Charles Faddis spent years thinking like a terrorist when he worked for the CIA, looking for vulnerabilities in other nations’ infrastructure and learning how to exploit them. Now a private consultant, he writes in his most recent book, Willful Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion of Homeland Security, that the country is surprisingly vulnerable to a catastrophic terrorist attack. Just days before the attacks against the Moscow subway, he talked with U.S. News about potential gaps in homeland defenses, particularly public transportation. Excerpts: Read the rest of this entry »

Terrorism cases since 9/11 have ranged from the criminally mundane to the James Bond-ishly exotic—but few have been as puzzling as the story of Colleen LaRose, a 46-year-old Pennsylvania woman who used the screen name JihadJane. LaRose was indicted by a federal court last week on charges relating to the planned murder of a Swedish cartoonist famous for penning cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad as a dog. Several other people were arrested apparently linked to the alleged plot. LaRose was arrested in mid-October in connection with the case and has been held without bail. Read the rest of this entry »