Oregon ACLU among targets
of Portland police spying
New discoveries emphasize dangers of
political police surveillance
By DAVID FIDANQUE
The recent disclosure by the Portland Tribune that the Portland Police Intelligence Division collected and maintained files on hundreds of political and religious organizations in the 1970s and 1980s is yet further evidence of the need to have strict policies prohibiting political spying by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
But the newly discovered Portland files also prove that having good policies and laws are not enough—there must also be meaningful oversight of police intelligence activities to make sure that police aren’t ignoring the rules.
Much of the material in the files was gathered after a policy prohibiting surveillance of individuals based on political activity was adopted around 1976 by then-Mayor Neil Goldschmidt and Police Chief Bruce Baker. Even more disturbing is that some of the material in the files was gathered after the 1981 passage of an ACLU-sponsored state law (ORS 181.575) that prohibits both the collection and maintenance of files based on political, religious, or associational activities unless there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
We weren’t surprised to learn that one of the files uncovered is on the ACLU. What did surprise us was what we found in this "new" file. That’s because in 1975 we were given a copy of our "complete" Portland police intelligence file—along with a promise that political surveillance was a thing of the past for the Police Bureau.
Nevertheless, the ACLU file obtained by the Tribune contains material collected prior to 1975 that wasn’t included in the "complete" file given to us at that time. It also contains material collected and maintained after 1975—in violation of City policies and state law. According to the Tribune, the same is true of material in the files for hundreds of organizations.
Among the other "dangerous" organizations monitored by the Police Bureau were: Amnesty International, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, the Fallen Angel Choir, the Gray Panthers, Jews for Jesus, the League of Conservation Voters, McKenzie River Gathering Foundation, the NAACP, NOW, the Oregon Farm Worker Support Committee, Peace House (Ashland, OR), Planned Parenthood, the Rape Relief Hotline, Sierra Club, Sisters of the Road Café, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, United Way, and the Women’s Rights Coalition.
Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force
It was against this backdrop that the Portland City Council considered renewal of its joint operating agreement with the FBI’s Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in September. For the past two years, ACLU and other organizations have been warning the Council about the dangers of allowing unsupervised Portland police officers to engage in surveillance without meaningful oversight to ensure that those officers are complying with the Oregon law that prohibits political spying by police.
Portland Mayor Vera Katz and other city officials maintain that they are complying with state law and point to the city’s refusal to participate in Attorney General John Ashcroft’s "dragnet" interrogation of about 200 Middle Eastern and Muslim men believed to be residing in Oregon last year. The federal Justice Department made it clear that the men were not criminal suspects, yet they wanted to ask them questions about their political and religious views and associations.
We very much appreciated Portland’s refusal to participate in the Ashcroft dragnet, but strongly argued that Portland’s direct participation in the FBI Task Force also violates Oregon law, which requires that political surveillance files be purged after it becomes clear that an individual who was under suspicion is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Last spring, the Portland City Attorney’s office confirmed that the JTTF files created by Portland police officer members of the Task Force are not subject to any normal quarterly city review for compliance with state law because those officers create FBI files—not city police files. Under current procedures, other police intelligence files are reviewed quarterly by a city attorney and the director of the City Auditor’s Independent Police Review Division. But the JTTF files created by the same officers are currently off limits to that review because the forms used by the officers are provided and maintained by the FBI.
Portland City Council Abdicates Responsibility
At a public hearing on September 19th, the ACLU—along with representatives from the Japanese American Citizens League, League of Women Voters and many other organizations—called on Portland Mayor Vera Katz and the City Council to end the city’s direct participation in the FBI’s Task Force so there could be meaningful oversight of Portland police officers who are carrying out surveillance related to terrorism.
We argued that oversight is even more important now that Attorney General Ashcroft has adopted new guidelines lifting many restrictions on political and religious surveillance. Those restrictions had been imposed since the late 1970s by a series of U.S. Attorney Generals in response to past abuse by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.
Instead, the Council unanimously voted to renew its JTTF agreement with the FBI without providing for any oversight of the Portland members of the Task Force. Not even Police Chief Mark Kroeker or Mayor Katz are permitted to see the files created by those Portland police officers.
During the hearing, Mayor Katz said she would ask U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, in his capacity as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to review the JTTF’s files for compliance with Oregon law. But Wyden staff member Josh Carden later told the Portland Tribune that federal elected officials are not allowed to see records generated during ongoing anti-terrorism investigations. He said not even members of the Intelligence Committee can review active files.
If Senator Wyden wants to review some files, he might ask the Tribune for a copy of the Portland Police Bureau file on the Gray Panthers—since as a law student in 1974, Wyden co-founded the Oregon chapter of the group and is undoubtedly included in the file.
Lessons of the Past
History has shown very clearly that when law enforcement officials engage in secret surveillance of people and organizations based on their political, religious and social views, violations of the constitutional rights of free association, free speech and religious freedom inevitably follow.
Eighty years ago the targets were foreign "subversives" and labor organizers. Fifty years ago, the targets were government employees, entertainers, writers and academics suspected of being Communist "sympathizers." In the 60s and 70s, the targets were anti-war protestors and civil rights activists. Today, the targets are Muslims and Middle Eastern men and radical environmentalists.
The methods of surveillance are now more intrusive and the technology is more sophisticated. The only way to ensure that the abuses of the past will not continue is to adopt strict policies and ensure meaningful oversight of the police officers and agents doing the surveillance.
We believe that Oregon law already gives that mandate to state and local officials. Unfortunately, Mayor Katz and the Portland City Council have abdicated that responsibility. We will continue our work to highlight this issue in every way we can in the coming months.