Posted on 08/15/2009 3:50:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned the methodology used by the Department of Homeland Security in issuing a controversial "right-wing extremism" threat assessment to law enforcement in April as "complete speculation."
"Our worse fears about what went into this memo have been confirmed. The government department that was supposed to be tasked with identifying domestic terrorist threats is apparently using news stories, kooky websites, and conjecture instead of actual hard intelligence reporting and analysis," said Wilson.
"This is a disgrace, and calls into question what it is that the so-called 'Extremism and Radicalizaton Branch of the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division' actually does," Wilson added.
Americans for Limited Government filed a Freedom of Information request in April demanding all documents related to the drafting of the controversial "right-wing extremism" memo. It has now received an interim response from the Department related to "All data and all studies, reports, or other documents regarding data created or reviewed by the Department in general to draft the Report… [and] on the specific groups listed in the footnote on page 2 of the Report that were used by the Department."
Those studies and reports included 217 pages, "releasable in their entirety, all of which are publicly available," according to the DHS FOIA response. All of the data used by the Department are available via the Internet. A summary of the web-links is included here.
In a recent edition of the Clews-Todd Report, ALG top researcher Don Todd recently gave his assessment of the memo and DHS' FOIA interim response, "Here you have a bunch of government bureaucrats surfing the web that come up with this crackpot website [http://whatdoesitmean.com], and then they alert all the police agencies in the country to look out for veterans, pro-lifers, and people that believe in states' rights."
FOX News today exclusive reported on DHS' response to ALG's freedom of information request.
"Not a single study or report was from any government source," said Wilson. "And again, there was no evidence of any actual active recruitment of 'disgruntled veterans' by these groups, no evidence showing that folks who purchase guns or oppose gun-control legislation are necessarily dangerous, and no evidence that the economic downturn or the election of Barack Obama that is fueling any actual 'resurgence' of 'extremism.'"
The memo had reported that "rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans".
"We already knew that the memo did not illuminate on any actual planned attacks or any groups known to be planning attacks, or any groups with histories of perpetrating attacks that are currently conducting any types of operational recruitment, meeting, or planning attacks," said Wilson.
"And now we know why," Wilson added, explain, "The background DHS used was not based on credible intelligence sources, reporting, and analysis. Instead, what we found is that the Department was apparently surfing the net to see what news stories happened to turn up to support a pre-determined conclusion," Wilson explained.
In defining "rightwing extremism," the Department of Homeland Security memo targets "groups, movements, and adherents… that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority" and "groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
"We now know for a fact that DHS was monitoring political speech and thought, whether on the Internet or via other forms of communications," said Wilson, pointing to websites included in the DHS FOIA response that tracked gun-control legislation.
The memo had claimed that "Many rightwing extremists groups perceive recent gun control legislation as a threat to their right to bear arms and in response have increased weapons and ammunition stockpiling, as well as renewed participation in paramilitary training exercises."
Previously DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said, "We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not – nor will we ever – monitor ideology or political beliefs."
"DHS' response to our freedom of information request unfortunately confirms in no uncertain terms that their hunt for 'rightwing extremists' was nothing more than a witch hunt," Wilson concluded.
“Americans for Limited Government”
Obvious terrorists. I am sure if I asked the SPLC they would tell me how racist this group is too. I bet they are sexist and homophobic as well, just ask NOW and PFLAG.
(for the “special” the above is sarcasm)
“Not a single study or report was from any government source,”
Dollars to donuts the majority of their information came from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
They actually got led on by kooky websites.
A scheming smirk comes to my mind. Can we plant more kooky websites to make the Rat gummit look even dumber?
Also, given that the Patriot Act is still in force, I wonder how much listening in they are doing on suspected “political terrorists”.
This administration is completely insane - and suicidal. While they’re busy worrying about some “right-wing ideologue’s” free speech, the Islamo-fascists are planning their next attack.
Another question that I've never see asked or answered is this. What this intel report produced independently by DHS intel, or were they tasked by somebody to research right wing threats? If it was tasking, then by whom?
that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority” and “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”
EXCUSE ME NAPALITANO REFECTING FEDERAL AUTHORITY IN FAVOR OF STATE OR LOCAL AUTHORITY ........Isn’t that the basis of the CONSTITUTION.
Is the DHS saying that they REJECT the Constitution. I would like an answer to that one.
Since the DHS is monitoring this site.....would you PLEASE respond....Thank You
I guess it would be stupid to ask for both the source of the study and the study data that support this idiotic statement!
Quite frankly, IMHO, most of the recent "gun control" legislation (enacted or court-determined....not the myriad of proposed stuff) has had the result of slightly (at least temporarily) reducing threats to our unalienable 2nd ammendment rights.
In addition, I have little doubt that "renewed participation" at the target range is, of course, being equated to "paramilitary training exercises".
These DHS/obamabot-marxists-of-whatever-flavor are really paranoid over the fact that the American citizenry serfs out-gun them by orders-of-magnitude!
The lying cow, Janet Napolitano, should have already been fired over this.
Another Question for DHS:
WHY ARE YOU MONITORING AMERICANS FREE SPEECH, RATHER THAN MONITORING THE ACTIVITIES OF ALQUAEDA AND HAMAS, AND HEZBOLLAH ETC. ETC.?
Please respond to my question...DHS.
Exactly! Hey, beats watching the clock and discussing the latest American Idol episode for the 51st time.
Al-Qaeda was used as a boogeyman to coerce the American people to give up their rights, but some are not buying it, because they peeled more layers until they reached the core of their agenda.
Explain.
Look at the police state being assembled right now.
The airport security is one great example, and hardly a bomb-strapped muzzie gets caught while commuters have to walk through invasive body scanning machines that even reveal their private parts.
The goal is simple:
Giving up liberty for security and getting neither.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the FF, warned about this.
What a GREAT government we have! Such shining examples of efficiency and hard work by our public servants! They haven’t put us in gulags! (yet)
They will only find the ones that fit their preconceived notions.
Have you forgotten?
The volume of terrorist attacks pre 9/11 vs post 9/11 was pretty dramatic. It was all a waste of time and effort you say?
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