After the arrest of lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) member David Coleman Headley, who was a part of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack conspiracy, the agencies in the US realised that even ‘white-skinned’ people could be involved in terrorism, a journalist who wrote a book on him said here on Saturday.
Karen Sorenson, a Danish journalist and author of 'A mind of a terrorist', a book on Headley, was speaking at Times litFest here.
Security expert Maroof Raza moderated the interaction. Prior to Headley's arrest, US agencies had not thought that a white-skinned person could be involved in terror activities, unlike those from the Middle-East and Asia, but Headley belied this thinking, Sorenson said.
According to the prosecutors here, Headley had conducted a recce of locations in Mumbai which were targeted by terrorists during the 26/11 attack.
Sorenson said how a US national like Headley, born in Washington and having worked for US security agencies, ended up in leT and played double agent was a mystery. It was the British who found about his terror involvement, he said.
The US needed to answer these questions (about failure to zero in on Headley earlier), Sorenson said.
The soft-spoken Headley, who wore Armani suits and claimed to be businessman, was a "perfect terrorist", the journalist said.