What Happens After the Lone Wolf Myth is Dead?

The Day the Fears Came HomeI still remember the weeks after 9/11. The air itself felt different — heavier, charged. We were grieving, yes, but we were also afraid. In those days, the Patriot Act swept through Congress, and most of us nodded along. We wanted to feel safe. We wanted to believe it would only be used against the men who had flown planes into towers. But even then, a whisper lingered: What happens if these powers are ever turned inward?We told ourselves it wouldn’t happen. That Americans wouldn’t call other Americans terrorists. That these tools were for al-Qaeda,...