Immediately after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, Nicholas Casale was appointed the first ever deputy director of counterterrorism, police and security at the Nation's largest transportation agency.
Mr. Casale was responsible for protecting 8 million New Yorkers using the City's subways, railroads, bridges and tunnels.
Mr. Casale has advised members of Congress, the Joint Terrorist Task Force and the media on how best to secure the Nation’s road, rail, air and sea lanes from terrorist attack.
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| "If a graffiti artist can bomb a train without being detected: imagine what terrorist can do" said Nicholas Casale |
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Texas woman brings .38 caliber pistol aboard American Airlines plane
65-year-old slipped by agents at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
January 18, 2012 - New York Daily News. A 65-year-old woman was busted at Dallas/Fort Worth airport on Wednesday after she slipped past TSA agents and boarded an American Airlines plane with a gun in her purse, authorities said.
The unidentified woman's Houston-bound plane had already left the gate at around 8:00 a.m. when TSA agents stopped the aircraft and hauled her off, the Dallas Star-Telegram reported.
Sources told local NBC that the tense incident started at around 6:00 a.m. when the woman grabbed her bag off a conveyor belt and bolted from a checkpoint at DFW's D terminal before x-ray screeners had the chance to spot the pistol.
TSA officials told the station that the woman left the checkpoint before her screening was finished.
Security agents locked down all five terminals at the airport during a frantic, 90-minute search.
Using surveillance footage, they determined that she had boarded American Airlines flight 2385, which was rolling toward the runway at the time.
The plane was called back to the gate and the woman was pulled off, officials said.
Agents found a .38 caliber pistol in her purse, officials said.
She was taken into police custody, but released at around 1:00 p.m. The woman told police she forgot the gun was in her bag when she went to the airport, the Star-Telegram reported.
Dallas police said the woman, who is from Little Elm, Tex., would be charged with carrying a firearm in a prohibited location, a third-degree felony.
She wouldn't face federal charges.
About 10 flights were delayed during the lockdown, each about 20-25 minutes, and airport officials said.
According to the TSA, security agents found about four guns per day at security checkpoints in 2011.
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Police Commissioner Kelly says city is vigilant on mass transit but 'no guarantees' on train safety
BY ERIN EINHORN, DAILY NEWS, Tuesday, May 10, 2011.
New York's trains and subway are safe from a terror attack - but not completely safe, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly admitted Monday.
"We have 5 million people a day that travel on the system, so things of an untoward nature can happen," Kelly said. "There are no guarantees, but we're doing more than any other city anywhere to protect ourselves."
Kelly was responding to heightened fears about safety since the Navy SEALs who killed Osama Bin Laden discovered documents suggesting a terrorist plot to derail a U.S. passenger train.
Kelly said he has more than 2,000 transit cops and 1,000 counterterrorism officers on high alert, checking subway tunnels daily, but that doesn't mean evildoers can't slip into places where they're not allowed.
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