Highlights
– FBI intelligence warning puts police on alert for holiday season
– Indicated in previous plots, crowded and vulnerable malls represent attractive target for “lone wolves” and terror sympathizers
– Unannounced police presence should improve rapid response and reduce chance of mass casualties
State police, county sheriffs’ offices and local police will deploy officers to various shopping malls in the New York Metropolitan area to thwart a potential terrorist attack during the holiday season. The initiative, named “Operation Safeguard,” is also designed to raise the public’s situational awareness and vigilance.
In early November 2007, an intelligence report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was leaked to the press detailing a potential threat to shopping malls in Chicago and Los Angeles. According to the report, al Qaeda had been planning to attack US shopping malls for the past two years. Authorities determined that the threat was uncorroborated as it was acquired through a lengthy process and from a “third party” informant (Source).
Despite a lack of credible evidence, lenient security at crowded shopping malls still presents a tempting invitation for a terror group or “lone wolf” terrorists seeking to hit a soft target. A security concern that was raised in Omaha, Nebraska on November 30, 2007 highlighted the potential threat to shopping malls. A bomb squad was called in to remove an intact grenade from a mall parking lot.
While soft target attacks could end in mass casualties, a shopping mall attack would not likely produce a high number of casualties. Instead, an attack would psychologically damage consumer confidence in mall security, a result that could impact retail sales and possibly damage the economy in the long term.
Although the threat remains unconfirmed, an added and announced police presence should upgrade physical defense and enhance the chances of thwarting a potential attack.
Past Plots Underscore Potential Threat
In December 2006, a 23-year-old man in Rockford, Illinois, a town just outside Chicago, was detained in a sting operation. The man, Derrick Shareef, had talked of waging jihad. Shareef befriended an informant who referred him to an underground arms dealer, who was actually an undercover FBI agent. Shareef was arrested after he acquired a non-functioning gun and four non-functioning grenades.
Before his arrest, Shareef talked of placing the grenades in trash bins at the 130-store shopping mall, Cherry Vale in Rockford, as part of his campaign of jihad against US civilians. Shareef pleaded guilty to planning to use weapons of mass destruction against persons and property (Source).
In February 2007, a teenager equipped with a shotgun and handgun entered a shopping mall in Utah and killed five people and wounded four others. An off duty police officer intervened and cornered the shooter until other officers arrived. The police officer’s quick response prevented many more from being killed.
• Isolated individuals who are discretely committed to a larger cause, also known as “lone wolf” terrorists, have demonstrated their ability to commit a series of deadly attacks on soft targets in the US. Before 9/11, lone wolf terrorists acting alone or in pairs, including Oklahoma City Bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski, and Anti Abortion Extremist Eric Robert Rudolph, committed the most notorious cases of domestic terrorism in US history.
A Somali immigrant, Nuradin Abdi, was arrested in 2004 for conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda and plotting to bomb an Ohio shopping mall. Abdi had mentioned to two other suspected terrorists in Columbus in 2002, that the two, “could attack the mall with a bomb.” Abdi allegedly traveled to Ogaden, Ethiopia where he trained in the use of guns, bombs, and guerilla warfare for his violent jihad (Source).
• Abdi’s case highlights the threat of a group of immigrant sympathizers conspiring to attack soft targets. Abdi had befriended two other convicted Ohio immigrants plotting terrorist acts. One was a Pakistani immigrant, Iyman Farris, who plotted to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge in 2003 and another was US citizen, Christopher Paul, who conspired to bomb European tourist resorts and US military bases (Source).
Deterrence Difficult to Achieve, Rapid Response Best Chance for Prevention
The unconfirmed threat is not a reliable indicator of an imminent attack on shopping malls. Nonetheless, evidence of al-Qaeda’s past efforts to obtain and develop chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons is also a concern in that soft targets rank as a top al Qaeda target priority. Regarding a lone wolf terror attack, deterrence may not be realistic but the presence of additional police forces inside US shopping malls should bolster security and emergency response.
