http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/al%20Qaeda.htm

Issue Date: www.insightmag.com - June 13-19, 2006, Posted On: 6/12/2006

U.S. intel: Converts to Islam pose greatest terrorist threat
 
 
Guantanamo detainees (Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Navy/AP)
 
 
The FBI has been investigating about 100 people in the United States for ties to al Qaeda-aligned groups.

Officials said the agency has sought to determine whether these people are planning attacks and receiving instructions and cooperation from al Qaeda-aligned cells abroad. They said most of the suspects were American citizens.

"At this point, most of these people are being monitored for potential threats," an official said. "With a few exceptions, there have not been arrests."

The exceptions have been two men from Georgia who have been accused of gathering intelligence about Washington, D.C. as well as oil refineries and military installations. Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed have been accused of recording videos of Congress and other suspected targets in Washington as well as maintaining contacts with al Qaeda-aligned operatives in Canada.

Officials said the biggest threat comes from converts to Islam who are eventually recruited by al Qaeda. They said converts have been regarded as the most reliable Islamic insurgents and often initiate contact with al Qaeda through the Internet.

"Many of the six million Muslims in the United States are converts and the vast majority of them are totally law-abiding citizens," a law enforcement source said. "We're concerned about people who converted to Islam in prison and became politically active after their release."

 The FBI and Homeland Security Department have been cooperating with Canadian authorities regarding the arrest of 17 Ontario residents accused of plotting to blow up major buildings, storm Parliament and assassinate politicians—including Canada’s prime minister. Officials said the alleged terror cell sought contacts with extremist Muslims in the United States to coordinate operations, including training for air strikes.

"We've really had extraordinary cooperation with the Canadian government, including Canadian intelligence officials with respect to not only the recent set of cases that were announced in the last week, but in general over the last several years," Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff said on June 9. "They are foursquare on the same page with us in terms of the importance of having appropriate levels of protection against terrorism and making sure that we are not compromising our security."