The US President said the security services are “more integrated, more collaborative, and more effective than ever before

President Barack Obama praised the work of New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in thwarting terrorist attacks.

In a visit to the multi-agency headquarters in New York City Obama said: ‘The strong intelligence you gathered and the hard-nosed investigations you pursued, has proved to be a model for law enforcement officials across the country.’

The president also commended FBI Director Robert Mueller, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, and FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Joseph Demarest.

He said their anti-terror team “is more integrated, more collaborative, and more effective than ever before”.

Many of the task force members were the first emergency personnel to respond to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. And since then they have been hard at work to guard against future attacks.

“We are making real progress in our core missions—disrupting and dismantling and ultimately defeating Al-Qaeda and its extremist allies,” added President Obama.

There are currently more than 100 FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in the US today, which combine local, state, and federal resources to combat terrorism