All Points Bulletin

The proliferation of public surveillance cameras has gotten lots of ink over the past few years. So has the increased security around logical terrorist targets. If there's one place in the U.S. I would expect to be blanketed by state-of-the-art cameras almost seven years after 9/11, it would be the center of New York City: Times Square. Indeed, take a walk around Times Square (and anywhere else in Manhattan, for that matter) and you'll notice cameras everywhere -- and those are the ones you can see. So if someone drives a van packed with explosives into the center of Manhattan, or saunters down Broadway with a dirty bomb in a backpack, authorities should be able to get at least a license plate number or a face out of it, right?

Check out this still photo of the suspect in today's Times Square bombing. The video from the NYPD news conference is here. Note the sharpness of detail, the expression on his face, right down to the distinguishing scars. Apparently, he seriously underestimated the capabilities of today's technology.

Feel safe yet?