List of unsuccessful terrorist plots in the United States post-9/11
The following is a list of unsuccessful terrorist plots in the United States post-9/11. After the initiation of the War on Terrorismfollowing the attacks of September 11, 2001, several terrorist plots aimed at civilian and military targets have failed to succeed. Many[how many?] such terrorism plots were created by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, with agents providing plans, materials, and encouragement to the supposed "terrorists" — often mentally unstable individuals, small-time criminals, and other vulnerable targets — and then arresting them on terrorism charges.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Security in the United States was put on high alert after a plot to destroy the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions in New Jersey and Washington surfaces.[18]
Two men were arrested at an Albany mosque after attempting to gain possession of a shoulder-fired grenade launcher to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat.[22]
Derrick Shareef was charged after trying to trade stereo speakers for hand grenades and a handgun as part of a plan to terrorize shoppers at Cherryvale Mall in Rockford, Illinois during the holiday season.[35]
Zazi, a native of Afghanistan who lived in Colorado, was arrested and convicted of plotting to bomb the New York City Subway system. He was trained by al-Qaeda in Pakistan. 5 others were also indicted on related charges. "[42]
A 19-year-old was arrested on charges that he intended to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper.[44] The suspect was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2010.[45]
Colleen LaRose, also known as JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, is an American citizen charged with terrorism-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and providing material support to terrorists. Lars Vilks was a named target in response to drawings of Muhammad.[46]
A 23-year-old man was arrested after Northwest Airlines passengers jumped him to avoid his detonating an explosive device above the city of Detroit.[47] The explosive had been concealed in his underwear. He was convicted of eight federal criminal counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted mass murder. On February 16, 2012, he was sentenced to 4 life terms plus 50 years without parole.
A Pakistani American who attempted the May 1, 2010 Times Square car bombing. He was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai. On June 21, 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt.[48] He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
A man was arrested for putting a backpack he thought was filled with explosives at the baseball stadium.[49] In 2013, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.[50]
A Pakistani-born Virginia man was arrested and accused of casing Washington-area subway stations in what he thought was an al-Qaeda plot to bomb and kill commuters.[51]
In what is known as the 2011 Manhattan terrorism plot, two men were arrested after planning an attack in multiple locations in New York City.[53] In 2013, one of the men was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the other one was sentenced to 5 years.[54][55]
Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi descent born and raised in Massachusetts, was arrested on September 28, 2011, for allegedly plotting to attack The Pentagon and United States Capitol with remote-controlled model aircraft carrying explosives. He was also charged for assembling IED detonators to be used in al-Qaeda plots to attack U.S. soldiers abroad.[56]
Sami Osmakac is a man who allegedly plotted an attack, to avenge what he felt were wrongs done to Muslims, in the area around Tampa, Florida. Osmakac, an Albanian from Kosovo and a naturalized US citizen, was arrested January 7, 2012, for the alleged attack plan, which involved bombing nightclubs, detonating a car bomb, using an assault rifle, wearing an explosive belt in a crowded area, and taking hostages.[57]
A Moroccan man who was arrested by the FBI for allegedly plotting to carry out a suicide bombing on the United States Capitol. El Khalifi thought he was working with al-Qaeda operatives, but was in contact with undercover FBI agents. He was sentenced to prison for 30 years in September 2012.[58]
Three men were arrested after a raid an apartment, seized pipe bomb instructions, an improvised mortar made of PVC piping, a crossbow, knives, Shurikens, a map of Chicago and four fire bombs, authorities confirmed.[59][60] On April 25, 2014, the three men were sentenced to eight to five years in prison, considerably reducing initial penalties of up to thirty years.[61][62][63]
Chicago
Brian Jacob Church, and Brent Betterly, and Jared Chase
A Bangladeshi man was charged with trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York. While Nafis believed he had the blessing of al-Qaeda and was acting on behalf of the terrorist group, he has no known ties, according to federal officials.[64] In 2013, the individual was sentenced to 30 years in prison.[65]
After the Tsarnaev brothers successfully carried out the Boston Marathon bombing, they planned to use leftover explosives to terrorize Times Square in New York City, but after carjacking Dun Meng, a Chinesegraduate student, the plot was foiled after he escaped and called the police leading them to the Tsarnaev's location. A shootout ensued resulting in the death of Tamerlan. Dzhokhar was captured later that day after a citywide manhunt was declared to pin down his exact location.
Glendon Scott Crawford and Eric J. Feight of Galway, New York, were arrested in January 2014 for attempting to construct a remote control radiation-emitting device to be used to attack a number of targets. Crawford and Feight were to use the machine to attack Mosques, Islamic schools, and to kill then U.S. President Barack Obama. Feight received an 8-year federal prison sentence and was released in 2020. Crawford was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and is scheduled for release in 2038.[66][67][68]
A Ohio man inspired by ISIS planned to attack the government building by launching pipe bombs and then shoot anyone fleeing the carnage.[69] In 2016, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.[70]
Courthouse, bank, forest festival, first responders
A West Virginia man had stockpiled C-4, dynamite and other weapons (including a sniper rifle to target first responders) to allegedly attack a federal courthouse, a bank, and the Mountain State Forest Festival in Elkins.[71]
Attempted theft of a stock car, banks and attack government buildings and kill law enforcement officers
A man from Katy, Texas was arrested,after a nearly eight-month operation by the FBI, Secret Service, Houston Police and Harris Sheriff's Office, investigated after creating a Facebook page called "American Insurgent Movement", with the aim of recruiting five of six persons for tried to theft of a stock car and banks, and start a ring of attacks against government buildings and law enforcements in the Greater Houston zone.[72][73][74]
The women were arrested on April 2, 2015. According to the complaint, officers found "three propane gas tanks, soldering tools, pipes, a pressure cooker, fertilizer, flux, detailed handwritten notes on the recipes for bomb making, and extensive jihadist literature" at Siddiqui's apartment. Velentzas had information on creating bombs from propane tanks and a picture of Osama bin Laden. Velentzas also questioned why people would travel to Syria when there were ways of "pleasing Allah" in the United States. The two had been roommates until shortly before their arrest. Their plot was exposed by an undercover agent posing as a third conspirator.[77][78][79] In 2020, one of the women was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while the other suspect was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2021.[80][81]
A Jewish American man, Joshua Ryne Goldberg, posing as an Australian ISIS supporter, attempted to get an FBI confidential informant to detonate a bomb at a Kansas City, MissouriSeptember 11 attacks memorial event. Goldberg attempted to persuade the confidential informant to coat the shrapnel of the bomb in rat poison in order to maximize casualties.[84][85][86][87] On December 20, 2017, Goldberg pleaded guilty to attempted malicious damage and destruction by an explosive of a building.[88]
On the morning of September 17, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Later that day, a homemade pressure cooker bomb went off in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. A second pressure cooker bomb was discovered four blocks away. Suspect Ahmad Khan Rahimi was not part of a terrorist group, but his actions were believed to have been influenced by the extremist Islamic ideology.
Three individuals who called themselves "The Crusaders," were arrested after plotting to murder Somalian immigrants.[91][92]All three men were sentenced to at least 25 years in prison in 2019.[93][94]
A man from North Carolina who believed in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory opened fire inside a restaurant because he wanted to save children he believed were trapped in the building's basement by political elites.[95][96] No one was injured or killed, and he was sentenced to 4 years in prison.[97]
Jefferson, Iowa Law Enforcement Center Carroll, Iowa
A Jefferson, Iowa man was tracked by an undercover operative while planning a joint "suicide by cop" attack with his wife, Joey Goodwin against the Greene County Law Enforcement Center in Jefferson, Iowa. This facility housed both the County Sheriff's Department and the local Police. The two had faced various felony burglary-related charges and, according to the informant, were "not going to prison under any circumstances." Tyson Ruth of Jefferson, Iowa, had compiled a vast array of weapons including an illegal-in-Iowa automatic rifle, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, explosives and had been propagating the growth of bacteria that cause anthrax and botulism. The couple had planned a biological attack on various civilian installations including public schools and the local hospital. At the time of initial arrest, some but not all of the weapons, ammunition, bacteria, explosives and two full Kevlar® body suits were confiscated as evidence. The informant was unsatisfied with the extremely light-handed charges for which the Carroll County Attorney, John Werden sought conviction, so he contacted Greene County Law Enforcement directly asking that Federal Agents be brought in to investigate. A secondary search warrant was executed by divisions of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and the FBI/JTTF and the entirety of evidence was secured. Ruth was charged and then convicted on federal weapons charges.[88]
A man tried to detonate a bomb near a bank in downtown Oklahoma City when the van actually contained fake explosives set up by law enforcement.[98] In 2020, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[99]
While a passenger train was traveling through Nebraska, a man trespassed a forrbidden section and turned on the breaks.[100] In 2018, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.[101]
Nebraska
Taylor Michael Wilson
December 4, 2017
Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville
A 69-year-old man was arrested for planning a shooting at a mosque.[102] He was sentenced to 5 years in 2018.[103]
Former U.S. Marine from Modesto, California, arrested for plotting a Christmas terrorist attack at San Francisco's very popular Pier 39 on behalf of ISIS. He planned to strategically bomb the pier to funnel people into a crowd, then begin with a mass shooting. The FBI stopped his plan after attention was brought to his pro-ISIS Facebook posts. Fall 2017, he was caught communicating with undercover FBI agents posing as ISIS recruiters, saying he was "wholehearted committed to the cause" and could provide "U.S. military resource" along with money to ISIS.[104]
A man who harbored sympathetic views to Al-Qaeda was arrested due to his plans to set off explosives at an Independence Day celebration.[105] He was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2020.[106]
An ISIS supporter named Damon M. Joseph is arrested for attempting an attack on a synagogue. Joseph was inspired by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting perpetrator Robert Bowers and told the police that he admired him and wished to carry out an attack similar to Bowers.[107] In 2021, Joseph was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[108]
Elizabeth Lecron and Vincent Armstrong were arrested for plotting an "upscale mass murder" at a bar in Toledo using explosives. Elizabeth Lecron had been a fan of Charleston church shooting assailant Dylann Roof having been in active correspondence with him and sending him a book about BelgianWaffen-SS Nazi leader Léon Degrelle. Lecron had already created a Tumblr page celebrating the church shooting in Charleston titled "charlestonchurchmiracle" as well as various other murderers. The two would be indicted on January 3, 2019.[109][110][111]In November, 2019, Lecron was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Armstrong was sentenced to 6 years the following month.[112][113]
A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant from Silver Spring, Maryland, Christopher Paul Hasson, arrested for unlawful firearm possession and drug charges. Prosecutors say Hasson followed the manifesto of Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. Federal agents recovered 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from Hasson's Silver Spring apartment, and they said he had been stockpiling weapons and ammunition since 2017. Hasson was a self-proclaimed white nationalist and neo-Naziskinhead who was inspired by terrorist Anders Behring Breivik the 2011 Norway attacks perpetrator and supported turning the Pacific Northwest into an all-white homeland and sent a letter to Harold Covington of the Northwest Front, and had compiled an extensive 'hit list' targeting various Democratic and left-leaning politicians, lawmakers, media personalities, as well as journalists working for CNN and MSNBC and the organizations Democratic Socialists of America and Social Democrats, USA. According to email documents, Hasson planned "biological attacks followed by attack [sic] on food supply", and a "bombing/sniper campaign".[114]
An individual who came as a refugee from Syria in 2016 was arrested due to planning to bomb a church in support of the terrorist group ISIS.[118][119] He was sentenced in 2022 to 17 years in prison.[120]
A white supremacist was arrested in a plot to bomb a historical synagogue in a Colorado town.[124][125] The suspect pled guilty to a federal hate crime in October of 2020.[126][127] In 2021, he was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison.[128]
In August 2020, three individuals, all from different locations: Columbus, Ohio, West Lafayette, Indiana, and Katy, Texas were investigated by the FBI.[136] The goal was to attack power grids around America in the hopes of inciting a race war and economic collapse.[137][138]
Multiple locations across America
Johnathan Allen Frost, Christopher Brenner Cook, Jackson Matthew Sawall
A man wanted to destroy the data storage place of the company in hopes of bringing parts of the internet down.[140] Later in 2021, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[141]
A 21-year-old was who was a self-identified "incel" was arrested for planning to massacre thousands of people in Ohio.[144][145] In 2024, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison.[146]
A man walked into a local Dairy Queen with a rainbow clown wig on his head stating that he wanted to kill "all Democrats" and was arrested without harming anyone.[147][148]
A failed candidate of the 2022 New Mexico House of Representatives election believed his loss was due to voter fraud, and ordered people on his behalf to shoot at politicians' homes.[149] Despite property damage, no one was harmed, but the bullets caused dust to land on the 10-year-old daughter of one of the targets.[150]
A man showed up to the State Legislature with a handgun demanding to see the governor, and was arrested, only to return later in the day with an assault rifle, in which he was arrested again, with nobody being harmed in both incidents.[154][155]
A man broke into the building that houses the highest-ranking judicial system in the state of Colorado and was arrested with no one being injured.[156][157]
^Thomas, Cathy Booth (September 1, 2002). "Courage In The Air". Time Magazine. Time Inc. Archived from the original on February 6, 2003. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
^"Defiant note at sentencing: Albany Muslims protest their convictions as they receive 15 years each in fake plot". Times Union. Gale Group. March 9, 2007.