Two men charged with conspiracy to support terrorists

>>> and we are following breaking news. there have been some terror threats made in new york . nbc's pete williams joins us from the newsroom. pete?

>> reporter: very odd case, andrea. according to the fbi two men in new york state who were plotting to develop a device that sounds like something out of science fiction that they could use to aim x-rays at people and harm them, people that they described as enemies of israel. the fbi identified these two people arrested today as a 49-year-old engineer from g.e., glendon scott crawford of galway, new york . and eric feight of hudson. they've been charged with con sir si to provide material support to terrorists. the fbi got on to this after one of them walked into a synagogue in new york and said he was looking for people to provide them money and support so he could develop this device that he would mount in a car and drive around and aim it at people that he considered to be enemies of israel, possibly muslims and others the fbi says. but from then on it came to nothing although the two men didn't know it. the fbi had a number of people come at them posing as various kinds of organizations that would agree to help them. the two men built this device but what they didn't realize is that the fbi had rendered it inoperable. they'll appear in court later today , andrea.

>> and, pete, before i let you go, i just want to brief you on this. this just in from kathryn, our producer at the state department who had been in touch with the icelandic representatives, she now has confirmation from the ministry of interior that they did hold a meeting with a representative from wikileaks and they were advised, the representative was an intermediary from wikileaks, for edward snowden about the rules and regulations for asylum and they told this intermediary that in order to apply for asylum the individual has to come in person to iceland and make that application in his or her own name.

>> what a surprise.

>> that is the answer to snowden . i know you're following it from the fbi 's perspective because they are working as we speak on the charges. they have to file charges in order to file an extradition request and i think your information is that they still believe snowden is in hong kong ?

>> right. what this is all about is snowden himself raising the possibility that he might try to seek asylum in iceland. the way it works in most countries, as in here, you can't mail in an application. you have to show up and claim asylum. they are still trying to work out the details of the charges and, as you say, as we've been told, their belief is that he's still in hong kong .

>> thank you, pete williams , on