New Orleans police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick. responded to the question below:

“Do you acknowledge that you let the victims down by not having an appropriate security plan?”

Her response: “That’s not correct. We would disagree with that.”

“A plan that allowed an attacker to drive into a crowd?” asks the journalist.

She says: “I take exception to that and take exception to that.

“We do know that people have lost their lives. But if you are experienced with terrorism, you would not be asking that question.”

‘Not a total breakdown of security protocol’ for New Orleans attack, says retired FBI agent

We reported earlier about the New Orleans police chief defending her force’s security plan in the wake of the attack.

Michael Tabman, a retired FBI special agent, also spoke with journalists on the New Orleans truck ramming attack..

‘You cannot predict everything’

He said: “Well, the mere fact that we had such a tragic event with multiple casualties, we say that there was a breach of security and that perhaps it wasn’t proper planning.

“However, looking at the police chief’s perspective, you close up streets, and you take the precautions that you think are reasonable based on the information you have at the time.

“Without them having specific information indicating a potential terrorist threat, I don’t know that we should say that they really failed, as much as it was just a security breach, that there was a flaw in the system that someone took advantage of.

“You cannot, predict everything. If someone used another method that we weren’t ready for, then they say: ‘Why didn’t you prepare for that?’.

“So I think the chief has a defensible position in that they did put a barricade and there was a police officer there. It didn’t accomplish the task of keeping out this vehicle.

“So, we had a breach that needs to be reviewed for future events, but I wouldn’t say that we had a total breakdown of security protocol.”

Heavy police presence ahead of the Sugar Bowl

There was a heavy police presence outside the Caesars Superdrome in New Orleans yesterday ahead of the Sugar Bowl.

The game – one of the biggest in the college American football calendar – was postponed in the wake of the attack.

Outside the stadium, there are heavily armed officers and heavily armoured police vehicles.

The Sugar Bowl is one of the major college American football bowls and this year will be contested by Notre Dame and the University of Georgia.

Though not the most famous – that’s the Rose Bowl – it is up there with the likes of the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl Classic.

It is held in the 73,000 seater Superdrome – which is home to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints.