FBI says al-Qaida operating cells in US using non-Arabs

FBI says al-Qaida operating cells in U.S., using non-Arabs
USA Today - Aug. 16, 2004 12:00 AM

John Diamond and Tony Locy

WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida allies are believed to be scouting U.S. targets in several states, and the terror organization is using non-Arabic recruits to avoid detection, U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials say.

The FBI has counterterrorism investigations in virtually all 56 of its field offices but has not broken up a known surveillance cell, either because agents are tailing suspects who have not committed crimes or because they have descriptions but not identities.

It is unclear how many al-Qaida scouts are in the United States. "The FBI has their eye on or has opened several hundred investigations of people sympathetic to or supportive of" al-Qaida, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said. "If we knew somebody was here as an operative - and we knew who they were or where they were - they wouldn't be on the street."

Information about active cells came from Ridge and three intelligence and law enforcement officials who would not speak for attribution because such information is classified.

One of the three, a senior U.S. intelligence official, responded to criticism that the Bush administration raised the terrorism threat level based on new information about surveillance done by al-Qaida years ago. The official said the cells:

• Have been in the United States off and on since the early 1990s, and some are still here.

• Are focused primarily, though not exclusively, on the two coasts, including states such as New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and California.

• Operate under deep cover, sometimes hiding their Muslim faith by posing as Christians.

• Are isolated from each other and from al-Qaida members who would carry out attacks.

To avoid the intense scrutiny on travelers from certain Middle Eastern countries, al-Qaida is believed to be using operatives from Chechnya, Bosnia and, when possible, Western Europe. Not all are Arab and not all are men. All are thought to be Muslim, but a few have pretended to convert to Christianity, the senior intelligence official said.