Saturday, December 29, 2001
FBI Probe of Al Qaeda Implies Wide Presence
FBI Probe of Al Qaeda Implies Wide Presence
Agency Investigating 150 U.S. Groups, Individuals
By Dan Eggen and Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 30, 2001; Page A01
The FBI is conducting more than 150 separate investigations into groups and individuals in the United States with possible ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization, according to senior U.S. officials.
The domestic targets include dozens of people who are under electronic surveillance through national security warrants, and others who are being watched by undercover agents attempting to learn more about their activities and associates, officials said.
Until now, law enforcement authorities had not disclosed the number of active al Qaeda investigations in the United States. The large number of cases suggests the FBI's efforts against the terrorist network have gone well beyond the widely publicized dragnet that has ensnared hundreds of people in the United States and overseas.
U.S. counterterrorism investigators are unsure exactly how many al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers are in the United States, although in the days after Sept. 11 they identified four or five active cells that they put under intensive surveillance. Many of the active investigations involve people with marginal or unclear ties to al Qaeda, and are unlikely to result in criminal charges, officials said.
But the sheer number of active FBI investigations suggests the al Qaeda presence is far broader than previously known, several terrorism experts and law enforcement officials said.
"It is a good indicator of the depth of al Qaeda presence here," said Robert Blitzer, a former FBI counterterrorism official. "Hopefully working these cases will lead to many more, and you'll have a better sense of the infrastructure at work here. . . . The idea is to figure out what these individuals or groups are doing, what they might be planning and to try to penetrate the group and get closer to them."
The presence of al Qaeda members in the United States is of grave concern to senior Bush administration officials, who have issued several alerts since Sept. 11 warning of the possibility of another attack. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III have repeatedly said they view preventing another terror attack as their main priority, rather than securing criminal convictions.
The two men meet regularly with President Bush, who has told both that preventing another attack must be their foremost concern. The president routinely asks the FBI director the status of the important al Qaeda investigations and wants to ensure they are getting top priority, according to a senior official.
That concern has helped fuel the massive domestic and foreign dragnet aimed in large measure at disrupting the operations of al Qaeda.
Although more than 1,200 people have been detained in the United States, only a handful are believed to have ties to al Qaeda. Only one man -- accused hijacking conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui -- has been charged so far in connection with the Sept. 11 plot.
In addition to the domestic detentions, the CIA has passed information to foreign intelligence services, which have had more than 500 suspected terrorists arrested or detained abroad.
The domestic dragnet has prompted criticism from civil libertarians, as well as concern from some former law enforcement officials and terrorism experts that the Justice Department is not effectively pursuing al Qaeda. But sources said the government is expanding its battle against terrorism with new tools and is focused on a variety of new leads.
For instance, an initiative to interview more than 5,200 young male visitors who entered the United States within the past two years has resulted in an increase in the number of ongoing domestic investigations related to bin Laden, according to law enforcement officials.
Another factor has been the recent anti-terrorism bill approved by Congress, which has given federal prosecutors and FBI agents an expanded ability to open criminal investigations based on information gathered for intelligence purposes. FBI and Justice officials said the law prompted an almost immediate surge in criminal terrorism investigations, especially those related to al Qaeda and bin Laden.
"We have gotten a great deal of new information that has led to new cases since 9-11," one official said. "The numbers have increased substantially."
The officials declined to offer details of the roughly 150 open investigations, or to name their targets. Some of the cases revolve around suspects already in U.S. custody, such as Moussaoui, but most involve individuals who have been questioned and released or who have never been detained, officials said. They are hoping both to build possible criminal cases and monitor the development of possible terrorist plots.
"It runs the spectrum from one end to another," said one senior U.S. law enforcement official. "We don't want to suggest that they are all al Qaeda terrorists running around loose. Some are very serious, but some are just suspected links or suspicious conduct. . . . The goal is to be on top of any possible plans."
Some of the investigations predate the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI officials said. A special team in the command center of FBI headquarters in Washington, including representatives of the CIA and other agencies, has been coordinating the hunt for associates of "UBL" -- for Usama bin Laden -- following the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa.
FBI officials said they have gained a deeper understanding of al Qaeda's operations and strategies by expanding the number of criminal investigations underway.
But some outside experts are skeptical, arguing that large numbers of criminal cases and detained immigrants provide little insight into whether the FBI and other agencies are effectively coping with terrorist threats.
Vincent Cannistraro, a former counterterrorism official at the CIA, said U.S. officials still cannot say with certainty whether al Qaeda operatives are prevalent here, or whether they are centered overseas.
"Out of all the people in custody, they've got one definite al Qaeda and are suspicious of a couple others, and they've got a lot of people under surveillance that they aren't sure about," Cannistraro said. "Insofar as an al Qaeda presence in the United States, they've made very little headway in uncovering it or peeling back the layers and penetrating it. . . . They don't know what they don't know."
Agency Investigating 150 U.S. Groups, Individuals
By Dan Eggen and Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 30, 2001; Page A01
The FBI is conducting more than 150 separate investigations into groups and individuals in the United States with possible ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization, according to senior U.S. officials.
The domestic targets include dozens of people who are under electronic surveillance through national security warrants, and others who are being watched by undercover agents attempting to learn more about their activities and associates, officials said.
Until now, law enforcement authorities had not disclosed the number of active al Qaeda investigations in the United States. The large number of cases suggests the FBI's efforts against the terrorist network have gone well beyond the widely publicized dragnet that has ensnared hundreds of people in the United States and overseas.
U.S. counterterrorism investigators are unsure exactly how many al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers are in the United States, although in the days after Sept. 11 they identified four or five active cells that they put under intensive surveillance. Many of the active investigations involve people with marginal or unclear ties to al Qaeda, and are unlikely to result in criminal charges, officials said.
But the sheer number of active FBI investigations suggests the al Qaeda presence is far broader than previously known, several terrorism experts and law enforcement officials said.
"It is a good indicator of the depth of al Qaeda presence here," said Robert Blitzer, a former FBI counterterrorism official. "Hopefully working these cases will lead to many more, and you'll have a better sense of the infrastructure at work here. . . . The idea is to figure out what these individuals or groups are doing, what they might be planning and to try to penetrate the group and get closer to them."
The presence of al Qaeda members in the United States is of grave concern to senior Bush administration officials, who have issued several alerts since Sept. 11 warning of the possibility of another attack. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III have repeatedly said they view preventing another terror attack as their main priority, rather than securing criminal convictions.
The two men meet regularly with President Bush, who has told both that preventing another attack must be their foremost concern. The president routinely asks the FBI director the status of the important al Qaeda investigations and wants to ensure they are getting top priority, according to a senior official.
That concern has helped fuel the massive domestic and foreign dragnet aimed in large measure at disrupting the operations of al Qaeda.
Although more than 1,200 people have been detained in the United States, only a handful are believed to have ties to al Qaeda. Only one man -- accused hijacking conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui -- has been charged so far in connection with the Sept. 11 plot.
In addition to the domestic detentions, the CIA has passed information to foreign intelligence services, which have had more than 500 suspected terrorists arrested or detained abroad.
The domestic dragnet has prompted criticism from civil libertarians, as well as concern from some former law enforcement officials and terrorism experts that the Justice Department is not effectively pursuing al Qaeda. But sources said the government is expanding its battle against terrorism with new tools and is focused on a variety of new leads.
For instance, an initiative to interview more than 5,200 young male visitors who entered the United States within the past two years has resulted in an increase in the number of ongoing domestic investigations related to bin Laden, according to law enforcement officials.
Another factor has been the recent anti-terrorism bill approved by Congress, which has given federal prosecutors and FBI agents an expanded ability to open criminal investigations based on information gathered for intelligence purposes. FBI and Justice officials said the law prompted an almost immediate surge in criminal terrorism investigations, especially those related to al Qaeda and bin Laden.
"We have gotten a great deal of new information that has led to new cases since 9-11," one official said. "The numbers have increased substantially."
The officials declined to offer details of the roughly 150 open investigations, or to name their targets. Some of the cases revolve around suspects already in U.S. custody, such as Moussaoui, but most involve individuals who have been questioned and released or who have never been detained, officials said. They are hoping both to build possible criminal cases and monitor the development of possible terrorist plots.
"It runs the spectrum from one end to another," said one senior U.S. law enforcement official. "We don't want to suggest that they are all al Qaeda terrorists running around loose. Some are very serious, but some are just suspected links or suspicious conduct. . . . The goal is to be on top of any possible plans."
Some of the investigations predate the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI officials said. A special team in the command center of FBI headquarters in Washington, including representatives of the CIA and other agencies, has been coordinating the hunt for associates of "UBL" -- for Usama bin Laden -- following the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa.
FBI officials said they have gained a deeper understanding of al Qaeda's operations and strategies by expanding the number of criminal investigations underway.
But some outside experts are skeptical, arguing that large numbers of criminal cases and detained immigrants provide little insight into whether the FBI and other agencies are effectively coping with terrorist threats.
Vincent Cannistraro, a former counterterrorism official at the CIA, said U.S. officials still cannot say with certainty whether al Qaeda operatives are prevalent here, or whether they are centered overseas.
"Out of all the people in custody, they've got one definite al Qaeda and are suspicious of a couple others, and they've got a lot of people under surveillance that they aren't sure about," Cannistraro said. "Insofar as an al Qaeda presence in the United States, they've made very little headway in uncovering it or peeling back the layers and penetrating it. . . . They don't know what they don't know."
All articles in this archive are used under "fair use" as they are important to the national discussion of whether or not the people of this country are being deceived by their government. These articles are used as evidence in that discussion.
