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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Eye On Boise

Personal relationship

Recruiting people to commit a terrorist act or to spy for another country takes a personal relationship with an appealing, persuasive recruiter, defense expert witness Frank Anderson told the court today. He testified that he personally recruited members of terrorist groups to spy for the U.S. government during his years with the CIA, and drew parallels between that process and the process terrorists use to pull in their own recruits. In both cases, the recruiter must persuade the person to do something they would not be naturally inclined to do, he said - become a traitor to their own country or commit an act of violence against innocents, possibly including women and children.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor David Deitch, Anderson said he personally recruited terrorists to spy or become informants on three occasions, and supervised similar operations on many others. But he said he couldn't give the details of each specific event, including names and locations, because that information is classified, though Deitch repeatedly asked for those specifics.

Anderson also acknowledged that his work at the CIA, which he left in 1995, didn't involve use of the Internet. He said since then, he's used the Internet extensively as part of his three businesses, which in part involve evaluating terrorist threats for companies considering locating or expanding overseas.

Eye On Boise
