Nothing More Boston Could've Done to Prep: Winmill

Interview by Tom Keene, Bloomberg News

TRANSCRIPT

REPORTER: Your worst fears yesterday. What did you observe?

WASHINGTON, D.C,. RYAN WINMILL, THE WINMILL GROUP FOUNDER

3 DEAD; 128 HOSPITALIZED IN BOSTON

RYAN WINMILL: Yeah, absolutely. Good morning and thank you for having me. Before I respond to your question, I'd just like to say that my, my prayers and thoughts go out to those who lost their life yesterday in Boston as well as my sympathies to those that were injured. Tough day in Boston yesterday. And I had an immediate reaction that was set off by a chain reaction of phone calls coming from former colleagues who were on the scene at the incident, and immediately, immediately turned on my TV like everyone else. But what was very reassuring for me yesterday is in place Boston's got one of the best world-class response, emergency response plans in the country, if not the world. And I knew immediately within the first 15 minutes it was going into place and going into action.

REPORTER: Ryan, what would be your advice for those in London that have the London marathon coming on here in a number of days? There's got to be a new knew (ph) out of this horrific event. What would it be for someone with your expertise?

RYAN WINMILL: You know, right now, with regards to London, my advice would be caution. Move easy on this one. Right now, there isn't a nexus or any indications or information that's being put forward, being analyzed in the intelligence community that is indicating there's any link between the London marathon and the Boston marathon. So, you know, to a certain degree, there's a fog of war element that exists after every incident. I would say before any of the press, media, those concerned in London, our counterparts in the home office and, and, and England jump to any conclusions that are speculative, hold on for a minute because I don't see the nexus and we're not seeing anything on the, on the intelligence chatter on that.

REPORTER: Let's talk about the significance of the marathon. It was one of the signature events for this city. It really opened Boston to the rest of the world on Patriot's Day. What will it take to keep the people of Boston safe?

RYAN WINMILL: That's a great question. You know, first of all, the Boston marathon's an incredible event. Its iconic value being, you know, historically located along a 30-mile route in and around the city of Boston. There's no doubt that it creates a potential opportunity for a target. And because of its length being over 30 miles in proximity, it's obviously a soft target for terrorists. In terms of what people need to be thinking about in terms of how do we make our city safer? In my professional opinion, there's really nothing more that the city of Boston, the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and our fantastic federal counterparts could do to safeguard the event.