Bomb Plot Foiled, But Not By TSA

From Friday's Daily Times, my print column on the TSA at PHL and one girl's trip through the security line.

Also, last week I predicted in my Wednesday print column that the next terrorist attack in the U.S. wouldn't be at an airport or against an airliner but some other less protected target.

It appears I was right.

The FBI thwarted an attempted terrorist bombing in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square before the city's annual tree-lighting Friday night, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon.

A Corvallis man, thinking he was going to ignite a bomb, drove a van to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue and attempted to detonate it...

...Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The arrest was the culmination of a long-term undercover operation, during which Mohamud had been monitored for months as his alleged bomb plot developed.

Nice work by the FBI. And notice they didn't have to search a million air travelers to prevent it from happening.