By: Noah Shachtman May 10, 2010


Ringing New York with spy cameras may or may not help stop terror attacks. But at least the surveillance network’s headquarters looks cool.

In this clip, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly takes CBS News inside the nerve center of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative. The idea is to use video intelligence algorithms and an array of 3,000 cameras to spot terrorists before they strike in the financial district.

The project is behind schedule, as we’ve previously noted. Right now, there are only “several hundred” cameras integrated into the system, Kelly admits. There are plans afoot to replace the LMSI in midtown, near the latest bomb attempt. But those cameras are years away.

Still, Kelly tells CBS’ Steve Kroft how the NYPD was able to retrace the steps of would-be Times Square terrorist Faisal Shahzad using the existing spycams that the city and private companies have scattered around the city. Then Kelly shows a giant, overhead image of 45th and Broadway — where Shahzad parked his car bomb. It’s a little higher resolution than a Google Earth image. But it’s certainly not a view that would have prevented a bomb from going off.

Source: WIRED.com