Name	Janet Napolitano
Office	3rd United States Secretary of Homeland Security
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Jane Lute
Term start	January 21, 2009
Predecessor	Michael Chertoff
Office2	21st Governor of Arizona
Term start2	January 6, 2003
Term end2	January 21, 2009
Predecessor2	Jane Dee Hull
Successor2	Jan Brewer
Office3	23rd Attorney General of Arizona
Term start3	January 4, 1999
Term end3	January 6, 2003
Governor3	Jane Dee Hull
Predecessor3	Grant Woods
Successor3	Terry Goddard
Birth date	November 29, 1957
Birth place	New York City, New York, United States
Party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	Santa Clara UniversityUniversity of Virginia
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Methodism }}

Janet Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person (including an acting Secretary) to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st Governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009. She was Arizona's third female governor, and the first woman to win re-election. Prior to her election as governor, she served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1999 to 2002. She is the first woman and the 23rd person to serve in that office. Napolitano is the 1977 Truman Scholar from New Mexico. Forbes ranked her as the 51st most powerful woman in 2009.

Early life

Napolitano was born on November 29, 1957, in New York City, the daughter of Jane Marie (née Winer) and Leonard Michael Napolitano, who was the dean of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. She is of half Italian ancestry and is a Methodist. She was the eldest of three children; she has a younger brother and sister. She was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque in 1975 and was voted Most Likely to Succeed. She graduated from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, where she won a Truman Scholarship, and was valedictorian. In 1978, she studied for a term at the London School of Economics as part of the Santa Clara's exchange programme through IES Abroad. She then received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Virginia School of Law. After law school she served as a law clerk for Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then joined Schroeder's former firm, the Phoenix law firm Lewis and Roca.

Early political career

In 1991, while a partner with the private Phoenix law firm Lewis and Roca LLP, Napolitano served as an attorney for Anita Hill. Anita Hill testified in the U.S. Senate that then U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her ten years earlier when she was his subordinate at the federal EEOC.

In 1993, Napolitano was appointed by President Bill Clinton as United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. As U.S. Attorney, she was involved in the investigation of Michael Fortier of Kingman, Arizona, in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing. She ran for and won the position of Arizona Attorney General in 1998. Her tenure as attorney general focused on consumer protection issues and improving general law enforcement.

While still serving as attorney general, she spoke at the 2000 Democratic National Convention just three weeks after having a mastectomy. Napolitano recalls that the pain was so unbearable that she couldn't stand up. "Work and family helped me focus on other things while I battled the cancer," says Napolitano. "I am very grateful for all the support I had from family, friends and Arizonans."

In March 2009, Napolitano received the Council on Litigation Management's Professionalism Award, which recognizes and commemorates an individual who has demonstrated the unique ability to lead others by example in the highest standard of their profession.

Governor of Arizona

She narrowly won the Arizona gubernatorial election of 2002 with 46 percent of the vote, succeeding Republican Jane Dee Hull and defeating her Republican opponent, former congressman Matt Salmon, who received 45 percent of the vote. She was Arizona's third female governor and the first woman in the United States to be elected governor to succeed another elected female governor. She spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention after some initially considered her to be a possible running mate for presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election but Kerry selected Sen. John Edwards instead. In November 2005, ''Time'' magazine named her one of the five best governors in the U.S.

As Governor, Napolitano set records for total number of vetoes issued. In 2005, she set a single session record of 58 vetoes, breaking Jane Dee Hull's 2001 record of 28. This was followed in June 2006, less than four years into her term, when she issued her 115th veto and set the all-time record for vetoes by an Arizona governor. The previous record of 114 vetoes was set by Bruce Babbitt during his nine years in office. By the time she left office, the governor had issued 180 vetoes.

In November 2006, Napolitano won the gubernatorial election of 2006, defeating the Republican challenger, Len Munsil, by a nearly 2–1 ratio and becoming the first woman to be re-elected to that office. Arizona's constitution provides a two-consecutive-term term limit for its governors, meaning Napolitano would have been barred from seeking a third term in office in 2010.

In January 2006, she won the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. She was a member of the Democratic Governors Association Executive Committee. Furthermore, she has also served previously as Chair of the Western Governors Association, and the National Governors Association. She served as NGA Chair from 2006 to 2007, and was the first female governor and first governor of Arizona ever to serve in that position.

She introduced a new tradition of interfaith breakfasts inviting clergies and community leaders for prayers before start of every session. In 2005, she gracefully accepted sprinkling of holy Ganges water on her forehead twice along with blessed garlands from Hare Krishna. Further, she was the first ever government official in the world to issue Proclamation for Krishna Janmashtami - the largest Hindu festival celebrating appearance of Lord Krishna. During the Sankirtan in Phoenix, she once stopped by to greet Hare Krishna devotees who were singing the Holy Names of the Lord.

Secretary of Homeland Security

In February 2006, Napolitano was named by The White House Project as one of "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run for president in 2008. On January 11, 2008, Napolitano endorsed then Illinois Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for president. On November 5, 2008, Napolitano was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project. On December 1, 2008, Barack Obama introduced Napolitano as his nominee for United States Secretary of Homeland Security. On January 20, 2009, Napolitano was confirmed, becoming the first woman appointed Secretary in the relatively new department. Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer became the governor of Arizona, as the state does not have a lieutenant governor.

In March 2009, Napolitano told the German news site "Spiegel Online" that while she presumes there is always a threat from terrorism: "I referred to 'man-caused' disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur." In April 2009 Napolitano, trying to defend her plans to thicken US-Canadian border security, claimed incorrectly that September 11 attack perpetrators entered the United States from Canada. Her comments provoked an angry response from the Canadian ambassador, media, and public.

In response to criticism, she later said, "Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there". Though there has only been one case, that of Ahmed Ressam an Algerian citizen who was in Canada illegally.

Right-wing extremism memo controversy

Napolitano was the subject of controversy after a Department of Homeland Security threat assessment report, one of two reports, the other focused on left wing extremism that was issued in January without any controversy, entitled "''Rightwing [sic] Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment''," was made public in April 2009. The report suggested several factors, including the election of the first black or mixed race President in the person of Barack Obama, perceived future gun control measures, illegal immigration, the economic downturn beginning in 2008, the abortion controversy, and disgruntled military veterans' possible vulnerability to recruitment efforts by extremist groups as potential risk factors regarding right-wing extremism recruitment.

On April 16, 2009, the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Christian public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed suit against DHS on behalf of controversial radio talk show host and political commentator Michael Savage, executive director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform Gregg Cunningham, and Iraqi War Marine veteran Kevin Murray. Savage stated that the document "encourages law enforcement officers throughout the nation to target and report citizens to federal officials as suspicious right-wing extremists and potential terrorists because of their political beliefs."

Napolitano made multiple apologies for any offense veterans groups had taken at the reference to veterans in the assessment, and promised to meet with those groups to discuss the issue. The Department of Homeland Security admitted a "breakdown in an internal process" by ignoring objections by the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to an unnamed portion of the document.

While the American Legion reportedly criticized the assessment, Glen M. Gardner Jr., the national commander of the 2.2 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars, defended it generally, saying it "should have been worded differently" but served a vital purpose. "A government that does not assess internal and external security threats would be negligent of a critical public responsibility," he said in a statement.

"The system worked" controversy

Napolitano was criticized for stating in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley that, "the system worked" with regard to an attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 approaching Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day 2009. She later went on NBC's Today Show with host Matt Lauer and admitted that the security system had indeed failed.

The statement by Napolitano to Crowley that received criticism was as follows:

What we are focused on is making sure that the air environment remains safe, that people are confident when they travel. And one thing I'd like to point out is that the system worked. Everybody played an important role here. The passengers and crew of the flight took appropriate action. Within literally an hour to 90 minutes of the incident occurring, all 128 flights in the air had been notified to take some special measures in light of what had occurred on the Northwest Airlines flight. We instituted new measures on the ground and at screening areas, both here in the United States and in Europe, where this flight originated. So the whole process of making sure that we respond properly, correctly and effectively went very smoothly.

In her interview with Lauer, Napolitano said that her earlier statement was "taken out of context" and maintained "air travel is safe," but admitted, "our system did not work in this instance" and no one "is happy or satisfied with that." Lauer asked her whether the system failed up until the moment the bomber tried to blow up the plane, and Napolitano answered, "It did [fail]."

Secure Communities

Secure Communities is a deportation program managed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a subdivision of Homeland Security. Napolitano came under scrutiny for contradicting herself publicly on whether the program is voluntary or mandatory for local jurisdictions to join. On Sept. 7, 2010, Napolitano said in a letter to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren that jurisdictions that wished to withdraw from the program could do so. Yet an October 2010 Washington Post article quoted an anonymous senior ICE official asserting: “Secure Communities is not based on state or local cooperation in federal law enforcement…State and local law enforcement agencies are going to continue to fingerprint people and those fingerprints are forwarded to FBI for criminal checks. ICE will take immigration action appropriately.”

At a press conference days later, Napolitano modified her position: “What my letter said was that we would work with them on the implementation in terms of timing and the like…But we do not view this as an opt-in, opt-out program.” She did not provide legal justification. Meanwhile, in Arlington VA, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution to opt out of SComm. A subordinate DHS employee David Venturella stated at a policy conference: "Have we created some of the confusion out there? Absolutely we have."

Printer bomb attempt

Janet Napolitano has issued a ban for toner & ink cartridges weighing more than one pound on passenger flights, in response to the October 2010 Yemen bomb plot. In response to the printer bomb attempt and the "underwear" bomb attempt of 2009, Napolitano has instituted "enhanced pat downs". These pat downs may include the touching of sensitive areas such as breasts and genitals.

Walmart–DHS partnership

On December 6, 2010, it was announced that Napolitano was again expanding her reach by creating a "partnership" with Walmart. This is a video message from Napolitano on TV screens in Wal-Mart stores playing a "public service announcement" to ask customers to report suspicious activity to a Wal-Mart manager. The rationale is that national security begins at home. Napolitano "compares the undertaking to the Cold War fight against communists."

Tucson memorial

On January 12, 2011, along with President Barack Obama, Napolitano was one of many speakers selected to express sympathies to the community of Tucson, the State of Arizona, and the Nation in a televised memorial for the 2011 Tucson shooting. Napolitano confessed that she was at a loss for words during the painful memorial, and elected to read from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah 40:1-5, 26-31.

Personal life

Napolitano is an avid basketball fan and regularly plays tennis. Whitewater rafting and hiking are among Napolitano's hobbies. She has hiked in Arizona's Superstition Mountains and New Mexico's Sandia Mountains and has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and the Himalayas. Napolitano survived breast cancer that was discovered in 1998.

Electoral history

See also

AHCCCS: Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (state Medicaid program)

AIMS: Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (state standardized test for high school students)

Protect Arizona Now: Proposition 200

Arizona-Mexico Commission

References

External links

Biography at the Department of Homeland Security

NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me guest on ''Not My Job'' segment

|- |- |- {{U.S. Secretary box | before= Michael Chertoff | years= 2009–present | president= Barack Obama | department= Secretary of Homeland Security}} |- |- |-

Category:1957 births Category:American female lawyers Category:American Methodists Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American women state governors Category:Arizona Attorneys General Category:Arizona Democrats Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:Governors of Arizona Category:Living people Category:Obama Administration cabinet members Category:People from Albuquerque, New Mexico Category:People from New York City Category:Politicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Santa Clara University alumni Category:Truman Scholars Category:United States Attorneys for the District of Arizona Category:United States Secretaries of Homeland Security Category:United States Department of Homeland Security officials Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni Category:Women in Arizona politics Category:Women members of the Cabinet of the United States

ar:جانيت نابوليتانو cs:Janet Napolitanová da:Janet Napolitano de:Janet Napolitano es:Janet Napolitano fa:جنت ناپالیتانو fr:Janet Napolitano ko:재닛 나폴리타노 it:Janet Napolitano he:ג'נט נפוליטנו nl:Janet Napolitano ja:ジャネット・ナポリターノ no:Janet Napolitano pl:Janet Napolitano pt:Janet Napolitano ro:Janet Napolitano ru:Наполитано, Джанет simple:Janet Napolitano sh:Janet Napolitano fi:Janet Napolitano sv:Janet Napolitano zh:珍妮特·納波利塔諾

Name	Faisal Shahzad
Birth date	June 30, 1979
Birth place	Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani American
Citizenship	American, formerly Pakistani
Ethnicity	Kashmiri/Pashtun
Known for	Arrested as prime suspect in 2010 Times Square car bomb attempt
Alma mater	Southeastern University; University of Bridgeport (B.A. in computer science and engineering (2002); M.B.A. (2005))
Influences	Anwar al-Awlaki
Occupation	Former financial analyst
Height	5 feet 11 inches
Weight	165 pounds
Religion	Islam
Criminal charge	5 counts of terrorism-related crimes: 1) Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction;2) Attempting to kill and maim people in the U.S.;3) Using and carrying a destructive device;4) Transporting an explosive device;5) Attempting to damage building, vehicles, and other property
Criminal penalty	Life in prison without parole
Criminal status	in prison, being held at ADX Florence in Colorado
Spouse	Huma Asif Mian
Children	2
Parents	Father, former Pakistani Air Force Air Vice Marshal Baharul Haq
Relations	3 siblings }}

Faisal Shahzad (Urdu: ; born , 1979) is a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On , 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt. Throughout his court appearance, Shahzad was unrepentant, and the United States attorney indicated there was no plea deal, so Shahzad faced the maximum sentence, a mandatory life term.

Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the attempt, at EDT on , 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport, after boarding Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai. His final destination had been Islamabad, Pakistan.

A federal complaint was filed on , alleging that Shahzad committed five terrorism-related crimes, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Shahzad waived his constitutional right to a speedy hearing.

Shahzad has reportedly implicated himself in the crimes, and has given information to authorities since his arrest after receiving Miranda warnings. CBS News reported that Shahzad admitted training in bomb-making at a terrorist camp run by a militant Islamist faction in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. As of , Shahzad was continuing to answer questions and provide intelligence to investigators. Over a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot.

On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment in June, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.

Background

Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was born in Pakistan in either Kashmir, Karachi, or Pabbi (a village in Nowshera District east of Peshawar). His father was born in the village of Mohib Banda (near Peshawar). Pakistani government officials said to ''Time'' that Shahzad is of Kashmiri descent. ''Forbes'' reported that he is of Pashtun extraction, and ''The New York Times'' reported that he identified proudly with his tribal Pashtun heritage. He is the youngest of four children.

''Time'' opined that his family's background in northwestern Pakistan meant that he likely spoke Pashto, a rare asset in the training camps compared to other Western volunteers. Faiz Ahmed, a former mayor in Mohib Banda – his ancestral home – and a close friend of his father, said in this regard in an interview with National Public Radio: "This is a tragedy for me and every Pakistani, every Pashtun." Shahzad comes from a wealthy, well-educated family in northwest Pakistan. His father, Baharul Haq, lives in the Hayatabad suburb of Peshawar. His father was a senior official in the Pakistan Air Force, holding the rank of Air Vice-Marshal (the equivalent of a two-star general) before leaving the air force in 1992, and is a deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan. He had begun as a common airman, but became a fighter pilot excelling in aerobatics, and was posted in England and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Shahzad attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, according to documents found outside his Shelton home, and then attended several schools in Pakistan. In high school, he received Ds in English composition and microeconomics. He then enrolled in Greenwich University, a Karachi business school, where he was a mediocre student. He had servants, chaffeurs, and armed guards. He has a Pakistani identification card issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) stating that he is a resident of Karachi. Kifayat Ali, a man who said he is a cousin of Shahzad's father, insisted that Shahzad's family had no political affiliations, adding that the arrest appeared as a "conspiracy so that the [Americans] can bomb more Pashtuns", and that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party [in Pakistan]".

Shahzad studied for five semesters in 1997 and 1998 at the now-defunct Southeastern University in Washington, D.C., where he took mostly business classes, receiving several Cs and Ds, an F in basic statistics, and a grade point average of 2.78. In December 1998 he was granted an F-1 student visa. In 1999 he was placed on a US Customs (later merged into DHS) travel lookout list called the "Traveler Enforcement Compliance System".

In 2000 he transferred to the University of Bridgeport, where more than a third of the students were foreign students. Shahzad's former teachers at the University of Bridgeport said he appeared to be quiet and unremarkable. On weekends, he would go to Bengali-theme nightclubs in New York City. A classmate remembered him watching news footage of the planes hitting the Twin Towers in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and saying: "They had it coming." He received a B.A. in computer applications and information systems, with his parents attending his graduation on , 2002. Just before graduation, in April 2002, he was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers. He remained in the U.S. for three years on that visa, earning an M.B.A at the University of Bridgeport in 2005.

Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst in the accounting department at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics company in Stamford, Connecticut, while he was still working on his master's degree from January 2002 and until , 2006, when he resigned to work elsewhere. He complained to his friends that the company never raised his salary above $50,000.

On December 24, 2004, in an arranged marriage in Peshawar, Pakistan, he married Huma Asif Mian, a Pashtun Colorado-born U.S. citizen who had just graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in Accounting. She and her Pakistani-born parents had lived in Qatar and Colorado; her parents now live in Saudi Arabia. A neighbor recalled Shahzad visited the family only once before she joined him in Connecticut. On her social networking page, Shahzad's wife lists her languages as English, Pashto, Urdu, and French, her religion as Muslim and her political view as "nonpolitical." Her father, Mohammad Asif Mian, is a petroleum engineering expert who has written a number of books and technical manuals, including a best-selling book on Project Economics and Decision Analysis, worked for companies such as Saudi Aramco and Qatar General Petroleum, and has two master's degrees from Colorado School of Mines. After Shahzad was arrested, his father-in-law said: "to go to this extreme, this is unbelievable. He has lovely children. Two really lovely children. As a father I would not be able to afford to lose my children."

He bought a black Mercedes in 2002, as well as a condominium in Norwalk, Connecticut, for $205,000 which he sold in May 2004 to computer consultant George LaMonica for a $56,000 profit. LaMonica was interviewed afterward by investigators from the national Joint Terrorism Task Force, regarding details of the transactions and information about Shahzad.

Shahzad was granted a permanent residence status (a "green card") in January 2006. He bought a new single-family three-bedroom home in Shelton, Connecticut, just outside Bridgeport in 2006, at which the family lived. From mid-June 2006 to June 2009, Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst, a position he told a friend paid $70,000, for Affinion Group, an affinity marketing and consulting business then located at 100 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut.

He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on , 2009. A few weeks later, he abruptly quit his job and stopped making payments on his house, defaulting on the $218,400 mortgage. ''The New York Times'' observed: "[w]hile in recent years Mr. Shahzad struggled to pay his bills, it is unclear that his financial hardship played a significant role in his radicalization. He still owned his home and held a full-time job when he began signaling to friends that he wanted to leave the United States." His marriage became strained in 2009 as he pressured his wife to wear a hijab and insisted that the family return to Pakistan while he searched for a job in the Middle East. On , he telephoned his wife from JFK Airport, saying he was leaving for Pakistan, and it was her choice whether or not to follow him. She refused, and instead went with their two children to live in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia with her parents.

He then defaulted on his mortgage, and was sued by the bank in September 2009 as it foreclosed on his home.

''The New York Times'' reported that on , 2006, Shahzad sent a long e-mail message to a number of friends. Writing that he understood that Islam forbids killing innocents, he asked those who insisted only on "peaceful protest":

Can you tell me a way to save the oppressed? And a way to fight back when rockets are fired at us and Muslim blood flows? Everyone knows how the Muslim country bows down to pressure from west. Everyone knows the kind of humiliation we are faced with around the globe.

That year he began to become more religious. He began to pray five times a day, at mosques in Stamford, Norwalk, and Bridgeport.

In 2008, while in Pakistan, he asked his father for permission to fight in Afghanistan, but his father denied his request. In April 2009 he e-mailed friends his criticism of the views of a moderate Pakistani politician, writing that the politician had "bought into the Western jargon" of calling the mujahedeen "extremist", and urging his friends to find "a proper Sheikh to understand the Quran". Asked which sheikhs he followed, he said: "My sheikhs are in the field." He also wrote: "Allah commands about fighting for Islam."

Attempted bombing of Times Square

Reported preparations

On July 3, 2009, he reportedly traveled to Pakistan and is believed to have visited Peshawar, a gateway to the militant-occupied tribal regions of Pakistan and stayed there from to . While in Pakistan, he said he trained at a terrorist training camp in what was believed to be Waziristan, according to law enforcement officials.

Shahzad's most recent stay in Pakistan lasted for five months; he returned to the U.S. on , 2010, on an Emirates flight from Dubai.

Shahzad was believed to have bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder which was used in the car bomb attempt within three weeks prior to the incident. The vehicle was purchased through an ad on Craigslist, for $1,300 which Shahzad reportedly paid a Connecticut woman for in $100 bills. The money was paid and the car turned over at a Connecticut shopping center, without any formal paperwork being exchanged.

Arrest and charges

Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the incident, at EDT on , 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport, as he sat on board Emirate Airlines Flight 202 to Dubai after his flight came within moments of taking off but was recalled to the gate. His final destination was to have been Islamabad, Pakistan.

Lapses in security allowed Shahzad to board the plane. He had been placed on the no-fly list on Monday, at when investigators became more certain he was a suspect. Investigators then lost track of Shahzad before he drove to the airport on the evening of , and did not know he was planning to leave the country. Emirates airline agents did not check the no-fly list for added names at when Shahzad made a reservation, or at when he purchased the ticket at JFK airport with cash. Shahzad was later allowed to board the plane. However, a routine post boarding check at revealed that Shahzad was on the no-fly list. Within minutes, agents recalled the plane to the gate, boarded the plane and arrested him.

Shortly after the arrest, Attorney General Holder said "Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country". Holder later said that Shahzad had admitted involvement in the incident, and that Shahzad was providing useful information.

According to Deputy FBI Director John Pistole, Shahzad was initially interrogated under the public safety exception to the Miranda rule, cooperated with authorities, and was later read his Miranda rights. He continued to cooperate and provide information after he was read the rights.

The FBI and NYPD searched Shahzad's Bridgeport, Connecticut, home on , at Sheridan Street and Boston Avenue, removing filled plastic bags. Materials related to the bomb were found in his apartment, including boxes that had contained the alarm clocks, and his car at the airport had a 9 mm Kel-Tec SUB-2000 carbine with five full magazines of ammunition, according to law enforcement officials.

The complaint filed in federal court on , 2010 charges Shahzad with five counts of terrorism-related crimes: 1) Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, 2) Attempting to kill and maim people in the U.S., 3) Using and carrying a destructive device, 4) Transporting an explosive device, and, 5) Attempting to damage building, vehicles, and other property. He faced up to life in prison.

On May 9, Attorney General Eric Holder announced pending Obama Administration Miranda-warning legislation in the context of the Shahzad case. On , Shahzad pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.

As of June 2010, Shahzad, Federal Bureau of Prisons #63510-054, was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City.

International ties and investigation

It was reported that Pakistani authorities arrested a number of suspects in the investigation of the attempted car bombing, including two or three people at a house where Shahzad is said to have stayed. Pakistani intelligence officials said a man named Tauseef, who was a friend of Shahzad, was detained in Karachi in connection with the case. Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat, said Pakistani officials arrested "alleged facilitators" as part of a "far broader investigation".

According to the ''Wall Street Journal'', Shahzad received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are made up overwhelmingly of Pashtun tribesmen. According to CBS News, Shahzad has been on the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list since 1999 because he has been bringing in large amounts of cash (approximately $80,000) into the United States.

United States Attorney General Eric Holder stated "the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack. We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it and that he was working at their direction".

Shahzad told interrogators that he was "inspired by" radical Anwar al-Awlaki to take up the cause of al-Qaeda. Shahzad made contact over the internet with al-Awlaki, the Pakistani Taliban's Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed in a drone strike in 2009), and a web of jihadists, ''ABC News'' reported.

According to a report of Al-Arabiya, Shahzad had recorded a suicide video in which he declared that he planned the attack as revenge for the U.S. war in Afghanistan. In this video, that was made before the attempted attack, Shahzad was dressed in traditional and tribal Pashtun clothing and was seen sitting with an assault rifle. In his message he praised Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in August 2009, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq who died at the hands of U.S. led-troops in 2006, as "martyrs".

"The attack on the United States will be a revenge for all the mujahedeen and oppressed Muslims," Shahzad said in the tape, according to Al-Arabiya. "Eight years have passed since the Afghanistan war and you shall see how the Muslim war has just begun and how Islam will spread across the world."

Conviction

On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole by a federal judge in New York City. When asked by the judge "Didn't you swear allegiance to this country?" Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen replied, "I sweared, but I didn't mean it."

Shahzad, wearing a white prayer cap, smiled and said "''Allahu Akbar''" after hearing his sentence, and said he would "sacrifice a thousand lives for Allah." He predicted that "War with Muslims has just begun," and that "the defeat of the US is imminent, ''inshallah'' [God willing]."

When asked by the judge at his trial as to how he could justify planting a bomb near innocent women and children, Shahzad responded by saying that US drone strikes "don't see children, they don't see anybody. They kill women, children, they kill everybody."

See also

David Headley, Chicago-based Pakistani-American, and half-brother of Pakistani Prime Minister's spokesman, made contact with al-Qaeda during trips to Waziristan and conspired with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani ex-military officers to launch the 2008 Mumbai attacks and other terrorist activity

Aafia Siddiqui, U.S.-educated Pakistani alleged al-Qaeda member, arrested in Afghanistan with bomb-making documents and convicted in February 2010 of attempted murder and armed assault

Najibullah Zazi, U.S. resident and al-Qaeda member, pleaded guilty in 2010 of planning suicide bombings of New York City subway

Operation Arabian Knight, 2010 arrest of two Muslim men from New Jersey on terrorism charges

2009 detention of Americans by Pakistan, five Muslim Americans charged by Pakistan in 2010 with terrorism-related offenses

Farooque Ahmed, Pakistani American arrested for plotting bombing of Washington Metro

Homegrown terrorism

References

External links

Extensive background information on Shahzad conviction and related cases, The Hague Justice Portal

Video:Al Arabiya airs failed Times Square bomber tape, Al Arabiya

"Faisal Shahzad Facebook mixup highlights hazards of Web journalism", ''The Christian Science Monitor'', , 2010 Links to U.S. statutes cited in criminal complaint of , 2010

*18 USC 2332a (a)(2)(C)

*18 USC 921)

*18 USC 2332b (a)(1)(B)

*18 USC 2332b (b)(1)(B)

*firearm

*18 USC 924 (c)(1)(A) and (c)(1)(B)(ii)

*18 USC 844(d)

*18 USC 844(i)

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American criminals Category:American Islamists Category:American people of Pakistani descent Category:Anwar al-Awlaki Category:Car and truck bombings in the United States Category:Islamist terrorism in the United States Category:Kashmiri people Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Pakistani emigrants to the United States Category:Pakistani Islamists Category:Pashtun people Category:People from Fairfield County, Connecticut Category:People imprisoned on charges of terrorism Category:University of Bridgeport alumni Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government

ar:فيصل شهزاد de:Faisal Shazad fr:Faisal Shahzad ms:Faisal Shahzad ru:Шахзад, Файзал sk:Faisal Shahzad