Since 9/11, terrorists have targeted New York City 13 times with plots against the New York Stock Exchange, Citigroup headquarters, the Brooklyn Bridge, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Times Square, New York’s Ground Zero, the subway system, major synagogues, and other sites. The most important lesson the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has learned during the past 10 years is the most obvious one: New York City, the world’s financial and communications capital, remains in the crosshairs of global terrorism.

The threat we face today is extremely complex. It is homegrown, and it is international. It involves informal networks of aspiring radicals, as well as organized entities with funds, training camps, and media savvy. We have to guard against all of it.