Free Preview of Members-Only Content
To view the requested intelligence, you must be a Stratfor.com member.
Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided a house the night of May 7 in Cherry Hill, N.J., arresting six men suspected of plotting an attack with assault rifles at the U.S. Army's nearby base at Fort Dix.
Although the suspects might have been planning their attack carefully, an amateur mistake led federal investigators to the plotters. Even so, because these potential militants fit a different profile that the typical jihadists, the discovery of their plot serves as a reminder to U.S. law enforcement that not all militants targeting the United States are of Middle Eastern background.
Officials identified the six men, all in their 20s, as three brothers, Dritan, Eljvir, and Shain Duka; Serdar Tatar; Agron Abdullahu; and Mohamed Shnewer. All six of the alleged plotters were foreign-born. Abdullahu, born in Turkey, and Tatar, born in Jordan, were naturalized U.S. citizens. Shnewer and the three Duka brothers were ethnic Albanians; at least two of the Albanians entered the United States illegally. U.S. law enforcement sources believe that at least two of the alleged plotters entered the United States illegally via the Texas-Mexico border.
The choice of targets, which were primarily logistics and support facilities for U.S. military operations, makes sense from a strategic perspective. While they lacked the symbolism of a government building in Washington or a bridge in New York, an attack on any one of them would have been a direct blow -- albeit a very small one -- to U.S. military operations.
The plotters finally settled on Fort Dix, a transport hub for mobilizing U.S. troops for deployment overseas. Most of these troops are reservists, and many of them are on their way to Iraq.
| Stratfor Members, please log in at the top left hand corner |
