Mamdani Vows to Eliminate Key NYPD Anti-Terror Unit Despite Ongoing Threats

Less than a week after his election as mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani is already putting public safety at risk by renewing his vow to dismantle the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG) a key tactical unit that operates in direct coordination with the department’s Counterterrorism Bureau (CTB).

That’s right: as threats loom both domestically and abroad, New York’s new Marxist-Islamist mayor wants to shut down one of the city’s most critical tools in the fight against terrorism.

“As Mayor, I will disband the SRG,” Mamdani declared last year on X, claiming the group had "brutalized" protesters and cost the city in lawsuit settlements.

It’s a chilling signal from a politician who once called to “globalize the intifada” and has openly sympathized with radical movements abroad. Now he wants to cripple the very unit tasked with responding when not if the next terror threat hits America’s most iconic city.

The SRG was formed in 2015 as a mobile, heavily armed tactical response force designed to assist with everything from mass casualty threats and terrorist attacks to protests that could spiral into chaos. It works closely with the Counterterrorism Bureau, which was created in the aftermath of 9/11 to detect, analyze, and neutralize threats before they materialize.

Together, CTB and SRG form a critical two-pronged approach to urban terrorism:

• The CTB handles threat intelligence, works with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), and monitors potential attack vectors.

• The SRG delivers manpower on the ground, providing secure perimeters, rapid evacuations, and tactical containment.

SRG officers are trained in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) scenarios, receive regular counterterrorism briefings, and are part of the first-line defense against everything from lone-wolf attacks to coordinated terror plots.

In short: when the alarm sounds, these are the officers who respond.

Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, no stranger to law enforcement himself, minced no words in his response:

“When you start dismantling the pieces of the law enforcement apparatus that is specifically designed to carry out functions that is extremely dangerous.”

He’s right. Mamdani is not just naive he’s reckless.

This isn’t some academic debate about reallocating resources. This is about dismantling infrastructure built after nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered in New York City.

Does Mamdani think that risk no longer exists?

Because the rest of us remember:

• The 2023 subway plot that was intercepted thanks to coordination between the NYPD and federal authorities.

• The 2022 attempted Times Square attack, where rapid SRG response helped contain the area and prevent mass panic.

• And of course, 9/11 which remains the single deadliest terror attack on American soil and a permanent reminder of what happens when we let our guard down.

Let’s not pretend this is just about budget priorities. Mamdani isn’t proposing reforms or enhanced oversight. He wants the unit gone completely. And in doing so, he’s signaling to radicals and bad actors everywhere that New York City is wide open.

At a time when anti-Semitic incidents are surging, global unrest is spilling into American streets, and lone-wolf actors are more dangerous than ever, Mamdani is choosing ideology over security.

And it’s not just conservatives who are sounding the alarm. Within the NYPD and even among some moderate Democrats, concern is rising that the city is now being led by someone who views law enforcement as the enemy, rather than a critical protector of life and liberty.

The SRG isn’t perfect no unit is. But it exists for a reason. And if Mamdani follows through on this reckless promise, he’ll be remembered not as a reformer, but as the man who dismantled New York’s last line of defense in the name of political purity.

The blood will be on his hands if tragedy follows.

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