Federal law enforcement is not adequately prepared for a coordinated terror attack in multiple cities, or for an armed, hostage-taking siege at a public place where people congregate. That assessment comes from a Department of Homeland Security veteran who led the agency's top anti-bombing office for eight years, spanning two presidencies.
Charlie Payne helped found Homeland Security's Office for Bombing Prevention, and led it from December 2003 through July 2011.
He told MailOnline that the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing will wake up some counter-terrorism analysts to how much more horrible the situation could have been if an enemy were better organized.
'Yes, it was the Boston Marathon. We're just lucky it wasn't the Boston Marathon and four other cities at the same time,' Payne said.
Charlie Payne (L) led Homeland Security's Office For Bombing Prevention from 2003 to 2011. He warns that backpack-bombers in several cities at once could be more than America is ready to handle
SWAT teams like this one in Watertown, Mass., have received specialized training from the Office for Bombing Prevention, along with funds for tactical equipment. The Obama administration has removed nearly half of that funding
The Office of Bombing Prevention, which he used to lead, has spread funds around for training, equipment and inter-agency coordination. But as MailOnline reported, the Obama administration has cut 45 per cent from its budget, taking dollars away from bomb squads, SWAT teams, K9 handlers and dive teams at the state and local level.
That decision should be reversed, he said.
'Look how tragic a situation this is. Imagine the complexity if this had happened simultaneously that day in a number of cities.'
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Payne explained in a telephone interview that during his more than seven years at the top of Homeland Security's anti-bombing office, a scenario like the one Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev put Bostonians through was his most frequent fear.
Only local policing, he said, could prevent it. But without federal dollars for training, the local authorities generally didn't know how.
Crowds cheered after authorities captured bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but Payne warns that smarter bombers with a multi-city footprint wouldn't give anyone a happy ending
'During my time in office, people would ask me, "When is it going to happen? When is it coming here?" he said.
'Bombs are a threat. It's going to happen. It's happened already,' he recalled responding, making reference to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, and the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.
'And once one happens, it's going to keep happening.'
Payne's worst nightmare, however, was a scenario that no one it set up to confront.
'Imagine Tysons Corner Mall,' he said, referring to a popular shopping center in Washington, D.C.'s Virginia suburbs.
'There's IEDs everywhere, it's locked down, hostages are zip-tied in the middle of the place and they're killing one every hour,' Payne imagined.
'How many jurisdictions are prepared to handle that operationally? That's what kept me up at night.'
President Barack Obama said Friday night that Americans 'owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all our outstanding law enforcement professionals.' But his administration has slashed the budget of the office tasked with helping police prevent attacks like the Boston Marathon bombings
In a January 2013 hostage crisis in Los Angeles, armed robbers held 14 people but later fled the scene after stabbing one hostage and sexually assaulting another. In a terror-motivated hostage scenario, however, escape might not be on the hostage-takers' minds - making specialized SWAT training the only thing that could keep the hostages alive
So Payne worked to equip and train state troopers, sheriffs and local police forces in the practical, tactical operations that the big, lumbering federal law enforcement agencies can't perform everywhere at once.
The federal government's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, he observed, are investigative agencies, while local law enforcement tends to directly handle the worst imaginable crises when they happen. This is especially true in rural areas, where the nearest federal agent could be a 10-hour drive away.
The JTTF system, Payne said, is an example of how federal agencies can pull together toward a critical national goal, provided that there's a well-funded apparatus to organize and lead them.
'What you see happening right now with the JTTF working, and state and local authorities working together,' he explained, 'is proof positive that there has been a lot of good work done since 9/11. It's clearly paid off.'
The FBI manages 100 Joint Terrorism Task Forces, combing regional assets of nearly 3 dozen federal agencies near every FBI field office. Payne says they're a good example of how cooperation can foil bombers and other terrorists