Isis Pursuing Chemical Weapon Development
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Thursday, November 19, 2015
GoLocalPDX News Team and Graphiq
The Islamic State flag; via wikimedia commons
U.S. intelligence officials said the Islamic State is aggressively pursuing the development of chemical weapons.
Officials say the group has already established a branch dedicated to research with the help of scientists from Iraq and Syria.
GoLocal teamed up with Graphiq to take a look at the number of fatalities that resulted from chemical weapon terror attacks and the number of terrorist attacks using chemical weapons in each year.
Related Slideshow: Five Things To Know About Portland’s Joint Terrorism Task Force
The Portland City Council is considering new resolutions that would change the city's involvement with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. There are two possible new directions the city could choose. Here are five things that could change:
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#1
City Could Cuts Ties With Task Force
The way things stand now, the City of Portland is not officially in memorandum, or agreement with the FBI Joint Terrorism task force. However, because of a city council resolution passed in 2011, the city has agreed to lend police officers to FBI terrorism investigations as they see fit.
The FBI also submits annual reports from their task force investigation to the council, which are part of public record.
However, the council could vote to end the 2011 resolution, completely cutting ties with the task force.
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#2
City Could Rejoin The Task Force
The second option council members could choose is to completely commit to joining the task force. Portland would sign a formal memorandum of understanding with the FBI. This would also involve repealing the 2011 resolution, and the City’s “as-needed” involvement.
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#3
Two Police Officers
Once the city joined, two officers from the Portland Police Bureau would be assigned to the task force. Currently, if the FBI were conducting a terrorism related investigation in Portland, PPB would not be involved until an arrest was ready to be made. Now, the two officers would be part of the entire investigation.
Currently, Washington County Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police and the Port of Portland also have officers on the task force full-time.
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#4
No More Public Annual Reports
Whether the city decides to step completely in or out of the task force, either action will stop the annual reports presented to the city council. The reports were prepared by the FBI. Dana Hayes, spokesperson for Mayor Hales' Office, said there has been frustration with reports that fail to provide meaningful information.
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#5
Private Reports to Mayor Hales
If Portland does join the task force, then Mayor Hales would enter a non-disclosure agreement with the FBI, allowing him to receive classified briefings about task force investigations.
The reports will be presented by Gregory T. Bretzing with the FBI. The mayor will not be able to discuss specifics of the investigations, Haynes said.
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