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.Ressam s return to Canada had been easy, but the other members of his cellwere detained elsewhere.These other members were to be the leaders of the cell,and their absence meant Ressam had to take a leadership role.He began to recruitothers into his cell.Those recruited were Abdelmajid Dahoumane, MohktarHaouari, and Abdelghani Meskini, but none of them had received any al-Qaedatraining.Using a stolen Royal Bank Visa card, Ressam and his cell began planningto build a bomb.His target was the Los Angeles International Airport, and thedecision was made to place the bomb near a crowded security checkpoint for max-imum casualties.In November 1999 the cell began the actual construction of thebomb in Vancouver, British Columbia.After the bomb was built, the decision wasmade that only Ressam would transport the bomb because it was thought that cus-toms officers would be more reluctant to pull over a lone driver.Ressam started transporting the bomb on December 14, 1999.He took theM.V.Coho Ferry from Victoria, British Columbia, to Port Angeles, Washington.Customs inspector Diana Dean became suspicious about how Ressam was behav-ing.A close inspection found ingredients for a bomb in the spare-tire compart-ment.Ressam made a break for it but was soon captured.For a while, the customagents had no idea that the materials they had found were intended for a highlysensitive bomb.What Ressam did not know was that he and his cell had been under investiga-tion by the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) since 1996.CSISagents knew of his connections to the Algerian terrorist group Armed IslamicGroup (GIA) and later al-Qaeda.Their surveillance of Ressam and his cell led 256 Ressam, Ahmedthese agents to conclude that they were relatively harmless.Even when a Frenchterrorist expert, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, insisted that Canadian authorities arrestRessam and his compatriots, the CSIS was slow to respond.What the CSIS didnot know was that Ressam had been building a bomb to use in the United States.After his arrest, Ressam cooperated with American authorities to reduce hisprison sentence.In a four-week trial in the U.S.District Court in Los Angeles,Ressam was convicted on April 6, 2001, of conspiracy to commit an internationalterrorist act, explosives smuggling, and lying to customs officials among the ninecounts with which he was charged.With the prospects of a prison sentence of130 years, Ressam decided to cooperate for a reduced sentence.His informationwas used in the briefing paper titled Bin Laden Determined to Strike in theU.S., which President George W.Bush received on August 6, 2001.He also gavevaluable information about al-Qaeda and some of its operatives.Ressam began tohave doubts about cooperating in 2004 and stopped communicating with author-ities.On July 27, 2005, U.S.District Judge John Coughenour sentenced Ressamto twenty-two years in prison.The U.S.prosecutor appealed the sentence as toolenient, and the Ninth U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled in January 2007against one of the nine felony convictions of Ahmed Ressam.This was the countinvolving the use of false documents while transporting explosives.Ressam s finalsentence is still in adjudication.Joel Cohen (right) of the Department of Homeland Security stands next to a giant moni-tor displaying Ahmed Ressam (left) at the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Centerin Norwalk, California, in 2006.Ressam was convicted of trying to mount a bombing ofLos Angeles International Airport in California to coincide with the millennium celebra-tions held in 2000.(AP IMAGES/Nick Ut.) Rowley, Coleen 257See AlsoMillennium Plots; Moussaoui, Zacarias; al-Qaeda; Zubaydah, AbuSuggested ReadingHal Bernton et al., Chapter 2: The Fountainhead, Seattle Times (June 23, 2002),p.A14; Hal Bernton et al., Chapter 4: Sneaking In, Seattle Times (June 24, 2002), p.A5;Hal Bernton et al., Chapter 7: Joining Jihad, Seattle Times (June 27, 2002), p.A8;Hal Bernton et al., Chapter 8: Going to Camp, Seattle Times (June 28, 2002),p.A12; Hal Bernton et al., Chapter 10: The Mission, Seattle Times (June 30, 2002), p.A10;Hal Bernton et al., Chapter 11: The Ticking Bomb, Seattle Times (July 1, 2002), p.A6;Hal Bernton et al., Chapter 12: The Crossing, Seattle Times (July 2, 2002), p.A6; IanMulgrew, Ressam Gets 22 Years in Prison, Gazette [Montreal] (July 28, 2005), p.A1;Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaPress, 2004); Michelle Shephard, Dossier Reveals Secrets of Forming Al Qaeda Cell, Toronto Star (April 25, 2005), p.A12; Paul Shukovsky, Terrorist Ahmed Ressam Is Sen-tenced but U.S.Judge Lashes Out at Bush Policies on Suspects, Seattle Post-Intelligencer(July 28, 2005), p.A1.Rowley, Coleen (1954 )Coleen Rowley is the FBI agent from the Minneapolis field office who clashedwith FBI headquarters over the handling of Zacarias Moussaoui s case.She was theprincipal legal advisor to the Minneapolis field office.She has been outspoken inher belief that the mishandling of the Moussaoui case by FBI headquarters con-tributed to the success of the terrorists on September 11.Rowley spent twenty-four years in the FBI.She was born December 20, 1954,and raised in a small town in northeast Iowa.After high school, she attendedWartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.She graduated summa cum laude in 1977with a degree in French.Her next decision was to enter the College of Law at theUniversity of Iowa, from which she received a JD in 1980.Shortly thereafter,Rowley passed the Iowa bar exam.Her career choice was to become a FBI agent.After passing through the training at Quantico, Rowley was appointed a specialagent with the FBI in January 1981.Her first assignment was in the Omaha,Nebraska, field office, but she soon was sent to the Jackson, Mississippi, fieldoffice.In 1984 Rowley was assigned to the New York field office, where she spentsix years and specialized in organized crime
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