Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on November 3, 2012

Abstract: The Heritage Foundation began tracking foiled terror plots against the U.S. in 2007counting at least 19 foiled plots since 9/11. Today, that count stands at 39 plots against the U.S. foiledthanks overwhelmingly to the Bush-era policies of enhanced information sharing and intelligence gathering. Three Heritage national security experts summarize the data, explain the lessons that Americans should learn from the anti-terror successes, and delineate essential principles that American policymakers should follow to continue to protect this country and its citizens.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, at least 39 terror plots against the United States have been foiled thanks to domestic and international cooperation, as well as efforts to track down terror leads in local communities. Such a successful track record of preventing terror attacks should garner the attention of policymakers around the country as both Congress and the Administration wrestle with the difficult decision of where to best spend precious security dollars. The death of Osama bin Laden serves as a reminder that the war on terrorism is not over, and as a call to focus on strategies that have made the nation a harder target for terrorism, while examining which reforms are still necessary.

This Heritage Foundation Backgrounder summarizes public information on the 39 foiled terror plots since 9/11. From this information, the authors delineate six key principles for policymakers:

39 Terror PlotsFoiled

The Heritage Foundation began tracking foiled terror plots in 2007. At that point, there had been at least 19 foiled plots since 9/11.[1] Since this initial publication, Heritage has periodically published updates and refined the data to ensure that all qualifying plots were represented.[2] All data contained in the terror plots research is obtained from public information and contains no sensitive or classified information. (This paper does not include the three terror plots that were not foiled(1) the Little Rock military recruiting center shooting in 2009, (2) the Los Angeles airport ticket counter shooting in 2002, and (3) the Fort Hood shooting in 2009, where 16 people were killed.)

1. Richard ReidDecember 2001. A British citizen and self-professed follower of Osama bin Laden who trained in Afghanistan, Richard Reid hid explosives inside his shoes before boarding a flight from Paris to Miami on which he attempted to light the fuse with a match. Reid was caught in the act and apprehended aboard the plane by passengers and flight attendants. FBI officials took Reid into custody after the plane made an emergency landing at Bostons Logan International Airport.[3]

In 2003, Reid was found guilty on charges of terrorism, and a U.S. federal court sentenced him to life in prison.[4] He is currently incarcerated at a federal maximum-security prison in Colorado.

2. Jose PadillaMay 2002. U.S. officials arrested Jose Padilla in May 2002 at Chicagos OHare airport as he returned to the United States from Pakistan, where he met with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and received al-Qaeda training and instructions.[5] 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 in the U.S.[6]

Before his conviction, Padilla had brought a case against the federal government claiming that he had been denied the right of habeas corpus (the right of an individual to petition his unlawful imprisonment). In a five-to-four decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the case against him had been filed improperly.[7] In 2005, the government indicted Padilla for conspiring against the U.S. with Islamic 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 four months in prison.[8] He is being held at the same penitentiary as Richard Reid.

Read more:
39 Terror Plots Foiled Since 9/11: Examining Counterterrorism’s Success Stories

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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