After six months in US custody, this week Indonesia finally began receiving information on Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and al Qaeda senior figure Riduan Isamuddin ? known widely as Hambali. As a primary financier of both groups and occasional operation planner, Hambali is wanted by both countries for his involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Bali resort bombing in October 2002 . Indonesia does not have much recourse since Hambali was handed over to the US following his arrest in Thailand in August 2003 (RealNews) and is now being held and interrogated at an undisclosed location by US forces. Hambali has apparently provided written replies to questions that have subsequently been delivered to Indonesian Intelligence director A.M. Hendropriyono who reveals that the responses provide a ?picture of the size of the [JI] network and the targets for their plans.” JI is believed to have been behind a number of smaller attacks in Indonesia, including the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta in August 2003 . Additionally, at the time of his capture in Thailand, evidence suggests that Hambali and JI were plotting attacks on the planned October 2003 Asian Pacific economic co-operation summit in Bangkok and strikes against embassies there.

Many of the actual agents involved in the Bali bombing have been arrested, tried, and convicted, and even the spiritual leader of JI ? Abu Bakar Ba’asyir ? is in custody, though held on charges not directly related to the Bali attack. Importantly, Hambali?s younger brother, Rusman Gunawan, was also arrested recently (RealNews). He was apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan, along with five other suspected militants apparently running an Islamic school (Intel Report), and held until he was deported to Indonesia where he and three others have been charged with “giving help to and aiding terrorists.” Analysts suspect Gunawan was part of a JI cell established by Hambali to recruit and execute operations against local and international targets. Obviously, significant strides have been made in identifying and capturing JI leadership, however, it is still a large group dispersed across Southeast Asia and, as such, is likely to remain the preeminent terrorist threat in the region for years to come.

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