U.S. Braces for Terrorism Trial Repercussions

With the conviction of Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine other Muslim co-defendants in a planned terrorist plot, U.S. officials are now confronting a prospect that has troubled them for months--that a new terrorist attack could be launched in revenge.

Intelligence officials and investigators are looking discreetly for clues in this country and abroad and some believe that the greatest threat may come from Egyptian militants operating out of Sudan or Arabs who fought with Afghan rebels against Soviet occupation forces.

The terrorism trial verdicts were only the latest development in an unusual confluence of events that included last week’s White House signing of the Israeli-Palestinian accord, the arrival Wednesday of Pope John Paul II for a five-day U.S. visit and--later this month--140 world leaders converging for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.

No specific threats have been picked up though, and one of the continuing mysteries in such cases is which events will provoke retaliation against U.S. interests and which will not.

Although some security alerts in the past have not resulted in terrorist acts, U.S. airports were on heightened alert Monday and U.S. embassies began beefing up their protection to the highest levels seen since the Persian Gulf War.

At Los Angeles International Airport, managers said that they had been preparing for the terror trial verdicts for more than a month--tightening access to the airfield, speeding the towing of cars left unattended at curbs and selectively X-raying packages and luggage.

All those procedures--first instituted last spring after the Unabomber threatened airliners flying in California--were reinstituted following Sunday’s verdicts, officials said.

“We have been anticipating this since August,” airport manager Stephen Yee said of the New York convictions. “So far there has been nothing unusual and no delays. Everything is in place.”

Referring to tighter security at airports, embassies and some government facilities, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Monday: “We always review the security environment both for U.S. installations abroad and U.S. government facilities here at home when the environment suggests it’s smart to do that.”

“Certainly there is a measurable increase in the threat,” said L. Paul Bremer, a former State Department official who specializes in counterterrorism. “While we don’t have classically organized paramilitary groups [in the United States], there may be ad-hoc groups of sympathizers meeting even now in the New York metropolitan area to take retaliatory action. But such groups may take six to eight months to develop a plan.”

On the other hand, a poorly organized or poorly financed group of amateurs, angered by recent events, could lash out quickly and blindly, others said.

Assistant FBI Director James K. Kallstrom told reporters that “we’re planning for the worst.” He “absolutely” expects threats to increase as a result of the verdicts, he said.

Noting that intelligence officers often obtain data from electronic intercepts, a senior counterterrorism official said: “There could be some spontaneous combustion that does not require a coded message. That’s what makes it so difficult. An individual or cluster doing something ad hoc doesn’t need to be directed by someone if you get someone who is angry enough.”

Although no immediate threat has been identified, there have been “some indications of people moving--kind of like a backfield in motion,” this official added. He said that some sympathizers of Abdel Rahman have been traveling out of Egypt and raising suspicions.

Authorities said that the leading hard-line group associated with Abdel Rahman, known as the Islamic Group, might be discussing a retaliatory blow overseas. Besides his conviction for plotting to blow up the United Nations and New York area commuter tunnels, the cleric was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, an avowed enemy of the Islamic extremists. This could lead to a possible life sentence for Abdel Rahman.

“The Muslim brotherhood in Egypt might be more likely to strike a blow there, since that is their base of support,” Bremer said. Two FBI counterterrorism experts have gone to Cairo to discuss possible threats on Mubarak’s life with his security forces, a government source disclosed.

At the same time, some authorities said there are mitigating factors--most notably the legal appeal process. U.S. officials said that the sheik’s sympathizers may not want to do anything to jeopardize his chance of getting his conviction reversed on appeal and Abdel Rahman himself has urged his followers to remain calm.

The blind and diabetic sheik is revered by many Muslims, both here and abroad, as their spiritual leader and there is deep resentment by some that Emad Ali Salem, his former confidant and bodyguard, was persuaded to become an informant by the FBI and received more than $1 million for his assistance in the trial.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said an event like the sheik’s conviction “can sometimes produce a heightened state of unrest in some parts of the world.” He said that U.S. embassies have been advised “to take as many precautions as they deem appropriate in their particular country.”

While no warnings have been issued to American travelers, Burns said that U.S. citizens planning trips “just ought to be aware” of Sunday’s verdict.

Although U.S. personnel and facilities in Europe once were considered the most vulnerable targets, American counterterrorism officials said that Americans in Third World nations may face the greatest dangers because of lax or corrupt security forces.

Foreign terrorists “have been looking for areas where security standards are not as tight,” one official said. “As security gets tight in one area, they look for others. So no place really is safe.”

At LAX and many other major airports, passengers on international flights are being required to present photo identification when checking in and checking bags. Luggage is matched with each passenger before it is loaded aboard an aircraft.

Times staff writers James Rainey in Los Angeles and Norman Kempster in Washington contributed to this story.