Attacks
on the West have been conducted through two different types of
terrorist organizations: the sleeper cell and the hit squad. The term
"sleeper cell" means different things to different people, and is used
to reference a variety of threats. Sleeper cells are groups of
terrorists who are already in place and ready to act, as opposed to hit
squads which are infiltrated into the target country shortly before an
attack. Sleeper cells are trained and ready to carry out attacks at a
designated time and place. According to some, the teams assembled in
Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were classic al-Qaeda sleeper cells. Sleeper
cells are loosely organized, and blend into communities easier through
legitimate employment.
The most significant Islamist terrorist plots in the US generally did
not involve sleeper cells but rather terrorists who have came from
abroad. Mission specific terrorist cells are the threat from the
outside. They deploy aliens, assembled overseas, who enter the country
with a specific mission and with legal or fraudulent visas. According to
some, the September 11 attacks fell into the void between the foreign
and domestic threats. The threat was not from sleeper cells. It was
foreign-but from foreigners who had infiltrated into the United States.
In fact, there is very little to differentiate the embassy bombers from
the September 11th teams. But some regard one or both as sleeper cells,
while others classify one or both as mission specific outside hit
squads. The Achilles heel of the later is an inability to cross
international borders without attracting attention. The threat from the
former is that they are effectively invisible until it is too late.
Prior to September 11th, counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke mentioned
to National Security Advisor Rice at least twice that al Qaeda sleeper
cells were likely in the United States. In January 2001, Clarke
forwarded a strategy paper to Rice warning that al Qaeda had a presence
in the United States.
After September 11 the Department of Justice was concerned about the
possibility of additional terrorist attacks. There was great concern
that additional "terrorist sleeper-cells" might become active and
perpetrate further attacks. The FBI immediately sought to shut down any
"sleeper" cells of terrorists who might be preparing another wave of
violence.
On 11 December 2001 President Bush, speaking at the Citadel in
Charleston, SC, revealed plans to transform the armed forces to confront
the threats of the 21st century. He said the United States will meet
the threats posed by terrorists by every means. "We will discover and
destroy 'sleeper' cells," he said. "We will track terrorists' movements,
trace their communications, disrupt their funding and take their
network apart piece by piece."
According to one news report in July 2002,
intelligence officials estimated that there might be as many as 5,000
people in the United States linked to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror
network. The number of hardcore Al Qaeda members in the country who
might actually do harm to Americans is in the low hundreds or even less,
reportely officials believed. The 5,000 estimate included all those in
the "realm of suspicion" and those who may be aware of terrorist
activities but not participate, one official said. The FBI was searching
for Americans and others suspected of advising Al Qaeda cells operating
underground on US soil and preparing for another attack. Some of the
suspected advisers are believed to be longtime U.S. citizens, fully
immersed in American life and able to financially direct an attack
without directly participating in it, the officials said.
Prepared Testimony of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Progress in Afghanistan on
July 31, 2002 observed that "For every terrorist plot we discover and
every terrorist cell we disrupt, there are dozens of others in the
works. Al Qaeda operates not only in Afghanistan, but in more than 60
countries including the U.S. Undoubtedly, coalition efforts have made
recruitment harder, planning harder, and moving between countries
harder. But they have trained literally thousands of terrorists who are
now at large across the globe. These "sleeper" cells undoubtedly have
plans for further attacks."
On September 24, 2002 Attorney General Ashcroft said "We have no reason
to believe that the United States is absent al Qaeda-associated
individuals. ... I believe that there are al Qaeda operatives in the
United States who are assets to the al Qaeda network around the world.
And if I, obviously, had specific information about an operation that
they were about to carry out, believe me, I would be taking action in
regard to those specific individuals."
On May 7, 2003 DHS Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson stated that "A
terrorist network funded by Osama Bin Laden was established in New York
and California over a decade ago. His operatives were dispatched here
to train in aviation, urban warfare, and to raise money. Sleeper cells
were established across the western world - and they quietly plotted
their attacks to be carried out at the time of Bin Laden's choosing.
Terrorist cells arrived in Africa 5 years before the 1998 U.S. embassy
bombings - and some of the September 11th hijackers lived among us for
more than 4 years before executing their deadly mission. Knowing this,
we can not afford to relax into a false sense of security during the
absence of terrorist attack here at home. As sleeper cells lurk among
us - plotting, planning and waiting - we must develop systems to disable
their operations."
In 2003, the FBI's fifty-six field offices began developing demographic
profiles of their localities in order to root out undetected sleeper
cells. Those profiles feature variables on opportunity and skill
development. Indicators of "vulnerable assets" include the presence of
flight schools in the area, the existence of Islamic charities and
"criminal" mosques, as well as the number of bridges, dams, and nuclear
plants.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa said on September 9, 2003 "We know there
are sleeper cells still lurking in this country, plotting to harm us and
providing support for future attacks. Some have been arrested, some are
under surveillance, and I'm sure some are still at large."
By September 11, 2003 Federal agents had broken up terrorist "sleeper
cells" in Portland, Detroit and Buffalo, and apprehended the Ohio truck
driver who plotted with Osama Bin Laden to cut the cables of the
Brooklyn Bridge, to list only the publicly reported successes. But some
of these cases were revealed as something less than earth shattering,
when the details emerged. The Justice Department held a press conference
to announce the disruption of a Buffalo, New York "al Qaeda terrorist
cell," In reality those arrested had lied to federal investigators about
briefly attending a Taliban training camp. There was no evidence that
that those arrested in Buffalo were involved in terrorism of any kind,
or had ever been part of al Qaeda. And the plans for cutting the
suspension cable of the Brooklyn Bridge involved anf acetylene torch,
laughably unlikely to succeed.
As late as February 2004, one report claimed that Al Qaeda sleeper cells
were believed to be operating in 40 states, according to the FBI and
other federal authorities, awaiting orders and funding for new attacks
in the United States.
On July 8, 2004 a Senior Intelligence Official stated: "There is
intelligence that al-Qaeda has individuals dispersed worldwide, and
worldwide would include the United States, that are -- they are using in
order to facilitate the operational planning necessary to carry out
attacks successfully. ... "
Sleeper cells are lodged in the immigrant communities. These have
included the Brooklyn cells in the first World Trade Center bombing and
the plot to bomb New York City landmarks, the Lyon cell in the 1994-96
attacks on French trains and the Meliani cell broken up across Europe in
2000-2001. Sleeper cells could develop from Muslim charities,
foundations, academic groups and non-government organizations. Alienated
segments of Muslim immigrant communities constitute a possible source
of sleeper cells.
By early 2005 there was little to no evidence of Al Qaeda sleeper cells
in the US. When he testified before the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence in February 2005, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III
testified that he is "very concerned" about the lack of data on a
network of al Qaeda "sleeper" cells in the United States. He went on to
say that, "Finding them is a top priority for the FBI, but it is also
one of the most difficult challenges."
In March 2005 a leaked FBI report concluded that "US Government efforts
to date also have not revealed evidence of concealed cells or networks
acting in the homeland as sleepers."
One book published in late 2005
repeated the claim of 5,000 Al Qaeda sleeper cell agents in the United
States. This calim is made in the context of Osama's "patient" long term
plan to execute an "American Hiroshima" in a simultaneous nuclear
attack on seven major US cities. This is beyond even Hollywood's wildest
imagination.
To this day, finding al Qaeda sleeper agents in the United States
remains one of the paramount concerns in the War on Terror. As the
President has explained, "[t]he terrorists want to strike America again,
and they hope to inflict even more damage than they did on September
the 11th." There was substantial concern that al Qaeda and its allies
were preparing to carry out another attack within the United States. Al
Qaeda had demonstrated its ability to introduce agents into the United
States undetected and to perpetrate devastating attacks, and it was
suspected that additional agents were likely already in position within
the Nation's borders. As the President has explained, unlike a
conventional enemy, al Qaeda has infiltrated "our cities and communities
and communicated from here in America to plot and plan with bin Laden's
lieutenants in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere." Press Conference
of President Bush (Dec. 19, 2005).
Source: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/al-qaida-sleeper-cells.htm
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