Afghan National Arrested for Plotting an Election Day Terrorist Attack

[putnam6]

Me too! Welll, somewhat -- they've always been a little, um, "proactive". There's many cases you can point to where a good argument could be made that the FBI just set someone up for a fall and actually created the problem they're tasked with defending against.

While this case may be that, it's not so cut and dry. I've read the complaint now. Tawhedi certainly seems like a would-be terrorist. From what I gleaned, though, there's no evidence he was any kind of "sleeper" or had any specific plans before he came to the agency's attention. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it seems like he raised red flags when he contributed to some overseas group that as part of their operations, gave funds to nastyfolk. Some purported "charity". I don't see any indication that he directly or even knowingly funded nastystuff, there. Then, a few months later there's contact on Telegram between him and 'Malik', who seems to be someone the FBI busted who is now cooperative with the agency. How much 'Malik' led him down the primrose path and who initially contacted who is left vague.

Tawhedi definately seems to have had an anti-American grudge. Lots of stuff that isn't actually a crime to have, but... well... I'm sort of glad the agency was alert to. I do think they went over the line here:
I mean, that's stretching it, right? And it in fact makes me wonder how far they're stretching the rest of their narrative, too.

But all that aside and acknowledging that they've got a seemingly valid case here, I do think that these things act on multiple levels, and that, valid or not, this situation may be being used politically in invalid ways, which unfortunately the agency has a history of.  Wray's comments that he's "ISIS inspired" and "conspiring" seem to point at definite existence of a larger plot, even if that's not what he technically said, and while it may be unintentional those are just the kind of fear-mongering games we've become sensitive to, and it's not out of bounds to be suspicious and call them on that.

Well, it gets back to why are TPTB letting a person with an anti-American grudge in the country in the first place. If we are going to continue to let millions in we need a vetting process so our FBI isn't overwhelmed by international threats when they seem already overwhelmed by domestic ones.