Fundraising For Memorial Has Yet to Begin - Sep 11, 2004
Eight months after the World Trade Center memorial design was unveiled, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have yet to find a prominent person willing to lead the foundation that's raising the money to build it. (New York Daily News)

Bush Now Supports Larger Role for New Intelligence Post - Sep 9, 2004
President Bush said on Wednesday that he wanted to give a new national intelligence director "full budgetary authority,'' a sharp shift from an earlier position and an acquiescence to a major recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission. (New York Times )

New York Officials Reject New Homeland Security Funding Plan - Sep 8, 2004
A Republican plan to give New York more anti-terror funding in time to mark Saturday's 9/11 anniversary hit a wall yesterday after Mayor Bloomberg and other lawmakers said the proposal is useless. (New York Post )

Trade Center Veterans Plan Cooperative Restaurant - Sep 7, 2004
Memory can make a bitter dish, but a group of 50 waiters, cooks and busboys who once worked at the Windows on the World restaurant are intent on honoring 73 colleagues who died when the twin towers collapsed by opening what may be New York's first cooperatively owned restaurant. (New York Times )

Despite Terror Concerns, New York Builds Glass Skyscrapers - Sep 6, 2004
Defying concerns after the attack on New York three years ago that post-9/11 construction would be dominated by brute concrete bunkers, the designers of significant new public and private buildings in the city are turning again and again to glass facades. (New York Times )

Bloomberg, Thanking Bush for Help After 9/11, Gets Mixed Reception at Convention - Aug 31, 2004
Former Democrat Mayor Bloomberg yesterday welcomed Republicans to their convention, removing any doubt about where his political allegiances lie. He threw his support behind President Bush and thanked the GOP for aiding New York in the wake of 9/11. (New York Post )

City Security is Ready for Convention, Says Homeland Security Chief - Aug 26, 2004
"The city is secure." That was the message from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge during a Republican National Convention security briefing at NYPD Headquarters yesterday. (New York Post )

9/11 Commission Publishes Two Extra Reports - Aug 24, 2004
The 9/11 Commission has released two additional reports, one on terrorism financing and the other on customs failures. (NY1)

Citigroup Atrium Reopens After Terror Warning - Aug 21, 2004
Until Thursday, Citigroup Center at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street had been off-limits to visitors and shoppers following the Aug. 1 warning that the building was a terrorist target. It was only Friday that nontenants were finally allowed to enter the building and visit some 20 shops on its ground and underground levels. (Newsday)

9/11 Families Support Immigrant Driver's License Restrictions - Aug 20, 2004
Families of Sept. 11th victims backed yesterday a controversial state plan to revoke driver's licenses from hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who got them using fake Social Security numbers. (New York Daily News)

Flag Found in Ground Zero Rubble Flies Over Reopened Post Office - Aug 20, 2004
An American flag that flew over the post office across from the World Trade Center was returned to Ground Zero yesterday during a rededication ceremony for the newly restored postal facility. The flag, found in the rubble of the WTC after 9/11, will be mounted in the lobby of the post office at 90 Church St. as a memorial. (New York Post )

Many Companies Haven't Increased Security Since 9/11 - Aug 16, 2004
Thomas E. Cavanagh set out last spring to answer a basic question: were executives of midsize companies - including potentially vulnerable industries like transportation, financial services, utilities and telecommunications - spending more on security than they did before 9/11? The results were not without surprises: almost half the roughly 100 companies on which he gained information had not increased annual spending on security at all after Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Tourist or Terrorist? - Aug 12, 2004
The family pictures depict what relatives say is the real Kamran Akhtar: a loving family man, not a video-shooting potential terrorist. (New York Daily News)

Responding to Warning, Feds Take Over Helicopter Security - Aug 10, 2004
Federal security officers will take over the screening of all passengers on helicopter tours in New York City, after officials found that suspected Qaeda operatives in Pakistan had photographs, a brochure and other information about the tours. (New York Times)

Terror Threat "Constant" Says Police Commissioner - Aug 9, 2004
The terror threat to the city is "fairly constant" - but New Yorkers should not shrug off heightened alerts, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. (New York Daily News)

Al Qaeda Files Show City's Vulnerabilities - Aug 9, 2004
Computers and disks seized from an Al Qaeda operative contain chilling details of how vulnerable some landmarks are and how terrorists could use limo bombs, hijacked helicopters and other diabolical schemes to destroy them. (New York Daily News)

City Faces Biggest Security Challenge Yet at End of August - Aug 8, 2004
The NYPD's counterterrorism playbook will face its biggest, and most expensive, test in only three weeks. Hosting the Republican National Convention would be taxing enough. But cops also will be playing defense for the U.S. Open, the Yankees and Mets when the GOP comes to town. (New York Daily News)

New York's Share of Security Funds Dropped This Year - Aug 7, 2004
Despite ominous new threats of attacks, New York state's share of federal anti-terror money actually went down this year, according to a startling new congressional report released yesterday. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Knew About Terror Warning in Advance - Aug 7, 2004
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he knew of the terror alerts concerning financial institutions in Washington and the New York region two days before the Bush administration publicly released the information. But Mr. Bloomberg, speaking on his weekly radio program, added that he decided not to alert city residents immediately because he wanted to give city officials time to make preparations and to respond to public concerns that would be raised. The alert was publicly issued on Sunday. (New York Times)

Bin Laden May Have Sent Man to Case NY Buildings - Aug 7, 2004
A terror suspect jailed in London may have been sent by Osama Bin Laden to personally case New York City buildings that are now the subject of heightened orange alert security measures. (New York Daily News)

Mayor: Get Used to Tight Security - Aug 7, 2004
As police continued their tight grip on the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told New Yorkers on Friday to get used to the extra security because it's going to be around for some time. (Newsday)

Downtowners React to Terror Warning - Aug 7, 2004
It wasn’t quite business as usual on Monday, as Downtowners went about their routines amid heightened security in response to terror threats against the Citigroup buildings and the New York Stock Exchange. But many residents and workers greeted the alert with resolve, saying it would not cause them to change their behavior. (Downtown Express)

WTC Cultural Institutions Tell Residents What to Expect - Aug 7, 2004
Representatives from the four cultural institutions selected for the arts and museum complex at the redeveloped World Trade Center site told residents what kinds of amenities they could expect when the complex opens in five years. (Downtown Express)

Traffic from Terror Alerts Costing City - Aug 6, 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed concern yesterday that grinding traffic from terror-related restrictions on bridges and tunnels might have affected the city's finances. (Newsday)

Police Make $1.5 Million in Overtime This Week, Due to Security Measures - Aug 5, 2004
Safety measures prompted by this week's increased security alert will drive the Police Department's anti-terrorism-related overtime to about $1.5 million for the week, a 50 percent increase over the norm, officials said yesterday. (Newsday)

Restrictions on Trucks Entering Manhattan Eased - Aug 5, 2004
Three days after sharply increasing security in response to a federal alert about possible terrorist plots, the New York City Police Department last night partly lifted its ban on trucks and vans entering Manhattan. (New York Times)

Tourists Not Letting Terrorists Win - Aug 5, 2004
The tourists aren't letting the terrorists win. New York City welcomed a record 37.8 million visitors in 2003, bringing more than an estimated $16 billion into the local economy, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Statue of Liberty Reopens Under Heavy Security - Aug 4, 2004
Lady Liberty is back as a beacon for huddled masses of tourists after being closed for nearly three years following the 9/11 terror attacks. (New York Daily News)

After Terror Alert, How Long to Keep Extra Security in Place? - Aug 4, 2004
Just two days after the new terror alerts, questions - and even resentment - arose from inside the cross hairs, and police officials coordinating stepped-up security measures were looking ahead to when it would be possible to step back down. (New York Times)

Straining With Security Costs, City Officials Remind Washington of Funding Needs - Aug 4, 2004
The city's stepped-up security, which includes posting cops outside major financial firms and checking trucks for possible explosives, is costing New York an estimated $5 million a week, NYPD sources said. But don't expect the feds to pick up much of the tab, which comes amid new evidence Al Qaeda plotted to blow up the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup building. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Takes Current Threat More Seriously Than Previous Ones - Aug 4, 2004
Since the day Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office, his responses to numerous federal warnings about possible terrorist attacks have been almost identical. Without exactly being dismissive, he has told New Yorkers to leave security concerns “to the professionals,” and then promptly cantered around the city, spreading the word that the city is safe and open for business. This week, however, while continuing his breakneck tours of the five boroughs, Mr. Bloomberg has taken a slightly different tack, viewing the latest alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security in a very sober light. During a television interview yesterday, (New York Times)

FBI Fears Qaeda Operatives Are in New York - Aug 4, 2004
The FBI is monitoring suspected Al Qaeda operatives and members of two allied terror groups in the New York City area, the FBI's New York director said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Security Slows Brooklyn Traffic - Aug 4, 2004
Anti-terror roadblocks turned Brooklyn into a parking lot yesterday morning, pushing drivers to the breaking point and forcing police to retool their traffic strategy for today. (New York Daily News)

Another Day, Another Security Alert - Aug 4, 2004
New Yorkers adjusted their schedules and continued to cope on the second business day of terrorist-inspired threats that officials described as real, albeit based partially on old information. (Newsday)

Working to Calm New Yorkers During Terror Alert - Aug 4, 2004
What’s happening behind closed doors at the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and the White House is above our security clearance. And the complex engineering and construction work required to secure buildings like the Citigroup tower against terrorist attack is beyond our layman’s understanding. But Laura Bush sitting in the atrium of the Citigroup Center, joined by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki—especially in the weeks leading up to the Republican National Convention—as armed gunmen trawl Manhattan’s streets, is something that we all can understand. (New York Observer)

Attack is Planned for Early September, Says Qaeda Operative - Aug 3, 2004
More financial institutions than previously disclosed may be at risk of attack, and an al-Qaida operative has told British intelligence that the group's target date is early September, intelligence sources said yesterday. (Newsday)

Intelligence Leading to Terror Warning Was Years Old - Aug 3, 2004
Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way. But the officials continued to regard the information as significant and troubling because the reconnaissance already conducted has provided Al Qaeda with the knowledge necessary to carry out attacks against the sites in Manhattan, Washington and Newark (New York Times)

For New York, Terror Alert Has Economic Consequences - Aug 3, 2004
Prompted by warnings from Washington that Al Qaeda might try to strike New York's financial heart again, more-visible security measures returned to New York yesterday as the city responded to apparent threats against specific buildings for the first time. The stepped-up measures led to worries that the security delays and psychological effects of the terrorism threat will act as a brake on a city economy that is just beginning to rev up after a prolonged slump. (New York Times)

New Yorkers Carry On Despite Terror Alert - Aug 3, 2004
New Yorkers forged on in the face of the latest Al Qaeda terror threat yesterday as the First Lady and her daughters made a morale-boosting mission to the jittery city. (New York Daily News)

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Earmarks $495 Million for Security - Aug 3, 2004
The MTA has earmarked $495 million toward "enhancing security readiness" in an effort to protect the region's vast rail network, officials said yesterday. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Takes His Own Advice on Terror Alert - Aug 3, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg took his own advice yesterday and went about his day as usual - riding the subways, breaking ground on a new office tower, even hosting a relaxed barbecue at Gracie Mansion for city workers. (New York Daily News)

Security Measures Not So Hard on Traffic, After All - Aug 3, 2004
Light traffic met heavy security yesterday on New York streets, where new checkpoints and road closings caused only isolated backups, officials said. (New York Daily News)

Terror Alert Means Busy Day for Police - Aug 3, 2004
A day after a chilling federal warning of a possible terror strike, reports of unattended bags had edgy cops racing from call to call throughout the city. Skittish residents watched with curiosity and fear. (New York Daily News)

On Wall Street, Traders Ignore Terror Alert - Aug 3, 2004
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday defied the terror warnings and went about their business — the business of making money. (New York Post)

First Lady, Daughters Visit Citibank Building - Aug 3, 2004
First Lady Laura Bush and her twin daughters paid a surprise visit to the Citigroup Center yesterday, joining Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki to cheer on employees who ignored the terror threat and reported for work. (New York Post)

Warnings Won't Affect Convention - Aug 3, 2004
New warnings about possible terrorist attacks on Manhattan financial institutions won't affect security for the upcoming Republican National Convention, authorities and security experts said Monday. (Newsday)

Bloomberg on Warnings: Go About Your Business - Aug 2, 2004
Go about your business. That was the message from Mayor Bloomberg yesterday. (New York Post)

Security Increased in New York, New Jersey, Washington - Aug 2, 2004
New York City, Washington, the State of New Jersey and major financial institutions in Manhattan and northern New Jersey stepped up security yesterday to the highest levels since the terrorist attacks of three years ago after the Bush administration warned of alarming new intelligence reports targeting buildings and organizations at the heart of capitalism in America. (New York Times)

Jitters Spread With News of Terror Warning - Aug 2, 2004
Security guards gathered around a radio in the lobby of the Citicorp Center yesterday as Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge named the building as a potential terror target. Cops welded shut manhole covers and searched trucks near the Wall St. home of the New York Stock Exchange. Across the river in Newark, police in flak jackets erected concrete barriers in front of the Prudential Plaza, yet another possible target. (New York Daily News)

Terror Warnings Will Bring Traffic Troubles - Aug 2, 2004
Terror fears are expected to bring traffic headaches throughout the city this morning, as police impose restrictions on bridges and tunnels, as well as streets around potential targets. (New York Daily News)

Statue of Liberty Under Guard at Time of Planned Reopening - Aug 2, 2004
Although officials cited only financial institutions in their latest terrorist warning, authorities will pay close attention to the Statue of Liberty, which opens to the public tomorrow for the first time since 9/11. (New York Post)

President Bush Preparing to Address 9/11 Commission's Recommendations - Aug 2, 2004
President Bush is prepared to announce within days a package of steps to carry out recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, possibly including the creation of a new post of national intelligence director, but he is wary of following the panel's recommendation that the official work within the White House, senior administration officials said Friday. (New York Times)

Feds Warn of Possible Attack on NYC "Icons" - Aug 1, 2004
(Associated Press)

NYPD Heightens Security in Response to Threats - Aug 1, 2004
The New York Police Department, responding to new information that terrorists may be planning to attack corporations or large public institutions in the city, advised building managers and corporate security personnel on Saturday night to step up their procedures to guard against vehicles rigged with explosives and against chemical agents placed in ventilation systems. (New York Times )

9/11 Commission Chair: Attacks Could Have Been Prevented - Jul 27, 2004
The chairman of the 9/11 commission, Thomas Kean, said Sunday that he believes the attacks could have prevented. (NY1)

Cantor Fitzgerald Finds New Home in Midtown - Jul 27, 2004
Nearly three years after 658 Cantor Fitgerald employees were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, the stock and bond trading company has found a new home five miles from ground zero, on the East Side of Manhattan. Cantor signed a lease last week to move into space now occupied by Bloomberg L.P., the business information company founded by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at Park Avenue and 59th Street, where Cantor plans to erect a monument to the co-workers who died in the Sept. 11 attack. (New York Times)

Congress Will Hold Hearings to Discuss 9/11 Commission's Proposed Reforms - Jul 25, 2004
Senate and House committees will hold an unusual round of August hearings on intelligence reform after leaders of the Sept. 11 commission warned that America remained vulnerable to another deadly terror strike. (Associated Press)

Bloomberg Says 9/11 Commission Wrong About City's Emergency Response - Jul 24, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg vehemently disagreed with the 9/11 commission's assessment that his administration has failed to establish clear lines of command among city agencies responding to a future terrorist attack. (New York Daily News)

Senator Clinton Criticizes Bush on Security Funding - Jul 24, 2004
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that President Bush has been an ineffective leader who "dithered" in supplying anti-terrorism money to the most threatened states. (Associated Press)

9/11 Commission Final Report Calls for Intelligence Overhaul - Jul 23, 2004
The bipartisan commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks concluded in its unanimous final report on Thursday that the attacks "were a shock but they should not have come as a surprise." It warned that without a historic restructuring of the nation's intelligence agencies and a new emphasis on diplomacy, the United States would leave itself open to an even more catastrophic attack. (New York Times)

New York City Not Getting Needed Security Cash, Says 9/11 Commission - Jul 23, 2004
New York City's anti-terror resources are being grossly underfunded by the White House and Congress, which treat the critical money as "pork-barrel spending," the new 9/11 report charges. (New York Post )

9/11 Families Ambivalent About Commission Report - Jul 23, 2004
As the nation digested a 567-page report detailing the failures of intelligence agencies, politicians and first responders before and on Sept. 11, 2001, many of those most directly affected by the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 found yesterday that they weren't particularly interested in its conclusions. (Newsday)

Study Determines Location of Deaths on 9/11 - Jul 22, 2004
Now, nearly three years after the attack, federal investigators with the National Institute of Standards and Technology have come up with the most comprehensive, but still not final, tally of just who died where on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

Judge Tells WTC Developer, Architect, to Settle Dispute Through Mediation - Jul 22, 2004
A judge yesterday ordered World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and disgruntled architect Daniel Libeskind to submit their $800,000 fee dispute to mediation. (New York Daily News)

Video Show Hijackers in Airport on September 11 - Jul 22, 2004
Surveillance video from Washington Dulles International Airport the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, shows four of the five hijackers being pulled aside to undergo additional scrutiny after setting off metal detectors but then permitted to board the fateful flight that crashed into the Pentagon. (Associated Press)

Victims' Families Briefed on 9/11 Commission Report - Jul 22, 2004
Victims’ family members, Bush administration officials and lawmakers are being briefed on the 9/11 commission’s final report Wednesday, a day before the findings will be made public. (NY1)

Immigrants Say Post-9/11 Crackdown Persists - Jul 20, 2004
Nearly three years after 9/11, New York immigrants, their determined advocates and Catholic clergy told an emotional forum Monday that the effects of heightened enforcement of immigration laws are felt every day. (Newsday)

9/11 Commission Report to Criticize NYC Response - Jul 20, 2004
Confusion between city police officers and firefighters during the World Trade Center attack will reportedly be a major topic in the scathing final report the federal 9/11 commission is expected to release on Thursday. (NY1)

New York Slow to Fix 9/11 Flaws, Says Commission - Jul 19, 2004
New York still has not fixed some of the crucial problems faced by city cops and firefighters on 9/11, the commission probing the 2001 terrorist attacks will say this week. (New York Daily News)

City Opens Lab to Combat Bioterrorism - Jul 14, 2004
Nearly three years after anthrax attacks in New York City brought home the danger that bioterrorism poses to the world, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday announced the opening of a $16 million high-security laboratory to help detect and deal with future threats. (New York Times)

Workers Prepare for Demolition of Last Structural Obstacle to Freedom Tower - Jul 12, 2004
Deep within the smoke-blackened ruins of an underground parking garage, 30 workers are installing tendonlike bundles of steel cable, called tiebacks, to anchor the concrete perimeter foundation wall to bedrock. This will permit the demolition in coming months of the last major structural vestige of the old World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Wall Street May Be Next Terror Target - Jul 11, 2004
U.S. intelligence agencies are growing increasingly concerned that al Qaeda's next target in the United States could be the heart of America's economy — Wall Street. (New York Post)

Convention Planners Fear Train Bombing - Jul 11, 2004
Security planners for the upcoming political conventions are highly concerned about a train bombing and are taking unprecedented steps to safeguard subway and commuter lines in host cities New York and Boston. (Newsday)

Despite Alert, Police Have Received No New Intelligence on Attack in City - Jul 9, 2004
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was unfazed by Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge's announcement yesterday that al-Qaida might attack the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden, saying the city has received no new intelligence and won't change its alert status. (Newsday)

Grants Coming for Ground Zero Cultural Institutions - Jul 8, 2004
The agency leading the Ground Zero rebuilding is expected today to approve $1.5 million in grants for the creation of a cultural center at the site, sources said. (Newsday)

On Cornerstone, Inscription Speaks with Local Accent - Jul 8, 2004
It could have been imperial Trajan. Or elegant Bodoni. Or generic Helvetica. But the search for the ideal typeface to be inscribed on the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site ended simply, in Gotham. (New York Times)

Head of Victims Compensation Fund Honored - Jul 5, 2004
A legal organization has awarded a lifetime achievement award to the head of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Special Master Kenneth Feinberg received the award from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America at the group's annual convention in Boston. (NY1)

City Looks to Blast-Proof Subways - Jul 4, 2004
The MTA is looking into a plan to secure subway tunnels with a military-style, lightweight material that would contain the force of a bomb blast, The Post has learned. (New York Post)

City Prepares Cops for Chemical Attack - Jul 4, 2004
Behind the gates of a former Brooklyn grade school, the NYPD is mustering an army of 10,000 cops that will be ready to march into the chaos of a chemical, biological or nuclear terror strike - just in time for the upcoming Republican National Convention. (New York Post)

Housing Complex Residents Split on Rebuilding Project - Jul 3, 2004
With the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation considering the Chatham Green Houses complex as a potential site for an underground parking garage, the building’s shareholders and board members are already split as to whether the project would be a blessing or a boondoggle. (Downtown Express)

Lawyers of Post-9/11 Detainees Sue Prison For Videotaping Meetings With Clients - Jul 2, 2004
When lawyers from the Legal Aid Society made their way into the federal detention center in Brooklyn in the fall of 2001 to meet with detainees, they said, they were alarmed to see video cameras on the walls. Concerned about the confidentiality of their conversations with their shackled clients - immigrant detainees who were rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks - the lawyers asked whether they were being taped. Prison officials assured them, they say, that the cameras were turned off. (New York Times)

Pedestal of Statue of Liberty to Open August 3rd - Jul 1, 2004
Visitors will be able to again enter the Statue of Liberty on Aug. 3, after being closed for nearly three years of safety and security improvements, the National Parks Service said yesterday. (New York Times)

Bush Will Not Visit Ground Zero - Jun 30, 2004
President Bush will make no visits to Ground Zero during this summer's Republican National Convention, his campaign manager said yesterday. But he was quick to note that the president's not making the trip does not indicate any lack of respect. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Asks Cheney for More Security Cash - Jun 30, 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent a half hour at the St. Regis Hotel yesterday dunning Vice President Dick Cheney for more homeland security cash before switching the subject to their childhood baseball card collections. (Newsday)

Train Stations Installing Bomb-Proof Garbage Cans - Jun 28, 2004
A growing number of bomb-proof garbage bins have sprouted at Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station in an effort to thwart any plans by terrorists to put explosive devices inside them, officials said. (New York Post)

Assemblyman Says Governor Reroutes NYC Security Funds to Suburbs - Jun 27, 2004
A top Democrat is criticizing Gov. Pataki for redirecting millions of dollars in anti-terrorism aid from New York City and other high-need urban areas to the suburbs. Assemblyman Scott Stringer (D-Manhattan) said Pataki last year redirected as much as $19 million of the $125 million earmarked for New York City, with $12.5 million going to the MTA, and $2 million each going to the suburbs of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. (New York Post)

New Security Push on Subways Asks Straphangers to Contribute - Jun 24, 2004
The MTA is ratcheting up its efforts to secure subways and commuter trains from terror attacks by expanding an awareness campaign encouraging riders to notify cops if they see a suspicious package or unattended bag, officials said yesterday. (New York Post )

In Continuation of Feud Over Security Funds, Congressman Rips Bloomberg - Jun 23, 2004
The Ohio congressman dissed by Mayor Bloomberg for sinking a homeland security bill lashed back yesterday. "It's unfortunate that instead of really working with the Congress on the war against terrorism, the mayor instead chooses time and again to play these silly press games," said Rep. Bob Ney's spokesman Brian Walsh. (New York Daily News)

Bloomberg Explains His Lunch Offense on Security Funds - Jun 23, 2004
Diss my city and there will be political ramifications, a tough-talking Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. The mayor was explaining why on Monday, he barred Ohio Rep. Bob Ney from a Republican congressional campaign committee get-together that had been scheduled at his Upper East Side townhouse. (Newsday)

Bloomberg Cancels Republican Fundraiser in Feud over Security Funds - Jun 22, 2004
A fund-raiser in Mayor Bloomberg's home for the National Republican Congressional Committee was abruptly dropped yesterday in a growing feud over the allocation of federal funds to fight terrorism. (New York Post )

Trauma Cases Related to 9/11 Continue to Emerge - Jun 21, 2004
An average of 179 firefighters a month - new cases all - seek help from the FDNY's counseling services unit to deal with Sept. 11-related trauma, according to the unit's director, Malachy Corrigan. (New York Daily News)

Convention Gives City a Chance to Showcase Post 9/11 Security - Jun 20, 2004
This summer's Grand Old Party - the Republican National Convention - is New York's chance to showcase its post-9/11 appeal, but the challenge will be selling that message through the noise about security and protesters. (New York Daily News)

House Votes Down New York's Security Funding Initiative - Jun 19, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg blasted an early morning House vote yesterday that rejected an effort by New York-area lawmakers to funnel homeland security dollars to high-risk cities. (New York Daily News)

NYC Drops out of National Association of Counties Over Homeland Security Dispute - Jun 19, 2004
New York City has dropped out of a national group of local governments that Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused of being a "pork barrel" lobbyist for rural areas on the issue of homeland security funding. (Newsday )

In Wrenching Detail, Commission Recounts Morning of 9/11 - Jun 18, 2004
The nation has relived that morning countless times since Sept. 11, 2001, but never with the harrowing detail and minute-by-minute drama of the staff report released Thursday by the independent commission investigating the attacks. The 29-page report recounts a frenetic 149 minutes unlike anything ever faced by the nation's aviation and military defenses. And it details moments both of unflinching calm, like actions by the air traffic controllers who managed to orchestrate the landings of all 4,500 flights aloft, and of maddening miscommunications, mangled coordination and broken chains of command. (New York Times)

Congressman Calls for Full Reopening of Statue of Liberty - Jun 18, 2004
The Statue of Liberty should be reopened to her crown - not just to her feet - by July 31, Rep. Anthony Weiner said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Commission Will Scrutinize Air Defense on Last Day of Hearings - Jun 17, 2004
The 9/11 commission is focusing on the nation’s air defenses on its final day of hearings Thursday, asking whether one or more of the hijacked airliners could have been intercepted if military jets had been scrambled faster. (NY1)

Victims Compensation Fund Ends Tasks, But Controversies Remain - Jun 17, 2004
The federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund may be closing its doors, but a number of controversies remain. Despite the fund's efforts to dissuade people from suing the airlines and others, 108 lawsuits have been filed in federal court, along with an unknown number of personal injury claims. (Newsday)

American Air Defense Was Unprepared for Attacks, Says 9/11 Commission - Jun 16, 2004
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has found that the Pentagon's domestic air-defense command was disastrously unprepared for a major terrorist strike on American soil and was slow and confused in its response to the hijackings that morning, according to officials who have read a draft report of the commission's findings. (New York Times)

Sharpton Pushes For Diversity in Ground Zero Construction - Jun 11, 2004
The Rev. Al Sharpton plans to lead a march from Ground Zero to City Hall on June 21 to convince World Trade Center development officials to steer more construction jobs to blacks and Latinos. (Newsday)

Bloomberg Calls on Homeland Security Chief to Stand Up to Congress on Funds - Jun 5, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg called yesterday on the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge, to stand up to Congress over what the mayor has repeatedly characterized as its efforts to shortchange New York City on anti-terrorism money. (New York Times)

FBI Criticizes NYPD for Stealing Glory in Terrorist Arrest - Jun 4, 2004
New York's FBI director has put his anger at NYPD officials into words - firing off an internal memo that blasted them for hogging the credit for last week's terrorist arrest. (New York Daily News)

Kentucky Woman Quilts 9/11 Tribute - Jun 4, 2004
Nearly three years after the attack on the World Trade Center, Mary M. Henderson wants to let the city’s firefighters know she hasn’t forgotten their sacrifice and loss. The Kentucky grandmother spent more than a year cross-stitching the names and company affiliations of all 343 firefighters who died on 9/11 onto a king-sized quilt. Now that it’s done, Henderson, 48, would like to deliver her red-white-and-blue tribute to the firefighters in Ten House across from ground zero. (Downtown Express)

As New York Fumes, Wyoming Says It Needs Antiterror Funding Too - Jun 1, 2004
It is hard to imagine there are many terrorist threats in a place where tumbleweeds regularly blow down the streets, as they do in Cheyenne, Wyoming's largest city and state capital. For those who doubt, however, Wyoming officials point to the two men, thought by the state police to be white supremacists, who were stopped while carrying nine pipe bombs in the rented trailer attached to their rented truck. Wyoming officials disposed of the bombs using a robot bought with a federal antiterrorism grant. That grant was part of the very antiterrorism program that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently called "pork barrel politics at its worst." (New York Times)

Port Authority Police Had Problems on 9/11 As Well - Jun 1, 2004
With all the focus on the city's fire and police agencies, the role of the Port Authority Police in the Sept 11, 2001 response seemed almost overlooked during the 911 Commission hearings. About 200 Port Authority cops responded to the crisis, and 37 officers and supervisors were killed -- the largest single-day loss of life for a police department in the country's history. While the department played a key role in evacuations, the 911 Commission staff found in a preliminary report that its response was hampered by the same kinds of problems that the city police and fire departments experienced. (Newsday)

9/11 Commission Exposed Problems in Rescue Effort - Jun 1, 2004
The city's response on Sept. 11, 2001 wasn't the picture of coordination that former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his emergency leaders painted for the 9/11 commission, the panel's staff concluded. Newsday offers a look at some of the conclusions reached, and detail developed, by the staff or in testimony before the commission in New York last month. (Newsday)

Mistress of 9/11 Victim Sues His Widow For Greater Share of Benefits - May 28, 2004
The mistress of a Port Authority officer who died in the attack on the World Trade Center is suing his widow, seeking a greater share of benefits for a child from their affair (New York Post)

Police Fear Attack in New York - May 27, 2004
Police officials fear that New York will be hit with another Al Qaeda terror strike, according to an NYPD memo obtained by the Daily News. (New York Daily News)

New Yorkers Shrug Off Terror Warnings - May 27, 2004
New Yorkers took the latest terror warnings in stride. They believe the city is a likely terror target, particularly when the Republican National Convention is at Madison Square Garden this summer. But they have lived through too many alerts in recent years to do anything different. (New York Daily News)

Officials Tell New Yorkers Not to Worry About Warnings - May 27, 2004
Relax, New York - and leave the worrying to us. That was the message of calm delivered yesterday by Gov. Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, even as the White House warned of possible terror attacks against the U.S. in the coming months. (New York Daily News)

News Program Offers Cops Federal Terrorism Information - May 26, 2004
Cops on the beat in New York and Vermont will be able to instantly check suspects against the U.S. government's terrorist watch lists under a first-of-its-kind, FBI-coordinated program announced Tuesday. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the system will give state and local police a way of checking 12 databases maintained by federal agencies, and provide officers with a direct line to federal agents to report suspicious activities. (Associated Press)

Ridge Warns of Summer Attacks; Does Not Name NYC Specifically - May 26, 2004
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday that new information on a terrorist threat against the United States "talks about an attack" but said there is no need to raise the national alert level. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said city officials had not been advised that terrorists were plotting an attack there. (Associated Press)

1,700 Cops, Firefighters Sue City Over 9/11 Sicknesses - May 24, 2004
In a dramatic sign of escalating health problems stemming from 9/11, more than 1,700 cops and firefighters have filed lawsuits against the city claiming they were sickened by work at Ground Zero or the Fresh Kills landfill. To handle the unprecedented legal overload, the city's Law Department set up a special division to tackle 9/11 claims and appointed attorney Kenneth Becker as chief of the World Trade Center unit. (New York Daily News)

Developing New Standards for Emergency Preparedness after 9/11 - May 24, 2004
Newsweek’s Jennifer Barrett spoke with Arthur E. Cote, of the American National Standards Institute and the National Fire Protection Association two groups working together to establish national emergency preparedness standards. Cote spoke about what went wrong on September 11 and how the new standards will address those problems. Excerpts: (Newsweek)

In Time of Terror, Police Commissioner Gains Power - May 24, 2004
At a time when New York finds itself on the front lines in the worldwide battle with terror, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is emerging as the city's top general, a city official with unparalleled influence in the Bloomberg administration. Perhaps the most powerful police commissioner in a generation, he wields enormous clout in City Hall as he strives to oversee the city's response to the terror threat and the safety of its streets, say former city officials and senior aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. (New York Times)

It May Take 2nd Attack To Fix Intelligence Problems, Says 9/11 Commissioner - May 23, 2004
It may take another catastrophic attack on America before there is the political will to fix problems with the nation's intelligence and counterterrorism efforts, the chairman of the 9/11 commission told the Daily News. The commission, which completed two days of emotional hearings in Manhattan last week, is drafting a blueprint for how Congress and President Bush can revamp the system that allowed 19 hijackers to conduct the most deadly terror attack in U.S. history. (New York Daily News)

Senator Recommends Military-Like Communication for NYC's First Responders - May 23, 2004
Police, firefighters and EMTs should adapt military communication techniques and technology when responding to emergencies, Sen. Chuck Schumer said yesterday. Schumer is introducing a bill to establish a new agency responsible for keeping rescue workers on the same wavelength. (New York Post)

Bloomberg: Lack of Funding Increases Likelihood of Terrorist Attack - May 20, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg told the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks yesterday that the federal government is placing New York City in greater danger by providing too little money to defend the city against future terrorist attacks. Describing the nation's counterterrorism budget as "pork barrel politics at its worst,'' Mr. Bloomberg told the commission that under current spending formulas, states and cities with little threat of being attacked are getting far more in federal subsidies per capita than New York. "It's the kind of shortsighted 'me first' nonsense that gives Washington a bad name,'' the mayor said, and "has the effect of aiding and abetting those who hate us and plot against us." (New York Times)

Giuliani Left in Tough Spot After Testimony From His Former Commissioners - May 19, 2004
Three top aides to Rudolph Giuliani left the ex-mayor with much to explain today when he faces the Sept. 11 commission. Giuliani's last police, fire and emergency management chiefs bumped and weaved their way through the panel's questions, in the bureaucratic style they once honed before the City Council. (Newsday)

Police Commissioners Offer Different Perspectives to Panel - May 17, 2004
When the city's top cop and his predecessor testify tomorrow before the Sept. 11 commission, they will bring two very different perspectives on the NYPD's role in a terror-plagued world. (New York Daily News)

City Stages Anti-Terror Drill Downtown - May 17, 2004
More than 1,000 emergency workers descended on the Bowling Green subway station before dawn yesterday as two explosions ripped through the tunnel. In this staged nightmare, 40 people were killed and 170 injured - triggering a coordinated response from 20 city, state and federal agencies. (New York Daily News)

Mayor Assails Critics of Emergency Response Plan - May 17, 2004
Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday attacked critics who say his new plan to coordinate the city's response to emergencies does not go far enough to prevent squabbling and confusion between the Police and Fire Departments. "I don't know what they do for a living, but they should probably go back to whatever they do," Mr. Bloomberg said in his first public remarks since the new incident command system was announced Friday. (New York Times)

Gang Members Charged With Terrorism Under New State Law - May 14, 2004
Five members of a Bronx gang of violent Mexican soccer enthusiasts have been charged with terrorism and other offenses under an anti-terror law that went into effect a week after 9/11, cops said yesterday. The five - members of the so-called St. James Boys - are accused of murder, manslaughter, weapons possession, assault and robbery, among other crimes. The gang members were the first suspects charged with terrorism under the state law, which went into effect Sept. 17, 2001. (New York Post)

Council: MTA Dragging on Terror Plans - May 14, 2004
The MTA's counter-terrorism plans are unfolding too slowly, according to City Council members who say the pace jeopardizes safety. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials testified in a council hearing Thursday that the agency plans to spend at least $200 million of $591 million in available security funds. But they could not say when they would spend the rest of the money, triggering criticism from council members. (Newsday)

Council Speaker Wants Volunteer Disaster Worker Program - May 11, 2004
Council Speaker Gifford Miller wants to enlist an army of City University students to help cops and firefighters in case of another disaster. "During a disaster, first responders may not be able to address every emergency in every neighborhood," Miller told a workshop on preparedness, held yesterday at one of CUNY's campuses, Baruch College in Manhattan. (New York Post)

Manhattan Wind Studied to Defend Against Chemical Attack - May 10, 2004
Researchers are reportedly planning to release a harmless gas in Manhattan to study how chemicals might disperse in the event of a terrorist attack. According to Newsday, a time and place have not been set, but the experiment could take place around Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building. (NY1)

Security Guards Attempt to Arrest Man For Photographing Building - May 10, 2004
Camera buff Ram Porat didn't think twice about snapping pictures of an Upper West Side housing complex - until he was surrounded by security guards with post-9/11 jitters who put him under "civilian arrest." Now Porat, 43, has filed a lawsuit against the Lincoln Towers complex and the city, saying his rights were violated by the guards who demanded he stop taking pictures and the cops who charged him with trespassing at their request. (New York Post)

MTA Failing on Antiterror Measures, Says Ex-Engineer - May 7, 2004
The MTA could be doing a "faster and cheaper" job of protecting the subway system from a terror attack, and has failed to focus on the system's most vulnerable spots, such as the East River tunnels, a former transit engineer said yesterday. (New York Post)

Freedom Tower Will Break Ground on July 4 - May 6, 2004
Groundbreaking for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower - the signature new building at Ground Zero - will take place on the Fourth of July, Gov. Pataki said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Miller Blasts Mayor for Personal Anti-Missle System - May 6, 2004
Council Speaker Gifford Miller charged yesterday that Mayor Bloomberg is sending a mixed message by reportedly equipping his corporate jets with a missile defense system while insisting everyone is safe. "This is a mayor who tells New Yorkers to go about their business," said Miller, who is considering a mayoral run in 2005. "But not every New Yorker can go about their business with a $5 million anti-missile system. If he knows something we don't, he should tell us before we book our next flight," Miller added. (New York Post )

Next Anti-Terror Drill Planned For Subways - May 2, 2004
The city's next high-profile disaster drill will simulate a subway incident in lower Manhattan, sources said. The mock mishap is planned in and around the Bowling Green station for early on May 16, a Sunday, when mass transit use is relatively sparse. (Newsday )

Governor Wants Additional Anti-Terror Team For New York - Apr 30, 2004
Gov. George Pataki is pushing federal authorities to launch a second specialized National Guard team in New York to detect weapons of mass destruction, saying the current outfit needs more help. Currently, 31 states have Civil Support Teams to screen for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. The group in New York has been used at times of heightened security alerts, often in New York City. (Albany Times Union)

Homeland Security Funds Going To Communities That Don't Need It, Finds Congressional Study - Apr 28, 2004
Millions of dollars in federal homeland security aid has gone to communities that don't need it, and billions more remain unspent, according to a congressional study released Tuesday. The report affirms complaints of New York officials who say they've been shortchanged in homeland security grants and will fuel their push to require that the federal government give a greater share of funds to high-risk areas. (Newsday)

$5 Billion in Antiterror Aid Reportedly Stuck in Pipeline - Apr 28, 2004
More than $5 billion in federal money to help communities brace for terrorist attacks has not yet reached the local authorities and remains stuck in the administrative pipeline, Congressional officials said Tuesday. That is more than 80 percent of the money approved by Congress to help cities, counties and states since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and efforts to prepare for possible attacks may be lagging as a result, a new Congressional analysis has found. (New York Times)

New York Emergency Responders Not Prepared for Chemical Attack - Apr 28, 2004
More than two years after 9/11 and nine years after a Japanese cult released a toxic gas on the Tokyo subway system, the majority of New York City's emergency medical technicians are not properly trained to enter a contaminated zone and treat victims, officials said Tuesday. Of 3,000 paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the city, only 133 have the necessary training. (New York Times)

After Nine Month Delay, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Begins To Spend Security Funds - Apr 27, 2004
The MTA began spending $591 million in security funds Monday, nine months after the money was first approved. A committee that oversees major projects approved the hiring of four firms to bolster the system's terrorism preparedness through several projects. Officials declined to say what exactly the firms will do, citing security concerns. (Newsday)

First Class Graduates From Fire Department's Anti-Terror School - Apr 27, 2004
A group of elite firefighters graduated yesterday from the FDNY's first-ever anti-terror school. In a City Hall ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg praised the graduates - top fire chiefs, captains, marshals and medics - who spent 14 weeks delving into the minds and means of the world's vilest terrorists. (New York Daily News)

Terrorism Concerns Inspire More Training for Transit Workers - Apr 27, 2004
Although the need to evacuate subway trains because of fires or other problems has always been a part of travel underground, emergency training for transit workers has taken on newfound importance in a jittery world of orange alerts and terrorist threats. Partly because of terrorism concerns, transit officials are planning to offer the daylong fire safety and evacuation training sessions to more workers and make those who have already gone through it do so more often. (New York Times)

9/11 Commission to Criticize Domestic Air Defense System - Apr 25, 2004
The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is expected to offer sharp criticism of the Pentagon's domestic air-defense command in its final report, according to commission officials who said they believed that quicker military action might have prevented a hijacked passenger plane from crashing into the Pentagon itself. (New York Times)

Fire Department Lagging on Communication, Terror Training - Apr 23, 2004
New York City Fire Department, while retaining a strong esprit de corps after the Sept. 11 attack, is nonetheless hurt by an inability to communicate during fires and other emergencies, a new workplace study reports. Moreover, half of the firefighters and their supervisors who participated in the study said they had not received enough training to handle "terror-related incidents." (New York Times)

Train Crash Tests First Responders - Apr 20, 2004
Since the 9/11 terror attacks, cops and firefighters have been drilling regularly to coordinate their response to major emergencies. Penn Station has been of major concern, especially with the Republican National Convention coming this summer. A train crash yesterday tested their reactions. (New York Daily News)

Police Department Racks Up Big Bill in Anti-Terror Efforts - Apr 19, 2004
The U.S. occupation of Iraq has cost the New York City Police Department more than $200 million as it has beefed up efforts to protect the city. That stark figure underscores how financial support for the domestic fight against terrorism remains a critical issue, with still no sizable amount of money from the federal government, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. (New York Daily News)

Panel Calls For More Environmental Testing at Ground Zero - Apr 13, 2004
In a major breakthrough for advocates, a panel of experts looking at the 9/11 health fallout agreed yesterday to recommend the federal government do more comprehensive testing around Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

Senator Schumer Criticizes Security at Passenger Ship Terminals - Apr 11, 2004
The failure to install high-tech "fingerscanners" at Manhattan's passenger ship terminal leaves a "gaping hole on the Hudson" for terrorists to exploit during the Republican National Convention, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Saturday. (Newsday)

Rice Knew of Al-Qaeda Surveillance of New York - Apr 9, 2004
Condoleezza Rice told the 9/11 Commission Thursday that the Bush Administration was aware of al-Qaida's "surveillance" of buildings including the Federal Courthouse in lower Manhattan and threats that the building could be the target of a possible terrorist attack. (Newsday)

Impact of Ground Zero Still Powerful - Apr 9, 2004
The topic of Sept.11 was a powerful draw on Tuesday. Local older residents flocked to the Inn at HillenVale to hear Carl Askew, Columbus American Red Cross director of labor relations, speak about his experiences during three months at Ground Zero. Askew used his labor and union background to act as the liaison between the ARC and the AFL-CIO union during the three months immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York. During that time, the current Apple Valley resident became deeply immersed in the disaster relief efforts. (Mount Vernon News)

Transit Workers Will Be Included In Anti-Terror Training - Apr 8, 2004
Transit workers will take part in anti-terror exercises, police said yesterday - a day after the Daily News detailed union gripes about being shut out of the training sessions. (New York Daily News)

Transit Workers Say They're Being Left Out of Anti-Terror Training - Apr 7, 2004
Transit workers complain they're being left out of NYPD anti-terror training exercises - potentially putting riders in greater danger if there's an attack. Concerns over the Madrid train bombings and a federal warning that New York buses and subways could be targeted prompted union leaders to demand a role in the training sessions. (New York Daily News)

Clinton Calls For $570 Million For Tunnel Security - Apr 3, 2004
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the current wave of terrorism concerns surrounding the nation's railways make it imperative for officials to increase security around New York City's rail tunnels. (Associated Press)

10,000 Police Officers Train in Terror Preparedness For Convention - Apr 2, 2004
Police officers from across the city played out terrorist scenarios yesterday, from a gas attack in a hotel room to an explosion in a subway in preparation for the Republican National Convention in August. The two-day drill, called COBRA training, is part of a goal of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to train 10,000 members of the department in terrorist preparedness for the upcoming convention. (Newsday)

Stock Exchange Is Now Policing Public Streets Downtown - Apr 1, 2004
At the present time, a private police force controls the public streets in the vicinity of the New York Stock Exchange," Justice Walter B. Tolub of State Supreme Court wrote last month. "The specter of private police forces patrolling public streets is unacceptable," he concluded, "and private entities may not take the law into their own hands, no matter how well intentioned." (New York Times)

Downtown's Economy Looking Strong - Mar 31, 2004
The reluctance of many New Yorkers to reside and work downtown because of what happened there — terrorist attacks and the ensuing loss of 3,000 lives — has just about vanished, according to real estate and city sources. Indicative of this: •Surging housing prices,up an estimated 10% to 12% year over year, and a steady flow of new residential construction,with a lot of it on a luxurious scale. •Major jobs recovery, with 78% of the nearly 9,900 jobs lost since the Septmber 11 attacks in 2001 having been regained as of March 2003, according to the Partnership for New York City. It further notes that 72 of downtown’s largest companies have made commitments for an average 10 years that will result in the retention of 60,000 jobs, while federal incentives for smaller firms have enabled 1,352 businesses to create and retain an additional 23,293 jobs. •A slew of new stores, resulting in an estimated 6% to 8% increase in retail space since 2002. One sign of the recovery of Lower Manhattan is the rebound in $1 millionplus condominium sales at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Battery Park, just a heartbeat away from where the twin towers once stood. A Ritz Carlton spokeswoman describes interest as strong, with only eight apartments left of the 115 offered for sale on the 15th to 40th floors perched above the hotel portion. (New York Sun)

Statue of Liberty To Reopen in July, WIth Limitations - Mar 31, 2004
For the first time since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty will be open beginning in July to visitors, thanks to $7 million in private donations — $100,000 from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But the National Parks Service may never allow the public back into the copper-clad statue itself, according to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. (Newsday)

Mayor Donates $100,000 for Statue of Liberty Security - Mar 30, 2004
Lady Liberty has a new man in her life and, just like her, he has lots of green. Mayor Bloomberg, one of the richest men in the world, has donated $100,000 to help reopen the shuttered Statue of Liberty, the Daily News has learned. (New York Daily News)

Security Tightened for Passover - Mar 30, 2004
Elite squads of counterterrorism cops will safeguard potential targets in Jewish communities as part of a massive NYPD effort to protect the city during Passover. (New York Daily News)

Federal Government Criticized For Leaving 9/11 Rescue Workers Without Medical Care - Mar 29, 2004
Hundreds of Ground Zero workers have lingering illnesses, but the government isn't paying for their care, said a leading doctor and two federal lawmakers. Of 700 workers in a treatment program at Mount Sinai Medical Center, three-quarters still suffer from upper-respiratory problems brought on by work at the World Trade Center site, said Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of the hospital's Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. More than 40% suffer post-traumatic stress, said Herbert. (New York Daily News)

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Doubles Police Budget - Mar 29, 2004
The MTA has nearly doubled its police budget over the last three years in an effort to beef up security at its sprawling transportation network, guarding against a terror attack, officials said. (New York Post)

Statue of Liberty Will Reopen To Public - Mar 26, 2004
You can almost see the twinkle in the lady's eye. Federal officials revealed yesterday that the Statue of Liberty, which has been shuttered for more than two years, is about to reopen to the public. (New York Daily News)

New Process to Guide Historical Preservation at Ground Zero - Mar 26, 2004
Criticized by preservationists and victims' relatives for indifference to the physical remnants of the World Trade Center, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation proposed yesterday to create a review procedure that would guide the treatment of historical elements at the site for 10 years. The corporation's proposal would open future decisions about structural remains to review by preservationists, civic groups, architectural and planning organizations and relatives' representatives. Those remains include column footings from the twin towers, the foundation wall, smoke-scarred ruins of the underground parking garage, the tubes and terminal of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad and a stairway leading to the vanished plaza. (New York Times)

9/11 Scammer Sentenced to Rikers - Mar 26, 2004
Everybody's working for the weekend - except millionaire 9/11 charity scammer Beatrice Kaufman. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes yesterday sentenced Kaufman to spend the next 52 weekends in Rikers Island for bilking relief organizations out of $78,000 and trying to scam them out of hundreds of thousands dollars more. (New York Post )

Richard Clarke:Terrorism Was Not Urgent For Bush - Mar 25, 2004
Former top counterterrorism adviser Richard A. Clarke told a special commission today that the Bush administration initially did not treat terrorism as "an urgent issue" and sidetracked his proposals to deal with the threat more aggressively. Clarke, appearing before the bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, also criticized the FBI's performance in assessing domestic threats from the al Qaeda terrorist network before the attacks and called for the creation of a new domestic intelligence agency. (Washington Post )

Suveillence Cameras Planned For Buses, Subways - Mar 25, 2004
Transportation officials are considering putting surveillance cameras in buses and subways, the Daily News has learned. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has been boosting security since the terror attacks, has been in discussions with a French-based company that is outfitting Paris-area buses with surveillance equipment, sources said. (New York Daily News)

Designers Struggle To Avoid Windswept Plaza Of World Trade Center - Mar 25, 2004
Austin J. Tobin Plaza was the official name of the vast open space at the World Trade Center. But most New Yorkers knew it as the Barren Windswept Plaza. There is a chance they will recognize its successor, too, just by the gusts. "Typically, pedestrian-level wind conditions will be in the comfortable range," the draft environmental impact statement said about the planned World Trade Center redevelopment. "However, during some limited time periods, uncomfortable conditions may occur and activities like sitting, standing and walking may be impeded." (New York Times)

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Lags On Security Measures - Mar 25, 2004
Improvements to two of the MTA's biggest security concerns — lighting and emergency radio communication in subway tunnels — are behind schedule due to unexpected problems, officials said Wednesday. Both issues have surfaced recently as NYC Transit focuses on its counter-terrorism preparedness and evacuation procedures. (Newsday)

9/11 Commission: Bush, Clinton Adminstrations Both Failed on Terror - Mar 24, 2004
Both the Bush and Clinton administrations missed diplomatic and military opportunities to capture or kill Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11, 2001, according to reports yesterday by a federally appointed commission investigating the attacks. (Newsday )

Answering Republican Criticism, Silver Proposes Anti-Terrorism Plan - Mar 24, 2004
A week ago, Gov. George E. Pataki and a chorus of Republican leaders accused the Democratic State Assembly of endangering the welfare of all New Yorkers by failing to act on a set of antiterrorism laws they have been pushing for two years. On Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver shot back, proposing his own wide-ranging set of laws that he said would combat terrorism by doing everything from cracking down on money laundering to tightening gun laws. (New York Times)

Silverstein Testifies in Insurance Trial - Mar 24, 2004
Just a day or two after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, a friend warned World Trade Center landlord Larry Silverstein that he "was facing a major insurance] problem," the developer told a jury yesterday. After six weeks of testimony from witnesses for 13 insurance companies fighting over the size of his WTC payout, a subdued Silverstein took the stand for 24 minutes in his $7 billion lawsuit against the insurers. Silverstein said he started to focus on the insurance ramifications of the disaster on Sept. 12 or Sept. 13. (New York Post)

Silverstein Avoids Contempt of Court Charge - Mar 23, 2004
The developer Larry A. Silverstein narrowly escaped a civil contempt charge yesterday in the seventh week of a trial pitting him against his insurers for billions of dollars he seeks to rebuild the World Trade Center. (New York Times)

Mayor Meets With Senate Majority Leader To Discuss Security - Mar 23, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg had an unannounced private meeting with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at City Hall yesterday to talk about homeland-security funding and the upcoming Republican National Convention. The hush-hush get-together comes as some observers claim the Republican mayor seeks to distance himself from his party as he plans his re-election campaign in the heavily Democratic city. Ed Skyler, the mayor's press secretary, said of the half-hour meeting, "They discussed federal aid for New York City, homeland-security funds, preparations for the Republican National Convention and transportation issues." (New York Post)

Unprecedented Security Measures on Subways - Mar 22, 2004
In the wake of the commuter train bombings in Madrid that claimed 202 lives, the NYPD has mounted an unprecedented security effort in the city's subway system in the hopes of thwarting a massive terror attack here. (New York Post)

Council Says Metropolitan Transportation Authority Is Wasting Terror Funds - Mar 19, 2004
With the train bombings in Madrid fresh in their minds, City Council members grilled city transportation officials yesterday over why they have not put nearly $600 million in federal anti-terror funds to use. Metropolitan Transportation Authority bosses appeared at a City Council budget hearing yesterday, but offered little information about what the agency plans to do with $591 million it received from the feds last summer. (New York Daily News)

Judge Bans Silverstein From Insurance Trials - Mar 19, 2004
A Manhatan Federal Court judge barred World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein from being a spectator at his $7 billion insurance trial after the developer violated a gag order. Chief Judge Michael Mukasey said he was holding Silverstein in civil contempt for conducting a news conference Monday. (New York Daily News)

Anti-Terror Money For Metrpolitan Transportation Authority Goes Unspent - Mar 18, 2004
The MTA has not spent any of the nearly $600 million in counter-terrorism funds that it received nine months ago, officials acknowledged Wednesday, explaining that building security projects takes time. (Newsday)

Agencies Clashed Over Terror Drill - Mar 18, 2004
When the city's Office of Emergency Management was scouting a location to test response to an attack with a weapon of mass destruction, it first settled on Penn Station. But the various sides, who in a real emergency would be expected to work together to save lives, couldn't agree on how to carry out the drill without disrupting riders and commerce. (Newsday)

Raw Confrontation In Albany Over Terror Bill - Mar 17, 2004
Against the backdrop of the terrorist bombings in Madrid, which Governor Pataki and Senate Republicans seized on as evidence that New York remains at risk, the emotional exchange showed how even two and a half years after the World Trade Center was destroyed, the issue can trigger a welter of strong feelings and tricky political equations. While Mr. Pataki has made the new terrorism laws, which were passed by the Senate on Tuesday, a priority of his administration, similar legislation was passed by the Senate last year only to die in the Assembly. The bills deal with everything from cyberterrorism to money laundering to safeguarding crops. This year, both because it is an election year for the lawmakers and because events overseas may serve as a reminder of the terrorist threat, Republicans are hoping the dynamic is different. (New York Times)

Police Extend Stay In Spain - Mar 17, 2004
New York's anti-terrorism detectives dispatched to Spain after the fatal train bombings last week will stay there as long as necessary, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

Terror Drill At Shea Stadium Provides Training - Mar 15, 2004
ith the specter of coordinated terrorist bombings on railroads in Madrid looming in the background, New York City staged one of the largest mock terrorist attacks in the nation at Shea Stadium yesterday morning. The drill began at 11 a.m., when the city's Office of Emergency Management detonated an unspecified type of fake weapon of mass destruction inside the stadium. Soon after, fire trucks and ambulances straggled through gridlock in the parking lot toward the stadium, while rescuers inside coped with fake rubble and terrorist suspects as they rushed mock victims to safety. (New York Times)

Money From One 9/11 Charity Going To Its Lawyer -- Not Needy - Mar 15, 2004
A lawyer for the charity created by the three firefighters in the iconic flag-raising photograph at Ground Zero has reaped more than $500,000 in legal fees while the charity has given just $73,000 to the needy, the Daily News has learned. (New York Daily News)

Schumer Calls For Tighter Security On Trains - Mar 14, 2004
The Madrid train bombings should serve as a wake-up call to protect the subway and American railways from terrorist attacks, Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday. Standing on the uptown platform of the No. 6 train at 33rd Street, Schumer called on the federal government to speed up development of bomb-detecting sensors for subway and rail stations. (Newsday)

Madrid Bombings Cause Concerns About US Train Security - Mar 13, 2004
In the hours after the attacks, officials busily moved to put more bomb-detection teams, electronic devices and other measures in place from Washington to New York to Seattle. Transportation experts said, however, that the Madrid bombings underscored the fact that rail security had lagged woefully behind aviation improvements since the 9/11 attacks. And Democrats in Congress quickly proposed a $500 million commitment for rail security to help narrow the gap. Federal officials were most concerned about subway and train systems in and around New York City, Washington and other major Eastern cities. (New York Times)

Security Remains High On Trains, As Police Team Gathers Information In Spain - Mar 13, 2004
For the second straight day, the police maintained a heightened presence in the New York City region's subways, commuter railroads and transit hubs. Meanwhile, New York police officials sent representatives to Madrid to learn about the attacks. The team will be looking for clues on a variety of issues, including where the explosive devices were placed and how they were detonated, he said. The information will be put into training materials and new programs as quickly as possible, he said. (New York Times)

Officials Tell New Yorkers To Stay Calm After Madrid Attacks - Mar 13, 2004
A day after nearly 200 people were killed in a horrific train bombing in Madrid, Gov. Pataki reassured jittery New Yorkers yesterday that they were safe from terrorism. "Go about your lives just as if it were prior to Sept. 11," Pataki said at a hastily arranged press conference at Grand Central Terminal. Hours earlier, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Peter Kalikow had ridden with subway riders cheek by jowl, inspecting the heightened security measures put in place after the Madrid attack. (New York Daily News)

Subway Security Up After Madrid Bombing - Mar 12, 2004
Hours after deadly terrorist bombings at Madrid's train stations, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that police and transportation officials had taken steps to increase security in New York's subways. (New York Times)

New York Drops Out Of Anti-Terrorism Database - Mar 12, 2004
New York has dropped out of a multistate crime database program that civil-liberties groups have criticized as an invasion of privacy, state officials said yesterday. Questions over federal funding for the Matrix database and its potential benefits led state officials to withdraw from the program, said Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Public Security. State officials had also previously cited privacy issues as a concern. (New York Post)

Passengers Tried To Stop Plane From Crashing Into Towers - Mar 9, 2004
The widow of a Gulf War veteran aboard doomed United Airline Flight 175 revealed for the first time yesterday that passengers tried to stop hijackers from crashing the plane into one of the Trade Center towers. (New York Daily News)

Two New Documentary Films Look Back On 9/11 - Mar 4, 2004
In the two and a half years since they occurred, the events of Sept. 11, 2001, have become so enmeshed in politics, speculation and debate that in looking back one can be distracted from the trauma of the terrorist attacks themselves. Two documentaries, "Collateral Damages" and "The First 24 Hours," both by Étienne Sauret, return to the primal events. (New York Times)

Vendors Banned From Streets Near Ground Zero - Mar 2, 2004
Legislators voted yesterday to limit the number of vendors who can hawk their wares on crowded Manhattan sidewalks, and to ban street sales near Ground Zero. (New York Daily News)

New Look For Wall Street Security - Feb 25, 2004
The double ranks of pickup trucks that now control seven intersections leading to the New York Stock Exchange will be replaced with retractable posts, wedgelike vehicle barriers and custom-designed barricades resembling small sculptural bronze boulders. These and other elements of high-security landscaping, which were approved yesterday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, are intended to protect the exchange from terrorists without sacrificing the public realm to the almost warlike blockades, including the trucks, that have been in place since Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

Federal Goverment Was Given Name Of 9/11 Hijacker Year Before Attack - Feb 24, 2004
American investigators were given the first name and telephone number of one of the Sept. 11 hijackers two and a half years before the attacks on New York and Washington, but the United States appears to have failed to pursue the lead aggressively, American and German officials say. (New York Times)

As Donations For Statue Of Liberty Security Pour In, Estimate Of Cost Rises - Feb 22, 2004
First, the good news: $5.6 million in private funds has been raised to reopen the Statue of Liberty to visitors. Now, the bad news: The feds have revised their cost estimate upward and are saying it will take $7 million to redesign her interior for added security measures and exit routes. (New York Daily News)

Mixed Reactions At Ground Zero Environmental Impact Hearing - Feb 19, 2004
The controversy that has surrounded nearly every aspect of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site spilled over to the project's impact on the environment yesterday as New Yorkers had their first chance to express concerns publicly about traffic, air pollution and the availability of public space. (New York Times)

As State Security Agency Gets On Its Feet, Some Question Whether It Is Necessary - Feb 17, 2004
Set up by Gov. George E. Pataki in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to reassure a jittery public and shape the state's response to terrorist threats, the still-evolving state Office Of Public Security passes along to localities hundreds of millions in federal aid intended to shore up the nation's defense against terrorism. Yet more than two years after it was formed, few state legislators or members of the public know exactly what it does or how it operates, and some question whether it is even necessary. (New York Times)

Federal Government Should Pay For Statue Of Liberty Security, Says Congressman - Feb 17, 2004
Rep. Anthony Weiner slammed President Bush yesterday for not including $5 million in his new $2.4 trillion budget to reopen the interior of the statue, which has been closed to visitors since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. (New York Daily News)

Police Department Prepares For Catastophe - Feb 15, 2004
The New York Police Department, working with city health officials, federal authorities and other agencies, has been preparing for a possible attack with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, perhaps the most daunting threat facing municipalities in a post-9/11 world. (New York Times)

Bloomberg: We Should Be Proud Of Being The World's Number One Terrorist Target - Feb 12, 2004
Congratulations, New Yorkers! We're the No. 1 target for terrorists - a distinction that should make us "proud," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. (New York Daily News)

New York Police Department Sends Team To Moscow After Subway Bombing - Feb 10, 2004
This is not the first time the New York Police Department has sent units outside of the United States, as part of recent counter-terrorism efforts. Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, New York police have traveled to Britain, Canada and Israel. The New York Police Department (NYPD) said in a statement that the team's mission is to "observe and gather information on the Moscow subway bombing." (Baku Today)

Antiterror Budget Rises, But Critics Say System Still Shortchanges New York - Feb 3, 2004
The budget President Bush proposed on Monday would nearly double the pool of money that the federal government would set aside for the 2005 fiscal year to help defend New York City and other localities considered vulnerable to terrorist attacks. But his proposal did not include a major change that New York lawmakers had been demanding in the federal budget: a strict limit on the number of cities entitled to the money. (New York Times)

States Consider Common Terror Database - Feb 1, 2004
Although privacy worries led several states to pull out of a federally funded crime and terrorism database project, others are actively considering joining and thereby sharing information on their citizens, The Associated Press has learned. (Associated Press)

Lessons Of 9/11 Shape Midtown Office Tower - Feb 1, 2004
At the shiny glass and stainless steel office building soon to open at the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, both the design and the tenancy reflect the realities of life in the post-Sept. 11 era. Although changes to the Building Code that grew out of the World Trade Center tragedy are wending their way through city government, the adjustments made by a private developer here could set a de facto standard for future office buildings in Manhattan. (New York Times)

Battle Over 9/11 Commission Becomes Political Challenge For President - Jan 29, 2004
Long-simmering tensions with the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks became a more immediate problem for the White House this week as the panel released a series of damaging revelations about missed opportunities to stop the al Qaeda hijackers and opposed the administration by asking for more time to complete its work, according to panel members and political experts (Washington Post)

9/11 Hijackers Used Mace, Pepper Spray - Jan 28, 2004
The hijackers of Sept. 11, 2001, blasted Mace or pepper spray at flight crew members and passengers to keep them away from the cockpits and wielded knives in their orchestrated takeovers of the aircraft, according to a report issued yesterday by the commission investigating the attacks. (Washington Post)

New York Officials Criticize Homeland Security Funding - Jan 27, 2004
New York politicians in both parties say they are troubled that federal antiterrorism money specifically intended for the nation's most vulnerable cities is being spent in parts of the country that do not have urgent security needs. (New York Times)

9/11 Commission Faults US For Letting Hijackers In - Jan 27, 2004
The U.S. government fumbled repeated opportunities to stop many of the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from entering the country, missing fraudulent passports and other warning signs that should have attracted greater scrutiny, according to a preliminary report released yesterday. (Washington Post)

Police Commissioner's Security Measures - Jan 18, 2004
Interview: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly Discusses His Department's Work At Fighting Terrorism And General Crime (WNBC)

Revisions Please Some, Leave Others Wanting More - Jan 15, 2004
Reaction to the revised Reflecting Absence varied within the network of victims' family groups, with some embracing Arad's model and others saying the plan needed further adjustment. (Newsday)

New York Senator Criticizes Security At New York's Passenger Ship Terminal - Jan 14, 2004
New York's Passenger Ship Terminal does not use the new travelers fingerprint-identification system to check cruise ships - making the city more vulnerable to a terrorist attack, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday. (New York Post)

New York Daily News Donates $100,000 To Statue Of Liberty - Jan 11, 2004
The New York Daily News donated $100,000 to the reopening of the Statue of Liberty, and asked its readers to add to that. $5 million of new security is needed to reopen the statue to visitors. It has been closed since 9/11. (New York Daily News)

Relaxation Of Security At Empire State Building Causes Worry - Jan 11, 2004
The Empire State Building has stopped screening visitors at its entrances, leaving tourists and some tenants worried because it remains a tempting target for terrorists. These days, visitors to the 86th-floor observation deck are amazed to find that anyone can stroll into the lobby, the basement and much of the second floor before being checked by security. (New York Post)

Firefighters' 9/11 Tapes Ordered Released - Jan 10, 2004
An appeals court has ruled that the Fire Department cannot edit out statements about emergency workers' personal feelings when it releases documents and audiotapes showing the response to the 2001 terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)

New Yorkers Complacent About Attack Despite 9/11 - Jan 9, 2004
Though home to ground zero and the worst horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, "citizen complacency" toward terrorism remains a serious problem in New York state, a state legislative committee has concluded. Sen. Michael Balboni, chairman of the Senate's Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs, said too few New Yorkers know how to deal with another terrorist strike. (Newsday)

Better Security Needed On Cargo Planes, Says Congressman - Jan 5, 2004
The federal government hasn't done nearly enough to thwart terrorists who might target cargo planes flying in and out of New York airports, Sen. Chuck Schumer warned yesterday. (New York Post)

Congressman Defends Times Square Security Comment - Jan 3, 2004
Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays said yesterday that he doesn't regret warning people to stay out of Times Square on New Year's Eve, even though the celebration went off without a hitch. (New York Daily News)

Security Concerns Don't Stop The Partying - Jan 1, 2004
Helicopters swept the sky, and clusters of police officers stood guard on street corners. But for revelers in Times Square, the New Year's Eve countdown was about party, not panic. (New York Times)

Maritime Security Lags - Jan 1, 2004
Almost 5,000 ships and about 80 percent of the nation's ports, ferry terminals and fuel-chemical tank farms did not meet yesterday's deadline to submit maritime security plans spelling out how they will deal with terrorism threats, the Coast Guard said. (New York Post)

Bloomberg Criticizes Congressman For Times Square Security Remark - Jan 1, 2004
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday questioned the character of a congressman who said he wouldn't spend New Year's Eve in Times Square because of fear over a terrorist attack. Bloomberg went on three TV network morning shows to decry remarks Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) made on Tuesday saying that he "wouldn't go to Times Square" because it's a "tempting target" for terrorists. (New York Post)

Congressman Advises People to Avoid Times Square on New Years - Dec 31, 2003
Connecticut Representative Christopher Shays issued a warning to New Year's Eve revelers yesterday, saying he wouldn't go to Times Square tonight "for anything." The Republican blasted Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for telling Americans to ring in 2004 as they normally would. (New York Daily News)

New Years Security Will be Highest Ever - Dec 31, 2003
Citing credible intelligence that terrrorists mention New York as an end-of-year target, federal and city law enforcement officials yesterday pumped up security to its highest level ever to ensure a safe New Year's Eve celebration tonight. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Air Traffic Controller Transcripts Released - Dec 30, 2003
A set of tape transcripts released yesterday open a small window onto the flow of information among aviation authorities on Sept. 11, 2001, showing that air traffic officials in New York knew no more about the attacks than anyone watching television. (New York Times)

Heightened Security For New Years - Dec 30, 2003
With the city at a heightened state of alert, unprecedented security measures will be in place on New Year's Eve in Times Square, where revelers will have to pass through metal detectors borrowed from city schools for the night, officials said yesterday. (New York Times)

Transcripts Show That Cops Feared More Planes On 9/11 - Dec 30, 2003
Worried that the Sept. 11 attacks could escalate, jittery Port Authority cops asked La Guardia Airport traffic controllers if any other planes were headed the city's way, newly released police communications transcripts reveal. (New York Post)

No Fear On Christmas - Dec 26, 2003
New York celebrated an Orange Christmas with defiance and grit, as the spirit of the holidays conquered all fears of terrorism. From the Empire State Building to the Rockefeller Center tree, New Yorkers and tourists ignored the nationwide orange alert and enjoyed a sun-soaked Christmas Day. (New York Daily News)

New Jersey Law Calls For Return Of WTC Ashes To Ground Zero - Dec 25, 2003
The Port Authority must collect the ashen remains of World Trade Center victims now piled at the Fresh Kills landfill, under a law signed by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey. The law calls for the ashes - remains of everything incinerated in the WTC attacks - to be stored in containers for eventual use at the Trade Center's permanent memorial. (New York Daily News)

Security Violation Spurs Airport Evacuation - Dec 25, 2003
Hundreds of passengers were forced to temporarily evacuate the Delta Air Lines terminal at La Guardia Airport last evening after a security breach by a passenger, officials said. Four departing flights were delayed, and passengers were required to pass through security checkpoints again, said Dan Maynard, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (New York Times)

Bloomberg Confirms City Request For Air Patrols - Dec 24, 2003
Ah, Christmas in New York. The tree in Rockefeller Center. Roasted chestnuts from street vendors. And F-16 fighter jets roaring overhead. Mayor Bloomberg confirmed yesterday that the NYPD has asked to have military jets patrol the skies over the city in response to the country's latest terrorism alert. (New York Daily News)

City Asks For Resumed Air Patrols - Dec 23, 2003
City officials are so concerned terrorists will use jetliners as terror weapons again that they're talking to the Pentagon about resuming regular air patrols over New York, police commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. (Newsday)

Freedom Tower Follows Windmill Trend - Dec 23, 2003
The growing popularity of windmills as a clean way to generate electricity was on display Friday, when officials unveiled the design of the building that will be erected on the World Trade Center site. The plan calls for an unspecified number of windmills to be installed in the uninhabited top-third of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, where they will catch the wind off the Hudson River and generate 20 percent of the building's electricity. (Newsday)

City Reacts to Heightened Security Threat - Dec 22, 2003
National Guard units specially trained in counterterrorism will be posted in the city through the holidays, city officials said yesterday after the federal government raised its threat alert level. The national alert level was raised to orange, the same one the city has been under since the months after Sept. 11, 2001. (Newsday)

New Yorkers Shrug Off Heigntened Threat Level - Dec 22, 2003
New Yorkers weren't quaking in their boots with the word yesterday that the Department of Homeland Security raised the threat of a terrorist attack nationally from "elevated," or code yellow, to "high," or code orange. The move didn't actually alter New York City's threat alert level, which has been at Code Orange since the color coding system began. So for many people in the city, this was nothing to get nervous about. (Newsday)

Despite Clamping the City Down, Bloomberg Urges People to Enjoy the Season - Dec 22, 2003
Faced with a rising national terror alert, Mayor Bloomberg ordered a new security clampdown yesterday even as he urged New Yorkers to enjoy the holidays in "the safest city in the world." (New York Daily News)

Jury Member Breaks Silence - Dec 17, 2003
One of the 13 people who will select the design for the World Trade Center memorial broke the group’s public silence last week and responded to some of the criticism that has been leveled at the eight proposed plans he and his fellow jurors picked in November. The juror, James Young, an English and Judaic studies professor at the University of Massachusetts, also said he is looking for a design that will be able to evolve over generations. (Downtown Express)

Police Left in the Dark On Terrorism Intelligence, Complains State Official - Dec 10, 2003
Nearly 70,000 cops across New York who could be used as "foot soldiers" in the war against terror are out of the loop when it comes to accessing vital intelligence, a counterterrorism expert warned yesterday. "Not using police and sheriffs who are out there on the streets and highways and in our communities effectively in this regard is inexcusable," said James Kallstrom, Gov. Pataki's senior adviser on homeland security. (New York Daily News)

New Vision for Wall Street Will Look Nicer - Dec 3, 2003
The new plan for the financial district is to replace the pick-up trucks that obstruct Wall St., Broad St. Exchange Pl. and New St. for a couple of blocks with less unsightly security barriers. At Broadway and Wall St. and Broadway and Exchange Pl., there will be bollards to block vehicles. A few days before last Wednesday’s announcement, the silver metal “bicycle rack” barricades blocking pedestrians and vehicles from the Big Board’s building were replaced with black decorative fencing. In addition to the aesthetic improvement, the change increased the space where people can walk on Wall and Broad Sts. (Downtown Express)

Councilmember Thinks Bloomberg Should Push Harder for Security Cash - Dec 2, 2003
The chairman of the City Council's public safety committee thinks the Bloomberg administration should be doing a lot more to squeeze additional homeland security funding from the federal government. In a letter he sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) threatened to hold public hearings in January if the mayor didn't turn over detailed accounting of the city's homeland security expenses. (Newsday)

Police Commissioner Lobbies for Security Funds - Dec 2, 2003
Kelly, regarded among the country's top counter-terrorism experts, isn't that sanguine when it comes to the way the Bush administration has been shortchanging this city. He doesn't hide his frustration at the fact that the city is getting about 6 percent of the anti-terror funding, down from 25 percent two years ago. Kelly has been shuttling back and forth between New York and Washington trying to convince politicians who dispense the money to understand that New York is still the No. 1 target. (Newsday)

Coast Guard's Defense Against Terrorist Threat in New York - Nov 30, 2003
The Coast Guard's 91106 six-boat fleet is the government's eyes and ears against water-borne terrorism for New York and New Jersey. It is part of the federal Marine Safety and Security Team, within the Department of Homeland Security, that made its debut in New York Harbor two years ago. (Newsday)

An Old Sign, Touting Marvels Of World Trade Center, Still Up On Church Street - Nov 28, 2003
hile "World Trade Center" signs around the new PATH station startled commuters and visitors this week, a smaller but even more poignant graphic remnant of the past was hiding in plain sight across Church Street. "What has 200 elevators, 1,200 restrooms, 40,000 doorknobs, 200,000 lighting fixtures, 7 million square feet of acoustical tile ceilings, more structural steel than the Verrazano Narrows Bridge — and was built for a final cost of over one billion 1970s dollars?" asks the colorful sign between seven-foot cast-iron posts, outside Century 21, near the corner of Cortlandt Street. "That's right, the World Trade Center." ...the sign would stay in place at least a year (New York Times)

Statue of Liberty Could Open in 2004, After Generous Donations - Nov 26, 2003
A higher-security Statue of Liberty could open to the public as early as next year, officials said yesterday. The American Express Corp. has pledged at least $3 million of more than $5 million needed. The company contributed to past improvements of the 117-year-old monument. (Newsday)

State Officials Press Washington on Security Cash - Nov 25, 2003
Reacting to a Daily News report that shows Wyoming reaping far more per person in anti-terror funds than New York, state leaders vowed to work to revamp the formula so awards are based on threat levels - not pork-barrel politics. (New York Daily News)

Per Capita, New York Gets Least Federal Money for Security - Nov 24, 2003
New York, the world's premier target for terror, gets less homeland security funding per person than virtually any state in the nation. Man for man and woman for woman, Wyoming (population 493,782) does better - $38.31 per person, compared with the paltry $5.47 in counterterrorism funds spent on each New Yorker. (New York Daily News)

Federal Subpoena for 9/11 Police Tapes - Nov 21, 2003
The 9-11 Commission has voted to subpoena the city for failing to hand over documents related to the city's response to the World Trade Center attack. The panel said the city's refusal to hand over the material had "significantly impeded the commission's investigation." (Newsday)

Department of Homeland Security Going in Wrong Direction, Say City Police - Nov 21, 2003
Department of Homeland Security officials are "going in the wrong direction" when it comes to protecting high-threat areas like New York City, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday. (Newsday)

Intelligence Officials Warn of Security Risks - Nov 19, 2003
The U.S. intelligence community must improve its performance to prevent another terrorist attack in New York City and around the country, a panel of experts said last week. (Downtown Express)

Extra Security at NYC Landmarks After Bombing in Turkey - Nov 17, 2003
Police have stepped up security at synagogues and major public places in New York in response to the terrorist bombings of Jewish temples in Turkey, officials said yesterday. The measures include posting police cars outside some synagogues and ordering patrol cars or beat cops to pass by others more frequently. Increased police presence was also ordered for city landmarks like Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the East River bridges and other high-profile spots, sources said. (New York Post)

Heart Attacks Linked to 9/11 - Nov 13, 2003
Heart attack cases rose sharply at a Brooklyn hospital within weeks following the World Trade Center disaster, suggesting that emotional stress can trigger severe cardiac problems, researchers reported yesterday. Researchers from New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, looking at a total of 1,249 patients divided into three groups, found heart attacks rose by 35 percent in the 60 days after the terrorist attacks and tachyarrhythmias, irregular heart beats, by 40 percent. Irregular heart rhythms often cause sudden death. (Newsday)

St. Paul's Churchyard Reopens - Nov 7, 2003
The western gates to St. Paul's Chapel on Church Street, which had been padlocked for no one knows how long, were reopened this week. So was the churchyard itself, which had been closed since Sept. 11, 2001. Suddenly, there is a contemplative public space — brand new but 237 years old —on the edge of ground zero. The open gates allow visitors to approach the chapel as they would have in the 18th century, across a lawn dotted with headstones, through trees so tall they almost obscure the wooden steeple. (New York Times)

Woman Who Cheated 9/11 Charities Convicted - Nov 6, 2003
A woman was convicted in a 9/11 scam November 5, hours after she was locked up - because a juror found a note proclaiming the woman's innocence in a courthouse restroom. Evelyn Wellens and her co-defendant, Matthew Weissman, were found guilty of cheating Sept. 11 charities out of $80,000. Wellens had been freed after her arrest, but yesterday, Justice John Bradley jailed her after the note was discovered in the women's bathroom, courthouse sources said. Another juror found a note in the men's room, but it was unclear if he went to the judge. A search turned up seven notes, the sources said. All the notes said, "Evelyn Wellens is innocent," a source said. (New York Post)

Council Says Patriot Act Threatens Liberties - Oct 21, 2003
The City Council is attacking the federal Patriot Act as downright unpatriotic. A resolution backed by 29 of the 50 Council members contends the act threatens "fundamental rights and liberties." The Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, granted federal agents sweeping powers to use wiretaps, conduct electronic and computer eavesdropping and access private financial data. (New York Daily News)

Fire Dept. Drill on Bioterror Is Set for Today - Oct 15, 2003
The Fire Department will simulate its response to a bioterror attack today on Staten Island, conducting practice smallpox vaccine inoculations on every firefighter and emergency service worker in the borough. In reality, the estimated 700 emergency workers participating will get their annual flu shots, but the exercise is meant to test how quickly members could be vaccinated in the event of an outbreak. (New York Times)

New Campaign to Prepare Schools In Case of Terrorism - Oct 9, 2003
The Bloomberg administration is launching a new campaign to educate parents and school staffers on what to do in the case of a terrorist attack or other emergencies, The Post has learned. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's office of school safety and planning is using $890,000 in federal funds to set up the emergency preparedness training program - including posting information on the Department of Education's Web site and producing CD-ROMs and videos. (New York Post)

WTC Firehouse Will Welcome Firefighters Back - Oct 9, 2003
The firehouse across the street from the former World Trade Center site may welcome its firefighters back by the end of this month, a member of Engine Company 10 said on Monday. (Downtown Express)

A Profile of the Director of the Center on Terrorism and Public Safety - Sep 30, 2003
Charles Strozier is the director of John Jay's Center on Terrorism and Public Safety, begun after the 9/11 attacks. He has been teaching courses on terrorism -- often to police officers and firefighters -- at John Jay for more than a decade. After 9/11, he added classes like Terrorism and Politics and Terrorism and Apocalyptic Violence. He started a seminar series on terrorism that is part of a program that grants a certificate in terrorism studies on the graduate level. (New York Times)

Barricades Going Down at One Wall Street - Sep 25, 2003
Security stations, trucks and police barricades blocking the Bank of New York's entrance at One Wall Street will be replaced by less intrusive security by April, the head of lower Manhattan's redevelopment agency promised the bank yesterday. (Newsday)

Learning From 9/11, Bloomberg Seeks High-Rise Safety Changes - Sep 24, 2003
Legislation that would enact most of the fire safety improvements for tall buildings recommended by a task force that studied the World Trade Center collapse was announced yesterday by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Under a bill being submitted to the City Council next week, existing office towers in New York would have to comply with some of the stricter codes already in place for new buildings, including a potentially expensive requirement that sprinkler systems be installed. (New York Times)

Federal Probe Seeks 9/11 Survival Stories - Sep 18, 2003
Federal investigators probing the collapse of the twin towers urged survivors to come forward yesterday and help them understand what happened inside the doomed buildings. The information could help explain why the skyscrapers fell and lead to better evacuation procedures. (New York Daily News)

Schumer``Report Card'' Finds Gaps in Homeland Security Efforts - Sep 15, 2003
The federal government receives a C- for how it's securing the New York region against another terror attack, according to grading by Sen. Charles Schumer Sunday. The mediocre grade factors in failing marks for truck security, but a B+ for bio-terrorism, according to Schumer's report. (Newsday)

MTA Has Begun Counter-terror Effort - Sep 11, 2003
The MTA has embarked on a $600 million counter-terrorism effort it hopes will protect its sprawling transportation infrastructure from a potential attack. (New York Post)

Ashcroft Defends Patriot Act - Sep 10, 2003
Standing on the site where Congress adopted the Bill of Rights, Attorney General John Ashcroft brought his defense of the Patriot Act to the edge of ground zero yesterday and suggested that critics of the act, a sweeping antiterrorism law, "have forgotten how we felt" on Sept. 11, 2001. Outside on the street several hundred protesters were kept out of earshot on the far side of the building. (New York Times)

Two Years Later: Despite Feeling Threatened, Few Bother With Preparations - Sep 9, 2003
Two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, a majority of Americans are concerned that they may face more terrorism, and they feel unprepared and have little faith that hospitals and law enforcement agencies can adequately respond, according to a study released yesterday. Fewer than one in four families have an emergency plan in place, though 81 percent of New Yorkers fear another terrorist attack will occur, according to the survey. (New York Times)

9/11 Detainees: Plans for Terror Inquiries Still Fall Short, Report Says - Sep 9, 2003
The Justice Department, criticized for its treatment of hundreds of illegal immigrants jailed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has not done enough to avoid a repeat by spelling out clear criteria for determining who is considered a terrorist suspect, an internal report concluded today. (New York Times)

Two Years Later: Fake Licenses Are Still Seen as Easy to Obtain - Sep 9, 2003
Despite many states' tightening of procedures for issuing driver's licenses after the Sept. 11 attacks, undercover federal investigators still found it relatively easy to obtain fake licenses by using counterfeit documents, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. (New York Times)

Two Years After 9/11, Security Still Has a Long Way To Go - Sep 7, 2003
As the two-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks approaches, New York has experienced significant security breakdowns and inconsistencies. Still, this much is certain: Despite those breaches, New York's police, the FBI, and Port Authority police seem better prepared today than they were a year ago to track terrorists, share intelligence information and respond to acts of terror. (Newsday)

Fresh Glimpse in 9/11 Files of the Struggles for Survival - Aug 29, 2003
Nothing will alter the basic fabric of Sept. 11, when nearly 3,000 people were killed in Lower Manhattan, but yesterday afternoon, rich, bittersweet and harrowing new details surfaced. The Port Authority released about 2,000 pages of documents, most of them transcribed radio transmissions, from dozens of people in and around the trade center. The New York Times formally requested copies of the records on March 29, 2002, one year and five months ago today, and eventually sued the Port Authority for their release. (New York Times)

In Transcript: Victims' Families Sought News, Comfort - Aug 29, 2003
Smoke and confusion are read in the Port Authority transcripts released Thursday, with communication lines alive with reports of basement explosions and rocket attacks that didn't happen. Calls poured in from those with some connection to Port Authority personnel, telephoning about loved ones or acquaintances. But also emerging from the swarm of type are words of calm and the steady performance of duty — at times from those who later were killed. (Newsday)

In Transcripts: Some Gave Advice to 'Stay Put' - Aug 29, 2003
Two thousand painful pages of emergency calls and radio transmissions made after the first of two hijacked jets exploded into the twin towers reveal that the Port Authority told some people to stay put. The authority, which lost 37 police officers and 47 civilian employees in the attacks, has defended its evacuation procedures, saying they were instrumental in saving as many as 25,000 lives. (New York Daily News)

Victims' Families Bitter Over Port Authority's Timing - Aug 29, 2003
Families of many victims lost on Sept. 11, 2001, lashed out at the Port Authority yesterday for releasing transcripts of their loved ones' last moments. And while some hoped they might be used to help prevent future disasters, few found comfort or answers. (New York Daily News)

Transcript: Bravery Filters Through Cops' Garbled Words - Aug 29, 2003
Even through all the police code and notations of "glitch" and "inaudible," the transcripts of Port Authority police officers communicating with each other -- calmy and routinely in many instances -- jump off the page in heartbreaking pathos. (Newsday)

36 Victims Identified In Transcripts - Aug 28, 2003
At least 36 victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack were identified in Port Authority tapes of emergency calls and radio transmissions made that morning, as shown in transcripts that will be released today under court order. (Newsday)

Safir To Investigate How 7 WTC Plans Ended Up in Trash Can - Aug 28, 2003
Developer Larry Silverstein has tapped former top cop Howard Safir to find out how plans for the new 7 World Trade Center ended up in a Bronx garbage pile. Silverstein hired Safir, police commissioner under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, after the Daily News reported yesterday that the owner of a Riverdale Ave. bagel shop made the shocking discovery two weeks ago. (New York Daily News)

Plans For 7 WTC Found in Trash - Aug 27, 2003
A Bronx bagel store owner made a stunning discovery in the trash outside his shop: blueprints for the electrical and mechanical systems of the first building set to rise at Ground Zero, the Daily News has learned. Cops confiscated the 27 pages of documents detailing some of the innards of the planned replacement for 7 World Trade Center yesterday as the tower's developer and other officials expressed shock at the find. (New York Daily News)

Port Authority Will Release 9/11 Tapes - Aug 26, 2003
The Port Authority said yesterday it will not appeal a New Jersey state judge's order to release transcripts of World Trade Center emergency calls on Sept. 11, 2001. "Although we remain profoundly disappointed that the judge's ruling did not address the merits of protecting the families from an invasion of privacy, we see no point in prolonging the legal process," the agency said in a statement. (New York Post)

LMDC Gives 9/11 Scam Artists Amnesty Until Oct 1 - Aug 26, 2003
Scam artists who tried to use a national tragedy to pull a fast one on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. have been given a chance to come clean - but they better do it quickly. Officials at the agency, which oversees redevelopment of the World Trade Center area, yesterday announced an amnesty in its Residential Grant Program - but the amnesty ends Oct. 1. (New York Post)

City Finally Gets Homeland Security Funds - Aug 25, 2003
Nearly two years after the World Trade Center attacks, New York City will get its first infusion of cash from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security today. But don't expect it to solve all the city's fiscal woes. The first installment amounts to $34.2 million - less than half of what the NYPD alone has spent since March to protect the city from terrorism. (New York Daily News)

Judge’s Ruling Provides 'Road Map' for Park Row - Aug 14, 2003
Mayor Mike Bloomberg said last week that the city doesn’t always strike the right balance between security and personal freedom and he indicated a willingness to look again at loosening the security protections near Police Headquarters and Park Row. Bloomberg answered a question on the issue Aug. 5, the day after State Supreme Court Judge Walter Tolub ruled that the Police Dept. must end the “occupation” by police vehicles of James Madison Plaza by the end of the year and conduct an environmental study of the effects of closing Park Row to pedestrians, city buses and all non-emergency vehicles. (Downtown Express)

‘Occupation’ Near Park Row Must End, Judge Rules - Aug 7, 2003
A state judge ruled Monday that the police have illegally acted like an “occupation” force by taking over a public plaza in Chinatown and ordered the police to vacate the plaza by the end of the year. In addition, the city has been ordered to complete an environmental study of the effects of the police closure of Park Row by the end of the year. (Downtown Express)

Ranks Thin in Hazard Unit of Fire Dept. After 9/11 - Aug 5, 2003
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, when 11 members of the New York City Fire Department's highly trained hazardous materials unit perished, there was widespread agreement, from outside experts to city officials, that the elite emergency unit needed not only to be rebuilt but also expanded, perhaps even doubled in size to deal with future disasters. But nearly two years after the World Trade Center was destroyed, the department actually has fewer firefighters in the unit, which deals with biological, chemical or radiological attacks, than it did before Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Port Authority To Spend $500 M On Beefed-Up Security - Aug 5, 2003
With the nation facing unchecked danger from Al Qaeda, the Port Authority has quietly begun its most ambitious effort since the Sept. 11 attacks to fortify its tunnels, bridges, airports and marine terminals against terror. Agency documents and officials familiar with the confidential plans say the authority intends to pump $500 million into more than 50 projects. (New York Daily News)

On Terror, Doubts Anew After a Scathing Report - Jul 25, 2003
The report on intelligence failures may force the Bush administration to confront a vexing question that the White House thought it put to rest months ago: how best to prevent another terrorist attack. The findings, providing an even more damning indictment of the intelligence community than many had predicted, are already prompting fresh debate over whether the federal government should create a national intelligence czar or even strip the F.B.I. of its domestic intelligence duties in favor of a wholly new agency. (New York Times)

Judge Says Police Are ‘Heavy Handed’ On Park Row - Jul 10, 2003
A state judge said the city appears to have closed down more streets than necessary to secure the area around police headquarters and has taken “a very, very heavy-handed approach” with people living nearby. The judge however also said he doesn’t think there is much he can do about it under the law. “[The] city has [secured] a…greater area than apparently is necessary to provide security for One Police Plaza,” said State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub at a court hearing June 27. (Downtown Express)

FEMA Closes Temporary Office In Lower Manhattan - Jul 7, 2003
The Federal Emergency Management Agency office in Lower Manhattan that administered aid following the World Trade Center attack is closing Monday. (NY1)

Graffitied WTC Panels Removed - Jul 3, 2003
Panels detailing the history of the World Trade Center site, defaced by graffiti, were removed from the fence surrounding Ground Zero Friday. Replacement panels should be in place before Labor Day, in a higher position on the fence than before, according to Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman. (Newsday)

WTC Graffiti Fix Still On Hold - Jul 3, 2003
Weeks after the Port Authority vowed to replace vandalized panels describing the twin towers' history, the tribute is still marred with graffiti messages - some well-meaning, some crude - from Ground Zero visitors. (New York Daily News)

Report Claims America is Unprepared for Another 9/11 - Jun 30, 2003
A frightening new report by the Council on Foreign Relations contends that America is "dangerously unprepared" to cope with another terror attack like 9/11. United States needs to spend another $98 billion to brace for an attack - a figure that the federal Department of Homeland Security insisted was "grossly inflated." (New York Post)

FEMA's 9/11 Office Winds Down - Jun 28, 2003
Since September 11, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's field office has seen nearly 200,000 applicants come in for aid, but that once-long line has dwindled to a bare trickle, and FEMA says it will shutter its remaining storefront operation sometime in the next month. (Newsday)

4 Convicted in Fraud Scheme - Jun 27, 2003
Four associates of a brokerage with offices in the World Trade Center were convicted Friday of cheating investors out of more than $100 million -- a scheme that unraveled in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. (Newsday)

9/11 Detainees Describe Abuses At Brooklyn Jail - Jun 23, 2003
This month, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General issued a report finding "significant problems" with the treatment of nearly 800 detainees nationwide, including abusive conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. A guard there gave a sworn statement saying he saw other officers roughing up the men without cause. (New York Post)

Firemen's Ground Zero Suits Queried - Jun 12, 2003
Firefighters suing the city for injuries at the World Trade Center could have their claims undermined by unlikely sources - their colleagues, according to their union. City lawyers have been quietly calling in off-duty firefighters and questioning them about their work and health effects stemming from their work at Ground Zero. The information gleaned from those informal interviews could then be used to undercut lawsuits by about 1,000 firefighters who are claiming injuries. (Newsday)

Justice Department Launches New Probe of 9/11 Detentions - Jun 15, 2003
The Justice Department last week launched its third probe into allegations that Middle Eastern men were mistreated while detained at a Brooklyn federal lockup after the 9/11 terror attacks. (New York Post)

Goal Is to Lay Cornerstone at Ground Zero During G.O.P. Convention - Jun 13, 2003
Rebuilding officials said yesterday that they hoped to complete a review of the environmental impact of the proposed construction at the World Trade Center site by next April. This would allow them to lay the cornerstone of a 1,776-foot tower in August 2004, during the Republican National Convention. (New York Times)

Park Row Law Proposed - Jun 11, 2003
City Councilmember Alan Gerson this week introduced what he called “Park Row” legislation that would establish review procedures and make it more difficult throughout the city to close streets for 45 days or more. The proposed legislation is in response to the police closing Park Row between City Hall and Worth St. since Sept. 11, 2001, a measure that residents of Chinatown and nearby neighborhoods say has cut them off from emergency services, choked their streets with traffic and filled the neighborhood with noise and noxious exhaust fumes. (Downtown Express)

In Brooklyn's Pakistani Communities, 9/11 Damage Continues - Jun 7, 2003
Before Sept. 11, an estimated 120,000 Pakistanis lived in Brooklyn, concentrated in Midwood and Brighton Beach. Since then, between 40 and 50 percent have been detained or deported or have left on their own, said Bobby Khan, executive director of the Coney Island Avenue Project, which was formed after the attack to help Arabs and Muslims who were detained. (New York Times)

Agency OKs Code Review of New WTC - Jun 6, 2003
The Port Authority agreed yesterday to an independent review of the new World Trade Center building plans and independent inspections once the buildings are built, following a meeting with families threatening a lawsuit to force the agency to follow city building and fire codes. Officials from the Port Authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, a Sept. 11 victims' family group, agreed to meet again next week to discuss the issues further. (Newsday)

Expert Blames WTC Structural Design for Collapse - Jun 5, 2003
Dr. Asif Usmani, a structural engineer at the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering and Electronics, told an engineering conference the Twin Towers seem to have been "unusually vulnerable" to a major fire. "There was a vulnerability in the design of the structural system. It is not materials. It is not about fire protection. It is about the design of the structure," he told Reuters. (New York Post)

Court Upholds WTC Looting Conviction - Jun 4, 2003
A Manhattan appeals court has affirmed the 10-year prison sentence imposed on a man convicted of looting a hotel and a department store near ground zero two days after terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division voted 5-0 to sustain the conviction and sentencing of Roland Abarrategui, 26, who was arrested near the disaster site while dressed as an emergency worker. (Associated Press)

Federal Audit: NYC 9/11 Detention Conditions "Unduly Harsh" - Jun 3, 2003
Illegal immigrants arrested after the 9/11 attacks were kept in "unduly harsh" conditions at the federal detention center in Brooklyn, a federal audit has found. Prisoners often weren't told why they were held - and rules at the Sunset Park lockup made it hard for the 84 detainees to contact lawyers, said the report by the Justice Department's inspector general. (New York Post)

WTC Safety Lawsuit Delayed - Jun 3, 2003
The Skyscraper Safety Campaign's lawsuit to require the city's building and fire codes be applied to the new World Trade Center site has been delayed -- for now. The group, made up of victims' families who want the city codes to apply to the Port Authority property, had planned to file suit yesterday, but John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., asked for a meeting with the Port Authority and the campaign. (Newsday)

High Terror Alert Raises Concerns About Mass Transit Safety - May 22, 2003
The city is under high terror alert. The MTA is without a counter-terrorism director. Subway workers say supervisors have instructed them to run and leave passengers behind in the event of an attack. From transit-union fears over the safety impact of station-booth closings to the latest revelations emerging from the firing of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's anti-terror chiefs, questions about preparedness have critics wondering if the system is as ready as it could be. (Newsday)

NYPD Steps Up Security Measures - May 21, 2003
The NYPD, acting on a FBI warning that a terrorist attack on U.S. soil is "likely," Tuesday stepped up its presence on the streets, posting more cops at bridges and tunnels and keeping closer watch on landmarks buildings, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. (Newsday)

Low-Flying Plane Worries, Irks City - May 15, 2003
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is irked at federal aviation officials for causing a brief stir blocks from Ground Zero early yesterday by allowing a plane packed with U.S. soldiers to fly low over the city. (Newsday)

Vandalism at Ground Zero - May 10, 2003
Graffiti vandals at Ground Zero have defaced the viewing wall's eye-level information panels and the Port Authority plans to replace them - with ones too high to reach. (New York Post)

Park Row Lawsuit Continues as Talks Stall - May 7, 2003
Police say the barriers sprouting up around City Hall are there to deter terrorists. But residents of two Downtown housing complexes have been saying for more than a year that the barricades are turning their neighborhood into a virtual prison. Now, the residents of Chatham Green Houses and Chatham Towers are suing the Police Department over proposed permanent security barriers on Park Row and Worth Street. (Downtown Express)

New York Gains Largest Share of Antiterror Aid - Apr 9, 2003
The Bush administration announced today that it was sending $25 million to New York City to help officials there prepare for any terrorist attacks. The money was part of a package of about $100 million in aid that Congress and President Bush approved earlier this year to assist cities deemed most vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. (New York Times)

Bloomberg Trusts That Feds Will Pay For Operation Atlas - Mar 27, 2003
The Bush administration likely will pick up the city's entire $5 million weekly tab for wartime security, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "It does look like our $5 million a week will be paid for by the federal government," Bloomberg said. "They haven't said so explicitly, but if you read what they have said so far, I believe, that [it] probably will be." (New York Daily News)

Miller Pushes Terror Test for Buildings - Mar 26, 2003
Buildings taller than seven stories would have to undergo anti-terrorism inspections - paid for by property owners - under a proposal floated yesterday by City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. While Miller said the inspections are necessary to protect people who live and work in tall buildings, property owners attacked the plan as a tax in disguise. (New York Daily News)

24-Hour Air Patrols Resume Over New York - Mar 25, 2003
The United States government has resumed 24-hour air patrols over New York City after law enforcement and intelligence agencies warned that the city was in special danger from terrorists during the war with Iraq, senior government officials said today. The 24-hour patrols will be the first over New York City since early last year, when the Defense Department suspended the continuous air patrols over New York and Washington that had begun in the hours after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

New Yorkers On Wartime Alert - Mar 20, 2003
The mayor went to Washington to ask for budget help. The Department of Education tightened security. Protesters continued to insist that war was not necessary, while police went to war-time status. Like it or not, the attack on Iraq loomed large in the city yesterday, and even the most self-involved citizens could hardly avoid noticing the changes all around, both subtle and obvious. (Newsday)

Surveillance Cameras Installed In Subway Tunnels - Mar 20, 2003
Surveillance cameras have been installed in "sensitive places" in the subway system - including tunnels that run under the East River - in a bid to foil a possible terror attack, The Post has learned. The cameras have been put in places that are off-limits to straphangers, such as facilities that house computers and areas where signal workers switch trains from track to track. (New York Post)

New York Steps Up Scrutiny and Traffic Slows to Crawl - Mar 20, 2003
Concerned that river crossings are among the likelier potential targets for terrorist attacks, the New York Police Department sharply increased its patrols at bridges and tunnels yesterday. The patrols, along with inspections of trucks in Manhattan, slowed traffic to a single-lane crawl on entrance ramps and avenues. (New York Times)

With Tighter Security, New Yorkers Tense Up for Life in Wartime - Mar 19, 2003
The day after President Bush declared that diplomacy had failed and that Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq or face attack, there was a sense of inevitability in a city that has come to see itself as a victim, a city that worries about being a target, a city that is still adjusting to a life of color-coded danger. (New York Times)

Tough New Yorkers Feeling Threatened - Mar 19, 2003
New Yorkers who shrugged at the rainbow of terror alerts and smirked at the duct tape frenzy say the likelihood of war with Iraq makes terror attacks feel like a real threat. ``All those warnings before I never took seriously. But this is very different--there's an obvious threat,'' said Lynn Chen, 24, during a lunch break near the World Trade Center site, where nearly 2,800 people were killed in the terrorist attack 18 months ago. (Associated Press)

New Yorkers' Views on the Coming War - Mar 19, 2003
A slideshow, with excerpts from interviews. "I have two sons and I’m very frightened - about the threat of reprisals and the threat to our future," said Debbie Galasso, 50. (BBC News)

NYPD Begins First Stage of Security Plan 'Operation Atlas' - Mar 18, 2003
As the nation moved closer to war with Iraq, the NYPD last night was poised to launch "Operation Atlas" by beefing up police patrols at the city's news organizations, The Post has learned. The first steps in the NYPD's plan to boost security were taken as the rest of the nation yesterday followed the city's lead by raising the terrorist threat level from Code Yellow to Code Orange. In the days ahead, the NYPD expects to implement other aspects of the $5 million-a-week Big Apple security package known as Atlas. (New York Post)

City Is Planning Expanded Security in Event of War - Mar 16, 2003
To protect New York City if and when an American-led attack on Iraq begins, police officials have prepared a sweeping security plan that calls for expanding the patrols on the streets and asking the Defense Department to fly combat aircraft overhead, a senior police official said yesterday. The patrols on the streets -- at government buildings, hotels and houses of worship as well as at newly strengthened checkpoints at bridges and tunnels -- would address a concern of police officials, that attackers acting alone present a greater risk than a larger, carefully orchestrated assault on the city. (New York Times)

Kelly Says Park Row Closing Will Continue - Mar 12, 2003
The city plans to install metal security grates around police headquarters, according to elected officials who met last Friday with Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall to discuss easing traffic restrictions in the area. The news came as a blow to residents who had hoped that parts of Park Row, between Worth St. and City Hall, could be reopened after being closed for 18 months due to security concerns. (Downtown Express)

Millions Raised for Al Qaeda in Brooklyn - Mar 5, 2003
A prominent Yemeni cleric apprehended in Germany on charges of financing terrorism used a Brooklyn mosque to help funnel millions of dollars to Al Qaeda, according to federal officials. The cleric, Sheik Muhammad Ali Hassan al-Mouyad, told an F.B.I. informant that he collected money for terrorist groups including Al Qaeda and Hamas at the Al Farooq mosque on Atlantic Avenue. (New York Times)

New Yorkers Wary Of Federal Terror Alert - Mar 1, 2003
More than half of New York City voters do not find the government's color-coded terror alert system helpful and most are not taking added precautions against a possible new attack, according to a Quinnipiac poll released yesterday. Although 64 percent of those polled said they were "personally very concerned" about another attack, only 30 percent said they have stockpiled precautionary items. Sixty-nine percent said they have not stockpiled. (Associated Press)

Victims' Families Oppose Bus Depot On WTC Site - Mar 1, 2003
Some victims' family members are calling a plan to build an undergound parking garage on the World Trade Center site disrespectful. The Coalition of 9/11 Families says the thought of buses parking on what they consider sacred ground is upsetting. They also say the plan is a security risk. (NY1)

9/11's Hard Lessons Lead Agency to Urge Tougher Building Code - Feb 15, 2003
Trying to apply the lessons learned at a terrible cost on Sept. 11, 2001, the New York City Buildings Department yesterday outlined a future in which office towers could have larger, sturdier and more numerous stairwells; full sprinkler systems; and better protected ductwork. (New York Times)

City Must Release 9/11 Information, Judge Rules - Feb 6, 2003
The city must turn over hundreds of documents and transcripts detailing the Fire Department's response to the World Trade Center attacks - but don't expect anything right away. The Bloomberg administration said yesterday it would appeal the judge's order, effectively keeping the records under wraps for several more months. (New York Daily News)

After Long Delay, New York Submits Plan for Terror Aid - Jan 31, 2003
Nearly a year and a half after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pataki administration has finally told the federal government how it plans to spend hundreds of millions of available dollars to make New York State better prepared to deal with future terrorist attacks. The submission of the wish list comes after months of unexplained delays and considerable secrecy. The delays had left New York lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, concerned that the indecision had not only left the state vulnerable, but had also compromised the state's ability to petition for more money from Washington. (New York Times)

Police Seeking Less Restrictions on Surveillance To Fight Terror - Jan 30, 2003
The NYPD asked a federal judge yesterday to lift restrictions on police surveillance in a bid to prevent future terror attacks. The lawyer representing the NYPD, Gail Donoghue, promised the NYPD would immediately set up an internal set of guidelines to control the use of wider spy powers if Judge Charles Haight would lift an 18-year-old federal consent decree known as the Handschu Agreement. (New York Post)

7 World Trade Center Could Test New Ideas for High-Rise Safety - Jan 29, 2003
As one of the first office towers designed from scratch since the attack on New York, 7 World Trade Center is a 52-story laboratory of ideas about how extra safety measures can be incorporated into the fiber of a building. (New York Times)

Safety Concerns for Memorial Below Street Level - Jan 27, 2003
A proposal to place the Ground Zero memorial seven stories below street level at the bottom of the World Trade Center pit would limit the size of crowds that could visit it and raises safety and evacuation concerns, security experts told The Post. Several of the proposed designs for Ground Zero include memorials in enclosed spaces below street level or in the upper floors of tall buildings. (New York Post)

Hunger Strike by 6 Immigrants, Detained in 9/11 Sweeps, Continues - Jan 22, 2003
A stalemate between immigrant detainees and immigration officials entered its second week yesterday, as six men continued a hunger strike to protest the conditions at a New Jersey jail. The men, held for months on various immigration charges, have been drinking juice and water but have refused solid food since Jan. 14. The government has arrested hundreds of Muslim and Arab men since Sept. 11, 2001, and charged them with immigration violations that rarely caught the attention of federal officials before. (New York Times)

New York State Misses Two Deadlines on Security Plans - Jan 19, 2003
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has set aside a minimum of $418 million for the state to finance projects to bolster the metropolitan area's preparedness for any future terrorist attack. However the state has not submitted a single project for the federal agency to review, even though it has received scores of proposals from state, city and private agencies desperate to do everything from reinforcing bridges to shoring up bioterrorism efforts at local hospitals. In fact, the state has missed two deadlines for submitting the proposals, and has been forced to ask for two extensions totaling six months ? requests that emergency management officials say have been rare in other disasters. (New York Times)

Experts Map National Icons In Order to Rebuild After a Disaster - Jan 5, 2003
Federal officials have spent a lot of time thinking about disaster scenarios since the cataclysmic events of Sept. 11, 2001. And, quietly, they have been mapping doomsday strategies that could be used to replace or resurrect national icons like the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore in case they are ever damaged or obliterated in terrorist attacks. Should disaster strike, and a political decision be made to rebuild, exact replicas — or architectural clones — could be constructed fairly quickly. (New York Daily News)

Now Returned Home, 9/11 Detainee Denounces His Experience - Jan 3, 2003
An Indian man who was cleared of involvement in the Sept. 11 terror attacks has returned home, alleging sleep deprivation, unhealthy food and solitary confinement during his 15 months of detention in New York. (New York Post)

Plans To Close Firehouses Must Proceed, Says Official - Dec 8, 2002
The city will have to go ahead with plans to close several firehouses, Deputy Mayor Marc V. Shaw said yesterday, calling an agreement to set up a commission to study the issue a "political punt." Although most public figures have shied away from criticizing the city's uniformed departments in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in which 343 city firefighters died, Shaw had no problem dealing out criticism towards inefficiencies in the fire department. (New York Times)

City Pushes to End Limits on Police Surveillance - Dec 4, 2002
The city hinted the NYPD was probing a secret terrorist plot yesterday as it tried to persuade a Manhattan federal judge to overturn longstanding limits on cops' ability to spy on political groups. But senior Federal Judge Charles Haight turned down the city's "unusual request" to discuss the "ongoing investigation" in chambers - and not include lawyers fighting to preserve the limits on police surveillance. (New York Daily News)

Henry Kissinger Appointed Head of Commission To Investigate 9/11 - Nov 28, 2002
President Bush today named Henry A. Kissinger, a Republican who has been one of the most respected but polarizing figures in foreign policy and Washington for more than three decades, to lead an independent investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The 10 member-commission will conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the causes of the attacks, whether they could have been averted and what changes are needed to prevent a similar occurrence. The commission is required to complete its work within 18 months. The leaders of the two parties in Congress must appoint the rest of the members by Dec. 15. (New York Times)

Fire Captian Invents Powerful New Radio - Nov 27, 2002
A fire captain toiling in an FDNY lab crafted a powerful new radio from $1,000 worth of parts that might help overcome widespread communication woes that contributed to firefighter deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Post)

Inquiry Clears F.B.I. Agents in Egyptian's False 9/11 Confession - Nov 26, 2002
An internal inquiry has cleared the F.B.I. agents who obtained a false confession from an Egyptian student in the Sept. 11 attacks, and has raised new questions about the value of lie-detector tests. The student, Abdallah Higazy, was detained after investigators were told that an aviation radio, capable of communicating with commercial airline pilots, was found in his Manhattan hotel room overlooking the World Trade Center soon after Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Investigation Finds Weak Security at NYC Tunnels and Bridges - Nov 25, 2002
Spotty security at the city's bridges and tunnels leaves them wide open to truck bombs and makes it easy for terrorists to transport explosives into Manhattan, according to a Post investigation. A week after the FBI warned of "spectacular" attacks - and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued a special alert on rented box trucks - a Post reporter rented a yellow box truck and drove it over a dozen crossings multiple times. It was rarely challenged. (New York Post)

F.B.I. Report on Student in 9/11 Case to Be Public - Nov 23, 2002
In a sharp reversal, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said yesterday that they no longer opposed the public release of a report on how the F.B.I. obtained a confession from an innocent Egyptian student who was detained last year in connection with the World Trade Center attack. The office of United States Attorney James B. Comey, which had submitted the report to a federal judge and asked that he not release it, told him in a letter that it had re-evaluated its position, given the intense public interest in the matter involving the student, Abdallah Higazy. (New York Times)

NYC Bridges Getting Security Cameras - Nov 21, 2002
The NYPD will position surveillance cameras on several of the city's bridges as part of its expanding war on terror, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. The cameras will augment the cops already positioned at the crossings to inspect vehicles that could be carrying explosives. Kelly declined to say which crossings were getting the cameras. (New York Post)

127 Airport Workers Face Charges of Hiding Past - Nov 20, 2002
127 current and former workers at La Guardia and Kennedy International Airports who were recently arrested, or who face arrest, have one thing in common, federal, state and local authorities said yesterday: they received security clearances at the airports either by lying about their criminal histories or by presenting fake identification. (New York Times)

Insurance Companies Revisit Terrorism Insurance For Transit Authority - Nov 20, 2002
If a terror attack were to strike the city's subways or any of the MTA-run bridges and tunnels, the agency's policy would cover only $100 million in property damages, officials said yesterday. "Anything over that figure, we are not covered for," said Gary Caplan, the MTA's director of budgets and financial management. The MTA said the $100 million terrorism policy, which has a $30 million deductible, was the most it could afford. Pre-Sept. 11, the MTA had a policy with $1.5 billion in coverage for all disasters, including terrorism. (New York Post)

Subway Workers Lack Terror Training - Nov 19, 2002
Despite repeated requests, subway workers have gotten no training in what to do if the transit system is hit by a chemical or biological attack, union leaders charged yesterday. "If a terrorist attack were to happen in the subways, our workers wouldn't know what to do," said Jimmy Willis, a top official of Transport Workers Union Local 100. He said his union has asked the MTA to train its subway employees - especially in evacuation procedures. Those requests, he said, have fallen on deaf ears. (New York Post)

Fuel in Storage Inside Buildings Raises Security Concern - Nov 19, 2002
Tens of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, used for huge backup generators and air-conditioners, are stored in a half-dozen big buildings in Manhattan, posing a potentially lethal hazard in the event of an accident or a terrorist attack. The city's Buildings and Fire Departments are investigating the fuel tanks at the buildings because of the similarities to the situation at 7 World Trade Center, where thousands of gallons of burning fuel may have contributed to the collapse of that skyscraper after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times)

September 11 Tape Recording of Firefighters Stirs Controversy - Nov 16, 2002
A 73-minute recording of firefighter conversations in the south tower of the World Trade Center was released yesterday, heightening the dispute between the city and firefighters over whether crucial communication equipment failed Sept. 11. The tapes seem to suggest the signal-boosting repeater used to amplify and retransmit radio signals worked in the south tower -- while few radio conversations in the north tower are heard. An earlier study endorsed by Mayor Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta had blamed malfunctioned equipment for contributing to the deaths of the 343 FDNY members who died in the terrorist attack. (New York Daily News)

9/11 Tape Reveals a Gripping History - Nov 12, 2002
A recently released tape of 9/11 rescue efforts not only provides facts about a particular 78 minutes on Sept. 11, 2001, but also exposes what many see as a lingering diffidence toward searching inquiries into whatever broke down on that day, whether building codes in New York City or spy codes at the National Security Agency. (New York Times)

9/11 Tape Raises Added Questions on Radio Failures - Nov 9, 2002
For much of the last year, New York City has said the devastating breakdown in fire communications at the World Trade Center was largely caused by the failure of an electronic device in the complex called a repeater, which was designed to boost radio transmissions in high rise buildings. Now, however, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's analysis of its 78-minute tape of firefighter communications from Sept. 11 flatly contradicts the city's version of what went wrong. It raises the possibility that different factors — failure of other equipment, design of communications consoles in the tower lobbies, or a simple mistake made at a moment of high stress — might have accounted for the communications breakdowns. (New York Times)

Material from 9/11 Insurance Case Shows a Graphic Look at Towers' Collapse - Oct 29, 2002
Last week, a federal judge in the World Trade Center insurance case made it clear that he had no objection to the public release of a trove of material, including videotape, compact discs, witness accounts, mathematical analyses and high-tech imagery. Taken together, the dozens of boxes represent the largest single repository of raw data and expert analysis on the Sept. 11 attack in Lower Manhattan, dwarfing the analysis compiled by the government in its first examination of how and why the towers collapsed. (New York Times)

Study Faults Bolts in WTC Collapse - Oct 27, 2002
Single-bolt connections in the framework of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers contributed to their collapse in the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the findings of a team of top engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (New York Post)

Governor Criticizes Wall Street Relocation Plan - Oct 22, 2002
Gov. Pataki vowed to do everything in his power to kill a doomsday plan drafted by federal regulators that could force the flight of thousands of Wall Street jobs. Authored by the Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission and Office of the Controller of the Currency, the plan urged 15 to 20 major banks and five to 10 major securities firms - most of which have headquarters or key operations here - to consider relocating backup sites as much as 200 to 300 miles out of town. (New York Daily News)

Expert Report Disputes U.S. on Trade Center Collapse - Oct 22, 2002
Experts commissioned in a $4 billion insurance case involving the World Trade Center have come to conclusions that fundamentally contradict a federal investigation into what caused the twin towers to collapse. The new analysis, according to several experts who have examined the confidential findings, holds that the unusual engineering design of the towers did not contribute to the collapses, and that the damage caused by the planes and the resulting fires made the failures of the buildings inevitable. (New York Times)

Comparing 2 Sets of Towers: In NYC and Kuala Lumpur - Oct 22, 2002
Charles H. Thornton, one of the world's most renowned engineers, has been both asking and answering the question that most have carefully avoided: could another building have stood longer than the twin towers did, let more people escape or perhaps never collapsed? In statements that some experts see as bold and others as self-serving, Thornton has argued that at least two enormous buildings would have withstood the Sept. 11 attacks far better than the World Trade Center towers did: the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the world's tallest buildings and, in a structural sense, alter egos of the trade center. (New York Times)

Federal Disaster Proposal Could Cost City Billions - Oct 21, 2002
Fears of another major attack on New York City could force the exodus of thousands of Wall Street jobs and billions of tax dollars if a doomsday plan quietly drafted by federal regulators takes effect, the city's business leaders say. The disaster contingency plan could push as many as two dozen major banks and securities companies to their backup operations as much as 200 to 300 miles out of town. (New York Daily News)

City Runs Fifth Disaster Drill - Oct 18, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg and more than 40 city, state and federal officials put their heads together at the Con Edison Learning Center in Queens yesterday to figure out how the city would respond to a radioactive bombing. This was the fifth mock disaster hosted by the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. Others have focused on bioterror attacks and coastal storms. (New York Daily News)

Anti-terror Shop Opens Downtown - Oct 17, 2002
In what might be considered a sign of the times, a boutique selling anti-terror gear opens today a few blocks from Ground Zero. The Nassau Street store, known as "Safer America," is being touted as the "first anti-terrorism store in America." (Newsday)

After 9/11, City's Police and Fire Depts. Question a Central Command - Oct 9, 2002
The city's police and fire commissioners said at a City Council committee hearing that a central command system was not needed, and that neither department was qualified to seize control of the other. The statements, coming after a consultant's report told the city that a unified command was necessary in catastrophes as big as the World Trade Center attack. (New York Times)

Citing 9/11, Appeals Court Upholds Secret Hearings - Oct 9, 2002
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled yesterday that the Bush administration had acted lawfully in holding deportation hearings in secret based on its assertion that those detained might have links to terrorism. (New York Times)

City's Bomb Squad is Busier Than Ever - Oct 6, 2002
Since Sept. 11 2001, New York City's Bomb Squad is picking up a lot more suspicious packages than usual -- on some days 200 percent more, as many as 50 a day. The squad also has to look out for "dirty bombs," which spread radiation. (New York Times)

Vast Detail on Towers' Collapse May Be Sealed - Sep 30, 2002
What is almost certainly the most sophisticated and complete understanding of exactly how and why the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell has been compiled as part of a largely secret proceeding in federal court in Lower Manhattan. Many fear, however, that the closely held information, which includes the analysis and the possible answers that families and engineers around the world have craved, may remain buried in sealed files, or even destroyed. Bound by confidentiality agreements with their clients, the experts cannot disclose their findings publicly as they wait for the case to play out. (New York Times)

City Asks Feds to Allow Police to Monitor Political Groups - Sep 26, 2002
The city asked a federal court yesterday to boost the NYPD's power to keep tabs on political groups -- saying this would give police another tool to help prevent terror. But the New York City Civil Liberties Union vowed to fight the bid. (New York Daily News)

Goodyear: I Turned My Cab Driver in to the FBI - Sep 25, 2002
Last July, Sarah Goodyear argued politics with a livery driver who said a friend heard something about Osama, something about the city being in danger. On September 13, 2001, she reported him to the FBI. Now, a year later, she finds out how he feels about it. (Village Voice)

Fire Unions Call for Inquiry on Radio Failures - Sep 20, 2002
The leaders of New York City's fire unions yesterday called for an independent investigation into the widespread communication problems that plagued firefighters during the World Trade Center disaster, saying that they had lost confidence in the city's review. (New York Times)

Security Cited in Proposals on Lawsuits From Sept. 11 - Sep 20, 2002
Transportation safety officials are proposing tight new procedures to limit the possibility that sensitive airport security information will become public, and exploited by terrorists, in lawsuits stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Times)

No Quick Fix for Radios, New York Fire Dept. Says - Sep 18, 2002
New York City's fire commissioner said it could take years before all the equipment needed for reliable communications inside the city's tallest buildings is put in place. Because the Fire Department's response to the attack on the World Trade Center was plagued with communications problems, the commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, said that he had made improved communications one of his most urgent priorities since he took office in January. But new radios by themselves would not solve the problems. (New York Times)

After Buffalo Arrests, Arab Americans Prepare for Backlash - Sep 16, 2002
Ever since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Arab-Americans and Muslims have complained of harassment and discrimination, from a backlash immediately after the attacks to a more recent official crackdown on visas and firings. According to one recent poll conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, 57 percent of 945 American Muslims surveyed said they've experienced bias or discrimination since Sept. 11, while 87 percent said they knew a Muslim who had. (Newsday)

Concerns With City Response to 9/11 - Sep 16, 2002
A year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the city has not yet offered legislation to address building code and emergency response issues, and most of the proposals to increase cooperation among emergency agencies remain on the drawing board. (Newsday)

False Terror Alert - Sep 15, 2002
Passersby alerted the police and caused authorities to rope off a section of Battery Park, delay some 9/11 memorial events and bring the 4, 5 and 6 trains to a halt after seeing a Sikh Transit Authority worker climbing out of a subway maintenance hatch yesterday. The worker was just doing his job. (New York Post)

F.B.I. Makes Sixth Arrest in Buffalo Inquiry - Sep 15, 2002
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a sixth man of Yemeni descent, family and friends said in Buffalo, NY tonight, in addition to the five young American citizens charged Saturday with providing "material support" for Qaeda terrorists. (New York Times)

U.S. Charges Five Men in Buffalo With Awaiting an Order for Terror Strike - Sep 14, 2002
Five Arab-American men charged today with operating an active cell of Al Qaeda in western New York had received intensive weapons training in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 and been sent back to the United States to await the order for an attack, federal law enforcement officials said today (New York Times)

Security Increased Throughout City For Anniversary - Sep 11, 2002
Extra cops and National Guard troops fanned out across the city and state yesterday to allay fears of a copycat attack spoiling today's somber ceremonies. Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisted that no specific terrorist threats were being aimed at New York, and that the city has been on high alert since last Sept. 11. Pataki deployed extra National Guard troops and State Police at Canadian border crossings, airports, watersheds, state health laboratories, the Capitol in Albany and bridges and tunnels leading into the city. Trucks will be subject to checks at bridges and tunnels and other vehicles will be randomly selected for inspections. The subway system will also get extra protection. (New York Daily News)

Many Aspects of the Disaster Remain Unexamined - Sep 11, 2002
One year later, the public knows less about the circumstances of 2,801 deaths at the foot of Manhattan in broad daylight than people in 1912 knew within weeks about the Titanic, which sank in the middle of an ocean in the dead of night. (New York Times)

FBI Declares Alert On 9/11 Anniversary - Sep 10, 2002
The FBI has issued a new alert that the city could be targeted by terrorists on the anniversary of Sept. 11.The warning came as the NYPD mobilized thousands of cops to keep the city safe during during ceremonies at Ground Zero and in every borough. (New York Daily News)

Government Planning to Fingerprint Foreigners - Sep 9, 2002
Immigration agents at the nation's border crossings, airports and seaports this week will begin to fingerprint foreigners who they suspect may pose security risks. (New York Times)

On 9/11, New York's Emergency Office Could Do Little - Sep 9, 2002
The city's Office of Emergency Management was designed to be cutting edge and thus deeply reassuring to a city that knew it was a target for terror: it would prepare for the worst and oversee the response when the worst hit. Whatever its grand ambitions, when crisis struck on September 11, the agency found itself marginalized and overwhelmed. (New York Times)

9/11 Prompts New Caution in Skyscraper Design - Sep 9, 2002
Only a year later, the attacks have profoundly altered one of the deepest and most original expressions of American culture, ego, muscle, and scientific and financial prowess: the skyscraper. New threats have already led developers, engineers, architects and building tenants to rethink how they hold up and fortify these grand structures. The story includes an interactive feature showing changes in buildings under construction and in the planning stages. (New York Times)

A Year of Making U.S. Safer - Sep 9, 2002
One year after the worst terrorist attacks on United States soil, Americans are safer but still far from safe. In recent days, the top Bush administration officials charged with securing the nation at home and abroad have all cited progress but also acknowledged the continuing threat in their public comments. (New York Times)

24-Hour Jet Patrols Resume - Sep 7, 2002
With the Sept. 11 anniversary approaching, 24-hour military fighter jet patrols have resumed over Washington and New York, officials said yesterday . (New York Post)

Raymond Kelly On New York City Security One Year Later - Sep 7, 2002
As part of a series of interviews about the city and the country one year after 9/11, the New York Times interviewed New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly about the state of security in the city today, and what "safe" should mean for New Yorkers. (New York Times)

New Yorkers Still Fearful One Year Later - Sep 7, 2002
An overwhelming majority of New Yorkers think about the September 11 attacks at least once a week, with almost half thinking about them at least once a day, according to a poll from Newsday. Furthermore, some New Yorkers from outside Manhattan are taking less frequent trips into Manhattan, while over 70 percent of those surveyed foresee another terrorist attack taking place in the United States in the future. (Newsday)

Restrictions Finalized For September 11 Flights Over New York City - Sep 6, 2002
Airline passengers will have to stay in their seats the first 30 minutes of any flight out of New York's major airports and the last 30 minutes of any flight in next week as part of new security restrictions put in place for the Sept. 11 anniversary. (Newsday)

New Task Force to Help Fire Department Prepare for  Terror Attacks - Sep 4, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency would head a terrorism preparedness task force within the city's Fire Department, a group that will include a former director of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. The task force will evaluate the department's technical capabilities to deal with various terrorism threats, and make recommendations. (New York Times)

Special Investigation: Weapons Aboard Planes - Sep 4, 2002
To test the supposedly more stringent security imposed at the nation's airports after the Sept. 11 attacks, Daily News reporters boarded flights over the Labor Day weekend carrying contraband - including box cutters, razor knives and pepper spray. Not a single airport security checkpoint spotted or confiscated any of the dangerous items, all of which have been banned from airports and planes by federal authorities. (New York Daily News)

Unanswered Questions About 9/11 Plotters - Sep 2, 2002
One year later, the FBI has assembled an excruciatingly detailed record of the movements, phone calls, and financial transactions of the 19 hijackers. And investigations overseas have shed some light on the plot's genesis. But many important questions remain unanswered. What was the exact al Qaeda chain of command? How were the hijackers communicating with their leaders? And did the hijackers scout other targets for future al Qaeda operations? (U.S. News and World Report)

International Airlines Cleared To Fly Over New York On 9/11 - Aug 30, 2002
The Bush administration yesterday appeared to back off a plan to restrict foreign airlines flying in and out of New York airports during the Sept. 11 anniversary, in the face of criticism from overseas carriers and concerns that such treatment would violate international treaties. (Newsday)

Civil Liberties After Sept. 11 - Aug 29, 2002
Almost everywhere, governments have taken September 11th as an opportunity to restrict their citizens' freedom. A look at how civil liberties have been impacted around the world. (Economist)

NYPD Gearing Up in War on Terror - Aug 25, 2002
Nearly a year after the World Trade Center attack, New York's anti-terror chiefs have launched an ambitious counteroffensive, deploying 900 cops who run down 50 tips a day with a military-style vigilance. (New York Daily News)

U.S. Announces New, Tougher Look Into Why the Towers Collapsed - Aug 22, 2002
Federal officials on Wednesday began a two-year, $23 million study of the 110-story twin towers at the World Trade Center to analyze how and why the twin towers and a third skyscraper collapsed in raging fires on Sept. 11. The investigation will recommend changes in how other high-rises are built to make them safer in a terrorist attack, an out-of-control fire or a natural disaster. (New York Times)

Families of 9/11 Emergency Workers Get 7 Times More From Charity - Aug 20, 2002
Stunned families of 9/11 victims yesterday said they were outraged by reports that survivors of emergency workers received seven times more money from charity than those of civilians killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Firefighters' families also joined in the chorus of criticism, saying charity had to be evenhanded. (New York Post)

Mayor Promising Better Response to Catastrophes - Aug 20, 2002
Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged greater coordination between New York City's Police and Fire Departments on Monday as he released reports on Sept. 11. Bloomberg promised to make major changes in how the departments handle future catastrophes, including improvements in technology and basic emergency procedures. (New York Times)

FDNY to Recommend Policy Overhaul - Aug 18, 2002
At least one of the Fire Department of New York's most senior officers should oversee large-scale emergencies from its remote operations center instead of the disaster scene, according to a five-month study of the department's response to the Sept. 11 attacks. (Associated Press)

Judge: Government Can Withhold 9/11 Detainees Names - Aug 16, 2002
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Bush administration does not have to immediately reveal the names of those detained in the investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a stay of her earlier order to give government lawyers more time to appeal. (Associated Press)

Report Decries Immigrant Detentions - Aug 15, 2002
The U.S. government has misused its powers and marred its investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with arbitrary detentions, due-process violations and secret arrests, according to a report to be released today by the international human rights group Human Rights Watch. (Newsday)

New Rules Debated On Building Safety - Aug 14, 2002
The debate over changing the city building code after the Sept. 11 attack is centering on whether to require existing buildings to add safety features such as sprinklers and harden stairwells and elevator shafts. In a daylong hearing yesterday, Buildings Department officials heard two dozen witnesses offer myriad suggestions for changing the code to improve safety in new and existing high-rises. (Newsday)

Officials to Tour Federal Plaza for Street-Level Look at Security - Aug 8, 2002
The debate over bolstering security around Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan moves from the conference room to the streets this morning, as city and federal agencies tour the blocks around Duane and Reade Streets, seeking to balance safety and accessibility. While the federal General Services Administration, which oversees the buildings, favors tight security, the city has objected to blocking the downtown streets, fearing that would slow reaction to emergencies and increase traffic congestion. (New York Times)

Airlines Cancel Sept. 11 Flights From Europe - Aug 3, 2002
Several European airlines have canceled flights to the United States on Sept. 11, saying fewer people plan to fly on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. (Associated Press)

Sept. 11 Provokes Code Overhaul for High-Rises - Aug 2, 2002
New York City officials are creating a sweeping plan to change the codes that govern how all high-rise buildings are protected against fire and structural damage and how they are evacuated in an emergency. The plan is one of the first concrete signs that the fiery collapse of the World Trade Center is going to transform the construction and operation of high-rises around the nation. (New York Times)

Feds Threatening To Sue New York Over Security - Aug 2, 2002
The federal government is threatening to seize streets and sidewalks in Lower Manhattan because, officials say, the city has stalled plans to protect two large federal buildings from terrorists. A federal agency wants to erect retracting barriers at the entrances to Duane Street, Reade Street, and Elk Street, and build low posts on the sidewalk around the buildings to block truck bombs. (New York Sun)

Bomb Fears Could Prompt Street Closings Downtown - Jul 31, 2002
Security fears at the main federal building in Lower Manhattan have prompted talks between city and federal governments about closing Broadway and three other streets. (New York Sun)

Report on 9/11 Finds Flaws in Response of Police Dept. - Jul 27, 2002
The New York Police Department's response to the Sept. 11 attack was effective in many areas but suffered from lapses in leadership and coordination and a lack of proper planning and training, according to a draft report by an independent consultant for the department. (New York Times)

Report Finds Fault with how Police Dept. Responded - Jul 26, 2002
An independent study of how the Police Department reacted the day the World Trade Center was attacked is heavily critical of how the department responded, a top police source told Newsday yesterday. The report was prepared by McKinsey & Co., a Manhattan-based business management consultant that operates globally. (Newsday)

Counter-terrorism Summit Held - Jul 25, 2002
In an event accompanied by tight security, state officials lobbied police chiefs from around the state yesterday on the importance of the governor’s anti-terror agency. The Counter-Terrorism Summit was sponsored by the state Office of Public Security, created by Gov. George Pataki after Sept. 11 to help improve information sharing among law enforcement agencies and address gaps in the security network. (Newsday)

9/11 Tape: Families May Hear It, but Not Tell of It - Jul 17, 2002
Fire officials said yesterday that the families of the 343 firefighters who died on Sept. 11 would be allowed to listen to radio transmissions that were recorded in the World Trade Center on the morning of the attack. But the families, like fire officials who have listened to a tape of the transmissions, will be required to sign confidentiality agreements that will prevent them from disclosing anything they hear. (New York Daily News)

Terror Makes All the World a Beat for New York Police - Jul 15, 2002
As it moves ahead in a post-Sept. 11 world, the New York Police Department is taking on many jobs that were once the sole province of federal authorities, from posting officers abroad to creating a medical staff to analyze the potential impact of weapons of mass destruction. (New York Times)

Ruling Favors Limited Access to 9/11 Data - Jul 13, 2002
A federal judge, acknowledging national security concerns, ruled yesterday that the government should have a say in what is turned over to the families that have sued airlines, security firms, and others in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (New York Times)

U.S. Judge Clears Detention of Witnesses for Grand Jury - Jul 12, 2002
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled yesterday that prosecutors may detain witnesses to testify before grand juries, a decision that will be seen as a powerful endorsement of a major investigative tool used by law enforcement since the Sept. 11 attacks. (New York Times)

Sept. 11 Tape Heard in Secret in Fire Inquiry - Jul 11, 2002
Amid concern about the scope and depth of an inquiry by the Fire Department into its Sept. 11 response, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that fire officials would immediately listen to taped radio transmissions among firefighters at the World Trade Center that were discovered five or six months ago but never played. (New York Times)

International Theater in the Post 9/11 Era - Jul 10, 2002
International theater festivals have become a staple of summer, yet foreign artists wishing to perform in the U.S. have never had a tougher time entering the country. Nigel Redden, director of the Lincoln Center Festival, understands the current imperatives and challenges as well as anyone. Having invited an Iranian troupe of 28 to perform Ta'ziyeh, a multipart traditional music drama, he's had to contend with visa denial for 10 members. (Village Voice)

Sept. 11 Tape Could Hold Clues to Firefighters' Deaths - Jul 10, 2002
Ten months after the Sept. 11 attacks that left 343 firefighters dead, and five months after fire officials undertook a study of just what happened, the Fire Department has yet to review a potentially critical trove of information: a tape of radio transmissions among firefighters at the World Trade Center that morning. The tape, in the end, may provide answers to some of the lingering questions about what happened to fire companies that perished after ascending into the tower. (New York Times)

Fire Chief Questions Closing of Downtown Streets - Jun 30, 2002
Battalion Chief William P. Blaich, who oversees Lower Manhattan for the Fire Department, has long questioned the closing of downtown streets in the name of security. Early last year, the federal General Services Administration shut part of Duane Street to outside traffic. Last week, Chief Blaich said he learned of informal plans to close a similar part of Reade Street, which runs along the plaza's southern edge and absorbs heavy traffic from the Brooklyn Bridge. (New York Times)

International Students Under Close Watch - Jun 29, 2002
Since Sept. 11, the nation's estimated 1 million international students face increased scrutiny. New York City colleges and universities boast the largest number of international students -- more than 15,000. The biggest change, announced last month, is the implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis. Under the system, the government forces schools to monitor students from the day they arrive in the United States. (Newsday)

Even After 9/11, New York Attracts Immigrants from Puebla - Jun 29, 2002
The Immigration and Naturalization Service credits heightened security and screening, along with the fear factor, for the nearly 20 percent decline in immigration to the United States since Sept. 11. Little of that fear seems to have pervaded Puebla and its dusty yet colorful streets. This central Mexican state and its denizens, known as Poblanos, share a special relationship with New York City. An estimated half of the 500,000 Mexicans living in the New York metropolitan area trace their roots to Puebla. (New York Times)

The Brooklyn Jail Where Immigrants Disappear - Jun 26, 2002
Untold numbers of Arabs and South Asians have been brought to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a high-security federal prison in Sunset Park. More post-September 11 detainees have been jailed in county facilities in New Jersey, but critics say the Metropolitan Detention Center houses some of the worst constitutional and human rights violations by the federal government in these cases. (Village Voice)

Feds Prepare WTC Probe - Jun 25, 2002
A federal agency preparing to investigate the Twin Towers collapse fielded a wide range of technical suggestions as well as criticism from fire safety experts, victims' relatives and experts from across the country yesterday. (Newsday)

Lawmaker: NYC Needs $10B for Security - Jun 24, 2002
A Queens congressman yesterday said the city needs at least $10 billion from the federal government to gird itself against possible terrorist attacks. The Democratic congressman, Joseph Crowley, made the estimate in a report detailing the city's anti-terrorism requirements. He said the Bush administration's plan falls short of the mark. (Newsday)

Under Fire after 9/11, I.N.S. Presents Database to Track Foreign Students - Jun 22, 2002
Immigration officials this month began presenting to New York universities and colleges a new system the federal government will use to track foreign students, in the hope that smaller technical institutes will begin using it as early as next month and that any flaws can be fixed before its use becomes compulsory seven months from now. The computerized system, if it is up and running on schedule, would embody the most comprehensive change since Sept. 11 to the way the nation manages its millions of foreign visitors. (New York Times)

NYPD Requests Terror Bunker - Jun 21, 2002
The Police Department has requested $270 million from the Bloomberg administration to build a high-tech underground "bunker" in case of another terrorist attack. (New York Post)

Police on High Alert for Cop and Ambulance Car Bombs - Jun 20, 2002
Police sources told the Post that they are on the lookout for official vehicles, such as police cars, ambulances or a firetruck that could be used to deliver bombs. Recent attempts to purchase a replica ambulance in New Jersey may have fueled the alert. (New York Post)

Appeals Panel Upholds Ruling for Open Court for 9/11 Detainees - Jun 19, 2002
A federal appeals panel refused today to block a judge's order that the Immigration and Naturalization Service hold open deportation hearings for so-called special-interest cases involving detainees held after Sept. 11. (New York Times)

Sept. 11 Relatives Want Commission - Jun 12, 2002
Clutching photos of loved ones lost, nearly 100 parents, siblings, children and other relatives of Sept. 11 victims gathered Tuesday outside the Capitol to urge an independent investigation into the terrorist attacks. The rally took place as the House and Senate intelligence committees were meeting behind closed doors to look into lapses in intelligence-sharing by U.S. officials before Sept. 11. Supporters of an independent commission said that inquiry is not enough. (Newsday)

Subways At Risk For Nerve Gas Attack, FBI Says - Jun 10, 2002
In its latest terror warning, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says subway systems in the United States are at risk for nerve gas attacks. The U.S. transportation Department had earlier warned that New York City’s subways could be targeted by terrorists, but this is the first warning from federal authorities to cite transit systems nationwide. (NY1)

City, State Get $48 Million For Bioterrorist Security - Jun 7, 2002
New York State and New York City received $48 million in federal funds yesterday to beef up safeguards against bioterrorism. The money is part of $1.1 billion in national terrorism preparedness funds being distributed to all 50 states, U.S. territories and three major cities - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. (New York Daily News)

Landlords Learn Anti-terror Tactics - Jun 4, 2002
Authorities released information about an al-Qaida guide to apartment hunting to more than 250 landlords, property managers and security representatives at One Police Plaza in the first of a series of forums aimed at helping New Yorkers identify suspicious activity. The three-hour session was planned after the FBI learned of threats to blow up apartment buildings. (Newsday)

City Simulates Bioterror Disaster - May 23, 2002
In preparation against biological terrorism, city officials yesterday simulated an attack and conducted a six-hour medication dispensing drill at Pier 92 in Manhattan. John Odermatt, commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management, said the goal was to treat and prescribe medication to 1,000 people per hour. (Newsday)

Security Tighter in New York After Vague Terrorist Threat - May 22, 2002
Federal and local law-enforcement officials yesterday issued a warning of vague and uncorroborated threats against the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty as the city imposed security measures not seen since the first months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The police began operating checkpoints at many of the city's major bridges and tunnels on Monday night, and the Coast Guard established a 200-yard restricted zone around any United States vessel that is moored or anchored in the harbor during Fleet Week. (New York Times)

For Emergency Officials Touched by 9/11's Horrors, Fears of Creeping Complacency - May 21, 2002
Thomas Von Essen, the city's former fire commissioner, re-examined the shortcomings of the Fire Department's emergency response on Sept. 11, saying that the response should have been slowed down. Von Essen also voiced fears that politicians are not focusing on preventing a future attack. He spoke as part of a panel discussion on the first day of a three-day conference at the Sheraton New York Hotel in Midtown, "9/11: Looking Back and Moving Forward," which was attended by hundreds of emergency management professionals from 35 states and several other countries. (New York Times)

New York City Water Facilities Fail Security Checks - May 19, 2002
Security at city water facilities fails to meet federal and state guidelines, making them vulnerable to potential biological or chemical attacks, according to a report released Sunday. The report, compiled by the New York State Assembly Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation, found that security at the facilities failed more than half of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health guidelines. (Newsday)

Police Department Visits Israel To Learn About Suicide Attack Preparations - May 19, 2002
The New York Police Department is being trained by experts from Israel's military and municipal police forces, who have had to respond to scores of human bombs in the last 18 months. "We were invited by Israel to be the only police agency at a symposium focused on suicide bombers and lessons learned," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly confirmed. Five investigators from the counterterrorism and intelligence bureaus flew to Israel last week for the symposium, which began Friday. The cops will return this week. It is the first time the NYPD has sent its members to a foreign country for instruction. (New York Daily News)

Fire Department Seeks Feedback From Around The Country About Their Response To September 11 - May 10, 2002
New York City fire officials and their outside consultants are traveling the country asking other large fire departments in cities like San Francisco to critique how the city responded to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Feedback from the visits will be used by consultants from McKinsey & Company, who are drawing up recommendations on how the Fire Department can improve its response to a major catastrophe, the officials said. (New York Times)

National Guard Troops Being Pulled From New York Airports - May 10, 2002
After seven months, New York Army National Guard troops are being pulled out of the state's airports, Governor Pataki announced yesterday. The U.S. Department of Defense and the Transportation Safety Administration have established May 31 as the close of the National Guard airport mission across the nation. New York will gradually stand down troops to meet the May 31 target, Pataki said. (New York Post)

Federal Report on World Trade Center Collapse To Be Released Today - May 1, 2002
A federal study, to be released today during a congressional hearing, concludes that the towers of the World Trade Center behaved "remarkably," and states that no structural problems were found with the buildings. The study team recommends that funds should be used to improve aircraft security, rather than hardening buildings against airplane attack. "Buildings are not designed to withstand any event that could ever conceivably occur," the report states. The study concludes that the buildings could have remained standing following the plane impacts alone, if not for the enormous fires that ensued. (Newsday)

Fire Chiefs Less Likely To Send Firefighters To Top Floors To Battle Skyscraper Fires - Apr 28, 2002
Strategies for battling high-rise blazes probably won't change much due to the World Trade Center attacks, but fire chiefs might be reluctant to send firefighters to upper floors, New York City's former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen said yesterday. He also stressed the need for better communication between firefighters. (New York Daily News)

New Yorkers More Fearful of Terrorism Than Residents of Other Cities - Apr 26, 2002
New Yorkers are more worried about future terrorism than other Americans, a new poll shows. 22% of New Yorkers worry a great deal about another attack, according to a survey by the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston. By contrast, 14% in Chicago and 13% in Los Angeles and Houston worry a lot about the possibility of attacks on their cities, the center said. (New York Daily News)

Feds Warn of Threat Against Northeast Banks - Apr 20, 2002
Banks in New York and across the Northeast could be the next terror targets, the FBI warned yesterday after receiving information extracted from one of Osama bin Laden's top aides. The threat - which was branded "credible but unspecific" by U.S. officials - came from Abu Zubaydah, the highest-ranking al Qaeda figure in U.S. custody. (New York Post)

Tighter Security Planned for New York Airports - Apr 12, 2002
Gov. George E. Pataki plans to begin a sweeping program to sharpen security at New York City's area airports, going beyond some new federal regulations by requiring criminal background checks of workers in airport shops, the governor's senior aides said today. He also wants to install fingerprint scanners quickly for all airport employees and do away with simple plastic passes. (New York Times)

Questions Remain Over Lack Of Safety Authorities In Sky Lobbies of Twin Towers - Apr 11, 2002
On June 2, 1997, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey removed certified deputy fire safety directors from the 44th- and 78th-floor sky lobbies in each tower, records show. The fire safety specialists had been placed there as one in a series of reforms after the 1993 bombing. Survivors' accounts suggest that confusion on the sky lobby floors may have resulted from the absence of these safety workers. (Newsday)

Security Upgraded At LaGuardia Airport - Apr 7, 2002
Sweeping tarmac-level security measures designed to thwart a terror attack are being implemented at La Guardia Airport and could become a model for airports around the nation. Among the changes will be pop-up barriers at three or four entrances to the airfield used by ground crews, caterers, repairmen and others who have access to airliners. The barriers will prevent trucks from entering the tarmac. Improved lighting, new fencing and bomb-sniffing dogs are also part of the program, sources said. (New York Post)

Explosives-Detecting Dogs In Use At JFK Airport - Apr 3, 2002
Dogs are trained to hit on 13 different scents found in explosives are now working the terminals at JFK Airport. The dogs recognize TNT, nitroglycerin, fuses, powders and other bomb-making materials. Unlike the barking rescue dogs who were so visible sniffing in the rubble at the of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11, the explosive-detecting canines do not bark or react with excitement when they hit on something. (New York Post)

Fire Department Seeks To Expand Staff, Equipment - Apr 3, 2002
The post-Sept. 11th New York Fire Department hopes to double its hazardous materials squad, stockpile equipment and medical supplies and boost training, the fire commissioner told a City Council committee at City Hall yesterday. If anticipated federal funding comes through the department would create an Emergency Mobilization Cache that would stockpile the specialized tools and equipment used by its highly trained five rescue companies and seven squads. It would also add to its fleet of backup engines, ladders and speciality vehicles "in the event that another major disaster results in the heavy loss of vehicles." (Newsday)

Engineering Organization Suggests Building Skyscrapers Shorter - Mar 28, 2002
Whatever is rebuilt on the World Trade Center site should be no more than 50 or 60 stories tall, according to a new study by the nation's leading engineering organization. The study, by the Construction Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, also recommends that all buildings at the site be designed to accommodate mass evacuations. In addition,biological and chemical attacks top the list of threats that the new buildings must protect against. (New York Times)

City Official Who Coordinated WTC Emergency Operations Quits - Mar 28, 2002
Richard Sheirer stepped down as head of the city's Office of Emergency Management on Thursday. In the initial hours, he coordinated evacuations, rescues and triage, called for harbor and air protection, and shut down the streets of lower Manhattan. And in the six months since, Sheirer has directed a massive recovery and cleanup operation at the site, which has progressed far more quickly and economically than anyone predicted. (Newsday)

Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports To Split $5 Million in Federal Aid - Mar 26, 2002
Kennedy and LaGuardia airports will receive more than $5 million from the federal government to cover costs incurred as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The U.S. Department of Transportation will reimburse $2,275,000 to LaGuardia Airport and $2.9 million to Kennedy. The funds will be allocated to the Port Authority, which manages the airports. (New York Daily News)

Officials Defend Plan To End 24-Hour Fighter Jet Patrols - Mar 20, 2002
The Air Force secretary and the White House spokesman defended plans today to reduce combat flights over American cities and end round-the-clock fighter patrols over New York, saying the steps were justified by the increased security at airports and aboard jetliners. Neither official discussed details of how or when the patrols will be reduced, but both said much had changed in airline security since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (New York Times)

New York Officials Say Ending Jet Patrols Puts City at Risk - Mar 19, 2002
The Bush administration's decision to halt 24-hour fighter jet patrols over New York City came under intense criticism today from New York lawmakers, who raised concerns about the city's security. In addition, these lawmakers, all Democrats, questioned why the Bush administration would suspend round- the-clock patrols over New York when it plans to continue such patrols over Washington. (New York Times)

Police Chief and City Council Press for More Aid From Feds For Police Overtime - Mar 19, 2002
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly got a boost from the City Council yesterday in his quest to get the feds to reimburse the NYPD for $100 million in post-Sept. 11-related police overtime. The $100 million Kelly wants would be in addition to $197 million in terror attack-related NYPD overtime costs that were picked up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency before a November 24 cutoff date the agency had established. Members of the committee assured Kelly they intend to press federal officials for the unpaid overtime reimbursements. (New York Daily News)

24-Hour Fighter Jet Patrols Over New York To End - Mar 18, 2002
The Bush administration has decided to stop round-the-clock patrols by fighter jets over New York and to reduce intermittent combat flights over other major American cities, senior defense officials said. They said stricter airport security, stronger cockpit doors and more federal marshals on flights had sufficiently reduced the threat of attacks to allow the military to scale back patrols. (New York Times)

Lower Manhattan Residents Doesn't Want Terrorism Trials Downtown - Mar 10, 2002
In a letter to the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, Manhattan Community Board 1, which consists of residents near the World Trade Center site, asked the feds to move likely upcoming terrorism trials to other locations. Two federal courthouses downtown have been the site of six major terrorism trials since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. (New York Daily News)

Officials Say U.S. Should Have Shared Tip on Nuclear Threat - Mar 5, 2002
Officials from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to Senators Hilary Clinton and Charles Schumer said yesterday that the federal government should have shared information with them and other local authorities about the threat of a nuclear bomb being smuggled into the city. Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that he understood the need to evaluate the quality of the information before sharing it with the public. (New York Times)

JFK Airport Among First To Get New Aviation Security - Mar 5, 2002
Federal officials began recruiting some 30,000 passenger and baggage screeners yesterday and announced that Kennedy Airport would be among the first to get the new aviation security workers. (New York Daily News)

New Yorkers Never Notified of Nuclear Threat - Mar 4, 2002
Top federal officials reportedly feared in October that terrorists were planning to detonate a nuclear bomb in New York — potentially annihilating 100,000 people and flattening a hunk of Manhattan — but never told senior FBI officials, then Mayor Giuliani, or New York residents in general. The doomsday scenario was kept secret because of concerns that it could panic the city, already shaken to its core by the Sept. 11 attacks, Time magazine reported. (New York Daily News)

The Nuclear Threat To Manhattan: Can Another 9/11 Be Stopped? - Mar 4, 2002
A report from Time magazine details the nuclear threat to New York City last October that has been drawing reactions lately from local New York officials. The report says that terrorists were thought to have obtained a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon from the Russian arsenal and planned to smuggle it into New York City. While the threat was later deemed not credible, one official described the stress on intelligence officials by saying "It was brutal." (Time)

Mayoral Report Describes Decline In City Services After 9/11 - Mar 1, 2002
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's final collection of facts about the performance of city services, exhaustive yet carefully edited, was released yesterday by the Bloomberg administration, illuminating in many ways how those services suffered after the attack on the World Trade Center. Most notable, all sorts of arrests, as well as enforcement actions within the Police Department, declined, largely because the department was busy at ground zero or maintaining the high security alert, according to the report. (New York Times)

FBI May Double New York City's Anti-Terrorism Force - Feb 25, 2002
The FBI is studying a plan to double the number of agents assigned to New York's Joint Terrorism Task Force by making it a special division of the bureau, sources said yesterday. The plan, which was submitted last week by the bureau's New York office to FBI Director Robert Mueller, would reinforce the nearly 150 agents assigned to the task force by adding eight new investigation groups. (New York Post)

Police Hire Firm To Study September 11 Response - Feb 22, 2002
The Police Department has hired a high-powered business consulting firm to analyze its response to the World Trade Center attack and is seeking $700 million in federal funds to pay for anti-terrorism equipment. McKinsey & Co., which says it helps two-thirds of the companies on the Fortune 1,000 improve operations, will analyze the police response to the Sept. 11 attack, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday after a City Council hearing on anti-terrorism tactics. Kelly said the consulting firm will interview officers and supervisors who were at the scene, looking at "a whole myriad of things." (Newsday)

Public Still Buying Gas Masks Etc. - Feb 20, 2002
Sales at stores around the city that sell antiterrorism devices have been strong since 9/11. Sales, primarily of gas masks, surged at Army surplus shops and survival stores immediately after the attacks and continue to ride a swell. (New York Times)

Report Decries Immigrant Detentions - Jan 1, 2002
The U.S. government has misused its powers and marred its investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with arbitrary detentions, due-process violations and secret arrests, according to a report to be released today by the international human rights group Human Rights Watch. (Newsday)

FDNY Redeploys Safety Battalion - Dec 7, 2001
The Fire Department has temporarily disbanded its safety battalion - whose normal job is to assess a major fire for its potential danger to
firefighters -- so it can deploy the unit's chiefs to interview firefighters
about the events of Sept. 11. "This is unacceptable," said Chief Nick
Visconti, an official of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. "We had a
fire that injured 40 firefighters last week, and a plane crash earlier this
month. We need these safety chiefs in the field." (New York Daily News)