By Philip Newman
Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, acting president of the MTA Capital Construction Co., testified last Thursday before the Council's Transportation Committee. Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), chairman of the committee, called a public hearing to determine why the project to safeguard the subways was nowhere near completion and over budget more than six years after the World Trade Center attack. “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,” Liu said.The anti-terrorist security system provided by Lockheed Martin Corp., which calls itself the world's largest defense contractor, provided an electronic system that the company said has the capability of detecting and identifying terrorist threats in the transit system through use of cameras.”The MTA had gone ahead hastily into a $212 million contract with Lockheed without competitive procurement and without proven technology,” Liu said. “Today we find the system does not work as the MTA had so publicly and proudly touted two years ago.” Liu said that before the MTA bought the Lockheed security system, the cost of which has now risen to $450 million and is 16 months behind schedule, London had rejected it as ineffective. Hakim conceded that there had been delays in the Lockheed system. “What has worked we have included in the security system,” Hakim said. Hakim said that so far the federal government has provided about $180 million in aid to protect mass transit against terrorist attacks. “This does not begin to meet the funding needs for these types of programs over such a large transportation network,” Hakim said. The MTA needs at least another $350 million to complete the anti-terrorist project. “We continue to compete for scarce federal dollars, but this has been challenging,” Hakim said. “But we are committed to bringing this system on line as quickly as possible and are working very hard to accomplish this timetable.” At the time the MTA announced its plans to use the Lockheed Martin security system, local television played company video of cameras detecting luggage left on a subway trains and magnifying images of such items to help determine from a distance whether they were a terrorist threat. Liu said his committee hoped “that the artificial intelligence project is not an indicator of the remaining terror-proofing work the MTA reports to be doing.” “At some point, the MTA must demonstrate some ability to follow through and deliver on these security promises.” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli recently issued a report on progress of the MTA security project. “We've seen some real progress and the MTA has made commuters safer ,but costs continue to rise and difficulties persist,” DiNapoli said. “The MTA must do better on this front.”Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 136.
