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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ask CNN: What Is A Terrorist Cell?

Aired October 18, 2001 - 07:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Shari Jones from Spokane, Washington asks: What is a terrorist cell?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER FBI COUNTER TERRORISM TASK FORCE: A terrorism cell is basically the operational unit of a terrorist organization. A terrorist cell is usually grown -- there's a number of different cells as part of the organization.

Sleeper cells can be people that are in place, ready to perform an act, and just waiting for one person, a leader of that organization to give them the word to go ahead and follow out the act.

The intelligence cell can sometimes be in place three to five years before an incident happens. And what they do, they go out and they look for vulnerabilities. For instance, in 1998, there was believed that there was a terrorist cell in Kenya looking at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi for years prior to that.

Logistics cells are ones that actually are preparing for the attack. They're the ones getting the explosives together, making the reservations, finding a place to live, those kind of things.

A tactical cell is a cell that actually carries out the terrorist incident -- the operation. They are the ones that actually will go out there and sometimes give themselves up in the name of their cause.

So again, you have the sleeper cell, the intelligence cell, the logistics cell and the tactical cell that actually carries out the operation.

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