After a siege at a Kenyan mall two years ago, the FBI started staging mock attacks in U.S. shopping centers during off hours to test their readiness, an official said.
More than 60 people died when Al-Shabaab militants raided an upscale mall in Nairobi and held shoppers hostage for four days.
The terror group released a video Saturday calling for similar attacks in malls in the United States, Canada and the UK.
Although Homeland Security and the FBI say they are not aware of a specific, credible plot against U.S. malls, they’ve worked to improve security in light of the attack in Kenya.
Last year, the FBI teamed up with various malls nationwide to increase preparedness, a law enforcement official told CNN. It tested the readiness of SWAT teams by staging fake attacks at malls when they were closed, the official said.
Since then, the FBI has had a program that works with malls to improve security, the official said.