this is is training video of al qaeda of the arabian peninsula or a.q.a.p. this latest plot serves as a stark reminder of their primary mission. bring down an american plane. a former f.b.i. agent who has questioned more members of a.q.a.p.than anyone. what makes al qaeda of the arabian peninsula, out of all the al-qaeda affiliates the chosen one to attack america? >> al-qaeda on the arabian peninsula are the closest to osama bin laden's version of al qaeda. that's why they feel that this is their duty, they feel this is their obligation to continue the bin laden fight regardless to what other al qaedas in different areas are doing. >> reporter: ibrihim al asiri is is the master bomb maker. when leaders plotted to kill saudi's counterterrorism chief in 2009 at his home in jeddah, asiri made the bomb and chose the suicide bomber. his own brother. >> that gives you an idea about the dedication and the level of hatred that the group have. >> reporter: the intended target survived. asiri's brother did not. but asiri continued to make bombs that were cleverly dis

effort against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in yemen look like? we know about the drone strikes, what else? >> it's a very close partnership between the intelligence services and the government of yemen but also as is suggested with saudi arabia. it's been threatened by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in the past, they threatened to kill the deputy interior minister and more broadly there's a close partnership which was disrupted for some period... >> warner: military partnership. >> exactly. the military training that's gone on between the u.s. department of defense and military services. in the long run it's that sort of training enabling the yemenis to govern especially southern end of the country which i think is going to be so critical to maintaining some sort of stability in that country and eliminating the safe haven which unfortunately now exists. >> warner: back to asiri, the bomb maker, tell us just a little bit about him and why with all these resources, u.s. resources now trained on yemen is he so hard to apprehend? >> well, it is di

what we have seen is a strong body in the arabian peninsula. now, there are about half thousand fighters. >> this was court al qaeda, those that bin laden, his circle in the tribal regions of pakistan and they probably cannot have the ability to conduct today the kind of attack that came on 9/11. most of the capability has moved to the affiliate's. bin laden have an ambivalent view about al-sabah us, potentially in nigeria. we have much more limitations but there affiliate's are much more lethal. >> thank you so much for coming in. the headquarters of the libyan prime minister has come under attack. the attackers are thought to be former rebels demanding that they should be paid. two of the people were killed but there has been gunfire inside of a building. and pfizer said that he was safe. kofi annan says that his peace plan is not open ended and this is described as a last chance to avoid full-scale civil war. if that first one does not succeed, everyone else should give it a go. today, it is the turn of the political left to try to cobble to

. >> has the arabian peninsula become a stronghold for al qaeda? >> for the first time, you see al qaeda actually trying to hold territory. >> in an exclusive report, guardian journalist ghaith abdul-ahad investigates the new al qaeda threat in yemen. >> this is al qaeda, and they control a whole city. >> and in our second story, al qaeda operative fahd al-quso was killed by a drone strike in yemen earlier this month. tonight, former fbi agent ali soufan, author of the black banners, talks about his interrogation of al-quso before 9/11. >> how the heck quso is involved in what just happened? what did we miss? >> correspondent martin smiths interview with "the interrogator." >> what if that information had been shared? >> oh, my god. i think the world would be very different today. >> these two stories on this special edition frontline. ro fne>>li nt mis >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and cath

at that point, the arabian peninsula had 200 or 300 individuals in no controlled territory. just a few years later it has tripled in size and controls a great deal of territory. it has its own police forces. it has to own court system. it is providing services to the citizens there. and in many ways in southern yemen, it is a defacto government. there are two main causes. one, the u.s. drone and air strike, which are creating as many terrorists as they are killing. and secondly, as the yemeni government collapsed amid protests last year, al qaeda was able to step in and fill the vacuum in the south. >> there is a vacuum, isn't there, in terms of the position of the president? there has been no reaction to the attack. he is going to extreme pressure from the americans and the west. where do you see this situation? >> today, we have the odd situation of having the president not actually addressing the yemeni people. initially, the yemeni government put out a statement that the president would be giving an address last evening. that did not happen. the address was read by someo

these bombmakers, of al qaeda and the arabian peninsula.lly thwart screeners or whatever. >> last summer i sat down with the then vice president al hadi who's now the president of yemen. last summer he told me of al qaeda, because of the sort of verging on civil war in mem -- they have been able to take control of the capital, we were down in the south and at this stage we were seeing tens of thousands of people forced out of that town by al qaeda. so al qaeda isn't a group there that is just hiding away in the mountains, yes some of them are, but they're also out in the open, living life larger than they are elsewhere, and they're claiming to have access to more chemicals, what they describe s as -- the reality is that al qaeda and yemen's problem is that they may have the space and they may have the no how, but it's getting the bombs out of the yemen. we saw the attempted underwear bomb, the printer bombs 2010. nothing we're aware of in 2011. the country was in chaos, maybe it's now an indication that the country is beginning to settle do

why does aqap, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula as the yemeni group is known, present such a threatto the united states? you would think, um, okay, a couple of bomb plots targeted at airplanes, but are they focused on a local site? i mean, where do they come down? and why do we spend so much time worrying about them now? >> guest: well, especially by 2009 and then into 2010, um, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula was doing both. it was trying to expand its sanctuary in yemen in places where it had established some training camps in the mountains around the gulf of aden. and also it had some individuals like awlaki who were targeting, interested in targeting the united states. and who had some volunteers who were willing to do that. so that mixture was potentially concerning, especially if they could get people and inspire them to do it. >> host: so targeting was almost part of their recruiting process, too, for their overall organization? >> guest: oh, i think there's no question. and so, i mean, encouraging individuals like may jar hassan -- major hassan, the fort hood shooter, to -

he's probably al qaeda in the arabian peninsula's number one threat to the united states directly. >> reporter: asiri came on the radar when a bomb he inserted inside his own brother was used as an attempt to kill the head of saudi intelligence. the saudi spy master was seriously injured, asiri's brother was killed. asiri is best known for the christmas, 2009, plot to down a jetliner over detroit. he designed a bomb hidden in the underwear of umar farouk abdulmutallab, the would be suicide bomber tried to set the device off but while the detonator functioned, the main explosive charge did not, averting what would have been the worst attack on u.s. soil since 9/11. but asiri went back to the workbench. >> al qaeda is extremely adaptive and al qaeda is a learning organization. it learns from its mistakes, it adapts. >> reporter: asiri adjusted his plans to avoid human error with his most complex bomb yet-- the printer bombs, two printers were shipped as cargo to the united states. plastic explosives hidden in toner cartridges were set to be detonated by cellular phones hidden inside. th

is al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> yes, exactly. >> pelley: john, thanks so much. tfense secretary leon panetta on panetd this evening about the bomb plot. t on then't comment on the specifics but he did say this: >> what this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country and we do everything necessary to keep seerica safe. >> pelley: chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell has been talking to her sources he kil white house. norah, last week on the first anniversary of the killing of no credn laden, we were told that there was no credible ow aboutf an attack. what do you know about that? >> reporter: well, a top counterterrorism official insists tonight there is no intelligence to suggest that this plot was tied to the ggest rsary of osama bin laden's death. and the reason they know that, scott, is because this plot was always under operational control. y kn does that mean? well, they were following it und the very beginning. s ey knew about in the early april, they watched

these are some of the men behind the bomb plot, hiding out in yemen in the arabian peninsula. this strike -- the air strikes are gaining american new enemies. >> the american drone campaign has been very successful in knocking out an important tier of the senior leadership of al qaeda in yemen, but it also has an undeniable radicalizing effect among the wider population. i think going forward, the u.s. is going to have to balance those elements very carefully. in order to do so, it has to look at pursuing a counter- terrorism strategy that puts the human security of the population to the front. >> the new president has inherited a country beset with problems. for the government and its allies, there's one pressing priority, finding and disarming al qaeda before it can strike again. >> a yemen scholar at princeton university explains how al qaeda has managed to gain such a foothold in yemen. >> christmas day 2009 is the day that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula could -- at that point that had 200 or 300 individuals and controlled of territory. now 2.5 years later, the organiza

what makes all kinds of the arabian peninsula of all the up had affiliate's? the chosen one to attack america? >>> of had in the peninsula are the closest to osama bin laden version of canada. that is why they feel that this is their duty and their obligation to continue their fight regardless of what other alquidas doing. >>> the master bomb maker and eight years of age uap plotted to kill to the counter-terrorism chief in 2009 in his home eight he made the bomb and chose the suicide bomber. his own brother. >>> that gives you an idea about the dedication and the level of hatred the group has. >>> the intended target survived by his brother did not. but he continued to make bombs that were cleverly disguised. the and we're bond fell to destiny's aboard the jetliner over detroit on christmas 2009 and two bombs hit and printers never shipped as car goes for ups and fedex there were intercepted by intelligence agents just hours before their sets to block the planes that carry them. we asked him nec's we love said serious work. >>> increase sophistication. and try

using it against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. specifically what they did is they found someone who went to the group and said "i want to be a suicide bomber and i've got a visa to the united states, will you help me martyr myself?" and essentially the group jumped at the chance. one of the few things that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula can't seem to overcome is that it just doesn't have members who have the ability to travel very freely. and clearly even somebody who wasn't properly vetted. it was so exciting to them that they might be able to get someone in the united states that they ended up accepting an agent into their ranks. >> brown: philip mudd, how does this look to you? how hard is it to infiltrate and pull off this kind of a double agent effort? >> my experience is this is very difficult. if you go back ten years ago, we're trying to infiltrate al qaeda in pakistan and there are countermeasures against us. with human sources we're quite good. their counterintelligence programs are excellent. here you're dealing with

. >> this plot is said to be the work of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula meaning yemen. we're following the take down with barbara starr at the pentagon. what do we know about the device? >> reporter: the fbi is in possession of the device and trying to determine whoa made it and how it was made. according to the fbi, the latest indications are it was very similar to previous devices that al qaeda and yemen has used. most likely with very little metallic content or no metallic content. that means very difficult for the screening devices in airports around the world to detect. this is the hal mark signature of al qaeda in the arabian pe e nins la. we saw it with the underwear bomber attack. we saw it with the plot to put explosive devices inside printer cartridges on airliners bound for the united states. this by all accounts appears to be another attempt in that direction with a much more sophisticated detonation technology. we don't know a lot about that. but this is their latest effort by al qaeda to get past u.s. and international security screening and get a device o

. >> this demonstrate's al qaeda in the arabian peninsula's continued priority on aviation security as a target. it's the number one affiliate in the al qaeda network and this is another example of why they're still a threat. >> the u.s. is more concerned about al qaeda in yemen more than any other terror group. just yesterday, u.s. officials say a top al qaeda operative was killed in an air strike. he was wanted for the 2000 bombing of the "uss cole" that killed 17 american sailors. an administration official told us the fbi has been analyzing the device for the past week, studying its composition and potengsdle structive force. >> pete williams in our washington newsroom, pete, thanks. also joining us from our washington bureau, michael leiter who served as head of the the national counter tearicism sector under both presidents bush and obama and was in fact in the white house situation room a year ago during the raid that killed bin laden. he's these days a national security analyst for us at nbc news. you have to admit the talk has been about how much al qaeda has been degraded. be

susan mcginnis has more. >> reporter: officials say al qaeda in the arabian peninsula also known as aqapailed in its attempt to take down an american-bound airliner because of a double agent. the would-be suicide bomber actually worked for the c.i.a. and saudi intelligence agencies. >> clearly this was an intelligence success. >> reporter: senator chambliss, a member of the senate intelligence committee said the planned attack is a reminder al qaeda remains committed to hurting america. >> the bad guys have to get it right only one time. this time our guys got it right again. >> reporter: the bomb was an improved version of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate over detroit on christmas day 2009. the new bomb had no metal parts making it likely it would have slipped through an airport metal detector. the f.b.i. is still examining the device. word of the bomb plot first surfaced on monday in a report by the associated press. now congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into who leaked the story and why. >> you can't have leaks. leaks can kill people. leaks can deter us

it was the latest misfire for alcott is arabian peninsula which has reportedly come close to carrying out such an attack. >>> to the arabian peninsula are the closest to osama bin laden version of pat. that is why they feel that this is their duty they feel that is their obligation to continue the bin lot and vice regardless of what other outside edge and in different areas are doing. the fbi is now analyzing that after the bomb to learn its secrets. >>> a big blow to students and that they block the bill to extend low interest rates on student loans which means his back to the drawing board. interest rates on federally subsidized loans are said to double july 1st. >>> the uc system says it may be forced to raise tuition and other 6% in state funding keeps falling short. as forecasted students there is no question. their rates are rising by 9% this fall. and they're angry. >>> a few dozen students showed up tonight outside the long beach home of chancellor charles reed. they're angry about what they feel is outrageous spending by his office at a time when students and faculty are havi

the master bomb maker behind the efforts of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula to blow up a u.s. passenger jet. >> al qaeda affiliates, especially al qaeda in the arabian peninsula represent the top counter terrorism threat to the nation. >> reporter: it includes bombs in pets, hiding in aircraft, in cameras and in hard drives that could explode when plugged into an operational computer. >> he has a savvy that is useful for an al qaeda operative. >> reporter: a saudi citizen who studied chemistry in college, al asiri's parents say he became radicalized after the death of a brother. >> he hates american ideology, he hates western values. >> reporter: the u.s. has expanded its drone operations in yemen. they have survived at least one drone strike in the last year. >> we want to make sure he doesn't continue to build any device or impart his knowledge to everyone else. >> reporter: while the latest plot was foiled, authorities tell abc news there are several plots aimed at u.s. airlines that are in the plans stages, if not further along. tonight, the fbi continues to pour over the

intelligence disrupted within al qaeda and the arabian peninsula base in yemen.rce was the would-be suicide bomber himself. roger, tell us about this. it's amazing to have the guy, if you will, that was going to put on the underwear, who was going to blow up the plane, according to people who were working with him who ratted out this whole thing. >> this is a good news story. in some respects it's what we expect the cia to do, is get a source inside early on in any type of development of a terrorist plot. they were in so soon, and there was never a point when this became a credible threat because they knew what could happen and they disrupted it. >> the fbi agent said to the american communist party, were there more agents at the meeting than there were communists? were there more at the meeting? a little humor doesn't hurt here. how would score at the guy who was going to blow up the plane be our guy? >> what a remarkable change from december of 2009 when the cia thought they had recruited someone that would lead us to the highest ranking members of al qaeda and

he is probably al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula's number one threat to the united states directly. jon: wur chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live with more. >> reporter: thank you jon and good morning. fox news is told that at least three other countries are involved in this ongoing operation, a law enforcement source told fox that there is reason to believe more bombs may be out there, and this morning, the chairman of the house homeland security committee confirmed that the killing of this operative who met with the first under quarter bomberrer in 2009 before leaving for yemen is tied with though organization, al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula. >> the killing of the aq leader over the weekend, that was tied to this operation. so this is more than just one person, one bomb. this is a larger scale operation, and that's why the security on this has been so tight. >> reporter: this morning, fbi investigators are working on the device similar to the underwear bomb shown here. they're looking for hairs or dna that will tie it to the bomb maker. the device is desc

petn, very, very explosive plastic explosive material was devised apparently by people in the arabian peninsula belonging to al-qaeda or perhaps other scientists, but whatever the case is they stepped up their technological findings to actually beat the system, beat our radar detector systems at airports. that's a real worry because they're always going to be one step ahead. i suspect we're going to be changing the nature of some of the detection systems and the technology at airports around the world. >> but at this point there are no immediate plans according to u.s. officials to change security at our airports. how soon do you think that could change? >> first of all, i don't think they'll announce changes immediately. they're going to be tight lipped about what they do because they're not going to want to in form terrorists 'no. 2, they're still testing the actual compound, about the i'm holding here a copy of inspire magazine. it's in black and white. it's an english language magazine put out by al-qaeda and at rainian peninsula formerly by the late -- the arabian peninsula formerly by the

homeland security officials say this is a reminder that al- qaeda in the arabian peninsula continues to be a serious threat. >> what this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those who would seek to attack this country and we will do everything necessary to keep america safe. >> reporter: the white house says president obama was told about the plot in april and was assured the device posed no danger to the public. the bomb is in the hands of the fbi being analyzed by u.s. explosive experts and there are no immediate plans to change security procedures at u.s. airports. >> thank you. >>> a plea from the rockville man being held captive by al- qaeda will go up answered. the obama administration will not make a deal with the terrorist group to secure warren weinstein's freedom. white house spokesperson jay carney says president obama is aware of the video that was released over weekend that shows weinstein begging for his life. carney says obama is greatly concerned about his safety but it is a u.s. policy not to negotiate with terrorists.

i worked overseas for years with frequent travels to the arabian peninsula, africa, south asia. i became intrigued with the opaque indigenous but very effective ways of transferring money and value, so different from our own. for example, the pakistani businessman was referring to various forms of what we loosely call trade-based money laundering. it involves the transfer of valley ya commodities and trade goods. in addition to simple but effective customs fraud, trade-based value transfer is often used to provide countervaluation or a way of balancing the books in many global underground financial systems, including some that are used to finance terror. without going into detail, some of these trade-based value schemes are found in networks. most other regional forms of alternative remittance systems, the afghan transit trade, suspect international, lebanese, hezbollah networks, trading syndicate, and nonbank lawless regimes in the horn of africa. now, in theory, spotting anomalies in trade data and overlapping these anomalies with financial data, transportation data, travel da

the master bombmaker, behind the efforts of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, to blow up a u.s. passenger jet. >> al qaeda affiliates in the arabian peninsula, represent the top counterterrorism threat to the nation. >> reporter: u.s. authorities tell abc news, that al asiri's latest designs involve bombs surgically implanted in terrorists. as well as bombs hidden in pets to be carried on aircraft. in cameras, and in external hard drives that would explode when plugged into a laptop computer. >> he has an operational savvy to him that is useful for an al qaeda operative. >> reporter: a saudi citizen, who studied chemistry in college, al asiri's parents say he became radicalized after the death of a brother. >> he hates american ideology. he hates western values. >> reporter: because of the threat of al asiri and his al qaeda group, the u.s. has vastly expanded its drone operations inside yemen. al asiri has survived at least one u.s. drone strike in the last year. >> we want to make sure that he doesn't have the opportunity, "a," to continue to do -- to build any device whatsoev

that our intelligence apparently infiltrated al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. that to me seems to be the biggest news. is that fair to say? >> it's fair to say we're working really well with the yemenese and saudis. if you go back to 2010, that cargo plane plot, the saws saudis gave us a tip-off. they're doing a good job infiltrating. >> a source when we learned of his ied we started tracking it before we grabbed it, and more importantly it's my understanding that the tracking of this ied gave us the intelligence necessary for the drone attack that killed this, the person we believe -- the successor to -- is that your understanding? >> absolutely. no coincidence that. >> no. working together. >> about shresolutely. identifying a plot well in advance allowing us to collect intelligence from all people involved, disrupt the plot and take down other elements of the network. why the white house was bent out of shape that the a.p. went with the story when they did. there was nor operational activity going on. >> all of this debate. how much do you go public or not?

what everyone needs to understand is that this campaign against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula has been going on for some time and it's going to have to continue to go on because they're the affiliate with the intent and the capability still to target u.s. interests. this is the long haul. >> let's talk about the bomb experts. they're picking apart this improvised explosive device. it was devised to be used in underwear. what does this say about the security loopholes that we have here at home, especially now that we have more relaxed security measures in place? >> i think some people would probably disagree that they're relaxed in any way. it says two things. the first is that the adversary is continuing to adapt to our defenses. they're not stupid. they're watching what we do and trying to find seams in our security and take advantage of prospective vulnerabilities. there's no silver bullet in security on the defense side. these body scanners, the advanced imaging technology devices, they're one layer of defense. you have to combine that with mag magnotometers [. in total, all of