The 8 Largest Terrorist Attacks Thwarted by the US

Some of the largest terrorist attacks thwarted by the U.S. include attempts by terrorist suspects to bring down commercial airliners, plans to bomb U.S. landmarks and religious institutions and attempts to injure or kill U.S. soldiers on American soil. These are some of the biggest terror attacks that have been foiled. In some cases, FBI informants have led to thwarted terrorist attacks. That's the case with the May 2012 underwear bombing plot. Reports say members of Al-Qaida in Yemen wanted to bring down a large jet bound for the United States, using a modified "underwear bomb." That plan was foiled by a CIA informant, who managed to infiltrate Al-Qaida, posing as a would-be suicide bomber. Not all of the terror plots listed here were thwarted by the U.S. Government. In May of 2010, two (thankfully) observant street vendors in New York's Times Square spotted a suspicious SUV with smoke coming out of it. They alerted police, and a terrorist bombing attack was foiled. Flight attendants and passengers helped to thwart "shoe bomber" Richard Reid's attempts to bring down American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami just months after 9/11. This list includes some of the biggest, most potentially deadly terrorist attacks that were stopped, whether it's by CIA or FBI informants/operatives or regular, highly observant, quick-acting citizens.