Author: Jeremiah Marquez
Publication: Modbee.com
Date: January 19, 2006
URL: http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/11703106p-12428881c.html
The FBI's new regional chief says the threat
of homegrown militants remains a top concern five months after authorities
uncovered an alleged terrorism plot by Americans targeting synagogues and
military recruiting centers around Los Angeles.
"What keeps me awake at night? A homegrown
cell that has taken seed and grown," J. Stephen Tidwell, assistant director
in charge of the Los Angeles field office, told The Associated Press in an
interview Wednesday. "That is one of the things that we fear the most."
Three men - two of them U.S. born - were indicted
last month on federal charges of conspiring to wage war against the government
through terrorism for allegedly planning shooting rampages at the Los Angeles-area
sites. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Tidwell said the homegrown threat has increased
as terrorist groups have spread their ideology overseas through propaganda.
He said one of the suicide bombers in the July attacks on London's public
transit system was a citizen who'd been radicalized in a year.
"Now, it's an idea," he said. "That's
why you've got radicalized homegrown entities picking up the sword ... that
gives us pause."
Also Wednesday, Tidwell announced that appointment
of a 20-year FBI veteran as the bureau's anti-terrorism chief in Los Angeles.
Warren T. Bamford will serve as special agent
in charge of counterterrorism and domestic terrorism. He is currently section
chief of the bureau's Strategic Information and Operations Center, a 24-hour
clearinghouse for strategic information and the center for crisis management
and special event monitoring.
Though there currently is no specific credible
threat against Los Angeles-area sites, Tidwell noted that the region is home
to a number of possible targets, from Hollywood studios to the Los Angeles-Long
Beach port complex, one of the world's busiest.
He expressed concern terrorists would try
to carry out suicide bombings on those targets.
"That's why you see so much talk about
suicide bombings," he said. "That's why you see every police department
of any size going over to Israel to see how they're dealing with it."
