How have we managed to prevent an attack on our soil in the five years since 9/11? Here's a little piece of the puzzle. I have a friend --prince of a fellow, with a wonderful wife and family as well-- who is an FBI agent. So far as I knew he was working child-porn cases. Last year, however, the radio reported the intercept of some terrorist cell and lo and behold my buddy was interviewed about the case for radio & tv. We've never spoken about his counter-terrorism work, but I attended a conference on evangelization this week, several sessions of which were devoted to Catholic engagement with Islam --and his name turned up again as an expert. Apparently my buddy has gained a bit of a reputation w/n the agency of being able to "flip" young suspected terrorists --getting them to spill the beans about plans, naming directors and sources of funding.
How he does this was the most interesting part of the discussion of Islam for my money. Apparently the FBI profile of a terrorist includes the view that in the typical Muslim family, the eldest son is spoiled rotten and the other kids deeply neglected. So when my buddy's assigned a case (meaning a suspect), he concentrates on nothing but being a father-figure to his man: takes him to baseball games, listens to his problems, cares about him. Very often, this little investment of TLC is all it takes for the guy to start talking.
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