and pierre thomas is there in catonsville, maryland, tonight. pierre? >> reporter: diane, for the second time in two weeks, the fbi says it's taken down a home-grown radical. this is the man the fbi says had deadly intentions. antonio martinez, a muslim convert, drove to this recruitment center outside baltimore at 9:00 a.m. this morning. he parked the suv, which he believed was full of explosives. he then left the scene in another vehicle and after he was certain the center was full of soldiers, he tried to detonate the bomb using a cell phone. but it was all a sting. >> how many more is out there that they're not catching? >> reporter: the fbi had been tipped off by a citizen who was concerned about martinez's facebook postings. just in the past two months he wrote, "the sword is coming. the reign of oppression is about to cease. anyone who opposes allah and his prophet, i hate you with all my heart." prosecutors say martinez was inspired by anwar al awlaki and believed the u.s. was at war with all muslims. the fbi made contact using undercover agents

he's just noncompliment. >> reporter: pierre thomas, abc news, washington. >>> and coming up here on "world news" this sunday, the couple that got the right answer on a new game show, but lost $800,000 anyway. [ male announcer ] for frequent heartburn relief, nothing beats prevacid®24hr. just one pill helps keep you heartburn free for a full 24 hours. prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn with prevacid®24hr, all day, all night. nothing works better. all day, all night. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. to london starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol now, and maybe up to 8 in a day. or...choose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. enjoy the flight. >>> "playboy" founder hugh hefner is getting married again and this is his third try, in fact. the 84-year-old icon known for his wild lifestyle announced the engagement today on his twitter account. his new fiance, crystal harris, a former playma

pierre thomas got some answers. >> reporter: the world saw the devastation that even a small aircraft can do when a man angry at the government and hellbent on suicide crashed his plane into an irs building earlier this year. nearly ten years after 9/11, with terrorists still fixated on using planes as flying missiles or bombs, you would think all of air security would be air tight. think again. the registration records for roughly a third of all general aviation planes are incomplete, outdated. in short, the government can't tell you for certain who is in control of thousands of small planes. the fear is that a drug dealer or terrorist might buy a plane and the government would never know because of shoddy records. today, a member of 9/11 commission said these kinds of problems had been identified years ago. >> someone could be flying a plane into a nuclear plant or a chemical plant or an iconic building. i think in this area it's about time that the faa got to business of knowing who owns the aircraft. >> reporter: how did this breakdown happen? until recently, faa registration was

but as pierre thomas reports, the new tasers come with criticism. >> get on the ground now, get on the ground. >> reporter: tasers have been used in nearly every police department in the nation in the last ten years. they've been used more than 1 million times. and police claim they keep officers from being injured and save the lives of suspects. now an advanced generation of tasers has been introduced. weapons with more fire power. >> get on the ground! >> reporter: meant to address one of the occasional hazards of the original models. suspects getting back up after being tased. like all tasers the new models fire metal hooks into a suspect's clothing or skin delivering a 600-volt pulse. the charge causes muscles to contract, temporarily paralyzing them. the new model, the x3 handgun style taser, has three cartridges. the company says it's capable of subduing three suspects at once. it would also allow an officer, in theory, to deliver a triple hit to one suspect. the new models are making the debate over safety and potential misuse even more urgent. >> they are so easy to abuse. they

i was really struck this week when the attorney general eric holder was talking to our pierre thomas. he seemed as concerned about a possible strike as i've ever seen him. have you seen a threat level like this since you've been vice president? >> well, yes, but look george. i like to put this in perspective. i don't want the american people starting off on their holiday, thinking, oh, my god, i can't travel to mom's or i shouldn't be doing this. i think they should go about their business in the way they've been doing it. it's not as though there's some massive strike that we think is imminent. >> you can watch much more of my interview with the vice president tomorrow on "gma," including his take on the bipartisan cooperation in the lame duck session of congress that just ended will continue in the new year. the president called that progress proof we're not doomed to endless grid lock. but for a somewhat more down beat analysis, listen to what four members of congress, who won't be returning to capitol hill, told jonathan karl. >> reporter: they come from different parts of the cou

pierre thomas is in washington. and jim sciutto is in london this morning. i know you've been working developments. what do you know about the arrest? >> reporter: he is out of hiding. he was arrested two hours ago at a london police station by arrangement of his lawyers and the arrest warrant from sweden lists four counts. one of rape, one of unlawful coercion, and two counts of sexual molestation, alleged to have taken place in sweden in august this year. a short time from now, he will appear before that magistrate's court where the judge will decide if his actions justify extradition to sweden. his lawyer telling us a short time ago that assange is eager to vindicate himself and clear his name. wikileaks also telling us this morning it will not stop the release of the leaked documents. they will continue to run operations from here in the u.k. and from other countries. david? >> we know julian assange claims that the charges were trumped up in retaliation for the cable leaks. but is there any evidence that that's actually the case? >> reporter: well, the

we want to bring in our senior justice correspondent, pierre thomas, who just sat down with an exclusive interview with attorney general eric holder. the attorney general is a pretty circumspect man. but on this subject, he's not pulling any punches. >> reporter: i've known and covered the attorney general for more than a decade. and i can tell you, he was candid and blunt about the relentless nature of the terror threat the u.s. is combating. what keeps you up at night? >> the concern that perhaps we might have missed something. the threat is real. the threat is different. the threat is constant. >> reporter: in a rare interview, the attorney general laid out the most-pressing terror threats. dangers he says are more diverse and increasing. among them, the new rapidly-evolving threat from homegrown radicals. >> the threat has changed from sim[ply foreigners coming here, to people in the united states. american citizens, raised here, born here. you didn't worry about this, even two years ago. >> reporter: in the last 18 months, at least 50 americans have been charged with planning acts o

with more details on the story, here now is pierre thomas. >> reporter: this is the man the fbi says had deadly intentions. antonio martinez, known as mohammad hussein, a muslim convert, drove to this recruitment center outside baltimore. he parked the suv, which he believed was full of explosives. he then left the scene in another vehicle. after he was certain the center was full of soldiers, he tried to detonate the bomb using a cell phone. but it was all a sting. >> how many more are out there that they're not catching? >> reporter: the fbi had been tipped off by a citizen who was concerned about martinez's facebook postings. just in the past two months he wrote, the sword is coming. the reign of oppression is about to cease. anyone who opposes allah and his prophet, i hate you with all my heart. prosecutors say martinez was inspired by radical cleric anwar al awlaki of yemen, and believed the u.s. was at war with all muslims. the fbi made contact using undercover agents posing as radicals. martinez made clear to them he wanted to attack the u.s. military. he seemed obsessed with

pierre thomas has the latest. pierre? >> reporter: good morning, george. call me old-school. but back in the day, thieves did not taunt their victims. this is a story about burglary in the 21st century. and a criminal who is, well, either stupid or bold. recently mark fisher of "the washington post," had his home broken into. >> and we came rushing home. called 911. and we and the police arrived at the same moment. >> reporter: besides the indignity of having their home violated and personal items stolen, the burglar decided to engage in one more very personal injustice. he stole fisher's son's laptop. and decided to post his picture on the facebook page, so all of the young man's 400 friends could see it. the burglar even wore a new coat that mr. fisher had just received. >> i had to look at the picture several times to realize that was the new coat. it had just arrived the day before. and he stole it out of the macy's box it was delivered in the day before. >> reporter: but the photo of bravado may be the thief's undoing. police are all over it. >> having the image is fanta

pierre thomas is in washington with the details. good morning to you, pierre. >> reporter: good morning. to be clear there's no specific intelligence indicating an attack is imminent. but with christmas one week away, u.s. law enforcement is being told, be vigilant. a new fbi/homeland security bulletin warns police that the holiday season provides attractive opportunities for terrorists. it is imperative that law enforcement and security personnel remain alert for indicators of attack planning. the reason for the concern, the psychological impact such an attack would have during such a symbolic time of year, and today a sign of increasing general worry. metro officials in washington, d.c., announcing subway commuters will have their bags randomly checked even though there's no specific threat. u.s. officials are ever mindful of last year's christmas day bombing attempt by a man who tried to blow up a commercial plane with high explosives in his underwear. that attempt was one of four directed by al qaeda and the taliban in the last