Leaked DHS email reveals Antifa violence in Portland is 'organized,' not 'opportunistic'



Investigative reporter Catherine Herridge obtained a leaked email from a former top Homeland Security official on Monday revealing that Antifa violence in Portland is, in fact, organized.

What's the background?

Although the black-clad militant protesters have been mainstays in unrest across the country for years, those who claim to be members of Antifa often refuse to acknowledge centralized organization of their group.

Mark Bray, author of "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," recently claimed in an essay for the Washington Post that the government cannot designate Antifa as a "terrorist organization," which President Donald Trump has threatened to do, because Antifa "is not an organization."

Bray also claimed that Antifa is not associated with Black Lives Matter, the Democratic Party, or "liberal financiers like George Soros," and that Antifa is not actually fascist.

What does the email say?

The email — sent by Brian Murphy, former acting under secretary for intelligence and analysis at DHS, who has now become a government whistleblower — stated the violence seen in Portland over the summer has been "organized."

Murphy's message, sent July 25, was to inform staff of a definition change, that future references to the violent activity taking place in Portland would be referred to as being "violent Antifa anarchists inspired."

The individuals are violently attacking the Federal facilities based on these ideologies. We can't say any longer that this violent situation is opportunistic. Additionally, we have overwhelmingly intelligence regarding the ideologies driving individuals towards violence and why the violence has continued. A core set of Threat actors are organized, show up night after night, share common [Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures] and drawing on like minded individuals to their cause.

I recognize we may not be able to attribute every individual as VAAI however we need to look at the totality of the intelligence both current and previous and recognize the motivation for the violence and why people have shown up to commit violence for about 60 days. And why the individuals are using social media to encourage the VAAI on the ground to carry out acts of violence.

Murphy concluded the email, "Threat actors who are motivated by Anarchist or ANTIFA (or a combination of both) ideologies to carry out acts of violence against State, Local, and Federal authorities and infrastructure they believe represent authority or represent political and social ideas they reject."

#Whistleblower #PortlandProtest Breaking: According to this @DHSgov internal email, obtained @CBSNews, former Actin… https://t.co/Glc5te3Q8N
— Catherine Herridge (@Catherine Herridge)1600124417.0
are organized and show up night after night, and share common TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures)..”"Threat… https://t.co/o4kG3pkm1w
— Catherine Herridge (@Catherine Herridge)1600124418.0

Recognizing centralization within Antifa is significant because it could make future prosecution of the group easier.

Indeed, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said last month the government is "targeting" the leaders of Antifa and other groups perpetuating unrest across the country.

Adam Schiff welcomes whistleblower complaint against Trump admin with open arms despite last month accusing said whistleblower of lying to Congress



House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) promised Wednesday the immediate launch of an investigation into whistleblower allegations that senior Trump administration officials censored information on intelligence reports that "made President Trump look bad."

Among the information allegedly censored were details regarding the rising threat of white supremacism and Russia's attempt to interfere in the 2020 election, according to former Department of Homeland Security official Brian Murphy, who filed the formal whistleblower complaint with the department's inspector general this week.

In a press release, Schiff said that he and his committee would probe Murphy's "grave and disturbing" allegations of "serious wrongdoing" by senior Trump officials, including acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolfe and acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinnelli.

"We will get to the bottom of this, expose any and all misconduct or corruption to the American people, and put a stop to the politicization of intelligence," he sternly promised.

Here's the kicker

What Schiff conveniently did not mention is that no more than five weeks earlier he had accused Murphy of lying to Congress.

According to a New York Times report in August, Schiff said that his committee had been conducting "rigorous oversight" of Murphy's actions as acting under secretary in the department's Intelligence and Analysis branch and were "concerned that Murphy may have provided incomplete and potentially misleading information to Committee staff during our recent oversight engagement." (emphases added)

At the time, Murphy had just been reassigned from his position after it was discovered his unit was compiling intelligence on journalists in Portland, Oregon.

The Times report noted that it wasn't only Schiff who had complaints about Murphy's questionable workplace conduct:

In 2015, Mr. Murphy joined F.B.I. headquarters to work on an effort known as Countering Violent Extremism, or C.V.E., after serving as an assistant special agent in charge of counterterrorism in Chicago. Mr. Murphy was known as an ambitious investigator who was once profiled in a self-aggrandizing article about a terrorism case he had worked on. But some former agents and Justice Department officials familiar with Mr. Murphy's work at the time, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions at the agencies, expressed concern about some C.V.E. proposals, his tendency to ignore the rules and failure to coordinate his activities. (emphases added)

Furthermore, in the press release, Schiff acknowledged that his committee's investigation into the I&A — and thus Murphy — is ongoing, which makes the timing of Murphy's complaint all the more peculiar.

At the least, it might appear to some that Schiff's opinion of Murphy as a reliable source shifted considerably at the precise moment that Murphy's stance toward the Trump administration turned hostile.

DHS spokesman Alexei Woltornist flatly denied Murphy's allegations Wednesday, saying the department "looks forward to the results of any resulting investigation and we expect it will conclude that no retaliatory action was taken against Mr. Murphy."