After months of NATO bombings, the challenge for the United States and its allies is to figure out how to help the rebels remake their country into a credible member of the international community. The international community will pressure the rebels to show how they will secure the remaining weapons depots under Qaddafi's control and prevent infighting that could lead to an even longer civil war.

The bloody months of fighting -- and NATO attacks -- has left much of the country's ammunition storage areas unsecured and open to looting, the Obama administration said in a notification to Congress to May; it announced at that time it was obligating $1.5 million to collect, destroy, and reestablish control of Libyan surface-to-air missiles, small arms, and light weapons. "It is critically important not only to [protect] the Libyan population, but to counter the threat of proliferation into neighboring regions that work begin immediately to collect, control, and destroy conventional weapons and munitions, and reestablish security at these storage sites," the notification said, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. "Terrorist groups are exploiting this opportunity, and the situation grows more dangerous with each passing day, a situation that directly impacts U.S. national security."

The U.S. is working with its allies and partners to help prevent the proliferation of these MANPADS, or man-portable air-defense systems, according to a State Department spokesperson who declined to speak on the record because of ongoing policy discussions.

The administration funneled the funds to two European mine-clearing groups that were working in Libya before the uprising: the Mines Advisory Group, based in Britain, and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action.

The shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles are "very concerning to us, because they're so easy to get legs and walk away," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Tuesday. "Al-Qaida has expressed an interest in trying to take advantage of the chaos. We know that for a fact. We know that some of those weapons systems have been attempted to be moved," Rogers said on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, testified on Capitol Hill that as many as 20,000 surface-to-air missiles were in the country when the operation began. "Many of those, we know, are now not accounted for," Ham, who was once in charge of the military operation in Libya, testified in April.

The "only thing" that unites the rebels, who are from various ethnic and tribal groups, is their fight against Qaddafi, Rogers said. Once the embattled leader is captured or killed, this cohesion could dissipate. "I'm very concerned about some of those weapons systems being sold on the black market, [or] being taken for advantage for one group over another group," he said.