CASE

Video Transcript:

>> A 58-year-old avionics technician Terry Loewen was living in the heartland and working at Wichita Airport when he left a shocking good-bye letter to his family as he headed off for what he thought was a fiery jihad. "By the time you read this I will -- if everything went as planned -- have been martyred on the path of Allah. There will have been an event at the airport which I am responsible for. The operation was timed to cause maximum death and carnage plus death." But the carnage never happened and now Loewen is locked up. His journey to jail is laid out in a 21-page criminal complaint accusing him of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, a car bomb, at Wichita Airport, and of attempting to provide material support to Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

>> Mr. Loewen studied the layout of the airport and took photographs of various access points. He assisted in acquiring components which he believed were part of the building of the bomb.

>> Loewen allegedly writes that "Brothers like Osama Bin Laden and Anwar Awlaki are a great inspiration to me." And he spells out intent. On August 26th "I have become radicalized in the strongest sense of the word, and I don't feel Allah wants me any other way -- I must be active in some kind of (dare I say it) jihad to feel I'm doing something proactive." And then he writes in early September suggesting a suicide attack. "I don't see me living through anything I have in mind assuming I can pull it off." Days later, Loewen sends the FBI pictures of fighter trainers on the tarmac outside his hangar and writes, "It would have been possible today for me to have walked over there, shot both pilots (I don't know if they are armed or not) slap some CS on both fuel trucks, and set them off before anyone even called TSA." He later adds that talk is cheap, but the Feds say he still he went to work.

>> He researched flight schedules to determine when there would be a maximum number of individuals at the airport.

>> On November 8th, the complaint says Loewen met a second FBI employee and discussed taking a car bomb, a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to the terminal near a number of passenger planes. And that Loewen suggested someone else could come into the terminal with a suicide vest at the same time, executing just prior to Christmas, because the greatest impact. So what could possibly be the defense to this? One top law professor and defense attorney says suspects like Loewen with dreams but little means to carry out the crime can claim entrapment.

>> The folks that they're arresting tend to be pretty low lying fruit. They often tend to be people who are almost like terrorist Walter Mitty's, who fantasize about terrorism, and then the FBI shows up and says here, here's some C4. Here's an idea.

Questions #1:

1. Did Loewen commit any of the crimes of treason, espionage, sabotage, or sedition? Why or why not?

2. In what ways did the USA PATRIOT Act expand criminal liability for criminal activity?

QUESTIONS #2:

1. The central issue in Treason, Espionage, and the USA PATRIOT Act revolves around the application of criminal law to ease the tension created between the need for safety and security and the desire for privacy and freedom. Explain your choices in this scenario by addressing the following questions:

How do the federal crimes of treason and espionage protect the United States during the present time of heightened concern regarding terrorism? How are innocent citizens protected from being prosecuted unjustly under these statutes?

2.What kinds of crimes can be prosecuted under the USA PATRIOT Act? How does the material support the provision of safety and security but also maintain individual privacy and freedom?