Cole Bridges, Attempting to Aid ISIS, New York 2023

Former US Army soldier Cole Bridges has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempting to aid ISIS in a deadly ambush on US troops.

Bridges, 24, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced on [no date given] by U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and attempting to murder U.S. military service members.

The US Army soldier joined the military in September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. However, before joining the Army, Bridges began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their violent ideology, and expressing his support for ISIS and jihad on social media.

In October 2020, Bridges began communicating with a Federal Bureau of Investigation online covert employee, who was posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East. During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the US military and his desire to aid ISIS.

Bridges provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City. He also supplied the online covert employee with instructions for the purported ISIS fighters on how to attack US forces in the Middle East, including diagramming specific military maneuvers intended to maximize the lethality of future attacks on US troops.

In addition to the prison term, Bridges was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release. US Attorney Damian Williams praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and over 50 other federal, state, and local agencies in bringing Bridges to justice.

Bridges’ actions are a betrayal of the worst order, said US Attorney Williams. This sentence makes clear that this Office, along with our partners in law enforcement and the US military, will work tirelessly to bring to justice those who seek to harm members of our Armed Forces.