American Cities Brace for Terror and possible Mumbai-Style Attack?

The largest American cities are conducting drills, beefing security and testing vulnerabilities revealed by the devastating terror attacks in Mumbai, and many hotels continue to play Ostrich.
Security personnel around the country and world are intensively reviewing what happened in Mumbai to learn more about terrorists’ tradecraft and shifting tactics.
The shift has already begun, Police are addressing Mumbai-like scenarios where teams of terrorists fan out and use small arms and explosives to lay siege to hotels, hospitals, and other major institutions, and take hostages.
“We look at these new kinds of tactics and the way they orchestrated this, and modify our approach,” Michael Downing, the head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s counter-terrorism unit, told the media. “We’re looking at it very closely.”
Close to 200 persons died in Mumbai in a series of coordinated attacks that terrorized the city for more than three days.
On Friday, New York City police conducted the first U.S. training exercise based on the Mumbai experience. “Our goal,” New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told security officials, “is to find out as much as we can about terrorists worldwide, to understand who’s behind them, what motivates them, and what tactics they use.”
Other cities are responding to the Mumbai threat as well:
• In Boston, police have stepped up surveillance and are keeping an especially close eye on hotels.
• The Department of Homeland Security has warned hotels throughout the country to beef up security.
• Authorities at port cities are particularly concerned, given that the terrorists traveled to Mumbai by boat. “Our great vulnerability is the water,” Miami Police Chief John Timoney told USA Today.
• InterContinental Hotels says it has taken additional, unspecified security precautions in “high-risk markets” nationwide.
When the Los Angeles Times asked city Police Chief William J. Bratton the likelihood that city would face a Mumbai-style attack, he replied, “First off, we’re all surprised something has not happened since 9/11.”