FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigated how secret electronic surveillance missed catching the plotters behind the deadly 2008 siege in Mumbai and how American-born David Coleman Headley, a former DEA informant, played a key role in the plot. (Aired 2015)

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When Edward Snowden exposed the U.S. National Security Agency’s secret mass surveillance programs, defenders of the NSA said the spying was necessary, and they produced an example: David Coleman Headley, an American recruited by Pakistani terrorists to help plan the 2008 Mumbai attack known as “India’s 9/11.” But was Headley’s capture an intelligence success? ProPublica reporter Sebastian Rotella investigated those claims, unearthing evidence of how intelligence agencies didn’t stop the 2008 attack in which 166 people were killed. “American Terrorist” is an updated and expanded version of 2011’s “A Perfect Terrorist.”

“American Terrorist” was a FRONTLINE production with Left/Right Docs in association with 2over10 Media in partnership with ProPublica. It was written, produced and directed by Thomas Jennings. The correspondent was Sebastian Rotella. The co-producers were Anna Belle Peevey and Sabrina Shankman. The reporters were Sebastian Rotella, Jeff Larson, Thomas Jennings, and Anna Belle Peevey. The senior producer was Frank Koughan. The deputy executive producer of FRONTLINE was Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE was David Fanning.

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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Park Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Prologue
1:16 - David Coleman Headley: Reconnaissance for Al Qaeda in Copenhagen, Denmark
12:17 - David Coleman Headley: From Drug Smuggler to Informant
21:43 - David Coleman Headley’s Path to Terrorism
33:34 - David Coleman Headley Helps Plan 2008 Mumbai Attack
44:44 - The Plotting of the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attack
53:32 - Attackers Target Mumbai in 2008 and Kill 166 People
01:03:20 - Did Mass Surveillance Programs Stop American Terrorist David Coleman Headley?
1:21:57 - Credits