Hearing of the National Security Subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. DeSantis, Hearing on Combating Homegrown Extremism

Hearing

In the words of Department of Homeland Security Secretary
John Kelly, the U.S. is experiencing an "unprecedented spike in
homegrown terrorism."
Currently, the FBI has open terrorism investigations in all 50
states.
As of June 2017, the U.S. government has charged 128
individuals with offenses related to ISIS over the last 3 years.
Radical Islamic extremism is the primary driver of this problem
and deserves the government's immediate attention.
In recent years the federal government has sought to combat this
problem under the guise of a program called "countering violent
extremism," or CVE.
Three cities were used to conduct pilot programs: Los Angeles,
Boston and Minneapolis.
Minneapolis is a particularly troublesome area, as it is a major
center of Islamic terrorist activity.
The region is home to the largest concentration of Somali
refugees and is the epicenter for domestic radicalization.From 2007 to 2015, over 20 Somali-Americans are known to
have left Minnesota to join the al-Shabaab terrorist organization
in Somalia.
Over the last three years, federal prosecutors have charged 13
individuals from Minnesota for connections to the Islamic State.
Minnesota is second only to New York, which has four times as
many residents, in number of ISIS terrorists charged.
The terrorist problem in Minnesota led former U.S. Senator
Norm Coleman to warn the state is in danger of becoming "the
Land of 10,000 Terrorists."
I visited Minneapolis in December of last year to meet with
federal and local law enforcement and community groups. The
area truly is ground zero for terrorist recruitment.
I invited Richard Thornton, the FBI's Special Agent in Charge
of the Minneapolis Division, testify today about the problems
our country is facing there.
Instead, the Bureau has sent Assistant Director Kerry Sleeper
from Headquarters with the expectation that he can speak to
Thornton's specific experience and interactions in Minneapolis.
I look forward to hearing specifics about FBI's efforts in
Minneapolis so the Committee can evaluate the effectiveness of
the CVE approach.Our law enforcement and intelligence community have their
hands full with preventing radicalization and interdicting
terrorists before they commit heinous acts in the name of
religion.
The Department of Homeland Security leads the governments
Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) efforts.
CVE refers to "proactive actions to counter efforts by extremists
to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers to violence."
Currently, the Department still promotes Obama-era policies
related to CVE.
Guidance developed under the Obama Administration
specifically limits any intelligence or law enforcement
investigative activity through CVE.
By leaving this information on the table, CVE efforts are
missing opportunities to identify and disrupt terrorist plots.
Obama-era guidance also fails to properly identify the
immediate threat of radical Islamic extremism.
The nearly 4,000 word October 2016 CVE strategy does not
mention radical Islamic terrorism at all.
The Obama Administration's CVE strategy also relied heavily
on non-governmental organizations with vague and
immeasurable goals.One week before President Trump's inauguration, former DHS
Secretary Jeh Johnson announced the grant recipients of $10
million appropriated by Congress for CVE efforts.
Their selections reflect a preference for working through
community-based organizations, some with questionable
programs and immeasurable goals.
For example, the Obama Administration selected for funding an
organization who suggested countering violent extremism
through "collaborative songwriting, multimedia, and
performance."
Another suggested hiring college students to make video games.
This was not a serious attempt to stop the flow of foreign
fighters to ISIS.
After President Trump took office, DHS froze the $10 million in
grants, reviewed the organizations, and announced they were
removing 11 Obama grant recipients and adding 6 new ones.
A Committee review of the organizations indicates a preference
for law enforcement organizations over community based
organizations.
Despite this positive step, some of the law enforcement
organizations designated for funding have problematic agendas.For example, the City of Houston's application relied on so-
called community experts with vocally partisan and anti-Israel
agendas.
The City of Denver submitted an application that prioritized an
agenda unrelated to CVE, suggesting working through
organizations such as Black Lives Matter.
The Committee requested the applications of all grant recipients
to determine what taxpayer dollars were funding. But DHS has
still not produced these applications.
The Committee requested a briefing on the rationale for the
selections of the grant recipients. But DHS refused.
Today, the Subcommittee seeks to understand what this
Administration's policy is for countering violent extremism.
According to DHS this policy is currently under review, and
DHS has declined to share any details about this process,
including when this review is supposed to be complete and
which organizations are participating.
For Congress' immediate purposes, we must determine what is
driving DHS's agenda: Obama-era assumptions or the
President's pledge to put political correctness aside and defeat
ISIS at home and abroad.
We will question witnesses on whether the FBI and DHS are
properly vetting organizations and individuals who participate in
the CVE program.We will also hear from non-governmental witnesses on the role
of the private sector in CVE efforts and the scope of violent
extremism problem facing the United States.
I thank the witnesses for their attendance and look forward to
their testimony.

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