FBI accused of Portland snooping

PORTLAND – Mayor Tom Potter has filed a complaint with the FBI against an agent who invited a city employee to pass information to the agency, calling it a recruiting attempt that raises questions about how far the government is willing to go to spy on its citizens.

“There are things going on … in terms of collecting information on citizens here in the United States that I think should be of concern to every citizen,” Potter said at a Wednesday news conference.

Potter accused the FBI of a “big brother” tactic that “exceeds what their responsibility and authority is in this area.”

The FBI, however, contended there was no attempt at recruitment.

Dan Nielsen, the FBI’s acting special agent in charge for Oregon, said an agent and a city employee “came across each other in day-to-day activities, Starbucks and they work out in the same gym.”

He said the agent made no secret about who he was, and when the city employee was “clearly uncomfortable about the situation,” he told her she was free to report the contact.

“The agent said that if the employee came across something that we felt we should be aware of, feel free to pass it along,” Nielsen said.

Asked if that amounted to recruiting, Nielsen replied, “I don’t think so. I think that it’s making yourself accessible.”

Legal experts said it would be highly unusual for the FBI to try to recruit someone outside of a specific investigation.

“I have never heard of anything like that,” said Martin Pinales, president-elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “It’s a frightening concept.”

Nielsen confirmed that the encounter did not occur as part of a specific FBI investigation. But he said the agent had not operated outside agency guidelines.

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said he will ask the FBI for an explanation.

Potter said a city employee on May 11 was stopped by an FBI agent who asked whether she knew any of Portland’s five City Council members.

According to Potter, the employee was asked “if she would be willing to pass information to him relating to people who work for the city of Portland. He said that while he had duties in other areas, the agency was always interested in information relating to white-collar crime and other things.”