NYC Plans a High-Tech Defense
Officials in New York City have been working on a technology-heavy defense for lower Manhattan since 9/11. But will any of the gear work the way it’s supposed to work?

In an article on the Wired website, Noah Shachtman questions whether any of the equipment, particularly the city’s network of 3,000 spy cameras, will work as advertised. The area, he says, is a high-profile terrorist target, particularly since it is the financial hub of the United States.

“City agencies have done their best to harden the financial district in the years since 2001. Today, explosives-sniffing dogs and two truckloads of cops wearing military-style body armor and waving M-4 machine guns surround the flag-draped stock exchange,” Shachtman writes. “Black metallic barriers rise out of the asphalt, blocking traffic on Wall Street, while concrete planters and strategically parked trucks keep vehicles off Broad Street. Some of the other streets surrounding the exchange have been cut off to pedestrians, and only invited guests are allowed inside. ‘Closed since 9/11,’ the guard tells visitors.”

But Shachtman points out that officials can’t possibly block off every street or have a guard by every door. Not only is there no money for that sort of protection, who would want to live or work in the area?

“So New York has an audacious blueprint to wrap a high tech cloak around lower Manhattan. It will provide the most sophisticated armor of any major urban area in the world — one that relies on brains as much as brawn, on barely visible technology as much as brute stopping power,” he says.

In the article, Shachtman outlines some of the security measures the city has already taken, and examines whether or not they are practical in the day-to-day life of the city.