Why is the Intrepid really leaving port? When Governor Pataki and city officials announced that the World War II aircraft carrier would go “on leave” for eighteen months, news reports talked about its getting a paint job. Actually, the $31 million is coming from homeland-security funds to create a state-of-the-art “secure space” for emergency-management operations. Intrepid museum president Bill White says law-enforcement agencies thought that a refashioned pier could prove handy “in case of another attack” (the FBI took over the Intrepid for five weeks after 9/11). Once finished, the pier will boast “decorative cement work.” As for rumors that the Intrepid’s old radar equipment has been spinning, looking suspiciously in-use (the Chinese consulate is right down the street), White insists that the radar rotates “for effect only.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Geoffrey Gray
• Table of Contents: Jul 24, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!