In a tightly wound city of soaring bridges, mysterious tunnels and towers that reach into the clouds, how do you make sure that terrorists won't strike again?

I would focus on little things - like making sure folks can't wander onto the grounds of Kennedy Airport without permission.

I would focus on big things - like seeing that Washington gives New York at least as much anti-terrorism money per capita as Wyoming gets.

I would focus on challenges - like getting Washington's intelligence spooks to share what they know with others who may need to know it.

But then, my name isn't John Ashcroft, and I don't run the U.S. Justice Department.

Ashcroft is a strange one.

The attorney general never seems happier than when he's using dubious, heavy-handed methods in defense of classic American freedoms. And at the same time, as the dreary fight against terrorism drags on, he always seems ready to send his troops to the places where we need them least.

This week, for example, The New York Times reported that the FBI has dispatched counterterrorism squads to seek out and chat up a list of known anti-war protesters. Agents are also contacting friends and relatives of these official malcontents. How this exercise will make New York City safer as the Republican National Convention opens here at the end of this month is not immediately clear.

The feds portray the drill as just a friendly house call - a counseling session, really - from your old buddies in Washington. But the subtext is clear: Washington has taken pains to let a premium list of hard-core anti-war, anti-Bush types know that it has cast suspicious eyes upon them. So forget the smooth words. This is a warning.

But - niceties aside - is this message necessary?

Give me a break. These are excruciating times, no doubt about it. But opposition to the war in Iraq does not mean you're squishy on terrorism. Neither does a march through the streets of Manhattan to vent your notions - however half-baked or astute - about President George W. Bush and his war of choice. Several hundred years of American history say this could even be construed as a patriotic act.

So does common sense. Someone needs to speak truth to power. And yes, it helps to have the cameras rolling in a public venue while you are doing your talking.

For their part, the leaders of the biggest anti-war protest while the Republicans meet in the city - a bunch called United for Peace and Justice - say they haven't met up yet with the Ashcroft visitation team. Still, grouses group spokesman Bill Dobbs: "The right to protest in this country is being hammered."

He's right. The New York Police Department likes to keep protesters - as well as the press - in metal pens. At the Democratic convention in Boston, the cops essentially kept demonstrators in cages.

No one denies the need for tight security in these times. No one wants a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. No one wants a replay of the more recent mayhem that broke out at meetings on world trade.

But there's a big difference between ensuring an orderly march and ringing marchers' doorbells in the magic name of counterterrorism. For all their sparring over a march route and other details, I think the NYPD and United for Peace and Justice want the same thing at the end of the day - a safe production.

But what about Ashcroft? Why are his counterterrorism guys fishing in these waters? I don't think al-Qaida will have a major presence among the expected 250,000 protesters as the extravaganza unfolds.

There are quick answers to this: They're doing it because they don't want to see Bush embarrassed. They're doing it because they hate unrest of any variety. They're doing it because they're jittery about security in general. They're doing it because they can. I don't know the right answer.

I just know that Ashcroft needs to back off now and let America be America.

Joseph Dolman in New York Newsday