Homegrown Terrorists Pose Serious Threat

June 5, 2006 — -- After the weekend arrests of 17 suspected terrorists in Canada, the FBI is working closely with Canadian police to find out more details about the alleged plot and believes the threat of homegrown terrorists is very real and growing.

Officials say the men being held by the Canadian police do not fit the profile of terrorists. The suspects include a school bus driver, a graduate student, and a high school basketball player. Five of them are under 18. The 12 adults were sent to a high-security prison outside Toronto while the five youths were dispatched to area jails. They all are expected to face charges in court on Tuesday.

"These are people from diverse backgrounds and ages. Inspired by terrorist ideology, operating within their own network," said Stockwell Day, Canada's public safety minister.

According to Canadian police, the suspects were planning to blow up targets in Ontario, the political and economic heart of Canada.

Security analysts say a new breed of terrorist is inspired by al Qaeda but is not under the direct control of Osama bin Laden.

"This is the most vexing problem that law enforcement and domestic intelligence agencies have to face right now," said Jack Cloonan, a former FBI counterterrorism official and an ABC News consultant.

ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism czar, said the Canadian sting operation showed that people flying under the international radar, whose names are not on terror watch lists, were getting together to create real threats.

"They can get the material they need to make the bombs easily by going to hardware stores and farm supply stores," said Clarke. "It's what we call leaderless terrorism, spontaneous terrorism, not connected directly to al Qaeda but they still are generated by getting their information on the Internet from this network of Qaeda-like, Qaeda-related Web sites. They're not doing this for the h-- of it. They're doing it because they have a perception that the West, including Canada is anti-Islamic."