October 25, 2002

London theatres increase security

Two London theatres are increasing security in reaction to the siege by Chechen rebels in Moscow, in which more than 600 theatre-goers are being held hostage.

Extra security checks have been put in place at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket and the Strand.
Arnold Crook, chief executive of the Haymarket, said he was hiring more security guards and putting bag checkers on the door.

Both theatres are currently hosting hit shows.

Theatres along the Great White Way in NYC would do well to implement similar procedures.
As terrorism experts Eddy and Riebling venture in their "Jihad@work" NRO column cited below,

The Moscow event is especially portentous because the tactics of Chechen jihadists are regarded by the FBI as a possible indicator of al Qaeda methods in the U.S. This past summer, for instance, after Chechen terrorists bombed apartment buildings in Moscow, apparently by renting rooms and then detonating explosives stored there, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller warned that al Qaeda operatives in the U.S. might attempt this tactic.

If Chechen and al Qaeda operatives do kill from the same playbook, then reconnaissance and planning for a mass-hostage drama outside Russia may already be underway.

If this happened in the US, there would be a lot more hostages than there are in Moscow now.
This may be "Training Day" to Al Queda senior operatives, as their other airplane hijacking and bombings in the 1970's-'90's were "training" for 9/11.
Hope not, but forewarned is forearmed.