Since the FBI stopped Najibullah Zazi and his co-conspirators from carrying out a potential terrorist attack on the New York City subway system, New Yorkers have had to come to grips with the reality of a porous subway system. With hundreds of miles of track stretching throughout five boroughs and access that costs one swipe of a MetroCard, New York’s subways — just like those in London, Madrid and Moscow — is open and insecure. We might rely on a catchy slogan to keep straphangers on their collective toes, but securing the subways requires a massive interagency effort that involves paying attention to chatter while keeping a close eye on the goings-on underground.
As the MTA has adjusted to life in post-9/11 New York City, its own security measures have been halting. A plan to equip every station with security cameras has been plagued with massive budget overruns. It’s beyond schedule and now the subject of a legal fight between Lockheed Martin and the MTA. Still, as the authority has promised to get some camera system online this year, the agency needs all of the support it can get from the federal government.
With that in mind, then, it’s dismaying to read that, due to the fact that the Department of Homeland Security has been forced to cut back its grants this year, New York City will be receiving fewer DHS dollars for security measures. According to numerous reports that cite a courtesy memo distributed to lawmakers this week, DHS is cutting its grants to New York City’s mass transit security fund from $153 million to $111 million. No one is happy.
“For the administration to announce these cuts two weeks after the attempted Times Square bombing shows they just don’t get it and are not doing right by New York City on anti-terrorism funding,” Chuck Schumer, New York’s senior senator, said.
Although lawmakers and New York officials have known since late last year that cuts would be forthcoming, both the timing — President Obama is due into the city later today — and the 27 percent reductions could not be worse. “We are hoping for substantial additional money from the feds to help protect our mass-transit system,” Mitchell Pally, a member of the MTA Board, said to the Wall Street Journal. “Any reduction is a concern, especially in these days when we don’t have enough money to begin with.”
Department of Homeland Security officials were quick to defend the cuts. New York City alone, they say, receives 11 percent of DHS funding, and the city took in $457 million in DHS grants last year. “DHS is actively engaged in supporting New York City’s first responders and overall preparedness for acts of terrorism and other disasters through an array of grant programs,” Matthew Chandler, a DHS spokesman who blamed congressional budget cuts for the reduction, said.
With the averted Times Square bombing fresh in the minds of city residents, New Yorkers can’t be too pleased with the news and for good reason. The New York City subways carry the bulk of the nation’s public transit riders, and although we hate to admit it, the infrastructure remains an appealing target for any potential attack. Even as New York remains vulnerable, we should learn our lessons from Europe, and DHS should ensure that transit security funding is not scaled back.
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