"Have you ever heard the word 'jihad'? Do you speak Arabic? Are you a member of the National Rifle Association? Have you visited Ground Zero of the World Trade Center? "

These are some of the questions being asked of prospective jurors in the Detroit trial of four men accused of plotting terror activities.

The case is being shrouded in secrecy, which the media and defense find objectionable.

The questions will help choose a 16-member jury that will preside over the United States' first terrorism trial since the Sept. 11 attacks. The jury will be under such close watch that members won't even be allowed outside for lunch. Their names will remain hidden from everyone but a single clerk. The high secrecy and security are attracting objections from The Detroit News and defense lawyers for four men arrested Sept. 17, 2001, and charged with providing material support for terrorism. Legal experts said the unusual jury-selection process could set an early tone for the trial.

The case is expected to test the Government's ability to prove terrorist claims.

Eighteen months after a raid on an apartment uncovered what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to support terrorist strikes in Jordan, Turkey and the United States, four men charged in the case are coming to trial today. The trial will be one of the first for an alleged terror cell in this country since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and it may test the government's ability to prove accusations about terror plots in the making. "The government has not yet been compelled to show its hand in these cases," said Juliette Kayyem, a terrorism expert and professor at Harvard University. "There have been a lot of press conferences and indictments, but those are not facts."