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Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0909/p03s01-usfp.htm
FBI Operating Against al-Qaeda Affiliates in 40 States
(Christian Science Monitor) Faye Bowers - U.S. officials say two-thirds of al-Qaeda's leadership have been captured or killed as a result of one of the most concerted worldwide dragnets in U.S. history. Yet, al-Qaeda is as dangerous, or more so, than it was before 9/11. "Al-Qaeda had a much deeper bench than we'd imagined," says Bruce Hoffman, an expert on terror at the RAND Corp. in Washington. Some 100,000 fighters trained at al-Qaeda camps during the 1980s and 1990s. Most returned to their homes in more than 15 Arab countries; many now belong to local terrorist groups, or insurgencies, inspired and funded by bin Laden. The FBI's chief counterterrorism official, Larry Mefford, told a Congressional committee the FBI knows of support cells in the U.S. and has "ongoing operations directed against suspected al-Qaeda members and their affiliates in about 40 states."