Speaking both to CBS (aired on 60 Minutes, Sept 25) and the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14839373) in the run up to the anniversary of 9/11, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the City of New York was safer, but still was the top terror target in the US:
"There is no doubt that New York is safer now than it was 10 years ago, but there are no guarantees. We don't know what we don't know and we are doing everything that I believe we can do to protect the city, but it is a dangerous world," he added.
Commissioner Kelly took over as head of New York's police soon after the 9/11 attacks and immediately began transforming the force so that in the future protection of the city would be done by those most familiar with the City itself, New York Police Officers. Using the latest in high tech and an astonishing display of creativity and determination, (detailed in the 60 minutes segment) Kelly came out of retirement to do what needed doing.
"A counter-terrorism bureau was created, intelligence experts from the CIA were drafted in and hundreds of heavily armed officers working in teams known as Hercules began to be deployed on the streets."
So who will really have the most lasting effect on the City, Raymond Kelly or former mayor Rudy Giuliani? The later used 9/11 to launch a run for President; nothing wrong with that, except he (Giulliani) changed a lot of long-standing positions about what was needed to keep the City safe, like gun control, in order to curry favor with "guns rights" Republicans.
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