May 24, 2004

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg delivered testimony May 19 before The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States. Following are excerpts from this testimony. Bloomberg was sworn in less than four months after the attacks.

The full text of Bloomberg's Testimony is available on the United States Conference of Mayors webpage, usmayors.org/. Just click on the U.S. Mayor link.

Understanding what happened on 9/11 is crucial to our success in winning the war against terror and to explaining to those families why so many were lost. That's why you have been empowered to make these inquiries. This investigation is also a measure of our society's inherent strength and confidence. The willingness to openly examine our institutions in order to improve them demonstrates why, as former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has pointed out, democracies are strong, and why free people will prevail over terror.

Our Administration has shown a similar willingness to thoroughly and openly examine the events of 9/11. Shortly after taking office, we asked the management-consulting firm of McKinsey & Company to critically analyze how the Police and Fire Departments responded that day. We made the results of that study public, and we have turned them over to the staff of this Commission.

Today, almost 14 months after my first appearance before this Commission, I want to describe what our Administration is doing to keep New York City safe and free. I also want to urge this Commission in its final report to recommend desperately needed reforms in the nation's system of funding homeland security. It is a system that was irrational the first time I testified. It remains tragically misguided today, creating grave hazards not just for New Yorkers, but for all Americans.

Building on Mayor Giuliani's eight years of success, crime in New York is nearly 16% lower than it was at this time three years ago. Fire fatalities are at levels not seen since the 1930s. We-ve achieved these results despite a fiscal crisis, despite the need to divert precious resources to anti-terrorist activities, and despite the need to protect the civil liberties of everyone who lives and works in our city, even as we remain vigilant against terror. That's as it must be, because the freedom to express our views, pursue our dreams, and worship God as each sees fit is fundamental to our democracy. Sacrificing those liberties — or making us fearful and keeping us in our homes — would give the terrorists a victory without their firing a shot. That's a victory we will never grant them.

Yesterday's testimony also presented the steps we have taken to improve communications within and between the Police and Fire Departments. The Fire Department, for example, has new and more powerful radios that permit more traffic during incidents, and enable Fire Department officials to communicate directly with their Police counterparts. Detailed new management policies and protocols have improved cooperation between these departments.

Our ongoing counter-terrorism efforts also include a broad range of other agencies, including our Departments of Health and Environmental Protection. And many other City agencies, including but not limited to the Departments of Sanitation, Transportation, Design and Construction, have played instrumental roles in helping New York City recover and rebuild since 9/11, and would be called on again should we be attacked.

Multi-agency training exercises also take place on a regular basis. On Sunday, for example, we conducted "Operation Transit Safe," an exercise involving more than 20 public agencies and private partners. It tested our response to a simulated terrorist incident in the City's subway system. The terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11th underscored the vital importance of protecting a mass transit system used by seven million riders each day.

Our Administration also has adopted a Citywide Incident Management System, or "CIMS," that is consistent with Federal guidelines. It provides a framework of action for emergency responders and enhances interagency decision-making and communication.

We all seek clarity in complex situations. But that doesn-t mean we should seek simplistic solutions to complex situations. CIMS establishes clear-cut lead agencies in the more day-to-day emergency situations. Extraordinary catastrophes, such as explosions and plane crashes, require robust responses with more than one primary agency. By setting up unified command posts staffed by top-level chiefs, we can ensure that the responses of all agencies are coordinated and effective, and that each agency's core competency will be fully utilized. This sets up a structure that requires inter-agency cooperation and coordination without sacrificing the intra-agency chains of command that are crucial to any emergency operations.

In the two years and eight months since 9/11, New York City has had a number of emergencies — a fuel barge explosion on Staten Island, a chemical explosion at a warehouse here in Manhattan, and others. On each occasion, the relevant agencies successfully worked together to protect New Yorkers — evidence of their training and professionalism.

The armchair quarterbacks forget that New York City Police Officers and Firefighters work together hundreds of times a day on such incidents as building collapses, fires, and traffic accidents. Although much has been made of the so-called "battle of the badges," these are isolated episodes that are the result of individual, low-level breakdowns in discipline. They are not the product of systemic problems and don-t occur higher up where it would jeopardize the mission of each agency. Even the shortcomings that the have been identified by the Commission in the City's response to 9/11 were the result of problems in communications, not the result of any battle of the badges.

We are indeed "in the crosshairs." To people around the world, New York City embodies what makes this nation great. That's a function of our status as the world's financial capital, driven not only by Wall Street but our international prominence in such fields as broadcasting, the arts, entertainment and medicine. Such is New York's importance that, to a great extent, as goes its economy, so goes the country's. If Wall Street is destroyed, Main Street will suffer.

Beyond that, New York's embrace of intellectual and religious freedom and cultural diversity makes us truly the World's Second Home. We are a magnet for the talented and ambitious from every corner of the globe. In short we embody the strengths of America's freedom — and that makes us an inevitable target of those who hate our nation and what we stand for.

The September 11th attacks took an enormous economic toll on New York and New Yorkers. They contributed to a decline in City tax revenues totaling almost $3 billion in fiscal years 2002 and 2003. The Bush Administration and Congress responded with assurances of approximately $20 billion in aid to help us rebuild. Because of that assistance, and because of the hardiness and intrepid spirit of the eight million people of New York, our economy is now growing again.

New Yorkers are grateful for the Federal assistance we have received. We will never forget how the rest of the nation stood by us. Yet there is still much to be done. So in addition to revising the allocation of Homeland Security and bio-terror preparedness funding, there are several additional recommendations. They would benefit any city that suffers a terrorist attack. I would like to quickly summarize them for the committee. I know your staff has been briefed on these previously, but I believe their importance warrants my reviewing them now.

Amendments to the Stafford Act — the law that governs FEMA's ability to reimburse localities — must be made to help cities that may be confronted with the fiscal consequences of terrorist attacks in the future. The amendments we have suggested would permit the reimbursement of local expenditures associated with a response to terrorist activities, which is not the case under present law. These include overtime costs for emergency responders who are not at the actual site of an attack, including those providing increased security at airports, bridges, tunnels, and rail lines. The process for citizens to obtain various forms of financial assistance must be streamlined so as to avoid the long waits that occurred after 9/11. Increased funding over a longer period of time for local mental health treatment must also be provided.