Feds Reanimate the Janet Reno–Era "Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee"

Contrary to at least one early report, the revived committee's purview will not include incidents like last year's Boston Marathon bombing, since the men accused of that crime appear to have been influenced by foreign groups. The focus will be on purely homegrown activities, according to a spokesman for the Justice Department.

In other words, Washington's terror-hunting apparatus intends to focus more attention on the domestic front. What exactly that will mean in practice remains to be seen, but civil libertarians are wary. Gabriel Rottman, the American Civil Liberties Union's legislative counsel on the First Amendment, has already condemned the committee. "Given the already lenient standards for when the government can launch an investigation," he tells me, "the announced task force is both unnecessary and an invitation to investigate Americans because of the beliefs they hold, not because of any wrongdoing."