Early questioning of Boston bomb suspect suggests no larger terrorist cell at work

(CBS News) The surviving Boston bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is conscious and responding to questions Monday morning. According to CBS News correspondent John Miller, his answers so far give no indication of a larger terrorist cell at work behind the Boston bombing attack, but Miller stressed that it's early in the interrogation process and authorities are still searching for evidence.

An elite interrogation team -- the high-value detainee interrogation group or "HIG" -- is questioning Tsarnaev without reading him his Miranda rights, which guarantee him the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney, under the public safety exception. Tsarnaev is in serious condition, with gunshot wounds to the leg and throat, which have rendered him unable to speak, so his method of communication, possibly through writing, remains unclear. The team will at first focus on "public safety" related questions, Miller said, asking questions such as "Where did you make the bombs, are there any more explosives out there? Are there any more cells? Are there any more people?"

Dzhokhar's initial answers indicate that there is no "second wave of plots or plotters," but there is still the risk of "explosives or other things to find." Miller cautioned that while it appears there are "no other terrorist plot out there ... this is a slow process in writing ... information could change or develop."

At this stage in the investigation and explosive device analysis, it seems the Tsarnaev brothers were taking cues from Inspire magazine, a publication produced by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The magazine was started by Pakistani-American Jihadi blogger Samir Khan, a follower of al Qaeda leader and recruiter, Anwar al-Awlaki.

"There's a particular issue with an article that is now notorious in Jihadi circles called 'How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom,'" Miller said. "It goes through two specific devices: one is an angled pipe capped on both ends with a light-able fuse, which is about the size of something you would throw in your hand. I'm told that matches the pipe bombs that he was throwing as improvised hand grenades during the gun battle and that they found so many of."

The two pressure cooker bombs used in the marathon attack were also seemingly ripped from the pages of Inspire magazine. "At the bottom [of the article], it says, 'The pressure cooker bomb is the most effective device. It is to be put on the ground in a large crowd," Miller explained.

"And the recipe contained there for the pressure cooker bomb is exactly the one that they seemed to have followed."

As the investigation unfolds, questions remain about whether Dzhokhar will be tried as an enemy combatant -- a move backed by several GOP lawmakers -- or as a criminal defendant in U.S. federal courts. Miller, who insists federal courts will be more efficient, frames as a "political debate versus a practical debate."

"You could try him in Guantanamo in a military tribunal or here. Since 9/11 the federal courts have tried 500 terrorism cases including a dozen very significant ones with an 89 percent conviction rate. Guantanamo in 10 years has tried four, two of have been reversed and one of the defendants -- and that was a case I testified in -- is back in Yemen, living at home. [Federal courts have been] statistically incredibly more efficient and successful"

CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford echoed the claim that declaring Dzhokhar Tsarnaev an enemy combatant will do little to expedite swift justice.

As a prosecutor, Ford said, "You could make a very good argument ... saying, 'We can do this, leave this in the justice system ... An American citizen on American soil. I think this is the argument you'll see here."