The planned “attack” was going to use remote controlled toy planes laden with C4 explosives targeted at the Capitol Building and the Pentagon. 25-year old Massachusetts resident Rezwan Ferdaus was arrested by the FBI today after giving them plans and indications that he was serious about his plot. Reportedly Rezwan began his “jihad” against the United States in early 2010 and had even traveled to Washington, D.C. to take pictures of his planned targets. After modifying cell phones to act as electronic triggers for the bombs, he gave these modified phones to FBI agents who he thought were members of Al-Qaeda. Beginning in January of 2011, Ferdaus began discussing his plans with the undercover FBI agents and was eager to see how effective his plans would be in terms of casualties. Ferdaus planned on using Google Earth to obtain the exact coordinates for his attacks and specifically planned for one attack to have a psychological effect while the other would have a collateral effect in how many casualties it generated. According to Talking Points Memo (which also has the affidavit of the Special Agent embedded on the site), the FBI agents gave Ferdaus multiple opportunities to abandon his plan yet he was determined to carry through his mission. Not only was he dedicated to his terror plot, but Ferdaus was also painstakingly detailed in the documents and plans he drew up as shown in evidence submitted by the FBI against him. It has been argued before that the real future of terror may lie in the ability of individuals, operating in an atomistic fashion, to carry out the most horrific plots. As shown by the actions of Anders Behring Breivik in Norway, determined and sadistic individuals can succeed where terrorist groups may have difficulty.

[Talking Points Memo]