The Politics of Homeland Security
Lauren Burdette
Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security
Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, issued a warning earlier this week regarding right-wing extremist groups. The report’s introduction states, “The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.”
According to The Washington Times, these right-wing radicals “may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration. After Republican and congressional outrage, DHS apologized, saying “Intelligence analysts…ignored objections by civil-liberties officials” before issuing the report.
This apology scares me more than the report itself. If there is actually a danger from right-wing or left-wing extremist groups, I would prefer the agency not hide it because of political pressures. Napolitano was in no way indicating that all Republicans were extreme, nor was she stating that military veterans would become unwarranted targets of surveillance. She was doing her job, issuing a report about threats to the American homeland.
A second report on left-wing extremist groups was conducted and released earlier this year, which (surprise) didn’t make news at all. Catherine Herridge, from Fox News of all places, uncovered this ignored fact and contradicted the talking heads on her station stating, “Well this is an element of the story which has largely gone unreported. One [report] looks at right-wing groups, as you mentioned, and a second is on left-wing groups. Significantly, both were requested by the Bush administration but not finished until President Bush left office.”
Both Republicans and Democrats have crazy, extremist factions—the Animal Liberation Front and Environment Liberation Front certainly vote Democrat, and Timothy McVeigh was a Republican/Libertarian, a US military veteran and member of the NRA, but that in no way means that all environmentalists, military veterans and gun owners are terrorists. Instead of ignoring the extremist elements in each party, it’s much more intelligent and safer for everyone to acknowledge that these extremists exist and for everyone to try to do something to prevent them from turning violent. Getting all offended and self-righteous when those extremists happen to be part of your political constituency doesn’t help anyone.
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