FBI Says It Can't Infiltrate al-Qaeda

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 11, 2003

FBI Says It Can't Infiltrate al-Qaeda

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The FBI has concluded that it may never be able to plant undercover agents inside al-Qaeda, and so agents are focusing more on recruiting terror operatives as informants and on continuing to get details from those already in custody.

The FBI's move, described to USA TODAY by top law enforcement officials who asked not to be identified, reflects the difficulties in meeting some of the goals that U.S. officials set for terrorism investigators.

Among the most damning criticisms of U.S. intelligence after 9/11 was that agents had not seen the attacks coming because they had not infiltrated Osama bin Laden's terror network. Since then, the FBI has made recruiting Arab and Muslim agents a priority.

But law enforcement officials say that al-Qaeda's radical Muslim culture and its strict recruiting process �� which often requires life-threatening demonstrations of loyalty �� have made it difficult for U.S. agents to get inside the network. "The risks are too great," said a former top FBI official who asked not to be identified. (The CIA won't comment on its activities regarding al-Qaeda.)

The FBI officials say that religious and cultural differences make infiltrating al-Qaeda a greater challenge than getting inside the American mafia, which took the FBI decades to do. Recruits usually don't go to al-Qaeda, it finds them �� often in radical mosques.

Overseas, interviews with captured al-Qaeda operatives have helped to identify other operatives. In the USA, 132 people have been convicted in the anti-terror effort. They include more than a half-dozen associates of al-Qaeda who were convicted of aiding alleged terror cells in Buffalo, Detroit, Seattle and Portland, Ore., and who are cooperating with authorities.

The former FBI official says interviews with people linked to al-Qaeda have helped authorities identify about 100 suspected al-Qaeda sympathizers in the USA. The FBI thinks they could be involved in fundraising and recruiting, and it has them under surveillance. There is no evidence they are planning any attacks, officials say.

The FBI also is examining suspected al-Qaeda recruiting efforts among radical Muslims in prisons. And the bureau now has a clearinghouse for reports about suspicious activity near government buildings.

Source: Agencies

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