THE FACE OF TERROR is constantly evolving as terrorist tactics, and even the foot soldiers trying to attack America, change. When authorities announced last weekend that they had foiled a plot designed to blow up New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, its fuel tanks, and a jet fuel artery, the conspiracy, on the surface, seemed like more of the same. Although perhaps a bit more ambitious than the usual scheme, the JFK plot was consistent with past attempts in its targeting of a major economic artery and effort to attain maximum symbolic value. But a look at the details contained in the 33-page criminal complaint suggests a change in the modes of operation of America’s enemies.

ONE SIGNIFICANT ASPECT of the complaint is what it suggests about the threat of terrorist infiltration through our southern border. Within analytic circles there is a near consensus that America’s northern border poses far more of a threat of terrorist infiltration than the southern border. This view is detailed at length in Richard Miniter’s Disinformation, which explains that al Qaeda has had a long-term presence in Canada, and that attempted terrorist entry from the northern border will be aided by “a political climate far different from Mexico–one that actually defends accused terrorists.”