“I have both the privilege and the responsibility as a member of the United States Congress to serve on committees charged with oversight of the President’s Cabinet Members and their agencies. I feel a special duty to oversee issues impacting national security and the protection of American lives. Pursuant to that duty, I recently signed on to five letters to the Inspectors General of five different federal departments charged with national security, asking them to look into concerns over the Administration’s noticeable and demonstrable shift in policy toward the militant Islamist group known as the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Muslim Brotherhood network within the United States became publicly known during the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial (the largest terrorism finance trial in U.S. history) where the evidence showed that the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal in North America is, in their words, to ‘destroy Western civilization from within,’[1] which their own writings have said includes establishing an advisory presence inside top U.S. institutions.
The Brotherhood has also identified 29 groups in the United States as ‘our organizations and organizations of our friends.’[2]
“The letters to the Inspectors General provide many examples that merit concern. First, the Department of Homeland Security granted a secret security clearance to Mohamed Elibiary, a man who had expressed support for Holy Land Foundation trial defendants. Mr. Elibiary also was reported to have been a featured speaker at a conference in honor of notorious radical Islamist Ayatollah Khomeini. The Obama Administration placed Mr. Elibiary on the influential Homeland Security Advisory Council, where he advises on information sharing within the intelligence apparatus......-———Rep. Franks, Franks Statement on IG Letters Concerning Muslim Brotherhood
“Given that the U.S. government has established in federal court, that the Muslim Brotherhood’s mission in the United States is “destroying the Western Civilization from within” — a practice the Brothers call “civilization jihad” — we believe that the apparent involvement of those with such ties raises serious security concerns that warrant your urgent attention.”
As noted in “The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within,” a product of the Center for Security (Muslim Brotherhood in America website), of particular concern is the testimony provided the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on February 10, 2011 by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper. On that occasion, he declared:
“The term ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ … is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam. They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera….In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally.”
“In light of the ongoing events in the Middle East and the rapid ascendency of the Muslim Brotherhood, there has yet to be an assessment of how Director Clapper and the intelligence community got their analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood so inherently flawed, the implications we could continue to live with for decades to come . . .”
-——Sincerely,
Rep Michelle Bachmann
Rep Louie Gohmert
Rep Trent Franks
Rep Thomas Rooney
Rep Lynn Westmoreland
Members of Congress