Here’s a disturbing report on a Muslim “think tank” in Springfield, Virginia, with an innocuous name—The United Association for Studies and Research—that masks connections to Hamas and Al Qaeda: Alleged Terror Threat Operates in DC Suburb. (Hat tip: Poitiers-Lepanto.)

Fourteen miles from the U.S. Capitol, a basement-run organization with alleged ties to Hamas and al Qaeda is a crucial link in the planning of any future terrorist attacks against the United States, according to several terrorism experts who analyzed documents and other information obtained in a CNSNews.com investigation.

The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), based in Springfield, Va., is publicly identified as a Muslim think tank but has multiple ties to the terrorism underworld, according to the CNSNews.com sources, who are both inside and outside government.

“UASR is a front organization for a terrorist group,” said Peter Leitner, president of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center. Leitner, who is also a professor at the National Center for Biodefense at George Mason University, said UASR is “part of a shell game of international terrorism - phony organizations that are really terrorist cells [and] part of the international terrorist network.”

Since the early 1990s, UASR has conducted business from a townhouse in an office park of condominiums in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Springfield, Va. Late last year, according to sources and documents, the group sold the upper two floors of the townhouse, moved out what one source described as “a lot of boxes” and then located itself in the basement.

The windows are covered with a false brick contact paper that matches the facade of the building blocking the view from the outside. CNSNews.com’s investigation found meetings convening at the midnight hour on many occasions. From time to time, day or night, the occupants emerge from the office to make cell phone calls in the parking lot. Government investigators say that is for privacy in the likely event that a government counter-terrorism unit has placed listening devices inside the building.

Government investigators also say the use of pre-paid disposable cell phones make it virtually impossible for them to obtain a wiretap. It all adds up, investigators say, to indications that the group may be taking a more active role in terrorist activities.

UASR, Hamas and al Qaeda

Hamas, which the U.S. government has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), has claimed responsibility for bombings that have killed scores of civilians throughout Israel, including American citizens. Historically Hamas has limited its deadly acts of terrorism to Israel. But now, according to a senior government terrorism official, who spoke with CNSNews.com on condition of anonymity, Hamas is merging with elements of Osama bin Laden’s “all inclusive military arm … that will carry out military strikes” against the U.S.

Bin Laden’s military arm, widely known as al Qaeda, may have philosophical differences with Hamas and other terrorist organizations, but the groups are cooperating tactically in a kind of global holy war, operating under the banner, “International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders,” according to the government official who also warned of more deadly attacks on U.S. soil.

“They have operations planned for here, they have the capabilities to strike at will and when the time is right they will do it,” the anonymous source said.

Brian Fairchild, a former CIA operative, told CNSNews.com that “evidence indicates that there is networking between the terrorist organizations.”

“At the very minimum, organizations like UASR can act as a political lobby group on American foreign policy,” but also further the global terrorist agenda by “recruiting new members, raising funds to support international terrorism and can actually support a terrorist attack in the U.S.,” Fairchild said.