I don't see how it could necessarily be a failure of either the Federal Government or the NYC Police. If the terrorists are very secretive, then no one would know what their plans were. Since the police and government can't wily-nily tap phones, do "stop and searches", bug your homes, etc., then they can't be blamed for not knowing everything. Our constitution is a wonderful thing. It's also wonderful for the terrorists. And even if the police could stop 99 out of 100 terrorists, it still wouldn't be enough. All I can say now is thank G-d no one was hurt today in Times Square. But eventually we won't be so lucky. It's very sad how vulnerable we all are these days.