Seriously, since there is every reason to suspect that the merry band of Revolution Muslim dawah-pushers who were hanging out in Times Square on the same afternoon two blocks south of Faisal Shahzad's failed bomb attack may have been tipped off to expect to film a jihad finale to their efforts, can we assume that the "senior U.S. officials" mentioned
below might also have been alerted to this information bite and followed up?
Or should we maybe drop them an email or something? Just in case the new shahid wannabe the Pakitalibanis have sent actually knows how to detonate explosives?
EXCLUSIVE: New Pakistani Taliban Operative Feared Inside U.S. After Times Square Failure
By Mike Levine & Jennifer Griffin
Published October 14, 2010
FoxNews.comSenior U.S. officials are concerned over recent intelligence indicating that the Pakistani Taliban, which orchestrated the failed Times Square bombing, may have successfully placed another operative inside the United States to launch a second attack, sources tell Fox News. Authorities, however, know very little about the potential operative or any possible plot.
"[We] don't know who it is and don't know where it is," one source said. "We know the guy's here, but don't know anything about him."
Based on the intelligence, authorities believe the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, would have directed the individual to attempt another Times Square-style operation, but not necessarily in New York City.
A senior intelligence official said the threat stream's lack of specificity makes it nearly impossible for the counterterrorism community to defend against such an attack. Any possible threat, however, does not seem to be imminent, with a senior counterterrorism official saying he was "unaware" of any "imminent threats" against the U.S. homeland.
Nevertheless, the Pakistani Taliban has been looking to make up for its previous failure. Authorities believe the subject of the latest intelligence would use "a similar mechanism" and the "same modus operandi" employed by 31-year-old Faisal Shahzad in May, mostly "because it's easily accessible here," as one source put it.
In the months leading up to his attack, Shahzad purchased fertilizer, propane gas, fireworks and other components from stores in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. But the bomb he ultimately built and packed inside a sport utility vehicle did not detonate properly.
If someone successfully set off such a bomb, the effects would be "devastating," according to federal prosecutors. In June, FBI agents built and tested a device identical to Shahzad's, except this time they made sure the bomb actually detonated.
"Had the bombing played out as Shahzad had so carefully planned, the lives of numerous residents and visitors of the city would have been lost and countless others would have been forever traumatized," federal prosecutors said in court documents filed in the Shahzad case two weeks ago. "This is to say nothing of the significant economic and emotional impact a successful attack would have had on the entire nation."
Authorities are describing the latest threat as "credible but not specific," and they are "very nervous," according to the sources. It's unclear exactly when or how the intelligence was obtained, but one source said it was "corroborated" by authorities. Others were unable to say the intelligence had been corroborated.
"In many cases, intelligence we get ends up washing out," said the senior counterterrorism official, who would not specifically discuss or even confirm the latest intelligence.
It's also unclear when or how the operative would have entered the United States, but the recent intelligence says he would have been sent from Pakistan's tribal areas, where only months earlier associates of the Pakistani Taliban trained Shahzad to build and detonate bombs, according to the senior intelligence official.
More of the same
here.
