The Associated Press announced today that it had obtained the “Homeland Security Threat Assessment” for the years 2008-2013. Though it was unclear who the intended audience for the “official use only” document was, it predicts virtually every disaster imaginable in the next five years.
Among its usual predictions of impending doom in the US (enormous biological attacks and illegal terrorist immigration), the DHS document warns of hypothetical Hezbollah attacks in the US, sparked by some unspecified “triggering event.”
That prediction may well be the most interesting aspect of the document. While it is not unusual for the assorted agencies to imagine all sorts of bizarre terror targets (like popcorn factories in rural Indiana) the Hezbollah prediction comes with a specific caveat about a triggering event. It is unclear what event they may be referring to, but it was plausible enough that the department felt comfortable including the information in the document.