LAST FEBRUARY, the White House held a three-day summit on the topic of “Countering Violent Extremism.” At the summit, government officials announced the launch of pilot programs in Boston, Los Angeles, and Minnesota to explore “the preventative aspects of counterterrorism as well as interventions to undermine the attraction of extremist movements.”
One year later, it’s still unclear what that entails, exactly. The government has provided few details on how it actually intends to “counter extremism” in the U.S., despite calling CVE an “administration priority” in the 2017 fiscal budget and allocating tens of millions of dollars in spending. In an indication of how these efforts are ramping up, this week a Senate subcommittee on Homeland Security approved a bill to create of an “Office for Partnerships Against Violent Extremism,” which will soon head to the full Senate for approval. A 2017 budget submission for the Office of Justice Programs also mentions “$69 million for CVE programs” proposed for the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice.
Hoping to shed light on the situation, the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act against the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Education, and other federal agencies demanding the release of information about their CVE initiatives.
“Countering violent extremism programs have been identified by the government as a top national security priority, but the public knows appallingly little about them,” says Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “We’re suing because government agencies have repeatedly failed to provide us information that we’ve requested about the nature of their CVE initiatives.”
In a briefing paper released with its lawsuit, the ACLU said that CVE programs often target “people for monitoring based on their beliefs or ideologies,” thus potentially criminalizing speech protected under the First Amendment. It also highlighted past abuses of CVE programs, including instances in which young people who refused to take part were characterized as radicals and where community leaders were told they would have to identity and discuss cases of specific youths with law enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment for this story, citing pending litigation. The Department of Justice did not respond to request for comment.
Government-led CVE efforts in the United States are inspired in large part by programs rolled out in past years in the United Kingdom. Broadly speaking, CVE programs seek to expand counterterrorism efforts beyond law enforcement to involve other government workers, like teachers and social workers, as well as community leaders outside of government, like clergy. They can involve propaganda and other communication strategies as well as monitoring and questioning.
Those programs have been deeply controversial in the UK, where civil society activists have blamed them for exacerbating ethnic tensions within British society while failing to meaningfully fight extremism. In recent months, the U.K. government has also rolled out anti-radicalization programs in schools, which have led to instances in which Muslim schoolchildren have been stigmatized by teachers as potential terrorists.
In the U.S., some of the most controversial CVE initiatives are those that focus on children. Leaked documents from the National Counterterrorism Center, published by The Intercept last year, showed that the government had developed a questionnaire to evaluate young people for their risk of future extremism, evidently for use by social workers, healthcare practitioners, and teachers, among others. A controversial online counter-extremism game called “Don’t Be a Puppet” was also launched by the FBI this week, ostensibly targeted at the same young demographic.
“The apparent focus on young people as a target of government counter-extremism initiatives should be troubling to everyone,” says Shamsi. “It would be very unfortunate to see teachers or social workers potentially reporting kids to law enforcement as possible extremists, particularly when many of the designated ‘warning signs’ for extremism correspond with ordinary behaviors often exhibited by adolescents and teenagers.”
Critics have also questioned whether there is any credible empirical or scientific basis behind CVE initiatives.
The ACLU, alongside many Muslim American civil society groups, fears that U.S. government CVE efforts will similarly undermine the position of Muslims living here. “Our country’s history shows that policies and programs that stigmatize one group always inevitably spread to other groups,” Shamsi says. “The government’s focus should be on policing crimes, not thoughts and beliefs.”
Top photo: Screen grab from the FBI CVE game “Don’t Be a Puppet.”
I am surprised that this article does not mention the rapes of activists by the London undercover policing Inquiry that allowed all left wing thinkers and human rights groups and individuals at the mercy of GCHQ and buddies.. The Pitchford Inquiry is still ongoing and more people who have been targeted by the RIPA legislation (before the creation of RIPA and after) are trying to offer statements. There are problems with this Inquiry (as one would imagine) but it is a step in the right direction imo .. I know I will be submitting a statement of fact to the Inquiry when the lawyers have got back to me.. Also, the Pitchford Inquiry has been blocked from including Scotland where the MET and friends did the largest amount of such spying and manipulation of groups. I wonder if the Scottish Independence referendum was manipulated? Ask Theresa May who annexed Scotland from this Inquiry to find out (head of the Home Office ie police spies and GCHQ) .. Keep up the good work but i wish you would delve a little deeper as the UK format for dealing with people like me will become the format for dealing with people like you (or the palestinians etc ).. Regards from a refugee from the UK.. (luv Ireland btw ;) )
Just as anti-discrimination efforts exacerbate discrimination and anti-anti-Semitism efforts exacerbate anti-Semitism, anti-violent-extremism efforts will, and do, exacerbate violent extremism.
ALL of which goes to prove the need for such programs and their aggrandizement.
But we do not have a government anymore! It is all a corporate/fascist regime! How long do you want us to bang our heads against this wall of steel? It is time for a very violent revolution or nothing will change.
Mr. Hussain
Here is some more information you will never read at the Intercept. According to the UN (New York Times):
“……… Taliban suicide attacks and a fierce battle for the northern city of Kunduz made 2015 the worst year for Afghan civilian casualties since the United Nations began tracking the data…….The United Nations documented 3,545 civilians killed and 7,457 injured last year………..The Taliban were responsible for 62 percent of the civilians killed or wounded last year, down 10 percentage points from 2014, the report found. Danielle Bell, the United Nations director of human rights for Afghanistan, said it was important to note that the number of unattributed casualties, including civilians caught in the middle of fighting between pro- and antigovernment forces, had risen sharply, suggesting that the Taliban’s responsibility might be understated…….”
“………Pro-government forces, which include the national army, the police and various militias, were responsible for about 17 percent of the civilian deaths and injuries. Those forces also included United States and NATO troops, which were responsible for about 2 percent……..”
Intercept readers will be informed only about the US drone “assassinations” programs and the relatively few civilians killed in the air strikes. The truth is withheld for political reasons. Indeed, only 2% of the civilian deaths in 2015 (and 2014) are attributed to coalition forces. The quick draw down of US troops led to an increase in the Taliban attacks:
“……The departure of most NATO combat troops at the end of 2014 coincided with an increase in attacks by the Taliban, who are seeking to reinstate the strict Islamist rule they established in the 1990s……”
As in Iraq, the decrease in US presence only emboldens the enemy. Again – something you will never read in the Intercept.
Knock of the BS. Want to counter extremism? THEN STOP INVADING OTHER COUNTRIES THAT YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS IN.
Knock of?
….the obvious answer to successfully tracking potential terrorist (of Muslim extraction, natch) is simply to chip them at birth….there could be cadres of trained personnel who could trek from hospital to hospital in fashionable darken vans….midwifery could be overcome with appropriate rewards…
….how easy it is to solve these social, nationalistic issues with the RIGHT thinking…..
“….the obvious answer to successfully tracking potential terrorist (of Muslim extraction, natch) is simply to chip them at birth…”
——–
Great idea! Must be done right after the terrorist gene has been discovered.
Test.
There is a fear among ignorant politicians, that the acts of terrorism, actually are Islam, so in order to not offend Muslims, they invented CVE. But your observation is correct, in that CVE is “shadowy” perhaps opening up a wider breadth of interpretation, once hauling suspects into a courtroom where people listen to subjective words. The law is best to remain blind with the scales of justice focused on acts, not thoughts. And prosecuting sedition, does not offend the first amendment when clearly defined. You can not have a first amendment without the state, so if the goal of the speech is to use violence to change the system of governance and civil order, it is a conspiracy to deprive all others of their constitutional rights and therefore a crime. Now that wasn’t so hard was it? And I did not even have to mention radical, or Islam, or even countering violent extremism. The USA needs to stop worrying about whether its laws offend immigrants and simply be the USA that person saw in books or video or heard about in stories before they came. They will adjust their beliefs accordingly, as they should. That is after all, why they came to the USA in the first place.
And the uncomfortable truth about the UK, Prevent, and the CTS Bill, is that it would all be more simple if doctrinal Islam was treated as sedition. It is not “cute” to preach the overthrowing of the state. Original Islamic preaching, is not harmless verbage that fuzzy unshaven friendly old men and proselytizing boys talk about. It is a throwback to the past and an interesting enshrinement of a warrior class that no longer exists or is necessary in this world. We don’t tolerate Indians on horseback raiding through middle class suburbia to steal wheat to bring to the next tribe over the hill, before winter. And likewise, we don’t have anyone holding meetings about it either. Just outlaw conspiracy to overthrow the state and let people choose where they want to live and how to express their beliefs. If laughing at the past is good enough for the normal Muslims, this normalcy should be compelled on the mentally unfit, who fall into the trap of propaganda indoctrination. And a good rendition or at least, tortious liability pursuit of propagandists would be in order too, since they are the true bastards of this nonsense we call the war on terror. But then, that thought brings us back to the politicians!
“We don’t tolerate Indians on horseback raiding through middle class suburbia to steal wheat to bring to the next tribe over the hill, before winter.”
Not a very good analogy unless you are trying to support the antithesis of your argument. That middle class suburbia those “Indians” on horseback are raiding belonged to the “Indians” long before Europeans arrived to decide for those same “Indians” where they would live and which white people would now have “legal” title to land formerly occupied by these “Indians”.
“Sedition” has been the watchword of villains since John Quincy Adams. “Overthrow the government” is an incredibly vague term. You can overthrow the government by constitutional convention, mass civil disobedience, the rare and elusive honest political campaign, or through the mysteries of transcendental meditation. Either a conspiracy should be to commit a specific crime, or else it isn’t a conspiracy. So it should be perfectly legal to conspire to overthrow the government as long as you’re not actually planning to slit throats or blow up suicide bombs in order to do it. With ISIS, of course, this technical distinction poses little actual problem to law enforcement.
True, The Intercept sometimes gets carried away defending idiots who want to do Islamic terrorism, meet up with FBI person, then actually try to set off a fake bomb only to find out that for some funny reason it doesn’t work. That’s a couple of stops past where I get off the train! But the alternative to censorship that I want to see – is not censorship.
How does one do terrorism that is Islamic?
Is there pork that is Judaic (Kosher)?
Can there be Islamic whiskey full of alcohol, or Islamic pork chops?
Can there be a Christian God without Trinity and with Jesus just a human being?
How about a Christian mosque or an Islamic rejection of the Quran as Divine revelation or an Islamic rejection of Muhammad as God’s messenger?
Oxymoron.
The consequences of attacks are indeed terrible, but the way to “counter violent extremism” is to respect people’s rights. What the terrorists believe is wrong, but government can’t tell people what religion to believe – only individuals can do that. The key is to keep governments from trying to “help” people give the right message, and also to keep them from trying to prohibit the “wrong” ones. Instead of trying to teach people ‘not to be a puppet’, they need to not interfere with people like Terry Jones. That’s not because he has the best faith in the world, but because people like him serve as lightning rods, standing up to and drawing in terrorist threats so that the ordinary Muslim who criticizes the fanatics, calls for more enlightened social practices, or chooses a new faith entirely, does not feel like the #1 target.
And all of this comes from deep within the extreme insanity of the powerful, and fearful, conservative mind! Don’t forget for a moment that these conservative cretins can sometimes act like they actually care about you!
Uhhhh, this is the Obama Administration at work here.
With this knowledge, you can be secure in knowing that their real targets are right wing extremists, in which case I suppose your attitude would be different.
Ironic timing for this article, the same day as right-wing extremists finally leave their months-long, armed takeover of government property. Of course, I doubt those are the kinds of extremists programs like this are designed to go after.
And that’s my main issue. If the program puts a focus on infiltrating mosques or pressuring Muslim community leaders to rat out possible extremists, certainly it must also infiltrate Christian churches, and put pressure on gun clubs etc. to rat people out. Anything less is pure biased racism/anti-Islamism.
Mr. Hussain
According to the New York Times:
“…….MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — When three girls showed up Monday at a camp for people who had fled the militant group Boko Haram, they were welcomed……..But early Tuesday morning, as the first light spread across the sprawling camp, two of the girls blew themselves up with bombs they had been concealing, killing 58 people and wounding 78………..victims were among the more than 50,000 people who had been forced from their homes by Boko Haram’s rampages, only to be confronted with the same horror in the very place they had sought refuge…….”
Something needs to be done to counter the propaganda of the Islamic extremist which coaxes young girls or women to attack and murder 58 people. Maybe you have a suggestion, Murtaza, besides the worn out Greenwald statements blaming our foreign policies for the killings: We bombed “seven Muslim countries” – so Boko Haram took revenge by killing innocent people living in refugee camps who were there because of the Nigerian civil war.
In addition, a Jew was stabbed in Brooklyn which is being investigated as a hate crime. You will never read this in the Intercept though. In fact, just thinking this might be an Islamic terrorist attack would likely get me labeled a racist by Greenwald. This is the second attack related to Jews in several months in Brooklyn. Clearly the Intercept has a policy of never mentioning terrorist attacks against Jews. This likely is because Jews can never be victims due to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Likewise, Muslims are always the victims. Consequently, ALL Jews are fair game for murder. If two Muslims were stabbed in the past few months, you can bet the Intercept would carry the story.
You are politically motivated hypocrites, Murtaza.
Forgot to say that Israel is the most best country in human history.
Thanks
Are you being sarcastic, or facetious?
jgreen7801
“…….Are you being sarcastic, or facetious?…..”
I didn’t post that. Someone impersonated me. So neither.
My question is: How will they know that the program is effective? Clearly there needs to be a measure of effectiveness, for example number of deterred terrorists per million dollars spent, so that Congress can make informed decisions as to the value of the program. I find it interesting that the use of systems analysis, popularized by Robert Macnamara in his highly successful prosecution of the Vietnam war, has not spread to other areas of governmental activity.
Might I suggest that the $65 Million being authorized be supplemented by a modest amount, say $50 Million, to study its effectiveness? I am sure Congress can find some group that is inadequately represented by lobbyists to obtain the additional amount. Naturally the study of effectiveness would need to be monitored by a Congressional committee to ensure that its results were not politically inappropriate.
When the first annual effectiveness study report is released, I’m sure the civil libertarians will be satisfied that the loss of privacy and freedom, and the occasional loss of life resulting from the program’s implementation, are all well worth the results achieved.
Here is my advance study, gratis:
In the event that the number of terrorist incidents decreases, then the program is effective and this success should be leveraged by allocating more resources to it.
In the event that the number of terrorist incidents increases (or remains the same), then the program’s funding is obviously insufficient to do the job, and this failure should be corrected by allocating more resources to it.
Exactly. But as an analyst, I need to mind my rice bowl.
Fourteen, maybe fifteen years ago, a long forgotten book report I wrote on Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” — for a Texas public high school teacher in the late 70s — was inexplicably shipped to my Sao Paulo home. This was followed up by death threats from the sender, and a gradual ratcheting up of my Zersetzung regimen, which lasts to this day.
Patriots, was that package a coincidence, or an example of Violent Extremism Successfully Countered?
Can anyone of you courageous patriots tell me if your nation has been saved yet? You’ve gone to so much trouble and expense; I hope you haven’t wasted your efforts on idle fun.
Stan,
Any chance, since you are in Sao Paulo, you could get Glenn Greenwald to look into the American Zersetzung Program? We targets are franticly trying to flag down help and just keep getting passed by with a smile and a wave.
Yep. Stalked to death in America: conspicuous surveillance, thefts, vandalism, defamation, harassment, surreptitious home-entries… We’ve got ourselves a coast-to-coast Stasi-like apparatus engaging in all-American witch hunts. Cointelpro is alive and well. And many of those being stalked are non-Muslim law-abiding citizens.
No Journalist, No Politician will touch this topic out of fear.
COINTELPRO STASI
Their budget is too big.
Their technology capabilities too advanced.
COINTELPRO MKULTRA
Money maker for FBI / DHS and Contractors.
Program extends to other countries, globally. Incorporate the use of RF weapons and the picture becomes bleak.
Do you have a name?
Why have you followed my posts for years?
Why do you suggest intellectually stunted Stasi scum is “too advanced”, and the situation is too “bleak”? Remember, the DDR’s version of the Stasi didn’t know what hit them until it was already over. Did you forget that? Or did you never even know that? (Stasi filth is notoriously ignorant of their kind’s history.)
Why do you suggest targets give up? What are you?
Don’t flatter yourself Stan, I follow Articles related to government sponsored organized stalking.
And American consumers are too cowardly.
Tortured and remotely shocked, brain numbed and now – a remote lobotomy. It’s impossible to get medical records – all the doctors/psychiatrists say they don’t exist. There is denial from police, medical institutions and human rights organizations. Can’t get legal councel or even medical records to find out why they are prescribing drugs that may not even be what they’ve actually prescribed.
All rights removed. Every shred of a life destroyed. Everything broken. This is the experiment in CVT. For what? Nothing. Someone just didn’t like you. That’s all it takes. Someone whom you didn’t know had a previous life of working for an intel agency, even for a short time.
I tried years ago. He’s not interested. He has a stash of docs from the goons’ data supplier, but he won’t lift a finger. I was as disappointed as you might be about that.
I think his old partner Mona’s attitude toward routine torture of dissidents is indicative of his own attitude about the matter.
Mona Holland? Was she Glenn’s partner? I never did figure out her relationship with GG, but she sure made it seem like they were best buds in her comments. Was she an Intercept employee?
Also, do you think the Zersetzung programs you speak of are partisan in nature? As in leftists targeting rightists, or vice-versa?
Mona Holland? I did notice how she’d jump right on any comment mentioning Zersetzung programs in the US and try to ridicule and belittle the commenter. She gave the impression in her comments that she and Glenn Greenwald were buds, or coworkers, or something along those lines. Was she an Intercept employee?
Also, do you think the Zersetzung programs are political in nature, as in lefties targeting righties, or vice-versa?
“…a smile and a wave…” Hmmm…
That reminds me of a number of mass murdering shit stains (patriots) who did just that.
Unquestionably the most successful CVE method is castration. Unfortunately, due to primitive cultural beliefs, it’s unpopular among the target population. The U.S. Government should launch a well financed promotional campaign to counter such negative perceptions, using video games where the operation is carried out on a puppet, to demonstrate its harmlessness.
That won’t work either. My parents were fascists just like you. Now, if they had only neutered them…
Maybe castrating patriots would do the trick.