article_snippet.sent: Each one of those folks who makes it over there has the capability to reach out back to those folks who makes it over there contacts back here," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said.
article_snippet.sent: A decade ago, those initial Western recruits faced formidable obstacles trying to get to training camps deep in hard-to-reach areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal region.
article_snippet.sent: Few Westerners went through the trouble.
article_snippet.sent: The informal recruitment networks and ease of travel have presented a difficult puzzle to intelligence and counterterrorism officials, who are used to tracking networks of facilitators and fundraisers that funnel recruits eastward.
article_snippet.sent: It's harder for us to pick up on," the U.S. counterterrorism official said of the peer-to-peer recruitment, which is well below the radar.