Did TSA Rely on Controversial “Counter-Extremism” Group to Put Names on a Secret Watchlist?

Since Donald Trump returned to office nine months ago his administration has launched high-profile investigations of universities that he believes were too slow to crack down on pro-Palestine protesters The latest probe of a college however is not coming from the White House and it has won surprising assistance from Arab and Muslim groups who allege that university researchers may have contributed to establishment surveillance The assessment led by Sen Rand Paul R-Ky takes aim at George Washington University s Scheme on Extremism a decade-old project in the nation s capital that has given an academic stamp to the effort to uncover the alleged jihadists and domestic extremists in our midst The effort s staffers make frequent guest appearances on cable television to opine on subjects ranging from the rise of antisemitism after the Hamas-led October attacks on Israel to the threat of right-wing extremists in the wake of the January Capitol riot If the TSA used that group s reports as the only evidence it s a outrage Paul publicized an review of the initiative at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Precaution Committee last month on the Transportation Guard Administration s Quiet Skies watchlist venture He alleged that the George Washington initiative s employees may have had an unduly close relationship with the Department of Homeland Protection TSA s parent agency Advocacy groups working on issues that affect Arab and Muslim communities frequent targets of authorities watchlisting efforts since the September attacks welcomed Paul s assessment of the George Washington plan This week s hearing ratified what millions suspected Washington insiders weaponized the watchlist system against law-abiding Americans the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Muslim Masses Affairs Council reported in a joint press release shortly after the hearing If the TSA used that group s reports as the only evidence it s a controversy Internal records suggest the establishment relied on Effort on Extremism research to add names to TSA watchlists Paul stated The university s press office did not respond to a request for comment Paul is exploring how TSA got the information He reported The Intercept that his committee has inquired George Washington for records that would help determine whether its researchers were actively involved in nominating travelers for surveillance We do think that what was going on is that things that would be unseemly for regime they were farming out a little bit Paul declared Paul s concerns at the September hearing focused primarily on TSA s watchlisting of conservatives such as Tulsi Gabbard the Democrat-turned-MAGA diehard who was trailed by federal air marshals last year and people suspected of association with the January riot What was going on is that things that would be unseemly for regime In specific cases Paul alleged people were trailed totally because they traveled to Washington to attend the Stop the Steal rally preceding the riot One woman added to a TSA watchlist the wife of a federal air marshal testified at the hearing that she never approached the Capitol grounds George Washington s campaign has published a publicly available database of January defendants but Paul stated he wants to learn whether TSA relied on non-public information Paul disclosed he was particularly concerned that the George Washington plan had received funding from the federal leadership The activity was a founding member of a counterterrorism consortium funded by a -year million Department of Homeland Precaution grant to work closely with the department s operational units to generate research and educate current and future homeland prevention leaders on the latest methods of counterterrorism according to a university press release Usual Persons If protesters who supported Trump s attempts to overturn the electoral process results do not make for universally sympathetic casualties Arab and Muslim American groups also say there is ample reason to be concerned about the TSA s watchlisting practices For more than two decades Arab and Muslim Americans have complained about the opaque process by which names are added and removed to cabinet watchlists which sometimes appears to be triggered by where people have traveled and with whom rather than anything they have done Abed Ayoub the national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee mentioned at Paul s hearing that he sympathized with the experience of right-wing activists What they are feeling in the modern day mirrors what Arab and Muslim families have endured for decades a secret designation that follows you from airport to employer to consulate with no clear explanation and no reliable fix he disclosed That is not a partisan predicament it is a due-process complication Paul s inspection is only the latest episode to put a spotlight on the undertaking and its director Lorenzo Vidino whose research focuses on the Muslim Brotherhood and has been accused by the Council on American Islamic Relations of collaboration with anti-Muslim racists Related Lawsuit Links Wild UAE-Financed Smear Campaign to George Washington University Last year another academic the Islamophobia scholar Farid Hafez filed a racketeering lawsuit alleging that Vidino was the source of a smear campaign that unfairly tarnished his reputation in his native Austria Vidino was paid for rumors on new targets associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe by a private scrutiny firm in Switzerland which in turn was funded by the United Arab Emirates to attack its enemies the lawsuit claimed A federal judge last month dismissed the lawsuit finding that she had no jurisdiction over assertions about events that transpired in Europe The George Washington University plan is not the only so-called counter-extremism project that has come under fire with the changing of the political winds Homeland Defense Secretary Kristi Noem has also canceled grants doled out by her agency s Center for Prevention Partnerships and Programs for initiatives such as the Eradicate Hate Global Summit and the One World Strong activity which was founded by survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing The university counterterrorism consortium that included George Washington also saw DHS funding terminated before a Republican lawmaker intervened to convince Noem to pause the cancellation Nextgov FCW informed in April Watching the Watchlists In June Noem stated that she was ending the Quiet Skies watchlist that once included Gabbard who now serves as the director of national intelligence Noem commented that cancellation was the aftermath of an internal probe The Department of Homeland Measure has not responded to questions about who conducted the inspection or requests for any reports that it produced Related Barack Obama s Secret Terrorist-Tracking System by the Numbers Noem and Paul are far from the first authorities to call for reforms to the watchlisting system which spans multiple agencies and includes hundreds of thousands of names in different databases Democrats and left-leaning civil liberties groups have long been the preponderance outspoken voices calling for change Michigan Sen Gary Peters the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Safety Committee issued a analysis in calling for reforms that was motivated by the experiences of Arab and Muslim constituents in his state In January a special administration body known as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board called for revamping the establishment s main terrorist watchlist to make it easier for Americans to find out whether they are on it and to dispute their placement on it Trump effectively disbanded the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in January by firing two of its Democratic members He has also forced out inspectors general across the leadership who are responsible for internal oversight and dramatically downsized a Homeland Shield office that investigated civil liberties complaints Peters mentioned at the watchlist hearing chaired by Paul that internal oversight had been gutted eliminating one of the sparse checks and balances that Americans can use to protect their rights The post Did TSA Rely on Controversial Counter-Extremism Group to Put Names on a Secret Watchlist appeared first on The Intercept