Kelly Wants Less Bars in Less Places if Attacked

Ray Kelly is telling Congress that the NYPD is looking for ways to interfere with cell phone service in the event of another terrorist attack. It's reported that while testifying before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security today, Kelly will say that disrupting communications as a defense against terror is one of the biggest lessons taken from the Mumbai attacks this past November. Those coordinating the attacks in Mumbai had kept in touch with each other throughout the course of the events. The Post says that it is uncertain whether Kelly means finding a way to infiltrate a network used by terrorists or has something in mind of a grander scale, such as shutting down service for a large area of Manhattan during an attack. Another change in policy carried out by Kelly since a three-member NYPD counterterrorism team that visited Mumbai three days after the attack in India is the decision last month to train rookie officers in how to use machine guns.

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By Billy Parker in News on January 8, 2009 5:54 PM

Comments [rss]

Barbj8

Don't mess with my ability to text. Last year I was in a lockdown situation in a high school, and the only thing that kept the students and me sane, was the ability to text our families for information and support.

rdc

Yeah because terrorists don't use walkie talkies. This guy is such a piece of trash.

JenChungsBaby

If not cell phones or satellite phones they could just use simple handheld two-way radios. You can get a good handheld with a 20-mile radius for around $250.

widefive

Didn't those guys have satellite phones? My understanding is those things don't require networks or relay towers.

aspiringrapper

Can't the NYPD take the lead from Batman & do what they did in Dark Knight to find the terrorists? If it's in a movie, it must be true.

microdot

Last.

This announcement is just to soften the blow when they jam citizens cell phones and bring out the microwave guns. Oddly enough its just as easy to stop coordinated citizens actions in the same manner, and with the blessings of Congress, all the better.

fugothamist

wait, i hear terrorists also communicate via talking

maybe we should sew shut everyone's mouth!

problem solved!

nycnewsjunkie

#2

15-20 Million???

They're aren't even that many people in Manhattan let alone all of NYC. The Networks will be jammed no matter what if another attack happens on this city. It was jammed 9 days ago and we didn't even have an attack.

nycnewsjunkie

Anyone ever hear of IEDs with cell phones as the trigger mechanisms ?????

NannyState

He's just got a raging case of "Mumbai-envy".

west side Michael

To # 10.

Back to your cage.

Nah! I am not Jewish, either.

Jeff Zanooda

Of course NYPD has the means to disrupt electronic communications for a small group of terrorists.

The problem is, NYPD initially wouldn't know who the terrorists are, and hence can't just ask ATT/T-Mobile to disable specific SIM cards.

So the only way to disrupt electronic communications would be this "baby with the bathwater" thing.

Jen S

This guy Kelly wishes he lived in Waterworld.

zodak

I've sailed further than most men have dreamed

books

The US could end the threat of most terrorism by SIMPLY not supporting ISRAEL and forcing it, like everyone else to obey UN resolutions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4162193/Gaza-medics-describe-horror-of-strike-which-killed-70.html

The motivation for 9/11, conspiculously left out of the 9/11 report was US support for Israel.

On April 11, 1996, Atta signed his last will and testament at the mosque, officially declaring his Muslim beliefs and giving 18 instructions regarding his burial.[11][5] This was the day that Israel attacked Lebanon in Operation Grapes of Wrath, which outraged Atta. Signing the will, "offering his life" was Atta's response.[35]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Atta

longacre

You, sir, are a dumb. Mr. Bin Laden never mentioned the word Israel in his rants until years after 9/11.

ides_of_march

Absolute baloney.

Islam has been on the march against all non-muslims - infidels - since the time of mohammed. The US Navy even came into being to fight islamic terrorism on the high seas during the Jefferson administration. That was long before the modern state of Israel existed for your information.

Stop blaming the Jews.

jaycjay

"Just another example of hyperbole to make people "feel safe" that does nothing to actually make us safer."

Or... just another example of poor reading comprehension.

Sorry folks, don't make conclusions based on what you're reading in the article on this page. You have to -- as strange as this sounds -- read the Post article in order to get the accurate account.

It feels strange even putting that idea into words. Read the Post for the accurate story.

Jeff Zanooda

Apparently Ray Kelly is not reading Bruce Schneier: "...an idea that's so amazingly stupid that I can't even believe it's being seriously discussed".

adgolds

GGGARGH! Fewer bars, not Less bars.

greghr

Word! In fewer places!

jaycjay

"The Post says that it is uncertain whether Kelly means finding a way to infiltrate a network used by terrorists or has something in mind of a grander scale, such as shutting down service for a large area of Manhattan during an attack."

No, that's not what it says. It says this:

It's not clear from his testimony whether the NYPD has the means to disrupt electronic communications for a small group of terrorists without shutting down cell phone service to a large part of Manhattan.

Nothing about that says it's uncertain what he is saying he wants to do. That is, he didn't say that he wants "less bars" (nice catchy headline, though, even including the incorrect usage of "less" instead of "fewer"), he said he wants to be able to disrupt "electronic communication among terrorists" in the event of an attack.

The Post writer then speculated that doing so might mean disrupting cell phone communication throughout Manhattan. Since he presumably has no idea what technology the NYPD might have in mind, it's speculation with little basis.

Sheesh. Sensationalize much? Even the Post didn't claim that Kelly said he might want to disrupt all cell phone communication; I'm sure the police brass realize as much as any of us that it's useful in emergencies not just for citizens but for first responders.

melanarchy

I imagine that the consequences of disrupting communications if there were to be another major terrorist attack, would significantly out weigh any benefit.

Where is he even getting this? It's clear that on 9/11 shutting off cell phones wouldn't have stopped the second plane. It's clear that in Mumbai things were set to start at the same time and if there was communication after the start it wasn't necessary.

Just another example of hyperbole to make people "feel safe" that does nothing to actually make us safer.

Jen Chung

Wait, wouldn't cell phones be helpful to let the police know where terrorists might be?

ides_of_march

Can you hear me now, -- Abdul?

BOOM!

west side Michael

Great idea!,15-20 million citizens wondering if

their loved ones are all right in NYC if a horror

like 911 happens again.

That in itself will make the terrorists more

powerful to have us all not to be able

to communicate with ourselves.

It's a backwards idea.

FrankMartin

Rookie cop and machine gun.

If anything more ESU cops who train and train and use the gear. automatic weapons are complex machines that can do enourmous harm. a few classes and then the next tiem you see it you need to take out a terrorist in rock center. Color me jade.