charliehalesphototheoregonian.jpg
Mayor Charlie Hales, who serves as police commissioner, applied for "Secret'' clearance last year so he could obtain information about Portland police involvement in the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, but Hales was denied, his spokesman said. Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, an assistant chief, a police lieutenant and two officers have obtained "Secret'' clearance from to participate in the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force on an as-needed basis, according to a police bureau report.
(The Oregonian)
Portland police officers have worked with members of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force on at least one case of suspected domestic terrorism in the past year.
Officers in the Police Bureau's criminal intelligence unit passed on tips to investigators assigned to the task force. No Portland officer has worked outside of the city on a task force investigation.
That's about as much new information offered in Police Chief Mike Reese's 2014 annual report on his officers' involvement in the federal task force. He'll present it to the City Council at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
What isn't in the report is that Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, who serves as police commissioner, had applied last year to the FBI for "Secret'' clearance to ensure he can assess information as necessary to supervise Portland officers, but his application was denied, according to spokesman Dana Haynes. Haynes said he did not know why.
Practically pulling language verbatim from his report last year that was heavily criticized for its lack of details, the chief wrote: "I have committed a very limited amount of Bureau resources to JTTF work, so disclosure of the number of cases or hours worked may compromise ongoing investigations and reveal the operational tempo of our work on terrorism.''
A 2011 agreement between the City Council and federal officials allowed for "as needed'' involvement by Portland police officers in the task force. The City Council vote reversed a 2005 decision that made Portland the first city in the country to pull out of the task force.
As reported a year ago, the chief said the Police Bureau tapped two criminal intelligence officers to be assigned to the federal task force, if needed. They report to the lieutenant of the Police Bureau's Criminal Intelligence Unit and the assistant chief who oversees the investigations branch.
Reese, the assistant chief of investigations, the lieutenant of the Criminal Intelligence Unit and all officers assigned to the unit have been granted Secret clearance by the FBI. One member is in the final step of obtaining his clearance.
Secret clearance is a step down from Top Secret Secure clearance, which would allow Portland officers unescorted access to FBI offices or access to informants. The FBI informed the Portland police that they would not need to access FBI offices unescorted or informant source information.
"The SAC and I decided that the Secret level clearance for any officers whom I identified as eligible to work with the JTTF would be sufficient, based on Portland's current participation in the JTTF,'' Reese wrote.
Though the mayor was denied the Secret clearance, he met with the FBI's special agent in charge twice last year.
Hales has not reapplied for the clearance and is waiting to meet the new special agent in charge, who starts at the end of this month, Haynes said.
According to the report, Dave Woboril, senior deputy city attorney, has reported to the chief that the Police Bureau is in full compliance with Oregon law and the city's resolution regarding its involvement with the federal task force. Officers have only worked on investigations of suspected terrorism "that had a criminal nexus.''
Domestic terrorism is defined, according to the report, as activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of criminal law, appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence a government policy through intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping and occur primarily within the United States.
--Maxine Bernstein