December 16, 2025 • 6 mins
ABC News Law Enforcement Contributor Don Mihalek shares some tips for keeping your family safe this holiday season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go to the hotline and bring in EBC News
law enforcement contributor and retired senior Secret Service agent Don
Mahllick is back with us. So Don just had one
tragic story after another over the course of the past
couple of days, from the mass shooting at Brown University
to the terror attack in Australia. Then you have federal
prosecutors announcing these charges against an alleged extremist group planning
(00:26):
some bomb attacks on New Year's Eve, with everyone gearing
up for the Christmas holiday, with people celebrating Honeka. What
are some tips to navigate all of this and try
to keep your family safe.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's a great question for most people. The key is
situational awareness. Know where you're going, Understand what's going on
around you. Understand who's around you. Understand the setting you're
walking into. When you get to this setting, Know how
to get out if an emergency arises. Notice all the
egress routes, just like on a plane with they point
to the emergency doors. Know where you can go to
(01:04):
for shelter. Whether it could be a man made situation
of storm rolls in. I mean, you know whether a
natural situation of storm rolls in or a man made
attack occurs, someplace to go to be safe and always
be aware. Don't walk around as if nothing is ever
going to happen. You almost have to expect today something
to happen and be surprised when nothing does happen. Those
(01:27):
are the general things people can do to stay safe.
There's some specifics like even though you've got a flashlight
on your phone, never hurts to have a real flashlight
accessible in your pocketbook or someplace. And it never hurts
to having all your emergency contact numbers are ready to
go plugged into your phone.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Let me ask you about the mass shooting at Brown University.
You've got students in a lecture hall the gunman comes in,
and knowing where to go, how to get out of
a room like that in a situation like that, it
sounds like that's something that could be key in saving
your life or the lives of others around you.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Absolutely, and a lot of the students at Brown University
actually said a lot of the active shooter training they
went through in high school came into play during the
Brown attack and they reverted back to that, you know,
with the lockdown procedures and escape procedures that a lot
of them learned in high school, which I tell people
are life safety procedures these days. These aren't just school lessons,
(02:23):
these are life lessons everybody should should take account of
and learn in order to stay safe, you know. And
the other thing with Brown though, that's come to ladies,
you know Brown. I think Brown has an issue with
his access control related to this incident because they have
a swipe card system that their students had to use
the getting out of buildings, and according to the news reporting,
they disabled it for this study of ball session they
(02:46):
were having, so anybody could get in and out of
the building. So I think that's going to be something
that's going to come up in the aftermath investigation with
Brown University, which is what permitted this individual to get
into your school. If you don't control who's coming into
your who's coming into your setting, who's coming into your event,
who's coming into your home, then you give up that
element of control and you give up that security barrier
(03:07):
you have from a closed locked door.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
What about what unfolded in Australia. You have this big
gathering for Hanukah, people out in the open and all
of a sudden gunfire begins. If you find yourself in
a situation like that, what are some things to keep
in mind? A little bit different from being in a
(03:29):
school as a mass shooting is unfolding.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Absolutely, you know, outdoor events are always problematic. They're problematic
for the general public, as we saw in Butler. They're
problematic for an elite agency like the Secret Service because
you have no overhead, you have no cover, and a
long distance threat is always possible. And this particular one
and Australia, there were police officers there. But I always
(03:53):
tell people that these days you need the police as
part of your planning. Like you can't just have an
event and invite the police. You almost need to plan
the event with the police to make sure that you
have appropriate security measures, standoff distances, you know, a designated
access points, all of the basics of event security into
play in order to protect your event. And then if
(04:16):
you're going to the event, you need to make sure
you follow some of those basic rules we talked about
earlier about know where you're going, know where you're walking
into when you get in there, and know how to
get out of if an emergency happens. You know, understand
where you can go to be protected if need be,
and make sure you're alert at all times when you're event.
When you're at the event, don't just go up at
(04:37):
the event and think everything's going to be okay the
entire time you're there.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
We're joined by ABC News Law enforcement contributor Don Mehalick.
Don last question for you. Yesterday, federal prosecutors announced charges
against four members of an alleged extremist group. They're accused
of planning coordinated bomb attacks on New Year's Eve in California.
What can you tell us about that case.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Is alive and well been. Lodden after nine to eleven
was quoted as saying, we play the long game, you
guys look for the short wins. We plan for the
long winds. And since that date and time, terrorism has
been tastasized and changed and evolved, and now we see
self radicalization occurring because of online access to violent extremists, propaganda,
(05:23):
planning and implementation tools, and in all of these situations
that may be part of what we're seeing here with
all of these attacks, where people who are on the edge,
who have a grievance can go online, find a dark
corner of the internet, find support, and then act out
on that grievance, and neither the governments or really the
(05:46):
cyber companies, in my humble opinion, are doing a good
enough job policing those corners of the Internet, because if
they were, we'd be catching a lot more of these
a lot sooner, my opinion.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
DC News law enforcement contributor and retired senior Secret Service
agent Don Mahalick with us this morning. Don always appreciate
the time and insight. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Thanks having me, Ryan
Let's go to the hotline and bring in EBC News
law enforcement contributor and retired senior Secret Service agent Don
Mahllick is back with us. So Don just had one
tragic story after another over the course of the past
couple of days, from the mass shooting at Brown University
to the terror attack in Australia. Then you have federal
prosecutors announcing these charges against an alleged extremist group planning
(00:26):
some bomb attacks on New Year's Eve, with everyone gearing
up for the Christmas holiday, with people celebrating Honeka. What
are some tips to navigate all of this and try
to keep your family safe.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
It's a great question for most people. The key is
situational awareness. Know where you're going, Understand what's going on
around you. Understand who's around you. Understand the setting you're
walking into. When you get to this setting, Know how
to get out if an emergency arises. Notice all the
egress routes, just like on a plane with they point
to the emergency doors. Know where you can go to
(01:04):
for shelter. Whether it could be a man made situation
of storm rolls in. I mean, you know whether a
natural situation of storm rolls in or a man made
attack occurs, someplace to go to be safe and always
be aware. Don't walk around as if nothing is ever
going to happen. You almost have to expect today something
to happen and be surprised when nothing does happen. Those
(01:27):
are the general things people can do to stay safe.
There's some specifics like even though you've got a flashlight
on your phone, never hurts to have a real flashlight
accessible in your pocketbook or someplace. And it never hurts
to having all your emergency contact numbers are ready to
go plugged into your phone.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Let me ask you about the mass shooting at Brown University.
You've got students in a lecture hall the gunman comes in,
and knowing where to go, how to get out of
a room like that in a situation like that, it
sounds like that's something that could be key in saving
your life or the lives of others around you.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Absolutely, and a lot of the students at Brown University
actually said a lot of the active shooter training they
went through in high school came into play during the
Brown attack and they reverted back to that, you know,
with the lockdown procedures and escape procedures that a lot
of them learned in high school, which I tell people
are life safety procedures these days. These aren't just school lessons,
(02:23):
these are life lessons everybody should should take account of
and learn in order to stay safe, you know. And
the other thing with Brown though, that's come to ladies,
you know Brown. I think Brown has an issue with
his access control related to this incident because they have
a swipe card system that their students had to use
the getting out of buildings, and according to the news reporting,
they disabled it for this study of ball session they
(02:46):
were having, so anybody could get in and out of
the building. So I think that's going to be something
that's going to come up in the aftermath investigation with
Brown University, which is what permitted this individual to get
into your school. If you don't control who's coming into
your who's coming into your setting, who's coming into your event,
who's coming into your home, then you give up that
element of control and you give up that security barrier
(03:07):
you have from a closed locked door.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
What about what unfolded in Australia. You have this big
gathering for Hanukah, people out in the open and all
of a sudden gunfire begins. If you find yourself in
a situation like that, what are some things to keep
in mind? A little bit different from being in a
(03:29):
school as a mass shooting is unfolding.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Absolutely, you know, outdoor events are always problematic. They're problematic
for the general public, as we saw in Butler. They're
problematic for an elite agency like the Secret Service because
you have no overhead, you have no cover, and a
long distance threat is always possible. And this particular one
and Australia, there were police officers there. But I always
(03:53):
tell people that these days you need the police as
part of your planning. Like you can't just have an
event and invite the police. You almost need to plan
the event with the police to make sure that you
have appropriate security measures, standoff distances, you know, a designated
access points, all of the basics of event security into
play in order to protect your event. And then if
(04:16):
you're going to the event, you need to make sure
you follow some of those basic rules we talked about
earlier about know where you're going, know where you're walking
into when you get in there, and know how to
get out of if an emergency happens. You know, understand
where you can go to be protected if need be,
and make sure you're alert at all times when you're event.
When you're at the event, don't just go up at
(04:37):
the event and think everything's going to be okay the
entire time you're there.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
We're joined by ABC News Law enforcement contributor Don Mehalick.
Don last question for you. Yesterday, federal prosecutors announced charges
against four members of an alleged extremist group. They're accused
of planning coordinated bomb attacks on New Year's Eve in California.
What can you tell us about that case.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Is alive and well been. Lodden after nine to eleven
was quoted as saying, we play the long game, you
guys look for the short wins. We plan for the
long winds. And since that date and time, terrorism has
been tastasized and changed and evolved, and now we see
self radicalization occurring because of online access to violent extremists, propaganda,
(05:23):
planning and implementation tools, and in all of these situations
that may be part of what we're seeing here with
all of these attacks, where people who are on the edge,
who have a grievance can go online, find a dark
corner of the internet, find support, and then act out
on that grievance, and neither the governments or really the
(05:46):
cyber companies, in my humble opinion, are doing a good
enough job policing those corners of the Internet, because if
they were, we'd be catching a lot more of these
a lot sooner, my opinion.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
DC News law enforcement contributor and retired senior Secret Service
agent Don Mahalick with us this morning. Don always appreciate
the time and insight. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Thanks having me, Ryan
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