Terrorists Might Already Live and Hide in the U.S.

By Michael Cutler

This article originally appeared in the Washington Post this past weekend, and should make it abundantly clear to our nation's leaders as well as to our citizens, that our nation has serious reasons to be concerned about terror cells operating in the United States. After the attacks of September 11, the President kept repeating the mantra that "We are fighting them over there so we won't have to fight them over here!" As I often pointed out, I believe that we already have them "over here!"

The report notes that terror suspects arrested in the far-flung corners of the world have been found to have arrest records in the United States. In one instance the report notes that fingerprints that were lifted off of bomb fragments related to individuals who had attempted to enter the United States.

While the news report did not discuss how any of these individuals managed to enter the United States or how those who had been stopped from entering the United States had made that attempt, it is clear that there is a great potential that terrorists are currently present in the United States. They may simply be in this country in an effort to commit crimes to generate funds to support terrorist activities overseas or, they may be awaiting instructions to initiate attacks in our country right now.

Among the crimes that such terrorists have been involved with in the United States have been mail fraud and coupon fraud, drug trafficking, and identity theft. In the 1980's, I also assisted the NYPD, ATF and the New York Fire Department fire marshals in the investigation of aliens believed to have been committing arson to generate money to fund Middle Eastern terrorist organizations such as the PLO. They had bought small grocery stores that they had used for committing coupon fraud and then, when they tired of that "white collar" crime, they torched those stores that are also referred to as "bodegas." They then sent the money they received from the insurance companies back to the Middle East to fund terrorist activities around the world.

Meanwhile the residents of the apartments that were located in the floors above the bodegas lost all of their possessions. Many times they were horribly injured or even killed. These victims had no idea that the store that they often frequented to purchase routine groceries were linked to international terrorists, nor did they realize how the presence of those malevolent individuals endangered their safety and the safety of their family members.

I hope that our officials who are identifying these terrorism suspects as having been previously arrested in the United States are making every possible effort to determine the way(s) that they were able to enter our country and that they are sharing that information with the various agencies that are involved in issues relating to border security and the enforcement and administration of the immigration laws. Among those agencies are CBP (Customs and Border Protection), ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) and the U.S. Department of State Office of Consular Affairs. I would also hope that our officials who are encountering these terror suspects overseas are seizing the opportunity to develop intelligence to attempt to weed out their associates who may be present in the United States or other countries.

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