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Faisal Shahzad was born in Pakistan and moved to the United States as a college student, where he majored in computer science and engineering at the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. For more than a decade, he lived in the United States without attracting much notice. Shahzad made a good living in the United States and seemed to be comfortable in his new home, if not fully at ease.

He maintained strong ties in Pakistan, even after marrying an American Muslim from the Denver area. His wife covered her hair, and he often dressed in Pakistani-style clothing, but they didn’t stand out as being unassimilated. Firmly ensconced in the upper middle class, the Shahzads were, by most accounts, relaxed and unremarkable. He became an American citizen in 2009.35

Yet behind closed doors, Faisal Shahzad was discontented, and that discontent was growing. In the years following September 11, he became enamored of jihadist propaganda and began to segregate himself from non-Muslims, at least internally.36

In many ways, it was a classic jihadist turn, focused on the victimization of Muslims abroad, especially the rape of Muslim women. Unlike earlier American-born converts, however, Shahzad steeped himself in theological arguments before turning toward action.37

After the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he began to believe that America was working to harm Muslims. That perception was reinforced by the words of English-language jihadist ideologues such as Abdullah Al Faisal and Anwar Awlaki. He began posting to jihadist message boards and railing to his friends about U.S. foreign policy.38 In 2006 he wrote to a friend,

We all know that most of our Ummah is ignorant of Islam or illiterate of Koran and Sunnah [practices of the Prophet Mohammed]. Koran and Sunnah is our very base and purpose of creation in this world. Most of us get confused with current wars when we try to make logic with our worldly knowledge. Have you every try to look at [it] with Allah’s prospective [sic], do you try to read and understand Koran? Except for just clinging to one excuse that Islam does not allow innocent killings? Not saying that it is right, but we are not sure of who does that either? It might be U.S.A fighter who gives his life to Allah can never disobey His commands. [ … ] We don’t know the realities on ground as to what the Mujahideen goes through but you would have to agree to the fact that there is a force out there that is fighting the west and is defeating them.39

During trips back to Pakistan, Shahzad increasingly immersed himself in radical company. He worshipped at the Red Mosque in Islamabad, a notoriously radical institution known for catering to worshippers and students from Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold.40 In 2007 militants at the mosque began to kidnap people they deemed immoral, including police officers and local brothel workers. Pakistan’s security forces stormed the mosque in July 2007, killing dozens of people.41

Shahzad was in America at the time, gripped by news reports of the violence. Investigators would later conclude that the siege was the “triggering event” that pushed the Connecticut computer expert over the edge from talk into action. His outrage was further stoked by apparent civilian casualties from U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, where key al Qaeda leaders were suspected of hiding. Shahzad’s family had roots in the region, and the tribal connection put an exclamation point on his rage.

In early 2008 Shahzad returned to Pakistan with a sense of purpose. Through contacts in Islamabad, he sought out the Pakistani Taliban. Initially the Taliban suspected he was a spy and kept him at arm’s length. Yet over time and with the help of friends in the country, he won the group’s confidence, even meeting with its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, one of Pakistan’s most wanted militants.

By 2009 Shahzad was ready to pack in his American life and moved his family abroad soon after taking his oath of U.S. citizenship. He returned to Pakistan with the intent