THE HOME OF
OUR NEXT PRESIDENT:
NYPD MORE
THAN UP TO THE TASK
(Thursday Nov. 9, 2016 100th
St., NYC) Several months ago a group of ranking command Officers from various
Units of the New York City Police Department began meeting to discuss the
challenges they would undoubtedly face if in fact Manhattan resident Donald J.
Trump was elected to the Presidency.
Those nascent strategy and tactical discussions went into high gear
yesterday morning as the reality dawned on New York City and the rest of the
country. The NYPD is no stranger to
challenges; they have literally written the book(s) not just on modern urban
policing but also on the myriad often complicated security issues the City has
been confronting particularly in this post 9/11 world. New York City remains a target rich
environment and the top prize on terrorists want lists of locations to strike
in our homeland. They have done so in
the past and will continue to attempt to strike if they are able to exploit a
vulnerability. It is no small feat that
they have not been able to do so in the 15 years since the World Trade Center
attack and that is directly attributable to the efforts of all of the Members
of Service (MOS) of the NYPD.
New York City is without rival
when it comes to diversity, disparity and density of population. It is the world center for banking, finance, entertainment,
fashion, and home to all media outlets; a truly international City by virtue of
all its prominent institutions from Wall Street to the federal Reserve Bank. The United Nations is in Manhattan and each
member nation/state has at least an embassy, consulate or mission housed here
as well. Some of the larger member
nations have several facilities from which they conduct business. There is no more experienced and able Police
Department in the world better suited for the many and varied complex
circumstances and eventualities as the NYPD.
Its many specialized Bureaus and Units in many cases are unique for a
United States city to have as integral components of their day to day
operations. Some in international and
domestic security circles cite the NYPD Intelligence Bureau as comparable, and
even superior, to that of some countries.
After the stunning failures of the national intelligence agencies, NYPD
would never again leave the security of our City to chance. It was from the ashes of that catastrophe
that the newly reconstituted Intel Bureau was born.
Not since Theodore Roosevelt
has a President of the United States been a native New Yorker. There were five other Presidents born in New
York state but Teddy
Roosevelt Jr., who was born on October 27, 1858, at East 20th Street in New
York City, has been the only President from within the Five Boroughs. That
distinction came to a surprising end when the Queens born, Manhattan
billionaire real estate mogul, Donald J. Trump rode a wave of populist
frustration and won the electoral victory that earned the novice politician the
mantle of the President-elect of these United States. In a matter of mere hours
his home, the 58 story Trump Tower that glimmers at 725 - 5th Avenue,
became of the home of the President-elect.
Never in our history has a President possessed so many opulent
residences; residences that present the secret Service with heretofore unseen
challenges. But, as is the simple
reality and perhaps a slight to official protocol, the NYPD will be the literal
“front line” agency tasked with protecting Trump, his family and Tower whenever
he is in New York.
THIS ISN’T CRAWFORD TEXAS
Unlike all his predecessors, Donald
Trump’s primary place of residence as well as all of the other locations he
owns and frequents, are not easy to secure and protect, to say the least. President George H.W. Bush would vacation at
his family coastal enclave at Kennebunkport, Maine while his son, George W.
Bush spent his vacations playing cowboy and chopping wood on his ranch in Crawford,
Texas. Each of these locations where
isolated sufficiently that the Secret Service was able to maintain a secure
perimeter on all fronts. President
Reagan had a ranch in California almost as isolated at Crawford and president
Jimmy Carter would retire to his peanut farm in Plains, Georgia when he wanted
to escape the pressures of his job and Washington, DC. All of Trump’s properties present as very
complex security challenges that will require some creative thinking to augment
the standard dynamics of Presidential protection.
PERIMETERS
The White House sits on an
18-acre plot of land that, together with the Ellipse to the south (52 acres total),
is called "President's Park."
Centrally located on Pennsylvania Avenue, the surrounding acres provide
a well-defined security perimeter. Since
9/11 the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue fronting the White House has been
closed to vehicular traffic and has been lined with concrete fortifications
designed to thwart a frontal attack via car or truck bomb. The airspace above the White House and an
adjacent area are considered “restricted”.
The Secret Service has anti-aircraft missiles on the roof of the White
House and other military security hardware of both a defensive and offensive nature. The details of the protective equipment remain
highly classified but, suffice to say, it is “robust” according to a retired Secret
Service Official who spoke not for attribution.
Conversely, the Trump Tower in
Midtown is squarely in one of the most heavily trafficked of airspaces in the
country. Three metro area airports
operate within a 10-mile radius of Trump Tower with many other smaller airports
as well as non-fixed wing aircraft – helicopter – bases. How to secure a finite segment of the
airspace over Midtown without seriously impacting airline operations remains to
be seen.
As most New Yorkers are well
aware there is a vast subterranean critical infrastructure network beneath the
streets of our City. This poses another
question in just how to secure Trump Tower from all angles. The surface component of this puzzle is a bit
easier to plan and implement but it still is a “work in progress” according to
an NYPD ESU ranking Officer. Fifth
Avenue is a major thoroughfare for car, bus and pedestrian traffic. The feasibility of diverting this volume of
people in transit is highly suspect but, there will be some measures taken
perhaps to limit such activity when President Trump is in town.
Other aspects of Trump Tower
will also be affected. There is a large
open access public atrium with shops and eateries housed within. It is a prime destination for tourists and
since Trump began his quixotic quest for the Presidency last year, it has seen
an ever growing number of visitors. Recently
it has also attracted more than its fair share of protestors, belligerents,
loonies, oddballs, among others.
THE POLITICS OF PROTECTION
The NYPD and Secret Service
are going to need to learn the steps of a new waltz very quickly. The NYPD is naturally protective of its “turf”,
and rightfully so. They are as intimate
with every aspect and facet of our people, streets, neighborhoods and possesses
the most astute and proven tactics, strategies, policies, procedures, and
practices possible to handle any and every potential and reality that can occur
within our City limits. Just as when the
United Nations gathers for the annual General Assembly and each member state
arrives in NYC with their own security personnel and the State Department
provides an additional layer of protection, matters of jurisdiction and “protocol”
are dealt with. Coordinating security details and duties have been worked out
over the years. Still, in every way that
really matters, the NYPD is in charge, the UN just happens to be in their bailiwick
and they never concede responsibility for what transpires within our Five
Boroughs no matter the event.
That said, President Trump as
a New Yorker will require a level of cooperation and coordination between the
NYPD and Secret Service on levels not previously necessary. Some creative thinking is already being
undertaken among the Commands of the Intelligence Bureau, Counterterrorism
Units, Emergency Services Unit (ESU), as well as all the other Commands. NYPD has a vast array of capabilities and
daily protects our City not just on the streets and down in the subways but
overhead buy the Aviation Unit and in our surrounding waters by the Harbor Unit. Substantial “show of force” details can be
dispatched to any location in the City in a matter of minutes when necessary or
simply just to “remind” everyone, friend or foe alike, that we are there.
CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
If the widespread acrimony and
anger in the aftermath of Trump’s victory is any indication, he will likely be
a challenge to physically protect from would-be assassins. Other Presidents faced high threat levels but
none seem to have engendered the post-election vitriol and protestations as has
president-elect Trump. It is true that
most of the most visible agitators and demonstrators are nothing more than
immature, spoiled, entitled, youngsters who do not really present as a serious
threat to Trump’s safety. However, there
are other forces of a darker intent and the Secret Service has been voicing
their concerns internally and with the NYPD for many months. Now that Trump is the President-elect, their
concerns have only multiplied.
WHEN TRUMP’S AWAY
If the Trump Tower were the
only security headache for the Secret Service, they could marshal their efforts
and forces concentrating on this one site.
But Trump owns properties all over the country and has licensed his name
to other properties the world over.
Clearly anything bearing the Trump name will be an attractive target for
terrorists. Among his vacation and
resort residences in Bedminster, New Jersey and Palm Beach, Florida, to name two,
all are vast properties in scale and scope and will require the curtailing of
Trump’s usual vacation habits for the duration of his Presidency. Clearly the Secret Service and local Law Enforcement
Agencies (LEAs) cannot be expected to spend valuable resources on far-flung
sites Trump is accustomed to frequent.
He will have to settle for the more conventional Presidential retreat at
Camp David which is as secure a site as is the White House itself; perhaps, due
to its isolation, more so.
The bottom line is that while
each President faces untold threats and risks as they live and travel
throughout their term in Office, President-elect Trump is in a category all his
own but all can be comfortable in the knowledge that the premier Law Enforcement
Agency in the world protects and defends the City the next President calls
home.
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2016 © All Rights Reserved
Copyright Brooding Cynyc 2016 © All Rights Reserved
