additional four hours tomorrow and continuing at least through monday. effectively increasing by a third the size of our patrol, transit and counterterrorism highway and traffic bureaus. we are also increasing the number of critical response vehicle surges, that's where dozens of police cars respond to predetermined locations for counterterrorism coverage. public is likely to see, and may be somewhat inconvenienced by it, vehicle check.at various locations throughout the city. jon: michael balboney is a former homeland security adviser for new york state. michael, i know you've been talking with some of your sources. they say this threat is credible, what does that mean? >> it means the information that they have received comes from a source that has proven to be credible before, that is something that is more than aspirational. that the individuals that they've picked up or were told have traveled or are traveling to the u.s. have capabilities they need to pay attention to. jon: you're saying there are three pakistanee man that may be u.s. citizens? >> we everee seen that before, that is the intelligence that's been talking about. intelligence is an art form rather than something totally specific. that's what security officials are looking for right now. jon: they are also looking for a needle in a haystack or so it would seem. we have been looking at video from the entrance of one of the tunnels that swings into man hat and from new jersey, obviously police are searching trucks. what specifically are they looking for, can you tell us? >> what they are trying to do obviously is prevent a device from getting into the bridges or on to the tunnels. the way you do that is you slow stuff down, which of course is an inconvenience for the commuter but essential in to keep control of the situation. the officers, inspect, examine. they are reaching out. it was a security call for all the security agencies in the metropolitan area this mourn. and they said reach out to contacts in out or counties. talk to people who sell things like propane gas tanks or fertilizers. see if there's been any irregular activity or suspicious activity. you're trying to create a public-private partnership. this is a city and a nation that's done a very, very good job of doing that and they are enhancing that capability now given the current threat that is out there. jon: thises more than just the fact that we are about to mark ten years since the 9/11 attacks. >> traditionally al-qaida has not shown any type of pension for dates, yet the documents that were recovered from the osama bin laden compound did make a reference to this. they haven't had a successful attack, thank god, in the ten years since 9/11. so one would obviously expect that this is the type of thing that they would be examining and looking at. having said that, this city, new york and certainly washington d.c. as well some of the best protected cities in the nation. they've done tremendous work over the past ten years, you've got to give your hats off to commissioner ray rel lee and dave coen. one of the things, jon that you and i have spoken about is a little bit of criticism for the nypd in terms of their relationships with federal agencies like the c ii a. this is a foreign intelligence-driven threat and having that kind of connectivity with the cia in order to evaluate the threats yourself is incredibly important. jon: former security adviser for new york state and very much plugged in to the state of intelligence in this country and this city right now. michael we thank you for that information. >> thank you, jon. jenna: the house is observing a moment of silence in d.c. in just a moment they are going to do this of course in honor of recognizing the 10th anniversary of 9/11. they are going to move to a series of votes in the next half an hour or so. after the first vote the house will then pause for a moment of silence in honor of september 11th . what they are doing this morning is debating a bill to reauthorize intelligence programs. in some roundabout way there is some connection here to what we are talking about today as we near the 10th anniversary of 9/11. so we'll bring you back there. it looks like the timing is a little bit unclear on this. we heard initially that the moment of silence was happening. now it appears they are going on with other business. we'll move on as well to another big story we are watching. days of rains turning into disastrous flooding in the northwest. water is pouring into low lying homes forcing tens of thousands of people to move to higher ground. the flooding so intense a warehouse in pennsylvania collapsed. the damage concentrated along one river cresting above 38 feet. below the top of the levee system protecting northeast pennsylvania. countless roadways are now closed. we've seen similar in new jersey, and in maryland. the president declaring states of emergency in pennsylvania and new york, clearing the way for federal aid now. evacuees are told to stay away from their homes until at least sunday or maybe even monday. it will be a while before anyone knows how bad the damage us. >> completely unbelievable. everything is ruined. first floor is covered in mud. people's cars are ruined. there is a car stuck in that reservoir over there as well. i don't know where it all came from. >> i have grand kids and we had to be taken out on a dump truck, like a crane or something, and there was water everywhere. we couldn't even walk in the streets. >> we have numerous cars overturned. vehicles floated from upstream down here, and there is a lot of damage and devastation here. jenna: those images are just unbelievable. molly line is live in kingston, pennsylvania with more. >> reporter: we are in kingston, one of the communities that looks like a ghost town like so many other communities that have been evacuated. a hundred thousand people along this river. we are one of the steel barricade that is holding back the river. you can see the water seeping through. the engineers have told authorities here that that is actually okay and this should hold. if you come up onto the other side of the steel barricade you can see just how high the water is. this is over a bridge that was built in 1929, a beautiful gothic historical structure underwater. it goes all the way to the other side of the river to wilkesbury. this was devastated by another hurricane, hurricane ago niece. that's when these measures were put in place. thus far they are holding strong. the water in this particular area is actually starting to recede. you can see on the other side of the river there is a white line and we've been watching the water start to go down, but some of the communities that didn't have these sort of precautions put in place, the dykes and levees were not so lucky and have suffered severe flooding. jenna: so much water, unbelievable. we'll continue to follow the developing story in the northeast. molly line, thank you very much. jon: now this fox news alert a hurricane watch just issued for parts of mexico. you see that swirling, white mass of clouds there? that is tropical storm nate, which is reapbd tkerg right now in the bay of campeche. it hasn't been moving much or fast. right now it has winds of about 65 miles an hour putting it just below hurricane strength. it is expected to develop into a hurricane probably on sunday. it's about 140 miles west northwest of campeche, mexico and it is in that area where the hurricane warning has been issued. jenna: was that an attempt by our producers to make me look like i'm a hurricane. jon: you are not a hurricane. jenna: we just wanted to make sure that we are clear and honest with you. we've crossed through a couple of our big stories of today. the weather certainly being one of them. our lead story as you know is this terror threat, credible, unconfirmed but a big news item ahead of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. joining us now republican presidential candidate and former utah governor jon huntsman who recently served in the obama administration as we know. let's start off with the top news story of the day. what would you do if you were president to strengthen our national security? >> well, the most important thing we can do when we have credible evidence of a threat is to get that information out to the american people, and to make sure that you're working with local governments. that is what it seems that people are doing, and then we have to remember that we are up against this aeu se asymmetric threat called terror for a very longtime. we are in afghanistan with a hundred thousand troops. i'm not sure we should be nation building abroad when we have a nation to built on the home front. increasingly the kind of threat we face internationally will require better intelligence collection capability. more in the way of special forces on the ground and the ability to train some of our friends and allies around the world who likely are going to face similar threats in the years to come. we shouldn't shrink away from this. we should hit it head on. whenever people pop up that want to do is ill we should knock them down. jenna: we certainly focus along on the middle east. we believe this threat is coming from pakistan. but i'm curious your thoughts about where the real threat to our national security is. is it in china? are we taking our eye off the ball so to say? >> our real threat to national security is right here at home, jenna. and that is a crumbling core, our economy. as our economy weakens we loose leverage in all of our relationships across the board. we lose sight of the big picture, and that is when america is strong, we are 25% of the world's gdp, but when we're strong we exude this goodness, the sense of confidence and hope to the rest of the world that speaks to liberty, tkep democracy, human rights and open markets. right now our light has dimmed. we've got to get that corey built in this country. jenna: i'm curious what you think about the president's plan that he presented last night. i was listening to the plan and watching it on television and had your eleven-page proposal out as well. you put out a proposal for job creation about a week ago. if you were in office right now would you vote to approve the president's plan? >> listen, it doesn't get us anywhere near where we need to be. jenna: would you note for it? >> i would not be voting for it. we need a big, bold approach to getting this country back on its feet. we are not even getting to the structural challenges that we face. we have a tax code that doesn't work, we have regulatory issues that stand in the way and hobble small businesses in their ability to hire and deploy capital into the marketplace. we are not moving toward energy independence, we are not moving toward free trade agreements. they are sitting, stalled out right now. there is zero leadership on the economic rebuilding side. and number two, we are not thinking big enough, we are not being bold as americans right now. and washington is failing us. this economy has hit the wall and we are sucking wind. i don't think people realize the severity of the situation that we're in, particularly the younger generation that is inheriting this massive amount of debt. when we face a challenge like this, jenna we've got to think bold, we've got to be big, these half steps and half measures may feel good temporarily and it may be a fix over the next year or two but we're missing the bigger issue here. we have structural issues that have to be fixed around taxes and regulations. until we get there we won't find a fix. jenna: our viewers have questions for you. governor hunts maines going to stick around and answer your questions. get online, foxnews.com/"happening now," click on america is asking and get us your questions and we'll take the questions to governor huntsman right after the break. - i amp because it's completely invisible. - i amp because it's designed to help me hear better. - i amp because it's for active people like me. male announcer: introducing amp, a new kind of hearing aid. so tiny, it's invisible. - amp is comfortable to wear. - and easily removable. announcer: and at $1,500 a pair, amp is affordable. - amp: the hearing aid for people who aren't ready for a hearing aid. - i amp. do you? announcer: call toll-free 1-888-379-1405 to find an amp hearing professional near you. at only $1,500 a pair, you can't afford to wait. that's 1-888-379-1405. call today. jenna: welcome back, everybody, america certainly is asking a lot of questions of our next guest, republican presidential candidate, former utah governor jon huntsman is sticking around to take your questions. peter has this question for you. he says, which would be better for the economy right now, cut regulations, or reform the tax code? >> i think you have to do both of them together. jenna: peter says you have to choice. peter says you have to choice. i'm only reading his question. >> if we could just repeal obamacare and dodd frank that would send a signal to the marketplace that would send a message to investors and employers to carry on. regulation would be my guess in that case. jenna: you're tough to, you have to ask the questions the viewers give you. steven has a question, he says would you support a national sales tax? >> you know i've looked at a national sales tax, i think there is a lot of merit to it. what i'm talking about is what i did as governor, we created something close to a flat tax. we phased out all the deductions, the loopholes, the corporate welfare, all the could be webs, we got almost all of them out. what i'm calling for in our nation's tax code is cleaning out the could be webs and use that to lower the rate and broaden the base. it would get us in the game from a 21st century competitiveness standpoint. i'm not speaking in academic theory here. i've been through tax reform in my state unlike any other candidate in the race. i know how it's done, it took us two years to get here and that's exactly what the nation needs to do right now. jenna: great question from tc. a question that we forget as we move along the campaign trail. he wants to know, mr. huntsman, why do you want to be president? >> i love this country. i think it is absolutely unacceptable for the first time in the history of the greatest country that ever was we are passing on the united states of america to the next generation, i'm raising seven kids, i feel this all the time. we are passing onto the younger generation, a country less good, less competitive, less productive, saddled with debt, for the first time in history. we always pass upward our hopes and terms and aspirations and national standard, and for the first time we are passing downward. that is the greatest motivator of all. that should get every single person out of their seat around the 2012 election cycle particularly the younger generation when they understand this cancer called debt that is eating away at our core that they are about to inherit. they should be absolutely livid. they are getting the shaft, the younger generation, they are getting the shaft out of this deal. they above all ought to be rallying around the 2012 election realizing that in the republican party and free market principles we have the solutions to start take being the steps necessary to get this economy moving again and get jobs created. jenna: we appreciate you taking our questions from our viewers that are of all ages, they really appreciate it. i understand you have a very important birthday for a certain member of your family this weekend that you guys got going on. >> thanks general ark the greatest human being i've ever known, my wife mary kay. i've been married 28 years. she is turning 50 years old tomorrow. i wish her a happy birthday. i love her dear leave. she is from florida, here we sit in florida campaigning even through her birthday, jenna. jenna: that is a very special birthday wish. its nice to know more about a candidate's family as well. all of this adds to the picture of who might be the next president of the united states, sir. we appreciate you taking the time to cover bonn much of topics with us and we look forward to having you back on. >> thanks, you're terrific jenna thank you. jon: a massive air assault trying to flight flames burning across central texas. coming up we'll talk to the mayor of bastrop about the worst fire in that state's history. the lights coming back on now in the southwest. a big black out across several states leaving millions in the dark. you won't believe why the power went out. that is next. jon: right now the biggest aerial assault yet is underway on a devastating wildfire raging across central texas. today officials deploying one of the country's largest firefighting jets. this massive machine can drop 12,000 gallons of fire retardant in one swoop. and that is going to be needed around bastrop, just outside of austin, texas, where fires have destroyed about 1400 bastrop homes. thousands of people forced to evacuate as well, as you can imagine. farther north near the city of hillsboro and lake whitney officials say flames destroyed 15 to 20 homes. overall 180 wildfire broke out in drought-stricken texas just this week. four people have died as a result. let's talk now with terry orr the mayor of bastrop, texas. it's my understanding that at first you thought that that number was going to be far smaller. this 1400 homes number was something of a surprise to people isn't that true? >> we are in the middle of a human tragedy here, and our initial information was something in the order of 500 homes, which i thought was just absolutely excessive. but as we've had aerial reconnaissance, through gps spotting we've been able to better determine what that loss is. and also and that has been a fly over click, click, click, that's added up to something like 1350 homes. we know there is going to be more than that. as the fire in the northern part has cooled down we actually have people on the ground that are going to the destroyed homes, getting a gps reading, and then we're combining that with our 9/11 emergency database to establish what the addresses are. many of these homes, there are no addresses, you're just in the middle of a moon scape, but we are definitely going to have a tremendous loss of property. and property loss is only indicative of the great human tragedy. and we will be working very much in the future to alleviate that. jon: well, i know that that is a big part of what you're worried about right now trying to get a financial recovery plan in place, but obviously all of these houses, as devastating as this fire has been, all of these houses can be rebuilt. have you suffered any loss of life specifically there in bastrop? >> we have had two fatalities, and that, considering the 34,000 acres of burned area, the number of homes, that is to me a remarkable, a remarkable circumstance. but i can say that we had a marvelous, through our city sheriff and our bastrop county judge, mcdonald, we had a good evacuation plan. and what is most important is the citizens in these threatened areas evacuated. and that is what has kept down the death toll. jon: taken responsibility for their own safety and listening to those evacuation orders. mayor terry orr from bastrop, texas, we thank you for coming on, and we wish you well as you try to rebuild. thank you. >> thank you so much. jenna: now to the southwest. crews have the power back on in most areas of the southwest. just a little while ago the electricity came back for 1.4 million people in southern california. a huge swath of land there. the lights are also on for about a million customers in mexico and the power finally restored in arizona. what caused the massive blackout? casey stegall is live in mission viejo, california with more. >> reporter: it's looking more and m