Learning from the Latest U.S. Counterterrorism Sting

On Jan. 14, agents from the FBI's Dayton-Cincinnati Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Christopher Cornell as he was leaving a gun store in southern Ohio after purchasing two semi-automatic rifles and 600 rounds of ammunition. According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, Cornell, who is also known as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, conspired with an FBI confidential informant to plan an armed assault on the U.S. Capitol using the two rifles and pipe bombs. The complaint also noted that Cornell, a convert to Islam who had reportedly become radicalized, wanted to conduct the attack in support of the Islamic State. Cornell became the latest in a long line of would-be grassroots jihadists arrested inside the United States after their social media activity led to their detection and interception by the FBI.