FBI Saves Us From Another Of Its Own Terrorist Plots

from the no-boom dept

Mon, Feb 20th 2012 8:52am — Mike Masnick

We've talked multiple times about how the FBI seems to spend an awful lot of time stopping its own terrorist plots, and it appears to have done so yet again. iamtheky points us to the story of a "terrorist plot" to blow up the capitol averted... thanks to the fact that the whole thing was planned by the FBI, so it was pretty easy to stop the one dupe who thought it was real. Now, as some people always point out, these kinds of operations do seem to get people off the street who wouldn't mind causing harm to Americans, but it's unclear if any of them would ever actually have the means to do so in reality. What's telling is that these seem to be basically the only terrorist plots we hear about the FBI stopping these days -- which makes you wonder if they just have too much free time to manufacture plots to stop.

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Filed Under: fbi, law enforcement, plots, terrorism

43 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:00am

Well he DID accept a vest, and a gun. Which wouldn't have existed if not for the FBI.

Supposedly, we'll never really know if he actually accepted a vest or a gun, if the vest was made of wool or the gun made of chocolate, or if the vest and the gun were symbolic gestures. Because that sort of information is classified, for your protection of course.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:07am

I heard this story break on the media and before they said anything about it I knew it was going to be another FBI plot.

Someone turned in this sap as being unamerican, and when connected with people who helped foster those feelings he went further. Encouraging him to do more and more, and rewarding the behavior.

This is almost as good as the cops in FL who put hot policewomen into high schools to flirt and befriend teenage boys, then ask them for pot. When the boy, driven by hormones, finds them some they pay them for it and then a few days later arrest them. Yay for felonies before graduation!
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/17/cop-spends-weeks-to-trick-an-1.html

If you find someone, and groom them you can get them to do things they might not normally do.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:11am

Re:
Oh to prove he was serious they sent him out to do field work, so he was extra serious about it.

We told him to go scout a location, and he went... he had this planned all along and we stopped it.

Of course before they got involved he was just someone who had beliefs that maybe the US was at war with Islam, and of course this case will not foster that belief further at all.

We nice folks don't need to worry, we've got the FBI running plots in the background and the NYPD running secret investigations into Muslims outside of NY... everything is fine.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:14am

Prefessionalism
At least the DEA is professional enough to not get caught importing drugs into the country to support the reason for their existence.

These FBI guys could to learn alot from the DEA...
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Keroberos (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:20am

...which makes you wonder if they just have too much free time to manufacture plots to stop.
Well...it's certainly easier and safer than trying to infiltrate and stop real criminal and terrorist organizations, and they get all the good PR for stopping all these dangerous "plots"--with the added plus of more tax dollars for their budgets. Also, our politicians get to pass more draconian, freedom reducing laws to protect us from these "threats". It's all around good for everyone--except the public, who gets to see their country come one step closer to becoming a police state.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:25am

Don't you feel so much safer knowing that the FBI's thought crime division is hard at work?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:27am

Re:
No no Kero, you don't understand, these threats are everywhere, all the time. This sort of criminal element could be lurking in all corners of society at once. It could be anyone, anywhere. I call this threat "everyone".

That is why we need to pass the new wiretapping bill to make sure this "everyone" isn't misbehaving like the underground criminal element that he is.
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weneedhelp (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:30am

Terrorism
those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or, ideological goal; and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians)

Wouldn't the terrorists in this case be The FBI?

"Court documents say he came onto the radar screen in early December after he told an undercover agent about an earlier plan to bomb a northern Virginia building." - Suspicious on its own. FBI agents are just sitting around and happened to get this?

"The suspect allegedly weighed hitting various targets ranging from a military installation to synagogues to a Washington restaurant before settling on the Capitol." - I can see that one now -

Suspect: a Washington restaurant?
FBI: Too small, must crush infidels!
Suspect: a synagogue?
FBI: Bigger!
Suspect: a military installation?
FBI: You are getting warmer. Something that will really get attention.
Suspect: The Capitol?
FBI: Bingo! good choice.

Hell the FBI even blew shit up for him:
"He even conducted a test explosives demonstration in a quarry."

Remember:
"The public was never in danger, as he had been under constant surveillance for some time, officials said."

"A senior source involved with law enforcement at the Capitol also told Fox News the investigation was "all very controlled." The source said the U.S. Capitol Police was involved with the FBI and other agencies in tracking the suspect "not more than a year."

THEY ADMIT IT AGAIN!!:
"In September, a Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly plotting to fly bomb-laden model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol. FBI agents claiming to be associates of Al Qaeda provided 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus with what he thought was explosive material for the remote-controlled planes." - I think we have more FBI agents claiming to be alCIAda than actual alCIAda.

"In the past year alone, at least 20 people have been arrested in the United States on terrorism-related charges, according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence." - FBI: ahhh patsies all of them.

""Most of the arrests" have involved "lone wolves," radicalized online and able to use the Internet to build bombs, FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate committee last month." - There they go. That damn internet helping terrorists again. Never mind the FBI agents posing as alCIAda.
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hegemon13, 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:33am

Practice makes perfect
They're just practicing for the day that the intelligence agencies decide to take over the government.

Okay, I don't really believe that, but I also don't think it's as big a stretch as most people assume.
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Titania Bonham-Smythe (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:35am

Theoretically the FBI should be really good at creating terrorist plots. They're well informed, well funded and don't suffer the normal constraints that would apply to the general public. They'd have a really good sense of whether their organisation has been infiltrated.
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Spaceboy (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:40am

Re: Terrorism
What's sad is that the resources used in these made-up threats are kept from being used on real threats. It's only a matter of time before this goes horribly wrong and something happens again.

I get the feeling that they are doing this to justify their own existence and will try to use their 'success' to further limit free speech and freedom.
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deane (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:41am

hmm manufacturing a terrorist plot = those responsible need to be brought to justice since they have committed a crime (or at least are complicit for creating a crime)
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weneedhelp (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:48am

Re: Re: Terrorism
"It's only a matter of time before this goes horribly wrong and something happens again."
Or they just decide to let it happen... again.

Yes the tinfoil is shiny side up thank you. :)
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:54am

Re: Re: Terrorism
You mean like handing them automatic weapons to be tracked and controlled and forgetting that part of the plan?
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Winston Smith, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:04am

careful
Insult the Ministry of Truth and we may end up in the Ministry of Love.
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weneedhelp (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:08am

Re: Re: Re: Terrorism
Well yes, but more, like giving them a truck full of explosives and telling them which pillar to park next to. Oh, wait, they've been there & done that, but something of that magnitude.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:08am

Re: Re: Terrorism
"What's sad is that the resources used in these made-up threats are kept from being used on real threats."

There have been roughly 6,000 unsolved murders a year in the United States, every year since 1980. So, as of the end of 2011, that means about 186,000 unsolved murders in toto, over the last 31 years.

Wouldn't it be nice if a law enforcement organization actually did something about them, rather than playing idiotic games with a harmless dweeb who was clearly too stupid to ever do anything really harmful?
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:09am

with no real plots, they have no option but to manufacture their own. how else would they get the funding to continue? they are hardly likely to say 'nothing doing again this month, might as well stay home' are they?
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Berenerd (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:21am

Re: Re: Re: Terrorism
They ARE doing something about them...

Those individuals were plotting a torrorist plot to live a normal life! The FBI had to put a stop to it by showing them how to be suicide bombers, sadly they gave them real explosive vests that went off prematurely...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:26am

Re:
heh.

Even as cynical as I am, it would make me cringe if these sorts of things really were some budget-padding exercise (after all, if you didn't spend it this year, then you don't need it next year!)
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Machin Shin (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:34am

Re: Terrorism
"I think we have more FBI agents claiming to be alCIAda than actual alCIAda."

I think you might have things backwards. There are more alciada who admit they are FBI than will deny it.
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Rekrul, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:40am

Re: Re:
Even as cynical as I am, it would make me cringe if these sorts of things really were some budget-padding exercise (after all, if you didn't spend it this year, then you don't need it next year!)

Yes, but the number one rule of budgets is that you have to do everything in your power not to let them go down, regardless of whether you actually need the money or not. Once it's at a given level, you have to fight tooth and nail to keep it at that level.

Why else would they spend $2,000 on a toilet seat?
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Anthony Bourdain, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:45am

This story sounds like Paula Deans school of criminology. Manufacture a crisis and profit from it.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:47am

Re: Re: Re: Terrorism
Well, ya, cause the non-shiny side is where the non-stick part is.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:56am

Re: Re:
Remember: if you see anything, say anything!
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PRMan, 20 Feb 2012 @ 10:58am

Re: Prefessionalism
I would imagine the DEA has plenty to do without manufacturing anything...
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kraabeasa (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 11:30am

Re: Terrorism
Hell the FBI even blew shit up for him:
"He even conducted a test explosives demonstration in a quarry."

Was this the MythBusters branch of the FBI?
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monkyyy, 20 Feb 2012 @ 11:33am

what was the book were the government was running the the "terroist" movement then would stop their plans and then take them to the ministry of love?
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Joe Publius (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 11:48am

Should we really trust the government responsible for Operation Fast and Furious to carry out these kinds of activities?

One of these days, they will find someone crazy/smart/obsessive enough to succeed and the worst part will be how quickly the government's complicity in the act will be forgotten.
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Bengie, 20 Feb 2012 @ 11:48am

Re: Prefessionalism
"Don't get caught" - The ultimate tip for any government office trying to prove its existence.
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gorehound (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 12:03pm

The US Gov did not stop a real terrorist attack that killed many people.They do seem to be able to stop recent attacks which were mostly created by the US Gov.Seems like they do what they can to suck various mentally deficient people injto their own plots and then after a while they make a "breaking arrest" of the person they enlisted.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 12:04pm

Re: Terrorism
radicalized online (by the FBI) and able to use the Internet to build bombs,
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 12:08pm

Amazing
It is amazing how inept both the author and commenters have demonstrated themselves to be. The FBI has taken someone off the streets who had the intent to commit a terrorist attack against this country.

Whether or not they provided the materials or encouragement is irrelevant, he is the one that attempted the attack.

You are not going to get an otherwise good person to do something like this no matter how much encouragement you give them - this guy was intent on executing an attack and it is just lucky that the FBI became involved before he got resources through other channels.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 12:17pm

I just have one question for the RIAA. Why should I or anyone care if you go bankrupt? The one headline you will never see about the RIAA, "The RIAA Donates to" (Congress and politicians don't count.)
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hothmonster, 20 Feb 2012 @ 12:26pm

Re:
That story makes me feel ill.
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Jacob Blaustein, 20 Feb 2012 @ 1:41pm

Idel Hands.
Really I think the problem here is that the FBI has way too much time to kill.
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iamtheky (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 2:00pm

Re: Amazing
So continue monitoring him and let him try... Because then we might actually learn something about the supply of weaponry and information thereof. Why not use that influence on the mark to encourage him to seek his own means and expose other people and potentially some upstream vulnerabilities?

....unless of course they explored all of those prospects and realized this guy was probably better handled by the risk manufacturing division.

Maybe next time they can setup multiple people to be at the same place and arrest a "cell".
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ChimpObama McBinLadenBurton, 20 Feb 2012 @ 2:03pm

Re: Prefessionalism
Yeah, it's almost as if Iran/Contra never happened!

COMBLB
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Jimmy the Geek (profile), 20 Feb 2012 @ 2:51pm

So sad that the government is abusing the mentally ill
Step 1. Find a schizophrenic of the "right" ethnic group that insanely mutters the "correct" anti American sentiments.
Step 2. Feed those sentiments and train the individual to be a terrorist.
Step 3. Arrest this terrorist of their own manufacturing.
Step 4. Profit!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 3:34pm

Re: Practice makes perfect
you don't really believe that? The intelligence agencies have taken over long ago. Now we are witnessing fights amongst small cabals within them, as they use us as pawns. Don't believe me? Look into the Kennedy Assassination. Bush I was pretty high up in the CIA... After the Bros Kennedy rejected Operation Northwoods, they had the Joint Chiefs' ire. After they planned the disempowerment of the Fed, they had the ire of the bankers. Connect the dots.
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MeryR, 20 Feb 2012 @ 6:53pm

Re: Amazing
You are not going to get an otherwise good person to do something like this no matter how much encouragement you give them - this guy was intent on executing an attack and it is just lucky that the FBI became involved before he got resources through other channels.

Id like to cite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

Sure seems like you can get "otherwise good" people to do some pretty horrific things if you just push them a little bit.

But hey, ya know, like the poster above me said, why wait for them to expose possible accomplices when you can just feed crazy yourself.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2012 @ 9:34pm

Entrapment
How is this scheme not entrapment? Why does not the judge just let him go because of entrapment? Has entrapment by the FBI become legal? How would anybody avoid it?
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:55am

Re: Entrapment
What judge? What jury? Detained...never heard from again. Thank you NDAA and Obama!
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