explosive we saw in the underwear bomb last december that failed. it was made by the same bomb maker in yemen who built the device that tried -- saudi counter terrorism chief in the summer of 2009. critical link is anwar al-awlaki. why the president stopped short of tieing today's devices to the group, u.s. counter terrorism officials tell fox all signs point to the al qaeda affiliate in yemen. al awlaki lived in the u.s. for 21 years. next picture is mugshot soliciting prostitutes in san diego in 1997. as fox was first to report nearly a year ago, al awlaki has gone operational. that means is he actively plotting attacks against the u.s. at the very least this is a real wakeup call as to how real this threat is. the threat from al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and it shows how they can penetrate and we have to constantly be on our guard. >> a source briefed on the investigation tells fox that there is potential lay puzzling