FBI Counter-Terrorism Chief Says Threat Is Small But Real

For a man accustomed to espionage and secrecy, FBI international counter-terrorism chief Dale L. Watson seemed at ease Thursday before a crowd of civilians.

Against the verdant backdrop of Camarillo’s Spanish Hills Country Club, Watson, a self-described field operative who usually shuns the limelight, gave an unclassified talk on the danger of international and domestic terrorism to the Ventura County chapter of the World Affairs Council.

“I usually don’t do this,” he said, adjusting a microphone that seemed as much a stranger as the nearly 100 business people, seniors and others in attendance at the country club. “I don’t like the publicity associated with this.”

While his talk ranged from the Internet to international travel and from bombs to missiles, Watson’s core message was clear: The terrorist threat is low but it is real, even for people in a suburban location like Ventura County.

“The threat is very small,” Watson said before his speech, “but the consequences are very huge.”

Two of the major potential threats to Americans at home--terrorists sponsored by foreign governments and independent terrorist organizations--are still a concern. But Watson told the audience that loosely knit, often home-grown terrorist groups are equally dangerous.

Terrorist groups, Watson said, were responsible for planting bombs at the Oklahoma City federal building and the World Trade Center in New York, two events that literally brought terrorism home for many Americans.

These groups “are in fact small, they cross boundaries, they cross race lines,” Watson said. Those factors make them hard to identify, hard to track and, consequently, hard to stop, he said.

But the international threat to American safety, especially for travelers, is still alive, he said. Watson said a growing emphasis on the safety of military personnel overseas has made nonmilitary targets, so-called “soft” targets, more susceptible to terrorist attacks.

Watson, who oversees the FBI’s international terrorism operations section in Washington, went to great lengths to outline what is being done in the growing effort to stem terrorist attacks, such as putting more agents in the field and better coordination with local law enforcement.

Watson also talked about the evolving relationship between the CIA and the FBI, two agencies with a history of mutual animosity.

“Our relationship with the CIA has changed,” he said. “There are no longer turf battles.”