THE FBI’S NATIONAL SPOKESMAN was already prepared to dismiss a connection to terrorism the day after ricin was found in a Las Vegas hotel room. Special Agent Richard Kolko told the press on Feb. 29 that the presence of ricin appeared unrelated to terrorism “based on the information gathered so far.” He made this announcement before any details about the incident hit the press–and when they did, it made the announcement seem premature, to say the least.

The following day, Las Vegas police revealed that they had discovered “general firearms” and an “anarchist-type textbook” with an entry on ricin marked two days before they found the ricin itself. Ricin has two basic uses: poisoning people and cancer research. Anarchist texts such as the infamous The Anarchist Cookbook couple instructions on building a variety of weapons with the advocacy of violence to bring about political change–which fits the classic definition of terrorism. No anarchist texts are known to contain instructions on how to conduct cancer research.