Terrorism trends mutate very fast. If our security tactics do not change as fast to outdo this mutation, then Kenya will most always be caught flat footed. However by now someone needed to have picked common trends-
1. The terrorists have targeted areas with high concentration of non-somali or non-muslim
2. For both Westgate & GUC, they chose buildings with rooftops where they can take vantage positions and delay neutralization by security forces (and their own death as well). Should we take a re-look at any public building with rooftop?

3. For both Westgate & GUC, alshabab were familiar with the facilities in and out, this means they visited prior to attacks without attracting attention. This means any tertiary institution, shopping malls, hospitals, churches etc where these terrorists can make prior visits without detection are at greater risk
4. In all cases, the terrorists gained control by attacking the first and only line of defence – the guards at the gate/entrance. We need to invest in second and third lines of defence-rather than relying on guards at the gate, invest on large number of security on patrol.

Intelligence and quick response by security agencies will not be effective in the face of the enemy we face. Rather, every institution should take it upon itself to devise private means of tightening security and pre-empting attacks.

I think we are escalating our commitment to a psychology and actions that will continue to bring us harm. We seem to be overlooking events happening all around us. For example, ISIL now has over 20,000 foreign fighters, and youth from countries we deem stable and secure are abandoning their 'stable' lives for war. A young pilot can kill himself and many others deliberately and perhaps without any qualms.

What's facilitating these happenings? It's difficult to rule out the possibility that we are living in systems that acutely hostile to human living. And the more we dig in, the worse it will get.

A poem to the 147 unknowns
By F.Simiyu Barasa
147 is just a number, We shall not Mourn you.

147 is just a number,of which you are one
So We shall not mourn you.
You were not an expatriate
Connecting herself to France
By buying Camembert cheese off some shelves in an upmarket mall.

147 is just a number, of which you are one
So we we shall not mourn you.
How to mourn a non-white, on international TV channels.
Human interest angle is measured in colors these days.

147 is just a number, of which you are one.
So we shall not Mourn you.
No road in Mombasa shall be named after you
Your father is not somebody’s political party boss.
No rival to donate an airforce plane to your stadium coffin display
Who knows if the casket you will be buried in will be so cheap it can
Scratch the insides of our military planes.

Why should we mourn you?
No flags can fly at half mast
To honour a half -baked education that you sought in an ill equipped college.
If you had been schoolmates with our politicians sons in some foreign lands,whose neighbouring country was hit by a catastrophe,
We would have found ways to mourn you since we too marvel and wish
We could loot this country to pay such fees.

We do not know how to bend and lay flowers for people who never ate croissants
At artistic coffee shops in malls, for if we place roses in dusty mpeketoni roads
Or sandy Garissa paths…or cabbage littered Githurai tarmac
It doesn’t look photogenic. You never afforded roses when alive
We should not afford you carnations and ribbons in death.

We can not mourn you. We reserve the energy for those who eat in same restaurants as whites,who shop same as a royal family's cousins cousin.
For we can also look cool by association. Their death can leave us whiffs of their lives: be escalator users, to watch nice cinemas,
To take our kids to IGCSE schools, to be accented.
We do not mourn smoke sweating , sun scorched, dust coated, others. It reminds us of our poverty.
We mourn class. Richness. Not calloused hands rougher than the stones they quarry.

Life has been too harsh to you, why should we coin a harsh tag and add your pain?
We are Not one with you. No. No Mpesa donation lines. Just die, sleep, get buried by your clan.
No foreign presidents will come to walk Uhuru Highway with ours, since ours never walk for the dead.
No HBO specials, no magazines drawing cartoons in your solidarity. Die, and get buried silently.
Your own TV channels never gave the hours between your siege and your death any running commentary. (like they covered Paris siege)
They entertained us with Mexican soaps, old Naija films, and the occasional Breaking news banner
To remind us that the blade of death was still on your throats.
We are not sentimental like the French, we don’t CharlieHebdo Je Suis blab la
No military parades, no drills in public squares. Not for you.
147 is just a number, you are just one other statistic.
Not human.
We shall pretend you didn’t really exist
We shall move on.
We shall not Mourn you.
Who told you to choose your low class birth.

(1) Kenya lacks internal capacity in Counter Terrorism at command and tactical levels. We need to open up these positions to foreigners with advanced experience and who have a proactive approach.

(2) The best way of dealing with terrorists is an offensive strategy to eliminate the leadership of terror groups. Israel is at peace because of this strategy. This strategy cannot work using constitutional means.

(3) Nice observations @Limanika. Our police force doesn't have a research repository to detect trends. You'll notice they don't even have mug shots of criminal elements.

Am sad but still proud to be Kenyan.