With four of the terrorists behind the bombings in London born and bred in Great Britain, there are new fears that possible future terror attacks in the U.S. could come at the hands of American-born attackers.
MSNBC Terrorism Analyst Dan Goure, who joined MSNBC's Amy Robach on Friday, said extremist groups living in the U.S. have struck before and are a concern.
"We know they're here," Goure said. "In fact, there was just a conviction with some clinic in Virginia the other day for some sighting to commit Jihad and go to Iraq to fight. So, we've seen this in the U.S. We've had the Lackawanna Seven. ... We're talking millions of Muslims, millions of converts to Islam, even a one percent figure. A half of one percent is large enough to cause problems."
Goure, who said recruitment in mosques happens in London and happens in the U.S.
"There'll be side conversations among parishioners, people who have been to the Middle East, have been to Pakistan trying to convince young men in particular to go to these places, to go participate in jihad," he said. "The first World Trade Center bombing was in fact a group of individuals who came together and convince each other to do that."
Goure noted that the fact that the London bombers were born in Britain and lived relatively comfortable lives is not a surprise, based on past profiles of al-Qaida members.
"There has to be some concern because for what we've seen among most of the terrorists, the al-Qaida terrorists is that they are not poor people. They are not from slums," he said. "They're middle class even well educated.
"You worry about that from the disaffected youth essentially unemployed with out good role models, without prospects, essentially turning to violence, either as a lark or because they see it as an answer to internal needs really," he said.
To watch the entire interview between Amy Robach and Dan Goure, click on the "Launch" button above and to the right.
Dan Goure is a senior defense analyst at the Lexington Institute and NBC News analyst who served in the Pentagon during the first Gulf War. with and can be seen weekdays from 9 a.m.-Noon.
