McCaul Statement on Conclusion of White House CVE Summit

Statement

Today, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement on the conclusion of the Obama administration's summit on countering violent extremism (CVE):

Chairman McCaul: "Sadly, this was a summit without substance. The president spent more time this week talking about how America is "not at war with Islam' than he did laying out a credible strategy for defeating the warped ideology of the jihadists who have hijacked a religion for their own twisted means. Americans understand we are not at war with Islam. But, we will not defeat these fanatics if we refuse to define them for what they are--violent Islamist extremists.

"Instead of a real plan for rolling back and defeating Islamist terrorist groups, we got empty rhetoric from the president and the announcement of "new' initiatives that are really a rehash of old programs. Worse still, the president proposed more meetings and summits to tackle the problem. We don't need more summits. We need a real strategy from this president, and we need it now."

Last week, Chairman McCaul laid out his 7-point plan to defeat violent Islamist extremism and protect Americans from this terrorist threat. Chairman McCaul has also sent numerous letters to the White House expressing his concern for the way they are handling this threat, with no response.

In addition, Chairman McCaul and Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., announced they will soon introduce the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grants Act which will assist state and local authorities on the frontlines of combating domestic radicalization by authorizing the use of Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security grants to deter, detect, and disrupt radical Islamist extremists' efforts to influence and recruit Americans.

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