ABU DHABI // One of New York City's finest will be walking a new beat this autumn in the halls of the UAE's Critical National Infrastructure Authority. The liaison officer from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) will be embedded full-time at the CNIA headquarters in the capital as early as October, according to The New York Sun newspaper, as part of a co-operation agreement on anti-terrorism training and intelligence sharing, signed last week between the NYPD and the CNIA.
The arrangement is one element in the NYPD's post-September 11 strategy of expanding its overseas investigation and intelligence-gathering capabilities. Since the attacks, New York law enforcement officials have redeployed about 1,000 counter-terrorism officers to domestic and foreign locations. According to The Associated Press, the Abu Dhabi posting will be the 11th international assignment, following similar deployments in London, Madrid, Paris, Lyon, Singapore, Montreal, Toronto, Santo Domingo, Tel Aviv and Amman.
The CNIA, which was formed in May 2007, is charged with co-ordinating protection of vital UAE infrastructure, such as oil and natural gas installations, transportation facilities and water desalination plants. The posting underscores the perception among American security officials that the UAE is a target for terrorists. The New York Sun noted comments by Raymond Kelly, commissioner of the NYPD, that UAE law enforcement officials needed additional security training "given how much of a target [Abu Dhabi] is".
"The United Arab Emirates is becoming a crossroads of the Middle East and Asia, and we think it's important for us to have a presence there," the Sun quoted Mr Kelly as saying. "Clearly, Abu Dhabi is a central location. There's so much construction going on there," the commissioner added. The article went on to quote the US State Department's website for the Emirates, which advises Americans to "exercise a high level of security awareness" while travelling here.
But Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of political science at UAE University in Al Ain and an expert in international security, said the deal between the NYPD and the CNIA should be seen as nothing more than a routine meeting of minds meant to prevent future threats in both the UAE and the US. "I think the UAE is a safe country and has been all the way through," said Mr Abdulla. "I think that our guys have handled the security issue pretty well so far.
"They have done it that way because on many levels they have used the best technology available, but they have also sought co-operation from their allies. This co-operation falls in that domain." But one pitfall of such bilateral co-operation agreements, said Mr Abdulla, was that any strengthening of ties between the Emirates and the US could provoke attacks from violent radicals, despite the UAE's record of political neutrality.
"I think terrorists all over the place know that the UAE and the GCC states have close co-operation with the United States and with Britain and France. This is not a secret any more," he said. "There is plenty of information around and there is a high level and high degree of co-operation that goes on between Washington and Abu Dhabi and all the other capitals in the Gulf. "However, in these things, wisdom dictates that you need to be careful. You don't need to float it in front of people, you don't need to speak about it, you don't need to go public with it. The United States, they have enemies all over the place."
@email:mbradley@thenational.ae
