Transcript: Mayor de Blasio, Police Commissioner Shea, Deputy Commissioner Miller Hold Media Availability in Response to President Trump's Air Strikes

January 3, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Our world changed last night, and I wanted to gather everyone together to talk about what this means for New York City, what this means for our people. The fact is we are dealing this morning with a reality we have not faced previously, and it's very, very important for everyone to understand that and to understand that in these changing circumstances the City of New York and the NYPD are acting immediately to ensure that New Yorkers are safe. I want to talk about what I think has changed but first I want to affirm something, based on six years of working closely not just with the NYPD, but with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI, our federal partners, our State partners, the level of unity and focus and professionalism and coordination between all of the agencies that keep us safe is at the highest it's ever been. And even though we are going to confront, I believe, some new and very profound challenges I start with real confidence in everyone who protects us and their ability to work together to do that. That being said, I think it's really important for New Yorkers to understand that we are now potentially facing a threat that's different and greater than anything we have faced previously.

Over the last 20 years, this city more than any other has suffered the results of terrorism. But the terrorism inflicted upon us came from non-state actors. It came from very dangerous terrorist movements and individuals. As of last night we are dealing with a different reality. And I said it last night, we are in at this point a de facto state of war between the United States of America and Iran. None of us knows how this will play out. It will likely take weeks and months, maybe even years before we see where all of this goes. But we have never confronted in recent decades the reality of a war with a government of a large country with an international terror network at its behest. And no one has to be reminded that New York City is the number one terror target in the United States. So we have to recognize that this creates a whole series of dangerous possibilities for our city.

I am not saying this to be alarmist. I'm not saying this because I assume any outcome. I am saying this because New Yorkers deserve to know that we have entered into a different reality and we have to be ready. I have absolute faith in the NYPD which has built up its own extraordinary intelligence gathering capacity and extraordinary ability to protect us from terror and has been watching the actions of Iran and its proxies for many, many years. There's a tremendous amount of information as you will hear in a moment from Deputy Commissioner Miller, tremendous amount of information we already have on the activities of Iran and its allies.

So we will be prepared to protect New Yorkers. But I want all New Yorkers to know that the idea of each and every person playing a role takes on added meaning right now. Again, we are dealing with an adversary that we have never confronted previously on this scale. And that fundamental notion, if you see something, say something, if you see something, say something. It takes on even greater meaning now. And we have plenty of examples of New Yorkers heroically stepping forward and informing the police of something they saw or heard that ended up saving many lives. We need people to be thinking that way right now. Before I turn to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner I will say there's no way to predict what happens next. And it is probably unlikely that we feel the effects in the immediate term, but my fear is not just about the immediate term. It's about what happens in the months and even the years ahead, and the fact that we need to stay in a state of constant vigilance. So there will not be a moment where we let down our guard, particularly where the potential of hostilities with such a dangerous adversary exists. Again everyone should be aware, everyone should be vigilant, everyone should feel it is their responsibility to join with the NYPD to help make sure we are all safe.

In the meantime New Yorkers should do what we always do in the face of adversity. Just continue to go about our lives unafraid, aware always, realistic, tough – New Yorkers are the most worldly, wise people there are. So the fact that we face a new threat cannot and should not change peoples' lives. It should simply make us more vigilant and aware that we are all in this together. With that, I turn to Commissioner Shea.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea: Good morning everyone. To reiterate, there are no specific, credible threats to New York City at this time and it's worth mentioning that. I will say this is what the NYPD does though on a daily basis – monitor the threat stream, track unfolding events around the world in real time. We do this because what happens in Baghdad, what happens in Tehran, Tel Aviv, London, or France can and does affect us here in America and certainly affect us in New York City. We did this before yesterday, target hardening critical structures. We did it last week, we did last month, we did it last year, and we will certainly continue to do it going forward. So with our Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Bureaus, our Joint Terrorism Task Force partners, and with all of our law enforcement, State, local and federal partners, we will continue to detect, work to prevent any acts of violence before it occurs. That is what we do, the men and women of the New York City Police Department, and they do a great job of doing it. So what you will see going forward in New York City in the wake of the news overnight is that heightened vigilance in terms of uniformed officers, many with long guns at sensitive areas, critical structures, and of course continuing ongoing dialogue with our community leaders who may be affected by this upon seeing it. As always we ask New Yorkers to remain vigilant and anything at all out of the ordinary, 8-8-8-NYC-SAFE. Please call.

John?

Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller, NYPD: So, let me just start where everybody else started which is we have no specific, credible threat emanating from the actions undertaken yesterday regarding New York City. But we live in a complex threat environment in our day-to-day – normal. So we are coming off the heighten deployments of the holiday season, which is part of the normal. Separate from that we have, aside from terrorism, a series of hate incidents, anti-Semitic incidents in certain neighborhoods around the city which we have deployed against. In this case we have an international incident that can and likely will have global implications and, as the Commissioner said, any incident on that level will have a ripple effect that is felt in New York City. We didn't start thinking about this last night. This is something we've studied over a number of years that entails a number of specific investigations and arrests that have occurred. So, we're aware that New York is a top terrorist target. We're aware that people have looked and probed for targets here before. And we are lucky to be the city that have the most significant investment – an investment that's been increased under this administration in our counter-terrorism resources, whether that's the money we spend on it or the sheer number of people we dedicate to it. So, the message to New Yorkers of course is to go on about your daily lives, go do the things that you intend to do, but as you see security out there, particularly NYPD personnel at different locations just factor in we also ask the public for heightened awareness. As the Commissioner said, if you see something say something.

We talk about suspicious activity – whether that's someone trying to elicit information in an unusual way about the security of different locations, whether that's the testing or probing of security or access at a location whether that's a government location, critical infrastructure, symbolic target, suspicious photography, observation surveillance. We really depend on people because they know what's normal on their street, on their block, in the neighborhood where they go to work every day to use their instincts and to not be shy about calling.

Mayor: Thank you, Deputy Commissioner Miller. And just to emphasize, again, we called everyone here together because we have plenty of knowledge of previous efforts by Iranian proxies to scout and target locations in New York City. Hezbollah and others have made it a point over the years and it's been identified, disrupted, and been talked about publicly. So, I'm not divulging anything that has not already been said but I am reminding people we know there has been an effort to target and prepare to attack New York City in the past. That gives us a tremendous amount of insight into the kinds of dangers we may face but it also gives us the ability to prepare to defend against any such attack.

So, again, no credible and specific threat at this point in time but a very different environment this morning than anything we've experienced previously and one that we need to be ready to deal with for the long haul. I'll turn to your questions on this topic. Yes?

Question: Mayor de Blasio, this morning you mentioned your concerns about this air strike without the approval of Congress, can you speak to that please?

Mayor: Yeah, this is – look, I want to start by saying I personally am very happy that Soleimani is dead. He was a terrorist who used his abilities to harm not only American soldiers and to kill American soldiers but to kill countless thousands around the world, innocent human beings. A horrible human being – I'm glad he's gone. But we also have to put in prospective what it would mean if the shoe were on the other foot, if our Defense Secretary, or one of the most prominent political figures in this country, was killed by the Iranian government, no one would doubt that we would be at a state of war. So, we have to assume that this action puts us in a de facto state of war, and that can only be done under the laws of the United States of America and under our Constitution. That can only be decided by the U.S. Congress acting on the will of the people.

I think the American people have sent a message in election after election that they want to end all these wars. And now we're talking about the potential of going into a war much greater than anything we've confronted. This is not Iraq. This is not Panama. This is something much, much more dangerous. So, simple point – we should not go to war with Iran. It's extremely dangerous for the American people, not only our men and women in uniform, all of us. The American people do not want a war with Iran. And nothing can happen without the approval of Congress. That has – this has to be brought to the Congress immediately.

Question: Yes, but what will New Yorkers physically see that's different? Will there be more [inaudible] patrols? Will there be more bag checks on the subway? What's going to change?

Mayor: I'll start and turn to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner. Again, what I hope people understand is we've never experienced before. In the last few decades, when we've dealt with international terrorism we have not confronted a state actor. It's just a world difference. ISIS, horrendous. Al Qaeda, horrendous – they did not have a country and a formal military backing them, and a very highly organized international network supported by a government. There's nothing like this. So, we're going to take whatever steps we need to protect New Yorkers. And I think people should understand the NYPD is always ready to do things that would disrupt terror. So, sometimes when you see a sudden deployment it's to deter potential attack or when you see those bag checks. They may feel out of the ordinary but that's because we're dealing with a very different environment.

Commissioner Shea: I'll begin and then I'll pass it to John. Juliet, the good news here, if there is any, is that this didn't occur yesterday afternoon into the evening and then we started putting plans together. This is something that has been in the making if you will in terms of deployments at strategic locations particularly with Iran. So, what New Yorkers will see as far as the details I'll let John describe into it but again it's going to take all New Yorkers getting involved. I think the key here is, John hit it well when he said that you know what's normal on your block, in your business, if you're a night watchmen, if you're somebody on your block. When that hair goes up on the back of your head that something feels out of the ordinary, you're right – and 888-NYC-SAFE or let a cop know.

In terms of the deployments, we have pre-originated locations throughout New York City that are already in the works. I can tell you that by yesterday evening I was on the phone – as with the Mayor and John – with federal and local authorities coordinating this response. John?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: So, I think rather than give a list of where, a lot of the locations that are considered top potential targets are already covered. I think you'll see some strategic shifting around and that'll be intelligence driven. Other than that, I think the Commissioner summed it up very well.

Question: Will there be bag checks on subways, where will there be stops on bridges, or tunnels?

Mayor: Look, I'm going to make a couple of common sense points and then again, my colleagues can add to it. What we have to assume based on previous knowledge is that the Iranians would have an interest in prominent targets, well known American locations. So, we'll obviously keep special watch over those. We also know that deterrence is achieved by being unpredictable. So, if we think bag checks are necessary, we'll do bag checks. Whatever it's going to take, we're always going to respect people's rights and liberties but the best way to deal with an adversary like this is to keep them off guard and be able to move our assets agilely and change our strategies as needed.

Question: For Mr. Miller, if you could tell us, a lot of analysts have said that their assessment is with Iran's calls for revenge that it's probably overseas and not here. Do you share that assessments in the chair you sit in? And Mr. Mayor, for you, you talk about deterrence, what if something, a proxy, was to attempt something in here? Maybe it's a question for national leaders, but what message do you have for Iran if any of their actors were going to try anything here in New York?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: So, I think that the more likely response in the near term would be overseas where Iran has in place proxies in places like Syria and Iraq, Afghanistan, and others. That makes sense. But we can't rely on that as New York City. We have to protect New York City in the context that we understand our target profile.

Mayor: Look, Iran for years and years has gone too far. Let's be clear where the original sin is here. But my messages is if they were ever to attempt directly or indirectly an attack on New York City, they would be bringing horrible, horrible results to their own people. This – this is why it's so important, and why again, I believe, that Congress must act immediately. Every possible effort should be made to avoid a full scale war. But clearly an action against American soil would make that kind of war inevitable and everyone would lose. And we're not talking days, we're not talking weeks, we're talking years and years of war because of the way Iran is structured with its – not only its own military but with its terrorist allies all over the globe. This is something we've never confronted previously and we have to understand that.

But no, we're going to do everything that we are able to do to keep New Yorkers safe and that's a lot. I'm very, very confident in the NYPD and our federal partners but I would be even more confident that we can keep New Yorkers safe if we could stop this march to war.

Question: For Commissioner Miller, given what this – the undertaking that you now have in place, was the counter-terrorism community given a heads up about the strike, should it have been?  And I wonder if also given, as you mentioned, what's been going on in the city with the response to different hate crimes and what we know about Iran proxies, are the targets of interest one in the same?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: We were reached out too very early on through the Joint-Terrorism Task Force to advise us of the strike and of potential targets, to start moving things into place as it had been said multiple times though we have thought of this scenario in advance and multiple different versions of it, so those plans were ready to go.

Mayor: And again, to your other question, as I said, we don't – we can't presume, but we know historically Iran and its proxies have been interested in the most prominent, internationally known locations in New York City.

Question: Mr. Mayor, and Deputy Commissioner Miller, you had a recent case Ali Kourani, just sentenced to 40 years in prison, a case that you developed through the JTTF. To the extent you can speak about it, what type of cases have you developed over the years? What have you seen and what makes Hezbollah and Iran unique in some of those regards?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: I think the Mayor pointed out that they are not merely a terrorist group, but they – Iran in particular is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. That means that you have terrorism which is unconventional warfare, carried out through proxies with the backing in terms of organizational capability, preoperational capability, and financing of a state behind it. So when you look at the Ali Kourani case, this was literally an Iranian sleeper agent through its proxy Hezbollah, who was on the ground here in New York for years with specialized training in weapons and explosives, surveillance, counter-surveillance, and target assessment. He was arrested in June of 2017 with Samer El Debek, who had similar training through Hezbollah, and then a year following that, the arrest of Alexei Saab in September of 2019, showed us that there was a redundancy capability of a second sleeper agent who was looking at similar high-profile targets.

So as we have pointed out, from this table, that this is not a scenario that we started thinking about last night. We are well prepared to counter this. This is neither a scenario that Iran started thinking about last night or its proxies. If you look at its historical use of proxy and targeted terrorist attacks, not just on the battlefield in places like Syria, you see the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington D.C. by contracting it out to Los Zetas, a vicious Mexican drug gang. You see the attempt to attack the U.S. Embassy and assassinate the U.S. Ambassador in places like Azerbaijan, by contacting local organized crime entities and attempting to hire them out as proxies.

So with Iran, you see a state sponsor that has organized proxies such as Hezbollah and other militias that then sub out to third proxies. It's a very complex field. It's why we've studied it so long, in such detail, and it's why through the FBI JTTF, working with NYPD Intelligence, we've had a market success in New York in identifying these sleeper agents and rolling them up. I think that's very significant because that's a setback in terms of what they collected on and targeted, being exposed to their handlers.

Mayor: I want to just add to this, it's really important for people to understand. Think of every war we've been in. We have never, ever, dealt with an adversary that had this particular capacity. When we were attacked on 9/11, it was by al-Qaeda that had bases in Afghanistan but the Afghani government had very, very limited capacity. Think about the other attacks that we have suffered or been suffered as a country, again, by terrorist movements, and organizations. This is a full blown government of a major modern nation, and by the way, many of its military leadership were trained by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Soleimani himself was trained by Russia.

You're talking about some of the most sophisticated military capacity on earth and the nation that was our central adversary for decades trained the military of this country that we may now be facing. I'm not saying that to underestimate the power of the United States and our military. Our military is the finest in the world. I'm trying to express that we're dealing with a different reality and one that we've never experienced before because it will not be expressed in conventional terms. This is the point about, and John can speak to it much better than me, the asymmetrical warfare concept – talking about a nation with a government and a huge military that then works with highly organized terrorist organizations around the world, that they sponsor, fun, and provide arms to, and then subcontracts with other local criminal organizations. We've never dealt with this before and we should be very sober about that fact.

Yeah?

Question: Commissioner Miller, just to clarify, the Police Department was aware of the strike before the strike or afterwards?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: After.

Question: Also, can you talk about how many sleeper agents there might be out there? I believe several years ago you might have thrown out a number, I don't quite recollect.

Deputy Commissioner Miller: Well there's the cases we just described and then there are prior cases where - that didn't result in arrest but resulted in the expulsion of employees of the Iranian government who were observed conducting what appeared to be pre-observational surveillance against infrastructure.

Mayor: And then we'll go to this side.

Question: Just a follow-up on that. Are you guys concerned that there are so many diplomatic members of the Iranian government based here in New York?

Mayor: We don't take it lightly.

Commissioner Shea: Certainly, Jonathan. That's something that comes up in the plans but again that is not a new reality either. This is something – this is New York City, a city that – we host the UN, we have diplomatic missions all over, and those are part of our ongoing counterterrorism efforts.

Question: Does the NYPD have personnel on the ground abroad or in this part of the world, and if so, what role are they playing in this?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: So we have to 14 foreign posts including places such as the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Qatar, Jordan, and we have received reporting from overnight from all of those posts that add context and intelligence value to this. That's really what those posts are for, to give us additional information, sharper perspectives, and decision advantage in instances such as this.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Just to clarify, in terms of security measures, what would you be doing specifically, you know differently or in additionally to the heightened security measures that you already started last week after the hate crimes?

Mayor: Again, we're dealing with a whole new reality, and I think it starts with the focus that we've had historically on the most prominent sites in New York City will certainly deepen. But I'm saying, you know, with these experts around me, I'm just trying to put it into common sense terms, you're going to see more officers, and you're going to see more unpredictability. Movements as needed to address anything that we're receiving in the way of intelligence. You know, always make a point to reiterate there's no credible and specific threat now, if there ever was one, we're going to tell the people of this city that. But again, I think it is – what has been a proven formula for the NYPD is a lot of personnel, and the ability to move them quickly and in an unpredictable fashion. That's why we created the critical response command a few years ago, to give us that ability to do that.

Question: You talk a lot about prominent targets, Mayor. What specifically do you say to New Yorkers though who are not frequenting Times Square or the World Trade Center? What do you say to folks just out in the five boroughs, about their security?

Mayor: I'd say to everyone: go on with your lives, again, as New Yorkers have always done. Go on with your lives, never be intimidated by the threat of terror. But be vigilant, because, you know, John just referred to situation where there was surveillance of sites underway. If you see someone doing something that causes you concern, as the Commissioner said, call it in, it will be checked out. It never hurts to call something in. You don't know how these things develop, and we're in the great unknown here and we have to be honest about it. We've never confronted this particular challenge. But I think anyone at any time might see or hear something that could help us. We need that vigilance. Otherwise, go about your lives knowing that the finest police force in America is protecting you.

Question: You also mentioned that you wanted Congressional action. Can you be more specific? What would you like Congress –

Mayor: I think the Congress, representing all of the people, is in a much better position to evaluate what it would mean to actually go to full-blown war with Iran. And right now we are right on the precipice of a full-blown war. The constitution's clear about it. The war powers act is clear about it, that only the Congress can authorize war.

You know, what presidents have done, and by the way both Democrats and Republicans have taken liberties and initiated different types of military action. Always claiming it wasn't the same as needing the full authorization of the Congress. This is unlike anything we've seen in decades. This is, again, a potential war with a major military, with a global terrorist network that it sponsors, should not be done lightly to say the least. And there's no evidence right now, we've heard nothing from Washington to suggest there's a cognizance of the ramifications of what's happened here and what it could mean for people right here. I'm talking about protecting our people here in this country and protecting our troops. So the only place that kind of deliberation can happen is in the Congress. And by the way, there's history of the Congress making that decision and that causes the people to have a lot more faith in the decision if it's made by the Congress. But it cannot be a march to war leaving out our elected representatives.

Question: How many officers are assigned to counterterrorism at this point?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: Basically, a couple thousand. It's larger than any counterterrorism force in the United States.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: It's one thing to protect and prevent attacks on major New York City targets. But what about the person who is homegrown and inspired by what's happening in Iran, and you know take out people, you know the Halloween attack or something like that. What do we do about that? How [inaudible]?

Mayor: I think that's exactly the kind of example that we need to focus on Juliet. The NYPD and all of our partners in fighting terrorism have done an outstanding job at identifying the major plots and the more systematic attempts. The lone wolves are always harder to identify. But when we have stopped lone wolves, it has been because of everyday people. Family members, friends, someone who lived on the same block, someone who worked with them, who reported something they found troubling, and that's how those attacks have often been stopped. There's no perfect guarantee but I'll tell you, it's amazing, and you could extend that. I want to be very, you know, straight forward and honest, always. We've seen, not in terms of international terrorism, we've seen the horrifying school shootings, and so many times found out later that numerous people had indication something was wrong but didn't think they should call it in or didn't want to get in trouble or whatever it was. No, if you think something is wrong, if you think something might lead to violence, you have to call the NYPD immediately. Please.

Question: Can we expect any change in police presence on Sunday, for the planned march by ADL and others?

Mayor: Yes.

Deputy Commissioner Miller: So that's something that we were working on in the context of the general threat picture as well as the anti-Semitic incidents. We've talked to the organizers, actually I was talking to them outside this room. We've had these discussions going on through the day, about how to enhance that, but it was already fairly complicated in terms of security at the outset so the changes won't be much.

Mayor: But it will be whatever it takes.

Deputy Commissioner Miller: Yep.

Mayor: Okay let me see if there's anything else on this before we conclude, last call. Okay and we will certainly keep everyone posted as things develop.

Thank you.