• Alleged Federal Reserve bomber is victim of 'racist conspiracy', father says

    AFP - Getty Images

    Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested in Manhattan after he tried to detonate what he thought was a live bomb, but was actually a dummy provided in a sting operation, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

    By Reuters

    NEW YORK — A Bangladeshi man arrested in a sting operation denied on Tuesday charges that he attempted to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York last month with what authorities say he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb.

    During a brief hearing in Brooklyn federal court, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, pleaded not guilty to a two-count indictment charging him with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, al-Qaida. He faces life in prison if convicted.

     


    Nafis appeared in court wearing a tan, prison jumpsuit and did not speak during the hearing. His lawyer and a lawyer for the government, James Loonam, said discussions were being held about a possible plea negotiation.

    His lawyer and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment to reporters.

    From Bangladesh, the suspect's father has denied his son was involved and said he was the victim of a "racist conspiracy."

    Nafis was arrested on Oct. 17 after pulling up to the Federal Reserve near Wall Street and attempting to detonate what he believed to be a van packed with explosives.

    Quazi Nafis, 21, the former student accused of plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve, had tried to find likeminded people on Facebook to join him in his violent jihad. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    The inert explosives had been provided to Nafis by an undercover agent as part of a sting operation, federal authorities said.

    A criminal complaint unsealed last month against Nafis said he traveled to the United States in 2012, and eventually moved to Queens, New York.

    The complaint alleged he scouted out targets for a potential attack, considering the New York Stock Exchange and a high-ranking government official identified as U.S. President Barack Obama. He eventually settled on the Federal Reserve Bank, the complaint said.

    Federal Reserve plot suspect thought he had 1,000-pound bomb

    Nafis attempted to recruit others to his plan, claiming he was in contact with al-Qaida operatives, the complaint said.

    One of the individuals he brought onboard was an undercover agent working for the FBI, who monitored Nafis' activities and helped arm him with the inoperable explosives, federal authorities said.

    Nafis is scheduled to appear next in court on Jan. 9.

    NBC News security analyst Michael Leiter discusses Quazi Mohammad Reswanul Ahsan Nafis' alleged attempt to blow up the New York Federal Reserve, including how the FBI helped identify him early as a radicalized student.

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  • U.S. attorney: Fed terror suspect one of most dangerous since 9/11

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    By Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz

    AFP - Getty Images

    Quazi Nafis, 21, the former student accused of plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve.

    The student from Bangladesh who allegedly plotted to set off a truck bomb outside the New York Federal Reserve Bank is one of the most dangerous terrorists the United States has faced since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. attorney handling the case said Friday.

    “He came here wanting to carry out a terrorist attack and he came here already radicalized,” said U.S attorney Loretta Lynch.  She added Mohammed Nafis is likely more dangerous than the group of terrorists in the 2009 Zazi suicide bomb plot who targeted New York City’s subway system.


    “I would say (Nafis) was as dangerous if not more so than the Zazi members,” Lynch said. “Nothing was going to stop him. This defendant was thinking ahead about how if he survives he can carry out bigger and better plots in the future.”

    Speaking out for the first time, Lynch said the feds were a bit lucky that Nafis contacted an informant about building a terror cell to carry out bombings in New York.  She said Nafis was plotting and reaching out to others weeks before the FBI knew he was in the country.

    “This defendant came here to build his terror network.  It was only through some luck that he did make a connection through law enforcement and that we were then able to pretend to join his group.”

    Nafis was arrested Wednesday morning after parking a van he thought was loaded with more than 1,000 pounds of explosives. But the device was inert because the FBI had secretly provided some non-working components. Officials insist the public was not in any immediate danger as Nafis was being closely monitored.

    Lynch said the investigation continues into whether Nafis had al Qaeda contacts overseas. She said he did try to recruit others here in the United States but was not immediately successful. And she pointed out he thought he had the FBI undercover agent as a terrorist accomplice.

    FBI, NYPD and Homeland Security officials have said Nafis was radicalized by watching online jihadist videos and reading al Qaeda’s “Inspire” Magazine.

    “He was not someone who learned sitting at the feet of bin Laden but he was inspired by him,” Lynch said.

    Investigators said he was capable of building a bomb and had been mapping targets for weeks.

    Overseas, relatives of Nafis said he was a good man who must have been somehow set up. Lynch said, ”It’s not the government that is targeting these young people. It is al Qaeda that is targeting these people. And we’ve got to break that hold.”

    Jonathan Dienst is WNBC's chief investigative correspondent. Shimon Prokupecz is a WNBC investigative producer.

     

  • Plot to attack Federal Reserve in NYC: Suspect thought he had 1,000-pound bomb, authorities say

    By Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

    Updated at 8 p.m. ET: NEW YORK - A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation, authorities said.

    Quazi Nafis, 21, the former student accused of plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve, had tried to find likeminded people on Facebook to join him in his violent jihad. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    The suspect, 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a student visa in January for the specific purpose of launching a terror attack here, authorities said. He allegedly told an undercover agent last month that he hoped the attack would disrupt the presidential election, saying "You know what, this election might even stop," according to the criminal complaint against him.


    "He clearly had the intent of creating mayhem here," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters Wednesday, saying his actions went "way past aspirational." 

    The complaint said Nafis wrote a statement claiming responsibility for what he thought would be the Fed attack, saying he wanted to "destroy America" by going after its economy. He referred to "our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden" in the statement, which was stored on a thumb drive.

    More about the alleged plot on NBCNewYork.com

    He also proposed various other targets beyond the Fed building at 33 Liberty St., just blocks from the World Trade Center site, prosecutors said. He considered targeting a "high-ranking U.S. official" as well as the New York Stock Exchange.

    NBC News security analyst Michael Leiter discusses Quazi Mohammad Reswanul Ahsan Nafis' alleged attempt to blow up the New York Federal Reserve, including how the FBI helped identify him early as a radicalized student.

    Kelly said he knew who the official was but refused to name the person, saying only that any details not in the complaint would be revealed in future court proceedings.

    Nafis, who lives in Jamaica, Queens, attended Southeast Missouri State University for a semester, studying cybersecurity as a sophomore from January through May 2012, a school spokesman said. He sought a transfer to a New York City ESL program and left Missouri after the spring, according to a law enforcement official. 

    The FBI has arrested a 21-year-old man from Bangladesh who was riding in a van carrying a powerful bomb meant for the Federal Reserve in Manhattan. Federal agents say the suspect came to the U.S. in January on a student visa. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    Federal criminal complaint filed against Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafi (PDF)

    He allegedly sought out al-Qaida contacts to help him, unknowingly recruiting an FBI source in the process. At that point, the FBI and NYPD began monitoring him as he developed the plot, prosecutors said.

    This Twitter profile picture, obtained by AFP, allegedly shows Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis of Bangladesh.

    An undercover FBI agent posed as an al-Qaida facilitator, supplying him with 20 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives to use in building his bomb. Nafis also visited the Lower Manhattan site multiple times as he planned the attack, officials said.

    The complaint said he told an agent in July that he wanted "something very big ... that will shake the whole country."

    Prosecutors say Nafis met the agent Wednesday morning and put the bomb inside a van before driving to the Fed building, assembling the detonator while he drove.

    The pair parked the van by the Fed, got out and walked to a hotel, where Nafis covered his face, put on sunglasses and recorded a video statement he meant to be released after the attack. He then tried to detonate the bomb through a cell phone detonator, officials said.

    More on NBCNewYork.com: Man pleads guilty in plot to kill Saudi ambassador

    Law enforcement officials stress that the plot was a sting operation monitored by the FBI, Homeland Security and NYPD and the public was never at risk. The materials he believed were explosives had been rendered inoperable, officials said. 

    Nafis was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida. His attorney declined comment after a court appearance.

    "Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure, " said Mary Galligan, FBI acting assistant director in charge.

    “The defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan," said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. "The defendant thought he was striking a blow to the American economy. He thought he was directing confederates and fellow believers. At every turn, he was wrong, and his extensive efforts to strike at the heart of the nation’s financial system were foiled by effective law enforcement.” 

    Jonathan Dienst is WNBC's chief investigative correspondent. Shimon Prokupecz is a WNBC investigative producer.

    The FBI and NYPD arrest a suspected terrorist involved in an apparent plot to attack the Federal Reserve of New York, reports WNBC's Jonathan Dienst.

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  • Sharp drop in jobless rate raises questions for economists

    Andrew Burton / Getty Images

    A "Pink Slip" protest in New York last month aimed to keep the focus firmly on the problem of unemployment. The economy has been adding about 200,000 jobs a month -- not enough to make a serious dent in long-term unemployment.

    By John W. Schoen, NBC News

    Something in Friday’s employment data won't add up.

    For the past 50 years, it’s been widely assumed that the jobless rate can’t fall much unless the economy expands faster than its normal pace. Anything less only creates enough jobs to keep up with the growth of the labor force -- not absorb the millions left unemployed by the latest downturn.

    But over the past six months, the U.S. unemployment rate has surprised economists by rapidly falling to 8.3 percent from 9.1 percent even as the economy has yet to get back up to pre-recession speed. According to the textbooks, that’s not supposed to happen.

    The unexplained drop has touched off a debate among dismal scientists, who have gone back to their chalkboards to try to figure out what is happening.

    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently sought to reassure his fellow forecasters that their textbooks weren’t out of date. In a widely followed speech, Bernanke argued that the unexpected, sudden drop in the jobless rate may simply represent the flip side of an equally extraordinary surge in layoffs in 2008 and 2009, as employers hunkered down after the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression.

    “Employers reduced their workforces at an unusually rapid rate near the business cycle trough,” Bernanke told a meeting of the National Association for Business Economics, “perhaps because they feared an even more severe contraction to come or, with credit availability sharply curtailed, they were trying to conserve available cash.”

    Now that the worst of the crisis has passed, Bernanke suggested, employers have quickly reversed course and brought some of those workers back onto their payrolls. The result, in effect, is a short-term surge in hiring that doesn’t represent the longer-term pace of job creation.

    Private economists have considered other theories.

    Some argue the economy may be growing faster than the official numbers suggest. That view has been supported by recent data on consumer spending, including a strong rebound in car sales and early signs that the housing market is beginning to find a bottom. Several surveys also point to improved confidence among consumers and business managers.

    Here's where it gets a bit technical.

    Most analysts look at gross domestic product as the best measure of how fast the economy is growing (or shrinking during times of recession). Some argue it might be better to look at gross domestic income, which tracks changes in wages and profits rather than  the value of goods and services produced.

    “That measure showed more than 4 percent growth in the fourth quarter compared to GDP growth of 3 percent,” said Goldman Sachs economist Andrew Tilton. “So one piece of the explanation may be that the recent GDP growth data may have slightly understated the rate of recent economic growth.”

    Unseasonal adjustment
    Another explanation may be that the sharp drop in the unemployment rate this winter painted a brighter picture of the job market than it should have.

    Like many economic statistics, the government’s employment data is adjusted to try to factor out recurring seasonal trends, such as the surge in temporary hiring by retailers and the postal service during the holiday season. The purpose is to get a better idea of underlying, longer-lasting trends.

    Some economists suspect that a statistical quirk in seasonal adjustments may have overstated the rebound in the job market. Because the 2007-09 recession was unusually deep, and the depth of it came in the winter months, the seasonal comparisons may now be skewed, according to Wells Fargo economist Joe Seydl.

    The sharp drop in the employment rate also comes as many would-be job seekers have given up looking for work, which tends to lower the total percentage of those who are officially defined as unemployed. The labor participation rate been fallen steadily since the recession began in 2007 and has continued to fall since the economy began recovering in 2009.

    Some of those who have given up are older workers who have been forced to retire earlier than they’d like. The biggest drop, though, has come from younger workers who have gone back to school, moved back home or cashed in their savings to travel the world before settling into a life of mortgage payments and retirement planning.

    “Those two forces were pointing to lower labor force participation over the last few years, but now they’re pointing in opposite directions,” said Tilton. “That would mean that the number of people looking for jobs would be rising more quickly.”

    As more people return to the labor force, the pace of job creation will have to pick up even further to keep the unemployment rate falling.

    Some economists –- including Bernanke –- don’t think that will happen unless the economy picks up a substantial head of steam from its current growth pace. The more likely outcome is that the jobless rate levels off or falls much more slowly than it has over the past 12 months.

    “Further significant improvements in the unemployment rate will likely require a more-rapid expansion of production and demand from consumers and businesses,” Bernanke said.

    Private economists concur. NABE’s latest forecast of 45 leading business economists calls for the jobless rate this year to average 8.3 percent, its current level, and drop only slightly to 7.8 percent next year, based on expected slow economic growth.

    The ADP report confirmed better services hiring, reporting that 209,000 private sector jobs were created in March. CNBC's Steve Liesman reports.

    Doubts about the official jobless rate have prompted some economists to turn to an alternate measure: the employment-to-population ratio, which paints a more sobering picture of the employment outlook.

    After peaking at the end of 2006 at 63.4 percent, the portion of the 16-and-over population holding a job (excluding those in prison, the military, or long-term care) fell to 58.2 percent by the end of 2009. Since then, the ratio has barely budged - rising by less than half a percentage point.

     

     

  • Cops raid Occupy San Francisco at Federal Reserve

    By NBC Bay Area

    Police cleared an Occupy SF encampment in front of the Federal  Reserve building in San Francisco overnight.

    Riot police moved in on the encampment on the sidewalk at 101 Market St. at around 4 a.m. Sunday. Police said they gave campers several warnings that began Friday morning.

    Police said they arrested 55 protesters were arrested for illegal lodging, and while interactions between police and protesters was tense, no officers or protesters were injured.

    Read the original story on NBC Bay Area

    Police said some officers were spit on and one officer was pushed  by demonstrators.

    All of those arrested were taken away in zip ties and released before sunrise.

    It was not immediately clear how the occupiers would respond to the arrests. The Federal Reserve encampment became the largest in the city after police raided the camp at Justin Herman Plaza last week.

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