Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, did the nation a bit of a disservice last week in his response to questions as to whether the foiled multiplane massacre planned in the United Kingdom was perpetrated by al-Qaida. Chertoff answered rather meekly that the plan was “in some respects suggestive on an al-Qaida plot.”

The answer he should have given was an unequivocal statement that it is absolutely irrelevant whether this was al-Qaida per se, but that it was part and parcel of an international jihadist threat, not only to the United States, but to the entire civilized world.