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hat tip Daniel Greenfield

Carson is the second Muslim in Congress and the first Muslim on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and, more critically, is the ranking member on its Emerging Threats Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Department of Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Subcommittee.

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The Emerging Threats Subcommittee, of which Carson is a ranking member, is responsible for much of counterterrorism oversight. It is the worst possible place for a man with Carson’s credentials.

Carson had inherited his grandmother’s seat and exploited it to promote a radical Islamist agenda. He has interfaced with a laundry list of Islamist groups from CAIR to ISNA to ICNA to MPAC. Islamists have funded Carson’s career to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The Center for Security Policy has put together a dossier of Carson’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is the parent organization of many key Islamic terror groups posing a threat to our national security including Al Qaeda and Hamas.

Andre Carson shared the stage at a CAIR banquet with Sirraj Wahaj: an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing who had once declared,” You don’t get involved in politics because it’s the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.” CAIR itself had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in terror finance.

Carson had praised Tariq Ramadan who had been barred from this country for funding Islamic terrorists. And the Muslim politician was a co-sponsor of the Free Syria Act which attempted to aid Islamist Jihadists in Syria linked to the Muslim Brotherhood such as the Free Syrian Army.

The presence of Andre Carson on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Emerging Threats Subcommittee has always been extremely controversial. But this latest breach involving Democrats on this committee and on other key national security committees raises serious questions about the scale and magnitude of the real problem caused by a compromised congress.

While Carson and other HPSCI Democrats had been demanding security clearance for their staffers, three Pakistani Muslims working for them appear to have compromised security to an unknown degree.

Why were the Awan brothers, one of whom had a criminal record, even allowed to work in such a sensitive position? How did the personnel suspected in this case pass background checks? And was any classified information compromised as a result of these alleged breaches?

These questions and more must be asked and answered. But they are only the first of many questions.

When the Democrats are so contemptuous of our national security that they put forward Andre Carson, a politician who has appeared at Islamist events and praised radicals and extremists, to such a sensitive position, it is not surprising that they are equally willing to hire walking security risks.

The most obvious lesson here is that security must be tightened. If Democrats refuse to take their responsibilities seriously, then President Trump must do it for them. Untithe Awan case is resolved, those Democrats who employed them must have their access to classified material restricted.

Under no circumstances may the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence members who employed the Awan brothers be permitted to allow their staffers to gain access to classified material.

And Andre Carson must be forced to choose between his Islamist ties and his membership in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Emerging Threats Subcommittee. No one should be allowed to have a foot in both the pro-terrorist and the counter-terrorist spheres of our society.

Congressional Republicans must take the lead in cleaning house. If they cannot do so, President Trump must step in. At stake are the security of our nation and the safety of our troops. The Democrats may have abandoned their responsibility to our brave men and women, from the battlefield to the VA, but those elected officials who still believe that their sacrifices matter cannot remain silent.

The swamp that allowed Andre Carson and the Awan brothers inappropriate access must be drained.