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American Morning

Times Square Bomb Arrest

Aired May 04, 2010 - 07:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It is Tuesday, May the 4th. I'm Jim Acosta, in for John Roberts.

You're watching breaking news coverage of the terror arrest that we've been covering throughout the night right here on CNN. Thanks for joining us.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And I'm Kiran Chetry. We're coming up on 8:00 here in New York.

A lot going on today as the developments come fast and furious this morning. The headline, though, an arrest in the failed Times Square car bomb plot and we are learning new details as major developments taking place overnight.

First of all, let's just get you up to date on what's going on. The suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad. He is an American citizen, a fairly new one at that, naturalized only a little more than a year ago. He's of Pakistani descent, and he was nabbed at JFK Airport, actually already on board the Emirates Flight 202 headed to Dubai.

A source also tells us that Shahzad was already on and waiting to take off and that law enforcement caught up with him after the plane had actually already left the gate and was headed toward the runway.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest very early this morning. Let's listen to how he described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Earlier this evening, Faisal Shahzad was arrested in connection with the attempted car bombing in New York on Saturday. Mr. Shahzad, an American citizen, was taken into custody at JFK Airport in New York as he attempted to board a flight to Dubai.

Since this plot was first uncovered on Saturday night, the FBI, prosecutors, intelligence lawyers in the National Security Division of the Justice Department which Mr. Kris heads, and the United States Attorneys Offices in Manhattan and Connecticut, along with the New York Police Department, have worked night and day to find out who was responsible for what would have been a deadly attack, had it been successful.

It's clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans. As I've said, this investigation is ongoing, it is multifaceted and it is aggressive.

As we move forward, we will focus on not just holding those responsible for it accountable but also on obtaining any intelligence about terrorist organizations overseas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: We're covering this story like no other this morning, from the heart of New York City all the way to Islamabad, Pakistan -- reporters, analysts and experts standing around the world at this hour.

Let's start with homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve. She is live in Washington for us this morning.

Jeanne, the big question this morning on a lot of people's minds, who is Faisal Shahzad and how was he captured so quickly?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: He is a 30-year-old man. He was born in Pakistan, became a naturalized U.S. citizen only in April of 2009. He's married.

We are told by law enforcement officials that there was no derogatory information about this individual in any of the government databases prior to Saturday. He had not shown up on anybody's radar whatsoever, despite the fact that he'd taken some kind of interesting travel.

Shortly after he became a U.S. citizen, in June of 2009, he boarded a flight to Dubai. He didn't come back from Dubai until February of 2010. So, a stay of eight months overseas.

Dubai is a transit point. It probably was not his final destination. Law enforcement says that exactly where he was, we don't know at this point. If law enforcement knows, they aren't telling us. They clearly are looking at that time period to determine where he was, who he was in contact with, if, perhaps, he was getting some kind of training.

Law enforcement officials do tell us that within the last few weeks, he had made some international phone calls.

Back to you.

ACOSTA: And, Jeanne, as we know, as we've been following this throughout the morning, our Reza Sayah in Islamabad has been reporting that the suspect has family in Karachi, Pakistan.

MESERVE: I only know of the wife. I've seen reports of two children. I don't know anything about the Pakistan side of the family. Sorry.

CHETRY: All right. No. I mean, you have a ton of information for us and you are helping us piece it all together. So, we appreciate that. Jeanne, thanks so much.

MESERVE: You did ask how they found him. I could tell you a little bit about that.

CHETRY: Go for it.

MESERVE: The key piece of evidence was that car, which had a VIN number, not on the dashboard. That had been taken off, but they found it elsewhere on the automobile, on the engine bloc, we're told. Through that, they traced the ownership of the car and the last registered owner was in Connecticut. That person had put that car up for sale on eBay -- excuse me -- on Craigslist and they were able to exploit some of the computer and phone records associated with that and through that technique were able to come up with a name.

They then went back to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and got a photo, because he had recently become a U.S. citizen. They took the photo to the person who sold the car and that seller recognized that person as the buyer. So, that's what helped put this case together. That's how they got him.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: The computers leave a trail. And, you know, as we talk a lot about the Internet being a radicalization tool, it also turns out to be a very key tool for law enforcement in terms of tracking people down. So, amazing stuff.

Thanks so much, Jeanne.

MESERVE: You bet.

CHETRY: Now, we also saw police carrying large bags, plastic bags, from a home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. And we've been looking at live pictures all morning of the continuing investigation as the forensics team does their work there. Apparently, evidence seized from what's believed to be the last known address of this suspected Times Square bomber.

Our Deb Feyerick is live in Bridgeport, Connecticut this morning.

And just moments ago, Deb, when we took that shot live, it's from the helicopter up there. We saw them putting what looked to be some sort of blue tarp over the top of a balcony seemingly to try to get a little bit more privacy, knowing that, yes, the helicopters are in the air and they are taking video of what's going on there with the investigation.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. And you may be able to hear the helicopter just above me, that's the one that's taking pictures down below of the home. We've seen a couple of FBI agents dressed in the white Tyvek suits. In the house, one of them has taken that suit off.

They're the forensic experts. They're the ones who really analyzing the information. They got to document they take from the house. They've got to look for particular clues.

They've got to make connections -- things that you and I may think completely random, to them, may have some differ meaning and leads clearly that they want to follow up. For example, where was he? What was he doing? Who was he talking to?

Now, surveillance videos played a large part in all of this. And yesterday, we broke the news that, in fact, this -- the car that Jeanne mentioned had been purchased through an exchange on Craigslist. The man, Faisal Shahzad, is apparently buying that vehicle from somebody who was willing to sell it to him for about $1,800. They met in the parking lot of a grocery store. They exchanged keys and the money. And the transaction was done. It's basically a way to purchase a vehicle anonymously because only the buyer is the one who will register the vehicle. The seller, once he's done, he's done with the car.

So, there are surveillance cameras we understand in that parking lot. Clearly, it does exist. And they got a clear shot of this particular exchange, that will be of particular interest to law enforcement. So, that under consideration at this hour.

We can tell you, there's been a lot of activity here, people going in and people going out. And again, this is one of the places he is believed to have been.

We're also looking into a couple of leads here. We're checking out the neighborhood because, you know, obviously, neighborhood becomes part of a person. And there are a couple of stores that are closed right now which could yield some information later.

We did ask the owner of a convenience store, the check person at a convenience store whether, in fact, he recognized the name. But he said no. But a couple other things that we're going to be looking into a little later on -- Kiran.

CHETRY: The other interesting thing we're wondering about -- why haven't we seen a picture yet of the suspect?

FEYERICK: Well, that's very interesting. There's a lot of information that, you know, CNN is really running down. There are some Facebook pages that we've been aware of since the middle of the night. There have been other pictures that we've been aware of.

But, again, we have to be sure that this is the right person. We have to be sure that this was the person who purchased the vehicle. So, it's sort of step by step.

So, it's not that we are not aware. It's not that we don't have them. It's just when we release them, we have to be sure that they are correct.

CHETRY: I gotcha. All right. Yes, we are getting a lot of information and we are vetting it as best we can. And, you know, the developments are fast and furious. I mean, as you know, just even 48 hours ago, they didn't have a suspect, at least one that they were talking about.

Deb Feyerick for us this morning in Bridgeport, Connecticut -- thank you.

ACOSTA: And the capture of the suspect was dramatic overnight, to say the least. Faisal Shahzad was pulled off a flight headed to Dubai and from there, sources say, he was headed to Pakistan. Did he have accomplices there?

Reza Sayah joins us now live from Islamabad.

Reza, what are your sources telling you right?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, we know that a big part of this investigation is going to take place in Pakistan. And that investigation is moving rapidly. We're getting a lot of new information. And let's go ahead and give you the latest.

First off, according to a senior official at Emirates Airline -- this is the airline Faisal Shahzad was booked on -- he was on his way here to the federal capital of Islamabad through Dubai. And if indeed he wanted to go to his hometown, this is the route he would take.

Let's talk about his hometown. The interior minister talking to CNN a couple of hours ago told us Faisal Shahzad's hometown is Pabbi, a village in the district of Nowshera, about 30 minutes east of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, two hours west of Islamabad.

Again, if you want to go to Pabbi, this is the route you take. Pabbi is the village Faisal Shahzad was born.

And the interior minister is also telling CNN that Faisal Shahzad had a Karachi I.D. and an address in Karachi. The Karachi, the southern port city in Pakistan -- Pakistan's largest city. The interior minister is suggesting that Faisal Shahzad still has family members here.

But we should be clear that we don't know if the family members are in Karachi or Pabbi. But the interior minister, when talking to us, he was very confident about the information that they have on this man. They say they know who his parents are. They know where they are. They haven't revealed that yet.

But indications are that they are going to cooperate with U.S. investigators. The interior ministry earlier today is confirming that U.S. officials contacted them. We also spoke with the spokesperson for the U.S. embassy. He also confirms that the U.S. ambassador contacted the interior ministry.

Here's a statement from the interior minister, "We will fully cooperate and help the government of the United States of America to identify and bring this suspect and his associates to justice." Again, the investigation here in Pakistan is moving along very rapidly today.

ACOSTA: And is there any sense, Reza, that authorities there in Pakistan were being asked about this suspect prior to this arrest? Did this happen all pretty quickly?

SAYAH: Yes. There's absolutely no indication that they knew about this suspect in any kind of terror-related activity. What happened was that they got his passport number. They quickly looked him up, got his background, got his address, got where he's born in the village of Pabbi and his residence in Karachi.

And you can be sure -- in the coming hours and days -- we're going to do more research to see if, indeed, he has any connections to the many militant groups here in Pakistan or if this was an individual who is working by himself.

ACOSTA: A lot of information to pore through. Reza Sayah live in Islamabad, Pakistan -- thanks, Reza. Thanks for staying on top of it for us.

CHETRY: And right now, 11 minutes past the hour. It's time to bring in our CNN national security contributor, Fran Townsend. He's in Atlanta -- sorry -- in Orlando for us this morning.

And, Fran, I want to ask you a couple of questions as we're starting to learn a little bit more about the investigation and about whether or not there were any connections, any international connections. As I understand it right now, what they're doing is they're going through, well, let's see, a few things, putting some pieces of the puzzle together.

But according to some reporting, they were examining international phone records, trying to get a handle on some of the calls that were possibly made between folks overseas and this suspect, and whether or not any of that will uncover evidence -- paper, fingerprints or possibly both and indicate international ties.

How do they start to link this together if, indeed, they are looking for co-conspirators?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: We've seen pictures with Deb Feyerick up in Connecticut of the search. They will look for notebooks, address books. They're going to look at computers and BlackBerrys and cell phones. They're going to jump to all of that.

We heard reports about a disposable cell phone that helped lead to this capture, from "Politico," our colleagues there. They'll look at all that, all the communications gear and information they can to try and identify that.

They will look to see if whether or not any of that links up with -- her previous report, there was the Pakistani Taliban claim of responsibility here. It was earlier dismissed, Kiran, especially in your -- in your interview with Commissioner Kelly yesterday. We'll see if there's -- if that leads -- you know, if those things match up.

Also, remember, the car was left near the Viacom building. Viacom is the parent -- the corporate parent to the "South Park," which had made public apology for the episode related to the Prophet Muhammad.

And so, they're going to look to see if any of those things now that didn't appear to be particularly relevant before link up to any of the information they are finding in the search. They'll interview witnesses. They look to identify other suspects.

One of the keys here is that if you can get individuals who are related in this conspiracy, you interview them separately and then you use the information you gain in other interviews of other suspects to try and get them to either implicate each other or identify those you've not yet identified. All of this will help investigators understand sort of the breadth of the conspiracy and the links overseas.

CHETRY: You know, you mentioned, quickly, when I was speaking with NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly yesterday, they were really out there with this videotape that they were trying to get some information out of anybody that saw anything. And it was a man who appeared to be just taking off one layer of clothing. It was an alleyway, Shubert Alley, as they call it. Not far from where they found the car.

And he also told me that they had spoken to the owner of the vehicle, the original owner, and rules him out as a suspect, but wanted to get more information.

I mean, do you think that this is how quickly all of this was transpiring yesterday morning, at the same time?

TOWNSEND: You know, I do. And I -- because we -- I saw it myself in talking to sources, this thing seemed to really take off yesterday afternoon.

I think they didn't have the kind of information that they might have given you in the morning and it seemed to me, by the afternoon, they were talking about looking for additional suspects. They were talking about international connection -- none of that were we hearing in the morning at the time of your interview. And so, I really do think it took off that quickly.

You know, the other thing the commissioner mentioned yesterday morning to you was an individual in Pennsylvania and a potential other videotape. And we haven't heard much about whether or not that's related at all anymore. It doesn't seem that those leads that were relevant yesterday morning don't seem nearly as important now when the case shifted yesterday afternoon to this international sort of broader conspiracy.

ACOSTA: Yes. It shifted pretty quickly to an almost minute- by-minute chase to make sure that this suspect did not take off on that flight that just departed in the last hour or so. He was supposed to depart late last night. And, luckily thankfully, the authorities caught with him in time.

Fran Townsend joining us live from Orlando this morning -- Fran, thanks so much.

TOWNSEND: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And we understand that Faisal Shahzad will appear in Manhattan federal court later today to face formal charges in all of this. And we're going to have a live report on all of that coming up. And the latest in this investigation. Stick with us. It's 15 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: All right. We want to update you this morning on the breaking news, developments that have happened overnight in the attempted Times Square bombing. Authorities yanked a suspect off the plane in the middle of the night before it took off for Dubai. The suspect's name Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old newly naturalized American citizen from Pakistan. Sources say he is the person who bought an SUV and drove it into Times Square full of explosives. And right now, they are pulling dozens of items from a home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The FBI has been searching all night in connection to that plot - Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. And later today, Faisal Shahzad will appear in a New York federal court room to face formal charges. Exactly what those charges will be, we are not aware of yet.

Jason Carroll is live outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, where you are waiting to get new information about what he may be facing in connection with this forded plot.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Correct, waiting to hear from the federal bureau of prisons in terms of exactly where Shahzad is being held. Waiting to hear from the U.S. attorney's office to get from them in terms of exactly what he will be charged with. But based on the nature of this crime, you know, we can give you a sense of some of the charges that he might be looking at.

He could -- you know, the terrorism-related charges, such as attempted bombing, possession of an explosive device, interstate transportation of an explosive device, wire fraud. These are just some of the charges, Kiran, that Shahzad might be looking at. It is all going to depend upon the case that prosecutors are able to build against him.

We do know that he was pulled off of that flight last night at about 11:45, off of that Emritz Airlines flight headed for Dubai. We do know that investigators believe that this is the same man who bought that Nissan Pathfinder that was used in the failed bombing attempt. We do know that investigators from the joint terrorism task force have been questioning this man. We do know that they are trying to determine whether or not he acted alone.

So, at this point, we are still waiting to hear from the U.S. attorney's office in terms of exactly what time Shahzad will be formally arraigned, and in terms of exactly what type of charges he will be facing.

Kiran?

CHETRY: All right. Jason Carroll for us this morning.

We should learn more throughout the day. And you are there monitoring all the latest developments down at the courthouse.

Thanks so much, Jason.

Jim?

ACOSTA: Hey, Kiran, we want to show you all the events that led up to this over the past few days. At 6:28 p.m. New York time on Saturday, a video surveillance camera shows an SUV entering West 40 Fifth Street. Two minutes later, a T-shirt vendor alerts a mounted police officer about a suspicious SUV filling with smoke, hazard lights on and the engine still running. The officer sets up the perimeter and clears people out.

Now at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced that a potentially lethal bomb composed of backyard barbecue propane tanks, firecrackers, and alarm clocks was found inside that Nissan Pathfinder. An amateur job that still capable, they said, of causing a significant fireball and killing pedestrians in the area by all of their accounts. The bomb squad dismantled it. All streets were reopened at 7:00 a.m.

And then at 3:00 Sunday afternoon, police announced a videotape of a possible suspect has been obtained. Yesterday, the SUV and bomb components were taken to the FBI's forensics lab in Quantico, Virginia.

And finally, at 11:45 last night, a U.S. citizen named Faisal Shahzad was arrested at New York's JFK Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Dubai, Kiran. A lot of this incredible. Watching all of these developments over the last 72 hours. We have been saying it throughout the morning. It has been great detective work on the part of authorities in terms of catching up with Faisal Shahzad on that flight at JFK Airport overnight.

And now, the detective work is ongoing and underway in Bridgeport, Connecticut, because they are trying to connect the dots. We have seen the video this morning of that evidence being laid out in that alley and on that balcony behind that residence in Bridgeport. The authorities want to find out if there is a scrap of paper, if there is a laptop computer that takes them to the next lead.

CHETRY: Yes, and fingerprints as well. It is interesting, though, because we talk about the praise after the fact. I mean, after the incredible response and the detective work, after finding that smoking car possibly with, you know, M-80 fireworks trying to make smoke and possibly make an explosion.

But the other question is, as Jeanne Meserve pointed out, the difficulty in finding these so-called clean skins as she put them.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. CHETRY: People who have no record. People that are not on the radar of law enforcement, customs or anything, because they haven't done anything wrong. And they have no reason to be suspected of terror. And in this case, it looks like this suspect was somebody who became a naturalized citizen last year, who was an American.

ACOSTA: Right. And was that intentional? Was the intent to become a naturalized citizen to sort of fly under the radar and penetrate the nation's national security structure and trying to pull off an attack like this. We'll have to find out. That is part of the investigation. That's something that we will be finding out in the days and perhaps hours ahead. So we will see.

CHETRY: Yes. And we were also just learning that the unexploded car, this Nissan Pathfinder actually was flown to Quantico. There you see it, covered in a tarp, being led away from Times Square, but flown there, where FBI forensics experts are going to be doing all their work and finding the latest information and details, see where it leads them next.

We are going to be speaking with special investigations correspondent, Drew Griffin, about what clues they may be able to glean from that investigation. It's 23 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

Twenty-five minutes past the hour right now. And we are tracking breaking news. There has been an arrest in the Times Square bomb plot. The suspect, a Pakistani American who will be arraigned today in federal court in Manhattan. But to remind you how we got here, let's go back a little bit and talk about this crude bomb that was found Saturday in Times Square.

It was rigged in a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder made from fertilizer, propane and gasoline. Officials say that cheap-looking alarm clocks were connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, possibly M- 80s, which are illegal. The police tell us, had the bomb gone off, there would have been a significant fireball throwing shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians on the streets nearby.

ACOSTA: And we are also learning more about where this car came from. And for more on that, we turn now to Drew Griffin with our special investigations unit right here in New York.

And Drew, I guess a lot of attention has to be paid to that SUV, which is now on the hands of FBI agents down Quantico. There are details to be cleaned from that as well.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Details that will determine or help determine whether this guy is a lone wolf or whether or not he had help. You know, he is saying now that he has acted alone.

ACOSTA: Right. GRIFFIN: Law enforcement sources are telling us that he bought the car apparently alone, that he drove it into Times Square apparently alone. So that sort of matches up, but they got to be sure.

So, you know, fingerprints, what he bought. All the things that were in that car. Is there any evidence that anybody else touched it, which is what they are going to be looking at right now?

CHETRY: You know, and the other question about what they are able to glean from this car and to figure it out is more about perhaps where some of these materials came from, but also were they, indeed, capable, if they hadn't malfunctioned of producing the fireball that some of the investigators and law enforcement have talked about would have been a worse case scenario.

GRIFFIN: Right, and how did he learn how to do this. I mean, somewhere he dreamed up this whole -- I mean, what the ATF, former ATF agent told me, was this Rouge-Goldberg-esque kind of bomb. This scenario, this connection of things that he was going to have to blow up. Somewhere he must have the idea for that.

And I think, you know, it's funny that you say they put the tarp up over the search, because they are going to be looking for receipts.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

GRIFFIN: Was there any manuals that he printed out? Did he have any drawings that came from somebody that they could track back? Who was the source of this drawing? Who gave him this stuff?

ACOSTA: Right.

GRIFFIN: So all of that is part of this investigation. Now you see the blue tarp heading over there.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GRIFFIN: And the receipts, you know -- if you are able to tell where this guy in the last two weeks, let's say, bought two cans of propane. You are going to go to that store. You are going to ask the person who sold him that. Was he with anybody?

ACOSTA: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Did you notice anything about him? They will do that for every single item they have, even this crack pot or steam pot or pressure cooker.

ACOSTA: Yes.

GRIFFIN: You know, they will try to track down where everything came from.

ACOSTA: And certainly reasonable that they would bring the tarp out, and that they will try to have a little privacy as they are conducting this investigation out there.

Drew, I have just watched your reporting over the years on airport security and the problems with no-fly lists and so forth. I mean, what is your takeaway so far -- I mean, looking at this case? Because we have talked about a couple of different narratives in the last several hours as to how this suspect got on that flight bound for Dubai, and the plane was pulling back from the gate. Any implications there for our security systems at the airports?

GRIFFIN: You know, I don't know.

ACOSTA: Too early?

GRIFFIN: It's too early, because we don't know as I've been reporting through Tom Fuentes, the former assistant, FBI director, that this guy wasn't getting away or was this a narrow escape? What stuns me about this whole thing is we always think the terrorists are getting smarter, they are learning from past mistakes. This guy didn't learn anything, right? He didn't know how to put a bomb together. He doesn't know how to get a car clean, so to speak. He doesn't know not to pay with cash for an airline ticket that raises suspicion. So we always think they are getting smarter and smarter and smarter. This guy seemed to do everything just exactly the way you would do to get caught.

CHETRY: It's interesting that he got as far as he did, and had this car parked in Times Square.

GRIFFIN: It really is.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: Not to mention a month after -- I mean, you remember all of the flack that the NYPD took because of another abandoned car that was sitting in the middle of Times Square. It turned out to just be what -- I mean, you had the merchandise in it, right?

ACOSTA: Right.

CHETRY: But this time -- I mean, it was a vigilant and former Vietnam war vet who was selling T-shirts that noticed something and alerted the authorities.

GRIFFIN: Right. I think the reason he got this far, even though he was such an apparent dunce, you know, is that he was a complete lone wolf. On record, there's no criminal history of this guy. He was, as Jeanne Meserve has been reporting, a clean skin. We are all clean skins in this country. There are 300 million of us. You can't watch everybody.

ACOSTA: And Reza Sayah was saying out in Pakistan that authorities there weren't really on to him.

GRIFFIN: He is the worst problem we have. Guys that pop up out nowhere.

ACOSTA: Drew Griffin, thanks very much for that context. Appreciate that very much.

Crossing the half hour, updating break news this morning. The headline, an arrest in the failed Times Square car bomb plot. There were a lot of developments overnight. Here is everything we know right now.

The suspect's name, Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen, but a fairly new one, naturalized only a year ago, of Pakistani descent. Shahzad was nabbed at JFK airport trying to leave the country on a flight to Dubai.

A source also tells us Shahzad was already onboard the flight waiting to take off. They got him at the last second. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest very early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This investigation is ongoing as are our attempts to gather useful intelligence, and we continue to pursue a number of leads. But it is clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.

We continue to gather leads in this investigation and it is important that the American people remain vigilant. The vehicle in Times Square was first noticed on Saturday by a citizen who reported it to authorities. And as always, any American who notices suspicious activity should report it to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

As I've said, this investigation is ongoing. It is multifaceted and it is aggressive. As we move forward, we will focus on not just holding those responsible for it accountable but also on obtaining any intelligence about terrorist organizations overseas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: There we go. Some words from the attorney general. We also heard from our Dan Lothian that the president was briefed several times by John Brennan, national security adviser.

ACOSTA: But that briefing from Eric Holder is really the last thing we have heard from the Obama administration in the last several hours on this.

CHETRY: When we talked to Fran Townsend about that, she said that right now they are probably debriefing and speaking with, you know, NYPD, the feds, the FBI, and want to get a clearer picture before going on the record. I am sure we will hear from the White House later this morning.

Meantime, the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was born in Pakistan and became a naturalized citizen of United States back on April 17th of 2009. He recently left the country in June of 2009 and didn't return until this past February some eight months later.

In both cases, he flew in and out of Dubai. Whether or not that was his final destination is not known at this time. ACOSTA: Law enforcement officials tell CNN Shahzad had made international calls in recent weeks. They also tell us Shahzad claims to be married.

CHETRY: Fact, we are going to be hearing from a neighbor in a few minutes that claims she lived next door to the family, actually, that he had a wife and also the couple had two young children. So we are going to be getting more about who he was from people who live near him, and whether or not he had accomplices.

Our Nic Robertson is live in London this morning. You are also working your sources there. More on where the investigation is going now. Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Clearly a lot of the investigation will focus on that time spent in Pakistan as well as what can be gleaned from the premises and whatever insights neighbors can provide as well.

But what did he do in Pakistan? There is a modus operandi that we have seen in Europe and the United States. People have gone there to get training. When they return, and in the case of a number of people as well, when they return within a very short space of time, putting into effect some kind of explosives plan.

In this case, very crude and rudimentary, not the kind of thing associated with Al Qaeda, but a lot of similarities with the plot put together by two doctors working from Britain who attacked Glasgow Airport and tried to attack London with a fuel-filled car with propane gas tanks and the explosives didn't go off in the attempt in London.

So we have seen this type of thing come before. And the root, the common cause here, not necessarily Al Qaeda. But buying into this sort of global jihadist message, you don't have to be a member, but if you buy into that message, they have said it on their websites.

Everyone out there who supports us, knows what he with want them to do. Just go ahead and get on with it. You don't need any more direction from us. This has some of those hallmarks about it, Kiran. Investigators, no doubt, are looking into those angles.

ACOSTA: Nic Robertson, we should report right now, we have a picture now of the suspect, Faisal Shahzad. That's a picture we have obtained in the last few minutes.

Nic, as we are showing that picture to our audience, you have been all over the world and certainly been in this part of the country and reported many times on the Taliban and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We don't know definitively if there are links between this suspect and what's happening over there in that part of the world, but obviously the Taliban has made threats that they would like to see something happen on American soil.

ROBERTSON: Certainly, we know that counterterrorism officials know that New York is the prime target for Al Qaeda. Again, whether or not it is Al Qaeda or associated groups like the Pakistani Taliban, there are proven links between Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda. There are proven cases where the Pakistani Taliban have been on the lookout for people just like Mr. Shahzad who have got U.S. passports and know New York and know the citizens in the United States.

These are the prime, golden opportunity recruits for Al Qaeda. If this guy went to Pakistan completely on a routine visit to see his family or whatever he did after he got his naturalized citizenship and he was free to travel again, somebody could have approached him.

Certainly, counterterrorism officials know that Pakistan, unfortunately for their government and the United States is rife with these networks that will look out for people like him and do their best to go out of their way to recruit them by talking to them, selling them this message.

So these traits and tactics that Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban are employing and may have employed in this case are nothing new to terrorism officials.

CHETRY: You know what else strikes me as interesting. Yesterday we had some of the details, obviously, of what this 1993 Nissan Pathfinder contained, we knew it had explosives inside and we now it was packed with propane as well as other things.

But there were still questions about what the intent was, is this a hoax, is this to be a scare? And then we hear in this press conference with the attorney general the quote, which is that it was clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.

And we are still waiting for more details today as this suspect is due to appear in the federal courthouse on exactly what he may be charged with.

ROBERTSON: Look, clearly, he is going to be charged with attempted murder and quite possibly attempted murder of more than one individual in this particular case. There is no doubt about it.

Even if part of that bomb had gone off, anyone who was close by could have been caught in the force of the explosion, so shrapnel caught in the burning fuel as it came out of that vehicle. We saw when the two bombers drove that vehicle into Glasgow airport, a similar type of bomb in the vehicle, propane gas tanks, a lot of fuel around it. There was huge fire damage at the time.

Fortunately there, the building took the brunt of the blast. But in a crowded street close to Times Square, it would have been inevitable that there would have been multiple casualties in all of this, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, Nic Robertson for us this morning from London.

ACOSTA: Thank you, Nic. We are digging deeper on the investigation in the latest terror threat, this larger terror threat. Joining us again from Washington is Peter Brookes, a former CIA officer and former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Peter Brookes, thanks for joining us.

PETER BROOKES, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Good to be with you.

ACOSTA: We want to point out again that we have a new picture up, the only picture we have so far of Faisal Shahzad. There he is right there, the 30-year-old Pakistani native, who immigrated to this country and become a naturalized U.S. citizen in April of last year.

And we have been talking about this throughout the morning, Peter, that this is a potentially new type of threat, not exactly homegrown terrorism but also at the same time not exactly a foreign national trying to penetrate the national security structure.

BROOKES: There are still a lot of questions out there. We will be interested in hearing more about his travels and biography. One of the things I'm focusing on is how was he radicalized? Was he radicalized overseas or by somebody here in the United States or over the Internet? This is one of the ways that people are being radicalized today. What made him decide to do what he did?

You know, some people call him a bumbler, and I agree. But in some sense there was some sophistication to what he was doing. He had some operational techniques that I thought were potentially very interesting.

If that was the person that took off his shirt, he was using something that an intelligence officer or a criminal might use to get people off of his trail. He was moving around regular sort of items. Propane tanks, people start grilling this time of year. Some of these other things, fertilizer, things that didn't necessarily look like they would be involved in a bomb, putting them all together. M-80s -- you can buy them in some states, illegal. So he wasn't a complete bumbler.

Fortunately, he was a bumbler to such an extent that this bomb didn't go off. But the fact of the matter is he did everything, got that bomb in place. It didn't go off. He was able to escape. So we still have some holes in our security here. And that's something we need to pay attention to.

CHETRY: Is it holes in our security or is it simply impossible? As we've been pointing out, this is a free society. We have more than 350 million Americans in this country. We all have some sort of freedom to move around without being thought of as a suspect. So how do you find this proverbial needle in a haystack?

BROOKES: It is very difficult. As I mentioned earlier, we have had 30 foiled plots since 9/11 here in United States. I also mentioned that we've had 10 plots or attacks, including Ft. Hood, in the last year. So this is a very bad trend.

This is a very difficult problem. As I mentioned earlier in a hearing on Capitol Hill this year, the intelligence chiefs told the Senate that they expected another attack in three to six months. That was in February. They were correct. It is very, very difficult.

But the fact of the matter is, in some ways, we are under siege, in the crosshairs of these groups or individuals. We north quite sure how far this spread. Did he have collaborators here in the United States, overseas? Did he learn to make this bomb on the Internet, in person in a training camp or overseas? So there is a lot to learn.

But the fact is, Kiran, we cannot be complacent about this. It could be an individual such as happened in Times Square or it could be law enforcement that steps in and stops these things. But this is a problem like crime or anything else. This is something we need to take steps to try to prevent.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Peter Brookes, great to get your perspective this morning. Thanks for joining us.

BROOKES: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, we are going to update you on some other news as well. The flooding situation in Nashville, utterly devastating. Major historic landmarks completely submerged underwater. The Grand Old Opry, the country music hall of fame, that's what you're seeing here as we take a look.

There is now a desperate race to try to save Nashville's only working water treatment plant from the overflowing Cumberland River that crested more than 12 feet above flood stage. Inmates from a nearby prison are filling sandbags and helping workers pile them around the plant.

Tennessee's governor wants President Obama to declare federal disaster areas in 52 counties. The severe storms killed 27 people across the southeast, 18 in Tennessee alone.

ACOSTA: From those stunning pictures to these. We have new aerial pictures of the oil spill and damaged rig off the gulf coast from our own Rob Marciano who took to the air to get them. Officials say it could more than a day before they have a possible fix in place.

BP is waiting for concrete and steel containment boxes to siphon the gushing oil into barges. Experts say the spill is headed towards the current which would pull the spill like a conveyor belt around the Gulf. We don't want that to happen.

CHETRY: They have certainly been hampered by Mother Nature both with the high winds, the huge swells overpowering the booms. So a real mess there.

We are going to continue to follow the latest on this Times Square bombing case. We are going to give you a very interesting perspective, a former neighbor who lived next door to the suspect. She talks about what his family was like, who he lived with, what some of his habits were, and whether or not she suspected that there was something odd about the man that she lived next to for years.

It's 44 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Forty-seven minutes past the hour right now.

We want to update you on the breaking situation. Take a look at this picture. This is the first one we have of the suspected man behind the Times Square terror plot, the car bomb plot there.

Authorities pulled Faisal Shahzad off of a plane at JFK Airport in New York late last night as he was about to head on an Emirates flight to Dubai. He's a naturalized American citizen, becoming officially a U.S. citizen last year, last April from Pakistan.

And right now, they are pulling dozens of item from his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The FBI has been there searching all night and into the morning. These are pictures from a helicopter up ahead. And they are looking for clues as to whether or not this was a lone actor or whether or not part of a larger conspiracy.

ACOSTA: That's right, we now have on the phone from Shelton, Connecticut, Brenda Thurman. She's the former neighbor of Faisal Shahzad. Brenda good morning.

BRENDA THURMAN, FORMER NEIGHBOR OF SUSPECT FAISAL SHAHZAD (via telephone): Good morning.

ACOSTA: What did you know about Mr. Shahzad? Did you have many contacts with him? What was he like?

THURMAN: Yes, I had been in contact. His daughter played with my daughter. He was just a little quiet. He kept to his self. He liked to jog at night, late at night. He would wear all black and jog at night. He said he didn't like the sunlight.

He told me that he worked on Wall Street in New York. And he lived over next door probably around three years with his wife and had two kids.

ACOSTA: So he lived in Shelton, Connecticut where you are now?

THURMAN: Yes and they moved out on July, 2009. The house went in foreclosure.

CHETRY: Oh it did. So in July of 2009 is when the house went into foreclosure. And you say that no one has lived in the house since. But when he was living there you say he lived with his wife, he had two young children?

THURMAN: Yes his and two kids.

CHETRY: Yes a young girl and boy as well as his wife's two sisters?

THURMAN: Yes.

CHETRY: Did you have a lot of interaction with them?

THURMAN: Just the wife and the kids. Like I said, the oldest daughter played with my daughter.

ACOSTA: And Brenda, what sense did you get from the family? I mean, you just said a few minutes ago, I think, that it's pretty significant that this house that he apparently owned was foreclosed on in Shelton, Connecticut. Is that what you are saying? And I mean, did you get a sense from the family as to -- I mean that must have been extremely difficult on them?

THURMAN: Well, they didn't tell me their house was on foreclosed on. She had a (INAUDIBLE), she was selling some items on Craigslist and I asked her where is she moving and she told me she was moving to Missouri. And then they moved and then like a couple weeks later, they then came and changed the locks on the door.

CHETRY: And did you say that your daughter used to play with their daughter?

THURMAN: Yes.

CHETRY: And what -- I mean, were they friendly? Did they keep to themselves? You said you thought it was maybe a little weird that he said he liked to jog at night and didn't really go out and didn't like to be in the sun. Did he have a lot of activities? Did you see him coming and going?

THURMAN: In the morning from work and back home. And he was always out in the yard with the kids. His wife didn't speak English. I never knew she spoke English until it was time for her to move, she spoke English. But you know his wife, she was so insecure, she said she didn't speak English at all.

ACOSTA: And did you ever see anything at any time when you were living next door to Mr. Shahzad that would indicate that he would be capable of something like this?

THURMAN: Not at all.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: And what do you think of this when you're watching all of this unfold and watching these pictures on the news about what this man is accused of doing? What goes through your mind?

THURMAN: Just very shocked. I didn't think he was capable of doing something like that. Just very shocked, I'm very shocked.

CHETRY: Yes, understandably so. I mean, these were people that you lived next to for quite some time and had no idea now that he is a potential suspect or actually the only suspect right now in this plot to possibly blow up a car in the middle of Times Square. It must be quite a shock for the other neighbors as well.

THURMAN: Absolutely. ACOSTA: Brenda Thurman thanks very much for joining us this morning and giving us a little bit of information there. And if it can be confirmed that his house was foreclosed on in recent years, I mean, one would have to imagine that that brought a lot of pressure and a lot of heartache on that family.

CHETRY: Yes she said July of 2009, they left. And then shortly after that, she said they changed the locks on the home.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: Well, meanwhile, there is another resident, even though this neighbor said that the wife said she was moving to Minnesota I believe. Actually Shelton, Connecticut is not far from Bridgeport and that's where investigators are focusing right now on a home. And this may be the last known address for Faisal Shahzad.

Police and the bomb squad swarmed the neighborhood this morning. They have been there looking like they are collecting several bags of evidence as well as combing through balconies as well as the inside of their home.

And our coverage continues now with Deb Feyerick live in Bridgeport, Connecticut. You broke the story of Faisal Shahzad's arrest yesterday. What can you tell us now about what type of activity is going on behind you?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've been hard at work all through the night. You know (INAUDIBLE) and listening to the interview with the neighbor is her reference to Craigslist. That the wife had gone on Craigslist to sell a couple of items because Craigslist is where her husband appears to have bought the vehicle. And well, it seems like old news since everybody was focused on the car yesterday.

We do want to tie up a couple of loose ends. And it does have to do with Craigslist and how authorities were able to track this so quickly. Once they identified the VIN number on the car, they were able to get to the registered owner.

Well, it is the daughter of the registered owner who actually met face to face with Faisal Shahzad in the parking lot of the grocery store. We are told by law enforcement source that they did, that there was a test drive involving the vehicle and then the vehicle was sold for $1,800.

And once authorities got the VIN, got the registered owner, spoke to the daughter, the daughter through cell phone calls was able to lead them directly to this particular suspect. So they did know who he was earlier or clearly sooner than when he boarded the plane. So that's sort of tying up a little bit of a loose end there.

Now, getting to the house behind me, still going, a couple of FBI agents walking back and forth; again, they are wearing those protective suits. The reason for that is they want to keep the crime scene clean. Basically, they don't want to contaminate the crime scene in any way. They want to be able to get DNA. They want to be able to get whatever forensic evidence they can. So that's what they've been doing all night.

They've been bringing out boxes outside. You described earlier that they are laying out a blue tarp -- I can't see it. But I'm sure that you can see it. And the helicopters above, they can see it because they are the ones who are taking the pictures of that house right now with the FBI agents and others from the ATF (ph) are doing, Kiran -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Well, Deb, we can't expect you to have all the angles out there but we appreciate you doing all that hard work and being out there all night as well. It hasn't just been the authorities. Great work this morning; thanks, Deb.

And coming up next, we're going to have some reaction from the White House. Our Dan Lothian is there standing by. He's going to have some details on how the President has been kept up to speed on all of that.

That's coming up in just a few moments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're getting our first look at the suspected driver of the Times Square car bomb. Authorities pulled Faisal Shahzad off a plane at JFK Airport in New York late last night. He is a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. And we are learning a little bit more about what happened, what led up to his arrest. And we also are finding out more about how the President was briefed throughout all of this just after the arrest. He was notified midnight, Eastern, last night.

Our Dan Lothian is live at the White House right now with the latest from the administration. Good morning Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And the latest information we have now according to Robert Gibbs who talked to me a short time ago that President Obama is expected to make some public comments on the arrest. We don't know what time but again, expected to, for the first time, comment on the arrest.

Now, the President, as you pointed out, did find out about the arrest at 12:05 a.m. He was notified by John Brennan, his top counterterrorism adviser. And by the way, he had been briefing the President six times, we're told, yesterday; this in addition to briefings that he held with the President on Sunday.

The last time we heard the President talk about the Times Square bombing attempt was on Sunday when he was in New Orleans taking a look at the oil spill disaster there. And the President made some short comments on the New York City attempted bombing saying that he would work very hard to ensure that Americans are kept safe and that he would make sure that this -- whoever, carried out this attempted attack was brought to justice -- Kiran.

CHETRY: And so the White House is dealing with a lot of really tough situations right now. Of course, the tragedy unfolding on the Gulf Coast, they still haven't found a way to plug that oil leak. They're still talking about days and months -- worst-case scenario -- months before this gets taken care of; the President pledging a major commitment to try to get that taken care of.

And meanwhile, we see Nashville basically under water. Tennessee is going to be applying for federal disaster relief and now this terror investigation.

LOTHIAN: That's right. Juggling quite a bit and in addition to just making sure that they plug that leak and the cleanup that comes there, the President pledging that all of those who have been impacted by this, meeting with some fishermen on Sunday, he wanted to make sure they would be made whole as well.

So, yes, the White House dealing with a number of major issues at the very same time. One of the things that perhaps makes this a little easier for the President is that John Brennan, his counterterrorism advisor has been with him. He traveled with him on Sunday, so dealing with that issue there and also this issue, so the President could get updated every minute of the situation.

CHETRY: All right, Dan Lothian for us outside the White House where -- thanks so much -- where he said that the President is expected to make some comments on this arrest, on this Times Square bombing attempt a little bit later today.

ACOSTA: That's right. It must be a big sense of relief there.

And we're going to be staying on top of this story here at CNN. And with that, let's turn to our colleague, Brooke Baldwin, who is down in Atlanta. She has the latest here on "CNN NEWSROOM". Hi, Brooke.