As if to illustrate my point that Osama bin Laden's death, or even the potential decimation of al-Qa'ida Core doesn't mean the end of Salafist terrorism, yesterday it was announced that the CIA foiled an airplane bomb plot by AQAP timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Abbottabad raid.
On its own merits, this would be good news. But early reports of how they foiled the plot make this especially interesting, specifically the Los Angeles Times report that the CIA infiltrated AQAP with an operative who was able to escape to Saudi Arabia with a non-metallic explosive device that was a refined version of the "underwear bomb" used in the failed Christmas Day 2009 AQAP attack.
Successful infiltrations into al-Qa'ida and its affiliates has been exceedingly rare, much less getting close enough to access AQAP's cutting-edge devices. I can't wait for Hollywood to produce a film version of this operation!
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