Metro
THURSDAY, APRIL 26
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
FBI's Role
New group learns about battling terrorism from local agent.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
W
e want to respond to ter-
ror by creating moments
of peace and education,"
Rabbi Joshua Bennett of Temple Israel
told the more than 200 people who
came to the April 17 program of the
temple's United Against Terrorism Task
Force.
The program featured FBI Special
Agent Frederic Sandler, a temple mem-
ber who heads an FBI squad focused
on international terrorism.
The task force began six months ago
following the West Bloomfield temple's
screening of the movie Obsession:
Radical Islam's War Against the
West. The group is open to people of
all faiths and congregational affilia-
tions. Programs are held about every
six weeks and
include educa-
tion and advo-
cacy components.
Non-Temple Israel
members are
encouraged to
take part as well.
"We can't afford
to exist in denial:
says task force chair Carol Lynn Cooper
of West Bloomfield. "It can be a beauti-
ful day and our kids can be riding their
bikes down the street, but we are at
war. We can't just sit back and watch.
We must become active."
Sandler gave information about
what the FBI and law enforcement are
doing locally to fight terrorism. He
has worked for the government for 11
years, starting as a psychologist with
the Federal Bureau of Prisons before
joining the FBI. He moved to the
Detroit area six years ago..
The agent assured the group that
defeating terrorism is No. 1 among the
eight FBI national priorities, which
range from combating public corrup-
tion and the drug trade to fighting
espionage.
Five main components of the
"National Mission to Defeat Terrorism"
include deterring, disrupting and dis-
mantling any and all sleeper cells in
the U.S. before they can act; preventing
individual terrorist attacks; deterring,
disrupting and preventing terrorist
support networks providing logisti-
cal or financial support; fielding tips;
and intelligence gathering, which now
includes "tremendous cooperation"
between agencies.
Metro Detroit is "wonderfully
diverse Sandler said, with its mix
of 350,000 Middle Easterners from
many countries and cultures, the
largest Mideast community outside
the Middle East. He says it is easier
to work in such a large community
because there are so many sources of
information.
"Our focus is not on Middle Eastern
people he stressed, but "on those who
do not accept our Western culture" and
take action to destroy it.
"On the whole, these are great peo-
The FBI "pursues those who
preach hostility and violence .
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April 26 = 2007
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- Special .44ent Rederic Sandier
ple. They help us very much. More than
99 percent don't want to see another 9-
11" or face the scrutiny, discrimination
and hostility that terrorism produced.
He says local support networks for
Middle East terrorist groups victim-
ize their own communities by covertly
funneling money intended for legiti-
mate charitable purposes to illegal
and banned groups. In particular, he
said Hezbollah is "a well-trained army"
schooled in counter-intelligence and
avoiding detection. "It is a well-built
organization we do not take lightly:' he
said.
While there is significant local sup-
port for its Middle Eastern activities,
he says those same supporters do not
want Hezbollah to carry out attacks in
the United States.
"There are a lot of sympathizers with
some terrorist groups who don't like
Western culture, and don't like their
children to be exposed to it," Sandler
Task force chair Carol Lynn Cooper
said, "but that doesn't mean they will
be bomb-throwers. They have the
freedom of speech and the freedom to
hate. I don't like hearing prejudice but I
hear it a lot."
The FBI does pursue those "who
preach hostility and violence whether
they are "Muslim, Christian or Jew," he
told the group.
Sandler defended the FBI against
news media criticism about the small
number of terrorism prosecutions.
"We don't want to burn our sources:'
he said.
"We want to deter terrorists, dis-
rupt them and dismantle them by
convicting them with other criminal
evidence."
For example, the FBI achieves its
goals and protects sources by obtain-
ing a conviction for other crimes, like
mortgage fraud or an immigration
violation. 1 I
To share any concerns with the
FBI, call (313) 965-2323.
For information about United
Against Terrorism Task Force
and to receive program notices,
contact Elaine Bertsch at Temple
Israel, (248) 661-5700 or elaine®
temple-israel.org .