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After the recent arrest of two New Jersey men charged with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap persons outside the United States, it may be time for regular citizens to consider themselves unofficial undercover officers.

Twenty-year-old Mohamed Mahmood Alessa of North Bergen and 24-year-old Carlos Eduardo Almonte of Elmwood Park were taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York June 5, before they could board separate flights to Egypt on their way to Somalia to allegedly join the al-Shabaab terrorist organization.

The defendants, who made their first federal court appearance in Newark on June 7, prepared for their mission by saving thousands of dollars, physical conditioning, engaging in paintball training, and acquiring military gear and apparel, according to the criminal complaint submitted by FBI Special Agent Samuel P. Robinson.

Those homegrown terror methods serve as a warning to the public to be as vigilant as possible when it comes to the radicalization of American youth, Charles B. McKenna, director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, said in an interview with The Jewish State. For example, when someone buys eight gas canisters at the hardware store, the storeowner has to think that "it's going to be a real big barbeque they are having or there is something amiss here," McKenna said.

"I think everybody has to shoulder a certain amount of responsibility to report something that is out of the ordinary," McKenna said.

How they were caught

In October 2006, an individual who knows the defendants sent a tip to the FBI's Web site stating that every time the defendants access the Internet, "all they look for is all those terrorist videos about the Islam holly [sic] war and where they kill US soldiers and other terrible things," according to the complaint. McKenna told The Jewish State that parents must ask themselves the question of "Where are the computers in your house?" because there is a big difference between a desktop in a common area, where parents can see what is going on, and a laptop that a youth can use in complete secrecy in his room.

"As parents, it's incumbent upon us to know what it is our kids are doing," McKenna said.

When the defendants traveled from the U.S. to Jordan in February 2007, Customs officers found Camelbak hydration systems (water receptacles often used by the U.S. military), flashlights, and camouflage clothing in their possession. In March of that year, the complaint says, FBI personnel conducted a consensual search of Almonte's computer and found documents authored by Osama bin Laden and others advocating violent jihad against perceived enemies of Islam.

On March 1, 2008 at an outdoor facility in West Milford, the defendants engaged in simulated combat using paintball guns. A New York Police Department (NYPD) undercover officer began spending time with the suspects in 2009, and that November, the officer traveled with them to an Army/Navy store in New York where they each purchased a Camelback hydration system. At the store, the officer recorded Alessa as saying "A lot of people need to get killed, bro, swear to God ... I have to get a ... assault rifle and just kill anyone that even looks at me the wrong way, bro ... I wanna, like, be the world's known terrorist." Alessa also said that "We'll start doing killing here, if I can't do it over there," referring to his intent to engage in terrorism abroad.

That was just one of many similar conversations between the defendants and the undercover officer. The suspects watched numerous video and audio recordings with the officer that prompted violent jihad, including lectures by leaders of terrorist groups and footage of attacks by al-Shabaab and other groups. On April 25, 2010, Almonte stated that there would soon be American troops in Somalia -- expressing that it would be gratifying to kill Americans in addition to Africans there -- and on June 2, Alessa discussed the timing and means of the defendants' trip from Egypt to Somalia.

Flight reservation records showed that Alessa and Almonte were scheduled to travel to Egypt on separate flights from JFK Airport the evening of June 5. At the airport that day, a law enforcement team holding arrest warrants issued by the United States District Court in Newark was waiting for the defendants.

The rise of homegrown terrorism, and how it can be prevented

In a study titled Would-Be Warriors: Incidents of Jihadist Terrorist Radicalization in the United States since September 11, 2001, Brian Michael Jenkins of the RAND Corporation found that between 9/11 and the end of 2009, 46 publicly reported cases of domestic radicalization and recruitment to jihadist terrorism occurred in the United States -- including 13 cases in 2009 alone.

Most of the would-be jihadists recruited themselves into the terrorist role, Jenkins found; some provided assistance to foreign terrorist organizations, and others went abroad to plan terrorist attacks in the United States. Due to these trends, law enforcement has shifted its focus to prevention rather than criminal apprehension after an event. The shift toward prevention, according to Jenkins, requires collecting domestic intelligence and maintaining community trust and cooperation.

The Internet has been one of the key factors in the increase of homegrown terrorism, Jenkins notes, given a dramatic increase in jihadist Web sites and chat rooms.

"Without ever leaving the United States--or even their own homes--would-be jihadists can readily find resonance and reinforcement of their own complaints, as well as other jihadists who are only too eager to encourage and focus their anger," Jenkins explains.

Homegrown terrorists are difficult to track without the help of local community members, something the FBI was fortunate to have when investigating Alessa and Almonte, McKenna told The Jewish State. He said that parents need to be aware of the environment their children are growing up in and advise them accordingly; for example, inner city parents must instruct their children to avoid being influenced by gang rhetoric, and Muslim parents must warn their kids against joining the "small, violent" faction of their religion.

According to Jenkins' study, there is no terrorist-prone personality and no real way to predict who will become a jihadist. However, all but two of the U.S.-based perpetrators since 9/11 have been men, and nearly all of them have been Muslims or Muslim converts.

Jenkins says that the use of confidential informants has proved effective in catching homegrown terrorists, as was the case with Alessa and Almonte, but the study also notes that informants can sometimes act as enablers, "offering people with extreme views, but faint hearts, the means to act."

In addition to intelligence work, community policing and other ways of working with members of the Muslim community are needed to address that community's issues of crime and suspicions of authority, according to Jenkins.

'Close coordination'

The case of Alessa and Almonte exemplifies "close coordination of resources" between New Jersey authorities and the NYPD, said Michael B. Ward, special agent in charge at the FBI's Newark office.

"During the course of this investigation, the subjects were confirmed to be committed individuals with operational intent," Ward said in a statement. "Their planned travel overseas to link with a Foreign Terrorist Organization precipitated their arrests."

NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement that "even when individuals plan to support terrorist activity abroad, we remain concerned that once they reach their foreign destinations they may be redirected against targets back home, as we've seen in the past."

"We are also concerned that should they remain undetected and fail in their foreign aspirations that they might strike domestically, as was discussed as a possibility in this case," Kelly added.

Paul Fishman, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said the arrest of Alessa and Almonte "demonstrates the seriousness with which our Office and our law enforcement partners regard those who seek to join the ranks of violent extremists."

"When Alessa and Almonte schemed to engage in violent jihad, we were listening," Fishman said in a statement. "When they attempted to leave the country, we were waiting. We will continue to be vigilant and to protect against terrorism no matter where its adherents intend to do harm."