Off Sochi News Today

Islamist terrorists suppressed by the army. so, yeah, im very worried, precisely because it doesnt need to be very elaborate. it could be something very simple but it will have seismic effects. >> certainly will. hope it doesnt happen, fareed. thanks very much. >> pleasure. we are going to have much more on the terror threats and the horror stories coming out of sochi in a special report, "trouble in sochi" that airs right at the top of the hour. a top u.s. diplomats private phone call leake...

The taliban spokesman telling "the washington post" the dog was captured after a fire fight between u.s. forces and taliban fighters last december in afghanistan. he goes on to say the dog carried the rank of colonel, was of high significance to the americans. the pentagon says the dog belongs to another nato allied force, not the united states military. lets also remember that army sergeant bob bergdal has been held by the insurgents in the border region since june of 2009. hes the only america...

Talk of the last few days has been about toothpaste bombs, but that sophisticated technique isnt really whats going to be bothering people on the ground here for the past few months. this is a region of the world where explosives are pretty common when youre away from the ring of steel near here in sochi and there are concerns about how well you can implement a dagnet across this whole region given the state of the russian police force often seen by russians as being a net being corrupt and actu...

The obama administration is closely following the threats to the winter olympic games in russia. the president has been briefed on the contingency plans. brianna keilar is joining us. in light of the new threats, how much concern, brianna, are you hearing that there is inside the white house? >> reporter: wolf, the white house is certainly concerned. they are closely monitoring these potential threats. but the white house and officials here still think that travel for americans so sochi, russia,...

Practicing and then traveling all morning but i think our job is to fwoek kus on what we can do and what we can do and thats how were going to perform at our first olympics. >> i also spoke to the ceo of sochi airport. he said, you know, we have taken security precautions. no pastes, liquids, or creams allow in carry-ones on planes coming in and flying around russia. special equipment to scan the luggage thats been checked in as well. he says he thinks it is safe. other officials say that sochi ...

Information out of the white house right now on the sochi threats. our senior white house correspondent brianna keilar is standing by live. well go to her in just a moment. also, its not just the security fears that people are unprepared for. guests. construction is unfinished for them. you wont believe what happened to our own ivan watson at his hotel. well check in with him. were going live to sochi. and a top american diplomat using very undiplomatic language speaking about europe. >> [ b...

Because we obviously appreciate your firsthand accounts. thanks so much, rachel nichols is on the ground in sochi for cnn. we also have some firsthand accounts of the conditions in sochi. some other cnn staffers, other folks, journalists and others, theyre saying the accommodations remain appalling if, if they can get a room at awe. listen to this. >> my hotel room, as a matter of fact, the window fell out on my head and i couldnt get it back in and had to sleep the first night in about 35 to ...

Reception. >> theyve had seven years to get it ready. i was told my mike mccaul that maybe 10,000 americans are supposed to be in sochi right now and if you add up the athletes, coaches, trainers, all of their family members and all of the spectators, the fans who are coming, maybe 10,000 fans are going to be in sochi over the next couple of weeks. thats a lot. ivan watson in sochi for us. theres other important news were following, including a california power station attacked by snipers expo...

Potential threat. i got to tell you, i happened to have two small tubes of travel-sized toothpaste in my bag. hey, thats how i roll. two whole tubes of toothpaste and neither one of them was questioned by u.s. officials. nobody at tsa asked me to take them out of my bag, nobody gave me any kind of extra check. took them right on to the plane. when i landed in moscow to make the transfer to sochi, the normal process is to have to recheck in, recheck your bags. we did that. then we went through mo...

Region. the two navy warships, mt. whitney and "taylor" are now in the black sea off sochi could quickly evacuate government v.i.p.s and provide communications for other u.s. assets. in germany, transport aircraft stand by. with medical teams that could be in the air six hours after getting orders. u.s. officials say the russians have told them they will medically treat and stabilize any americans who are injured. and then they will call for an evacuation. wolf? >> barbara, thank you. with the n...