New York ‘lone wolf’ was one hour away from finishing his bomb
She also praised the New York Police Department, saying, “I think they handled it well.”
Officials with the NYPD, which conducted the undercover investigation using a confidential informant and a bugged apartment, said the department had to move quickly because Pimentel was about to test a pipe bomb made out of match heads, nails and other ingredients bought at neighborhood hardware and discount stores.
Two law enforcement officials said Monday that the NYPD’s Intelligence Division had sought to get the FBI involved at least twice as the investigation unfolded. Both times, the FBI concluded that Pimentel lacked the mental capacity to act on his own, they said.
The FBI thought Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one of the officials said.
The officials were not authorized to speak about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. The FBI’s New York office and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan both declined to comment on Monday.
Pimentel’s lawyer, Joseph Zablocki, said his client was never a true threat.
“If the goal here is to be stopping terror … I’m not sure that this is where we should be spending our resources,” he said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly defended the handling of the case Monday, saying the NYPD kept federal authorities in the loop “all along” before circumstances forced investigators to take swift measures using state charges.
“No question in my mind that we had to take this case down,” Kelly said. “There was an imminent threat.”
Added Kelly: “This is a classic case of what we’ve been talking about �� the lone wolf, an individual, self-radicalized. This is the needle in the haystack problem we face as a country and as a city.”
Authorities described Pimentel as an unemployed U.S. citizen and “al-Qaida sympathizer” who was born in the Dominican Republic. He had lived most of his life in Manhattan, aside from about five years in the upstate city of Schenectady, where authorities say he had an arrested for credit card fraud.
His mother said he was raised Roman Catholic. But he converted to Islam in 2004 and went by the name Muhammad Yusuf, authorities said.
Using a tip from police in Albany, the NYPD had been watching Pimentel using a confidential informant for the past year. Investigators learned that he was energized and motivated to carry out his plan by the Sept. 30 killing of al-Qaida’s U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, police said.
Pimentel was under constant surveillance as he shopped for the pipe bombmaterials. He also was overheard talking about attacking police patrol cars and postal facilities, killing soldiers returning home from abroad andbombing a police station in Bayonne, N.J., authorizes said.
Ford Unveils New Key
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yeah, i think it is a good idea, i suppose you could have many MyKey’s and set the chip differently for different drivers.
does it recognise when there is less than the capacity in the car, so as you dont have to buckle all the belt’s.
i think a lot of the technology you mentioned will be common in the not too distant future. i.e fingerprint technology and preset location’s for mirror’s and seat’s.
i think the idea of calling a cellphone to start a car is too extreme. good idea from ford. -
Well, I don’t know if Ford does it, but I know my Toyota’s both have sensors that detect the weight in the seat and if the weight exceeds a certain threshhold the reminder buzzer for the seat belt goes off.
This is extremely annoying to me, since my backpack is heavy enough to set off the buzzer! So I have the seat belt wrapped around the seat and buckled in at all times. (Which annoys any passengers since they have to unbuckle it and untangle it so they can use it!)
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I have friends with keys that adjust the seats and stuff automatically. The husband has his key and the wife has hers. The keys do not have metal tonges that fit in a mechanism either. They are chips in the end of a plastic holder that talks to the car to say, “He is driving the car now adjust the seats and mirrors.” If you adjust the mirror or seat after the car starts, the car just lets it go. But the next time the car is started with that key it still adjusts the seats and mirrors for the “owner” of that key. It is all pretty neat. I’m not a big fan of the big brother stuff though. I expect to be able to trust my kids more than that. We’ll see.
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Trust but verify, IMHO. I don’t trust big brother, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to not check up on my kids and make sure they are not doing things they shouldn’t. I’m their mommy after all, I’m supposed to spy on them!
Yea, I’ve heard of keys you don’t need to put in the locks. About frakking time they came out with them too! As long as the key is on your person and the RFID sends a signal, I don’t see why not just have a button you push to start the car. Now you don’t even have to take the keys out of your pocket and that means never leaving them in the car and calling roadside assistance/OnStar for help!
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I am way to old school to like such technology. So what happens when the gizmo goes on the blink? I am not a fan of the keyless entry systems either for just such reasons. Not that such is really a concern for me. I drive a 1970 Ford F100 and if I do buy another vehicle, which I doubt, it will probably be along the same lines.
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Well, keyless entry systems have regular key locks as backups. As for the Prius, I could be wrong, but I think you can still use it as a key if you want, but you can also keep it in your pocket and the RFID will unlock the car so you can start it by pushing a button. (Which might be nice for you older folks out there with arthritis in your fingers after playing Axis and Allies too many times. hehe)
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I am way to old school to like such technology. So what happens when the gizmo goes on the blink? I am not a fan of the keyless entry systems either for just such reasons. Not that such is really a concern for me. I drive a 1970 Ford F100 and if I do buy another vehicle, which I doubt, it will probably be along the same lines.
What happens when you lose or break a key?
Not to trump up the praises of technology, but it often gets a bad rep from people who don’t know how to implement it properly. It can fail, but so can anything mechanical.
For the record I drive a 93 Chevy S-10. :-)
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What happens when you lose or break a key?
Considering my knowledge of the wiring systems for Fords of that series I reach up into the dash and snatch the wires out of the back of the ignition switch and proceed to start and drive vehicle. At my leisure I order a new switch and key (which if I recall correctly is about $20). I am assuming that the key broke in the ignition switch. I have never in 20+ years of driving lost a vehicle key. As a matter of fact the only key related issue I have ever had was having one break in the door lock. Solution was similar to above. I used a coat hanger to get in and ordered a new door lock. That particular vehicle was amusing about keys. I had a right and left door keys, and ignition key, and the original that fit the front and rear trunks.
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So it sounds like your lost/broken key backup plan is actually a liability, but kudos for you for Macgyvering your truck to run.
And I’ve never heard of a vehicle that required 4 separate keys to access all areas. :lol:
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I drive a Ford Edge and it got so many gadgets and stuff that I don’t really need, but I got a good deal on it. There’s something to be said for covienience and comfort and the ability to haul ass.
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I figured this technology was always out there. I can’t get into a snorkal lift and have any of the buttons work until the magnet on the gate is satisfied its closed.
I just thought the states needed the seat-belt ticket revenue.
LT
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