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Man Charged in Model Airplane Plot To Bomb Pentagon

Posted by samzenpus on from the mad-bomber dept.

garymortimer writes "A 26-year-old Massachusetts man with a physics degree was arrested and charged Wednesday with plotting an attack on the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model aircraft, authorities said. Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen from Ashland, Massachusetts, planned to use model aircraft filled with C-4 plastic explosives. As a result of an undercover FBI investigation, Ferdaus, who has a physics degree from Northeastern University in Boston, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to al Qaeda for attacks on U.S. soldiers overseas. His federal public defender couldn't be reached immediately for comment."

32 of 515 comments (clear)

  1. God dammit by Dyinobal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well shit does this mean I have to get groped before using my RC airplanes? I hope they are willing to at least give me a happy ending if so. I'm tired of them being teases.

    1. Re:God dammit by sg_oneill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Am I the only one who reads this and is reminded of the scene in 4 lions with the terrorist who wants to strap dynamite to pigeons to blow up , uh, jews or something.

      Pretty sure if a 757 can't destroy the pentagon, sure as hell a toy airplane with a stick of dynamite taped to it sure as hell wouldn't.

      At some point we're going to realise that most western terrorists are not Bin laden's but angry clowns.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    2. Re:God dammit by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're forgetting something...

      The vast majority of energy released in such a plane crash is done so burning off the fuel. The ballistic energy of the craft combined with the engine thrust is fairly small put next to that.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  2. *sigh* Not Again... by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have to wonder the nature of the situation when the charges are for, "attempting to provide material support", as in, was he in contact with anyone who was actually planning to bomb anything, or was everyone he interacted with affiliated with law enforcement, and they took a disgruntled man and groomed him into the position they're not charging him for.

    We'll probably never really know, which is why I really dislike conspiracy type charges when there aren't several people charged.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:*sigh* Not Again... by rusl · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well you did make me RTFA retarded AC and I think that TWX is wrong: we probably will know. It seems this is another "conspiracy" of one where the FBI eggs on a crazy guy and supplies him with all the tools to turn his bad feelings into a charge they can pin on him. Given that this is the initial CNN article, and that is usually when the case for the FBI is presented most favourably because there has been no time for journalists to investigate more in-depth.... Well, you can read this and see that it's probably entrapment when described most favourably so likely will be conclusively that later on when more embarrassing facts start to be revealed.

      from TFA:

      ""There is no information to indicate he was connected to a foreign terrorist organization. It appears he was radicalized watching videos on the internet. He was given the opportunity to back down, but he never wavered" from his intention to carry out the attacks, the source said."

      "The FBI agents also gave Ferdaus six AK-47 assault rifles and three grenades, but they weren't functional,"

      "he began supplying the FBI undercover agents with cell phones rigged to act as electric switches for improved explosive devices"

      "Undercover federal agents also gave Ferdaus 25 pounds of fake C-4 explosives"

      "The investigation also involved a cooperating witness"

      "law enforcement official said Ferdaus posed no immediate danger to the public because undercover operatives kept in close contact with him"

      Yep, pretty much the same story as the other "terrorists" the authorities have caught: (not the incompetent real terrorists that the public caught) Entrapment.

      --
      Stupidity is its own reward.
    2. Re:*sigh* Not Again... by Flyskippy1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yep, another case of the FBI finding a 'terrorist' by finding a mildly disgruntled guy, giving him fake weapons and explosives, suggesting a terrorist plot to him, and then 'catching' him when he did exactly what they wanted him to do.

      Like these guys:
      http://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-arrests-terrorists-sting-operations-dallas-springfield/story?id=8666300

      And these guys:
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/11/families-struggle-in-the-_n_957365.html

    3. Re:*sigh* Not Again... by kylemonger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When the FBI is involved, it always turns out to be some disgruntled sad sack or sad sacks who they talk into some terrorist act. There is an endless supply of such broken-down, weak-willed people, which gives the FBI a steady stream of good PR to keep their budget fat. I'll hold my applause until they catch someone smarter than I am.

  3. Did anyone tell him by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Pentagon is *really* big. So is the Capitol. Unless the remote controlled airplane was a full size Cessna, you couldn't carry enough C4 to do any real damage to either of them. The FBI spokesperson called him an aspiring terrorist. With the emphasis on ASS, I'd say.

    1. Re:Did anyone tell him by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well some remote controlled airplanes are actually pretty big. Here is one with a 12' wing span. It could lift say 7 kg with no real problem. http://www.hobby-lobby.com/telemaster12.htm Maybe cut that to 4kg and use electric power and if you covered it in light grey you no one would see it until impact. but 4 or 7 kg would kill anyone outside near the impact point. You would aim it at an entrance time the impact for say 5:50 pm in the winter so that it is dark, Sure it wouldn't blow up the entire building but it would still suck to die or have your arm or leg blown off.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    2. Re:Did anyone tell him by rtb61 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Clearly a mentally disturbed individual, targeted, groomed and his mental delusions preyed upon to create a opportunity for public terrorism promotion and of course prop the ego and future careers of a couple of agents.

      Real indicators of delusion, using a $6,500 dollar model aircraft, grandiose plots with little action (the agents did pretty much everything) and, no indication of employment whilst living with parents.

      The really disturbing things about the way it is being presented are, ohh look he had a physics degree (smells of targeting all university students in science areas as potential threats) and, he took photos of buildings (why he didn't just use street view remains or the thousands of available photos on line are further indicators of deranged thinking). Also they were careful to exclude from the press releases any indication of mental disturbance in the individual, even though it seems pretty obvious.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:Did anyone tell him by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, I just watched the video on CNN. The "models" were 1/10 scale replicas of an F4 Phantom and an F86 Sabre. The plan was to use them as drones, and the explosions were mostly just a decoy. He and his helpers would then use the assault rifles to fire on people while they left the buildings, since you can bet your butt the pentagon and, especially, the Capitol building have evacuation procedures and that people would be coming out.

      Besides, the goals of "terrorism," ever since the Anglo-Irish War, has always been to cause the enemy to grossly over-react, thus causing domestic support for your oppressors to erode. Example: in 1922, the IRA assassinated 6 British special police within the span of about an hour. The auxiliary police and army then shot up a gaelic football match, killing civilians. There was then backlash in England and a loss of support for continued occupation of Ireland.

      This plan really wasn't that bad, all things considered -- especially when you realize that any semblance of a successful attack on those two targets would bring down a crack-down on civil liberties so fast we'd all start reminiscing about when we had all those freedoms left under the PATRIOT ACT.

    4. Re:Did anyone tell him by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In other words, our response to the minor incident is what causes the damage?

      As a physician I can't help but notice the similarity: You would not believe how many disease conditions are caused by a person's own immune system over-reacting to an otherwise relatively benign situation. Take for example the leading cause of death - heart disease due to atherosclerosis. A condition where macrophages (part of the body's defenses) decide to "eat" LDL cholesterol because they think that this natural component of the blood-stream is a foreign body. Unfortunately for them they don't know that they can't digest LDL-cholesterol, so they keep eating it without metabolizing it, turning into "foam cells", dying, and releasing all sorts of nasty stuff when they die, nasty stuff that calls other macrophages to the scene to see what's going on. Unfortunately the scene happens to be your coronary arteries. Almost all rheumatic and inflammatory diseases are caused by similar mechanisms - overstimulation of the host's immune response leading to tissue damage from one cell line or another, or overproduction of antibodies or complement, etc; as well as some infectious ones (like TB, for example).

      Perhaps we should deal all of their plots a fatal blow by tempering our responses

      Well if you are responding then you are not the one with the initiative. You need to get them to respond to you. And you need to deal the "fatal blow" by either removing their ability to hurt you (completely impossible because explosives are so easy to make - they were making them in the 11th century for god's sake), or removing their desire to hurt you. I would put my money on the latter, but honestly this would require a complete re-write of current policy as well as a major re-shuffling of world politics and economics. So that's not going to happen either. What's left is damage control and trying to minimize the size of events and losses when they do happen. I guess that's what is being done now.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  4. So now we're down to catching the nutcases by HangingChad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A real, full-size airliner barely put a dent in the Pentagon. A remote controlled plane the size of a Cessna full of C4 would break a few windows.

    This guy was a physics major and can't calculate how much C4 it would take to punch a hole in a solid concrete building?

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 5, Informative

      He was going to have 6 well armed people outside the doors shooting people as they escaped. And even a small explosion would probably drive people out of the building.

    2. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That was his plan? He might have as well tried to set up an ambush outside the White House, or Congress. This plan is so badly thought out, so badly implemented and relied so heavily on the FBI providing him with bad materials that they might as well charge him with being terminally stupid. This plan wasn't going to go anywhere, and wasn't going to do any damage. If he would have been lucky, he might have been able to shoot one or two guards on the way to "the door".

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    3. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, IIRC, the Pentagon is more than just "solid concrete", and has a lot of extra reinforcements and materials in its walls to withstand bomb blasts better than normal buildings.

      An R/C plane (or even a Cessna) full of C4 wouldn't have done much besides break a few windows, as you say.

      I'm going to go ahead and give the terrorists the secret here about how to destroy the US. I hope I don't get prosecuted for terrorism or treason or whatever. It's pretty simple, really: just pour a lot of money into the campaigns for far right-wing Republican candidates like Bachmann, and maybe find other ways to con the voters into electing these wackos, not just in the Presidential race but in Congressional races too. After they get elected, just sit back and watch the country implode. You can also do the same by getting more Democrats elected, but it won't be quite as fast as with the Republicans (this is probably debatable though). Of course, there's lots of corporations already pouring money into these peoples' campaigns, so maybe they should be prosecuted for terrorism... Or, you can just do nothing at all and wait; we don't need terrorists to destroy this country, we're doing a great job of it all by ourselves.

    4. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by rusl · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We're down to supplying nutcases with the fake tools that make them think they are playing a "terrorist" video game. Then we charge them for their unfulfilled intention to use the tools that they though were real that we gave them.

      --
      Stupidity is its own reward.
    5. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The full sized airplane had trouble breaking windows. A well kept secret is that the Pentagon windows were stronger than the building itself. The idea being that a sniper trying to shoot someone would prefer the window (stopping nearly everything, including most sniper rifles), while the walls wouldn't. No need to armor the walls when nobody would try to shoot through them. They collected most of the windows undamaged from the rubble.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    6. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by ShooterNeo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      With the Times Square bomber, he also had a half-assed ANFO bomb in the car as well. Why half-assed? Because he didn't follow even the most basic and logical testing routine. If you want to make homemade explosives that you are not sure will go off, you need to

          1. Make SURE you have the right ingredients (he had the wrong kind of Fertilizer because apparently he can't read labels)
        2. TEST your concoction, with a large enough sample to be sure it works.

      Oh, and multiple detonators are probably also a good idea. Don't just rely on a single fuse that might go out.

      The various 'terrorists attempts' over the last 10 years have been so pathetic they make me angry. (because we are spending trillions of dollars to fight enemies who are so incompetent they couldn't shoot someone in the back without blowing off their own foot)

    7. Re:So now we're down to catching the nutcases by cusco · · Score: 5, Informative

      The walls of the Pentagram are three feet of solid ferro-concrete, they were designed to take a direct hit from a Nazi 500-pound bomb (really). The roof was later reinforced to withstand a very near miss from a Soviet nuke. I've never understood why the felt the need to cover the entire thing with kevlar, which had just been completed on the wing that was hit by the airliner. That wing had been emptied during the remodel process, almost everyone killed in the attack was in the process of moving back in.

      I know far too much trivia.

      --
      "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  5. I predict by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's too bad that a fun hobby like RC aircraft was co-opted by the military for use in target drones and later surveillance aircraft and now weapons platforms. Of course one understands the reasons - they are cheap, well no now they are $100 million each but they used to be cheap, they are quiet, and you don't need to put a pilot in danger or have the whole logistical set up of a full airbase to support one. At some point the airbase itself becomes a target that needs to be defended. A drone can be launched or recovered from almost anywhere - depending on the drone.

    It was an idea that made sense. But ideas grow, just like the concept of lighting gunpowder behind a ball of lead inside a tube. The basic properties of drones remain - almost anyone can fly one. They are cheap. They are quiet. And you can't put a hellfire missile on one but you certainly could put a couple pounds of explosives, and fly it absolutely anywhere. And I mean anywhere. If the military can do it, so can you. Because of this innate problem, my prediction is that RC aircraft - owning one, manufacturing one, or flying one, is about to be grabbed by the government and handed to the military. Just like today guns are under strict control, RC aircraft will soon be under strict control. And that's sad because the vast, vast majority of RC aircraft are flown by hobbyists for fun.

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:I predict by C0L0PH0N · · Score: 5, Informative

      I fly RC planes and am a member of the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics). Congress is working to implement new legislation to control "UAV's" (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), which WILL legally control RC hobby airplanes. The AMA has been working with Congress and the FAA to help insure the viability and robustness of our wonderful sport, which prepares young folks for careers in avionics and space, as well as being a darned fun (and expensive :)) hobby. Here is a link to the AMA's government relations site: http://www.modelaircraft.org/aboutama/gov.aspx. This is an issue that is hot and current. Here is the current situation, which is coming to a head in the next few months, per the AMA's website: "Information received at the recent AUVSI conference indicates the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for FAA’s proposed regulation for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) is on track for release in mid December 2011. It’s anticipated the new rule will address model aircraft operations and will provide a provision for community based organizations such as the AMA to submit their own set of standards. If adopted, these standards will provide the modeling community an alternative means of complying with the sUAS rule. At this point AMA is hard at work in developing a set of standards aimed at allowing the aeromodeling enthusiasts to continue enjoying the hobby in much the same way as they do today. ". Actions like this crazy physicist certainly don't help, but they point out the wisdom of a rational approach to a hobby that can be militarized. We'll see what happens.

    2. Re:I predict by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is disturbing to me. I use puffer kites filled with helium and V shaped balsa structures with those stick-up lights (as seen on TV) to make realistic looking UFO hoaxes. Your depth perception really doesn't work well at night and you honestly can't tell how big something is in the sky. Makes for really good stock news footage for the shaky cam folks -- hay, maybe they can even get a buck for it. I'll never tell......good for the economy right?

      One of my dreams was to have one I didn't have to tow behind my pontoon boat with hundreds of yards of spider line. Now you're telling me that they want me to file a flight plan if I drop in a couple of Cox .41's and sit at the bar while I fly it around? This is no good.

      It's cold at night in the pontoon and the wife bitches endlessly. Even my drunken buddies wimp out when the dew sets in and nobody can tell if it was the dew, or if we were just laughing so hard that we all pissed our pants. Then they don't even want to go back into bar in case there is the mythical "hot chick" that will see that they pissed their pants, and they blew their one chance in life to out punt their kick coverage.

      I'd hate to switch to big foot hoaxes.....someone might take a shot at me and it's hunting season again.....

  6. Re:Christ, how stupid are we? by monkeyhybrid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because denying religious people an education will make the world a safer, more peaceful and forward thinking place? I seriously doubt that.
    I'm more inclined to think equal opportunities and education for all, regardless of their beliefs, is a very positive step forward.

  7. Catching nutcases was always the goal by artor3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All terrorists are nutcases. No sane person decides that cold-blooded mass murder (often of people only tangentially related to the source of their anger) is the best way to accomplish their goals.

    Given my druthers, I'd prefer smart terrorists. Guys like this making RC plane bombs, or that guy who tried to make a dirty bomb to set off at Obama's inauguration. They tend to be easier to catch, because they outsmart themselves. Someone less "clever" might just buy a gun and shoot some people -- see Scott Roeder, Byron Williams, Nidal Hassan, and Jared Loughner.

    All different motives (anti-abortion, Glenn Beck told me to, anti-military, straight-up crazy), and all of them not-all-there. Three of the four successful, and the fourth (Williams) only failed because society was lucky enough for him to get a traffic ticket on the way to the shooting. I'll take a dent in the Pentagon's walls any day of the week.

  8. And model rocketry is next on the list.... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 3

    The government is starting a new process to restrict shipment and sales of model rocket engines, after getting their asses handed to them in a big court case against rocket hobbyists a couple years ago.

    Next hobby on the chopping block-- Punkin Chunkers? BattleBots? , DIY anything?

    That's right citizen...just sit on your couch and watch the tube...actually building things helps the terrorists!

    --
    Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
  9. Re:eh? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    A clear triumph for America's powers of cultural assimilation! While our barbaric foreign enemies carry out suicide attacks, our beneficent influence induces the local ones to attempt a weaponized UAV program! Heck, one more generation and they'll probably be saving the bombs for use against Planned Parenthood, and exercising their second amendment rights against other targets, just like the good, god-fearing folks at home who are sensible enough to fear the right god...

  10. Worse, maybe it's FBI entrapment by Weezul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As I understand it, all Islamic terrorists arrested inside the U.S. were put up to it by the FBI.

    You see, the FBI prefers to train it's own terrorists because doing so is far easier than catching the real deal, who might be dangerous, or hard to find, or worse not exist at all. Don't you feel safer with the FBI making sure there are terrorists to catch?

    --
    The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
  11. Re:Yeah right... by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's nothing but the FBI's words that he would have done the crime if not for the FBI stepping in and arresting him. He could have been at the conceptual "I wonder what would happen if" stage when the FBI stepped in and gave him the means he didn't have before and encouraged him to give greater motivation as well. The FBI has done that before. At this point the only side out there is the FBI trying to sell a press release that they alone saved Washington from another exploding airplane (oh, and we could use more funding, thanks). And from their track record, I'm not one to blindly believe the FBI.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
  12. Re:Rezwan Ferdaus is a moslem by Tsingi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So in other words, you feel your atheism gives you superior morality.

    His atheism allows him to question morality, his own and others, as opposed to morals dictated by a religion that must be adhered to without question.

    --
    Religion is regarded by the common people as true,
    by the wise as false,
    and by the rulers as useful.

    — Lucius Annæus Seneca.

    Terrorism, the new religion.

  13. Doing the "right thing" by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    you feel your atheism gives you superior morality

    "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  14. Re:Rezwan Ferdaus is a moslem by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Funny

    NEWSFLASH: Fundamentalists are nuts! Story at 11!

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...