peter cherif had himself absconded from france while on trial for terrorism charges and was now a fighteror al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which was being monitored intensively by the u.s. >> the meeting that occurs in the summer of 2011, that's sort of the worst nightmare for intelligence services. because any time that al qaeda had access to someone from a western european country like france, they would try to operationalize that person, that person could give them insights about western culture, help them develop plans to carry out attacks. >> narrator: peter cherif arranged for al qaeda to give kouachi terror training and money-- $20,000, according to u.s. intelligence. a plot began to take shape. >> (translated): during that time, they come up with the idea of avenging the prophet muhammad and of attacking people who publish caricatures of the prophet. and specifically in france, charlie hebdo. >> narrator: after three weeks in yemen, cherif kouachi returned to france undetected. he and his brother said now became an al qaeda sleeper cell. u.s. intelligence learned that one of t