Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
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Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
Love the Constitution? Hate government regulations? New DHS "lexicon" brands you a "militia extremist."
A recently published “lexicon” distributed to thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) targets citizens concerned about their Second Amendment rights and the steady encroachment of the federal government, categorizing such as “militia extremists.”
The “lexicon,” marked Unclassified/For Official Use Only (FOUO), is dated November 10, 2011, and was sent out by email to law enforcement and homeland security agencies on November 14 by LaJuan E. Washington of the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
We have exclusively posted the DHS “lexicon” here.
Its definition of “militia extremists” states:(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who facilitate or engage in acts of violence directed at federal, state, or local government officials or infrastructure in response to their belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms and is attempting to establish a totalitarian regime.
These individuals consequently oppose many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership), and often belong to armed paramilitary groups. They often conduct paramilitary training designed to violently resist perceived government oppression or to violently overthrow the US Government. (Page 2 of 3, emphasis added)
So what drives militia extremism according to DHS now is “belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms.” It is demonstrated by opposing “many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership).” Would writing about those topics (as I am now) fall under “facilitation”? On its face, it’s hard to see how it could be excluded under DHS’s broad definition.
Another indicator, according to DHS, is that militia extremists “often belong to paramilitary groups,” which would mean that there are “militia extremists” who aren’t part of a militia. So if you oppose federal regulations and support the Second Amendment to the Constitution, and though you don’t actually belong to a militia, you can still be branded a “militia extremist” by your own government, and presumably be targeted by law enforcement agencies. The “Reporting Notice” found on Page 3 of 3 of the “lexicon” encourages recipients to do exactly that:DHS and FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to the nearest State and Major Urban Area Fusion Center and to the local FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.
And for those who would scoff that my reading is over the top and claim that DHS would never target anyone who wasn’t knowingly and willingly involved in “facilitating and engaging in acts of violence,” the DHS lexicon adds another category, “unwitting co-optees”:(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who provide support to terrorism without knowing that their actions are contributing to terrorism. Such individuals may suspect that they are being used. Not all unwitting co-optees are engaging in criminal behavior.
Amazingly, the “lexicon” appears to directly violate standards published by DHS just weeks before the document was sent out.
In October 2011, DHS published its “Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Training Guidance and Best Practices,” which was produced by the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and posted on the agency’s website.
Section 2 of that document, titled “Training should be sensitive to constitutional values,” directs:a) Review the training program to ensure that it uses examples to demonstrate that terrorists and violent extremists vary in ethnicity, race, gender, and religion.
b) Training should focus on behavior, not appearance or membership in particular ethnic or religious communities.
c) Training should support the protection of civil rights and civil liberties as part of national security. Don’t use training that equates religious expression, protests, or other constitutionally protected activity with criminal activity. (emphasis added)
But not only does the “lexicon” target constitutionally protected activity, it specifically targets groups based on race, namely “black supremacist extremists” and “white supremacist extremists.” I have absolutely no problem targeting groups promoting violence based on racial supremacist ideology, but if DHS is going to proscribe the use of such terms and promptly turn around and use such — while in the same breath targeting private citizens for exercising their constitutional rights and freedom of speech in violation of DHS’s own standards — needless to say, that’s a serious problem.
It bears mentioning that an earlier incarnation of the DHS lexicon was the subject of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress for its targeting of “alternative media” and its shockingly broad definition of the “patriot movement.” A DHS spokesman later claimed that the “lexicon” was sent out prematurely.
Which raises the question of why these various “lexicons” published by the federal government exist in the first place.
Going back to the Bush administration, these “lexicons” have seemingly had a singular purpose: purging the use of “Islam,” “jihad,” and “Muslim” from any official discussion of terrorism. No one should be surprised that none of those terms can be found in the current DHS “lexicon,” despite the fact that even by the most generous estimates, more than 40 percent of domestic terrorism has come from within the Muslim community, which accounts for less than one percent of the population. In its place, federal bureaucrats have invented and promoted a patently meaningless and undefinable category, “violent extremism.”
The roots of this go back to the end of the Bush administration and a March 2008 “lexicon” published by the National Counterterrorism Center.
Titled “Words that Work and Words that Don’t: A Guide for Counterterrorism Communication,” it began the effort to purge the usage of the terms “Islam,” “Muslim,” and “jihad” from the vocabulary of government officials.
The Obama administration has taken those efforts even further, removing those terms from the 2009 National Intelligence Strategy, the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, the Quadrennial Defense Review, the FBI Counterterrorism Analytical Lexicon, and the DOD Fort Hood report.
And as seen with the criticism of the previous version of the “lexicon,” this is hardly the first time that the DHS Office for Intelligence and Analysis has come under fire for targeting citizens with no connection whatsoever to terrorism.
In 2009, DHS came under fire for a 10-page report, “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” which classified returning war veterans as potential threats. When government watchdogs submitted FOIAs for the sources used in preparing the report, they found that conspiracy websites and far-left outfits had been used, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, which branded the American Legion veterans organization as a “hate group.” Information also surfaced that the report had been rushed out over the objections of civil liberties officials. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was forced to apologize to veterans groups and withdraw the report.
Nor is this the first time that homeland security agencies have pushed the boundaries on defining “militia extremists.”
Just a few weeks prior to DHS coming under fire for that “right-wing” report, the Missouri Information Analysis Center, funded by DHS grants, issued a report titled “The Modern Militia Movement,” which branded pro-life groups and those opposed to illegal immigration as potential domestic terrorists. Indicators identified in the report included support for third-party candidates. Political signs and bumper stickers were also suspect, with the Revolutionary War-era “Gadsden flag” specifically called out as a “militia symbol.” The Missouri fusion center later announced it would stop publishing reports altogether.
In light of the recent publication of the DHS “lexicon” that violates their own guidelines, it seems clear that under Secretary Napolitano, DHS officials are intent on continuing to target innocent citizens merely exercising their constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, groups and individuals that federal prosecutors and even federal judges have identified as supporting foreign terrorist groups are actively courted and legitimized by the Obama administration. Leaders from these terror-tied organizations are even being used to help write the DHS department guidelines on “countering violent extremism.”
Is it any wonder then that just last week it was revealed that a DHS-funded study likened terrorism to “ordinary crime” while omitting any reference to the radicalizing effects of Islamic extremist ideology?
Until Congress pushes back on this malfeasance by DHS and holds Secretary Napolitano accountable, it is likely to continue.
Re: Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
Companion Post and Threads:
Feb 06, 2012
FBI: More locals seek help with anti-government extremists
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Updated 23h 26m ago
http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanag...-community.jpg
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in downtown Oklahoma City, was destroyed April 19, 1995, by a truck bomb made and detonated by anti-government terrorist Timothy McVeigh. The former soldier was convicted in June 1997 and executed in June 2001 for killing 168 people, including 19 children in a day-care center, and wounding 450 others.
The FBI is being inundated with calls from local government officials asking for assistance in dealing with anti-government extremists, officials said.Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, said the extremists -- part of the so-called sovereign citizen movement that advocates a rejection of government authority -- have the "potential'' to prompt violence in their day-to-day encounters with police, judges, inspectors and other local government officials.
"Our focus has been increasing,'' McArthur said.
http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanag...-community.jpg
Timothy McVeigh, an Army veteran with extreme anti-government beliefs, was convicted of the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people in April 1995. He was executed in June 2001.
McArthur said the movement, which first rose to prominence in the 1990s when anti-government fervor produced Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, has shown signs of escalating criminal activity, from financial schemes to violence.The group's most extreme members are "steeped in conspiracy theories,'' refusing in many cases to be bound by the federal government's income tax laws.
Re: Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
DHS trains for “Free America Citizens” militia with ‘Uncle Sam’ hats
Posted on June 21, 2013 by creeping
via Aaron Klein, DHS trains for U.S. militia with ‘Uncle Sam’ hats.
While two brothers reportedly motivated by Islamic fundamentalism were carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing, the city was hard at work planning a mass casualty terrorism-training exercise in which the perpetrators were American militiamen whose logo includes Uncle Sam hats.
The Boston Globe revealed the plot of “Operation Urban Shield,” a simulation by the Department of Homeland Security costing $200,000. The program was slated to take place last weekend to train local Boston law-enforcement agencies to work together to thwart a terrorist threat.
The Boston newspaper reported officials from a dozen agencies had been meeting for months to plan the simulation and had already recruited students from Northeastern University and the Boston Police Academy to play the parts of terrorists and witnesses.
While the vast majority of all terrorist attacks worldwide are carried out by Muslims, the DHS program decided to train for a different set of antagonists.
According to the plans obtained by the Boston Globe, the terrorist threat in the exercise was a fictional group called the Free America Citizens, described as “a home-grown cadre of militiamen whose logo would be a metal skull wearing an Uncle Sam hat and a furious expression.”
One official told the newspaper the goal of the simulation was for detectives to figure out the motives of the Free America Citizens group.
Now that an eerily similar plot was carried out to deadly effect by the Chechen Muslim brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the “Urban Shield” drill is reportedly retooling some of the stimulation.
Training to kill Americans? Why? DHS insider believes we are being driven to social uprisings (ie, civil war).
Re: Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
Sheesh....
Obama Outreach Overview
by IPT News • Jun 12, 2013 at 3:11 pm
The Obama administration has an infamous history of questionable Islamist outreach, as noted here, here and here. These outreach efforts have been engaged by the highest levels of the Department of Justice (DOJ), resulting in decisions effecting potential prosecutions of Islamist leaders and closing ranks with other Islamist leaders in the name of civil rights enforcement.
More recently, a U.S. Attorney in Tennessee suggested that anti-Muslim inflammatory Internet postings might rise to the level of violating federal civil rights statutes. This caused an uproar of concern that such biased outreach may cross a line encroaching on First Amendment protected free speech.
Thanks to the revelation of an innocuous contract solicitation by the U.S. Department of Education, we know President Obama takes a direct interest in these outreach programs. On April 29, the Department of Education posted a solicitation bid titled “White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Annual Report.” The principal purpose of the bid was listed as:
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Under Secretary requires a writer to prepare a comprehensive summary report of the activities and recommendations of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Commission) to the President covering the period October 14, 2009 through Fiscal Year 2013. The report must reflect the work and recommendations of the Commission, as well as the findings and recommendations gleaned from the Muslim Outreach Summits….
The Initiative, through the U.S. Department of Education, requests to enter into a firm fixed priced contract for a writer to write, document and produce a comprehensive summary report based upon the recommendations of the Commission, the Muslim Outreach Summits, and the Initiative to be presented to the President.
The federal contract solicitation indicated there are three upcoming Muslim Outreach Summits and those are June 15 in Chicago, June 22 in San Francisco and June 29 in New York.
The Department of Education reported the contract was awarded on May 23 from a bid list of 18 to Ignatius Bau, a San Francisco-based community activist and lawyer who was previously engaged with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Bau has been involved in immigrant rights and health care advocacy, and was so lauded in a YouTube video from January 2011 wherein, among others, former DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez, who has been responsible for much of the DOJ Muslim outreach effort, spoke on Bau’s behalf.
With the issuance and publication of this taxpayer contracted report, we now know the president himself is interested in the results of his administration’s longstanding special outreach programs to Muslims. The problem too often is on what elements of the Muslim community those outreach efforts have primarily focused.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/...reach-overview
My Casablanca face is wearing thin. I smell a fatwa coming.
What happens when Muslim-in-Chief’s report is not quite as good as it should be? But maybe students could start studying Sharia Law, you know, to familiarize them with cultural changes.
Naturally, anyone who disagrees with this policy will be Islamophobic. No shortage of contractors to bid on writing the report, I guess.
How far can the outreach go?
NASA Muslim outreach
http://thepeoplescube.com/images/var..._Muslim_sm.jpg
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his “foremost” mission as the head of America’s space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.
Though international diplomacy would seem well outside NASA’s orbit, Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those ties was among the top tasks President Obama assigned him. He said better interaction with the Muslim world would ultimately advance space travel.“
[photo credit]
How low can it go?
http://latimesphoto.files.wordpress....im03.jpg?w=640
LA Times had this expose on Sheriff Lee Baca’s Muslim outreach.
Re: Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
Wow. It never ends. Obama is becoming more and more bold with his blatant support for our enemy.
