Key senators to be briefed on failed Times Square bombing

Image via Wikipedia

By the CNN Wire StaffMay 11, 2010 1:18 p.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are scheduled to receive a briefing Tuesday on the recent attempted bomb attack in Times Square, according to a statement from committee Chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California.


The statement did not indicate who will conduct the briefing, though Feinstein and Missouri Sen. Kit Bond will be available to the media after it concludes, Feinstein's office noted. Bond is the committee's top Republican.

The briefing comes a little over a week after Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani-American, was arrested while trying to fly out of New York after leaving a vehicle filled with explosive materials in Manhattan's Times Square, federal authorities allege.

The makeshift bomb failed to detonate, preventing what could have been a deadly attack in one of the nation's busiest areas.

Shahzad, who is currently being detained by federal authorities, has not yet appeared in court.

A senior administration official on Monday told CNN that when Shahzad last traveled to Pakistan, he was looking for help from the Pakistani Taliban in carrying out a bomb attack.

"The question is: Did he go there looking for help or did he fall in their lap? It seems the former. It appears he went seeking help for this attack," the official said. "He had an attack in mind when he went there."

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because this person wasn't allowed to speak publicly about the investigation.

Top advisers to President Obama said Sunday that Shahzad worked with the Taliban movement in Pakistan.

"The evidence that we have now developed shows the Pakistani Taliban directed this plot," Attorney General Eric Holder said on NBC's "Meet the Press," describing the ongoing investigation into Shahzad's actions.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday the Pakistani Taliban "provided him with material support that obviously helped him execute the attack."

John Brennan, the assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security, told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the Pakistani Taliban -- also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP -- is "closely allied with al Qaeda."

The group has pledged to carry out attacks on other parts of the world, including the United States, Brennan said.

CNN's Elise Labott and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.