Spec ops training takes Portland by surprise

[Gunner Carvo]

Spec ops training takes Portland by surprise

City approved exercises but didn’t inform residents
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 8, 2008 7:58:06 EDT

SAN DIEGO — Combat-clad operatives dangling from small, black helicopters zipping over buildings is almost a routine sight at military training bases.

But the sight of troops along the Portland, Ore., skyline over three hours one evening last month caught many residents — and the mayor’s office — by surprise. Many flooded telephone lines and news blogs with complaints and outrage at the unexpected military activity.

“The feedback we got from the community was very loud and very negative,” said John Doussard, a spokesman for Portland Mayor Tom Potter. The response forced the police chief to cancel training planned for downtown two days later, Doussard said.

The Aug. 25 exercise was part of a two-week urban warfare training by Navy and Army special operators in Portland and in Salem, about 45 miles to the south.

For the Navy’s spec ops teams, the exercise provided a training locale that’s more realistic and less known to them than what they get at military training ranges.

“The training is routine and conducted throughout the United States,” said Lt. Nathan Potter, a Naval Special Warfare Command spokesman in Coronado, Calif. “We go to a lot of large cities like Portland because it’s unfamiliar territory.”

The Portland mayor, a retired police chief, had approved a request by the Virginia-based Naval Special Warfare Development Group to permit the training, which would include helicopter flights, explosives, live fire and surveillance. “We didn’t have it much on our radar after that,” Doussard said.

Local officials coordinated with the Navy over several months. Navy SEALs briefed them on the training, Doussard said, which officials expected would be conducted primarily at vacant commercial areas near the Willamette River, not in the popular downtown district.

But that Monday, many residents freaked when they saw helicopters swoop in “and start dropping off guys with machine guns,” Doussard said.

“There was no notice,” he added.

While the city had approved the exercise, local officials had made no public announcements ahead of the training.

It seems the disconnect happened when a Portland police officer was approached by someone in the Defense Department who “asked to keep all of this quiet,” Doussard said, adding that he and the mayor didn’t know of the arrangement before the exercise. The military representative — Doussard said he didn’t know who it was — told the police officer the military “didn’t want to turn it all into an air show.”

Potter, the NSW spokesman, didn’t have information about that arrangement but said, “We’d been in contact with the mayor’s office.”

The only notice of the exercise came in a press release that Doussard said the Portland police department issued “20 minutes before” the training began that day.

“I dealt for two days with a lot of angry community members,” he said. “Nobody was happy, and the military seemed absolutely perplexed” at the reaction.

Potter said the military wanted to avoid drawing large crowds that could pose a safety risk. “We didn’t want to tell people too far in advance,” he said.

In Salem, the spec ops training went on undisturbed. Only three complaints surfaced, two from police officers who were unaware of the training, he said, adding, “The reaction was in Portland.”

The Portland Rose Festival welcomes Navy ships each year, and last year, the city hosted the military’s tabletop counterterrorism exercise known as “Top-Off,” which brought federal, state and local officials together to coordinate emergency response to a “dirty bomb” attack.

Doussard described the city as “very socially progressive. I think the mayor certainly understands the need for training for our folks ... but not downtown.”

Helicopters flying “100 feet through downtown Portland scared the hell out of people,” he said.

One local newspaper, Willamette Week, criticized the mayor for failing to notify residents. “Portlanders had a right to know,” the editorial said.

But not everyone was upset.

“Leave it to the people of Portland to complain when someone is trying to be prepared to protect them,” commented “wrnchbndr” on NBC affiliate KGW-TV’s blog. “I for one am glad to see it and if they want to land their chopper in my back yard at 3 a.m. I’ll put on a pot of coffee for them!”