It was this vehicle that had been made into a potentially lethal killing machine, a car bomb set to detonate in Times Square, NYC, this past Saturday night.

Investigators know that the Pathfinder was seen driving west on NYC’s 45th street at 6:28 pm Saturday night. It was left with its engine running and flashers on at 6:34 pm in Times Square. The SUV contained the components of what could have been a deadly bomb, including three 20 pound propane tanks, two plastic cans of gasoline, 100 pounds of fertilizer (dissimilar from that used by Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing) two different timing devices, wires running between the various bomb components, and dozens of M-88 firecrackers that were apparently intended to ignite and detonate the car bomb. Street venders quickly noticed smoke coming from the vehicle and notified police who cleared the area and rendered safe the otherwise nonfunctioning bomb on wheels.

It was the SUV itself that helped lead the FBI, the NYPD and other agencies to Shahzad, who became a US citizen in April 2009 after which he traveled to the Middle East from June 2009 to early this year. While the vehicle identification number (VIN) on the dash of the SUV had been removed, there are up to 15 other locations on a vehicle where a similar number can be found, these called the confidential VINs. It was one such number from the vehicle’s engine block that led the FBI to the prior owner of the SUV. From there they identified a disposal cel phone related to Shahzad, as well as internet identification information which led them to US Immigration officials and very quickly to Shahzad.

Authorities placed Shahzad under surveillance in an attempt to identify others who may have been working with him, and he was arrested at midnight Monday night while seated on an Emirate Airliner departing NYC enroute to Dubai and then assumedly to his native village in remote Pakistan. Apparently like the capture of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Shahzad was captured at the last second, in his case after he made his airline reservation while driving to JFK. It was cooperation between the airline and the authorities that insured Shahzad was not able to escape from America.

Shahzad, along with his wife and two known children, moved from one US residence that had allegedly been foreclosed on due to nonpayment on his $200,000 mortgage purchased in 2004, to their last known home in Connecticut. It is there where FBI Evidence Response Teams are conducting a search in and around his residence, looking for evidence that could link him to the bombing as well as link him to other individuals, perhaps known militants or members of a known international terrorist group.

Was Shahzad already radicalized and ready to attack before his recent naturalization, or was he identified by others as a potential bomber because he now held a sought after US passport? Investigators know that since 9/11 international terrorist groups have attempted to recruit US citizens as terrorists and by some estimates, at least 100 individuals are currently in the US awaiting orders to strike, these so-called sleeper agents.

We know that in the last year ten incidents of actual or attempted terrorism have occurred in America, incidents of potential bombings and shootings, to include the ill-fated mass murder at Ft. Hood, Texas by a radicalized member of the US military.

And while car bombs have been viewed as “the poor man’s air force” overseas, many suggest we are just starting to see the use of such weapons in America. In reality the first “car bomb” (in reality a horse drawn wagon) in America was set off on 9/16/1920 in front of the J.P. Morgan Bank at 23 Wall Street, NYC. That bomb, composed of 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of heavy lead weights for shrapnel, unfortunately functioned exactly as designed. Thirty-eight citizens were killed and 143 were injured in the bombing that predated even the modern FBI. The Bureau of Investigation (BI), (the predecessor to the FBI), using forensic investigative techniques of that time, were able to find the horse shoes worn by the horse pulling that murderous wagon and eventually linked the shoes to a particular blacksmith, who, unfortunately, was unable or unwilling to identify the person who paid him to shod the horse. The BI and the NYPD investigated the case for years, however no one was ever charged with this now 90-year-old act of mass murder.

In the case of this recent bombing attempt in NYC, physical and electronic evidence will aid investigators in their attempt to link the now lone suspect with anyone who may have assisted him in assembling the bomb or otherwise planning and carrying out his attempt to create murder and mayhem in America’s largest city. Many analysts believe that Pakistan is the current worldwide hotbed of terrorism and is the location where many terrorists receive training to carry out such incidents. It was a Pakistani that was just convicted as the lone surviving gunman involved in the horrific 11/2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, that saw separate attacks on nine different locations, resulting in dozens of killed and injured. It was, afterall, a Pakistani terrorist group that initially claimed credit for the current attempted bombing; a claim authorities at first ignored, but are now taking a second look at.

But meanwhile the investigation continues and while authorities and citizens congratulate themselves on stopping this potential disaster, Pakistani and other terrorist leaders continue to threaten to bring such attacks into America. Was Shahzad a lone wolf or a pawn in the larger war against worldwide terrorism? While the answer to this and other questions will possibly help investigators stop similar future incidents, others know that you can’t stop every attack, and that had Shahzad been a little more technically qualified in bomb assembly and a little stronger in his motivation to have remained in the vehicle to open the propane valves, pour gas inside and had he used the right kind of fertilizer, the results would have been far different and far more deadly. We need to stop such individuals as they prepare to build their bombs, not when they light their match.