Freedom Or Fear

An open letter from an Iraq War Veteran to the People of Portland, Oregon

My friends,

 In the near future, the Portland City Council will make a decision as to whether or not the city should again join the Joint-Terrorism Task Force. This decision could adversely affect the civil liberties of the People of Portland, and may lead to the unlawful surveillance of law-abiding Portlanders in violation of Oregon law and the Bill of Rights. In 2005, Portland withdrew from the JTTF at the behest of its citizens, who had no authority over the shadowy institution that federalizes Portland Police officers and removes their obligation to State law and replaces it with the Department of Justice’s Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations, which were released 3 year prior to the Portland withdrawal.

Under these Federal guidelines, the government can spy on domestic groups with no evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever. Once such an investigation is underway, the line between surveillance and espionage is easily blurred as our civil liberties become negotiable in the name of national security. Even if such investigations turn up no evidence, they often continue for extensive periods of time. Joint-Terrorism Task Forces across the country have been caught on multiple occasions conducting intelligence campaigns against political activists, peace activist, and war protesters. Many Americans remember the story of Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Kilner, the JTTF officer who infiltrated the group Peace Fresno under the pseudonym Aaron Stokes. For many months Kilner attended regular meetings with the group, eating snacks and drinking punch with legitimate peace activists, while actually intending to collect intelligence for anti-terrorism reports on behalf of the FBI. He was revealed as an agent when he was killed in a car crash and his picture was run in the obituary, identifying him as an officer by the last name Kilner. The FBI also used the JTTF to quell political activists and war protesters prior to the National Republican and Democratic Conventions in 2004.

This is not to say that only under Federal authority can the speech and privacy rights of Portlanders be eviscerated, as the Portland Police Bureau has its own colorful history of spying on local organizations. Between 1965 and 1985 targets of PPB surveillance efforts included, but were not limited to, Rape Relief Hotline, Sisters of the Road, American Indian Movement, Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Northwest Veterans For Peace, Women’s Rights Coalition, and Oregon Peaceworks, among many others. On July 26, 1992 Portland civil activist group Peace and Justice Works (formerly Portland Peaceworks) sponsored a meeting at Colonel Summer Park. In attendance were several representatives from almost two dozen lawful organizations, exercising their 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble, discussing common concerns and working towards a peaceful solution. They expressed a desire to change American nuclear arms policy and advocated for a Civilian Review Board for the Portland Police Bureau. Materials were shared, including leaflets of anti-war materials and various other flyers, as well as a pamphlet that made arguments in favor of more civilian control over the PPB. Several years after that meeting was held, an intelligence report from within the Portland Police Bureau surfaced and revealed that at least one Portland officer, identified as L.D. Siewart, had attended the meeting on assignment. In other words, the officer was doing their job by surveilling the activists. The report, dated four days after the meeting and classified as "confidential", is irrefutable evidence that the Portland Police Bureau has engaged in intelligence operations against peaceful, law-abiding Americans.

Whether it is by a horrible coincidence or a calculated strategy, the blatant incongruence between organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, Mahdi Army, Taliban, and al-Qaeda versus domestic social institutions like Peaceworks is obvious and should not be dismissed as a necessary evil, as such discrepancies are incompatible with the founding principles of the American Republic. Such indiscriminate transgressions quickly become dangerous, which is why laws are passed to protect us from such indiscriminate transgressions. In Oregon, we are lucky to have ORS 181.575, a law that explicitly prevents law enforcement from spying on individuals or groups based on religious, social, or political grounds without reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing. The law, which came from a 1974 declaration by PPB regarding their collection of intelligence files on various law-abiding social and political activists/groups, only came to fruition after several years of legal battles, finally being adopted by the Oregon Legislature in 1981.

Considering that the FBI, JTTF, and PPB have been found to conduct operations outside the parameters of the Rule of Law, often targeting little more than average Americans voicing opposition to government policy, and that these agencies have conducted such operations completely independently of each other, it is not unreasonable to assume that a reaffirmation of alliance between the City of Portland and the Joint-Terrorism Task Force would present a monumental setback to the general liberties that citizens of the Rose City enjoy today. The rebellious nature of the Portland populace against the status quo is one of the cities hallmarks, earning the city an admirable reputation for taking to the streets in times of injustice and indignation. That reputation could be chilled indefinitely should the FBI and the City again join forces and secretly plot the subversion of our civil liberties, for the simple fact that people may not demonstrate for fear of winding up on a list somewhere in the depths of a JTTF filing cabinet. Yet despite the dirty track records and unauditable proceedings, there is one painfully glaring contradiction:

Joining the JTTF will not make Portland any safer.

It was the November 26, 2010 Pioneer Square Bomb Plot that brought this possible policy change to the public eye in recent weeks. In that case, 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud is accused of plotting a terrorist attack under the supervision of the FBI. Nothing prevented the FBI from successfully coordinating with the City of Portland in that instance, not even the absence of the JTTF. If we compare that incident with one that occurred several days later, about 2,354 miles away in Baltimore, Maryland we see a shockingly similar event with one major difference. Antonio Martinez a.k.a. Muhammad Hassain, a 21-year-old who recently converted to Islam, is alleged to have carried out the attempted bombing of a military recruiting station on December 8, 2010 while also working with the FBI. This is most astounding, as Baltimore is a participant in the JTTF. In fact, more State agencies actively participate in JTTF operations in Baltimore than Oregon agencies had ever done in Portland.

It is evident that the absence or presence of a JTTF has no mitigating influence over possibility of a terrorist attack.

It is in the interest of the People of Portland that the City Council should reject the reimplementation the FBI’s Joint-Terrorism Task Force, particularly due to the institutions’ checkered past. Portlanders deserve better than the JTTF, and Portlanders deserve a better City Counsel than one that would ever condone the violation of their Constitutional Rights, regardless of any external threat. Your voice is essential in preventing the City Council from permitting the JTTF to again conduct operations against innocent activists in the Rose City. I implore you to take action and publicly denounce the JTTF and their illegal spying activities, and to recognize that the JTTF serves no purpose in the infrastructure of Portland, nor are they welcome to operate in our fine city.

The City Council members are elected officials, which means, YOU are the boss. YOU have the authority to tell them what to do, but if you choose not to flex that authority, decisions will be made for you. Do not allow your Rights to be compromised in the name of security, for such is never an equal exchange. The illusion of security comes only at the expense of real liberty. As citizens of Portland, we have an obligation to ensure the healthy functioning of our social order, but this cannot be accomplished without due respect for the Rule of Law.

In Liberty,

Wray John Harris Jr.
Combat veteran, Portland Citizen

Mayor Sam Adams:
Commissioner of Finance and Administration
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Room 340
Portland, OR 97204
503) 823-4120
Samadams@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Amanda Fritz:
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Room 220
Portland OR 97204
(503) 823-3008
Amanda@portlandoregon.gov

Commissioner Dan Saltzman:
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Room 230
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 823-4151
F: (503) 823-3036

Commissioner Nick Fish:
1221 SW 4th Avenue, Room 240
Portland OR 97204
(503) 823-3589
F: (503) 823-3596
nick@portlandoregon.gov

Commissioner Randy Leonard:
1221 SW 4th Ave, Rm. 210
Portland, Oregon 97204
(503) 823-4682
randy@portlandoregon.gov