"The Center for Policing Terrorism brings new thinking and networks of counter-terrorism experts to police departments ranging from the NYPD to the LAPD. CPT brings a world-class counterterrorism capacity to participating local law enforcement agencies and helps them save time, effort and resources."

—Richard Clarke, CPT's founding chairman and
counter-terrorism advisor to four U.S. presidents

At present, local police are under-utilized in America's homeland-security efforts. One of the Manhattan Institute's top post-9/11 priorities has been to correct this shortsighted policy. The Center for Policing Terrorism's (CPT) lodestar in this effort is the recognition that police can be more than mere "first responders" to terror attacks—arriving after the incident to manage the collateral damage—but can and must act instead as "first preventers"—identifying, monitoring, disrupting, and capturing those who intend to do us harm, before their plots have been hatched.

We were instrumental in the NYPD's post-9/11 transformation—helping it to earn, in the words of ex-Marine boxer and current NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, "the heavyweight title in counter-terrorism". CPT is now actively working to take the lessons we've both taught and learned to cities and counties across the country.

The CPT leverages a network of wold-class experts to help police departments develop their countterrorism strategies and capabilities more quickly and more efficiently.

President Discusses War on Terror at National Endowment for Democracy

Speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy, President Bush clearly defined the nature and objectives of the Islamist terrorists who threaten the U.S. Homeland. It is the most comprehensive and provacative threat picture presented by his Administration to date. Politics aside, local law enforcement executives and the intelligence analysts who work for them should take the time to read and discuss the content of the President's remarks and examine the implications for public safety in their communities.

Secretary Michael Chertoff of Department of Homeland Security addressed the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police on October 16, 2006. In his address, the Secretary stated, 'You, police officers in the communities all across this country and all around the world, are the front line of our defense against terror, because the fact is, you know your communities better than anybody else. You are the most likely to detect the beginning phases of a possible plot, particularly a homegrown plot.'

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly paid tribute to the Manhattan Institute for its assistance on NYPD's counter terrorism initiatives, while receiving the Institute's Civic Innovator Award on October 24, 2005. For more information on this event, click here.

Letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab Zarqawi

On July 9, 2005, counter terrorism operators in Iraq intercepted this message from Ayman al Zawahiri (al Qaeda's second in command, who is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan) to Abu Musab al Zarqawi (leader of al Qaeda in Iraq). The letter offers insight into the jihadist thought process, as well as al Qaeda's grandiose strategic objectives.