MSNBC Analyst: Threat Against Letterman Should Not Be Taken Too Seriously

Late Show host David Letterman made news when it was revealed that he was the target of an online threat by a member of a jihadist internet forum, precipitating an investigation by the NYPD and the FBI. MSNBC terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann, though, put the threat into perspective in an appearance with Contessa Brewer, stressing that the guy who made the threat was more an emboldened internet crank than a dangerous terrorist.

“It’s not al Qaeda, it’s not a member of a terrorist group,” Kohlmann told Brewer, adding, “the person who’s making this threat is a registered user on an al Qaeda forum, he’s someone with no credibility.

Kohlmann also pointed out that the man’s message got almost no response, an indication that the man’s angst at Letterman (and his tongue) has “no resonance” with actual terrorists.

“This is not something that I think we can take very seriously.”

He went on to observe that this story had been “spun up” by the media because of Letterman’s celebrity, but that the NYPD and the FBI have far more importasnt threats to worry about.

There’s strangely reassuring in the fact that the impotent rage of the anonymous internet crank is no more effective on an al Qaeda website than it is anywhere else.

Here’s the clip, from MSNBC:

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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