Incident Summary:
3/17/2003: Dwight Watson, a tobacco farmer from North Carolina, drove a tractor through the Constitution Gardens in Washington D.C., United States and partially submerged his vehicle into a pond. He claimed that he had an Organophosphate bomb. DC traffic was paralyzed as streets in an eight block radius were shut down and the Federal Reserve building, Interior Department building, National Academy of Sciences, and Vietnam War Memorial were closed as well. Watson surrendered to authorities forty-seven hours after the incident began. It turned out that the bomb was a hoax, however the tractor caused around $1,000 in damage to the gardens. Watson believed that the tobacco policies of the United States government were unfair to the tobacco farmer and he was trying to bring nationwide attention to the policies that he maintained ruined him financially.
Overview
GTD ID:
200303170005
When:
2003-03-17
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
District of Columbia
City:
Washington
Location Details:
National Mall
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Type of Attack () |
Facility/Infrastructure Attack |
Successful Attack? () |
No |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Government (General) |
Name of Entity |
National Mall |
Specific Description |
Constitution Gardens |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Major (likely > $1 million but < $1 billion) |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Fake Weapons |
|
Weapon Details |
Fake organophosphate bomb in a box that was actually just two aerosol cans and Raid insecticide |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
The incident began around 12:00 PM on March 17, 2003. The monetary effect of closing down DC streets and federal buildings for two days is unknown. During the standoff with the police on the National Mall, Dwight Watson also told authorities that he placed similar explosives near a billboard for a tobacco company on Interstate 95 in Richmond, Virginia and behind the Marine Corps Museum in Washington, DC. No explosives were found at either site. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Unknown |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Derrill Holly, "Man Claiming To Have Explosives Holds Police At Bay Near Washington Monument," Associated Press, March 18, 2003. |
Gill Klein and David Rice, "N.C. Farmer Declares War - On U.S. Tobacco Policy. He Drives His Tractor Into Pond, Ties Up Washington," Winston-Salem Journal, March 19, 2003. |
"Farmer Convicted in Tractor Protest," St. Petersburg Times," September 27, 2003. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties