How New Orleans fell short in guarding against the New Year's vehicle attack, experts say
New Orleans has 700-pound steel barriers but did not put them on Bourbon Street until a day after the attack, which the lieutenant governor called “a complete failure of responsibility.”
NEW ORLEANS — Vehicle attacks are a rising global terror threat that can be difficult to prevent — but the deadly assault on New Year’s revelers in New Orleans shows how a city’s efforts to protect a heavily crowded and vulnerable area can fall short, experts said.
New Orleans failed to deploy anti-vehicle barriers that the city had owned for years ahead of the attack, and other barriers, known as bollards, had recently been removed because they were malfunctioning and needed to be replaced.
The city was warned of the potential danger more than five years ago, when a corporate intelligence firm urged local authorities to fix the faulty bollard system. The 2019 report by Interfor International, excerpts of which were obtained by NBC News and first reported by The New York Times, cautioned that a vehicle ramming incident was one of the most likely potential terrorist attacks that could strike the French Quarter.
“New Orleans does have mobile vehicle barriers that are designed to block streets and sidewalks,” Don Aviv, CEO of Interfor International, told NBC News on Friday. “The fact that they didn’t cover this area seems ridiculous.”
Aviv believes New Orleans police should have deployed their highest possible level of security, as they do during Mardi Gras, for an event like New Year’s Eve that draws a packed crowd to Bourbon Street.
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