tonight on "world news," on alert. top terrorism officials explain their new terror warning. the r-word. today, another round in the debate of words we should and should not use. mystery solved. the 9-year-old case of a mother and child shot out of the sky. inside the brain. new research that took doctors by surprise. and, shipshape. one man, his mission, made out of our garbage. good evening. again today, america's top terror watchdog appeared in public, warning they are on a heightened state of alert. which had us wondering, is it because of something brabd new or what we live with each day? questions we ask senior justice department correspondent pierre thomas to answer for us tonight. pierre? >> reporter: diane, in the wake of the christmas bombing plot and new intelligence, officials are more concerned about the prospect of an attack here at home than they've been in quite some time. tonight, abc news has learned that recent infell jens on al qaeda in yemen has heightened concerns for an attack, including intercepts of islamic radicals boasting about what's to come. one allegedly said with we will get them this time. inevidence in yemen confirms training. today on capitol hill the director of national intelligence said there are many more potential terrorists out there, and they are harder to stop. >> al qaeda's radical ideology appeals to disaffected young muslims and this is a pool of potential suicide bombers and this pool unfortunately uncolludes americans. >> reporter: the comments come one day after there was agreement that the possibility of an attempted attack on the homeland in the next six months is virtually certain. >> they knew what they were doing and they were delivers a message to all of us. >> reporter: in the last week, abdulmutallab, the suspected christmas day bomber, has been questioned by the fbi. he has identified his handlers in yemen, including the man who designed his underwear bomb, and given chapter and verse about this training. he has also said he believes there other recruits and that more attacks against the u.s. are in the works. sources say abdulmutallab started talking last thursday after a series of meetings with his mother and uncle brought here from nigeria by the fbi. abc news has learned that the fbi has been looking at travel records from africa, trying to determine if other operatives like abdulmutallab have already made their way to the united states. there's no surprise that officials are worried. there have been tens of thousands of terrorist attacks since 9/11 around the world. what's different here is officials are worried about an attack here on the homeland, which is far less common. >> all right, our thanks to you, pierre thomas in washington. hard to think of this risk as a daily fact of american life. and news today on toyota now. ray lahood created a stir today when he said owners of recalled toyotas should, in essence, leave them in park. >> my advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to toyota dealer, because they believe they have the fix for it. >> reporter: but a few hours later, lahood was back, amending his advice. >> what i said in there was obviously a misstatement. what i meant to say, what i thought i said was, if you own one of these cars, or if you are in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it. >> either way, toyota's stock took a beating, down 6% today. and here we go again on that issue that causes taxpayer blood to boil. insurance giant aig, which owes the government billions of dollars, announced another round of bonuses for some of the very people who got the company into trouble. $100 million in bonuses. so, we asked david muir to take it on again, and david's here. >> reporter: blood boiling on capitol hill today, as well. one republic congressman says the obama administration's handling of aig resembles the keystone cops. the president's pay czar told me he doesn't see the resemblance, but we did ask him, how does he explain yet another round of bonuses? today, we asked the obama administration's pay czar, why didn't the government demand, before it bailed out aig, that they not spend a penny on bonuses unless they pay back all of the taxpayer money? >> you can say a lot of things in 20/20 hindsight. these contracts were entered into between aig and its employees. the federal reserve says they're valid. >> reporter: he took us back to the drawing board today. more than $120 billion in taxpayer money loaned to aig. of that, aig still owes taxpayers close to $84 million. which is why, last year, there was fury when taxpayers heard $165 million in bonuses? feeling the heat, aig executives agreed to pay back $45 million of that. but even before they could pay it all back, today, word of another $100 million in bonuses handed out. we've been calling aig since december. is there anyone to talk to us about the bonus money? >> she is on her other line currently. can i have her get back to you? >> reporter: we can hold. we went there today. >> so you have to leave. >> reporter: so, if they won't take our calls, what are they saying when pay czar ken feinberg calls? >> mr. feinberg, we are trying to reduce as much of this retention payment as we can get back. the shame factor is pretty high. >> reporter: but if aig is really feeling the same, why is the company still paying huge bonuses? >> so is the end in sight? >> reporter: they say there could be another round in march, but these would be the last of the grandfathered contracts. feinberg points out from that point on, any company that owes taxpayer money will be under his watch, and those retention bonuses will be gone. >> so, starting in march, a new day. >> reporter: hopefully we won't be doing these reports. >> okay, thank you, david muir. and now we turn to haiti. still no word on the fate of the american christian missionaries being held in jail there. today, a judge did question them about their attempt to take 33 children, 21 of them from the same small village, out of the country. for perspective, more than 300 haitian children were adopted by u.s. families in 2009, but in this year, so far already, more than 600, raising questions about christian motives in a complex world. and here's terry moran. >> reporter: they say they did it in the name of jesus christ. they say they did it for love. >> we came here with the intention of being able to offer and share god's love and share hope with these children. >> reporter: but maybe love isn't enough, and maybe faith can lead to exploitation. in the earthquake's aftermath, haiti has been overwhelmed by people wanting to help -- many of them christian missionaries -- sparking a sharp debate about the potential conflicts between the call of faith and the need for respect across cultures. >> they are very arrogant. >> reporter: max beauvoir is a leader of haiti's voodoo priests, in a nation where the voodoo religion is widely practiced. >> i have seen those missionaries coming here supposedly sent by jesus to save us from what? i don't know. we don't need that kind of savior. >> reporter: but some of the missionaries come to save anyway -- to save children -- not just from poverty or neglect, but from haiti itself. to get them out of the country and into american, christian homes. some secular child advocates say it would be better for all if the missionaries' goal was to help families in haiti, rather than seek to take the children away. >> it should never be to bring a child to france, canada, the u.s., because it's france, canada or the u.s. >> reporter: but in the horrific poverty of haiti, some parents entrust their children to the orphanages in the heartbreaking hope of a better life. "it was best for her to go," said this mother of one child who went with the americans. what would truly answer her prayers? for many christians, there is no doubt. >> what we are seeing here is a picture of the gospel of christ transcending racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic barriers. i think we should see that as love in action. >> reporter: love in action for sure, but the sheer scale of the effort to save souls in haiti has raised some tough questions about the actions, and maybe even the motives of some missionaries, diane. questions of, what does saving haiti really mean in this world? >> yeah, so many people go in there with true christian motives, so many great missionaries in there. but it's a complex world, as we said. thank you, terry moran. and by the way, hay deep's prime minister complained today that everybody's focused on these ten americans, and not the 1.5 million people still suffering in the street. to bring you up to date so far, nearly $800 million has been raised by u.s. charities and businesses. the death toll, still estimated at 200,000. tonight, a tragic mystery solved. nine years ago, an american mother and her infant daughter were shot out of the sky over peru, and only today did the cia go public. the cia. and take action against those involved in a terrifying mistake. brian ross begins with the horrifying encounter nine years ago, all caught on tape. >> reporter: this video tape was made by the cia as one of its jets sneaked up behind what was mistakenly thought to be a drug plane, flying along the border of peru and brazil. they were preparing to have it shot down. >> we are trying to remain covert at this point. >> reporter: the cia could not have been more wrong about who was on the plane. they were american missionaries from michigan, jim and veronica bower. also on board the plane was the bower's then 6-year-old son, cory, and their infant daughter, charity. over the course of one hour and 49 minutes, the cia personnel would never correct their mistake, and in fact, would violate again and again what was thought by the white house to be strict rules of engagement, including verifying the tail number of the plane. that did not happen. >> we can go up and attempt the tail number. but if he is dirty, makes a right turn immediately and we can't chase him. >> reporter: but the air force arrived and issued a warning in spanish, "we will shoot you down," it was on the wrong radio frequency, so the missionary plane never heard it. and even when the cia pilots began to have doubts -- >> this guy doesn't fit the p profile. >> reporter: they did not wave off the gun ships, later saying they did not have the authority to do so. >> i think we're making a mistake. >> i agree with you. >> reporter: a minute and a half later, the gun ship opened fire, and the pilot screamed in spanish for them to stop. >> tell them to term nate. >> no, don't shoot! >> tell him to terminate! >> no mas! >> god. >> reporter: trailing black smoke, the missionary's plane headed for a river to land, with veronica bower and her daughter dead from bullet wounds. within days the director of the cia told officials at the white house, all procedures were followed. >> the problem was that the cia was apparently lying to its own director. >> reporter: today, the cia was accused of an almost nine-year long campaign to mislead and stonewall congress and others about how and why the rules were broken. >> if there is ever an example of justice delayed and denied, this is it. >> reporter: the cia insists the entire episode was handled thoroughly and professionally, and that there was no cover-up. to the outrage of the dead woman's parents. >> i want somebody to tell me why they killed my girl. >> reporter: today, the cia said its nine-year long investigation had determined that 16 cia employees should be disciplined, including, we learned, the woman then in charge of counternarcotics. many of the 16 are no longer with the cia, and one of them told us that his punishment was a letter of discipline to be removed in one year. that's the punishment in his role for the wrongful death of two innocent americans. >> after nine years. thanks, brian. and now, from pakistan, military convoys struck a roadside bomb, and killed three american special operation soldiers, wounded two more. the americans were training pakistani security forces along the afghan border. the terrorist explosion destroyed a large portion of a girl's high school. and we want you to know on brian's investigation, by the way, there will be a lot more tonight on "nightline." be sure to watch the full investigation. still ahead on "world news," a new fire storm over what mental health experts call the r-word. how does the word become offensive? 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for every two prescriptions purchased, you get two extra bucks. and you normally get 2% back, but now you can earn 4% back on all cvs brand items. what a treat! sign up for double bucks today. only at cvs/pharmacy. white house chief of staff rahm e man yule, known for his quick, silver tongue, spent more time today apologizing for a single word he suttered. the rd, reretarded. kwtsz he used it as a retort about some of his political opponents. but bill weir decided to take "a closer look" at that word and this moment in time. >> reporter: for years, idiot, moron were clinical terms used by doctors to define mental illness. retarmded was chosen as a sensitive alternative until it became an insult in the '50s and increasingly offense nif the past decade. >> many people are disabilities are profoundly impacted by that word. i can see on a personal level that's true for me, too. i'm lucky enough to have two wonderful sisters, one who has down syndromes. >> reporter: after protests met the release of "tropic thunder." the dvd carries this message of tolerance. 44 states have recently renamed their departments of mental retardation, and a bill known as rosa's law, named for this little girl, would strip that word from all federal language, replace it. but there are defenders of the r-word, and rahm emanuel's use of it. >> i think that if it's one democrat calling another democrat an idiot, a moron, retarded, it's fine. there's a create song, "crazy," do we not sing that anymore? of course not. >> reporter: it's usually the offended group that gets to control its label. gay leaders dlibryly embrace the word year, the n-word was taken from common to taboo in a single generation. >> another one is going to pop up in its place. it is all about the attitude toward that group and the culture. >> reporter: language may evolve faster than behavior. but advocates hope one less word may lead to a lot less pain. bill weir, abc news, new york. and let us know what you think. weigh in at our website, abcnews.com. coming up, startling new insights into the brains of unresponsive patients. and, language lessons for a panda? for joint pain. for joint pain. 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