Boston MarathonReport details first-response lessons from Boston Marathon bombing
Last Thursday, DHS released a 19-page report titled “Boston One Year Later: DHS’s Lessons Learned,” detailing three topics which were a focus of attention in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. The report discussed the “importance of partnerships,” the “need for effective and reliable communications,” and the need to further boost anti-radicalization efforts.
Last Thursday, DHS released a 19-page report titled “Boston One Year Later: DHS’s Lessons Learned,” detailing three topics which were a focus of attention in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. The report discussed the “importance of partnerships,” the “need for effective and reliable communications,” and the need to further boost anti-radicalization efforts.
ABC News reports that immediately after the bombing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) National Targeting Center “re-vetted” all flights that departed earlier in the day from Boston, New York, and Newark airports to identify potential suspects. A review of DHS’s “name-matching capabilities” found a misspelling of “Tamerlan Tsarnaev,” the older of the accused Boston bombers, allowing him to return unnoticed to the United States after a trip to Russia despite previous alerts from Russian intelligence. DHS has now improved its ability to detect variations of names derived from a wide range of languages.
Boston police chief Ed Davis said he was not notified about Tsarnaev before the attacks despite previous FBI investigations of Tsarnaev, but now DHS has improved its system of sharing information with local officials about potential threats.
Since 2002, Massachusetts has received roughly $1 billion from twenty-two DHS grant programs, including $370 million for the Boston urban area. DHS grants issued to local law enforcement helped prepare for a quick response to the bombing and identification of the suspects. According to the report, “DHS grants, training and workshops as well as drills and exercises throughout the Northeast region, and specifically in Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, built preparedness capabilities to enhance responses to complex, catastrophic attacks. Participants credited these investments for the coordinated and effective response to the bombings by law enforcement, medical, and other public safety personnel.”
The DHS report notes that Secret Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents reported difficulties in transmitting messages via radio to local law enforcement. “The wireless network status immediately after the bombings was congested for four hours, but neither damaged nor shutdown,” the report said.
Emergency responders, traditionally instructed to wait until a scene is safe and secure before approaching to treat victims, attended to victims immediately following the bombings because emergency medical services (EMS) staffers were pre-staged and on scene for the Marathon. The EMS success after the bombing has led the first responder community to rethink “the utility of securing a perimeter before EMS can enter and instead move to a system in which they can begin treating victims immediately.”
The complete DHS report may be viewed here.
