By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The U.S. House Intelligence Committee is investigating Homeland Security’s involvement in protests in Portland and other cities.
The investigation, launched Monday, also will review the dissemination of intelligence reporters on journalists and protesters.
“Let me be clear: the reporting regarding the monitoring of peaceful protesters, creating and disseminating intelligence reports about journalists and protesters, and potential exploitation of electronic devices is deeply troubling, Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to top DHS officials.
“The revelations thus far require a full accounting, and, if substantiated, must never be allowed to occur again,” Schiff added. “The Committee is therefore initiating, pursuant to its unique oversight and legislative authority, an investigation of I&A’s activities in Portland and in support of the Department’s response to protests nationwide.”
Homeland Security has drawn intense criticism for clashing with protesters and compiling intelligence reports on journalists covering protests in Portland.
The panel is calling at least nine DHS officials to testify in August.
Schiff ended his letter, saying the committee will consider “all options necessary to obtain compliance—including compulsory process.”
On Monday, Janet Napolitano, the former head of Homeland Security, criticized the department’s role in policing protests in Oregon, calling it “an abuse of authority” in a Washington Post op-ed.
