U.S. Probes Scope of Suspected Terror Plot

WASHINGTON—U.S. investigators are probing whether a suspected terror plot against Western European targets extends to the U.S., officials said Tuesday.
Intelligence collected primarily points to potential threats targeting European countries, including the U.K., France and Germany, U.S. officials said. But after a spate of thwarted or botched plots against the U.S. this year, investigators are looking hard at any potential connection across the Atlantic.
"You have folks increasingly concerned about: Is it not just Europe that needs to be careful, but is there a threat here as well?" one U.S. counterterrorism official said.
The Central Intelligence Agency has stepped up drone strikes in Pakistan in an effort to help thwart the plot, which could still be evolving. The more than 20 strikes this month represent a monthly record, according to a tally by the New America Foundation.
Several U.S. officials said they haven't seen a terror threat as serious as the suspected European plot for many years. "This isn't just your typical Washington talk about how the threats have evolved. People are very concerned about what they're seeing," the counterterrorism official said.
While officials are still working to understand the plot, a leading concern is that the plotters may model their European assault on the 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, in which armed gunman killed more than 200 people in coordinated attacks at hotels and other easily accessed venues, current and former officials said.
Without speaking directly of the European plot, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned last week such attacks on publicly accessible areas are a major concern.
U.S. officials caution that they are still running down leads and much of the information obtained so far lacks key details.
European governments have not commented on what plots may have been disrupted, though security officials in Britain have said that the Obama administration's stepped-up attacks in Pakistan has disrupted the ability of Al Qaeda in Pakistan to plan terrorist strikes on the west.
The U.K., which has the second-biggest foreign troop commitment in Afghanistan after the U.S., said the attacks are a matter for the U.S. and Pakistan.
"Both are key allies, who are facing a shared and dangerous threat from violent extremists, who also threaten the U.K. and the rest of the world," a spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. Still, she said, there is a need for "Pakistani ownership" of the fight.
The new U.K. government has to tread carefully. The previous government was heavily criticized for appearing to condone U.S. anti terror policies unpopular in the U.K., such as extraordinary rendition.
Criticism has been more forceful from the media in Europe. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper said earlier this year that the heightened pace of drone attacks "shows how absurd the American hardliners' accusation is that he is soft on terror. But unfortunately it also shows that Obama is a long way from fulfilling the hopes that human rights activists have placed in him," according to the Deutsche Welle website.
European criticism from human rights groups also echoes that of a United Nations report published in May by legal specialist Philip Alston. Arguing that targeting killings were often based on faulty intelligence, Mr. Alston said the risk was compounded by the fact that operators were remote from the location of the attacks. "Because operators are based thousands of miles away from the battlefield, and undertake operations entirely through computer screens and remote audio feed, there is a risk of developing a "Play Station" mentality to killing," the report said.
The stepped-up U.S. drone attacks have widely met with silence among European governments, despite criticism of the actions by the media and human-rights groups. "People in Europe have expressed concerns about the use of drones, but governments in Europe have been quiet about it," said Alexander Nicoll of the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.
Officials, diplomats and analysts cite several reasons for the muted reactions. Governments are broadly sympathetic to use of drones to attack al Qaeda terrorist camps and Taliban positions inside Pakistan, from which raids are launched into Afghanistan. As Western forces exit Afghanistan, their governments will want to preserve the capability to attack terrorist cells in the region, and unmanned aerial vehicles offer an efficient way to do that, officials said.
Some countries, including the U.K. and France, are themselves developing drones with missile-carrying capabilities.
Another issue quieting criticism, said a senior European diplomat, is that some drones used in U.S. attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas abutting Afghanistan are the same used in strikes carried out against Taliban by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which they are members.
In analyzing the overseas intelligence, U.S. investigators are starting with possible suspects and trying to find connections to the latest threat information. "As is so often the case, details are scarce when it comes to timing or even precise targets," said a U.S. official. "You often have to work backwards, with your starting point being individuals you believe are involved in plotting, even when you don't have the full outlines of the plot itself."As they get additional information, intelligence officials have been seeking out targets in Pakistan believed to be connected to the plot. "That's why we have been striking—with precision—people and facilities that are part of these conspiracies," a U.S. official said.
The official was quick to add that they have also been striking at targets that represent more standard fare for the campaign. The CIA has conducted more than 70 drone strikes this year, which have been ratcheted up significantly during the Obama administration.
"We've also been hitting groups planning to cross the border to kill people in Afghanistan or in Pakistan itself," the official said.
On Tuesday, Pakistani officials reportedly said senior al Qaeda commander Sheikh Mohammad Fateh al-Masri was killed over the weekend in a CIA drone attack. U.S. officials were unable to confirm that report.