U.S.

The FBI's New 10 Most Wanted

June 7, 1999 / 4:56 PM EDT / AP

Being promoted to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list has always been a big deal within law enforcement, but Monday's dual announcement was even bigger than most, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

The FBI has put alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and anti-abortion activist James Charles Kopp on its Ten Most Wanted list.

Bin Laden has been a candidate for the list ever since investigators traced him to the bombing of a U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996. He is also the man the FBI believes is responsible for last year's attack on two U.S. embassies in east Africa. FBI Director Louis Freeh says there's evidence bin Laden is plotting even more violence. "The FBI continues to receive a high number of threats from individuals and organizations with ties to bin Laden," he says.

Kopp's selection was particularly intriguing. After being charged with gunning down Dr. Barnett Slepian at his home in Buffalo, N.Y. last fall, Kopp now joins Eric Rudolph as the second suspect on the list associated with anti-abortion violence. Freeh says his history of travel before the shootings suggests to some investigators that he had help, "He has no known permanent address and has traveled extensively around the United States and through 11 countries. We know that he's used approximately 29 different aliases and false identifications."

Attorney General Janet Reno says that though each comes from opposite sides of the world, both men have one thing in common: Each wrongly believes he is justified in using all means possible to achieve his goal.

James Charles Kopp

State Department international security director Dave Carpenter said that placing bin Laden on the most-wanted list "underscores the unwavering commitment" by the United States "to fight terrorism."

Carpenter said U.S. law enforcement officials have made "significant progress" in gathering evidence that bin Laden planned and financed the embassy bombings.

Bin Laden and Kopp replace suspected former Libyan intelligence agents Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. They were taken off the FBI's list after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed in April to hand them over for trial at a neutral venue in the Netherlands.

The two Libyans are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and violations of international aviation safety laws in connection with the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The explosion killed all 259 passengers on the plane and 11 residents on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland where the jet plummeted to earth.

So what exactly does making the Ten Most Wanted list really mean? In Charles Kopp's case, all the bureau hopes to get out of this imore exposure for his name and picture. For bin Laden, however, the real audience is in the Middle East, which is soon to be bombarded with the news that he has a $5 million price on his head.