Posted on 09/13/2014 5:19:32 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is coming under sharp criticism for making decisions that may have undermined the effectiveness of his police departments counter-terrorism operations.
Thirteen years after the 9/11 attacks on Manhattan, prominent security experts say de Blasio has made fighting terrorism a lower priority in order to appease the communities that helped elect him.
A classic case of taking your eye off the ball at the worst possible time is Mayor de Blasio in New York, said John Lehman, a former member of the 9/11 Commission. He said de Blasio is failing to take seriously enough the new threat posed to New York and other major American cities by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has reportedly trained dozens of American jihadists.
At the very time when the threat suddenly emerges in a whole new additional form focused on the U.S., he decides to end some of the most effective programs in the country in the NYPD counterterrorism unit, Lehman said.
He has reassigned people and vehicles and special equipment to non-counterterrorist activities, he added.
The liberal Democratic mayor has come under fire for several controversial decisions since succeeding Michael Bloomberg, who created a massive counterterrorism unit during his three terms as mayor.
In April, de Blasio disbanded a special unit tasked with conducting surveillance of mosques and Muslim groups suspected of radical ties.
Michael Mukasey, who served as U.S. attorney general from 2007 to 2009, said the unit was instrumental in mapping out possible terrorist ties within Muslim communities.
They werent simply conducting surveillance of mosques and Muslims. They were mapping communities, figuring out where someone from Lebanon or Yemen or any of the other hot spots would go if they wanted to come to this country and find refuge, he said.
At mosques that had particularly militant imams, they did have people who would tip them off to what other people were doing or saying. To the extent theyve curtailed that, I think were all less safe, he added.
Mukasey questioned de Blasios decision to replace David Cohen, a former CIA official who served as deputy police commissioner for intelligence, with John Miller, a former television journalist and FBI spokesman. Cohen, who previously served as the CIAs director of operations, oversaw the NYPDs surveillance of Muslim groups.
He was an alumnus of the CIA and that was a distinct advantage. It was regarded as a source of suspicion by the new administration, he said.
De Blasio traveled to Nicaragua as a leftist activist in 1988, around the time the CIA was helping rebels trying to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government.
De Blasio also curtailed the police departments stop-and-frisk program, which authorizes officers to stop, question and pat down people they suspect of criminal conduct. As these stops have declined, shootings in some communities, such as Brownsville in Brooklyn, have increased, according to the New York Daily News.
Lehman said the changed policy will dissuade officers from stopping a person who might appear to be wearing an explosive vest or carrying a suspicious package.
If you see someone with a package or a bulky vest, you are taking a great risk if you stop and frisk them. If the person is a person of color and not carrying a bomb or evidence of potential terrorist risks, as a cop youre in big trouble, he said.
Lehman said de Blasio also undermined the implementation of the federal governments Real ID program, a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, by approving a program to issue municipal IDs of lower standards. They are intended to serve undocumented immigrants and other residents who have difficulty obtaining regular state IDs.
Theyre completely opposed to Real ID and the other issues that were adopted by Congress as a result of our recommendations, Lehman said.
In 2004, the 9/11 Commission urged Congress to set standards for birth certificates and drivers licenses, which it did by passing the Real ID Act of 2005.
Mukasey calls the Real ID program very important.
You need a reliable way of identifying people. You dont simply issue ID cards willy nilly to anybody who wants them and shows up and has his picture taken and tells you what his name is, he said.
Mukasey said weak ID standards combined with the porous Southern border put the nation at greater risk for attack.
Rep. Peter King (R), who formerly served as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and represents a suburb of New York City, said de Blasio has made it tougher for law enforcement to combat terrorism.
To me its too bad the NYPD has to go through all this because their system was working, he said.
King praised the 1,000-officer counterterrorism unit built up by Bloomberg and former police commissioner Raymond Kelly. He said they fell prey to a backlash led by the New York Times and the ACLU.
You had the New York Times editorial board, the civil liberties union, the Associated Press; there was this gang-up on what Ray Kelly was doing, he said. To me it was effective. Privacy and rights were being protected and, most importantly, the city was being protected.
King noted that de Blasio won the 2013 mayoral race by campaigning against stop-and-frisk and promising to end police surveillance.
Theres no doubt that when he came into office that there was this wave against what the NYPD had been doing as far as counter-terrorism and Bill de Blasio rode part of that wave, he said.
The mayors press office did not respond to email and telephone requests for comment.
Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), one of New Yorks leading Democrats, declined to comment specifically on de Blasios policies.
I have a lot of faith in Bill Bratton, he said in reference to de Blasios appointed police commissioner.
King praised Bratton and Miller but he said their jobs may be tougher now because of de Blasios policies.
He said he still has faith in New Yorks counterterrorism programs because of Bill Bratton and because of John Miller, who are both experts on terrorism.
If anyone can make it work they can but I wish they didnt have to make the adjustments theyve had to make, he added.
I agree.
That’s right.
Burying your head in the sand doesn’t work.
Are you in NYC?
West New York...
I should have been more specific and said NYC. There are a lot of conservatives outside NYC area.
My great grandparents came to Colo. from Corning, NY in 1858. I think Corning is in western NY state.
Comrade De Blasio has bigger fish to fry: like TEA Party terrorists.
Yep. My favorite hockey player comes from western New York.
That’s right. NY state has produced some great hockey players.
DiBlahBlah is an incompetent Commie jerk. You can be sure I did not vote for him, although the other candidate was no prize.
NY is a classic case of the tail(the sh!tty) wagging the dog(the state)
NY is a classic case of the tail(the sh!tty) wagging the dog(the state)
Not just vacation in conservative states. Real estate there would be a good investment.
After 9/11 rural property more than 100 miles from NYC greatly increased in value.
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