DHS’s New ‘Intel Experts Group’ to Provide ‘Actionable’ Info on Those With ‘Extremist Ideologies’ – Like Catholics?
A new “Homeland Security Intelligence Experts Group” – including signees to the debunked Hunter Biden laptop “Russian disinformation” letter – has been created to provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information it can use to target its envisioned “threat landscape” of Americans.
The new group’s members will cast a wide net, infiltrating even campuses and tribal groups, in search of “actionable intelligence,” DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said Tuesday, in a press release announcing creation of the new spy network:
“The security of the American people depends on our capacity to collect, generate, and disseminate actionable intelligence to our federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, campus, and private sector partners.”
The group of “experts” will target perceived “violent extremist ideologies” and “domestic violent extremists,” the release notes.
The Biden Administration already considers traditional Catholics – such as those who attend the Latin Mass – to be terrorist threats, based on their ideology, Fox News reported back in February:
Friday’s letter comes after an internal memo produced by the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, Field Office on Jan. 23, 2023, was leaked. That memo, according to the AGs [Attorneys General], "identifies 'radical-traditionalist Catholic[s]’ as potential ‘racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.’"
“The FBI’s Richmond Division would like to protect Virginians from the threat of ‘white supremacy,’ which it believes has found a home within Catholics who prefer the Latin Mass,” Former FBI Special Agent and Whistleblower Kyle Seraphin revealed in a DC Undercover expose’ – noting that the FBI wanted to recruit people to spy on the Catholic Church:
“An intelligence analyst within the Richmond Field Office of the FBI released in a new finished intelligence product dated January 23, 2023, on Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVE) and their interests in ‘Radical-Traditionalist Catholics’ or RTCs. The document assesses with ‘high confidence’ the FBI can mitigate the threat of Radical-Traditionalist Catholics by recruiting sources within the Catholic Church.”
The memo prompted an investigation by members of the House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee probing the weaponization of government:
“The internal documents — obtained last month by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who are also members of the so-called Weaponization Subcommittee — showed the FBI planned to use churches as ‘new avenues for tripwire and source development.’ The federal law enforcement agency also aimed to specifically target "mainline Catholic parishes" as part of its efforts.”
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland feigned outrage in an effort to avoid answering when asked about the FBI memo by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ). Asked “Do you agree that Traditional Catholics are violent extremists, yes or no?” a hostile Garland repeatedly refused to answer, before finally saying “No.”
While DHS claims the Intel Experts Group will provide “a wide range of views and perspectives,” analysis of its composition suggests otherwise.
“Included in this group of ‘experts’ are three former officials who signed onto the October 2020 letter calling the Hunter Biden laptop ‘Russian disinformation,’” The Post Millennial explains:
“CNN National Security Analyst and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Senior Fellow and of the Intelligence Project and former CIA Operations Officer Paul Kolbe, and Fordham University School of Law Distinguished Fellow and former CIA Director John Brennan were all named to the ‘Experts Group.’”
The members of the spy network “should set off alarm bells,” Townhall Editor Katie Pavlich warned Tuesday:
“Given the weaponization of government by the Biden administration against domestic political opponents, the language being used and the scope of the group's work is highly alarming.”
...
“Clapper lied under oath during congressional testimony about the federal government spying on American citizens. Brennan called Trump a traitor, implying he should be put to death.”
“DHS has 260,000 employees and yet, Mayorkas just appointed liars James Clapper and John Brennan to a new ‘Homeland Security Intelligence Experts Group,’“ Pavich says in a pinned post on social media.
“This is horrifying,” Hot Air’s Karen Townsend wrote Wednesday, echoing Pavich’s concern and outrage about the appointments of Clapper and Brennan:
“Just when we thought these lying liars were out of government service – at any level – and were put out to pasture to be paid contributors on CNN and MSNBC, they come back. Mayorkas has brought them back.”
…
“It’s unbelievable. Both of these have been disgraced for their roles in promoting the Russia, Russia, Russia story made up and paid for by Hillary Clinton and they both signed the letter stating that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian misinformation in 2020 in order to interfere with the presidential election.”
Former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper says he has no regrets about signing the widely-publicized, discredited statement calling news of Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop “Russian disinformation”
Even though the false claims in the letter may have misled and influenced voters prior to the 2020 election, Clapper says he stands by his decision to sign it, in a statement he provided to The New York Post:
“Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph. I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”
AG Garland Feigns Outrage in Effort to Avoid Testifying When Asked if He Thinks ‘Traditional Catholics Are Violent Extremists’
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland snapped at Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) over the congressman’s excoriation of the FBI’s spying on Traditional Catholics before attempting to dodge a question of whether or not he believes those Traditional Catholics are “extremists.”
On Wednesday, Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee concerning oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). When it came time for his questions, Rep. Van Drew grilled Garland for his leadership, or lack thereof, and declared, “I hold you accountable for the anti-Catholic memo. Imagine sending agents undercover into Roman Catholic churches because they were supposedly domestic terrorists.”
Rep. Van Drew then asked Garland, “Do you agree that Traditional Catholics are violent extremists, yes or no?”
In response, Garland snapped back at Rep. Van Drew, saying “the idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, is so absurd!” Rep. Van Drew dismissed Garland’s ostensible outrage out of hand, retorting:
“Mr. Attorney General, it was your FBI that did this! It was your FBI that was sending — and we have the emails, we have the memos — were sending undercover agents into Catholic Churches!”
In response, Garland claimed that he was “appalled by that memo.” Rep. Van Drew repeated his question, “are they extremists or not, Attorney General?”
After repeated questioning, Garland finally answered: “Catholics are not extremists, no.” When asked by Rep. Van Drew whether anybody had been fired for issuing the memo, Garland responded, “I don’t know the answer to that.”
The memo referenced by Rep. Van Drew, which was revealed in August, illustrates how FBI agents in Richmond, Virginia, as well as in Oregon and California “were sent out to spy on Catholics,” particularly those that favor the Traditional Latin Mass. Ostensibly, these Catholics were targeted for FBI surveillance because of alleged ties to “extremist ideological beliefs.”
Even if Garland is being genuine in his belief that the memo was “appalling,” it evidently was not appalling enough to warrant an apology or any form of disciplinary action against the personnel involved.
Given their classification as threats by the FBI, it seems that Traditional Catholics may continue to be placed in the Biden administration’s crosshairs as potential enemies of the state.
On Tuesday, the DHS announced that it has created a new “Homeland Security Intelligence Experts Group,” which will collect “actionable” intelligence on those holding “violent extremist ideologies.”
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