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First Annual Joint Terrorism Task Force
Report to Council Provides Some Answers...
After Community Action

After Portland withdrew its two part-time officers from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in 2019, a Council Resolution required annual public Reports to provide transparency on how the agencies were working together on a case-by-case basis. In anticipation of the first Report's release, Portland Copwatch and seven other organizations released a "People's Report" about the JTTF on January 15 outlining issues which were publicly known, to outline for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) items they should not overlook. The PPB did not release their Report until January 24, and while it did not include everything which was in the People's Report, it was more substantive than Reports which came out between 2012 and 2015 when Portland first re-joined the JTTF (PPRs #56, 59&62). However, several community groups involved in the campaign around the JTTF felt there were too many unanswered questions. Knowing Mayor Wheeler has a blanket policy not to allow public testimony on Reports (even though City Code allows him to), the groups held a mock City Council hearing on January 28, setting up an empty table and chairs outside City Hall representing the absent Council members. The action received media attention and led to some of the questions raised being answered at the Council hearing the next day.

The People's Report noted, among other things, that the Bureau's 2018 report on JTTF activities, which was released during the February 2019 debate on withdrawing, revealed Portland officers worked on 29 "assessments." These are low level reviews the FBI is able to do based on speculation, rather than reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct as required in Oregon's anti- spying statute. It listed one full investigation involving a person who was "espousing increasingly violent ideology" and physically abusing family members. However, in the PPB's Annual Report about its general activities, they say the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU), which includes the officers who work with the JTTF, "conducted 64 assessments and investigations on threats of violence, including one investigation with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, resulting in a federal indictment for Transmitting Threatening Communications with Intent to Extort." This was no doubt the case of Kermit Paulson, a paraplegic man who made a clearly unachievable threat to toss explosives at Mayor Ted Wheeler's home (PPR #77).

Furthermore, the People's Report noted the Portland Police's explicit promise to inform the South West Oregon Joint Task Force when Portland activists would be heading south to protest against the Jordan Cove Liquid Natural Gas project (PPR #78).

At the mock Council hearing, members of Portland JACL, 350 PDX, Peace and Justice Works/Portland Copwatch, League of Women Voters, Portland Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace-Portland and Portland's Resistance "testified" about these concerns and the shortcomings of the Bureau's Annual JTTF Report, which had been released four days earlier. PCW raised questions about why the PPB was asked by the FBI to investigate a man "making threats against the British royal family," or where a person felt uncomfortable because a man in a bar was espousing white supremacist ideology. While that may be repugnant, it is not terrorism nor is it illegal. Written testimonies were delivered to Council offices and the Council Clerk. The conference was covered by the Oregonian, KPTV-12, KATU-2, and community media activists who posted the content online.

The League of Women Voters wrote a letter about the JTTF with quotes from former FBI agent/current Brennan Center fellow Michael German which ran in the Oregonian the day of the Council hearing.

At City Council the next day, the PPB noted they included information about cases they referred to the FBI, though not required by the Resolution. However, as a result, the information on those cases is vague, with generalities like "threats to public officials." Perhaps Council will strengthen the Resolution before next year so those cases can be more fleshed out. Sgt. Pete Simpson of the CIU also attempted to explain the issue of the PPB offering information to the Coos Bay task force, inserting the words "with the intent of committing criminal acts" into the promise to let them know if Portlanders were going to protest there. The Guardian article which reported PPB Officer Andrew Hearst's words did not mention criminal activity. If Hearst did mention such activity, it could technically make the spying legal under Oregon law. Simpson also addressed a concern raised about Immigration and Customs Enforcement being part of the JTTF. The City could be violating its own sanctuary policy (not to mention state law) by cooperating with ICE. The Sergeant asserted that because the immigration group in the JTTF is Homeland Security Investigations, which is not the enforcement division of ICE, there is no problem.

Because the details of the cases the FBI sent to the Portland Police included the required demographic information, Commissioner Chloe Eudaly commented on the fact that the bulk majority of the people being investigated by the FBI were white, reflecting the true face of American terror. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who led the Council's effort to withdraw (and to ensure the Annual Reports) wanted to be sure the Bureau does not use language in the future like the clause stating there are no laws "that would preclude [the Portland Police] from legally working with the JTTF in any capacity," which sows confusion about the limits of Oregon law and the City's policy.

Afterward, a Copwatch member asked Sgt. Simpson why he didn't address a key question-- whether the PPB was violating state law by conducting "assessments" with no allegations of criminal conduct. Simpson said if a person feels threatened and the PPB can identify and call the suspect, they might prevent escalation to action. PCW compared this scenario to calls police keep receiving from people "feeling threatened" by houseless folks in their neighborhoods. The FBI cases take such discomfort and escalate it into suspected terrorism. Simpson said the Bureau has a bright line between political views and threats. This discussion would have been better held at the Council hearing, if only the Commissioners had over-ridden the Mayor's decision to shut out public voices. Due to the untimely demise of Commissioner Nick Fish in early January, there are now only three other members of Council, and it takes four to over-ride the Mayor on this procedural issue.

Watch the mock Council hearing: youtube.com/watch?v=sdMAnRght_A.
Read the People's JTTF report: pjw.info/pjttf_peoples_report0120.html.
Read the Bureau's 2019 JTTF Report: portlandoregon.gov/police/article/752679.

May, 2020
Also in PPR #80

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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