APPENDIX A
SIGNIFICANT FOILED U.S. TERROR PLOTS FROM 9/11 TO 2011

This list summarizes dozens of domestic foiled plots and some significant completed attacks from the decade after 9/11. The incidents are presented in chronological order to shed light on the impact of unfolding political, security, and terrorist trends. While focused on Islamist extremist plots in the U.S., the list includes certain other events with broad significance to homeland security, such as the anthrax attacks. Based on publicly available, unclassified information, this list likely omits other attacks foiled by the U.S. government and never made public.¹ More information on foreign terrorist groups mentioned below can be found in Appendix B. Additional detail on some of those mentioned below and their plots and tactics may also be found elsewhere in the text.

1. Anthrax attacks, September to October 2001. As America reeled from the 9/11 attacks, letters laced with anthrax began arriving in the mail at news media and Senate offices. The attacks killed 5 people, sickened 17, and spread fear in what the FBI described as the worst biological attacks in U.S. history. Early suspects included al-Qaida and the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. The sophistication of the weapon and inability of officials to identify the attacker(s) prompted major investments in U.S. biodefense and spawned the enduring phenomenon of “white powder attacks,” or hoaxed anthrax attacks. After one of the largest criminal investigations in American history, the Department of Justice and FBI officials in August 2008 accused Dr. Bruce Ivins, a federal anthrax expert, of perpetrating the attacks. Ivins had committed suicide days earlier in the face of the investigation.

2. Richard Reid, December 2001. A British citizen and self-professed follower of Usama bin Ladin, trained in Afghanistan, Reid hid explosives inside his shoes and attempted to light the fuse with a match during a flight from Paris to Miami. Reid was caught in the act and apprehended on board the plane by flight attendants and passengers. In 2003 Reid was found guilty on charges of terrorism, and a U.S. federal court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

3. Jose Padilla, May 2002. U.S. officials arrested Padilla in May 2002 at O’Hare airport in Chicago as he returned to the United States from Pakistan, where he met with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and received al-Qaida instructions and training. Upon his arrest, he was initially charged as an enemy combatant and for planning to use a dirty bomb (an explosive laced with radioactive material) in an attack against America.

Prior to his conviction, Padilla brought a case against the federal government claiming he had been denied the right of habeas corpus (the right of an individual to petition against unlawful imprisonment). In a 5-to-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found the case against him had been filed improperly. In 2005 the government indicted Padilla for conspiring against the United States with Islamist terrorist groups.

In August 2007 Padilla was found guilty by a civilian jury after a three-month trial. He was later sentenced by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to 17 years and 4 months in prison. Padilla continued to attempt to have his conviction overturned.

4. L.A. ticket counter shooting, July 2002. Limo driver Hesham Mohamed Hadayet shot six people at the Los Angeles International Airport on July 4, 2002. The Egyptian national targeted the ticker counter of Israel’s El Al airline, killing two of his victims before he was shot dead by a security officer. The subsequent investigation did not link Hadayet to any terrorist group, but the FBI classified the attack as a terrorist act due to the shooter’s political views and desire to influence U.S. policy. (El Al facilities in Los Angeles were also targets in the 2005 Kevin James plot, below.)

5. Lackawanna Six, September 2002. When the FBI arrested Sahim Alwan, Yahya Goba, Yasein Taher, Faysal Galab, Shafal Mosed, and Mukhtar al-Bakri, the press dubbed them the Lackawanna Six, the Buffalo Six, or the Buffalo Cell. Five of the six had been born and raised in Lackawanna, New York. These six American citizens of Yemeni descent were arrested for conspiring with terrorist groups. They stated they were going to Pakistan to attend a religious training camp but instead attended an al-Qaida jihadist camp.

All six pled guilty in 2003 to providing support to al-Qaida. Goba and al-Bakri were sentenced to 10 years in prison, Taher and Mosed to eight years, Alwan to nine and a half years, and Galab to seven years.

6. Iyman Faris, May 2003. Faris, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kashmir, lived in Columbus, Ohio. He was arrested for conspiring to use blowtorches to collapse the Brooklyn Bridge, a plot devised after meetings with al-Qaida leadership, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The New York City Police Department had increased police surveillance around the bridge. Faced with the additional security, Faris and his superiors canceled the attack.

Faris pled guilty to conspiracy and providing material support to al-Qaida and was later sentenced in federal district court to 20 years in prison, the maximum allowed under his plea agreement.

7. Virginia jihad network, June 2003. Eleven men were arrested in Alexandria, Virginia, for weapons counts and violating the Neutrality Acts, which prohibit U.S. citizens and residents from attacking countries with which the United States is at peace. Four of the 11 men pled guilty. Upon further investigation, the remaining seven were indicted on additional charges of conspiring to support terrorist organizations. They were found to have connections with al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LT), a terrorist organization that targets the Indian government. Authorities stated the Virginia men had used paintball games to train and prepare for battle. The group had also acquired surveillance and night vision equipment and wireless video cameras. Two more individuals were later indicted in the plot: Ali al-Timimi, the group’s spiritual leader, and Ali Asad Chandia.

Ali al-Timimi was found guilty of soliciting individuals to assault the United States and sentenced to life in prison. Ali Asad Chandia received 15 years for supporting LT. Randall Todd Royer, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, Yong Ki Kwon, Khwaja Mahmood Hasan, Muhammed Aatique, and Donald T. Surratt pled guilty and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 years and 10 months to 20 years. Masoud Khan, Seifullah Chapman, and Hammad Abdur-Raheem were found guilty and later sentenced to prison terms ranging from 52 months to life. Both Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem and Sabri Benkhala were acquitted at trial.

(In a separate case involving LT, David Headley of Chicago would later plead guilty to conducting surveillance for the group before its 2008 terrorist assaults on Mumbai, India. Headley’s case raised substantial concerns about the failure of U.S. security agencies to prevent his actions, despite his role as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration while training with terrorists in Pakistan and tips from his wives to U.S. officials.)

8. Nuradin M. Abdi, November 2003. Abdi, a Somali citizen living in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested and charged in a plot to bomb a local shopping mall. An associate of convicted terrorists Iyman Faris and Christopher Paul, Abdi admitted to traveling overseas to seek admittance to terrorist training camps, as well as having met with a Somali warlord associated with Islamists.

Abdi pled guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, one of four counts for which he was indicted, and was sentenced to 10 years in jail per the terms of a plea agreement.

9. Dhiren Barot, August 2004. Seven members of a terrorist cell led by Barot were arrested for plotting to attack the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions in New York, Washington, and Newark, New Jersey. They were later accused of planning attacks in England. The plots included a “memorable black day of terror” that would have included detonating a dirty bomb. A July 2004 police raid on Barot’s house in Pakistan yielded a number of incriminating files on a laptop computer, including instructions for building car bombs.

Barot pled guilty and was convicted in the United Kingdom. His seven co-conspirators were sentenced to terms ranging from 15 to 26 years on related charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to cause explosion.

10. James Elshafay and Shahawar Matin Siraj, August 2004. James Elshafay and Shahawar Matin Siraj, both reportedly self-radicalized, were arrested for plotting to bomb a subway station near Madison Square Garden in New York City before the Republican National Convention. An undercover detective from the New York City Police Department’s Intelligence Division infiltrated the group, providing information to authorities, and later testified against the men.

Siraj was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Elshafay, a U.S. citizen, pled guilty and received a lighter, five-year sentence for testifying against his co-conspirator.

11. Yassin Aref and Mohammad Hossain, August 2004. Two leaders of a mosque in Albany, New York, were charged with plotting to purchase a shoulder-fired grenade launcher to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat. An investigation by the FBI, BATF, and local police contributed to the arrest. With the help of an informant, the FBI set up a sting that lured Hossain into a fake terrorist conspiracy. Hossain involved Aref, a Kurdish refugee.

Aref and Hossain were found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to conceal material support for terrorism and were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

12. Umer Hayat and Hamid Hayat, June 2005. Hayat, a Pakistani immigrant, and Hamid Hayat, his American son, were arrested in Lodi, California, after allegedly lying to the FBI about Hamid’s attendance at an Islamist terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Hamid was found guilty of providing material support to terrorists and providing false statements to the FBI. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Umer’s trial ended in a mistrial. He later pled guilty to lying to customs agents in his attempt to carry $28,000 into Pakistan and was sentenced to time served.

13. Levar Haley Washington, Gregory Vernon Patterson, Hammad Riaz Samana, and Kevin James, August 2005. Members of this group were arrested in Los Angeles and charged with conspiring to attack National Guard facilities, synagogues, and other targets in the Los Angeles area. Kevin James allegedly founded Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), a radical Islamist prison group, and converted Washington and others to the group’s mission. The JIS allegedly planned to finance its operations by robbing gas stations. After Washington and Patterson were arrested for robbery, police and federal agents began a terrorist investigation, and a search of Washington’s apartment revealed a suspected target list.

James and Washington pled guilty in December 2007. James was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Washington to 22 years. Patterson received 151 months, while Samana was found unfit to stand trial and was initially detained in a federal prison mental facility. He was later sentenced to 70 months in jail.

14. Michael C. Reynolds, December 2005. Reynolds was arrested by the FBI and charged with involvement in a plot to blow up a Wyoming natural gas refinery; the Transcontinental Pipeline, a natural-gas pipeline from the Gulf Coast to New York and New Jersey; and a Standard Oil refinery in New Jersey. He was arrested while trying to pick up a $40,000 payment for planning the attack. Shannen Rossmiller, his purported contact, was a Montana judge who was working with the FBI. The FBI later found explosives in a storage locker in Reynolds’s hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Reynolds claimed he was working as a private citizen to find terrorists.

Reynolds was convicted of providing material support to terrorists, soliciting a crime of violence, unlawful distribution of explosives, and unlawful possession of a hand grenade. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

15. Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman el-Hindi, and Zand Wassim Mazloum, February 2006. Amawi, el-Hindi, and Mazloum were arrested in Toledo, Ohio, for “conspiring to kill or injure people in the Middle East” and providing material support to terrorist organizations. The three men allegedly intended to build bombs for use in Iraq and threatened attacks against President George W. Bush. The investigation was begun with the help of an informant who had been approached to help to train the group.

In June 2008 all three were convicted of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism against Americans overseas, including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and other terrorism-related violations. Amawi was sentenced to 20 years, el-Hindi to 13 years, and Mazloum to approximately eight years.

16. Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, April 2006. Ahmed and Sadequee, from Atlanta, Georgia, were accused of conspiracy, having discussed targets with alleged terrorist organizations. They allegedly met with Islamist extremists in the United States and gathered videotape surveillance of potential targets in the Washington, DC-area, including the U.S. Capitol and the World Bank headquarters, and sent the videos to a London Islamist group. Ahmed is said to have traveled to Pakistan with the goal of joining Lashkare-Tayyiba.

Both men were indicted for providing material support to terrorist organizations and pled not guilty. In June 2009 a federal district judge found Ahmed guilty of “conspiring to provide material support to terrorists here and overseas.” Ahmed was subsequently sentenced to 13 years in jail. Sadequee was also found guilty and sentenced to 17 years.

17. Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin, and Rotschild Augustine, June 2006. Seven men were arrested in Miami and Atlanta for plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, FBI offices, and other government buildings around the country. The arrests resulted from an investigation involving an FBI informant. Batiste was the alleged leader of the group and first suggested attacking the Sears Tower in December 2005.

All of the suspects pled not guilty. On December 13, 2007, Lemorin was acquitted of all charges, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on the other six. The second trial ended in a mistrial in April 2008. In the third trial, the jury convicted five of the men on multiple conspiracy charges and acquitted Herrera on all counts. On November 20, 2009, the five were sentenced to prison, with Batiste receiving the highest sentence.

18. Assem Hammoud, July 2006. Conducting online surveillance of chat rooms, the FBI discovered a plot to attack underground transit links between New York City and New Jersey. Eight suspects, including Assem Hammoud, an al-Qaida loyalist living in Lebanon, were arrested. Hammoud admitted to the plot. He was held by Lebanese authorities but not extradited, because the United States did not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. In June 2008 Lebanese authorities released him on bail.

19. Liquid explosives plot, August 2006. British law enforcement, in Operation Overt, stopped a terrorist plot to blow up 10 U.S.-bound commercial airliners with liquid explosives. Twenty-four suspects were arrested in the London area. The style of the plot raised speculation that al-Qaida was behind it, but this was not initially confirmed.

After a series of trials, 11 people were convicted in connection with the case. The case led the Transportation Safety Administration to limit the amount of liquids allowed on flights.

20. Derrick Shareef, December 2006. Shareef was arrested on charges of planning to set off hand grenades in a shopping mall outside Chicago. He reportedly acted alone and was arrested after meeting with an undercover Joint Terrorism Task Force agent. FBI reports indicated the mall was one of several potential targets, including courthouses, city halls, and government facilities. Shareef, however, decided on attacking a shopping mall in the days immediately preceding Christmas because he believed it would cause the greatest amount of chaos and damage. Shareef was also found to have connections to convicted terrorist Hassan Agujihaad, who was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) and later sentenced to 35 years in prison.

21. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, March 2007. Mohammed, captured in Pakistan in 2003, was one of the most senior al-Qaida operatives to face U.S. questioning (including so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, EITs). In March 2007 he admitted to a range of attacks and plots, including some not widely known to the public. Mohammed announced he helped plan, organize, and run the 9/11 attacks and also claimed responsibility for planning the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the bombings of nightclubs in Bali and a Kenyan hotel. He claimed involvement in the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and took responsibility for helping plan the failed shoe-bomb attack by Richard Reid. He also revealed his role in other plots, including attacks on a range of targets and assassination plans against Pope John Paul II and former President Bill Clinton.

In December 2008 Mohammed and his four co-defendants (Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, and Walid Bin Attash) told the US military tribunal judge that they wanted to confess and plead guilty to all charges. However, proceedings were delayed by legal challenges and the Obama administration’s (later abandoned) attempt to try the men in federal civilian courts.

22. Fort Dix plot, May 2007. Six men were arrested in a plot to attack Fort Dix, a U.S. Army facility in New Jersey, using assault rifles and grenades to attack and kill U.S. soldiers. Five of the alleged conspirators had conducted training missions in the Pocono Mountains. The sixth helped to obtain weapons. The arrests were made after a 16-month FBI operation that included infiltrating the group. The investigation began when a store clerk alerted authorities after discovering a video file of the group firing weapons and calling for jihad. The group had no known direct connections to international terrorist organizations.

In December 2008, five of the men were found guilty on the conspiracy charges but acquitted of attempted murder. Four were also convicted on weapons charges. The five men received sentences ranging from 33 years to life plus 30. The sixth co-defendant pled guilty to aiding and abetting the others in illegal possession of weapons and was sentenced to 20 months in jail.

23. JFK Airport plot, June 2007. Four men plotted to blow up aviation fuel tanks and pipelines at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. They believed the attack would cause “greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks.” Authorities concluded the operation “could have caused significant financial and psychological damage, but not major loss of life.”

Russell Defreitas, the leader of the group, was arrested in Brooklyn. The other three members of the group—Abdul Kadir, Kareem Ibrahim, and Abdel Nur—were detained in Trinidad and extradited in 2008. Kadir and Nur had links to Islamist extremists in South America and the Caribbean. Kadir was an imam in Guyana, a former member of the Guyanese Parliament, and a local mayor. Ibrahim was a Trinidadian citizen, and Nur a Guyanese citizen.

In 2010 Kadir was found guilty on five counts and sentenced to life in prison. The next year both Defreitas and Nur were also found guilty. The final conspirator, Kareem Ibrahim, was convicted of charges related to the attack in May 2011.

24. Hassan Abujihaad, March 2008. Abujihaad, a former U.S. Navy sailor from Phoenix, Arizona, was convicted of supporting terrorism and disclosing classified information, including the location of Navy ships and their vulnerabilities, to Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, the alleged administrators of Azzam Publication websites, a London organization that provided material support and resources to terrorists. Abujihaad was arrested in 2007 and pled not guilty to charges of supporting terrorism. In May 2008 he was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Both Ahmad and Ahsan were held in Britain on antiterrorism charges and fought extradition to the United States.

25. Christopher Paul, June 2008. Paul, a U.S. citizen from Columbus, Ohio, joined al-Qaida in the 1990s and was involved in conspiracies to target Americans in the United States and overseas. In 1999 he became connected to an Islamist terrorist cell in Germany and a plot to target Americans at foreign vacation resorts. He later returned to Ohio and was subsequently arrested for conspiracy to use a WMD—specifically, explosive devices—against targets in Europe and the United States. Paul pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

26. Synagogue terror plot, May 2009. On May 20, 2009, the New York Police Department announced the arrest of James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laguerre Payen for plotting to blow up Jewish centers and shoot down planes at a nearby Air National Guard base. The four had attempted to gain access to Stinger missiles and were caught in the act of placing “bombs” in the buildings and in a car. (The bombs were fakes, sold by undercover agents to the four defendants as part of an ongoing sting operation.) All four men were found guilty.

27. Little Rock recruiting station shooting, June 2009. During a drive-by shooting of a Little Rock, Arkansas, military recruiting office, Muslim convert Abdulhakim Muhammad (formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe) shot dead Private William “Andy” Long and wounded Private Quinton Ezeagwula. After being captured, Muhammad admitted shooting the men as part of a “jihadi attack” and reported he had been dispatched by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen, from where he had returned—apparently with the knowledge of U.S. officials—just months before. (The Little Rock attack would be followed later that year by another attack linked to AQAP against a U.S. military facility, this time at Fort Hood.)

28. Najibullah Zazi, September 2009. Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghan, was arrested after purchasing large quantities of chemicals needed to make a TATP (triacetone triperoxide, peroxyacetone) bomb, the same type of weapon used in the 2005 bombing of the London Underground and the 2001 shoe-bomb plot. Zazi had traveled to Pakistan, where he received instruction in bombmaking and attended an al-Qaida training camp before returning to America. The FBI called this case the first instance since 9/11 that al-Qaida had successfully deployed a trained operative into the United States.

Zazi pled guilty to charges in connection with a plot to detonate TATP bombs on the New York City subway. Najibullah Zazi’s father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, was also indicted for obstructing justice, witness tampering, and lying to the FBI to help his son cover up plans for the attack. He pled not guilty but was later convicted of obstructing justice and conspiring to obstruct justice.

At least three other individuals were arrested in the case. One of them, New York religious leader Ahmad Afzali, pled guilty to charges of lying to federal agents about tipping off Zazi that he was under investigation. As part of a plea deal, Afzali was sentenced to time served and ordered to leave the country. A second man, Zarein Ahmedzay, also pled guilty to conspiring to use WMD in the foiled plot and lying to investigators. Adis Medunjanin pled not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and to receiving terrorist training. Ahmedzay and Medunjanin are thought to have traveled to Pakistan with Zazi and to have met with wanted al-Qaida operative Adnan Shukrijumah. A fourth individual, Abid Nasser, was also implicated in the plot, as well as others in England and Norway.

29. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, September 2009. Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian, was apprehended for an attempt to plant a bomb in a Dallas skyscraper. Originally identified through FBI monitoring of extremist chat rooms, Smadi was arrested and charged after agents posing as terrorist cell members gave Smadi a fake bomb, which he later attempted to detonate. Smadi was found guilty and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

30. Michael Finton, September 2009. Finton, an American citizen, was arrested in an FBI sting after attempting to detonate a car filled with what he believed to be almost a ton of explosives outside the Paul Findley Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Springfield, Illinois. Evidence presented against Finton showed that he expressed a desire to become a jihadist fighter and was aware that his planned attack would cause civilian injuries. In 2011 he pled guilty to attempted use of a WMD and was sentenced to almost 30 years in prison.

31. Tarek Mehanna and Ahmad Abousamra, October 2009. Mehanna, previously indicted for lying to the FBI about the location of terrorist suspect Daniel Maldonado, was arrested in 2009 on allegations of conspiracy to kill two U.S. politicians, American troops in Iraq, and civilians in local shopping malls, as well as provide material support to a terrorist organization. Abousamra, his alleged co-conspirator, remained at large in Syria. Both were indicted on charges of providing and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, and conspiracy to provide false information to law enforcement. The two men were not believed to be associated with any known terrorist organization. Mehanna pled not guilty to charges held against him.

32. Fort Hood shooting, November 2009. Army Major Nidal Hasan opened fire on fellow troops at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding many more before being disabled by police gunfire. A psychiatrist and American-born Muslin of Palestinian descent, Hasan had been in e-mail contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American al-Qaida propagandist. The case raised serious questions about military counterintelligence due to numerous prior indications that Hasan was an Islamist sympathizer. The rampage stoked additional concerns over the phenomenon of self-radicalization and the impact of online extremist propaganda. It also sparked a heated debate about whether “political correctness” was preventing appropriate investigation of U.S. Muslims expressing extremist views. Hasan was charged with numerous murder and other crimes under the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice.

33. The Christmas Day bomber, December 2009. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian engineering student living in London, boarded a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit and attempted to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear as the plane began to land. The device ignited but failed to detonate, and passengers moved quickly to stop Abdulmutallab from trying again. The bomb, containing the explosives PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or Semtex) and TATP, was similar to the failed device used by Richard Reid in 2001.

According to media accounts, Abdulmutallab admitted involvement with al-Qaida in Yemen. Abdulmutallab pled not guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism and attempting to use a WMD. He remained in custody. The case raised serious questions about American counterterrorism programs, as U.S. intelligence was aware of concerns about Abdulmutallab—including from his own father—but still allowed him on the airplane.

34. Raja Lahrasib Khan, March 2010. Chicago taxi driver Raja Lahrasib Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani decent, was arrested by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for two counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to the charges, Khan was affiliated with Ilyas Kashmiri, an indicted terrorist and well-known leader of al-Qaida–linked extremist groups, including Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami in Kashmir. (Kashmiri was reportedly killed by a 2011 U.S. drone attack in Pakistan.)

Khan is alleged by U.S. authorities to have transmitted $950 to Pakistan to be delivered to Kashmiri and to have later attempted to send more money (provided by an undercover law enforcement agent) by having his son take it to England, with Khan having arranged to carry it the rest of the way to Pakistan. His son was stopped by government agents at Chicago O’Hare International Airport before leaving the country. The criminal complaint filed against Khan also claimed he had discussed plans to bomb an unnamed sports stadium in the United States.

Khan pled not guilty to two counts of providing material support to terrorism.

35. Faisal Shahzad, May 2010. Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, attempted to detonate explosives in an SUV parked in Times Square, New York City. After receiving bomb training in Pakistan, he is said to have received $12,000 from entities affiliated with the terrorist organization Tehrik-e-Taliban, the “Pakistani Taliban,” to fund the attack. Following the failed bombing attempt, Shahzad attempted to flee to Dubai but was arrested before his flight was able to take off from John F. Kennedy International Airport. Shahzad pled guilty to 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism and use a WMD. He was later sentenced to life in prison. The case raised questions about how a man reportedly under suspicion by American security authorities was allowed to become a naturalized U.S. citizen.

36. Paul G. Rockwood Jr. and Nadia Piroska Maria Rockwood, July 2010. Rockwood, an American citizen, became an adherent to Anwar al-Awlaki’s ideology of violent jihad after converting to Islam. He came to believe that it was his religious responsibility to seek revenge against anyone who defiled Islam and created a list of 15 individuals to be targeted for assassination, including several members of the U.S. military. Rockwood is said to have researched explosive techniques and discussed the possibility of killing his targets with a gunshot to the head or the use of mail bombs. Nadia Piroska Maria Rockwood, Rockwood’s wife, then knowingly transported the list to Anchorage, Alaska, to share with an unnamed individual who apparently shared Rockwood’s ideology. The Rockwoods pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Rockwood was sentenced to eight years in prison and his wife to five years probation.

37. Farooque Ahmed, October 2010. Pakistani-American Farooque Ahmed was arrested following an FBI investigation into plots to attack the Washington, DC, metro system. Ahmed was alleged to have conducted surveillance on the D.C. Metrorail on multiple occasions and was in contact with undercover FBI agents whom he believed to be individuals affiliated with al-Qaida. According to an affidavit, Ahmed wished to receive terrorist training overseas, target military personnel, and become a martyr. Ahmed pled guilty to charges in the case, receiving a 23-year prison sentence.

38. Air cargo bomb plot, October 2010. Two packages shipped via air from Yemen to Chicago-area synagogues were discovered to hold explosive materials of the same type used by Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in previously thwarted bombing attempts. The packages contained printer cartridges with explosive material inside and were apparently intended to destroy the planes over the United States. Identified with the help of Saudi Arabian authorities, the bombs were located while in transit on air cargo planes in the United Kingdom and Dubai. Yemen-based AQAP claimed responsibility for the failed attack.

39. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, November 2010. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a 19-year old Somali American, was arrested after attempting to detonate a car bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. The bomb was composed of inert explosives given to him by undercover FBI agents. Mohamud had previously sought to travel overseas to obtain training in violent jihad. Having failed in that attempt, U.S. authorities said, he desired to commit an attack that would cause mass casualties to individuals and their families. Mohamud pled not guilty to the charges against him.

40. Antonio Martinez, December 2010. Martinez, a 21-year-old American citizen also known as Muhammad Hussain, planned to bomb a military recruiting center in Maryland. The FBI learned of the plot from an unnamed informant. Martinez was arrested after attempting to detonate a fake explosive device supplied by FBI agents. He was charged with attempted murder of federal officers and employees, as well as attempted use of a WMD. He pled not guilty.

41. Awais Younis, December 2010. Awais Younis, known by the alias Sundullah “Sunny” Ghalzai, was arrested by the FBI after a complaint indicated that he had made several threats against the Washington, DC, metro via Facebook. Younis discussed placing pipe bombs on Metrorail cars and in the sewer system of the Georgetown neighborhood during rush hour. Younis was charged with communicating threats via interstate communications. He later pled guilty to a lesser charge.

42. Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, February 2011. Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a Saudi citizen studying in Texas, was arrested by the FBI after placing an order for the toxic chemical phenol, which can be used in making explosives. Both the chemical supplier and the freight shipping company became suspicious of the order and alerted the FBI and local police.

Surveillance of Aldawsari’s e-mail turned up a list of potential “nice targets,” including dams, nuclear power plants, military targets, a nightclub, and the Dallas residence of former president George W. Bush. The search also recovered plans to acquire a forged U.S. birth certificate and multiple drivers’ licenses. Aldawsari was charged with attempted use of a WMD and pled not guilty.

43. Seattle Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) plot, June 2011. (born Frederick Domingue Jr.) were indicted in federal court in connection with a plan to attack a MEPS facility in Seattle (reports indicated Joint Base Lewis-McChord may have also been a target). Investigators reported the men were motivated by opposition to U.S. military action in Islamic countries, wanted to wage jihad, and were inspired by the Fort Hood massacre. Another Muslim man turned in the plotters, according to the prosecution. The two men pled not guilty to charges in the case.

44. Private First Class Naser Jason Abdo, July 2011. Abdo, an AWOL soldier on the run from child pornography charges, was arrested after buying a large amount of smokeless gun powder and other items at a gun store near Fort Hood, Texas, according to various media reports. In Abdo’s room, investigators found ingredients for bomb making, with instructions from an al-Qaida website, and a uniform with Fort Hood patches. According to court records, he planned to explode a device in a restaurant filled with U.S. soldiers. During a court hearing, Abdo shouted “Nidal Hasan Fort Hood 2009!” He pled not guilty to charges in connection with the case. The Texas-born Abdo had earlier garnered public attention while attempting to claim conscientious objector status due to his Muslim beliefs. [Abdo was at least the third U.S. soldier to turn on his fellow troops due to Islamist views. Along with Nidal Hasan, discussed above, Sergeant Hasan Akbar was convicted of murdering two officers and wounding numerous soldiers in 2003 during a rampage on a U.S. camp in Kuwait.]

NOTES

1. Adapted largely from Jena Baker McNeill, James Jay Carafano, and Jessica Zuckerman, “39 Terror Plots Foiled Since 9/11: Examining Counterterrorism’s Success Stories,” Backgrounder No. 2556 (May 20, 2011). http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/05/39-terror-plots-foiled-since–911-examining-counterterrorisms-success-stories. Additional data obtained from various media reports and government releases.