Hijacker Activities Uncovered in Fla., N.J./ Witness: Hijack suspect visited crop dusting airfield.

A suspected ringleader in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America repeatedly visited a crop dusting airfield in Florida, asking lots of questions on topics including how many chemicals a crop dusting plane could hold, according to a witness.

Federal authorities fear the suspect's presence at the airfield is another indication the terrorists may have planned, or still may plan, to use crop dusters to launch a chemical or biological attack.

Crop dusters near the nation's 30 biggest cities have been grounded since Sept. 11. And now, police are stationed near the Belle Glade, Fla., crop dusting airfield the suspect, Mohammed Atta, apparently visited as recently as the Saturday before the terrorist attacks.

In addition, Zacarias Moussaoui, under arrest as a material witness and detained since August, was found with a crop dusting manual in his belongings, ABCNEWS has confirmed.

"Things like anthrax spores are easily transported, easily put into a solution that could be dispensed out of a crop duster," author and U.S. Navy (news - web sites) Commander Ward Carroll said.

More than a dozen men including Atta — a suspected hijacker believed to have died on a plane that smashed into the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center — repeatedly visited the Florida airfield, said chief pilot Willie Lee, who identified Atta to the FBI (news - web sites).

Atta was "very persistent about wanting to know how much the airplane will haul, how fast it will go, what kind of range it has," Lee said. "The guy kept trying to get in the airplane and there was nobody there but the ground crew. Everybody had gone. And he said that he just had to run him away from the airplane because he kept trying to get on the wing, wanted to get inside the cockpit and so forth."

Check back for continuous updates on the hunt for terrorists from ABCNEWS' worldwide investigative team.

U.S. officials believe Atta and other men who hijacked airplanes and crashed them into the Pentagon (news - web sites) and the World Trade Center were working for terrorist Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda organization. The government is preparing a report detailing evidence that will prove to the world that bin Laden was behind the attacks, administration officials said.

Portions of the document, called a "white paper," will be presented with other evidence incriminating bin Laden and al Qaeda, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said.

"I think his guilt is going to be very obvious to the world. I mean, he has been indicted previously for terror activity against the United States, and so this is a continuing pattern of terrorism," Powell said on ABCNEWS' This Week .

"We are putting all of the information that we have together, the intelligence information, the information being generated by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies," he said.

The White House had previously said it would not make public any evidence because it could jeopardize intelligence-gathering efforts. But some countries — including Pakistan, Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s neighbor and one of only two countries that recognize the Taliban regime as the legitimate Afghan government — have asked that the United States provide clear evidence that bin Laden orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Meanwhile, investigators believe the New Jersey city of Paterson, just 25 miles from the twin towers, may have been the base for a major terrorist cell. ABCNEWS has learned that during the three months prior to the attack, 11 of the 19 suspected hijackers lived in or near Paterson.

A building at 486 Union Ave. was home to six of the terrorists until just days before the attacks. According to the FBI, the third floor apartment was rented for the last six months by Nawak Al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour, two of the hijackers of Flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon.

But here, they were hardly noticed. Paterson has a large Muslim community, and the terrorists kept to themselves, had no furniture and made their calls from a pay phone.

At least two of the hijackers stayed at a motel in Wayne, N.J., and others rented small planes at nearby airports for flight practice. Others used phony names and addresses to rent cars for long road trips.

"There was nothing suspicious about them," said Glenn Boonstra, a car dealer. "They were typical businesslike people that wanted to rent a vehicle. … But now we're looking at a form like this and saying, 'Where did he go in three days? Where did he put 1,100 miles on?' We do a lot of speculation."

FBI agents are also looking at records from three banks near Paterson where the hijackers kept money. And they're looking at where that money came from. Investigators also are trying to learn if there are others involved who were not killed on Sept. 11, and if they can be found.

Around the world, the manhunt for suspected terrorists intensified this weekend.

Authorities say they believe they have thwarted at least two planned attacks. In one, terrorists planned to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris by helicopter, they said. In a separate arrest in Belgium, officials seized bomb-making materials.

ABCNEWS has learned that up to 30 attacks may have been planned in the United States and Europe following the assaults in which terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Another hijacked plane crashed in western Pennsylvania when passengers apparently tried to wrest the controls from the terrorists.

Federal agents have been painstakingly working their way through nearly 150,000 leads generated by the investigation of the attacks. Nearly half of the tops were submitted to an FBI Internet Web site.

Petrochemical companies and nuclear companies were told by the FBI last week to be on a high state of alert. The warning is general rather than specific, according to officials.

ABCNEWS has learned that some of the individuals thought to have been trained as pilots had booked reservations on airline flights scheduled to take place in the days after last week's attacks — including flights out of Boston and San Antonio this weekend.

There are at least two dozen people still at large who have ties to the suspected terrorists, officials say.

Authorities in Belgium, Germany, France, Britain and the Netherlands made several arrests over the weekend. German authorities say they are pursuing nearly 1,000 leads. Three of the suspected hijackers attended two universities in Hamburg.

European officials are also looking into whether people linked to the attacks may have profited from financial market speculation.

They are also cooperating fully with U.S. authorities, which had not always been done in past. The European Union agreed to work to speed up ratification of an existing U.N. resolution calling for the freezing Taliban assets.

Chemical and biological weapons require a significant research....

OK, I'll be more specific: Even I could make chemical and biological weapons. Fifty million people, who are very determined to inflict harm on US citizens, can do the same. Perhaps you prefer to underestimate enemies?

Two hundred pounds of glassware, a house-hold heating/air-conditioner system, some pumps, and some compressors does not constitute "significant infrastructure". All of this stuff is dirt cheap and easily available.

"The research personnel come from where?", you might ask. They are trained right here in our own schools. Books can be found all over the internet and in every bookstore.

I think you don't grasp how easy it is to manufacture these weapons .... much easier than conventional arms. If this were not the case, why ground the crop dusters?

You misunderstand my point. I'll go item by item here.

No I do not wish to underestimate anyone, but for nearly a year now we've been talking about complicate scenarios involving rogue state terrorist attack ("We need missile defense"), and the terrorist went for an incredibly simplistic attack that we never anticipated. It is in fact those focused on complicated methods of attack that are underestimating our enemy.

I would disagree, in that in total the education, research (you have to practice growing the stuff to get it right), and processing materials necessary are complicated. It does not fit this particular group's modus operendi (Latin sp?). I have never said that it is impossible, but rather that the puzzle piece doesn't fit here.

"The research personnel come from where?", you might ask. They are trained right here in our own schools. Books can be found all over the internet and in every bookstore.

Time, time, time, time. Although these people are obviously patient, I don't think the years (4 for the BS degree, 8 for the PhD) would be considered worthwhile.

I think you don't grasp how easy it is to manufacture these weapons .... much easier than conventional arms. If this were not the case, why ground the crop dusters?

I don't think you have considered how complex the scenario you have laid out is. I don't think it is something we should ignore. If we can conceive it, they can probably do it. But these particular people used a brilliantly simple plan to destroy the WTC and kill 6000+ Americans. It is far more conceivable to obtain 500 gallons of gasoline and a crop duster than it is to go through any of the gyrations that you describe.

Please don't misunderstand me. We must be vigilant on all fronts. However, I think the focus on complicated methods of attack is severely misguided.

"Things like anthrax spores are easily transported, easily put into a solution that could be dispensed out of a crop duster," author and U.S. Navy (news - web sites) Commander Ward Carroll said.

From what I've read, this isn't as easy as this guy is making it sound. Then again, I've heard a lot of conflicting reports on this....I'm really not sure what to believe anymore. My only thought is that if this is so easy to do (some people here make it sound like anyone can go in their basement, make a bunch of anthrax, and kill hundreds of thousands of people with it), how come it hasn't been done in the past by some pissed off American who hates the world and wants to go out with a bang?

I don't think the years (4 for the BS degree, 8 for the PhD) would be considered worthwhile....

This recent plan was 5 years in the making. Those countries don't have anything but time. They do have enough money. Besides, you don't have to get a diploma to get the knowledge. You just need the books. If I bore the sort of grudge those people maintain, an entire lifetime would not be too long. This is the level of thier anger and conviction.

Furthermore, it is accepted in the defense community that Iraq has extensive biological and chemical weapons already. I presume that to be a source against the US.

I don't, in general, disagree with you except that it would be very foolish to overlook a biological attack. Most of the articles stemming from the intellegence community support this notion.

Furthermore, it is accepted in the defense community that Iraq has extensive biological and chemical weapons already. I presume that to be a source against the US.

If bio weapons are used, you could almost guarantee Iraq's involvement. They have the everything in place to make these weapons. The problem for them is delivery. And to complicate matters, smuggling the completed agents into the US would be difficult, so a short range aircraft like a crop duster would be unlikely. Setting up to manufacture in this country would seem be more likely but carries the risk of detection. Rather than crop dusters though something along the lines of a mosquito control disguise (as has already been discussed on the news here in Houston) would be a more likely delivery method. We could probably think of a few more, but no loose lips here.

I don't, in general, disagree with you except that it would be very foolish to overlook a biological attack. Most of the articles stemming from the intelligence community support this notion.

I am in full agreement with you that we must consider every possibility. But what we have been overlooking are the confoundingly simple means of attack, which is why 6000+ Americans have perished.

But what we have been overlooking are the confoundingly simple means of attack, which is why 6000+ Americans have perished.

This is digustingly clear. I think a "grand constriction" of our borders is one of the most meaninful responses. Expidited expulsion anyone who seemed happy about that attack would be another wise move.

There will always be a simple means of attack, unless Americans wish to exchange much of thier freedom for security. I'd rather pack heat and shoulder the responsibilities and risks associated with freedom. It is fairly obvious that you'd be there beside me.

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