The system worked! As in the case of the Christmas Day bomb attempt on a jetliner landing in Detroit, the Times Square bombing attempt was stopped due to alert civilians acting quickly to prevent a disaster. On Christmas Day, it was a Danish passenger on the plane who jumped on the Al Qaeda trained terrorist trying to ignite explosives hidden in his underwear. On Saturday evening in Times Square, it was two street vendors who alerted police officials nearby to a suspicious SUV left running in the crowded area near the Broadway theater district.
The investigative response following these two recent incidents of attempted terrorists' attacks, however, do not follow a similar pattern. In New York, experienced and highly trained NYPD and FBI investigators promptly cleared civilians in the area of the SUV to safety, disarmed the bomb, protected the evidence in the SUV loaded with explosives, thoroughly combed through the clues provided by the abandoned vehicle, identified the suspect, Faisal Shahzad (a Pakistani born naturalized US citizen) and arrested him on board a plane bound for Dubai after about 53 hours. The only slip in the process was the failure of the airline to prevent Shahzad, who had been added to the "no fly" list on Monday afternoon, from boarding the plane. Fortunately, Customs and Border Protection personnel matched the passenger list against the "no fly" list in time to stop the plane and take Shahzad into custody.
These outstanding law enforcement professionals in New York did not have the culprit in custody right away after being caught red-handed with smoking pants at the scene of the crime, as the Detroit authorities did on Christmas Day. Furthermore, the New York team of local and federal law enforcement officials were quick to utilize the public safety exception to the Miranda Rule after capturing the Times Square suspect and questioned him without benefit of a lawyer long enough to learn more about his training, travels and possible associates. In Detroit on Christmas, the Nigerian terrorist was given his Miranda rights and a lawyer after only 50 minutes of questioning.
Not only are the fine men and women of the NYPD, FBI, Customs and Homeland Security due congratulations in the handling of the Times Square investigation and arrest, but it would only be proper to conclude that the Obama administration learned from their admitted mistakes in the Christmas Day incident and made appropriate corrections to their approach in responding to potential terrorists' attacks.
It is also appropriate to recognize that alert civilians really are an essential part of an effective system of preventing horrible acts of terror. As many have noted, the citizens of New York City are well aware of the critical rule that if you "See Something, Say Something".
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