USD Magazine, Winter 2002

ON THE TRAIL OF TERRORISTS '69 Grad Heads San Diego FBI Terrorism Investigation by Susan Herold I n the early morning hours, as the rest of Diego connection was discovered within 24 hours of rhe hijackings. "We've always been aware of our large

his family sleeps, Bill Gore lies in bed, painfully awake, his mind replaying the weeks prior to Sept. 11. The endless video loop in his head repeats each surveillance report that lands on his desk, each tipster's call, each counter-terrorism briefing. Alone in the dark with his thoughts, the director of San Diego's FBI field office asks himself a question that he knows he can never answer. But it also is a question he cannot ignore. "Is there something we missed?" Gore, who graduated from USD in 1969, took over San Diego's FBI operations four years ago, his final stop in a 31-year FBI career that took him from Kansas City to Seattle to Washington, D.C., and several points in between. But the drug investigations and border crimes that he anticipated would close out his final days in San Diego federal law enforcement quickly were overshadowed when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Even more so, when it was revealed that three of the 19 suspected terrorists lived in his own backyard -San Diego. "Everybody in the FBI is acutely aware of the immense responsibility that has been placed upon them since Sept. 11 to not lee it happen again," says Gore, who oversees both San Diego and Imperial counties, the 11th largest FBI field office in the nation. "It's hard to lee go when the stakes are so high. " Gore refuses to discuss specifics about the three alleged hijackers, Hani Hanjoor, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid al-Midhar, who lived in San Diego's Clairemont neighborhood and were on the hijacked plane that slammed into the Pentagon. Nor will he discuss Omar AI-Bayoumi, another Clairemont resident believed to be the San Diego advance man for the terrorists, who has since disappeared in England. But he does say that the city's Muslim population had been a source of interest for the FBI prior to the attacks, and that the San

Muslim population. We've been aware of the large mosque and Islamic population ... and we had a pretty good handle on some of that population," he says. "Of course, you're upset chat they (alleged terrorists) were in your backyard." The San Diego office's task was twofold: to investigate those connected to che hijack– ings and protect against future terrorist attacks. The investigation centered on the Islamic community and area college students who are in San Diego on student visas. While some have been critical of the Justice Department's plan to pick up and interview 5,000 Middle Eastern men between the ages of 18 and 33 who entered the United States on non-immigrant visas since January 2000, saying it is racial profiling, Gore makes no apologies. "We know who the hijackers were. We know their common characteristics. We know where they were from, and we know most were here on student visas," he says. "Isn't it logical to assume that there are other people here (with terrorist intent) the same way?" "I think we (San Diego) are less of a target because of our military presence." -San Diego FBI Dire~or Bill Gore His ocher cask also comes loaded with a razor-edged Cacch-22: If his office unearths information about a possible terrorist attack in the region, no matter how tenuous, should char information be made public? Should prudence and caution outweigh the resulting public fear and economic impact such warnings prompt? Californians know chat answer first-hand. On Nov. 2, Gov. Gray Davis warned of a possible terrorist act on the state's major automobile bridges, including San Diego's Coronado Bay Bridge. Traffic on the bridges was light in the days following the announce-

ment, but to date, no terrorist attacks have occurred. "As far as warnings, you're damned if you do (release the information) and damned if you don't," he says. "These types of decisions have gone all the way up to the president. " Gore says while the FBI has prevented 53 terrorist acts in the past seven years, local law enforcement and at times, the public, believe the FBI knows more than it is letting on. "They chink we know more than we know, and we really don't. Sometimes it works in our favor, because the bad guys think we know something. But the good guys think you do too, and that you're not telling them. " Gore says the FBI looks at the key assets of each city - bridges, water treatment plants, gas pipelines, etc. - and takes the "logical security steps" for each area. And he rejects popular opinion that San Diego would be a high-ranking terrorist target because of its numerous military bases and aircraft carriers. "I think we are less of a target because of our military presence. God forbid, if some– thing does happen, our first responders are probably the best prepared in the country," he says, noting that the county has drilled on emergency preparedness 40 times in the past six years, in part due to the staging of the Super Bowl in 1998. Gore says despite the 16-hour workdays, the 4 a.m. conference calls with FBI Director Robert Mueller, the missed time with his family and the occasional sleepless night, he intends to stay on the terrorists' trail as long as he is able. Retirement is our of the question. "These things tend to tire you out at times," he says, "but there is no way I could leave now. " +

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W I NTER 2002