9
Kansas com SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013 75 CENTS ©2013 The Wichita Eagle and Beacon Publishing Co., 825 E. Douglas, Wichita, KS 67202. DAILY Business Today 6B Classified 1E Comics 4C-5C Crossword 5C Home & Garden 1C Legal ads 4D Weather 8B Opinion 11A Sports 1D Local & State 1B Obituaries 2B A federal judge in Wichita has ordered a federal agency to act on a request by Kansas and Arizona to modify a national voter-registration form to reflect the states’ voter proof-of-citizenship laws. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren said Friday that the U.S. Election Assistance Com- mission must make a decision by Jan. 17, adding that the matter had been unreason- ably delayed and could begin to interfere with Kansas’ elec- tion cycle. Statewide elections are scheduled for next fall. Melgren told a courtroom full of lawyers who had been arguing the issue all morning that he would retain juris- diction over the case, antici- pating that no matter what the EAC decides, “someone in this room won’t like it.” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Arizona Sec- retary of State Ken Bennett have sued the commission for refusing to add their states’ proof-of-citizenship require- ments to the instruction sheets that accompany the federal voter form. That form is not widely distributed in Kansas but can be download- ed and copied from the In- ternet. The states had asked Mel- gren for a preliminary in- junction to force the commis- sion to modify the form. But Melgren said he decided to send the matter back to the EAC to allow the adminis- trative process to be complet- ed. The U.S. Supreme Court this summer invalidated Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship law, ruling that it conflicted with the federal Motor Voter Act, which was designed to make registration more FEDS MUST MAKE DECISION ABOUT KANSAS’ AND ARIZONA’S VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS, SAYS THE ORDER Judge orders action on voter ID laws Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach arrives at the Federal Courthouse in Wichita on Friday morning for an injunction hearing on Kansas and Arizona’s voter registration lawsuit. BY FRED MANN The Wichita Eagle Please see VOTER ID, Page 8A F or months, authorities allege, a 58-year-old avionics technician named Terry Lee Loewen – driven by radical ideas and prepared to die in a suicide attack – moved forward with a plot to detonate explosives at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. The planned attack was designed to inflict the maximum number of deaths at an airport in the nation’s midsection before Christmas, says a detailed crim- inal complaint filed Friday. The plot got as far as a gate to the airport shortly before 6 a.m. Friday, when authorities arrested Loewen without incident. What he didn’t know until his arrest is that the people he had been conspiring with all along were FBI agents, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced Friday, stressing that the public and passengers were never in danger. Loewen now faces three federal charges filed in Wichita: One count of trying to use a weapon of mass de- struction, one count of attempting to damage property and one count of attempting to provide material sup- port to a designated foreign terrorist organization that Loewen thought was al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen. On the afternoon of the day he had allegedly arranged for himself to die, he appeared instead in U.S. District Court in Wichita to hear himself ac- cused of terrorism charges. When Magistrate Karen Humphreys asked Loewen, “Do you understand your rights?” he replied “yes, ma’am” in a steady voice. Loewen is being held in the Sedg- wick County Jail. Loewen worked as an avionics tech- nician at the Hawker Beechcraft Ser- vices facility at the airport. The com- pany said it suspended his employ- ment after learning of the arrest. He is alleged to have spent months developing a plan to use his access card to airport grounds to drive a van loaded with explosives to the terminal. Authorities said he planned to pull the trigger on the explosives himself and to die in the explosion. Grissom and FBI Special Agent in Charge Mike Kaste stressed that there was no indication that Loewen was involved with or working with any religious community in Wichita and that his alleged actions in no way Airport plot months in making Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle A Kansas state trooper, left, and an airport police officer stand watch at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita on Friday afternoon after a man was arrested in an alleged bomb plot Friday morning. Terry Lee Loewen, 58, has been charged in federal court with attempting to explode a car bomb at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. “There was no breach of Mid-Continent Airport’s security. At no time was the safety of travelers or members of the public placed in jeopardy.” U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom Authorities allege plan aimed for maximum deaths BY TIM POTTER AND ROY WENZL The Wichita Eagle Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, right, with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, announces the arrest of Terry Loewen of Wichita early Friday in an alleged plot to detonate a suicide car bomb at Mid-Continent Airport. MORE INSIDE Travelers find airport operating as usual after bomb plot. 10A Brownback, other leaders praise law enforce- ment response. 10A Go to Kansas.com to read the 21-page criminal complaint and to see a video from Friday’s news conference. Please see PLOT, Page 10A Richard McKown woke up at 6 a.m. Friday to a street lined with police and FBI officials. It was hours later before the Wichita man found out why the serenity of his quiet block in the 3800 block of East Funston, tucked behind the Wichita Mall, was the scene of a criminal investiga- tion. McKown’s neighbor, Terry Lee Loewen, 58, was charged with attempting to blow up Wichita Mid-Continent Air- port in a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Wichita. He faces one count of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, one count of attempting to damage property and one count of attempting to pro- vide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. “I can’t believe it,” McKown said. “This is a pretty close- knit neighborhood, but they kind of kept to themselves. You’d see them come and go. Sometimes they’d wave. Sometimes they wouldn’t.” But McKown was firm – he never saw anything suspi- cious at the house with the unkempt front yard, with an old Jeep Wrangler and a Neighbors describe terrorism suspect Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle The house listed as owned by Terry Lee Loewen, 58, who was charged in a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in a plot to detonate a bomb. BY BILL WILSON The Wichita Eagle Please see NEIGHBORS, Page 9A Terry Lee Loewen, the man facing multiple charges in connection with an attempt to explode a car bomb at Wich- ita Mid-Continent Airport, would have gone through background checks and fin- gerprinting to gain an access badge for airport grounds, an airport official said Friday. Loewen, who worked as an avionics technician at Hawker Beechcraft Services, would have been checked out by the FBI’s electronic clearinghouse in Washington before being approved for a badge to give him access, said Victor White, Wichita Airport Authority director of airports. Badges must be renewed each year. About 2,000 of the 10,000 people employed by the air- port or its tenants need access to airport grounds for their job functions, White said. The badges are color-coded for level of access. Only a small percentage of those who have badges have access to the entire airport, he said. Some employees have access to only the general aviation Airport: Man would have been screened for access BY MOLLY MCMILLIN The Wichita Eagle Please see ACCESS, Page 9A

Airport bomber entry

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

Judge all airport bomb plot stories as one entry. "Airport plot months in making" "Neighbors describe terrorism suspect" "Airport: Man would have been screened for access." "Security at airport is good, worker says." "Ex-wife of bomb suspect: That’s not the man I knew. " "Was airport suspect a victim of entrapment?" "FBI: Homegrown terrorists don’t fit just one profile."

Citation preview

Page 1: Airport bomber entry

Kansas comSATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013 75 CENTS

©2013 The Wichita Eagle andBeacon Publishing Co., 825 E.Douglas, Wichita, KS 67202. D

AIL

YBusiness Today 6B

Classified 1E

Comics 4C-5C

Crossword 5C

Home & Garden 1C

Legal ads 4D

Weather 8BOpinion 11A

Sports 1D

Local & State 1B

Obituaries 2B

A federal judge in Wichitahas ordered a federal agencyto act on a request by Kansasand Arizona to modify a national voter-registrationform to reflect the states’voter proof-of-citizenshiplaws.

U.S. District Judge EricMelgren said Friday that theU.S. Election Assistance Com-mission must make a decision

by Jan. 17, adding that thematter had been unreason-ably delayed and could beginto interfere with Kansas’ elec-tion cycle. Statewide electionsare scheduled for next fall.

Melgren told a courtroomfull of lawyers who had beenarguing the issue all morningthat he would retain juris-diction over the case, antici-pating that no matter whatthe EAC decides, “someone inthis room won’t like it.”

Kansas Secretary of State

Kris Kobach and Arizona Sec-retary of State Ken Bennetthave sued the commission forrefusing to add their states’proof-of-citizenship require-ments to the instructionsheets that accompany thefederal voter form. That formis not widely distributed inKansas but can be download-ed and copied from the In-ternet.

The states had asked Mel-gren for a preliminary in-junction to force the commis-

sion to modify the form. ButMelgren said he decided tosend the matter back to theEAC to allow the adminis-trative process to be complet-ed.

The U.S. Supreme Courtthis summer invalidated Arizona’s proof-of-citizenshiplaw, ruling that it conflictedwith the federal Motor VoterAct, which was designed to make registration more

FEDS MUST MAKE DECISION ABOUT KANSAS’ AND ARIZONA’S VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS, SAYS THE ORDER

Judge orders action on voter ID laws

Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach arrives at the FederalCourthouse in Wichita on Friday morning for an injunctionhearing on Kansas and Arizona’s voter registration lawsuit.

BY FRED MANNThe Wichita Eagle

Please see VOTER ID, Page 8A

For months, authorities allege, a58-year-old avionics techniciannamed Terry Lee Loewen –driven by radical ideas andprepared to die in a suicideattack – moved forward with a

plot to detonate explosives at WichitaMid-Continent Airport.

The planned attack was designed toinflict the maximum number of deathsat an airport in the nation’s midsectionbefore Christmas, says a detailed crim-inal complaint filed Friday.

The plot got as far as a gate to theairport shortly before 6 a.m. Friday,when authorities arrested Loewenwithout incident. What he didn’t knowuntil his arrest is that the people hehad been conspiring with all alongwere FBI agents, U.S. Attorney BarryGrissom announced Friday, stressingthat the public and passengers werenever in danger.

Loewen now faces three federalcharges filed in Wichita: One count oftrying to use a weapon of mass de-struction, one count of attempting todamage property and one count ofattempting to provide material sup-port to a designated foreign terroristorganization that Loewen thought wasal-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,based in Yemen.

On the afternoon of the day he hadallegedly arranged for himself to die,he appeared instead in U.S. DistrictCourt in Wichita to hear himself ac-cused of terrorism charges.

When Magistrate Karen Humphreysasked Loewen, “Do you understandyour rights?” he replied “yes, ma’am”in a steady voice.

Loewen is being held in the Sedg-wick County Jail.

Loewen worked as an avionics tech-nician at the Hawker Beechcraft Ser-vices facility at the airport. The com-pany said it suspended his employ-ment after learning of the arrest.

He is alleged to have spent monthsdeveloping a plan to use his accesscard to airport grounds to drive a van

loaded with explosives to the terminal.Authorities said he planned to pull

the trigger on the explosives himselfand to die in the explosion.

Grissom and FBI Special Agent inCharge Mike Kaste stressed that therewas no indication that Loewen wasinvolved with or working with anyreligious community in Wichita andthat his alleged actions in no way

Airport plot months in making

Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle

A Kansas state trooper, left, and an airport police officer stand watch at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita on Fridayafternoon after a man was arrested in an alleged bomb plot Friday morning.

Terry Lee Loewen, 58,has been charged infederal court withattempting to explodea car bomb at WichitaMid-ContinentAirport.

“There was no breach ofMid-Continent Airport’ssecurity. At no time was thesafety of travelers ormembers of the publicplaced in jeopardy.”

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom

Authorities allegeplan aimed formaximum deathsBY TIM POTTER AND ROY WENZLThe Wichita Eagle

Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle

U.S. Attorney BarryGrissom, right, withKansas Gov. SamBrownback,announces the arrestof Terry Loewen ofWichita early Friday inan alleged plot todetonate a suicide carbomb atMid-Continent Airport.

MOREINSIDE

n Travelers findairport operatingas usual afterbomb plot. 10A

n Brownback,other leaderspraise law enforce-ment response.10A

n Go to

Kansas.com toread the 21-pagecriminal complaintand to see a videofrom Friday’s newsconference.

Please see PLOT, Page 10A

Richard McKown woke upat 6 a.m. Friday to a streetlined with police and FBIofficials.

It was hours later beforethe Wichita man found outwhy the serenity of his quietblock in the 3800 block ofEast Funston, tucked behindthe Wichita Mall, was thescene of a criminal investiga-tion.

McKown’s neighbor, TerryLee Loewen, 58, was chargedwith attempting to blow upWichita Mid-Continent Air-port in a criminal complaintfiled Friday in U.S. DistrictCourt in Wichita. He faces

one count of trying to use aweapon of mass destruction,one count of attempting todamage property and onecount of attempting to pro-vide material support to adesignated foreign terroristorganization.

“I can’t believe it,” McKownsaid. “This is a pretty close-knit neighborhood, but theykind of kept to themselves.You’d see them come and go.Sometimes they’d wave.Sometimes they wouldn’t.”

But McKown was firm – henever saw anything suspi-cious at the house with theunkempt front yard, with anold Jeep Wrangler and a

Neighbors describe terrorism suspect

Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle

The house listed as owned by Terry Lee Loewen, 58,who was charged in a criminal complaint filed Friday inU.S. District Court in a plot to detonate a bomb.

BY BILL WILSONThe Wichita Eagle

Please see NEIGHBORS, Page 9A

Terry Lee Loewen, the manfacing multiple charges inconnection with an attempt toexplode a car bomb at Wich-ita Mid-Continent Airport,would have gone throughbackground checks and fin-gerprinting to gain an accessbadge for airport grounds, anairport official said Friday.

Loewen, who worked as anavionics technician at HawkerBeechcraft Services, wouldhave been checked out by theFBI’s electronic clearinghousein Washington before being

approved for a badge to givehim access, said Victor White,Wichita Airport Authoritydirector of airports. Badgesmust be renewed each year.

About 2,000 of the 10,000people employed by the air-port or its tenants need accessto airport grounds for theirjob functions, White said.

The badges are color-codedfor level of access. Only asmall percentage of thosewho have badges have accessto the entire airport, he said.

Some employees have accessto only the general aviation

Airport: Man would havebeen screened for accessBY MOLLY MCMILLINThe Wichita Eagle

Please see ACCESS, Page 9A

Page 2: Airport bomber entry

WWW.KANSAS.COM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013 n THE WICHITA EAGLE 9A

11 Toyota Sienna LE. L12830 .........$19,562

07 Toyota FJ Cruiser. 31797A ........$19,991

11 Honda Accord EXL. L12815 .....$20,855

09 Lexus RX 350. H128311 .................$24,991

12 Honda Ridgeline.RTS H12787 .............................................................

$25,81611 Chevy Silverado LT 4x4.H12831 .....................................................................

$25,99112 Honda Odyssey. 31981A ..............

$28,99111 Ford Explorer Limited.31843A ......................................................................

$29,73313 Toyota 4Runner. 31733A .............

$38,753

08 Honda Pilot EX-L. 31640A ..........$14,625

10 Mercury Milan. Premier 31657A . . .$14,655

10 Honda Civic EX. L12804 ...............$14,855

10 Honda Insight. L12858 ...................$14,991

10 Honda Accord LX. H12745 ........$15,516

07 Honda CR-V. 32111A ........................$15,991

11 Honda CR-Z. L12856 .........................$16,991

10 Subaru Legacy. Limited 31742A . .$17,844

00 Toyota 4Runner. H12671A ..............$5,865

04 Toyota Avalon. 31693A .....................$7,975

08 Kia Sedona. 31648A .............................$9,991

06 Nissan Pathfinder. 31389C .......$11,472

05 Honda Accord. H12726A ...............$11,991

05 BMW 325i. 32114A ............................$11,991

11 Chevy Malibu LTZ. 31531A ........$14,405 13 Toyota 4Runner. 31733A. .

$17,844

!0*&+'% -+*%#(#+, $./,0

,+0!+* #/ "0/'0')

;/!6 "7 :6!;-<!#A;<#&4 @< 42;$?(

&(#- .! $-5'#% )+ /- 30*&2 1"4,444

K 9Y&*V 8,%Y"($*"+

G1!&7& *8& 1!& >D=) 9$07&) %-87 .& .;4@)(4/ E;8 9487&@2&7,F

HX0X LR$,# FZ,"/Q*;0)'?O

:V$,*+ 7Y 8*""--

)*7%..9

HX00 B$/ =WS$!/ F3;0T)TO ER""J AY/+*+4

@RUS 8**-

)95%"8"

HX0X 8R./VR A*&/,JH><$ A$!$S*+

;0?'HO =Z* =PZ*V4 AY,/" 7V/+*

)95%8""

HXXT DYZ+/ F"*!*ZS 8ID0H?)0 9/V* 865 7%/SCU CZ D$&% G*!/Z+

)9+%15+

GA #8;2& *@@ 1!& .-/ E8;?B45+!D=7;= 1; (4/ :/ %-8 *5

3+!;@$D&@) B;=)-,FK AJZZ

GA <;2& 1!& 3&82D+&' 64-@D5/*=) C-7 :D@&-"& 9$ :/%&85D$D&) B;=)-,F

K A/SV$U%/ 6U*+I/VU2YRAYQ*>,Y!

;0NKNTTKN'XX?X0? F> B*""Y&&

-'%!.$.'( *)+(,&# #!,%!.+" ,!)91%.1'

HX00 I%*QJ IY"YV/+Y 1?0;0;H<O

=Z* =PZ*V4 'M'

)*1%..9

$(% ,.#-"&+#! ,')'"& **;0?);O

=Z* =PZ*V4 =Z"J 00B @$"*U-

)*+%.''

HX0H E$/S <XX;0X<'O

=Z"J ;B !$"*U /Z+ :V$,*+ 7Y 8*""

)91%89+

1 =;<2A4;< &>> 04!#/!A@$>!4 -&$

<; :&,=!<24 B;6

EVERY Car comes with aFREE CARFAX report

ScholGeld Honda Advantage

WeHave

''1-OwnerTrade-ins

Exclusive1 ,!&6 3 977%777 =@>!PowertrainWarrantyonMost UsedVehicles

F

Congress fails tocurb floodinsurance hike

WASHINGTON — Amidintense political jockeyingand behind-the-scenes finger-pointing, it appears thatCongress will adjourn for theyear without agreeing onaction to curb steep hikes inflood insurance premiums forthousands of homeownersnow and many more begin-ning in October 2014.

An attempt on Thursday topush a stand-alone billthrough the House of Repre-sentatives before Christmas,led by Republican Reps. VernBuchanan of Florida, BillCassidy of Louisiana and JebHensarling of Texas, ranaground without reaching

the floor when key Demo-crats balked.

But a large bipartisangroup in the House and theSenate is still pushing mea-sures to slow the effects of anoverhaul enacted just lastyear that was aimed at stabi-lizing and updating the fi-nancially insolvent FederalFlood Insurance Program.The 2012 law would do littlein the short term, however,to reduce the program’s $24billion deficit, of which $16billion stemmed from the2005 Hurricane Katrina.

NASA picks SpaceX torun Fla. launch complex

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX– the rocket company thatlast year became the firstever to ship cargo to theInternational Space Station

– now is on the verge oftaking over one of the oldspace shuttle launch com-plexes at Kennedy SpaceCenter.

NASA said Friday that itwas awarding SpaceX, aHawthorne, Calif.-basedcompany, the rights to nego-tiate for a long-term lease torun Launch Complex 39A. It’sone of the two huge padsthat have been used foreverything from Apollo tospace shuttle rockets at Ken-nedy Space Center.

The announcement is a winfor one Internet billionaire-turned-space-entrepreneur,Elon Musk, and a loss foranother, Jeff Bezos. Muskco-founded PayPal and theninvested his money to foundSpaceX, and Bezos foundedAmazon.com and then BlueOrigin, based in Kent, Wash.

AROUND THE U.S.

area, for example, while othershave access only to the cargoarea, he said. Badged employeesare subject to surveillance bythe airport police, who check tomake sure employees are in theproper areas, White said.

The badges are issued bythe airport police using proto-cols issued by the Transporta-tion Security Administration,White said. To apply for abadge, the employer mustfirst verify the need and fillout a form justifying thatneed, White said.

“They have to have a provenneed to have access to a sterilepart of the airport,” he said.

White said he was unawarewhich level of access Loewenhad.

But based on his job “Idoubt that he had all-access,”he said. “I’m sure he had lim-ited access, but I don’t knowthat for a fact.”

Besides fingerprinting andbackground checks, appli-cants for a badge must gothrough a computer-basedtraining session at the air-port’s police department,where they learn about rulesand regulations and receiveother information, White said.

There is a long list of crimi-nal offenses that disqualify aperson from gaining a badge,according to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport’s website.Those include offenses suchas improper transportation ofhazardous materials; interfe-rence with flight crew mem-bers; conveying false informa-tion and threats; unlawfulentry to an airport area thatserves air carriers contrary toestablished security require-ments; and several felonies,such as robbery, burglary andaggravated assault.

Agents arrested Loewenabout 5:40 a.m. Friday afterthey say he attempted toenter the airport tarmac anddeliver a vehicle loaded withwhat he believed to be highexplosives. Loewen was taken

into custody when he at-tempted to open a securitygate with his employee accessbadge.

He is alleged to have spentmonths developing a plan touse his access card to airportgrounds to drive a van loadedwith explosives to the termi-nal. The bombs in the vanFriday were inert.

“He never got through ontothe airfield,” White said.

Hawker Beechcraft Services,1980 S. Airport Road, per-forms maintenance, mod-ification, repair, exterior paintand upgrade services forHawker and Beechcraft air-planes. It also provides avariety of avionics services.

Upon learning of the in-cident, the company suspend-ed Loewen’s employmentpending the outcome of thecontinuing investigation,Beechcraft said in a state-ment.

Reach Molly McMillin at

316-269-6708 or

[email protected].

Follow her on Twitter: @mmcmillin.

ACCESSFrom Page 1A

newer-model Saturn in thedriveway.

“Kinda different. Most of us,we get together like this heretoday – chat and find outwhat’s going on. We knoweach other,” McKown said.

That’s the picture Terry LeeLoewen’s neighbors paint ofhim: a quiet, unobtrusive manwho didn’t take part in a rela-tively close-knit neighborhood.

Loewen – also known asTerry L. Lane, according torecords – was born July 18,1955, and is a registered in-dependent according to vot-ing records. He has one ap-parent brush with the law –a concealed-carry violation atthe airport in 2009, policespokesman Doug Nolte said;and one civil judgment, for amedical bill in 1991.

District Attorney Marc Ben-nett’s office said it had norecord of him. U.S. DistrictCourt and U.S. BankruptcyCourt records in Kansas show

nothing for Loewen. He is an avionics technician

at Hawker Beechcraft Servicesand a longtime Wichitan,show records dating back toat least 1978. He has lived onFunston since 1999, accordingto records, but has had sever-al other Wichita addresses.

Hawker Beechcraft Servicesofficials confirmed Loewen’semployment Friday afternoonand said he has been suspendedpending the current investiga-tion. Company officials said theycontinue to work with federalauthorities on the probe.

Loewen and his formerwife, Sarah, divorced in 1995in Sedgwick County DistrictCourt. The records of thatcase indicate the couple hasone son. Sarah Loewen didnot return a message seekingcomment for this story.

Terry Lee Loewen and hiswife, Deborah Loewen, arethe listed owners of record forthe house on Funston.

Liz Champaigne, who haslived on Funston for 23 years,told the same story asMcKown: Loewen and theother occupants of his homewere private people.

“They pretty much kept tothemselves,” she said.

Two other neighbors wereequally stunned Friday after-noon as they watched FBIinvestigators in white protec-tive coveralls come and gofrom the Loewen home, aspolice investigators workednearby.

“You’re kidding,” said KyiaReed, who moved into theneighborhood with her mother,Constance, four months ago.

“We just went trick-or-treat-ing down there a month or soago. It’s a normal house, nor-mal decorations. We saw himand his wife, both normalpeople.”

The Loewen brick house is acouple of doors west of Grif-fith Elementary School on ablock of brick ranch homes,the perfect place for a quietlife, said Constance Reed.

“It’s been real quiet. Abso-lutely great,” the woman said.“That’s why we bought thishouse here four months ago.”

Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290

or [email protected].

Follow him on Twitter:

@bwilsoneagle.

NEIGHBORSFrom Page 1A

WASHINGTON — Be waryof all the Washington-speakabout a new spirit of biparti-sanship suddenly grippingCongress. It’s not.

Sure, the House of Repre-sentatives peacefully passeda budget plan Thursday nightwith strong support frommembers of both parties. Butthe lingering tension is quick-ly obvious.

The Senate will returnSunday still mired in a fightover presidential nomina-tions for government posi-tions. This ugly war meantall-night sessions Wednesdayand Thursday, highlighted bysome bitter partisan sniping.

On Tuesday, the Senate isexpected to start consideringthe budget agreement. Whilepassage is expected, so areRepublican attempts at leng-thy debate and delay. Re-publicans are upset that theplan doesn’t address long-term deficit issues – hardly asurprise, since most othermajor legislation remainsstuck.

Then there’s overhaulingimmigration, setting long-term farm policy and extend-ing long-term unemploymentbenefits set to expire threedays after Christmas: TheHouse formally ended its2013 session without settlingany of those problems.

Even the highly toutedbudget deal wasn’t all thatbig a deal, lawmakers con-ceded. House Democraticleader Nancy Pelosi of Cali-fornia reluctantly voted yes,but she called the agreement“a draw as small as it couldpossibly be.”

It adds $63 billion inspending during this fiscalyear and fiscal 2015, easingthe automatic across-the-board spending cuts, or se-quester. The deal would raise$85 billion from revenuesand other measures over thenext 10 years.

Years of anger

Make no mistake, signs didemerge suggesting that Re-publicans and Democratswere putting aside years ofanger.

“This doesn’t heal our at-tempt to deal with all of theissues, but this is all one stepat a time,” said Rep. MarioDiaz-Balart, R-Fla.

Congressional observerswere heartened by the sud-den willingness of HouseSpeaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to blast conservativeinterest groups. Boehner waswidely criticized earlier thisyear for being too acquies-cent to their demands todefund or delay the Affor-dable Care Act, known asObamacare, and to hold outfor drastic spending cuts thathad little chance of winningapproval in the Democratic-run Senate.

“I think they’re misleadingtheir followers. I thinkthey’re pushing our membersin places where they don’twant to be. And frankly, I justthink that they’ve lost allcredibility,” Boehner said.

His comments drew reac-tion from some of thosegroups. But a few hours afterhe spoke, 169 of the House’s232 Republicans joined 163of the 201 Democrats to ap-prove the budget deal.

In D.C., tension and unfinished businessBY DAVID LIGHTMAN

McClatchy Washington Bureau

Page 3: Airport bomber entry

WWW.KANSAS.COM10A THE WICHITA EAGLE n SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013

Valentijn Van Driessen and histraveling companion, FedericoBalbo, learned about a bomb plotdirected against Mid-ContinentAirport on Friday afternoon whilestanding in line at the airport’ssecurity checkpoint inside theterminal.

Both were preparing to flyhome to Belgium after working inWichita for two weeks when theywere informed by the news mediathat a Wichita man had plannedto blow up the terminal – a plotthat was foiled by law enforce-ment officials about seven hoursbefore their flight.

But that didn’t keep them fromthinking: What if?

“If you stop and think about it,it could have happened while wewere sitting, waiting for ourplane,” Van Driessen said. “Andthen the bomb (could have) wentoff.”

“Yes,” Balbo agreed. “It couldhave happened to anyone.”

Travelers at Wichita Mid-Conti-

nent Airport on Friday afternoonseemed mostly unaware thatearlier in the day a 58-year-oldman – Wichitan Terry Lee Loewen – allegedly had driven to a tarmac security gate in avehicle loaded with inert explo-sives and used his badge to try togain access inside. Most alsodidn’t know that law enforcementwas waiting there to place himunder arrest at 5:40 a.m., dis-rupting a plan that federal prose-cutors say was months in themaking.

Children played while theirparents waited in line to check in at the airport around 2 p.m.Friday. Couples read books. Waiting passengers shuffledthrough their luggage. Laughterspilled into the lobby from theairport’s restaurants and loungeareas.

Little, except an increased pres-ence of law enforcement officersand news media, passengers said,tipped them off to a potentialproblem.

“When we drove up we saw thenews vans out there and all of thecops with all the garb on – thevests and ammo and stuff – andwe figured something might begoing down,” said Mobile, Ala.,resident Kurt Sowder. He seemed

surprised to learn of the bombingattempt.

“It’s a small airport, so there’s a perception that maybe it wouldfly under the radar because it’s asmaller place,” Sowder said.

“It’s a little nutty. But it’s notgoing to prevent me from flying.”

Loewen, an avionics technicianfor Hawker Beechcraft Services,faces three charges in federalcourt: attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction,attempting to damage propertyand attempting to provide material support to a designatedforeign terrorist organization.

In a news conference Fridayafternoon, U.S. Attorney BarryGrissom said that no one was everin danger. Federal agents hadbeen monitoring Loewen sincesummer, authorities said.

Wichitan Ericka Harris and herhusband, Michael, said that de-spite the plot, they felt safe in theairport. They awaited a flight toDallas on Friday with their infantson, Henry.

Nearby, about a half-dozenofficers from the Department ofHomeland Security, the Trans-portation Security Administrationand the Kansas Highway Patrolwatched the line of passengersforming at the security checkpoint

inside the lobby. Two Kansas statetroopers handling a canine chat-ted as they stood near the rentalcar company counters.

Outside, a few armed officersstood guard near the terminalentrances. No one was stopped orquestioned before or after theywent through the doors.

“This stuff probably happenseverywhere,” Ericka Harris said.She and Michael Harris both saidnews of the bombing attemptdidn’t surprise them.

Chris Atkinson, of Cheyenne,Wyo., also wasn’t concerned.

“I’m glad they caught him,” hesaid while waiting for a flight toDenver.

“We were just happy we trav-eled and didn’t have to take ourshoes off on the way here. That’sprobably going to change now.”

But others, like Balbo and VanDriessen, expressed disbelief.

“You would expect somethinglike this to happen maybe in theMiddle East or in a major city likeNew York or Chicago,” Van Dries-sen said. “But over here, it’s Wich-ita.”

Reach Amy Renee Leiker at

316-268-6644 or

[email protected]. Follow her on

Twitter: @amyreneeleiker.

Travelers find airport operating as usual Fridayn It was a regular travelday for most people after aterrorism suspect’s arrest.

BY AMY RENEE LEIKERThe Wichita Eagle

Gov. Sam Brownback and other politicalleaders praised law enforcement for thwart-ing the alleged suicide bomb plot at WichitaMid-Continent Regional Airport.

Brownback said at the news conference inWichita: “In our ongoing war on terrorism,the good guys won one today.” He praisedthe collaboration between federal, state andlocal law enforcement agencies that workedon the case.

Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo called theincident a reminder of the “threat we contin-ue to face.”

“Threats to the heartland of America fromjihadists, sometimes homegrown, are andwill continue to be real, and we must ensurethat our intelligence community has thetools needed to connect the dots world-wide,” Pompeo said. “We can do so whileprotecting fundamental civil liberties and wemust do so with all of the constitutionalmethods available.”

Republican Sens. Jerry Moran and PatRoberts echoed that the incident was a re-minder to remain vigilant. They also saidthey were grateful for law enforcement offi-cials who kept people safe.

Brownback,others praise lawenforcementresponse to plotStaff and wire reports

should reflect on any religiousgroup.

Hussam Madi, spokesman for theIslamic Society of Wichita, said Fri-day: “We don’t even know who he isat all. We haven’t seen him here.This is the first time that we’veheard of him.”

Madi said the society checked withmosques around the city and noneof them knew of Loewen.

“We haven’t had any backlash,” asa result of Loewen’s alleged attemptat terrorism. “Hopefully, we don’t.”

No flights were delayed or can-celed because of the incident, saidVictor White, director of airportswith the Wichita Airport Authority.

General aviation business alsotook place as usual, White said.Loewen was arrested at one of thegates and never got onto the airfield,White said.

Sedgwick County District Attor-ney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillonsaid his office could find no evidenceof a criminal history for Loewen inSedgwick County.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney’sOffice and Federal Bureau of In-vestigation announced Loewen’sarrest at a news conference Fridayafternoon in downtown Wichita thatwas attended by Gov. Sam Brown-back and area law enforcementofficials.

The arrest

Agents arrested Loewen about5:40 a.m. Friday after they say heattempted to enter the airport tar-mac and deliver a vehicle loadedwith what he believed to be highexplosives. Loewen was taken intocustody when he tried to open asecurity access gate.

Members of the FBI’s Joint Terro-rism Task Force took Loewen intocustody without incident.

“There was no breach of Mid-Continent Airport’s security,” saidGrissom. “At no time was the safetyof travelers or members of the publicplaced in jeopardy.”

Loewen has been under investiga-tion by the Wichita Joint TerrorismTask Force since early summer 2013,Grissom said. Loewen didn’t realizehe was having an online conversa-tion with an FBI employee in whichLoewen expressed “desire to engagein violent jihad on behalf of al Qae-da,” the criminal complaint said.

Over a period of months, Grissomsaid, Loewen took a series of steps toact on the plot, as part of the jihad,or “holy war.”

According to an affidavit, Loewen:n Studied the layout of the airport

and took photographs of accesspoints.

n Researched flight schedules.n Assisted in acquiring compo-

nents for the car bomb.n Talked about his commitment to

trigger the device and martyr him-self.

Criminal complaint

The 21-page criminal complaintdetails the development of the al-leged plot and extensively quotesLoewen’s communication with theFBI employees.

There is an Aug. 5 communicationin which he told an FBI employee,“As time goes on I care less and lessabout what other people think ofme, or my views on Islam. I havebeen studying subjects like jihad,martyrdom operations, and ShariaLaw.” He was also quoted as saying“I believe the Muslim who is labeled‘a radical fundamentalist’ is closer toAllah … than the ones labeled ‘mod-

erates’. Just my opinion; if I’m offbase, please set me straight.”

Three days later, on Aug. 8, afterthe FBI employee offered to intro-duce him to someone who couldhelp him wage violence, the com-plaint says, Loewen wrote: “Brotherslike Osama bin Laden … are a greatinspiration to me, but I must bewilling to give up everything (likethey did) to truly feel like a obedientslave of Allah.”

Around Aug. 21, he sent a messagesaying “I have numerous ideas ofways I could perform jihad,” and hesaid he had been sending money tothe “Revolution Muslim website,”the complaint said.

Around Aug. 26, he talked to theFBI employee about giving a “tour”of Mid-Continent Airport, accordingto the complaint. About a day later,Loewen allegedly said: “I guess Ilook at myself as the ‘access’ guy atthis point – just need more detailsat this point … are we talking explo-sives, because I know nothing aboutthat? It’s all very surreal at thispoint, exciting, yet scary.”

He said he could escort someoneonto the tarmac that leads to airlin-ers and the control tower, and thathe could gain access to bring a veh-icle onto the tarmac, the complaintsaid.

Around Sept. 17, Loewen relayedphotos of what looked like fighter jettrainers outside his hangar, the com-plaint said. The planes had appar-ently stopped for fuel. He talked ofmany “Apatche’s” staying overnight.And this, the complaint said:

“It would have been possible todayfor me to have walked over there, shotboth pilots (I don’t know if they arearmed or not), slapped some C4 onboth fuel trucks and set them off beforeanyone even called TSA. Talks REALcheap, however, so what I think I cando and what I actually can do areprobably two different things.”

The complaint also gave this ac-count: By early October, the FBIemployee was telling Loewen thathe had just come back from overseasand that “brothers” were excitedabout his airport access. When Loe-wen was asked if he could scout outtargets and security and be willingto plant a device, he allegedly said,“I still need time to think about it,but I can’t imagine anything short ofarrest stopping me.” He also ex-pressed some concern to the personhe was dealing with, saying, “I’msorry I can’t say I trust you 100%;

my greatest fear is not being able tocomplete an operation because I wasset up. I hate this government somuch for they have done to ourbrothers and sisters, that to spent(sic) the rest of my life in prisonwithout having taken a good sliceout of the serpents head is unaccep-table to me.”

Loewen also allegedly told theperson posing as a conspirator thathe wouldn’t have vehicle access to aramp until after the first of the year,“so driving on to airport propertywith a van full of C4 is out of thequestion – after the first of the year,we could drive a city bus out there.”

Loewen was told he could “backout at any time,” the complaint said.Loewen responded in part by saying,“I can’t see myself doing anythingthat involves killing children, unlessI know everything is being done tominimize that.”

On Oct. 7, Loewen sent a numberof photographs, showing his airportaccess badge, tarmac gates and gatedevices.

By Oct. 11, Loewen told the FBIemployee “he was prepared to goforward,” the complaint said. “Countme in for the duration,” he said. Hetalked of using a vehicle with a com-pany logo.

By Oct. 18, he was talking of bring-ing a weapon, “if advisable,” to be-gin shooting if law enforcementarrived. In 2009, Loewen had aconcealed-carry violation at theairport, according to Wichita police.

Things moved forward, accordingto the timeline: On Oct. 25, Loewenmet with a second FBI employee,posing as a “brother” with al-Qaidain the Arabian Peninsula. During themeeting with the second FBI em-ployee, Loewen repeated “his desireto help FBI Employee 2 with a mis-sion to blow up a plane with numer-ous people on board,” the complaintsaid.

Willing to die

During a second meeting on Nov.8, Loewen allegedly indicated hewas willing to die, and become amartyr, in the attack.

The planning involved talk ofmoving an explosives-laden vehicle“to the terminal near a number ofpassenger planes,” and “Loewensuggested that another individualcould come in to the terminal with asuicide vest and detonate that tocoincide” with the explosives out-side, according to the complaint.

The second FBI employee andLoewen “discussed executing thisplan just prior to Christmas whichwould cause the greatest impactphysically and economically,” thecomplaint said.

They had code words: “rentalproperty.”

Loewen said he used Google maps tocheck out some areas of the airport.

In a Nov. 13 communication, Loe-wen brought up the need to staybelow the radar. “Did you notice thebrother who got busted trying to fly

to Syria to aid Al Qaeda in fightingthe taghoot government – guess heposted a large amount of radicalinformation on Facebook and theFBI set him up. I keep a pretty lowprofile on Facebook anymore – Ihave more important things to at-tend to.”

In a meeting about a week later,on Nov. 19, Loewen again soundedcommitted to dying in the operation,the complaint said. The second FBIemployee suggested that Loewencould be the “navigator” by givingdirections on where the device couldbe exploded.

Loewen provided “research that hehad conducted on the best time toexecute the attack based upon thenumber of people who would beboarding aircraft and the number ofpeople who would be in the termi-nal,” the complaint said. “Loewenfurther expressed his desire to kill asmany people as possible, and heexplained where to park a vehiclefull of explosive to accomplish thatgoal.” He included a diagram of theterminal and tarmac.

He agreed to buy a device to set offthe explosive, the document said.Loewen allegedly volunteered to wirethe explosive device, “since he doeswiring as part of his employment.”

‘Maximum casualties’

The final plan: When Loewen gotaccess, they would drive to the ter-minal early in the morning, explod-ing the device “between the termi-nals for maximum casualties,” thecomplaint said. Both Loewen andthe second FBI employee would diein the blast.

According to the narrative, onNov. 21, Loewen met with his sup-posed co-conspirator and broughtcomponents he got from his work-place. Around Dec. 3, Loewen pro-vided containers for the explosives.Loewen marked an “X” on a diagramfor the place to park the vehicle thatwould cause the most damage.Based on departure schedules Loe-wen offered, early morning was theideal time.

On Dec. 6, Loewen renewed hisbadge and now supposedly hadaccess to a gate to the tarmac.

On Dec. 9, this past Monday, heverified that the badge would work.In a meeting Wednesday, Loewenwired the detonator and helped theFBI employee build the rest of thebomb, the complaint said.

They decided to mount the oper-ation on Friday, Dec. 13, and “Loe-wen stated that he was happy thatthis was going to happen soon.” Hedidn’t go to work Wednesday andwrote letters to his family.

At 4:45 a.m. Friday, the supposedco-conspirator picked up Loewen ata local hotel. They drove to a spotwhere the bomb was stored, andLoewen completed the wiring, thecomplaint said. Then, according tothe authorities’ account:

At 5:19, they headed to the air-port. At 5:40, Loewen tried to use

his badge at the gate, where he hadtested it two days earlier. But now ithad been disabled.

After two tries at opening the gate,authorities arrested Loewen.

Grissom said FBI Evidence Re-sponse Teams are processing mul-tiple locations but that no otherarrests are expected.

Court appearance

At his court appearance Fridayafternoon, Humphreys, the federalmagistrate, told Loewen she wasscheduling him for a preliminaryhearing and a detention hearing for11 a.m. on Dec. 20. Federal prose-cutors told her in the courtroom thata grand jury would meet on Wednes-day to consider an indictment.

Humphreys told prosecutors fromthe bench to make sure Loewen getsthe several medications she hadheard he needed.

When he was escorted into thecourtroom, he walked with shortsteps, his legs, hands and waist alllinked with chains and handcuffs.He appeared calm and swiveledgently in his chair in the minutes heand assistant public defender JohnHenderson waited for the judge toenter the courtroom.

Just before Humphreys arrived,men from the U.S. Marshals Serviceunhooked all of the restraints. Theydropped the chains with a heavy,clunking sound a few feet from thetable where Loewen then sat downbeside his public defender.

In the courtroom seats behindLoewen sat his wife, identified inmortgage records with the SedgwickCounty Register of Deeds’ office asDeborah Loewen.

Humphreys read him his rightsand then the charges. “Do you un-derstand counts one, two and threefiled against you?” Humphreysasked. “Yes, ma’am, I do,” he re-plied.

She asked about his finances andnoted that in the hours he’d spentunder arrest he’d already filled out afinancial affidavit.

She asked him if he wanted apublic defender. “Yes, ma’am,” hereplied.

She noted that he had told officialsalready that he didn’t know a lotabout his own finances because hiswife handles the family finances.

Loewen said that is true.Humphreys nodded. “Well, I don’t

think that’s all that unusual,” shesaid.

Henderson said federal authoritieshad assured him they’d acquiredseveral medications that he saidLoewen needs. Loewen has severalstents in blood vessels in his chestand needs at least one of the medi-cations – a blood thinner – everyday. “If he goes without that medica-tion for 24 hours, there could besevere consequences to him,” Hen-derson said.

Humphreys then addressed Loe-wen’s wife. “I know all of this mustbe upsetting,” the judge said. Sheasked whether she’d helped federalmarshals make sure they understoodall his medication needs. DeborahLoewen rose from her seat. “Yes,”she said. “I wrote it out on my carfor them this morning.”

After that, Terry Lee Loewen wasled from the courtroom.

News reporters tried to talk toDeborah Loewen, but she walkedaway.

“No comment,” she said. “He hasan attorney.”

Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker, StanFinger, Deb Gruver, Roy Wenzl, MollyMcMillin, Bill Wilson, Joshua Wood,Tom Shine, John Boogert and DanVoorhis of The Eagle

Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684 or

[email protected].

Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle

U.S. marshals leave U.S. District Court in Wichita with Terry Lee Loewen. Loewen made his first appearancebefore a judge Friday afternoon after he was charged in an alleged bomb plot at Mid-Continent Airport.

PLOTFrom Page 1A

By early October, the FBIemployee was tellingLoewen that he had justcome back fromoverseas and that“brothers” were excitedabout his airport access.

Page 4: Airport bomber entry

©2013 The Wichita Eagle andBeacon Publishing Co., 825 E.Douglas, Wichita, KS 67202. S

UN

DA

Y

SundayKansas com

WSU fights past Tennesseefor 10th straight win

High-tech lightshows in WichitaARTS & LEISURE, 1C

Arts & Leisure 1C

Business 5B

Sports 1D

Weather 8B

Opinion 20A-21A

Real Estate 1E

Local & State 1B

Obituaries 2B

Crosswords 8C

Help Wanted 1F

Rickey Welch arrived at his job as a sheet metaltechnician at Yingling Aviation on Friday at hisusual time, about 4:20 a.m.

But when he got inside, he was told the hangarbay where he worked was closed for security rea-sons.

The line service person who told him didn’t knowwhy.

“Maybe somebody important is coming in,” Welchsaid he first speculated. Pilots of general aviationaircraft from around the country patronize Yingling,located at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

It wasn’t until later that he learned that a HawkerBeechcraft Services avionics technician who workednext door, Terry Lee Loewen, had been charged in aplanned suicide bombing plot as he attempted to

BUT ARREST WAS A ‘WAKE-UP CALL’

Security atairport is good,worker saysBY MOLLY MCMILLINThe Wichita Eagle

Please see AIRPORT, Page 17A

In the 10 years Terry Lee Loewen was married tohis now ex-wife, Sarah, he was a peaceful, easy-going, quiet man.

Loewen, a native Wichitan and graduate ofHeights High School, had loving parents and a nor-mal childhood, Sarah Loewen said.

“Terry didn’t like confrontation; he was never oneto start a fight,” she said. “He was so mellow.”

He was a good father to their son, Damien, 24, shesaid.

Terry Loewen has not been part of her life for along time, Loewen said.

Today, she’s angry for what he’s done and whathe’s putting their son through.

The man who authorities say was capable of plan-ning a suicide attack on Wichita Mid-Continent

WOMAN ANGRY ON SON’S BEHALF

Molly McMillin/

The Wichita Eagle

SarahLoewen, theex-wife ofTerry LeeLoewen, whois accused ofplotting tobomb WichitaMid-ContinentAirport, sayshe used to bemellow andpeaceful.

Ex-wife ofbomb suspect:That’s not theman I knewBY MOLLY MCMILLINThe Wichita Eagle

Please see EX-WIFE, Page 17A

Jibo He is a professor ofpsychology. He currentlyspends 16 hours a daystudying how we’ve recent-

ly begun trying to accidentallykill ourselves and others.

Just a few years ago, drun-ken driving was the one bigkiller on our roads. Now wehave two.

Drunken driving still kills 30people a day. But hundreds ofthousands of us began talkingon cellphones while drivingjust a few years back.

Then more people did it –and added texting while driv-ing.

Then even more people

made calls, texted – and be-gan “webbing while driving.”With only one hand on thewheel, they swipe their thumbon the screen of their smart-phone, log onto the Internetand chat on Facebook, tweeton Twitter, watch videos andlook at photographs.

Suddenly, distracted drivingkills nine people a day. Dr. Hethinks this will get worse.

Distracted driving last yearkilled 3,328 people and injured421,000, according to the Na-tional Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration.

Four years ago, 13 percent ofall drivers in a survey toldState Farm that they drove

WSU professor’s researchlooks at distracted driving

Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle

WSU student Huston Howery is a volunteer test subject. The research partly involves comparing driver ability when readingtext on a cellphone vs. when wearing Google Glass, which has an interactive screen that dangles in front of one eye.

Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle

WSU professor Jibo He is conducting research ondistracted driving. Dr. He is inventing an app that wouldshut off our smart devices while we drive.

“Imagine driving down Kellogg for eight seconds or so, blindfolded, at 65 mph ... at rush hour.”

Lt. Joe Schroeder of the Wichita Police

BY ROY WENZLThe Wichita Eagle

Please see DRIVING, Page 16A

Disappointing turnout atthe John Mayer concert atIntrust Bank Arena may hurtWichita’s chances of gettingmore pop music at the down-town venue.

That’s arena general manag-er A.J. Boleski’s fear after theDec. 1 concert brought infewer than 7,000 people.

“It’ll challenge us for thefuture,” he said of the tur-

nout, which was bolstered bya Groupon deal that offeredtickets for as low as $29, in-cluding fees. The originalprices ranged from $39.50 to$69.50, plus fees.

The top complaint Boleskireceives about the arena,which opened in 2010, is thatit attracts only country acts.

But country is what sells inthis market. Taylor Swift andLuke Bryan both brought inaudiences of more than10,000 people in the third

quarter. Rascal Flatts drew8,800.

“Success for one type ofshow breeds more of that typeof show,” Boleski said duringan interview last week, callingcountry the “bread and butterof concerts for our area.”

If people want other typesof acts to come to the arena,people need to come out forthem, he said.

John Mayer plays a mix of

INTRUST BANK ARENA CONCERTS

Poor attendance could hurt pop’s chancesBY DEB GRUVERThe Wichita Eagle This story was

reported with thehelp of the Pub-lic Insight Net-work, a part-nership betweenjournalists andreaders. To join,go to Kansas.com/publicinsight andclick on the “get started” link.

Please see ARENA, Page 6A

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013 n STATE EDITION

SPORTS, 1D

Page 5: Airport bomber entry

WWW.KANSAS.COM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013 n THE WICHITA EAGLE 17A

all month long!all month long!all month long!all month long!

Gift Card specials available thru 12-31-13Gift Card specials available thru 12-31-13Gift Card specials available thru 12-31-13Gift Card specials available thru 12-31-13Gift Card cannot be used same day as purchase.Gift Card cannot be used same day as purchase.Gift Card cannot be used same day as purchase.Gift Card cannot be used same day as purchase.

2939 N. Rock Rd.• 636-12142939 N. Rock Rd.• 636-12142939 N. Rock Rd.• 636-12142939 N. Rock Rd.• 636-1214

2441 N. Maize Rd. • 722-23702441 N. Maize Rd. • 722-23702441 N. Maize Rd. • 722-23702441 N. Maize Rd. • 722-2370

Open Today 11 - 4!!Open Today 11 - 4!!Open Today 11 - 4!!Open Today 11 - 4!!

purchase gift cards on line @purchase gift cards on line @purchase gift cards on line @purchase gift cards on line @

www.lovebeaumonde.comwww.lovebeaumonde.comwww.lovebeaumonde.comwww.lovebeaumonde.com

Choose the “Shot” that best Ets your needs.Choose the “Shot” that best Ets your needs.Choose the “Shot” that best Ets your needs.Choose the “Shot” that best Ets your needs.Schedule your complimentary consultation today.Schedule your complimentary consultation today.Schedule your complimentary consultation today.Schedule your complimentary consultation today.

Now LocatedNow LocatedNow LocatedNow LocatedInside Beau MondeInside Beau MondeInside Beau MondeInside Beau Monde

2939 N. Rock Rd.2939 N. Rock Rd.2939 N. Rock Rd.2939 N. Rock Rd.

Francie Ekengren, MDFrancie Ekengren, MDFrancie Ekengren, MDFrancie Ekengren, MD

Wendi Tilson, PA-C • Tina Sholl, APRNWendi Tilson, PA-C • Tina Sholl, APRNWendi Tilson, PA-C • Tina Sholl, APRNWendi Tilson, PA-C • Tina Sholl, APRN

the more you spendthe more you spendthe more you spendthe more you spendthe more you save!the more you save!the more you save!the more you save!

$150$150$150$150

$200$200$200$200

$175$175$175$175

$1000$1000$1000$1000

Gift CardGift CardGift CardGift Card

Gift CardGift CardGift CardGift Card

Gift CardGift CardGift CardGift Card

Gift CardGift CardGift CardGift Card

for just $125for just $125for just $125for just $125

for just $154for just $154for just $154for just $154

for just $140for just $140for just $140for just $140

for just $750for just $750for just $750for just $750

(Save 16%)(Save 16%)(Save 16%)(Save 16%)

(Save 23%)(Save 23%)(Save 23%)(Save 23%)

(Save 20%)(Save 20%)(Save 20%)(Save 20%)

(Save 25%)(Save 25%)(Save 25%)(Save 25%)

316-636-1214316-636-1214316-636-1214316-636-1214

Tuesday – Friday Through Jan. 31

Happy Hour Pricing:

Botox $8/unit • Xeomin $8/unit

Radiesse & Juvederm $75 OFF

Sclerotherapy $100 OFF • Latisse $99 (3ml)

HAPPY HOURHAPPY HOURHAPPY HOURHAPPY HOUREnjoyEnjoyEnjoyEnjoy

Relaxing Wichita for over 25 years!Relaxing Wichita for over 25 years!Relaxing Wichita for over 25 years!Relaxing Wichita for over 25 years!

Airport “is somebody I neverknew,” Loewen said. “I wouldhave never, ever thought hewould do anything this hor-rible. I can’t even put it inwords.”

Terry Loewen, a 58-year-oldavionics technician, was ar-rested early Friday as author-ities allege he moved forwardwith a plot to detonate explo-sives at Wichita Mid-Conti-nent Airport.

In the aftermath, someWichitans are left trying tocome to terms with what theyknew and what they didn’tknow about this man.

Damien Loewen declined aninterview request.

Efforts to reach Terry Loe-wen’s current wife, Deborah,were unsuccessful. On Fridayin court, she declined to an-swer questions.

Terry Loewen’s plannedattack was designated to killhimself and inflict the maxi-mum number of deaths, adetailed criminal complaintsaid.

Authorities arrested Loewenabout 5:40 a.m. after they sayhe tried to open a securityaccess gate to the airport and deliver a vehicle loadedwith what he thought to behigh explosives but were not.

What he didn’t know untilhis arrest is that the people hehad been conspiring withwere undercover FBI agents,U.S. Attorney Barry Grissomannounced Friday.

The 21-page criminal com-plaint quoted communicationhe had with FBI employees.

In it he told an FBI em-

ployee that he had beenstudying subjects such asjihad, martyrdom operationsand Sharia Law.

In August, the complaintsaid, he wrote that “Brotherslike Osama bin Laden ... are agreat inspiration to me, but Imust be willing to give upeverything (like they did) totruly feel like a obedient slaveof Allah.”

Loewen faces three federalcharges: one count of tryingto use a weapon of mass de-struction, one count of at-tempting to damage propertyand one count of attemptingto provide material support toa designated foreign terroristorganization that Loewenallegedly thought was al-Qaida in the Arabian Penin-sula, based in Yemen.

The news was a “totalshock,” Sarah Loewen said.

“It angers me to no end that my son has to deal withthis,” she said. “I don’t knowhow he could do this to hischild.”

Her son and his father had agood relationship, she said.

“They were close,” Sarah

Loewen said. “This is going tobe a hard road for him (Da-mien).”

She has not seen Terry Loe-wen since their son’s weddingin April.

Sarah met Terry at the for-mer Beech Aircraft Co., nowBeechcraft Corp., in the1980s.

At one point, Terry left thecompany to work at Learjetacross town. She wasn’t surewhen he rejoined the compa-ny or when he moved to hiscurrent position at HawkerBeechcraft Services at theairport.

“He was happy. He was anormal human being,” shesaid.

They filed for divorce in1994.

She didn’t know why orhow Terry Loewen hadformed such radical ideas.

But recently, Damien toldher that his dad had become aMuslim.

“I said, ‘What is wrong withhim?’ ” Sarah Loewen said.

As for Damien, she andDamien’s wife will be there tosupport him, she said.

And as for Terry Loewen,“He’s dead, in my books,” shesaid. “He can rot in hell, forall I care.”

Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker

Reach Molly McMillin at

316-269-6708 or

[email protected].

Follow her on Twitter: @mmcmillin.

EX-WIFEFrom Page 1A

“He’s dead, in my books.He can rot in hell, for allI care.”

Sarah Loewen, former wife of Terry Loewen

gain airport access through asecure gate.

After he arrived at work,Welch could see throughsecurity cameras that thestreet had been blocked off and unmarked and FBIvehicles had converged on the north side of the building.

In the meantime, he begancleaning another hangar thathad remained open.

At about 6 a.m., workers gotthe OK to go to their depart-ments.

“We went on over to ourwork area,” Welch said.

Through the north windowof his hangar, he saw a van at the secure gate and agentstaking photographs and oth-erwise processing the scene.He did not see Loewen.

The gate where the allegedterror plot unraveled is be-tween Hawker BeechcraftServices, at 1980 AirportRoad, and Yingling.

If he had known the suspectcould have had explosives,Welch said, he would haveleft the building. Instead,Loewen was transportinginert explosives and posed no threat, authorities saidhours after his 5:40 a.m. ar-rest.

“You think about the Okla-homa City bombings,” Welchsaid. “It was one of thosescary situations. We get socomfortable with our sur-roundings. It was a wake-upcall.”

That said, Welch believessecurity is good at the airport.

“We get checked a wholelot,” he said. “I just thank Godthat nothing happened, andthey caught him and we go onand live on.”

In the meantime, Mid-Continent Airport was oper-

ating on a normal scheduleSaturday. No flights weredelayed or canceled becauseof the Friday incident, said anairport spokeswoman.

Travis Rosel was at theairport Saturday to see hismother off after her visit inWichita.

“It’s unbelievable that some-thing like that could happen,”Rosel said.

His main concern waswhether her flight would beaffected.

Rosel said he expected se-curity to be tighter, as it wasimmediately after the 9/11terrorist attacks.

Daniel Collins, who said heworks in law enforcement,was flying out of Wichita onSaturday.

From his training, “I’m al-

ways on heightened senseswhen I go anywhere,” Collinssaid. “I always scan the roomand get a feel for who’s in thearea.”

He lives in Aurora, Colo.,where a gunman entered amovie theater last year andkilled 12 people and wounded70 others.

“It’s sad that we live in aworld like that,” Collins said.

People aren’t going to stopgoing to movies or quit flyingbecause of the fear of attacks,he said.

If you let things like thatdictate your life, Collins said,“You’ll live in a hole.”

Reach Molly McMillin at

316-269-6708 or

[email protected].

Follow her on Twitter: @mmcmillin.

Dave Williams/Eagle correspondent

Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport was fairly quiet Saturday morning, a day after a man wasarrested in connection with a plan to bomb the facility.

Dave Williams/Eagle correspondent

Passengers arrive at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport onSaturday morning. Activity was light.

AIRPORTFrom Page 1A

“I just thank God that nothing happened, and theycaught him and we go on and live on.”

Rickey Welch, sheet metal technician at Yingling Aviation

Page 6: Airport bomber entry

Kansas comWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013 75 CENTS

©2013 The Wichita Eagle andBeacon Publishing Co., 825 E.Douglas, Wichita, KS 67202. D

AIL

YBusiness Today 1C

Classified 5C

Comics 6B-7B

Crossword 7B

Legal ads 4C

Local & State 1B

Sports 1D

Weather 8B

Obituaries 2B

Opinion 9A

Shockers still perfectafter beating AlabamaSPORTS, 1D

WICHITALK, 1E

TOPEKA — Eleven years after Reginald and JonathanCarr were sentenced to death in the brutal slayings offour people in a frozen field, lawyers for both brotherstold the state Supreme Court they should get new,separate trials because they damaged each other’s de-fenses when they were tried together.

The lawyers also contended that a decision by thejudge to seat a strongly pro-death-penalty juror –who later became foreman – tainted the trial.

Sedgwick County prosecutors countered that theevidence against the brothers was overwhelming infavor of conviction and the death sentence.

The allegations of trial errors are unfounded, saidDavid Lowden, a Sedgwick County assistant districtattorney who argued for the state in Jonathan Carr’sappeal.

KANSAS SUPREME COURT

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Flanked by Justice Eric S. Rosen, left, and ChiefJustice Lawton R. Nuss, right, Justice Marla J.Luckert questions an attorney for Reginald Carrduring a hearing before the Kansas SupremeCourt on Tuesday in Topeka.

High courthears Carrs’death-penaltyappealsBY DION LEFLER

The Wichita Eagle

Please see APPEALS, Page 6A

WASHINGTON — It’s easy to get lost amid all thespying revelations, investigations and related law-suits sprouting up.

Here’s a roadmap.Start with the decision Monday, by a federal trial

judge who concluded it’s likely that a National Se-curity Agency surveillance program violates theFourth Amendment’s protections against unreason-able searches and seizures. This case bears closewatching, as it or something similar seems destinedfor the Supreme Court

The trial judge did not mince words in character-

AGENCY BESET BY LAWSUITS, SCRUTINY

Fights oversurveillance byNSA like agood spy storyBY MICHAEL DOYLE

McClatchy Washington Bureau

Please see NSA, Page 2A

At the start of the 10 p.m.newscast on Saturday, KSNweekend anchor Justin Kraemerwas about to complete what hecalled “a very long day.”

By 10 p.m. on Monday,Kraemer was a former KSNanchor whose accidental on-airexpletive had been heard bymore than 1 million people onYouTube, written about onnational websites such as the

Huffington Post and joked abouton “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Kraemer, an on-air reporterand fill-in anchor at KSN since2008, could be heard at the endof KSN’s Saturday-night new-scast muttering to his co-an-chors, “Let’s get the (expletive)out of here.” The show hadcome to an end, the camerashad already cut away from theanchors, who had signed off,and the end-of-broadcast music

KSN ANCHOR LET GO AFTER ON-AIR EXPLETIVE

Fired TV anchor confident about next move

Courtesy of

Justin Kraemer

JustinKraemer, whohad been afill-in anchoron KSN Newssince July2012, was firedMonday afteruttering anexpletive thataccidentallywent live onthe air.

BY DENISE NEIL

The Wichita Eagle

Please see FIRED, Page 5A

Since the 9/11 terroristattacks, the governmenthas mounted a numberof investigations inwhich undercover FBI

agents or informers haveposed as co-conspirators withsuspects who get charged withtrying to carry out plots.

It has spawned a nationaldebate about whether thesuspects are really terrorists orjust easily manipulated peoplewho become victims of en-trapment. With the arrest ofTerry Lee Loewen at WichitaMid-Continent Airport onFriday, that national debatehas come to the Air Capital of

the World.Loewen, a 58-year-old

avionics technician, has beencharged in an alleged plot touse his airport access to try todrive a car bomb onto thetarmac to inflict maximumdeaths. Two FBI employeesposed as people engaging himor helping him to carry out theattack, a criminal complaintsaid. Loewen didn’t find outhe had been fooled until hetried to carry out the attackwith what was inert material,not high explosives, the courtdocument said.

A letter to the editor inTuesday’s Eagle typifies theentrapment argument: “The

Was airport suspect avictim of entrapment?

Debate over

FBI tactics

follows Wichita

man’s arrest

Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle

A Kansas state trooper walks outside Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita on Friday after a man was arrested in an allegedbomb plot on the airport grounds.

Molly McMillin/The Wichita Eagle

The gate where Terry Loewen was arrested is betweenHawker Beechcraft Services, where he worked, and YinglingAviation at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. The yellow painton the drive marks where Loewen’s van was parked.

BY TIM POTTER

The Wichita Eagle

Please see SUSPECT, Page 3A

Page 7: Airport bomber entry

WWW.KANSAS.COM WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013 n THE WICHITA EAGLE 3A

*See Store For Exclusions.*See Store For Exclusions.*See Store For Exclusions.*See Store For Exclusions.

Mon.-Sat. 10-6 • Sun 1-5

Hours: Monday-Friday 12pm - 5pm • Saturday 12pm - 4pmHours: Monday-Friday 12pm - 5pm • Saturday 12pm - 4pmHours: Monday-Friday 12pm - 5pm • Saturday 12pm - 4pmHours: Monday-Friday 12pm - 5pm • Saturday 12pm - 4pm

505 N. Lorraine • 681-2115505 N. Lorraine • 681-2115505 N. Lorraine • 681-2115505 N. Lorraine • 681-21151 Block West of Hillside & Central1 Block West of Hillside & Central1 Block West of Hillside & Central1 Block West of Hillside & Central

www.nancysgreenelephant.comwww.nancysgreenelephant.comwww.nancysgreenelephant.comwww.nancysgreenelephant.com1-800-245-78661-800-245-78661-800-245-78661-800-245-7866

rda

GREEN ELEPHANTGREEN ELEPHANTGREEN ELEPHANTGREEN ELEPHANT

VILLAGEVILLAGEVILLAGEVILLAGE

Beautiful GiftsBeautiful GiftsBeautiful GiftsBeautiful Gifts(7& &%'63(0<671(7& &%'63(0<671(7& &%'63(0<671(7& &%'63(0<671

)/* 6##)/* 6##)/* 6##)/* 6##-063%-063%-063%-063%+<&%+<&%+<&%+<&%

;<#0 '%30<#<'(0%1 <7'9.&%& 76,;<#0 '%30<#<'(0%1 <7'9.&%& 76,;<#0 '%30<#<'(0%1 <7'9.&%& 76,;<#0 '%30<#<'(0%1 <7'9.&%& 76,

0!3. &%'4 )" 65%7 2/:// $ )://580!3. &%'4 )" 65%7 2/:// $ )://580!3. &%'4 )" 65%7 2/:// $ )://580!3. &%'4 )" 65%7 2/:// $ )://58

FBI has a pattern of seekingout naive, harmless, disaffect-ed individuals and using themto orchestrate a crime. …Terry Lee Loewen has beenentrapped along with othersin these phony plots,” wroteDon Anderson of Winfield.

A counter argument comesfrom thewebsite of theInvestigativeProject onTerrorism, anonprofitinstitutebased in theWashington,D.C., area,commentingon the Loewen case: “Manynational Islamist groups have criticized similar stingoperations, arguing the FBI ismanufacturing a terroristthreat where it might notexist. If Loewen’s correspond-ence in the complaint provesaccurate, however, he was aman with the motivation andaccess to pull off a horrificattack. Left alone, he mighthave found ways to make hisown bomb.”

John Henderson, one of thefederal public defenders representing Loewen, de-clined to comment Tuesday.Jim Cross, Wichita-basedspokesman for the U.S. At-torney’s Office, said it “willreserve its comments for thecourtroom” because the caseis pending.

What is entrapment? Wichita defense lawyer Dan

Monnat says it involves twoelements: law enforcementinducing someone to commita crime, and the person hav-ing no predisposition to com-mit the crime.

“The defense of entrapmentreflects the sound public pol-icy that it is unconscionablefor government officers toensnare the innocent andlaw-abiding into the commis-sion of crime,” Monnat said.Entrapment exists when thecriminal idea originates withgovernment agents instead ofthe accused and when theaccused is persuaded by theofficers to commit the crime,he said.

A January 2012 article byDavid J. Gottfried on the FBI’swebsite, titled “Avoiding theEntrapment Defense in aPost-911 World,” notes thatsince 9/11, there has been anemphasis on preventing at-tacks. “In other words, lawenforcement must, in a controlled manner, divertsomeone determined to harmthe United States and its people into a plot bound tofail from the outset, instead ofone that might succeed,”wrote Gottfried, a legal in-structor at the FBI Academy.

To avoid the defense gettingan acquittal based on a suc-cessful entrapment argument,Gottried said, careful plan-ning of the investigation andcareful execution by law enforcement is key. Part of thetest, he said, is that “defen-dants must show by a prepon-derance of evidence … thatofficers induced them to commit the crime. Assumingdefendants make their show-ing of inducement, the burdenof proof moves to the prose-cution, which must provebeyond a reasonable doubtthat the defendant was predisposed to commit thecrime.” So an entrapmentdefense can fail either by thedefendant not being able toshow inducement or by prosecutors proving the defendant was predisposed.

Only authorities know thewhole case against Loewen.But they have laid out, in

detail, some of their caseagainst Loewen, in a 21-page,footnoted criminal complaint:

Loewen told an undercoverFBI employee about his “desire to engage in violentjihad,” or holy war. Aboutfour months before his arrest,he said: “Brothers like Osamabin Laden … are a great inspiration to me.” He said hehad a number of ways hecould “perform jihad” andthat “none of them are legal.”He read a magazine withterrorist ties. He said, “I reallydon’t see me living throughany thing I have in mind.” As the months went on, hekept reiterating his commit-ment to jihad. He said, “Don’t you think with myaccess to the airport that Ishould put that to good use?”Around Sept. 21, he spoke ofhow “It would have beenpossible today for me to havewalked over there, shot bothpilots … slapped some C4 onboth fuel trucks and set themoff before anyone even calledTSA.”

After the undercover FBIemployee told Loewen he“could back out at any time,”he continued ahead, sendingphotos of gates to the tarmacand suggesting that a compa-ny logo could be painted on avehicle, “allowing more timeto modify said vehicle for anoperation.” And this: “countme in for the duration.” Theplot progressed to the pointthat Loewen was suggestingthat another person coulddetonate a suicide vest in the terminal, the complaintsaid.

Finally, the court documentsaid, about a month beforethe attack, Loewen “furtherexpressed his desire to kill asmany people as possible, andhe explained where to park avehicle full of explosives.”

In a letter to his family, hewrote: “I expect to be called aterrorist (which I am), a psy-chopath, and a homicidalmaniac.”

Steve Emerson, executivedirector of the InvestigativeProject on Terrorism, said that based on the criminalcomplaint, “he had a pre-disposition.” Along the way,the undercover employees“provided him several outs,”Emerson said.

In most successful interven-tions to prevent terrorist at-tacks, authorities are usingundercover people posing asco-conspirators, Emersonsaid.

He said he knows of nosuccessful entrapment de-fense in a terrorism case after9/11.

It seems that Loewen wasmentally aware of what hewas doing, Emerson said,adding that terrorists “might

seem crazy to others … butthey’re not crazy” eventhough others can’t rational-ize terrorism.

The investigation of Loewenwould have been authorizedonly after a “tremendous legalreview,” Emerson said, addingthat approval for “an oper-ation like this comes out ofheadquarters.”

Mike German, senior policycounsel for the American Civil Liberties Union andbased in Washington, D.C.,said he wouldn’t comment on the Loewen case becausenot all the facts are known.But in general, German said,“The FBI has clearly beenpushing the envelope in previous sting cases.” Thesituation has caused the cur-rent skepticism among thepublic, said German, a formerFBI agent who said he workedundercover in domestic terro-rism cases.

Questionable sting cases“exploit the fear” caused byterrorism, German said. Too many times, he said, theperson targeted by the in-vestigation doesn’t have thecapability to carry out anattack even if he had intent.

There is a way to investigatea risk without intervening somuch and “manufacturing theplot,” German said.

For the government, hesaid, building cases becomes away to argue for more fund-ing, resources and authority“rather than taking an honestassessment of the threats thatexist.”

German said it comes downto politics – making it appearthat government is tough onterrorism.

Reach Tim Potter at 316-268-6684

or [email protected].

SUSPECTFrom Page 1A

Loewen

Bel Aire policechief resigns

Bel Aire police Chief JohnDaily has resigned afterabout seven years in thepost.

City Manager Ty Lasherconfirmed Tuesday thatDaily is no longer the chiefof police.

“He gave us a resignationletter, but it’s a personnelmatter that I can’t discuss,”Lasher said.

Daily’s last day was Fri-day, Lasher said.

Lt. Troy Griggs has beennamed interim police chieffor the department, whichhas nine full-time officersfor a city of about 6,800residents.

— Stan Finger

Butler College’sEducare gets $95,579

Educare, the child carecenter and learning lab atButler Community College,will receive a $95,579 grantsupporting parents inschool from the U.S. De-partment of Education, thecollege said in a writtenstatement.

The grant amount is near-ly twice what EduCare hasreceived in past years, thestatement said.

Butler has been given the

grant for 11 years. To receiveit, the child care facility mustbe accredited and be integrat-ed with the college’s EarlyChildhood curriculum, thestatement said.

EduCare at Butler openedin 1996. Students in EarlyChildhood average 10 to 20hours weekly working in thefacility for their requiredpracticum and complete theirrequired observations in thefacility, the college statementsaid.

— Roy Wenzl

$1.2 million grant willhelp literacy program

A University of Kansasresearcher recently earned a$1.2 million grant from theU.S. Department of Educa-tion to establish an earlyliteracy instruction programat KU, according to a writtenstatement from KU’s office ofpublic affairs.

The program over fiveyears will pay for about 20graduate students pursuing

master of arts degrees inspeech-language pathology towork with children from anAmerican Indian/AlaskanNative background with dis-abilities related to languageand literacy, the statementsaid.

Language-based skills arelearned in preschool andelementary school, said Mat-thew Gillispie, the researcherwho is a clinical assistantprofessor of speech-language-hearing at KU. Speech-lan-guage pathologists are at theforefront of prevention, earlyidentification and early in-tervention, he said in thestatement.

— Roy Wenzl

AREA NEWS IN BRIEF

Page 8: Airport bomber entry

!'5:*6+3?8058:'7'52&2>;! 4%?!#0<!

.85= <!449 !'5:;85!)

'77<-:8.$"6"6:9 4!:!%' $ 16,9(("9+,/"

©2013 The Wichita Eagle andBeacon Publishing Co., 825 E.Douglas, Wichita, KS 67202. S

UN

DA

Y

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2013 n STATE EDITION

SundayKansas com

Kansas State beats No. 21 GonzagaSPORTS, 1D

Pet photograph contest finalistsARTS & LEISURE, 1C

Arts & Leisure 1C

Business 5B

Sports 1D

Weather 8B

Opinion 18A-19A

Real Estate 1E

Local & State 1B

Obituaries 2B

Crossword 8C

Help Wanted 1F

When Terry Lee Loe-wen allegedly at-tempted to blow upWichita Mid-Conti-

nent Airport, his case becamepart of a recent surge in ho-megrown jihad-inspired terro-rist plots.

Since the terrorist attacks ofSept. 11, 2001, and through

the end of August 2013, feder-al authorities say they havediscovered 71 such plots thatwere planned to take placeeither on American or foreignsoil.

Fifty of those have comesince April 2009, according toa report titled “AmericanJihadist Terrorism: Combat-ing a Complex Threat” andwritten by the CongressionalResearch Service, a nonparti-

san branch of the Library ofCongress.

Five of those 71 actuallyoccured, including April’sBoston Marathon bombingand the 2009 shooting at theArmy’s Fort Hood in Texas,the report says.

The uptick in discoveringthe plots is both real and theresult of improved intelli-gence and sharing of thatinformation between law

enforcement jurisdictions, au-thorities and experts say.

Jeff Lanza, a retired FBI specialagent who spent his 20-yearcareer working in the bureau’sKansas City field office, saidbetter surveillance and cooper-ation has “enhanced the FBI’sability to get involved in theseinvestigations before they resultin actual attacks.”

FBI: Homegrown terroristsdon’t fit just one profile

Galen Clarke/Daily Tar Heel

/File photo

/File photo

1. The cover of the spring 2013 issue of Inspire, an English-language online magazine that is reportedly published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Federal authorities call it aviolent jihadist publication.

2. Emergency personnel work on a victim on March 3, 2006,near the University of North Carolina campus after a naturalizedAmerican citizen from Iran drove an SUV through a popularstudent gathering spot.

3. Sgt. Anthony Sills comforts his wife on Nov 5, 2009, asthey wait outside Fort Hood in Texas, where their young sonwas in day care, after a shooting rampage by an Army majorthat left 13 dead and 32 wounded.

4. Police officers react to a second explosion at the finish lineof the Boston Marathon on April 15.

BY RICK PLUMLEEThe Wichita Eagle

The Wichita area experienced icy conditionsthat intensified as Saturday wore on, and heavysnowfall blanketed the city during the evening.

By 8 p.m., the National Weather Service inWichita had measured 2.7 inches of snow, iceand sleet in Wichita – with up to 5 inches pos-sible before sunrise Sunday.

Chance Hayes, meteorologist with the NationalWeather Service in Wichita, said it looked likethe heaviest snowfall was going to be in a lineroughly from Kingman, through Newton, toCouncil Grove. That line is farther northwestthan expected earlier in the day. Snow was fall-ing in Kingman by mid-afternoon, and later,around Hutchinson.

Great Bend had already logged six inches by

ANDOVER MAN DIES IN TURNPIKE CRASH

Freezingrain, sleet,snow coatWichita areaBY TIM POTTERThe Wichita Eagle

Please see WEATHER, Page 3A

Night after night now, as he has done for years,Santa Claus appears at the North Pole in southWichita, giving toys to children and saying “Mer-ry Christmas” in a deep bassvoice.

By day, in the days leading upto Christmas, the jolly fat manwith the long white beard ap-pears elsewhere as well – atplaces like the Lord’s Diner, theCatholic Care Home, theKnights of Columbus, nursing homes, Envision oran early education school called TOP.

He has three rules:n Santa works for free.n For every child, or every adult, wanting San-

ta – and there are sometimes hundreds of each– there will be at least one toy, usually smalland stuffed.

n And though this Santa is white and Christian,

JOLLY OLD ELF VISITS KIDS IN WICHITA

Jaime Green/The Wichita Eagle

Nathanyl Lacoss, 3, visits with Santa at theNorth Pole Express at 1841 S. Glenn.

The reality ofSanta and hisspirit of givingBY ROY WENZLThe Wichita Eagle

ONLINEGo toKansas.comto see moreSanta photos.

Please see SANTA, Page 17A

make him see how wronghead-ed he was being.

He asked his friend how hehad gone from being a devoutChristian, a guy who some-times brought a Bible to workand knew thousands of Bibleverses off the top of his head,to supporting Islamic jihad.

Loewen didn’t give him

He thought he was gettingthrough to Terry Loewen.

In June, he had seen whatLoewen was writing on hisFacebook page. Radical stuffabout Muslims and jihad. Real-ly far out stuff.

So Bradford Page said hetried to set him straight.

Page had recently returnedfrom Asia where he said hehad seen radical Muslims killpeople. Over and over, Page –who said he had worked withLoewen for 11 years and consi-dered him a brother – tried togive Loewen the facts, tried to

much of an answer.“It was apparent to me

he had just lost his way, and he wanted to belong to something,” Page said.

Last week, Loewen, 58, wasarrested on federal chargesthat he had attempted to use a

Concerned friend: Airport suspect ‘just lost his way’

Please see LOEWEN, Page 16A

BY FRED MANNThe Wichita Eagle

1 2

4

3

Please see TERRORISTS, Page 16A

Page 9: Airport bomber entry

WWW.KANSAS.COM16A THE WICHITA EAGLE n SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2013

At the same time, he notedthat the federal governmentin general – including theFBI and military – has de-stroyed a lot of the capa-bilities of international terro-rist groups like al-Qaida tolaunch broad-scale attackssuch as 9/11.

“So what the terrorists haveleft is the smaller attacks thatcan be undertaken by peoplein the United States, who canoperate under the radarscreen,” Lanza said. “They arealready U.S. citizens who theycan radicalize and use themto do these types of attacks.”

There are some people whobecome “self-radicalized,” headded. “They aren’t gettinghelp from anybody else.They’re just doing it.”

The feds have a name forthat: lone wolves.

Lone wolf terrorists

Seven of the 71 plots on thelist are tagged as being thoseof lone wolf terrorists, in-cluding Nidal Hasan, theformer Army major who wasconvicted of killing 13 peopleduring the Fort Hood shootingrampage.

In Loewen’s detention hear-ing Friday, a prosecutor calledthe the 58-year-old Wichitanative the “definition of alone wolf terrorist” in arguingthat he should remain in jailbecause he could act on hisown and continue to be athreat to the public.

Others say the lone-wolf tagis incorrect because it’s rarefor someone to truly actalone, even if it’s no morethan drawing informationfrom terrorist sites on theInternet.

Inspire magazine has beensingled out by authorities as asource for homegrown terroriststo find everything from in-formation on how to makebombs to motivation to carryout their plans. An English-language online publication,Inspire is reportedly publishedby al-Qaida and is called a vio-lent jihadist magazine by federallaw enforcement.

Loewen and the accusedBoston Marathon bombers areamong those who have citedreading Inspire, according toreports and criminal com-plaints.

“Someone wrote Inspire mag-azine and placed it out there,”said U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo,R-Wichita, who is on the HouseIntelligence Committee. “In myjudgment, there’s nothing loneabout that.”

Pompeo wasn’t weighing inon Loewen’s detention hear-

ing but rather was addressingthe broader use of the lonewolf term by the federal go-vernment. He said that termhas become politicized as away of stating the threat ofterrorism has been reduced.

“This idea that these peopleall across America are actingalone fundamentally misun-derstands the terrorist threat,”he said. “The tools to fuel thegrowth of terrorism don’talways come from home.”

Regardless, officials say theInternet and social mediahave played a role in peoplebecoming familiar with terro-rist networks and ideals andmeans to learn about tactics.

Those resources havehelped spread the increase inhomegrown terrorists, whooften don’t have access toterrorist-training camps andother outside assistance, ex-perts say.

“The ability to commun-icate, to search the Internethelps support your cause,”said Lanza, the ex-FBI agent.“If I’m a homegrown terroristand decide to take out somerevenge on the United States,it’s much easier to do thattoday under the radar thanprior to the Internet and so-cial media sites. People nowcan get and share more in-formation readily.”

Mark Randol, a formerdirector of counterterrorismpolicy for the Department ofHomeland Security and aretired senior analyst for theCongressional Research Ser-vice, said recent congressionalefforts to limit the public’saccess to terrorist-orientedsites or to close down thosesites are misguided.

“A lot of people get veryupset with the Internet and itsrole in radicalization in termsof training and how to buildbombs,” he said. “But the factis the Internet is not a permis-sive environment for terroristsbecause that’s where the po-lice are.

“Let me tell you who thefirst people are who are goingto say, ‘Don’t do that.’ It’s theFBI, because that’s how theycatch the terrorists.”

No workable definition

Federal authorities definehomegrown terrorist activityas any plot initiated withinthe United States or abroadby American citizens, legalpermanent residents or vis-itors radicalized largely with-in the country, according tothe CRS report.

Of the 71 on the most recentlist, 31 plots involved individ-uals interested in becomingforeign fighters in conflictsthat involved violent jihad.Forty-one had U.S. targets ontheir radar, and three werethreatening both American

and foreign targets.Thirty of the 71 were de-

scribed as Muslim converts.Besides the Fort Hood

shooting and Boston bomb-ing, the two other home-grown terrorists on the listwho carried out their plots onU.S. soil are:

n Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, who in 2006 drove hisSUV through the Pit, a pop-ular student gathering spotnear the University of NorthCarolina campus, and injurednine people. He told author-ities he wanted to “avenge thedeaths of murders of Muslimsaround the world.” He wassentenced in 2008 to 33 yearsin prison.

n Abdulhakim Muhammad,the son of a Memphis busi-nessman who was a convertedMuslim, who in 2009 went toan Army-Navy recruitingcenter in Little Rock, wherehe shot and killed a soldierand wounded another. In aletter to the judge, he claimedties to al-Qaida and dubbedhimself a soldier for the orga-nization.

The fifth homegrown plotthat was carried out came in2003 in Kuwait, where HakanAkbar, a U.S. soldier, killedtwo Army officers and wound-ed others because he didn’twant to kill “my Muslimbrothers fighting for SaddamHussein.”

There isn’t a workable pro-file for a homegrown violentjihadist, experts say.

While one study has shownsome broad trends, such astwo-thirds of them are menand younger than 30, Lanzasaid, “I don’t think there is atypical profile.”

“Sometimes their motivesare separate and distinct,” headded. “If there is a commonthread, they are unhappy withtheir lives. They want to ex-

press their unhappinessagainst someone and ignitesome sort of revenge.”

In the pre-9/11 days, the1995 bombing of the federalbuilding in Oklahoma Citywas motivated by TimothyMcVeigh’s anger over hisperceived mishandling by thegovernment of the 1993 Wacosiege and the Ruby Ridgeincident a year earlier.

Ted Kaczynski, known asthe Unabomber, who conduct-ed a nationwide bombingcampaign between 1978 and1995, saw the growth of tech-nology as restricting free-doms. There is uniform agree-ment among analysts andauthorities that he truly was alone wolf terrorist.

Prisons have often beencited as fertile ground forbreeding homegrown terro-rists, but the CRS report citesonly one incident of the 71plots coming as the result ofthe instigator being radical-ized in prison.

Studies also show home-grown terrorists are less likelyto die in the process of com-mitting violent jihad. Of the71 plots, 16 included plans forthe terrorists to kill them-selves, according to the CRSreport.

Michael Ungar, an author,family therapist and socialwork professor at DalhousieUniversity in Nova Scotia,said homegrown terrorists“are looking for power,” andviolent jihadism seems toattract many.

“It’s the flavor of the day,”he said. “We’re all violent2-year-olds, but we’re taughtto control ourselves.”

Some don’t learn that aswell, Ungar added.

But they can learn fromwhat they see going on in theworld, such as bombings andschool shootings.

“Thirty years ago, youwouldn’t see a Sandy Hook,”Ungar said, referring to the2012 school shooting in New-town, Conn. “We have handeda script to these people.

“They are fishing around,and they think these jihadistshave an answer. They want toget the biggest bang to getnotoriety.”

Kansas City’s Leonard Ses-kind, president of the KansasCity-based Institute of Re-search and Education onHuman Rights, said he’s con-cerned about what he consid-ers the shifting definition ofterrorism by the government.

“The KKK was killing peoplein the South under the sameterms, which is no terms atall,” he said, “but they weren’tcalled terrorists.

“They’re paying more atten-tion to this crap now thanthey used to, and I’m glad ofthat. But I’m still waiting forsome firm lines in the sand.Historically, the definition hasbeen loosey-goosey.”

Nearly 100 terrorist plotshave been waged in Americasince 1995 by some of themore than 1,000 hate groupsin the United States, accord-ing to a recent report pub-lished by the Southern Pover-ty Law Center.

Finding terrorists

The inability to get a clearpicture of what a homegrownviolent jihadist looks like alsocreates problems for law en-forcement.

It’s hard to defend againstwhat you can’t identify, ex-perts and authorities say.

“There are 320 million peo-ple in the United States,”ex-FBI agent Lanza said, “soyou can fly under the radarvery easily. You have a personcome into this country on a

student visa; they attract theattention of authorities forwhatever reason. They’regoing to have trouble beingunder the radar.

“But with someone whogrows up in this country, howdo you single these people outunless they commit an overtact? There are a lot of un-happy 22-year-olds. So ifthat’s the only commonthread, you don’t have muchto go on.”

Authorities are gettingmuch better at figuring it out,though

The FBI is the nation’s leadagency for investigating terro-rism. Prior to 9/11, the bureauspent 30 percent of its time onnational security issues andhad 10,000 agents on thestreets.

Now the FBI spends 50percent of its efforts on terro-rism and has added 4,000agents since 9/11. The FBIalso has greatly improved itsability at sorting throughwhat to pursue.

Randol, the former HomelandSecurity official and senior CRSanalyst, recalled that shortlyafter 9/11, his 8-year-old ne-phew went on the Internet to doresearch for a school project onthe bubonic plague thatwreaked havoc in Europe centu-ries ago. Somehow, that onlinesearch threw up a red flag forthe FBI.

“Two FBI agents showed upat his door and wanted to talkto him,” Randol said.

The matter was quickly re-solved, and the agents realizedthey had better things to do.

While Lanza wouldn’t dis-cuss the specifics of the bu-reau’s surveillance tactics, hesaid, “Lots of things go into itbesides sitting down andwatching things.

“They have created softwarethat spot key words, butthey’re not going to sit onsites forever,” Randol said.“When it’s clear the guy isn’tdoing anything, the FBI isgone. They can’t afford towaste time.”

Entrapment has been usedas a defense for some ho-megrown jihad terrorists,saying the defendantswouldn’t have gone so far ifnot led along by agents. Butsuch a defense isn’t going toget much traction with U.S.juries, he said.

“There’s not a jury in thecountry that has bought theentrapment theory,” Randolsaid. “There are two crimes inthe United States that if thegovernment gets evidence onyou, you’re screwed: terro-rism and anything related tochild porn.”

Reach Rick Plumlee at

316-268-6660 or

[email protected]. Follow

him on Twitter: @rickplumlee.

TERRORISTSFrom Page 1A

/File photo

This image from video, released by the FBI on April 18, shows what the FBI is callingsuspect No. 1, front, and suspect number 2, back right, walking through the crowd in Bostonon April 15 before the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

weapon of mass destruction,destroy property with anexplosive device, and providematerial support to a foreignterrorist organization. A judgeentered a not-guilty plea tothe charges on Friday in U.S.District Court in Wichita.

Federal authorities haveaccused Loewen of trying touse his access to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, where heworked for Hawker Beech-craft Services, to drive a vanloaded with what he thoughtwere high explosives onto thetarmac. He is accused of plot-ting with co-conspirators whowere undercover FBI em-ployees, and, according to adetailed criminal complaint,of being determined to wage“violent jihad.”

A quiet man

Friends and one of Loewen’stwo sons say that as far asthey knew, he was a quiet andgenerous man, but a followerwho had been shut off fromfriends, leaving only the twoundercover FBI employees inhis life.

He was also, perhaps, a manstill harboring a bitternesstoward government and au-thority in general after beingharassed and fired from aprevious job and watching hisoldest son sentenced to a longjail term.

Beyond that, they can offeronly speculation. They don’tknow when exactly Loewenbecame a radical Muslimready to blow up airplanesand kill people at the airport,as alleged in the federal com-plaint.

That makes no sense tothem, and is not the TerryLoewen they knew. The TerryLoewen they knew is harm-

less, theysaid.

“Even to-day, if forsome strangereason heneeded aplace to stay,I’d welcomehim into myhome,” Pagesaid. “That’s that’s the kind ofperson he is.”

Looking back, Page realizeshe was the only person thissummer who talked to Loe-wen about jihad, other thanthe FBI agents. And he wasthe only one trying to talkLoewen out of committing it.

“I thought I was makingsome headway until his wife(Deborah) cut me off fromhim,” Page said. “I wouldengage him with facts andthings he couldn’t dispute,and she didn’t like that.

“She thought it was just abig phase he was goingthrough.”

Loewen’s youngest son,Damien, 24, said his fatherwas a good guy who had asense of humor and couldmake people laugh.

“He wasn’t a really serioustype of person. He was justlaid back and never arguedwith anybody,” Damien Loe-wen said.

His father always helpedanybody who needed it, evenmade vehicle payments for anin-law.

Page said Loewen was withhim at the hospital when hisown son was born andchanged the baby’s first diap-er.

“That was the kind of friendhe was,” Page said. “I had putit on backwards and heshowed me how to do it.”

Loewen was a fan of theWichita Thunder hockey teamand often went to games withDamien and friends. WhenLoewen went to the conces-sion stand for a snack, heusually brought back food for

anybody else who was withhim, Page said.

Dad grew distant

But Damien Loewen said hebegan to see his father be-come more distant, which heattributed to his stepmother.

For the past eight months,Damien Loewen said, hedidn’t see much of his dad atall. His dad stopped comingaround to visit him, his newwife and son.

“He seemed a little moredown recently, more tired. Inoticed a sudden decline ineverything,” Damien Loewensaid.

Damien Loewen said hiswife tried to reach out toTerry Loewen on Facebook,telling him he needed to comevisit more often. But he saidDeborah would not allow it.

Damien Loewen also saidthat Deborah told him not tobring his wife to her houseanymore. He decided not goto his father’s house if hisstepmom didn’t want him tobring his wife along.

Since his father’s arrest,Damien feels some guilt overthat decision.

“I feel like it’s kind of myfault. It’s like he laid downlike a baby …

“I should’ve said some-thing,” Damien Loewen said.

Deborah Loewen, who hasbeen married to Terry Loewenfor 16 years, declined to com-ment for this story.

Friends point to two poten-tial turning points in TerryLoewen’s life that may haveled to him to harbor an angertoward authority and govern-ment.

One was the bad treatmenthe received by a boss at Lear-jet, where Loewen workedbefore going to Beech, and hisultimate firing from the com-pany in 2002.

The other was the arrest ofhis oldest son, Jason, in 2007,and the stiff sentence Jason

received two years later at atime when he seemed to haveturned his life around afterprior legal troubles.

Loewen’s firing

Terry Loewen worked atLearjet for 21 years before hisrecent job.

A co-worker there, ChrisCagle, who worked with Loe-wen for eight years, said heand Loewen were fired forfalsifying records, although hesaid it was Loewen who initi-ated the problem by signing adocument relating to workthat Loewen hadn’t per-formed.

That followed several yearsof problems with a companyexecutive who was widelyhated by almost everyone.

“He didn’t like us, and wedidn’t like him,” Cagle said.

Page, who was a coworkerwith Cagle and Loewen atLearjet at the time, said theexecutive thought his workershad a bad attitude, that it wastheir fault and that he wasgoing to cure them.

Loewen was singled out, hisfriends said.

“We knew this guy wascoming down on him espe-cially hard,” Page said. “Forsome reason he did just didn’tlike Terry. It definitely wore

on him.”Loewen and others filed a

number of grievances with theunion over the way they werebeing treated, but that onlyseemed to make things worse.

“Once you stepped acrossthat line, you became a targetthat he never forgot,” Pagesaid.

Because Loewen was themost knowledgeable avionicstechnician at the companyand a man who shared hisknowledge with anyone, thereseemed to be no reason forthe boss to be down on him,Page said. He said he is con-vinced that is what startedLoewen’s downward spiral.

Loewen also was angrybecause he felt that the unionhadn’t supported him over thetreatment.

“At that point, he was reallydejected. He’d been in theunion for 19 years,” Page said.

Don Piasecki, one of Loe-wen’s supervisors at Learjet,praised Loewen as a worker.

“He wasn’t a good worker,he was an excellent worker,”Piasecki said.

Catholic then Muslim

But he also was a followerwho did what others told himto do, Piasecki said.

Cagle remembered dis-

cussions he and Loewen hadabout religion. Both wereProtestants, and Loewenspoke against Catholicism.Then one day, Loewenstunned Cagle by telling himhe had become a Catholic.

“I couldn’t figure out whyhe swapped Protestant forCatholic, but he said, ‘I’m notgetting quite what I need outof it,’ ” Cagle said.

To learn last week thatLoewen was a radical Muslimshocked him, Cagle said.

“I still like him as a friend,but I can’t go along with theway he’s thinking. That ain’tthe Terry I know,” Cagle said.“Something really snapped onthe boy, and I don’t knowwhat it was.”

Loewen and his first wife,Sarah, lost a daughter, Vale-rie, at age 6 in January 1991.Tim Henry, one of Loewen’spublic defenders, said duringFriday’s court hearing thatValerie died of a hemorrhage,and that Loewen “sufferedfrom depression for a numberof years” as a result.

But Page points to the arrestand sentencing of Loewen’sson, Jason, as having a muchmore significant impact onLoewen. Records show thatJason Loewen was arrestedfor robbery and drug posses-sion on Nov. 1, 2001, and hasbeen in and out of jail since.

Jason Loewen was arrestedagain in December 2007 forpossession of a firearm andpossession with intent todistribute of 227 grams ofmethamphetamine. He plead-ed guilty to the drug chargeand was sentenced in April2009 to 140 months in prisonby a federal judge in Wichita.

According to the FederalBureau of Prisons, Jason Loe-wen, 36, is serving time at thefederal penitentiary in TerreHaute, Ind., and is scheduledfor release in August 2018.

Page said Terry Loewen was

LOEWENFrom Page 1A

Dave Williams/Correspondent

Terry Loewen is accused of trying to use his access to drive abomb onto the tarmac at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

Please see LOEWEN, Page 17A

Loewen