Twin Cities become a major part of national security conversation

Photo: #Armed fighters from the Al-shabab group travel on the back of pickup trucks outside Mogadishu in Somalia. As many as 20 young Somali men from Minnesota have returned to the East African country to fight in its civil war.

Armed fighters from the Al-shabab group travel on the back of pickup trucks outside Mogadishu in Somalia. As many as 20 young Somali men from Minnesota have returned to the East African country to fight in its civil war. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

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• Twin Cities become a major part of national security conversation (program audio)

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St. Paul, Minn. — Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Minnesota has emerged as an unlikely hub of national security activity.
From 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui's arrest in Minnesota, to the investigation into suspected Twin Cities Somali Americans returning to their homeland to fight for Al-Shabab, this region is being closely monitored for signs of "homegrown terrorism" activity.

Guests

• John Radsan: Director of the National Security Forum at William Mitchell College of Law. He was assistant general counsel at the CIA from 2002 - 2004.
• Michael Hurley: President of a national security and counter-terrorism consulting firm Team 3i.
• Jarret Brachman: Assistant professor of security studies at North Dakota State University and the former director of research at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. He is the author of "Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice."

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