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Debate in Portland, Ore., over participating in joint terrorism task force may affect monitoring of violent white nationalist extremists, CSUSB professor saysPortland TribuneFeb. 12, 2019 Brian Levin, director of the CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, comments on the debate in Portland, Ore., over the city participating in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Some of the activists who supported the Portland City Council's resolution last week to condemn white nationalists are decidedly less enthusiastic as the council mulls whether to withdraw from the FBI task force this week. 'It's kind of ironic,' said Levin, 'that at a time when it's the white nationalists who are demonstrably the leading, most prominent threat, that we're now having conflicts which could affect the effective monitoring of potentially violent white nationalist extremists.' The danger is that individuals don't need to run in extremist circles to adopt their ideology and to act out in violence, as did Timothy McVeigh, the 1995 Oklahoma City bomber. It's in those cases, where an extremist's online activity is often key, that the FBI's resources are irreplaceable, some say. To track the emerging trend of 'loner' violence, the FBI's resources are key, Levin, of the California-based hate crime center said. But he said federal agents also need to pay more attention to the problem. 'I'll make it simple: When the next Timothy McVeigh does something, do you want a splintered and disjointed law enforcement approach?' he said. 'The problem is, we have to have these federal agencies paying more attention to the most prominent problem out there, which is white nationalists.' Read the complete article at “Portland's terrorism task force vote splits anti-hate coalition.”
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