The Weather Underground bombed the Pentagon in 1972 to stop the Vietnam War.
Fifty-four years later, someone just planted an IED at the headquarters of the command running America's war with Iran.
What happened next is why Kash Patel's FBI exists.
The Bomb Nobody Found for Six Days
On March 10th, 20-year-old Alen Zheng drove a Mercedes-Benz to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and left an improvised explosive device in a secluded area near the visitor center.
He didn't run.
He called 911 himself – told them a bomb was planted, then refused to say where.
Air Force personnel searched the base. They didn't find it.
The device sat there, undetected, for six days.
An airman finally spotted it on March 16th.
The FBI pulled it, shipped it to their Huntsville lab, and delivered a verdict that should make every American pay attention: the device was "potentially very deadly."
MacDill is the headquarters of U.S. Central Command – the command running Operation Epic Fury, the military campaign President Trump launched February 28th.
CENTCOM forces have now struck more than 5,000 Iranian targets and put over 120 Iranian naval vessels out of the fight.
CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper runs the operation from that building.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood there weeks ago and told reporters America had established "total dominance over the skies."
Someone tried to blow up the nerve center of an active American war.
The Cleanup Job That Didn't Work
The day after planting the device, Alen Zheng and his 27-year-old sister Ann Mary Zheng got to work.
They drove the Mercedes to CarMax and sold it – vacuuming the interior, cleaning the vehicle, covering their tracks.
Then they bought plane tickets and flew to China together. Both are U.S. citizens.
FBI investigators hit the ground fast.
Phone records tied Alen Zheng's number to the 911 bomb call.
Surveillance footage from a nearby Best Buy placed the SUV at the scene.
https://twitter.com/Byron_Wan/status/2037278868370055665?s=20
A search of his home turned up components consistent with the explosive device.
And when agents reached CarMax, the cleaning job hadn't finished the work – explosive residue still clung to the interior of the car.
Ann Mary Zheng made the mistake of coming back.
She landed at a Detroit airport on March 17th and FBI Tampa arrested her on the spot.
She is now charged with accessory after the fact and evidence tampering – specifically for her role in hiding and selling that Mercedes to obstruct the investigation.
She pleaded not guilty Thursday. She is looking at 30 years.
Alen Zheng is still in China.
He faces charges of attempted damage of government property by fire or explosion, unlawful making of a destructive device, and possession of an unregistered destructive device – up to 40 years if convicted.
The FBI is working extradition.
Their mother told investigators her son confessed the plot to her.
She is now in ICE custody for overstaying her visa.
Kash Patel posted on X the moment the indictments dropped: "This FBI, working with our partners, will continue pursuing all those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice, no matter where they are."
A Threat That Isn't Over
Monday night, an anonymous video arrived via Signal in the inbox of a Tampa Bay Times editor.
A silhouetted figure with a distorted voice claimed to represent an organization called the "New Weathermen Underground."
The speaker said the MacDill bomb was meant to oppose "the war in Iran" and criticized immigration enforcement and DHS budget increases.
Then came the part that matters: since the March 10th device failed to detonate, the speaker said they had "taken action to rectify this" and had "a newly improved design" ready for use "in the upcoming days."
The Tampa Bay Times handed it to law enforcement immediately.
The original Weather Underground was a Marxist terrorist organization that bombed the U.S. Capitol in 1971, the Pentagon in 1972, the State Department in 1975, and more than two dozen other targets across the country – all to oppose the Vietnam War.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces were literally created in response to groups exactly like them.
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The New Weathermen Underground is invoking that name deliberately – they know what it signals.
MacDill went to FPCON CHARLIE – the military's second-highest security level – on March 17th and held it there until Wednesday.
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey raised to the same level after a suspicious package appeared the same day.
Military installations across North Carolina, California, and Texas have increased ID checks and vehicle searches.
One device didn't detonate. A new one is reportedly ready.
The FBI has one suspect in custody and one hiding in a country that has made extracting Americans its national sport.
And the group behind it is invoking the name of terrorists who evaded the FBI for a decade while bombing government buildings across the country.
Kash Patel said no matter where they are. The question is whether China got that message.
Sources:
- Gregory W. Kehoe, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Press Conference, March 26, 2026.
- Kash Patel, FBI Director, Post on X, March 26, 2026.
- Ward Clark, "Siblings Now Indicted in IED Plot at Florida's MacDill Base," RedState, March 26, 2026.
- Catherine Salgado, "FBI Announces Chinese Suspects Indicted for IED at CENTCOM Headquarters," PJ Media, March 26, 2026.
- "Operation Epic Fury Destroys Iran's Navy and Cuts Missile Attacks by 90%," Fox News, March 2026.
- "Weather Underground Bombings," FBI.gov, Famous Cases.
- "Operation Epic Fury," U.S. Department of War, fact sheets, February – March 2026.
