Subways. Was it a false alarm . Derek jeter ends his final game with a walk off single. Derek jeter where fantasy becomes reality. Did you have any doubt . And we never had any doubt. He bows out as only he could. I want to thank everyone here. I said it time and time again. Everybody is saying thank you, derek. For what. Im trying to do my job. Thank you guys. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. Atf and fbi agents have arrived where a fire put commercial airliners at midway and ohare airports at a ground stop. Ohare the biggest in the country. Federal and state officials are looking into the possibility that the fire had been exceptionally set. We are expecting an update and this was the Aurora Police chief moments ago. There was no explosion. We are just being cautious and thats why you are seeing a lot of equipment coming in. The fire was set by contract employee. There is no terrorist act. Nbcs tom costello is joining the latest developments and he joins me with Kevin Tibbles. First to you. The big picture. What do we know about the incident and the contractor and any injuries. This happened at about 5 42 a. M. Today. At an air Traffic Control facility and if you have ever listened on the head sets and you are flying over on channel 9, you can hear them talking. This was Chicago Center. A major transit point for air Traffic Control handling High Altitude flights. They got a call of fire in the building and arrived to find an individual who was injuried in some way and somebody else was suffering for smoke inhalation in the basement of the building. We believe multiple fires were set and our sources have been saying it was the contractor who set this fire or fires. Why . We dont know, but immediately the Evacuation Order went out. 15 to 30 people removed. That meant that air Traffic Control was dramatically affected at two airports. Chicago ohare and also midway. As of this moment, we have a report of up to 800 flights affected at ohare. Delays and cancellations and 373 at midway. Take a look at this map. This shows you the is it story. All of the flights diverting around chicago. Flights to the north and the south because there has been limited air Traffic Control coverage around chicago. That is just now starting to pick up and im going to let Kevin Tibbles talk about the house of pain that is ohare. Keeping in mind that a plane that starts in l. A. Or seattle or denver and goes to chicago, thats not the end of the day. It might go on to la guardia or charlotte. All of those flights are affected by this outage. They are beginning to pick up and both american and united hope to start ramping up as the day goes on. How long this will take, we dont know and how much damage was done to this critical tower,this critical facility known as a center or en route center. When that traffic was taken away from Chicago Center and Minneapolis Center picked up the ball. Other air Traffic Control centers filled in. Back to you. Kevin tibbles, thanks to you for setting the scene here and the scene must be a mess at ohare which on a good day is not so great. Its interesting because for the 50 time in a long time, the skies over chicago are absolutely silent. Usually the city is buzzing with air traffic coming into the airports, but now all the pandemonium is on the ground. Inside the terminals and outside the american terminal where more than 300 flights have been canceled. 800 in this airport and more than 1,000 in the city. Inside people are lining up trying to get alternate routes to their destinations and spoken to many people going to weddings on the west coast. Family gatherings and the usual business traffic. They will find out if they can get to where they are going without going through here. Its frustrating and people are trying to go with the flow and as the day moves on, things are going to get more chaotic. We have heard from the two major airlines, american and united, a real trickle of flights are being able to take off. American said ten. Thats not a lot compared to what usually goes on. The flights are flying at lower altitudes until they can be picked up by air Traffic Control elsewhere in places like cleveland or in minneapolis. As for flights coming in, we heard from American Airlines that flights from places like indianapolis which are close by, they are coming in because they are flying at lower than 10,000 feet and they are handled by a different center. In a word or two words, real mess. Andrea . Kevin tibbles, tom costello, it is a mess. We saw the American Airlines employee passing out Water Bottles to the people in the long lines. Thats a good gesture, but what a tough day there. Valerie is a Senior Adviser to president obama and joins me now. As a chicagoan, you have to feel for the fellow chicagoans and others at ohare and midway who are going through this. The good news is according to the reports and you would know this better than anyone, this is an isolated event and not i terror effect. I am from chicago and i have the experience what its like when one of the nations busiest airports is disrupted. There is going to be a lot of inconvenience and its very, very frustrating. As you said earlier, an investigation is under way between federal, state, and local authorities and we will be hearing more from them as they have results. Many firestorms set up by a body of iraq and they told a group of iraqi reporters yesterday in new york and captured isis fighters who warned of a plotegance other transit spots in the United States. No one that we can find in the administration in agencies have confirmed anything of the like. I gather that he did not say anything about this when he was meeting the day before with president obama and other coalition leaders. I wonder if you have any new guidance for the very worried people in new york city. Sure. You have the Intelligence Community that has not confirmed specific threats at all. The safety of the American People is the first priority. We saw them trying to encourage people to feel comfortable. I have nothing new to report. We do not have anything for the community. The president gave a speech which was so different than the speech a year ago. Facts have changed on the ground. It was a call to arms. It was a message to muslim youth. There were a lot of messages wrapped up in the speech. It was different than the speech a year ago when he announced the end of the war and the end of fighting and a decade of fighting in afghanistan. Circumstances have changed and i think it was a strong powerful speech. He was very clear. He also demonstrated this week what the u. S. s leadership mean with galvanizing the world partners and cooperating with the efforts against isil and i think it was a very constructively and important week and the speech sent a strong signal about where the United States stands. I wanted to ask you about the parliament that has voting as we speak. The brits have at least taken this debate for the last six hours today. Why isnt congress back and debating this issue . You would have to put that question to congress. The debate this morning was vigorous and i am not going to speak on behalf of congress. They will make their own. The president has been in conversations with the leadership and keeping them up to speed on the actions he has been taking. They will have to determine the schedule. A year ago when he decided although ordering the possibility of air strikes against assad for the use of chemical weapons, he decided there should be a congressional debate and a vote before he went forward. This time he is doing it without congressional action. Thats right and as i said, he has been consulting with the leadership. Not just from the hill, but from the American People. The fact that he has been age to force partnerships from the allies and particularly those from the country who is are stepping up and taking it seriously. It shows an enormous amount of support for what the president is doing right now. From around the world, i should haven to say. I wanted to ask you about eric holder. His resignation was anticipated, its fair to say. This is one of the longest serving attorneys general, one of the longest serving members of the cabinet. Only cabinet members have served as long. He is very close to the president and close to you. This was eric holder at the ceremony yesterday. I want to recognize my good friend, valerie jack whom i have been fortunate to work with what started as an improbable idealistic effort by a young senator from illinois who would achieve greatness. It was clearly an emotional time for him and his family. Today he talked to the Congressional Black Caucus and we will be talking about the mission continuing and the legacy and the focus on civil rights and Voting Rights. Lgbt rights. He and barack obama have the same vision, that they are working in tandem. Will whoever succeeds him have the same values and can you get someone confirmed given the midterm elections and with what may exist. You may have the senate command. The answer is absolutely. They want to make sure whoever he selects as attorney general serves the values and what i would observe is that they believe everyone should do Everything Possible to bend the ark of the moral universe towards justice in the words of Martin Luther king. Eric holder did that and bought on behalf of the people of america and the president said he is the peoples lawyer, everything from Counter Terrorism to civil rights to Voting Rights and making sure that we bring our banks to the table and be held accountable. Record settlements he was able to negotiate and the white collar crime. The enormous progress we have made to make sure that no matter where you come from and no matter how you were raised and who you loved, you should have that equal opportunity in this country if you work hard and play by the rules. Those are the values he stands for and the president shares the values and they see that true north and whoever the president selects will have the same priorities and values. Eric holders legacy is one that i know we were proud of and we will miss him. When he made the comments, there were tears streaming down my face. I will miss him on a personal level, but also what he did for our country. We would hope whoever the president selects would receive swift confirmation. Its an extremely important job within the president s cabinet and we hope they confirm the president s choice in short order. Speaking of choices, i know you will be advising on that. Duvall patrick said he does not think he is interested this time around. Is it a Political Choice . Someone has been active in politics in the world of governing at the state or congressional level or is it someone who has been a u. S. Attorney. There have been names thrown around or someone who has been the solicitor general . Those are all good questions. We dont try to get out ahead of the president. He will look at a range of cabinets and a range of qualities and those are important and he thinks those will be important for the person who represents the people of america. I dont want to prejudge what qualifications that person might have, but he will pick the best person for the job that shares his priorities and his values and his desire that we really provide an equal opportunity and protect all americans and keep america and make sure everyone has that opportunity for equal justice with emphasis on justice and equality in the country. I think the president will find that person. I cant give you any more insight in terms of a time table, but its terrific. Eric holder agreed to serve until his successor is confirmed so that we wont have a vacancy at the important agency. Parliament has voted yes and decided to join the coalition in terms of air strikes. Active participation. Military participation. How important is that of a boost for the president . Its terrific. Very important obviously. Great britain is an integral important ally to the United States and the debate was vigorous and we are encouraged they decided to join an increasingly growing coalition that further isolates a terrorist group. Thank you so much, valerie jarrett. Thanks for handling all of the different subjects. We will have more on the British Parliament as it continues to wrap up from its critical vote supporting the coalition and air strikes against isis in iraq. Well be right back. U know. Theres a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. Try phillips fiber good gummies. Theyre delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. Mmmm. These are good the tasty side of fiber. From phillips want to change the world . Create things that help people. Design safer cars. Faster computers. Smarter grids and smarter phones. Think up new ways to produce energy. Be an engineer. Solve problems the world needs solved. What are you waiting for . Changing the world is part of the job description. [ male announcer ] join the scientists and engineers of exxonmobil in inspiring americas future engineers. Energy lives here. Fill their bowl with the meaty tastes theyre looking for, with friskies grillers. Tender meaty pieces and crunchy bites. In delicious chicken, beef, turkey, and garden veggie flavors. Friskies grillers. How long will this last and when will the Mission Start . Let me answer that very directly. This is going to be a mission that will take not just months, but years. Being extremist doesnt kill the inside that can feed their ideas. We have to think of inaction. How much stronger will they be before we decide we need to take action as well. Look at what the house of commons agreed to. Iraq, afghanistan, misgovernment and libya, none are success stories. Woo we have to realize whether they like it or not, they have already declared war on us. Live in london, the vote was overwhelming. It is only air strikes in iraq. Correct me if we are wrong. Its not authorizing action against isis in syria. Thats right. They voted more than 500 more makers and a small number, 43 voting no against that rez losing. They have agreed to military action over the skies of iraq. Joining the coalition and it will be a install number involved in the action, but its partly the psychologist about having the uk. The u. S. s traditional partner and having the uk involved is important. It was a heated debate over six hours in which many issues were talked about. Including whether there was a real danger of mission and how you intervene in a region that is so divided, how do you intervene militarily and manage to come out of that with a positive result for the region . In the end, british lawmakers voted partly because almost every political party, certainly every major party was in favor of the yes vote and said for their politicians that they should vote that way, and the fear of course and consistently was voiced during the debate has been about whether there was a danger that this would end in a quagmyre like others have. Andrea . Thanks so much, pierce simmons. Chuck todd, director and moderator of meet the press. Very important signal. The uk and also belgium, denmark and france was already in. What a great scene. Members of a legislative body debating something as serious war and peace. Where have we seen this . The parliamentary systems demand that kind of debate. That is something i think every individual member of congress is embarrassed that that debate would take place. This is a man who said he wanted to get rid of the war authorization and have a new one. You want to know why there is mistrust in washington and a lack of faith with both parties . Its moments like this, a big moment and you refuse to deal with it because you are afraid of the political consequences. How is it playing out, this background about terror threats. We saw the overreaction, may i say, to what the Prime Minister of iraq said. I always said its rational overreaction in new york. If you have a personal memory of 911 you hear Something Like that, new york city and washington, d. C. , their first hits, first ideas were terrorists. I understand the overreaction, but we have to be careful in how the stuff gets disseminated. Is it showing up yet in any of the conversations we saw . We had scott brown. Tv ads, all republicans trying to hit democrats as weak on national security. Scott brown trying to conplate the isis issue with immigration. We said we have an insecure border. Imagine terrorists can come through the way they did. Far fewer people had come through. The facts never get in the way of a Good Television ad. Thats been it. You havent seen most of the races that are competitive, you get the sense that Neither Party is afraid of giving too much on this. It doesnt want to look weak or too much like war hungry either. You have to feel the tentativeness between im thinking places like iowa, colorado and the closer senate races where the tentativeness in both campaigns, the democrat and the republican is obvious o this issue. As the value voters gathered today, ted cruz, this was the subject there. Right now this week, the government of iran is sitting down with the u. S. Government. To discuss what Prime Minister netanyahu rightly describes as an historic mistake, a bad deal that is setting the stage for iran to acquire Nuclear Weapon capabilities. We so desperately need a president who will stand up and say these discussions do not even begin until you release the pastor and send him home. Maybe we need a president who know that is the iranians dont drink.