An Unexpected Patriot
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Search for terrorists finds a traitor
Shannen Rossmiller is a former Montana judge who hunts terrorists online. After witnessing the 9/11 attacks, she became "radicalized," deciding to learn Arabic and pretending to be an extremist to lure jihadists on the Web into revealing their plans to destroy America.
Second of five parts
Michael Curtis Reynolds, the Wilkes-Barre drifter who is looking for al-Qaeda funding to help him blow up the trans-Alaska and transcontinental pipelines, is now on Shannen Rossmiller's radar.
Conspicuous as a barroom braggart, Reynolds is writing boldly - and in English - in the all-Arabic Osama bin Laden Crew chat room, making no pretense about his background or his mission: He's an American citizen out to destroy his country.
Just like Ryan Anderson, Rossmiller says to herself, recalling another angry American, from 2003. Oh, please don't let him be another one like that.
The 2003 e-mail starts with a typical Arab greeting: Wa salaam alaykum.
But the writer is National Guard tank Spec. Ryan Anderson, 27, of the 81st Armor Brigade at Fort Lewis in Washington state. An American.
He's about to be deployed to Iraq. Aside from the opening salutation, he is writing in English on the extremist Web site bravemuslims.com.
Shannen Rossmiller should be in bed, sleeping. But as usual, her racing brain compels her to rise for the radicals.
This is so exciting, she thinks, dressing quietly so as not to wake her husband, Randy. Nothing in her life has been this fascinating.
Randy has given up trying to figure out her obsession. But he doesn't stop it, either.
To pay him back, Rossmiller makes sure he has time to pursue his hobby. He goes off for days, flying custom-built, radio-controlled planes with friends in Montana fields.
Balancing plane-making and terrorist-hunting, the Rossmillers achieve marital harmony.
Neither one of us controls the other, Rossmiller says, which is why we got through the bumpy roads.
Like the first time Rossmiller crashed the home computer while e-mailing terrorists on the Web. Randy, who sets up computer networks for a living, lost tons of work.
"What the hell is all this Arabic stuff?" he asked. "What have you been doing?"
Rossmiller just wanted her jihadists back. "Can't you find my files?" she said.
Family tensions lasted a while after that.
