DHS compiled intelligence reports on protesters arrested in Portland without legal justification, re [View all]

[Mme. Defarge]

Source: The Oregonian

Federal Homeland Security officers compiled intelligence and background reports — dubbed “baseball cards” — on people arrested by federal authorities in Portland during protests last summer, despite their charges being unrelated to homeland security threats, according to an internal review made public Friday.

Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said the report confirmed “stunning incompetence, mismanagement and abuse of power” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under former President Donald Trump’s administration.

The review followed reports last year that the Homeland Security department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis had collected and shared information with federal law enforcement agencies on two journalists — a reporter for the New York Times and editor in chief of the blog Lawfare — who were covering protests in Portland. The reports noted the journalists had published leaked, unclassified documents about the department’s operations in Portland.

Poor training and inadequate guidance contributed to the federal intelligence officers’ lack of knowledge on legal restrictions for the collection of such information and confusion about what constituted a “true threat,” the internal Homeland Security report said.

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/10/dhs-compiled-intelligence-reports-on-protesters-arrested-in-portland-without-legal-justification-report-finds.html