LAPD OFFICIAL HALTED AT LAX TERRORISM CZAR HAD GUN IN BAG.

Byline: Jason Kandel and Rick Orlov Staff Writers

Headed to the East Coast on Thursday with his family, the Los Angeles Police Department's homeland security czar, John Miller, got caught by airport screeners with his loaded .38-caliber handgun in his computer bag - a case of forgetfulness, he told authorities.

Miller was briefly detained at Los Angeles International Airport by federal screeners at Terminal 1, then allowed to continue to New York City for a retirement party for Barbara Walters, his former colleague on ABC-TV's ``20-20.''

``I'm confident that he did not try to smuggle a weapon on the plane, that he and his family did not plan to hijack a plane and fly off to Cuba or something,'' Chief William Bratton quipped at an evening news conference.

``I talked to John when he was on the plane, and he was incredibly embarrassed for himself, for his family and for the department. Apparently, he was moving things around from one case to another when he was packing and he forgot the gun was there.''

Bratton said the department-issued gun would be given back to Miller when he returned to Los Angeles. The chief also said Miller, who is not a sworn police officer but was given a concealed-weapon permit by Bratton, will not be disciplined, although he faces a fine of up to $3,000 from the Transportation Security Administration.

Larry Fetters, the head of the TSA office for Los Angeles World Airports, said he will recommend that Miller be issued a warning letter and not be fined.

Bratton, who headed the New York Police Department when he originally hired Miller, recruited him to work as the anti-terrorism czar in Los Angeles after Bratton came here.

Miller has said he was trained to use a gun by the New York Police Department, that he has held a permit to carry one since the 1980s and that he has passed all the tests to carry one in California. He has said he shoots at a firing range on his own time.

Bratton appointed Miller in January 2003 to head the Critical Incident Management Bureau overseeing nearly 200 personnel working in major crimes, in emergency services, on the bomb squad and in the intelligence sections.

Bratton said he appointed Miller as homeland security chief because of his extensive knowledge about terrorism. As a journalist, Miller has traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon for interviews in those countries about terrorism. He also met with Osama bin Laden and reported on al-Qaida long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Because Miller is not a trained police officer, his role has generated criticism within the LAPD, specifically about issuing him equipment normally given only to sworn officers. He is among fewer than 100 people who are not peace officers with concealed-weapons permits in Los Angeles - and he is the only one with a gun issued by the LAPD.

``I feel comfortable that he's justified in carrying the weapon,'' Bratton said. ``He works long hours, often alone, in dangerous parts of the city.''

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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