Boston Police were warned, 5 days prior, to small bombs being set off at the finish line

[cali]

of the Marathon, but in the same report, it was stated that there was no credible threat. I'm not sure what officials are supposed to make of such broad general threat assessments. Seems like a CYA thing on the part of the feds.

Five days before two bombs tore through crowds at the Boston Marathon, an intelligence report identified the finish line as an "area of increased vulnerability" and warned Boston police that homegrown extremists could use "small-scale bombings" to attack spectators and runners at the event.

The 18-page report, similar to others sent to police and first responders before major events in the Boston area, was written by the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, which is funded in part by the Department of Homeland Security and helps disseminate intelligence information to local police and first responders.

The assessment noted that there was "no credible, specific information indicating an imminent threat" to the race.

"The FBI has not identified any specific lone offender or extremist group who pose a threat to the Boston Marathon," the report said.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-boston-threat-20130510,0,3301080.story

[Mass]

1. The shocking thing would be if this warning was not there.

There are similar risks in every single public event, including when people go to the mall or take the train. There are also risks of snipers, ...

Talk about the media making a lot about nothing. In the absence of any specific thread, there was nothing that could be done, except searching everybody.

BTW, they may want to spend as much ink on the Bengladesh building which collapsed and killed more than 1000 people, because I am sure a bunch of people in this country (including potentially myself) bought things from the building. What can we and will we do? Doing something may be eventually a lot more useful to reduce risk of terrorism than focusing on lines that were on a report.

[malaise]

2. And yet as was pointed out by a DUer (who was abused for saying so) the police were watching

the race and not the crowd.

[Enrique]

3. this will feed Glenn Beck's LIHOP theory

Obama will use this as an excuse to take away our bombs.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. I'm guessing the warnings are sent to every high profile event

that attracts a few thousand spectators.

[jberryhill]

5. Which is why the area had been swept with dogs

But unless they were supposed to shake down everyone there, trying to secure a city street is tough.