Book makes case that Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatens U.S. homeland.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Homeland Security News

* In September 2011, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Iranian descent was arrested for allegedly plotting to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.

The wheels for the plot were reportedly put into motion by members of the Quds Force, a wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard that works to serve that nation's interests overseas.

Was this an isolated incident, or a manifestation of the organization's desires to carry out operations in the U.S homeland?

Steven O'Hern, a former U.S. intelligence official in Iraq, and author of the book, "Iran's Revolutionary Guard: The Threat That Grows While America Sleeps," makes a case that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei's personal force does have designs on the homeland.

The Revolutionary Guard is a "unique organization that plays several roles--secret police, theocracy, intelligence agency, commando force, military adviser to rebel armies, and a thriving business empire," 0 ' Hem wrote.

The approximately 125,000 members do not answer to civilian rule and are separate from the regular military. He quotes a U.S. official describing the Quds Force as "taking the CIA, special forces and the State Department and rolling them all into one."

As a former intelligence officer in Iraq during the depths of the insurgency there, O'Hern went toe-to-toe with Quds Force operatives. The book gives a detailed description of the Guard's activities both in Iran and abroad.

The Revolutionary Guard works through proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The book documents cases of Lebanese immigrants actively involved in illegally raising funds to send back to Hezbollah in their home country.

However, there is no evidence that these law-breakers are setting out to attack the homeland, he notes.

"The activity that most threatens U.S. civilians is also the most difficult to prove as a valid threat--the sleeper cell," he wrote.

He defines them as innocent-appearing residents who carry out normal lives while awaiting orders from a foreign power to carry out terrorist attacks. Such plots are the stuff of Hollywood movies, O'Hern admitted...