The University of Idaho seems an unlikely backdrop for international terrorism. Tucked into a small town amid the rolling wheat fields of the Palouse, the campus of about 9,700 students is far removed from regional and national centers of commerce or government. Yet FBI agents on the hunt for potential terrorists are turning their attention to this and other college campuses, many in small-town America, where foreign students for decades have blended into diverse student populations. The reasons are simple: Foreign exchange programs make it easy for people from other countries to arrive and stay in the United States for long periods, many campuses are in rural settings with few police officers, and they often have sophisticated communications links to the outside world, such as high-speed Internet access. In Idaho, agents recently arrested two people with ties both to the University of Idaho and to a group suspected of funneling money to terrorist groups and is investigating two others. “It’s clear there’s activity like this all over the country,” said an FBI agent investigating the University of Idaho cases, talking about the cases on condition of anonymity. Full Story
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