More than a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI still has not assessed in detail which terrorist groups within the United States might conduct attacks in retaliation for a U.S. strike on Iraq, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Oct. 29)

“No evidence I’ve seen shows they have a sense of urgency or a thoughtful plan or very much information to predicate a plan on,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham (D-Fla.) said.  “There will be hell to pay if we don’t use the next 60 days (before a war with Iraq might begin) to do everything in our power to dismantle their capability,” he added.

The FBI has concentrated its efforts on Islamic militants that are part of ongoing investigations and on a small number of Iraqi agents, White House and congressional officials have said.

“They still don’t know where the terrorists are, how many are here, what their intentions are, what kind of support network they have,” Graham said.  “They can’t give me an answer because they don’t have one ... They have so little to show for their work and we have so little time to take action now,” he added.

Most analysts agree that there is little risk of the Iraqi intelligence service conducting terrorist attacks against the United States, said Daniel Benjamin, a member of the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.   If Hussein felt he was close to being overthrown, however, he might attempt to enlist the help of other terrorist groups, Benjamin said.

In contrast to the CIA, which has in-depth information on a wide range of terrorist operations, FBI officials “still aren’t looking at this as an intelligence agency, but as cops,” said a U.S. official who has been briefed on FBI assessments and plans.  “You get the sense they don’t really have a clue” about domestic terrorists in the United States, the official said.

FBI officials have denied that they are unprepared.  “We are doing things far beyond what has been done before,” an official familiar with the bureau’s efforts said.

Law enforcement sources have said, however, that FBI agents in the 56 terrorism task forces throughout the country have concentrated primarily on identifying and monitoring militant Iraqis support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein within the United States.  FBI agents have also begun re-establishing contacts with anti-Hussein dissidents and other refugees who were employed as intelligence sources during the 1991 Gulf War, sources said.

A senior FBI official defended the bureau’s methods, according to the Post.

“It’s a matter of trying to assess the threat and where it might come from if we go to war,” the official said.  “There is very real concern about a number of possibilities, both Iraq-connected and from other groups ... We’re doing what you’d expect us to do:  measuring the threat, talking to old contacts,” the official added (Priest/Eggen, Washington Post, Nov. 12).

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