Homeland security agents say a female homegrown terrorist, with ties to Travis County, signals a shift in the way extremist groups like Al Qaeda recruit members.
Colleen LaRose, 46, has blonde hair and blue eyes and doesn’t fit the typical pattern of a terrorist. She was born in San Angelo and was living in Pennsylvania when she was arrested.
On the Internet she is known as "Jihad Jane." She is charged with trying to recruit Islamic fighters and for plotting to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
Austin counter terrorism expert Fred Burton, the vice president of Stratfor, says the U.S. intelligence community monitors the Internet constantly for homegrown threats. He says two and a half years ago, extremist groups began actively recruiting people like LaRose who are American citizens and who do not look Middle Eastern. Terrorist groups call them “clean skins.”
Burton said, “If they go out and recruit folks that can utilize a U.S. passport and that doesn't look like what most people think of a terrorist, she is more useful. She can fly under the radar.”
Burton says the Internet is the number one way Al Qaeda recruits American citizens like LaRose.
According to public records, a person by the same name and date of birth as Colleen LaRose has a marriage license in Travis and Tarrant counties.
