U.S. and British officials are concerned that an al-Qaeda cell may be loose in the United States as information is gleaned from recent intelligence gathered after the recent bombing attempts in London and the attack at the Glasgow Airport in Scotland.

As the New York Sun summarizes, “E-mail addresses for American individuals were found on the same password-protected e-mail chains used by the United Kingdom plotters to communicate with Qaeda handlers in Europe, a counterterrorism official told The New York Sun yesterday. The American and German intelligence community now believe the secure e-mail chains used in the United Kingdom plot have provided a window into an operational Qaeda network in several countries.”

These revelations come as two Arab foreign nationals who were found to have pipe bombs found in their trunk were charged in South Carolina near the Naval Weapons Station at Goose Creek. The Navy facility stores nuclear weapons and is also the site of the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig where enemy combatants have been held. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed from Kuwait and Yousef Samir Megahed from Egypt are both in the US legally and students at the University of South Florida. Mohamed signed an affidavit stating that he made the pipe bombs from materials he purchased at Wal-Mart.