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<DIV></DIV><SPAN class=inside-head><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
size=5>Non-Arab recruits scout for al-Qaeda </FONT></STRONG></SPAN>
<DIV class=by-line>By John Diamond and Toni Locy, USA TODAY</DIV>
<DIV class=by-line> </DIV>
<DIV class=by-line> </DIV>
<DIV class=intro-copy>WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda allies are believed to be
scouting U.S. targets, and the terror organization is using non-Arab
recruits to avoid detection, U.S. law enforcement and intelligence
officials say.</DIV>
<P class=inside-copy>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.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>It is unclear how many al-Qaeda scouts are in the
USA. "The FBI has their eye on or has opened several hundred
investigations of people sympathetic to or supportive of" al-Qaeda,
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."</P>
<P class=inside-copy>Information about active cells came from Ridge and
three intelligence and law enforcement officials. The three officials
wouldn't speak for attribution because the information they provided 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 information about surveillance al-Qaeda did years
ago. The official said the cells:</P>
<P class=inside-copy>•Have been in the USA off and on since the early
1990s, and some are still here.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>•Are focused primarily on states on the coasts,
though not exclusively. They include New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Virginia, Michigan and California.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>•Operate under deep cover, sometimes hiding their
Muslim faith by posing as Christians.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>•Are isolated from each other and from al-Qaeda
members who would carry out attacks.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>Counterterrorism officials have learned about
suspected surveillance by terrorist sympathizers by intercepting
communications, interrogating captives and exploiting seized documents and
computers.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>When a source provides a name, the FBI can keep tabs
on the suspect, but suspects can't be arrested if they don't break any
laws. In other cases, the intelligence describes surveillance operations
without naming al-Qaeda's scouts.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>To avoid the intense scrutiny on travelers from
certain Middle Eastern countries, al-Qaeda 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 to deepen their cover, the
senior intelligence official said.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>"There was a legitimate concern right after 9/11 that
the face of international terrorism was basically from the Middle East. We
know differently," Ridge said. "We don't have the luxury of kidding
ourselves that there is an ethnic or racial or country profile."</P>
<P class=inside-copy>Concern about al-Qaeda plans intensified with the
arrest in Pakistan last month of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, a suspected
al-Qaeda member. Pakistani authorities seized his computer and several
hundred disks containing reports of surveillance — most of it conducted
before 9/11 — of financial sites in New York, Newark, N.J., and
Washington, D.C. The data led U.S. authorities to raise the terror alerts
in those cities.</P>
<P class=inside-copy>U.S. investigators are pursuing six e-mails sent from
Khan's computer to locations in the USA, according to an FBI official with
knowledge of the investigation surrounding the latest terror alert.</P>
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<TD class=font-cn><SPAN class=fonttitle><STRONG><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>Find this article at:</FONT></STRONG></SPAN>
<BR>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-08-16-non-arab-recruits_x.htm
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