Go Inside The NYPD's Counter-Terrorism Division
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - At a secret location in an industrial no-man's land in Brooklyn is the nerve center for the NYPD's war on terrorism.
LISTEN: 2 Reports from WCBS 880's Sean Adams
"When you approached it you probably said, 'What's this place they're bringing me to? It's a dead-end street and nondescript building.'," Lieutenant Art Mogill said to WCBS 880 reporter Sean Adams.
Mogill took Adams inside the counter-terrorism division, where specially-trained officers study, practice, plan, and strategize ways of protecting new york city.
Adams asked Mogill, "Do you think the average person in New York City realizes what's being done here to protect them?"
Mogill answered, "I don't think they probably understand the vastness."
They scrutinize past events.
"We recreated the '93 World Trade Center van - everything from the actual year of the van itself to the painting to the actual design of the device, itself," Mogill told Adams.
In another secure location, detectives cultivate sources, monitor internet chat rooms, and follow Al-Jazeera.
Detectives deployed overseas gather intelligence.
Mogill said, "I would say the intelligence division is kind of like our C.I.A."
While talking with Adams, Mogill's BlackBerry buzzed with an alert from half way around the world.
Mogill said, "It was actually just a bombing that occurred in Lahore [Pakistan]."
The NYPD doesn't wait for intel to trickle down from the feds. It gathers its own.
Detective Brian Hastings relies on that information as he secures major events, like the United Nations General Assembly.
"They see things. We see things, and hopefully we can stay one step ahead of them," Hastings told Adams.
Inspector Martin Conway gets a daily intelligence briefing, which he shares with his lieutenants.
"When I brief the lieutenants, I expect them to go out and brief the officers on what we spoke about. That's our opportunity to interrupt a terrorist plot," Conway told Adams.
