U.S. Customs and Border Protection has intercepted 178 Iraqis seeking asylum by crossing the Southwestern border so far this year, nearly triple the 60 captured in 2006, according to figures from the office of National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. None of those Iraqis have been linked to terrorist organizations.

McConnell, the member of the president's Cabinet who oversees all 16 of the nation's intelligence agencies, points to the recent declassified intelligence summary stating that al-Qaida is regrouping in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell said last week in an exclusive interview with the El Paso Times after his talk at the Border Security Conference.

"The key now is getting recruits in. So if your key is getting recruits in, how would you do that?"

McConnell said terrorists have been crossing the Southwest border, but the numbers and other details are classified, according to intelligence officials. He points to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, whose case became public when he was tried in a U.S. court. Kourani, who entered the country through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, pleaded guilty to helping Hezbollah raise money in the Detroit suburb where he lived. Hezbollah has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.

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