The Plot Comes Into Focus

If the military campaign doesn't want the name "Operation Infinite Justice" because of its religious allusion, perhaps the mammoth investigation into the Sept. 11 terror attacks should adopt it, simply for accuracy. The name certainly fits, what with 7,000 FBI employees and countless state and local police officers following some 63,232 leads in the case. FBI Deputy Director Tom Pickard, a key figure in the case against the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, and the bureau's top man in New York, Barry Mawn, are running the investigation from Washington and two secret locations in Manhattan. Detectives and intelligence agents around the world are pitching in. The flow of data is crushing; every day brings new leads--and new dead ends. But answers to some of the most important questions are beginning to emerge.

HOW LIKELY IS ANOTHER ATTACK?

Federal agents have already turned up some worrisome evidence. One discovery that causes shivers: among the belongings of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, sources tell TIME, was a manual showing how to operate crop-dusting equipment that could be used to spray lethal biological, chemical or radiological toxins into the air. On Sept. 16 the government temporarily grounded all crop dusters and warned farmers and pilots to put even their most modest planes under guard.

Rumors lit on every tongue last week; the most unsettling focused on Sept. 22. Because Dr. Al-Badr Al-Hazmi, 34, a Saudi national who is being held as a material witness, had made three reservations to fly to San Diego via Denver on that date, people worried that terrorists would hijack another aircraft. (As it turned out, Al-Hazmi's two extra tickets were in the names of his wife and child.) More ornate scenarios had the bad guys finishing off New York City with a suitcase nuke or poisoned water supply. But the day passed, mercifully, without incident.

Still, no one is breathing easy. Top law-enforcement officials believe that associates of the hijackers remain tucked away in American communities. Senator Bob Graham of the Intelligence Committee said last week that Sept. 11 was intended to be the first of several days of horror. No one can say how many other terrorist cells may be sleeping near our homes, but Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks, has trained thousands of terrorists. Last week authorities were determined not to let anyone build on the destruction--or escape punishment for it. By week's end, at least 100 people had been arrested in the U.S. in possible connection to the attacks, and 230 more were wanted for questioning.

Bin Laden has cells around the world; the next attack could come overseas--especially with the U.S. so vigilant. According to the German Secret Service, as many as 1,000 of bin Laden's soldiers have infiltrated Europe after completing their training in Afghan camps. Closer to home, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has identified some 350 individuals who it believes aid terrorist organizations.