0 incredibly loyal. this has been the greatest 22 years of my life. >> the end of leno's two-decade r reign begins with jimmy fallon on monday the 17th. olympic terror. an attempted hijacking sparking new fears of an attack as the winter games begin in sochi. the special forces raid that took down the hijacker and the latest intelligence of the potential attacks at the olympics into plus, profane diplomacy. new fallout from an expletive-filled phone call leaked online. how was her voice secretly recorded and by whom. tap water in one town has residents complaining that it is making them sick though officials claim it is safe. so why were schools closed? a top health official says he won't drimnk the water. and vice president in an exclusive interview with cnn. what could his run for presidency mean for hillary clinton? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we're getting new information about the breaking news, an attempt to hijack a passenger jet and force the pilots to fly into sochi, russia. even as this frightening ordeal was playing out, cnn has learned new information from intelligence officials about other suspected olympic terror plots, including the use of suicide attacks and small bombs. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto has been tracking the developments for us. he begins this hour with the very latest. jim? >> this is exactly the target authorities have worried about. a passenger jet. we have the very latest. within the last two hours, turkish special forces boarded the plane in a swift operation and took the hijacker into custody. the hijacker, we're told, did not go volume lnteerly. now, during the flight the ukrainian national attempted to have the plane diverted to sochi from istanbul. he said he had a bomb on board. pilots alerted the authorities about the hijacking but ignored his demand and continued on to istanbul. turkish f-16's scrambled to protect that plane. police found no bomb on board and at no time was the hijacker able to enter the cockpit post 9/11, in turkey they have reinforced doors like they do here. they do not believe that extremist groups in the caucasus were involved. immediately, wolf, as you watch this from the beginning, his m.o. was different, particularly the groups that threatened the game in the past if they had a bomb on board, they would have detonated that bomb. in kt ffact, two planes were brt down in 2004. he said he had a bomb and did not set off the bomb. it was very clear early on that was not the kind of attack but it's the kind of target that they are concerned about. >> i'm hearing that are evaluating other plots out there? >> that's correct. there are a number of different threats to the game. one of them, of course, the possibility of smuggling terrorists inside toothpaste tubes. i'm told that the focus is on low sophistication but effective methods. that means suicide bombers, ieds, small arms attacks. i'm also told they are aware of another potential threat. this is considered less likely and that is the use of chemical weapons. now, the origin of this concern was a threat posted on an extremist website where the commander of the chechen extremist group following bombs last month made a statement addressing the russian people saying, quote, these attacks are only the beginning of your suffering. the attacks will continue, including using chemicals. a very haunting and sobering threat there. i'm told that u.s. authorities have not confirmed these groups have access to these weapons. however, analysts are concerned about syria as a potential source. wolf, you and i have talked a lot about syria's chemical weapons and the security of those weapons and we know there is a nexus between security groups in syria and chechnya. they go back and forth have cooperation. that's something that they are watching. it's not the thing they are most concerned about. they are more concerned about less sophisticated attacks but it's among other things that they have to keep an eye on. >> missing from libya as well. stand by because i want to bring in nick paton walsh and also our senior analyst, robert buriaird he's joining us from los angeles. nick, you're there. you're our eyes and ears. there's a sense of concern among the attendees but give us the latest as far as the security concerns are going on. >> reporter: well, the opening ceremony really passed without any notice of the drama happening out over the black sea just shortly before it we didn't see any change in the process happening inside the stadium. the fireworks at the end, still spectacularly went off and i think some people went home oblivious to what occurred inside the istanbul airport when the forces went on to the plane. i have to say, it doesn't really sound like that particular hijacking signal was based upon a genuine hijack threat. there doesn't seem to be an exclusive device or that the ukrainian has any links outside of turkey or extremists at all. there is a possibility as one turkish official said that he may have been drugged and other substances involved as well. it may be an unfortunate coincidence of timing here, right in the middle of the opening ceremony, this man acted erratically as he did, of course, causing turkish pilots to be deeply concerned but what we've seen at the end is a remarkable piece of bad behavior and rather than the culmination of months of planning. >> cooperation between the u.s. and russian officials could be very significant if it's at a good level. >> you hear that there's some improvement but in general what i'm told is that for threats outside of russia, there's good cooperation. for instance, there were arrests yesterday but inside russia, that's where the russians hold their cards closer to their chest and that's of concern because that's where the most serious threats seem to be emanating from and there are a lot of targets in russia. if they can't get inside the ring of steel, you have the transportation links, you have other cities where the groups are successful in recent weeks. >> let me bring bob baird into this situation. give us your concern about the threat level of these two weeks of olympic games in sochi. >> wolf, i think it's high. the chechens are capable of hitting at least somewhere in russia and i think they will. frankly, i'm a bit surprised they didn't try something today and i don't think that hijacking clearly wasn't part of their operations. i don't think we've seen the end of this. i can't imagine that the chechens or islamic groups would let this pass the entire olympics. the only thing we know is what kind of deal the russians may have cut with them. that may pass without it happening but i would be surprise gld what i have heard, coming into these games and i wonder if you agree, i've been hearing from officials here in washington, what they are worried about is so-called softer targets outside of the immediate area of the olympic village but potentially could cause a lot of casualties, a lot of damage and areas that are less secure than the so-called ring of steel. >> wolf, you're absolutely right. you cannot protect all of russia. there's still missing weapons around the rlc, improvised devices. any number of things could be used against soft targets, foreigners in st. petersburg or moscow. i don't think they are going to let this pass the entire olympics. i really don't. >> nick, you're there. you know about the hatred that a lot of these militants have, and they have had four, five, six years to prepar for this. so you have to assume that they are going to try for something. here's the question to you. what would be the most likely concern, the most likely target that they are most worried about? >> certainly the russians are absolutely clear that they are worried about railways. we've seen measures around railways simply trying to get into the olympic venues. they are obviously very worried here about a potential for liquids that aren't properly sanctions but across the south russia, that's the problem, wolf. and we're talking about a vast area. the police have their eyes focused on here. and the key problem here is not dealing with militants that necessary follow a timetable or corporate structure, these are loose cells that are often very small and extraordinarily radical. a lot of them simply want to see their own lives distinguished to try to kill others. and then of course you have the preparation, you have the fact that law enforcement here when they are not really going to let terrible things occur, it's fortunate that today has passed without incident at all in southern russia. it's surprised me somewhat but the militants have a history of choosing the unexpected time to strike. they've had that pr victory here simply by continually making these threats and across all of russia, it's very hard to protect nine time zones even with russian resources. >> up ex in, top u.s. military commanders accused of some shocking conduct, including sexual assault, gambling and cheating. the pentagon is taking dramatic action. plus, a jaw-dropping expletive said by an american diplomat as her phone call was secretly recorded. >> [ bleep ] the eu. ♪