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| Raymond Kelly exhibits "remarkable leadership" |
In Praise of NYC's Muscular Counterterrorism -Daniel Pipes
U.S. law enforcement agencies have generally responded to 9/11 with a pretend counterterrorism policy. They still insist that naming the enemy as Islamism causes terrorism, that Islamist violence poses no more threat than that of neo-Nazis, racial supremacists, et al...
And then there is the New York Police Department, an institution uniquely spurred by 9/11 to abandon its former laxity and get serious. The force quickly transformed itself into an outstanding counterterrorist agency under the remarkable leadership of Raymond Kelly. Unlike other law enforcement institutions, NYPD names the enemy, acknowledges the predominant threat of Islamist violence, and built a robust intelligence operation.
NYPD established the Terrorist Interdiction Unit to handle informants, including "mosque crawlers," "café crawlers," shopkeepers, and nosy neighbors.
It also established the Demographics Unit to "map ethnic residential communities within the Tri-State area" and to send undercover police officers, or rakers, to monitor Muslims. Made up of 16 officers speaking among them Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu, the unit lists 29 "ancestries of interest," all of them predominantly Muslim, including one described as "American Black Muslim." In all, NYPD identified 263 of what it calls "ethnic hot spots" in the city, plus 53 "mosques of concern."
[T]hose tactics have protected New York from thirteen failed or thwarted terrorist plots, Commissioner Kelly stands by them, and they garner wide political support. New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised the NYPD for a "very good job" and John Brennan, Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, lauded its "heroic job." U.S. Representative Peter King commended its methods as a model for the federal government.
King is right: every other Western law enforcement agency should adopt the approach of "America's best counterterror force."
[National Review Online]
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3 comments:
No doubt New York is doing the best job but the rest of the country has done well as all threats have not been directed or detected in New York. If Peter King is for something it is probably wrong, although in this case there might be some improvements that could be made.
That must mean you're not fond of Mr. King. I was struck by the rather unusual national political agreement on the fab job the NYPD is doing.
See this about the White House lining up in praise of the NYPD:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts-law/white-house-ny-lawmaker-back-nypd-after-report-undercover-police-eavesdropped-on-muslims/2011/09/01/gIQA009suJ_print.html
There is no doubt, and numerous indications that the NYPD is the best at this, maybe anywhere. It is true that I am not fond of Mr. King. He belongs to that group that likes to make noise but does not really add anything to the world or our country. We have more than enough of that kind of politician.
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