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Seattle can now count Naveed Jamali among critics talking as if they are going to challenge the city’s leadership.

“We are at a watershed moment,鈥� Jamali told KTTH Radio’s Jason Rantz. 鈥淚 am concerned about the direction we go. I want to聽 help. I鈥檓 not sure what that will look like. But I am committed to trying to do something and bringing some ideas. At the end of the day, there needs to be a practical way to dealing with this 鈥� I also feel there is an opportunity with a change in the guard on the council coming up and I鈥檓 certainly looking at all options.鈥�

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is mostly known as an expert on national security issues. He is a former FBI operative worked in intelligence for the Department of Defense. He also authored the book That’s quite a unique resume to bring to the Seattle City Council, but again, he won’t confirm or deny he is running. If he does, it will be in District 7, represented by who is stepping down after her current term.

Jamali says he faces Seattle’s problems every day, like many others. For example, he spent a recent sunny day taking his family to the Seattle waterfront.

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“We stopped for lunch and I happened to look around and found a bunch of discarded needles and a used condom,” he said. “Which, by the way, if you haven鈥檛 had the joy of explaining to a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old what a condom is, which they think is a ponytail holder, you haven鈥檛 quite lived.鈥�

鈥淚 grew up in the ’80s and the ’90s in New York City and I don鈥檛 remember having to deal with this, and it鈥檚 something you wish your kids didn鈥檛 have to,鈥� Jamali said. 鈥淣onetheless, it is a problem.鈥�

Seattle drugs, homelessness

If there is a core issue that Jamali talks about, it’s the region’s drug problem, which he sees as being related to the homelessness issue.

鈥淚 think the larger problem is that this city is suffering through a fairly significant drug and crime problem,” he said. “I subscribe to the. I think if you let people shoot up in parks and discard their needles like that, and that is something we are accepting 鈥� and instead, we focus on telling our kids not to pick that up, we have ceded some kind of ground there.鈥�

鈥淭hat is part of the problem with this city, a lack of leadership, a lack of identifying a core problem,鈥� he said. 鈥淚s the problem needles in the park, or is the problem drug use? I say it鈥檚 drug use. Needles are just a symptom of the core problem. You can still be compassionate; that doesn鈥檛 mean you absolve yourself of enforcing laws. It鈥檚 as simple as that. No one is saying we can鈥檛 be empathetic or compassionate to people, and we should be. But that doesn鈥檛 mean we should tolerate certain behavior, tolerate crime.鈥�

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Jamali promotes that he is 鈥渢he most Liberal Progressive,” folks will meet. But also, he is “the most pro-law enforcement when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

He’s spoken to the region’s authorities on Seattle’s problems and says he wants leaders to start dealing with facts and data, instead of wishful thinking and ideologies.

鈥淚 have an intelligence background, I have a data background, I make no secret of this. I have had the opportunity to speak to people about this issue and try to learn,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he answer is not clear, but what I鈥檝e been able to piece together is that a lot of (drugs) come from down south, from Mexico and from California, but also from Canada,鈥� Jamali said. 鈥淏ut the reality is we鈥檝e all seen this. There is not major enforcement. I鈥檓 not talking hand-to-hand. I鈥檓 talking about DEA federal-level indictments 鈥� it鈥檚 pretty easy, it would appear, to get drugs here. And if you have injection sites, if you have subsidized things like that, the cost for someone to bring and distribute drugs here, from what I鈥檝e gathered, is fairly low. So why wouldn鈥檛 you flood this market?”

鈥淎n injection site is not a long-term solution鈥� he added. 鈥淭he long term solution is to hopefully curb addiction. I don鈥檛 see how an injection site does that.鈥�

In the end, Jamali argues that Seattle has to drop the ideology and pick up real solutions.

“This has nothing to do with Progressivism, or Conservative, or Republican, or Democrat 鈥� it鈥檚 a factual thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou just look out your window. There is a drug problem. There is homeless problem. There is a problem with people camping in our parks and crime associated with that. We need to remove the stigma to talk about his objectively and fairly. Not in a way that is punitive or dehumanizing to people.”