I don’t know why this ABC News story suddenly exploded today. It was published two days ago in almost exactly the same form; I blogged it at the time and added a few details based on what was on the wires.

Sounds like ABC might have gotten a bad tip:

U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials, asked about the ABC News report, said they were unaware of a new threat against U.S. installations in Germany beyond a more general warning issued last month…

A U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added: “The threat was taken seriously at the time and isn’t being dismissed now. But there’s nothing to suggest a new urgency to this.”

In Germany, the Interior Ministry said there had been no change in the security situation.

“There is nothing new,” a spokesman for the ministry said in a statement. “What we’re looking at is the state of affairs that has been long since known. This caused the U.S. authorities to publish a warning to their own citizens in Germany.”

The U.S. warning was issued on April 20.

FYI, the earlier ABC story identified Patch Barracks as a particular focus of the threat. The new story repeats that claim, but now they’ve added a quote from a spokesman at PB denying that the base has been targeted. It’s buried at the very end of the article, natch.

Update: Hmmm. The (alleged) plot thickens slightly.

Two men are being sought on suspicion of plotting to attack U.S. military facilities in Germany, U.S. and German officials told NBC News Friday. The alleged plot included a date, May 5, for an attack, but otherwise lacked much credibility, one official said.

The sources said officials have been looking for the two men, a German and a Turk, for nearly a month…

While the date has passed, a German official said the threat is still being taken seriously.

A U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said “the threat was taken seriously at the time and isn’t being dismissed now. But there’s nothing to suggest a new urgency to this.”