Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jan 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: New York Region
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Michael Cooper

EX-C.I.A. SPY CHIEF TO RUN POLICE INTELLIGENCE

A former spy master with the Central Intelligence Agency joined the New 
York Police Department yesterday to serve as its deputy commissioner for 
intelligence, a new position that was created to help steer the department 
through the post- Sept. 11 world.

The new deputy commissioner, David Cohen, spent 35 years in the C.I.A., 
including two years, 1995 to 1997, as director of operations, a post in 
which he oversaw the agency's espionage around the world.

"Strong intelligence will be needed to help deter and protect against 
terrorist threats or any other threat to the security that our citizens, 
our visitors and our guests have every right to expect," Mr. Cohen said at 
a news conference at City Hall. "We need to understand what these threats 
are, what form they take, where they're coming from and who's responsible, 
and intelligence must play a central role in that."

Mr. Cohen is not the first high-ranking former federal official who has 
recently joined the Police Department to help it branch out from fighting 
crime and cracking down on quality-of-life violations to gathering 
intelligence and preparing itself for terrorism. Frank Libutti, a highly 
decorated former lieutenant general in the Marines, joined the department 
earlier this month in another new position, deputy commissioner for 
counterterrorism.

Mr. Cohen's salary will be $146,161.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg endorsed the appointment warmly. "This makes us 
the only police department, I believe, in the United States with somebody 
of this stature focusing on intelligence," he said. "I think it is just a 
reflection of how we should be dealing in the 21st century."

The new position reflects a significant change for the Police Department. 
Up to now the department's intelligence division, which oversees a variety 
of tasks, including collecting information on criminal groups and 
protecting elected officials, had been led by an assistant chief. Mr. Cohen 
will report directly to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.

He has been charged with placing new emphasis on investigating terrorism, 
international crime, drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as 
sharing more information with the C.I.A., the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation and other law enforcement agencies around the country and the 
world.

Commissioner Kelly said that in another break with the past, officers from 
the intelligence division had been assigned to every precinct in the city 
to help with the exchange of information between headquarters and officers.

Mr. Cohen said the Police Department might try to infiltrate terrorist 
cells, the way it sometimes infiltrates drug gangs and the Mafia. If a cell 
"requires penetration, within legal bounds, it will be done," he said.

The former spy was clearly not used to publicity. Asked his age, he allowed 
only that he is between 28 and 70. Asked if he ever worked in the C.I.A.'s 
office in the World Trade Center, he laughed and said, "You're going to 
have to ask C.I.A. where their offices were."

When it was over, he joked about the meeting with reporters: "It's the 
first press conference I've ever been to. It was sort of like my bar mitzvah."
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