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- THE ARGUS
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Put city back on terrorism task force
by The Editorial Board
Sunday November 16, 2008, 2:16 PM
Portlanders style themselves as stalwart, even iconoclastic, defenders of civil liberties. Nearly four years ago, thus, the City Council made a "go-it-alone" decision against the federal government -- to wild acclaim.
On a 4-1 vote, Portland became the first city in the nation to withdraw from the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. At the urging of Mayor Tom Potter, the city yanked two police officers out of the federal-state-local investigative loop.
As a former police chief, Potter made a particularly compelling case for withdrawal, citing the potential for trespasses against civil liberties.Only Commissioner Dan Saltzman couldn't see it Potter's way. On April 28, 2005, he cast a lone, and lonely, vote against withdrawing.
Saltzman, an engineer, and frequent foe of bureaucratic ineptitude, saw the issue in practical terms. The task force includes the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Internal Revenue Service, Coast Guard, Secret Service, Federal Protective Service, Transportation Security Administration, Oregon State Police and Port of Portland. Of course, it ought to include the biggest dog of all -- the Portland Police Bureau.
"Having various law enforcement agencies working together, in the same location, produces better results," Saltzman wrote. To withdraw was, in effect, to cross wires, invite delays, ensure snafus -- and tempt fate. Or, to alter the wisdom of "Cool Hand Luke" slightly: "What we have here is a deliberate failure to communicate."
If that made little sense in 2005, it makes even less today. An FBI spokesman said Friday that there are 106 Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country, and, to his knowledge, only Portland keeps its police officers out of the loop.
True, the Bush administration through its flagrant abuses gave everyone reason for pause. But very soon we'll have a new president, Barack Obama, a new attorney general and, we hope, a new climate of respect for civil liberties.
Although it will be a new world, the threats from the old one aren't going away. Ensuring the safety of our new president should give Portlanders another reason to strengthen all possible lines of communication.
"Our failure to be in the Joint Terrorism Task Force here puts other Americans at risk, not just in Portland, Oregon," Saltzman told the mostly hostile crowd at City Hall four years ago. "We are a country. And to make this city sound like we are a federal government in and of ourselves is the wrong line of logic."
As of January, Portland will have a new mayor, Sam Adams, and a new police commissioner, Dan Saltzman. All in all, it seems like the perfect moment to revisit the issue.
Proudly, the new mayor and police commissioner should lead the charge to reconnect the dots, remembering what Saltzman said in 2005. Portland is not just a city, alone unto itself. We are a country.
for a partial list of crimes committed by FBI agents over 1500 pages long see
http://www.campusactivism.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=29
to view breaking story linking FBI agents to creation of Oklahoma City bombing google these words together
nichols potts trentadue
It's disgraceful that Portland withdrew from the JTTF. We're in danger of attack by outfits like Al Qaeda, and Portland thinks it's "progressive" virtue is more important than getting its hands dirty to defend itself.
That idiot Mayor Tom ( the terrorist lover) Potter is the one who come up with this bright idea. What an idiot.
saltman will get tossed out of the city council next election cycle if he pushes this idea.
gathering info on political activists, portland's forte and bedrock of actual democracy, is illegal, when no crime has been committed.
the FBI's treatment of Brandon Mayfield is but one example of abuse. there are many others.
the feds have plenty of tools in their box to use without being given carte blanche to spy on peaceniks, earth lovers, nude bicyclists, grannies against war, and on and on....
saltzman should cover his own personal resevoir of political capital before further diluting it with peepee ideas his constituents won't swallow.
saltman will get tossed out of the city council next election cycle if he pushes this idea.
gathering info on political activists, portland's forte and bedrock of actual democracy, is illegal, when no crime has been committed.
the FBI's treatment of Brandon Mayfield is but one example of abuse. there are many others.
the feds have plenty of tools in their box to use without being given carte blanche to spy on peaceniks, earth lovers, nude bicyclists, grannies against war, and on and on....
saltzman should cover his own personal resevoir of political capital before further diluting it with peepee ideas his constituents won't swallow.
Actually, I'm not sure if we are a country or a free-for-all until we get the issue of illegal immigration straight. A nation functions by the rule of law, not by what is expedient or what maximizes profits for businesses. Personally, I'm reserving judgment until I see if we are going to tell millions of law-breaking illegal immigrants that obeying our legal system is optional for them, but mandatory for the rest of us.
Sadly, our current inability to trust political leader's intentions inclines me towards letting some time pass under O's administration to see how much resistance he encounters. Our example on the FBI's JTTF remains politically viable and can be used as political leverage as might be needed. No sense in giving it away needlessly.
how naive to state that when obama takes office we will live "in a new world" and a "new climate of respect for civil liberties."
the world will be the same with windowdressing.
namely, obama voted for FISA telecom immunity: warrantless wiretapping of americans by companies who knew it was illegal.
and since when are "liberties" not "rights;" the right to privacy and security in our well-being?
does the editorial staff think the "ozone levels" of "civil frivolities" will enhance our deliberations and demonstrable results? yes, throwing a couple of lawyers into the executive branch is something, after the two greatest lawshredders in modern history: chainbushey.
but still: who is left to physically intervene on the behalf of Portland citizens, if Portland Police are set against their own brothers, mothers, and friends.
there is logic to leaving them out of spying, crossing sundry moral lines in investigative fervor, on literal neighbors.
this is the same fearmongering "join the mob mentality" america has rejected, overwhelmingy.
code-scare is null, void, and soooooooo yesterday.
Commissioner Randy Leonard’s op-ed piece in today’s Oregonian is an important reminder of the dangerous anti-democratic conditions that the FBI demands of the City in order to participate in the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Kudos to Commissioner Leonard, Mayor Potter, and Mayor-elect Adams for continuing to demand, as a condition of Portland’s participation in the JTTF, that civilian authority and oversight of our law enforcement officers is imperative. Until such oversight is guaranteed, through appropriate security clearance for Portland’s Police Commissioner, withholding the City’s participation is crucial.
Civilian oversight of police, intelligence, and military functions is the people’s firm defense against escalating abuses of power. Throughout history, when those agencies cease to be accountable to civilian authority--in this case meaning, we, the people--our rights as citizens cease to exist.
portland's leaders and news media should be aware of the current case in which Maryland state police labeled non-violent peace activists, environmeltal groups, and those opposed to abortion: read about it in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803487.html
"The individuals are listed under headings for "terrorism" with such labels as "anti-war protestors," "threats," "environmental extremists" and "anarchists," although there is no explanation why any of the groups or individuals would be considered terror threats or extremist groups. "
Files were also compiled on two Catholic nuns from Baltimore and a former Democratic candidate for Congress, Barry Kissin. Kissin, his wife and two colleagues have marched peacefully through downtown Frederick since the anthrax attacks in 2001 to argue that the government's planned expansion of biodefense research poses a health threat.
"Ten days before Medea Benjamin was scheduled to speak at the 20th Annual Peace, Justice and Environmental Conference in Frederick in April 2005, state police created a database entry for her. Benjamin, co-founder of the antiwar group Code Pink and the fair-trade group Global Exchange, was described as a San Francisco activist who gives speeches on "her brand of in your face civil disobedience."
it is certainly happening in hotbeds like portland; just don't involve the PP in the debacle and legal morass.
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