January 09, 2005
Portland's Joint Terrorism Task Force Decision Makes FOX News
Unsurprisingly, Report Mangles Facts
At last, the moment we've been waiting for -- City Council's forthcoming decision on renewing Portland's participation in the Joint Terrorism Task Force has been noticed by FOX News.
Of course, it manages to make at least two incorrect statements in the first two paragraphs alone. First, it refers to "a post-Sept. 11 joint terrorism task force" -- when in fact (and as documented by the FBI itself) the local JTTF "was in place for several years before" the events of September 11, 2001.
But wait, there's more, because the very next paragraph goes on to make an assertion about Commissioner Randy Leonard's position which does not reflect the statements he's made on the issue.
Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard says the FBI has used local officers to trample on the rights of Muslim citizens.
To our knowledge, Leonard has never charged that this has happened, only that it could have happened, or might happen, especially since JTTFs elsewhere in the country have been caught interfering with the rights of people living in the regions in which they are based.
In the broadcast version of this story (which should be available as a video link from the linked article), the matter of requesting security clearance of a level sufficient enough to permit proper civilian oversight of local officers is mentioned. According to the report as broadcast, there's no chance of that happening.
If that's true, it does have implications for the vote, because the only criteria expressed thus far by Commissioner Sam Adams which would result in him voting to reauthorize participation in the JTTF is obtaining that clearance.
As for the other Council members, Commissioner Erik Sten repeatedly has raised concerns about the JTTF and may be voting against renewal, while Commissioner Dan Saltzman supports renewal and is quoted in the FOX News report as saying that his colleagues are "not looking at the big picture".
Mayor Tom Potter's position is an open question, as some news reports have indicated that he's of an open mind on the matter, while others have suggested that if he's given clearance, he would support renewal. Whether he means by that the "secret" clearance granted to former Mayor Vera Katz, or the "top secret" clearance necessary to actually know what local officers are doing, we're not sure.
There's still no official word on just when Council will take up the matter, although the FOX News report indicates that it's "several weeks" away.
Comments (3)
allehseya on 09 Jan 2005
Of course, it manages to make at least two incorrect statements in the first two paragraphs alone. First, it refers to "a post-Sept. 11 joint terrorism task force" -- when in fact (and as documented by the FBI itself) the local JTTF "was in place for several years before" the events of September 11, 2001.
I doubt that this was an ‘innocent’ mistake by the Fox network / reporter.
Randy Leonard on 09 Jan 2005
"To our knowledge, Leonard has never charged that this has happened, only that it could have happened, or might happen..."
You are exactly right. I have never said and I never told the reporter that. During our interview, he was clearly irritated with me because of my position and, as I anticipated, his story is not "fair and impartial".
In fact, I said that by definition there is no way to know what our officers do because the Chief and Mayor do not have the clearance to find out.
I also told him that not being a part of the JTTF will not mean our officers could not be involved in FBI investigations. However, the FBI would need to receive authorization from the Mayor to use our officers based on a specific request that would not include our officers being shielded from effective oversight by the Mayor and Police Chief.
Eric Berg on 09 Jan 2005
KGW made the same mistake in a story I saw on on Northwest Cable News yesterday, from where FOX may have picked it up.