[pjw] REPORT BACK: Terrorism Task Force report at City Council

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello PJW and PCW supporters

Mayor Wheeler moved the Joint Terrorism Task Force Report to the end of
the City Council agenda yesterday, and a technical glitch delayed the
meeting in the middle for about 25 minutes; it was finally heard at
11:10 AM and lasted for 1/2 hour. Before I get to the narrative, a key
takeaway of great concern is that during the vote to accept the report,
Commissioner Mapps said the words we were afraid we'd hear, let's
revisit the decision sometime this year and get back into the JTTF.

The meeting began with a short intro from Chief Lovell, then a
presentation by Sgt. Mark Friedman, who took over as head of the
Criminal Intelligence Unit last year when Sgt. Pete Simpson retired from
PPB to go work for the District Attorney's office (uh oh!). Since the
report is so threadbare, it did not take him long to actually read most
of the details into the record; sometimes the police try to skip through
the report. I noted in the earlier email on the report that the PPB sent
three cases to the FBI and the FBI sent 10 to the PPB, but only three
are detailed in the report because the other seven are still open.

Then public testimony began and all five people who spoke were from the
ongoing campaign to get Portland out of the Task Force. It started with
Jude al-Ghazal Stone of the ACLU, who gave the history of Portland's
on-again, off-again entanglement with the FBI's Task Force from the late
1990s until the present. This also included the important state law (ORS
181A.250) which the ACLU helped create that protects Oregonians from
being improperly spied upon by local law enforcement-- but can't control
the feds. Jude also told a personal story about his grandmother who's a
model citizen, a librarian, who has been questioned many times since
9/11 because of her Arab heritage. He also noted that when the City
first withdrew from the Task Force in 2005, it was under the leadership
of Mayor Tom Potter, a former police chief who could not get security
clearance to oversee his own officers who were working with the FBI.

Then Marleen Wallingford of the Japanese American Citizens League
reminded Council of the FBI's history of tracking members of her
community in the 1930s and 1940s, leading to mass arrests after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor even though no Japanese American person ever
committed any acts of sabotage. They were rounded up due to their race.
Marleen also talked about how there is no way to tell from the report
why these cases were referred from the FBI to the police or vice-versa.

Next Brandon Mayfield testified, weaving in his own story of being
improperly spied upon and arrested by the FBI in 2004, the FBI sting
against Somali teenager Mohamed Mohamud which led to the City
re-entering the Task Force in 2011, and the recent revelation that there
are 1.5 million people on the "no-fly list." As with all the testimony,
Brandon urged the Council to either get out of the JTTF altogether or
improve the reports.

Then I spoke on behalf of Peace and Justice Works and Portland Copwatch.
I recounted the history of us finding the JTTF on the "consent agenda"
in 2000, the years 2011-2015 when the City had rejoined and the reports
had even _less_ information in them, and questioned how many of the six
cases in the new report even met the limited criteria of the Council
Resolution to spur a "terrorism" investigation. I closed saying this:
"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance-- and that does not just
include protection against people who would attack people living in the
United States, it also means we must be sure our government is not
violating its own principles in order to do so." Seeing I had a few
seconds left, I also added that Jewish Voice for Peace had sent their
own testimony to Council.

Last up was Debbie Aiona of the League of Women Voters. Our testimony
was in part designed to introduce new Commissioner Rene Gonzalez to the
history and issues around the JTTF, and Debbie noted "you may wonder why
the League of Women Voters has an interest in the Joint Terrorism Task
Force." She explained that one of their basic principles is public
participation, noting that people who engage in political activity might
be dissuaded from doing so if they know the FBI and Portland Police are
conducting surveillance on them. She closed by asking that the reports
include how many officers spend how many hours working on the JTTF.

Council then gave their feedback as they voted to accept the report (on
a unanimous 5-0 vote).

Commissioner Rubio reminded Council that she worked for Mayor Potter
when the city pulled out in 2005, and thanked the community members who
spoke for continuing to raise questions about the relationship. However,
she also indicated that with the rise of right wing hate groups she
feels that working with the FBI is a more nuanced issue. (I would say
that it doesn't make a difference that they may actually be doing some
helpful work for society, they still have lower standards to open an
investigation than local police.)

Commissioner Dan Ryan also thanked the community for raising the
concerns we did, noting that he was pulled over a lot for scrutiny in
airports after 9/11. He chalked that up to his protests against the Iraq
war. He closed by saying the City needs to "be at the table" so that law
enforcement can "keep us safe."

Commissioner Gonazlez said nothing at all except to vote "aye." Perhaps
that is a good thing since he was supported by the Portland Police
Association and maybe he's taking the time to learn more before weighing
in.

Then Commissioner Mapps spoke. He also, by the way, was supported by the
PPA. He called out a few particular cases from the report, saying he was
disturbed by someone manufacturing illegal gun parts. That case was
turned over to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms-- which is
probably where it should have gone in the first place. He
mischaracterized a case in which a person threatened other community
members by contacting the media, saying the media themselves were the
targets. He led up to his announcement that he wants to revisit
rejoining the JTTF by implying that the current situation is creating
barriers for the Portland Police-- for which there was zero testimony,
even from the cops.

Finally, Mayor Wheeler noted he was one of two who lost the 2019 vote.
It was unclear from his talk about the current set-up being a
"compromise" if he wants to keep the status quo or get back in. He
praised the transparency of the report, voted aye, and closed the
hearing at 11:40 AM.

We will discuss at the campaign follow-up meeting what our next steps
are. It's likely we'll continue on the same path we've been on, which is
to try to push for better reporting while hoping, somehow, that the City
will sever their ties with the historically racist, anti-labor,
anti-progressive activism in general Federal Bureau of Investigation.

thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works/portland copwatch

(sorry for duplication with the PCW list)