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Kitzhaber creates intelligence unit at OSP From wire and staff reports SALEM - Gov. John Kitzhaber on Wednesday announced creation of a new Oregon State Police unit to coordinate handling of intelligence information. Kitzhaber said at a news conference that the Office of Public Safety and Security will be staffed from existing police ranks. The unit will assist in analyzing intelligence information gathered by police, the attorney general's office and the FBI. He also said the two State Police regional communication centers, in Central Point and Salem, will have police officers on duty around the clock who can quickly make command decisions. The centers now are staffed at times with employees who are not police. State Police Superintendent Ron Ruecker said the new intelligence unit probably will have about six employees and be drawn from the ranks of detectives or other nonpatrol officers. "We're not going to reduce front-line service," he said. Kitzhaber said the moves are preparedness steps and that officials know of no terrorist threats to the state. "There's no intelligence, either national or state, that Oregon is a target," Kitzhaber said. "We are in a new world as of Sept. 11, and it is time to put some additional resources into security at the state level." The governor also said he'll lobby the Defense Department to provide Oregon a 22-person civil defense team, as many other states have, trained specifically to respond to terrorist attacks. The nearest such team is in Renton, Wash., near Seattle. As for anthrax scares, Kitzhaber, who is a physician, said he is confident the public health system "has the capability to identify, contain and treat outbreaks of unusual diseases, whether caused by man or nature. "We have an excellent system of emergency response," he said. "The United States has the greatest health system in the world, and Oregon doctors are top-notch." Kitzhaber said his office as well as other state agencies have begun operating under new policies for handling mail, mainly alertness for suspicious items and procedures to deal with them. The governor's office hasn't received any suspicious mail, he said. Meantime, House Speaker Mark Simmons promoted the sale of memorial T-shirts to benefit victims of firefighters and police who died in the World Trade Center attacks. Simmons said his office's Web site has a link to an Oregon State Firefighters Council site through which the $10 shirts can be purchased. Bob Livingston of the Salem Fire Department, which originated the idea, said all of the $6.75 profit per shirt will go the New York police and firefighters' relief funds. On the Net: House Speaker: www.leg.state.or.us State Firefighters Council: www.osffc.org Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.