a suspected lone wolf from carrying out a bombing campaign in the city. 27-year-old jose pementol, a u.s. citizen and native of the dominican republic and a convert to islam was taken into custody saturday afternoon as he was allegedly constructing a pipe bomb. police commissioner raymond kelly says he was planning on building three bombs. mayor bloomberg said the suspect was intent on killing. >> the police also constructed a duplicate of an explosive device that the suspect built and then designated in a way he intended to use the weapon. we want to show you a video about the resulting damage. >> the man allegedly got the materials from home depot and other stores. >> he followed instructions from al awaki's inspired magazine to first acquire the bomb-making materials and then assemble them. he relied on a particularly notorious article called how to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom. >> let's bring in cnn's deborah feyerick who has been working on this story all evening. and with us from washington, cnn national security analyst peter bergen. police have been tacking pimm t pimentel for years. why did they decide to move on him now? >> he started collecting the material. he started building the bomb back in august. but the event that seems to have set him off according to police was september 30th. the killing of his sort of mentor anwar al ala ki taken ou in a drone strike back in september. this is somebody who had been on their radar for quite some time. he talked about traveling to yemen. he is dominican republic originally but is now a u.s. citizen. his talk was really so radical that according to police, even like-minded friends became very, very nervous. he wanted to change his name to obama hussein on behalf of osama bin laden. he wanted to change it into osama hussein on behalf of osama bin laden and saddam hussein. his target was allegedly u.s. servicemen, army personnel, the marines and the police got very nervous when this talk morphed into action. federal agents, the fbi was not involved in following and tracking this plot. and that's something we're probably going to hear more about tomorrow. fbi agents say this was really an nypd-led investigation. but this man, jose pimentel, he planned on putting bombs in mailboxes, post offices, police stations. there were three in total. if they had worked, if he had succeeded in placing them in heavily populate areas, and if he had succeeded in detonating them, officials do believe he could have killed at least a dozen or more people. >> want to go to peter bergen. you heard what the officials in new york said. a lone wolf. that's what the nypd had been watching for two years. is this the new face of al qaeda, this home-grown terrorist. >> if it's a new face of al qaeda, i think we can all sleep pretty well this evening. clearly this guy didn't have his act together. you know, he was -- there was an informant involved. he wasn't following a sophisticated operational security. he had -- obviously, he was acquiring the makings of a bomb. there's a natural ceiling to what a lone wolf can do. we saw nidal hassan who was an army officer at ft. hood, texas, kill 13 people mean was a fairly classical lone wolf. 13 people in each of those deaths was a tragedy at ft. hood but this isn't 9/11 or anything remotely close. if this is the new face of terrorism, it's a sign that al qaeda is weakening and these kind of home grown plots tend to, you know, they tend not to amount to very much because at the end of the day to become an effective terrorist it tends to have helped to have gone to a terrorist training camp or fought in some sort of war zone. reading these recipes off the internet, it doesn't have to be from "inspire" magazine. a lot of it doesn't make you an effective bombmaker either. it's not clear if this guy could have really detonated a bomb that would have worked. luckily we're not going to have to ever run that experiment. >> let's gauk the charges, deb. we're hear hog say pimentel will be arraigned tonight. and it should be happening any time soon. the charges here, conspiring to build a bomb for terrorist purposes and for possessing a weapon, a pipe bomb to wage his campaign of violence. do we know what these charges carry and do we know anything about the arraignment, deb? >> the arraignment is scheduled to happen any minute. as a matter of fact, we do know that he is down there at the courthouse. this is taking place in the -- by the district attorney who is filing the charges against him. again, these are not federal charges. these are local state charges. he is facing a potentially long sentence if convicted on these charges. one thing that's really interesting. that is the fact in all the terrorism cases i've covered, and i'm not sure whether peter feels the same way, but this is very unique in terms of actually seeing a device detonated, sort of a dry run. a video put together by police. usually that's the kind of thing you see at trial. when the prosecutors are trying to prove their case. to show that video and the impact of a potential bomb, police believe the bomb could have exploded, could have detonated. but as we have seen in the past, these lone wolves have to get awfully lucky. think about the times square bomber. his bomb much more powerful than this pipe bomb that we're talking about now. that could have done significant damage. it did not detonate. and somebody pointed out the car and that was thwarted. the same thing with the subway plot. that, too, that was caught midstream when police and fbi agents sort of fanned out across new york city. even the underwear bomber plot. this is somebody able to get a bomb through four different countries. that device did not go off. so to see a device going off, to see the potential impact, not something we usually see at the start of the announcement that a suspect has been taken into custody, don. >> let's talk about the significance of al qaeda here, peter. friends had started to worry about this man, about him professing his love for al qaeda. he said he started making a bomb in argue. but they believe the death of anwar al awlaki on september 30 st what really fueled him to go further and to go faster with the constructing of this bomb. >> yeah, i mean, so, you know, often there's a -- there seemed to have been the precipitating event. anwar al awlaki was somebody that some people thought he had serious religious credentials. he wasn't very well known in the non-english speaking world. the fact he spoke in english meant he could communicate with someone like jose pimentel who i'm sure didn't speak arabic and whose lectures pimentel was probably listening to. certainly if he was taking the extreme step to make a bomb to avenge awlaki's death. awlaki has shown up in a lot of these cases in the united states in britain, anywhere in the english speaking world. he's certainly not somebody who has much influence in the muslim world writ large. he is somebody who was able to articulate al qaeda's ideas in a colloquial english and then his kind of acalate samir kahn who also died in a drone strike. wrote this magazine "inspire" that was the inspiration for the failed attack in the new york area. >> peter bergen and deborah feyerick. we're waiting for the arraignment of jose pimentel. it's happening in manhattan. as soon as we get video of it, we'll bring it to you on cnn. but there's other news to cover tonight. deal or no deal? the special congressional super committee assigned to reduce a $1.2 trillion deficit appears to come up short. occupy abuse? this bit of police work may cost two officers their jobs. pepper spraying the faces of nonviolent student protesters. >> we've got about 30 seconds. >> egypt uproar. chaos erupts in cairo. government forces barrage demonstrators with gunfire and teargas. >> you know, we've been a little lazy, i think, over the last couple of decades. >> lady americans? the president getting flack for those comments at an international summit. out of context or should the commander in chief know better? it's my talking point segment tonight. and like a rolling stone. an exclusive backstage pass through the lens of a famous photographer to the biggest rock stars to ever walk the planet. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can create my own plan to pay down large purchases faster... or avoid interest on everyday items. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? 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[ giggles ] i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. the so-called super committee in congress which was given the job of cutting more than a trillion dollars from the deficit over the next ten years looks headed for failure. they are down the final hours of their self-imposed deadline to come up with a deal. at this hour, things don't look good as we look at a live picture from the capitol. kate bolduan has more. kate? >> reporter: don, the so-called super committee is on the brink of failure as talks have all but fallen apart. clear evidence of that is shown in the change of tone among the members on the committee. as they took to the sunday morning talk shows, the conversation is dramatically shifted from pushing for an agreement and hopeful they can reach agreement to who should be to blame if and when the committee fails to reach agreement. >> nothing new came out of this from the democratic side it was the same thing. raise taxes, pass the president's jobs bill, no entitlement reform. on the republican side you had the one true breakthrough and that was this new concept of tax reform, which could generate revenue from the upper brackets for deficit reduction. >> the truth is, at this point today, democrats have made some really tough decisions and come to some pretty tough choices that we're willing to put on the line on entitlements, on spending cuts but only if the republicans are willing to cross the line on the bush tax cuts and be willing to say revenues have to be a part of this solution. >> reporter: both sides clearly blaming the other for not being able to reach agreement around a deal of a minimum of $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over the next ten years. the talks breaking down largely around the issue that has held up the talks to this point. the issue of taxes. democrats are -- insist that revenue tax increases must be part of any balanced approach, any balanced deal as they like to say. but republicans on the flip side, they are very much opposed to any tax increases unless it's part of a broader overall tax reform process that would lower rates. and with such little time left, it seems highly unlikely the committee will be able to reach agreement at this point. of course, magic can happen in these 11th hour negotiations with congress, but it seems the question now is turning to when and how the committee will make its formal announcement that they have failed to reach agreement. many think that that announcement could come as early as monday. don? >> we'll be watching. thank york kate. a programming reminder. tuesday night on cnn, the republican presidential hopefuls will take part in a debate on national security. it's hosted by wolf blitzer and co-sponsored by the heritage foundation and the american enterprise institute. make sure you watch it right here tuesday night on cnn. peaceful occupy protesters getting pepper sprayed directly in the face. the fallout next. ♪ it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. your core competency is...competency. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm getting an upgrade. [ male announcer ] as you wish, business pro. as you wish. go national. go like a pro. now through january earn a free day with every two rentals. find out more at nationalcar.com. the university of california davis is putting two campus police officers on administrative leave after they pepper sprayed peaceful occupy protesters in their faces at point blank range on friday night. the incident was caught on tape sparking outrage. the university says the officers were trying to clear out the occupy encampment and felt trapped by protesters. 11 people required treatment. two were hospitalized. protesters and faculty members are calling on the school's chancellor to resign. saturday night as she left the campus, dozens of students gathered nearby. their arms linked in silent protest. earlier in the evening, they were much more vocal with their demands for the chancellor's resignation. >> take responsibility! take responsibility! >> she is refusing to resign. while she calls the police action chilling and unacceptable, she told me the students' encampment was raising security concerns. >> we have an event that i hope we will not see again on our campus. we have been in the last 2 1/2 weeks dealing with student unrest. our students are very upset, and they are very frustrated. and they are trying to find ways to express this frustration. on thursday, they tried to -- they created a camp. they set up a camp in our quad and -- which is against university policies for a number of reasons. safety primarily is one concern and health. >> the university has set up a task force made up of students, faculty and staff to investigate the incident. a report is expected within 30 days. egyptians aren't finished fighting for democracy. protesters battled police in cairo's tahrir square sunday. when the clashes were over, ten people were dead and the military was facing new scrutiny. many pro-democracy activists worry they've traded one tyrant for another. cnn's ben wedeman reports from cairo tonight. >> reporter: it is deja vu in tahrir square. protesters and security forces have been facing off for well over 24 hours in a clash -- in clashes and protests very much focused on the supreme council of the armed forces. the group of military officers who took over from hosni mubarak on february 11th. now the protesters want the military to go back to the barracks to get out of the business of politics and to hand over the country to civilians. now we are only eight days away from egypt's first post-mubarak elections. and already there's lots of tensions, lots of expectations around the country for what these elections might bring. now the supreme council of the armed forces and the government have said that those elections will go ahead as scheduled. but that's just the beginning of a very long process. they begin on the 28th of november, but they will continue in other parts of the country through march of next year. at which point egyptians are hoping they will have some stability, some certainty as to where this country is going because at the moment, it's not at all clear. i'm ben wedeman, cnn, reporting from cairo. in libya, libyans captured another prize sunday. the country's former intelligence chief abdullah al senusi was moammar gadhafi's brother-in-law and a notorious figure in the former regime. gadhafi's son will remain in the town of zatan. libya insists it will bring him to justice, even as officials with the international criminal court insist he should be sent to the hague for trial. ahead, more on our top story tonight. police foil a terror bloming plot in new york city. a live report from the suspect's home is next. oh... i thought those were put out for me. i did it again. no worries, nick. 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[ male announcer ] and there you go, business pro. there you go. go national. go like a pro. now to the big stories in the week ahead from the white house to wall street. our correspondents tell you what you need to know. we begin with the president's plans for the week. >> i'm jessica yellin in washington. at the white house this week, president obama will refocus on the domestic front. he'll make a trip to the key early voting state of new hampshire where he'll continue to push his jobs bill and his we can't wait message. he'll continue the white house tradition of pardoning the thanksgiving turkey. the first family typically makes a visit to a homeless shelter or community service spot on thanksgiving day. and then, of course, there's the question of the congressional super committee. and what role will the white house play ahead of their crucial wednesday deadline? i'm poppy harlow. wall street will be watching washington as the clock ticks down on the super committee's debt deal. a key housing report with reading on existing home sales and a revised reading on third quarter gdp. on tuesday, the fed will release minutes from its latest meeting. that will give us insight on economic conditions across the country. the stock market, of course is closed thursday for thanksgiving and trading ends early on friday. we'll keep you posted on all the news of the week on cnn money. i'm carlos diaz. here's what we're watching this week. demi's divorce damages. what's next in the demi moore/ashton kutcher divorce. could it be one of the most expensive divorces ever? >> plus, showsbiz one on one with chaz bono. his life after "dancing with the stars." catch showbiz tonight sunday through friday exclusively on hln. now for the week ahead when it comes to the weather. it's going to be a holiday workweek. a little short. millions of americans are going to be traveling. what will the weather be like and all the commutes to grandma's house? jacqui jeras here to update us. >> it's going to be kind of rough for a lot of people. we've got a stalled out weather system. a threat for severe thunderstorms and heavy rain which could cause some flooding across the midsouth in the next couple of days. we'll step you through it start with tomorrow. the severe weather threat across parts of texas, including dallas again up towards little rock, arkansas. those thunderstorms will rumble through the afternoon hours. then they'll make their way by tuesday into the mississippi river valley. so places like new orleans, stretching up towards memphis, even nashville could see strong to severe thunderstorms. and by wednesday, this is the big travel day, right? the one where millions of people get in their cars or get in airplan