Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Investigators gather Dec. 3, 2015, around an SUV that was involved in the police shootout with suspects in San Bernardino, Calif.(Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP)
After former FBI agent John Iannarelli delivered a December speech about workplace violence to corporate executives in California, an organizer told him the issue didn’t really touch on them.
The next day, two people shot up a county office in San Bernardino, Calif., killing 14 people<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and injuring 22 others.
That attack prompted Iannarelli, who spent 20 years with the FBI, to write a book offering advice on how<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ordinary, non-law enforcement<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people can help thwart potential terror attacks. The book, "How to Spot a Terrorist Before It’s Too Late!," publishes Tuesday.
“I’ve heard this phrase: 'See something, say something,'” said Iannarelli, 53, of Phoenix, who is now a private security consultant. “Nobody tells you what to look for.”
The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>book cover subjects such as unusual purchases and surveillance that came into sharp focus following the shooting June 12 at an<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Orlando nightclub<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that left 49 dead and 53 injured. Before the attack, the gunman tried unsuccessfully to buy body armor and had been seen at the gay nightclub.
The FBI had<span style="color: Red;">*</span>investigated the gunman after being told he claimed his family was connected with terror groups, but the FBI did not find enough evidence to the continue the probe.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>But, Iannarelli said, <span style="color: Red;">*</span>if the FBI knew about the shooter's unusual purchases or the night club visits,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the result might have changed.
“They did a thorough job looking at him, at what they knew at the time,” he said. “If somebody had seen these indicators, picked up the phone and called the police or the FBI, it could have been a different outcome possibly.”
Reporting suspicious behavior can be a touchy subject. Members of Congress and the civil-rights groups have raised concerns about<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“profiling” people for suspicious behavior because of concerns that complaints will focus on religious or racial minorities.
Iannarelli, who joined the FBI after working as a police officer in San Diego and earning an law degree, supports profiling, but wants people to report suspicious behavior rather than simply<span style="color: Red;">*</span>appearance. For example, he notes in the book that a gunman who shot and killed two El Al workers at Los Angeles airport in July 2002 raised suspicions before opening fire because he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was wearing a heavy coat in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the hot weather.
“I use the word profiling, but specifically, it’s not profiling any race or ethnicity,” he said. “I want people to solely profile actions. Actions are color-blind.”
Iannarelli advises<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people to call police or FBI with their suspicions, rather than taking matters into their own hands. Police could investigate issues such as the suspicious SUV parked in New York’s Times Square in 2010, which contained a makeshift bomb.
His suggestions cover a variety of situations. For bags, he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suggested reporting bags left unattended in public places, such as the backpack full of explosives at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 or when two brothers were fumbling with a backpack carrying a bomb at the Boston Marathon in 2013 rather than watching a race.
Iannarelli said people spend an average of 90 minutes per day on the Internet, where they might notice messages on Facebook or Twitter about planning or threatening an attack. Alarming messages could be worth a call.
Unusual purchases could also<span style="color: Red;">*</span>warrant attention. In 1995, the bomber of the federal building in Oklahoma City bought a large amount of fertilizer used in the bomb. Police were worried about terrorists buying uniforms to impersonate security guards during Pope Francis's visit to the U.S. in 2015.
“We don’t want people to become personally involved ever,” Iannarelli said. “Police are trained and know how to deal with these things.”
Iannarelli, who spent his first year at the FBI on the investigation of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Oklahoma City bombing, said he wrote the book, his fourth, to encourage<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people to look out for one another.
“I want people to be aware of their surroundings,” he said. “It’s the opportunity to see those things and hopefully prevent future tragedies.”
John Iannarelli, 53, of Phoenix, a former 20-year FBI agent, wrote a book "How to Spot A Terrorist Before It's Too Late!" He is shown June 20, 2016, in USA TODAY's Washington bureau.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Bart Jansen,, None)
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed