During its parent’s weekend, the U.S. Air Force Academy was on alert, searching for car bombs. CBS News for Denver, Colorado, reported al-Qaida recently placed the Academy in its crosshairs as a possible target. “An online al-Qaida magazine is threatening more attacks on the U.S. and Colorado Springs could be a target,” the news station said. But that report is only partially correct. Al-Qaida’s English magazine is called “Inspire.” It is designed to spread its ideology and terrorism training for radical Muslims too poor or cowardly to get training in the Middle East. To encourage lone-wolf terrorism (a terrorist acting alone, without a network of like-minded conspirators), Inspire throws out ideas like how to “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom,” or instructions on how to start forest fires, or advocates for jihadists to run down people on sidewalks in Washington, DC, with a truck. In its most recent edition published in March, al-Qaida distributes instructions on how to make a car bomb. The suggested target: all of America and her military bases and political machine. And England. And France. But mostly America.

“As for the field target for the car-bomb, you have places flooded with individuals,” the jihadists at Inspire write, “e.g. sports events in which tens of thousands attended, election campaigns, festivals and other gathering [sic]. The important thing is that you target people and not buildings.”

Let’s be clear: America has always faced a threat of some evil person detonating a bomb. In 1919, her cites were rocked by anarchist’s bombs. And the knowledge to manufacture explosives has always existed. (The Anarchist’s Cookbook of 1971, anyone?) This newest dispatch from Terrorism’s media mill only underscores the need to remain ever vigilant.