In NYC, Chidambaram learns to avoid another 26/11

Home Minister P Chidambaram is apparently impressed by the way New York has prepared itself for any Mumbai-style attack and said he was taking back with him some of the best practices and ideas, which he hoped could be implemented in some of India's mega cities like New Delhi and Mumbai.

Chidambaram, who spent the first day of his four-day visit to the US in New York, being briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department's intelligence and security units, said at a press briefing at the Indian embassy that New York was a priority 'in my list because I was keen to know how the NYPD worked in securing a mega city'.

"There is a new book called Securing The City and that describes what (New York Police) Commissioner Kelly has done in the New York Police Department," he said, adding, "So, I was very keen to see how the NYPD worked. I was quite impressed with what they have done."

Chidambaram said, "Some of these practices can be applied in India's mega cities like Delhi, Mumbai, etc."

His first stop in New York was at the Joint Terror Task Force Centre of the FBI where he was provided with an extensive briefing and taken through computer simulated scenarios of Mumbai-style terror attacks and how these are quickly and effectively put down.

Chidambaram also visited the Cost Guard facility in Staten Island and got first-hand experience on how a Mumbai-style attack from a sea-route can be thwarted.

In the wake of 26/11, New York -- which sent several of its intelligence and security units officials to Mumbai to study how exactly the terror attacks took place and what went wrong and what could have been done to prevent it -- has significantly upped the ante in guarding against such a similar attack and in this regard made coastal security an integral component of its counter-terrorism program.

Before he took the Acela Express from Penn Station to Washington, DC, Chidambaram was also given a walking tour of Penn Station and briefed by officials of the Mass Transportation System on how such a busy hub, which has hundreds of thousands of people using it each day, does monitoring of potential terrorists and security risks.

Asked what best practices and ideas he would like to implement in India, Chidambaram said, the best example would be the kind of "technology driven," and synchronised system between the intelligence and security agencies and the NYPD where all units could be coordinated and work simultaneously in concert on any potential or real terrorist or security threat.

"It's a great set-up. So that's an idea for example," he said, and noted, "We have a very small operation by the name multi-agency centre."

Chidambaram also spoke highly of the cooperation with FBI, which post-26/11 had become strongly institutionalised. "The FBI has been very helpful to India. They have helped us in the investigation of the Mumbai case -- in the analysis of DNA samples, in the decoding of the GPS instruments."

"Two of their officers have deposed in the Mumbai trial. So, obviously the FBI is a good partner in investigating terrorist crimes, and a good partner for sharing terrorist-related intelligence, which affects either India or the United States," he said.

Chidambaram predicted that going forward, "Our agencies will continue to maintain their relationship with the FBI and that's for the mutual benefit of both countries."