NY City Councilman Says Feds Should Provide NYPD Counterterrorism Oversight

When the Associated Press' story on the CIA-assisted NYPD surveillance program targetingthe city's Muslim enclaves first broke in August, City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.dismissed concerns about oversight out of hand, telling WNYC that "We have done extensive oversight of the NYPD’s terror activities and that oversight includes confidential briefings by the commissioner to myself... So they left all of that out of the article.” Since then, the AP has done several pieces following up on its original reporting—prompting some harsh questioning of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in a recent city council meeting and a lawsuit from the New York Civil Liberties Union. Now Vallone is saying that the City Council actually can't oversee the NYPD.