On NBC’s Meet The Press this past week there was some discussion about the threat of domestic terrorism. Senator Joe Lieberman (CT – Ind), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, and Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security, appeared to provide opinion about this threat.

The following news item from Voice of America reports some of the comments made by these gentlemen:

Key US Senator Warns of Potential for Domestic Terrorism

While Lieberman admits that the threat of domestic terrorism is on the rise due to increasing anger from both sides of the political spectrum, he also recognizes that the threat of Islamic terrorism from abroad is still greater.

“The level of discourse about our politics and about our country are so extreme and so incendiary that if you are dealing with people who may not be clicking on all cylinders and they have vulnerabilities personally, there is a danger that they are going to do what this group of militia – planned to do this week,” said Lieberman.

“I would not overstate this threat,” he said.  “It is not as significant as the global threat of Islamist extremism, but it is real.”

What disturbed me most about this news story was this statement from Mr. Chertoff:

“The fact that people can get on the Internet, they can see the tactics being used in Iraq and Afghanistan creates a risk that those will be copycatted here,” he explained.

Mr.. Chertoff suggests that American citizens would stoop to the level of savagery exhibited by Islamic jihadists and their terror tactics of suicide bombings and beheadings. Now people often invoke McVeigh and the Oklahoma CIty Bombing as an equivalence with Islamic terrorism, but it does not scale.

Another chilling aspect to this statement is the implication that our free access to the internet is a part of the problem. Is he suggesting that we be restricted from news and information that he or others in power deem as “inciting” or “dangerous”? And this guy was a GWB appointee!