"There is no imminent threat to the homeland at this time," according to Naomi Elmer, assistant press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.
Compare her Feb. 26 statement with the opening words from a Jan. 11 congressional address by Robert S. Mueller, director of the FBI:
"The U.S. homeland faces two very different threats from international terrorism: The attack planning that continues to emanate from the core at al-Qaida overseas and the threat posed by homegrown, self-radicalizing groups and individuals ... who are already living in the U.S."
What is the verdict? Five and a half years after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, that brought down the twin towers, do Americans need to brace for another attack?
And what of the millions who live in and around Los Angeles?
In 2006, the FBI disrupted an Islamic extremist group in the Torrance area that had carried out several armed robberies of gas stations with the goal of financing a jihad, said Lou Caprino, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force office in Los Angeles.
Flash back to Dec. 14, 1999, when an Algerian working with a terrorist cell was arrested at the Canadian-American border before he was able to carry out his plot of detonating a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport.
In his recent book, "The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation," Stephen Flynn points to poor border and port security as weak points that leave America vulnerable.
"Los Angeles, like certain other metropolitan districts, is a target for terrorists," said Dr. James David Ballard, who specializes in terrorism issues in the Department of Sociology at California State University, Northridge.
In his estimation, the greatest threat is a bombing of some type, which could include chemical or radiological elements - components that have a strong symbolic value that far outweigh the damage they inflict.
And it's not just urban areas that are at risk.
Suburbia has its own level of vulnerability, he said, especially in an area like Santa Clarita Valley, which is home to power and water facilities that serve the greater Los Angeles area - "critical infrastructure," he said.
"All of these are potential targets," said Ballard, himself an SCV resident.
Additionally, stretching from Canada to Mexico, Interstate 5 is not only a major thoroughfare through Santa Clarita but a backbone of West Coast commerce.
Asked why Americans haven't yet seen more terror attacks on home soil, Ballard said that the U.S. has a different threat profile and that those who emigrate here are in a different socioeconomic class.
Poor Muslims who leave troubled areas, he said, are more likely to go to Europe and that because of American immigration standards "we get more educated, professional people.
"It doesn't mean we're exempt," he added.
Additionally, he said that "the struggle between ideologies is not here yet. It could be here sometime."
Organized mainline extremist groups may not be the norm in the U.S. yet, but self-radicalized groups are "what we consider a very serious threat," Caprino said.
Terror groups do target rich and iconic symbols, said the nearly 30-year veteran of the FBI, and added that "we certainly do have an overwhelming number of high-profile targets here (in Los Angeles).
"We have to remain vigilant. ... It's all part of knowing your domain. We have such a bountiful domain here in terms of targets."
On Sept. 10, 2001, Caprino said, white-collar crime was the FBI's No. 1 priority. The next day, those priorities radically changed.
Today, the bureau's top two priorities are to prevent another terrorist attack, and counterintelligence, he said.
His voice punctuated by the remnants of what was likely once a thick "Noo Yawk" accent, Caprino said he joined the FBI in 1978, an agent in New York City when the bureau was assisting the New York Police Department in dealing with a growing problem of bank robberies.
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