Local man charged with terrorism in NY gets advice from panel

New York. – Two former CIA agents and a Muslim cleric, members of a judge-ordered panel, advise the defense team of Dominican student Carlos Eduardo Almonte and codefendant Mohamed Alessa, two New Jersey residents charged with comprising a terrorist plot to attack American targets inside and outside the U.S.

In the panel, among other experts also figure a retired U.S. Army Brig. General, psychiatrists, psychologists and a consultant to the government, newspaper The Record reported Monday.

The men are accused of conspiring to join a terrorist organization to commit murder against American citizens abroad and create chaotic situations.

Both were arrested at Kennedy airport in June 2010, while attempting to board separate flights to Egypt to meet with alleged terrorist leaders in that country and receive military training from Al Qaeda.

Almonte, 26, and Alessa, 23, residents of Elmwood Park and North Bergen, N.J., will also face a government expert from Washington in court, the only adviser to testify as a prosecution witness in the trial against a defendant in the September 11 terrorist attacks, who sentenced to several life terms.