I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it's going to be recorded and it goes to the government. I think the public can understand that.

I think, as a nation, we didn't learn our lessons from the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. We should have been more careful in a whole host of areas.

In New York City we have the biggest police force in the country. We have 35,000 uniformed officers. We're able to mass officers in significant numbers if we had to.

The NYPD has too urgent a mission and too few officers for us to waste time and resources on broad, unfocused surveillance. We have a responsibility to protect New Yorkers from violent crime or another terrorist attack - and we uphold the law in doing so.

You have multiple intelligence agencies. They all ultimately report to the director of national intelligence but, you know, it never comes in neat packages. So you have to make judgments on what you have, and it's not easy to do.

A broad base of knowledge is critically important to our ability to investigate terrorism.

A small number of people and groups control the Democratic primary.

All terrorism is theater.

As a city, we have to face the reality that New York's minority communities experience a disproportionate share of violent crime.

Consensus building doesn't necessarily fit with my experience.

David Cohen is without a doubt one of the best - if not the best - public servant I've ever encountered.

For some, the very act of intelligence gathering seems illegitimate when applied to the crime of terrorism.

I don't stretch enough. I know I should do it more, and I'd like to do yoga, but I just don't have time.

I don't think I have the demeanor to be a politician. I'm used to making decisions and to a certain extent being in charge.

I don't watch cop movies much. I TiVo shows. I watch every Larry David show.

I like music, a lot of different types of music.

I like Sicilian food. It's real peasant food.

I think one of the biggest scams in law enforcement is the monitor.

I'm a nice guy, but people want to kill me.

If terrorists aren't limited by borders and boundaries, we can't be, either.