Res. No. 239 Title Resolution calling upon the appropriate committee of the City Council to hold hearings on the progress of New York City and New York State in improving responses to possible terrorist attacks on New York City. Body By Council Members Martinez, Gerson, DeBlasio, Gennaro, Monserrate and Sanders; also Council Members Addabbo and Clarke Whereas, The attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was the second assault on this landmark by a terrorist organization; and Whereas, The first attack on February 26, 1993 forced the evacuation of the World Trade Center and took the lives of six innocent individuals; and Whereas, The most recent attack has forced the New York Police Department (NYPD) to reevaluate its readiness for terrorism and to take a number of new approaches that were summarized by the Police Department at the February 21, 2002 hearing of the Public Safety Committee; and Whereas, One of the steps taken by the NYPD to improve its readiness was to hire a deputy police commissioner to provide New York City with access to United States Government intelligence and a deputy police commissioner to coordinate the Department's counter terrorism efforts; and Whereas, David Cohen, the Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, spent 35 years in the Central Intelligence Agency, including two years from 1995 to 1997 as Director of Operations, a post in which he oversaw the agency's espionage activities around the world; and Whereas, The Police Department's Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism, Frank Libutti, is a Lieutenant General who retired from the Marine Corps in 2001 and assumed the post of liaison between the Department of the Army and the Office of Homeland Security before coming to New York City; and Whereas, The extensive experience in the Federal Government at senior levels should give these officials and their deputies access to vital federal intelligence that has previously been denied to local government officials; and Whereas, On February 21, 2002, as part of the Public Safety Committee's hearing on the NYPD's anti-terrorism efforts, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly testified that it would cost approximately $700 million to equip and train the New York City Police Department's 40,000 members in developing a comprehensive response including equipment for coping with biological and chemical warfare; and Whereas, The New York Times of February 22, 2002 in its article "Kelly Picks Marine for Counterterrorism Unit" reported that the New York City Police Department "needs protective suits and gas masks for officers and more sophisticated sensors that can detect chemical, radiological and, in some cases, biological weapons;" and Whereas, At the preliminary budget hearing of the Public Safety Committee on March 18, 2002 the Police Commissioner indicated that the NYPD was working closely with federal officials to secure funding for initiatives and equipment to keep New York City ready for any type of attack; and Whereas, As part of its effort to improve readiness, the NYPD hired McKinsey & Company, the management consulting firm, to prepare a pro bono assessment of the City's response to the terrorist attack and to help pinpoint the lessons learned by the Department with preliminary results to be presented to the Police Department by May or June; and Whereas, New York State has a Director of the Office of Public Security (OPS), James Kallstrom, who was formerly Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI's New York City Office, where he supervised investigations and prosecutions of terrorist groups; and Whereas, OPS is taking the lead role in establishing New York State's Counter-Terrorism Network that Governor George E. Pataki called "the first of its kind in the nation - to provide critical intelligence in the war on terrorism to local law enforcement personnel statewide;" and Whereas, These new offices, appointments and initiatives are creating a new and necessary infrastructure for responding to the threat of terrorism, and it is important that the Council, as it has recently done through the Public Safety Committee, continue to monitor these efforts; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the appropriate committee of the City Council hold hearings on the progress of New York City and New York State in improving responses to possible terrorist attacks on New York City. |1013| |1013|