New York City is where terrorists want to make a statement, and the city will be in a battle against terrorism "for a long time to come," former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Sunday.
Appearing on
"The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York, Kelly noted that there were 16 terror plots against the city during his time serving under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
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"It shows that they want to come here, and I think, they're going to want to continue to come here because New York is seen throughout the world as the capital city," Kelly told host John Catsimatidis.
"This is where they want to make a statement. Terrorism is theater. New York is still the world's biggest stage," added Kelly, whose book
"Vigilance: My Life Serving America and Protecting Its Empire City" was published earlier this month.
America failed to learn the lessons after the first World Trade Center attack in 1992 and still is lagging from Sept. 11, Kelly said.
The city is "in this battle for a long time to come," he added.
Kelly served as U.S. Commissioner of Customs under President Bill Clinton, and said the United States has an obligation to take in some of the refugees fleeing Syria, even though the vetting process to weed out terrorists is long.
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