Washington: The New York City continues
to be at the risk of a terrorist attack even after the killing
of al Qaeda`s longtime chief Osama bin Laden, city police
chief said Sunday.
"The elimination of Osama bin Laden was an important
milestone, but not a game-changer. We`re still very much at
risk," New York City Police Chief Ray Kelly told the ABC news
in an interview.
"We`re concerned, as we get closer to the 9/11/11
memorial, because we know Osama bin Laden spoke about that
date twice in the last two-year period," he said.
He was apparently referring to the information
obtained from the materials seized from the Abbottabad
residence of bin Laden, in which the al-Qaeda leader was
reportedly planning to have a major terrorist attack on New
York City on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
"The federal government, local and state authorities
are very much aware of the threat and are on alert," he said.
Kelly said the New York City Police Department has a
task force in its intelligence division that looks at white
supremacist/anti-government groups and individuals.
"In fact, just a few days before the Norway massacre,
we had a teleconference with our century partners -- this is
100 law enforcement agencies in the northeast quadrant of the
country -- and that was the specific subject. We talked about
certain groups and individuals that we`re concerned about," he
said.
But it`s an issue that can pop up, you know, quickly,
without any advanced notice, because these individuals play
their cards very closely. They don`t show their hand. Just a
few blocks from where you`re sitting, we had a white
supremacist walk into the Holocaust Museum in 2009, shoot and
kill one of the security guards. He himself was shot, but
clearly he had mayhem in mind," Kelly said.
"So it is a ongoing issue that law enforcement has to
continue to focus on, and I believe we are," he said.
"There are individuals who get together and sort of
follow a neo-Nazi philosophy, not unlike Anders Breivik in
Norway. But they are difficult to spot. And to a certain
extent, they tend to get together in rural areas. They stay
away from large city centers," he noted.
"But in New York, we have to be concerned about
someone planning or plotting an event away from the city and
it coming into New York. So we`re on a lookout for this sort
of thing, but it`s difficult to identify," Kelly said.
PTI
