From Ku Klux Klan members to Jewish militants, federal prosecutors have thwarted several would-be domestic terrorists in recent months, using FBI -led task forces whose primary duty is stopping al-Qaida and other international groups. Since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI has doubled to 66 the number of joint terrorism task forces. Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies work closely together, sharing intelligence, informants and evidence — a far cry from the police turf battles of years past. Preventing attacks by foreign organizations is the top priority of the task forces but they also work on homegrown cases. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Justice Department is “committed to investigating, prosecuting, punishing, and most of all preventing, criminal acts of violence and vigilantism motivated by hate and intolerance.” The FBI task forces have stopped a Pennsylvania KKK leader who allegedly sought to set off grenades at abortion clinics, and a militant Jew who wanted to bomb a Southern California mosque and the offices of Lebanese-American Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. The task forces helped send to prison a white supremacist who plotted to blow up black and Jewish landmarks in Boston and Washington. They were integral in the Jan. 8 arrest in Chicago of Matt Hale, leader of the white supremacist group World Church of the Creator, on charges of trying to have a federal judge killed. Full Story
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