Miller: Securing Thanksgiving Day Parade 'Isn't Something We Thought Of Last Weekend'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- John Miller, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said securing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade "isn't something we thought of last weekend."
Miller was responding Monday on "CBS This Morning" to a report in an ISIS magazine that called the annual parade an "excellent target."
The magazine included pictures of the parade and described in graphic detail how to kill the most people by using a large load-bearing truck.
Miller said for the last several years, the NYPD has had "blocker cars" at every intersection on the parade route.
"You take the route and you make it, basically, sterile to outside traffic," he said. "In this case, you know, kind of reviewing it, based on that article, we have ordered up 81 sand trucks, which, you can ram a New York City sanitation department sand truck with a lot of things, but you're not going to move it."
The magazine also suggests other more general targets, such as pedestrian-congested streets, outdoor markets and political rallies.
Last week, CBS News reported that law enforcement across the country has been warned of a possible attack ahead of Thanksgiving and the upcoming inauguration.
The alert specifically warned of homegrown terrorists and cited shopping malls, special events and other crowded venues as possible targets, CBS News reported.
Miller said he thinks law enforcement is reacting to what he called a "churning in the terrorist world."
"ISIL came out with their magazine calling on people to do what they could with what was in front of them. The same weekend, al-Qaeda came up with its magazine with its kind of review of the Chelsea bombing that occurred here in New York City in September and a section on how to do one of those better," Miller said. "So I think what the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security is reacting to is there is a churning in the terrorist world, asking people to act on their own."
Last year, the parade festivities came just two weeks after the terror attacks in Paris killed 130 people. The NYPD had an enormous security presence to ensure a safe day for all, including 2,500 officers assigned to the parade.
