There's No Indication The Crash Was Terrorism

People around the world are mourning the fatal crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 on Tuesday, with thoughts, theories and speculation abounding as to what exactly happened to bring down the typically reliable Airbus A320. And just like you'd expect, some people were suspicious of the worst — namely, what if the Germanwings crash was some sort of terrorist attack? Well, the U.S. National Security Council would like to set your mind at ease. According to their spokesperson, there's no sign of terrorism in the Germanwings plane crash.

Simply put, the indications we have so far, based on rapid reporting across multiple news outlets, makes this sound like a tragic, heavily fatal accident. Obviously. this is an altogether fresh and still-developing news story, so nothing is set in stone, but so far there hasn't been any information implicating anything like terrorism.

Given the often scary geopolitics of these modern times in which we live, as well as the occasional bloody and tragic incident, it's not exactly surprising that this is where people's minds go when a plane crash hits the news. Hell, some people still believe that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was brought down by some sort of shadowy malfeasance — hijacked by the Russian government and stowed-away somewhere near Kazakhstan, perhaps? Basically, theories are prone to run rampant in absence of clarity.

That's probably precisely why the U.S. NSC decided to issue a statement on the matter. As detailed by ABC News, spokesperson Bernadette Meehan assured via a statement that "there is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time." That's a full-fledged government explanation if ever there was one — aiming to tamp down concerns in the near term, while hedging just enough to leave room for adjustment, in case new facts emerge. It's not exactly the most scintillating sentence in the English language, I grant you.

But regardless, it bears repeating that headline in a bold, italicized font: "no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time." So if you've been worrying about this as a possibility, feel free to cool your concerns for a little bit.

For the time being, the likely biggest priorities in handling the Germanwings crash are twofold: pay respects to those who lost their lives, and find the downed plane's crucial black box recorders that could explain why this happened. Although, for the families and loved ones the passengers leave behind, any explanation is probably cold comfort — all 150 people aboard the flight are presumed dead.

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