Distrust Hinders FBI In Outreach to Muslims

"They were middle-class, educated and had people who loved them," a U.S. intelligence official said of the transit bombers in England. "How do you get from being a moderate Muslim to being a suicide bomber? What is that road?"

Compared with Europe, there has been little evidence of such activity in this country. The FBI acknowledges that the JIS indictments are the only case so far of genuine "self-starters" -- individuals who moved from radical thought to terrorist plans with no overseas involvement and without the aid of radical imams, undercover officers or paid informants.

Mudd, a career CIA official before he joined the FBI last year, said that although the growth of homegrown cells is "slower than in Europe," it is "inevitable."

Counterterrorism officials say they are less worried about traditional recruitment "gateways" such as prisons and mosques than about young Muslims, influenced by one another and what they see on the Internet, who find reasons to turn to extremism. Uncovering them, the intelligence official said, raises a number of troublesome issues, including "privacy, respect for religion, and not wanting to be seen as targeting."

The FBI's definition of homegrown extremists as "U.S. persons who appear to have assimilated, but reject the cultural values, beliefs and environment of the United States" could apply to disaffected young people of any era, regardless of faith.

"Youth are vulnerable," Mudd said, whether it is the Goths of the 1980s or the anti-establishment culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Understanding and reversing individual transitions to extremism stretches both the bureau's skills and its legal mandate. Most FBI agents acknowledge that they have little understanding of the subterranean lives of youths, the Internet world or Islam. Differentiating between those who pose a threat and those who are pious or angry or both, who exercise their rights to protest against their government and visit their preferred Internet sites, is a dicey business for law enforcement.

When Muslims ask "What should we look for?" Mudd advises them to "think of every 15-to-26-year-old ostracized from the congregation," saying, "I need you to tell me when you see this."

But Hussam Ayloush, head of the Southern California branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, warned that Muslim youths already feel singled out in this country. "I don't think the looks, how many times a person prays, how strong their political views are should indicate anything. The red line for me, when I start noticing, is when someone starts justifying terrorism . . . when they say the West is killing Muslims" and that's the only way they could respond.

U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and what American Muslim youths perceive as challenges at home to their religion and patriotism have placed them, far more than their parents, in "a real identity crisis," Ayloush said. Increased radicalization "is possible," he added. "Now, it's not real, but I see it on the horizon."

Two Constituencies

After a recent Friday afternoon sermon at the Irvine Islamic Center on the flexible and peaceful nature of Islam, Khan jostled his way through hallway greetings and embraces. But as he retreated behind the closed door of his tiny office for a conversation about Muslim relations with the FBI, his demeanor changed from calm reflection to irritation. He and countless friends and colleagues, he told a visitor, had been treated badly for no reason other than being Muslim.

He has hosted two meetings with bureau agents, Khan said, including the public one with Tidwell on the student "monitoring" question. "Basically, they gave us 'FBI 101.' How they don't harm people, they don't spy on anybody." An earlier session, he said, was far more memorable in terms of what he saw as typical disrespect and unnecessary brusqueness.