It has been a challenge to prevent vehicular attacks

New Security Techniques for Attacking a White-Social-Raggressor Using a Truck: From New York to New York City, and Back

A car drove into a group of people protesting at a white supremacist rally. One person was killed and more than 30 other people were injured.

In 2016, a truck mowed through a Christmas market in Berlin, leaving at least 12 dead and many more injured, in yet another incident in which the Islamic State took credit.

Many of the attackers who were behind a wave of such attacks in the area in 2016 and 2017 didn’t have any connections to terrorist groups. Even where authorities have found no evidence that ISIS directed an attack, the terrorist group has often claimed responsibility in an apparent effort to get publicity.

In 2017, an Islamic extremist drove a rented pickup truck into a popular Manhattan bike path, killing eight people. The New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner of intelligence said at the time that the perpetrator followed the ISIS guidelines “almost exactly to a T.”

Margolin said such vehicle-based attacks require less communication between a central organization and individuals, and therefore less risk. They’re also less expensive.

“Soft targets, such as areas in which civilians are enjoying themselves relaxing, are obviously easier targets because you can just drive right through,” she said.

In an unclassified document from 2010, Department of Homeland Security officials warned that vehicle-ramming allows terrorists who lack access to or expertise in explosives or other weapons an opportunity to carry out an attack.

The man who purposely drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street on New Year’s Day acted alone and the attack is being investigated by the FBI as a terrorist act. While a specific motive is still unclear, the FBI said the suspect was inspired by ISIS.

“Terrorism has changed,” said Margolin, senior fellow at Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Low to medium-impact or low to medium-cost vehicle based attacks are becoming more popularized, compared to plane hijackings.

Source: Vehicular attacks are not new. But preventing them has been a big challenge

Truck Attacks and Security Terrorism Prevention in New Orleans after the 2017 Louisiana Bike Path Attack: A Comment by Greg Shill

Greg Shill, a law professor who studies transportation policy at the University of Iowa, says that reducing car dependency in dense cities, including the use of large vehicles in urban centers, could help.

“A lot of times, where these bollards or barriers are sort of put in place and then forgotten about and never looked at again,” he said, “I am hearing from a lot of clients and a lot of partners that they have the need to revisit what they’ve done in the past.”

The New Orleans incident has prompted both public safety officials and private companies to go back to the drawing board. He works with public and private businesses to come up with strategies to mitigate these types of security threats.

“We did have a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there, and they still got around,” New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday. “We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.”

He said that he was unaware of any U.S. cities that were seriously looking at measures to keep large vehicles out of the urban core. Children at a school next to the street are opposed to the idea of pedestrians walking down the street.

Sanitation trucks with bomb-sniffing dogs and other security systems were used along the parade route after the Islamic State urged supporters to attack it.

Then, following the 2017 bike path attack, New York City announced a plan to install 1,500 bollards in some of the city’s most populated spaces as a way to block vehicles.

At the time of this week’s attack in New Orleans, bollards on Bourbon Street were in the process of being repaired in preparation for hosting the Super Bowl next month.

Source: Vehicular attacks are not new. But preventing them has been a big challenge

A New Orleans, Fla., man allegedly assaulted on the New Year’s day with an explosive weapon and a smart glass

Even though there were barricades, the man drove up to the sidewalk to get around them.

The FBI has revealed that the man who allegedly carried out the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans had recently visited the city twice beforehand, and used “smart glasses” to record video of the area he later targeted.

Christopher Raia said that all investigative details and evidence still supports the idea that a single person acted alone in New Orleans. We haven’t seen any evidence of an associate in the United States, but we are looking into associates in the USA and abroad.

One trip was done in October and the other in November. Myrthil also stated that Jabbar had ridden through the city’s French Quarter on a bicycle and that the smart glasses he wore were capable of recording video and were connected to his Facebook account.

Sunday’s press conference offered a more detailed timeline of Jabbar’s actions in the moments leading up to the attack, when he allegedly drove a truck into a crowd celebrating the New Year on New Orleans’ storied Bourbon Street.

FBI agents showed a video of the attack. Jabbar’s rental truck contained a transmitter that was meant to trigger the devices, according to investigators, but they did not explode. Two of the bombs were left in coolers, one of which was said to have been dragged around by unsuspecting revelers on New Year’s Eve.

After his truck crashed at the end of the attack, Jabbar exited the vehicle and fired at police, wounding at least two officers, before he was fatally shot.

The FBI said that it had recovered a 9mm pistol and a 308-caliber rifle from the truck that Jabbar was in. The rifle had a “privately-made silencer,” which was purchased during a private sale in Texas, investigators said.

The FBI said that on leaving the house that he was staying in, he set a small fire in the hallway and it was put out before firefighters arrived.

Source: FBI says suspect in New Orleans attack twice visited the city to conduct surveillance

New Orleans Police Chief LaToya Cantrell, the First Lady of the Second Louisiana Super Bowl, and Counting Crown Prince William Pettifer

Also at the press conference, New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city is working to improve safety, bringing in a tactical expert to assess security across the region. The city is getting ready to host the Super Bowl next month. The police have barricaded Bourbon and Canal streets in the aftermath of the attack.

Cantrell also spoke of preparations for the visit of President Biden, who is planning to travel to New Orleans with first lady Jill Biden on Monday to grieve with the families of victims.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry also spoke at the start of the press conference, saying the innocent lives lost will never be forgotten. A period of mourning for the victims will start on Monday, with different victims to be remembered each day.

The last two victims of the attack are a British man and a nursing assistant in her 40s. Pettifer was the stepson of a former nanny to the Royal Family, which led Prince William, son of King Charles, to express his shock and sadness at the death.

The coroner’s office said all the victims died from blunt force injuries. Most victims were in their 20s, with the youngest victim 18 years old and the oldest 63. About 30 people were injured, and 16 remained hospitalized as of Friday.