U.S. looks at ways to head off home-grown extremism
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-counterextremism-20100527,0,6811366.story
Terrorist plots spur a search for a new strategy, but what is
government's role in fighting an ideology?
By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau
May 26, 2010
After more than a dozen home-grown terrorist plots involving American
Muslims since President Obama took office, the administration is
moving to step up its scattershot efforts to counter domestic
radicalism, prompting a debate over the proper role of government in
addressing ideological threats.
Unlike Britain and other countries in Europe, the U.S. government
does not have a national strategy to combat Islamic extremism, and no
single agency in the vast American national security and intelligence
bureaucracy is in charge of understanding and addressing the home-grown threat.
But since the Times Square bombing attempt this month, officials have
begun to plan ways to ramp up.
On May 13, an advisory commission led by former FBI and CIA Director
William Webster presented Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano with recommendations designed to boost her department's
efforts against domestic violent extremism of all sorts. The
recommendations are carefully worded and do not specify Muslims or
Islam. They focus on community-based policing, under which the
Homeland Security Department would step up training and
information-sharing programs with local law enforcement.
Administration officials said other responses also were being
discussed, including drawing lessons from Britain and other countries
in Europe.
The National Security Council six months ago convened a policy
committee to examine what some call "counter-radicalization" efforts.
The council has met twice with the president on the issue, according
to a senior administration official involved in the effort.
Still, the idea of the government playing a role in countering
radicalization provokes uneasiness among both U.S. officials and
civil liberties activists, who recall a legacy of abuses in the 1950s
and '60s in the pursuit of communists and leftists.
Much of the government's counter-terrorism apparatus consists of law
enforcement agencies that now see their mission as investigating
threats, crimes and conspiracies not radical ideas that, however
loathsome, are protected by the Constitution.
"I don't think it's the responsibility of the U.S. government to
develop these plans," said Brett Hovington, chief of the FBI's
Community Relations Unit, which includes a broad program of outreach
to Muslim Americans. "The communities have to be accountable for the
actions of community members."
But that view cedes much of the ideological playing field to a
jihadist narrative, say those who favor greater government
involvement in countering extremist forms of expression. Many of the
Americans implicated in plots were self-radicalized, according to a
report this month by the Rand Corp., and their interactions on the
Internet often played a key role.
The Rand report documents 14 plots by U.S.-based Muslim extremists in
2009 and 46 since Sept. 11, 2001. The list, compiled by Rand
terrorism expert Brian Jenkins, includes the case of Najibullah Zazi,
a permanent U.S. resident from Afghanistan who pleaded guilty in
February to planning a suicide attack in New York, possibly on the
subway; and that of Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army major charged with
opening fire in November on fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood, Texas, killing 13.
The case of Faisal Shahzad, the Connecticut resident suspected in the
Times Square attempt, marks the 15th plot with apparent U.S. roots
since Obama took office.
"We don't really think that domestic intelligence has received enough
attention, especially [given] the evolving nature of the terrorist
threat," former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who was co-chairman
of the Sept. 11 commission, told the House Homeland Security
Committee last week.
In Britain, the government's Home Office posts the country's national
counter-radicalization plan on its website. The British strategy is
designed to "challenge the ideology behind violent extremism and
support mainstream voices," according to British documents. The
government spends about $200 million a year to do it.
One project in the town of Luton, called Ambassadors for Islam,
trains a group of young Muslims "to counter extremist ideologies,
dispel misapprehensions and develop their role as citizens,"
according to a British government document.
Another funds the Quilliam Foundation, a think tank staffed by former
Islamic radicals that speaks to Muslims in Britain and abroad in an
effort to counter the extremism narrative.
Maajid Nawaz, the foundation director, said that battling terrorism
while ignoring radicalization is akin to "a surgeon having to
amputate a limb, even though for months he could have cured the
disease with antibiotics." Nawaz forsook his radical beliefs while in
an Egyptian prison from 2002 to 2006.
The view in the U.S., however, is different.
"The consensus across the government is that you can't fund
nonprofits to do counter-radicalization because you're picking one
idea over another, and they're both legal," said Mohamed Elibiary,
president of the Freedom and Justice Foundation, a Texas-based Muslim
American group.
The U.S. has had a troubled history with domestic surveillance and
counter-radicalism programs. Under operations between 1956 and 1971
known as COINTELPRO, short for Counter-Intelligence Program, the FBI
sought to infiltrate and disrupt groups it deemed to be subversive.
Investigations found serious abuses, including widespread spying on
Americans solely for political purposes.
"On the one hand one would like to see a more coherent effort" at
countering domestic radicalism, Jenkins said in an interview. "On the
other hand, a federal government 'Muslim American policy' could
become a Frankenstein's monster. I'm not sure you want to go there."
Developing links between Muslim communities and law enforcement is an
approach that enjoys wide agreement. Los Angeles, where the police
and sheriff's departments have extensive Muslim outreach programs, is
frequently cited as a model.
"You talk about all this technology … the cameras, the bomb detectors
all that's necessary," said Michael Downing, L.A.'s deputy chief
for counterterrorism. "But the real 'ring of steel' is the human one
making sure your communities are attuned to and understand the
nature of this threat and how they can be involved in countering the
nature of the threat."
L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, who hired a Pakistan-born Muslim
chaplain and set up a Muslim advisory group, said that when Muslims
trust law enforcement, extremists won't find fertile ground.
The idea, he said, is to make sure there is always "someone who knows
a friendly cop, and that friendly cop is sensitive enough to deal
with the information in a confidential way."
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