By William Tucker
Back in September 2009 I warned on my old World of Terrorism blog that the increase in attempted terror attacks against the U.S. was rising at an alarming rate. I followed that warning with another in January noting that the tempo was unusually high. In both posts I reminded my readers that we must keep our eyes open for something bigger on the horizon and since that time we have had the mass murder at Ft. Hood, Texas and the more recent bombing attempt in Times Square. My words from September 2009 have become increasingly relevant:
“Terrorists use a variety of methods to mask their plots by using multiple names for their organization and also using patsies to overwhelm intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The use of patsies could explain the flurry of recent arrests, but I do not have any information to confirm this. I have seen an uptick in reported surveillance by suspicious individuals nationwide and am concerned that something larger is on the horizon. Busting a few plots is great, but we must keep our eyes on the bigger picture.”
It certainly appears as if our intelligence and law enforcement apparatuses are being overwhelmed by the flurry of activity. The good people who work in the aforementioned industries are being stretched thin and recent terror plots that failed because of terrorist incompetence rather than being disrupted prove this point. News today of a Pakistani national entering the U.S. Embassy in Chile tested positive for explosives show that this increase in tempo are not abating. Here is a list of terror plots going back to September 24 when I first wrote about this trend:
Najibullah Zazi plead guilty for conspiring to attack the U.S. with a weapon of mass destruction using large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supply stores in the Denver metropolitan area. This is used to make an explosive known as TATP.
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen, was arrested by federal authorities who say that Smadi placed an inactive car bomb today at Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper in downtown Dallas.
Michael Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested in Springfield, Illinois, and charged with attempted murder of federal officers or employees and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, charges that carry a life sentence.
Two men were arrested in August 2009 for attempting to attack a Marine base in North Carolina.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan of the U.S. Army went on a shooting spree at Ft. Hood, Texas killing 12 people and wounding 31 others.
Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to bomb a commercial airliner using explosives concealed in his underwear on December 25, 2009.
Osama bin Laden releases an audio tape on January 25, 2010 using language he has used in the past prior to an attack.
Faisal Shahzad places a vehicle borne improvised explosive device in New York City’s Times Square that fails to detonate.
Included with this post is a video from Strategic Forecasting’s Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton (Burton is a former Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service) who echoes my concerns about the high tempo of attempted terrorist plots. The recent plots that have failed were due to untrained operators and the U.S. was lucky because of it, but sooner or later one of these plots is going to work. Staying on the defensive is unwise; it’s time to turn the tables on our enemies.
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