Seeds of Terror Growing in Our Backyard?

June 3, 2006 — -- The FBI is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to homegrown extremists, John Miller, the FBI's assistant director of public affairs told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday -- a day after officials charged four men with plotting to attack John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

"When you're looking at inspired-through-the-Internet, homegrown extremists, well, they can pop up anywhere," Miller said. "So now, instead of having a focus in a certain direction, you have to focus in a 360-degree radius every moment of everyday."

Investigators had been tracking the alleged JFK plotters since 2006. The suspects included a former cargo handler at JFK airport and a former member of Guyana's parliament. The plan of attack was in its early stages, but the extremists had hopes of causing more harm to the United States than the events of 9/11.

"While people will say it wasn't operational; they had done four surveillances, they were searching for funding and explosives," Miller said. "So on that level, it was certainly operational."

The group apparently had no direct ties to al Qaeda. But Miller believes many radicals are still being influenced by the terrorist group.

"They pump out an awful lot of propaganda aimed at getting those who think they can find the wherewithal to act on their own," Miller told Stephanopoulos. "[Al Qaeda is] encouraging it while they plan the next big one."

Miller said the FBI took its time in making arrests in the JFK plot in order to gather critical intelligence. It may prove useful as the threat of terror grows beyond countries in the Middle East.

"Part of what we do everyday is to try and determine: Are we looking in all of the places we're supposed to?" Miller said. "One of the reasons we ran this last case, or the Fort Dix case, for more than a year was to make sure we peeled back every layer we could."