Saudi security, police, and National Guard forces are lousy with Al Qaeda: Analysis: Saudi security organs infiltrated. (Hat tip: Barak Moore.)

In some cases, Abdulaziz Muqrin used fake sleeper cells to divert U.S. spy hunters away from genuine operative cells, U.S. government officials said.

The fact that fake cells were set up where they were, in locations almost sure to be discovered by U.S. or Saudi security forces, displayed “an expert knowledge of the disposition of U.S. intelligence groups in Saudi Arabia,” one State Dept. official said.

This pointed to “an unsettling degree” of penetration by Muqrin or al-Qaida of Saudi and U.S. counter-terrorism groups, he said.

A former senior CIA official said that the modus operandi of Muqrin’s cells was very similar to the operation of the cells of Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Musab Zarqawi. “These are very savvy guys,” he said.

A classified DIA study says that there are as many as 10,000 al-Qaida sympathizers in the Saudi police, National Guard, and security forces.