Officials keep mum on security ahead of Steelers game after New Orleans, Las Vegas attacks

When Colin Clarke attends Steelers games on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, the counterterrorism expert could be forgiven for thinking in terms of targets as much as touchdowns.

Entering large events at “soft targets” — places like football stadiums or convention centers where violent criminals work to exploit crowds and the barriers protecting them — is a kind of calculated risk.

But it’s one Clarke and others, in light of recent attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, said Pittsburghers should not be afraid to take.

“It’s always difficult to harden soft targets — we still live in a free and open society, and we don’t want this to be a steel fortress,” said Clarke, director of research at The Soufan Group, a security consulting firm, and a former Carnegie Mellon University professor. “But do you see suspicious activity? Anything out of the norm — it doesn’t have to be even nefarious in nature — bring that to the authorities’ attention so they can investigate further.”

Clarke on Thursday was among a chorus of experts, public safety officials and elected leaders who said appropriate security measures would protect those entering Acrisure Stadium this Saturday night as the Steelers take on the Cincinnati Bengals in prime-time game.

“Our public safety department always goes above and beyond to ensure large-scale events are done in the most safe manner possible, to ensure every person attending is indeed safe,” Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill District, told TribLive.

But details didn’t get more specific than that.

Pittsburgh police and Steelers management refused to comment specifically on how the two headline-grabbing attacks were informing or altering security plans for the upcoming game, the team’s last of the regular season.

“Public safety officials meet and train regularly with Acrisure Stadium officials and staff, conducting table-top exercises and exchanging information on any security concerns so that we may remain vigilant regarding any emergent threats,” Cara Cruz, a police spokesperson, said in a prepared statement.

“The bureau is confident in the planning process and the security that is in place,” she added.

The Steelers echoed that confidence. Burt Lauten, a team spokesman, cited “security measures that we take for any football game or event at Acrisure Stadium to ensure our fans have a safe experience as possible.”

Lauten would not elaborate.

“Local authorities and league security personnel are part of our preparation plans for every home game at our stadium so that our fans can enjoy an entertaining experience,” Lauten said.

The NFL released a similar public statement in the wake of the New Orleans attack — what the FBI called an “act of terrorism” that killed 14 and injured 30 when authorities said an Army veteran from Texas drove a rented pickup into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers early Wednesday.

NFL leaders “are deeply saddened by the news of the devastating incident in New Orleans,” league spokesman Tim Schlittner said Thursday.

In Las Vegas on Wednesday, a Tesla Cybertruck rented by an Army soldier exploded outside Trump International Hotel, killing the driver.

The man had loaded fireworks and crudely made explosives in the truck bed. They went off at about the same time the man shot himself in what authorities said was an intentionally public suicide — intended to make a statement — not a terrorist attack.

Schlittner stressed that officials work for years at a time to come up with security plans for events like the Super Bowl, which is scheduled for Feb. 9 in New Orleans.

“These planning sessions will continue, as they do with all major NFL events,” Schlittner said.

Thwarting attacks

Clarke, the counterterrorism expert, said officials in Pittsburgh and elsewhere need to employ layers of protection to try to thwart attacks like the one that occurred Wednesday in New Orleans.

Steel bollards or large trucks blocking access points can help curb the kind of ramming attack that occurred in Louisiana, he said.

A police presence, he said, can be a deterrent to any crime. Law enforcement should closely monitor online threats and keep an eye out for suspicious activities.

“At the end of the day, if someone’s determined to get into a vehicle and run people over, you can’t protect everybody all the time,” Clarke told TribLive.

Some Pittsburgh officials did not comment publicly on how public events in the city in the near future could be affected by the recent attacks.

Pittsburgh police Acting Chief Christopher Ragland deferred questions to the Steelers.

Mayor Ed Gainey did not respond Thursday to multiple efforts by TribLive reporters to reach him, either through his administration or his reelection campaign.

More than two hours after TribLive posted this story, however, Gainey issued a statement saying he understood recent attacks may make some people wary of attending large gatherings.

“However, we are fortunate to have a highly trained and equipped Department of Public Safety that is actively working to ensure the safety of all during public events, including coordinating with state and federal authorities to understand new and emerging risks,” the statement said.

Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor — a Point Breeze Democrat who is running against Gainey in this spring’s mayoral primary — voiced concern with the mayor’s initial silence on the topic.

He stressed city officials can never do too much to reassess public safety plans following dangerous incidents outside of Pittsburgh.

“One of the main priorities of a mayor is public safety — and it’s not the mayor or one individual, it’s the public safety teams that are assembled,” O’Connor, who chaired the public safety committee while a Pittsburgh councilman, told TribLive. “Obviously, we’ve had large events in this city before — there are blueprints … but you want to be over-prepared.”

“Nobody will be upset if we go above and beyond to make people safe,” he added, “especially in light of what’s occurring.”

Councilman Anthony Coghill, a Beechview Democrat who chairs the governing body’s public safety committee, deferred to Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt when asked Thursday about plans for Saturday’s Steelers game.

“I have confidence that Director Schmidt’s got that covered,” Coghill said.

“If I were Director Schmidt, I would have many sleepless nights with all these things going on in this chaotic world,” Coghill added. “I’d much rather be a councilman — I don’t envy their job.”

In the wake of recent attacks, Clarke said it’s important for Pittsburgh leaders, event organizers and sports teams to keep addressing any security vulnerabilities. The NFL Draft will take place in Pittsburgh in 2026.

“I don’t want to be a fearmonger,” he said. “To me, the level of threat has been somewhat consistent. I don’t think this is the indication we’re going to see a wave of these types of attacks. At the same time, we can’t be naive and think Pittsburgh’s immune to these kinds of things.”

“I think (Pittsburgh officials) do an adequate enough job,” Clarke said. “And New Orleans probably thought they did, too. It’s easy in the aftermath of the attack to go back and look at what signs were missed and what we could’ve done more of.”