Obama Death Threats Level Off

Threats against Barack Obama's life have leveled off after a spike just before his inauguration and another in the first months of his presidency, The New York Times reports in a chilling article that recounts several threat scenarios. In one of many troubling cases, a young Marine, Kody Brittingham, pleaded guilty in August to threatening to kill the president in a chilling plan that was meticulously laid out with maps and photographs. Brittingham wrote that he'd taken an oath to "protect against all enemies, both foreign and domestic," and signed a "letter of intent" in which he identified a "domestic enemy" in President Obama. Now that the threats have slowed, Obama gets about as many as his two predecessors. But there's still enough reason for concern for officials, particularly those concerning the president's race. Homeland Security has expanded its Internet Threat Desk, which investigates online threats, and each month Obama's chief of staff reviews the latest threats with agency head Janet Napolitano.