Boston Globe : Small terror groups pose greatest threat, officials say

Small terror groups pose greatest threat, officials say

Recent plots not work of 'lone wolf'

By Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times | August 16, 2007

CHICAGO -- In December, when Derrick Shareef, a young Muslim convert, was arrested near the city for allegedly plotting to blow up holiday shoppers with hand grenades, he was described as a home-grown "lone wolf" terrorist whom the FBI had been warning about for more than a decade.

But federal law enforcement officials have changed their minds about Shareef and about what kinds of bred-in-America Islamic militants represent the greatest threat to the United States.

Shareef, US authorities now allege, was plotting with another American Muslim convert who they say had ties to terrorists in the United Kingdom. The two were discussing sniper attacks on US troops and assaults on military recruiting stations, a federal prosecutor said in a July 28 court hearing.

And, law enforcement officials now say, it is small groups like this, rather than disaffected individuals, that constitute the most dangerous form of home-grown terrorism. They can plan multiple attacks, use varied weapons and tactics, and draw on a wider range of resources. More important, members largely operate under the radar and can goad and encourage one another, increasing the likelihood of talk turning into action.

Yesterday, the New York Police Department released a report citing at least 10 well-known recent plots that were developed either completely or in large part by such home-grown militants with little or no support from Al Qaeda.

Current and former US and European counterterrorism officials said home-grown teams, not individuals, were blamed for the London bus and subway bombings of 2005, as well as the aborted plot to detonate car bombs there and in Scotland in June.

The new view of Shareef also corresponds in significant ways with alleged plots that targeted the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York last spring and Chicago's Sears Tower in June 2006. Investigators call these groups BOGs, for "bunch of guys," or GOGs, for "group of guys."

"It's an international phenomenon," contended one US intelligence official, who also said authorities were monitoring such cells in the United States, Europe, Canada, Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere.

The danger, and the problem in identifying these groups, is amplified by their lack of a connection to Al Qaeda or other transnational terrorist groups beyond occasional contact or propaganda downloaded from the Internet.

"If we don't bump into them directly or have someone involved in some form of interaction with them, we'll have a difficult time finding them," said Arthur M. Cummings II, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism.

Some defense lawyers and other critics say the threat is overblown and arises mostly from law enforcement informants who have entrapped or even pushed small-time troublemakers into actions that led to violent talk that otherwise would have gone nowhere.

Shareef's case is similar to many of the others in that one of the alleged "bunch of guys" he confided in was an FBI informant.

Shareef and the man he believed to be his partner planned to detonate hand grenades in garbage cans at CherryVale Mall about 80 miles northwest of Chicago the Friday before Christmas.

The informant arranged for an undercover law enforcement officer to trade Shareef four grenades and a semiautomatic handgun for two stereo speakers.

The FBI arrested him in a parking lot Dec. 6 after the deal was made, the affidavit said.

Shareef has pleaded not guilty to terrorism-related charges. His family and work associates have said they had no reason to believe he was engaged in terrorist activity. His lawyer, Michael B. Mann, had no comment.

Recently, federal authorities asserted Shareef also was engaged in a conspiracy with a former US sailor named Hassan Abujihaad.

In 2000 and 2001, Abujihaad, also known as Paul R. Hall, allegedly exchanged e-mails with suspected terrorist leader Babar Ahmad in London and has been charged with providing Ahmad's website with information about battleship movements.

After Abujihaad left the military, he and Shareef became friends and roommates in Phoenix.

Between 2003 and 2006, the two discussed killing US troops by sniper fire and attacking US military recruiting installations, Assistant US Attorney Stephen B. Reynolds said in a July 28 court hearing in Abujihaad's case.

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