UK arrests show terrorist planners avoid US
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=570231§ion=news
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High-profile terror arrests like those recently made in Britain are unlikely in the United States as militants hatch their plans abroad in hopes of evading U.S. detection, experts and former officials say.
While some critics say a lack of similar high-caliber swoops in the United States indicates the Bush administration isn't doing enough to hunt terrorists at home, a range of experts and former officials across the political spectrum say key militants simply stay away because the danger of getting caught is greater in America.
They say insight gleaned from arrested al Qaeda suspects in Pakistan and elsewhere showed militants took advantage of more freedom of movement in Europe, historically more generous asylum laws and proportionally larger immigrant communities they can hide in while planning attacks.
"I believe the higher-level operatives simply view it as too risky to be operating here. Even in the September 11 plot, the hijackers were the footsoldiers rather than the major planners," said Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism expert with the Congressional Research Service.
"After 9/11, with vastly increased vigilance by U.S. law enforcement, intelligence and border control authorities, I think many terrorists quite wisely believe they can lay their plans more easily abroad," said Philip Wilcox, a former counter-terrorism chief at the State Department.
The only other big militant Islamic attack in the United States -- the 1993 World Trade Center bombing -- was probably planned in the suburbs of New York, but experts say this kind of activity would no longer go unnoticed.
Terror suspects arrested in Britain this month were charged in a plot linked to security alerts at U.S. financial targets. They made their first court appearance last Wednesday, and are due to return to court this week.
Among the suspects is a man American officials say is a key al Qaeda operative who played a central role in conducting surveillance of financial buildings for the plot.
Arrests in the United States have mainly involved lower-level militant suspects with questionable ties to the global al Qaeda movement. Both European and U.S. prosecutors have found it hard to turn terror-related indictments into convictions.
Homeland security money not being spent
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1093253469308720.xml
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Columbus- The state has spent less than one-fifth of the money it has received from the federal government for homeland security, a published analysis shows.
A review by the Columbus Dispatch shows that Ohio has spent just $29 million of its $194 million in federal funds. An additional $12.5 million in equipment has been ordered but not yet received.
A similar proportion of homeland security money remains unspent nationwide.
In April, a U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security found that $5.2 billion of $6.3 billion in Department of Homeland Security grants had yet to be distributed to local emergency agencies.
"We're not trying to hide the ball," said Robert Glenn, spokesman for Ohio's Emergency Management Agency. "We're basically waiting on locals to send us their requests."
Officials also have questioned some of the local projects for which money has been granted.
In Ohio this year, they include a $1,000 heated and air-conditioned portable toilet, three boats worth a combined $550,000 and several $4,000 all-terrain vehicles, the newspaper reported.