CANBERRA, Australia, March 2 (UPI) -- None of the nearly two-dozen people arrested in Australia last November for alleged terrorism offences had direct links to external terror organizations.
Paul O'Sullivan, the new chief of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, said "there is no evidence among the 19 of any link so far to an outside controller or outside direction."
But "homegrown terrorism is in front of us," and a domestic attack was feasible. The biggest challenge for security authorities, he added, was "the terrorist that we don't know about" who already reside in Australia.
The 19 suspects, rounded up in an unprecedented security operation, were all Australian born, except one.
O'Sullivan, in an interview with The Australian, said of particular concern was the "speed of radicalization" among some members of Muslim communities as evidenced by the bomb attacks in London last year, which were carried out by residents of the country.
The ASIO, which deals with "several thousand" investigations daily, was in the process of recruiting 170 new officers annually to bring its roster up to 1,860 personnel by 2010 to cope with the ongoing threat of terrorism.
O'Sullivan added the ASIO has also beefed up the number of agents it has in major population centers such as Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia is a staunch ally of the United States in the war on terror and has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its citizens have been targeted in terror bombings in Indonesia, a popular Australian tourist destination, and its embassy in the capital attacked.
The 19 suspects were arrested amid intelligence of possible bomb attacks in Australia.
