Balance of Payments?: Exporting Terrorism

A no-longer-secret memo, prepared by the so-called "CIA Red Cell," an entity "charged by the Director of Intelligence with taking a pronounced 'out-of-the-box' approach that will provoke thought and offer an alternative viewpoint on the full range of analytic issues," suggests that "Al-Qa’ida" (after 9 years, you'd think at least we could settle on a spelling) may be increasingly looking for American citizens to operate overseas, undoubtedly recognizing that Americans can be great assets in terrorist operations in other countries because "they carry US passports, don’t fit the typical Arab-Muslim profile, and can easily communicate with radical leaders through their unfettered access to the internet and other modes of communication" (although on that latter point, who can't?). The Red Cell seems genuinely worried that our reputation could be damaged if the U.S. were "to be seen increasingly as an incubator and 'exporter of terrorism.'" Sounds soft-headed, soft-hearted and positively un-American. Can it be there are actual Reds in the CIA Red Cell? -- CIA Red Cell special memorandum on ”What If Foreigners See the United States as an ’Exporter of Terrorism’” (Wikileaks pdf 2010-08-25).