Judge Shannen Rossmiller of Conrad, Mont., testified she was monitoring the Web for signs of extremist or terrorist activity last October when she came across a posting on a Muslim-oriented site by an "Amir Abdul Rashid."

Through a string of Internet searches, she said, she linked the name and e-mail address to Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, a Muslim convert and Fort Lewis-based National Guardsman now charged with five counts of trying to provide the terrorist network with information about U.S. troop strength and tactics as well as methods for killing American soldiers.

Rossmiller was the first witness called when Anderson's military hearing began Wednesday. She identified herself as a member of 7-Seas.net, a global organization that tracks terrorist activity and provides the information to government and military officials.

After she saw the posting from "Rashid," she posted a phony call to jihad against the United States. Rashid wrote back.

"He was curious if a brother fighting on the wrong side could join or defect," she said.

After a series of e-mails, Rossmiller contacted the Homeland Security Department, which put her in touch with the FBI.

Anderson, 26, was arrested in February after he allegedly tried to pass information to undercover Army investigators. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, those convicted of trying to aid the enemy can face the death penalty.

The prosecutors, Maj. Chris Jenks and Maj. Timothy MacDonnell, showed a nearly hour-long video tape of a meeting between Anderson and two investigators posing as al-Qaida members. On the tape, Anderson told the two about weaknesses in the M1A1 Abrams, the Army's main battle tank, and presented sketches of it.

"While I love my country, I think the leaders have taken this horrible road," Anderson said on the video. "I have no belief in what the American Army has asked me to do. They have sent me to die."

The meeting took place in a vehicle near the Space Needle in Seattle on Feb. 9; Anderson was to be deployed to Iraq within days.

Wednesday's proceeding at this Army base south of Tacoma was an Article 32 hearing, similar to a preliminary hearing in civilian court. After hearing the Army's evidence against Anderson, the investigating officer, Col. Patrick J. Reinert, will recommend whether he should face a court martial. Reinert's recommendation will go to the base commander at Fort Lewis, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, who will decide whether Anderson will be tried and whether he could face the death penalty.

Initially, Anderson was charged with four counts of trying to communicate with terrorists. The Army added a fifth charge last month, which was not disclosed publicly until Wednesday. It alleges that at one point, Anderson told undercover military personnel: "I wish to desert from the U.S. Army. I wish to defect from the United States. I wish to join al-Qaida, train its members and conduct terrorist attacks."

Anderson has spent the last three months jailed at the Regional Corrections Facility at Fort Lewis, where his brigade was based.

Among those at Anderson's hearing was Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Fort Lewis who until recently was embroiled in an investigation of suspected espionage at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In March, the Army dismissed all criminal charges against Yee, including a charge of mishandling classified material.

Yee refused to say, and Army officials refused to disclose, why he attended the hearing.

Like Yee, Anderson was raised a Lutheran and later converted to Islam. Anderson grew up in Everett, where classmates at Cascade High School described him as a paramilitary enthusiast who was passionate about guns. Anderson began studying Islam while attending Washington State University.

He graduated from WSU with a history degree in 2002 and joined the National Guard. He is a tank crew member with the 81st Brigade, which is deployed in Iraq.