TBD has obtained the criminal complaint against Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, an American citizen and Muslim convert who is alleged to have plotted to bomb a military recruiting center in Maryland. There are a lot more details here, including how the FBI actually made contact with Martinez/Hussain over Facebook:
This is the kind of thing that will fuel more arguments over the nature of these stings and whether they constitute entrapment, at the very least whether using the FBI to construct an elaborate plot for the purpose of being able to charge someone who would seem to be rather inept is a waste of time and resources. According to the complaint, Martinez/Hussain asked at least three people for assistance, all of whom declined, and one who tried to dissuade him altogether. The only person who ultimately agreed was the "confidential human source" who contacted him over Facebook.
As to whether this kind of attack, ostensibly aimed at a military target, would qualify as terrorism if actually carried out, I would argue yes, because it is aimed at noncombatants outside of a war zone. Ironically enough, according to the complaint, Martinez/Hussain told the CHS that "before I became a Muslim, I was about to join the military." According to the complaint, Martinez/Hussain was familiar with Anwar al-Awlaki and referred to him as his "beloved sheikh." So while the attack was never going to take place, don't be surprised if the government uses it as further justification for its authority to target him.
After Martinez/Hussain heard about the recent arrest of Mohamed Osman Mohamud in an FBI sting, he freaked out about the possibility that the undercover agent the CHS had introduced to him was an FBI agent, which of course, he was. In response, the CHS told Martinez/Hussain that the undercover suspected the two of them, at which point it seems as though Martinez/Hussain was so desperate to prove he was for real that he went ahead with the plan despite his reservations.
Despite the fact that this plot was always under the operational control of the FBI and never in danger of actually taking place, Hussain's efforts to recruit others, and his apparent decision to go ahead despite reservations and assurances from the undercover agent that he needn't follow through, would likely make an entrapment defense difficult absent other extenuating circumstances not portrayed in the complaint. As law professor Dru Stevenson told me last week, "Any evidence that you were already interested in doing this type of thing is probably going to be fatal to your entrapment defense." Martinez/Hussain seemed very interested, if not particularly capable.
