The new chief of security at the 16-acre World Trade Center is a veteran of the Secret Service who was responsible for internal White House safety.
The Port Authority hired Long Island native Doug Farber to run the system that will soon protect the nation’s top terror target.
“It’s not without its challenges for sure,” Farber, 38, said in an interview, just months before 1 WTC is slated to open.
“It’s going to take a community to protect this complex,” he said.
Farber, who started early this month, will be paid $180,000 per year to run a military-grade security system that will protect tens of thousands of workers — as well as the streets and train lines that run alongside WTC.
“It’s impossible to eliminate threat altogether,” said Farber, who has guarded and chauffeured a host of world leaders and members of three First Families. “But it’s about managing threat.”
Farber was based in New York on 9/11 coordinating Secret Service arrangements for the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly that was only days away.
When terrorists struck, he raced downtown to help.
Now, more than 11 years later, he still keeps a piece of the Twin Towers – where the Secret Service had its field office – on a plaque close to his desk. It’s a reminder of what happens when things go wrong in his business of security, intelligence and secret counter-measures.
Farber replaced Lou Barani, who was fired last June because of questions about his dealings with WTC security vendors.
But the Port Authority security chief whose legend looms largest at Ground Zero is the late John O’Neill, the onetime FBI counter-intel boss who was killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Farber also inherits a particularly delicate spot at the intersection of turf battles among the NYPD, the Port Authority, City Hall, the governors of both New York and New Jersey and the federal government.
“The real nightmare is the ongoing thing about who is in charge,” said Jan Gilhooly, a former top official with the Secret Service and now a member of the New York-New Jersey Waterfront Commission.
“Doug is going to need the wisdom of Solomon. That’s why a lot people said ‘I don’t want this job. I don’t want to be in the middle of this.’ But Doug is the perfect fit. He’s learned how to navigate and get along with everybody.”