Operation Pathway was a British counterterrorism operation.
The operation first came under public scrutiny when details of its activities were accidentally released in April 2009.

The name of the operation, and at least some of its details were inadvertently revealed when Assistant Commissioner for Special Operations Robert Quick

Bob Quick (police officer)

Robert Quick, QPM is a former Assistant Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service responsible for counter terrorism within the United Kingdom.-Police career:Quick joined the police service in 1978, first serving in Lambeth....

 was photographed entering Number 10 Downing Street with classified documents in plain sight.
The operation was hurriedly executed after the security breach resulting in a dozen arrests of suspects of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i origin in northwest England near Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 and Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

.

Quick resigned on 9 April.

The operation continued following Quick's resignation.
On November 9 2009 The Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

reported that the operation produced the tip that lead American security officials to place Najibullah Zazi

Najibullah Zazi

Najibullah Zazi is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system, and has pled guilty as have two other defendants. U.S...

 under investigation.
British security officials were reported to have intercepted an email from a Pakistani planner to Najibullah Zazi containing instructions on how to conduct his attack.
Najibullah Zazi was alleged to have begun to implement a plan to set off bombs in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on the 2009 anniversary of Al Qaeda's WTC attacks on 9-11.
His plan was described as the most serious plan against the USA since 9-11.