what, if any, overseas connections he might have. joining us also fran townsend. so, brian, this was an fbi sting. what do we know about how it went down? it appears to have been a very elaborate string. authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? they say the federal authorities say he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcem
400,000 since april. that is too high. economists say to make a dent in the unemployment rate. federal authorities have charged a young massachusetts physics grad in a terror plot. agents say rezwan ferdaus planned to use remote control airlines to hit the u.s. capitol and the pentagon. they would have been filled with a plastic explosive. the fbi says that they arrested him, he s an american citizen, after a lengthy undercover operation. john mccain leading a delegation of republican senators on a trip to libya today. the group has been meeting with libya s national transition council, the rebel leaders that drove moammar gadhafi from power. a spokesman says the council knows gadhafi s general location. senator mccain talked to cnn from tripoli. i think that the people of libya, the ones that i ve talked to, would like to catch him alive. they would like to see him on trial for the horrendous crimes that he has committed. every few days they come across another grave.
authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. at least since january of 2011. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? they say the federal authorities say that he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcement official that cnn spoke with today, no indication that he has any kind of connection with a foreign terrorist organization. he dealt with undercover fbi agents who
photograph that the saline bag you see where it has a slit or a cut in the bag where i m pointing in people s 28? yes, i can. okay. did you observe that on that day, june 25th, 2009? no, sir. and again, referencing your diagram where you had drawn an apparatus at the bottom of this saline bag, would that can you see those two pictures, mr. alvarez? yes, sir. the saline bag that you drew as reflected in people s 27 on the right here, you show the saline bag coming down and terminating, and then it appears there is an additional apparatus attached to it. is that accurate? yes, sir. looking at the saline bag as reflected in people s 28, is the apparatus visible or would the apparatus have been, to your recollection, connected to this port? it is not visible, sir. okay. so to be clear, people s 28, what i m calling a port, you see this you understand to what i m referring at the bottom of people s 28 as it is shown right now? yes. that will be reflec
been a very elaborate sting. authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. at least since january of 2011. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? reporter: they say the federal authorities say that he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcement official that cnn spoke with today, no indication that he has any kind of connection with a foreign terrorist organization.