Several of you have responded to our recent prayer alert encouraging watchfulness in prayer regarding possible imminent terror attacks with some skepticism about the Israeli intelligence expert that was quoted in it. A couple of you also pointed out that the email a friend in the prayer movement sent and I forwarded on to you was a few years old. I did some further checking and apparently there is some controversy about this "expert" and serious question now as to whether he is a legitimate and credible source. Thank you for your alertness and response to this issue.

However, after receiving the alert, one of you sent a May 9 article from Stratfor, a well-respected intelligence journal, that basically said the same thing as our alert, describing the growing threat of "grassroots jihadists, individuals who have been inspired by the al Qaeda core or franchise groups". The author of the article, Scott Stewart, writes that "grassroots operatives are a very big problem for government counterterrorism efforts... that is why militant ideologues promote the leaderless resistance model." He continues, "That doesn't mean that such operatives cannot be stopped, but in order to stop them, citizens must think differently about counterterrorism."

Here are some further excerpts from this article, warning us of the dangers of further terror strikes and the inadequacy of intelligence services to defend the public. In the end, only the Lord can protect us from all the threats out there. For that reason, we as intercessors (true "grassroots defenders") play a vital role and need to be vigilant in prayer for our cities and nations:

"We see no sign that this trend toward leaderless resistance will reverse in the near future, and our forecast is that the grassroots threat will continue to grow, not only from the jihadist realm but also from far-right and far-left actors...

The resources of the primary counterterrorism agencies are also quite finite. For example, the FBI has fewer than 14,000 special agents to fulfill its many responsibilities, and while counterterrorism has become its top mission in the post-9/11 era, only a portion of its agents (estimated to be between 2,500 and 3,000) are assigned to counterterrorism investigations at any time...

Due to the limited number of dedicated counterterrorism practitioners, these indicators (and sometimes blatant mistakes) are far more likely to be witnessed by someone other than an FBI or MI5 agent. This fact highlights the importance of what we call grassroots defenders -- that is, a decentralized network of people practicing situational awareness who notice and report possible indications of terrorist behavior such as acquiring weapons, building bombs and conducting preoperational surveillance...

It is unrealistic to expect the government to uncover and thwart every plot. There are too many potential actors and too many vulnerable targets. Individuals need to assume some responsibility for their own security and the security of their communities. This does not mean living in fear and paranoia but rather living with a relaxed level of situational awareness, being cognizant of potential dangers and alert to indicators of them. People who accept this responsibility and who practice this awareness are the true grassroots defenders."

Please pray that any terrorist plots underway would be found out and foiled by the intelligence services and law enforcement here in the USA and also elsewhere in the world.

www.ipcprayer.org