Legal expert: Times Square attack could be test of NYC defenses

Saturday’s failed bombing of Times Square is far too reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks, and could be an indication of more violence to come, said a former federal prosecutor Wednesday.

“It’s the closest threat to Ground Zero we’ve had in nearly a decade,” said Michael Wildes, now a city immigration attorney.

He suggested it could have been a ploy to measure the city’s defenses. “You have to remember that al-Qaida tested the emergency responses before 9/11,” said Wildes, a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn from 1989 to 1993.

“You don’t know whether a bomb made in such a rudimentary fashion was to divert attention,” so as not to raise suspicion of a possible bigger attack later, he said. “If we show our hand too much in how we investigate this, it could hurt us in the future.”