U.S. counterterrorism officials say they are uncovering homegrown Islamic radicals inside the United States who lack formal ties to al-Qaida and operate independently.Those independent qualities _ combined with the radicals' ability to organize and plot on the Internet _ make them particularly difficult to disrupt, retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.
In a hearing on the changing face of terror, Redd said the threat from homegrown extremism is a recent trend that was seen in successful transit attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005. One alleged homegrown North American plot has been disrupted: This month, Canadian authorities arrested 17 men and juveniles who are accused of planning attacks in southern Ontario. They are said to have obtained three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing.