Home-Grown, Solo Terrorists As Bad As Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda still aims to strike inside the United States but home-grown or unaffiliated extremists now “pose an equally serious threat,” FBI chief Robert Mueller warned US lawmakers Thursday.

“Al Qaeda and its affiliates are still committed to striking us in the United States,” Mueller told a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, pointing to plots to bomb New York City subways and the failed Christmas airline attack.

“Home-grown and lone-wolf extremists pose an equally serious threat,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation director said, citing the shootings at the sprawling Fort Hood army base in Texas.

Experts have warned that a “lone wolf” — an extremist acting alone, without connections to an established network like Al-Qaeda — may be the most difficult threat for authorities to thwart…