Why are we Still this Way?

[Guest guest]

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com

City needs security czar

Sunday, July 17th, 2005

Good ideas have been as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth in New

York's mayoral race, but there is one that demands immediate

attention: a director of city homeland security. We should have had

one already.

The idea comes from Council Speaker Gifford , who has pointed

to gaping holes in preparing for a terror attack across a range of

government, private and nonprofit institutions, including hospitals.

presented the idea June 20 - three weeks before the London

blasts reminded us of the vulnerabilities of mass transit systems.

We should not have needed reminding. The terror bombs that hit Madrid

in March 2004 exploded on commuter rail lines. The London blasts hit

targets in the center city.

Subways, commuter lines, tunnels, bridges, buses, boats - all roads

lead to New York City. But ours is not a seamless web. It's a tangle

of systems, agencies and funding authorities cutting across three

states. There are dozens of law enforcement jurisdictions. In times

of peace, it's an inefficient, decentralized hodgepodge. In a time of

war, it's a potential disaster.

New York needs a centralized effort to marry all the elements of

terror prevention and response: intelligence, communications,

personnel, training, technology - and political muscle.

Start with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It can't

develop a clear subway public address system yet is charged with

keeping millions of riders safe. Securing the sprawling, complicated

system would be extremely difficult under the best circumstance. We

have perhaps the worst circumstance. The MTA, whatever its efforts,

has not done the job. It has barely begun. That's not just a

disgrace. It's frightening.

Beyond the increased police presence riders have seen since the

London attacks, too little has changed since 9/11.

Consider that police officers on the LIRR and Metro-North commuter

lines still can't talk directly on their radios.

Consider that while about half the 468 subway stations have cameras

on platforms, some are not being monitored. They're running tape that

nobody sees.

And for those cameras that are monitored, the usual first response

when something looks fishy is to call 911.

That's bringing the police in too late. Under Ray , the NYPD has

become more than a crimefighting agency. But not to the MTA. The

police patrol the subways, but not the commuter lines or Grand

Central, and have no formal role on technology, intelligence or even

communications equipment. It's as though the MTA is a foreign country.

Which might be fine if it were a competent country. It's not. One

insider saw a private briefing MTA officials gave Chertoff,

national director of homeland security. " Embarrassingly bad " was the

official's description of the presentation.

Having spent only a fraction of the $600 million set aside for

security enhancements, the MTA is scrambling to play catchup. It has

sent a team to London to gather ideas and it's now meeting with the

NYPD regularly, if not constantly, at the new command center on the

eighth floor of 1 Police Plaza.

The revelation that it has been slow to make changes comes as a new

round of mass transit funding is up for grabs. The agency's failure

makes it hard for Sens. Schumer and Clinton to claim New York needs

more money.

MTA Chairman Kalikow said the state agency is going slow

because he's not convinced the technology works. " The easy way out

would be to spend the money quickly, without a thorough analysis of

the cost and benefit, " Kalikow told The New York Times the day after

the London attacks. " The technology for this kind of stuff is still

emerging. When stuff is proven, we'll be there. We don't think we

should be wasting money on unproven technology. "

Nobody favors waste. But surely there are real ways to make the

system safer. The first step is to put someone in charge who believes

that's possible.

The change would require Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg to agree on

a structure and a person. For the safety of New York, they must act now.