Washington – FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III today warned that extremists “with large agendas and little money can use rudimentary weapons” to sow terror, raising the specter that recent attacks in Mumbai that killed 170 people last year could embolden terrorists seeking to attack U.S. cities.
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At a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, Mueller said that the bureau is expanding its focus beyond al-Qaeda and into splinter groups, radicals who try to enter the country through the visa waiver program and “home-grown terrorists.”
“The universe of crime and terrorism stretches out infinitely before us, and we too are working to find what we believe to be out there but cannot always see,” Mueller said.
One particular concern, the FBI director said, springs from the country’s background as a “nation of immigrants.” Federal officials worry about pockets of possible radicals among melting-pot communities in the United States such as Seattle, San Diego, Miami or New York.
A Joint Terrorism Task Force led by the FBI, for instance, continues to investigate a group in Minneapolis after one young man last fall flew to Somalia and became what authorities believe to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a suicide bombing. As many as a half-dozen other youths from that community in Minnesota have vanished, alarming their parents and raising concerns among law enforcement officials that a dangerous recruiting network has operated under the radar.
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“The prospect of young men, indoctrinated and radicalized in their own communities . . . is a perversion of the immigrant story,” Mueller said.
For the first time, Mueller also disclosed details about FBI efforts to assist Indian authorities probing a November siege by conspirators with ties to a terrorist group in Pakistan. FBI Special Agent Steve Merrill, a legal attache posted to the bureau’s office in New Delhi, had been preparing to play cricket for the American team competing at the Maharajah’s annual tournament, the FBI director recalled.
Instead Merrill detoured to Mumbai, where he helped to rescue Americans trapped in the burning Taj Hotel and coordinated the arrival of the bureau’s rapid deployment team.
Analysts and agents from the FBI ultimately conducted 60 interviews including one of the lone surviving attacker, Ajmal Amir Kasab. Forensics experts pulled fingerprints from improvised explosive devices and recovered data from damaged cellphones, once “literally wiring a smashed phone back together,” Mueller said.
Are our yeshivos, shopping centers and shuls protected at all? what if…..?
What these officials never address is where such attackers are supposed to get ACCESS to weapons. Large-scale weaponry of any type within the United States can be traced very easily, whether it be manure, hydrogen, etc. Major weaponry can ONLY be obtained from the military, whether it be arms or ANTHRAX. WHO of such attackers has access to ARMY stockpiles or laboratories that are tightly guarded UNLESS someone purposely gives them access. In which case one would have to wonder what has been provided for billions of dollars of homeland security and defense for 8 years. What does Mueller think they can get access to that they haven’t had access to in 8 YEARS? Finally, everyone knows that it is next to impossible to transport chemical/nuclear/biological agents without the most strict preparations. A slight variation of temperature can destroy all the agents. SO IF he is talking about something on the order of Virginia Tech or Columbine in terms of “terrorism” then that is nothing new, and can never be prevented anywhere.
So you mean GW Bush was right that we ought to have surveilence of Americans for our own protection?
Its time to get a weapons license and training.
The FBI can’t seem to get the focus on the culprits; the mosques and their Imams.
And the government can’t be everywhere at once.
Murray, you dont get it! If a terrorist decides he wants to destroy us chas vasholem, he can stand right next to you on the street, blow himself up and thats the end of it! So now you tell me how can ONE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN SECUIRITY & safety? No we are all in Hashems hands and YOU WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE! The only answer is to Daven and cry out to Hashem to watch and protect us! Have you forgotten so fast all the 3,000 innocents that went to work Sept. 11, and never came home? How could THEY have protected themselves from those animals?? Lets say Tehillim, Daven and Give Tzedakah and beg Hashem to watch over us! That is the best security we can have!
Everything #13 says is true, EXCEPT your fantasy about the gas station. You are NOT a cop. Every state that issues a concealed carry permit makes it clear that unless YOU are directly threatened with bodily harm you may not take out and use that gun. In fact here in gun happy Florida they tell you that unless you are getting beaten within an inch of your life you cannot pull that gun out. In fact, if that gas station situation took place in Florida – YOU would be prosecuted and jailed. You and the cop both have the right to carry, only he has the right to use it in the course of his official duties, not you. That you carry a gun scares me silly and I have carried for over 20 years.
TIME TO MOVE TO ERETZ YISRAEL!!!! jews are not safe anywhere, so we might as well come to the land where we belong and strengthen am yisrael!!!! sorry guys, but your guns and security guards aren’t gonna cut it…get out of NY while you can!
#14 ,
Simply untrue, it was a leo friend that gave me the ccw and I’ve since read the laws.
You can’t gun down a fleeing criminal, but if you determine its a risk to your saftey you CAN use lethal force.
So if I see a guy setting fire to a gas station. I run? No way! Draw and fire! What’s to say that u can ran far enough?
I have extensive dealings with the police departments in miami and they will tell you “lethal force”
#17
I have never had my gun show in public, ccw does not mean its a secret, though yes u can’t joke about robbing the store if your carrying.
I have many leo friends whom I shoot with etc.. In fact u can use the ccw as ID if you wish.
Btw #15 , in fl if your car was at the gas station, its justifiable grounds for lethal force, google florida self defense laws.