Kelly says botched attack classic 'homegrown' terrorism

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly detailed the sophisticated camera surveillance system planned for midtown as officials warned yesterday the botched May 1 Times Square attack fits the profile of "homegrown" terrorism threatening America.

Kelly told a briefing for private security executives the Times Square threat was "a classic case of homegrown terrorism." Authorities say Faisal Shahzad, 30, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen living in Connecticut, claimed to have had bomb-making training in Pakistan.

Mitch Silber, head of the NYPD intelligence division, told reporters Shahzad represents a "new type" of terror suspect. This newer generation includes male Muslims younger than 35 with roots in working- or middle-class society, some college education and no previous criminal records who become radicalized - in part through foreign travel - and seek to carry out terror attacks as part of what they consider jihad, or holy war.

Homegrown terrorists typically fall under the spell of extremist, anti-American literature and rhetoric found on the Internet or elsewhere, he said. Among items found in Shahzad's home was a version of the Quran known for its "violent interpretation" of jihad, Silber said.

He cited former Medford resident Bryant Neal Vinas and Najibullah Zazi, the admitted leader of a plot to bomb the New York subway system, as other examples. Vinas pleaded guilty in early 2009 to attacking a U.S. base in Afghanistan and helping terrorists, federal court records show.

Shahzad has yet to be arraigned following his May 3 arrest on federal terrorism charges. Authorities say he is still cooperating with the investigation.

Nayyar Imam, chairman of the Muslim Alliance of Long Island, sees few parallels between Shahzad and Vinas, noting Shahzad "was born and raised outside of the country," while Vinas was born and raised here and prayed at a Long Island mosque.

Meanwhile, Kelly, talking separately with reporters, said the first set of cameras for the new midtown surveillance system should be installed by September, linked to the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, a centralized web of hundreds of security cameras already operating south of Canal Street. That system eventually will have 3,000 police and private cameras.

"Five years from now you will see a robust [camera] system in place in midtown Manhattan," he said, estimating the price tag at around $40 million.

The city's system is inspired by London's so-called "ring of steel" where 500,000 cameras operate, but in a more decentralized system, Kelly said.

In London Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited centers used to monitor cameras in the city's buses and subways. Authorities used images captured on the cameras to identify suspects after more than 50 people died there in bombings July 2005. Bloomberg acknowledged midtown cameras hadn't stopped Shahzad. "But certainly cameras helped after the fact and they help as a deterrent," he said.

With John Riley

and Andrew Strickler