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New York Today

New York Today: Can the City Prevent Terror Attacks?

The scene at the Port Authority on Monday.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Good morning on this frigid Wednesday.

It’s becoming a familiar procedure in New York: Prosecutors file charges against an accused terrorist with local ties days, or even hours, after an attack.

Yesterday, it happened in the case of Akayed Ullah, who told investigators that he had built a bomb, strapped it to his chest and detonated it in a subway corridor on Monday. “I did it for the Islamic State,” he told them. It was the city’s second attack in six weeks.

In an era when attacks often spawn not from inside terrorist groups, but from people inspired or guided by them from afar, how can law enforcement keep the city safe? We asked Mike O’Neil, a former commanding officer of the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism division and the chief executive of MSA Security.

How can we prevent lone-wolf attacks in New York City?

“The scary part about a homegrown, lone-wolf radical threat is that it’s hard to deal with,” Mr. O’Neil said. Because attacks are increasingly carried out with vehicles and homemade bombs, preventing them calls for a collective effort between law enforcement and the community, he added. “The only way you can really attack it is by having an informed public who sees and reports suspicious behavior, and law enforcement that’s present on location that hopefully can engage attacks before they happen.”

What is a realistic goal?

Mr. O’Neil said that “I’d be lying to you if I said they’re going to stop every single attack,” especially ones using simple improvised explosive devices. “What are you going to do, outlaw match heads?” The best option, he repeated, was citizens working together with the police to keep an eye out. “We’re doing everything in our power to stop this, but we need you to help us with this.”

How can members of law enforcement improve their counterterrorism operations?

A common theme in recent attacks, Mr. O’Neil said, was the internet’s role in radicalizing attackers and teaching them to make bombs. “We need to work with online companies to try and pull this material off the internet,” he said. “And that should be an effort by the national government. Those are the things, from a law-enforcement standpoint, that they really need to attack aggressively that in my opinion they probably haven’t done in the last decade or so.”

Is there a danger in overreacting to a terrorist attack?

Mr. O’Neil lauded the decision not to close the subways after Monday’s attack, but said that evacuating the Port Authority, while necessary, created a new risk. “What you saw happen on Monday was thousands of people crowding into Penn Station. If you want to talk about a target of opportunity, you have a mass casualty target right there.” The challenge for law enforcement, he added, is making life-or-death decisions in mere minutes. “The real simple answer,” he said, “is you don’t act out of emotion.”

Here’s what else is happening:

It’s f-f-f-freezing cold today.

The high will barely crawl above 32, but it’s going to feel more like a hair-raisingly chilly 10 to 20 with the wind.

Layer on a warm sweater and jacket, and hang on to your earmuffs — it’s going to be very gusty.

Akayed Ullah, the suspect in Monday’s subway bombing, lived a life divided between Bangladesh and Brooklyn. [New York Times]

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Police searched a house on East Second Street in Brooklyn after the attack.Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York Times

The two suspects in recent New York City terrorist attacks have become ammunition in a war over immigration. [New York Today]

A judge has ruled that hundreds of people who served time in solitary confinement for old infractions at Rikers Island should be compensated by the city. [New York Times]

The governor has his first major-party challenger for 2018: State Assemblyman Brian M. Kolb, a Republican. [New York Times]

The city is filled with high-profile, symbolic locations. The pedestrian tunnel that became the scene of a terrorist attack on Monday is not one of them. [New York Times]

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The scene of the bombing.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Police reform measures long in the works could be voted on by the City Council next week, and New York City’s largest officers union is not on board. [New York Times]

The Central Park Conservancy, the group largely credited with rescuing the park after decades of neglect, has a new leader. [New York Times]

The subway tunnel carrying the E and M lines under the East River will be shut down for five days at the end of the month. [New York Times]

There is no clear cure for all that ails Kristian Hidalgo, but he’s determined not to let it slow him down. [New York Times]

Brooklyn’s newly elected district attorney is training staff members how to tailor charges and plea bargains to avoid putting defendants who are immigrants in jeopardy of deportation. [WNYC]

A federal lawsuit alleges that a former Staten Island administrative judge “conspired” with her husband, the borough’s district attorney, to appoint judges sympathetic to prosecutors. [New York Post]

A brewery in Sunset Park received a cease-and-desist letter after naming a beer for Beyoncé. [BKLYNER.]

Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “Silver Alert

For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Morning Briefing.

Starbucks is handing out 1,000 gift cards worth $20 at Rockefeller Plaza near the ice rink beginning at 1 p.m.

This afternoon, enjoy free admission and extended hours to the National Museum of Mathematics. 2 to 6 p.m. [Free]

A menorah lighting celebration at Gramercy Park in Midtown. 5:30 p.m. [Free]

A discussion, “Women in Film: Reckoning With Misogyny,” about the revelations of sexual harassment in the film industry, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

Islanders host Stars, 7 p.m. (MSG+). Rangers at Senators, 7 p.m. (MSG).

Alternate-side parking remains in effect until Dec. 25.

For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

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Just another commute.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

After the explosion on Monday, The Daily Mail tweeted a photo of New Yorkers on an escalator leaving the Port Authority, calling them “panicked commuters.”

The problem? As Twitter users pointed out, the commuters didn’t look “panicked” at all.

And shortly after the explosion, an A train rider told the Times columnist Jim Dwyer that he was more frightened of the derailment on the line last summer than of the terrorist attack.

Which got us thinking: Have New Yorkers become too jaded about terrorist attacks in their city?

We’d like to hear from you. How do you feel about Monday’s terrorist attack, and others in the city? Are you concerned or indifferent? Let us know by sending us an email to nytoday@nytimes.com. Include your name, age and the neighborhood where you live. We may contact you for possible inclusion in a column.

New York Today is a morning roundup that is published weekdays at 6 a.m. If you don’t get it in your inbox already, you can sign up to receive it by email here.

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What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com, or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Follow the New York Today columnists, Alexandra Levine and Jonathan Wolfe, on Twitter.

You can find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.

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