My latest Threatcon column was posted on Counterterrorism magazine’s website.
You
can read the column via the link below or the text below:
In the latest issue of the Journal, I covered the terrorist plot against the Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois. Xuanyu Harry Pang, a former U.S, Navy sailor, planned the attack purportedly on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
You can read the piece via the below link:
Pang
pleaded guilty to conspiring to and attempting to willfully injure and destroy
national defense material, national defense premises, and national defense
utilities, with the intent to injure, interfere with, and obstruct the national
defense of the United States.
The
story was of particular interest to me as I attended “Boot Camp” at the Great
Lakes Naval Recruit Training Center in 1970.
I spent more than 37 years living and working on military bases. Beginning with my selling Philadelphia newspapers as a teenager at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the mid-1960s, I went on to serve as a young, enlisted sailor on a variety of bases both overseas and in America. I later served on military bases as a Defense Department civilian employee.
Performing security work as the administrative officer of a Defense Department command on the compound of the Defense Personnel Support Center in South Philadelphia, locally known as the “Quartermaster,” and later at the Naval Support Activity in Northeast Philadelphia, I helped plan and execute security policies and procedures to protect the property and personnel on the military bases.
So, I was concerned when it was reported that yet another man was arrested for planning a terrorist attack on a military base in Michigan.
Last month the Justice
Department announced that Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed
Said (seen in the above photo), 19, a former member of the Michigan Army National Guard, was
arrested after he attempted to carry out
a plan to conduct a mass-shooting at a U.S. military base in Warren, Michigan
on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a foreign terrorist
organization.
Said is
charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist
organization and distributing information related to a destructive device.
“This
defendant is charged with planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here
at home for ISIS,” said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National
Security Division. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, we
foiled the attack before lives were lost. We will not hesitate to bring
the full force of the Department to find and prosecute those who seek to harm
our men and women in the military and to protect all Americans.”
U.S.
Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan added, “ISIS
is a brutal terrorist organization which seeks to kill Americans. Helping ISIS
or any other terrorist organization prepare or carry out acts of violence is
not only a reprehensible crime – it is a threat to our entire nation and way of
life. Our office will not tolerate such crimes or threats, and we will use the
full weight of the law against anyone who engages in terrorism.”
Assistant
Director Donald M. Holstead of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division noted, “The
defendant allegedly tried to carry out an attack on a military facility in
support of ISIS, which was disrupted thanks to the good work of the FBI and our
partners. The FBI is steadfast in our commitment to detect and stop terrorist
plans aimed at the American homeland or at U.S. interests overseas.”
According
to the Justice Department, Said informed two undercover law enforcement
officers of a plan he had devised and formulated to conduct a mass-shooting at
the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the
Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan.
“In
April 2025, the two undercover officers indicated they intended to carry out
Said’s plan at the direction of ISIS. In response, Said provided material
assistance to the attack plan, including providing armor-piercing ammunition
and magazines for the attack, flying his drone over TACOM to conduct
operational reconnaissance, training the undercover employees on firearms and
the construction of Molotov cocktails for use during the attack, and planning
numerous details of the attack including how to enter TACOM and which building
to target,” the Justice Department stated.
“On May 13th, the scheduled day of the attack, Said was arrested after he traveled to an area near TACOM and launched his drone in support of the attack plan,” the Justice Department stated. “He will make his initial court appearance today in the Eastern District of Michigan. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will be asking the court to hold Said in pretrial detention because of his danger to the community and the risk that he will flee.”
Based on the charges, Said faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count if convicted.
“The
arrest of this former soldier is a sobering reminder of the importance of our
counterintelligence efforts to identify and disrupt those who would seek to
harm our nation,” said Brigadier General Rhett R. Cox, the commanding general
of Army Counterintelligence Command. “I commend the tireless work of our
special agents and FBI partners who worked together to investigate and
apprehend this individual. We will continue to collaborate with our partners to
prevent similar incidents in the future. We urge all soldiers to remain
vigilant and report any suspicious activity to their chain of command, as the
safety and security of our Army and our nation depends on our collective
efforts to prevent insider threats.”
Paul
Davis’ Threatcon column covers crime, espionage and terrorism.
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