the s&p already in that negative territory, albeit slightly. trish regan will be following each and all as the minutes wind down. hey there, trish. trish: hey there, neil. breaking this hour, everyone, a luxury hotel in flames in dubai right now. meanwhile, right here in the homeland everyone on high alert. a 25-year-old man has been arrested for plotting a new year's eve attack in upstate new york all in the name of isis. i am trish regan, welcome, everyone, to "the intelligence report." i want to go to these pictures we are getting in from dubai right now where there is a fire happening at a luxury hotel in dubai. the blaze is running up, you can see this, all these stories, reports say 40 stories right now. this is a 63-story luxury hotel. it's located right next to the tallest building in the world there in dubai, and it has 200 rooms, over 60 apartments.

now, this blaze began just before new year's eve fireworks display was about to go off in the city, and according to reports it is now being evacuated, and people are also being moved out of the dubai mall located nearby. reports say it started on the 20th floor. ited. we've got a lot of questions. joining me right now, retired colonel ralph peters and former fbi agent robert standing. colonel peters, this is happening on new year's eve, it's happening just hours before a big fireworks display was supposed to go off, and it's happening, of course, in the middle east. let me ask you about the islamic extremism issue in dubai. do they have a problem at all with isis? >> well, dubai and the other emirates have, by and large, been able to buy off the terrorists. they have one face for the west,

one looking east. so it's a really complex situation. so i would be a bit surprised if this was terrorism, but it certainly could be. just as the bowery boys used to say, let's not jump to conclusions. along with the possibility of terrorism, trish, in dubai you don't have manhattan-type building codes, fire codes, inspections depend on who you bribe, who you pay off. those buildings are built by wage slaves from bangladesh and nepal. could be an electrical fire, could be terrorism, we just have to wait and see. trish: robert's joining us as we look at live pictures out of dubai where this fire is just engulfing this building. we have learned according to reports it has taken over 40 stories. and, robert, you know, as we, as we are all on high alert tonight around the globe, what is your thought on this? i mean, the colonel's saying

isis has not been much of an issue there in dubai, but at the same time this is a landmark area. it is located right next to the world's tallest building, and i gotta say, i mean, 2008 was the year this hotel was built. so one would assume, one would think that it would have all the mechanisms in place to protect itself from a fire. what is your gut reaction to this as we watch these pictures coming in to us now? >> right, trish. keep in mind i spent ten years, i started with the fbi, spent ten years with dea and, you know, coordinated this kind of information back through the state department on a regular basis. and what we're seeing now is really, it's kind of a crucial time because you look at dubai in terms of many of the companies from new york, many of the financial firms from london, they have moved into dubai. i mean, it clearly is a symbol of capitalism in the region. when you take a look at all of the information that's out there, all the chatter, you know, even though we don't have any specific threats, we know that there's issue to be

concerned around the world. if you look in brussels with the arrests, if you look what happened recently in paris and in turkey, this clearly is at the top of the spectrum when it comes to a possible terrorist attack. and especially when you look at these pictures and you see how quickly this building is engulfed. there had to be some extraordinary circumstances, you know, to make this happen so quickly. not to mention that it's just hours away from the the massive fireworks display. so there's too much going on here, there's too many coincidences, there's too much chatter and too much information out there because everybody is really on highest alert when it comes to new year's eve and searching individuals, searching people, looking in backpacks, trying to keep these huge crowds of hundreds of thousands and a million people safe. so this is going to really send a chill around the world when it comes to terrorism. we're going to look at dubai, which is ahead of us, and it's

going to make us pause a little bit, slow down and even be more careful than we have been to date. trish: yeah. you know, i think, robert, you're on to manager there where it's questionable -- on to something there where it's questionable as to how this fire could engulf so many stories, so quickly. again, i'm going to speak to the modernity of the building. i mean, this is something that was built just seven years ago. you know -- >> trish -- trish: hang on, colonel. we have learned that they are going to continue with the fireworks display tonight. and i would question, robert, the reasons for that. i mean, you have a building right now on fire that one would think structurally is at issue right now. i mean, one would wonder with all this heat there, are you at risk for the building collapsing, and why do you want to be having a fireworks display with thousands of people there

standing nearby? i mean, the debris alone and, again, we look at this picture, we see lots of debris spouting off of this building, robert. >> trish, i don't think you can. i mean, just your resources alone for any city including dubai just when your first responders, your hospitals, your fire department, your police department, all of your additional resources are going to be all used here. if you're going to go ahead with the fireworks display, i mean, just look across our own country. what's the first thing you see when you go to a small town across our country for a fireworks display? it's all the fire trucks. because something could happen just in the ordinary, normal course of business. but in this kind of environment where we're dealing with terrorists all over and we have these quiet threats when we're using encryption and we don't know what's coming next, clearly this is a big issue. i can't imagine that they're going to go forward with it. trish: colonel peters, you wanted to jump in. go ahead. >> yeah. well, i am not dismissing the possibility of this being terrorism. i want the facts to come out.

but whether or not it's terrorism, that does not explain how fast the building went up. i'm just trying to make the point that behind the glitzy facade, there's an enormous amount of corruption, an enormous amount of shoddy construction. so you could have a combination of terrorism and the flames exacerbated by corruption. as far as going forward with the fireworks display,s this is not manhattan where the chief of police or the head of the fire department could call off the fireworks display. it has to come from the top, from the ruling family. it's an incredible bureaucracy where nobody has real authority. so was this terrorism? we'll see. but i'll tell you, dubai is sort of like the bar scene, very glitzy version of the bar scene in the first "star wars" film. it's where everybody can do deals with everybody else. so while terrorists may have done this, in the past it has been in their efforts to exploit the free atmosphere. trish: well, one would think, rob, that terrorism is very much

something that is being examined right now. you know, we've seen a number of cities across the globe actually cancel their firework displays tonight. brussels canceled all fess tilts -- festivities, paris canceled its fireworks display. is this the prudent thing to do in light of all the threat going on? robert? >> well, yes. you know, all i was saying is that i think that the timing, i think the colonel's right. the timing here is something we have to look at. the type of inferno that we're seeing with these pictures is something that we have to look at. and the fact that we have this chatter and this broad spectrum of trouble in the world right now at a heightened alert for terrorism, we don't have the facts yet, and we don't know if this specifically was a terrorist attack. but i think it's certainly something that logically when we look at it and all the circumstances, we have to consider it. >> sure. >> clearly. and i also think that, you know, everyone at home and like the colonel said even with the

police commissioner in new york and from small towns across the country and l.a. and the rose bowl, they're going to be looking at this. and, clearly, the lines that were going to be going into those 14 entrances into times square tonight, you might be delayed a little longer. i think people are going to be looking a little bit more for explosives. they're going to make sure k-9 teams are in place, they're going to look at the biological, chemical, radiological testing equipment is going to be out in full force. so there's going to be, i think, a little bit of more concern -- trish: yeah. let me jump in for a moment and just remind our viewers, we are watching this live fire happening there at the address, a hotel, luxury hotel in dubai. and you're looking also at a map alongside it which shows the proximity of the address hotel to the world's tallest building in the world there located quite nearby. robert was just talking about all the measures that new york city and other cities across

america are going to be taking tonight as they gear up for their fireworks displays. our own laura ingle is in new york right now, in times square, where you're going to see 6,000 police officers there patrolling the streets. and she joins us with some of the preparations and how this fire that we're watching right now that has a lot of questions around it may influence what we see there tonight. laura. >> reporter: well, times square filling up very quickly here while thousands of police officers are looking on. if you can get a look at what's happening behind me, i'm standing, actually, in front of one of the pens where we have, as you can see, a lot of people there. they are here nice and early getting ready, getting their positions. [cheers and applause] police here in new york city say this is actually the safest place on the planet to ring in the new year. by the time the ball drops here tonight, there will be over one million people to protect. i heard your guests talking about the type of protection that needs to happen here, and

that is exactly what the nypd has been working so hard at. security at the highest level ever. 6,000 officers here tonight. some officers will have radiation detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and rifles. the nypd's critical response command which also includes 500 officers trained for terrorism in the mix, so nypd assuring everybody leave the worrying to us. back to you. trish: thank you, laura. and, again, back to these live pictures from dubai where a fire has erupted engulfing, reports say, as many as 40 stories there. this is at the address hotel, luxury hotel in dubai. 63 stories tall, 200 rooms, over 60 apartments. we're learning it is being evacuated. also being evacuated is the dubai mall located nearby. however, the city intends to go forward with tonight's festivities to have a fireworks display. a lot of questions right now as

to whether that is the safest, most prudent thing to do and a lot of questions about how this fire actually started. is this an act of terror? we're going to take a very quick break, and then we are back with the live events coming to you from dubai right after this. ♪ tucson.

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when you're on hold, your business is on hold. that's why comcast business doesn't leave you there. when you call, a small business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. no annoying hold music. just a real person, real fast. whenever you need them. so your business can get back to business. sounds like my ride's ready. don't get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. trish: breaking right now, a luxury hotel in flames in dubai. we are following this breaking story for you. meanwhile, here in the homeland everyone's on high alert, a 25-year-old man has been arrested for plotting a new year's eve attack in upstate new york all in the name of isis. he had intended to go to a restaurant or bar in rochester tonight and shoot the patrons there. again, all in the name of isis.

he wanted to join isis overseas and claims he was getting instructions from isis. back to this developing story that we're watching right now with these pictures coming in to us out of dubai, this is a tower, a luxury tower, hotel tower that was 63 stories tall. it was built back in 2008. and this fire has engulfed, reports say, 40 stories of the building. it is centrally located very close to what is the world's tallest building in dubai. we've learned that four fire-fighting brigades are on site dealing with this blaze. they say that it's 90% under control. however, looking at the pictures that we're seeing coming in right now, this does not look like a fire that's under control. you're seeing a lot of debris. it's spouting off of the building, and we have learned that the dubai malls which is located nearby is being

evacuated a well. nonetheless, dubai intends to go forward with their celebrations tonight, and many are asking just exactly why they'd be doing that given you have all this debris coming from this building and given that the integrity of this building itself could be at risk. i'm joined right now by retired colonel ralph peters, former fbi agent robert strang, fox news' terrorism analyst walid phares is joining us on the phone as well. walid, tell us a little bit about dubai and any concerns you may have about this being terror related right now. >> well, number one, dubai is really the center of the world in the gulf. it is the economic center of the financial region, but it also has become the social center. there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of visitors who go there not just for business, but for pleasure. so the determination of the

government of the uae to continue with the fireworks, you were just raising this issue, probably has to do with morale and psychological, you know, determination, that this is not going to deter us. but you're right. this is a very dangerous event that we see in front of our eyes. now, terror-related issues, we don't know. they will have to investigate, i'm sure they are. but there is a terror situation in the uae. remember, the uae issued that would be last year the largest, longest terror list that has all the affiliates of al-qaeda, of isis, but here also hezbollah and iranian links. so the uae is battling the terrorism, and it has trooped in yemen fighting there against iranian militia. so these pieces have to be looked upon by the authorities there. trish: you know, what's your gut instinct on this? as colonel peters said, we don't want to jump to conclusions here, but this is a recently-built building. just seven years ago. wouldn't you think it would have

proper mechanisms in place to deal with fires, to put them out pretty quickly? i mean, how would something like this just take off to the point where it's engulfing, according to reports, 40 stories? >> i asked some experts so far in the past few, 30 minutes. it could be 50/50. it could be that something really bad happened and there is something wrong, you know, mechanism in the construction of the building that led to this. which is possible. but then the really other option that has been, you know, instigated by people. so it could be terrorism. it could be someone who is targeting the ability and the economy of that country and the enemies are not few. remember, as i said earlier, if this is the 50% possible that it's criminal or terrorism, then it would be possible of the two kind of enemies uae has, isis or iran. but it's too early to talk about that. trish: stay with me, walid. colonel peters, what would be

the benefit to a terrorist to go after a hotel like this? >> well, i think the benefits were laid out earlier. of it's symbolic, it's decadent by isis or al-qaeda standards. it is a financial center. but you also have to look at reasons a terrorist might not want to do it. and one of the reasons is it's a clearinghouse for everybody. in united arab emirates, especially dubai, nothing is as it seems on the surface. there are layers and layers and double crosses, triple crosses, people say both sides of the game. yes, this may well be terrorism, but the terrorists would also lose because beyond the show and tell of lists of terror suspects, etc., dubai hasn't really done much. they're perfectly willing to look away whether it's trade with iran, money moving around the world. so there are pluses and minuses -- trish: however, however, i just

want to jump in, and maybe robert has a thought on this. you know, you've seen so many lone wolf style attacks. i mean, you think about san bernardino, for example, and it's not as though those people were coordinating with isis at all. is there a risk here that this might be a lone wolf type thing? i mean, maybe isis wouldn't want to go after dubai because, to colonel peters' point, it serves as a clearinghouse, and it's the switzerland, if you would, of all the good and bad things that can potentially happen from a financial stand point. but that doesn't necessarily mean that somebody else that's an isis sympathizer wouldn't look at this and see it as a target, robert? >> you can look at it both wayses. and we can -- even with the incident in rochester where this young man was arrested earlier today, you can look at it either from being controlled by isis or al-qaeda, you can look at it as a lone wolf and someone who's inspired by isis or al-qaeda. but either way the end result is the same. the only thing i'd like to add is also when you take a look at

all the added security throughout the region, both around dubai, in europe, frankly, all over the world, you're going to have isis and the other terrorist organizations looking for soft t spots, looking for places where possibly they don't have the kind of scrutiny, the kind of police scrutiny and detailed investigations going on that they might have in -- trish: so, in other words, the sort of obvious targets? i mean, you know, you talk about new york and times square and a million people there. are those targets perhaps in some ways more secure because they have the 6,000 police officers there present tonight? >> well, you know, trish, take a look at the security in new york city tonight and take a look at the security in dubai with their fireworks display. i think you're going to see a big difference. i don't think that you have the type of security in dubai at this moment in time that you see around the rest of the world.

trish: colonel peters, let me just ask you another question about dubai and how things are done there. authorities are reporting this blaze is 90% under control. however, as you can see from the pictures being fed into us right now, it does not look like a fire that is under control. is it possible that authorities are telling people a little bit what they want to hear? i mean, they're continuing on with the fireworks display and saying this is under control? >> i think they're notoriously poor governance has just gone into shock. i think they don't know what to do. they're making wild claims. you're probably not getting any decisions from the ruling family. this is a very shocking event for them. it's certainly unexpected. and, again, you know, it may well be terror. we don't know that. but what we already know just looking at the visuals is this tells you a lot about the shoddy construction and lack of construction codes in dubai. trish: all right. don't go anywhere. we are going to be right backing

with more coming to you live from dubai. colonel peters, robert strang and walid phares. stay with me. ♪ ♪ this is the one place we're not afraid to fail. some of these experiments may not work. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel... ...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today.

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trish: a luxury hotel is up in flames in dubai right now, and we are asking the question of whether this is merely a simple fire or whether there is some other malintent here. i'm joined by colonel peters along with robert strang and manny gomez who joins by phone, former fbi special agent, former nypd officer and former marine. manny, let me ask you about the need to get everybody out of this area right now, the advantaginguation process. we have -- evacuation process. we have learned they have evacuated this hotel, the mall nearby. how challenging is it in an

event like to get everyone out of the waysome. >> in an event like this, it's always a huge challenge. it seems to me that dubai is not really geared up for an event of this magnitude. they have a big problem and a big challenge to overcome in trying to make this, put this fire under control, try to determine how many people are still in that building and if they are still going to hold off fireworks which, apparently as of right now -- trish: they're planning on doing it. >> right. trish: and they're also saying this is 90% contained. -- >> no. trish: i've made the point -- okay, so you're agreeing with me. i'm looking at these pictures that are coming in, and it hardly looks as though it's 90% contained. i don't know how quite to interpret that statement. >> absolutely not. it's not contained at all. in fact, it seems to me that they don't really know what they're doing there. here in the states, specifically

new york city, the fire department, emergency first responders are such experts in dealing with high-rises and skyscrapers of this kind, and they would very quickly and efficiently be able to react to this. it doesn't seem to me, just judging by the chaos that's happening as we speak, that they do not have an effective plan as to how to deal with this. furthermore, fact that the fireworks show is just minutes away from what's happening right now, it doesn't seem to me like this is going to be under control when their event is supposed to take place. trish: yeah. i mean, colonel peters was making this point as well and, colonel, you were saying you were very skeptical of the government there in dubai and their ability to make a decision at a critical time like this. why? >> well, in dubai everything's about money. money fixes every problem until

you get to a problem that money won't fix, like a burning skyscraper. and, again, this may be terrorism, may not be. but i will tell you in that part of the world corruption is so deep and endemic and ignored by investors, that a new york city building code inspector would have a nervous breakdown on his first day on the job in dubai -- trish: i mean, dubai they have even the tallest building in the world actually located right around the corner from this building that we're watching go up in flames right now. so, you know, you point to the lack of quality in the building there, but at the same time, i mean, dubai is such a wealthy center. robert, they can buy the best of everything. i mean, how would you think about the buildings that are there right now and this one in particular that's up in flames? >> right. trish, i would think, you know, even the financial firms that are in dubai which every

financial firm in new york has an office in dubai, and it is becoming more and more the financial center of the world. but, you know, do they really know what they're getting into when they go to dubai? like the colonel said, do they know about the construction code, about the corruption, do they know about what's available in terms of fire, police, hospitals? you know, we get spoiled in our country because we're so used to having the kinds of services that we see going on tonight in new york and los angeles and even in other cities across our country. when you go to dubai, when you go to other cities even in europe, some of them just don't have that infrastructure. they don't have that response time. and we forget that. we're in a global world, and we travel all the time to all these different locations, and people have to remember if they get sick or if they get hurt or if there is a terrorist attack or something happens, they end up being really responsible for themselves. they've got to take care of themselves because there's no infrastructure and resources to help them. trish: let me jump over to manny

gomez, former fbi, former nypd and former marine. manny, if you were patrolling times square tonight, how would these evicts potentially affect you? >> the nypd are the subject experts in dealing with true defense. they've been doing it for decades safely, no incidents post-9/11. this year they've gone above and beyond. they have 6,000 extra officers patrolling the times square area, they have extra dogs, explosive-trained dogs, radiation detection devices. in fact, commissioner bratton is there right now to say hi to the troops and put them out on patrol. and so i have every confidence that this city's fireworks, rather, ball dropping will go on without a hitch. my concern, if any, would be the softer targets. once those million people go out into the streets after the ball

drops, which they are dispursed within minutes, that would be my concern. trish: okay. manny gomez, god to have you here. colonel peters, robert strang, stay with me. we're going to continue with this story from dubai, "the right back. that's not going to happen. (applause) announcer: one candidate tough enough to take on isis. jeb will destroy isis... and keep america safe. jeb bush: the united states should not delay in leading a global coalition to take out isis with overwhelming force. announcer: tested and proven leadership matters. jeb bush. right to rise usa is responsible for the content of this message. and i quit smoking with chantix. i don't know that i can put into words how happy i was when i quit. it's like losing some baggage, i don't have to carry it around with me anymore. chantix made it possible for me to quit smoking. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation,

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trish: okay. breaking right now, everyone, there is a luxury hotel that is up in flames. it's happening in dubai. it is located quite close to what is the world's tallest

building in the world. this is, actually, the address hotel that is on fire right now. it is said to be 63 stories tall. it was built back in 2008. it has 200 rooms, over 60 apartments. it has been evacuated. authorities have said it is 90% contained, however, a number of guests that have come on to this program are questioning that as they look at some of the video that is being fed in which certainly doesn't look as though -- and this is a live picture you're seeing out of dubai -- does not look as though this is 90% contained. i'm joining right now on the phone by former chicago police sergeant, peter -- [inaudible] also colonel ralph peters and former fbi agent robert strang. i want to go to the sergeant and talk about the process for evacuating a community like this and evacuating the hotel, the mall nearby and the surrounding area knowing, sergeant, that they're still going to have the

fireworks display tonight. how difficult a process is all of this? >> this is extremely difficult. i don't know how many police officers dubai has, i don't know how many emergency workers they have, but now you have to concentrate on putting this fire out, you have to concentrate on, obviously, saving lives and getting the people out. now what do you do with them and how do you afford the protection to the world's biggest hotel, and how do you afford protection to the people that are there for the fireworks that are supposed to happen in a couple hours there? trish: would you cancel those fireworks? >> would i? would this -- i believe that they should because we don't know -- the fire could be just, it just happened naturally or it could have been terrorism. but now you've got displaced people, you've got people running all over place. how are you going to control a crowd for a fireworks display? trish: a very good point, indeed.

of course, the world is on high eye letter right now -- alert right now. paris has canceled its fireworks display. brussels has canceled all of its activities for tonight. new york is still moving forward as planned. 6,000 police officers will be there in times square, but we did get reports, sergeant, today of a 25-year-old man in rochester, new york, who intended to kill people in a terror attack tonight as a restaurant or bar there in rochester, new york. how on alert are the police officers across our country given all of the things that have been happening? >> oh, we're absolutely in the orange zone right now. i mean, you're going to have a problem. new york blocked off streets, chicago blocked off streets days before their fireworks shows. they have all the police surrounding it. they have dogs, they have bomb

dogs, they have radiation detection, they have all these things all set in place. but if i'm watching the fireworks downtown chicago or in downtown new york, where is my other protection going to be if this, if somebody wants to blow up something else, if somebody wants to shoot up a restaurant or someplace that's gown to have a lot of people any -- going to have a lot of people anyway, movie theaters or wherever? it's mind-boggling. there isn't enough police, enough security, there isn't enough anything. if these people want to attack, and they do it individually with guns and rifles, it's almost impossible to stop. what you have to be able to do is respond quickly, take that threat out. trish: sergeant, thank you very much. happy new year to you. thank you for joining the show. >> same to you, thank you. trish: we still have colonel

peters with us as well as former fbi agent robert strang, and there is a lot of new information coming in right now. we're going to take a quick break, and we're going to be back with our continued coverage of this fire at the address how tell in the dubai. ♪ ♪ i'm definitely able to see savings through using the car buying on usaa. i mean, amazing savings. i was like, wow, if i could save this much, then i could actually maybe upgrade a little bit. (announcer) usaa car buying service powered by truecar. save money, zero hassle.

♪ ♪ trish: okay. let's check in on market on the final day of the year, everyone. and it looks like we're closing lower here. you can see the dow jones industrial average down 120

points, s&p down almost 13. oil actually closed out the day higher. what do you know? about 1% higher. we'll see whether or not it sticks into 2016. crude up 60 cents, $37.20 a share. this amid reports that show rig counts continue to fall. apple trading lower today. the tech giant has agreed to pay nearly $350 million to settle a tax probe in italy. you can see it's down $2.16 right now. "the intelligence report" is going to be right back. we have more information coming to us right now on this massive fire in dubai. i am going to be joined by the former commissioner of the new york fire department, howard schafer. he's here, that's right after this. ♪ ♪ we live in a pick and choose world.

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you slept and what adjustments you can make. you like the bed soft. he's more hardcore. so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store, find the lowest prices of the season. save $600 on the #1 rated i8 bed, plus no interest until january 2018. know better sleep with sleep number. trish: breaking this hour, it is just 15 minutes before the stroke of midnight, the new year, in dubai, and a luxury hotel is up in flames right now. it is said that 63 -- rather, 40 of the stories have caught fire. it is a 63-story building. it was built back in 2008. we are also getting reports right now of minor injuries and one resident describe canned the scene as -- described the scene as, quote, total pandemonium. i'm joined on the phone by howard safer, former commissioner of the new york fire department.

commissioner, thank you for joining. >> glad to be with you. trish: so tell me about what's at risk right now. i mean, as you look at this fire and you see these pictures coming in, is there a question about the structural integrity of this building given that reports say 40 of the 63 stories have been engulfed in flames? >> okay. you know, with limited knowledge of the construction of the building, the fact -- the good news is it was built in 2008. international fire codes have changed tremendously since 9/11, and new buildings are built of fire-resistant materials. this appears to be, and from what i've read on the internet from the dubai fire department, this appears to be an external fire that has not entered the interior of the building except in a small perimeter. they claim they have it 90% under control. trish: do you believe that?

i mean, as you see these pictures, does it look -- and this is moments ago -- >> yeah. trish: the live feeds that have come in, does it look like it's 90% under control? >> it does not. i'm just reporting what they are. trish: right. >> they're saying it has not pep traited the interior of the building -- penetrated the interior of the building and it is just an external fire. that remains to be seen. trish: i mean, it's hard -- again, i'm just a layperson here, not with any experience in fire. but as you look at this, it seems as though -- >> and the large, there's a large volume of fire. however, historically if you look at high-rise fires, since 2001 they tend to burn themselves out. the fire-resistant materials that the buildings' interiors are built of usually do that along with sprinkler systems. these new buildings have pressurized staircases so that the individuals can be evacuated

in areas that to not have fire. trish: good. >> they usually have dedicated structurally-strong elevator systems that are dedicated to firefighters so they can get up and fight the fire. trish: commissioner, i just want to alert the viewer to what they're seeing right now which is some of the emergency personnel on the scene. we have gotten reports of 14 minor injuries. let me ask you about the debris that's falling from this building. how dangerous is that? >> the debris is dangerous, and it's dangerous to structures that are not built as well as the high-rises that have been built in the last 15, 20 years. you know, if you look statistically, people are much safer in high-rises from fire than they are in smaller structures even though, you know, people always say, well, ladders can't reach above the seventh or ninth floor depending on the setbacks. but the reality is many

high-rise firefighters, the interiors are put out by the sprinkler systems, and the new buildings have redundant sprinkler systems that should put out the fire. trish: well, let's hope it does. commissioner, thank you very much. we're going to be back with more right after this live from dubai. ♪ ♪ we live in a pick and choose world.

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trish: we're following the breaking story out of dubai right now where a luxury hotel tower is on fire. it is the address hotel located in downtown dubai, very close to the world's tallest building. it went up in flames just hours before the big fireworks display which is set to happen in just about eight minutes from now. the city said it is going forward with its plans to have the firework display despite the

issue there with the fire. it says it's 90% contained,al hoe a number of people, including former nyc fire department commissioner howard safer, have questioned whether or not it is 90% contained given the pictures you're seeing coming in to you right now live from dubai. we're also getting some conflicting reports of the police chief there in dubai has said there are 14 people that have suffered minor injuries, light injuries from smoke inhalation and from crowding the stairs while evacuating the building. however, a medic on the scene said to reuters, this medic declined to be identified, that more than 60 people have sustained light injuries. so a difference there, disparity there in numbers. i want to go back to retired colonel ralph peters as well as former fbi agent robert strang who are joining me with more on this developing story. and, of course, the big question is what is going to happen tonight here in the u.s. when it

comes to the measures we're taking for security. we have learned, of course, robert, that 6,000 police officers are going to be present in times square. how on alert, if you would, are are police forces, fbi agents across the country right now? >> well, trish, everybody is very alert right now because what's happened is we've kind of lacked a little bit of intelligence that we received in the past. we're always getting updates, we're always getting information globally coming in to our state department through our homeland security and down to the local police departments. but what's happened is everyone is a little bit concerned because of the encryptions and different ways that people are communicating now. terrorists can get away with things that they couldn't get away with in this past. and the biggest fear with all of the terrorist experts that are running in the police department, working in homeland security, working in the fbi is the fact that now terrorists can

communicate using encryption, and police are not aware and cannot get ahead of them when they're going to do an active shooting situation, a bombing situation, when any type of event is going to take place. that's why you see such strong manpower on the streets, because if we can't get them through intelligence and we can't get them through enforcement operations with informants and information we seize from making arrests and so forth, our last line of defense is to have good policing on the street, be able to do the searches, be able to use the k-9 units, be able to look for biological, radiological, chemical events, any type of situation that could occur. that's why you have checkpoints and perimeters like we see in new york right now. fourteen ways to get into a five-block radius around times square. all of those 14 entrances you're going to have very tight control in terms of what people can carry in -- trish: right. >> -- how well they're searched and really trying to make that inner perimeter as safe -- trish: that's incredibly important.

colonel peters, though, part of the issue when it comes to tracking these terrorists happens to be just plain old resources. it seems as though we don't quite have the manpower. you know, you think about the sort of decline in spending when it comes to intelligence. is that taking effect? is that hurting us right now? >> well, you'll never have enough resources, because islamic state -- and to an extent al-qaeda -- they're global brands now. they're everywhere. and it takes multiple personnel to track one terrorist effectively. sometimes dozens. so my concern would be this, trish. what we really need is to make sure the laws allow our intelligence agencies to do what they have to do. there's been a lot of scare mongering. nonsense about nsa, etc. i've worked with those guys. they protect our civil liberties all the time. so i think what you need -- the economical way to do it, the feasible way is to empower them

through the laws. trish: okay. we're going to take a quick break, quick break. we'll be right back. don't go anywhere, anyone. y not. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel... ...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today. ideas exxonmobil scientists are working on to make energy go further... ...no matter how many tries it takes. energy lives here.

trish: all right. we're going to continue following that story for you out of dubai. in the meantime, i just want to say happy new year, everyone. have a very happy and safe evening tonight. liz claman, over to you. liz: to you too. we have a towering inferno on our hands. breaking news, a tale of two skyscrapers. on your right, a massive blaze torching a hotel in dubai. middle easternty of dubai, the official fireworks are about to begin in just seconds. this is amazing, that it doesn't happen more often with all the fireworks globally, but at this hour that massive fire on the right part of your screen is engulfed at a 63-story skyscraper called the address hotel in downtown dubai. it is p sapping dubai's fire and police force. the blaze began just hours before the official new year's