Midtown New York City by 2011 is expected to be encircled by a ring of chemical-agent sensors and other high-tech security devices, the New York Daily News reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 29).
The project, akin to an antiterrorism system already in place in lower Manhattan, is being supported by $24 million from the U.S. Homeland Security Department. The existing New York effort is modeled on the "Ring of Steel" in London and also involves cameras and license-plate readers that relay data and images to a command site in the Financial District.
"We will spend as much as necessary in either federal or city funds to complete this project and protect New York," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday. "This is our No. 1 priority, and it comes before all fiscal concerns."
Midtown has already been the target of two failed terrorist plots against the Herald Square subway station and the Citigroup Center, according to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Bloomberg is still seeking $40 million in federal funds to finish preparing an extensive system of detection systems to prevent a radiological "dirty bomb" from being brought into the city. "Politics as usual" are keeping money that should be used for the pilot Securing the Cities program from reaching New York, the mayor said, arguing that Congress must direct funds toward the areas that face the greatest threats.
"They're trying to spread Homeland Security money around the country," he said. "They've turned it into pork barrel" (Einhorn/Sandoval, New York Daily News, Oct. 5).