After making progress towards enhancing public safety during its two year history the Portland, Oregon branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (PJTTF) is scheduled to expire (pending reauthorization by the City Council). In a desperate attempt to justify their existance it has indicted four people for damaging three log trucks more than a year ago. Under pressure to produce “results” to justify its continued existence, the suspicious timing of these indictments appears to be politically motivated. Police and PJTTF refused to reveal even general information about the evidence they are using to justify the indictments. They also refused to answer questions from the media about how much money has been spent on this investigation.

During hearings last fall, city officials admitted that the PJTTF’s files are completely insulated from all public review, including Mayor Katz and even Chief Kroeker himself. Given the highly suspicious nature of these indictments, the lack of accountability to the people of Portland, and the well documented FBI history of framing activists,we have no confidence in the validity of these indictments.

On June 11, 2002, a court verdict proved that the FBI, in collusion with the Oakland Police Department, violated the First and Fourth Amendment rights of Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. The jury was outraged by the actions of the FBI and Oakland Police Department, and assigned $4.4 million in punitive and compensatory damages. (Bari v. USA, Northern District Court of California, 2002)

There is no better example than the Judi Bari case to show that the FBI continues to use covert action tactics against political movements and activists which they perceive as threats to the established order. In spite of knowing full well from their own expert's testimony that Bari and Cherney were innocent victims of a bomb attempt on their lives, the FBI and Oakland police continued to lie to the media, saying there was plenty of evidence they were the bombers. The FBI refused to follow up on ample evidence as to the identity of the true bomber, who remains at large to this day. The FBI used the “investigation” of the bombing as a pretext for nation-wide monitoring of EarthFirst!, creating dossiers on over 500 people who received phone calls from Bari or Cherney or one of 14 people associated with them.

In Portland, Oregon the PJTTF has amassed a consistent record of spying on and harrassing citizens engaged in legal, non-violent protests. Three of the four people indicted have been active with social justice issues through Portland State University. The fourth person indicted, Tre Arrow, has a history of very public nonviolent civil disobedience and ran against congressional representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) on the Green Party ticket, receiving over 15,000 votes

In a recent example of the collusion of local police departments and the FBI to suppress citizen dissent, people visiting a public timber sale area have been, in the last week, stopped, photographed, interrogated, hand-cuffed, harrassed and intimidated by law enforcement – after more than an hour of this mis-treatment, police released the citizens without charges.

These actions were justified by “an on-going investigation” into a non-violent protest at the Solo timber sale auction. Citizens engaged in lawful, Constitutionally-protected protest, had pictures, vehicle information and videotapes of themselves passed on to the FBI by the Clackamas County Sheriff. These “investigations” are thinly-veiled attempts to intimidate and prevent citizens from participating in activism to protect public forest lands.

The PJTTF has made no meaningful arrests, or progress towards enhancing public safety during its existence. Its focus seems to be “investigating” lawful nonviolent political groups and property crimes, not violent crimes against persons. This tactic appears to have little to do with protecting the public from terrorism, and points toward the PJTTF’s true intent: Defending big timber, biotech, and multinational corporations from the protests of outraged citizens.

Cascadia Forest Alliance stands in solidarity with those who are being harrassed and targeted by the PJTTF for their political beliefs. The PJTTF’s disgraceful attempts to justify their continued tax-payer funding do nothing to enhance public safety, while eroding civil liberties and the very freedoms that Oregonians and Americans hold dear.