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Despite top rank, New York keeps preparing

September 11 rescue efforts succeeded in saving some 25,000 lives.

(CNN) -- Profound lessons were learned on September 11 about the extent to which any city can be prepared for terrorism -- after all, New York had been judged the nation's most prepared and most able to respond even before the devastation of the World Trade Center.

On that catastrophic day, when hijacked jetliners roared through the blue sky of a late summer morning and demolished the twin towers the response from New York's emergency personnel was, indeed, swift.

With memories still fresh of the more than 2,800 people killed in the attacks, city leaders are working to ensure New York is even more prepared should the unfathomable happen again.

Improving communications

Although the September 11 rescue efforts succeeded in saving some 25,000 lives, one weakness exposed by the emergency response at the Trade Center was poor coordination and communications among fire and police officials.

A five-month study by the management-consulting firm McKinsey and Co. found that too many police and fire personnel -- including some who were off-duty -- rushed to the scene, that communications broke down in the command structure, and that there was some disregard for radio protocol.

In response to the report, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the police and fire departments are coordinating their radio communication systems.

On September 11, firefighters were using outdated analog radios: Officials think some firefighters inside the towers didn't hear an order to evacuate because the radios malfunctioned. Now, according to Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, his department is testing new emergency radios.

In addition, the city has been testing a device that can broadcast emergency messages over eight different frequencies at once, said John Odermatt, commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management.

"That device has been quite successful in allowing local inter-operability on the scene of a major event," he said, adding that the city also is looking into the possibility of a citywide emergency radio frequency.

Prevention, intelligence

A well-planned and coordinated response to any disaster is -- as Scoppetta said in response to the McKinsey report -- "absolutely essential."

But officials in New York are also actively pursuing the prevention of terrorist attacks.

The New York Police Department stepped up efforts toward this end by establishing an Office of Counter-Terrorism. In January, the N.Y.P.D. brought in former U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti to direct the city's anti-terror strategy.

David Cohen, who spent 35 years at the CIA and eventually oversaw the agency's worldwide operations, was hired to direct police intelligence gathering efforts.

"Clearly, Kelly has taken [fighting] terrorism to a whole new level, really creating major units within the N.Y.P.D. that are not content to just sit around and wait to be spoon-fed by the feds regarding intelligence," said John Timoney, a former New York deputy police commissioner and now CEO of Beau Dietl and Associates, an investigative and security consulting firm.

Intelligence gathering has also become a top priority at the Office of Emergency Management, where Odermatt appointed a homeland defense liaison who will report directly to Odermatt any suspected terror threats.

For example, Odermatt said, a report of a stolen truck loaded with chemicals heading for New York would prompt his office to move resources into place for a possible chemical attack.

"The reason for that is simple," Odermatt said. "We should be ready for things that we know about."

Odermatt, who was appointed in April, said the emergency management office is participating in a lot more drills, as opposed to just preparing on paper.

The city also received a $26 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to enhance bioterrorism preparedness.

Timoney said although all big cities are inviting targets for terrorists, New York must always be at the ready.

"New York, out of any city in America, is always the No. 1 target," he said, "because it offers what the terrorists are looking for: great publicity, high body count, economic damage -- anything you can think of."

Because of that, other cities are watching what New York is doing in the anti-terrorism arena.

Boston Fire Commissioner Paul Christian, whose department includes the emergency management agency, said he constantly receives information from varying sources, but: "We have to stay focused on the real thing. I think the most valid information is what comes from New York."