Safe Cities Initiative

The tragedy of 9/11 demonstrated that globalization has changed our security as much as it has changed our economy. In this new threat-environment, all of our domestic-security institutions must be transformed.

It is especially vital that this transformation occur in America's cities, which are high-value targets for terrorists. Terrorists are tempted to strike in our urban centers because, as 9/11 sadly proved, successful urban attacks can lead not only to massive loss of innocent life, but to economic contraction that costs our citizenry jobs, and our government billions in revenue.

The Manhattan Institute, reflecting its longstanding and unique policy focus on urban issues, is committed to developing and disseminating ideas which will make our cities more secure in this dangerous new world. The Institute is especially concerned that America's half-million state and local law-enforcement personnel be effectively integrated into the national terrorist effort. Accordingly, the Institute's Safe Cities Initiative examines core counter-terrorist issues confronting state and local police.

The Safe-Cities Initiative assists state and local law-enforcement in:

• Learning and applying the hard-won lessons of 9/11 and the war on terrorism, in order to deter, detect, and prevent future attacks.
• Assessing the current, evolving, and future dynamics of the threat posed by international terrorist groups in particular police jurisdictions.
• Sharing intelligence between jurisdictions.
• Enhancing and refining existing intelligence capabilities, and creating new ones.
• Integrating private-sector capabilities, including industrial and corporate security assets.
• Operating with and in local communities, especially immigrant communities, both to effectively root out terrorists in this country, and to defend high-risk immigrant communities from crimes of bias.
• Administering the Counterterrorism Information Sharing Consortium, which includes representatives of over twenty northeast law enforcement agencies.

The findings of the Initiative are published periodically in variety of media. Working-group white-papers, and published conference-proceedings, provide policymakers, analysts, and security professionals with usable, durable knowledge. Wider public awareness is furthered through op-eds, feature articles, and books by the Initiative's scholars and staff.