Experts Worry About Another Terrorist Attack On U.S. Soil

Jon Jordan, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The head of the FBI said the potential for another terrorist attack is already in the U.S., and he told lawmakers his biggest concern wasn't Al-Qaeda members regrouping in places like the Middle East but was refugees in U.S.

The head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, said he's concerned some Iraqi refugees who fled to the U.S. during the early years of the Iraq war have strong ties to Al-Qaeda and he's not the only one who feels this way.

"We can say without equivocation that Al-Qaeda is here and actively engaging in terrorism," said David Cid, Executive Director of the Memorial institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City.

It's why Cid, who spent 20 years with the FBI, agreed with the statements made by Mueller, who told lawmakers last week that Iraqi refugees could be the U.S.'s biggest threat.

"Individuals who may have been resettled here in the United States that have had some association with Al-Qaeda in Iraq," Mueller said.

Cid said his concern are sleeper cells-- groups of terrorist living so-called normal lives while at the same time preparing for another Oklahoma City bombing or 9/11.

"It's always possible that there is a sleeper cells here. It's entirely possible," Cid said. "What we are seeing is the threat increasing and it's never been higher."

Cid said it's possible because according to state department, many of those 700 refugees settled in cities all across the country.

"I think people have to understand that there is an adversary out there who is energetically planning to kill us at the first opportunity," Cid said.

According to Cid, that opportunity is now at a time when terrorist have had almost a decade to see and adjust to the U.S.'s counter terrorism measures.

He said his only comfort is the nation's ability to bounce back.

"If they hit us again we'll survive," Cid said. "We are a resilient country and we are very powerful."

At the same time Mueller made his comments, officials with the Border and Custom's protection agency in San Diego admitted to a local TV station that they had over time weapons of mass destruction trying to be shipped into the U.S.