Torrance case cited by panel on terrorism

Citing an alleged plot to attack Southern California military facilities and the emergence of a Orange County man as an Al Qaeda spokesman, speakers on Thursday told a congressional subcommittee meeting in Torrance that homegrown terrorism is a real threat.

Chaired by Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), the Homeland Security subcommittee responsible for terrorist threat assessment asked a panel of local and federal officials and experts what needs to be done.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said the plot to attack local military installations and synagogues -- discovered by Torrance police officers investigating gas station robberies -- demonstrated the need to train officers in detecting terrorist threats. Without the training, detectives might have dismissed jihadist extremist material discovered in one suspect’s apartment as “ramblings” not relevant to a robbery.

“In the Torrance case, we dodged a bullet,” he said. A federal grand jury in 2005 indicted four men, including the alleged leader of a radical Islamist prison gang based in Folsom, on terrorism charges. They are expected to go to trial in August.

Bratton said police departments need to standardize training in terrorism threat detection. Torrance Police Chief John J. Neu agreed. “The key to our training is consistency.”

Torrance police created an intelligence unit that trains police officers and security officials at potential targets, including the ExxonMobil refinery and Del Amo Fashion Center. “Yesterday, there was a threat through the Internet to the mall,” Neu said, and security called police and an intelligence detective, who contacted an FBI special agent in Long Beach focusing on terrorism.

“What he just described was the seamlessness we are trying to create throughout the country,” Bratton said.

In addition to Harman, Reps. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River), Norman D. Dicks (D-Washington), David G. Reichert, (R-Washington), and Ed Perlmutter (D-Colorado) attended the two-hour hearing at Torrance City Hall.

Rand Corp. terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins said law enforcement agencies must gain the trust of the local Muslim communities to develop good intelligence on potential extremists. “There are people in the communities who know who these hotheads are,” he said.

He cited the case of Adam Gadahn, 28, the Muslim convert from Orange County who moved to Pakistan, rose through Al Qaeda’s ranks and in October became the first American in 50 years to be charged with treason.

Jenkins told the subcommittee that although potential extremists often start by trolling the Web, the next step is hooking up with radical friends or a mosque, “finding a retail outlet” in Jenkins’ words. That’s the critical point at which law enforcement needs good intelligence from local Muslims, he said.

“When you look at it at a very detailed level, you can identify who these insiders and incubators are,” he said. “There’s not a huge number of those.”

Janice Fedarcyk, special agent in charge of the counter-terrorism division of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said her office has formed a program to develop ties in the Muslim, Arab, Armenian, Sikh and Coptic Christian communities.

Sireen Sawaf, of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, acknowledged the FBI’s efforts but said there was a long way to go to gain mutual trust. She said probes targeting alleged Islamic extremists are announced with much fanfare, but when they turn up no evidence of a national security threat, “there are no announcements.”

She said law enforcement simply needs to admit when it makes mistakes. “We can build trust off that transparency.”

joe.mozingo@latimes.com