Following the Boston Marathon bombing yesterday, the possibility of domestic terror at play was immediately speculated upon — and in a press conference from the White House this morning, President Barack Obama confirmed that investigators have yet to determine whether foreign or homegrown agents were responsible for the blasts.
While no conclusive evidence has been confirmed on either count, speculation regarding both domestic terrorism and possible links to known foreign terror groups have been bandied about.
Since the blasts, authorities have urged Americans not to jump to conclusions about who may have been responsible, and several experts on terrorism have even suggested a “lone wolf” or an individual acting alone (as seen with Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing) as a potential culprit.
Domestic terrorism is certainly a possibility in the Boston Marathon attack — but little solid information from authorities has emerged in the wake of the bombing. The Boston Globe quotes columnist and lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Juliette N. Kayyem, who believes the attack is likely the work of an American extremist — equally likely to be from left or right-wing factions:
“It is probably home-grown, someone with a political cause from the right or the lef … someone who knows how appealing the Boston Marathon is to citizens here … Even though it’s an international event, it is still a local event.”
President Obama ceded the possibility of domestic terror, explaining that it is not yet known whether the bombings were foreign, domestic or a “malevolent individual,” adding any statements indicating more than that are speculative.
Many speculators who believe the attacks were domestic in nature cite the location, Boston, where the Boston Tea Party occurred. Others suggest that the attacks were carried out on Tax Day, suggesting a link to groups or individuals who oppose taxation.
No groups, either foreign or domestically, have stepped forward credibly to claim a link to the Boston Marathon attack.