To an amateur eye, Ahmad Khan Rahami’s travel history might appear to be a red flag: He had travelled to Pakistan, the home of al-Qaeda, four times between 2005 and 2014. The last time he stayed for a year.
So Rahami’s arrest in the bombings last weekend in New York and New Jersey — and the revelation that he cited jihadi leaders in his journal — has raised an obvious question: Did the U.S. government miss something?
Possibly. But Rahami’s extended family, originally from Afghanistan, lives in Pakistan, and he told customs officials on his return from his trips that he had been visiting family, officials said. He had married a Pakistani woman during a 2011 visit. In 2014, he had to arrange a U.S. passport for their baby, born that year in Pakistan. Both are plausible explanations for an extended stay. An initial review of the government’s handling of Rahami’s travel, based on records described by law enforcement officials, suggests no obvious lapses.In 2006 and 2011, Rahami was subjected to extra airport screening, but no further consequences, when he returned to the United States, officials said.
Rahami’s arrival at Kennedy International Airport in March 2014 appears to have received the most scrutiny. Because he had arrived on a one-way ticket from Pakistan — a trigger for extra attention — he was questioned again in a secondary interview
Customs officers who spoke with him thought information from the interview should be shared more broadly, so they forwarded a report to the National Targeting Center, an analysis hub run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The centre, near Washington, was set up after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and became part of the customs and border agency in 2002. Its operations were stepped up further after the so-called underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to blow up an airliner as it prepared to land in Detroit.
For years after the 2001 attacks, one of the FBI’s primary concerns was trying to catch Americans travelling to Pakistan to join al-Qaeda, in an effort to disrupt recruiting networks. Today, by contrast, the bureau is most intently focused on home-grown violent extremists. Travel to so-called hot spots no longer stands out as an automatic sign of danger, especially when there is a reasonable explanation.
“It is an indicator, but you don’t even need to travel anymore to conduct an attack,” said Brenda Heck, a former senior FBI counterterrorism agent who retired in 2012. “It is less now of an indicator now than when I was working there.” — The New York Times News Service
