Neil Docherty, producer of "The Cell Next Door"

Neil Docherty, a Senior Editor/Producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's investigative documentary program, was online Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the PBS Frontline/World film " The Cell Next Door." The film looks at 18 young men in Toronto and two in Atlanta arrested this past summer on terrorism charges, accused of plotting to blow up buildings, behead members of the Canadian parliament, and of attending a terror-training camp in Ontario.

Frontline/World's " The Cell Next Door" airs Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).

The transcript follows.

Neil Docherty started work for the CBC in 1990 and since has won more than 40 awards for his films including an International Emmy in 1992 and the 2004 Gordon Sinclair Gemini Award as Canada's best broadcast journalist. Most recently he co-produced and directed "A Toxic Company" for the CBC's "The Fifth Estate," "Frontline" and The New York Times; the film won a Peabody and numerous other awards while the Times articles won a Pulitzer.

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Quincy, Calif.: Is the tri-border area of South America (where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet) playing any role as a staging are for terrorist trying to enter the U.S. via our southern border?

Neil Docherty: I know intelligence agencies are concerned about this area, but I have not heard of a case so far.

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Washington: There's a story in the news today about British police arresting eight people on terrorism-related charges in the central England city of Birmingham. Your discussion today is quite timely. Terrorism plots seem to be cropping up all over the world and not just in the U.S. Can you comment on today's story and further explain these seemingly now frequent plots that are being uncovered?

Neil Docherty: I don't know much about today's plot specifically, but the UK is thought to be one of the prime targets. I like the Dutch Intelligence services analysis of these cells -- which can be found on the Web if you got to their Web site. They are known as the AIVD.

They break the cells down into three groups:

1. Foreign agents -- Atta etc.,

2. Groups gathered around a jihad veteran from Chechnya or the like,

3. And this is the growth area -- young men, often second-generation, disaffected, feeling neither Moroccan or Pakistani or whatever, but feeling they also don't fit in their Western society and seek out a radical form of Islam, then go to the Web for fortification of these beliefs and to gather like-minded souls. They then go on to plan their own assaults without any contact with al-Qaeda.

They are fueled in part by Western foreign policy, which they see as completely hypocritical, with Muslims as its main victims.

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washingtonpost.com: Some of these cells that have been broken up seem to in effect be made up of young men who "fell in with the wrong crowd" -- as though it just as easily could have been drugs, gangs, etc. How can friends and family prevent this?

Neil Docherty: This is becoming a huge worry within the Muslim community. I am no expert on this, but I think it would be important for parents to have discussion about the various strands of Islam available -- particularly those pushed on line. I presume it is a little like the drug advice -- "talk to your kids." What I think we don't realize is how pervasive political discussion can be in their lives -- and how widely available is the Salafist -- Wahhabi ideologies, which can be primers for jihad activity

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washingtonpost.com: Mubin Shaikh provides an interesting example of a fundamentalist Muslim who acts to prevent a major act of terrorism by people he probably agreed with on a lot of points. How did the FBI and Canadian intel identify him and bring him into the fold? Was he already a part of the group when they approached him or did he infiltrate it? And if the latter, what was the process for that?

Neil Docherty: Mubin called CSIS, the Canadian intelligence agency about another case. They met with him and saw his potential and asked him to infiltrate a group that they were concerned about.

Infiltrating them seemed relatively easy. He was told to attend a lecture from a visiting Wahhabi scholar, which authorities knew some of the group would attend. He chatted with them and talk soon got round to his view of Jihad. He knew all the right answers and knew the territory. He also had something quite rare in Canada -- a licence to obtain and carry firearms. This was because he was once a rifle instructor in the Army Cadets.

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Freising, Germany: I thought that Canada and Toronto were supposed to represent the pinnacle of peaceful multiculturalism. Are there areas of Toronto that have become home to a marginalized underclass, as has occurred in some cities in the U.K. and France?

Neil Docherty: I think what is interesting about the Toronto group is they are not from a marginalized underclass. Many of these kids were at university or about to go.

Their homes were classically suburban and their parents were for large part integrated into the community. Hence I think we need to consider that young people are being drawn into what they see as a great cause -- much like young men in the '30s were drawn to fight in Spain, for example.

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The U.S. Homeland: Uh, what's the difference?

British Police Arrest 8 in Alleged Kidnapping Plot (Post, Jan. 31)

Germany Orders 13 Arrests in Alleged CIA Kidnapping Plot (Post, Jan. 31)

Terror is the use of fear or violence for political gain, that would make most of the U.S. government ... uh ... terrorists! Right?

Neil Docherty: No comment.

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Philadelphia: About how long should it be expected before these cases will go to trial? Also, are there any indications if more arrests are to be expected?

Neil Docherty: The trials have just started and will likely take a year or more. The investigation involved about 20 others in countries around the world. Those connections are unclear and are still being investigated. They were likely people talking on the Internet.

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washingtonpost.com: What were the D.C.-area targets the pair of Atlanta suspects were planning to attack?

Neil Docherty: Important to note that any attack plans seem to have not got beyond the level of taking pictures or "casing videos." But the list included Capital Hill, a Masonic Temple in Virginia, and a farm of gas tanks in Northern Virginia

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Ottawa, Canada: The documentary stated that one of the informants was in hiding. Why would this person be in hiding and the other informant feel free enough to give interviews? Was the person in hiding the one who provided the most info to the police? Also, you mention a young man was one of the ringleaders of the cell. Wasn't there an older man who was also arrested and described by police as being a key figure in the cell?

Neil Docherty: The other informant is in witness protection. I think his concern was for extended family in other parts of the world and fear of retribution being visited on them, rather than any fear for family in Canada, Going into witness protection, then assured his identity would remain a secret.

It was reported early on that the older man in the group was a leader -- at this stage all I can say is that our reporting is that the two young men featured in our film were leading members.

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Fairfax, Va.: Have you met any danger in your job investigating these plots? How safe are you?

Neil Docherty: Not really. These groups are not organized like the Mafia and largely are amateurs. We did call on the parents of one young man arrested in association with the Toronto Group. He lived in Bradford England. The father was extremely exercised -- which is his right -- but within minutes two car loads of young men--about ten of them arrived and did make it clear that they didn't like our presence. I found the venom in that interchange instructive.

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Anonymous: This phenomenon seems completely decentralized. Crystallized fear and resentment among Muslims in reaction to their perception, right or wrong, of the unfairness and hostility of U.S. policy. How in the world do we expect to wage "war" on this? It doesn't make any sense.

Neil Docherty: I agree. Unfortunately while the phenomenon is out there there is a need for vigilance -- but vigilance doesn't mean an abandonment of our principles of jurisprudence. All the rendition and other abuses have served to foster the problem.

I think we have to take from all this that foreign policy matters and we need to play by our principles.

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Washington: It's tough to blow up the U.S. Capitol Building with a Canadian gun permit. Did anyone in the cell have any practical experience (like military training in demolitions) that would have permitted them to carry out their fantasies of Jihad?

Neil Docherty: The short answer is no. But they were very much like the July 7 bombers in London and the Madrid bombers -- amateurs who learned on the Internet.

I am told they were getting better at their tradecraft as their plans proceeded. For example, much less talk on cell phones and on the internet chatrooms; information being put on flash drives passed at drop sites. And they had gathered what they thought was 3 tons of Amonium Nitrate -- though in fact it was a substitute. This all applies to the Canadian group, who seem to have been more determined and organized than the U.S. suspects. The indictment for the Atlanta boys actually states that there was no immediate danger.

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Neil Docherty: Thank you for your interest and pertinent questions. May we soon find a way out of this mess. Best regards, Neil Docherty.

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