Charles Maikish, CEO of Toxin Alerting Building Systems, LLC, testified before the City Council's Commitee on Public Safety, in support of Chairman Peter Vallone's bill for the introduction of NYPD regulation of chemical and radiological sensors citywide:

"My name is Charles J. Maikish. I appreciate the opportunity to testify in support of legislation Intro. 650-B.  I am, by training an engineer and attorney. I am here today because circumstances on the world stage have caused my professional life to be inextricably linked to the attacks on New York.

The matter before the Council is of the utmost  importance: as the first legislative consideration of a coordinated effort to provide the citizens of New York City a means of defense against the  threat of terrorism, it will become the basis for future measures devised to protect this City, and a model for measures taken to protect the other great cities of our Nation.

I began my career in the late 1960’s as a Port Authority engineer assigned to the construction of the World Trade Center.

. In 1990, I became director of the Port Authority’s World Trade Department with responsibilities  including operations, capital investment,  redevelopment of the complex, and recovery of the buildings after the 1993 bombing.

Upon completion of my assignment, I left the Port Authority and the Towers for Columbia University, as the head of the University’s facility operations. From there I went back downtown, taking on the role of executive vice president of Global Real Estate Business Services at JP Morgan Chase
It was while I was at Chase, on September 11th ,,  that my, previous experiences told me  that air quality would immediately be compromised, threatening the lives of the people in the downtown area.  I ordered that all Chase buildings shut down their outside air intake. That simple act protected Chase’s buildings from the destruction that so many other downtown properties faced: collateral damage in the attack on the Towers.

Following the attack, I was called to public service by Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, and asked to serve as the executive director of the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, given responsibility for coordinating some $30 Billion in public and private construction.

In that role, working closely with Law Enforcement and Fire Safety to help develop the security initiatives surrounding the rebuilding of New York City, I learned that Federal Agencies—the Department of Homeland Security, NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health), the CDC (Centers for Disease Control)— believe that the most likely scenario for a next attack is in the form of airborne dispersal of chemical, biological or radiological toxins with the intent to kill Americans and contaminate the infrastructure against further use. Much excellent work and unflagging effort, you know, has been expended to tighten security to the point where the individuals intending harm and the materials that can be used in such a way are deterred and/or intercepted. But we know from subsequent events in New York City, Washington DC and Florida, that toxins have made it through the security cordons, with disastrous effects on life and property, and that public hysteria surrounding those events and the several false alarms connected to them, has had a deleterious effect as well.

As an Engineer, I knew that detection was the key to the ability to use elements of current building technology to create a mitigating effect on attacks, and reduce the loss of life, damage to public and private property. But implementation of a ground up solution at the government level would be a long, prohibitively expensive road, one which we, in recent months, learned will not be sufficiently supported by Federal funding. I and my professional peers across the City recognized that private action was most likely necessary.
Last year after I retired from public service, I committed myself to providing a solution to this engineering problem. I was approached by a team of mechanical engineers seeking my assistance that had hit upon a solution to the problem of detecting airborne Toxic substances one both accurate against false positive classification and supported by a mechanism for the control of the air distribution systems within a building. Their Building Sentry One device, is the first complete system designated by the Department of Homeland Security capable of quickly and reliably detecting toxins then taking immediate action to protect a building, its assets, and the innocent people inside.  

I formed a company called Toxin Alerting Building Systems, LLC in order to enable this solution to be adopted in the protect the privately held buildings of New York, structures in which so many of New York’s citizens live and work.

Now that the City Council sits in consideration of the legislation before it, I give my wholehearted support. We are encouraged by the introduction of Intro 650B as it reflects the Council’s understanding of the importance of deploying instruments designed to detect the presence of certain chemicals, biological agents and radiation in an effective and responsible manner. Fortunately, the legislation recognizes that the City has an interest in the reliability of these instruments and wishes to work with the NYPD to make certain they are deployed in a manner where they do not cause false alarms or unnecessary public anxiety.

Coordination is key: building to building, facility to facility, the sameness of detection protocols, degree of accuracy and methods of communication with first responders become the means of success for protecting all New Yorkers rather than a select few while putting others at risk. At the Federal level, detection algorithms have been developed to ensure the accuracy of sensors in use by Military, Law Enforcement and Regulatory Agencies; alignment with these same protocols mitigates the need to redevelop them at the municipal level, and brings to bear the accumulated knowledge of our national defense apparatus at a local level.

Toxin Alerting Building Systems looks forward to working with the Public Safety Committee and the entire City Council to raise awareness regarding the development and promotion of this important technology.  Currently, we are in discussion with the NYPD regarding the installation of the Building Sentry One System in One Police Plaza as a pilot program.  It is our hope that the NYPD’s participation in the regulation of these instruments by issuance of permits and the promulgation of standards will not be overburdened with regulation."

Coverage of the Hearing:
New York Times | NY Newsday

San Francisco, California – May 29th, 2007– Building Protection Systems Inc. announced today that Toxin Alerting Building Systems, Inc. (TABS) has signed on as the ASP&D for New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware and the United Kingdom.    “Having an established partner in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Great Britain will catapult the Building Sentry One™ into buildings, protecting millions of office workers and physical infrastructure against targeted airborne chemical and radiological attacks or accidental contamination.  We are very pleased. TABS’ expertise in those markets is phenomenal” said Mike Welden of BPSI.  “We saw that the Building Sentry One™ truly solves a market problem and can protect lives and business property in the Financial Capital of the World.  We are looking forward to driving this fantastic solution to market….” said Peter Striano, Chairman of TABS.
Toxin Alerting Building Systems, LLC. is a partnership between Unity International Group and leaders in municipal & building design and corporate infrastructure management. Divisions of Unity International Group provide several decades of experience in system design, installation, maintenance and monitoring: Unity Electric will provide system installation, electrical and network cabling and maintenance services, while a second division, Uni-Data & Communications, Inc. will provide 24 x 7 monitoring of Building Sentry One™ installations from their Network Operations Center, and will capture chemical and radiological information useful to first responders.