House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler wants the Justice Department inspector general to investigate how FBI agents surveil U.S. citizens at protests.
In a letter sent Thursday, Mr. Nadler asks Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz to examine whether surveillance tactics used by FBI agents at racial justice protests in Portland, Oregon, after the presidential inauguration this year have been used elsewhere in the nation.
The New York Democrat cited a “troubling” report by The New York Times released Wednesday that revealed FBI agents dressed “in all-black to match protesters and infiltrate the crowd” during the Portland protests.
The agents were initially sent in July 2020 to guard the city’s federal courthouse after protesters set it on fire. They ended up staying for months to help the overworked police department as some of the near-nightly demonstrations grew violent with protesters breaking windows and throwing fireworks at law enforcement.
Sources reportedly told The Times there were “agents standing shoulder to shoulder with activists, tailing vandalism suspects to guide the local police toward arrests and furtively videotaping inside one of the country’s most active domestic protest movements.”
Mr. Nadler wants Mr. Horowitz to investigate whether similar surveillance practices have been used elsewhere in the country at protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man murdered by a White Minnesota police officer in May 2020.
“I also ask that you review the authorizing processes within the Department of Justice that allow such operations to take place — including a review of whether the political motivations of a particular protest impact federal law enforcement’s response,” he wrote.
The lawmaker also wants to find out details on arrests made, videos taken and intelligence-gathering efforts.
The investigation, he said, should be part of Mr. Horowitz’s ongoing review into use of force by federal law enforcement at the protests.
The Times report also prompted First Amendment concerns from the American Civil Liberties Union which said “the FBI shouldn’t be infiltrating our nation’s political movements.”
“These kinds of tactics chill speech and are ripe for abuse, as the FBI’s history of surveilling activists makes clear,” the ACLU said.
When asked for comment, an FBI spokesperson referred to a previously released public statement from Kieran L. Ramsey, special agent in charge of the Portland Field Office.
“The violence in the streets of Portland in 2020 and 2021, including the potential threat to life and destruction of property, interfered with the rights and safety of First Amendment-protected peaceful demonstrators, as well as all other citizens,” Mr. Ramsey said.
The bureau, he said, is “committed to apprehending and charging violent instigators who exploit legitimate, peaceful protests and engage in violations of federal law.”
“As part of that effort, the FBI in Oregon ran a command post to gather intelligence and coordinate with our law enforcement partners on potential threats,” he said, adding that their focus was on “significant” crimes or acts of violence.
Special agents, bomb technicians, the FBI Evidence Response Team, as well as tactical and intelligence teams were part of the operation to “support investigations and combat any potential threat of violence.”
The Office of the Inspector General declined to comment.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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