the threat?
[Michael Chertoff, Former Homeland Security Secretary:] I would be mindful of the fact there is probably increased risk. I don't think it's dramatically different. I wouldn't not fly. The good news here is that the government sharing information with others and other parts of the world is responding to this.
[Berman:] Jim Sciutto joins us tonight. Jim, how does the U.S. ensure that these new measures are adhered to at these overseas airports?
[Sciutto:] Well, it's a good question. Because of course the TSA does not do the screening overseas. It does it here at home. But they do have liaisons in these airports where they can observe, they can share intelligence, and share these news measures that they want to be implemented. But, you know, another question I asked Michael Chertoff, the NSA DHS, rather, secretary under George Bush, was, you know, how well do they do this when we make requests like this? He said, listen, they want to cooperate. They are a long-term relationship here but one challenge is they often don't have the resources at these overseas airports. We're talking particularly about Europe and the Middle East here. They don't have the resources we have here and that's a challenge. It's something that they have to be conscious of.
[Berman:] All right. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much for that. Let's dig deeper now with Tom Ridge, who served as secretary of Homeland Security, the very first one, during the George W. Bush administration. Mr. Secretary, what do you make of these new security measures? Is the implication here that these overseas airports don't have what it takes right now to protect the U.S. from these emerging threats?
[Tom Ridge, Former Homeland Security Secretary:] A couple of takeaways if you don't mind, John. One, there is obviously a consensus within the intelligence community both in the United States and elsewhere that it's a serious threat. Two, my sense is that this is probably a new kind of threat. I've learned that this is out of Syria. It involves a different approach toward a traditional target, and that's commercial aviation. Ever since 911, commercial aviation has been very much a part of the threat stream that the countries have had to deal with, but my sense is this is about a new kind of approach, a new process and potentially a new technique emanating from a subgroup out of Syria.
[Berman:] A new kind of threat that requires these changes and these new measures in place. The U.S. can't technically force the airports to change but they can threaten to suspend service to the United States, which I suppose no airline or airport ever allow. How can the U.S. make sure that these changes are being taken seriously?
[Ridge:] I think, again, because there's mutual recognition, remember a lot of the European carriers are government owned and when government intelligence services speaks to those who operate those airlines, I'm quite confident that there is a consensus, that whenever these new measures are, and clearly, John, I think there'll be some visible changes, but I also suspect that working together with our colleagues and allies across particularly Europe, you'll see some there'll be changes that are not detectable by the through the naked eye. So I think the fact that you do have that consensus within the intelligence committee clearly wraps it up. By the way, they can always take off if there is any pushback. The FAA can say you can't land.
[Berman:] Right.
[Ridge:] But I don't think that's a real problem here because I think there's serious recognition that an emerging threat toward a traditional target and we're going to have to start doing things differently than we've done them before.
[Berman:] So let's talk about the measures. We're hearing the measures can include additional screening of shoes and electronics, additional explosive trace machines or those swabs we all know about. Maybe another screening at the gates, as well. Do these measures address what you think and where you think these airports are most vulnerable?
[Ridge:] Well, I think again without knowing the specifics so I have a pretty good idea the nature of the new the emerging threat, for the time being the kinds of responses that we have to take that doesn't mean that over the next several weeks or several months there may be additional response, as even more technology, and I have to remind everybody that, you know, American, the Western world, we look at our watches all the time. They are in no rush. We have watches, they have time. And we've seen before, I think, this is if the information I have and others have, this is they have learned from the Detroit bomber over remember this guy in Detroit, on Christmas Day, they've learned from the cargo plane that a plot a couple of years ago. And so what we try we can't be static but neither are they. They will look for new means and new techniques to bring the same kind of horror and destruction that they did on 911.
[Berman:] You have a lot of experience dealing with threat situations. Now officials today are saying it doesn't stem these measures don't stem from a specific plot or a specific threat, so what kind of threat does it stem from?
[Ridge:] Well, my sense is, and I think it's very important to note, John, that even way back when in those early days of Homeland Security, we met more often and concluded we shouldn't go public, then we went public. So my sense is that there have been and I know there have been multiple meanings over the past several weeks to see if there is enough information, enough credible information shared not only by us but other intelligence agencies to talk about the threat. And it doesn't necessarily have to mean that there is a specific threat on a specific date or a specific target, but if they are aware of a new technique or a process, this is a signal to not only to our allies and our friends but to them that we're watching you.
[Berman:] All right. Former Homeland Security secretary, Tom Bridge, thanks so much for your time.
[Ridge:] Thanks for having me. Thank you.
[Berman:] We have one other breaking item on the homeland security front. Just moments ago, federal authorities in Denver unsealed a criminal complaint alleging an American woman along with others tried to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the organization ISIS, the Sunni extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria. The woman charged, Shannon Maureen Conley. The 19-year-old was arrested in April trying to board a flight for Turkey. She has been under investigation since last fall. According to the complaint, she intended to wage jihad against non-Muslims and repeatedly referred to U.S. military bases as targets. Quick reminder from us, make sure to set your DVR so you can watch 360 whenever you'd like and next, we'll take you to the town that said no to buses full of undocumented immigrants. We will speak to the mayor about being on the front lines. And later, a look inside the powder keg called the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as hour by hour the fuse there burns short.