I made my way to Terminal 35 in the Ronald Reagan National Airport to await my flight back to St. Lawrence after a four-day visit to Washington, D.C. this past weekend. I glanced up at the television screens flashing variations of the breaking news: “News ISIS video warns of attack on Washington.”
My heart dropped. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the television. Cell phones began ringing. Fear struck the faces of many.
“ISIS Just Named D.C. as Possible Target for Terrorist Attacks,” “A New Islamic State Video Threatens a Paris-Style Attack on Washington” and more headlines grasp my attention as my eyes span across every television screen in the airport.
“Bex,” I hear from my friend Annie who just happened to land back in D.C. from a trip to Texas at the same time that I was waiting for my own flight.
Her face was more worried than I had ever seen before. Pale, tired, and anxious, she gave me a hug.
“Bex, I’m freaked out. I’ve never been this worried in my life. The world is ending,” she said to me.
“Everything will be okay, I promise.”
“How do you know?! You saw what they did to Paris. This isn’t just a threat anymore. I’m scared for my life,” she said.
As we talked, I was texting with many other friends in D.C. who were frantically concerned as well. One of my previous co-workers at the Library of Congress said, “This is not even okay. They made threats to London and Rome as well….like, this whole ISIS attack all over is scary and nerve racking and twisted. I’m really nervous.”
I felt sick. The Islamic State warned in a new video that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and they threatened to attack Washington. The message to countries involved what it called the “crusader campaign,” which was delivered by a man identified as Al Ghareeb the Algerian, according to Reuters.
The man said, “We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington.” In response, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would not comment on the video saying that it did not receive information indicating a potential attack.
A Department of Homeland Security official said, “While we take all threats seriously, we do not have specific credible information of an attack on the U.S. homeland.”
Additionally, the man also warned Europe in the video to anticipate more attacks saying, “I say to the European countries that we are coming, coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and (gun) silencers and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before.”
Despite the questionable credible evidence of the threat, many in D.C. along with myself were greatly affected by this news. The airport was filled with much concern, as many individuals displayed concern and grabbed their cell phones.
Carroll County Public Schools, northwest of Baltimore, suspended all field trips into Washington on Monday, according to The Washington Post. The Paris attacks definitely generate great concern among many in the workforce, but high anxiety should not ensue quite yet.
“My friend’s mom told me to avoid large crowds,” Trimber said to me in the airport.
Others agree. Ashaki Robinson Johns, a social science analyst at the Department of Housing and Urban Developments told The Washington Post that she knows colleagues who plan to avoid Metro trains and large crowds, however, Robinson Johns, the President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) does not think HUD is on the terrorist hit list.
Kelly Appenzeller ’15 says, “I work two blocks from The White House. There is a little more security and a change in armor for Capitol Hill police…but everyone here just keeps doing what we do because what ISIS wants is for us to live in fear. Its fanatical terrorism.”