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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ask CNN: What Is a Terrorist Cell?

Aired October 23, 2001 - 07:51   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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Shari Jones from Spokane, Washington, asks, "What is a terrorist cell?"

MIKE BROOKS, FMR. FBI COUNTERTERRORISM ASK FORCE INSPECTOR: A terrorism cell is basically the operational unit of a terrorist organization. There are 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 is they go out and look for vulnerabilities.

For instance, in 1998, it was believed that there was a terrorist cell in Kenya, looking at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi for years prior to that. Logistic cells are the ones that actually are preparing for the attack. They are the ones getting the explosives together, making the reservations, finding a place to live, those kind of things.

A tactical cell is the cell that actually carries out the terrorist incident, the operation. They're the ones that 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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