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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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national lead
Did FBI miss warning signs of Boston bombing suspect?
This week was not the first time the FBI had heard of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older Boston Marathon bombing suspect who died after a shootout Friday morning. The FBI now says that "a foreign government" - Russia, or more specifically the Russian FSB, successor to the KGB - asked the bureau to check him out in early 2011, warning that Tsarnaev was a "follower of radical Islam," and "a strong believer," and may have been planning to leave the U.S. to join an underground group.
Intelligence sources tell CNN it is "rare" for Russians to reach out like that, to ask the FBI to look into someone as they did with Tsarnaev.
The FBI interviewed Tsarnaev in 2011, but says it found no terrorism activity at the time. But it appears the bureau did not follow up after Tsarnaev spent six months in Chechnya in 2012. The question is, why?
"There's going to be a lot of questions, that's one of them obviously," said Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Massachusetts. "I'm sure the FBI is going to want to ask those questions of themselves, as well."
Th FBI "and the White House will look back and ask, 'What did we miss? How did we miss it? Did we not take the Russians seriously enough?'" said Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and Boston Globe columnist.
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national lead
Boston Strong: A city begins to heal
The man himself, Neil Diamond sang "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park Saturday. The Red Sox beat the Royals 4-3. Since Monday, Boston has been gripped by terror, and now, the city is finally beginning to heal. The one phrase that says it all this week: Boston Strong.
national lead
Bombing suspect described as 'extremist' and 'violent'
Three women who knew Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in college said from the very beginning, they never liked him. Tsarnaev was killed early Friday morning in a shootout in Watertown, Massachusetts. The women were former roommates of Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell, and met him when he and Katherine first began dating.
"They thought that he was very controlling, they described him as manipulative of her, and they said that he had a real violent streak that really troubled them," said NPR's Laura Sullivan, who found and interviewed the young women.
The FBI interviewed Tsarnaev in 2011 because the Russian FSB, successor to the KGB, were concerned that he might be an Islamic extremist. Sullivan's reporting reveals that Tsarnaev became something of an extremist much earlier.
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national lead
Rep. Capuano: We will get back to normal
Rep. Micahael Capuano, D-Massachusetts, has had a tumultuous week. The Democratic congressman represents every mile of the Boston Marathon, and used to represent Watertown.
"We're starting to heal, we're starting to bring it back together," said Capuano.
"We all know that we have a lot of people that are still hurt, a lot of families that are still wrenched apart, and we're going to spend an awful lot of time helping them," added Capuano.
While the people of Boston are eager to heal and get back to normal, there is also an acknowledgement that going forward, people are going to be more on guard. Even if it is not going to be a city on edge anymore, people are going to be more suspicious.
"That's normal," said Capuano. "We're not used to, you never get used to it, and we'll get back to normal in some time."
national lead
The intense final moments of the Boston terror manhunt
One of the most intense and frightening manhunts in our nation's history ended Friday night, in a hail of flash bangs, bullets, and laser scopes in Watertown, Massachusetts, when police finally tracked down terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a docked boat parked in someone's backyard.
Late Saturday afternoon, police released brand new thermal images showing the body outline of the suspect, cowering inside the boat.
The final moments of the capture came through a deft combination of tenacity and technology. Police had spent the day cutting off all avenues of escape from suburban Watertown. When the call came from a homeowner who saw the torn tarp on his boat, blood stains, and a person crouching inside, hundreds of officers raced to the scene.
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