Al Qaeda will now have a former CBS News correspondent to contend with in New York City. Soon after Bill Bratton was sworn in to become the city’s police commissioner, Bratton tapped CBS News Correspondent John Miller to head up the NYPD’s counterterrorism efforts, the New York Daily News reports.
Miller is replacing David Cohen, who retired as deputy commissioner of intelligence. The differences in both men’s backgrounds are vast.
The Daily News points out that Cohen has 40 years of intelligence experience, which included 12 years with the NYPD. His counterterrorism efforts helped thwart 16 terror plots in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks.
Miller began his career at WNEW in 1973, and by 1986 interviewed mob boss John Gotti. Between 1994 and 1995, Miller was Bratton’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information when Bratton first served as NYPD commissioner. Miller went back to the media in 1998 and interviewed Osama bin Laden.
Although Rep. Peter King (R – NY) was satisfied with Bratton’s selection of Miller, other counterterrorism officials weren’t so sure, explaining there were others who were more qualified.
“John is very qualified,” King told the Daily News. “I know Dave Cohen did a great job, but John is qualified. Certainly in Los Angeles, he was involved in setting up their first counterterrorism operation.”
He and Bratton worked with one another again in 2003 when Bratton went to head up the Los Angeles Police Department. In the LAPD, he became the chief for the city’s Counterterrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau. He later left the LAPD in 2005 to work at the FBI as Assistant Director of Public Affairs. By 2011, he was a correspondent for CBS News.
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