Recruiting Station Bomb Plot; Last Lifeline Gone for Millions
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I want to bring you some breaking news right now from Maryland. Authorities today arrested a Baltimore man on suspicion of planning a -- plotting to bomb a U.S. military recruiting station. The suspect is due in court this hour. CNN's homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is on the story. She just got her hands on the indictment. She's been reading it up to this minute. Jeanne, what have you learned in there?</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, they have now named this individual. His name is Antonio Martinez, AKA Muhammed Hussain. He's been charged with attempt to murder federal officers and employees, and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. As we have told you earlier today, this is someone who law enforcement had been watching since October. They became aware of him because of some postings on a Facebook page that were reported to them. They worked with undercover agents and an informant to develop this case. And he, according to this complaint, wanted to target this recruiting station in Catonsville, Maryland, which is not too far outside of Baltimore. Why did he want to target that? Well, according to the affidavit, he indicated that the military continued to kill their Muslim brothers and sister and they would need to expand their operation by killing U.S. Army personnel where they live. He stated that jihad is not only in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but also in the United States. This, according to the criminal complaint. Now, this all has been unfolding for several months, but the arrest came this morning at that recruiting station in Catonsville. Let me read you the part of the complaint which outlines what happened there this morning. In the morning, "he met, as planned, with the undercover agent and the informant in the parking lot. He was observed by surveillance agents inspecting the components of a bomb in the back of an SUV. This was an inert device that had been supplied to him by the FBI." According to this complaint, "It appeared that he was arming the device as he had been instructed to do. He then drove the SUV, as planned, to the recruiting center, parked it in front of the building. He exited the SUV, got in a different vehicle. They drove to a vantage point." He was then called by the undercover agent and told them that there were indeed soldiers in the recruiting center. And at that time, according to the complaint, "Martinez attempted to detonate the device," which was in fact an inert bomb. He was immediately placed under arrest at that time. And so he was arrested just hours ago, appearing in a court in Baltimore at this hour. Ali, back to you.</s>VELSHI: All right. We had some pictures up there of that court. We have got live shots outside of there when his hearing takes place. We were also just showing you -- there's the court where his hearing is going to take place. We were also just showing you from our affiliate, WJAL, pictures of that recruiting center outside of Baltimore that Jeanne was just talking about. Jeanne, you also mentioned that part of the government's indictment -- there's the recruiting center that we're talking about from WJAL. Jeanne, the issue here may rest on whether he was equipped to and willing to go ahead with this without the encouragement of law enforcement officials. Does that indictment speak to that?</s>MESERVE: Yes. I just got this minutes ago and am just in the course of reading it, but I can tell you, according to this complaint, there were many conversations that were recorded, activities of his that were observed. And according to this, he was offered several opportunities to back out of this plot which he did not take advantage of. He also tried to recruit others who were civilians to this plot. He was not successful in doing that. So the allegation being made by the government was that this was his idea. He made movements to carry it out. He was offered an out and didn't take it. Clearly, here, law enforcement very concerned about possible allegations and charges from some people that they engaged in entrapment in this instance. They are trying to establish in this complaint that they did not do so. The secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, was making remarks to the press a short time ago. She commented that stings like this and like the one in Portland, Oregon, just last month, are very important tools for law enforcement, that there are rules of the road. She says law enforcement is aware of those rules and follows them to the letter. Back to you, Ali.</s>VELSHI: OK, Jeanne. I'll let you get back to reading that complaint. Let us know. As you find anything, just let us know and we'll get you back in here with more information. We have got our cameras ready for you. We've got our cameras ready at the courthouse. We'll stay with you on that. Jeanne Meserve, our national security correspondent, on this new development. Something else happening. It's called the Development Relief and Education Alien Minors Act. That spells DREAM to its supporters. It's an outrage to its enemies, though. It's a gateway to U.S. citizenship for young people who were not born in the United States but have never really known any other home. It won't put to rest America's long and painful immigration debate, but it could have a global impact if supporters, who you see here, earlier this morning, can sway lawmakers who may cast do-or-die votes as soon as today. Here's what you need to know about the DREAM act. The measure covers illegal immigrants who came to the United States before the age of 16, typically in the arms of their parents, who have lived here for at least -- the teenagers who have lived here for at least five years. To qualify for eventual citizenship, they have to graduate from high school or get a GED, a high school equivalency certificate. They'll also have to pass a criminal background check. And the Obama administration says DREAM would strengthen the military and strengthen the economy because they would have to go to college or join the military. They also -- Republicans, by the way, call it mass amnesty. The votes for this could go either way. Whatever happens, you'll hear it first, right here on CNN. Our "Sound Effect" now is an echo from late July, when a bill to cover health care costs for 9/11 rescue and recovery workers came up short in the House. Today, the measure faces a cloture vote in the Senate. Sixty votes needed to set up a final vote in the waning days of this Congress. The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation bill is named for an NYPD detective who worked amid the ruins of the World Trade Center and died of respiratory failure at the age of 34, after he worked on the rescue. The House did approve the bill in September, but back in July, when a procedural move blocked it, one of its most passionate supporters could hardly contain his disgust. I brought it to you then. I want you to hear once again New York Democrat Anthony Weiner.</s>REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: We see it in the United States Senate every single day, where members say, we want amendments, we want debate. We want amendments, but we're still a no. And then we stand up and say oh, if only we had a difference process we'd vote yes. You vote yes if you believe yes! You vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing! If you believe it's the wrong thing, you vote no! We are following on procedure --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will the gentleman yield?</s>WEINER: I will not yield to the gentleman! And the gentleman will observe regular order. The gentleman will observe regular order! The gentleman thinks if he gets up and yells louder he's going to intimidate people into believing he's right. He is wrong! The gentleman is wrong! The gentleman is providing cover for his colleagues rather than doing the right thing! It's Republicans wrapping their arms around Republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes! It is a shame. A shame! If you believe this is a bad idea to provide health care, then vote no! But don't give me the cowardly view that, oh, if it was a different procedure -- the gentleman will observe regular order and sit down!</s>VELSHI: Ouch! The gentleman he's talking about -- because that's how you have to refer to people in Congress -- is Peter King, representative from New York, as well a Republican who was actually supporting the bill, but they were disagreeing on it. The bill is expected to cost around $7 billion over 10 years. Its prospects in the Senate are cloudy at best. We will keep you posted on the vote. Now we're going outside the beltway, way outside the beltway. Within the past few moments, if all went according to plan, a capsule named Dragon completed two full orbits of the Earth and is about to -- maybe it already has -- splash down in the Pacific Ocean. It rode into space this morning on a rocket named Falcon that you see there, blazing a trail in 21st century space flight. That's today's "Two at the Top." CNN's John Zarrella at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Unfortunately, too far to be able to see whether this thing is splashing down. But you do have some news on this capsule that we're expecting to drop about 500 miles off the coast of Mexico into the Pacific Ocean.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Ali. It may well be in the water now off of Mexico. We just haven't gotten confirmation yet from SpaceX. But, in fact, within the last five minutes or so, they did confirm that they had all three chutes deployed, which is a very good sign, which obviously means that the vehicle reentered the Earth's atmosphere and apparently reentered the Earth's atmosphere intact. And as you mentioned, this is the Dragon spacecraft. It was put up into orbit by SpaceX, a commercial company, on its Falcon rocket. And we are getting confirmation. My producer Rich Phillips (ph) saying it has landed in the water about 500 miles off Mexico. And according to SpaceX, everything looks great -- according to NASA. NASA officials reporting that. Now, you know, Ali, this is historic, ,because it is the first time in history that a commercial company has ever launched a rocket, put a capsule in orbit, orbited the Earth, and then successfully returned that capsule back to Earth. Up until now, only five nations in the world have done this. And all this is a precursor to eventually SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, another company. They have contracts with NASA to fly cargo to the International Space Station. They'll be replacing the space shuttle. You know, the great irony out here today, Ali, is the launch of the SpaceX rocket, and Discovery sits out there about four-and-a-half miles from me, on Launch Pad 39-A -- you know, problems with the foam on the giant external tank -- waiting to lift off hopefully in February, as the shuttle program begins to wind down. Probably coming to a close next summer. And so the really critical importance is that these commercial vehicles can pick up the slack and take over getting that cargo to the Space Station -- Ali.</s>VELSHI: That is a big move. All right. So you have confirmation that this capsule has dropped into the Pacific Ocean, which is where we expected it to drop. The chutes have deployed, and you are hearing preliminary information that everything seems to be intact. If this is all true then, John, this is remarkably historic. This signals one more step in the transfer from NASA, where you are, of transportation of people and goods and space into the commercial sector, maybe making it like the airlines.</s>ZARRELLA: Yes, exactly. And many of these people like Elon Musk have equated it to that. It's how the airline industry first started. Then the commercial companies got it. And, you know, bang, it takes off, and now we're flying all over the world every day, thousands of flights a day. And ultimately, the hope is that commercial companies will be able to make this transition work and that NASA can then move on to do what NASA does best, exploring the heavens, taking astronauts out to Mars, and to explore asteroids. The thing about this, too, is SpaceX, at some point, hopes -- although they don't have a contract for this yet -- that by 2015, they will be able to start carrying U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station. Between now and then, with shuttle no longer doing that, the Russians are going to be doing that for the United States at a cost of $50 million a ride -- Ali.</s>VELSHI: Right. Actually, that's an important consideration. The business of doing it commercially will end up being more effective than governments doing it.</s>ZARRELLA: Yes.</s>VELSHI: John, good to see you, as always. I hope this turns out to be the good news story that we think it is right now. Well, the latest twist in the WikiLeaks/Julian Assange drama, a group of Internet activists say it is Operation Payback time. The group is expanding its cyber campaign against companies and individuals seen as anti-Assange. It comes as the WikiLeaks founder cools his heels in a British jail, arrested on a Swedish warrant. Anyway, after hitting PayPal, a Swedish bank, and Swedish prosecutors, these pro-Assange hackers say they have targeted MasterCard because it severed links with WikiLeaks. They've had the MasterCard corporate Web site down for hours. The company issued this statement: "MasterCard is experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate Web site, mastercard.com. We are working to restore normal speed of service. There is no impact whatsoever on our cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions." Well, imagine having a degree, a family, a career, and then your job, your savings and your jobless benefits all disappear. Why people just like you may not put a turkey on the table this holiday season, coming up in just a minute.