News Media May Have Been Hookwinked

Did the U.S. Government invent the al Qaeda affiliate known as the Khorasan Group? That's what the Intercept's Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain charge in an extensive new report. They depict a carefully orchestrated campaign by U.S. officials to depict an imminent threat of terror attacks by Khorasan against U.S. targets.

News Media outlets zeroed in on Khorasan. Claims that Khorasan planned to launch attacks on the U.S. came from anonymous sources who provided thin evidence that any such attacks were at risk of being carried out.

However, days after after stories of sophisticated, far-reaching plots, officials are backtracking. A new AP story notes that FBI director James Comey and Pentagon spox Adm James Kirby have said they don't have "precise intel about where or when the cell ... would attempt to strike a Western target."

Meanwhile, sources on the ground told NBC's Richard Engel that they've "never heard of Khorasan or its leader," while former CIA official Ali Peritz and former federal terror prosecutor Andrew McCarthy have also cast doubt on Khorasan's existence.

Former ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has also stated that while govt officials used "Khorasan" to describe some militants, "they don't call themselves that."