The Twin Cities community may soon notice increased efforts to stop terrorist recruitment in Minnesota.

U.S. Attorney Andy Luger revealed in an Associated Press interview that Minneapolis and St. Paul are involved in a new Department of Justice anti-terror program. The program will seek to engage at-risk communities and stop extremists from recruiting Americans to join terror organizations overseas.

Boston and Los Angeles will also participate in this program, and Luger said all three pilot cities are asked to report the resources they need to senior officials in the District of Columbia.

The details of the program are still vague, but Luger said it will include the work of prosecutors, religious leaders, local law enforcement and community representatives. Social service agencies, school systems and mental health experts will also be involved to help families with at-risk children.

Adjunct theology professor Odeh Muhawesh said he strongly encourages these programs and that a trusting partnership between the Muslim community and law enforcement agencies is crucial for success. But, according to Muhawesh, several conditions are necessary for a successful partnership.

“The conditions are that there is transparent and honest cooperation between law enforcement and Muslim community leaders and that our constitutional rights are not violated in any way,” he said.

Muhawesh said there could be negative consequences if the program is not handled properly.

“The failure of law enforcement agencies or the Muslim community leaders, or both, would be disastrous for everybody,” he said. “The primary community that would be disadvantaged by this is … the Minnesota Muslim community if, God forbid, those terrorists are able to come back and penetrate our communities here and carry out an attack.”

Muhawesh, who is a Muslim himself, said if an attack occurred, the Muslim community here would be greatly disadvantaged.

“We would live in fear, and a lot of people would look at us without any trust whatsoever,” he said.

According to Luger, the large Somali population in Minnesota makes the state a natural target for recruiters, and authorities are currently investigating how a handful of Minnesotans were recruited to travel to Syria and take up arms with Islamic militants.

However, Muhawesh warned that the Somali community should not be the only focus of the program.

“It certainly is a target of terrorist organizations, but I fear that the Somali community becomes a decoy for terrorists to approach other communities,” Muhawesh said.

Senior Olivia Khauv said trying to stop terrorist organizations from recruiting is difficult because the information about their plans and strategies is so secretive.

“The idea of (the program) sounds good, but the actual implementation of it would be difficult,” Khauv said. “But if they could somehow make it work, the more power to them. I’m not discouraging it; I’m just a little skeptical of it.”

Muhawesh said this program might give hope to the Muslim community and Minnesotans in general.

“I don’t know if there is any program that will guarantee us 100 percent that young people are not being recruited,” Muhawesh said. “But at least we’re doing something about it.”

Jamie Bernard can be reached at bern2479@stthomas.edu.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.