The director of an Oklahoma counter terrorism group said Thursday that the group has no active concerns about threats to election security after the arrest of an Oklahoma City man accused of plotting an Election Day attack.
Allan Young, director of the Oklahoma Counter Terrorism Intelligence Center, OCTIC, said the group and its partners are actively working to monitor potential threats to the Nov. 5 election.
Earlier this month, federal authorities charged Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a 27-year-old Afghan refugee living in Oklahoma City, and a juvenile with obtaining AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition and conspiring to provide support to ISIS to conduct an Election Day attack. Tawhedi remains behind bars.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who was first briefed about the investigation in August, told KOCO reporters after Tawhedi’s arrest that an Oklahoma City polling place was the target.
Young said during a regular OCTIC meeting on Thursday that the group recently participated in “tabletop exercises” with the Oklahoma State Election Board and county election officials. Tabletop exercises allow participants to practice and play out their responses to simulated emergency scenarios.