Uncovering a Terrorist: Agent Ryan Dwyer and the Case of the Portland Bomb Plot

Mohamed Osman Mohamud was an American citizen, a college student at Oregon State University, and a wannabe terrorist. His dream was to go to Yemen, train with al-Qaeda, and travel to Afghanistan to kill U.S. soldiers. But first, he plotted to detonate a massive bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland.

Agent Ryan Dwyer ran the sting operation to see how serious Mohamed was. He and an Arabic-speaking partner, joined by FBI personnel-including two undercover operatives posing as al-Qaeda terrorists-worked month after month to get to know him and keep the people of Portland safe. In the end, they replaced the real bomb with a fake.