--- title: Oregon Standoff: White House Won't Call It 'Terrorism' description: A spokesman called it a "local law enforcement matter." canonical: https://time.com/4166545/white-house-oregon-standoff-terrorism/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-04T20:05:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:45:32.697Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Won't Call Oregon Standoff 'Terrorism' og:description: A spokesman called it a "local law enforcement matter." og:url: https://time.com/4166545/white-house-oregon-standoff-terrorism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2163fd547a8ae9e3/6988776c428a9e0f37cd0c80/gettyimages-503342158.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3250 og:image:height: 1828 og:image:alt: US-FARMING-UNREST og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Won't Call Oregon Standoff 'Terrorism' twitter:description: A spokesman called it a "local law enforcement matter." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2163fd547a8ae9e3/6988776c428a9e0f37cd0c80/gettyimages-503342158.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Won't Call Oregon Standoff 'Terrorism' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 4, 2016 8:05 PM UTC  Members of a small militia at the entrance to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Headquarters property some 30 miles from Burns, Oregon, January 3, 2016\. The armed anti-government group have taken over a building at the federal wildlife refuge, accusing officials of unfairly punishing ranchers who refused to sell their land. The standoff has prompted some schools to call off classes for the entire week. Members of a small militia at the entrance to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Headquarters property some 30 miles from Burns, Oregon, January 3, 2016\. The armed anti-government group have taken over a building at the federal wildlife refuge, accusing officials of unfairly punishing ranchers who refused to sell their land. The standoff has prompted some schools to call off classes for the entire week. ROB KERR—AFP/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 4, 2016 8:05 PM UTC The White House on Monday was careful not to label an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon as an act of terrorism, instead referring to the standoff as a “local law enforcement matter.” White House Spokesman Josh Earnest sidestepped when asked if President Obama would agree with describing the land rights activists involved in the standoff as terrorists. While the White House maintains that the issue is best handled by local law enforcement the FBI has been dispatched to offer support and see that the incident is handled “without violence.” “Ultimately this is a local law enforcement matter and the FBI is monitoring the situation and offering support to local law enforcement officials,” Earnest told reporters. This statement comes as the President is expected to [take action on gun control this week](http://time.com/4166010/president-obama-gun-control/). The White House, however, avoided a concrete response to questions about the standoff, which has captured the attention of cable news. Since some 150 men stormed the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, the news media has struggled with how to describe them—with descriptions varying from “armed protestors” to “militiamen,” while some Internet users went with “domestic terrorists.” Almost all major news outlets were [avoiding the use of the words “terrorist,”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/terrorists-freedom-fighters-oregon-standoff-poses-quandary-for-media/2016/01/03/3fe21342-b26c-11e5-9388-466021d971de%5Fstory.html) reported the Washington _Post_, as the groups intentions were unclear. This was much to the chagrin of Twitter users, many of whom berated the militia group as homegrown version of the jihadists of the Middle East—using the hashtag [#YallQaeda](https://twitter.com/hashtag/YallQaeda?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) and [#YeeHawd](https://twitter.com/hashtag/YeeHawd?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) to make fun of them. **Read More:** [_Republican Presidential Candidates Respond to Oregon Standoff_](http://time.com/4166068/oregon-standoff-ted-cruz-marco-rubio/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4166545/white-house-oregon-standoff-terrorism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4166545/white-house-oregon-standoff-terrorism/"},"headline":"White House Won't Call Oregon Standoff 'Terrorism'","datePublished":"2016-01-04T20:05:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:45:32.697Z","description":"A spokesman called it a 'local law enforcement matter'","url":"https://time.com/4166545/white-house-oregon-standoff-terrorism/","keywords":["White House","oregon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2163fd547a8ae9e3/6988776c428a9e0f37cd0c80/gettyimages-503342158.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2163fd547a8ae9e3/6988776c428a9e0f37cd0c80/gettyimages-503342158.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-FARMING-UNREST","caption":"US-FARMING-UNREST","creditText":"ROB KERR—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4166545/white-house-oregon-standoff-terrorism/","name":"White House Won't Call Oregon Standoff 'Terrorism'"}}]}] ```