NYPD CTU, Now More Than Ever

But the evidence is unlikely to satisfy skeptics who have been suspicious that the NYPD is trying to lay the groundwork for isolating or even attacking Iran:

The NYPD fears that Iran has targeted the Big Apple for terror attacks, a grim new report reveals.

“We’re concerned that Iranian agents were engaged in reconnaissance that might be used in an attack against New York City at some future date,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told Newsweek.

What Sucks: Absent Mindedly Taking The Star Magazine You Already Read And Leaving Behind The Ammo Clip You Actually Needed

A loaded clip of ammunition from a Glock pistol was left behind in a seat-back pocket on a flight from Santo Domingo to New York:

The bullets were discovered in a seat-back pocket at about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 29 by a worker cleaning the jet after its flight from Santo Domingo, authorities said yesterday.

The plane, which had arrived at Kennedy about two hours earlier, also visited Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico, that day.

But because the jet had been cleaned on its last stop in Santo Domingo, detectives are checking over the manifest from that flight, said a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman.

Twenty-six 9mm bullets were loaded into the clip, which a law-enforcement source said was from a Glock pistol.

Glocks are widely used in law enforcement, but investigators don’t believe the clip belonged to a sky marshal or other law officer, said a source.

Officials weren’t sure on what kind of plane the bullets were found. American usually flies the route with Airbus A300s, which can carry 267 passengers.

The clip was found in a window seat on the right side of the jet, over the wing, said the law-enforcement source.

“This is a serious breach of security,” the source said. “If they can get the bullets on, they can get the gun on, too.”

Not like you’re stating the obvious there . . .

Is It Too Much To Ask That We Somehow Try To Avoid Having 20 Percent Of Our City Council Wiped Out By A Qassam Rocket?

Will this teach them not to participate in junkets abroad? Probably not:

In the middle of a trip to Israel, a group of New York City Council members got a scare when a Kassam rocket hit a kibbutz a mile away yesterday afternoon — just as they were discussing such attacks with the mayor of Sderot.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said yesterday that the attack, which some said reminded them of when Councilman James Davis was shot and killed several years ago in the council chamber at City Hall, confirmed her belief that Israel has a right to defend itself.

“It is fear-provoking,” she said in a telephone conference call.

Quinn and 10 other members arrived Sunday for a trip sponsored by a pro-Israel group, Jewish Community Relations Council.

As Mayor Michael Bloomberg did last week, the group visited Sderot, population 20,000, a frequent target of Palestinian rocket fire due to its proximity to the Gaza Strip. A 17-year-old girl was killed two years ago in an attack.

The Council speaker said Sderot officials were telling the visitors how frequently the town gets hit when everyone was told to get up and leave. She said they were told: “A rocket is coming. We have to go.”

We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges!

Is the cute name supposed to distract us from the fact that hundreds of fake badges and thousands of guns have been confiscated from people trying to get into secure areas around the city? Because then it’s not so cute:

Authorities have confiscated 243 fake police badges and some 21,000 weapons and made 164 arrests or citations at city federal buildings since May 2005, according to sources and documents obtained by The Post.

Sources said most of the busts came at 26 Federal Plaza, home of the FBI’s New York office, considered a prime terror target.

They added that one arrest turned up an individual suspected to have terrorist ties, and that other fake-badge arrests have nabbed criminals with outstanding warrants and lengthy records, including a convicted child molester.

A children’s nursery is located at 26 Federal Plaza.

One elderly man confessed after his arrest that he was using an old badge to sneak a brick into a federal building and assault a Social Security Administration employee whom he believed had bilked him on a payment.

A source with intimate knowledge of the Federal Protective Service’s crackdown — dubbed Operation Stinking Badges after the often-quoted line from the Humphrey Bogart flick “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” — said it was initiated in part after police “noticed a spike in people coming in with badges.”

In May 2005, the Federal Protective Service, a Department of Homeland Security agency that protects government buildings, changed its policy and started verifying every badge.

Prior to that, it was possible for someone to flash a shield and walk into a federal building unchecked.

Some visitors are packing plenty more than a fake badge. Officers netted bulletproof vests, 10 guns — even a spiked bat.

In Case You Forgot . . .

Governor Spitzer’s new team starts out on the right foot by sounding a fresh theme of hope and prosperity:

It is not a matter of if, but of when the city’s subway system suffers a terrorist attack, Governor Spitzer’s pick as the state’s homeland security tsar, Michael Balboni, said.

Meanwhile, the Republican state senator who is resigning to join the new Spitzer administration said “not a lot is different” in terms of subway security since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

While he praised the ramped-up security at some tunnel entryways into the city as well as a greater police presence underground, he said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has left gaping holes in the emergency preparedness of its conductors and train operators, who are responsible for initiating evacuations during emergencies. The MTA did not respond to a request for comment.

“There are some unspeakable potential threats out there,” Mr. Balboni said during a telephone interview over the weekend.