By Philip Newman
“Two years ago, despite concerns about the effectiveness of Lockheed's artificial intelligence system, the MTA gave assurances they had tested the system and it would work,” said City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing).
Liu said it turned out the security system does not work as the MTA had “so publicly and proudly touted two years ago.”
Veronique Hakim, acting president of the MTA Capital Construction Co., testified that the last phase of installing the artificial intelligence security system will be finished in December of 2009.
“We are managing this program very carefully and it is an aggressive amount of work to achieve,” Hakim said. “We are committed to bringing this system online as quickly as possible and working very hard to accomplish this timetable.”
Liu also questioned the wisdom of buying the Lockheed security system because London had previously rejected it as unworkable.
Hakim said so far the MTA has received about $180 million from the federal government, far short of its financial needs for strengthening the subways against terrorists.
