For the first half of the show, intelligence expert Douglas Hagmann reported on the Boston Marathon bombings, and offered analysis of the tragic event. There are so many things we don't know at this point, he noted, yet he doesn't find it surprising that many are suspicious of official government accounts, because the public has often been misled in the past. Curiously, a bomb squad was running a training exercise with controlled explosions on the same day in Boston, and it was said that their drill was still going on when the attack bombs hit, he detailed. It was also reported that a Saudi national was hospitalized with severe burns, and was tentatively identified as someone who was bringing in backpacks near where the two bombs went off. The bombs were believed to be detonated by a cell phone, he stated.
There is information that there were three additional devices found-- one outside the area in Newton, MA. This suggests to Hagmann a larger plot or operation. He considers the bombing an act of terrorism in that it caused mass fear, yet we still don't know the motivation behind it. The fact that there were multiple devices also aligns with what we would normally think of as a terrorist attack, he continued. "It seems like [the attack] was very well coordinated, and very well planned, and somehow...managed to escape the vast security surrounding this event," he commented.
Hagmann shared a photo of an unidentified man under police guard at Boston Common immediately following the bombings. The man was said to run from the blast area and to be acting suspicious before the bombs went off. Another photo, originally posted on Twitter, shows an individual on a rooftop directly overlooking one of the blasts. Hagmann said the bombings could be looked at in the context of all the world events taking place such as conflicts with North Korea and Iran, and possible new global alliances forming. The FBI and inter-agency investigation involving the forensics of the bombs and the blast pattern could take months, he added.
Open Lines
In the latter half, callers were invited to share their reactions to the the bombings. Richard from Alabama said he'd worked as law enforcement at large stadium events, and pointed out the 26-mile Boston Marathon was a logistical nightmare in terms of security. "There's no way to control a large event like that," he said. Several callers wondered if the attack might have been a "false flag" event.
News segment guests: Ryan Mauro, Craig Smith