UW-Milwaukee graduate gets credit for uncovering terror plot



MILWAUKEE -- A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is getting a lot of credit for uncovering a terror plot in New York City. That graduate now works for the FBI.

This week, three alleged terrorists are on federal trial accused of planning a suicide bombing of the New York City subways on September 11, 2009.

26-year-old Najibullah Zazi admits to being the plot's mastermind and has already testified against one of his accomplices. That testimony comes thanks in large part, to the efforts of FBI Special Agent Eric Jergenson.

Jergenson was involved with interrogating and subsequently following Zazi from Denver to New York, when the admitted Al Qaeda recruit was arrested before he could execute the attack, which he said would "make America weak."

Jergenson earned his Master's degree in Criminal Justice back in 1995 at UWM.

The school's dean, Stan Stojkovic, and the chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, Rick Lovell, say based on their memories of Jergenson as an ambitious student, they are not surprised by his success.