Letter to the Editor: Response to "The Fear Factory"

By all accounts, John Miller was a terrific television reporter before he went into government. But that doesn't mean that he fairly characterizes either my article or my objectivity. Reporters "checking out" the practices of Joint Terrorism Task Forces — which remain cloaked in secrecy — is precisely what has been desperately lacking in recent years. Take the case of Derrick Shareef, who Miller claims "possessed all of the traits necessary to harm or kill innocent civilians." As I reported, it was the JTTF itself that provided Shareef with those traits — including weapons, means and a plan — transforming a wannabe jihadi into an alleged threat to national security.

There is no doubt that Shareef wanted to attack America. The question is what degree of threat he represented, and whether the JTTF's response was proportionate, or even sensible. What is new in the so-called "war on terror" is that law enforcement is concocting its own fearsome terror schemes, using paid informants to turn the muttered intentions of extremists like Shareef into a farfetched cases that border on entrapment, and then using claims of "national security" to hide excesses that threaten fundamental liberties.

Miller's statement that "no one will knock on the doors of Rolling Stone and ask why people died" if there is another attack is the kind of lame, blame-game rhetoric from the government that has become commonplace. While I was reporting the piece, law enforcement officials repeatedly told me that they believe the media wants terrorists to succeed — to reveal the failure of the JTTFs. Such paranoia is astonishing. As Miller notes, the FBI has a sworn duty to protect innocents. But it has no business marketing fear. Risk analysis of potential threats is critical, but so is self-analysis — a fact the JTTF would do well to recall as it begins to face meaningful public scrutiny.