By Nathaniel "Beltway" Steele
Federal authorities announced Thursday that they had broken up an alleged plot to bomb the New York State Capitol in Albany, arresting a 35-year-old woman identified as Jessica Bowie.
According to the FBI, Bowie had converted to Islam, expressed support for terrorism online, and developed her own plan to attack the statehouse. She has been charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, federal officials said. NBC News described the alleged scheme as "ISIS-inspired."
Details of how investigators uncovered the plot, and how far along any plan had progressed, were not disclosed in initial reporting. The charge carries the weight of federal terrorism law, but as with any indictment, the allegations are accusations, not proven facts, and Bowie is presumed innocent unless and until a jury says otherwise.
The Albany statehouse is a working seat of government, home to the state legislature and the governor's office, and any plot against it would land in the narrow category of attacks on core democratic institutions. Federal prosecutors have not yet laid out a timeline for court proceedings.
We will follow the docket. Charging documents, once unsealed in full, should tell us more than any press conference will.
— Compiled from reporting by CBS News and NBC News.
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