Pipe Bomb Suspect Was Iraq Contractor

April 3, 2008 — -- Investigators in the U.S. and overseas are carefully retracing the movements of a man arrested Tuesday at a Florida airport with bomb-making materials in his luggage to determine whom he associated with as a contractor in Iraq, ABC News has learned.

It remained unclear Thursday whether Brown's apparent mental problems prompted him to tell authorities after his arrest that he was planning on building a pipe bomb to show his friends in his native Jamaica or whether he harbored more nefarious motives.

Key questions in what federal sources describe to ABC News as a very active investigation include whether Brown had any contact with extremists in Iraq, and who may have given him instructions on how to build a pipe bomb. One senior official cautioned that the investigation was still in it's initial stages and that it remained unclear whether Brown was simply suffering mental problems or whether he posed a real danger.

While the bomb-making materials were discovered in checked luggage, investigators said they want to be sure that Brown - who was en route to Jamaica - wasn't planning to fly to the island, assemble the bomb, and then detonate it on a return trip to the U.S, sources told ABC News.

The quickening pace of the investigation seems to indicate the seriousness with which the federal government is taking threats to airline security - even those that appear on their face to be the products of mental illness.

Brown, 32, was reportedly working for a military contractor that provides logistical and technical support to the American military overseas. Exactly how much time he spent there remains unclear.

Federal behavioral specialists spotted Kevin Brown acting suspiciously around noon on Tuesday in the ticketing area of Orlando National Airport.

A search of his luggage revealed two pipes with end cap holes in them, two glass bottles apparently containing the explosive nitro-methane, two prescription bottles full of BB pellets, a model rocket igniter, batteries, lighter fluid and instructions on how to build the bomb, according to an FBI statement.