Suspected Terrorist Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack Federal Reserve in NYC

[Ash_F]

5. Because there is pretty much no way to catch real attackers in the planning stage.

And these agencies need to justify their existence with "results" lest they lose their jobs.

It happened to air marshals pre-9/11. There were a number hired as a response to the hijackings of the 70s, then congress drastically cut their numbers during the Reagan era with the main argument being that they were making so few arrests. Then 9/11 happened and there was no air marshall to stop a handful of men with box cutters on any of those planes. Immediately afterwards, the government increased their numbers many thousand-fold. But a give it couple decades without significant arrests and you can bet they'll get cut again.

I guess the FBI has been around long enough to know the game and how to avoid the same fate.