| The New Yorker magazine (July 25 issue) has an outstanding article by William Finnegan regarding New York City's counter-terrorism efforts. Finnegan was granted incredible access to Police Commisioner Ray Kelly and the department's Counter-Terrorism Unit. I urge all of you to go read it. The article is (sigh) not available online; this link is to a semi-lame "Q & A" about the article. After reading this article, my respect for and faith in the NYPD has increased. NYC is a very hard target. The feds should take some notes! |
Some of the highlights from the article:
NYPD has several foreign bureaus, including Tel Aviv, so they can better investigate terror incidents and coordinate tactics and info with agencies worldwide. NYPD sends its own officers to every major terror incident. The FBI called NYPD right after the Madrid bombing to tell them not to send anyone. "Our officers are already on the plane," was the reply.
NYPD utilizes its Nexus bureau to help the NYC businesses become "a pack, not a herd." They are plainsclothes officers who spend their days talking with businesses, to get their help in reporting suspicious or unusual activity. When a bomber in Israel dressed like a Hasidic rabbi, the Nexus team visited all the makers of religious garments in NYC the next day. They also keep an eye on the manufacturers of things that can be used to make ricin (acetone in the Diamond District, castor bean growers), and they keep tabs on the set of "Law and Order", where the prop NYPD cars are basically unsecured.
NYPD has a division that wades in the jihadi chatrooms all day. Their systems contracted some horrific viruses at first, but they've gotten better at avoiding them. It takes a long time to gain trust in this environment, but now they receive passwords to rooms they didn't even know existed.
NYPD has a lot of people with solid language skills in Pashto, Urdu, etc.
Of course, the reporter seemed to be surprised that Commissioner Kelly wasn't terribly concerned with the plight of the detainees in Guantanamo. Also, he noted that the Pentagon is "not noted for its humility." But he was obviously impressed with the capable, determined and focused leadership of the NYPD. As was I.
RTWT.