File #: Res 0157-2004    Version: * Name: Progress of NYC and NYS in improving responses to possible terrorist attacks on NYC, Hearing
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Public Safety
On agenda: 2/26/2004
Enactment date: Law number:
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.
Sponsors: Miguel Martinez, Alan J. Gerson, Bill De Blasio, James F. Gennaro, Hiram Monserrate, James Sanders, Jr., Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., Yvette D. Clarke, Tracy L. Boyland, Lewis A. Fidler, Vincent J. Gentile, Allan W. Jennings, Jr., Michael C. Nelson
Council Member Sponsors: 13

Res. No. 157

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.

 

By Council Members Martinez, Gerson, DeBlasio, Gennaro, Monserrate, Sanders Jr., Addabbo Jr., Clarke, Boyland, Fidler, Gentile, Jennings and Nelson

 

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, 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, New York State has a Director of the Office of Public Security (OPS), which 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 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.