A decade has passed since the deadly Boston Marathon attack on April 15, 2013. Two brothers who became radicalized online, with no affiliation with any terrorist group, planted two bombs that killed three people and more of 260 wounded. The event put the security situation at public events in the United States in the public eye.
It was around 2:50 p.m. when the first explosive device detonated on a sidewalk near the finish line that some of the more than 26,000 marathon participants were approaching. 12 seconds later, the second explosive device was detonated.
Emergency services, ambulances, members of the Boston police and the National Guard were deployed to the scene of the attack. A thousand federal agents were activated in one of the largest investigations in US history, experts say.
“There is always something more that can be done, but we have to balance that with personal liberties, independence, civil rights; it will always be a challenge to be able to counter all the threats that are out there,” he told the voice of america international conflict consultant, Thomas Sanderson.
Detailed review of hours of video and photo recordings by nearby businesses and the collaboration of Boston residents to identify the suspects was essential in the investigation.
“City cameras that have already been planned beforehand, a law enforcement organization like the FBI sufficiently prepared to be able to take over the city and investigate, hence the results were positive,” he told the police. VOA national security expert Victor Amram.
Two days after the attack, the information provided by the public to collaborate with the authorities also played an essential role in locating the culprits.
“It is extremely important, we have to take into account, even though we have police and that their role is to take care of us, because they also need our collaboration, because they cannot be in all places, they do not have all eyes, however, we we can be active in that protection, in helping them, in giving information”, added Gabriela Romo, a clinical psychologist.
Despite the 10 years that have elapsed since the attack, experts assured that the US continues to be at risk of similar events.
“We have a wide range of threats, we have online actors like Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and others…we also have ongoing threats from violent extremists from ISIS and Al-Qaeda…insider threats, violent extremism in the US, which have motives racial and ethnic extremists who have carried out a series of attacks in recent years,” Sanderson added.
Although it is difficult to avoid these threats, according to analysts, the success of prevention lies in teamwork between law enforcement agencies.
“There has always been a very close partnership between the FBI and all the other police agencies. Obviously the attack in Boston was a domestic attack, which woke up many people and the authorities that things have to be prevented, further investigated, especially when it is an event in which many people come to some kind of celebration”, concluded Nelson Barbosa, a retired FBI special agent.
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