Two years ago, no one knew quite what to make of Adam Gadahn.
While many in the U.S. intelligence community saw the angry Muslim convert from Orange County as dangerous, plenty of counterterrorism officials viewed the pudgy 25-year-old as a bit player on the world stage of jihadists.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday October 13, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Al Qaeda videos: An article in Sunday's California section said that alleged Al Qaeda video propagandist Adam Gadahn had been raised as Adam Pearlman. He was born and raised as Adam Gadahn. The FBI has listed Adam Pearlman as one of his aliases.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday October 15, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
Al Qaeda videos: An article in Sunday's California section about alleged Al Qaeda video propagandist Adam Gadahn said he had been raised as Adam Pearlman. He was born and raised as Adam Gadahn. The FBI has listed Adam Pearlman as one of his aliases.
No longer.
Though the young man who has appeared on four Al Qaeda videotapes and now calls himself Azzam the American is still not deemed part of Al Qaeda's operational command, recent interviews with counterterrorism officials suggest that Gadahn has gone from a valuable translator to an invaluable propagandist for the international terrorist network.
"It is not some masked guy with a rifle saying, 'Death to America,' " one senior U.S. law enforcement official said. "It is an American. And his target audience is the U.S."
Gadahn's newfound stature is underscored by a sealed federal indictment in Los Angeles that, law enforcement sources say, will charge him with supporting terrorism. It also comes as new details are surfacing about his time in Orange County and connections to extremists.
The new attention to Gadahn reflects his ascent in one of the world's most impenetrable terrorist groups. Indeed, although a handful of Americans have been convicted or still face charges of conspiring as terrorists, none has had a more astounding trajectory into Al Qaeda's inner circle than Gadahn.
From journeying to Pakistan to meeting with Osama bin Laden and later self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Gadahn quickly established himself as an American entrusted by Al Qaeda's leadership, counterterrorism officials say. Two of the four videotapes in which he has appeared also featured Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
"Increasingly, the stature of his statements shows that he not only has credibility as an information operative for Al Qaeda ... but if you look at it through the lens of Al Qaeda spreading its message, then he is absolutely an instrumental player," said another counterterrorism official who has watched Gadahn's ascent for years.
"I mean, he is now making statements with Al-Zawahiri, who is the No. 2 and the tactician. And [Gadahn] is right there with him at critical periods of time," said the official, who like others in government spoke on condition of anonymity because of the anticipated criminal case against Gadahn.
