Not So Bungled After All

Just hours after news broke last week that federal and local officials had busted up an alleged terror plot to bomb New York subways and buses, the FBI and New York Police Department started fighting about who should get the credit and who should take the blame. Some federal officials complained to reporters—anonymously, of course—that NYPD detectives had blown the case too early when they talked to an imam in Queens, who then tipped off one of the alleged plotters. FBI officials said they had to move in before they could round up everyone involved or find out where the suspects might have hidden a stash of bombmaking supplies.

The headlines made the bust look like yet another sorry example of bureaucrats pridefully refusing to cooperate and bungling the case. Certainly, there's no shortage of tension between Feds and locals. But those stories missed a larger point: the foiled plot—sniping and all—is actually evidence that law enforcement and intelligence agencies have begun to set aside old rivalries and work together.

The first clues about the scheme came from overseas intelligence reports about Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-American who allegedly traveled to a Qaeda training camp in Pakistan. Intel agencies passed on the information to the FBI, which began surveillance of Zazi. That alone is noteworthy. Before 9/11 the FBI and CIA often failed to share this kind of information. Also remarkable: the FBI, in turn, dialed in the NYPD, which had set up its own aggressive local intelligence operation after 9/11.

Three federal and NYPD counter-terrorism sources, who asked not to be named talking about sensitive issues, say pressure to unravel the alleged plot increased before President Obama was to make a Sept. 14 trip to New York. (FBI Director Robert Mueller personally briefed Obama about the probe, says a senior law-enforcement official who also asked not to be named.) The FBI asked the NYPD to grill local informants. The cops questioned Ahmed Wais Afzali, the imam in Queens, who knew Zazi. Wiretaps picked up Afzali's subsequent phone call to Zazi, telling him the police were asking about him. Concerned Zazi might flee, the authorities moved in and arrested the imam, Zazi, and Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi. (Afzali and the elder Zazi were later released on bail; lawyers for all three men have said they are innocent of wrongdoing.)

The senior law-enforcement official tells NEWSWEEK the alleged plot "may be the most significant" to be uncovered since 9/11. Should the Feds have kept a tighter rein on the case—or should the locals have used more discretion? Maybe. But either way, at least they've embraced the concept that too much too soon beats too little too late.

With Christopher Dickey and Michael Isikoff

© 2009