Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

the complaint about lax security is one that there is no evidence for. The finish line was crawling with security, and since it was a marathon, hundreds of EMTs right on the scene at the finish line. Under the auspices of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, planning had been underway for months for the event.

With thousands of people near the finish line with backpacks, athletic bags, etc. for a change of clothes and such, checking every bag at a wide open event where spectators line most of the 26 miles with complete freedom to move about isn't very practical. That may change.

And the bombs themselves... my guess is probably a hydrogen peroxide fueled bomb, set off by gunpowder pipe bomb-type detonators, mark of amateurs spending too much time on the internet.
something like C-4 doesn't make a big white cloud, nor would a duffel bag full of dynamite. the technology to detonate with a cell phone is fairly simple, the stuff of countless B-movies.

Now a truckload of ammonium nitrate mixed with diesel fuel would be whole different kettle of fish, many hundreds would have been killed. they are heavy if of any size, but if the size of a duffel bag, would probably have made that size of explosion. We used to blow stumps out of the way with a coffee can full of fertilizer and cup of kerosene, the size of the blasts look sort of like that scale.

Crude bombs are generally much easier to trace so hopefully they get an easy clue and get on the trail quickly. Since there were probably a hundred or more cameras running at the finish line including cell phone cams, i think that it will help them a lot in pinpointing the delivery person(s).