Terrorism In The U.S. Takes On A UK Pattern

The car bombing attempt in Times Square has been a wake-up call for counter-terrorism officials. For years, the U.S. seemed largely immune to homegrown terrorism, but experts think the recent attack is more proof that has changed. The relative ease with which immigrants could better themselves in America convinced many experts that they were less vulnerable to radicalization. Increasingly, however, the terrorists who are seeking to attack the U.S. — including the Times Square bombing suspect – have been living in America for a while.

It's a problem that has haunted the UK for years. Now it appears to be an issue for the U.S. as well. "What we're seeing is kind of a metastasized al-Qaida," says Phil Mudd, a senior researcher at the Center for American Progress. He was, until recently, the FBI's senior intelligence adviser. "We've seen this in Europe, now we're seeing it here,” Mudd says. “Slowly, you're not only getting al-Qaida operatives conducting operations, you're getting people who have absorbed the message. Who see reports, I am sure, of civilians dying in drone strikes in Pakistan; who see the Pakistani army putting incredible pressure, not only on al-Qaida, but on Pakistani villages — and saying, ‘I want to do something about it.'"

• "Pakistani Taliban Behind Times Square Plot", New York Times, 5/9/10.
• "In Pakistan, a jumbled scaffolding of militancy", Washington Post, 5/9/10.