With downtown Vancouver being roughly nine miles from downtown Portland, and with 70,000 Clark County residents working in Multnomah County, and with thousands more locals frequently crossing the Columbia River for recreation or entertainment … what happens there matters to us.
So it is disconcerting that the Portland City Council has decided to withdraw from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Council members voted 3-2 last week to end an agreement that provides local law enforcement with access to information about potential terrorist activity compiled by federal agencies. According to OregonLive.com: “The group’s most high-profile case during Portland’s membership involved the 2002 arrests of the Portland Seven, a group of locals who attempted to join an al-Qaida cell.”
To be clear, the decision will not suddenly turn the metro area into a terrorist playground. Local law enforcement on both sides of the Columbia will continue with due diligence, as will federal agencies led by the FBI.
But in voting against the withdrawal, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler effectively articulated the issue: “I cannot support a policy that appears to value politics and ideology over the safety of Portland. If working alongside our intelligence and law enforcement partners is no longer the plan, what is the plan?”
Portland’s agreement with the Joint Terrorism Task Force allowed for the city to add additional oversight or address issues of misconduct by agents. Given that option, the choice to withdraw seems to be an overreaction, driven by criticism that the task force too frequently violates the civil rights of citizens while providing little additional protection.
Prior to the highly publicized vote, Billy J. Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, wrote for OregonLive: “The work of task force members averts disasters that no one ever hears about. Last year, our task force assessed and mitigated nearly 300 threats of violence, most of which originated in Portland. The partnership works. It just cannot publicize its accomplishments given the sensitive nature of much of its work and the privacy interests of those involved.”
The debate is similar to others taking place as the nation precariously balances civil liberties with law and order. The most prominent example is the horrific and indefensible policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern U.S. border. While that policy is an amoral stain upon this nation, the alternative should not be open borders. By the same token, calling for the abolishment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is not a realistic solution to documented abuses by some agents.
Civil liberties and law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. They can coexist to the benefit of all citizens.
The initial Joint Terrorism Task Force was founded in 1980. Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the program was greatly expanded and now includes more than 100 cities.
Notably, the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks found that a lack of information sharing helped make the attacks possible. Closing those gaps was among the commission’s recommendations, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force works to facilitate that.
Because of that, it seems that Portland’s withdrawal from the task force is a knee-jerk reaction. Indeed, council members were elected by the residents of Portland and presumably are following the will of those residents. But what happens there also matters to those of us on this side of the Columbia River.
