The "tip" about a terrorist plot to set off some kind of nuclear device in Boston has now been officially labelled a "false alarm" — yet another indication that these reports of threats need to reach a level of confirmation before the populace should be bent out of shape.
In this case, Bostonians didn’t panic…and they were right not to:
BOSTON — The FBI said Tuesday that the possible terrorist plot reported against Boston by a tipster last week was a false alarm.
"There were in fact no terrorist plans or activity under way," the FBI said in a statement. "Because the criminal investigation is ongoing, no further details can be provided at this time."
The man suspected of telling authorities about the possible terror threat was arrested Monday in a Mexican border town. The FBI statement did not say whether he had provided the information that allowed the FBI to rule out the threat, but the bureau did thank Mexican law enforcement agencies for their help.
Officials have stressed since news of the tip first broke that they doubted the credibility of the terror claims. A leading theory was that a smuggler tipped authorities to a false terror plot to exact revenge on a group of Chinese immigrants, perhaps because members failed to pay for being smuggled across the border.
The tipster claimed that members of the group had talked about material supposedly called "nuclear oxide" that would follow them from Mexico to Boston. The implication was that the group was plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" that spews hazardous material and can sicken or kill people.
No evidence was ever found for such a plot. Still, authorities stepped up security in Boston, and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney skipped President Bush’s inauguration in Washington.
Over the weekend, the FBI said another person who had been wanted for questioning in relation to the alleged plot had been in federal custody for more than two months and has no terrorist connections. She was identified as Mei Xia Dong, 21, of China.
Remember that any nut with a telephone or a computer can send out a warning these days. (Well, the nuts with computers are busy writing blogs, so let me amend that statement..) Once the complaint is received, if it leaks out the published news takes on a legitimacy that may not be deserved if the legitimacy of the threat has not been determined yet.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.