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9/11/01-02: A Failure On 9/11, Life-Saving Innovations Afterwards


It would be easy to see technology as the bad guy in the events of September 11th. The terrorists, after all, used our own technology Ð our airplanes Ð against us. Rescue workers, several reports have concluded, were forced to rely on Inadequate communication technology. And the breakdown of technological infrastructure in the city -- electric, gas, broadcasting and telecommunication networks -- caused so many people so much frustration and anxiety. The city government itself was hit hard, according to New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer, head of the council's Committee on Technology: "Over 50,000 government phone lines were disabled; 26 municipal buildings were shut down; Internet capability was severely disrupted," she said. "We nearly lost the city's Web site, NYC.gov. And we had to build many Information Technology systems from scratch."

In a recent City Council report on 9/11, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was sharply criticized for not reimbursing the city for over $30 million in damage to information technology (IT) equipment that resulted from the attacks. As of July 2002, the payment was still pending approval and FEMA had cut its 9/11 recovery aid from 15 percent to only five percent.

But there is a flip side. The fast and efficient restoration of New York's electricity and communication networks was vital to the recovery effort. This is because each of these networks relies on the smooth functioning of the other. The city's electricity and telecommunications providers, Con Edison and Verizon, worked tirelessly around the clock to restore services despite having suffered extreme damage at their facilities.

And 9/11 sparked innovative uses of technology by city agencies in the emergency management efforts. Many new technologies such as high-tech maps, databases, and small electronic tracking devices were used during the recovery effort. These applications can be seen everywhere from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office to the Health Department and Housing Authority.

The rebuilding and recovery effort taught us many important lessons about the functioning of technological systems during times of crisis. The Internet emerged as one of 9/11's technological heroes because of its reliability as a back-up communication network when wired and wireless telecommunication networks were overloaded. In addition, the Internet was also used to store data because of its easy accessibility and decentralized nature. The city's website was used to relay vital emergency information.

High-tech maps of the city proved to be a vital resource during the crisis. Now, the same type of high-tech maps that were used during the recovery effort are being used by community boards to identify problems in their neighborhoods.

Databases were also important. But, since the city has no common database system, IBM created one that allowed the data to be entered electronically and transmitted to different agencies. This avoided having to ask families of victims to fill out the same form many times over.

Small tracking devices or Global Positioning Systems from PowerLoc Technologies, Inc. were key in helping to remove debris from Ground Zero. The technology allowed the city to document the exact location and amount of debris efficiently and flexibly. Similarly, personal items and evidence found among the debris were tracked and recorded with a small scanning device using GPS technology from LinksPoint.

Now, with these lessons in mind, the city is rebuilding its technological infrastructure. Some of the interesting technological opportunities recommended in the City Council report include making better use of existing technologies such as the Internet and text-messaging, redundant telecommunications networks, aerial photography, high-tech maps and NYC.gov. In addition, completely new initiatives such as a web-based emergency portal and a local Emergency Technology Corps are envisioned.


Laura's Favorite Sites For Beginners:

  • NYC.gov is New York City's electronic government portal or "one-stop government site." The site boasts more than 30,000 pages of content and 100 online transactional services.
  • The New York State Department of Public Service regulates electric, gas, telecommunications, steam, water and cable to insure that these utilities are reliable and low-cost. The Public Service Commission includes up to five members who are appointed by the Governor of New York State and serve six-year terms. The department's goal is to promote competition and streamline regulation. They offer information and services for consumers about choosing utility companies and filing complaints.
  • The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) is the third oldest scientific organization in America. The Manhattan-based Academy promotes the role science and technology in fostering social and economic development through analysis and discussion of public policy issues. The Science and Technology Policy Forum, a NYAS project, organizes public meetings, examines science and technology policy and brings leaders in the field.
  • The Internet Policy Institute (IPI) is the nation's first independent, nonprofit research, and educational institute created to provide objective, high-quality analysis, research, education, and outreach on public policy issues affecting and affected by the global development and use of the Internet.
  • Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C. established to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.
  • E The People is a nonpartisan site helping over 400 online newspapers, television stations and Internet portals bring government closer to the people. E The People is the organizer of America's Interactive Town Hall, an initiative that has collected 180,840 electronic signatures on 3,520 petitions. This Web site allows you to sign petitions and pay tickets on-line.
  • The New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) is responsible for the city's effective utilization of existing and emerging voice, video, and data technologies in government operations and its delivery of services to the public.

    Other Recommendations:

    Privacy and Security:

    • The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age. The center seeks practical solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global communications technologies. It is dedicated to building consensus among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other new communications media.
    • The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection laws. This Web site includes information on consumer protection issues such as privacy and identity theft, and business and economic issues such as e-commerce and antitrust.

    Digital Divide:

    • Digital Partners is a nonprofit institute that helps create economic development opportunities for the poor by fostering collaboration between digital entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders.
    • New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) works with the private sector to generate jobs and strengthen the economy by attracting business expansion and helping the established businesses in New York. The Digital NYC program helps hi-tech businesses find affordable, pre-wired office space in New York's new technology districts.

    Intellectual Property and Copyrights:

    • The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade group that represents companies and individuals in the recording industry. They work to protect intellectual property rights worldwide and the First Amendment rights of artists; conduct consumer, industry and technical research; and monitor, review and influence state and federal laws, regulations and policies.

    E-commerce:

    • United States Department of Commerce promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development and improved living standards by working with the private sector, universities and communities. Year 2000 initiatives include formulating e-commerce policy and closing the digital divide.

9/11/01-02: A Demographic Portrait Of The Victims In 10048


The direct losses to New York and the United States from the WTC attack are incalculable. Yet, as the first anniversary comes and goes, the calculations go on apace.

More than two-thirds of the 2801 victims, or at least 1946, died on the upper floors near or above where the planes crashed: the top 19 floors of the North Tower and the top 33 floors of the South Tower. With the firefighters (343), the police and other rescue workers (about 90) and the victims from the two planes (157), and that accounts for about 90 percent of those who were killed.

Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond trading firm, lost 658 employees, by far the greatest number. Other companies and their losses:

  • Marsh and McLennan (the insurance firm) 295;
  • Aon (another insurance firm), 176;
  • Fiduciary Trust International (a financial firm), 87,
  • the Port Authority, 75;
  • Windows on the World restaurant, 73;
  • Carr Futures, 69;
  • Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, 67;
  • and Sandler O'Neil and Partners, 67.

All these were on high floors in one of the towers. Risk magazine, the trade bible of derivatives industry, which defined much of finance in the 1990s, was having a conference at Windows on the World. Everyone in attendance, including many high executives, perished.

Given the firms for whom many of those in the World Trade Center worked (as well as the large number of fire fighters and other rescue workers) the other demographic facts should not be that surprising. The victims were overwhelmingly male (about 75 percent), young (many under 40, most under 50), and white (about 75 percent). Only about eight percent were black, nine percent Hispanic, and about six percent Asian. About 75 percent were born in the United States; the rest came from many countries. Together New York and New Jersey accounted for about 87 percent.

We now know that the Upper East Side had the most losses (44), while Hoboken, NJ had the highest proportion of loss of any area, losing 39 residents, or about one per thousand. The number is probably even higher if parental addresses are taken into account. It is not surprising that many of the victims lived in very affluent parts of the metropolitan area, including the Upper East Side and Basking Ridge New Jersey.

But those working at 10048 represented many aspects of New York City society -- the wealthy older executives at the Risk conference or running some of the firms, the young traders on the make, the lawyers, the computer techies, the immigrants working in the service fields. After 9/11, 10048 is no more.


  • US Census Bureau -- The Census Web site is the premier site for data from the 2000 and earlier censuses, and from a variety of other sources. The site is very well indexed and has a very good search engine. You can order data, download data, make maps, download tables and publications, view publications, etc. As with any source it may have both more and less than you want for any specific use.
  • American FactFinder -- The American Fact Finder is meant to be the Census Bureau's main access point to data from the Censuses, the American Community Survey and a variety of other sources. Some criticize it for being hard to use for comparisons from one area to another. For a quick number or two it works like a charm.
  • US/NYS Departments of Labor -- Another exemplary source is the Local Area Unemployment Statistics unit of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each month the Bureau, in a joint undertaking with the State, provides county by county estimates of the employment status of the working age population.
  • U.S. Commerce Department -- A comprehensive handle on where and how New Yorkers earn their livings. Also features information on Big Apple employers, salaries, industries and their revenues. Especially recommended is a database maintained as part of Commerce's Regional Accounts.
  • New York Metropolitan Transportation Council -- One of the more ambitious online undertakings in making regional and city statistical data. Contains data on population, employment and income, to name a few. Not always easy to use, but well worth the effort.

Other Recommendations:

  • New York City Department of Health -- Though the website of New York City's Department of Health is utterly confusing, their annual publication, "Summary of Vital Statistics for New York" is indispensable for would be students of population dynamics. And it's free. Call the Press Office at 212-788-5290 and ask for the Office of Vital Statistics and Epidemeology. Persevere.
  • New York City Department of City Planning -- The Department of City Planning has begun to update the data based upon Census 2000. Following the links and you can find discussion of changing New York City and some PDF maps.
  • New York City's Housing and Vacancy Survey -- Every three years or so the US Census Bureau provides New York City with a census-type survey of the city's households. Mandated by the rent regulation law, it contains much that is of interest to those concerned with social and economic change at the borough and neighborhood level. A compact disc containing the microdata files for the 1991, 1993 and 1996 surveys can be purchased from the Census Bureau. The 1999 survey tables and data re available for download.

9/11/01-02: Are New Yorkers Any Safer?


Most New Yorkers probably think that government learned a great deal from September 11 about protecting the city, its symbols, landmarks, and people. The attack's immediate aftermath saw a barrage of reassuring official actions that were military-like in their precision -- securing vital areas, shutting down ground access to the city, and patrolling New York's perimeter from the skies and seas. In the months since, the official presence has withdrawn from the skies and the streets, but most New Yorkers assume hopefully that this retreat masks ongoing work behind the scenes. Citizens have no way of knowing for sure, since all anti-terror operations are secret. For those who agree with the former city official who told Richard Cohen of the Daily News that the September 11 attack meant that "the government let us down," the secrecy is yet another barrier to evaluating government actions.

Most New Yorkers -- 72 percent -- believe another terrorist attack is very or somewhat likely, according to a poll conducted by Blum & Weprin for the Daily News. A plurality of 28 percent speculate that it will probably involve smaller-scale car bombs or suicide-bombers, while 20 percent anticipate the use of biological weapons and 16 percent expect chemical weapons. Still, 72 percent say they feel safer or as safe in the city as anywhere else in the country. Are they right?

THE NYPD PROJECTS COMPETENCE

September 11 badly damaged public confidence in the federal security agencies -- the FBI and the CIA -- but enhanced confidence in the NYPD, which immediately went onto Omega Alert, its highest state of readiness. Through what Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly calls "target hardening" it has since been able to reduce the number of officers assigned to Omega posts Ă‘not an insignificant matter since some violent crime, including rape, seems to be heading back up.

Nonetheless the New York Police Department has been refocusing the problem-solving strategy that helped reduce violent crime from local crime to terrorism. The strategy's specific elements, according to policing expert George Kelling, are accurate and timely intelligence, rapid deployment, effective tactics, and relentless follow-up and assessment. The media have contained many accounts of both historic and recent federal stone-walling of the NYPD on intelligence, the greatest federal failing, of course, on September 11. All parties now insist publicly that this is a problem of the past.

Perhaps it is. The NYPD is led by a police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, who has far stronger federal security credentials than any previous commissioner. His federal experience helps him in the many instances in which the NYPD tangles with the FBI and the federal Department of Justice over jurisdiction. As Cooper Union historian Fred Siegel says, "In a time in which the distinction between war and crime has narrowed, Kelly has already worked in positions in which he had to deal with this reality. Given that we're a target in New York, it's a huge asset that he's in a good position to make a difference."

Kelly has been aggressive, assigning NYPD personnel to areas that were once exclusively federal -- training some cops abroad, sending brass to the Naval War College, expanding the intelligence office to include foreign terrorism, and setting up a medical office to coordinate with federal agencies and the city's Department of Health on biological weaponry.

He has brought in high-level people with federal experience. He hired Ret. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti as Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism to head a new division on counterterrorism and to direct the department's work with the FBI/NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force. The idea is to ensure cooperation and flow of information between the agencies Ă‘not a strength in the past. Libutti oversees the new Terrorism Security and Analysis Section, which conducts comprehensive security assessments of terrorist threats in the city. An Incident Response Team has been set up to respond to requests for assistance at suspected terrorist events. Kelly also hired a former top CIA operative, David Cohen, as the new Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence. Both deputies report directly to Kelly, who also established a new position of medical adviser to coordinate with the Department of Health.

How effective are these measures? We're unlikely to know unless -- probably until -- there is another attack. Over the last decade, the city has been the target of at least three other known terrorist plots: the 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center; the 1993 plot to bomb the United Nations and the Holland and Lincoln tunnels; and the 1997 plan to bomb the subways. New York remains the symbol of capitalism and Western culture, and a target.

SECURITY MEASURES AGAINST THE THUG AND THE TERRORIST

Even before September 11 New Yorkers had become accustomed to security measures deterring the common thug: metal detectors, photo IDs, bag searches, checks of electronic equipment. The devices are often primitive and the training of the personnel poor, but routine security checks have prevented at least some crime and perhaps some terrorism. The future, however, lies with high-tech solutions that are independent of human judgment, such as new sensing machines that can detect biologic agents, explosives, suspicious voids in truck cargo, or weapons hidden on someone a distance away. Private companies tend to be way ahead of government in spending the millions of dollars these machines cost.

The other set of measures are what the security trade calls Israeli tactics -- traffic-stopping checkpoints, street closings, intrusive questioning, random identification checks, intimate searches, and racial profiling. These are ostensibly meant to deter crime, but they are also meant to remind the public often and aggressively of the presence of terrorists and to get the public to accept the authority of the police and military. The inconvenience that accompanies these tactics is deliberate.

Giuliani's NYPD actually introduced a few of these ideas, such as the traffic-stopping checkpoints that were ostensibly for drunk-driving or seat-belt use. His 1998 pedestrian-controlling concrete barriers are another Israeli tactic, a re-engineering to encourage people to go only where they are directed and to accustom the public to accepting restrictions on their movements.

Street closings, immensely disruptive to the city's business and psyche, are increasingly being insisted on by powerful interests, including the federal government. The main federal building in Lower Manhattan, 26 Federal Plaza, has always had security problems. It houses the FBI field office that has investigated many terror plots. It houses the Immigration and Nationalization Service. Lines of anxious immigrants with federal applications snake around the building during peak periods. In late 2000, the General Service Administration installed barriers and posts and hired additional guards. Some federal officials are now urging the closing-off of Broadway(the main artery downtown), Centre Street (which leads to the Brooklyn Bridge), and Worth Street.

The public has very limited access now to most government buildings in New York. The new federal courthouse, for example, is blocked by a huge hydraulic truck barrier. Police headquarters, never really accessible since it was built during the Lindsay administration, has a 24-hour guard out front. Visitors must go through three checkpoints, carrying a government-issued photo I.D.

One bright spot on this glum governmental scene, however, is City Hall, which Mayor Bloomberg has re-opened to political events. press conferences and peaceful gatherings . They are again allowed on the steps of City Hall, as they had been from the early 19th century until the Giuliani administration.

And it's not just public buildings that have internal checkpoints and external barriers. Ugly concrete bolsters are being installed in front of otherwise handsome new buildings, like the Jewish Community Center on the West Side. The elegant glass, iron, and greystone building would be a beauty, if its exterior were not marred by white and yellow blocks of junky concrete, looking as if a sloppy contractor forgot to take them home.

NEW YORK IS NOT AN ISLAND

Much as it will seek to protect itself, New York will only be safe insofar as others protect it as well. The plane that flew into the World Trade Center took off from Logan Airport in Boston, an airport that the Federal Aviation Administration has repeatedly cited for safety violations. Everyone wants whatever went wrong at Logan Airport in Boston fixed. But what was it that failed? And will the FAA's new proposals and restrictions on passengers work? Are tactics like the FAA's ban on steak knives in first class or the abolition of curbside checking effective? Certainly neither would have prevented the hijackings.

Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, argues that aviation security is a law enforcement function, and belongs with a law enforcement agency, not the FAA. Law enforcement officials would be far less ready to listen to concerns about the weight of new cockpit doors (additional weight would affect the cost of every flight), or the extra costs of sky marshals or deputized pilots.

New York has an acute interest in these issues, and in all matters having to do with its air space. In May the FAA announced that its ban on flights by small planes and helicopters over key American cities had been lifted. Planes could return to flying under visual flight rules without asking permission to enter a city's airspace, or identifying themselves to FAA regional or local controllers.

Even before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, local officials had often been at odds with the FAA, which maintains that all small aircraft should be able to fly low, with no restrictions, over major cities and national monuments. This is in part because the FAA's role is to promote the aviation industry Ă‘not police or regulate it beyond preventing collisions. They argue that flying freely anywhere in the country is a basic American right and expectation. As an FAA representative said at a community meeting in Manhattan, the same rules that apply over Kansas wheat fields apply to flying over New York City.

There is little doubt but that Al Qaeda intends to use small planes to attack more targets. Plans to pack a corporate jet with explosives were found in a German apartment rented by suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. Cell members in the U.S. trained at flight schools, obtained small-plane pilot licenses, and sought to rent crop dusters. The FBI renewed its warning about air attacks in early July.

Even the FAA concedes that some landmarks may be vulnerable. Deferring to its sister federal agency, the National Park Service, the FAA in late June banned flights near the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and the St. Louis Gateway Arch during the July 4 holidays. The Statue of Liberty ban will continue through September 30, and forbids any plane from flying below 1,500 feet within a 6,000-foot radius of the statue.

These bans may be comforting to some, but they are not significant security measures because the FAA has no air police to stop a plane violating its rules. It can only suspend the pilot's license and levy a fine. The NYPD, though it has an aviation unit and some older helicopters, has no official enforcement role or authority in the air over the city.

Anyone with a license can rent a plane at many of the approximately 2000 general aviation airfields within a short flight of New York. Few of these have more than the most minimal security. Pilot licenses, which are easily forged and carry no photos, are seldom verified. Planes, which can fly into these fields from almost anywhere in the US, are not inspected before departure. Helicopters do not even need an airport for departureÑand in any case can stop anywhere to pick up anything.

So long as New York's skies are open, the city is undefended. An attacker boarding an airplane at LaGuardia faces far more government inspection than one flying a plane at 700 feet across 42nd Street.


Sites For Beginners:

  • New York Police Department - Hokey design but good substance, particularly the feature that allows you to check out your own neighborhood. The department has begun posting crime figures for each of the city's 76 police precincts on both its own and City Hall's official websites. Precinct maps show where crimes have recently been committed. One drawback: the only official you can email is the commissioner. Still, that's better than nothing--if the commissioner reads and answers his email. Let us know what happens when you try.
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation, Unit for Crime Reports - The FBI's uniform crime reports are the nation's most useful tracking system for both violent crimes (murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and property crimes (burglary, larceny and theft, car theft, and arson.)
  • Vera Institute of Justice - Vera is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1961, that works collaboratively with government officials to develop innovative approaches to problems and to improve the quality of urban life both here and abroad. It is currently working with both the New York City and New York State police departments to strengthen police accountability through civilian complaint review, community policing, and computerized management systems.

Other Recommendations:

  • Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Long on policy positions and recommendations, short on data. If you want data, go immediately to the bottom of the home page and click on statistics, which will yield four drop-down windows: general statistics, fatalities, statistics by youth, statistics by race. Fairly cumbersome to get local and state data but can be done.
  • Families Against Mandatory Minimums - With the slogan "Let the punishment fit the crime," this national organization of citizens uses an effective combination of hard data and individual stories and photographs to argue for the abolition of state and federal mandatory sentencing laws. Its frequently updated "Latest News" section offers a concise, efficient way to learn about and track the issues of mandatory sentencing.
  • Community Justice Exchange - Works to bring together citizens and the criminal justice system to solve neighborhood problems. Their site is austere but well-organized. It provides information and assistance to community justice planners across the country, and carries a useful section on Best Practices that includes project profiles, problem-solving strategies, and a recommended reading list. It works as a pretty good do-it-yourself course on effective community activism.


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