Former Guard Accused Of Hiding Muslim Ties

In the interview, Musa joked that two of every five men at the Benning Road mosque could be undercover FBI agents. Musa said he recently taught three sessions of "How to Punk the FBI" at his mosque. Lessons included such "counter-harassment techniques" as asking an interrogating agent if his mother bought him his shirt, according to one of his Web sites.

"I know the line," Musa said, referring to the point at which free speech ends and encouraging any kind of violence begins, "and I stay away from the line."

Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney for Maryland, said his office takes seriously cases involving people in positions of protecting U.S. government installations. "The U.S. government employs plenty of people who follow the religion of Islam," he said in an interview. "This case is not about the defendant's religion."

An official at USProtect, the Silver Spring firm that employed Jackson, did not return calls seeking comment.

On a recent visit to the mosque, before Friday prayer services, there were no overt signs of Musa's more ardent positions. Adults and children filed past a table of books for sale, including dense political tomes and the business-management bestseller "Who Moved My Cheese?"

Jackson, who arrived carrying a box of food, declined to discuss his case. According to the FBI notes, Jackson told agents that he and Musa were introduced about 17 years ago. Jackson eventually converted to Islam and adopted a Muslim name for use by family and mosque members. (In some prosecution filings, the last part of Jackson's Muslim name is spelled "Mohammed.")

At today's hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, prosecutors are expected to argue that evidence linking Jackson to Musa is relevant because it establishes motive: Jackson concealed his Muslim name to avoid additional investigation that might have resulted in the denial of his application.

Prosecutors also want to introduce Internet postings from Jackson's MuslimSpace page. At issue are two essays, though it is unclear who wrote them. An essay titled "The Politics of Suicide and Self-Sacrifice" argues that Palestinians who conduct "self-sacrifice operations" do so in the same heroic spirit as Japanese kamikaze pilots. The other, "A Thought Provoking Process," faults the United States for its historical treatment of African Americans and Native Americans and, in a more conspiratorial vein, for allegedly spreading AIDS in Africa.

Musa uses both MuslimSpace and MySpace. On one site yesterday, visitors in an audio section could hear him lauding Hezbollah for kidnapping two Israeli soldiers last year. "It shows the rest of the Arab world that these Jews ain't nothing [but a] bunch of sissies and cowards," he said.

Prosecutors want to tell jurors that Musa once said Muslims would "burn America to the ground" if the mistreatment of Muslims continued. He was speaking at a fundraiser for Jamil Al-Amin, the imam who was formerly H. Rap Brown, a once-prominent Black Panther who in the 1960s famously said: "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down."

Musa said in the interview that the government's description takes his comment way out of context. He said he was telling the crowd what Amin had said decades earlier, not advocating violent action today.

Jackson's attorneys argue that the religious name holds no legal significance and that introducing evidence about his religion and Musa's statements could improperly taint the jury.

"Jurors will no doubt focus on whether Mr. Jackson is a bad person," Chamble wrote in the court filing last month, "not whether he made a materially false statement."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.