NEFA Foundation: "Target: America" - Attempt to Attack Federal Building in Springfield, IL
By Madeleine Gruen
The NEFA Foundation has released the 23rd report in the "Target: America" series; a PowerPoint presentation examining the September 23, 2009, attempt by Michael C. Finton (aka Talib Islam) to trigger a bomb packed in a van that he parked outside of the Paul Findley Federal Building in Springfield, Illinois.
Finton, a prison convert to Islam, had been closely monitored by the Springfield JTTF for almost two years prior to the terror attack attempt. He came to the JTTF’s attention within a year of his release from prison after a seven-year long period of incarceration for aggravated assault and battery. Finton's parole officer notified the JTTF when he became concerned by Finton’s overt admiration of “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh. Finton had openly expressed his desire to travel overseas for jihad training. Once it appeared that Finton intended to put his words into action, the JTTF first introduced a confidential informant, and then an undercover operative, in order to control Finton’s activities, through to the point of the attempted attack on the federal building.
Although it does not appear as though Finton would have been capable of pulling off a major terrorist attack on his own, this case supports the view that even those who have not received training, or who have not had direct interaction with jihadis, can hold a deep enough level of dedication to follow through with a major attack. It also shows that even untrained radicalized individuals are able to apply some basic operation tactics to a plan based on examples from terrorist attacks that have taken place overseas, and examples featured in videos of attacks that are circulated on the Internet by Al Qaida and other terrorist groups.
The PowerPoint detailing the attempted attack on the Findley Federal Building can be viewed here.
