It was September 2009—a few days before
the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks—when the Denver Joint Terrorism Task
Force (JTTF) received word that a Colorado resident and al Qaeda recruit was
about to carry out a major terrorist attack. The jihadist needed to be located
with the utmost urgency.
“We got the call on Labor Day,” recalled
Special Agent John Scata, who supervises one of Denver’s two international
terrorism squads, “and we immediately began working around the clock.”
Using the JTTF’s multi-agency approach
to conducting investigations and gathering and sharing intelligence, task force
members located Najibullah Zazi and helped track him to New York City, where he
intended to become a suicide bomber in the subway system around the time of the
9/11 anniversary. “If we hadn’t found him in Denver as quickly as we did,” Scata
said, “he might have gone into the wind and things could have turned out
differently.”
Zazi and two of his high school
classmates had previously traveled to Pakistan to receive al Qaeda training,
including how to make bombs. His self-described plot to “weaken America” by
killing innocent subway riders has been characterized as one of the most
serious terrorist threats to the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks.
“Zazi is part of the spread of homegrown
violent extremism in America,” said James Yacone, special agent in charge of
our Denver office. “He was trained internationally but he became radicalized in
the U.S. through the Internet. He was planning and facilitating his attack in
Colorado, but his target was New York City.”
The plot was foiled thanks to an all-out
effort by law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world. Much of
that effort was focused through Denver’s JTTF, which is comprised of more than
20 local, state, and federal agencies. There are actually three separate squads
that form the task force—two that deal with international terrorism and one
that concentrates on domestic terrorism.
Begun in 1994, Denver has one of the
Bureau’s oldest JTTFs (our New York office established the first in 1980). “Our
task force is very active,” said Yacone. “The Zazi case was well publicized,
but our squads handle many other counterterrorism investigations—international
and domestic. Protecting the country from terror attacks is the FBI’s number
one priority.”
The JTTF’s team concept works well,
Yacone explained. “All the local and state police officers and detectives on
the task force have the same clearances that our agents do. They sit side by
side, work together, and have the same access to all our resources.” More than
100 FBI-led JTTFs located around the country are organized the same way.
John Nagengast, a detective with
Colorado’s Aurora Police Department, is a JTTF task force officer who worked on
the Zazi case. “I am basically a local cop who deals with local crime,” he
said. “Working the Zazi case opened up my world to the threat of terrorism.”
Nagengast explained that “a lot of
entities were involved in the investigation, including the military and the
intelligence community—and the Denver JTTF was central to the operation. We
were ground zero for the Zazi investigation.” He added, “I got to see very
quickly how the Bureau, locals, and state law enforcement came together with
agencies around the world to prevent this attack. It was amazing to be a part
of it.”
Denver:
Crossroads of the Country
Denver’s JTTF is extremely active, said
Special Agent in Charge James Yacone, because “we have a very large territory,
a significant international footprint, and we are geographically located at the
crossroads of the U.S.”
Contained within the Denver office’s
area of responsibility are:
- Seven major military bases;
- About 400 defense contractors with
security clearances who work on classified government projects;
- A constant stream of international
visitors and students who come to the region for business, research, and
academic pursuits; and
- More than 1,000 high-tech companies.
“All of those things require us to
maintain a constant vigilance against terrorists and other extremists who would
do us harm,” Yacone said. “That’s why the JTTF is critical to our operations
and to the safety of the country.”
Next: The Colorado fusion center—a key
JTTF partner.
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