Police Commissioner Ray Kelly yesterday called on the Port Authority to share information regarding the vulnerability of the PATH tunnels to a terrorist attack.You can be assured that the Port Authority is leery of having the NYPD do a security analysis. The last time that happened, the Freedom Tower project was required to be relocated and redesigned to deal with threats posed by car bombs on West Street.
Though the authority yesterday dismissed a leaked internal study that reportedly shows the tunnels would flood within minutes in the event of a bombing, officials said they will provide police the information.
"I believe the PATH trains are safe, but the New York City Police Department wants to look at that report," Kelly said.
Both the MTA and the Port Authority have analyzed the weaknesses of their transit systems to attacks, including tunnel hardening, officials said.
"The Port Authority has spent more than $2.5 billion, with little federal assistance, since 9/11 to better secure our facilities," a spokesman said. "We are never satisfied and will always look for ways to upgrade security."
Yet, there is no police agency in the nation that is better qualified and equipped to handle a security review than the NYPD. The lessons learned from the report could assist in preparing for an event elsewhere in the city, including NYC Transit tunnels under the East River.
Also, while the Port Authority has spent $2.5 billion on facilities, consider that much of that money has gone to upgrade security at the three airports it operate - JFK, Newark-Liberty (where one of the 9/11 airplanes disembarked from), and La Guardia.
Improving the security of the hundreds of miles of subways simply isn't as high a priority as it should be. Consider that last year the MTA decided to provide discounted Metrocards for December instead of using the surplus to go towards security enhancements and improving functionality of stations.
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