From today's Washington Post: "U.S. officials said Faisal Shahzad's radicalization was cumulative and largely self-contained -- meaning that it did not involve typical catalysts such as direct contact with a radical cleric, a visible conversion to militant Islam or a significant setback in life."
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Self-contained or self-absorbed?
Media accounts of Shahzad's life before attaining notoriety for his failed attempt to blow up Saturday night revelers in Times Square point to an existence unburdened by achievement. If anything, this young man went through the mainstream of life without even making a ripple. Consider: Forgettable C student at college, over-leveraged first-time home owner, terminated junior employee without the talent, drive, or imagination to find productive work. He even failed to properly make and detonate the explosive whose intended impact would have launched him into a terrorist hall of fame. Now his only remaining supply of ego massage will hinge on how much air play American media bestow. He may not be bright, but this does not exclude the chance he has a certain low, animal cunning.
Look for him to say anything that gets a rise out of interviewers. Operant conditioning will be at play, with a court room or news magazine show appearance his ultimate goal. The more attention he receives, the less he will be encumbered by his towering insignificance.
Even a smarter malefactor craves attention. Witness Christopher Boyce, a young man from a different time who also turned on his country. As the brains behind the Falcon and the Snowman collaboration, Boyce amused himself by drawing attention even after convicted and jailed. How? He would periodically testify before Congress on the failings of the background investigation system that let him slide into highly classified work at a tender age based on character references that were mostly his father's peers with only superficial awareness of Boyce's proclivities. Only the clearance system benefitted from Boyce's revelations. What value the Times Square abortive bomber delivers will likely be more perishable and unaccompanied by insight. A young, malleable dolt digging himself from one hole into another will be hard pressed to appear smarter over time -- unless it is a slow news season and media handlers sculpt this lump into clay more imposing.
- Nick Catrantzos
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Nick Catrantzos + Tom Goff
- All Secure
- NICK CATRANTZOS is the lead author of the All Secure website and is the emeritus security director for a large public organization. He has also managed security aspects of corporate takeovers, response to international hostage situations, and finding and keeping secrets. He has been board certified in security management, licensed as a private investigator, and certified as an incident commander. He worked as a case officer for a discreet branch of public service. He protected stealth technology at Lockheed and, later, as a consulting security director for both Kroll and Control Risks, he assisted executives with workplace violence cases and with protecting VIPs and critical assets globally in volatile areas. Nick's partner, TOM GOFF, was a captain in the Military Police Corps, U.S. Army Reserve and has a law degree from the University of California at Davis. He is a former reporter for Fortune Magazine, was senior editor at New York Magazine and Esquire, and has provided crisis and communications counsel to senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, including Lockheed, ARCO, Microsoft, Nissan, and Sony Pictures.