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The plan to put five terrorists on trial in Manhattan (and possibly to put other terrorists on trial in neighboring Brooklyn) has raised profound questions.

How can a civilian trial protect classified information? Will the judge dismiss the charges if the defense claims the defendants were tortured? Why should murderers be tried so close to the place where thousands of their victims died? Is there any chance of finding disinterested jurors in a city that suffered so much from radical jihadists?

Recall what happened when Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and his associates were tried in New York City for attempting to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993. The government was required to disclose the identity of all of its unindicted co-conspirators in the case, a list that included Osama bin Laden and many of his followers. Bin Laden and others knew immediately that they had to be on the lookout.

But there is another question that deserves an answer: Why should New York City and law enforcement agencies there bear the burden of a trial foisted on them by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder?

The trial will take place in lower Manhattan. To protect the courthouse, the New York Police Department will establish a rigid inner circle bounded by Worth, Madison, Pearl and Centre streets. Vehicles entering the perimeter will be thoroughly screened and searched.

This secure perimeter will encompass several city blocks. Inside it will be a federal courthouse, the city's police headquarters, a New York State Supreme Court building, other governmental buildings and St. Andrews Roman Catholic Church. Also inside the cordon will be Chatham Towers, two 25-story residential buildings with hundreds of residents and a public parking garage.

This means that everyone who wants to get to the city's police headquarters, a court building or their homes in Chatham Towers will face road blocks, car searches, radiation monitors and pedestrian checks.The NYPD estimates that a significant number of officers will be on duty around the clock inside the secure area. Outside the secure area will be a larger zone, bordered by Canal, Broadway, Park Row/Frankfort Street and St. James Place, which will have an enhanced uniformed police presence. On a larger scale, additional officers will be deployed throughout the city based on the latest intelligence data.

All of this will cost an estimated $216 million if the trial lasts one year. If the five defendants are found guilty, there will probably be an appeal that will be heard in a courthouse inside the secure area, which would require more months of stepped up security. And these figures do not count what the U.S. marshals, the FBI and other agencies will spend on activities related to the trial.

The city can't afford to pay the expense this trial will impose on it. Because of cutbacks, the NYPD has lost in recent years over 6,000 officers and does not have the resources to protect the area unless Washington pays the bills. City officials have asked the federal government to do just that, but so far they have not received an answer.

That is, perhaps, predictable. Before the Justice Department decided to hold this trial in New York City, there was no consultation with city officials. One senior police officer told me, "it will be terribly disruptive to the neighboring community."

There is an alternative: Try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four companions before a military commission located on a secure army base. A law authorizing this is already on the books. And the defendants, if convicted, would have the right to appeal the commission's verdict.

When asked why he does not do this, Mr. Holder has said that these terrorists should be tried in the place where they committed their crimes. And when asked what would happen if there is a hung jury, he said that "failure is not an option." But, of course, it is an option; that is why we have civilian trials.

Instead of addressing these issues, there are hints that Washington may wish to try more jihadists in the federal district court located across the East River from Manhattan in Brooklyn. And there are rumors that there may also be a terrorist trial in Washington, D.C.

No one knows when the trial in New York will start. When it does, don't plan on visiting lower Manhattan.

James Q. Wilson is a member of AEI's Council of Academic Advisers.

Photo credit: Flickr use Eva Abreu/Creative Commons