Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Saturday, December 26, 2020

The Nashville Bombing

 Early reporting on these events are always wrong. Still, some things seem understood.

This was not an attempt at a mass casualty event, which means it does not fit neatly into the terrorism box. The biggest impact was on AT&T's communication network. You don't want to put too much emphasis on post hoc ergo propter hoc, but there are three reasons to attack the AT&T hub.

First is a suicide/grievance. If there is a disgruntled AT&T employee, blowing up the hub without killing anyone works as a motive.

Second is an attack on any information held there. This is the "Tyler Durden" attack designed to erase...something. 

Third feels the most likely, which is a probing attack on the infrastructure of the country. How did police respond? How many information networks were taken down? How long does it take to restore service?

The fact that it happened Christmas morning feels like it should mean something, but while it was a symbolic date, it was not a symbolic target, unless it's Option One. 

There are certainly more questions than answers.

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