page_title: Bryant Neal Vinas
section_title: Al-Qaeda training camp
hierarchical_section_title: Bryant Neal Vinas / Taliban and Al-Qaeda / Al-Qaeda training camp
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing Pakistan and Waziristan
context_page_description: Bryant Neal Vinas is a Hispanic Muslim American convicted of participating in and supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.
  After converting to Islam in 2004, he traveled to Waziristan, Pakistan in 2007 with the intention of meeting and joining a jihadist group to fight U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. He was accepted into al-Qaeda and received training in general combat and military explosives.
  He also volunteered detailed information about the operation of the Long Island Rail Road system to a senior al-Qaeda leader to help plan a bomb attack on an LIRR commuter train in New York's Penn Station. Subsequently, he participated in two al-Qaeda rocket attacks on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in September 2008.
  He was captured by Pakistani forces in 2008 and transferred to FBI custody. In January 2009, he pleaded guilty to all three charges against him.
  After cooperating with law enforcement and testifying in two European terrorism trials, Vinas was sentenced in May 2017 to three months in prison additionally to the time that he had already served. He will remain under tight supervision for the rest of his life.
context_section_description: Later in 2007, he traveled to Waziristan, Pakistan.  He made contact with members of al-Qaeda from Yemen and Saudi Arabia and its leadership, and with "a good reference" was accepted into al-Qaeda.
  He received "military type training" in the Waziristan's al-Qaeda camp between March and August 2008.  During intake, he filled out an information form, listed his relatives, handed his passport over, and adopted an alias.
  His training included "courses" in general combat, firearms (the AK-47, machine gun, and pistol), rocket-propelled grenades, a 15-day course in military explosives theory and assembly (including TNT, C4, voltmeters, and suicide belts), and a course in assassination and silencers.  Ten to twenty other students were in his classes.  There were other classes offered in forgery, poison, and "advanced bombs".  The trainees' performance was evaluated in writing and the reports kept in their personnel file.  He lived in safe houses with trainees from Europe and Turkey, and learned Arabic, Dari, and Urdu.   He agreed to become a suicide bomber, but his handlers eventually decided that he needed more indoctrination and training.
  Vinas took part with other masked fighters in an al-Qaeda propaganda video featuring Abu Yahya al-Libi, a leader and frequent spokesman.  He also had contact with Rashid Rauf, a Pakistani/British member reportedly involved in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot to bring down U.S. flights.
caption: Map of Pakistan and Waziristan
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