In an editorial for the September 1, 2007 edition of Crisis Manager, I predicted that it was only a matter of time before terrorists struck malls, theme parks and other popular public locations in the United States. Information recently released by the federal government shows that this prediction has already come uncomfortably close to coming true. A Boston terror suspect arrested last year is being charged with multiple terrorism-related crimes after federal investigators uncovered evidence of his involvement in several plots, including these, described today in a CNN article:
Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, traveled overseas, sought training from the Taliban, wanted to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq and hoped to kill one or two members of the executive branch of the U.S. government, said Michael K. Loucks, the acting U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.
They also planned to attack at least one U.S. shopping mall, Loucks said, but that did not happen because they couldn’t obtain the assault weapons they wanted, he said. He didn’t name the mall.
Loucks said the men had planned to assault multiple entrances of the mall, and had determined the steps they would take when first responders arrived.
Although this type of situation is an unfortunate reality of this day and age, the danger and impact can be minimized by putting crisis management protocols into place long before a situation occurs.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/