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tod evans
09-25-2013, 04:20 AM
US malls focus on security upgrades following deadly Kenya siege

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/24/kenya-prompts-quick-reaction-from-some-us-malls/?intcmp=latestnews

Shopping malls and other soft targets in the United States should increase security measures and update emergency response plans in the aftermath of the Kenyan mall massacre that killed at least 72 people, experts told FoxNews.com.

While overall security at so-called soft targets like sports arenas, hotels, restaurants, movie theaters and housing complexes has increased dramatically in recent years, Saturday’s mass shooting in Nairobi should have an immediate impact among those who safeguard such commercial and residential locations.

“Yes, these events sometimes trigger wake-up calls, which is probably a good thing,” said Bill Nesbitt, president of California’s Security Management Services International, Inc. “I don’t think it’s irrational to crank up security in the wake of this. How many times do you hear something happen and people say, ‘We saw the signs, we would’ve, we could’ve, we should’ve?’ People need to be more aware.”

Nesbitt, who has specialized in security analysis for more than 30 years and testified in hundreds of criminal cases, warned of the possibility of a copycat attack — both domestically and abroad — in the aftermath of the siege at the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi.

“They see the attention that this receives and that’s what terrorists want,” Nesbitt told FoxNews.com. “They want this kind of coverage; that’s why they call it terrorism. They’re getting maximum bang for their buck from a marketing standpoint. That’s kind of a perverse way to look at it, but there’s no stealth involved.”

The primary challenge to secure a shopping mall is to maintain a sense of openness while simultaneously employing a high level of security measures like surveillance cameras, guards, adequate lighting. Utilizing the overall design of the property, particularly near primary access points, is also crucial to the “dynamic discipline,” Nesbitt said.

“Security is a very situational discipline,” he continued. “It’s really determined on a case-by-case basis. The totality of the circumstances must be taken into consideration and you need to have an objective assessment done by someone with no commercial interest in the facility.”

Typically, incidents like purse snatchings and flash mobs are the type of crimes on the minds of mall security personnel, but at least three U.S. malls have been the scene of mass shootings since October, most recently in April when an 18-year-old man wounded two at a mall in Christiansburg, Va. The deadliest U.S. mall shooting in history occurred in Dec. 5, 2007, when nine people, including the gunman, died at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb.

Operators of some of the country’s most well-known shopping centers, meanwhile, have already taken action, including at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., a sprawling complex that boasts more than 400 stores and 40 million visitors annually.

“Mall of America has implemented extra security precautions, some may be noticeable to guests, and others won’t be,” mall officials said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “We will continue to follow the situation, along with law enforcement, and will remain vigilant as we always do in similar situations. The safety and security of our guests, employees and tenants remains our top priority.”

Joe Bell, director of corporate communications for Cafaro Company, which owns and operates 12 enclosed malls and 40 open-air shopping centers nationwide, said its locations have also ramped up security since Saturday.

“We have quietly added different measures to make what was considered a soft target a little harder,” Bell said. “We recognized a long time ago that shopping malls are soft targets, so dating back 6-7 years ago, our security people started talking about preparing for the unthinkable, like something that we just saw in Kenya.”

Bell said a series of ongoing active shooter drills and mock disasters have occurred at the company’s properties, which includes the massive Millcreek Mall in Erie, Pa. Company officials are now encouraging an uptick in those drills moving forward, with one slated for next month at the Mall of Monroe in Michigan.

“Every time there’s even a threat, you go through it in your mind, ‘How do I react?’” Bell said. “We want to be prepared.”

But individuals also bear some of the responsibility for their safety at soft targets like malls, said Spencer Coursen, president of the Coursen Security Group. He stressed the importance of identifying a “safe haven,” or a previously-identified location that can provide protection in the event of an emergency.

“Identifying those places to and from work, or during your morning routine, is a great idea,” Coursen told FoxNews.com. “But all too often, people don’t have a plan.”

Restaurants make great safe havens, Coursen said, since they can normally accommodate large crowds, have basic first aid materials and access to food and water.

“Our mindset needs to be preventative, not reactionary,” Coursen said, adding that far too often overall security measures vacillate from being hyper-vigilant to complacent. “Safety lies in the middle. Safety is a byproduct of awareness and preparation.”

tod evans
09-25-2013, 04:37 AM
Man, 42, accused of threatening to shoot up Utah mall, movie theater

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/24/justice/utah-mall-shooting-plot/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

(CNN) -- A 42-year-old Utah man planned to "randomly shoot and kill" at a Salt Lake City mall, then pick off moviegoers, and finally blow up a city bus -- a plot he detailed to a counselor who alerted police -- according to a court document.
Jack Harry Stiles has been charged with allegedly making a terrorist threat involving the use of a hoax and a real "weapon of mass destruction" as defined under Utah law, according to the charging document obtained Tuesday by CNN from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
The Salt Lake Public Defender's Office acknowledged Tuesday that it is representing Stiles, but declined otherwise to speak about his case.
According to the charging document, police first became aware of the plot after an employee at Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City told them August 12 how Stiles detailed plans to "kill as many people as possible." The document did not state why Stiles was at the hospital, identifying the woman he spoke with as a "crisis worker."
The attack was to unfold Wednesday, which is the anniversary of Stiles' mother's death.
After the hospital worker, Stiles allegedly himself then spoke to authorities. He specified three targets he had "mapped out" to determine the best places to hide in order to inflict the most bloodshed, the charging document states.
Stiles explained he'd carry bags containing two automatic handguns with silencers, as well as five extra magazines of ammunition per gun, authorities say. The document did not state whether he had allegedly obtained any of those.
"He talked about going out and procuring these weapons," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told CNN affiliate KSL. "Or if he couldn't do it, then he certainly knew somebody who was sympathetic to him who would help him."
The charging document does not specify others involved in the plot, nor is anyone else known to have been arrested in connection to it.
Stiles' first stop: the City Creek Center mall in downtown Salt Lake City. Opened in March 2012, this shopping mall features restaurants and more than 100 stores such as Nordstrom, Macy's, Tiffany & Co., Michael Kors and Coach, according to its website.
Having already gone there "observing people," Stiles said he planned to go back around lunch time September 25 and "just randomly shoot and kill people," the charging document says.
His next stop, he told investigators, would be about 5 miles south at the Sugarhouse Movies 10 complex. Stiles allegedly had done his homework there as well, claiming it had slow-moving crowds and no security system and expressing concerns moviegoers might scramble if he went during a busier time.
The charging document states that his idea was to take up a position in the back of the theater and start selectively "shooting people's heads off" with handguns.
Lastly, Stiles said he wanted to plant a bomb under a public bus to detonate as it moved over the City Creek Center bridge "to cause mass amount of death," according to the court document.
"The defendant indicated he will not intentionally shoot and kill children," the charging document says about Stiles' alleged intentions overall. "However, the defendant said he will randomly kill people until he runs out of ammunition."
Either that or police get to him. If that happens, according to the document, the suspect planned to "drop his guns, place his hands in the air and surrender because the police are 'faster shots.'"
Asked Tuesday about the plot, the Utah Transit Authority referred inquiries to the Salt Lake City Police Department. Linda Wardell, general manager of City Creek Center, declined to detail the security measures being taken there.
"The safety of our shoppers and our employees is our top priority every day," Wardell said.
Stiles -- who, according to KSL and other media, was charged Monday -- is being held on $1 million bail, another court document states.

WM_in_MO
09-25-2013, 05:53 AM
I would logically break down why what happened in Kenya could only happen if the government allowed or assisted it, but it would be preaching to the choir here and fall on deaf ears elsewhere.

MRK
09-25-2013, 06:07 AM
Lets mandate an armed attache of commandos at every mall, goodness knows we need to pay more at the register.

Then we need Marketplace Fairness Act II to make online retailers pay their fair share for security for their competitors' shoppers at the malls too.

tod evans
09-25-2013, 06:08 AM
MSA....

The latest and greatest in tax-funded security.

tod evans
09-26-2013, 07:59 AM
From Drudge;

Somalia President: Al-Shabab Could Attack the United States

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/25/somalia-president-al-shabab-could-attack-the-united-states.html

The Somali-based terrorist organization al-Shabab, which claimed credit for the devastating attack in Nairobi this week, is an international organization that could attack anywhere, including the United States, according to the president of Somalia.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was in Washington this past weekend when a group of attackers stormed the Westgate shopping center in the Kenyan capital and took hostages in a siege that ultimately left at least 72 dead and 170 injured. Mohamud, who has been leading the fight to push al-Shabab from its territory inside Somalia since he became president last year, gave his take on the organization, its structure, its funding, and what the world needs to do to stop it in an interview this week with The Daily Beast. His main message was that al-Shabab is foreign-financed, filled with foreign fighters, and has wide international reach.

“Al-Shabab is not a Somali agenda, it’s an international agenda. Al-Shabab is working with an international capacity in terms of trading and financial resources,” he said. “Al-Shabab is more of an international problem than a Somali problem. It can happen here in the United States as it is now happening in Nairobi.”

U.S. intelligence officials disputed this assessment in interviews with The Daily Beast. On Monday, Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said, “I think at this point we do not have any evidence that al-Shabab has a capability of carrying out attacks on the United States. This points to the importance of our surveillance and intelligence capabilities on the ground in east Africa because there are a number of Americans who have joined the group.”

Mohamud’s government, which was ++recognized by the Obama administration in January after a two-decade break in formal U.S.-Somali diplomatic relations, is widely regarded to be Somalia’s best hope for continuing a transition to a functional democracy and reestablishing government control of the few parts of Somalia now under al-Shabab control. He says that while it’s true the terrorist group still calls Somalia home, it’s not true that the group is Somali in origin or makeup.

“In Shabab there are Kenyans, there are Ugandans, there are Ethiopians, there are Arabs. It is only true that they are headquartered in Somalia, but Shabab is not Somali,” the president said. He said he did not know if any Americans were involved in the Nairobi attack, as the group has claimed.

Al-Shabab is on the defensive inside Somalia due to the combined efforts of Somali, Ethiopian, and international forces, and the group is losing the ability to fight militarily or hold large amounts of territory, Mohamud said, but they are still very capable of attacking soft targets and using terror tactics to kill innocents.

“The Shabab is losing ground and they are not in a position right now militarily to take new territories. They are on the run,” he said. “But their threat is not yet finished. They have still training camps. They have bomb factories in very remote areas… Even if we defeat Shabab militarily completely, that’s not the end of the war with Shabab. They will continue suicide bombs, roadside bombs; this will go on for some time.”

In Washington, Mohamud met with Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and leading lawmakers including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). He asked them all to increase support for Somalia’s government by providing training and equipment to the Somali military, but also by providing support for state building and civil society development so the government can establish presence and credibility in the rural areas vulnerable to al-Shabab’s influence.

“Anyone who belongs to that ideology is an enemy of Somalia.”
The Somali government controls the capital of Mogadishu, but other large areas remain out of its control, including a major port city and two of the three key bridges that link eastern Somalia to western Somalia, the president said. The strength of al-Shabab lies in their ability to project a relatively small amount of firepower over a large distance.

“They are not large in number but they are so mobile. Today they are here and the next week they are 1,000 miles away from where they were fighting yesterday,” he said.

The U.S. government has used drone strikes to kill high-value targets inside Somalia, a policy that Mohamud sats he supports, even if the strikes kill militants who are Somali citizens.

“Shabab is an ideology, it’s not a citizenship, it’s not an ethnic group. And anyone who belongs to that ideology is an enemy of Somalia,” he said.

ClydeCoulter
09-26-2013, 08:05 AM
Fear is big serious business.

When it rains....well, you know.

phill4paul
09-26-2013, 08:05 AM
It's all in the plan.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/26/homeland-security-coming-hotels-malls/


A year after a foiled plot to bomb a US-bound passenger plane, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that other places and modes of transportation must now be scrutinized.

“We look at so-called soft targets — the hotels, shopping malls, for example — all of which we have reached out to in the past year and have done a fair amount of training for their own employees,” Napolitano said.

donnay
09-26-2013, 08:19 AM
This has been the agenda all along.

It's all about clamping down on the terrorists...which in their eyes, just happens to be us!

JK/SEA
09-26-2013, 08:25 AM
I don't always go to malls...

but when i do, i always conceal carry my glock...


hth

tangent4ronpaul
09-26-2013, 08:39 AM
Neocon Congress critters demanding TSA agents w/ M-16's and metal detectors in ALL malls! (The porno scanners may take a while to install in all of them), as well as smart video camera's with facial recognition, gait analysis and behavioral profiling...

In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

-t

shane77m
09-26-2013, 09:39 AM
I guess I need to order some more magazines for handgun. 5 shots won't be enough if the mall I am in gets attacked by terrorists.

GregSarnowski
09-26-2013, 10:40 AM
What is a "mall"?

Seriously, it's probably been 10 years since I've stepped foot in one and I doubt I'm alone.

Danke
09-26-2013, 10:55 AM
When I was in Israel, you'd see a lot of teenagers walking around in the mall armed, like this.

http://messiahsmandate.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ARMEDTEACHERS.jpg

angelatc
09-26-2013, 10:58 AM
I would logically break down why what happened in Kenya could only happen if the government allowed or assisted it, but it would be preaching to the choir here and fall on deaf ears elsewhere.

Yeah, because this place has totally disintegrated into batshit insanity.

HOLLYWOOD
09-26-2013, 10:59 AM
Oh the Irony of the Kenyan "Westgate Mall" how many named,'Westgate' malls across America? Probably at least a 100 and 'Westgate Mall' title the major MSM. Such a coincidence.

BTW, I fixed the Drudge title
From Drudge;

Somalia President: Al-Shabab Could Attack the United States

U.S. Installed Propaganda Puppet: Fear For Your Lives America, Oh, Somalia Needs More US Military Bases & Greenback Welfare Too

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/25/somalia-president-al-shabab-could-attack-the-united-states.html

The U.S. government has used drone strikes to kill high-value targets inside Somalia, a policy that Mohamud sats he supports, even if the strikes kill militants who are Somali citizens.

“Shabab is an ideology, it’s not a citizenship, it’s not an ethnic group. And anyone who belongs to that ideology is an enemy of Somalia,” he said.

angelatc
09-26-2013, 11:01 AM
What is a "mall"?

Seriously, it's probably been 10 years since I've stepped foot in one and I doubt I'm alone.

Me too. It was an assault on the senses when I went back, too. I liken it to living without television, then getting one after several years. Or spending a few weeks off the internet, then coming back to it.

Czolgosz
09-26-2013, 11:32 AM
Need TSA to keep us safe.

tod evans
09-26-2013, 11:33 AM
Need TSA to keep us safe.

MSA, the next federal agency.

Czolgosz
09-26-2013, 11:56 AM
MSA, the next federal agency.

Truth. lol