(Thumbnail Image: siteintelgroup.com)
Boasting her blonde hair and blue eyes as assets, Colleen LaRose, known as 'Jihad Jane', actively sought out terrorist groups. Terrorists then recruited LaRose to help murder cartoonist Lars Vilks for his drawing featuring the prophet Muhammad's head on the body of a dog.
The FBI arrested LaRose last October but withheld details until now to protect the investigation. Fox News' Catherine Herridge describes the unique nature of this case.
"This is a highly significant case. ... In this case a woman is at the center of the alleged conspiracy. LaRose is also the first American woman to face terrorism charges in this country which include conspiracy to commit murder. So in many ways this is a watershed indictment."
ABC consultant Richard Clarke says terrorism has more than one face and no matter how rare, terrorists recruited within U.S. borders like LaRose still present a threat to U.S. safety.
Dick Clarke: "It shows that profiling, just looking for people who we think are the stereotype, in our mind, of terrorists, has no value."
George Stephanopoulos: "Do we have any sense of the magnitude of this threat inside the United States right now?"
Dick Clarke: "I think it’s very small but it doesn’t have to be very large. You know one guy at Fort Hood killed a lot of people. So it’s not so much a matter of the size, it’s the fact that it’s going on.”
But the executive director of NYU's center on law, tells CNN that women terrorists is not a trend we need to be worried about.
Anchor John Roberts: "Does she represent a new threat that now law enforcement have to deal with?"
Greenberg: "Maybe. I mean what it is, is an indicator that there's always something else coming down the road that might be a threat to us. But as a large category, that we have to worry about, absolutely not, I would say. We should always have been aware that women could be used."
One Alter Net blogger, says media coverage should focus on "the why behind LaRose's actions" rather than the hidden threat she reveals.
"People don’t radicalize for no reason. LaRose’s case presents a unique opportunity to better understand what seems to be a growing phenomenon of domestic terror. Media could provide insight, but we could really blow it, too."
Writer: Veronica Wells
Producer: Newsy Staff
