DHS’s source for its right wing extremist domestic terrorist watch list: blogs, CNN, HuffPo, wacko websites
I reported in March that the Department of Homeland Security had placed “anti-abortion activists” along with war veterans, those opposed to illegal immigration, and more on a “rightwing extremist” domestic terrorist watch list, per a leaked report.
In April, Americans for Limited Government filed a Freedom of Information request to find the source(s) of DHS’s information.
Today ALG released the DHS’s response, and it’s remarkable.
Forget the FBI or CIA or other intelligence sources we don’t even know about. The Department of HOMELAND SECURITY got its information from the media – including far left media like the Huffington Post, MSNBC, and CNN – websites, and blogs. Here’s a sampling from the DHS response letter (click to enlage)…
Read excerpts from ALG’s press release below.
Here was a Fox News report on this today:
I am at a loss for words at what has so quickly become of the executive branch of our government, a bunch of liberal kids and idiots now in control. And MSM is wantonly ignoring it all, so the American people don’t know the half of what’s going on.
Excerpts of ALG’s press release:
ALG President Bill Wilson today condemned the methodology used by the DHS 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….
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.”
“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.'”…
Wilson added… “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“….
“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….
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.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Wow. Surely this cannot be the only thing that they base their intelligence on???? Please tell me our goverment is not in the hands of people that incompetent.
Posted by: Amy Philo at August 11, 2009 5:17 PM
“Wow. Surely this cannot be the only thing that they base their intelligence on???? Please tell me our goverment is not in the hands of people that incompetent.”
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“WOW!”.
That is the first word that came to my mind.
I would rather ‘dons’ of DHS be more incompetent than what they would have us believe. Then we would have less to be concerned about.
We are not witnessing misfeasance. It is mostly malfeasance.
The ideologues who are pushing this government and the people it is supposed to represent ever leftward are highly intelligent shrewd manipulators.
This non-response by the bosses at DHS is a diversionary delaying tactic.
I am skeptical, at the least, that this pile of diversionary bovine scatulation represents DHS’s collection of data on people they perceive as possible or probable sources of domestic terrorists.
I am not buying their offings or drinkin’ their Kool Aide.
ALG cannot be naive enough to accept this drivel as an acceptable response to their freedom of information request.
yor bro ken
“…no evidence that the economic downturn or the election of Barack Obama that is fueling any actual ‘resurgence’ of ‘extremism.'”…
It is the policies of the Obama administration and the leftist dominated Congress which is fueling the current controversy over ‘health care reform’ and provoking retirees to get in the face of their elected representatives and repudiate the insanity their elected officials are contemplating.
I hope you leftist liberal humanists who voted for Obama and company are taking note of how they are portraying Americans who disagree with them.
These ‘Americans’ are the ones who fought wars to save the world from fascism and communism.
Now their own elected representatives are lableing them as Nazi’a and racisists simply because they deeply and strongly disagree with the direction the president and the congress are trying to take this country.
Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that one day men/women would judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
Today when you question pbho’s judgement and character his surrogates resort to the well worn charge of ‘racisism’, without responding to the substance of their critics complaints.
If you question the temperament and judgement of the ‘wise latina’ nominated and confirmed to the supreme court you are labeled a bigot.
Should a sexist and a racist be considered, much less confirmed to the supreme court?
Is there not a another person, male/female, who is supremely more qualified than Sonia Sotomayor?
Is she the absolue best that the ‘one’ can find to fill the vacancy?
Doesn’t his nomination of her call his judgement into question?
yor bro ken
Oh. My. Word. I really am at a loss…
So apparently Satan also has a sense of humor. Good to know, I suppose…
My god, you’re right – it was so much better with a bunch if fascists idiot old men in charge, not those DAMNED LIBERALS.
Sweet jesus call me home!
You prolifers do know “the fix is in”, just like “dead fish Rahmbo” said “never let a good crisis go to waste”, they started with this bogus report calling prolifers and vets who served in Iraq and Afganistan “potential terrorist”, now they label the elderly and disabled as “Nazis”. Wow! They really believe the American people are drinking the Kool-aid. Talk about fascism and socialist propaganda, you could NOT make up this stuff. The “Chicago Way” and the Democratic political machine is going national folks. Please America don’t buy it. God help our nation.
Myron,
Former President Bush gets credit for an awful lot, doesn’t he? Depending on whether or not it’s convenient, he was either a bumbling moron or a evil genius.
Did you even read the reports that were issued?
In retrospect, it’s no great surprise that the liberal report issued addressed only threats of an internet-based kind (ie, hacking into federal databases, corrupting files, etc)…
The right-wing report, on the other hand, targeted any and all right wing persons ‘dedicated to a single issue or cause’, I believe that was the exact wording, although it may have been a single ’cause or issue’. And then went on to additionally address the threat of veterans. Of course, this being in the right-wing extremist report, it really was only dealing with right-wing vets.
Kind-of a broad group of people to consider a threat based on some online research… Dontcha think? That doesn’t concern you at all?
Just because you didn’t like Bush doesn’t make him a fascist. You can hate him if you’re a pacifist, or you can like him if you’re a pacifist because, after all, no president in history did more for Darfur, HIV/AIDS research, and Africa in general than him.
I’m just sayin’…
Obama, come and get me.
Vannah, pacifists forget that only in the US can live peacefully as pacifists. They can do so because others are willing to die to protect them even when they are not.
The info revealed in the FOIA is frightening in the sense that the DHS used biased media reports to make up a phony baloney piece of crap propaganda report with only one purpose. To demonize anyone who disagrees with Our Dear Leader’s agenda.
Bubba Clinton wasted tax payer money on a simlar report. “The Communication Stream Of Conspiracy Commerce.”
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
The next time PBHO or Robert Gibbs spout off about Fox News spreading disinformation, someone should remind them that DHS considers them a credible source :-P
Well this makes Nixon’s “enemies list” look like prehistoric scratching on a rock…….
DANG…if this is the source of his info for something as critical as Homeland Defense…guess how wrong his other sources would be?
What’s wrong with this? The Department of Commerce guys get their report information from the World of Warcraft auction house.
This is incredible. I can’t believe that the folks in Obama’s DHS are so blinded by their politics, or stupid, that they would think any of this is valid information.
They really think Americans are stupid… that is a bad mistake.
“They really think Americans are stupid… that is a bad mistake.”
Posted by: LB at August 12, 2009 5:18 PM
I agree. Their condescension towards Americans is incredible. How many times have we heard them say “the American people are not sophisticated enough to understand this..” or “they don’t know what is best for them…we do”?
As one particularly astute activist (‘nazi/mobster’) recently observed about his own lack of ‘rhetorical flourish’ not adversly effecting his ‘B.S.’ detector:
“I may not have sophisticated language but I know a liar when I hear one.”
Or as former Governor of Texas, and now dearly departed, Ann Richards once retorted, “Don’t go peein down my leg and try to tell me it’s rainin.”
yor bro ken
Myron,
After reading your bizarre rants I must agree that Jesus should call you home.
Don’t forget the sun screen, where you are going your going to need it.
Posted by: kbhvac at August 12, 2009 7:03 PM
Haha!
Cohen is the best political writer in the UK and as usual is right.The strand in the Left which hated Blair for removing Saddam Hussein is at the root of Browns accession.