US Army soldier has been convicted of trying to help Islamic State plan attacks on troops

A 24-year-old US Army soldier was sentenced to 14 years in prison for trying to help the Islamic State attack US forces.

Pfc. Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, of Ohio, attempted to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempted to kill American soldiers, federal prosecutors announced this week. Bridges pleaded guilty to the two charges in June 2023.

On Friday, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York handed down Bridges’ sentence, which also includes 10 years of supervised release following his prison term, prosecutors said. Prosecutors had sought a 40-year prison sentence for Bridges, court records show.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called Bridges’ actions “a betrayal of the worst order.”

“Cole Bridges used his training in the United States Army to pursue a heinous goal: the brutal murder of his fellow service members in a carefully planned ambush,” Williams said in a statement. “Bridges attempted to attack the very soldiers he was supposed to protect and, making this abhorrent behavior even more disturbing, he was eager to help people he believed were members of a deadly foreign terrorist organization to plan this attack.”

Bridges’ attorney, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment.

In September 2019, Bridges joined the Army as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. But before that, prosecutors said, he had sought out and consumed propaganda online and expressed support for Islamic State.

At the time, the terrorist group had lost ground to the U.S. coalition forces it had amassed after expanding in the Middle East years earlier, especially in Iraq and Syria. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks across Europe, as well as the 2014 San Bernardino killings in California, and a deadly 2017 truck attack in New York.

About a year after joining the military, around the fall of 2020, Bridges started talking to someone posing as an Islamic State supporter and saying he was in contact with militants in the Middle East. The source turned out to be an online FBI undercover agent.

During the conversations, prosecutors said Bridges expressed frustration with the U.S. military and told the FBI agent about his desire to help Islamic State.

He provided training and guidance to “suspected” Islamic State fighters planning attacks, including advice for potential targets in New York City. He also handed over portions of an army training manual and guidelines on combat tactics, based on what prosecutors said the Islamic State would use the information to shape future strategies.

Around December 2020, Bridges began sending the FBI operational instructions on how to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East. This included diagrams of specific military maneuvers, with the intention of maximizing future attacks on US forces. He also provided advice on fortifying Islamic State camps, including wiring certain areas with explosives to kill American soldiers.

The next year, Bridges took it to another level, prosecutors said. In January 2021, he recorded a video of himself in his army body armor, standing in front of a flag used by Islamic State militants and gesturing support for the group. About a week later, he sent another video recorded in his barracks while his roommate slept, court records said. In the video, he used a voice changer to deliver a propaganda speech in support of an expected ambush on American troops by Islamic State.

About a week later, FBI agents arrested Bridges at a command post at Fort Stewart, court records show. Bridges’ father was also in the military, as a helicopter pilot, court records show, and was scheduled to deploy within a month of Bridges’ arrest. In February 2021, a grand jury in New York indicted Bridges on these two counts.

Bridges is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to federal jail records.

“We will continue to work together to ensure the safety and security of our military and our nation,” said Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, commanding general of the Army Counterintelligence Command, said in a statement. “We remind all members of the military team to be vigilant and report insider threats to the appropriate authorities.”

Earlier this week, federal prosecutors charged a 27-year-old Afghan national in Oklahoma for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on Election Day with his brother-in-law. The two are accused of plotting the attack on behalf of Islamic State.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Army soldier convicted of trying to help Islamic State plan attacks