Counterterrorism magazine published my piece on the FBI investigating the New Orleans terrorist attack as the FBI celebrates the 25^th anniversary of their Counterterrorism Bureau.

You can read the magazine pages below or the below text:

The FBI is Investigating the Terrorist Attack in New Orleans

As the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division Turns 25

By Paul Davis

On January 1, 2025, the FBI released a statement on the terrorist attack in New Orleans:

“Today, at approximately 3:15 a.m. CST, an individual drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens of others. After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Law enforcement returned fire, and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.

“The subject has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas. He was driving a Ford pickup truck, which appears to have been rented, and we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of the vehicle. An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.”

The FBI went on to state that weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. The FBI noted that special agent bomb technicians were working with other law enforcement partners to determine if any of the devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.

Stating that the FBI is the lead investigative agency regarding the attack, the FBI and their law enforcement partners are investigating this as an act of terrorism.

On January 2^nd, the FBI identified the terrorist subject as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas. FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia from the Counterterrorism Division (CTD) at FBI Headquarters addressed the press. He was joined by Assistant Special in Charge Alethea Duncan of the New Orleans FBI office.

“I am here to discuss not only the latest investigative information we have here in New Orleans, but also let you know about other investigative activities outside of the state,” Raia said. “I, first and most importantly, want to send our deepest condolences to the victims of this horrific attack and their loved ones. Fourteen innocent victims were killed in this senseless attack, and at least 35 are injured. We cannot ease the grief people in this community and across the nation are feeling at this time, but rest assured, we stand with you and in support of you. All the resources of the FBI are being focused on tracking down every piece of evidence in this case.

“Let us be very clear - what happened here in New Orleans was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act.”

Raia went on to state that this was a critical incident, and that information and tips were pouring in from law enforcement, first responders, and the public. He also stated that there is no indication at that point that anyone else was involved in this attack other than Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar.

“The FBI is surging people and assets to this area from across the region and across the nation. Special agents in field offices across the country are assisting with potential aspects of this investigation and following up on leads. Additional teams of special agents, professional staff, and victim specialists continue to arrive to provide more investigative power and assistance to the victims and their families.”

The New Orleans terrorist attack occurred a short time after the 25^th anniversary of the FBI Counterterrorism Division.

“I think the 25 years has given us a very strong base to be extremely proficient—both here at Headquarters in the Counterterrorism Division and the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in the field,” stated FBI Assistant Director David J. Scott on the 25^th anniversary.

Scott was a special agent who spent most of his career working counterterrorism violations before being selected to lead the Counterterrorism Division in August 2024.

According to the FBI, an influx in terrorist activity around the world in the early 1980s inspired then-FBI Director William Webster to name counterterrorism as the Bureau’s fourth-highest priority. Terrorism continued during the 1990s with the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the Oklahoma City attack in 1995.

In August 1998 two truck-bombs struck the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and those attacks changed the FBI.

“Those years leading up to the establishment of CTD witness the globalization of terrorism, and there was a willingness by both the domestic and international terrorists to use weapons of mass destruction to inflict large numbers of civilian casualties,” Scott said.

As Scott noted, on November 21, 1999, the Counterterrorism Division was formally created, consolidating many of the anti-terrorism efforts and capabilities for the first time in 20 years.

After the ISIS caliphate collapsed in the late 2010s, a perception arose that terrorist threats were on a decline. To some, the threat posed by foreign terrorist organizations had diminished to the point where counterterrorism didn’t need to be the Bureau’s top priority.

“And, I'll admit, I even had my own doubts,” Scott said. “I was a Joint Terrorism Task Force squad supervisor at the time and then assistant special agent in charge at a field office, and I could see that downward trend myself. And it was very obvious. And, of course, I consider that a good thing. If we had helped to diminish the terrorist threat, that's always a good thing.

“Even before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the FBI had been very public in saying that the terrorism threat was already elevated across the board, with international threats, domestic terrorism threats, and the state-sponsored threat,” Scott said. “And, as I talk to my counterparts now across the interagency - and even with international partners - everybody is saying the same thing: They're seeing this across the globe. This is an issue that's not just facing the U.S., but it's facing everybody with these simultaneously elevated threats.”

According to the FBI, the Bureau’s bandwidth for handling counterterrorism-related tips has also grown exponentially in the past 25 years, with the creation of our National Threat Operations Center to triage and route tips from the public to investigators in the field. The FBI’s use of partnerships to stem this threat has expanded in parallel fashion.

The FBI New York Field Office pioneered the Joint Terrorism Task Force partnership model in 1980, which brings together experts from local, state, and federal government agencies to leverage their collective range of skillsets to investigate and prevent acts of terror. Since then, these task forces have expanded throughout the field.

"Now, you've got 4,000 members from over 500 different state and local agencies, 50 federal agencies, all working nationwide on Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF), and they're working to prevent any of these domestic attacks, any international terrorism attacks,” Scott said.

“The FBI has also established a Headquarters-level National Joint Terrorism Task Force, whose membership includes representatives from the Defense Department, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and other federal government agencies. The interagency corps coordinates field-level JTTF efforts and oversees personnel movement to ensure those squads have the proper mix of staffing from member agencies,” Scott explained.

Scott went on to state that the increasing sophistication of terrorists’ techniques and use of communications has also demanded innovation on the part of the Counterterrorism Division. Thes bad actors' use of encrypted mobile apps to plot attacks against Americans on U.S. soil and around the world inspired the Bureau to form specialized teams, known as Terrorist Use of the Internet squads, to determine how to disrupt such efforts.

According to the FBI, guidelines from the attorney general dictate when the FBI can start a terrorism investigation and authorize the FBI to collect information accordingly.

This information serves two purposes:

First, it helps us build a case against people or groups who break the law to help us arrest them and to assist the U.S. Department of Justice in prosecuting them. Our investigations focus on the unlawful activity of the group, not the ideological orientation or First Amendment-protected activity of its members.
Next, it builds an intelligence base that we can analyze to prevent terrorist activity.

The FBI’s approach to counterterrorism investigations is based on the need both to prevent incidents where possible and to react effectively after incidents occur.

The FBI is empowered to investigate terrorism both at home and overseas. “That goes back to 1983, when Attorney General William French Smith modified the guidelines for conducting intelligence investigations,” Scott said. “And then, the next year, Congress authorized the Bureau to pursue criminals who attacked Americans beyond our shores.

“Now, we have counterterrorism assistant legal attachés––or ALATs––forward-deployed in U.S. embassies across the globe,” Scott said. “We've got the fly team that can deploy both domestically and overseas at a moment's notice. And then, we've got a significant portion of our division here at Headquarters that is dedicated to ensuring our U.S. citizens are protected overseas, just as they would be here within the borders of the U.S.”

Scott said that human element is vital to the Bureau’s efforts to thwart terrorism at home and abroad—whether it’s human intelligence, tips from the public, situational awareness, or people recognizing the signs that someone they know might be mobilizing to violence or other criminal activity.

One notable FBI success occurred this past October.

The Justice Department then announced charges against an Afghanistan citizen residing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for conspiring to conduct an Election Day terrorist attack in the United States on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO).

According to a criminal complaint, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, conspired and attempted to provide material support to ISIS and obtained firearms and ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil in the name of ISIS. As part of the plot, the defendant allegedly took steps to liquidate his family’s assets, resettle members of his family overseas, acquire AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, and commit a terrorist attack in the United States.

“This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland," said FBI Director Christopher Wray. "I am proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed. Terrorism is still the FBI's number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people."

Although the FBI did not prevent Shamsud-Din Jabber from committing an act of terrorism as they did Nasir Ahamad Tawhedi, the FBI Counterterrorism Division is tasked with gathering all of the facts regarding the attack, and applying the lessons learned from the attack for the future.

Pauk Davis, who writes the online Threatcon column, is a long-time contributor to the Journal.