My Threatcon Column: Another Terrorism Plot Against A U.S. Military Base

My latest Threatcon column was posted on Counterterrorism magazine’s website.

You can read the column via the link below or the text below:

IACSP - ThreatCon Articles

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:

Paul Davis On Crime: Raven Pleads Guilty: My Counterterrorism Magazine Piece On The Former Navy Sailor Who Planned An Attack On The Great Lakes Naval Station

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 13^th, 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.