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assessments that arose after the catastrophic 9/11attacks in that city. Over the intervening decade,the New York Police Department (NYPD) hasgone on to create what has been described asthe most powerful and technologically advancedcounter-terrorism bureau that anyone has everseen. First providing the rationale of what wasdone, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly stated,as far back as in February 2003, “We couldn’trely on the federal government alone. I believedthat we had to create our own counter-terrorismcapacity, indeed our own counter-terrorismdivision.” 1,2 Within the first years after the 9/11attacks, this Division was set up with a colossalcapacity for human and technical intelligencegathering, and exceptional technical capabilities,extending to the detection of extremely low levelsof nuclear radiation and threat. Emphasising thecore of human intelligence gathering, the Divisionincludes personnel who speak 60 languages anddialects, and, crucially, posts its own officersacross the world.It is not the intention, here, to suggest that everyState and city in India must immediately rushoff to try to create comparable capacities. Oursolutions do not lie in imitating systems that haveresource capabilities that we cannot even imaginefor ourselves — though we may draw lessonseven from these. The point is, our capacities, ourcapabilities and our responses — including thedistribution of tasks within the system — mustbe dictated by the contours of the challengeand by the potential of the executive agencies,not by some prior distribution of immutablejurisdictions. The approach must be pragmatic,problem solving, not bureaucratic.None of this is, of course, intended to suggest thatthe Central Agencies are irrelevant or marginal tothe effort of intelligence gathering, or to nationalsecurity. Indeed, there is no either-or propositionhere. Both Centre and States have to developtheir capacities and capabilities to their maximumpotential. Each has certain natural advantages.I have had, through my career, extraordinaryepisodes of close and productive coordination,for instance, with the lB. During Operation BlackThunder, I was in daily contact with the NehchalSandhu, now the DIB, among others, and therewas an exemplary sharing of purpose andintelligence. Nevertheless, despite continuousinputs from the IB, the State intelligenceapparatus remained crucial for a completepicture of events. I must confess, moreover, thatthe extraordinary cooperation with the lB duringthe Black Thunder episode is not something thathappens often. The relationship between Stateand Central agencies tends to be mixed. Theyoften operate independently of each other, andat least occasionally, at cross purposes, thoughexamples of successful collaboration are also notdifficult to locate.It is important to recognize, moreover, that bothState and Central agencies begin to harp on thequestion of mandate only when they are unwillingor incompetent to do what is necessary, or whensomething goes abysmally wrong. Otherwise,there are perfectly healthy signs of coordinationand cooperation, with joint operations betweenState and Central agencies, as well as betweenthe agencies of different States, executed withsurprising frequency and success. Indeed, it iswhen an acute lack of capacity, or of will, exists,that operations hobble and questions of turf beginto rankle.This is, increasingly, aggravated by a proclivity,everywhere, towards the eager abdication ofresponsibility, though the craving for power andpelf remains intense. There is a strong trend in thepopular discourse regarding the purported roleof ‘the public’ in countering terrorism and crime,greater ‘public-private’ partnerships, and eventhe flogging off or off-loading of a range of Policefunctions to the private sector. This is not a subjectthat needs detain us here, though it is importantto emphasise, in passing, that an overwhelmingproportion of such proposals are misconceived,misdirected and counter-productive, and militateagainst the most fundamental and inalienableduty of the State to provide security and justiceto every citizen, irrespective of station or othergrounds of identity. While it is right for the Policeto expect cooperation from citizens, the idea1. “Fighting Terrorism in New York City,” 60 Minutes, September 25, 2011http://www.cbsnews.comf2lOO-18560 162-2011 1059.html2. Craig Horowitz, “The NYPD’s War On Terror”, New York, February 3, 2003, http://nymag.comlnymetro/news/features/n 8286/.The Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue 89