Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano
NY Daily News 7/29/09
Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Wednesday exhorted all
Americans to help fight terrorism because the threat "is not
just focused on New York City or Washington."
Napolitano told the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan
she believes the "untapped resourcefulness of millions of our
own American citizens" can be used as "force multipliers" to the
federal antiterror force.
The top security official held New York aloft as a city getting
it right - and an appealing target still squarely in Al Qaeda's
sights.
"In any threat assessment, the New York City region is always at
or near the top," Napolitano told the Daily News, citing the
9/11 attacks and the city's iconic significance to the nation.
Aides said she opted to deliver her speech in New York to honor
its legacy as a terror target and the resiliency of its
citizens.
To soak in the city, she rode the subway with Mayor Bloomberg
and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly. She formally awarded them
$35 million in federal stimulus funds to hire 120 NYPD
counterterror officers.
"It will give New Yorkers and visitors the peace of mind that
our city is as safe and as well protected as it can possibly
be," Bloomberg said.
Napolitano's whirlwind day included a Ground Zero meeting with
an FDNY hero who lost his Bravest son in the twin towers and a
chat with 9/11 Medal of Valor-decorated Police Sgt. Pete
Panuccio at an upper East Side precinct.
"You can't come away from a day like I've had without being
impressed by the resilience of New Yorkers," Napolitano said.
She singled out retired Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches, who gave
her a tour of his personal hell digging for his son Jim's body
at Ground Zero.
"I told her I found my son's body and that the terrorists really
did a number on us," Riches told The News afterward.
Napolitano said she wanted to visit the World Trade Center's
footprints because her cabinet agency was created in the
aftermath of 9/11.
But she also warned of Americans scheming up attacks from
within, such as in North Carolina this week where a drywall
hanger was collared for recruiting Islamic fighters to go
overseas.
Kelly called it a "classic case of homegrown terrorism."
"That's one of the things that's particularly troubling: this
whole notion of radicalization of Americans," Attorney General
Eric Holder told ABC News.
jmeek@nydailynews.com
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