A website linked to al-Qaida posted what appears to be a hit list containing names of U.S. political, business, and media leaders, reports
NBC New York, which did not disclose the names. The site urges attacks on the targets in their homes.
The FBI sent a bulletin to law-enforcement agencies nationwide and also notified the individuals on the list.
The site contains 40 names, 26 of which have photos attached. The FBI said in its memo to law enforcement that the list "is aspirational and it's unknown if the threat will progress beyond these discussion forums."
“What’s scary about this is how specific the individual information is,” said Michael Balboni, former New York State Homeland Security director. “What you don't know is, when does aspirational become operational in cases like this, involving a possible lone actor here inspired by a website.”
Al-Qaida is known for making Web threats with no follow-through, but this is the first time individuals have been targeted, the FBI said.
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