They’re standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona
by digby
So a journalist writes a letter to the FBI asking if there are any terror investigations in Arizona. The FBI responds with this:
“As a member of the United States intelligence community, the FBI in conjunction with representatives of the Joint Terrorism Task Force is actively engaged in protecting the nation from acts of terrorism.”
The journalist writes this story:
In an email to 12 News, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Phoenix confirmed there are active investigations in Arizona focused on ISIS supporters and associated home-grown violent extremists.
And then proceeds to write a paranoid scare story that implied Arizona is a hotbed of terrorist activity and that Arizonans are particularly vulnerable:
Arizona has seen its share of attacks on people from this state from the fall 2014 beheading of journalist and former Phoenix school teacher James Foley to the 2015 killing of Prescott international aid worker Kayla Mueller while held captive by ISIS. Both killings occurred in Syria.
Arizona has a history of incubating Middle Eastern terrorists. In July 2001, FBI Agent Ken Williams sent a memo warning that there were an unusual number of Muslim extremists learning to fly in Arizona. But the memo was cast aside.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, it was later determined hijackers received flight training at schools in Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma.
FBI Special Agent Perryn Collier sent the email to 12 News as a response to an inquiry following FBI Director James Comey’s comments on Wednesday that the FBI has investigations in all 50 states.
Collier would not elaborate on the number and nature of the current investigations within the state of Arizona. He said doing so would adversely jeopardize ongoing efforts to detect, deter and prevent terrorist acts.
Which means, of course, that an attack on Arizona is imminent and everyone should run for their lives. (Well, the report doesn’t say that specifically but you’d be foolish not to read between the lines.)
And by the way, Comey is helping to gin up the paranoia. These local and state officials get very excited everytime he makes one of these speeches.
.