FBI, DOJ And Local Law Enforcement Meet To Discuss Threats At School Board Meetings

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 27: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on October 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Justice Department will prioritize redlining investigations with Garland pledging the crackdown on discriminatory lending would be unprecedented in its aggressiveness. (Photo by Tom Brenner-Pool/Getty Images)

Portland, Ore. — A whistleblower leak of an FBI email on Tuesday shed more light on a controversial memo from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on October 4th.

The email from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division is engaged in categorizing threat assessments relating to parents with a “threat tag.”

The leaked email says the FBI had 30 days to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Trible and territorial leaders in each federal judicial district within 30 days of the issuance of the memorandum. The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon tells KXL, that meeting happened November 1st.

The following is a transcript of an email from Kevin Sonoff, the Public Affairs Officer for the office:

“In response to this memo, on November 1, 2021, Acting U.S. Attorney Asphaug convened a virtual meeting of Oregon law enforcement officials to discuss strategies for addressing threats made against school executives and staff. This meeting featured briefings from our office, the FBI Portland Field Office, and the Oregon District Attorneys Association. Our briefing and ODAA’s focused on relevant state and federal statutes governing threats and how to determine when a threat exceeds Constitutional protections and rises to the level of criminal behavior. The FBI’s briefing focused on tip reporting.

The following law enforcement agencies participated in the meeting:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)

Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

Coquille Indian Tribe

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

FBI Portland Field Office

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office

Oregon District Attorneys Association

Oregon Association Chiefs of Police (OACP)

Oregon State Police (OSP)

Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association (OSSA)

Portland Police Bureau

U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Oregon

Unfortunately, we cannot confirm or deny the existence of any federal investigations examining threats made to school officials in Oregon nor can we discuss whether we believe any violations of federal law have occurred.”

KXL reached out to the FBI, their spokesperson referred us to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. KXL also reached out to Portland Police, they have not answered our request for comment as of the time of publication.