Feds leave N.Y. hanging
Oct 12, 2005
New York Daily News
Howie Kurtz
"The report that the subway terror threat was a hoax brings relief - until you remember the schizophrenic way government behaved. Then the feelings run back to fear. And loathing.
Fear that the federal end is manned by paper-pushers. And loathing that they're so damn smug about their incompetence.
It starts with President Bush, the tool-belt guy who photo-opped work on houses in New Orleans yesterday. This being his eighth visit to New Orleans, we get the point: he cares.
But does anybody in Washington still care about New York? Or is our security soooo yesterday? And has Bush become the Hurricane President instead of the War President?
The bizarre handling of the subway threat has me confused about what role Washington sees for itself. The money spigot opens wide for the incompetent boobs in New Orleans who let a well-advertised hurricane trap tens of thousands of people while New York is told you're on your own with a terror threat.
Even as the city was scrambling to protect the subway and commuter rails from what Mayor Bloomberg called a "specific" plot, Washington, which passed on the threat to New York, was saying the report was of "doubtful credibility."
The next day, Bush actually claimed this was the way the system was supposed to work. "Our job is to gather intelligence and pass it on to local authorities. And they make the judgments necessary to respond," he said.
Asked if Bloomberg overreacted, Bush said, in part, "The American people have got to know that, one, we're collecting information and sharing it with local authorities on a timely basis. And that's important."
There you have it - the gazillions we spend on security only pay for bureaucrats to push paper. Whatever happens after that, it's not their problem.
This is nuts. And it adds to cynicism about efforts to fight the real problem of terrorism.
Bloomberg and top cop Ray Kelly did right in taking the threat seriously, but their performance had holes, too. They provided few details at their Thursday announcement, yet within minutes, press reports quoting anonymous sources cited potential bombs in baby carriages and the number of alleged plotters. If Bloomberg and Kelly wanted such details out, they should have announced them so all New Yorkers could be informed. As it was, the inconsistent articles and broadcasts added to the confusion and fear.
But those flaws are small potatoes next to the concern that Washington has defined its job so narrowly. Homeland Security boss Michael Chertoff is behind the scary approach.
In March, he said, "I don't want to get up in public and say the sky is falling if it's not falling." He also said he wanted to resist the "temptation" to speak before the facts were clear.
Fine, in theory. But it's not fine to put the burden on those down the food chain, like the NYPD, who have less info.
The incident proves Chertoff wasn't kidding in July when he said "a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people. A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people." He said his job was "making sure you don't have a catastrophic thing first."
Asked if cities must provide the bulk of protection for transit systems, Chertoff said, "Yep."
Thirty years ago, Gerald Ford, in the famous Daily News headline, told New York to "drop dead." Bush and Chertoff seem ready to make it so.
posted by Richard at
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
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