There is no doubt that the New York and New Jersey region today is better prepared to deal with another massive attack than it was on September 11, 2001. But how muchbetter is the region prepared? And what would happen if more than one attack took place simultaneously? This study found that while considerable progress has been and iscontinuing to be made, the port and the region are still very vulnerable.1 Much more isrequired both to prevent future attacks and to cope with the consequences and aftermath, should an attack occur.

There is a continued absence of national and regional �architectures� linking federal,state, local and city agencies and offices charged with security responsibilities, and anabsence of integrated processes among these organizations. Many other barriers andchallenges remain. Specific omissions include the lack of well-coordinated, integratedplans for prevention and response to attacks; no electronic or cyber �backbone� linkingthese many organizations with secure, reliable and redundant communications; and anabsence of effective means of responding to multiple events. Even with such deficiencies, New York and New Jersey appear to be better prepared for futurecatastrophes than many other port complexes in the United States. Appearance, however, may not always coincide with reality.

This report shows what has been accomplished to date, and what must be done, to make this complex port facility and region more secure. The report uses the concept of �network-centric operations2,� about which much more will be said, as one pillar of aprescriptive construct. The report contains eight papers that provide analysis of the threat, the current organization and preparedness to respond and prevent attack, network-centric operations, information architecture, overcoming the cultural and bureaucratic barriers, and metrics for assessing progress. The report also calls for a�testbed� to evaluate and assess how, under the network-centric operations framework, the many agencies and resources across government and the private sector could bebetter integrated and used to enhance the security of the region with greater effectiveness and efficiency.

Finally, the report reflects two major workshops, many working group meetings and theinputs of over 60 specialists and informed observers.

Full Report