Covert Converts

Chilling article in WaPo this morning about the worst Islamic threat: Westerners who convert to Islam. Excerpt:

Converts are prized by radical Islamic groups because they can usually operate freely in Europe, Asia and North America without arousing the suspicion of police. They are also often eager to accept dangerous assignments as a way to prove their devotion, experts said.

"What is new is that with al Qaeda, converts are now considered full members," said Olivier Roy, research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research and an authority on Islamic radicalism. "For al Qaeda, converts are not just tools to get past security. It's a way for them to become a global movement. In just about every al Qaeda cell over the past eight years, we have seen converts. It's structural, not just accidental."

How do we counter this threat? If we don't narrow in on these folks, they'll slip through the nets of security. Yet if we scrutinize/follow converts more closely, the civil libertarians will cry "foul" (e.g., religious freedom, thought police, etc.). What's an uncompromisingly open society to do?

The answer is obvious: compromise certain aspects of the open society. Such a compromise is just that: a compromise of the openness. It does not necessarily entail a compromise of natural civil rights. You wouldn't know that, listening to the Ramsey Clarks of the world, but it's true.