If the State Department wanted our attention, it has it.

“Current information suggests that al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks,” the State Department said in a statement. Americans traveling abroad are warned to be extra careful for the entire month of August.

Additionally, the U.S. is closing 22 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa on Sunday, Aug. 4.

The nature of the threat has not been disclosed, but both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress have confirmed that they’ve been briefed.

Not to diminish the significance of what seems like a very scary threat, but is it a coincidence that this worldwide alarm is being sounded just a week after the House came within 12 votes of defunding the NSA’s mass surveillance program? What exactly is an American businessperson on his or her way to London or Bangkok supposed to do with this information? Go ahead and tell us if we should be worried, but tell us more than “be worried.”

Sources: BBC, State Department

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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