Plan to Infiltrate Al Qaeda Compromised

Feb. 13, 2004 -- When a Somali-born computer student was arrested in Minneapolis last December on suspicion of helping al Qaeda, federal counterterrorism officials thought they might finally have found what they desperately need — a way of getting inside Osama bin Laden's shadowy network.

The counterterrorism officials developed a plan to turn the man, Mohammed Warsame, into a double agent working for the United States, ABCNEWS has learned.

"We need people inside al Qaeda, talking to us. We need spies," said Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism official with the Bush administration. "There's only so much you can get from technology, from electronics, from pictures."

Warsame's arrest was supposed to be secret. But within days stories appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the case — dashing the government's hopes of gaining greater insight into al Qaeda activities against the United States.

Federal officials were furious about the apparent leak, and the Justice Department has launched an investigation to determine how the information about Warsame's arrest leaked to the media. Senior officials told ABCNEWS they are very concerned about the implications of the leak.

Government agents believe that Warsame, a 30-year-old Canadian citizen, was a potentially dangerous al Qaeda agent, sent to live quietly in downtown Minneapolis.

Law enforcement officials suspect Warsame has ties to accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and Fazul Mohammed, suspected of being a key planner of the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa. Authorities believe Fazul Mohammed is still on the run.

In early December of last year, FBI agents confronted Warsame and arrested him as a material witness against al Qaeda.

According to recently unsealed FBI affidavits, Warsame acknowledged that in 2000 and 2001 he trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, twice facing combat in front line units. FBI agents claim Warsame told them one of the camps was "personally led" by Osama bin Laden.

The FBI said Warsame told agents he once sat next to bin Laden at a meal, and found the al Qaeda leader to be "inspirational." The affidavit said that "he [Warsame] was instructed by al Qaeda to return to North America and that al Qaeda paid the costs of his return." The group provided Warsame with $1,700 in travel money.

Though they knew it was a longshot, some investigators hoped Warsame might cooperate after his arrest and become a double agent, perhaps out of concern for his wife and 6-year-old daughter.

During an appearance in federal court in Minneapolis on Monday, Warsame pleaded not guilty to a single charge of providing support to a terrorist organization.

Warsame's supporters say he is not a terrorist and that the FBI is railroading him with no real evidence. They fear he will not get a fair trial.

ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas, Mary Walsh and Jason Ryan contributed to this report.