By Aaron Richman
Co-Director at Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center
A series of publicized arrests in recent weeks have emphasized the threat of self-radicalized or independent jihadists – specifically including Western converts to Islam – coming together in operative cells. One aspect of extreme radicalization is training and possible armed action by Western Muslim fundamentalists in jihadist war zones such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Israel, Bosnia, etc.
A brief issued by American government security agencies indicated that the FBI is calling for all law enforcement agencies to be aware of the phenomenon of Americans traveling abroad for terrorist training. Such individuals pose a threat of becoming the hard core of a sleeper cell primed for attacks on domestic US targets.
* On 27 July 2009 eight men, including seven living in North Carolina, were indicted Monday by a US Federal Grand Jury for planning and and took actions to carry out “violent jihad” in Israel, Jordan and Kosovo. To this end members of the cell stockpiled weapons, trained at a camp set up in North Carolina, traveled to the Middle East and Kosovo, and recruited fellow Muslims. They are also charged with providing assistance to terrorists, including weapons training, fundraising and travel arrangements.
The cell does not appear to be connected with al-Qaeda or any other known international terrorist organization. Although the ringleader, Daniel Patrick Boyd (“Saifullah”), was trained and most likely fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the late 1980s.
* On the same day, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali of Virginia man was sentenced to life imprisonment for joining al-Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush. He joined al-Qaeda while attending a college in Saudi Arabia.
* One week earlier, it was revealed that another convert to Islam, Bryant Neal Vinas, trained with senior al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said he provided al-Qaeda with “expert advice and assistance, including assistance derived from specialized knowledge of the New York transit system and Long Island Rail Road, communications equipment and personnel.”
Vinas also fingered several French-speaking terrorists believed to be from Belgium who trained with him in the al-Qaeda camps.
* Another recently revealed plot involving American converts to Islam is that of four men arrested in May 2009 on charges of plotting to blow up synagogues and destroy a US military plane in New York.
* There have also been several cases this year of Somali-Americans or children of Somali immigrants to America fighting – and sometimes dying – in the ranks of jihadists in Somalia. This phenomenon has also been noted among other Somali expatriate communities, such as in Sweden.
Aaron Richman is the Co Director for the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response in Philadelphia and Israel, where he is responsible for the global Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center’s intelligence and research projects.
He specializes in emergency planning and training for incidents of weapons of mass destruction and suicide bombings. Richman has conducted various research projects dealing with best practices in terror response and command considerations for such incidents.
Currently, Richman is a Doctoral candidate in Public Policy and Homeland Security and lectures for the master’s degree programs for Philadelphia University and The American Public University.
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