'Lone wolves' pose explosive terror threat

Man arrested last week allegedly sought bombmaking material. In April, court documents allege, Sayed Abdul Malike tried to buy enough explosives to blow up “a mountain.” No one knows what Mr. Malike’s specific plan might have been, or whether it would have succeeded, but thanks to an alert shop owner the Afghan-born legal resident will go before the federal court in Brooklyn for a bail hearing on a drug charge related to his quest to buy explosives. While federal authorities are still piecing together the story, the details so far appear to exemplify a threat that can be just as dangerous and elusive as a hard line terror cell: The lone-wolf terrorist sympathizer. With the nation’s terrorism alert ratcheted up to orange, terrorism experts cite concern about people who are not part of organized groups like Al Qaeda, but are inclined to act in sympathy with their aims. Such worry was heightened last week when Osama bin Laden’s No. 2 lieutenant called on all loyal Muslims to wreak havoc on the West. “You don’t have to be part of Al Qaeda’s A-team to still contribute to the movement and further Al Qaeda’s goals,” says Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corp. Full Story