The Would-Be Bomber: Another Shoe To Drop?

By Elaine Shannon

Would-be shoe bomber Richard C. Reid's possible links to the radical jihadist movement are being urgently probed by authorities in the U.S. as well as in several European countries where the British ex-con traveled recently. But despite some fervent speculation, FBI agents so far have no evidence that Reid conspired with others in his attempt to ignite explosives hidden in his sneakers while flying from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22. Reid did attend the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, now on trial for terrorism conspiracy in U.S. federal court. But neither the FBI nor the U.S. intelligence community has substantiated a London newspaper report that British intelligence wiretapped conversations between the two. "That sounds a little bit too good to be true at this point," says an agent.

Citing Reid's expensive travels and his possession of PETN and TAPT, relatively sophisticated high explosives often used by terrorists, investigators don't rule out a conspiracy. But the current favored theory is that Reid is a lone crackpot--a view that appears to have contributed to a key venue decision. Unless new evidence develops, Reid will be indicted in Boston, where he was arrested after his American Airlines flight made an emergency landing. If Justice Department officials felt he was part of a larger conspiracy, presumably his case would be transferred to the terrorism task force in northern Virginia, which is prosecuting Moussaoui (who sought last week to have his trial televised) and other central figures in the Sept. 11 case.

--By Elaine Shannon