It’s law enforcement’s “busy season” for thwarting terrorism as the city prepares for the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD’s anti-terrorism chief said Sunday.
The NYPD also is providing security for other high-profile September events — notably the U.S. Open Tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows as well as the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, said John Miller, the NYPD’s chief of intelligence and counter-terrorism.
“This is our busy season,” Miller said on the John Catisimatidis/AM 970 radio show.
Miller said the NYPD must be vigilant because New York City remains “the No. 1 terrorist target in the world.”
Some things have changed since Sept. 11, 2001, Miller said.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — ISIS — has supplanted Al Qaeda — as the top terrorist threat, Miller said.
“Al Qaeda is struggling for relevance,” said Miller, stressing that Al Qaeda hasn’t been able to stage a major terrorist attack since 9/11.
Miller also discussed the NYPD’s controversial spying on Muslim groups to root out suspected Jihadists under former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
“We had to find a better way to do the same work,” Miller said about the recently abandoned police unit.
Miller said the department is now working cooperatively and “out in the open” with Islamic groups to target potential terrorists . He said that taking a secretive approach to this type of police work only creates resentment and suspicion within the community.
But Miller also went out of his way to praise Kelly. Miller’s boss, current Police Commissioner William Bratton, has taken some swipes at Kelly, over stop and frisk and morale in the NYPD.
But Miller credited Kelly with keeping the city safe, particularly by preventing another terrorist attack in the city during his 12 years as police commissioner.
Miller said that he and Bratton, “stand on the shoulders of the anti-terrorism” infrastructure put in place Kelly during the Bloomberg Administration.