The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is monitoring a number of northern New Jersey residents with ties to Al Qaeda, according to a report.
Federal counterterrorism officials in New Jersey told the Record of Bergen County that agents have disrupted their activities and deported several.
"There are many people who are like-minded who want to commit acts of terrorism and have just not taken that extra step," Kevin Cruise, the director of the bureau's 100-member task force in Newark, N.J., told the Record, calling the individuals "facilitators."
Every major terrorist organization in the world, except the Taliban, has contacts in northern New Jersey, the paper reports.
Cruise declined to describe any case in detail; however, efforts to disrupt Usama bin Laden's network range from deportation to telling the suspects they are being watched.
Agents have no information about an imminent attack, Cruise said.
The task force is conducting more than 400 counterterrorism investigations.
"We have better security measures in place and we have better intelligence," Cruise said. "But we are still vulnerable."
