That was my read as well. That 'people' were afraid it was a terrorist attack because the lights on a landmark went dark. On the other hand, why didn't people just assume it was a black-out, or technical issues?
Yeah, my first thought would have been "Dumbasses should change the lights during the day, not the night". "Terrorists must be terrorizing us by breaking our lightbulbs" would have never occurred to me; it is far more plausible that somebody was working on them.
I considered that, and I think it might excuse "Boston mooninite" sorts of paranoia, but seeing lights turn off on a landmark and jumping to the "terrorists" conclusion? Nearly 13 years later? This wasn't a low-flying plane or an odd device with blinking lights, this was just some lightbulbs going out.