U.S. fears there are Pakistani Taliban operatives inside U.S.
Senior 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; 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
Image from Pakistani Taliban video showing leader Hakimullah Mehsud // Source: hurriyetdailynews.com
Senior 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 told 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.
Mike Levine and Jennifer Griffin report for Fox News that 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.
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.
Levine and Jennifer Griffin write that it is 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.
After living in the United States for a decade and becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, Shahzad left for Pakistan in late 2009. He spent five months there before returning to Connecticut to prepare his attack.
As for the subject of the latest intelligence, he could be anywhere in the United States, and officials are not convinced he would necessarily target New York City.
“It’s not surprising this day and age that an individual is residing in or traveled to the United States in hopes of pulling off some sort of attack,” the senior counterterrorism official, speaking generally, said. “We are ‘Target Number One’ for terrorists, and it requires a constant vigilance.”
In court documents filed in the Shahzad case, prosecutors said that “under the cover of their U.S. citizenship” such individuals can “travel freely around the world” and “can remain in the United States undetected.”
In a video released by the Pakistani Taliban two months after the failed Times Square attack, Shahzad said it is “not difficult at all to wage an attack on the West, and specifically in the U.S.”
“Get up and learn from me and make an effort,” he said in the video, recorded eight months before its release. “Nothing is impossible if you just keep in mind that Allah is with you.”
Still, Levine and Jennifer Griffin write, senior U.S. officials said recently that even failed attacks like the Times Square plot can ultimately be successful in some ways. “These smaller attacks — even if unsuccessful — may still generate significant publicity and therefore might have both a psychological and an economic impact,” FBI director Mueller said last week during an intelligence-reform conference organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.
In September, the State Department designated the Pakistani Taliban a foreign terrorist organization, saying the group “draws ideological guidance” from al Qaeda and is “attempting to extend their bloody reach into the American homeland.” Their primary goals are to topple the Pakistani government, force Pakistani troops out of areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and to establish Islamic law in the region, according to U.S. officials.
In recent years, the Pakistani Taliban has carried out several attacks against U.S. interests overseas, including a deadly attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan, but the Times Square attempt was the group’s first attack outside South Asia.
