The NYPD is regularly held up as one of the
most sophisticated and significant counterterrorism operations in the country.
As evidence of the NYPD's excellence, the department, its allies and the media
have repeatedly said the department has thwarted or helped thwart 14 terrorist
plots against New York since Sept 11.
In a glowing profile [1] of Commissioner Ray
Kelly published in Newsweek last month, for example, journalist Christopher
Dickey wrote of the commissioner's tenure since taking office in 2002: The
record "is hard to argue with: at least 14 full-blown terrorist attacks
have been prevented or failed on Kelly's watch."
The figure has been cited [2] repeatedly [3]
in [4] the [5] media [6], by New York congressmen [7], and by Kelly [8]
himself. The NYPD itself has published the full list [9], saying [10]
terrorists have "attempted to kill New Yorkers in 14 different
plots."
As Mayor Michael Bloomberg said [11] in
March: "We have the best police department in the world and I think they
show that every single day and we have stopped 14 attacks since 9/11
fortunately without anybody dying."
Is it true?
In a word, no.
A review of the list [9] shows a much more
complicated reality — that the 14 figure overstates both the number of serious,
developed terrorist plots against New York and exaggerates the NYPD's role in
stopping attacks.
The list includes two and perhaps three
clear-cut terrorist plots, including a failed attempt to bomb Times Square by a
Pakistani-American in 2010 that the NYPD did not stop.
Of the 11 other cases, there are three in
which government informants played a significant or dominant role (by, for
example, providing money and fake bombs to future defendants); four cases whose
credibility or seriousness has been questioned by law enforcement officials,
including episodes in which skeptical federal officials declined to bring
charges; and another four cases in which an idea for a plot was abandoned or
not pursued beyond discussion.
In addition, the NYPD itself does not appear
to have played a major role in breaking up most of the alleged plots on the
list. In several cases, it played no role at all.
The NYPD did not respond to requests for
comment on the list [9] of 14 alleged plots and how it was assembled. Update
(7/10): Bloomberg countered our story Tuesday afternoon, saying “we’ll never
know” how many plots the NYPD has truly thwarted [12].
The following is a breakdown of the plots on
the NYPD's list.
Substantially developed or executed plots:
The failed 2010 attempt by Faisal Shahzad to
set off a crude car bomb [13] in an SUV in Times Square. Shahzad was in contact
with the Pakistani Taliban before and after the attempt, according to [14] the
government, and he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his role in the
attempt.
The plot was widely seen as a law
enforcement failure, as Shahzad was able to plant the rigged car in Times
Square without being on the radar of the NYPD and other agencies.
The thwarted 2009 plot by three former high
school classmates from Queens to set off bombs in the subway system. One of the
plotters, an Afghan immigrant named Najibullah Zazi, testified [15] in court
this year that he and the others had received training from "Al Qaeda
leaders" in Pakistan. He also admitted [16] bringing bomb-making materials
into New York. All three men have pleaded guilty [17] or been convicted [18] of
terrorism charges. According to the AP, the plot was uncovered not by the NYPD,
but rather by an email [19] intercepted by U.S. intelligence.
Transatlantic Plot In August 2006, British
authorities arrested [20] a group of men who were later charged with plotting
to blow up planes bound for North America from London with liquid explosives.
(This is the plot that led to restrictions on carrying liquids aboard planes.)
The plot is included on the NYPD's list of
14 because, according [21] to British authorities, one of the men had a memory
stick that had information on flights bound for several Canadian and American
cities, including, in one case, New York. The plan was to blow up the planes
over the ocean.
During the trial, there were questions [22]
about whether the men were going to act on the plan imminently. Three
consecutive trials in the case ultimately resulted in [23] eight convictions.
The NYPD was not involved in thwarting the plot.
Cases with significant or dominant role by
government informants:
The case of the Newburgh Four, in which four
men from upstate New York planted what they thought were real bombs outside
synagogues in the Bronx. The men were found guilty in the case in 2010 after
the jury rejected [24] an entrapment defense. The bombs were fakes supplied by
the government.
An informant posing as a Pakistani terrorist
recruited [25] Walmart employee and Muslim convert James Cromitie over nearly a
year, giving [26] him gifts, including rent money and a trip to an Islamic
conference. The informant plied Cromitie with offers [27] of $250,000, a luxury
car and a barbershop. An FBI agent on the case acknowledged [28] under
cross-examination during the trial that the government was essentially in
control of what the four were doing while they were with the informant. The
government maintained that Cromitie was an anti-Semite who talked about
committing acts of violence and posed a real threat.
A judge who rejected an appeal last year
nevertheless called [29] the government's conduct in the case "decidedly
troubling."
Herald Square Pakistani immigrant Shahawar
Matin Siraj was arrested in 2004 and convicted [30] in 2006 at the age of 23 of
conspiracy to bomb the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan. The jury
rejected [31] an entrapment defense.
An informant for the NYPD's Intelligence
Division played a key role in the case and was paid $100,000 by the government
over a roughly three-year period. He told [32] Siraj he was a member of a
(made-up) group called "the Brotherhood" that would support a bomb
plot. Siraj was recorded talking to the informant about blowing up bridges and
other places in New York, including the Herald Square subway station. The
informant later told [33] Siraj that the Brotherhood had approved the plot and
that a leader of the group was "very happy, very, very impressed"
with the idea. The informant told Siraj the group wanted him to put backpack
bombs in the station, and he drove Siraj and another man to the station to do
surveillance.
At his sentencing, Siraj apologized to the
judge but maintained [34] he had been "manipulated" by the NYPD
informant. Siraj did not obtain explosives, there was no timetable for the
plot, and there was no link to any foreign terrorist group, according to [34]
the New York Times.
JFK Airport Russell Defreitas, a naturalized
American citizen from Guyana and former airport cargo handler, and Abdul Kadir,
of Guyana, were arrested in 2007 and convicted [35] in 2010 of conspiring to
blow up fuel tanks at JFK airport.
At the press conference announcing the
charges, a federal prosecutor said the public was never at risk. A law
enforcement official described [36] Defreitas, 63 at the time of his arrest, to
the Times as "a sad sack" and "not a Grade A terrorist."
Pipeline experts told [37] the paper that the men's plan to blow up a wide area
was not feasible.
Defreitas was recorded making odd comments
talking to the informant, saying he wanted the attack to be
"ninja-style" and that the airport was a good target [38] because
"They love JFK -- he's like the man. If you hit that, the whole country
will be in mourning."
An informant on the case was a convicted
drug dealer paid by the government and worked in exchange for a lighter
sentence in a pending drug case. He drove Defreitas to the airport several
times to do surveillance with a camera that the informant had purchased for
Defreitas. The informant also provided plane tickets to South America and, with
the help of the FBI, secured [39] a New York City Housing Authority apartment
for Defreitas (that was under surveillance).
U.S. officials (often anonymous) question
credibility or seriousness of cases:
The case of Jose Pimentel, a Manhattan
Muslim convert who was arrested in November 2011 on "rarely used [40]
state-level terrorism charges" after federal authorities took a pass on
the case.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
alleged [41] that Pimentel had been "building pipe bombs to be used
against our citizens." City authorities said Pimentel had no contacts with
foreign terrorist groups and called him a "lone wolf."
In a series of leaks, federal authorities
expressed skepticism that Pimentel was a threat. A federal source told [42] the
New York Post that Pimentel was a "'stoner' who wasn't a real danger to
anybody other than himself." Another source cited by the Post questioned
his mental faculties, saying he had once tried to circumcise himself. A federal
source told [43] DNAInfo criminal justice editor Murray Weiss: "Let's just
say there were issues whether [Pimentel] had the ability to do this without the
intercession of the confidential informant." Weiss also noted that the informant
went shopping with Pimentel at Home Depot to buy pipe bomb materials, and the
bomb was constructed at the informant's apartment. Pimentel, who reportedly
[44] could not afford to even pay his cell phone bill, has pleaded not guilty.
The case of Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed
Mamdouh, alleged "Islamic extremists" and "lone wolves" who
lived in Queens and were arrested [45] in May 2011 after buying guns, ammo, and
an inert grenade from an undercover police agent. The authorities alleged that
the two men were planning to attack a New York synagogue because they were
upset with how Muslims were being treated around the world.
But the case was another example of an
alleged plot that the FBI took a pass on. Citing federal law enforcement
sources, WNYC reported [46] that the FBI passed on the case because the bureau
found the undercover operation "problematic" and the allegations
"over-hyped." And the website NYPD Confidential reported [47] that
Ferhani has a history of mental illness.
The AP noted [48] the case faltered early on
when a grand jury declined to indict the two men on a high-level terrorism
conspiracy charge. Both have pleaded not guilty to lesser terrorism charges.
Brooklyn Bridge Ohio truck driver Iyman
Faris pleaded guilty in 2003 to providing material support to al Qaeda; he met
with senior al Qaeda leaders abroad and researched how to attack the Brooklyn
Bridge. Terrorism analyst Peter Bergen has called [49] Faris "an actual al
Qaeda foot soldier living in the United States who had the serious intention to
wreak havoc in America" but "not much of a competent terrorist."
Bergen wrote the plan Faris researched to sever the bridge's cables with a
blowtorch as "akin to demolishing the Empire State Building with a
firecracker."
The plot never got off the ground. According
to the Justice Department, Faris sent messages to Pakistan "indicating he
had been unsuccessful in his attempts to obtain the necessary equipment."
According to the DOJ, Faris also concluded [50] after a trip to New York that
the idea "was very unlikely to succeed because of the bridge's security
and structure."
PATH Train In 2006, 31-year-old Assem
Hammoud was arrested [51] in Lebanon. FBI officials announced that he and
others — who had never met [52] but communicated on the Internet — had been
plotting a suicide attack on subway tubes under the Hudson River.
The Washington Post quoted [53] U.S.
counterterrorism officials questioning the credibility of the plot, reporting
that they "discounted the ability of the conspirators to carry out an
attack." One official described the matter as "jihadi bravado,"
adding, "somebody talks about tunnels, it lights people up." A
counterterrorism official told [54] the Times, "[t]hese are bad guys in
Canada and a bad guy in Lebanon talking, but it never advanced beyond
that."
Hammoud never visited the U.S., and there
were no charges brought against him here. In 2012, Hammoud was sentenced [55]
to two years in prison in Lebanon, which he had already served.
Cases in which an alleged idea for an attack
was not pursued:
"Subway cyanide" This alleged
plot, first detailed [56] by journalist Ron Suskind in 2006, was reportedly for
a chemical attack on the New York subway system. Suskind reported that a U.S.
intelligence source had said that al Qaeda was considering such an attack in
2003 but ultimately abandoned the idea. There is no evidence that the NYPD or
any other law enforcement agency played any role in al Qaeda's decision to
abandon the idea. There were also reported doubts about the quality of the
intelligence and the credibility of the alleged plot.
"None of it has been confirmed in three
years," a U.S. official told [57] the Times, "who these guys were,
whether they in fact had a weapon, or whether they were able to put together a
weapon, whether that weapon has been defined and what it would cause or whether
they were even in New York."
"NYSE/ Citi HQ" A British citizen
named Dhiren Barot or Issa al-Hindi was arrested [58] in the U.K. in 2004 and
pleaded [59] guilty two years later to conspiracy to murder. He had attended
terrorist training camps and had contacts with Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik
Mohammed, according to the government. He had taken video and photos of
landmark sites in New York in 2000 and 2001 including the New York Stock
Exchange and the headquarters of Citigroup.
An appeals court later reduced [60] his sentence
from 40 to 30 years, citing [61] the "uncertainty" as to whether
Barot's conspiracy would ever have amounted to an actual attempted attack, and
the court's conclusion that one of the ideas for an attack in the United
Kingdom was "amateurish." The appeals ruling also noted that after
Sept. 11, Barot's plans for any attack in the U.S. "may have been
'shelved'" to focus on the U.K. The court also noted that there was no
evidence that al Qaeda leadership had endorsed any of the ideas. Prosecutors
also accepted [62] that there was no money or equipment lined up for any of the
ideas.
There is no evidence the NYPD had any role
in the investigation that led to Barot's capture.
Garment District Uzair Paracha, a young Pakistani
living in the United States, was convicted [63] in 2005 of providing material
support to al Qaeda. Prosecutors said that Paracha had tried to help a
Pakistani al Qaeda member named Majid Khan gain entrance to the U.S., including
a scheme to fool immigration authorities into letting Khan into the country.
The NYPD list says that "Paracha is
reported to have discussed with top al Qaeda leaders the prospect of smuggling
weapons and explosives — possibly even a nuclear device — into Manhattan's
Garment District through his father's import-export business." But the
indictment [64] against him makes no mention of any such plot.
Instead the NYPD appears to be referencing a
claim by Khalid Sheik Mohammed to American interrogators that Paracha's father,
who is currently a Guantanamo detainee, discussed a plan with KSM to smuggle
explosives into the U.S. through an import business he co-owned in Manhattan's
Garment District.
KSM said he wasn't sure of the son's
involvement and neither the father nor son has been charged with anything
related to it.
According to the government's detainee
assessment [65] on the father, Saifullah Paracha, KSM said he wanted to use the
explosives "against U.S. economic targets" but New York is not
mentioned. KSM told interrogators that another man was to "rent a storage
space in whatever part of the U.S. he chose" to hide the explosives. There
is no claim in the detainee assessment that the idea ever got beyond
discussion. Saifullah Paracha has denied [66] the accusation. Mohammed also
later told [67] the Red Cross that in the period when he made the claims about
the Paracha, shortly after his capture in March 2003 when he was apparently
being subject to torture, he gave "a lot of false information" to
interrogators.
Long Island Railroad Bryant Neal Vinas, an
American Muslim convert from Long Island, was arrested in 2008 in Pakistan by
authorities there. In 2009, then 26, he pleaded guilty [68] to providing
material support to and receiving training from al Qaeda. He told [69] the
court he "consulted with a senior al Qaeda leader and provided detailed
information" about the Long Island Railroad in a discussion of a possible
attack.
But in a trial [70] in 2012 in an unrelated
terrorism case, Vinas testified [71] that to his knowledge the railroad idea
was not pursued beyond discussion. Published reports do not mention any NYPD
role in the case.