Thursday, January 18, 2007
Mayor Bloomberg has the terrorists in his sights
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
On January 9, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, to tell the uninitiated the difference between risks and vulnerabilities, a/k/a targets, that we all face in this era of terrorist threat. The NYTimes reporter chose to treat is as a side story, of the Mayor’s home telephones, particularly the unlisted unsecured security phone in the basement that is his emergency contacts (it does have encryption at both ends), equivalent to the red phones that international leaders prominently display on their desks. The Mayor’s is never used, except for incoming nuisance telemarketers’ calls. That prompted some Senator to mention the Mayors’ incognito traveling on the subway, an example of his efficiency-above-risk attitude applied to his actual everyday life. Our Haroun-al-Rashid, cruising his Baghdad-on-the-Subway…
So, what is this vulnerability all about? Well, it is an example of a prioritizing approach that people in business risk assessment apply daily, not quite bought into by lawmakers who can spend money without a responsible businessperson’s sense of fiduciary responsibility, an attitude that has resulted in Laramie County WY being one of the six best protected sites against terrorism in this entire county. This column has not looked into the subject in detail, but that is where VP Cheney comes from, and, when researched, one would probably finds that Laramie is bristling with bomb removal robots, hazmat vehicles and jobs in security for underemployed cowpokes.
This attitude of our elected leaders is justified under the innocuous sounding principle of revenue sharing, giving money back to areas from which it came, not necessarily in proportion, a posture that justifies lawmakers’ occasionally building bridges to nowhere, four-lane highways connecting small rural towns, and anti-terrorist protection for cornfields. Risk identification theory may state that every one of the 11 million 40-foot containers that reach the ports of the US is equally exposed, as is each of the 103 US nuclear power plants. Yes, they are risks. As for being targets, or vulnerabilities, in the world we live in, we must be recognizing the probability theory. Osama bin Laden, some time ago, brought that to our attention when he proclaimed a two-fold intention – to destroy all infidels, and to financially demolish them. Arming every Laramie to the gills against terrorists will play into Osama’s second objective. Think of the collapse of USSR, 1990-91.
That the principle of probability is not recognized by some lawgivers was noted when one or more Senators further questioned Mayor Bloomberg about leaving ports and plants inadequately secured. Not too willingly, trying not to give away our secrets, he disclosed that we have resources in major foreign export ports that can identify probable carriers of dangerous materials and of people, selective x-raying and such. Pre-employment screening of longshoremen is in play (it reminded me that we are no longer dealing with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront; today the work gang is largely replaced by computer technicians who operate sophisticated freight-handling machinery.) Putting every container under equal scrutiny will increase the costs hugely, and destroy competitive commerce. Further, the NYPD has facilities that may surpass the national controls, such as an anti-terrorism bureau that operates in major threatened countries and cities, cooperating with the locals in identifying and observing known bad guys. Regardless of how little federal support NYC gets, the city intends to continue and pay for this task force, which has skills well beyond the standardized national level. Just in language skills, the last class of Police Academy had graduates of 53 national backgrounds, and translation requests sent to Police Plaza can be responded to in minutes.
As to the nuclear power plants, the fact that they are located away from population centers protects their security. More fire engines are redundant, eying the visitors and scrutinizing strangers by local people buys more protection than hazmat vehicles. This is also Mayor Bloomberg’s argument, when a suspicious Senator suggested that he is trying to get NYPD daily expenses paid by the federal government. More equipment is less effective that a watchful policeman. This is an argument against standardizing protection, beloved by the Homeland Security bureaucrats, who would like, for instance, to install cameras on Main Street corners throughout the US. Not only wasteful, it requires impossible reaction time to inhibit, for instance, a suicide bomber. That is why in Israel, the flash point of the universe, suicide bombers are not too successful. They are stopped by policemen and guards who put their lives on the line every day, and survive due to their well-honed human instincts, not cameras. This is not to say that cameras do not have their roles in detecting long-term patterns and, even if not manned, in inhibiting attack, like owl figurines atop the roofs of barns.
We can be proud of our matter-of-factly Mayor, who speaks to the point, straight-forward and without rancor or subterfuge. Washington to copy.
On January 9, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, to tell the uninitiated the difference between risks and vulnerabilities, a/k/a targets, that we all face in this era of terrorist threat. The NYTimes reporter chose to treat is as a side story, of the Mayor’s home telephones, particularly the unlisted unsecured security phone in the basement that is his emergency contacts (it does have encryption at both ends), equivalent to the red phones that international leaders prominently display on their desks. The Mayor’s is never used, except for incoming nuisance telemarketers’ calls. That prompted some Senator to mention the Mayors’ incognito traveling on the subway, an example of his efficiency-above-risk attitude applied to his actual everyday life. Our Haroun-al-Rashid, cruising his Baghdad-on-the-Subway…
So, what is this vulnerability all about? Well, it is an example of a prioritizing approach that people in business risk assessment apply daily, not quite bought into by lawmakers who can spend money without a responsible businessperson’s sense of fiduciary responsibility, an attitude that has resulted in Laramie County WY being one of the six best protected sites against terrorism in this entire county. This column has not looked into the subject in detail, but that is where VP Cheney comes from, and, when researched, one would probably finds that Laramie is bristling with bomb removal robots, hazmat vehicles and jobs in security for underemployed cowpokes.
This attitude of our elected leaders is justified under the innocuous sounding principle of revenue sharing, giving money back to areas from which it came, not necessarily in proportion, a posture that justifies lawmakers’ occasionally building bridges to nowhere, four-lane highways connecting small rural towns, and anti-terrorist protection for cornfields. Risk identification theory may state that every one of the 11 million 40-foot containers that reach the ports of the US is equally exposed, as is each of the 103 US nuclear power plants. Yes, they are risks. As for being targets, or vulnerabilities, in the world we live in, we must be recognizing the probability theory. Osama bin Laden, some time ago, brought that to our attention when he proclaimed a two-fold intention – to destroy all infidels, and to financially demolish them. Arming every Laramie to the gills against terrorists will play into Osama’s second objective. Think of the collapse of USSR, 1990-91.
That the principle of probability is not recognized by some lawgivers was noted when one or more Senators further questioned Mayor Bloomberg about leaving ports and plants inadequately secured. Not too willingly, trying not to give away our secrets, he disclosed that we have resources in major foreign export ports that can identify probable carriers of dangerous materials and of people, selective x-raying and such. Pre-employment screening of longshoremen is in play (it reminded me that we are no longer dealing with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront; today the work gang is largely replaced by computer technicians who operate sophisticated freight-handling machinery.) Putting every container under equal scrutiny will increase the costs hugely, and destroy competitive commerce. Further, the NYPD has facilities that may surpass the national controls, such as an anti-terrorism bureau that operates in major threatened countries and cities, cooperating with the locals in identifying and observing known bad guys. Regardless of how little federal support NYC gets, the city intends to continue and pay for this task force, which has skills well beyond the standardized national level. Just in language skills, the last class of Police Academy had graduates of 53 national backgrounds, and translation requests sent to Police Plaza can be responded to in minutes.
As to the nuclear power plants, the fact that they are located away from population centers protects their security. More fire engines are redundant, eying the visitors and scrutinizing strangers by local people buys more protection than hazmat vehicles. This is also Mayor Bloomberg’s argument, when a suspicious Senator suggested that he is trying to get NYPD daily expenses paid by the federal government. More equipment is less effective that a watchful policeman. This is an argument against standardizing protection, beloved by the Homeland Security bureaucrats, who would like, for instance, to install cameras on Main Street corners throughout the US. Not only wasteful, it requires impossible reaction time to inhibit, for instance, a suicide bomber. That is why in Israel, the flash point of the universe, suicide bombers are not too successful. They are stopped by policemen and guards who put their lives on the line every day, and survive due to their well-honed human instincts, not cameras. This is not to say that cameras do not have their roles in detecting long-term patterns and, even if not manned, in inhibiting attack, like owl figurines atop the roofs of barns.
We can be proud of our matter-of-factly Mayor, who speaks to the point, straight-forward and without rancor or subterfuge. Washington to copy.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 11:15 PM 
