Federal and local New York authorities maintain they are well prepared to handle any security threats that could arise from the Obama administration’s decision to try five 9/11 co-conspirators, including alleged attack mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in a federal court in New York City. A federal law-enforcement official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that the U.S. Marshals Service—which is responsible for courthouse security and transporting federal prisoners—has been working “for months” on security measures for possible trials of accused 9/11 perpetrators, as well as other terrorist suspects who had been held in the military prison facility in Guantánamo, Cuba, and/or in a now shuttered network of secret detention facilities maintained by the CIA. Among security measures the Marshals Service has already undertaken are assessments of the risks the presence of high-level Qaeda prisoners, such as Mohammed, would pose for New York—and what kind of bodyguard squads will be needed to guard trial participants, like judge and jury.

The New York Police Department, which will have a major role in any security operation to protect the federal court and prison complex in lower Manhattan, says it’s standing by for a trial. "It's highly appropriate that those accused in the deaths of nearly 3,000 human beings in New York City be tried here, and the NYPD is prepared for the security required," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told NEWSWEEK in a written statement.

Any trial of Mohammed, and the other four 9/11 defendants designated for a civilian court trial by Attorney General Eric Holder, is expected to take place in one of the two federal courthouses located around Foley Square, a block from City Hall in lower Manhattan. As they await trial, the defendants are expected to be held for months, or even years, in a high-rise, high-security Federal prison known as the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which is adjacent to the courthouse complex. A windowless footbridge connects the prison to the older of the two federal courthouse buildings, where some high-profile terrorism trials—including the trial of 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind (and Mohammed's nephew) Ramzi Yousef—took place. A tunnel connects the prison to the new courthouse so the prisoners will never need to be taken outside. The prison is well accustomed to holding high-risk and high-profile prisoners, ranging from terrorists like Yousef and Qaeda operatives accused of bombing U.S. Embassies in Africa in 1998 to notorious Mafia dons.

A law-enforcement official said it’s still going to be months before any of the prisoners are brought to New York. At the very least, the administration has to give Congress 45 days' notice before bringing the prisoners into the United States.