Federal authorities warned of a Mumbai-style terrorist attack to a group of nearly 400 D.C.-area businesspeople gathered for an inaugural security briefing.
Special Agent Andrew McCabe, chief of the counterterrorism division of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, gave a presentation advising business managers to double-check their security plans and prepare for the possibility of sophisticated terrorists. He added that “no credible threats to the inauguration” currently exist.
In the November Mumbai attacks, 10 men dressed in Western-style clothing terrorized the city with a military-style siege of several buildings, as opposed to the “spectacular” tactics of al Qaeda-style attacks. More than 170 people were killed, and more than 300 wounded.
McCabe drew a distinction between the “spectacular” tactics used by groups like al Qaeda, versus the low-tech means used to a similar end in Mumbai.
“What Mumbai shows us is you don’t need a spectacular attack to create a very high level of international awareness,” he said.
Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, who served as the city’s first commanding officer of its Office of Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism, said her staff will start working 12-hour shifts on the morning of Jan. 16 and will employ the assistance of 10,000 National Guard troops throughout the region during Barack Obama’s inaugural week.
Both the FBI and the police department stressed their complete confidence in the city’s extensive safety measures, led by the Secret Service, but urged preparation for the “what ifs.”
“That’s the central problem with [counterterrorism],” said Gary LaFree, director of the federally funded National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, housed at the University of Maryland. “We’re not that good at predicting [attacks].”
LaFree, whose consortium recently completed a study of how best to communicate public risk, said the agencies are doing the right thing by reaching out for assistance to the business community.
“That’s the secret for effective response to events,” he said, explaining that the Internet and cell phones allow local networks to respond to events more quickly than emergency personnel.
But even with stellar law enforcement and the low likelihood of an attack, risks remain.
“What Mumbai made clear is how easy it is to circumvent the rules,” LaFree said.
