New York's top cop Raymond Kelly said Wednesday that the city remains a target of terrorist attacks.
Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations, an American nonpartisan foreign policy membership organization founded in 1921, New York Police Commissioner Kelly said that al-Qaida is an "extremely resilient" organization and despite repeated blows to its leadership by the U.S. military, the most important leaders remain place."
"Al-Qaida also continues to build a web of alliances with like-minded groups around the globe," he said.
He warned that New York has been "the subject of 7 major plots," including a plan to bring down the Brooklyn bridge, to blow up the financial institutions like the New York Stock Exchange and to release poisonous gas into the subway system.
To counter terrorism, New York Police Department launched, as early as seven and half years ago, the first department in the country to develop its own counter-terrorism bureau, reconstructed its intelligence division and appointed leaders with exceptional credentials to guide the efforts.
Kelly is the first person to hold the post for two nonconsecutive tenures. As Commissioner of the NYPD, Kelly has received praise for revamping the department into a world class counter-terrorism operation.
Speaking of the counter-terrorist capabilities, Kelly said "Our counter-terrorism strategies are multi-layered. And our alliances to defeat terror extend far and wide," he said.
"Everyday, based on intelligence, we deploy convoys of patrol cars, with emergency lights and sirens on, to make unannounced visits to icons and sensitive locations," he said. "We conduct unannounced inspections of subway trains, as well as track system and tunnels, after the London transit system was bombed in 2005, we launched a new program to protect the subway."
