After Brussels Attacks, NYC in 'High State of Vigilance and Readiness' (Updated)

Photo courtesy of the NYPD

NEW YORK CITY, NY — The city is on high alert Tuesday morning after terror attacks shook an airport and a major metro station in Brussels, Belgium, killing dozens and injuring scores more.

"We are in a high state of vigilance and readiness," NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a late-morning press conference.

New York City Police Department officials received news of the attacks in Belgium around 3:30 a.m., according to John J. Miller, the department's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.

Over the next couple hours, NYPD brass reached out to other city leaders, Miller said, and "started a number of wheels turning that would change the shape and picture of what we saw this morning."

NYC commuters reported spotting swarms of counterterrorism cops posted throughout the city Tuesday morning — at Penn Station, Grand Central Station, the underground subway system, JFK and LaGuardia airports, Times Square, the World Trade Center and other NYC landmarks and crowded areas.

"We literally doubled the number of officers available to us this morning in our transit system," NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at the morning presser.

Bratton described his own commute from Grand Central to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday morning. He said he saw a large number of National Guard members and MTA officers — some with K9s — patrolling Grand Central and inspecting bags. Then, on his subway ride, Bratton said he watched four members of the NYPD's Strategic Response Group board the train with "long guns, helmets, etc."

"That degree of coverage will continue for the foreseeable future until we get a better idea of what happened over there," Bratton said.

All flights were canceled Tuesday between NYC-area airports and Brussels.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced around 10 a.m. that he had sent State Troopers and 400 members of the National Guard to the NYC area and had ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the MTA to fill airports and rail stations with extra security.

Gov. Cuomo said he would take the following steps to secure the city.

• The New York National Guard this morning activated its quick reaction force from Fort Hamilton to provide additional security detail at JFK International Airport. The National Guard has 400 service members on duty today in the NYC area. The Guard is adding an additional service members to transportation infrastructure hubs downstate, including JFK and LaGuardia airports.
  

• The New York State Police will have State Troopers assigned to Penn and Grand Central Stations as well as the Queens Mid Town Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge.
  

• ​The Port Authority is increasing its police presence at all of its airports, bridges, tunnels and the World Trade Center, as well as the PATH and Port Authority Bus Terminal.
  

• The MTA is coordinating with New York State Police and the Port Authority to elevate its police presence at subway and rail stations in NYC, Westchester and Long Island.
  

• The State is also in active coordination with local and federal partners, including the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the New York City Police Department.

"Public safety is paramount, and I want the people of this state to know that we are working with all local and federal partners, remaining vigilant and taking all necessary measures to keep New Yorkers safe," Cuomo said.

NYPD officials are also using this morning's events as an opportunity to decry a federal proposal to cut NYC's counterterrorism funding by $90 million.

"Any cut in terrorism funding to New York — to what is widely recognized as the nation’s top terror target — would be irresponsible," Stephen P. Davis, deputy commissioner of public information, said in his morning statement outlining the NYPD's response to attacks in Belgium.

"It seems to make no sense in this environment," Bratton added at his press conference.