That’s according to Janet Napolitano. Who knew that the Homeland Security Secretary was such an adept hair-splitter?
From the Washington Post 44 Blog: “To our belief, he was a lone wolf. He used a terrorist tactic, but an individual who uses a terrorist tactic doesn’t necessarily mean they are part of an organized group attempting an attack on the United States,” Napolitano said.
We decided to get to the bottom of this. Here’s the definition of “terrorism”:
The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
Okay then. The applicable definition of “terror”:
Violent or destructive acts (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands.
So “groups” is the key word here. Fine but does that include Facebook groups because, “His name is Joseph Stack” has 357 members. And did she run this past Treasury? Geithner and Shulman might have a different opinion.
In semi-related news, the SEC has announced that they will determine a “single high quality global definition of terrorism” within five years, at which time, any attacks on SEC facilities will be appropriately classified.
Napolitano rules out terrorism in IRS plane crash [WaPo]
