Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said the department is prepared to respond to other parts of the country if they see similar threats to federal facilities they saw in Portland, Oregon.
He said “violence” in Portland was going on for weeks before they got intelligence about “planned attacks on federal facilities.”
“We backed up the federal protective service, which is responsible for protecting the courthouse there and other federal buildings with other DHS law enforcement components,” Mr. Cuccinelli said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.” “We’ve been there ever since.”
He said authorities have been wearing uniforms clearly identifying the officers, amid complaints from civil rights advocates that unidentified federal agents are indiscriminately sweeping up people and detaining them.
“If we get the same kind of intelligence in other places about threats to other federal facilities or officers, we would respond the same way,” Mr. Cuccinelli said.
Oregon’s attorney general has sued DHS, alleging that federal agents are using unmarked vehicles to detain people without clearly saying why they’re being taken.
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Democrats are also demanding an investigation into the federal government’s use of agents to keep the peace in Portland in recent days.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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