Posted on 03/30/2005 9:07:08 PM PST by Danae
Chief wants city in FBI force
Portland's police chief urged the mayor last month to stay in the anti-terror effort; that may hinge on a City Council vote tonight
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 ANNA GRIFFIN
Portland Police Chief Derrick Foxworth wants his bosses on the City Council to stay in a controversial anti-terrorism task force.
In a memo sent to Mayor Tom Potter last month and made public by the mayor's office Tuesday, Foxworth warned Potter that pulling out of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force would make it extremely difficult for city police to prevent terrorism and respond to an attack in Oregon.
The chief said he and the mayor already receive enough information to ensure that two Portland police officers assigned to the task force follow Oregon law. The task force includes 15 local, state and federal jurisdictions.
"Our membership in Portland's Joint Terrorism Task Force is our best opportunity to detect and prevent the next terror attack," the memo states. "Non-participation in the task force could have serious consequences."
Portland City Council members are scheduled to vote tonight to demand that the mayor, the city attorney and Foxworth receive the same clearance as Portland officers serving on the task force. If the federal government refuses, the City Council is poised to make Portland the first community in the country to quit the anti-terrorism effort.
Right now, the mayor and police chief are eligible for secret clearance, and the two police officers assigned to the task force have top-secret clearance.
Robert Jordan, the FBI's special agent in charge in Oregon, has offered to recommend a top-secret clearance for Foxworth, but Jordan says he can't do the same for Potter and City Attorney Linda Meng. Potter and Jordan aren't negotiating directly, and they haven't spoken in weeks. Dan Nielsen, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Portland office, said the FBI has "tried to reach out to the mayor on any number of levels" without success.
"We would love to sit down and talk with him," Nielsen said. "The last we heard, the mayor doesn't want to sit down and talk in his office. He wants to be able to talk in a public forum, i.e., the City Council meeting."
Commissioner Randy Leonard, co-author of the resolution the council will consider tonight, says that's not true. Leonard said that Jordan, who drew criticism earlier this year for telling The Associated Press that there were people who had trained in jihadist camps in Oregon, has made a tense situation worse with some of his public statements.
"It's outrageous to suggest that the mayor isn't willing to talk," Leonard said. "But that's the approach they've taken throughout this. They've used language that is inflammatory, not conciliatory. They've approached this like, 'We're the federal government; we'll tell you what to do.' "
Behind the scenes, people are willing to negotiate. U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut met with Potter last week and has contacted other City Council members in an attempt to craft a compromise. U.S. Sens. Gordon Smith, a Republican, and Ron Wyden, a Democrat, also have offered to help mediate.
"It's very good that the U.S. attorney is involved," Leonard said. "I am still absolutely convinced we can sit down and find a workable agreement."
Foxworth has kept a low-profile in the task force debate, as befitting a man who must answer to the mayor but must work with the FBI. He said Tuesday that he'll go along with whatever the City Council decides. But he'd prefer they stay in the task force, which dates to 1997.
In his memo to Potter, Foxworth warned that terrorism is a real threat in Portland. He worried that Portland might miss out on federal grants if it abandons the task force. The memo was a response to the mayor's request for more information about the Police Bureau's work with the task force.
"We have a population of extremists who engage in criminal behavior in our community," Foxworth and his staff wrote. "Non-support of the JTTF would cause long-term damage to our reputation and credibility within the law enforcement community. This will likely weaken our relationships with remaining law-enforcement partners and break down lines of communication."
There are major, if seemingly subtle, differences between secret and top-secret clearance. People with secret clearance know who is being investigated, with some broad information about what that prompted the inquiry -- they may be told, for example, that a tip came from a confidential source in the Middle East. People with top-secret clearance know who is being investigated and receive specific details about the initial source -- they would know, say, the original tipster's name, location and job.
Potter says that without the same level of access to information as his officers, he can't ensure that the Portland Police are following Oregon law. State statutes bar police from investigating people because of their political or religious beliefs.
But Foxworth says secret clearance for the police chief and the mayor is enough.
"We sit down with those officers on a regular basis and go over each and every case," he said. "They are well-trained, and they are well aware of the law and the limitations. It has occurred where the officers have said, 'We can't be involved in this.' . . . The officers themselves did that, not their sergeant or lieutenant."
Immergut and Jordan both say Portland's officers rarely come into contact with top-secret information.
Larry Mefford, who retired in late 2003 as the FBI's executive assistant director for counterterrorism and counterintelligence, says mayors -- even one with as much criminal-justice experience as Potter, a former Portland police chief -- don't need top-secret clearance to keep track of what their officers are doing.
"He's a politician," said Mefford, who lives in Las Vegas. "Politicians come under totally different pressures than a chief of police."
Reporters Les Zaitz and Noelle Crombie of The Oregonian contributed to this story. The Portland City Council will hear from the public and consider the city's involvement in the Joint Terrorism Task Force at 6 p.m. today in City Hall, 1221 S.W. Fourth Avenue. Anna Griffin: 503-294-5988; annagriffin@news.oregonian.com
Potter is literally blowing off the FBI to get the FBI OUT of Portland Oregon. He is making a demand that the FBI has already said it WILL NOT DO! Thereby making Portland the most Terrorist friendly state in the Nation. In doing so, he is endangering the lives of every Oregonian, not to mention US citizens. In my opinion, we now have our first bonafide Terrorist in Public office. Oh let's not forget he likes to ride with Critical Mass and has admitted to blowing through Stop signs while on the ride. Nice. Welcome to the Peoples Republic of Portland, staging zone for Terrorists of all types, all over the USA.
BTTT
Hell, if Hillary, Teddy, Leahey, et al. can be on the Senate Intelligence Committee, we might as well include al Qaida, as well as this bunch in Oregan.
I hate to root for an attack on the US, but if it should ever happen, I hope it happens here in Portland, Oregon because this place deserves it more than any other in the US.
Ignorant Liberals never cease to amaze me. When the terrorists decide to attack again, you can be fairly confident that they will pick a city that is predoninantly Liberal. A. They're easy targets B. They will likely take longer to respond C. When they do respond, it will be in a totally PC manner.
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