Minneapolis Fighting Terror Recruitment

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/us/minneapolis-fighting-terror-recruitment.html

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MINNEAPOLIS —  This city’s struggle with terrorism recruitment showed itself on two fronts Wednesday. In the morning, a Somali-American teenager admitted in court here that he had tried to flee the country and join the Islamic State. Hours later, federal prosecutors and some leaders among the region’s large Somali population announced about $1 million in funding for programs meant to combat just that type of radicalization.

“We are the solution. It has to come from us,” said Abdi Warsame, a Minneapolis City Council member of Somali descent. “Yes, we’re working with the Department of Justice. It’s our friend.”

Law enforcement officials and some Somali leaders said the new programs were a way to stop extremism long before an arrest became necessary. Big Brothers Big Sisters will start a mentoring project for young Somalis, grants will be awarded to community groups, and an education and work-force resources center will open in a neighborhood where many Somalis live.

But other Somali-Americans, fearing more indictments and wary of police surveillance, said they were skeptical of the government’s role in the projects

“The shadows of the U.S. Attorney’s Office are already covering these programs,” said Jaylani Hussein, who is executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “That will create a great deal of mistrust.”

Wednesday’s announcement came after a year of talks between civic groups, law enforcement and Somali-Americans, which occurred as a number of cases involving young terror suspects wound their way through the federal courts in Minnesota. One of those defendants, Hanad Musse, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Mr. Musse faces up to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors said Mr. Musse, 19, and other young men from Minnesota had tried unsuccessfully to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Other cases are pending.

Andrew Luger, the state’s top federal prosecutor, said investigations into terrorism recruitment would continue, but that he hoped young people would be dissuaded from extremism. Mr. Luger said meetings with Somali clergy and parents had brought calls for mentoring programs to help steer troubled teenagers away from terrorist recruiters.

“They told me that they need these tools,” Mr. Luger said. “They need to know that law enforcement is on their side to address this long before it becomes a law enforcement” problem.

Mr. Luger’s announcement came as part of a Justice Department pilot program to stop terrorist recruitment by engaging with community members. Boston and Los Angeles are also part of the project. The approach is relatively new in the United States, but leaders on all sides agree the stakes are high. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 20 people in Minnesota in relation to Al Shabaab, an African terrorist organization. At least 10 more have been charged with supporting the Islamic State, which has been accused of slaughtering countless Christians, Yazidis and fellow Muslims in seeking to establish a Middle Eastern “caliphate.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Mr. Luger said in an interview. “Minnesota has a terror recruiting problem. We have seen far too many of our young men and young women go off to a foreign country to fight with terrorists.”

Lorenzo Vidino, the director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, said some Western European nations had found success by using community groups, instead of government programs, to prevent radicalization.

“The lighter the footprint of the government, the better,” Dr. Vidino said.

In Minnesota, a private organization with experience in the Somali community will award about $500,000 in grants, not the government itself.

The money will come from a mix of government funds and corporate donations.

But as young Somalis continue to appear in federal court on terror charges, local clergy have been split on how much to trust the prosecutor’s office and the new programs.

“It’s offensive to our community,” Hassan Jama, a Minnesota imam, said. “It’s singling us out.”

But Abdisalam Adam, an imam here who spoke at a news conference with Mr. Luger, encouraged Somalis to be open-minded about the programs.

“A healthy skepticism is fine,” Mr. Adam said, “but we haven’t seen anything to make us to be fearful and suspicious of government.”