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Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force--The NYPD

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In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a rare moment of lucidity observed that fighting terrorism was 90 per cent intelligence and police work with the implication that military operations would account for only 10 per cent of the effort. Although this observation was forgotten in the ill conceived and ill managed Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), it still remains true. Most experts on counter-terrorism and on terrorist movements have maintained that fighting terrorism is a job for some combination of intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They also have noted that it is only through international cooperation between such agencies that transnational terrorist threats can be countered.

All of the preceding is by way of introduction to this rather interesting book. It is an anecdotal puff piece on the successful response to terrorism developed by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) since 9/11. In fact if read closely this book provides a resounding argument supporting Rumsfled's observation. Because their focus is entirely on protecting New York, the NYPD was able to develop an effective intelligence program that provides direct and timely support to tactical forces. By exercising the street knowledge of beat cops, standard police surveillance and investigative techniques, and the very diversity of New York as mirrored in the NYPD, the force has been able to develop an extremely effective counter-terrorism program. As a local force, the NYPD has been able to conduct operations normally forbidden to federal agencies such as the FBI. In another break with federal level operations the NYPD has developed working relationships with foreign police services around the world. Indeed NYPD has developed an impressive dossier of counter-terrorism tradecraft that is both tested and efficient. It appears to really protect the city.

Indeed if one reviews the history of Islamic inspired terrorist groups since 9/11 around the world, in almost all cases it has been police actions informed by intelligence that have either thwarted terrorist strikes or arrested the perpetrators of the strikes that have occurred. The DHS ought to think seriously about this.

I read this book based on The Economist's review (see it below). There is plenty of food for thought here about how best to counteract terror. One of the most positive and comforting parts of this story: New York and America continue to benefit from immigration. Contrary to what many think, the safest cities are those with immigrants. The American dream is alive in NYC and keeping it alive is the best anti-terror policy of all. The NYPD has taken some interesting and innovative approaches to combating terror--if you're interested in the topic you'll find the book thought provoking.

NYPD's fighting force

Feb 12th 2009

From The Economist print edition

The NYPD offers an alternative to the highly militarised war on terror

It is not often that a city has its very own counter-terrorist force. But since the attacks of September 11th 2001, New York has felt uniquely vulnerable--and uniquely entitled to special protection. In a vivid and thought-provoking book about the years since the twin towers collapsed, Christopher Dickey analyses how the New York Police Department (NYPD) counter-terrorism division has made itself one of the best in the business.

This did not happen easily or without resistance. The NYPD's commissioner, Ray Kelly, a former marine, and his intelligence chief, David Cohen, who had worked for the CIA, faced considerable opposition in building their team. The principal aim was to use human intelligence to prevent future attacks. To achieve that they had to gather accurate and detailed information about al-Qaeda and other groups, and learn from the attacks they launched overseas. Never mind that this irritated the FBI and the CIA--the "three-letter guys", as Mr Dickey calls them--who tended to regard the NYPD as some kind of Johnny-come-lately muscling in on their turf.

Mr Dickey ends up admiring Mr Kelly and Mr Cohen for creating a counter-terror organisation which many now regard as among the most energetic. They fought for and won the right to station people overseas--in London, Tel Aviv and as far off as Singapore--to provide first-hand information-gathering from useful places. And their most important achievement, in Mr Dickey's estimation, is to have turned New York's multicultural diversity to their advantage, building up a team of more than 600 linguists fluent in some 50 languages and dialects. In 2007 NYPD analysts published a 90-page booklet, "Radicalization in the West", seeking to pass on what they had learnt about the home-grown threat in Europe and America.

A scheme to attack a busy New York subway station was foiled just two days before the Republican convention in 2004 when, thanks to an informant, Mr Kelly was able to arrest the Muslim plotters. The group was clearly incompetent but, as Mr Dickey points out, motley conspirators could be dangerous, "even when some were morons".

"Securing the City" is a gritty, down-to-earth work; a very American book about a very American city. Mr Dickey accompanies cops on the beat, rides in their helicopters and describes in detail their gizmos and their crime labs. He delights in a tough-guy language that owes as much to Mickey Spillane as to Raymond Chandler. So the general reader can enjoy a book that has the pace and drama of a thriller, and for the specialist interested in questions such as how to defend a city of nearly 8.5m people, or what turns young Muslims into suicide-bombers, there is much to ponder.

As the Middle East editor of Newsweek, Mr Dickey is not only one of America's most knowledgeable commentators on the area, he was writing about Osama bin Laden for almost a decade before the attacks on the twin towers. He adds fascinating new detail and asks some troubling questions. What was learnt from waterboarding senior al-Qaeda captives such as Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad? Where do you draw the line between protecting security and abusing human rights? What do we know now about the Madrid and London bombings--and the important question of whether the bombers acted alone or with help from al-Qaeda? Whereas the Spanish attacks seem to have been home-grown, the evidence suggests to Mr Dickey that the leader of the London bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, was "an active al-Qaeda recruiter".

The book shifts constantly from the local to the global and back. It is sharply critical of "the dangerously ill-conceived, mismanaged, and highly militarised `global war on terror'," and sees the success of the NYPD's counter-terrorism programme as offering an alternative approach. Mr Dickey worries about the depth of Muslim anger which drives the violence, and to which America has been largely oblivious. But he also draws comfort from the resilience of New Yorkers, whose faith in the American dream may well turn out to be their strongest line of defence.

This book proves that police work, good police work, is not like televison.

In the TV series "Kojack," our bald headed hero would have captured every terrorist in New York in the alloted one hour time limit. So would Jack Lord on Hawaii Five-O. You remember, "Book'um Dano..."

But not so in real life. Good, effective police work, such as New York City has, is deadly, detailed and often dangerous. This book is about those details. And, frankly, the details sometime get in the way of the story seeking to be told.

Lots of good information, here, but it's not effectively told. One chapter is exceptional, however...the last chapter on the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. Who among us hasn't wondered how that comes off, so far at least, without trouble every year. It's in this book and makes for interesting reading.

One thing is for sure. The City of New York and, by extension, the United States of America, are fortunate to have good men and women of all races and national origins, working on this complex and vexing problem. Here's to the NYPD. It deserved a better telling.

So bias it is hard to read. The NYPD and those members interviewed for the book can do no wrong and where there appears to be a problem the author moves swiftly along. There is a complete lack of objectivity and analysis and if you have the misfortune to belong to the CIA or the FBI clearly you can do nothing right. There was enough here for an interesting book but the author ends up doing the NYPD doing no favours.

It is "readable" although the style jars at times as it attempts to be read as a spy novel and anyone with anything beyond a bare knowledge of CT or policing will end up being very irritated as I was. The author clearly knows his stuff and I am still at a loss to understand the complete lack of objectivity in the writing. The title says it all - the Best Counterterror Force - however absurd this is, the book stays loyal to the idea throughout.

Aside from the blatant Anti-Bush-bias held by the author, I expected more substance on the NYPD CTD. Instead it was more of a rehash of some other books I've read on the War on Terror and Islamic Terror. I understand the need for OPSEC, but if you don't have enough substance to get into details of the actual TITLE of the book, don't write it or rename it.

*"When you catch a terrorist and look at the map in his or her pocket, it is always a map of New York; it's not a map of some other place."

*"Mayor Michael Bloomberg, July 2006"*

AND SO THE STORY BEGINS...

This book intricately details not only the changes that the NYPD deemed necessary post 9/11 to keep its own citizens... as well... as the world's peace loving citizens safe... from terrorism... but also shares historical data regarding terrorist strikes... before 9/11. Did you know that Ellis Island... then known as "Black Tom Island"... had served as a storage yard for munitions waiting for shipment to Europe... before America was actually a part of World War I? On July 30, 1916 a "terrorist" set off a blast that not only sent shrapnel through the metal skin of the Statue of Liberty... and blew holes in buildings... but killed a ten-year-old boy in his crib in New Jersey. People were shook awake as far away as Philadelphia and Maryland. Many other pre-9/11 terrorist attacks including the assassination of Jewish Defense League leader Rabbi Meir Kahane... and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing... are covered... as the author "reverse-engineers" the current high state of terrorist alert... we now find ourselves living in.

Since 9/11 the NYPD has completely reconfigured its job descriptions... along with its intelligence and security boundaries. The two main characters in this reincarnation are Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly... and former CIA head of United States operations... and now NYPD Intelligence Chief David Cohen. Ray and David believe that New York's role in the arena of world terror... is not unlike throwing a stone into a placid lake... you know there will be outward ripples. Terrorist activity in New York... affects the world... and terrorist activity in the world affects New York. The NYPD has broken new ground... by actually having men in more than ten countries overseas. They believe that having men out in the field... working in police stations in other countries...drinking beer with their foreign counter parts... accomplishes much more... than simply working out of an embassy... as our other agencies do. This of course has caused "conflicts" with the "THREE-LETTER-GUYS"... as Kelly and Cohen call the FBI... CIA... NSA... and others... but the problem of sharing information between these groups... is portrayed as having been worse... than is depicted in the movies... but with the forward thinking of the "new" NYPD... this seems to be improving. With the aforementioned international presence... this book covers in detail the Madrid bombings... the London bombings... suicide bombings in Israel... and more. The reader is also educated as to the pre-emptive legwork done by the NYPD which has "more cops on its rolls than the next five largest police departments in the country combined." The NYPD feels that other agencies are more geared to catching terrorists after the fact... while Kelly's and Cohen's main thrust... is to find... or dissuade... them... before the attack is completed.

Author Christopher Dickey examines the unique role that local law enforcement plays in securing the homeland from terrorism threats. Looking at the issues from the perspective of the New York Police Department, there are tools and authorities at the local law enforcement level that the feds don't have.

Clearly, local law enforcement knows its communities and has relationships with its residents that the feds don't have. Beyond this advantage, local police can question or arrest for local and state statues that federal agents typically do not enforce. On more than one occasion, Dickey cites the example of arresting someone for sitting on two seats in the subway. Once under arrest, the person can be questioned on a variety of topics. Federal officers don't have the same access to question suspects for such "minor" offenses.

NYPD officials quoted in the book acknowledge that federal agencies with access to classified information can perform analysis and direct operations in ways that local law enforcement can't. In terms of sheer numbers and access to the community, it's the local police who really are the front line in the domestic war on terrorism.

This book is useful for local or federal law enforcement (officers and analysts). It is great for readers interested in true crime or terrorism.

This is a wonderful read... a fascinating analysis of the NYPD's astounding effort to apply real intelligence to the threat of terrorism. It features terrific interviews and insights into New York's most daring and impressive effort to redefine how threats are assessed, managed, and countered in a time where national leadership has failed to protect us. Chris Dickey is an amazing investigative journalist and "Securing the City" is mandatory reading if you want to understand how counter-terrorism can be handled effectively.

You'll gain a whole new perspective on the job they do. The book reveals how defeating terrorism has little to do with the so-called "Global War on Terror" and almost everything to do with good local policing. We need people who understand cultures, speak different languages embedded in local areas, eyes and ears on the ground, instead of secret wiretaps and secret renditions by disjointed, Orwellian federal bureaucracies. This reveals how most terrorism can be stopped in ways using basic crime prevention; the stuff the NYPD has been doing so well for years.

I enjoyed reading this book and I have to commend Christopher Dickey for writing a well-rounded and thorough examination of what it is like to have to secure the biggest terror target in the world. Where Dickey is at his strongest is when he examines the tough questions regarding individual liberties and securing the greater population. He does a very good job of showing what happens when the police make mistakes and cross the line into violating civil rights. Dickey does a fine job of showing off the technical expertise and pragmatic approach of the NYPD and how they approach their new found responsibilities with a combination of technology, luck and good old fashioned police work.

I also respect Dickey for giving other parties who may not agree with the way the NYPD is handling this new challenge a chance to express their views without making them seem like whiners, nihilists or kooks. As I said above, he also is willing to show the negative impacts bad policing can have and uses the 2004 GOP convention as a case in point.

My only criticism is that we really don't have a context to see how strong a program this is since there is no real apples to apples comparison with say the Feds or other agencies. He does mention Scotland Yard briefly but without enough information to compare them to New York except to cast them in a negative possible light. Other than that this is a book well worth your time!