Another young man born after 9/11 in US faces terrorism charges, supporting ISIS

(he Center Square) – U.S. attorneys nationwide continue to prosecute young men for a range of terrorism charges who were born in the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

Nearly all charged are young Islamic men either born into Islamic households or are converts. They weren’t alive on 9/11 but grew up in the U.S. wanting to commit terrorism, pledging support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS), authorities said. The U.S. designated ISIS as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2004.

The latest arrest was in the Western District of Pennsylvania of 21-year-old Jonathan Hunter Kramer, of Valencia, Pennsylvania. It took three years for the FBI to arrest him – he has been known to the agency since 2023, when he was a juvenile, prosecutors said.

At the time, he was charged and adjudicated delinquent by state authorities “for his role in a plot to commit a mass casualty incident and for possessing child sexual abuse material,” the Department of Justice said.

After he was released from a state juvenile detention facility in March, the FBI said it received an anonymous tip reporting “troubling behavior.” An FBI investigation alleged that Kramer had been using an online persona of “Hamza Al Rashid” and claimed affiliation with ISIS. He also offered to share explosive manuals with others and expressed a desire to prepare for his “mission” to commit terrorism but “was just missing a ‘weapon,” authorities allege.

He was arrested by FBI agents one day after 9/11 before he could carry out his plan, according to unsealed charges released on Tuesday. 

“Kramer was taken into custody just as he appeared to be preparing for a mass shooting that could have taken many lives, having already secured a rifle and approximately 190 rounds of ammunition for what he called his ‘mission,’” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said. “His apparent ISIS inspiration and escalation toward violence show how close this country came to a devastating attack. This arrest prevented what could have been a horrific tragedy.”

One day after 9/11, FBI agents alleged they observed Kramer quickly leaving his residence carrying a bag and taking a rideshare to a retail store where he purchased a disposable phone. He then met an individual in the parking lot where he picked up a long black bag and then traveled to a hotel in Cranberry Township, Penn., where he paid cash for his room, authorities allege. He was later observed traveling to a sporting goods store where he went to the gun counter, authorities allege. When he returned to the hotel parking lot, he was observed carrying two bags containing the contents of his purchase from the sporting goods store, according to the charges.

The FBI executed federal search warrants on Kramer’s person, hotel room and residence. They seized a semiautomatic rifle, five rifle magazines (two were loaded, three each had a 30-round capacity), a rifle bipod and scope, 190 rounds of rifle ammunition, an entrenchment tool, an Islamic prayer rug, pepper spray, and approximately 30 knives. 

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U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti for the Western District of Pennsylvania praised FBI-Pittsburg Field Office agents and other law enforcement agencies “for the speed and precision with which they intervened and detained Kramer when it became clear that he was moving forward with his radical ideology and posed an increased, clear threat to our community.”

Kramer appeared before a federal magistrate on Sept. 14. Rivetti’s office requested that he be held without bond pending trial, arguing he presents a danger to the community. 

He’s been charged with “Receipt of a Firearm Knowing or Having Reasonable Cause to Believe that Such Firearm Will Be Used to Commit a Federal Crime of Terrorism,” including providing, attempting to provide, and conspiring to provide material support or resources” to an FTO. 

FBI Director Kash Patel praised his arrest, claiming, “This FBI continues to move more effectively than we ever have stopping terrorists before they harm the American people. Results like these are exactly why we made changes to this FBI and the way it runs—to save lives before would—be criminals can act. It’s why this FBI has disrupted 1,097 terrorists, 20% more the last 18 months before the Trump administration started.” He also claims the FBI has executed 42% more FTO-related arrests and dismantled 96% more FTO’s than the previous administration. 

The data isn’t comparable because previous FTO designations didn’t include cartels and transnational criminal organizations that have since been designated as FTOs by the Trump administration, The Center Square reported. 

Recent examples of Muslim men who weren’t alive on 9/11 and pledged support to ISIS are being prosecuted in New Jersey, Washington, Kansas and California. One suspect in Kansas City is accused of saying he wished he could kill 300,000,000 Americans, The Center Square reported.

A Texas man was charged with providing material support to ISIS in New York who was accused of building and instructing others how to build bombs, The Center Square reported.

Another Muslim man in New Jersey was convicted in June of providing material support to terrorism after attempting to carry out an Iranian fatwa, The Center Square reported. He would have been 3 years-old on 9/11.

An outlier among these arrests includes an adult female convert to Islam. A resident of Albany, New York, she was charged with providing material support to an FTO last month after she expressed her plans to blow up the state capitol in support of ISIS, The Center Square reported. She would have been 10 on 9/11.