WASHINGTON – According to an FBI press release, a resident of Lubbock, Texas who is a Saudi Arabian citizen, was arrested in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device and his research of potential U.S. targets.
Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued the following statement.
“I commend the FBI for catching this terrorist suspect before lives were lost.
“It appears this suspect was in the U.S. on a student visa from his native Saudi Arabia. This plot is yet another example of radicalized extremists working to do us harm from within our borders. I am alarmed at the growth of homegrown terrorist plots. Between May 2009 and November 2010, there were arrests made in 22 ‘homegrown’ plots by American citizens or legal permanent residents. By comparison, in the more than seven years from September 11, 2001, through May 2009, there were 21 such plots.
“As our committee’s prior report on the Internet’s effect on violent radicalization and our more recent report on the terrorist attack at Fort Hood demonstrate, identifying future terrorist threats, including threats from lone wolves, requires careful coordination at all levels of government and effective information sharing."
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