As the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s killing (May 1, 2012) approached, al-Qaeda commanders in Saudi Arabia planned a terrorist attack that involved downing a passenger plane in the United States. The attack that was foiled was to be launched by a suicide terrorist carrying explosives in his underwear. The attack was a repeat performance – albeit more sophisticated – of a failed attempt in late 2009 to blow up a plane over Detroit. These attempts reflect the Yemeni-Saudi organization’s determination to continue to carry out sophisticated, mass-casualty terrorist attacks against the United States, thereby challenging the optimistic assessments made recently by senior US administration officials about al-Qaeda’s imminent collapse.
