The Minnesota Connection
20th December 2015
I researched and wrote the article “The threat from ‘Minnesota men’” before the San Bernardino massacre, but the things I learned along the way may have some bearing on it. “Minnesota men” have been in contact with ISIS and sought to enlist in the cause. In April the FBI arrested six of them who were on their way to join the jihad. We’re a little ambivalent about the FBI’s success in apprehending them. Now they’re going to remain here and they really, really don’t like us very much.
One can learn a lot from reading the criminal complaint charging the six and the underlying FBI affidavit summarizing the investigation. They are posted online here. ISIS is recruiting here and may even have a presence in the United States. The FBI has stated that social media and encrypted communications have expanded beyond their capacity to keep up. If apprehending the six represented a stroke of good fortune, we won’t always be so lucky, as events in San Bernardino have proved many times over.