The Nashville bombing raises questions about potential vulnerabilities elsewhere in the United States, said Colin Clarke, a senior fellow at The Soufan Center. Beyond the big utilities, how does the nation protect these "pedestrian places" that fewer people know exist, he said.
“You'd walk right past that place on the street. You have to kind of know it was there if you wanted to target it. Hence, there's no need for massive security," said Clarke, who teaches at Carnegie Mellon University in addition to his role at the New York-based non-partisan strategy center. "But now we're starting to rethink that ... How do you harden these soft targets and make sure that this doesn't happen again?”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security said officials are working with partners in the region to assess what happened.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who toured the crime scene a day after the blast, said his administration has had multiple conversations with AT&T officials since the bombing.
Lee said he expects AT&T to “strengthen that infrastructure” over the next month.
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