WASHINGTON — U.S. prosecutors charged more suspects with terrorism in 2009 than in any year since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, providing evidence of what experts call an increase in plots spurred by Internet recruitment, the spread of al-Qaeda overseas and ever- shifting tactics of terrorism leaders.
A review of major national-security cases by The Associated Press found 54 defendants had federal terrorism-related charges filed or unsealed against them in the past 12 months.
The Justice Department would not confirm the figure or provide its own. But an agency spokesman said 2009 had more defendants charged with terrorism than any year since the 2001 attacks.
Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, called it “an extraordinary year, across the board,” adding that the wide range of cases show al-Qaeda “is in it for the long haul, and we need to be as well.”
The rate of terrorism charges accelerated in September, when authorities disrupted what they said was a burgeoning plot to detonate bombs aboard New York commuter trains. The quick pace of cases continued until the end of the year, with an attempted Christmas bombing aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.
One day alone was particularly heavy: On Sept. 24, federal prosecutors announced charges in five terrorism cases in Illinois, New York, North Carolina and Texas.
In counting major terrorism cases, AP used a rigorous standard that produced a conservative count. The various charges that made the list include conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to murder people abroad and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
But the 54 defendants do not include, for example, those charged only with lying to agents in a terrorism investigation or the Army psychiatrist in the Fort Hood military-base shooting, who faces nonterrorism murder charges.
