Posted on 04/13/2016 3:35:44 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
DETROIT – During a visit to Detroit, FBI Director James Comey said that the rise of Islamophobia has been a concerning issue to the government agency.
“It worries me,” Comey said. "What we tell folks is that if you think something is going on, then tell us. It’s a huge part of our responsibility that we take very seriously–to make sure people aren’t picked on, bullied, harmed, scared or intimidated by virtue of the way they look, where they worship, or how they act.”
This marks Comey’s second visit as the FBI Director to Detroit. He visited the city in April 2014 as part of his efforts to frequent all 56 FBI regional offices. Comey has seven years remaining in his tenure as the FBI Director.
His latest visit to the motor city was led by a busy itinerary that included meeting with community leaders on Tuesday morning. Among them were Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News; Ali Jawed, founder of the LAHC; Chaldean leader Nabby Yono; Sueheila Amen and Dr. Hoda Amine.
Comey addressed numerous questions from the community leaders during the brief gathering. He said Congress is pressuring him to personally guarantee background checks on refugees who are settling in the U.S., an obstacle that he said was difficult.
Siblani raised concerns about local residents being wrongfully placed on terrorist watch lists and having little to no avenues in getting their names removed. Come said he would look into the issue with Homeland Security to find a resolution.
Comey noted that the FBI force lacks diversity, and that one of his priorities for the remainder of his tenure will be to hire minorities to work for the Bureau, in order to accurately reflect the country’s population. He said currently, the FBI's force is 83 percent White.
During a press conference at the FBI Detroit Field Office on Tuesday afternoon, leaders that included U.S. District Attorney Barbra McQuade, Detroit Police Chief James Craig, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and FBI Special Agent in Charge of Detroit Division David P. Gelios, were in attendance to signify a unified front between the FBI and local law enforcement.
Comey said he was astonished at the level of communication that has formed between the community and local law enforcement officials. He added that the relationship is a model that needs to be implemented in other regions.
“Their overwhelming message to me actually surprised me,” Comey said of the local leaders he had met earlier in the day. “They said ‘we believe that this area is a model for cooperation across a variety of relationships that are troubled elsewhere in the country.’ One of my hopes is that I can steal whatever that magic potion is that we’ve spread on all these good folks and in law enforcement, and sprinkle it other places across the country.”
Comey said the FBI’s top objective is to combat counter-terrorism, specifically relating to ISIS attempting to recruit lone Americans. The FBI said there are various methods in ISIS’ attempt to appeal to troubled individuals. The first involves swaying them to leave the country. “They come at us through social media in an effort to recruit Americans,” Comey said. “To travel to their so called caliphate to live a life off glory and participate in the final battle between good and evil on god’s side…it resonates with troubled souls in the United States. It has over the last couple of years.”
Comey said another element of ISIS’ operation involves encouraging Americans to carry out deadly attacks in the U.S.
He said this method is also primarily orchestrated through social media–mostly on Twitter.
“It’s the reason we have investigations all over the country,” Comey said. “We try to understand where people are on the path from consuming to acting. That is a very difficult thing for us to try and decipher.”
Comey said the FBI is constantly depending on local and state authorities to help them identify and servile suspected individuals. “It requires us to conduct surveillance of someone, to understand where they are going,” Comey said. “With the help of our state, local and federal partners, we try to keep track of people who may be headed towards a violent destination.”
The FBI Blitz comes 24 hours after the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) announced a lawsuit, challenging the FBI’s ‘terrorist watch list.’
CAIR-MI filed the suit on behalf of 18 American Muslims, including a four-year-old child, who were allegedly placed on the list without reason or notice.
Comey briefly addressed the lawsuit, stating that it wouldn’t make sense to inform suspected individuals who are being monitored.
“It’s hard to see how that would work operationally,” Comey said. “Even the biggest critics of our watch list would surely agree that there are some people out there who are really of concern to all of us. So how would it work if we would notify them that ‘we might know you are bad?’”
He added that there should be a system in place that would assist wrongfully suspected individuals in challenging their name being on the list.
“I think the best way for all of us is to find procedures that if someone believes they are being encountered in a way that doesn’t make sense, that they’d have the opportunity to raise that,” Comey said.
Comey said the FBI depends on community members—law enforcement officials, educators, and religious leaders, in helping them identify people who have been radicalized.
“We think our part is to build relationships so we are able to share information,” Comey said. “Having a good enough relationship so that people who don’t want to see violence--alert us when they see something that is concerning.”
What a tool.
Twenty years ago he mistakenly thought that Muslims would assimilate. ‘Islamophobia’ Author Admits: ‘I Thought Muslims Would Blend into Britain… I Should Have Known Better’
Phobia = thought crime.
FBI Director: Rise of Islam is a ‘concerning issue’
This is the correct statement.
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