MILLER
MAKING FAMILIAR LEAP
This April
18, 2012, file photo, released by CBS shows John Miller on the set of "CBS
This Morning," in New York. CBS News correspondent Miller has bounced
between journalism and law enforcement for many years. Now he's jumping back to
work for incoming New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton. CBS
confirmed Miller's exit on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013. Miller worked under Bratton
when the incoming commissioner led the New York and Los Angeles police
departments in the past.
CBS, HEATHER WINES, FILE — AP Photo
TAGS:
NYPD, NYPD COMMISSIONER BILL BRATTON, LAPD, JOHN MILLER
JOURNALIST
& CLOSE FRIEND OF BRATTON BACK TO NYPD, TRANSITION FROM KELLY
TO
BRATTON, VULNERABILITY DURING TRANSITION, NYPD INTELLIGENCE DIVISION,
NYPD COUNTER TERRORISM UNIT, IMPORTANCE OF
CONTINUITY OF COMMAND,
Al
QAEDA, 9-11-2001, SECURING OUR CITY
(Friday December 27, 2013, UES,
NYC) John Miller announced yesterday
that he will be resigning from his job with CBS News to take a position as yet
to be named, on Bill Bratton’s staff. There have been some rumors floated that
Miller will have a position with the NYPD Counter Terrorism Unit although no
one in a position to know is willing to confirm or deny these reports. This is not the first time the former beat
reporter for WNBC and ABC has left a position in journalism to follow his
friend Bill Bratton.
Miller became somewhat famous while
working for the WNBC local newscast in New York City. In the 1980’s he became easily recognizable
to New Yorker’s due to his extensive coverage and oddly cordial on-air
relationship with former Mafia Don, John Gotti.
During each of Gotti’s trials Miller enjoyed almost exclusive access to
the “Teflon Don”, a moniker that Miller helped to promote. There were many who credited Miller’s nonstop
obsession with Gotti for helping Gotti, himself, a convicted killer, to become
a household name throughout the New York City Metropolitan Area. Miller used his access to Gotti to help the
mobster to wear the persona of a local hero in some parts of the City, particularly
in Little Italy and Brooklyn. During
those years however, many in the NYPD Organized Crime Task Force began viewing
Miller as a shill for one of the most notoriously violent, ruthless,
coldblooded Dons of La Cosa Nostra in the long and storied annals of Italian
organized crime in NYC.
Miller enjoyed his notoriety
and was often found late at night in some of the swankiest watering holes and restaurants
of the Upper East Side. When Mayor Rudy
Giuliani appointed Bill Bratton as his Police Commissioner, Bratton tapped
Miller to fill the post of NYPD Public Information Officer which was quickly re-designated
as Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.
Bratton and Miller had become fast friends when Bratton was the Chief of
the NYPD Transit Division a few years before becoming Commissioner for the
first time. Both men enjoyed the fine
wining and dining they saw as the well-deserved “perks” of their jobs in One
Police Plaza. In those days it was not uncommon to see Miller belligerently
intoxicated, rude and boisterous waving around his Deputy Commissioner’s “Gold
Shield” which is a grievous insult to members of NYPD and embarrassing for all
to see. As it turned out, Mayor
Giuliani came to feel overshadowed by his Commissioner and asked for Bratton’s
resignation. Miller returned to his
career as a journalist and his most famous coup was a sit down face to face
interview (Link below) in 1998 with a
lanky, soft spoken bearded Saudi millionaire living in caves and Bedouin-type
tents in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan.
In that interview Osama bin Laden announced to the world his evil
intentions but no one in our government took him seriously. In a few short
years we would all bear witness to bin Laden’s commitment and handiwork.
JOINED AT THE HIP
While Bratton was making a
very substantial living in the private sector as a consultant, Miller once
again returned to TV journalism. In 2002 the newly elected Mayor of Los
Angeles, James Hahn appointed Bratton as the Chief of Police of the perpetually
troubled LAPD. Bratton named Miller as LAPD's chief of counterterrorism and
criminal intelligence despite the fact that Miller was woefully unqualified for
that position. Bratton’s tenure consisted of two five year terms that were viewed
positively as his methods and tactics, the same he implemented under Giuliani
in New York, did in fact reduce crime and reform much of the LAPD. There is little known about Miller’s
performance in Los Angeles aside from the fact that his ego and abrasive manner
often found him alienated from the rank and file of LAPD and some members of
the local press corps.
When Bratton was denied the
opportunity for a third term as LAPD Chief he once again found himself in a
lucrative position working as a security consultant and keynote speaker on the
circuit. The former Boston street cop
was travelling the world over and apparently enjoying the rewards of his years
of public service. After Bratton’s departure from LA, Miller was appointed as Associate
Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analytic Transformation and
Technology. Prior to that, he was an
Assistant Director of Public Affairs for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), where he was the bureau's national spokesman. Once again there is little
known about his on the job performance in these postings but many former
employees felt he got his high ranking positions via “personal and professional
connections” and that “good people were passed over” to fill those jobs.
Once Bill de Blasio won the
Mayoralty here last month it was just a matter of weeks before de Blasio named
Bratton as the new Commissioner of the NYPD.
For many long time high ranking NYPD veterans, members of the “Upper
Brass” and other observers, it was believed the appointment of Bratton was inevitability
and would allow Miller to ride Bratton’s coattails back into a position of
prominence in NYPD. For the better part
of the last 20 years, for the most part, where ever Bratton has gone Miller has
followed.
As was reported here and
elsewhere on December 19 two of Ray Kelly’s top staffers, Deputy Commissioner
for Counterterrorism Richard Daddario, and Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence
David Cohen were resigning effect immediately after Bill de Blasio is sworn in
to Office. The contributions these two
men made to our City cannot be measured or quantified; they created the most
effective and efficient municipal urban Intelligence Division and Counter
Terrorism Units in the country if not the world. Their absence will leave gapping voids in two
of the most important Commands in NYPD in our post 9 – 11 world. The notion that John Miller may be named as a
replacement for one of these men is, as a Counter Terrorism Detective
commented, “Absolutely ludicrous and, if it happens, it will be a huge, very
large blunder on Bratton’s part. I mean,
these Units did not even exist as they are now when Bratton was here in
1996. He has some very big shoes to fill
and needs to fill all the vacancies that resignations and retirement are
causing”.
The real issue at hand is not
Bratton’s qualifications to lead NYPD but rather if he will have the same
priorities that Kelly honored. Certainly
he will be quickly at odds with Mayor de Blasio given the fact that much of de
Blasio’s campaign rhetoric and “promises” to the “minority” communities are
diametrically opposite of Bratton’s philosophy, strategy and tactics he has
employed in the past. It is doubtful
Bratton will morph into a “kinder, gentler” Commissioner just because de Blasio
has repeatedly stated his intention to reform NYPD and broaden the scope of the
Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), revamp the “Stop, Question and Frisk”
policy that has engendered so much animosity towards NYPD from factions of the
African American and Latino population and otherwise make changes that will no
doubt, if enacted, drastically alter the operations of NYPD as a whole and some
of the most specialized Divisions and Units specifically. Our city can ill afford a prolonged
transitionary period from the Kelly era to the new Bratton regime. Only time will tell if de Blasio made the
proper choice with Bratton and if Bratton’s friend and ally, John Miller, is
really up to the task. Hopefully we’ll
not learn the hard way.
(YouTube video of John Miller’s 1998
interview with Osama bin Laden link below)
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Brooding Cynyx 2013 © All Rights Reserved
