Ashland Terrorist Suspect To Attend Detention Hearing

The Ashland man accused of plotting terror attacks in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to attend a detention hearing Monday at the U.S. District Court in Worcester.

Rezwan Ferdaus is 26 years old, a U.S. citizen, middle class and well educated. And, by many accounts, he's disaffected with life. The indictment against him says Ferdaus, a Muslim, wanted to kill "as many kafirs (non-believers) as possible."

[Al-Qaida] is urging youth to stay at home and fight a jihad in America," Jessica Stern, terrorism expert, said.

Stern is a member of the Hoover Institute Task Force on National Security and Law based in Cambridge. She says this latest suspect fits a profile that's become increasingly radicalized on the Internet.

"The al-Qaida movement is becoming more sophisticated about recruiting youth to become independent operators," Stern said. " To make it harder to catch them."

Stern said that it is often a member of the Muslim community who alerts law enforcement to suspected terrorist activity. She expects that there will be more cases like Ferdaus' in the near future.