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 aid from Arab and Muslim groups who allege that university researchers may have contributed to ruling body surveillance The assessment led by Sen Rand Paul R-Ky takes aim at George Washington University s Activity 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 activity 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 disgrace Paul broadcasted an assessment of the project at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Precaution Committee last month on the Transportation Prevention Administration s Quiet Skies watchlist plan He alleged that the George Washington activity s employees may have had an unduly close relationship with the Department of Homeland Measure TSA s parent agency Advocacy groups working on issues that affect Arab and Muslim communities frequent targets of leadership watchlisting efforts since the September attacks welcomed Paul s research of the George Washington project This week s hearing certified what millions suspected Washington insiders weaponized the watchlist system against law-abiding Americans the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Muslim General Affairs Council revealed 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 administration relied on Initiative on Extremism research to add names to TSA watchlists Paul revealed 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 solicited 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 administration they were farming out a little bit Paul commented 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 governing body In particular cases Paul alleged people were trailed only 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 venture has published a publicly available database of January defendants but Paul reported he wants to learn whether TSA relied on non-public information Paul disclosed he was particularly concerned that the George Washington venture had received funding from the federal authorities The initiative was a founding member of a counterterrorism consortium funded by a -year million Department of Homeland Defense grant to work closely with the department s operational units to generate research and educate current and future homeland shield leaders on the latest methods of counterterrorism according to a university press release Usual Accused 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 regime 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 announced at Paul s hearing that he sympathized with the experience of right-wing activists What they are feeling the present 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 reported That is not a partisan predicament it is a due-process matter Paul s scrutiny is only the latest episode to put a spotlight on the effort 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 assessment 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 campaign is not the only so-called counter-extremism project that has come under fire with the changing of the political winds Homeland Prevention 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 effort 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 revealed in April Watching the Watchlists In June Noem broadcasted that she was ending the Quiet Skies watchlist that once included Gabbard who now serves as the director of national intelligence Noem mentioned that cancellation was the upshot of an internal inspection The Department of Homeland Safety has not responded to questions about who conducted the study 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 personnel 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 the majority outspoken voices calling for change Michigan Sen Gary Peters the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Precaution Committee issued a review in calling for reforms that was motivated by the experiences of Arab and Muslim constituents in his state In January a special cabinet 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 Precaution office that investigated civil liberties complaints Peters commented at the watchlist hearing chaired by Paul that internal oversight had been gutted eliminating one of the limited 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