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AP Exclusive: Inside the FBI units that protect LA from terror attacks
SFC ^ | June 3, 2006 | JEREMIAH MARQUEZ,

Posted on 06/03/2006 11:48:29 AM PDT by FairOpinion

For a team of FBI anti-terrorism agents, the April incident was yet another false alarm. But in a business where U.S. authorities must be right every time and terrorists need only be successful once, everything is taken seriously.

"We operate in Los Angeles under the assumption that we will be attacked and we need to stop it," said Eric Velez, an FBI assistant special agent in charge who oversees several Southern California-based counterterrorism squads.

Indeed, since the 2001 terror attacks federal officials repeatedly have said Los Angeles is a primary al-Qaida target. Earlier this year, President Bush disclosed new details about an alleged 2002 terror plot targeting the nation's second-largest city. He said hijackers were to use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door of a commercial jetliner, take control of the plane and crash it into the 73-story US Bank Tower.

Velez and his secretive units are responsible for uncovering any terror plots in the region. An Associated Press reporter was given behind-the-scenes access to see how they approach their extremely serious work.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California; US: New York; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; bioterror; california; counterterrorism; fbi; gwot; jihadinamerica; losangeles; terrorism; terrorplot; waronterror; wmd; wot
Interesting article, worth reading the whole thing.

So much goes on, that we don't know, who knows how many plots get foiled, and our law enforcement and President Bush can't take credit, because that would give info to the terrorists, that we don't want them to have.

Then we have the leakers, who for political reasons tell the world, including the terrorists about sources and methods, which impeded our ability to foil the next attack, which is likely to be a devastating one, with WMD -- they are still looking for the chemical bomb in the UK.

1 posted on 06/03/2006 11:48:31 AM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: FairOpinion

So much goes on, that we don't know... nor the terrorists... well, I guess they do now.

Loose lips sink ships.


2 posted on 06/03/2006 11:49:58 AM PDT by bnelson44 (Proud parent of a tanker! (Charlie Mike, son))
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To: FairOpinion
Indeed, since the 2001 terror attacks federal officials repeatedly have said Los Angeles is a primary al-Qaida target.

But Hillary and Peter King tell us differently...

3 posted on 06/03/2006 11:50:58 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: FairOpinion

"...FBI units that protect LA from terror attacks..."

Jack Bauer's not going to be happy about this. LA's his stomping grounds.


4 posted on 06/03/2006 11:51:17 AM PDT by butternut_squash_bisque (The recipe's at my FR HomePage. Try it!)
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To: Cindy

Interesting article


5 posted on 06/03/2006 11:52:37 AM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: Diddle E. Squat

Yeah, they're basically just annoyed because there'll be less money coming into NYC for them to play with and dole out to their Dem buddies.

The thing they don't seem to be considering is that the allotment of these funds is based on threat assessment. Furthermore, one of the reasons that NYC got so much initially was that it needed to install things, train people, etc. That's all done now, and (well, leaving aside corruption) the demand for funds should be somewhat reduced.

Obviously, AQ is now chatting about striking a West Coast or inland city.


6 posted on 06/03/2006 11:55:24 AM PDT by livius
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To: FairOpinion
and our law enforcement and President Bush can't take credit, because that would give info to the terrorists, that we don't want them to have.

YOU can bet EVERY last dollar you have that "IF" the POTUS was X42 [aka scumbag] or his wife or ANY DEMOCRAT for that matter, the MSM would FIND A WAY to report our anti-terrorism SUCCESSES every DAY!!!

In addition our losses in IRAQ would be characterized as MINISCULE, [as they are] to every other WAR in our HISTORY! The ELECTIONS in IRAQ would be front page news for weeks, the GOOD NEWS stories would be played UP and the BAD news stories would be minimized.

There is NO doubt in my mind about these suppositions and I would venture to say the POLL RATINGS for THAT POTUS would be in the 60's or HIGHER!

7 posted on 06/03/2006 12:03:46 PM PDT by PISANO (We will not tire......We will not falter.......We will NOT FAIL!!! .........GW Bush [Oct 2001])
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To: FairOpinion

"So much goes on, that we don't know, who knows how many plots get foiled, and our law enforcement and President Bush can't take credit, because that would give info to the terrorists, that we don't want them to have."

Ditto.


8 posted on 06/03/2006 1:05:52 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: bnelson44

That's just what I was thinking .. I don't want to know the plan .. I just want to know there is one and they are working it aggressively.

This was way more information than was necessary .. and the terrorists must have found it useful. Good grief!


9 posted on 06/03/2006 1:13:12 PM PDT by CyberAnt (Drive-by Media: Fake news, fake documents, fake polls)
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To: livius

I fear that it is great misdirection for people to be worried exclusively about AlQ. That has ALWAYS acted as much like a "Chamber of Commerce for terrorism" as it has on its own behalf. The Chamber serves as a loose link between businesses acting independently and works on their behalf,as well as carrying out activities of its own that most of the businesses might not care much about.

Terrorists inspired by AlQ amd "associated" with it often operate "independently" - sometimes with some financial support and some times not - sometimes having gone to some AlQ "training" and sometimes not. Organizations like Hamas have contact with AlQ and share information and even training routines, but not necessarily close support - Hussein had contact with AlQ and mutual support, but did not carry out operational support or coordination - organizations like CAIR most certainly include people who have contacts with AlQ and support it and work on its behalf. It seems that AlQ is much more in the business of "encouraging" terrorism than it is in actual acts of terrorism like 9/11.

It is a great error to believe that bringing AlQ down can end the terrorist problem. It would be like disbanding the Chamber of Commerce - the businesses who do the work might be somewhat affected by the loss of the central link for a time, but they would continue along pretty much the way they did before that loss.


10 posted on 06/03/2006 1:31:39 PM PDT by AFPhys ((.Praying for President Bush, our troops, their families, and all my American neighbors..))
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To: All

ON THE NET...


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642083/posts?page=138#138


11 posted on 06/03/2006 2:33:27 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: FairOpinion

bump


12 posted on 06/03/2006 4:18:23 PM PDT by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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