U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

27–393 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018

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IDEOLOGY AND TERROR: UNDERSTANDING 

THE TOOLS, TACTICS, AND TECHNIQUES OF 

VIOLENT EXTREMISM 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

JUNE 14, 2017 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/ 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

( 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

JON TESTER, Montana 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

GARY C. PETERS, Michigan 

MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

KAMALA D. HARRIS, California 

CHRISTOPHER R. HIXON, Staff Director 

GABRIELLE D’ADAMO SINGER, Chief Counsel 

DANIEL P. LIPS, Policy Director 

MARGARET E. DAUM, Minority Staff Director 

JULIE G. KLEIN, Minority Professional Staff Member 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 

BONNI E. DINERSTEIN, Hearing Clerk 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Johnson ............................................................................................... 1 

Senator McCaskill ............................................................................................ 3 

Senator Hassan ................................................................................................. 17 

Senator Harris .................................................................................................. 18 

Senator Heitkamp ............................................................................................ 21 

Senator Peters .................................................................................................. 24 

Senator Daines ................................................................................................. 30 

Prepared statements: 

Senator Johnson ............................................................................................... 35 

Senator McCaskill ............................................................................................ 36 

WITNESSES 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University ..... 5 

Asra Q. Nomani, Co-Founder, Muslim Reform Movement .................................. 6 

John Lenczowski, Ph.D., Founder and President, The Institute of World Politics ......................................................................................................................... 8

Hon. Michael E. Leiter, Former Director, National Counterterrorism Center ... 9 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Hirsi Ali, Ayaan: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 

Leiter, Hon. Michael E.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 9 

Lenczowski, John Ph.D.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 8 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 110 

Nomani, Asra Q.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 65 

APPENDIX 

Sikh Coalition statement submitted for the Record ............................................. 127 

Responses to post-hearing questions for the Record 

Ms. Hirsi Ali ..................................................................................................... 130 

Ms. Nomani ....................................................................................................... 130 

Mr. Lenczonwski ............................................................................................... 151 

Mr. Leiter .......................................................................................................... 155 

(1) 

IDEOLOGY AND TERROR: UNDERSTANDING 

THE TOOLS, TACTICS, AND TECHNIQUES OF 

VIOLENT EXTREMISM 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017 

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Johnson, Lankford, Daines, McCaskill, Tester, 

Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, and Harris. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JOHNSON 

Chairman JOHNSON. Before we start this hearing, let me just ask 

everybody in the audience to be respectful, no disturbances. This 

will be the warning. If there are further disturbances, if the witnesses are interrupted, if the questions are interrupted, we will remove you. The Capitol Police will be instructed to do so, so I might 

as well—before we even start the hearing, let me lay that warning 

out. No disturbances. You can sit here, and you can listen to the 

hearing. We are trying to lay out a reality here, and if you are not 

willing to listen, you can go elsewhere. So, that is the only warning. The next disturbance and you will be ushered outside of here. 

Good morning. This hearing is called to order. 

I want to thank the witnesses for your testimony, for taking the 

time, and for your courage. 

The mission of this Committee is pretty straightforward: to enhance the economic and national security of America, and to promote more efficient, effective, and accountable government. The 

Committee really is in many respects two committees in one from 

the House side. We have homeland security and we have governmental affairs. This hearing is really focusing on the homeland security side of the Committee structure, and within that structure, 

we have four priorities: border security; cybersecurity; protecting 

our critical infrastructure; and countering extremism and violence 

in any form, including Islamist terrorism. 

What we try and do in this Committee is through this hearing 

process lay out a reality. I come from a manufacturing background, 

solved a lot of problems. The only way you solve a problem is to 

first admit you have one: properly define it, properly describe it, 

gather the information, and admit to the reality. There is no way 
2 

anybody can deny we have a problem worldwide in terms of extremism and violence. 

We witnessed it just a few hours ago on a practice field for a 

charity baseball event. And, let me acknowledge first of all, our 

prayers are with those victims: Congressman Scalise, the staff 

member, and the two members of the Capitol Hill security detail 

that were wounded, and even having been wounded, they continued 

to return fire and prevented a far greater tragedy. 

The appreciation we owe to the men and women in public safety, 

that every day that they step out of the threshold of their door, 

they are literally putting their lives on the line, that was demonstrated again this morning. 

So, I appreciate anybody who is willing to step up to the plate, 

defend us, defend our freedom, protect public safety, but also stand 

up and tell the truth and describe reality in a world that is very 

dangerous, in a world that does not want to hear the truth and reality. 

Now, previous hearings on this subject have talked about the 

way radical Islamist terrorists are using social media. Particularly 

the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become incredibly effective at poisoning the minds of young people around the world to 

engage in these acts of terror and depravity. 

We have held hearings on trying to understand what are the motives. What motivates this? What are they trying to accomplish? 

We have learned that in America what has been incredibly important throughout our history: we are a Nation of immigrants. We 

have welcomed them. They have made this Nation great. But, what 

has made this Nation great is people that have come to this country have come embracing the idea and promise of America, to become American, not rejecting their past culture. We never asked 

that. But, we do ask them to come and accept constitutional law 

to be able to take advantage of this wonder and marvel we call 

America and the American economy. 

We have certainly learned how important it is for us in government and our public safety officials to positively engage in communities, every community, to make sure that people are welcome, 

they will assimilate. 

It is not perfect. It has not completely worked. I think we have 

probably done a better job, as we have witnessed recently, whether 

it is in Brussels, Paris, or places in Europe where the assimilation 

has not been as effective. But, it is far from perfect here in America, and we will be talking about that. 

So, again, I just want to say again I appreciate the courage of 

our witnesses, their willingness to step up to the plate, and I just 

implore everybody to have an open mind. We need to understand 

the truth, we need to understand the reality if we have any hope 

of solving this problem. We are in a generational struggle at least. 

We have to get to a point where people can feel free and safe to 

go practice in the morning on a baseball field or walk a street or 

raise their family. That is what we are trying to accomplish. It is 

not going to be easy, but the only way we do it is if we are willing 

to have the courage to face these truths and have the courage to 

actually tell them. 
3 

1The prepared statement of Senator Johnson appears in the Appendix on page 35. 

2The prepared statement of Senator McCaskill appears in the Appendix on page 36. 

So, again, thank you for having that courage, and with that, I 

will turn it over to Senator McCaskill after I do ask unanimous 

consent to enter my written statement in the record.1

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MCCASKILL2

Senator MCCASKILL. I think all of us are waiting to exhale until 

we learn more details about our colleagues and our staff members 

and our police officers. But, make no mistake about it: What we 

saw this morning was evil. And, I hope that this hearing does not 

stray from the fact that we should be focusing on the evil; we 

should be focusing on violence; we should be focusing on enforcing 

our criminal laws against evil and violence; we should be focusing 

on those people who twist and distort any religion. Be it Muslim, 

Christianity, or Buddhism, anyone who twists and distorts that religion to a place of evil is an exception to the rule. It is not the rule. 

We should not focus on religion and the freedoms our country 

embraces. Our country was founded on many important premises, 

but perhaps paramount among those premises was the freedom of 

religion. The earliest Americans, aside from our Native Americans, 

came here because they were fleeing from persecution based on 

their religion. Our freedoms, like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, define us as a Nation, and no evil 

should ever be allowed to distort those premises. Ever. And, I am 

hoping, although I am worried, honestly, that this hearing will underline that. 

I am concerned that the President’s budget proposal has taken 

its eye off the ball in terms of our fight against this evil extremism 

and the violence that it foments. I am worried that it has slashed 

homeland counterterrorism measures like the Visible Intermodal 

Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams that have provided an 

extra layer of security at our airports. It also calls for the complete 

elimination of the Law Enforcement Reimbursement Program, 

which provides financial assistance to local law enforcement agencies that help secure our airports. It would reduce the Port Security 

Grant Program and the Transit Security Grant Program by more 

than 50 percent—all soft targets for these criminals, these evil 

criminals. 

The Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant, which helps 

prepare high-density urban areas on how to respond, would be cut 

by $150 million. The President’s proposal would zero out the Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks Grant Program, which is so essential as we face violent, evil criminals. 

While it is critical that we enhance our physical security and provide law enforcement with the resources they need to keep us safe, 

we also have to improve our efforts to stop Americans from being 

radicalized. Our danger, at least to date, has not been from those 

who try to slip into this country unnoticed or who try to illegally 

cross our borders or who are seeking refuge in a crisis, a humanitarian crisis. That is not where the danger has come from. It has 

come from people who are Americans or people who are legally in 

this country who have been radicalized. 
4 

We face a threat from a variety of sources on radicalization, including white supremacists, ecoterrorists, and ISIS and al-Qaeda 

sympathizers. There is a long list. In the context of Sunni-inspired 

violent extremism, which is where this hearing appears to be focused based on the witnesses, it is absolutely vital that any effort 

our government undertakes to counter violent extremism is done in 

partnership and in full engagement of the peace-loving Muslim 

community. 

In order to combat ISIS and other extremists’ propaganda, we 

must have a healthy dialogue with Muslim and other community 

leaders to ensure that resources are available to families and 

friends that may have concerns about loved ones who have become 

attracted to extremist rhetoric. 

Unfortunately, some of the rhetoric we hear, including some from 

of the witnesses here today, is at odds with this approach. It is also 

in complete conflict with American principles and values. And, 

most importantly, it would actually make the United States of 

America less safe. We need to spend less time stirring up anti-Muslim rhetoric and more time working on these issues and working 

with the majority of Muslims, both in this country and around the 

world, who are peaceful and law abiding. 

We are lucky to have Michael Leiter testifying with us today. As 

the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center 

(NCTC) during the Bush Administration, Mr. Leither. 

Mr. Leiter understands the threats our country faces and has extensive knowledge and expertise crafting strategies to go after the 

people who are trying to do us harm. I am eager to hear Mr. 

Leiter’s analysis and the lessons we can learn from the recent attacks in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and elsewhere. I would appreciate his thoughts on the President’s budget, and I am interested 

in recommendations to bolster the Nation’s safety and resilience, 

without compromising our constitutional principles. We can do better to combat and prevent radicalism and extremism as long as we 

work together under the umbrella of those important protections. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Senator McCaskill. 

It is the tradition of this Committee to swear in witnesses, so if 

you will all stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony you will give before this Committee will be the truth, the 

whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God? 

Ms. HIRSI ALI. I do. 

Ms. NOMANI. I do. 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. I do. 

Mr. LEITER. I do. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Be seated. 

Our first witness is Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ms. Ali was born in Somalia 

and migrated to the Netherlands to avoid a forced marriage. She 

served on the Dutch Parliament and in 2004 wrote the script of a 

short film, ‘‘Submission,’’ critical of Islam’s treatment of women. 

After the film was released, the director of the film, Theo van 

Gogh, was assassinated. Hirsi Ali is the author of several books, 

most recently, ‘‘The Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology 

and Movement and How to Counter It.’’ She currently is a research 
5 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Hirsi Ali appears in the Appendix on page 41. 

fellow at the Hoover Institution and founder of the Ayaan Hirsi Ali 

Foundation. Ms. Hirsi Ali. 

TESTIMONY OF AYAAN HIRSI ALI,1 RESEARCH FELLOW, 

HOOVER INSTITUTION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY 

Ms. HIRSI ALI. Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member McCaskill, 

Senators, ladies and gentlemen, I want to join you both in condemning the violence of this morning, and I wish the Congressman 

a swift recovery. 

Thank you for this opportunity to talk to you about the threat 

that is endangering our Constitution, our freedoms, and our way 

of life. Clearly, not all Muslims pose a threat, but some do. How 

can we tell the difference? We can by understanding the nature of 

Islam. Islam is part religion and part a political-military doctrine. 

The part that is a political doctrine consists of a world view, a system of laws, and a moral code that is totally incompatible with our 

Constitution, our laws, and our way of life. 

In 2017, there are two major governments that apply Islamic 

law, or Sharia: Saudi Arabia and Iran. As we sit here, we are also 

fighting a rogue entity that goes by the name of ISIS. ISIS implements Sharia in its most extreme or most pure form. Islamic law, 

as practiced in these places, negates secular law and demands submission to the ruler without question. 

Women are subordinate to men and are denied such basic rights 

as owning their own bodies and sexuality. They face discrimination 

in marriage, inheritance, and custody. Victims of rape must 

produce four witnesses, and if they do not, many are flogged or 

stoned to death. 

Religious minorities are subject to a second-class citizen existence. There is the death penalty for homosexuals and apostates. 

There are no checks and balances and no free and impartial courts. 

There is no rule of law. Dissent is brutally suppressed. 

Not all Muslims, not even those who live in these theocracies, 

support Sharia. I call those who do ‘‘Medina Muslims’’ because they 

invoke Muhammad, the founder of Islam in Medina. I believe that 

the vast majority of Muslims accentuate the spiritual aspects of 

Islam. I call them ‘‘Mecca Muslims’’ because they cite Muhammad 

and his legacy from Mecca. 

There is a third subset of Muslims, like Asra, who reject the military and political aspects of Islam. I call them the ‘‘reformers.’’ 

They are different from the Mecca Muslims because they stand up 

to the Medina Muslims by openly rejecting Sharia. 

Most Muslims live in secular States or States with some forms 

of Sharia. There are also millions of Muslims today who live as 

considerable minorities in non-Muslim societies like ours. The Medina Muslims are not satisfied with this status quo. Their goal is 

to transform all Muslim majority countries into Islamic theocracies 

and to use Muslim immigrant minorities as a beachhead to transform non-Muslim societies, even free ones, such as the United 

States. They have a long time horizon and already have a foothold. 

Medina Muslims use a combination of force or jihad, along with 

the dissemination of the ideology through a mechanism known as 
6 

1The prepared statement of Ms. Nomani appears in the Appendix on page 65. 

‘‘dawa.’’ In theory, dawa is the call to Islam and consists of proselytizing. In practice, it is a process of radical indoctrination. Dawa 

advocates use the cover of missionary efforts, relief works, education, and cultural activities. They target the individual, the family, the education system, the workplace, the broader economic society as a whole. It is totalitarian like communism and fascism, but 

different because it is shrouded in religion. 

This quest by the Medina Muslims to establish Sharia across the 

globe by all means has led to weak and failed States, to repression, 

to civil wars, to the exodus of people from their homes and in free 

societies to divisiveness and the breakdown of social cohesion. We 

must stop not only the violent entities, like ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko 

Haram, and others, but also dismantle the networks of dawa. 

Above all, we need to challenge the principles of Sharia law. 

I look forward to your questions. Thank you. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Ms. Hirsi Ali. 

Our next witness is Asra Nomani. Ms. Nomani is the co-founder 

of the Muslim Reform Movement. She is the author of ‘‘Standing 

Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam.’’ She 

also has led the Pearl Project, a student-faculty investigation into 

the murder of her friend, Danny Pearl, who was executed by members of al-Qaeda. Ms. Nomani. 

TESTIMONY OF ASRA Q. NOMANI,1 CO-FOUNDER, MUSLIM 

REFORM MOVEMENT 

Ms. NOMANI. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chairman Johnson, thank you, Ranking Member McCaskill, and thank you, Senators, for this invitation to be here today. 

Our hearts are indeed gripped with the horror of this morning’s 

shooting. I feel empathy and compassion for you because this day 

takes me back to a day 15 years ago when I felt the same gripping 

of my heart. I learned that day that my colleague and friend, 

Danny Pearl, from the Wall Street Journal, had been kidnapped. 

We learned in the weeks that followed that he had been kidnapped 

by militants, and it was 15 years ago almost to this day that we 

learned that he was buried in a plot outside of Karachi, his body 

cut into pieces by the men who believed that their interpretation 

of my faith justified this brutal murder. 

I sit before you because on that day I developed a passion that 

I would expect you all will also feel committed to after you learn 

the intentions, motivations of the shooter this morning. Ayaan lost 

a friend. I lost a friend. On that day, I made it my duty as a Muslim to stand up against the ideology of extremist Islam that motivated the men that took my friend from this Earth. 

There was one value that connected the 27 men that were involved in Danny’s kidnapping and murder, and that was that they 

had all absorbed the dawa or the evangelism of an ideological interpretation of Islam that is of the nature that Ayaan is speaking 

about. 

I want us to be really clear. This is not the Islam that my parents taught me. The Islam that my parents taught me led me this 
7 

morning to stand shoulder to shoulder with my father and open my 

hands and pray for peace of mind for everyone in this world. 

What Senator McCaskill talks about is really important. We 

must make this distinction. And, I think at the same time that 

means that we are clear, as Senator Johnson is talking about, related to the enemy that we face. 

The ideology of Islamism or political Islam contradicts the constitutional values of this country. The elements of Islamism or political Islam are very clear. It demands that we have political governance according to the laws of Sharia, or Islamic law. Those 

standards are in complete contradiction with the laws of our country. 

I want to tell you from the trenches that this is a reality that 

we face in our country. In Northern California, Facebook promotes 

the page of Hizbut Tahrir, an organization whose meeting I attended in Northern Virginia last summer. Behind the speakers was 

a flag for the Islamic State. 

In Michigan, a man is preaching to advocate for child marriages 

in the name of Islam. 

In Northern Virginia, an imam just preached that it is OK to cut 

the clitoris of girls because it leads to then the ability to keep 

hypersexuality from expressing itself in the world. 

What is it that we must do? We must be clear, as Chairman 

Johnson is saying. We must have moral courage and intellectual 

courage. We must absolutely separate the many Muslims who do 

not practice Islamism from those who do. And, in that way, the objective that we have to protect Muslims and to be able to differentiate extremism from the large swath of the faith that my family 

and others practice will be realized. We will, in fact, protect Muslims if we take this strategy of marginalizing the extremists. 

We as a Nation must be committed to shut down the ideology of 

Islamism, just as we defeated fascism, just as we defeated communism. The ideology of Islamism denies us the right as men and 

women to sit in a room together as we are sitting today. It denies 

young girls the right to go to a concert and calls them ‘‘dangerous 

women.’’ It denies a woman like myself the right to sit in a bakery 

in Dhaka, Bangladesh, without being separated and then killed. 

We have to understand that the future of our world depends on our 

clear thinking and our wisdom. 

I came here with fear in my heart because we also face a network that I call the ‘‘Honor Brigade’’ that wants to silence this conversation. Ayaan and I are under attack constantly. Between us, I 

do not know how many death threats we have faced, but we sit before you with our backs to both our friends and our enemies because it is our duty to stand up for the humanity in which we believe. 

When I had fear last night and my mother was beside me, she 

took my hand, and she said, ‘‘Do this for humanity. Step forward 

for humanity.’’ And, I urge all of you to remain committed to all 

the values in which we believe and the freedom and the beauty of 

this world that we want to see the next generation inherit. 

Thank you so much. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Ms. Nomani. 
8 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Lenczowski appears in the Appendix on page 110. 

Our next witness is Dr. John Lenczowski. Dr. Lenczowski is the 

founder and president of the Institute of World Politics, a graduate 

school on national security and international affairs. Dr. 

Lenczowski served at the State Department from 1981 to 1983 and 

then with the National Security Council from 1983 to 1987, where 

he was the Director of European and Soviet Affairs and President 

Reagan’s Principal Soviet Affairs Adviser. Dr. Lenczowski. 

TESTIMONY OF JOHN LENCZOWSKI, PH.D.,1 FOUNDER AND 

PRESIDENT, THE INSTITUTE OF WORLD POLITICS 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Minority Member and Members of the Committee. I am honored to 

have the chance to discuss how to protect ourselves against radical 

jihadism. 

We have spent trillions in this country fighting Islamist terrorism as if it is a military problem. This is like trying to eradicate 

mosquitoes by inviting your friends for a garden party, arming 

them with shotguns, and shooting mosquitoes all afternoon. You 

will get a few. The problem is the garden has a puddle which is 

spawning new mosquitoes—not just terrorists but jihadists dedicated to establishing a totalitarian caliphate worldwide. This is not 

a military problem. It is a political, propaganda, ideological, cultural, and religious doctrine problem. To solve it necessitates fighting a war of ideas, and the problem is that we have virtually no 

ideological warriors in this war. 

We have a precedent in the Cold War. Eliminating the sources 

of Cold War tension required changing the Marxist-Leninist core of 

the Soviet system. So, we conducted an ideological war episodically 

for some four decades. This consisted of the use of the truth to 

counter Soviet propaganda, undermining the ideology as the basis 

of Soviet legitimacy, anathematizing the inhumanity of communist 

rule, offering the peoples of the Soviet empire a positive alternative—freedom, democracy, and hope for a better life—and supporting resistance forces within the empire. 

Victory entailed the collapse of the Communist Party and the entire Soviet system. A key indicator of that victory was the concession by the chief party ideologist, Alexander Yakovlev, that the ideology and the system it produced were ‘‘evil.’’ 

We must also fight jihadism by targeting its ideological core. 

Jihadism differs from politically moderate Islam insofar as it seeks 

to expedite ordinary missionary activity by conducting jihad of the 

sword and resettlement jihad, migration to non-Muslim lands, establishing separatist enclaves that run according to Sharia, and 

culminating in political demographic conquest. 

Modern totalitarian Islamism, which incorporates Marxist-Leninist political strategy, forms the basis of the recruitment of new 

jihadists, both terrorists and resettlement jihadists. It depends on 

generating hatred against the infidel, principally through a moral 

attack against colonialism, Zionism, and U.S. hegemony, and 

against the West’s moral degradation. 

Defeating this ideology requires an ideological counter attack 

based on superior moral precepts. Above all, this requires telling 
9 

the truth and ending self-censorship about radical Islamism and an 

information campaign exposing the ideology, exposing jihadist 

strategy, Sharia, and the crimes of radical Islamist regimes. 

It then requires an attack on the ideology and its manipulation 

by jihadists, and I can discuss later on a number of different elements of what that would look like. 

Finally, it requires offering a positive alternative, including an 

appeal to conscience and the promotion of human rights. Regrettably, our government is intellectually and organizationally unprepared to do all this. We no longer have centers within our government that promote excellence in public diplomacy, strategic influence, and ideological warfare. So, we should resurrect a new 

version of the U.S. Information Agency. I would call it the ‘‘U.S. 

Public Diplomacy Agency.’’ Located within the State Department, 

it should contain all the offices addressing influence over public 

opinion. They would include the Human Rights Bureau; a strengthened version of the current Global Engagement Center (GEC) to 

counter jihadist propaganda; an Office of Foreign Opinion Research; a Bureau of Education, Culture, and Ideas with a special 

office of ideological and religious affairs; the Voice of America 

(VOA), which should be transferred to this agency from the BBG; 

and an office for the counterintelligence protection of U.S. public diplomacy programs. 

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must resurrect serious 

covert political influence capabilities, including the funding and 

running of all forms of media and the ability to support voices of 

politically moderate Islam in their efforts to discredit jihadism. 

Our Defense Department needs to strengthen its military information support operations, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the State Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and local law enforcement need significantly improved 

capabilities to distinguish between ordinary Muslims who want 

their religion to be a religion and not a radical secular ideological 

program, to distinguish those people from jihadists, and when it 

comes to whom to admit to the United States or with whom to cooperate in the struggle against jihadism. 

Thank you. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Doctor. 

Our final witness is Michael Leiter. Mr. Leiter most recently 

served as president of Leidos Defense. Mr. Leiter previously served 

as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center from 2007 

to 2011 for both President George W. Bush and President Obama. 

Mr. Leiter. 

TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL E. LEITER, 

FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER 

Mr. LEITER. Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member McCaskill, 

and Members of the Committee, thank you very much for having 

me, and I would simply add my thoughts and prayers to those who 

were injured and the families that are affected this morning. 

Before directly addressing today’s topic, I do want to offer two 

critical opening points. And, first, it is that I am not going to address all forms of terrorism today because that is not what the 
10 

Committee asked for. But, I do not want that to be read as that 

Sunni-inspired terrorism is the only terrorist threat we face. We 

face Shia terrorism, right-wing nationalist terrorism, other political 

terrorism, all of that throughout the global, and some of the solutions to address Sunni-inspired terrorism are the same, but there 

are also distinctions. 

The second caveat is that although I am going to focus and we 

are focusing on the ideological aspects of this struggle, I am extremely supportive of what is a balanced approach to terrorism. 

From my perspective, that includes overseas kinetic actions to take 

people off the battlefield, intelligence partnerships with our close 

allies, aggressive law enforcement, and an ideological component. 

But, if we just do one of those, we have pretty much guaranteed 

ourselves failure in the larger battle. 

Now, as this Committee knows well, countering violent extremism (CVE), are those non-coercive preventative activities that aim 

to reduce radicalization and ultimately recruitment to violence. 

These are inherently broad activities, including all parts of the 

community, rehabilitation, many pieces. And, in my view, any of 

these activities must be based on a very rigorous and, as you said, 

Mr. Chairman, a factual and truthful analysis of radicalization. 

And, thankfully, unlike in 2001, this is something which in my 

view is widely available within the U.S. Intelligence Community 

(IC), from credible partners overseas, and academic institutions. 

Now, when implemented properly, there is no doubt in my mind 

that CVE programming reduces radicalization and violence, and we 

should not be surprised by that. It works in anti-drug activity. It 

works in anti-gang activity. And, it can work in this context as 

well. And, studies from Duke, the University of Massachusetts, 

Mercy Corps, the Netherlands, Kenya, Germany, U.K. all back this 

up. 

Now, in my view—and I take significant blame for this, having 

been the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center in 

President Bush and President Obama—since 9/11 the U.S. CVE 

programs have been of marginal effectiveness. And, I hope we have 

more agreement. I agree with much of what Dr. Lenczowski said 

about the poor resourcing and lack of focus on many of these programs, both domestically and internationally for the United States. 

Again, I think we have some very good programs. I would highlight George Selim, the Office for Community Partnerships at DHS. 

There are good people doing good work. But, we have not resourced 

these programs and done so in a strategic way. Let me give you 

a very small example of this inadequacy, and I will compare it to 

a drug problem. 

The 2016 Federal Drug Demand Reduction Program received $15 

billion; $1.5 billion of that was for prevention activities. The CVE 

elements of DHS’ Office for Community Partnerships has all of $10 

million in 2016 grant funding. So, if we think this is a serious problem, we need a serious solution. Right now we do not have that. 

Now, in designing CVE programs, we have to be very careful, in 

my view, not to alienate the very same communities on which we 

rely. The ideology of Sunni violent extremism is, of course, part of 

the problem, and it must be both addressed and consistent with the 

First Amendment. At the same time, we must not—I cannot stress 
11 

this enough—conflate a violent ideology with mainstream Muslim 

beliefs. To do so is not only factually wrong, but it is deeply counterproductive, and it will feed directly into the extremist narrative 

of us versus them. And, it directly undercuts the most forceful message we have of ‘‘e pluribus unum.’’ 

In this regard, I think it is deeply mistaken and harmful to 

equate core Islamic concepts that are not inherently violent with 

extremist interpretations of these principles. For example, the Muslim tradition of dawa, or proselytization, which is not dissimilar to 

similar traditions in Christianity and elsewhere, is not—I repeat, 

is not—equivalent with the Islamist violent and forceful interpretation of this term. Similarly, Muslims’ honoring of Sharia is not inherently intentioned with living in constitutional democracies any 

more than it would be for Christians or Jews who also seek to 

honor their religious traditions while still complying with civil authority. 

So, what would a successful counterterrorism program with a robust CVE program look like? 

One, as I have said, act aggressively overseas, disrupting both 

physical and, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, cyber safe havens. 

Second, Federal law enforcement must work with local officials 

to share the heavy burden of investigation, and in doing so, those 

officials must understand Islam and all its diversity so that they 

may distinguish between peaceful adherents and violent extremists. 

Defensive measures must be in place, and we must have a robust 

CVE strategy for a country of almost 300 million. And, that would 

include education programs for State and local officials on Islam, 

done in conjunction with local Muslim communities; engagement 

with Muslim organizations, recognizing the massive diversity like 

every other religion we have here in the United States with those 

Muslim communities; fostering engagement with the technology 

community and Muslim organizations to enable effective nongovernmental organizations (NGO) ideological engagement where 

the U.S. Government cannot and should not engage; diversion programs modeled on anti-gang and anti-drug programs to help channel youth away from extremism and violence; leveraging all elements of United States and local governments to ensure CVE leadership is far beyond law enforcement officials; and just like in manufacturing, fully develop metrics to make sure where we are putting our money, they are dollars well spent. 

There are a number of programs, as Ranking Member McCaskill 

said, that I think are at risk, both domestically and overseas, from 

the President’s budget. I look forward to answering those. I look 

forward to working with this Committee on this and other issues 

which face us on violent extremism of all stripes. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Mr. Leiter. 

I did want to in my opening statement—and I did not have the 

piece of paper with me—quote Karl Popper from 1945. Let me read 

the full quote into the record. Again, this was written in 1945. ‘‘Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we 

extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we 

are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught 
12 

of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance 

with them.’’ 

Mr. Leiter, in your testimony you said if we think this is a serious problem, we need a serious solution. That is the point of this 

hearing. Do you think this is a serious problem? I mean, the reason 

I called this hearing, by the way, was a Wall Street Journal article 

written by Ms. Hirsi Ali describing dawa versus jihad. I had not 

heard of that, quite honestly. You described dawa as pretty benign, 

and I think it could be. Certainly, as you know, whether it is Christian missionaries—you are trying to promote, evangelize a religion, 

but what are you evangelizing about? Are you evangelizing the 

moderate, the non-violent form? Or are you evangelizing the 

Islamist terrorist form? 

Do you deny the reality that there are elements, that there are 

potentially charitable organizations raising money and funneling 

those dollars into potentially Islamic terrorist groups? 

Mr. LEITER. Mr. Chairman, I spent 41⁄2 years of my life working 

for a Democratic and a Republican President trying to keep the 

American people safe from violent Islamic extremism. So, any suggestion, even in your question, that I somehow deny that. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Well, good. Just say you do not—OK, great. 

I appreciate that. I honestly was not trying to challenge you. 

Mr. LEITER. Mr. Chairman, there are undoubtedly organizations 

who clothe themselves, who wrap themselves in the cloth of religion who are pursuing violent means, and we have to stop that, 

and we have to see through that. And, I think one of the greatest 

challenges is educating U.S. Government officials and other officials to make that distinction, to draw that distinction between 

those organizations which are pursuing legitimate charitable 

means in the name of any religion versus those that are pursuing 

illegal and dangerous violence or funding of other organizations. 

Chairman JOHNSON. OK, my point—and truthfully, I was not 

trying to challenge you in any way, shape, or form. I truly respect 

what you have done and the testimony you have provided this 

Committee in the past. I think what I am hearing is not areas of 

disagreement here between the witnesses, although it might be set 

up like there may be. So, is there anything that you heard in the 

testimony from our two female witnesses that you would disagree 

with? 

Mr. LEITER. Well, first of all, I want to say much of their work 

I greatly respect, and rather than try to give an overview or characterize all of their statements today, there are things that the witnesses have written with which I disagree. What I heard mostly 

today I would largely agree with. I do not agree with a few small 

things. 

Contrary to the good doctor, I do not think that there has been, 

at least in my experience, significant self-censorship within the 

U.S. Government talking about this. I, in fact, tripled the resources 

at NCTC to study the ideological aspects of this so we could train 

State and local officials on Islam. 

So, there was no issue about saying this is not Islamic. We knew 

that there were ideological drivers of this, and people had to understand that. We started a program to go out and train community 

groups on understanding Islam. We started a program that helped 
13 

train Muslim communities on understanding what was available to 

their sons and daughters that might be radicalizing material on the 

Internet. So, we did not at all ignore it. 

Now, I do agree with the good doctor, as I said, the U.S. Government’s policy and budgetary priorities have not always aligned 

with that. But, I do not think that that was political censorship 

and trying to bury our head in the sand about what some of the 

roots of the problem were. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Ms. Nomani, can you just kind of respond? 

Ms. NOMANI. Yes, I would like to say that I have been waiting 

for this hearing for 15 years because we have been unable to have 

a conversation about ideology and terrorism when it comes to 

Islam. 

I remember a moment when I went to the State Department several years ago, and there was a meeting of a public diplomacy official, Farah Pandith, and it was to talk about what strategies we 

could put into place. And, I said to her very simply, ‘‘It is about 

the ideology.’’ It is about the ideology that you know very well is 

put out into the world by governments like Iran, Qatar, and Saudi 

Arabia and their proxies, like the Muslim Brotherhood. But, I was 

told at that meeting that we cannot have this conversation about 

ideology. Our freedom of religion will not allow us to have that conversation in a public space. 

But, what I push back on and what I am so happy to see us discuss today is the fact that the ideology that is a problem is one that 

violates U.S. constitutional law. It is one that wants to see the 

overthrow of this democracy and wants to see us as women put 

into separate and segregated spaces with rights that are not equal 

to men. And so, this is a reality. 

I have with me a book that I bought at the Medina Market in 

Herndon, Virginia, just off of Route 7, a road that is called 

‘‘Wahhabi Corridor’’ because off of Route 7 are the mosques, the 

think tanks, the book stores that put this ideology out to our community. And, in this book of law, Islamic law, the Sharia that is 

a problem, here on the anniversary of the Orlando attack, it tells 

us that homosexuals should be killed. It tells us the reasons why 

we should wage jihad in America and the rest of the world. This 

is not the Islam that my parents taught me, but this is a reality. 

And, I am so happy that we are finally confronting the ideological 

problem. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Ms. Hirsi Ali, would you just like to respond? 

Ms. HIRSI ALI. Yes. I think it is not so much a question of disagreement, but maybe it is a question of perspective. And, I think 

what I would like to do is start with where we agree on, all of us 

here on the panel, and I hope all of you, and where we all agree 

on is that Muslims are not synonymous with terrorism or repression or misogyny or any of that. So, I would like to start by making 

this distinction between Islam as a set of beliefs, as a doctrine, as 

a tradition, as a civilization on the one hand and the human beings 

as Muslims. And, if you take Islam and you study—there are libraries full of books on Islam and studies on Islam, and what it 

boils down to is that Islam is part religion and it is spiritual, and 
14 

it has that spiritual—and a very rich history of spirituality. But, 

it also has a military-political component. 

Now, there are some Muslims who accentuate the spiritual and 

the religious, like your mother holding your hand today and the 

way your parents raised you, Asra Nomani, who tells you that the 

way they see the spiritual component of their religion is peaceful, 

and they wish no one else any harm. And, if they engage in 

evangelization or if they engage in dawa, that dawa is only about 

spreading that peace, goodness, and wellness. 

But, there are other groups, and that is why we are having this 

conversation. What we are dealing with is this other group who are 

taking out of the historical and civilizational context of Islam and 

accentuating the political and the military. 

Now, both groups invoke the Prophet Muhammad, who is the 

founder of Islam, they invoke the Qur’an, they invoke scripture. 

And, the question is: Does the Prophet Muhammad support the 

Medina Muslims, those who accentuate the politics, or does he support those who accentuate the spirituality? He does both. When he 

first founded the religion in Mecca, the first 10 years, it was all 

about religion and spirituality. Later on, in Mecca, after emigration, it is all about politics, it is about military. He has militias. 

He wages wars. He develops a new law. And, these men in the 21st 

Century who are organizing themselves as nongovernmental organizations like the wider Muslim Brotherhood, and the Muslim 

Brotherhood is just one entity, or a theocracy like Saudi Arabia, 

another theocracy like Iran, they invoke the Prophet Muhammad’s 

legacy in Medina. So, that is why I think it is extremely important 

that we make this distinction. 

Now, we have problems with those Muslims and only those Muslims who accentuate the political and military doctrine of Islam. 

We have been focusing a great deal, as we should—and I agree 

with you, Mr. Leiter. As we have been focusing on those who use 

violence and use jihad, terrorism, we have not paid as much attention to what you call, Dr. Lenczowski, the puddles, the mosquito 

puddles, the breeding places, those people who get into the hearts 

and minds of vulnerable people and turn them toward the idea that 

it is OK to run your car over people, that it is OK to kill homosexuals, that it is OK to kill apostates, that it is OK to pursue a 

world view of a society that is based on a 7th Century law. That 

is, I think—to begin with, we should have that clarification. And, 

I want to say I came and I accepted your invitation to talk about 

only that group, not to vilify or stigmatize those Muslims who accentuate their spirituality. 

Chairman JOHNSON. OK. And, I appreciate that, and I appreciate 

the attempt here—and this is an attempt. What do we agree on? 

And, really what is the truth? What is the reality? Again, truly, I 

was not challenging. I am just trying to find out, where are the 

areas of agreement? What we do not disagree on so we can try and 

at least probe that to figure out, what really is truth, what is reality. Because the only way we are going to try and address what 

you have been working so tirelessly to address, to prevent, is in acknowledging those realities. 

Mr. LEITER. Much appreciated, and I completely understand. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Senator McCaskill. 
15 

Senator MCCASKILL. I think we all agree that extreme ideology 

used as a recruitment for violence is important and that we must 

focus on it and we must fight it. But, we have to do that within 

our constitutional parameters. For example, we cannot ban that 

book. As repugnant as that book is, we cannot ban it in the United 

States of America. That is not how we roll. And, we have to fight 

it with the appropriate tools of our government and our civil laws. 

And, as we fight it, I think the facts really matter, and I think it 

is important that we remain factual. 

Dr. Lenczowski, in your prepared testimony, you discussed European ‘‘no-go zones’’ and Muslim enclaves. Mr. Leiter, you have 

broad experience working with our international allies and partners, and I know you have traveled extensively and worked arm in 

arm with both your counterparts in these European countries and 

the police in these European countries. Is that factual? Are there 

no-go zones in Europe? 

Mr. LEITER. In my experience, in Denmark, Brussels, the United 

Kingdom, Germany, France, having worked with the counterterrorism law enforcement officials, I never saw anything remotely resembling a no-go zone. 

Senator MCCASKILL. And, in the written testimony—and, by the 

way, Dr. Lenczowski, I would love to see the citations of the 140 

cases, because the one that you cite specifically—I believe, Mr. 

Leiter, you are a former U.S. Attorney; you have looked at this 

case. You say specifically that a man was acquitted for serially raping his wife on the grounds that he is a Muslim and, therefore, 

subject to Sharia law. I do not believe that is true. I think that is 

just patently false. 

Mr. Leiter, are you familiar with that case? 

Mr. LEITER. I am. The case arose, an individual was seeking— 

or a wife was seeking a restraining order against a husband for 

sexual abuse, and the New Jersey State trial court refused to find 

mens real criminal intent based on the husband’s belief that the 

Sharia marriage contract could not have—allowed him to do what 

he did. And, the first round of appeals in the New Jersey next level 

of court—I was also a clerk at the Supreme Court for Justice 

Breyer, and I believe it would be what was called proverbially a 

‘‘smackdown’’ for the trial court, saying that the trial court deeply 

misunderstood U.S. constitutional law and New Jersey law and 

that there was no way in which this husband would be permitted 

under any interpretation of U.S. law to go forward. 

Senator MCCASKILL. And, the case you cited in Missouri, Dr. 

Lenczowski, I know the prosecutor in that case. This was a case 

where a family member abused a child over what they were wearing. In this instance, it was a head covering. But, it could have 

been a short skirt. It could have been a bare midriff. This family 

member pulled this child out of the school and physically assaulted 

the child and was arrested on the felony of child abuse. 

Now, I fail to see how that is an encroachment—and the case is 

still pending, by the way. 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. I am not completely familiar with that case. I 

read something about it, but I did not write about it. And, I acknowledge, by the way, Senator, that that particular case in New 

Jersey was reversed on appeal. But, the fact that it got as far—— 
16 

Senator MCCASKILL. You say he was acquitted. He was never 

even charged. 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. No, no—— 

Senator MCCASKILL. Facts matter, sir. He was never acquitted of 

anything. 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. Then perhaps I used the wrong language there. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Language matters. 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. I understand, but the judge made a judgment 

based on Sharia that it should never have gotten as far as it did. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Well, I can tell you that having done domestic violence cases for many years and having fought in the Missouri 

Legislature, believe it or not, in this country—me as a State legislator, I fought to make sure that men could not rape their wives 

in Missouri. That law was just overturned in 1995. Up until 1995, 

men could rape their wives in the State where I live. 

So, I mean, I think that this notion, Mr. Leiter, do you believe 

that Sharia law is slowly becoming the law of the land in this country? 

Mr. LEITER. I think it is a deeply mistaken factual belief that 

Sharia is making any inroads. Religious laws can be the basis for 

contracts between people if they choose to, but, ultimately, the U.S. 

court system has very well developed theories, judicial theories of 

when those religious agreements, those religious contracts between 

two individuals can or cannot be honored in Federal courts. That 

is well established. And, I see no signs, no credible signs that 

Sharia law poses even the most minute risk to U.S. constitutional 

principles and U.S. law. 

Senator MCCASKILL. And, Mr. Leiter, could you briefly address 

the resource issue as it relates to the President’s budget and what 

that will do to our CVE efforts in this country as we try to do exactly what these witnesses want us to do, and that is, combat this 

ideology that is recruiting people to violence? Talk about what we 

can do, what we can actually do to counter this important problem. 

Mr. LEITER. Senator, let me start by making this as bipartisan 

in my criticism as I can. Both Democrats and Republicans before 

this President have failed to adequately resource these issues. So, 

it is not just the President’s budget on this front. 

I do believe that in terms of what the main threats are we are 

facing today, largely low-technology attacks in scattered ways 

through Internet radicalization a la London, Paris, and the like, I 

believe the President’s budget does real violence to some of those 

pieces, especially for this Committee. The potential cuts in funding 

to the VIPR teams, to the Coast Guard for port security, for rail 

transit, these are real issues. These are places that need to be defended. They have not been adequately defended, and they must 

be. 

To the President’s benefit, I would say some of the funding of the 

FBI on counterterrorism is a good thing, so there is not all bad. I 

think some of the funding—and Commissioner James O’Neill in 

New York has been very vocal, as is Las Vegas. There are some 

real cuts in UASI funding and other programs that have been critical in situations like Orlando and Boston for preparing people to 

respond when the tragedy occurs. That cannot be cut. 
17 

Last, but not least, I know this is not directly in this Committee’s 

purview, but it is interconnected, which is the international aspect 

of this. And, I am deeply troubled by the proposed cuts to the State 

Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development 

(USAID), which are critical to the international CVE programs that 

we have that the doctor noted. I think we have to seriously regard 

those—as Secretary Mattis has so eloquently said, it just means he 

has to buy more bullets. And, you cannot buy enough bullets. So, 

in those regards, I think the President’s budget is deeply problematic. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Senator Hassan. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HASSAN 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member McCaskill. 

I want to start this morning, too, by adding my thoughts and 

prayers with those who were injured following this morning’s horrific shooting. And, I want to thank the men and women of the 

Capitol Police for the service they provide. They keep us safe every 

day and all the time and, as we saw today, are willing to risk their 

lives for the mission of keeping us all safe. So, I am very grateful 

to them, as I am to all law enforcement and first responders today. 

And, with that said, I want to turn to broaden the discussion a 

little bit, Mr. Leiter, with you about the issue of homegrown extremism and terrorism. In your view, how can the Department of 

Homeland Security work to prevent Americans from being 

radicalized, whatever their ideology or whatever the ideology is 

that inspires them to be radicalized to the point where they are 

willing to carry out violence? Are we going to be able to arrest our 

way out of the threat of homegrown terrorism? Or, are we going 

to have to build partnerships? And, again, you have addressed 

some of the issues about resources, but what kind of resources do 

we need to be able to do that? 

Mr. LEITER. Well, there is no doubt that we cannot arrest our 

way out of it, and no bigger a softie than Donald Rumsfeld noted 

that in the famous ‘‘snowflake’’ where he said, ‘‘The question is not 

how many we are killing. Are we producing more than we are killing?’’ And, it is a slightly different situation with arresting, but it 

is the same challenge. 

So, arresting those who have already gone beyond a certain level 

of extremism toward violence is a critical part of that. But, the best 

way that, A, we are going to be able to find the people who need 

to be arrested and, B, reduce the number who are arrested is those 

deep partnerships, are those deep partnerships with communities. 

Now, the FBI is good at that and has a global and national presence which is probably unmatched. But, the Department of Homeland Security plays a key role because they are not all in law enforcement. And, partnerships cannot just come from people with 

badges and guns. So, from my perspective, the Department of 

Homeland Security can play several roles. 

First, of course, you have the protective element. They are most 

responsible for our critical infrastructure. Whether it is oil and gas 
18 

pipelines, ports, borders, they have to do that, and they have to be 

funded to do that. Programs like VIPR help do that. 

Second, they have to be on the front lines of that engagement, 

and it is not just DHS people walking around the country saying, 

‘‘Hi. I am from DHS. I am here to help.’’ It is engaging with those 

communities so that communities understand how they are under 

threat and what sort of partnerships they have to engage with. It 

is helping them understand what ideological radicalization is occurring online, and also building those relationships—I am looking 

over at Senator Harris because so many of these companies are in 

the Valley. But, building those relationships between government 

and NGO’s and technology communities, because there are things 

that the U.S. Government, A, cannot say as a matter of constitutional law and, B, does not have any credibility anyway. And, the 

DHS can play a key role in building those partnerships. 

Last, but not least, DHS along with the FBI have to remain at 

the center of the sharing of information, and not just sharing information but sharing investigative leads with State and local law enforcement so we never have a situation like Boston where something falls below the threshold for the FBI, but the Cambridge Police Department and the Boston Police Department (BPD) might 

choose to pursue it. And, when they do that, they have to make 

sure that the police to whom they are handing that understand 

both constitutional limitations and, again, understand the ideological aspects of this so they can make those same difficult distinctions at times between people who are peaceful adherents to Islam 

and those who have become politically charged violent actors. 

Senator HASSAN. Thank you very much. 

I yield the remainder of my time. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Senator Harris. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HARRIS 

Senator HARRIS. Thank you. And, I join with Senator Hassan in 

expressing my prayers and best wishes for our colleagues and the 

folks that were attacked this morning, and also thank you to the 

first responders and the Capitol Police who are so incredibly courageous and are sacrificing so much to protect other people. So, my 

prayers go to their families as well. 

Actually this morning Senator Hassan and I were both at a prayer breakfast, at the Senate prayer breakfast, and it is a wonderful 

time when we get together in a bipartisan way, only Senators in 

the room, to share our faith, and our faith not only in the Gods we 

worship but in each other. And, it was poignant this morning, and 

there was actually a presentation by Senator Cassidy, our colleague from across the aisle from me, from Louisiana. And, what 

I took away from what he shared this morning was something I 

think we all agree on, which is there are certain universal truths. 

There are certain things that, in spite of what might appear to be 

differences among men and women, certain things, and most of the 

things that we share that bind us, that we have in common. We 

have so much more in common than what separates us. And, I 

think that when we are facing challenges, it is important for leaders to emphasize those things we share in common and unify us, 

understanding that they are just universal truths. 
19 

So, with that spirit, I have several questions, but I would like to 

talk with you, Mr. Leiter, in particular about your thoughts, which 

you have touched on this morning, about what can be done to improve the situation where work needs to be done. And, if we can 

talk about it also in a context of the DHS budget, and we are obviously a Committee that has oversight on that issue. 

So, you mentioned the George Selim program as being a good one 

at DHS. Can you tell us what makes it good? 

Mr. LEITER. Well, I think what makes it good are probably three 

things. 

One, you have someone who, in running it, is deeply experienced 

in U.S. Government and understands Islam. Now, I am sure there 

are many people who understand Islam more. There are many people who disagree with some of his views of Islam. But, he happens 

to be Muslim, and he is thoughtful about that. I have to tell you, 

that is very hard to find in the U.S. Government. The number of 

senior officials who understand Islam is painfully low. So, that is 

the first thing. 

The second thing is I think he understands that there is only so 

much government can do and that the U.S. Government tends to 

lack credibility in speaking about any sort of religion, but especially in Islam. Again, going back to my first point that there is 

simply a lack of understanding. And, in doing that, the office has 

sought not to make official DHS pronouncements, but instead use 

funding and grant money to enable those people who are doing 

good work away from Washington, D.C. 

I think those are probably—the third piece, I would say, is they 

are innovative in focusing on areas which are non-traditional 

counterterrorism drivers. Who normally does counterterrorism? Intelligence, law enforcement, border people. They have focused more 

on educational institutions. They have worked on something called 

the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Program, which partners with educational 

institutions. They have worked closely with a variety of organizations—immigrants’ rights organization—again, who do not show up 

with the badge and the gun as investigators. And, I think what we 

have generally seen overseas in places like the United Kingdom 

and the Netherlands, their counter-radicalization programs have 

tended to work the best when they have a little bit of arm’s 

length—not working independently but a bit of arm’s length from 

the attorney generals of the world, because it will otherwise become an adversarial relationship with the people with whom you 

are trying to partner. 

Senator HARRIS. And, is VIPR the same as that? I am not clear 

on that. 

Mr. LEITER. No, Senator. VIPR is a rapid response team which 

shows up for transit programs when there is a threat. So, I believe 

previously there had been roughly 31 VIPR teams around the country. The President’s budget cuts that to eight. 

I will tell you that when we saw threats in the United States, 

if we had something like the attack on London, we would immediately activate those VIPR teams because then they would show 

up around the BART stations with long guns and heavy weapons. 

Senator HARRIS. Or like the incident we had in California in San 

Bernardino. 
20 

Mr. LEITER. Absolutely. These are critical response teams. 

Another element, which is separate from VIPR but I think equally important, many of these interagency programs for training before an attack, I would love to stop every attack. We are not going 

to stop every attack. So, the question is: How do we optimize the 

response? And, we have done that generally in joint programs between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the 

FBI, and the National Counterterrorism Center. And, they have included hospitals in the area, telecommunications providers, often 

Muslim organizations, so you can both respond, you save the people 

who are injured, and immediately start engaging the community. 

And, that was effective in Orlando. It was effective in Boston. And, 

cutting those funds I think would just be tragic. 

Senator HARRIS. So, you have said it, but as an expert in this 

area, I take it that you are recommending to our Committee that 

we fully fund those programs in the effort to combat terrorism in 

our country. 

Mr. LEITER. I think those programs, in light of the threat we face 

from ISIS, are only more important than they have been. 

Senator HARRIS. Can you unpack a little bit for me the possibility for collaboration with Silicon Valley and the technology industry? 

Mr. LEITER. I can and—— 

Senator HARRIS. And, I will carry that back to California with 

me. 

Mr. LEITER. And, in full disclosure, I spent 3 years working in 

Silicon Valley as well, so I now have no economic interest in this, 

but what we started doing in 2009, 2010, and 2011 was this idea 

of the government cannot speak authoritatively on this, but there 

were many important Muslim NGO’s who wanted to understand 

how they could help stop radicalization and help fight violent 

forces. But, they did not really know how to get out that message, 

and it turned out that people like Anwar al-Awlaki were vastly 

more effective at using the Internet than those organizations were. 

And, it was bringing together companies like Google and the like 

to sit down with those NGO’s and help them. How do you optimize 

search so if you type in ‘‘jihad’’ you do not get an al-Awlaki video, 

you get a more peaceful message? So, I think that is critical. 

I do think that technology companies, obviously, between 2009 

and 2011 when I left and today, we are in an even more problematic posture. And, I say that for at least two reasons. 

One, the threat, because of terrorists’ use of the Internet, has become vastly more effective. As the Chairman said, ISIS knows how 

to get the message out using music and communications in a way 

that al-Qaeda never did. So, the threat is greater. 

Second, the tension between the U.S. Government and the Valley, technology companies writ broad, is higher than it was in 2010 

and 2011 because of a variety of issues beginning with Edward 

Snowden. So, finding that partnership I fear will be more difficult, 

but it is critical. And, I think Prime Minister May, at the G–7 she 

raised these issues. But, fundamentally, it is issues of reporting extremist content online, actively taking it down, using algorithms to 

do it more automatically and reporting that to the FBI and law enforcement, and then even a harder-to crack, in my view, is the 
21 

issue of end-to-end encryption, which has not always arisen, but 

will increasingly prohibit or keep U.S. law enforcement officials, 

not just working on terrorism, from accessing communications in a 

way that they have become very accustomed over the past six decades. 

Senator HARRIS. Thank you. 

Chairman JOHNSON. At this moment, just to quickly interject, I 

know Senator McCaskill was talking about First Amendment 

rights, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, which we all value, 

but within those rights, we do ban things like child pornography. 

It is illegal to incite violence. And, I think that is what we are trying to come to. Where is that line? 

But, with that, Senator Heitkamp. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HEITKAMP 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, again, we 

are so grateful. We have two Capitol policemen right near us today, 

and we are so grateful for everything that you do, not only defending us personally but the institution of this government. And, after 

an attack like today, we understand and it brings into sharp focus 

our gratitude. So, I want to thank the two who are present today. 

But, I also want to say my heart and prayers go out to all of those 

who were wounded and injured. An attack against them is an attack against our entire country. I do not think there is any doubt 

about it. 

Mr. Leiter, I have spent a lot of time with the counterterrorism 

folks because I think this is one of the toughest nuts to crack, 

which is, How do we participate in communities in ways that build 

community, build relationships, and prevent radicalization? I do 

not think anyone here would disagree that we kind of know the formula. But, we need resources to do it, and we need education and 

training to do it. 

You already for Senator Harris, I think, drew on some of your 

experiences on how things have changed. I need to understand 

your experience between 2007 and then coming out of it in 2011, 

but even going forward. How do you see the threat is changing? 

And, where have we seen best practices in attacking that threat? 

Mr. LEITER. The threat has changed, and I am still on the Advisory Board for NCTC, and I am always happy that at the end of 

my briefings I can walk out and go home and not stick around and 

have to address them all. 

The threat is significantly more challenging, I think, than I saw 

between 2007 and 2011 with possibly one exception. We still were 

worried about large-scale attacks in a way that we do not face in 

the same manner today. We were worried about 10 planes blowing 

up over the Atlantic and really big attacks. That is the good news. 

The bad news is the scale of the radicalization that is occurring, 

the pace at which it is occurring, the independence with which it 

is occurring, so you do not necessarily see the same communications between domestic elements and international elements, which 

were so important for us detecting them—in all those ways the 

threat is significantly worse even if the likelihood of a large-scale 

attack is lower than it was in 2011. 
22 

Now, where have I seen success in combating this? First of all, 

I have seen a lot of success in the United States combating this. 

Let us pat ourselves on the back just a little bit. We have done remarkably well. Now, any moment you say that, you have to in the 

same breath recognize the tragedies we have experienced in the 

United States, whether it is Orlando or San Bernardino. And, I 

never mean to make light of that. But, we have generally been 

pretty effective at disrupting attacks before they occur and, compared to most of our Western allies, we have been very successful 

at reducing radicalization rates in the United States. 

If you look at radicalization in the United Kingdom, per capita 

they have a significantly higher, larger problem than we do. Same 

in Belgium, same in the Netherlands, same in France. And, I think 

we have largely done that for four reasons. 

One, our Muslim communities are vastly more integrated than 

their Muslim communities are. 

Our Muslim communities are vastly better off economically than 

theirs are. 

Our Muslim traditions tend to come from more moderate strains 

than some of the more extreme strains of Wahhabism that are 

more central. 

And, our Muslims, when they come to America—and this is obviously a gross generalization, but they have tended to be focused on 

being Americans, not overseas fights, as opposed to many in the 

South Asian community in the U.K. and the like who have stayed 

very focused on those issues. 

Now, we have had exceptions to that, but overall, we have done 

a pretty good job because we are Americans, not because we had 

great programs to stop it, at reducing that. 

So, where have I seen good programs? I think we have lots to 

learn still from the U.K. Prevent Program. It is deeply problematic 

in some ways, but some of the engagement with communities in 

much more aggressive ways was very important. 

I think the Dutch as well have thought about this deeply and 

have a number of social programs. 

I am hesitant to look very far at de-radicalization programs because those have generally been in States which have a set of tools 

and a lack of constitutional protections that we do not have. It is 

not to say that some of the Saudi programs on de-radicalization 

have not been good, but we cannot implement programs the way 

they have. 

Senator HEITKAMP. So, where in the United States, what communities and cities? 

Mr. LEITER. I think the example of Minneapolis-St. Paul and the 

Somali community has been excellent. That community faced a real 

crisis with second-generation Somali Americans going to fight in a 

nationalistic war under the banner of Al-Shabaab. And, the Federal, State, local community, in part led by the U.S. Attorney, in 

part led by the mayor in Minneapolis, did an outstanding job. I 

think some of the counter-gang work which has been implemented 

and pulled into the counter-radicalization work in Los Angeles by 

the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has been quite good. 

One small example. Right after 9/11, the Police Athletic League 

in New York added cricket to its list of sports. That is a good exam-
23 

ple. It is a way of making sure that communities that come from 

different traditions are not separated from their governments and 

feel like they are partners and not adversaries. 

Senator HEITKAMP. I do not think there is any doubt that one of 

the first steps in radicalization is isolation, and the need to better 

understand—we have done a lot of work since the 1990s on concepts called ‘‘community policing,’’ and community policing became 

the model of surge mentality in the military as we are looking at 

not fighting nation-states as much as fighting rogue groups. 

I think it is really interesting to think about community policing 

and those dynamics, and I am very concerned about the reduction 

in resources to local law enforcement where this has to happen on 

the ground with real resources and real commitment and real 

training to address not only the concerns that you would have 

keeping a community safe, but then the critical, important role 

that local law enforcement plays in counterterrorism. And so, I am 

deeply concerned about the cuts to community policing and the cuts 

to the anti-terrorism program at DHS. 

Mr. LEITER. Senator, I could not agree with you more. State and 

local police and medical and fire, all these people are on the front 

lanes. They have to understand it, and if they are not funded to 

learn it, they will not recognize it, and we will end up with violence 

after the fact. 

Let me make it a step harder, which is so much of this is now 

occurring on the Internet. As a general matter, it is not occurring 

in mosques. It is not occurring in public spaces. It is occurring on 

the Internet for individuals. And, helping local officials also understand that piece and then address that piece is something that they 

are not accustomed to. It is not regular community policing, and it 

is critically important. 

Senator HEITKAMP. But, those are the kinds of things—we have 

seen, just for a second, when you look at what we have been able 

to do in child pornography, which has been an incredible model 

that we could adopt in this fight the child pornography work that 

is being done by the Department of Justice (DOJ) is, I think, a 

great model for the work that can be done here in terms of images 

and messages that could be shared broadly with all of law enforcement. 

Mr. LEITER. Absolutely. I think the National Center for Missing 

and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is widely hailed as a real success 

story. I would note that there have been bipartisan bills in the 

past, as recently as 2015, coming out of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence by Chairman Burr and Vice Chairman Feinstein, and requiring a similar approach, and those have been 

strongly resisted. It is a complex issue, but I think it is one which 

the Senate will have to tackle. 

Senator HEITKAMP. Thank you. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Senator Peters. 
24 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PETERS 

Senator PETERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, first I would 

like to send my thoughts and prayers as well to all the victims in 

this morning’s shooting in Alexandria. And, I think the Capitol Police for what you do each and every day. Thank you. Thank you so 

much. 

Today’s topic is certainly a very important one. I have appreciated the testimony of all the witnesses today, and recent tragedies certainly underscore the threat posed by violent extremism. 

But, reading through some of the written testimonies, I became 

concerned about a recurrent theme of anti-Islamic sentiment, and 

certainly Muslim and Arab Americans serve honorably in our military and our law enforcement agencies and in the intelligence community. And, I will say that they are an incredibly important part 

of the social fabric in my State of Michigan, and that they contribute a valuable and necessary perspective that is critical for 

keeping all Americans safe. 

The perpetuation of anti-Islamic attitudes I believe undermines 

our collective values, and it contributes to the undercurrent of xenophobia that is being levied at some of America’s ethnic and religious minorities. 

Equally troubling, such sentiment erodes positive community relations and feeds into the larger extremist narrative that the West 

is at war with Islam, which we are not. And, rather than lending 

legitimacy to a distorted and prejudiced view of Islam, we should 

endeavor to counter all types of extremism that leads to violence, 

regardless of who may inspire it. And, as a Nation, we should seek 

fact-based solutions that enable us to address all extremist threats 

in an adaptive and integrated manner. 

Mr. Leiter, my question relates to online radicalization, and over 

the last several years, we have seen improved efforts, as you have 

mentioned, by the U.S. technology companies to identify and shut 

down user accounts that espouse violence. Still, there are certainly 

inherent challenges in identifying content that warrants removal 

and that which constitutes protected speech. These realities and 

the ubiquity of the Internet and our robust civil rights protections 

suggest that I believe we need incremental, focused reforms rather 

than sweeping legislative changes. 

So, during your time at the NCTC, you witnessed firsthand the 

ease with which groups such as ISIS are able to leverage the Internet to disseminate extremist content, often branded with its flag 

and logo and hymns as well—in other words, contact that is really 

unmistakably designed to support the objectives of a foreign terrorist organization. 

If you could make only one recommendation to this Committee, 

what would that be in terms of your approach to confront the issue 

of ISIS propaganda on some of our popular social networking sites? 

Mr. LEITER. Rebuild trust between the U.S. Government and 

those technology communities, because as—we are talking about 

trust a lot here. We are talking about trust between the U.S. Government and Muslim communities. That is critical. There is a lack 

of trust and cooperation between many technology communities 

and the U.S. Government, and that is very problematic. And, I very 

much understand. Companies are doing what they are designed to 
25 

do, protecting shareholder value, expanding shareholder value. 

But, we are now in a place where—and companies have done a lot, 

Google, Facebook, Twitter, in particular, have done a lot over the 

past 2 years to increase cooperation. But, it was starting at a pretty low point because of the leaks of Edward Snowden and that 

alienation. 

We have to get back to a point where there is a cooperative relationship where easily identifiable features which are rather indisputably associated with political violence of any sort are rapidly reported to the U.S. Government. That is not what happens today. 

It is often removed. It is rarely reported. And, the U.S. Government 

simply does not have the means to monitor the Internet. It is impossible. 

So, building that trust, rebuilding that trust with people who are 

really good, smart, wonderful Americans in the Valley, like the 

general counsel (GC) at Facebook, Colin Stretch, I mean, these are 

really thoughtful people who want to be of assistance, and we have 

to figure out a way that their interests as companies can be protected, the privacy and civil liberties of people who are innocent 

who are using these tools are protected, but you still do have a 

rapid methodology for reporting instances like you suggest to law 

enforcement officials so they can start to find some of those needles 

in what is a massive haystack. 

Senator PETERS. In your recent piece on Lawfare blog, you mentioned that the G–7 is a potential vehicle to influence technology 

companies. To what degree is the threat of online radicalization 

really going to require an international approach to what you have 

just mentioned? 

Mr. LEITER. I think the reason that Prime Minister May brought 

this up at the G–7 was because the U.K. itself probably did not 

have the market power to drive technology companies’ behavior. 

So, in my view, the first thing we should do even before we get to 

the G–7 is to try to drive this between the United States and our 

companies. Otherwise, we will end up with international pressure 

on our companies, which will not be in the same vein as our normal constitutional protections, and they might find even more uncomfortable. 

So, I do think that it is inevitable that they will begin to see increased pressure from the U.K., Germany, France, and the Belgians at least on some of these issues. I do not think that they can 

withstand that pressure over time. 

Senator PETERS. Well, as we are working with our companies 

here in this country, do you think there is the need for the United 

States to play a leading role in terms of defining what actually constitutes extremist content so that private companies are able to 

uniformly develop new terms of service and potentially identify violations? 

Mr. LEITER. Absolutely, Senator. That is critical because only 

when you have that clear definition—and it is probably a little bit 

easier in child pornography than it would be in this context. Only 

once you have that can you have that reporting mechanism that 

people still believe protects privacy and civil liberties. I do not 

think we can live with the Frankfurter-esque ‘‘I know it when I see 

it.’’ We have to give them some rough boundaries, and even if it 
26 

is not capturing 100 percent of the material we want to get down, 

if it captures a big enough percentage, it will still be of meaningful 

assistance in terms of Internet radicalization. 

Senator PETERS. I appreciate it. Thank you for your comments. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Senator Peters. 

I do want to just comment that I also fully read the testimony. 

Certainly I saw anti-Islamist terror comments in there. I saw antiviolence against women comments. I did not really see anti-Islamic. 

I think, quite honestly, the witnesses were very careful to distinguish that. I think they have been very careful in their verbal testimony to distinguish between Muslims who are practicing their 

faith peacefully and spiritually as opposed to political Islam. So, I 

think they are bending over backward trying to make that distinction, and hopefully we can all agree that we are against Islamist 

terrorism that incites and kills and, all kinds of areas of depravity. 

This has been a little unusual hearing so far. We have four witnesses, and all of the questions have been directed to Mr. Leiter. 

And, listen, I appreciate your expertise and your service to this 

country. 

Mr. LEITER. I am happy to step out at this point. 

Chairman JOHNSON. No. I want you there. But, as I have been 

watching this, I have also seen other witnesses jotting down notes. 

So, before I start a second round, I would like to afford or offer 

those witnesses an opportunity to respond based on your notes to 

basically the questions and the answers so far, and I will start with 

Dr. Lenczowski. 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. Thank you, Senator. In all of this discussion, 

we have not talked about the war of ideas. We have not talked 

about the fact that the animating force behind radical jihadism is 

a moral attack on the United States and the West and our culture. 

And, there are things that we can say in response to this, and this 

is not something that can be developed particularly at the local law 

enforcement level. This has to be done by national leaders who are 

the representatives of the American people at the highest levels 

where such things as a human rights campaign can be launched. 

One of the most effective things that is being done right now in 

the online war is done by a very small organization called ‘‘Good 

of All.’’ It is dedicated to fighting against radical jihadism and in 

a radicalization prevention operation by standing for and promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an alternative set of ideals, as an idea virus that can capture the imagination of the new generation of so-called digital natives, the younger 

generation who are fluent with computers and cell phones and social media and the like. And, this has taken some of this effort, 

which is barely funded at all by—it is privately funded, has managed to catch fire in different parts of the world. Millions of hits 

in Egypt, for example, on the work of this organization where 

Egypt was not even particularly targeted, but this was the natural 

course. 

Senator Peters mentioned earlier that we are not at war with 

Islam. Well, one of the biggest arguments of the jihadists is that, 

in fact, the West is at war with Islam. And, sound arguments have 

to be made that this is not the case and that we are opposing a 

certain kind of radical political ideology. 
27 

I am also concerned here that much of this conversation is focused on the question of terrorism and not on the question of trying 

to establish basically a totalitarian, theocratic form of government. 

Sharia law may not have made the kind of inroads in American society that it has in other parts of the world. But, if you look in Europe—and, European countries have plenty of enclaves that have 

established parallel structures, parallel track for Sharia law, and 

there are cases in U.S. courts when it comes to family law where 

a Muslim man may marry an American woman; they will have 

children. The man can then make his proper Muslim declaration of 

divorce, and then Sharia family law has triumphed in cases like 

this where the husband can take the children off to Saudi Arabia 

and the American mother will never see those children again. 

I am not an expert on all of that particular stuff, but I have read 

enough about it to know that such things exist and that the parallel track for Sharia law has established a very good foothold in 

a number of European countries. 

I think that we have to be making it very clear that insofar as 

there are those who want to try to establish a political order in this 

country that is at variance with our constitutional freedoms, this 

has to be opposed. And, it is being done under the shroud of religion, under the protection of religious freedoms. But, in fact, it is 

a political movement that is at variance with the Constitution of 

the United States. I think we have to be vigilant about this, and 

I think we have to make the proper moral arguments at the highest levels of this government that can both inspire those who would 

be radicalized to take a different path and to alert so much of the 

country about what the intentions are of certain kinds of people, 

which is not just violence but it is the establishment of an unconstitutional order in this country. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Good. Thank you. Ms. Nomani. 

Ms. NOMANI. Yes, Senator, I have a 14-year-old son, so I watch 

a few science fiction movies once in a while. And, we oftentimes see 

the monster flailing, and we can take this approach that we try to 

address every place where that monster hits, from San Bernardino 

to Orlando to London to Dhaka to Kabul. Or we can go to the heart 

of what is controlling that monster. And, what that is is an ideology of extremism that everybody on this panel has acknowledged. 

I have lived on this Earth and seen this ideology take root in 

communities from my hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, to 

Northern Virginia, to the rest of the world. The heart of this sits 

in propaganda machines that are churning out this dawa of extremism. Those propaganda machines are in Qatar, in Iran, in Saudi 

Arabia, and all of their proxies. 

Senator McCaskill, you said language matters, and as you said, 

Senator Johnson, we do have rules, contracts in this country when 

you incite violence, when you lead people to violate our U.S. laws. 

Amazon sent me overnight this book, ‘‘Woman in the Shade of 

Islam,’’ that outlines how a man can beat his wife. It was first delivered to me at my mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia, by the 

Muslim Students Association. Ideas matter. Words matter. We 

have to get at the heart of the ideas that are then leading people 

to violence. 
28 

We are on a conveyor belt. We should not just look at all of these 

incredible programs that are dealing with people once they become 

violent. We need to address the ideas that take them on that conveyor belt to that radicalization, and that is why I believe also that 

our Internet companies are failing us, unfortunately. Amazon.com 

brought me this how-to book on how to beat a wife. GoDaddy in 

Phoenix, Arizona, hosts a website called ‘‘AlMinbar.’’ I invite anyone to go there and use the search engine and just look up the 

word ‘‘Jew’’ and see how many ways they say that Jewish people 

should be murdered. They host the website of Hizbut Tahrir, the 

Islamist organization based in Northern Virginia and Chicago that 

wants an Islamic State. 

We are not doing enough to police these bad ideas. These are 

ideas that are not protected simply by our free speech rights in 

America. They are ideas that incite violence. We stand together 

against white supremacists. We should stand together against 

Muslim supremacists. They exist, as all of the members of our 

panel have agreed upon, and unless we go to the heart of the problem, we will continue to be fighting terrorist acts for the generations to come. We have to dismantle the network of these bad ideas 

that are being put forward into the minds and hearts of young people, and we have to do it today. We have to investigate, we have 

to dismantle, and we have to put forward exactly the positive ideas. 

In the Muslim reform movement, our ideas are for secular governance, for peace, for human rights, including women’s rights, 

consistent with the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. We have to 

put forward the good ideas and shut down, eliminate, and take 

from this Earth these bad ideas either through our relationships 

with these countries that are putting forward these ideas or by any 

means that we are able to then stop the promotion of those ideas 

into the minds of our young people. 

Thank you. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Ms. Hirsi Ali. 

Ms. HIRSI ALI. Mr. Chairman, I would like to go back to the big 

picture, and listening to Mr. Leiter, Mr. Leiter, I think you in your 

capacity working in the government, you have worked very hard, 

and I really appreciate that. But, I want to evaluate—if we reflect 

on how this government has performed since September 11, 2001, 

and how other Western governments have performed, my evaluation would be we have failed. We have these small programs that, 

if you look at the big picture, look like small drops in the ocean. 

We have spent trillions of dollars. We have waged wars since 9/11. 

The Islamists, the radicals, whatever name you choose to call them, 

they have grown exponentially. Their sympathizers, the agencies, 

the money, the funding that they get, all of that has grown exponentially since 9/11. 

If our posture on September 11, 2001, was we are going to take 

the wall to them and we are going to stop this evil, in 2017 we can 

barely say that we have stopped that. It has doubled, tripled, in 

some places it has quadrupled. We have completely failed to define 

the enemy, and because we have failed to define the enemy, we are 

flying blind. 

Our ambition cannot be we are going to develop all of these programs to stop or to limit the consequences of the next attack. In 
29 

2001, it was we are going to stand for no attack at all. If you look 

at some of the other countries, I am really worried—and I think we 

do not have the sense of urgency here—worried about some of 

these European countries. Do you realize that France is in a state 

of emergency since November 13, 2015? Germany has closed some 

mosques. Radical right-wing groups in Europe are on the rise as 

they have never been. I have lived in Holland for 14 years, and 

when I came, there was a very small radical right-wing group, and 

today it is the second largest party. 

In Britain, after this attack in London, the authorities said there 

were 3,000 people they were surveiling, but there are 20,000 other 

people at large. 

It is absolutely true that when it comes to mounting large-scale 

attacks, we have made it very difficult for them to do that. And, 

they may not succeed, and I hope they do not succeed. But, when 

it comes to entering the minds of human beings and turning them 

into live missiles against us because they promised them a hereafter that is fantastic, in that sense we have failed. And, in that 

sense, because we do not get to the ideology, we do not want to talk 

about this problem, we are now seeing thousands and thousands of 

men, and increasingly women, who are prepared to use anything 

as a weapon—their cars, their knives, etc. And, it is very easy for 

us to say, and convenient maybe, to say this is happening online. 

But, that is not entirely true. It is still happening in the mosques. 

After the recent attacks in Brussels, in Germany, in France, 

mosques have been raided and closed. It is happening in people’s 

living rooms. It is happening in schools. 

What exactly is happening? It is what I call ‘‘dawa activities.’’ It 

is an evangelization that is carried out by Muslims who accentuate 

the political-military doctrine that they are raised with, and they 

are using that doctrine to turn people’s heads and minds away 

from the principles—Senator Harris just left, but she said what we 

thought were universal decency. That is what their minds and 

hearts are being turned away from, and their minds and hearts are 

being turned away to the idea that you are doing God’s work, 

Allah’s work, to kill people, to maim, to repress, and to bring down 

societies. It has not happened in the United States. It has not yet 

happened in Europe. But, there are, in fact, countries in Africa that 

have been brought down, countries in the Middle East that have 

been brought down. And, I think we need to bring to this discussion—I know this is the Homeland Senate Committee and we do 

not speak for the entire government, but I do not think we should 

walk away this afternoon when we are done with the idea that 

there is no sense of urgency. There is a great deal of a sense of urgency, and between 2001 and today we have failed, and we have 

failed miserably, and it is time to correct our course. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Ms. Ali. And, by the way, I completely agree that we should not be penny wise and pound foolish. 

Again, the purpose of this hearing is to define the problem, admit 

we have it, so the resources we do spend—I mean, you do not start 

with resources. You start with the definition of the problem. And, 

again, what I am hearing is, quite honestly, a great deal of agreement in terms of what it is. Senator Daines. 
30 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DAINES 

Senator DAINES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member 

McCaskill, and thank you all for testifying. 

The ideology of violent and radical Islamic extremism is a challenging topic, and it certainly takes moral, political, and at times 

physical courage to speak up. 

As we reflect on and learn from these recent terror 

attacks—Paris, London, Manchester, Egypt, St. Petersburg, 

Istanbul—in fact, 1 year ago this week since the lone-wolf attack 

in Orlando—we cannot allow fear to disrupt our daily lives or our 

liberty. We must remain vigilant about the growing threat of Islamic extremism and work to extinguish the proselytization of violence and prevent future tragedies. 

I want to direct some questions here regarding the freedom of religion. Everyone in their testimony made mention of it, and that is, 

we are not at war with or opposing a certain religion. What we are 

at war with is an ideology and violence that threatens our free society and the liberty of every individual. 

Ms. Nomani, as a Muslim American, how do we reassure the 

freedom of religion while pushing back on dawa and violence carried out in the name of religion? 

Ms. NOMANI. Senator, thank you for the question. My family 

comes from India, and in India, Muslims are a minority population. 

The Islam that I learned from my parents was one in which we accepted the values of the society and secular governance. That was 

what my parents taught me. 

The values of Islamism are ones in which there is a sense of superiority to anybody else’s world order. The history of how we got 

here is rooted in the last 100 years. The dismantling of the Ottoman Empire brought with it dreamers who wanted to create a new 

Islamic State. And so, some of those men had names like Sayyid 

Qutb, Maulana Maududi. Those men created movements like the 

Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami, Tablighi Jamaat. They are 

the ones that Ayaan is talking about in terms of the dawa that 

they have done. 

When my father came here in the 1960s, he got a ticket to Manhattan, but it was Manhattan, Kansas, because like a lot of Indian 

immigrants, he was given a ticket to the heartland of America. 

And, he loved this country and the values. He loved the dignity of 

labor that he saw by the professors. 

Sayyid Qutb, meanwhile, came here to this country, and he came 

to Colorado, and he hated this country. He hated the freedoms that 

women get in this country. And so, how do we protect Muslims and 

how do we resist that Islamist movement? It is, in my estimation, 

by differentiating that Islamist movement from Muslims and isolating it, marginalizing it, blacklisting it, taking down their 

websites. This is how I think that we have to create an image and 

a vision of Islam that is compatible with the 21st Century, that is 

compatible with the West, that is compatible with the United 

States. 

You come from a State that is the heartland of America. You believe in the same type of values that my parents taught me to believe. And, it is that kind of universality that has to drive us, and 

we have to recognize that there are people in all communities, in-
31 

cluding in our Muslim community, who do not share our universal 

values. 

Senator DAINES. Thank you. In your testimony, you mentioned 

the role that social media companies are playing in blocking terrorist material. As a society here in the United States, we encourage the free flow of information and ideas, but there are limits. 

Ms. NOMANI. Right. 

Senator DAINES. This platform has enabled reward for illegal and 

oftentimes gruesome actions, and it must stop. 

Now, I spent 12 years in the cloud computing business and software business, and I fully appreciate the challenge and commitment to maintain reputable platforms. Twitter announced they suspended over 635,000 accounts for promoting extremism since 2015. 

But, how can governments and Western society augment the tech 

companies’ efforts? 

Ms. NOMANI. So, to me, we have to make a moral decision that 

we have a right to speak up and against any form of extremism, 

even when it comes in the name of religion. We should not give 

Muslim extremists a pass because they are expressing religion. We 

should not give them a pass because we are afraid of offending 

Muslims. We have to use the same standards that we apply to all 

of society against the Muslim supremacists that want to control our 

country. 

When I was doing research for this testimony, I looked up the 

terms of service that GoDaddy has, that Facebook has, that 

YouTube has. There are so many operators, as you know, who are 

violating those terms of service by preaching hate against Jews, 

against gays, from within my Muslim community. And so, I feel it 

is my obligation as a Muslim to say we cannot allow that to exist. 

And, we have a ‘‘See something, say something’’ verse in the 

Qur’an. It says, ‘‘Bear witness to injustice, even if it is by your own 

kin.’’ And so, in that way, I believe that the social media companies 

actually have to have the moral courage to police these Muslims 

who are also practicing hate. 

Senator DAINES. Thank you. 

I want to turn to Dr. Lenczowski. Based on your expertise, how 

do we get platforms outside the United States to get serious, like 

Twitter and Facebook have, about removing inappropriate content? 

Mr. LENCZOWSKI. During the Cold War, we had the U.S. Information Agency that got information out about the United States in 

the face—to counter the falsehoods about anti-American—of antiAmerican propaganda. We had information policies. We had America houses, for example, in Germany where there could be good 

public policy debate about these issues. 

We had all sorts of educational, cultural, and other kinds of exchanges, visitors’ programs. So, many people abroad have a caricature view of the United States as fast cars, skyscrapers, dishonest 

businessmen, all surrounded by pornography. And, people do not 

see the work of small-town America, of churchgoing America, of the 

charitable work and volunteer work that is done in this country, 

the kind of things that can melt people’s hearts rather than incite 

hatred. We need to be telling—we need to be portraying our country much more accurately to the world. 
32 

The last couple of administrations have been gradually shutting 

down the Voice of America. It is a crime. The Voice of America during the Cold War, along with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, 

were described by the great Russian author Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn 

as ‘‘the most powerful weapons’’ we possessed in the Cold War because we broadcast information, we broadcast the truth, we broadcast ideas, we gave people accurate history when their history was 

being erased by totalitarian regimes. Radical Islamist regimes do 

that kind of thing, too, a complete mischaracterization of historical 

facts. 

So, that is some of the open public diplomacy that can be done. 

And, by the way, public diplomacy has been completely neglected 

by our government. It is, I believe, the most cost-effective instrument of American power in the world. I will even argue that public 

diplomacy was the decisive element to have brought down the Soviet Empire, but I do not think most people in the foreign policy 

community understand that. 

But, then there is the covert side of it, which I think is equally 

important. As Mr. Leiter said, the U.S. Government does not have 

much credibility in talking about religious and theological matters. 

I think that, however, there are people who do have credibility 

talking about these things, and the U.S. Government can magnify 

their messages. 

For example, there are doctrines within radical Islamism that 

say that Allah wills everything, and that means he wills the rape 

of the 12-year-old girl and he wills the cholera epidemic in Pakistan. Does Allah really will evil? Is that really so? Is it Allah’s will 

that somebody should go out and kill innocents? Are you going to 

go to heaven for killing innocents? Or perhaps are you going to go 

to hell? Is it a Satanic thing to do? 

This is language that perhaps U.S. Government representatives 

cannot use, but it is language that can be put on programming, for 

example, on, say, the Voice of America, whether it is radio or television, or whatever, where there are discussions about these things. 

And then, there is the covert side of things. During the Cold 

War, we had Frank Wisner’s ‘‘Mighty Wurlitzer,’’ newsletters, 

newspapers, journals of opinion, broadcast stations, organizations, 

the Congress for Cultural Freedom, all sorts of things like this that 

were designed to fight the war of ideas against communism and 

were remarkably effective at doing this. And, people wrote for those 

journals without even knowing where the money came from. The 

money came from some foundation somewhere, but it was U.S. 

Government money after a few cutouts. So, there are many such 

things. 

Senator DAINES. Thank you. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Thank you, Senator Daines. 

I just have one further question here. I think part of the reason 

I wanted to hold this hearing is, again, to explore this concept of 

something other than just jihad, the dawa, and the use of potentially what looks like in many cases maybe benign organizations, 

but maybe not. And, I just want to ask Mr. Leiter, to what extent 

have we really followed the money trail in terms of money being 
33 

diverted from charitable works to not charitable works? Let us put 

it that way. And, how much more work do we have to do on that? 

Mr. LEITER. Senator, a foundational point. I think following the 

money is very important. I think in terms of the overall counterterrorist effort, again, important but pretty small. And, what we are 

seeing in many of the attacks, at least domestically, funding is 

about the least important thing there. 

Now, certainly when we talk about larger organizations overseas, 

whether it is Hamas or Al-Shabaab or other organizations, you are 

in a different context. But, in the United States, that funding piece 

is, I think, less important. 

Second, I do think that the FBI, Department of Treasury, the intelligence community writ large—National Security Agency (NSA), 

CIA—actually do a fantastic job today about pieces of this. So, first 

of all, in terms of identifying the money and using that as a tool 

to identify who the people are and then pursuing them, either 

through covert action or law enforcement or elsewhere. 

The second piece of actually stopping the broader flows from 

charitable organizations to bad pieces is admittedly probably the 

most difficult piece here. I think we have done pretty well with established organizations—Hamas, Hezbollah. The FBI has done a 

tremendous amount of work on smuggling of tobacco and other 

things, pursuing that money in these large organizations. 

It gets much more difficult for the U.S. intelligence community 

and I do not think we have done as well the more diverse those 

networks become when you are dealing with smaller charities, individual hawalas. That gets really difficult. And so, I think it is 

something that we have to continue pursuing. It is worthwhile. 

There is a return on that investment. Again, this is penny wise, 

pound foolish. We have to support this because it does not cost a 

lot. And, it is also an important way, if done well, again, to build 

partnerships with the community, to talk about the charities that 

are doing good work, but then not alienate the community when 

you shut down a charity because some of the money has gone to 

bad things. And, the Muslim community, like every other community, has to understand that just because they think a charity is 

good, some of that money may, in fact, be diverted to very bad 

things. And, if the U.S. Government takes legal action against that 

charity, again, it is not a war against Islam. It is a war against 

certain elements funding things that are contrary to U.S. law and 

principles. 

May I have one—just very quickly, Senator. Much of what this 

panel said I do agree with. I absolutely—again, I want to echo the 

good doctor’s points—I am just calling him ‘‘the good doctor’’ now 

because I am not trying with the last name. But, I want to echo 

the good doctor’s points on the lack of funding more broadly for 

public diplomacy and engaging this ideologically. What I want to 

stress is it has not been aversion to the discussion because it is so 

uncomfortable. It has not been due to some political correctness 

that people say, ‘‘Oh, boy, we better not call it ‘Islamic extremism.’ ’’ 

It has been actually deep thought about what the right language 

is, what the problem is. And then, I think—and I hate to say this, 

but Congress bears responsibility for this as well—a lack of strategic vision and funding for programs in a global, robust way to 
34 

match the many fantastic military, intelligence, law enforcement 

people that we have funded. That to me, if we can come out of this 

hearing with a commitment both domestically and internationally 

to do that with our partners, in partnership, and to make our Executive Branch officials speaking about this problem in a way that 

does not alienate the partners, this will be more than worth its 

salt. 

Chairman JOHNSON. Well, again, I appreciate your testimony. I 

agree wholeheartedly we should not be penny wise and pound foolish in terms of resourcing, but it starts with the proper definition 

of the problem, admitting reality, not denying any reality, understanding how, I do not like this reality we are dealing with, but we 

have to deal with it. The U.S. Constitution does not have to be a 

suicide pact. We have to recognize that. 

I want to thank all the witnesses. I would encourage all the Senators, all the members of the audience, read the full testimony of 

all the witnesses. I think that is probably a pretty good start. So, 

again, thank you all for your courage, for your time, for your testimony. 

This hearing record will remain open for 15 days, until June 

29th at 5 p.m., for the submission of statements and questions for 

the record. This hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:03 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 
(35) 

A P P E N D I X 
36 

U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee 

"Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, and 

Techniques of Violent Extremism" 

.June 14,2017 

Ranking Member Claire McCaskill 

Opening Statement 

Thank you, Chairman Johnson. We just marked the one year 

anniversary of the Pulse nightclub attack, the worst mass shooting in our 

nation's history. This anniversary and the recent, devastating events in 

Britain are a reminder that confronting terrorism and radicalization are 

battles that we have to wage every day. Matters as important as countering 

terrorism, stopping violent extremism, and protecting our country demand 

thoughtful, bipartisan solutions. 

Since 9/11, we have relentlessly pursued a multifaceted 

counterterrorism campaign to protect our homeland from foreign threats. 

While we still face the very real possibility of terrorists abroad plotting to do 

us harm or discretely slipping into our country to carry out an attack as the 

9/11 terrorists did, we have built robust systems and transformed and finetuned our national security apparatus so that it can focus on detecting and 
37 

preventing such instances. Because of our concentration on eliminating that 

type of attack, the nature of the threat has changed. 

Recent terrorist attacks in the United States have been perpetrated by 

Americans who were radicalized here at home, and often those attacks have 

been on soft targets such as in San Bernardino and the Pulse nightclub. The 

Pulse attack in Orlando showed us how challenging it is to build defenses to 

protect against a shooting in a nightclub, and the recent attacks in Europe 

illustrate how difficult it is to prevent attacks involving cars targeting 

bystanders on the street. It's clear the threat from terrorists and the tactics 

used are evolving. 

I am deeply concerned that the President's budget proposal 

jeopardizes people's security because it slashes funding for homeland 

counterterrorism measures. The President's budget cuts Visible Intermodal 

Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams. VIPR teams provide a critical 

presence in pre-security areas at airports, train stations and bus terminals. 

President Trump's budget also calls for the complete elimination of 

the Law Enforcement Reimbursement Program, which provides financial 

assistance to local law enforcement agencies that help secure our airports. 

The President's budget would reduce the Port Security Grant Program and 

2 
38 

the Transit Security Grant Program by more than 50 percent. And the Urban 

Area Security Grant Initiative, which helps prepare high-density urban areas 

for how to respond in the event of an attack, would be cut by approximately 

$150 million. The President's proposal would also zero out the Complex 

Coordinated Terrorist Attacks Grant Program. I'm worried that these cuts 

will rob our law enforcement officials of the resources they need to detect, 

prevent, and respond to potential attacks. 

While it is critical that we enhance our physical security and provide 

law enforcement with the resources they need to keep us safe, we also have 

to improve our efforts to stop Americans from becoming radicalized. The 

United States faces threats from a variety of sources including white 

supremacists, ceo-terrorists, and ISIS and AI Qaeda members and 

sympathizers. In the context of Sunni-inspired violent extremism, which is 

where this hearing appears to be focused based on the witnesses, it's 

absolutely vital that any effort our government undertakes to counter violent 

extremism is done in patinership with and with the full engagement of the 

Muslim community. 

In order to combat ISIS and other extremists' propaganda, we must 

have a healthy dialogue with Muslim and other community leaders as well 

3 
39 

as ensure that resources are available to families and lriends that may have 

concerns about loved ones who have become attracted to extremist rhetoric. 

Unfortunately, some of the rhetoric we hear, including fi·om some of 

the witnesses here today, is at odds with this approach. It is also in complete 

conf1ict with American principles and values. And most impmtantly, it 

would actually make the United States of America less safe. We need to 

spend less time stirring up anti-Muslim rhetoric and more time working on 

these issues and working with the majority of the Muslims who are peaceful 

and law abiding in this country and around the world. 

We're lucky to have Michael Leiter testifying with us today. As the 

former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) during 

both the Bush and Obama administrations, Mr. Leiter understands the threats 

our country faces and he has extensive knowledge and expertise crafting 

strategies to go after the terrorists and protect the homeland. I am eager to 

hear Mr. Leiter's analysis and the lessons we can learn from the recent 

attacks in the U.K. and elsewhere. I would appreciate his thoughts on the 

President's budget, and I'm interested in recommendations to bolster the 

nation's safety and resilience. What can we do better to combat and prevent 

radicalization and extremism? 

4 
40 

Mr. Chairman, in the wake of the tragic attacks in the United 

Kingdom and elsewhere throughout the globe, I encourage you to have 

hearings very soon with the federal agencies responsible for detecting, 

preventing, and responding to attacks. As the Homeland Security & 

Governmental Affairs Committee, we have a vital responsibility to hear 

from the individuals currently responsible for countering terrorism in our 

nation. 

Thank you. 

5 
41 

Testimony before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Of the United States Senate 

On 

"Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, and Techniques of Violent 

Extremism" 

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali 

Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University 

Wednesday, June 14,2017 

lOAM 

Dirksen Senate Office Building 342 

P. 1 
42 

Thank you, Chairman Johnson and members of the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs. I am Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, 

Stanford University, and founder of the AHA Foundation. It is a privilege to speak with you 

today about the ideology underlying Islamist terrorism, and the connection between non-violent 

Islamist extremism and violent Islamist extremism. 

My testimony is based, with slight modifications, on my recently published monograph The 

Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How to Counter It (Hoover, 

2017). 

In the time since my monograph was published earlier this year, a series of attacks in Manchester 

and London have led British Prime Minister Theresa May to call for tackling the ideology 

underlying Islamist terrorism.' According to May, a series of "difficult and often embarrassing 

conversations" will be required in order to tackle extremism in the United Kingdom. 

In France, under the state of emergency imposed after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, authorities 

have closed twenty mosques and prayer halls for extremist preaching.2 In mid-November of 

2016, German authorities in sixty cities searched more than 190 mosques, apartments, and of 

offices connected with "True Religion," a radical Islamist group accused of radicalizing German 

Muslims and of recruiting for the Islamic State.' These stringent measures follow years of 

relative inaction. 

In the United States, it is refreshing and heartening that President Trump acknowledges the need 

for an ideological campaign against "radical Islam."4 This deserves to be called a paradigm shift. 

President Bush often referred to a "war on terror," but terror is a tactic that can be used for a 

1 May, Theresa. "Prime Minister's statement following London terror attack." June 4, 2014. < 

https :/ /ww w .gov .uk/ government/ specches/pm-statement-follow ing -london-terror -attal:k -4- june-20 I 7> 2 Serhan, Yasmin. "France's disappearing Mosques," The Atlantic, August I, 20!6. < 

https:/ /W\VW .theatlantk .com/news/ archive/20 16/0X/french-mosgues-islam/ 493919/> 

Descours, Guillaume, "Twenty or so mosques closed since December, Cazeneuve announces," Le Figaro. January 

8, 2016. < http://www.lefigaroJrlactualite-francel201610810110 1016-20 I 6080 I ARTFIGOOI29-une-vingtaine-dcmosquees-fermecs-depuis-decembre-annonce-cazeneuve.php> 

3 Faiola, Anthony. 2016. "Germany launches raids across 60 cities, bans group on suspicion of Islamic State 

recruiting." Washington Post. November 15. < https://\V\vw.washingtonpost.com/\vorld/germany-launches-raidsacross-60-cities-bans-radical-islamist-groupl20 1611111510353et76- I 649-4216-89c6-ef4a9!6b922e storv .htrnl > 4 Donald Trump, "Understanding the Threat: Radical Islam and the Age of Terror,' speech, Youngstown, Ohio, 

August 15, 2016. < http:l/thehill.corn/blogslpundits-blorrlpresidentiakarnpaign/291498-full-transcript-donaldtrump-addresses-radical > 

P. 2 
43 

variety of ideological objectives.5 President Obama stated that he was opposed to "violent 

extremism" and even organized an international summit around this subject.6 

In what follows, however, I shall refer to "political Islam" rather than radical Islam. Political 

Islam is not just a religion as most Western citizens recognize the term "religion," a faith; it is 

also a political ideology, a legal order, and in many ways also a military doctrine associated with 

the campaigns of the Prophet Muhammad.' Political Islam rejects any kind of distinction 

between religion and politics, mosque and state. Political Islam even rejects the modern state in 

favor of a caliphate. My central argument is that political Islam implies a constitutional order 

fundamentally incompatible with the US Constitution and with the "constitution of liberty" that 

is the foundation of the American way of life. 

There is no point in denying that political Islam as an ideology has its foundation in Islamic 

doctrine.' Muhammad is the founder of Islam. He is regarded as the last Prophet by Muslims. 

However, "Islam," "Islarnism," and "Muslims" are distinct concepts. Not all Muslims are 

Islarnists, let alone violent, but all Islamists- including those who use violence-are Muslims. I 

believe the religion of Islam itself is indeed capable of reformation, if only to distinguish it more 

clearly from the political ideology of Islamism. But that task of reform can only be carried out by 

Muslims. 

5 President George W. Bush, 'Address to a Joint Session of congress," September 20,2001. < https://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.govlinfocus/bushrecord/documents/Selected Speeches George W Bush.pdf> P. 68. 6 President Barack Obama, "Remarks by President Obama at the Leaders' Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent 

Extremism,'' September 29, 2015, < https:i/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/20 15/09/29/remarks: 

president-obama-!eaders-summit-countering-isil-and-violent> 

7 Crone, Patricia. 1996. "The rise of Islam in the World" in The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World 

ed. Francis Robinson. Cambridge University Press. P. 2-31. 

Black, Antony. 2008. The West and islam: Religion and Political Thought in World History. Oxford University 

Press. 

Crone, Patricia. 2013. "Traditional political thought" in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought ed. 

Gerhard Bowering. Princeton: Princeton University Press. P. 554-560. 

Busse, Heribert. 2010. "The World of Islam: a Brief Historical Survey" in Islam in the world today ed. Werner Ende 

and Udo Steinbach. 2010.lthaca: Cornell University Press. P. 1-35. 

Rodgers, Russ. 2012. The Generalship of Muhammad: Campaigns of the Prophet of' Allah. Gainesville: University 

Press of Florida. 

Ahmad ibn Naqib a!-Misri. Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Lmv, trans. Nub Ha Mim 

Keller (Beltsville, MD: Amana Publishers, 1997). 

Cook, David. 2015. Understanding Jihad. Oakland: University of California Press. 

'Hauser, Albrecht. 2012. "Da'wah: Islamic Mission and its Current Implications." International Bulletin of 

Missionary Research Vol. 36 (4): P. 189-194. 

Euben, Roxanne and Muhammad Qasim Zaman (Eds.) 2009. Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and 

Contexts .from Al-Banna to Bin Laden. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 

P.3 
44 

Insisting that radical Islamists have "nothing to do with Islam" has led US policy makers to 

commit numerous strategic errors since 9/ II. One is to distinguish between a "tiny" group of 

extremists and an "overwhelming" majority of "moderate" Muslims. I prefer to differentiate 

among Medina Muslims, who embrace the militant political ideology adopted by Muhammad in 

Medina; Mecca Muslims, who prefer the religion originally promoted by Muhammad in Mecca; 

and reformers, who are open to some kind of Muslim Reformation. 

These distinctions have their origins in history. The formative period of Islam can be divided 

roughly into two phases: the spiritual phase, associated with Mecca, and the political phase that 

followed Muhammad's move to Medina. There is a substantial difference between Qur'anic 

verses revealed in Mecca (largely spiritual in nature) and Qur'anic verses revealed in Medina 

(more political and even militaristic). There is also a difference in the behavior of the Prophet 

Muhammad: in Mecca, he was a spiritual preacher, but in Medina he became a political and 

military figure.9 

It cannot be said often enough that the United States is not at war with Islam or with Muslims. It 

is, however, bound to resist the political aspirations of Medina Muslims where those pose a 

direct threat to our civil and political liberties. It is also bound to ensure that Mecca Muslims and 

reforming Muslims enjoy the same protections as members of other religious communities who 

accept the fundamental principles of a free society. That includes protection from the tactics of 

intimidation that are so central to the ideology and practice of political Islam. 

The Background 

The conflict between the United States and political Islam in modern times dates back to at least 

1979, when the US embassy in Tehran was seized by Islamic revolutionaries and fifty-two 

9 In the early days of Islam, when Muhammad was going from door to door in Mecca trying to persuade the 

polytheists to abandon their idols of worship, he was inviting them to accept that there was no god but Allah and that 

he was Allah· s messenger. much as Christ had asked Jews to accept that he was the son of God. After ten years of 

trying this kind of persuasion, however, Muhammad and his small band of believers went to Medina and from that 

moment Muhammad's mission took on a political dimension. Unbelievers were still invited to submit to Allah, but, 

after Medina, they were attacked if they refused. Jews and Christians could retain their faith if they submitted to a 

special tax as a mark of their humiliation, the jizya. Those who did not accept this faced the death penalty. 

For an overview of the historical context, see; Busse, Heribert. 2010. "The World of Islam: a Brief Historical 

Survey" in Islam in the world today ed. Werner Ende and Udo Steinbach. 2010. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. P. 

1-35. 

Crone, Patricia. 1996. "The rise of Islam in the World" in The Cambridge J/lustrated History of the Islamic World 

ed. Francis Robinson. Cambridge University Press. P. 2-31. 

Black, Antony. 2008. The West and Islam: Religion and Political Thought in World History. Oxford University 

Press, 

P.4 
45 

Americans were held hostage for 444 days. 10 In the decades that followed the Iranian revolution, 

the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania 

reminded Americans of the threat posed by political Islam. But it was not until the 9/11 attacks 

that political Islam as an ideology attracted sustained public attention. The September 11, 2001, 

attacks were inspired by a political ideology that has its foundation in Islam, specifically its 

formative period in Medina. 

Since 9/11, at least $1.7 trillion has been spent on combat and reconstruction costs in Iraq, Syria, 

Afghanistan, and Pakistan." The total budgetary cost of the wars and homeland security from 

2001 through 2016 is more than $3.6 trillion." Yet in spite of the sacrifices of more than 5,000 

armed service personnel" who have lost their lives since 9/11 and the tens of thousands of 

American soldiers who have been wounded, today political Islam is on the rise around the world. 

Violence is the most obvious-but not the only-manifestation of this trend. Jihadist groups 

have proliferated all over the Middle East and North Africa, especially where states are weak and 

civil wars rage (Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Syria, not forgetting northern Nigeria). Islam-inspired 

terrorists also have a global reach. France is in a permanent state of emergency, while the United 

States has been profoundly shaken by terror attacks in Boston (the Marathon bombers); Fort 

Hood, Texas; San Bernardino, California; Orlando, Florida; and Ohio State University, to name 

but a few. 

Of the last sixteen years, the worst year for terrorism was 2014, with ninety-three countries 

experiencing attacks and 32,765 people killed. The second worst was 2015, with 29,376 deaths. 

In 2015, four radical Islamic groups were responsible for 7 4 percent of all deaths from terrorism: 

the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Boko Haram, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. 14 Although the 

Muslim world itself bears the heaviest burden of jihadist violence, the West is increasingly under 

attack. 

How large is the jihadist movement in the world? In Pakistan alone, where the population is 

almost entirely Muslim, 13 percent of Muslims surveyed- or more than 13 million adults-said 

10 Some argue the conflict goes back further, to the raids of the Barbary pirates on American ships and their demand 

for tribute in the late 18" and early 19" centuries. 

"Crawford, Neta. 2016. "US Budgetary Cost of Wars through 2016: $4.79 trillion and counting," Watson Institute, 

Brown University. 

<http://watson .brown .edu/costsofwar/fi1es/cow /i mce/papers/20 16/Costs% 20of% 20War% 20through% 20201 6%20 Fl 

NAL%20fina1%20v2.pdf > 12 Crawford, "US Budgetary Cost of Wars." 13 Department of Defense, tables showing fatalities in operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Enduring Freedom. 

Inherent Resolve, and Freedom's Sentinel, 2016, http://www.defense.gov/casualty .pdf 14 Institute for Economics and Peace, 2016 Global Terrorism Index, p. 3.< http://economicsandpeace.or!2/wpcontent/up1oads/20 16111/Globai-Terrorism-lndex-20 16.2.pdf > 

P.S 
46 

that bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets are often or sometimes 

justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies." 

Disturbingly, the number of Western-born Muslim jihadists is sharply increasing. The United 

Nations estimated in November 2014 that some 15,000 foreign fighters from at least eighty 

nations have traveled to Syria to join the radical jihadists.16 Roughly a quarter of them come from 

Western Europe. 17 

Yet the advance of political Islam manifests itself not only in acts of violence. Even as billions 

are spent on military intervention and drone strikes, the ideological infrastructure of political 

Islam in the United States continues to grow because officials are concerned only with criminal 

conspiracies to commit acts of violence, not with the ideology that inspires such acts. 

According to one estimate, 10-15 percent of the world's Muslims are Islamists. 18 Out of well 

over 1.6 billion, or 23 percent of the globe's population, that implies more than 160 million 

individuals. Based on survey data on attitudes toward sharia in Muslim countries, total support 

for Islamist activities in the world is likely significantly higher than that estimate. 19 

Understanding Dawa 

From 9/11 until now, the dominant Western response to political Islam has been to focus only on 

"terror" and "violent extremism." This approach has failed. In focusing only on acts of violence, 

we have ignored the ideology that justifies, promotes, celebrates, and encourages those acts. By 

not fighting a war of ideas against political Islam (or "Islamism") as an ideology and against 

"Pew Research Center. 2013. The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society. Question 89, p. 214. < 

http://www .pcwforum ,orglfi les/20 13104/worlds-musl ims-rel i gion-politics-socicty-fu II-report.pdf> 

Population statistics on adults taken from UN Population Division, Population Prospects 2015. "Population by 

Broad Age Groups," Cell ATI431. 

<https:l/esa.un .org/unpd/wpp/DVD/Files/1 Indicators%20(Standard)iEXCEL FILES/ I Population/WPP20 15 POP 

F08 I TOTAL POPULATION BY BROAD AGE GROUP BOTH SEXES.XLS> 16 UN Security Council, "In Presidential Statement, Security Council Calls for Redoubling Efforts to Target Root 

Causes of Terrorism as Threat Expands, Intensified," news release, November 19, 2014. 

http://www.un.orglpresslen/2014/sc ll656.doc.htm. See also Spencer Ackerman, "Foreign jihadists !locking to Syria 

on '.Unprecedented scale'- UN, The Guardian, October 30,2014, < 

https :/ /ww w .theguardian .com/world/20 14/oct/30/f orei gn- j i hadist-i rag-syri a-unprecedented-un-isis> 17 "It ain't half hot here, mum: why and how Westerners go to fight in Syria and Iraq," Economist, August 30.2014, 

< http://www .economist.corn/news/middle-east-and-ufrica/21614226-why-and-how-westerners-go-fight -syria-andiraq-it-aint-half-hot-here-mum> 

18 Pipes, Daniel. "How many Islamists 0 " Lion's Den (blog), October II, 2003. < 

http:/ /wvvw .danielpi pes .org/blog/200 3/1 0/how-manv-is! am ists> 19 Pew Research Center. 2013. The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society. See Q79a and Q81, p. 201-202. 

< http: I /www .pewforu m .ore:/fi les/20 13/04/worlds-muslim s-re l i gion-poli tics-societv -full-report. pd t> 

P.6 
47 

those who spread that ideology, we have made a grave error20 

If Islamism is the ideology, then dawa encompasses all the methods by which it is spread. The 

term "dawa" refers to activities carried out by Islamists to win adherents and enlist them in a 

campaign to impose sharia law on all societies. Dawa is not the Islamic equivalent of religious 

proselytizing, although it is often disguised as such by blending humanitarian activities with 

subversive political activities?' 

In theory, dawa is the call to Islam and consists of communication or proselytization. In practice, 

dawa by Islamist groups constitutes a process of radical ideological indoctrination, often under 

the cover of humanitarian relief work that is connected to jihad?' Dawa activities carried out by 

Islamists target the individual, the family, the educational system, the workplace, the broader 

economy, society as a whole, and the political system.23 

Dawa as practiced by Islamists employs a wide range of mechanisms to advance the goal of 

imposing Islamic law (sharia) on society. This includes proselytization, but extends beyond that. 

In Western countries, dawa aims both to convert non-Muslims to political Islam and to bring 

about more extreme views among existing Muslims.24 The ultimate goal of dawa is to destroy the 

20 Bale, Jeffrey. 2013. "Denying the link between Islamist ideology and jihadist terrorism: 'political correctness' and 

the undermining of counterterrorism." Perspectives on Terrorism 7 (5): P. 5-46. < 

http://www.tyrrorismanalysts.com/ptlindex.Php/pot/article/view/290/585> 

21 Wiedl, Nina. 2009. "Dawa and the Islamist Revival in the West." Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, ed. Hillel 

Fradkin. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. P. 120-!50. 

AIVD. 2004. From Dawa to Jihad. The Hague: Dutch Ministry of the Interior. Available at< 

https://english.aivd.nlJbinarics/aivd-en/documcnts/publlcations/2005/03/30/from-dawa-tojihad/fromdawatojihad.p<lf> 

Shay, Shaul. 2008. "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development of radical Islam" in 

Somalia between Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 15-36. 

Solomon, Hussein. 2015. "Charities, terrorist funding and indoctrination" in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in 

Africa: Fighting Insurgency from Al Shabaan, Ansar Dine and Boko Haram. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. P. 21-

38. 

22 Wiedl, Nina. 2009. "Dawa and the Islamist Revival in the West." Current Trends in lslamist Ideology. 

Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. P. 120-150. 

Hauser, Albrecht. 2012. "Da'wah: Islamic Mission and its Current Implications." International Bulletin of 

Missionary Research Vol. 36 (4): P. 189-194. 23 Haque, Amber (Ed.) 1999. Muslims and Islamization in North America: Problems and Prospects. Beltsville: 

Amana Publications. 

Al-Qaradawi. Yusuf. 2000 [1990]. Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase. Swansea: Awakening 

Publications. 

Vidino, Lorenzo. 20!0. "Dawa" and "The Unprecedented Opportunity of Unrestricted Dawa," in The New Muslim 

Brotherhood in the West. P. 20-27 and p. 69-95. 

Rosen, Ehud. 2008. "The Muslim Brotherhood's Concept of Education" in Current Trends in Islamist Ideology (7) 

ed. Hillel Fradkin. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 24 AIVD. 2004. From Dawa to Jihad. The Hague: Dutch Ministry of the Interior. Available at< 

https://english.aivd.nl/binaries/aivd-en/documents/publications/2005/03/30/from-dawa-toP. 7 
48 

political institutions of a free society and replace them with strict sharia. Islamists rely on both 

violent and nonviolent means to achieve their objectives. 

In 1998, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh ibn Baz emphasized that dawa and jihad work 

together: 

"The aim of da'wah andjihaad is not to shed blood, take wealth, or enslave women and 

children; these things happen incidentally but are not the aim. This only takes place when 

the disbelievers (non-Muslims) refrain from accepting the truth and persist in disbelief 

and refuse to be subdued and pay the jizya (tax levied on free non-Muslims living under 

Muslim rule) when it is requested from them. In this case, Allah has prescribed the 

Muslims to kill them, take their wealth as booty and enslave their women and children .. 

. this religion (Islam) ... is superior to every law and system .... The truth has been 

spread through the correct Islamic da'wah, which in turn has been aided and supported 

by jihaad whenever anyone stood in its way .... It was jihaad and da 'wah together 

which helped to open the doors to victories."25 

Dawa is to the Islamists of today what the "long march through the institutions" was to 

twentieth-century Marxists. It is subversion from within, the use of religious freedom in order to 

undermine that very freedom. After Islamists gain power, dawa is to them what 

Gleichschaltung26 (synchronization) of all aspects of German state, civil, and social institutions 

was to the National Socialists. 

There are of course differences. The biggest difference is that dawa is rooted in the Islamic 

practice of attempting to convert non-Muslims to accept the message of Islam. As it is an 

ostensibly religious missionary activity, proponents of dawa enjoy a much greater protection by 

the law in free societies than Marxists or fascists did in the past. 

Worse, lslamist groups have enjoyed not just protection but at times official sponsorship from 

government agencies duped into regarding them as representatives of "moderate Muslims" 

simply because they do not engage in violence27 • Islamist groups that have been treated in this 

jihad/fromdawatojihad.pdf> 

25 Sheikh Ibn Baz, Words of Advice Regarding Da'wah: From the Noble Shaykh. Binningham: Al-Hidaayah, 1998. 26 King, Martha and Jonathan King. 2014. "Gleichschaltung" in The Encyclopedia of Political Thought ed. Michael 

Gibbons. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. 27 Poole, Patrick. 20!0. "!0 failures of the US government on the domestic Islamist threat." Center for Security 

Policy. 

<http://wv.,·w .centcrforsecuritypolicy.org/upload/wysi\vyg/article%20pdfs/1 0 Failures Patrick Poole 1115 .pdf> 

P.8 
49 

way include: 

• The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) 

• The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) 

• The International Institute of Islamic Thought (lilT) 

• The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an umbrella organization with affiliates such as 

The Islamic Society of Boston28 

These are only examples; it is not a comprehensive list. 

The Sinews ofDawa 

The global infrastructure of dawa is well funded, persistent, and resilient. From 1973 through 

2002, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spent an estimated $70 to $87 billion to promote dawa 

efforts abroad.29 Some of this money landed in the United States: Saudi Arabia helped finance 

at least 16 Islamic and cultural centers in California, Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey, 

New York, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland. 

Nongovernmental organizations in Kuwait, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia continue to 

distribute large sums overseas to finance ideological indoctrination and activities.30 Powerful 

Emerson. Steven. 2008. "Testimony before the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, 

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade." < 

http://www .investigativeproiect.org/documcnts/testimonv/J56.pdf> 

Coughlin, Stephen. 2015. "Catastrophic Failures" in Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of 

Jihad. Washington, D.C.: Center for Security Policy. P. 335-442. 

Vidino, Lorenzo. "The United States" in The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West. P. 166-198. 28Americans for Peace and Tolerance. The Case against the Islamic Society of Boston. 2016. Boston. Available at< 

http://www .peaceandtolerance.oru/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/20 l6/05/v2-FINA L-J une-20 16.pdf> P. I 0. 29 Alexiev, Alex. 2003. Testimony to the US Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland 

Security. June 26. < www .judiciary .senate.gov/imo/media/doc/A1exiev'l,20Testimony%20062603 .pdf> 

Kyl, Jon. 2004. "Two years after 9111: keeping America safe." United States Committee on the Judiciary: 

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. 

w Al-Alawi, lrfan. 2013. "Radicals' use of Islamic Charities Continues in South Asia." Gatestone Institute, 

November 22. < https:! /www .gatestoncinstitutc .ond4060/radicals-islamic-charitics-south-asia> 

Dettmer, Jamie. 2015. "Qatar's Foundation for Hypocrisy." Daily Beast, June 24. < 

http://www .thedail ybeast .com/gatars-foundation-for -hypocrisv> 

Dearden, Lizzie. 2016. "Saudi Arabia and Gulf States 'Support Islamic Extremism in Germany,' Intelligence 

Report Finds," The Independent. December 2014. < http://www.independent.eo.uk/news/world/europe/saudi-arabiagult'-statcs-fund-islamic-extremism-germany-salafism-wahhabi~m-gatar-kuwait-i,Jamists-a747355 1 .html> 

P.9 
50 

foundations such as the Qatar Foundation continue to grant financial support and legitimacy to 

radical Islamic ideology around the world.31 

Many Islamic charitable foundations use zakat (mandatory charity) funds to mix humanitarian 

outreach with ideological indoctrination, laying the ground for future intolerance, misogyny, and 

jihad, even if no violence is used in the short term. When informal funding mechanisms are 

included, the zakat funds available could reach "hundreds of billions of dollars" worldwide each 

year." 

The Problem 

Let it be said explicitly: the Islamists' program is fundamentally incompatible with the US 

Constitution, religious tolerance, the equality of men and women, the tolerance of different 

sexual orientations, the ban on cruel and unusual punishment and other fundamental human 

rights.33 

The biggest challenge the United States faces in combating political Islam, however, is the extent 

to which agents of dawa can exploit the constitutional and legal protections that guarantee 

American citizens freedom of religion and freedom of speech- freedoms that would of course 

be swept away if the Islamists achieved their goals. 

In 2010, one senior American intelligence analyst summed up our predicament: 

"In the US there are First Amendment issues we're cognizant of. It's not a crime to 

radicalize, only when it turns to violence ... America is thus vulnerable to a threat that is not 

only diversifying, but arguably intensifying."" 

To give just one example: A cleric in Maryland, Imam Suleiman Bengharsa, has openly endorsed 

31 Dettmer.Jamie. 2015. "Qatar's Foundation for Hypocrisy." Daily Beast. June 24. < 

http: I /ww w .thcdaH y beast .com/ gatars-foundation-for-hypocrisy> 32 Stirk, Chloe. 2015. An Act of Faith: Humanitarian Financing and Zakat. Bristol, UK: Development Initiatives.< 

http://w\vw .globalhumanitarianas~is.mpce .org/\vp-content/upJ5E!f:i.§/20 15/03/0NL,JNE-Zakat report V9a.pdf> 33 An-Na'im, Abdollahi. 1996. "Shari'a and Basic Human Rights Concerns" in Toward an Islamic Reformation. P. 

161-181. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 

Abiad, Nisrine. 2008. Sharia, Muslim States and International Human Rights Treaty Obligations: A Comparative 

Study. London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law. [Chapter 1: The Interrelationship between 

Islamic Law and Human Rights,p. 1-58]. 

Steinberg. Guido and Jan-Peter Hartung. 2010. "Islamist Groups and Movements" in Islam in the World Today ed. 

Werner Ende and Udo Steinbach. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. P 682-696. 34 Bergen. Peter and Bruce Hoffman. 2010. Assessing the Terrorist Threat: a Report of the Bipartisan Policy 

Center's National Security Preparedness Group. P. 29. < https://biparti..,;.mpolicy .om/library/asse~sing-terroristthreat/> Emphasis added. 

P.lO 
51 

the Islamic State, posted gruesome videos, and praised terrorist attacks overseas .

35 As of 

February 2017, however, he remains a free man and US authorities insist nothing can be done 

against him because he has not yet plotted to commit a specific act of violence. One expert has 

said that Imam Bengharsa "can lake his supporters right up to the line. It's like making a cake 

and not putting in the final ingredient. It's winks and nods all the way ."36 This is what we are up 

against. 

The global constitution of political Islam is formidable. The Muslim Brotherhood, with its 

numerous American affiliates, is an important component, but not the only one. Even if one were 

able to eliminate the Brotherhood overnight, the ideological infrastructure of dawa would remain 

powerful. Political Islam also encompasses Salafist groups, Wahhabi groups, Deobandi groups, 

organizations such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Hizb ut-Tahrir. The network of radical Islamist 

preachers, "charities," and organizations that perpetuate political Islam is already well 

established inside and outside the United States.37 

To resist the insidious advance of political Islam, we need to develop a strategy to counter not 

only those who use violence to advance their politico-religious objectives-the jihadists-but 

also the great and complex ideological infrastructure known as dawa, just as we countered both 

the Red Army and the ideology of communism in the Cold War.38 Focusing only on "terror" as a 

tactic is insufficient. We ignore at our peril the ideological infrastructure that supports political 

Islam in both its violent and its nonviolent forms.' 9 

35 Shane, Scott and Adam Goldman. 2016. "Extremist Imam tests F.B.I. and the Limits of the Law." New York 

Times. September 30. < https://www .nytime~.com/20 16/10/0 1/us/maryland-imam-tbi-suleiman-anwarbengharsa.html> 

36 Shane & Goldman 2016. 37 Barrett, Paul. 2003. "How a Muslim chaplain spread extremism to an inmate flock." The Wall Street Journal.< 

https:llwww .wsj.comlarticles/SB 1044395093714681453> 

Baran, Zeyno. 2008. "The Muslim Brotherhood's US Network." Current Trends in lslamist Ideology, ed. Hillel 

Fradkin, Vol. 6. P. 95-122. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

Wiedl, Nina. 2009. "Dawa and the Islamist Revival in the West." Current Trends in /slamist Ideology. Washington, 

D.C.: Hudson Institute. P. 120-150. 3

R Lenczowski, John. 2012. '·Political-ideological warfare in integrated strategy. and its Basis in an Assessment of 

Soviet Reality" in Fighting the Ideological War ed. Katherine Gorka and Patrick Sookhdeo. McLean: Isaac 

Publishing. 

Moore, John. 2012. "Ideology and central planning: lessons from the Cold War" in Fighting the Ideological War cd. 

Katherine Gorka and Patrick Sookhdeo. McLean: Isaac Publishing. 

Reilly, Robert. 2012. "Public Diplomacy in an Age of Global Diplomacy: Lessons from the Past" in Fighting the 

Ideological War ed. Katherine Gorka and Patrick Sookhdeo. McLean: Isaac Publishing. 39 McCarthy, Andrew. 2011. "Islam or Islamist?" National Review. October 29. < 

http :I !•vvwiv .n<ltionalrevie\V .conu'a rti cle/2 8 I 617 I islafn-Q.r:._i:y}amist -andrew-c-mccarth)'> 

McCarthy, Andrew. 20 16. "Defenseless in the face of our enemies: what keeps America from protecting itself 

against radical Islam?" Address to the Westminster Institute in McLean, VA. June 25. Available at< 

P. 11 
52 

It is not just that jihad is an extension of dawa; according to some observers, it is dawa by other 

means 40 Put differently, nonviolent and violent Islamists differ only on tactics; they share the 

same goal, which is to establish an unfree society ruled by strict sharia law. Institutionally, 

nonviolent Islamists have benefited from terror attacks committed by jihadists because such 

attacks make nonviolent Islamists appear moderate in the eyes of Western governments, even 

when their goals and values are not. This is known as the "positive radical flank effect."41 Ian 

Johnson, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, observed: 

"AI Qaeda was the best thing to happen to these [Islamist] groups. Nowadays, our bar is 

so low that if groups aren't AI Qaeda, we're happy. If they're not overtly supporting 

terrorism, we think they're okay. We don't stop to think where the terrorism comes from, 

where the fish swim."42 

Dawa must therefore be countered as much as jihad.<'Yet, as things stand, dawa cannot be 

countered. Its agents hide behind constitutional protections they themselves would dismantle 

unhesitatingly were they in power. In 2017, Congress must therefore give the president the tools 

he needs to dismantle the infrastructure of dawa in the United States and to counter the spread of 

political Islam at home and abroad. While recognizing that our freedoms are sacrosanct, we 

must also remember the wise words of Karl Popper, who memorably identified what he called 

"the paradox of tolerance," namely that "unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of 

tolerance."44 

http:/ /w\vw .nationalrcview .com/article/4~7143/islamist -terrOJ·~obama-admini~tration > 

40 Sheikh Ibn Baz, Words of Advice Regarding Da'wah: From the Noble Shaykh. Birmingham; Al-Hidaayah, 1998. 41 Victino, Lorenzo. 2010. The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West. New York: Columbia University Press. P. 209. 

"Vidino, Lorenzo. 2010. The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West. New York: Columbia University Press. P. 209. 43 Shay, Shaul. 2008. "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development of radical Islam" in 

Somalia between Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 15-36. 

Hauser, Albrecht. 2012. "Da'wah: Islamic Mission and its Current Implications." International Bulletin of 

Missionary Research Vol. 36 (4): P. 189-194. 44 '"If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who arc intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant 

society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. In this 

formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as 

long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would 

certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn 

out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; 

they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer 

arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to 

tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and 

we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal. in the same way as we should consider 

incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal." Popper, Karl. 1945 [2013]. 

The Open Society and Its Enemies. Princeton: Princeton University Press. P. 581. 

P. 12 
53 

From Dawa to Jihad? 

What is the connection from dawa to jihad-in other words, from the spreading of the doctrine 

of political Islam to the practice of terrorism? The end goals oflslamists are broadly similar, 

whether they use violence or not!' As one analyst observed, "religious Islamist extremism is a 

unitary phenomenon of which violent and nonviolent extremism are two sides of the same 

coin."46 The Dutch Intelligence agency AIVD stated in 2004: 

"In addition to organizations and networks concentrating on Dawa (the intensive 

propagation of the radical-Islamic ideology through missionary work) there are others 

who focus on the Jihad (in the sense of armed conflict). Some groups combine the two. 

The choice of Dawa-oriented groups for non-violent activities does not always imply that 

they are non-violent on principle. Often they simply do not yet consider armed Jihad 

expedient for practical reasons (Jihad can be counterproductive or impossible because of 

the other side's superiority) or for religious reasons (the Jihad against non-believers is 

only possible when all Muslims have returned to the "pure" faith) ... In particular, 

Dawa-oriented radicai-Salafist organizations and networks from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia 

and the Arab Gulf states strongly emphasize "re-Islamization" of the Muslim minorities 

in the West. Their efforts are purposefully aimed at encouraging Muslims in the West to 

turn their back on Western values and standards."47 [Emphasis added.] 

Shaul Shay, former deputy head oflsrael's National Security Council, has warned that the leap 

from dawa to jihad is not a great one: 

"Alongside the social and humanitarian activity of Dawa organizations, the Muslim 

believers were expected not to be content with merely strengthening their faith, but also 

to take action in the defense of Islam. From there the leap to adopting jihad concepts was 

not great."481 

"Pipes, Daniel. 2004. "The Islamic States of America?" September 24. < http:llwww.danielpipes.org/2100/theislamic-state~-of-america> 

Bale, Jeffrey. 2009. "Islamism and totalitarianism" in Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 10 (2): 73-96. 

< [ljtg:J.L~ww .mi is.eduimedia/view/18961 /original/baleislamismandtotalitarianism .pdf> 

46 Schmid, Alex. 2014. "Violent and non-violent [Islamic! extremism: Two sides of the same coin?" The Hague: 

ICCT. < http://www.icct .nlldownloadlfile/ICCT -Schmid-Violent-Kon-Violent -Extremism-May-20 I 4.pdf> 47 AIVD. 2004. From Dawa to Jihad. The Hague: Dutch Ministry of the Interior. Available at< 

https:!/english.aivd.nl!binaries/aivd-en/documcnts/publications/2005/03/30/from-dawa-tojihad/ti·omdawatojihad.pdf> 

48 Shay, Shaul. 2008. "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The development of radical Islam" in 

Somalia between Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. IS-36. 

P.13 
54 

Often dawa happens near conflict zones. In places where Muslims seem beleaguered, Islamic 

"charitable" efforts are nearly always accompanied by dawa. Hotspots of such activity include 

Afghanistan in the 1980s; Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s; Pakistan; the Palestinian 

territories; and many parts of sub-Saharan Africa today. In Bosnia in 1994 alone, Saudi 

donations to Islamic NGOs amounted to $150 million.'9 

For Islamist groups in the Middle East such as Hamas, according to a 2006 study, dawa efforts 

are "crucial to terrorist activity: they provide cover for raising, laundering, and transferring 

funds, facilitate the group's propaganda and recruitment efforts, provide employment to its 

operatives, and serve as a logistical support network for its terrorist operations."50 

In Western countries, dawa efforts are often part of a strategy known as wassatiyya. The purpose 

of wassatiyya, the powerful Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has said, is to conquer the West not 

by "the sword or armies, but by preaching and ideology."51 AI-Qaradawi argues that the "Islamic 

Movement" is meant to "re-establish the khilafah [Caliphate]" and "implement the Shari'ah of 

Allah"52 To carry out wassatiyya, Qaradawi argues that Muslim communities in the West should 

have "their own religious, educational and recreational establishments." He urges Islamists in the 

West "to have your small society within the larger society" and "your own 'Muslim ghetto."'53 

Islamists committed to wassatiyya "speak of the West as a realm for Islamic proselytizing, or as 

a land of the religious call, a "Land of Dawa."54 They explicitly regard it as territory to settle or 

colonize through immigrating, out-breeding non-Muslims, and converting as many people as 

possible to the tenets of political Islam. 

49 Looney, Robert. 2006. "The Mirage of Terrorist Financing: the Case of Islamic Charities." Strategic Insights 

Volume V (3): March. Available at< http://calhoun.nps.edulbitstream/handle/10945111283/1ooneyMmil6.pdf > 5

" Levitt, Matthew. 2006. "Origins of the hamas dawa", "Tactical uses of the dawa" and "Displacing the Hamas 

dawa" in Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. New Haven: Yale University Press, 51 Vidino. Lorenzo. 2006. "Aims and methods of Europe's Brotherhood." Current Trends in Islamist Ideology ed. 

Hillel Fradkin, (4): P. 22-44. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. 2002. "Leading Sunni Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi and Other Sheiks Herald the Coming 

Conquest of Rome." MEMRI Special Dispatch 447. December 6. <http://www .rnemri.org/reports!leading-~unnisheikh-yousef-al-qaradhawi-and-other-sheikhs-herald-coming-congucst-rome> 

52 Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. 2000 [!990]. Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase. Swansea: Awakening 

Publications. P. 3. 

Vidino, Lorenzo. 2006. "Aims and methods of Europe's Brotherhood.'' Current Trends in lslamist Ideology ed. 

Hillel Fradkin, (4): P. 22-44. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 53 Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. 2000 [1990]. Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase. Swansea: Awakening 

Publications. P. !27. 54 Brown. Eric. 2005. "After the Ramadan Affair: New Trends in lslamism in the West." Current Trends in Islamist 

Ideology ed. Hillel Fradkin. Hudson Institute: Washington, D.C. 

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55 

The Moral Difference between the Constitution of Political Islam and the Constitution of 

Liberty 

The most fundamental distinction between the constitution of political Islam and the constitution 

of liberty is in their differing approaches to the human individual and human life. For us, the 

individual life is an end in itself. The US Constitution grants individual human beings natural, 

inalienable, God-given rights. The job of the US government is to protect those inherent rights. 

This could not be more different from a constitution that strips away all those rights so that 

sharia can be spread and implemented. For agents of political Islam, the individual life is merely 

an instrument. As analyst Cheryl Benard has observed, supporters of political Islam have as their 

goal: 

" ... an ascetic, highly regimented, hierarchical society in which all members follow the 

requirements oflslamic ritual strictly, in which immorality is prevented by separating the 

sexes, which in turn is achieved by banishing women from the public domain, and in 

which life is visibly and constantly infused by religion. It is totalitarian in its negation of 

a private sphere, instead believing that it is the task of state authorities to compel the 

individual to adhere to proper Islamic behavior anywhere and everywhere. And ideally, it 

wants this system- which it believes to be the only rightful one-to expand until it 

controls the entire world and everyone is a Muslim."55 

The Threat of Dawa to the Constitutional Order 

In analyzing the threat of radical Islam in its 2004 report, the Dutch Intelligence Agency AIVD 

defined dawa as "propagation of radical-Islamic ideology."56 Beyond the threat of violence, the 

AIVD recognized that radical dawa activities undermine the "constitutional order" although they 57 

are "not necessarily violent by nature." The AIVD agency also flagged the gradualist character 

ofdawa: 

"The possible underestimation of these other kinds of potential threats from radical Islam 

is also a result of the fact that these are far more difficult to identify than acute threats of 

violence. They often involve insidious dangers. Also, the need for investigating such 

insidious dangers is more difficult to explain. Not everyone is immediately convinced 

that from the perspective of the democratic legal order certain forms of isolationism 

"Benard, Cheryl. 2003. Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources and Strategies. Santa Monica, CA: RAND 

Corporation. Cited in Bale, "Islamism and Totalitarianism." 

" AIVD, From Dawa to Jihad. 

'"Ibid. 

P. 15 
56 

(taking the law into one's own hands, no longer recognizing the government's authority, 

developing parallel social structures) may constitute a problem."58 

The ultimate goal of dawa is nevertheless to get rid of the non-Islamic political order and replace 

it with the order of Islamic law. In the words of Albrecht Hauser: 

"The idea of a global caliphate not only embracing the Ummah but also conquering the 

West for Islam is a dangerous Islamist dream. Some want to achieve this goal through 

da'wah; others think jihad is the best approach ... If the West puts its collective head in 

the sand by denying the danger that political and militant Islam represents for liberally 

conceived civil society, its own refusal to act with seriousness will lead to bondage and 

dehumanization ."59 

Shaul Shay observes that governments in Muslim-majority countries are well aware of the 

connection between dawa and jihad and have applied tight supervision over dawa activities. 

Tight supervision, however, is not a solution to the problem presented by dawa; it is a way of 

postponing a confrontation. By contrast, Western governments are generally ignorant of Islamist 

ideology and strategy. They tend to see only the humanitarian side of dawa efforts, not dawa's 

subversive sidc.60 

Jeffrey Bale, an analyst who has studied the phenomenon for decades, observes that "the 

gradualist but nonetheless corrosive cultural, social and political activities of the [Muslim] 

Brotherhood ... represent a far greater danger to the West in the long run than the jihadists do."61 

Yet it is precisely this danger that the US government has chosen to ignore by focusing on the 

Osama bin Ladens of the world. This is not to say that we should stop fighting lslamist icons 

such as bin Laden, but rather that we should devote attention to the dawa path that they take in 

becoming jihadi icons. 

58 Ibid. 

"Hauser, Albrecht. 2012. "Da'wah: Islamic Mission and its Current Implications." International Bulletin of 

Missionary Research Vol. 36 (4): P. 189-194. 

60 Shay, Shaul. 2008. "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development ofradicallslam" in 

Somalia between Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 15-36. 61 Bale, Jeffrey. 2009. "Islamism and totalitarianism" in Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 10 (2): 73-

96. < http://www .mils .eclu/rned!a/v le\v/ 18961/original/halcislamismandtotalitarianism.pdf> 

P.16 
57 

The Agents of the Constitution of Political Islam 

Today, there are three primary agents of political Islam: 

Governments, primarily those of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iran, which fund 

radical dawa efforts and, occasionally,jihadist efforts in areas such as Afghanistan, 

Bosnia, Chechnya, and the Palestinian territories. President Obama's former 

representative to Muslim communities, Farah Pandith, visited eighty countries between 

2009 and 2014. "In each place I visited, the Wahhabi influence was an insidious presence 

... funding all this was Saudi money, which paid for things like the textbooks, mosques, 

TV stations and the training of Imams," she wrote in 2015.62 

Nongovernmental movements and organizations, including local organizations, which 

directly undertake dawa. Sunni Islamic NGOs such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its 

affiliates concern us more than Shiite NGOs at the present time because they are more 

numerous and more active in the West. Many well-funded Islamic "charitable" 

foundations support dawa indoctrination, even if they stop short of funding jihadist 

activities themselves. 

International organizations such as the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) and its 

affiliated institutions, which work to spread political Islam around the world and legally 

ban any criticism of such activities.63 

These agents of the constitution of political Islam are what I would call the stakeholders. There is 

a difference between a movement and a formal organization. The Muslim Brotherhood is an 

entity that is simultaneously a movement and a formal organization. It has numerous affiliate 

organizations and connections with various governments, front groups and individuals 64 

62 Pandith. Farah. 2015. "The world needs a long-term strategy for defeating extremism." The New York Times. 

December 8. < https:/ /www .nytimes.corn/roomfordebate/2015/12/08/is~saudi~arabia~a~uniuue-generator-ofextremism/the-wor!d-needs-a-lone.-term-strategy-for-defeating-extremism> 

63 Kayaoglu, Turan. 2015. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation: Politics, Problems and Potential. New York: 

Routledge. 

Coughlin, Stephen. 2015. "Blasphemy and Deterrent Failure in America," in Catastrophic Failure. Washington, 

D.C.: Center for Security Policy. 64 Mer ley, Steven. 2009. The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

Baran, Zeyno. 2008. "The Muslim Brotherhood's US Network." Current Trends in Islamistldeology, ed. Hillel 

Fradkin, Vol. 6. P. 95-122. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

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58 

The Infrastructure of Dawa 

Many of the problems today stem from seemingly charitable Islamic organizations that mix 

humanitarian work with Islamist ideological indoctrination, planting the seeds of future 

intolerance, misogyny, and violence. The CIA estimated in 1996 that a third of the fifty Islamic 

NGOs conducting humanitarian work in the world "support terrorist groups or employ 

individuals who are suspected of having terrorist connections."65 After 2001, the shock of9/11 

led US Treasury officials to attempt to curtail charitable funding of violent Islamist organizations 

such as Hamas, but funding of dawa continued.66 

From 1973 through 2002, the Saudi kingdom spent an estimated $70-$87 billion to promote 

dawa abroad. 67 To give just one example, the Saudi Al-Haramain foundation (closed in 2004) 

built 1,300 mosques, sponsored 3,000 preachers, and produced 20 million religious pamphlets.68 

In 2015, the British-based Development Initiatives group estimated that "the global volume of 

Zakat collected each year through formal mechanisms is, at the very least, in the tens of billions 

of dollars." If informal mechanisms are included, "the actual amount available is likely to be 

much higher, and could potentially be in the hundreds of billions of dollars."69 

In his analysis of the problem of Islamic charitable associations' links to terror groups, Robert 

Looney noted that "money is quite fungible and some charity organizers are adept at creating 

gray areas."'" Around the world, there are countless people who operate in the "informal market" 

or the criminal market. 

Foreign funding of radical ideologies in Pakistan has caused destabilization.'1 Thousands of 

6

' "International Islamic NGOs and Links to Terrorism," Central Intelligence Agency, 1996. 

http://intelfiles.egoplex.com/cia-ngos-l996.pdf 

66 "Update on the Global Campaign Against Terrorist Financing: Second Report of an Independent Task Force on 

Terrorist Financing Sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations," Council on Foreign Relations, June 15,2004. 

< http:! /ww\V .cfr.orrr/content/publications/attachments/Revbed Terrorist Financine..pdf> 67 Alexiev, Alex. 2003. Testimony to the US Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland 

Security. June 26. < \VWW .iudiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Aiexievo/c20Testimony17u20062603.pdf> 

Kyl, Jon. 2004. "Two years after 9111: keeping America safe." United States Committee on the Judiciary: 

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. 

""According to the Treasury Department, 'When viewed as a single entity, AHF is one of the principal Islamic 

NGOs providing support for the al-Qaeda network and promoting militant Islamic doctrine worldwide.'" Council on 

Foreign Relations, 'Update on the Global Campaign Against Terrorist Financing." 69 Stirk, Chloe. 2015. An Act of Faith: Humanitarian Financing and Zakat. Bristol, UK: Development Initiatives.< 

Looney, Robert. 2006. "The Mirage Financing: the Case of Islamic Charities." Strategic Insights 

Volume V (3): March. Available at< http:licalhoun.nps.eduibitstream/handle/10945/!1283/looneyMar06.pdf > 71 Shane, Scott. 2016. "Saudis and Extremism: 'Both the arsonists and the firefighters'". The New York Times.< 

https:i /www .nyti mes .com/20 I 6/08/26iworld/middlecast/saudi ·arabia· islam .htm I> 

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59 

schools in Pakistan funded with Saudi money, according to Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), 

"teach a version oflslam that leads ... into an ... anti-Western militancy."72 

In Africa, and particularly in Somalia, Islamic NGOs generously financed by Gulf money have 

aggravated political tensions by engaging in Islamist ideological indoctrination?' According to 

one recent study, the spread of Islamic extremism in northern Nigeria began "with graduates of 

the Islamic University of Medina [in Saudi Arabia] who returned home in the 1990s and 

2000s."74 Although the founder of Boko Haram, Muhammad Yusuf, was not himself a Medina 

graduate, he was a protege of Shaykh Ja'far Mahmud Adam, who had studied at Medina.75 

Dawa in America 

Over the past thirty years, "a vast web of ideological institutions in the West: think tanks, media 

outfits, educational centers, and Sharia councils" has been set up, often with money from Gulf 

foundations and individuals.76 Although Islamists do openly discuss their objectives," they are 

often discreet and much valuable information about their operations has been discovered only by 

chance.78 The network of dawa is tightly knit. In the United States, many leaders of the Islamist 

72 Murphy, Chris. 2016. "Chris Murphy on the Roots of Radical Extremism." January 29. Council on Foreign 

Relations. < https:/ /www .cfr .org/evcnt/chris-murphy-roots-radical-extremJsrn> 73 Salih, Mohamed. 2004. "The promise and peril of Islamic voluntarism" in Islamism and its Enemies in the Horn 

of Africa ed. Alexander de Waal. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 

Solomon, Hussein. 2011. "Charities or terrorist funding on the African continent?" Commentary 35 (November 28). 

< http://icsr .info/20 1 1/ll/charitieS:-Or::terrorist-fundjng-on-the-african-continent/> 74 Thurston, Alexander. 2016. Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press. P. 92. 75 Thurston, Alexander. 2016. Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press. P. 193-194. 70 Brown, Eric. 2005. "After the Ramadan Affair: New Trends in lslamism in the West." Current Trends inlslamist 

Ideology ed. Hillel Fradkin. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

Baran, Zeyno. 2011. "The rise of Is1amism in the United States" in Citizen Islam: the Future of Muslim Immigration 

in the West. London: Continuum. P. 89-110. 

Vidino, Lorenzo. 2006. "Aims and methods of Europe's Brotherhood." Current Trends in lslamist Ideology (4): P. 

22-44. 

Vidino, Lorenzo. 2010. The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West. New York: Columbia University Press. 

77 Haque, Amber (Ed.) 1999. Muslims and Islamization in North America: Problems and Prospects. Beltsville: 

Amana Publications. 

AI-Qaradawi, Yusuf. 2000 [1990]. Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase. Swansea: Awakening 

Publications. 

A1-Qaradawi, Yusuf. 2002. "Leading Sunni Sheikh Yousef AI-Qaradhawi and Other Sheiks Herald the Coming 

Conquest of Rome." MEMR/ Special Dispatch 447. December 6. <http://www .memri.orglreportsileading.sunnisheikh-yousef·al-garadhawi-and·other-sheikhs-herald-coming-conguest-rome> 

"For instance, we only know about the full extent of the !slamist network in the United States because the FBI 

happened to wiretap a 1993 hotel meeting of Islamists in Philadelphia. The 1993 meeting participants emphasized 

P. 19 
60 

movement are related by marriage and long-standing ties of friendship; the leadership is a 

relatively small circle of several hundred people who work toward similar strategic objectives.79 

Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom found in 2005 that "Saudi-connected resources 

and publications on extremist ideology remain common reading and educational material in some 

of America's main mosques ... including Los Angeles, Oakland, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, 

Washington, and New York."80 The publications contained anti-American, anti-Semitic, and 

jihadist ideology, and advocated removing women from the public sphere entirely. Since 2005, a 

number of overtly hateful materials have been removed from American mosques, but as of 2017 

the ideological infrastructure of political Islam in America remains largely intact. Removing 

hateful materials from Mosques and Islamic schools is like catching water from a leaking roof 

with a sieve. If the rest of the ideological infrastructure--the Board, the teachers and the Imams 

and the funding-remains intact, the content resurfaces; the message is disseminated to the 

students and the congregation anyway. 

A crucial feature of dawa is its conscious deceptiveness. At a 1993 meeting of Hamas members 

and sympathizers in Philadelphia, Shukri Abu Baker, the former chief executive of the Holy 

Land Foundation, declared that "war is deception" and urged that "caution should be practiced 

not to reveal our true identity." Also present at this meeting was CAIR founder Omar Ahmad, 

who compared the agent of dawa with "one who plays basketball; he makes a player believe that 

he is doing this while he does something else ... politics is a completion of war." To conceal 

CAIR's support for Hamas, Ahmad recommended creating neutral-sounding front organizations 

such as a "Palestinian- American Friendship Association ... This will be done in order to ... put 

some honey a little bit at a time with the poison they're given. But if from the first night you .. . 

call it 'The Islamic Society for Youths' Welfare,' they will shut the door in your face."" 

The case that best illustrates the dawa mode of operation in the United States is that of the 

using deceit and doublespeak in dealing with US. authorities and proposed setting up new front groups in case 

Hamas activities in the United States were curtailed in the wake of the Oslo accords. One of the groups that was 

created was CAIR. See Vidino, The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West, 178-179; Mohammed Akram, • An 

Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the [Muslim Brotherhood] Group in North America,' 

1991, presented as Government Exhibit 003-0085, US v. HLF et al, 2006. 

http://www .i nve~ti gati vepro ject .org/document->/misc/20 .pdf 79 Vidino, The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West. 

'"Shea, Nina. 2005. Saudi publications on hate ideology invade American Mosques. Washington, D.C.: Freedom 

House Center for Religious Freedom.< 

https://freedomhouse.org/sites/defaultlfiles/inlinc images/Saudi%20PublicationsCJo20on%20Hate%20Ideoloev'7r20l 

nvade%20Arnericano/c20Mosques.pclf> 

"'Baran, Zeyno. 2008. "The Muslim Brotherhood's US Network." Current Trends in lslamist Ideology Vol. 6. P. 

95-122. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

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61 

Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) .

82 Among the many preachers and speakers who have appeared 

at the ISB in recent years are the notorious anti-Semites Yasir Qadhi, a member of the terrorlinked AI Maghrib Institute; Salah Soltau of the Muslim Brotherhood; Abdul Nasir Jangda, the 

founder of the Qalam Institute; and his associate, AbdeiRahman Murphy. Other speakers at the 

ISB have included Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim Brotherhood writer who has said killing Israeli 

schoolchildren is "contextually explicable;" Omar Suleiman, who has described homosexuality 

as a "disease" and a "repugnant shameless sin;" and Mufti Hussain Kamani, who has argued that 

a Muslim man must only fulfill his sexual desires "with his spouse ... [or] with a female slave 

that belongs to him." Kamani has also justified stoning adulterers to death and wife-beating. 

The ISB illustrates the extent to which dawa in America is funded from abroad. A lawsuit 

initiated by the ISB in 2005 led to the disclosure that the organization had received over $8.6 

million in donations from sources such as the Islamic Development Bank, which, at the time, 

was funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Libya; Saudi Arabia's National 

Commercial Bank (NCB); and Lajnat al Dawa al Islamia, a charity connected to the Kuwaiti 

Muslim Brotherhood and which, in 2004, the US government designated as a terrorist entity .

83 

The ISB also illustrates the intimate connection from dawa to jihad. Over the past decade, no 

fewer than twelve congregants, supporters, staff members, and donors of the ISB have been 

imprisoned, deported, or killed, or are on the run. Notable examples are Abdulrahman Alamoudi, 

the founder of the ISB, who was jailed by an American court in 2004 for conspiring with the 

Libyan regime to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia; Aafia Siddiqui, a regular 

worshipper at the ISB, now serving a prison sentence after plotting large-scale terror attacks on 

New York; and Tarek Mehanna, another ISB congregant who in 2012 was convicted of 

attempting to murder Americans and providing support to al-Qaeda. Both the Tsarnaev brothers, 

who carried out the Boston Marathon bombings, worshipped at the ISB. 

The dominant strategy from 9/11 through the present, focusing only on Islamist violence, has 

failed. In focusing only on acts of violence, we have ignored the ideology that justifies, 

promotes, celebrates, and encourages violence, and the methods of dawa used to spread that 

ideology. 

Without question, certain military operations against jihadist groups could be conducted more 

effectively. The virtual abandonment of Iraq, the overreliance on air power and drone strikes, the 

belief that terrorist networks can somehow be decapitated: all of these have been fundamental 

tactical errors. Nevertheless, a return to the highly effective counterinsurgency tactics of the Iraq 

"The following paragraph is based on the 2016 report The Case Against the Islamic Society of Boston, available at 

< http://www .peaceandtolcrance .org/wp-contentluploads/sites/4/20 16!05/v2-FIN AL-J une-20 16 .pdf> 83 Ihe Case Against the Islamic Society of Boston. 

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62 

"surge" and its counterpart in Afghanistan, while necessary, cannot be regarded as a sufficient 

response to the threat we face. Plainly, we cannot continue to fight political Islam by engaging in 

large-scale foreign military interventions. The American public has not unreasonably lost faith in 

that approach. So what else can be done? 

First, we need a paradigm shift that recognizes how violent jihad is intertwined with the 

ideological infrastmcture of dawa.84In the old paradigm, we focused on combating Islamic 

terrorism. 

In the new paradigm, we must continue to seek the destruction of groups like the Islamic State 

and al-Qaeda, but we must also develop a suitable strategy to combat dawa. 

This will reopen-if it was ever over-the contentious debate on how to balance civil rights with 

the need for security. There are trade-offs to be made here, as always. It is clearly fatalistic to 

suggest, as the Obama administration did, that Americans must learn to live with the terrorist 

threat and that, on the basis of statistics, Americans are more in danger from their own bathtubs 

than from Islamist terrorists. The terrorist threat cannot be measured only by the number of 

successful terrorist attacks. The threat also includes the many attacks that were thwarted by 

effective security measures and, more importantly, the unknown plots currently being hatched, 

and the probability that such plots will grow more numerous and more dangerous in the future. 

Bathtubs do not plot to overthrow the American way of life. The Islamists do. 

It is the job of Congress to find the right balance in the face of this specific threat between our 

rights and freedoms and a policy package that is effective in combating the threat. Protection of 

the religious rights of the members of the Muslim minority who are not engaged in Islamist dawa 

should be an integral part of that package. 

Congress must give the president in this war the tools he needs to identify and dismantle the 

infrastructure of dawa in the United States: the network of radical Islamist centers, associations, 

and mosques that perpetuate political Islam in its most radical form, even if they themselves do 

not perpetrate the violence that they so often preach. 

84 Shay, "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad' and 'the development of radical Islam'; Solomon, 'Charities, 

Terrorist funding and indoctrination'; AIVD, "From Dawa to Jihad'; Reuters. 2011. "Saudi Arabia, UAE funded 

jihadi networks in Pakistan," May 22. <http://www .reuters.com/article/us-paklstan-saudi-uaeidUSTRE74LOER20 II 0522> 

P.22 
63 

This work is urgent. Two successive administrations have approached the problem of political 

Islam with a completely flawed strategy: the illusion that a line could somehow be drawn 

between Islam, "a religion of peace," adhered to by a moderate majority, and "violent 

extremism," engaged in by a tiny minority. 

President Trump has already identified a different course of action. In August of 2016 he pledged 

that his administration would "speak out against the oppression of women, gays, and people of 

different faith" in the name of Islam. While the Obama administration has shunned proponents of 

Islamic reform, Trump vowed to "be a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle 

East, and [to] amplify their voices. This includes speaking out against the horrible practice of 

honor killings," as well as establishing as "one of my first acts as president ... a Commission on 

Radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community ."85 He also declared 

that "we should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our 

people"-screening would-be immigrants for links not just to terrorism but also to political Islam 

as an ideology. It is now time to turn these words into action. 

Policy Recommendations 

In my monograph The Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How 

to Counter It, I provide a detailed set of policy recommendations. Among them: 

The administration should systematically map the infrastructure of subversive dawa 

activities around the world, in particular the connections of the global infrastructure to 

the United States: funds, individuals, institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and 

governmental support. 

As a condition of US friendship, the administration should require foreign governments 

as well as Islamic NGOs to stop supporting and financing subversive Islamist activities in 

the United States. Of particular interest here are Qatari, Kuwaiti, and Saudi 

"philanthropic" foundations. 

85 Donald Trump, "Understanding the Threat: Radical Islam and the Age of Terror,' speech, Youngstown, Ohio, 

August 15, 2016. < http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/291498-full-transcript-donaldtrump-addresses-radicai > 

P. 23 
64 

The administration should acknowledge that combating political Islam by military means 

alone is not working. 

The administration should understand the significance of Islamist dawa: the subversive, 

indoctrinating precursor to jihad. 

In reaching out to the Muslim American community, the administration should ally itself 

with genuine Muslim moderates and reformers, not with "nonviolent" Islamists 

Congress should carefully weigh the balance between civil liberties and that which is 

required to dismantle networks of dawa. 

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65 
66 

"This is for Allah," a militant British-Muslim man 

recently yelled, before plunging a knife into the 

throat of an innocent Australian woman, Candice 

Hedge, 31, not far from London Bridge.1 

Those words underscore a tragic and brutal truth today. 

Why, 15 years after the 9/11 attack, haven't we found victory against terrorism? Why, after 

the killing of Osama bin Laden, haven't we declared Islamic terror dead? 

It is because and we 

have wasted millions of dollars to design counternarratives without dealing with a very 

simple and fundamental truth. We must destroy and eliminate the narrative of Jslamism. 

As author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a target of wrath among Islamists, has put it: the ideology is put 

forward by dawah, or an "invitation" to its extremist form of Islam. Islamic extremism is 

not compatible with the 21st century. But it is a critical component of terrorism. 

If you doubt whether Islam ism is an extremist ideology, please recognize its central tenet: 

it seeks to overthrow our democracies to supplant them with Islamic governance and 

sharia, or religious law, which, importantly, violates United States law on multiple fronts. 

Political Islam threatens life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the United States and 

globally. It even considers young girls attending an Ariande Grande concert "dangerous" 

because of the freedoms they arc enjoying.z 

2 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
67 

This is not the interpretation of Islam that my parents, here with me today, taught in our 

immigrant Muslim family from India. But it is a very real interpretation of Islam promoted 

by state sponsors of extremism, including , and their proxies. 

After the defeat of communism in the 20th century, the world today faces a new and 

growing threat in the 21st century-lslamism-and we must defeat it. 

Thank you, Chairman Ron johnson, Vice-Chair Claire McCaskill, and distinguished members 

of this Committee, for convening this important hearing. The attacks across the world in 

recent weeks, from Kabul to Manchester, London, Tehran, and too many other cities, 

underscore the urgency of this hearing. 

As you have stated, Chairman johnson, in introducing a hearing last year on the ideology of 

ISIS, "The goal of every hearing is to lay out a reality." "Today's hearing is ... dealing 

with ... the threat we face from Islamic terror. It's a harsh reality. It's one I wish were not 

true. It's one I wish we didn't have to face." 3 

That day, in poignant testimony, ISIS victim Nadia Murad Basec Taha, a survivor of ISIS and 

a human rights activist, appealed to you, as she has to Muslim countries, to stop extremism 

within Islam. "It needs to be stopped as an ideology," she told you. 

Thank you, to the Committee, for standing with Nadia. Thank you for standing with moral 

courage and clear-eyed thinking to understand, define and implement the strategies and 

solutions we must put forward to defeat violent Islamic extremism. 

2 "The Top 3 Things ISIS fears about 'dangerous' women 

3 Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, "ISIS Ideology, June 21, 2016. 

accessed June 14, 2017. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 3 
68 

I beg of you to remain steadfast. Too much blood has spilled in the name of Islam. We must 

support Muslim reformers and their allies who refuse Islamism. 

It is critical that we understand the ideology of Islamism, its purveyors, and its edicts so 

that we can remove the influence of its ideologues-historical theologians like Ibn Kathir 

and Ibn Tamiyyah, and modern-day clerics like Syed Qutb and Maulana Maududi, along 

with institutions, political movements, and public figures who advocate its beliefs. just as 

we believe that we must challenge the rhetoric, ideology, and hate of white supremacists, 

we must recognize that Islamists are Muslim supremacists. 

Internet companies, for example, should ban the ideologies of extremism - in any form --

and this should include working the algorithms they use to control search engine 

optimization. Instead, currently, simple Google searches of words like Islam, sharia, sex 

slaves, jihad, and kajir (or "unbeliever"), and age of marriage, elicit results that guide us to 

preaching by the most extreme of clerics, organizations, and individuals that advocate 

everything from child brides to anti-Semitism. 

We face a cyber jihad. And we are enabling it. This must stop. 

Islamism is a threat to our nation's security. 

Today's radical interpretation of Islam is out of step with a positive, rational interpretation 

of Islam that can be put forward in the world. Born in the seventh century, Islam was a 

4 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
69 

progressive faith for its time and circumstances, while it was also born out of a tradition of 

military conquest. By the tenth century in the Middle Ages, when a rational school of 

thought called the Mutazalites existed, Islam was a religion of art, science, tolerance, high 

culture, and critical thinking, with Muslims charting new ground in technology, poetry, art, 

astronomy, and mathematics. 

Over time, however, Islamic thought retreated from progressive thinking, and dogmatism 

usurped critical thinking. By the early 20th century, with the dismantling of the Ottoman 

Empire, a handful of radical thinkers took advantage of turmoil in the Middle East and 

undid the surviving remnants of progress and enlightenment in the Muslim world by 

promoting a belief system of rigidity, orthodoxy, and extremism that is antithetical to the 

positive values in Islam. 

A political ideology emerged, called that advocates for Islam in governance. 

I was born in Bombay, India, to a mother who had to cover her face as a young woman 

because her family absorbed the dawah of ultra-orthodoxy. I first lived in Piscataway, New 

jersey, as a girl and then our family moved to Morgantown, West Virginia, and it became 

my hometown. I live today in Northern Virginia and regularly traverse Route 7, sadly 

nicknamed "Wahhabi Corridor" for the string of Islamic stores, mosques, schools, and 

institutions that line the highway, pumping the strict Sunni teachings of Saudi Arabia and 

Qatar into America and the world. 

I testify before you today as an investigative reporter, working for 15 years at the Wall 

Street journal, a terrorism researcher, and an educator and subject matter expert who 

trains the military, diplomats and law enforcement officials in the fields of cross-cultural 

communications, propaganda, Islam and Islamic extremism. I also testify before you as a 

mother, a friend, and a concerned citizen. 

PREVENTING ISlAMIC EXTREMISM 5 
70 

In the early 1990s, some two decades ago, a young British-Pakistani chess champion, Omar 

Sheikh, met extremist preachers at his local mosque in London and embraced their 

firebrand interpretation of Islam. I!e had dropped out of the London School of Economics, 

where he was a promising student. He journeyed to Bosnia to join his "Muslim brothers" in 

"the jihad." That jihad led him, in early 2002, at the age of 28, to mastermind the 

kidnapping of Wall Street journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Danny was kidnapped after he left 

a home I was renting in Karachi, Pakistan. 

A week later, three militants, allegedly including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of 

the 9/11 attacks, brutally killed Danny, decapitating him and cutting his body into pieces. 

After wiping the floor of Danny's blood, the men unfurled prayer rugs toward Mecca, swept 

their open hands beside their ears and uttered the sacred words, "God is 

great," that has become a battle cry for terrorists. 

For a decade, I investigated the 27 men who were involved in Danny's kidnapping and 

murder and learned each and every one of them was influenced by Islamist ideology. 

6 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
71 

Two years later, in the fall of 2004, several thousand miles away, a Dutch-Moroccan man, 

Mohammed Bouyeri, 26, stood at a street corner in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and shot 

Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh eight times with a handgun as Van Gogh bicycled to work. 

He had been indoctrinated to an extremist interpretation of Islam by a network of radicals 

in the Netherlands. "Have mercy!" Van Gogh cried, but the assailant cut Van Gogh's throat 

with a knife and tried to decapitate him, as had been done to Danny. He believed he was 

justified in the murder because of a film Van Gogh had co-produced with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. 

The film, called Submission, was about violence against women in Muslim societies. lie 

attached a note to Van Gogh's body with a knife. It contained a death threat against Ayaan, 

along with general threats against Jews and the West. 

While geography, ethnicity, social status and ancestry separated these young men, 

something connected them: adherence to a violent, rigid, dangerous interpretation of Islam. 

For both Ayaan and me, the trajectory of our lives was transformed by the murder of our 

colleagues and friends by adherents to radical Islam. We bear witness to the very real 

ideologies of Islam that not only motivated the killers of our friends, but also motivated the 

three men who spilled blood on London Bridge just last weekend. 

As Ayaan argues in her new monograph, we face a well-funded, well-organized enterprise 

of "dawah," or proselytizing, of lslamist interpretations of the faith. 

We face hard propaganda promoted by Islamist organizations in the world today: 

governments, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and [ran; political organizations, including the 

Muslim Brotherhood, jamaat-e-lslami, Tablighi Jamaat, Hizbut Tahrir; and terrorist 

organizations, including ISIS, or the Islamic State, ai-Qaeda, Boko Haram, AI Shabab, the 

Tali ban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, among so many others. 

There are irrefutable, direct links between the ideology of Islamic extremism and terror. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 7 
72 

This honor brigade includes a wide swath of state and non-state actors: Muslim 

organizations, including the or CAIR, the Muslim 

Students Association, Muslim Advocates, the Muslim Public Affairs Council; and the Islamic 

Council of North America. Their charges of "racism" and "bigotry" silence the kind of 

conversation that this hearing is allowing. Many of these organizations receive foreign 

funding from the governments that promote the ideology of Islamism. We need to get 

answers to some questions. How much foreign funding do they receive? What are the 

sources? And for what purpose? 

As a Muslim, l testify before you that the link between the ideology of Islamic extremism 

and terror is real. It breaks my heart that it exists in the world today. I, along with the other 

founders of the Muslim Reform Movement, see it as our duty, as Muslims, not to make 

excuses or protect the "honor" of Islam, but make sure that Muslims act honorably in this 

world with an Islam of grace. Alas, the ideology of Islamism is growing. It must be 

confronted with urgency and purpose. It must be defeated. 

8 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
73 

What is so tragic is that we enable purveyors of extremist ideology. We give them the tools 

to spread their hate. We look the other way when our allies promote hate. We give Islamist 

groups tax-exempt status. 

In his submitted answers to questions from this committee, Department of Homeland 

Security Secretary John Kelly said that when he was Commander of the U.S. Southern 

Command: 

In open press reporting, and through interactions with Caribbean-based security forces, 

we knew that there were a small number of radical mosques and clerics preaching 

the jihad to their congregations in the region. We also knew via press reporting that a 

number of jihadists who were detained at the Caracas, Venezuela, airport had previously 

attempted to make their way to Syria. We estimated that over 100 foreign fighters from 

Latin America were already overseas and in the fight. We knew that the radical 

websites were encouraging jihadist returnees to wage local jihad. We also knew 

that the same sites were encouraging local "lone wolfs" to act. 

Sec. Kelly noted that taking a position against "radical mosques and clerics" was not "popular in 

some parts of the government," but he did, and he was motivated by the same objective that 

connects every member of the committee: protecting lives. He said: 

Highlighting these threats within the interagency, as well as to the Congress, was not 

particularly popular in some parts of the government. I received a good deal of 

criticism and pushback. That said, it was the right thing to do, particularly given the 

amount of American and Western tourism in the region as well as the generally 

dedicated-but not particularly robust-security forces that provide public safety. Local 

governments and security force professionals welcomed our highlighting the threat. 

Within a year, the U.S. interagency was generally all singing off the same sheet of music. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 9 
74 

It is worth noting that my relief at Southern Command recently has made the same points 

in the same way. 

We must abandon political correctness and recognize that from London, England to Falls 

Church, Virginia, we have imams who are radicalizing members of their congregations. We 

must monitor mosques for radical preachings. We must particularly monitor mosques that 

receive funding from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, or any Muslim Brotherhood 

sources. 

Unfortunately, in American society, we have accommodated the promotion and advocacy of 

extremist ideas that violate our l;IW~ by Muslim preachers, teachers, ideologues, and 

activists. We give them entry into the U.S., allow them to stay in the U.S., and provide them 

government benefits. We have given purveyors of dangerous ideologies benefits, from taxexempt status to the freedom to reach millions of people. And our Internet companies give 

them "virtual visas" into cyberspace. 

All should be censured, banned, and prosecuted, when appropriate, for advocating the 

Yi<!l<J.!ilm. of U.S. laws. 

The following arc indicators of extremism within Islam, and we should not allow them from 

anyone, in any community. They are by which extremists draw followers to 

their ideology. I am going to identify the that they use. And I am going to spell out 

their for spreading their extremism. 

10 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
75 

t, 

The ruthless ideology of Islamic extremism promotes jihad for a caliphate, a 

medieval tyranny of illliLHJI:Jl.iort~ and hcJlJ'iHiinJ!"2' that offers death 

to members of the LGBT community, jews, Christians, atheists, Muslim 

reformers, U.S. servicemembers, and others. 

After defeating Nazism and then Communism in the 20th century, the United States and the 

global community face a new and growing threat of lslamism. The military campaign to 

defeat Islamic extremism on the battlefield began in earnest following Osama Bin Laden's 

attack in New York on 9/11. We face a second front that global powers need to understand 

and defeat: the ideology of political Islam, with its objective of establishing a worldwide 

Islamic caliphate to challenge the West and our modern world, as embraced by Abu Bakr 

al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State, and many others. 

Ayaan identified a Sa!afi cleric from Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Ibn Baz, in her publication, Words 

of Advice Regarding Da'wah: From the Noble Shaykh (Birmingham: Al-Hidaayah, 1998), who 

promotes a dawah of jihad. His advocacy isn't in the history books. It is kept alive to this 

day by internet companies, including YouTube, which hosts sermons advocating for jihad, 

violence, and hate, including by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has exerted influence 

in the network of mosques and Muslim organizations established by the first generation of 

Muslim immigrants in the West. 

The cyber jihad has exploited YouTube. It has inspired terrorists, like U.S. Army Maj. Nidal 

Hassan, to become soldiers for Allah. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 11 
76 

For example, Sen. john McCain, GoDaddy, based in Phoenix in your home state of Arizona, 

hosts a Saudi website, lslamQA.info, founded by a popular Saudi sheikh who promotes sex 

slaves as an Islamic right. 5 He states further that women cannot travel without a male 

chaperone. The site demands that women and girls cover their hair, as well as their faces. It 

condemns jews and Christians. He even states, "Male children become slaves." 

Why is this website allowed to exist? If the Saudi government is serious about fighting the 

Islamic extremism it birthed, why isn't it shutting this site down? Why aren't we? 

12 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
77 

Also: "Why do we hate the jews?" 

One sermon from AIMinbar.com reads: 

Go Daddy hosts a website, AIMinbar.com, that 

also promotes radical ideology. Around the 

world, Muslim preachers download sermons 

published on the Saudi website, established 

in 1999, hailing itself as "the Orator's 

Garden" and putting forth ideas about 

"unchaste women" as "worthless" and jews 

as "treacherous." 

Some of its lessons: "The urgency of jihad in 

repelling the malice of the jews."6 

Jihaad will continue until A!faah brings victory. 

I asked the government of Saudi Arabia in 2005 about this website. It refused to take 

responsibility and, to this day, its "more than 2000 khutbahs," or sermons, from the 

"Orator's garden" spread hate in mosques around the world. 

PREVENTING ISlAMIC EXTREMISM 13 
78 

YouTube, based in San Bruno, California, represented by Sen. Kamala Harris, hosts videos 

by radical al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, ISIS, and llizbut Tahrir, a global extremist 

organization. 

Sen. Gary Peters, YouTube also hosts the preaching of an Arab-American preacher, Musa A. 

)ebril, who goes by the YouTube name, "Ahmad Musa Jibril," based in Dearborn, Michigan, 

your state, pushing Salafi extremism and hate. Even after a 2014 local ABC investigation, 

Jibril continues to have his social media accounts.? 

The preacher is tied to the radicalization of one of Saturday's London attackers, a friend of 

the attacker told BBCNews Asia. His YouTube channel, has 16,000 

followers. 

The preacher is well known on YouTube for preaching sermons that appear to lionize 

Islamic terrorists fighting in Syria. The friend of the attacker was so concerned by his 

obsession with the preacher's sermons, he notified British anti-terror police. A 2014 report 

by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) found that )ebril "adopts 

the role of a cheerleader: supporting the principles of armed opposition to Assad." In April 

2014, ICSR researchers found that 60 percent of foreign fighters in Syria followed jebril on 

Twitter. 

In a video, "The Only Path to Victory,"" jebril talks triumphantly about the !lag of Islam 

!lying over non-Muslim countries. 

14 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
79 

citizen and 

Massachusetts native convicted of supporting al-Qaeda as a propagandist,10 in which he 

continues his anti-West, Islamist propaganda from inside a maximum security prison! In 

one recent missive, titled, "Fitnah," or "Chaos," he wrote, triumphantly, "The door to the 

Khilafah has been re-opened ... " In another, he laments that he has been "removed from 

general population" for "radicalizing other inmates." In prison, he is restricted. On the 

internet, he has free reign to promote his propaganda throughout our society. How can 

it be true? We need to investigate. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 15 
80 

2. 

Islamism promotes the establishment of Islamic norms within existing states, 

including the advocating for sharia, or Islamic law, in governance, and the idea 

of Islamic supremacy. 

Websites like IslamQA.info, AlMinbar.com, and HizbutTahrir.com, as well as 

many others, promote shari a in governance. 

;.;;:;~~;;,;;.i;;·;:;;r,~r;~;~;:~;·;:;~;~r,;;(J;;:;;;: its U.S. operations, Hizb 

ut-Tahrir America. 11 Its leaders spoke behind a podium in Lombard, Illinois, for example, 

for its "Khilafa 2017 Conference." Khi/afa is a reference to an Islamic caliphate. When 

GoDaddy registered this website in 2009, it began helping an extremist organization 

promote Islamist propaganda.12 

To get around oversight in the U.S., the organization states that "Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a global 

Islamic political party working to resume the Islamic Way of Life by reestablishing the state 

16 PREVENTING ISlAMIC EXTREMISM 
81 

of Khilafah in the Muslim world. The party does not seek or attempt to establish the 

Khilafah in any of the western countries including the US. The party does not use or 

approve of militant means to achieve its goals." 13 But its goals are clearly to undermine U.S. 

allies, including Egypt, Pakistan, jordan, and Bangladesh, where moderate voices of Islam 

are attempting to override extremists, and, inside our Muslim community, we know that its 

members have their eyes very much on the West, including the United States. 

Last summer, I attended a meeting in Springfield, Virginia, of Hizbut Tahrir. At that 

meeting, in a conference room at the Comfort Inn, a unit of Choice Hotels based in 

Rockville, Maryland, young Bangladeshi-American men advocated for a global caliphate 

and the overthrow of the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

When one man took issue with my recording the event (openly) on my phone, he ordered 

me to leave. I refused. We are not yet the Islamic States of America. 

I would like to draw the attention of my senators, Sen. Tim Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner, to 

the activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. They stood in front of black flags emblazoned with the 

Islamic proclamation of faith. 

Sen. Harris, Facebook, based in Menlo Park in your state of California, hosts the websites of 

Hizbut Tahrir, as well as the sites of the Muslim Brotherhood and countless other lslamist 

organizations that advocate for sharia law the United States and the overthrowing of 

democratic governments, including in the United States. On Facebook, for example, Hizb utTahrir America is able to pump out its lslamist propaganda to 28,368 followers. Its simple 

theme is the creation of more Muslim supremacists.14 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 17 
82 

As a Muslim, I just cannot believe we allow these organizations to use public platforms to 

grow. It's almost like we have a death wish. Meanwhile, YouTube hosts Hizbut Tahrir 

videos, advocating for lslamist regimes. 

3. 

The advocacy of illegal acts of misogyny, including domestic abuse, wife beating, 

polygamy, forced headscarves, and insistence that Muslim women must be 

allowed to cover their faces in government offices and during official 

government business. 

In the fall of 2003, outside my local mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia, the Islamic 

Center of Morgantown, officials of the Muslim Students Association distributed a book, 

called, Women in the Shade af Islam, by a Saudi scholar Abdul Rahman al-Sheha. I was 

>horkPrl hv thp honk'> rh~ntf'r on "WomPn's Beating." 

Women in the Shade of Islam 

18 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 

When dealing with a "disobedient wife," a 

Muslim man has a number of options, the book 

says. First, he should remind her of "the 

importance of following the instructions of the 

husband in Islam." If that doesn't work he can 

"leave the wife's bed." Finally, he may "beat" her, 

though it must be without "hurting, breaking a 

bone, leaving blue or black marks on the body 

and avoiding hitting the face, at any cost." 

Such appalling recommendations are inspired 

by as authoritative a source as any Muslim could 

hope to find: a literal reading of the 34th verse 

of the fourth chapter of the Qur'an, An-Nisa , or 

Women. "[A)nd (as to) those on whose part you 
83 

fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them," 

reads one widely accepted translation. 

The notion of using physical punishment as a "disciplinaiy action," as Sheba suggests, 

especially for "controlling or mastering women" or others who "enjoy being beaten," is 

common among lslamists. It is rejected by the Muslim Reform Movement. 

But what is doubly troubling is that groups like the Muslim Students Association receive 

501(c)3 status although they have promoted violence against women by distributing this 

book. 

This is true of other Muslim organizations that receive non-profit status. For example, Sen. 

Rand Paul, at my mosque, an imam from your home state of Louisville, Kentucky, came 

across the border to West Virginia to preach that the disobedient wife can be beaten. The 

U.S. government gives that imam's mosque tax-exempt status as a 501(c)3. 

I wrote about this book in 2006 in the Washington Post. 15 Still, so many years later, it is 

promoted by these organizations and circulated in North America and the world. 

amazgn _____,. >!li ShQpfat!ler'sOay ~~1Lt:r~rrw ~ .,., ~iiiiawtmw""--r 

~--"' )'i.iWi'\rii~A1QIW 1ild\¥!t'O:!!afl.i Glfi'C$rl~A~ ~ :¥ ~·~-,. ~ 'TI'fPi'ffrift* ~~ 

15 "Clothes aren't the issue," by Asra. Q. Nomani. Washington Post. October 22, 2016. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 19 
84 

Why is it that Amazon, based in Seattle, Washington, sells this, a WahhabijSalafi book that 

sanctions "women beating?"!& Why does an organization called the "Cultural Center for 

Foreigners' Call," based in Sana, Yemen, share a PDF of the book online? 17 GoDaddy 

accepted the registration of this website in 2008 18 and it has been disseminating its 

Isla mist ideology undeterred ever since-with material advocating the violation of United 

States Jaw. A simple Google search has led me to this page for 11 years. 

There are other lslamist teachings that must face censure for their violation of U.S. Jaws. 

They include advocacy for marital rape. At a mosque in New jersey, an imam taught the 

congregation a hadith, or saying of the prophet Muhammad, that "Angels will curse a 

woman who denies her husband sex," and that it is religiously legal for a man to have sex 

with his wife without consent. 

In addition, lslamist teachings advocate for polygamy, which is illegal in all 50 states in the 

United States. "Women in the Shade of Islam," distributed by the Muslim Students 

Association, sanctions polygamy. HalalCo, a grocery store in the "Wahhabi Corridor" of 

Falls Church, Virginia, sells books sanctioning polygamy. Imams across the U.S. marry 

couples in polygamous relationships. Foreign students and others bring their multiple 

wives into the U.S. The same Saudi student who preached at my mosque in Morgantown, 

using the sermons of AlMinbar.com, telling the congregation to "hate those who hate the 

prophet Muhammad," openly had two wives-in Morgantown. He was an officer of the 

Muslim Students Association. Another mosque leader had multiple wives, secretly 

marrying one without his first wife's knowledge. 

Of course, in the United States, women have a right to dress as they choose, unless they 

violate Jaws. Thus, if a woman wants to cover her hair, she has a right to do so. However, in 

20 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
85 

parts of our communities, there is also a veil being thrown over what is freedom and what 

is coercion. 

In Missouri, a man was prosecuted for pulling his cousin out of high school by the hair 

because she didn't cover her hair. 19 

Sec. Kelly stated in his responses to questions from the committee that he did not accept 

gender discrimination against his personnel at Guantanamo Bay. 

Adding insult to injury in terms of abuse from the detainees and their agents on the 

outside was the military commissions ordered discrimination based on gender directed 

towards my female personnel. 

It is not right for Guantanamo inmates to disrespect women. We cannot accept the 

disrespect that comes from lslamist organizations and their demands. This most often 

involves the demand that women and girls cover their hair. Earlier this year, our U.S. chess 

champion, Nazi Pakidze, a grandmaster, missed the opportunity to battle in a world 

championship in Tehran, Iran, because the government of Iran demanded that every 

woman competing in the tournament cover her hair. Pakidze courageously refused and, in 

doing so, supported the women in Iran forced to live under rules that make it a crime to 

show their hair. 

The face veil is not Islamically required, yet the extremist interpretation of Islam demands 

that women cover their faces. Halalco, the local Islamic bookstore off "Wahhabi corridor," 

in Northern Virginia, sells a Wahhabi interpretation of the Qur'an, "The Noble Quran," 

written and peddled by the govermcnt of Saudi Arabia. It has a horrible rewriting of a 

chapter and verse of the Qur'an.2o 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 21 
86 

A typical translation of 33:59 states, 

"Oh, Prophet tell thy wives and thy daughters and the believer women to draw their jilbab 

close around them; this will be better so that they be recognized and not harmed and 

God is the most forgiving, most merciful." 

According to Arabic dictionaries, jilbab means "long, overflowing gown" which was the 

traditional dress at the time. The verse does not instruct them to add a new garment but 

rather adjust an existing one. It also does not mean headscarf. 

Disturbingly, the government of Saudi Arabia twists its translation of the verse 

to impose face veils on women, allowing them even to sec with just "one eye." 

The government's translation reads: 

"0 Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of 

the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. 

screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the 

way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free 

respectable women) so as not to be annoyed, and God is most 

forgiving, most merciful." 

Disturbingly, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington, D.C.-based 

organization that has allied itself with lslamist causes and interests, has filed complaints 

and launched campaigns to defend the right of women to cover their faces on drivers' 

licenses and in court business. We must investigate the foreign funding that organizations 

such as CAIR receive as they push lslamist ideas. 

22 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
87 

4. The advocating of underage marriage. 

In Michigan, the controversial Salafi cleric, ]ibril, advocated for child marriage in a 

discussion in which he said the prophet Muhammad married his wife, Aisha, when she was 

nine years old-and that is a "model" to follow. 

The video is titled, "We Are Proud of Our Prophet's Marriage to Aisha."21 

In Australia, federal prosecutors arrested an imam for marrying an older man to a minor, 

even telling the new husband to provide the girl with "sex education." 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 23 
88 

s. 

The advocating of female genital mutilation. 

In a sermon captured on video, Falls Church, Virginia imam Shakir E!Sayed preached that 

female genital mutilation is acceptable to avoid "hypersexuality."22 Amid public outcry, his 

mosque, Darul Hijrah (which was attended by the 9/11 hijackers, and was led by imam 

Anwar al-Awlaki, and was the mosque of Maj. Nidal Hassan) only put E!Sayed on 

administrative leave. The mosque sits right off of "Wahhabi Corridor." Another imam quit 

in protest that the mosque board refused to fire E!Sayed for his advocacy of female genital 

mutilation. 23 It continues to receive tax-exempt status. 

Famously now, a minority sect of Islam, the I3ohra Muslims, teach female genital mutilation, 

one of its adherents recently (and rightly) arrested by the FBI for the crime of cutting the 

clitoris of young girls.24 They receive non-profit status in the U.S., while blessing FGM. 

June 14, 2017. 

'"·~·~~=·•~"''''-~"-"''·~''IL.l."Ltil'::~_'l'·I2Z:•.J'lC(1C, accessed June 14, 2017. 24 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3669425-Nagarwala-Complainthtml 

24 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
89 

We cannot overlook the role of soft propagandists that give cover to Isla mists. 

Foreign state sponsors of Isla mist ideology fund U.S. academic institutions, think tanks, and 

nonprofit organizations that provide cover for their extremist ideologies. An army of 

propagandists has emerged and grown, taking advantage of free speech in the West. The 

army consists of many second-generation members of the Muslim organizations put in 

place in the U.S. in the 20th century. 

We must stop funding from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, and other fundamentalist Muslim 

states, to this army of soft propagandists. Hold responsible the think tanks, NGOs, and other 

groups that the Islamist powers fund to attack critics of extremism, stoking a culture of 

denial among Muslims, and pushing Islamism as a legitimate pathway. Muslim states, 

including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran, support propagandists who exploit the unregulated 

space of the Internet to radicalize Muslims, defend their extremist views of Islam and keep 

Muslims focused on their grievances, rather than directing them toward constructive 

solutions. From the internet to popular media, evidence shows that foreign governments 

have provided financial support for NGOs, websites, media outlets, think tanks, and 

academic centers, as well as nonprofit groups that dismiss Islamic extremism or launch 

allegations of "lslamophobia" against critics of Islamic extremism. The impact has been to 

sow a culture of political correctness and to delay action on effectively countering Islamic 

extremism by making it so that public officials, law enforcement agencies, and citizens 

refuse to address the issues connected to Islamic extremism. 

In 2005, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Muslim countries began to fund 

an ambitious offensive to establish beachheads in the West, promoting their conservative 

lslamist interpretations. They targeted elite schools, think tanks, and nonprofits. That year, 

Saudi prince Alwaleed Bin Tala! signed a pact to pay Georgetown University $20 million to 

rename its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding after himself. The Center began 

aggressively protecting Islamists. Bin Tala! also gave $20 million to Harvard to establish a 

similar center at the Ivy League school. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 25 
90 

The following month, after the Danish newspaper jyllands-Posten published cartoons of 

the prophet Muhammad, the heads of state from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation 

(OIC) met in Mecca to launch a 10-year plan to "defend the true image of Islam, to combat 

defamation of Islam." Over the next year, OIC staffers at their headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi 

Arabia, kept a tally of offenders, including the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists. By 2007, Qatar's 

emir Hamad bin Jassim bin jabr AI-Thani announced he would fund a new Brookings center 

in Doha, penning an agreement with Strobe Talbott, Brookings' president and former 

deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration. In the years to come, the 

institution's researchers wrote reports sympathetic to lslamism. The House of Thani paid 

for an academic chair at Georgetown University, which also established a campus in Doha. 

Qatar also established its media presence in the West, launching AI Jazeera America with 

second-generation Muslims as its hosts. 

Recently, Jonathan Brown, a convert to Islam, subscriber to Saudi Arabia's Hanbali sect of 

Islamic jurisprudence, and a professor at the Georgetown Center for Muslim-Christian 

Understanding (funded by bin Tala!) was documented defending slaves and slave-holding 

as valid under Islam.zs He was speaking at the International Institute for Islamic Thought 

(!liT), off"Wahhabi Corridor," in Herndon, Virginia. 

A recent 99026 tax document reveals the well-endowed IIIT had revenue of $14 million. Of 

that, it received $4 million in gifts, grants, and other sources. What are its funding sources? 

Are they foreign governments? We need to know, because it is a hotbed of Islamist thinking 

in America. Who were its grantees? One was Brown's Georgetown University, which 

received $750,000 for "program assistance." Another was the controversial Council on 

American-Islamic Relations, which received $4,040 for "program assistance." The Imam AlKisai Institute of America, in Falls Church, Virginia, received $363,500. The Islamic Society 

of North America got $50,000. And here was a curious donation: $500,000 to the Silicon 

25 https: I lwww. washingtonpost. com/news/answer -sheet/wp/20 1 71021 17/georgetown-professor -under -fireby-conservatives-for-lecture-about-slavery-and-islam/?utm_term=.25dd299ca2ae 

26 https:/lwww.documentcloud.org/documents/3862905-IIIT-990-2015.html 

26 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
91 

Valley Community Foundation. Turns out, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation 

supports the work of CAIR and other members of the "honor brigade" in America. It 

pumped money, too, into America's religious studies programs, giving $100,000 to Union 

Theological Seminary in New York. What was its money buying? These are questions that 

need to be explored. 

American-Muslim organizations, including CAIR, the Muslim Students Association, the 

Islamic Society of North America, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Muslim American Society, 

and others promote soft propaganda, turning Muslims against the West and, especially 

during the Obama Administration, influencing law enforcement, intelligence, military, and 

diplomatic policies to the detriment of America's national security. We must investigate 

their foreign funding. Through donations, which include foreign funding, CAIR and its 

officials makes sizeable political contributions to our lawmakers, including Minnesota Rep. 

Keith Ellison and many others. 

In other cases, Muslims in Houston started a blog, MuslimMatters, to promote Salafi Islam 

and defame critics of Islam ism .. Some adherents were later tied to terrorism, including the 

"Underwear Bomber." On April Fool's Day 2009, a band of American-Muslims secretly 

launched a propaganda site, LoonWatch, which attacks anyone discussing Islamic 

extremism-misrepresents their views and branding them a "loon." Bloggers used fake 

names; one became "Garibaldi;" a fundamentalist blogger at MuslimMatters was also 

pseudonymously represented. He had been groomed as a "keyboard activist" at UC 

Berkeley, where a Palestinian anti-Israel activist and lecturer, Hatem Bazian, has been 

indoctrinating a generation of anti-West activists since the late 1990s. Another young 

propagandist went on to host a show on Qatar's AI jazeera and form a secret listserv, the 

"Muslim justice League," where the group argued Muslims are the "new blacks" and 

reformers are "Uncle Tom Muslims." This network pushed out the "fake news" of an alleged 

anti-Muslim hate crime on the New York subway, in yet another example of how soft 

propagandists hijack the debate on Islam with their defamation machine. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 27 
92 

During former President Obama's tenure, Muslim special-interest groups won access to the 

White House. CAIR and Muslim Advocates, based in San Francisco, for example, 

successfully lobbied the administration to scrub FBI and Homeland Security 

counterterrorism training materials they considered "offensive" to Muslims. The Obama 

administration and its agencies deleted an estimated 870 pages of material from 390 

presentations, including PowerPoints and reports describing jihad as "holy war" or 

portraying the Muslim Brotherhood as the Isla mist organization that it is.27 

These organizations and others promote campaigns inside our Muslim communities, so 

that we do not challenge extremism but rather play the victim card and engage in a strategy 

of deflection. Unfortunately, in these polarized times, liberal organizations in the United 

States have allied with Muslim organizations and individuals who advocate Islamist ideas, 

including sexist interpretations of sharia. 

27 l}ttp~s~:/{www.mlliillf'llildvocat!J_!LQI'f!LI~t!er-to-doj-in~p~ectocc9e_neral-on-u§e-of-fbi-trainin9:ffia!erials/, accessed June 14, 2017~ 

28 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
93 

Today's jihad is rooted in a broader political movement that dates back to the 1920s. 

After the birth of Islam in the 7th century, eight dominant madhhabs, or schools of 

jurisprudence, survived into the modern day. In the majority Sunni sect of Islam, practiced 

by about 1.2 billion Muslims, these madhhabs are: Hanafi, from which my family ancestry is 

rooted; Shaafi; Maliki; and Hanbali. Each school is named for a man. 

It is in the Hanafi school that we have the intolerant school of thought called Deobandism 

that fuels the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And it is in the Han bali school that we 

have today the toxic ideologies of Wahhabism and Salafism that is the poison practiced by 

al-Qaeda, al-Shabab, al-Nusra, Boko Haram, and now the Islamic State, or ISIS. 

More modern-day radicalization of Muslims has its roots in a long-range strategy dating 

from the 1920s. For Osama bin Laden, the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1914 marked 

the dawn of an era of "humiliation" for Muslims. By the 1920s, dictators were coming into 

power in the nations carved out of the Ottoman Empire. Over the subsequent decades, as 

the West confronted Nazism and then Communism, a generation of Muslims quietly crafted 

a plan to seize control of their countries: "Islamism," or political Islam, In Egypt in 1928, 

Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood with the goal of creating an Islamic 

caliphate. In India in 1941, Muslim scholar Syed Abu! A'la Maududi established jamaat 

Islami with ambitions to establish a caliphate in South Asia. In 1953, Palestinian scholar 

Taqi al-Oin AI-Nabhani founded Hizbut Tahrir to create a global caliphate. 

These groups spread Islamist propaganda with pamphlets, monographs, books, and 

cassettes. Then, in response to the Israeli defeat of Arab armies in 1967, the heads of 

Muslim countries met in Mecca in 1969 and created the Organization of Islamic 

Cooperation (OIC), with seemingly benign objectives, including "work for revitalizing 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 29 
94 

Islam's pioneering role in the world," "support the struggle of the Palestinian people," and 

"defend the true image of Islam, to combat defamation of Islam," according to its mission 

statement. These objectives today have dangerous manifestations with the evangelism of 

extremist interpretations of Islam, the emergence of an anti-Israel militancy, and the 

murder of innocents, like the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, in the name of defending the 

"honor" of Islam. 

In the 1960s, Muslim immigrants, including my family, arrived in the West. Many, like my 

parents, were drawn by the values in the West that they wanted to emulate and nurture in 

their families. Others brought the political ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat 

Islami, Hizbut Tahrir, and OlC. This first generation established a foothold for Western 

radicalization by creating groups to advance Islam in the West, starting with the Muslim 

Students Association (1962) and the Islamic Circle of North America (1971). A 1982 

document written by Muslim leaders called for "the establishment of an Islamic state" and 

"jihad." The Islamic Society of North America (1982) was launched that same year, followed 

by the Muslim Public Affairs Council (1988). In 1991, Muslim leaders issued a document 

that outlined a "stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood" and a 

"Civilization-Jihadist Process" with the U.S. as a "settlement" for the jamaat, or Islamic 

community. Soon after, CAIR was founded in 1994. While seemingly innocuous, these 

organizations have established beachheads in the United States for fundamentalist 

interpretations of Islam that consider headscarves mandatory for women, demand forced 

segregation of genders at public events, and discourage cooperation with U.S. law 

30 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 

enforcement, including the FBI. 

In one recent document, "An 

Educator's Guide to Religious 

Practices," CAIR even promotes 

the orthodox interpretation of 

Islam, pressed by Islamists, 
95 

asserting that some children will not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.28 In the Muslim 

Reform Movement, we promote loyalty to country. 

For these past 50 years, fundamentalist, radicalized Muslims have enjoyed virtually 

unfettered expansion in the West. In the U.S., U.K., France, Belgium, Spain, Norway, 

Netherlands, Canada, and other countries in the West, the Muslim Brotherhood, jamaat 

Islami, Hizbut Tahrir, OlC, and other groups have promoted extremism. After the 1979 

Iranian Revolution brought clerics from the Shia sect of Islam to power, the government of 

Saudi Arabia flexed its muscles, funding Qurans, madrassa networks, mosques, and other 

propaganda channels to sell its extremist version of the Sunni sect to the world. Qatar 

emerged in the 1990s to challenge Saudi hegemony over Muslims. Between the two 

nations, their propaganda contributed to the rise of Sunni militants in Pakistan, the 

Philippines, Somalia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and other countries. Iran funded radical Shia 

groups. 

Then on September 11, 2001, the "Civilization-Jihadist Process" took a dangerous turn. The 

hijackers, operational chiefs, and supporters of 9/11 had all been radicalized by the 

extremist interpretation of Islam, targeting Muslim minds aggressively since the 1970s. 

Henceforth, its ideologues would exploit Western civil liberties and the culture of "political 

correctness" to expand their influence and impact. 

Muslims in the United States number now about three million people. It is just a tiny 

fraction of America's population of about 320 million, but somehow Muslim leaders had 

gotten non-Muslim Americans to trend #IAmAMuslimToo and don American flag 

headscarves. 

Today, in our world, we are in the midst of a fierce ideological war that is being waged in 

mosques, schools and universities, governments, civil society, the media, and other key 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 31 
96 

institutions in democracies and societies around the globe. In cyberspace, an increasingly 

insidious platform for the spread of jihad, a network of cyber jihadis share their toxic 

ideologies, like an airborne virus, penetrating borders easily, lowering defenses against 

Islamic extremism and its dangerous implications. 

In cyberspace, terrorist incitement has entered a new phase that no longer relies on 

individual, face-to-face motivation and recruitment. Instead, bankrupt ideas spread 

through a cyber jihadi network of websites, blogs, chat rooms, and social media sites such 

as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, in support of a campaign not well understood or 

penetrated. 

Fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks, too many Muslims today deny the issue of Islamic 

extremism with polemics like "Islam is a religion of peace." We deflect from serious truths 

about Islamic radicalization, argue that Americans and others have an irrational fear of 

Islamic extremism, and demonize anyone who talks about Islamic terrorism as an 

"lslamophobe." 

To me, it is not "lslamophobia," or an irrational fear of Islam, to be frightened of Islamic 

extremism, but rather a rational fear of an interpretation of Islam, taking innocent lives 

from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Columbus, Ohio. Instead of saving face, we Muslims need to do 

something that even children learn: own up. With honesty and pragmatism, we could then 

relieve the rational fears that others have of Muslims and make the world safer for 

everyone, including Muslims. 

As retired Gen. john F. Kelly noted in his first appearance before Congress as Secretary of 

Homeland Security, the U.S. must confront the threat posed by "jihadi information 

warriors." As he noted just last week, the battle has not abated. 

The wide objective of the jihad is to encourage anti-Western and anti-secular government 

sentiments, steer publics away from confronting Islamic extremism, build a narrative of 

32 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
97 

Muslims as victims, and establish a global caliphate where they promote the supremacy of 

Islam in its most extreme form. 

There is clear link between terrorist attacks and the hard theological and soft academic 

propaganda of Islamic extremist groups, Muslim state actors and their proxies. There are 

direct ties between terrorism and the ideological propaganda of states, organizations and 

other actors who export to the world extremist interpretations of Islam-including the 

Shia extremism of Iran and the ideologies of Sunni radicalization, known as Wahhabism 

and Salafism, promoted by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 

Muslim ideologues use free speech rights and other Western liberties along with the new 

freedoms of the internet to promote fundamentalist ideas, attack critical thinkers, 

challenge reform, and defend extremists, enabling terrorist networks. Understanding the 

adversary's strategic goals and operations is key to making the West and secular 

governments safer and ultimately defeating efforts to promote an "American intifada" here 

in our country and throughout the West. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 33 
98 

Isla mists collect grievances- no matter what we do. So don't build strategy based on the false 

myth that, if we do x, we'll have extremists hate us more. They will not stop hating us. 

Last year, Hasan Hassan, coauthor of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, testified to a 

Committee hearing on the ideology of ISIS that the terrorist group feeds upon a narrative of 

"victimization," arguing there are "traitors and apostates in our midst." This is the same 

approach that the hard and soft propaganda of Islamists adopt in America. 

In 2005, joe Navarro, a former FBI special agent, coined the concept of terrorists as "wound 

collectors" in a book, Hunting Terrorism: A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror, which 

incorporated years of experience analyzing terrorists worldwide from Spain to today's 

Islamic movements. He wrote that "terrorists are perennial wound collectors," bringing up 

"events from decades and even centuries past." 

He noted: "Their recollection of these events is as meaningful and painful today as when 

they originally took place. For them there is no statute of limitations on suffering. Wound 

collection to a great extent is driven by their fears and their paranoia which coalesces 

nicely with their uncompromising ideology. Wound collecting serves a purpose, to support 

and vindicate, keeping all past events fresh, thus magnifying their significance into the 

present, a rabid rationalization for fears and anxieties within." 

This phenomenon extends to the larger Muslim community, where there are wounds 

expressed in living room debates that earn many Muslims status as "couch jihad is," as one 

U.S. law enforcement official referred to them in conversation with me. 1 grew up 

eavesdropping on these "couch jihadis" in the men's sections of our dinner parties. Indeed, 

Mr. Navarro, told me, "Collecting wounds become cultural" for communities worldwide. 

Clearly, knowing a community's wounds is important to understanding its history, Mr. 

Navarro said, but he noted, "The beauty of extremism is that it doesn't allow forgiveness." 

34 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
99 

In the Muslim community, you could spin a wheel and pluck from a number of grievances 

that would have as much relevance today as when it was first experienced. I call this a 

"circle of wounds" that very much express themselves in our Muslim communities. 

!list eight grievances here, exploited by militant groups to radicalize: 

l. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan 

2. Post-9 /11 "War on Islam" 

3. U.S.-backed dictators 

4. Crusades 

5. Colonialism 

6. Fall of Ottoman Empire 

7. Israel, Kashmir, Bosnia 

8. 'Islamophobia' 

It has become popular to say that we should accommodate every demand of a Muslim 

organization otherwise we will "help the terrorists," but they will always find a grievance to 

exploit. That is their technique for radicalization. 

In the years since 9/11, the Muslim community has launched obtuse public relations 

campaigns that don't address issues of radicalism head-on, but rather focus on these 

perceived wounds. Speaking as a journalist, this is a disastrous PR strategy, whether it's 

expressed by Union Carbide following the Bhopal, India disaster or by Muslim 

organizations following the 9/11 attacks. 

This strategy expresses itself in Muslim communities worldwide, leading outsiders to ask 

frustrated questions such as, "Why doesn't the moderate Muslim majority speak up against 

extremism?" Often, many Muslims think they are speaking up, but they don't realize their 

statements are filled with denials and deflection. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 3S 
100 

Studying the response of Muslims to difficult issues from the House hearings on 

radicalization to the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, near the 

nation's capital, I've identified four elements typically found in the Muslim community's 

leaders and citizens as they attempt to save face: 

• Denial: Outright denial of the problem. 

• Demonization: Employing this approach, it's common to attempt to discredit others. 

• Deflection: Diverting the discussion, most often to grievances and wounds. 

• Defensiveness: Framing the discussion as an attack on the entire culture and 

religion. 

This dynamic expresses itself in a self-perpetuating circle of denial that feeds anger, 

frustration, hurt -- and radicalization. It's on us in the Muslim community to inspire our 

communities to healing and positive action not wound collecting. 

36 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
101 

We must wipe out the lslamist narrative, especially when it violates laws and corporate 

policies. 

While governments, law enforcement agencies, intelligence officials and others have wellestablished programs to monitor and counter the hard propaganda of al-Qaeda and ISIS, 

not enough has been done to identify and counter the "soft" propaganda that tills the field 

for extremists, especially here in the United States. These "soft" propaganda campaigns are 

propagated by a stealth network of activists, bloggers, academics, and others who act as 

foot soldiers in this ideological war, fueling grievances against the West, running 

interference for extremists, giving cover for fundamentalist governments, radicalizing and 

recruiting youth to the global jihadi terrorist cause, and ultimately hijacking Islam in the 

West. And yet, for the most part, the individuals, organizations, and financing behind this 

cyber jihad are seldom identified and rarely held accountable. 

Free speech rights in the United States correctly protect citizens from infringements on 

their free speech by government. In the course of business, companies have terms of 

contract that restrict speech. We can and must put pressure on companies to stop the 

propagation of lslamist ideologies. We must block sites. 

In the Go Daddy terms of service,29 the company states that users must comply with "all 

applicable local, state, national and international laws, rules and regulations." And that 

users "will not use this Site or the Services" for any activity that "is illegal, or promotes 

illegal activity," nor any activity that "promotes or engages in ... the exploitation of children" 

or "promotes, encourages or engages in terrorism, violence against people, animals, or 

property." 

You acknowledge and agree that: 

29 https://www.godaddy.com/agreements/showdoc.aspx?pageid=UTOS 

PREVENTING ISlAMIC EXTREMISM 37 
102 

Your use of this Site and the Services , including any content you submit, 

will comply with this Agreement and all applicable local, state, national and 

international laws, rules and regulations. 

ii. You will not collect or harvest (or permit anyone else to collect or harvest) 

any User Content (as defined below) or any non-public or personally 

identifiable information about another User or any other person or entity 

without their express prior written consent. 

iii. You will not use this Site or the Services in a manner (as determined by 

GoDaddy in its sole and absolute discretion) that 

• Is illegal, or promotes or encourages illegal activity; 

• Promotes, encourages or engages in child pornography or 

the exploitation of children; 

• Promotes, encourages or engages in terrorism, violence 

against people, animals, or property; 

No idea in the world encourages terrorism more widely than lslamist propaganda. 

Similarly, Facebook has "Terms of Service" 30 that stipulate: 

You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user .. .You will not post content that is hate 

speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or 

gratuitous violence. 

Islamist propaganda incites violence and is designed to intimidate and harrass 

critics of Islamic violence. 

Goog!e, the parent company of YouTube, has a "hate speech" policy31 that restricts speech 

based on "race or ethnic origin," "religion," "gender," "veteran status," and "sexual 

orientation/gender identity." It states: 

Hate speech refers to content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals 

or groups based on certain attributes, such as: race or ethnic origin, religion, 

disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation/gender identity 

lslamist propaganda expresses hate against all of these protected groups. 

30 '"'""'="'-''-·'"·-··uy•,•-''"-c"'-'-'---""'-"-'-=• accessed June 11, 2017. 

~·~~lpport_9_QQg_l_f~.QQt:DfvoutufJelf!n~y.f'Jl_~QJ_9__2fl, accessed June 11, 2017. 

38 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
103 

Google also has a policy against "harmful or dangerous content." 32 It states: 

Harmful or dangerous content 

While it might not seem fair to say you can't show something because of what viewers 

might do in response, we draw the line at content that intends to incite violence or 

encourage dangerous or illegal activities that have an inherent risk of serious physical 

harm or death. 

As we have seen, Islamist propaganda incites violence and encourages practices that violate 

American laws. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 39 
104 

1. 

2. 

The United States government must be persistent and clear about the 

ideological threat of Islamic extremism. Call it out, challenge the propaganda 

of jihad in cyberspace and elsewhere, and speak from a place of courage and 

truth. 

lslamists are implementing an explicit strategy to exploit western civil liberties 

and values to promote their agenda and objectives. We must investigate, expose 

and blacklist all state and non-state sponsors of this dawah, including mosques, 

nonprofits, schools, think tanks, academic institutions and thought leaders. 

Internet companies and social media companies must immediately stop 3 , enabling and spreading extremist propaganda. We must challenge, ban and 

eliminate extremist dawah, from the world, from the online cyberspace and 

multimedia universe to face-to-face communications. 

4. 

S, 

The United States government must be clear in communicating that not all 

Muslims are extremists, but we must not be afraid to challenge the ideology of 

some Muslims who are. This means calling out, challenging and rooting out 

their messaging and their networks. 

We must identify and hold accountable the networks of"honor brigades" within 

academia, civil society, the media, online commenters and others who attack 

those who challenge Islamic extremism. These attackers are not lone wolves, 

but members of well-established conservative Muslim groups. Not only does the 

honor brigade attack critics of Islam, it also serves as a pipeline to soldiers of the Cyber 

Caliphate, an emerging term for the Islamic State's official propaganda arm. 

40 PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
105 

6, 

The United States must promote a public dialogue about the reforms needed in 

Islam that reject interpretations of Islam that call for violence, social injustice 

and politicized Islam. In absence of a genuine, sustained campaign against 

Islamic extremism, our institutions arc at risk of infiltration and compromise. 

We need to support the Muslim Reform Movement and reformers around the world. 

7, 

The U.S. government must engage with those Muslim states, including Saudi 

Arabia Qatar, Iran, Pakistan and others, to identify and hold accountable 

propagandists, including those that exploit western freedoms, including the 

unregulated space of the internet, to radicalize Muslims and defend extremist 

views of Islam. Putting pressure on Iran and Qatar are positive steps. We must do the same 

with Saudi Arabia. Since Saudi Arabia now claims to be against extremism, it must scrub the 

world of the dangerous, evil, dark lslamist propaganda that it has exported to the world. 

8, 

We must deny entry to individuals, including clerics, wbo advocate for the 

violation of U.S. laws. We must deny entry to the cyberspace to people who 

advocate for the violation of U.S. laws, and we must deny nonprofit status for 

organizations that advocate for the violation of U.S. laws. 

This summer is the 70th anniversary of the Foreign Affairs publication of a cable, "the Long 

Telegram," that former diplomat George Keenan wrote from Moscow to his bosses at the 

State Department about the looming threat of communism. In the Muslim Reform 

Movement, we are writing a second long telegram to outline our current threat-the 

scourge of Islamism-and the solutions we need to implement to defeat it. 

Importantly, Muslim leaders, thinkers, activists and ordinary citizens, like 0nE1r Saif 

EbD_Is!SI:L the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia, rect;_ntlv told CNN's Christiane 

Amanpour, "We should be looking at the reality of Islam, as opposed to worrying about the 

image of Islam in the West." 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 41 
106 

As we engage in a post-9/11 military campaign to defeat Muslim terrorists groups on the 

battlefield, we face, in tandem, a second front that Western powers need to better 

understand and defeat: the ideology of political Islam and its objective of establishing a 

worldwide Islamic caliphate to challenge the West, as embraced by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, 

leader of the Islamic State, and many others. 

It is a political ideology within Islam that seeks political governance. And we cannot allow it 

to prevail. 

just as we defeated fascism and communism, it is time to defeat lslamism. In its violence, 

sexism, homophobia and hate, its values arc not compatible with the 21st century. We must 

ban it in its Shia form, through the Khomenism of the ruling government of Iran. And we 

must ban it in its Sunni form, as is appropriately happening with Qatar and the House of 

Thani ruling family, but must also happen with the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia 

and its House of Saud. 

Our lawmakers, policymakers and citizenry must stand up with moral courage so that our 

children can safely traverse this earth, bicycling, singing, dancing, living, working, 

breathing. We must see to it that our children do not inherit the suffering of our generation. 

We must end the ideologies of Islamic extremism now. And support Muslim reform for 

peace, human rights-including women's rights-and secular governance. 

### 

42 PREVENTING ISlAMIC EXTREMISM 
107 

We are Muslims who live in the 21st century. We stand for a respectful, merciful and inclusive 

interpretation of Islam. We are in a battle for the soul of Islam, and an Islamic renewal must 

defeat the ideology of lslamism, or politicized Islam, which seeks to create Islamic states, as 

well as an Islamic caliphate. 

We seek to reclaim the progressive spirit with which Islam was born in the 7th century to fast 

forward it into the 21st century. We support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which 

was adopted by United Nations member states in 1948. 

We reject interpretations of Islam that call for any violence, social injustice and politicized 

Islam. Facing the threat of terrorism, intolerance, and social injustice in the name of Islam, we 

have reflected on how we can transform our communities based on three principles: peace, 

human rights and secular governance. We announce the formation of an international 

initiative: the Muslim Reform Movement. 

We have courageous reformers from around the world who have written our Declaration for 

Muslim Reform, a living document that we will continue to enhance as our journey continues. 

We invite our fellow Muslims and neighbors to join us. 

1. We stand for universal peace, love and compassion. We reject violent jihad. We believe we 

must target the ideology of violent Isla mist extremism in order to liberate individuals from the 

scourge of oppression and terrorism both in Muslim-majority societies and the West. 

2. We stand for the protection of all people of all faiths and non-faith who seek freedom from 

dictatorships, theocracies and lslamist extremists. 

3. We reject bigotry, oppression and violence against all people based on any prejudice, 

including ethnicity, gender, language, belief, religion, sexual orientation and gender expression. 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 43 
108 

1. We stand for human rights and justice. We support equal rights and dignity for all people, 

including minorities. We support the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. 

2. We reject tribalism, castes, monarchies and patriarchies and consider all people equal with 

no birthrights other than human rights. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and 

rights. Muslims don't have an exclusive right to "heaven." 

3. We support equal rights for women, including equal rights to inheritance, witness, work, 

mobility, personal law, education, and employment. Men and women have equal rights in 

mosques, boards, leadership and all spheres of society. We reject sexism and misogyny. 

1. We are for secular governance, democracy and liberty. We are against political movements in 

the name of religion. We separate mosque and state. We are loyal to the nations in which we 

live. We reject the idea of the Islamic state. There is no need for an Islamic caliphate. We 

oppose institutionalized sharia. Sharia is manmade. 

2. We believe in life, joy, free speech and the beauty all around us. Every individual has the right 

to publicly express criticism of Islam. Ideas do not have rights. Human beings have rights. We 

reject blasphemy laws, which are a cover for the restriction of freedom of speech and religion. 

We affirm every individual's right to ijtihad, or critical thinking, and seek a revival of ijtihad. 

3. We believe in freedom of religion and the right of all people to express and practice their 

faith, or non-faith, without threat of intimidation, persecution, discrimination or violence. 

Apostasy is not a crime. Our ummah--our community--is not just Muslims, but all of humanity. 

We stand for peace, human rights and secular governance. 

Please stand with us! 

Affirmed this Third Day of December, Two-Thousand and Fifteen 

Tahir Gora, Author, Journalist, Activist, Toronto, Canada 

Tawfik Hamid, Islamic Thinker and Reformer, Oakton, VA 

Usama Hasan, Imam, Quilliam Foundation, London, UK 

Arif Humayun, Senior Fellow, American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Portland, OR 

Farahnaz lspahani, Author, Former Member of Parliament, Pakistan, Washington, D.C. 

M. Zuhdi Jasser, President, American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Phoenix, AZ 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 
109 

Naser Khader, Member, Danish Parliament, Muslim democracy activist, Copenhagen, 

Denmark 

Courtney Lonergan, Community Outreach Director, Professional Facilitator, American 

Islamic Forum for Democracy, Phoenix, AZ 

Hasan Mahmud, General Secretary, Muslims Facing Tomorrow, Sharia Expert, Toronto, 

Canada 

Asra Nomani, Journalist, Author, Morgantown, WV 

Raheel Raza, Founder, Muslims Facing Tomorrow, Toronto, Canada 

So hail Raza, VP, Coalition of Progressive Canadian Muslim Organizations, Toronto, 

Canada 

Salma Siddiqui, President, Coalition of Progressive Canadian Muslim Organizations, 

Toronto, Canada 

PREVENTING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM 45 
110 

How to Fight the War of Ideas Against Radical Islamism 

Testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee 

John Lenczowski 

Founder and President, The Institute of World Politics 

June 14,2017 

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Minority Member, and Members of the 

Committee. I am grateful and honored to have the opportunity to share with you my 

recommendations on how we in the United States can optimally protect ourselves and the world 

against radical Jihadism. My testimony consists of two parts. The first and major part addresses 

the question of how to defeat the principal dimensions of the Jihadist threat particularly the 

method by which the Jihadist movement generates new recruits to its cause. The second 

addresses how our government should be organized and tasked with performing this critical 

function. 

Jihadism is Principally an Ideological Problem 

The United States has spent trillions of dollars fighting radical Islamist terrorism. We 

have done so by treating Jihadist aggression as principally a military and intelligence problem. 

Yet, it is a civilizational problem. We have been fighting two wars to destroy terrorismsupporting regimes, seeking out terrorists, and killing them. This is like trying to eradicate 

mosquitoes in your back yard by inviting all your friends over for a garden party, arming them 

each with shotguns, and shooting mosquitoes all afternoon. You will get a few of the 

mosquitoes. The problem is that there is a puddle in the back yard and something is going on 

there: it is the spawning of new mosquitoes- and we arc doing very little about it. This is not 

principally a military problem, but a political, propaganda, ideological, cultural, and religious 

doctrine challenge. It is also a totalitarian effort to establish a temporal state (the Caliphate) by 

mobilizing the activists via an extremist interpretation of the Islamic religion. To solve this 

problem necessitates fighting a war of ideas. The problem is that we have virtually no 

ideological warriors in this war. 

There is, to be sure, a military element to ideological war. So long as the Islamic State 

was able to conquer and control new territory, it, like the Soviet Union, could claim that these 

victories proved that its ideology and its vision of the future are correct because they were visibly 

sanctified by Allah. And so long as the Islamic State was expanding, it enjoyed a high rate of 

recruitment of new Jihadists. Even without the expansion and military success, the Islamist 

terrorists can canonically invoke Allah, explaining away their failures as "the time of trial," thus 

continuing to draw on divine sanction of their aggression to attract followers. But ultimately, the 

lure of the Jihadist ideological vision was what constituted the essence of the appeal for new 

recruits. 

The War ofldeas in the Cold War 

Fighting any war requires an understanding of what victory looks like. In the Cold War, 

victory meant ending the causes of U.S.-Soviet tensions. Some people thought that this required 

1 
111 

reducing or eliminating anns. The problem was that arms were not the cause of tensions: they 

were a symptom of those tensions. We could never have real detente- a relaxation of tensionswithout a relaxation of concerns, the political concerns that were the real source of tensions. 

In the case of the USSR, our concern was with Soviet expansionism and aggression in its 

many forms, including military intervention, occupation, and proxy war, and the many forms of 

conquest without war, including subversion, cultural warfare, propaganda, active measures (such 

as disinformation, forgeries, and covert political influence operations), psychological operations, 

economic warfare. strategic deception, espionage, and other forms of covert action. 

The deeper concern was with the nature of the Soviet communist system- its "genetic 

code." This consisted of: 

• its systematic denial of basic human rights; 

• its totalitarian control of all communications, education, publishing, news media, film, 

and entertainment; 

• its internal security system, including the Gulag Archipelago and the pervasive system of 

secret police informants (in East Germany, where we have been able to ascertain with 

accuracy the extent of this system, a full 25 percent of the population were compelled 

into becoming informants, most against their will); 

• the consequent process of "atomization" of society, where each individual is separated 

from others and left alone to fend for himself against the all-powerful state: a 

phenomenon made possible by the pervasive atmosphere of mistrust engendered by the 

system of informants; 

• its system of forced conformity, which was enforced by its ideological methods of 

thought and speech control ("political correctness"), including the "daily force-feeding of 

a steady diet of lies" (which Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn called the single most oppressive 

feature of life under communism) a regimen which compelled people to violate their 

consciences in order to demonstrate subjugation and loyalty to the regime; 

• its crushing economic privations, stemming from the destruction of private property, 

which forced people into the underground economy, thus leaving them vulnerable to 

being accused of economic crimes and blackmailed into becoming accessories of the 

internal security system; 

• its mass murder of30 million to 60 million of its own citizens, including the forced 

starvation of millions of Ukrainians (the Holodomor); and 

• its genocide of many small national groups within its empire. 

To eliminate the political concerns that underlay Cold War tension, it was therefore 

essential to change the nature of the Soviet system, to change its genetic code. The heart of that 

genetic code was the ideology, which produced the enforced conformity, the totalitarian 

atomization of society, and the expansionistic foreign policy that was necessary to prove the 

validity of the Marxist-Leninist ideology and therefore the ideologically-based "legitimacy" of 

the regime. 

2 
112 

To do this, the United States conducted a political-ideological war, episodically, 

sometimes effectively and sometimes barely, for four decades. This consisted of several 

elements: 

• A war of information- the use of truth as our most powerful weapon- to counter the 

propaganda and disinformation that sustained the communist system from within and 

which it used as a key element of its subversive foreign policy. 

• A systematic effort to delegitimize the Marxist-Leninist ideology and the communist 

regimes in the Soviet Union and its satellites. This strategy exploited one of the principal 

vulnerabilities of Communist Party rule: its rule without the consent of the governed, its 

consequent lack of legitimacy, and its consequent fear of its own people. 

• An effort to anathematize the inhuman nature of communist rule. 

• An effort to isolate the Soviet empire in the world community, including efforts to create 

divisions within its own empire. 

• An etTort to offer the peoples within the Soviet empire a positive alternative: freedom, 

democracy, justice, and hope for a better life. 

• An effort to support forces of resistance against communist expansionism, including anticommunist movements in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, and elsewhere 

(the success to such movements would demonstrate that resistance against communism is 

not futile and that the victory of communism is not inevitable). 

• An effort to support resistance forces within the Soviet empire, including dissidents, 

human rights organizations, religious movements, the Solidarity Movement in Poland, 

and national independence movements in many union republics within the USSR. These 

efforts involved Presidential rhetoric, Congressional resolutions, covert political and 

communications assistance, and perhaps most importantly, international broadcasting by 

the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Liberty. All this activity connected 

America and the West with people behind the Iron Curtain who yearned for freedom, for 

the protection of their human rights, including individual liberty and property rights, and 

for some semblance of justice, which they described as their desire to lead a "normal 

life." 

Altogether, these etTorts used the tools not of traditional, government-to-government 

diplomacy, but rather public diplomacy, political warfare, and ideological warfare. 

All of these efforts were complemented by various material pressures on the Soviet 

empire which pushed it toward bankruptcy and caused a crisis in its military economy. These included: 

our military buildup, our technological security measures, our depriving the Kremlin of hard 

currency (mostly by a successful effort to lower global energy prices), and other measures. It 

should be noted, however, that none of these measures were sufficient to explain how millions of 

3 
113 

people would take to the streets in Moscow, Vilnius, Tashkent, and other cities demanding 

radical political change. t 

What, then, constituted victory in the Cold War? The obvious answer was the breakup of 

the Warsaw Pact, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the collapse of the Communist Party of 

the Soviet Union and the entire Soviet system. A part of this collapse, however, involved the 

defection of one of the most prominent Soviet Party leaders: Boris Y eltsin, who made a complete 

moral-ideological break with the Party. Another indicator was the declaration by chief Party 

ideologist, Alexander Yakovlev, that the Marxist-Leninist ideology and the system it produced 

were "evil." 

The Nature of the Jihadist Threat 

The Jihad which concerns us here is not that which concerns fighting against one's own 

temptations to do wrong. It is the "Jihad of the Sword" that has been adopted by those varieties 

of radical Islamism that stress warfare against unbelievers, even when those infidels are not at 

war them. 

Today the most prevalent and virulent form ofradicalislamism is the combination of 

reactionary Wahhabist Islam from the Arabian peninsula and the modernist-totalitarian Islam of 

the Muslim Brotherhood as developed by Said al-Qutb. It is this combination that emerged as 

the regnant ideology of AI Qaeda. While al-Qutb says that it is the duty of Muslims to cleanse 

the world of ignorance about Allah, he then describes Islam not as a religion, but as a 

revolutionary party. He borrows from Marxist-Leninist ideology and its prescriptions for the use 

of power to advance communism. It is for this reason that it is fair to say that this ideology is a 

new totalitarian movement. 

A corollary to this new Islamist ideology, developed by Abdullah Azzam, the founder of 

AI Qaeda's predecessor organization, the MAK, posits that every Muslim has the duty to conduct 

Jihad and needs no permission to do so. This is, in fact, mandated by the Koran. He who cannot 

(for reasons of health, age, or other) participate in the Jihad is obligated to assist the Jihadist 

materially, spiritually, and in any which way leading to the victory of Islam over the infidel. 

Because there is no Muslim pope or magisterium as there is in the Catholic faith, the 

interpretation of doctrine is up for grabs, and even the most radical of lslamists can claim 

authenticity based on Koranic teachings. 

There are two major elements of the radical Jihadist threat. Both are the results of 

Islamist supremacism in the political realm: the secular political passion to establish a worldwide 

caliphate by incremental means. The first consists of what has become known as "re-settlement 

Jihad"- the process of immigration to the lands of the Dar al-Harb: the "house of war" in 

other words, the non-Islamic world (in contrast to the Dar a!-Islam- i.e., the "house of Islam"). 

Once Muslim immigrants arrive in these lands, ordinary Muslims have the obligation under the 

1 For an authoritative review of the U.S. strategy as described by the Presidential advisors who were among its 

authors, see: Douglas Streusand, Norman Bailey, Francis Mario, and Paul Gelpi (eds.) The Grand Strategy that Won 

the Cold Wor, (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016). 

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doctrine of hegira to conduct missionary activity and seck the transformation of their place of 

immigration to the Dar al-Islam a process that historically has taken hundreds of years in 

various places around the globe. Meanwhile, the aim of the radical Jihadists is to expedite the 

process of Islamization by setting up separatist enclaves and conducting what the Muslim 

Brotherhood calls "civilizational Jihad.'' This process begins by demanding accommodation to 

Islamic practices, establishing a parallel track within "infidel" societies for Sharia law, and then, 

through greater birth rates than those of the native population, establishing irreversible and, 

ultimately, preponderant political influence. 

It should be recognized that this process is well advanced in Europe, where, in just one 

example in the United Kingdom, Sharia law has established a solid foothold within British 

society. In France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other western 

and northern European countries, many Muslim enclaves have become "no-go zones" where the 

native police cannot venture without unusual danger, where Sharia law is practiced within the 

community, where culture is permeated by Muslim cultural mores, including sexual practices, 

and where Jihadist ideology finds the opportunity to propagate. 2 

2 The problem concerning no-go-zones is how such zones are defined. As former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew 

McCarthy explains: "it is therefore easy for lsiomists and their apologists to knock down their strowmon depiction 

of what o no-go zone is when they leave it at that: a place where non-Muslims are "not allowed." That is not what 

no-go zones are-neither as they exist in fact nor as they are contemplated by Sharia .... no sensible person is saying 

that state authorities are prohibited from entering no-go zones as a matter of law. The point is that they are 

severely discouraged from entering as a matter of fact-and the degree of discouragement varies directly with the 

density of the Muslim population and its radical component. Ditto for non-Muslim lay people: It is not that they 

are not permitted to enter these enclaves; it is that they avoid entering because doing so is dangerous if they are 

flaunting Western modes of dress and conduct." Andrew McCarthy, "What Bobby Jindal Gets About Islam- and 

Most People Still Don't," National Review, January 24, 2015, 

http://www. n a tiona I review. com/ a rti cle/3 97110/ what· bobby-i i nda 1-gets-a bout -is I a m-an d· most -people-sti 11-dont · 

andrew-c-mccarthy. For numerous examples of such zones and the variations among them, see: David Rieff, 

"Battle Over the Banlieues," New York Times Magazine, April14, 2007; Jonathan Tobin, "'No-Go Zones' Are Not a 

Conservative Meme," Commentary, January 23, 2015; Andrew McCarthy, "France's No-Go Zones: AssimilationResistant Muslims Are the Real Refugee Problem," 

bl!J21LIN~w.nationalrevieY;~,.t:Qm/art~4JJ.~QWrances-fifth·column-muslims-resist-assimilation; Soeren Kern, 

"European 'No-Go' Zones: Fact or Fiction? Part 1: France," h.l!Jl5.://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5128/france·n'l:@.:: 

~_pne~; Idem., "European 'No~Go' Zones: Fact or Fiction? Part 2: Britain," 

h!!~L/"".W_:t!J;.atestoneircill_tu!<.'..Qrg/5177_Lr1CJ::gQ.:_fQt1_e2::Qr:i!il.irr; Idem., "Police Warn of No-Go Zones in Germany," 

h!!n;;://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6264/no-go-zones-germany; Idem., "Inside Germany's No·Go Zones: Part I 

North Rhine-Westphalia," !:l!J.25.:Lf:;yww.gatestg.neinst[IJ!.t."'-org/9279igermany-no-go-zones-nrw; Fjord man, 

"Europe: Combating Fake News," https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10037/no-go-zones-europe; Yves Mamou, 

"France: No-Go Zones Now in Heart of Big Cities," https:/(www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10404/france-no-go-zones; 

Leslie Shaw, "No-Go Zones for Women," May 22, 2017, https:/!clarionproject.org/paris-neighborhood-no-go-zonewomen/. The French government published a list of 750 so-called Zones Urbaines Sensibles (or No-Go Zones) in 

December 1996 where non-Muslims (including law enforcement) are unwelcome and sharia law holds sway: 

!:illJU.isig.ville.gouv.fJ:!£ll~a~. Just this month, 20,000 French women signed a petition protesting the effects 

of no-go zones in Paris: Rory Mulholland, "Paris boosts police in female 'no·go zone', as French feminist decries 

'unquestionable' regression in status of women," 

!:l!IJljjwww.ts:0.ru:ill!!:ls~tL11_e.l'f~mlli06/03iJ!aris·boosts-police-female-no·go-zone-freof!:d?l!lill!s.tccltrriesL 

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In the United States, the Islamist effort to establish Sharia law has already made major 

advances. To date, over 140 legal decisions in American courts have been influenced by Sharia 

law. In just one of these, a judge in New Jersey acquitted a man for serially raping his wife on 

grounds that he is a Muslim and therefore subject to Sharia law and not American law. 3 

Other noteworthy accommodations to civilizational Jihad include conformity within our 

financial system to the rules of Shari a finance, adaptation of our rules of taxation to include 

Islamic foundations ( waqf) as religious tax deductible charities despite their involvement in 

Jihad, and the tacit acceptance of sexual molestation of minors by Muslim men. 

The second major threat, of course, is terrorism. Radical Jihadist ideology is the key to 

the success of terrorism. It involves the enlistment of new recruits through promises of heavenly 

rewards for martyrdom and secular political power and privilege. It supplies meaning to lives 

that have not yet found meaning. It offers redemption of all sins and involvement in a glorious 

victorious cause. Fighting in the Jihad, including martyrdom, is the only canonically guaranteed 

way to Paradise. 

The success of the ideology depends on the generation of hatred against the infidel by 

juxtaposing him with the perfect Islamic deity, Allah. And central to this project is the Islamists' 

moral attack against the United States and West. It is partly an attack against the injustice of 

Western colonialism (principally Zionism and American support for it), and the Western, 

principally American, presence and hegemony in the Middle East. But more importantly, the 

attack is against the moral degradation of the West, and its rejection oflslam. Islamists see the 

conflict as being between belief and unbelief. They see the West as godless, materialistic, and 

sexually libertine- a culture with no soul. 

In fact, with increasing frequency the radical Islamists refer to the West not as 

"Christendom" but as Dar al-Jahiliyyah (The Land of Paganism/Ignorance of Allah). The 

difference is crucial. Pagans are given a choice: death or conversion to Islam. Christians (along 

with Jews) are regarded as "The People of the Book." If they submit, their lives will be spared 

for a price. They will have to pay jizya (poll-tax) in addition to all other taxes. They will have 

to surrender their arms and never bear them. They will have to recognize Islam and Muslims as 

superiors. In other words, they will be reduced to semi-slavery as the dhimmi; they will be 

subject to exploitation and humiliation. But they will remain alive as long as they please their 

Muslim masters. 

Before subjugation of the infidel, the two elements of the Jihadist threat involve differing 

levels of intensity. The terrorist threat is what commands public attention. But the incremental 

3 Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases, (Washington, DC: Center 

for Security Policy, 2011), https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/228663-sharia-law-and-american-state· 

f.Q.urts.html; Shariah in American Courts: The Expanding Incursion of Islamic Law in the U.S. Legal System, 

{Washington, DC: Center for Security Policy Press, 2014). For an overview of the larger threat of Sharia, see: LTG 

William G. Boykin, LTG Harry Edward Soyster, Christine Brim, Am b. Henry Cooper, Stephen C. Coughlin, Michael 

Del Rosso, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., John Guandolo, Brian Kennedy, Clare M. Lopez, Adm. James A. Lyons, Andrew C. 

McCarthy, Patrick Poole, Joseph E. Schmitz, Tom Trento, J. Michael Waller, Diana West, R. James Woolsey, and 

David Yerushalmi, Sharioh: the Threat to America, (Washington, DC: Center for Security Policy, 2010). 

6 
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establishment of separatist enclaves with parallel legal systems and alien social norms constitutes 

what may be the greater of the two threats. For the latter involves the usc of democratic 

freedoms, rights, and laws to effect the steady, incremental erosion of the system of human rights 

that characterizes Western democratic society, and the creation of separatist enclaves that 

provide the "sea" in which terrorists can swim. Migrants thus demand the rights denied to the 

non-Muslim in their original places of domicile to achieve domination over the Western host 

nations. That domination means bringing about the superiority that Muslim migrants used to 

enjoy at home over the dhimmi (the inferior non-Muslims). 

So, the question we must address is: do we want our country to be governed by our 

Constitutional system of the consent ofthe governed, the rule of law, enumerated powers, 

inalienable individual rights (including the rights of women), the separation of powers, checks 

and balances, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and other elements 

of our Bill of Rights all based on respect for the dignity of the individual human person no 

matter what his or her background or condition? 

Or do we wish to have a parallel society within our country run on the basis of a system 

that canonically denies the rights of women, prescribes the stoning of adulterers and extreme 

punishment of homosexuals, permits marriage with adolescent girls, allows the unilateral, 

capricious declaration of divorce solely by a husband, denies women the right to see their 

children if taken from them by their separated or divorced husbands, prescribes wife beating, 

denies free speech through the imposition of "blasphemy laws," and other features of Sharia 

law? 

Defeating Radical Jihad ism 

The Prerequisite of Strategy: the Establishment of a Political Goal 

The Cold War lesson in ideological warfare must inform our war against radical Islamist 

Jihad. As in the formation of any strategy, the first question that must be asked is: what 

constitutes victory? What is the political result that we would like to achieve? 

In full recognition of the limits of what may be possible, there is a hierarchy of desirable 

outcomes, from the perfect (and probably utopian) to the more achievable. 

The perfect outcome would be the equivalent of the Yakovlev admission- by the way, an 

admission that nobody in the West thought would have been possible. That equivalent would be 

for one or more of the leaders or ideologists of radical Jihadism to say that, upon reflection, their 

interpretation of the Koran, including their version of Jihad, is wrong, misguided, and evil. As 

impossible and unrealistic as this seems, one form such an admission could take would be to 

acknowledge that a person who kills innocent people will go not to heaven but to hell, and that 

doing so is not Allah's will. What makes this impossible as a practical matter is that Sharia 

justifies all manner of killing in the process of Jihad until the non-believers submit. The radical 

Jihad is must nevertheless concede that killers of innocents are not honoring essential passages of 

the Koran. They could also admit the manifold failures, injustices, hypocrisies, crimes, 

privations, and human rights violations of societies run by radical Islamism. 

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Another desirable outcome would be for unrepentant Jihadist leaders to be so widely 

discredited that they become isolated and no longer capable of mobilizing the recruits who serve 

as their terrorist cannon fodder. Insofar as such leaders are heads of nations, such as the 

Supreme Leader in Iran, the desired outcome would be for the society to reject such leadership 

and replace it with a more humane, honest, and just leadership that has the capacity, for 

example, to respect religious minorities. 

Another outcome concerns those young people who have been attracted to Jihadism as 

part of their increased devotion to Islam. Here, it would be desirable for them to reject the 

temptation to treat their Islam as principally a secular ideology and not as a religion. 

Then, there are less perfect outcomes that nonetheless represent positive steps toward 

the optimal goals. One of these is the disuniting of Jihadist groups. In addition to creating 

internal divisions, this can mean splitting Jihadist front groups, allied organizations, and even 

cooperative regimes from the metropolitan centers of Jihad, whether they be the Islamic State, AI 

Qaeda, or Jihadist Shia Iran. 

Other partial goals include de-funding the progenitors of Jihadist ideology, preventing 

them from enjoying political support and safe haven, and banning those of their websites that 

advocate the violation of our fundamental laws and Constitutional rights, thus rendering them 

significantly less able to spread their propaganda. 

Another is the creation of a consensus among nations that respect human rights as to the 

sources of the Jihadist threat, what fuels it, and how to minimize that threat within our own 

societies. 

The accumulation of various types of political, ideological, doctrinal, and military 

defeats, and for established regimes, the breakdown of totalitarian Islamist structures of internal 

security, can also force Jihadist leaders to face the possibility that their entire program, their 

secular political goals, and their ruthless methods, may not comport with Allah's will. This was 

what they were forced to consider after the Ottoman caliphate's defeat in the battle of Vienna by 

the Polish cavalry on the symbolically important dates in 1683: September II, when the battle 

was joined, and then September 12, when the Grand Porte's armies were routed. 

The Strategy to Achieve Victory 

The War of Information The principal weapon that the free world enjoys in this war of ideas is 

the truth. The truth must first be used to hold accountable and discredit the progenitors of 

Jihad ism and their supportive regimes. It must expose the crimes of Jihadism, the hypocrisies 

and conuption of its advocates and supporters, and the consequences of Jihadist rule. It should 

also focus on the defeats of Jihadist forces to demonstrate that their victories are not inevitable. 

Promulgation of the truth requires a robust information campaign using every medium 

possible in every major language of both Muslim countries and nations where Muslim 

communities have established themselves. It must involve official government media, covertly 

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supported media, non-governmental organizations, and assistance to indigenous individuals and 

organizations within Muslim nations and communities. A thorough information campaign would 

de-legitimize radicallslamist regimes in both Islamic and non-Islamic terms by exposing their 

many characteristics, including: 

• corrupt, dishonest, hypocritical leaders whose goal has been political power and/or 

personal wealth and not holiness; 

• the illegitimacy of radical Islamist leaders, from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran to Abu 

Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State; 

• arbitrary and capricious "justice" often administered with cruelty; 

• the many features of totalitarianism, including systematic violations of human rights, 

enforced conformity, thought and speech control, mistrust, atomization, violence, fear, 

and lack of respect for the dignity of the human person- the creation of Allah; 

• slavery (including sex slavery) which was the economic mainstay of the Muslim world 

until Western colonialism eradicated it; 

• active collaboration with criminal activity, including narcotics, kidnapping, human 

trafficking, and smuggling; 

• economic privation, aggravated by lack of freedom to innovate, a culture of fatalism, and 

intellectual stasis; 

• gradually turning non-Muslim majorities into minorities by extermination, conversion, 

persecution, traumatization, and humiliation through Jihad and subsequent Islamic 

domination in a parasitical Caliphate (where the subservient condition of the non-Moslem 

is called "dhimmitude"; and 

• overall civilizational decline. 

Truth telling also requires the end of self-censorship by the leaders of Western countries 

and politically moderate Muslim nations as well. 

Finally, telling the truth requires the end of false portrayals of radical Islamism by 

Western leaders, who are motivated partly out of ignorance of the nature of radical Islamism and 

partly out of a misguided desire to cultivate good "community relations" with those who they 

think are politically moderate, but in fact are not. One need only recall the case of Abdurahman 

Alamoudi, founder of the American Muslim Council with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood, 

who was received by Presidents Clinton and Bush as part of their outreach to the Muslim 

community, yet who ultimately revealed himself to be a felon now serving a long prison sentence 

for terrorism conspiracy. 

One of the greatest fears of the radicallslamists is of their enemies' use of the truth. 

They understand the power of words, pictures, film, and the mass media. That is why they 

censor free speech in the areas they control, ban satellite television, punish criticism, and 

establish the sine qua non of totalitarian rule: an ideological "Party line" that serves as the 

vehicle of thought control, speech control, and standard of enforced conformity the 

prerequisites of behavior control. This suppression of truth extends to the academic realm as 

well, as it requires the suppression of reason and logic. Scholars are thus prohibited from 

seeking the truth, and using reason and logic as tools to lind it. 

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The War ofldeas Articulation of the truth also applies to the ideological front. If the United 

States, the West, and politically moderate Muslim nations and communities are to free 

themselves of radical Jihadism, we must discredit the totalitarian ideology of radical Islamism 

and show the positive alternatives. 

Fighting an ideological war presupposes that one has some knowledge of the ideas in 

question. This requires some working knowledge of several fields that are not part of any 

official U.S. government professional education programs but should be: Islamism, philosophy, 

and comparative religion and civilization. It also requires the collection of what one can call 

''cultural intelligence'' which can inform us of the thinking oflslamist leaders, propagandists, 

and the people who live under their influence. This is a form of "audience research." It is also a 

form of"opportunities intelligence" i.e., infmmation that enables us to identify opportunities 

that can be exploited by one or another instrument of statecraft, in this case, the tools of 

information and strategic influence. Finally, successful ideological warriors must know 

something about the history and methods of wars of ideas. 

The first step in an ideological warfare strategy is to identify and discredit the toxic ideas 

and religious doctrines that result in terrorism and totalitarian Islamist regimes. One of these is 

the doctrine of paying attention only to the "Medina verses" of the Koran, that prescribe war 

against the infidel, and no consideration of the "Mecca verses" which command peaceful 

coexistence with the "people of the Book" i.e., Christians and Jews- people who believe in 

God. The fact that these two sets of verses stand in opposition to one another introduces us to 

the relativism of Islam and the fact that, like the establishment of the Party line in Communist 

regimes, circumstances dictate which interpretation should hold sway among Muslim clergy and 

scholars at any given historical moment. 

A corollary doctrine is that which says that a Muslim must use the sword against those 

who are at war with Islam. The question is: who is at war with Islam, and what constitutes war? 

The radical Jihadists argue that all sorts of people are at war with Islam, when in fact, the 

opposite is true. Exposing the falsehood by honestly recounting history is key to debunking the 

Jihadist argument. 

Another example is the doctrine concerning the nature of Allah that has dominated 

Islamic thought for a thousand years. This is the doctrine that Allah is pure will, that he wills 

every second of every minute of every day and that everything that actually happens is Allah's 

will. That means that the cholera epidemic in Pakistan is Allah's will, as is the rape of the 

twelve-year-old girl. This deterministic idea lies at the root of so much of the fatalistic culture 

throughout the Islamic world. 

Insofar as Muslims subscribe to, and live by, this doctrine, an ideological counterargument can be made. If an Islamic State terrorist decides that he wants to attack a segment of 

what he considers to be a heretical Shia community with a terrorist bomb and succeeds at the 

project. killing scores of innocents, it must mean that Allah willed it. That means that the 

terrorist's will equates with Allah's will. And that means that the terrorist has decided that, at 

least in his own sphere, he is his own god. Could it be that in doing so he is being blasphemous? 

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A few years ago, in his famous speech at the University ofRegensburg, Pope Benedict 

asked some pertinent questions (the gist and implications of which I present here): Is Allah 

reasonable? Can one divine Allah's rules of life through the application of right reason in the 

same way that it is possible to figure out the rules of the God of Christians and Jews without the 

benefit of divine revelation? Is there any logic to Allah at all? If he is "almighty," can he 

contradict himself or will himself to cease to exist? Is there any coherence to Allah's moral 

standards? Or is Allah capricious and arbitrary? Can Allah will good and evil at the same time? 

Can one justify violence- even against the innocent on the basis of Allah's will? In other 

words, is there in Islam any concept approximating the Natural Moral Law- as CS. Lewis 

described it, the Law of Decent Behavior, a law higher than man-made law, the law written on 

the human heart that either inheres in nature or comes from God? 

There was indeed such a concept in Islam during its first three centuries. Islamic schools 

of thought, such as the Mutazilites, propounded ideas, such as the acceptance of reason and 

logic, that were related to this doctrine. However, as documented by Robert Reilly in The 

Closing of the Muslim Mind, that concept was defeated by a rival school oflslamic thought that 

posited the doctrine of Allah being "pure will.''4 This remains the dominant doctrine in Sunni 

Islam today. 

Those both in the West and in the movements for Islamic reform must raise this issue 

again and challenge the idea that Allah wills evil. Islam is said to be an Abrahamic religion. But 

insofar as it accepts the idea that Allah can will evil, it has nothing to do with the other two 

Abrahamic faiths. Those two, Judaism and Christianity, posit that God wills only good, that God 

has endowed man with free will and respects man's moral choices, such that He will permit evil 

to take place but never will it. In contrast. both Sunni and Shia Muslims see free will as 

blasphemous. 

Then there is the question of whether Islam is more a secular totalitarian political 

movement than a religion. A major campaign in an ideological war must expose the fact that 

radical Jihadists are motivated more by passions for secular political power than they are by 

matters of the spirit. Indeed, a key element of their ideological recruitment campaigns is to 

recruit foot soldiers to their cause by giving them the excitement of participation in a glorious 

secular movement that enjoys some blessing from the Almighty, but simultaneously portraying it 

as a religious phenomenon. 

This argument against the radical Jihadists is already being made by prominent Muslim 

leaders in, among other places, Indonesia. Indonesia has a few mass organizations of Muslims 

that have a long tradition of resisting lslamist radicalism. Today, these organizations, who of 

which have tens of millions of members, are working to prevent what they call the "Arabization" 

oflndonesian Islam. Specifically, this means resisting the Saudi export ofWahhabi Islamism to 

their archipelago. The leader of one of these organizations, the late Abdurrahman Wahid, who 

became President of Indonesia, published a book, The Illusion of an Islamic State, which has 

been a major salvo in the ideological war. In it Wahid argues that there is no such thing as a 

4 Robert Reilly, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Jslamist Crisis, 

(Wilmington: Intercollegiate Studies Institute Books, 2011) 

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genuine secular Islamic regime. The true "Islamic state" is when an entire people have achieved 

holiness5 

A noteworthy fact about Indonesian Islam is that it retains many local, regional, and 

national characteristics: the land was never conquered by the Jihad but, instead, was converted 

through gradual missionary activity. So, these Indonesian Islamic organizations were in the 

forefront of national liberation struggle against colonialism and, later, against communism. By 

being both religious and nationalist, they arc opposed by the radical Islamists who view 

nationalism as something forbidden. It follows that the promotion of nationalism is another 

ideological weapon against the radical Jihadists. 

In addition to exposing, questioning, and debunking the Jihadist doctrines that legitimize 

evil, an ideological strategy must promote positive alternatives. It must show potential recruits 

that there is a better vision, a better way to find meaning and fulfillment in life. It must appeal to 

the better angels not only of potential recruits but those already recruited to the Jihadist cause. 

There are several ways to do this. One is the appeal to conscience to the little voice, the 

articulator of the Natural Law, which tells a person that he or she is doing the wrong thing. The 

Jihadists do much to suppress the voice of conscience. One of their techniques is to give minddistorting drugs of different varieties to those who they send to commit suicide terrorist missions. 

This is why the etymology of"'assassin" derives from "hashish." There are other, more effective 

drugs that perform the same conscience numbing function. 

The appeal to conscience has antecedents in the Cold War. Perhaps the most 

compelling articulation of this was made by Whitaker Chambers, a senior editor of Time 

magazine, who was a believing Communist and, proceeding from this idealism, a spy for the 

Soviet Union. In his magnificent memoir, Witness, Chambers describes how recognition of his 

own conscience caused him to convert from communism to the cause of freedom and ultimately 

to Christianity6 

Chambers argued that Marxism-Leninism follows an air-tight secular, materialist logic. 

He said that the essence of that ideology is a vision of life without God. Here, human reason is 

the creative intelligence of the world. If this is so, then it must follow that man has the capacity 

to improve and perfect a grievously flawed world, and even perfect human nature itself. And 

since it is man and not God who determines the moral standards of society, it must be moral to 

do what is necessary to bring about the perfect society. Since, as Marx observed, the oppressor 

class will not politely step out of the way, it must be removed by violent revolution. One cannot 

make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. 

This argument was what Chambers called "the logic of the mind." It was reasonable and 

logical, if one accepted the philosophical premises of materialism. But then Chambers began to 

feel the tug of another force. He described it by relating the story of an East-German Communist 

apparatchik, whose daughter explained what her father experienced: ''one night he heard 

5 Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid, The Illusion of an Islamic State, (Jakarta: Wahid Institute, Lib For All Foundation, 

and Maarif, 2011). 6 Whitaker Chambers, Witness, (Washington, DC: Regnery/Gateway Editions, 1980). 

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screams." Chambers explains that these were the screams of the political prisoners being sent to 

the death camps of the Gulag Archipelago. They were the screams of the widows and orphans 

left behind. They were the screams of the prisoners being tortured in the dungeons of the 

Lubyanka. This, Chambers explained, was "the logic of the soul." The East German was 

haunted. Even though he was a bureaucrat working in some government agency like the 

transportation ministry making the trains run on time, he was nevertheless an accessory to the 

apparatus of oppression. His trains included those sending those innocent wretches to their fate. 

Chambers then explained that the Communist Party had acute antennae that could detect 

when apparatchiks such as that East German were haunted or when they were hearing the voice 

of conscience. The good Party member develops moral calluses and learns to suppress that little 

voice. The Party is smart enough to know that it cannot ask its new recruits to do monstrous 

tasks at the outset of their careers. It eases its cadres into full ruthlessness incrementally. When 

it does detect a member listening to his conscience, it knows that he is becoming morally sick. 

He is defecting in his heart. And spiritual defection is the ineluctable precursor to physical 

defection. 

So, Chambers recognized that neither he nor his distant East German comrade could 

escape the haunting. And he could only conclude that this logic of the soul was more powerful 

than the logic of the mind. Here, he acknowledged the existence of a higher moral force than 

that exercised by human reason and its relativistic, contingent, and changing moral standards. 

This same experience can be shared by Jihadists. But someone has to prick their 

consciences, awaken them from their suppressed state. Someone has to appeal to the Jihadists' 

basic humanity. 

Another front in an ideological strategy is to promote the dignity of the human person as 

the creation of God. It is as a result of this dignity that man possesses inalienable rights that 

come not from other men but, as our founders said, from a Creator. 

The cause of human rights is one of the most powerful weapons in the ideological war. 

What is arguably the most effective campaign on this account has been conducted by a small 

private organization, Good of All, which is dedicated to promoting the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights as an ''idea virus" among "digital natives" the younger generation who have 

grown up with computers, cell phones, and social media. The audience consists of both Muslims 

and also non-Muslims (some of whom may be also recmited to the Jihadist cause). The idea is 

to present an idealistic vision of how society should run that rejects violence and all the human 

rights violations that attend radical Islamist movements and regimes. 

Educational programs and institutions are a powerful potential weapon in this war. 

Under the George W. Bush Administration, the Defense Department attempted to set up an 

Office of Strategic Influence, which, regrettably, collapsed under a dishonest politicalbureaucratic attack. Among its plans was to set up and fund schools in Pakistan that would 

compete with the madrassas- the Islamist schools that principally taught Koranic memorization. 

Poor parents would send their children to these Saudi-funded indoctrination programs because 

they also supplied food, clothes, and shelter, which the parents could ill afford. The competitive 

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schools would give the students an all-round education that would include vocational training so 

that the graduates could earn a living and be less likely to become Jihadist recruits. 

The ideological war can be fought with cultural means as well. In Indonesia, another 

private American group, LibForAll, has worked to promote a song written by the most prominent 

pop singer in the country. His song, which became the most popular song at the time, is called 

"Warriors of Love," whose title is derived from the name of a local AI Qaeda affiliate, Warriors 

of Islam. The song rejects .Tihadist violence and proclaims that genuine Islam is based on love. 

Finally, the ideological war can be fought with public diplomacy, the most systematically 

neglected instrument of American power. One way this has been done has been through foreign 

assistance. One group that has excelled in this task has been the Asia America Initiative, which 

has established strong relationships of trust with Muslims living in poverty stricken islands of the 

southern Philippines. With the tiniest of budgets and therefore no excessive quantities of 

money that can be diverted into corrupt officials' pockets this organization has demonstrated 

tluough its work in medical aid, education aid, and agricultural aid, that America is not an enemy 

of Islam. The islands in question have been prime AI Qaeda recruitment territory. Yet this small 

organization has parried the Jihadists' advances. 

Most lslamists, including those who do not necessarily agree with violence, harbor 

considerable illusions about American society. These arc based on the caricature of America and 

the West that they see on the products of our popular culture, particularly our movies, television 

programs, and popular music. They focus on the gratuitous sex and violence. America consists 

of skyscrapers, car chases, rappers, high tech, and dishonest businessmen, all surrounded by 

pornography. What they never see is small town America, church-going America, volunteer 

charitable work, or the products of our high culture. Our vehicles of public diplomacy used to 

expose the world to these less sensational realities of America through visitors programs, 

exchanges, cultural diplomacy, distribution of literature, book fairs, film festivals, and 

international broadcasting. Today, however, our public diplomacy capabilities are a shadow of 

their former selves. 

One important vehicle of public diplomacy is inter-religious dialogue. Exposing ordinary 

Muslims, including the non-radical clergy and scholars, to religious figures in America is a 

powerful instrument to counteract the lurid caricature of America that so many of them have 

been brought to believe. We have seen felicitous results of such interactions in the case of visits 

by our military chaplains to local imams in the recent theaters of war. These chaplains are 

virtually the only officials in the U.S. government who are authorized to talk about religion with 

anyone. 

The fact that virtually no one else has such authority is the result of a thoroughly bogus 

legal opinion, remarkably prevalent within the government, that any discussion of religion or 

religious motivations for Jihadist activity, including terrorism, is somehow a violation of the 

Constitution's First Amendment. This misguided opinion has no legal basis and fails to take into 

account the ample historical precedent of U.S. governmental involvement in religion as an 

intrinsic part of our traditional and public diplomacy. For example, our international 

broadcasters, the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Liberty all broadcast actual 

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religious services to people of different faiths living behind the Iron Curtain. Our government 

also worked closely with the Vatican to assist the cause of religious liberty within the Soviet 

empire. 

Organizing Our Government to Counter Radical .Jihad 

The U.S. government is intellectually, culturally, and organizationally unprepared to 

combat both elements of the radical Jihadist threat and fight a true war of ideas. There is no 

agency of the government charged with ideological warfare. There is no agency that hires 

warriors of ideas. There is no agency that trains its personnel to conduct such a war. 

The U.S. Information Agency was one agency in the government that had capabilities to 

conduct ideological war. It was the principal agency in the government charged with having 

relations with people and not just governments and cultivating a culture of excellence in this 

field. llowever, it was eliminated in 1999, and only a fraction of its former capabilities was 

transferred to the Department of State which devotes only scanty strategic attention to this entire 

art of statecraft. 

What must be done is to create a new U.S. Public Diplomacy Agency (USPDA) that will 

become a new bureaucratic empire within the State Department. The new agency would 

incorporate: 

• all the former functions of the USIA; 

• the various other public diplomacy functions at State, such as human rights, democracy, 

and international labor policy, women's issues, etc.; 

• the many functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development; 

• broadcasting in radio (on all wave-lengths), television, and internet/social media by the 

Voice of America; 

• policy and budgetary oversight of the activities of the National Endowment for 

Democracy and its subsidiary organizations; and 

• possibly even the Peace Corps. (There are sound arguments that the Peace Corps should 

remain independent. But so long as it is, it will remain an orphan child of the foreign 

policy community, perennially under-funded and lacking national strategic attention.) 

The Director of USPDA should be a Deputy Secretary of State and a statutory observer in 

the National Security Council at the same rank as the Director of National Intelligence and the 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaf[ 

Finally, in order that a culture of public diplomacy and strategic influence develop at 

State, fifty percent of all ambassadorships and Deputy Assistant Secretaryships going to career 

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Foreign Service Officers should be given to personnel who spend the larger part of their careers 

at USPDA. 

Within the new agency should reside a couple of relevant offices. These should include: 

• An office to counter Jihadist propaganda. It took the State Department over a decade to 

establish such a function within its walls: originally the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, now the Global Engagement Center. This was a long 

overdue, but excellent development that needs much greater resources, both human and 

financial, as well as specialized training and targeted hiring of personnel who are 

optimally intellectually equipped to fight a war of information and ideas. 

• An office specializing in semantics as a key component of information and counterpropaganda. 

• An office with a robust capability to do foreign audience and opinion research. 

• A Bureau of Education, Culture, and Ideas, within which should reside an office of 

religious and ideological atTairs charged with strategic policy making and implementation 

in ideological warfare. 

• An oftice that would provide counterintelligence protection of U.S. public diplomacy 

programs against penetrations by foreign agents of influence. 

The Central Intelligence Agency must embark on a major revival of its covert political 

influence capabilities. There are limits as to how much U.S. government representatives can say 

to Islamic audiences concerning issues of radical Jihad. Many of the messages on this score 

must come from politically moderate Muslims who do not seek radical Jihadist domination and 

are capable of arguing against the killing of innocents. Such voices must be supported quietly 

and covertly. They must be given funding, media assistance, and possibly even physical 

protection. 

During the Cold War, the CIA operated broadcasting stations, published and distributed 

newsletters, books, and other literature, subsidized journals of opinion, and established front 

organizations. It funneled funds to supportive foreign organizations. It distributed 

communications equipment to resistance cells within totalitarian regimes. It needs to do all these 

activities and more- and do so secretly to maximize their efiectiveness. 

The Defense Department has capabilities to conduct many related activities. Its Military 

Information Support Operations have considerable cultural knowledge and cross-cultural 

communication capabilities. They are under-funded and under-emphasized in overall defense 

strategy. Similarly, the Special Operations Command can fulfill a variety of relevant functions 

in areas where it has its personnel. 

The FBI and local law enforcement agencies have a key role in fighting this war as well. 

They need significantly improved capabilities to distinguish between ordinary Muslims and 

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126 

radical Jihadists when it comes to their efforts at domestic intelligence and community outreach. 

This requires better education in history, religion, and ideology. 

Finally, the Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the State 

Department, must have similarly improved analytical capabilities to determine whom to admit to 

the United States. A simple but essential solution, even in the absence of such capabilities, is to 

include a key question on every application for a visa to enter the country. Like the questions 

asking the applicant whether he or she has ever been a member or supporter of the Nazi or 

Communist parties, each applicant should be asked if he or she supports the establishment of 

Shari a law in the United States. If the person answers in the affirmative, he or she should be 

disqualified from entry: Sharia law necessarily means the overthrow of the Constitution of the 

United States. If the person answers in the negative, but later proves to be a Shari a advocate, 

such a person, having lied on the application, should be deported. 

All these institutional solutions, however, most of which I cover in greater detail in my 

book Full Spectrum Diplomacy and Grand Strategy, require strong leadership from the White 

!louse and funding that meets the national strategic need. 1 Public diplomacy, strategic influence, 

and ideological warfare arc dramatically less expensive than fighting kinetic wars. It is about 

time that the United States equips itself intellectually, institutionally, culturally, and financially 

to conduct methods of non-violent conflict before resorting to killing people to defend our vital 

interests. 

7 John Lenczowski, Full Spectrum Diplomacy and Grand Strategy: Reforming the Structure and Culture of U.S. 

Foreign Policy, (Lanham MD: Lexsington Books, 2011). 

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june 13, 2017 

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs 

340 Dirksen Senate Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510 

Re: june 14th Hearing on Violent Extremism 

Dear Chairman johnson and Ranking Member McCaskill: 

I am writing on behalf of the Sikh Coalition. Our organization was founded to 

address hate crimes and discrimination against Sikh Americans in the post-9/11 

environment. Since our inception, we have provided legal representation to 

multiple hate crime victims and worked with policymakers and law enforcement 

agencies to improve hate crime data collection and prevention measures. 

We are submitting this letter in connection with the above-referenced hearing to 

underscore the importance of taking J holistic approach to counterterrorism 

without compromising our nation's values. 

Earlier this year, a news report suggested that the Trump Administration 

considered rcbranding our nation's Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program in 

a manner that would single out and stigmatize Muslims. 1 Although it may be 

politically expedient to stereotype all Muslims as terror suspects, we believe that 

invidious profiling on any basis violates the U.S. Constitution, perpetuates 

stereotypes that increase the risk of hate crimes against Muslim Americans and 

people perceived to be Muslim, and plnys into the hands of extremist groups like 

ISIS and AI Qaida who wish to undermine our constitutional norms and the very 

freedoms that we are fighting to protect. 

Invidious profiling also prevents us from seeing terror threats in their totality.2 

As you know, on August 5, 2012, a neo-Nazi gunman attacked a gurdwara (Sikh 

house of worship) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six worshippers and permanently 

program solely on Islam -sources, Reuters (Feb. 2, 2017), 

~~~~~~~~:~;;;~~:~c~;o;;;u~nt~ec;,m~~gQ'Vio/ent Extremism: Actions Needed to Define 

Strategy and Assess Progress of Federal Efforts (Apr. 2017}, available at 

.b.ll.l2.;ilwww.gao.gov/assets/690/683984.pdf. 
128 

injuring several others, including a law enforcement officer. 3 On April 13, 2014, a 

white supremacist gunman murdered three people at two jewish community 

facilities in Overland Park, Kansas.4 On june 17, 2015, another white supremacist 

gunman massacred nine worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal 

Church in Charleston, South Carolina.5 

In the first half of this year, an anti-immigrant extremist in Kansas was charged with 

murdering an engineer from India after telling him to "get out of my country"6; a white 

supremacist in South Carolina was arrested and accused of plotting to carry out an 

attack on jews and African-Americans7; a white supremacist in Georgia was charged 

with possessing ricin - a weapon of mass destruction8; a suspected white supremacist 

stabbed two Good Samaritans to death and injured another in Oregon9; and a suspected 

white supremacist stabbed an African-American student to death in Maryland.1o 

We share your desire to defeat terrorist groups such as ISIS and AI Qaida. Indeed, ISIS 

sympathizers were implicated in the bombing of a gurdwara in Germany last year.11 

At the same time, we urge you to ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence 

'Testimony of Harpreet Singh Saini, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the 

Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, "Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism" (Sept. 

19, 2012), available at https://www.judiciarv.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/9-19-12SainiTestimony.pdf. 4 Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Man Kills 3 at Jewish Centers in Kansas City Suburb, NY Times (Apr. 13, 2014), 

available at https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/us/3-killed-in-shootings-at-jewish-center-andretirement-home-in-kansas.html 

5 Jon Kamp, Dylann Roof Found Guilty of All Charges in Church-Shooting Trial, Wall Street Journal (Dec. 

15, 2016 ), available at https://www. wsj.com/articles/dylann-roof-found-guilty-in-chu rch-shooting-trial1481833767 

6 Samantha Schmidt, 'Get out of my country,' Kansan reportedly yelled before shooting 2 men fram India, 

killing one, Washington Post (Feb. 24, 2017), available at 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017 /02/24/get-out-of-my-country-kansanreportedly-yelled-before-shooting-2-men-from-india-killing-onel?utm term=.6e7eaad28d3d. 7 Mother suggests son had white supremacist motives in plotting South Carolina attack, Associated Press 

(Feb. 18, 2017), available at http://www.pressherald.com/2017/02/18/mother-suggests-religious-whitesupremacist-motives-in-son-who-plotted-terror-attack. 

8 Chris Joyner, AJC Watchdog: North Ga. Man arrested for ricin radicalized online, Atlanta Journal 

Constitution (Feb. 23, 2017), available at http://www.myajc.com/news/state--regional/ajc-watchdog-northman-arrested-for-ricin-radicalized-online/wdxws9G7zMmaUDmm22njYK. 

9 Laurel Wamsley, White Supremacist Charged With Killing 2 in Portland, Ore., Knife Attack, National 

Public Radio (May 27, 2017), available at http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwoway/2017/05/27/530351468/2-dead-l-in jured-after-stabbing-in-portland-ore. 10 Holly Yan, Darran Simon, and Aileen Graef, Campus killing: Suspect is a member af 'Ait-Reich' Face book 

group, policy say, CNN (May 22, 2017), available at http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/us/university-ofmaryland-stabbing/index.html. 

11 Will Worley, Sikh Temple bombing in Germany was 'carried out by Isis sympathizers,' Independent (Apr. 

29, 2016), available at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sikh-temple-bombing-ingermany-was-carried-out-by-isis-sympathisers-a7007166.html. 
129 

agencies address all terror threats, including those emanating from neo-Nazis and 

white supremacists, with the same degree of urgency12 and in a manner that keeps 

faith with the U.S. Constitution and our values as a nation. 

Respectfully, 

Sapreet Kaur 

Executive Director 

12 Raj deep Singh Jolly, How not to get tough on terror: Column, USA Today (Feb. 15, 2017), available at 

http://www. us at oday. com/story/ opi nio n/20 17/02/15/how -not -get -toughterror -col u m n/9 7828388. 
130 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Asra Q. Nomani 

From Senator Claire McCaskill 

"Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, 

and Techniques of Violent Extremism" 

June 14,2017 

Countering Violent Extremism 

1. If you could design a program for countering violent extremism, what would it look 

like and which ideas would you prioritize? 

First, we need a paradigm shift that recognizes how violent jihad is connected to the ideological 

infrastructure of lslamist dawa. 1 In the old paradigm, the U.S. government focused almost 

exclusively on combating Islamic terrorism. In the new paradigm, we should continue to seek the 

destruction of groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, hut we should also develop a 

suitable strategy to combat dawa. Some U.S. o11icials have commented on the need to address 

lslamist ideology as a conveyor belt to militancy, but there has not been appropriate followthrough as a matter of U.S. policy, either domestically or overseas. 

According to Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), thousands of schools in Pakistan funded with Saudi 

money '·teach a version oflslam that leads ... into an ... anti-Western militancy.''2 President 

Obama's former representative to Muslim communities, Farah Pandith, visited eighty countries 

between 2009 and 2014. "In each place I visited. the Wahhahi inl1uence was an insidious 

presence ... funding all this was Saudi money. which paid for things like the textbooks, 

mosques, TV stations and the training of Imams:' she wrote in 2015 3 What they arc referring to 

the infrastructure of dawa: the inffastructure of dawa is not necessarily violent, hut it can 

certainly lead to violence by indoctrinating young Muslims, and the infrastructure can also be 

organizationally connected to militancy4 

"Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development ofradieallslam" in 

Somalia hetvveen Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 15-36. 

Baaz, Abdul Azecz ibn Abdullaah Ibn. 1998. Words oj"Advice ReKarding Du 'wah. Birmingham: Al-Hidaayah. 

2 Murphy, Chris. 2016. "Chris Murphy on the Roots of Radical Extremism.'' January 29. Council on Foreign 

1 Solomon, Hussein. 2015. "Charities, teuorist funding and indoctrination'' in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in 

Fighting lnsurgenc:vfi'om AI Shahaan, Ansar Dine and Boko Haram. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. P. 2!-

1 
131 

In the United Stales, we know that the lslamist infrastructure is strong, both as a result of many 

years of organizational e!Iorts and funding from Gulf countries. 5 In other words, the 

infrastructure of dawa is not a problem con1lned to Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan. It 

affects the United States in a harmful way. 

What should be done about it'? Recognizing that the problem ofthe ideological infrastructure 

exists-and what we arc not only confronting "violent extremism"-would itself mark a 

paradigm shift in U.S. Homeland Security policy. 

Next. we would prioritize the mapping effort: all the individuals and organizations and the 

financial infrastructure of dawa activism should be mapped, because that would give U.S. 

policymakers a clear image of the challenge they confront: the people who are engaged in it, the 

groups they target (often young Muslims). and what the effects of their activism has been. 

As a condition of U.S. friendship, the administration should require foreign governments as well 

as Islamic NGOs to stop supporting and financing subversive Islamist activities in the United 

States. Of particular interest here are Qatari, Kuwaiti, and Saudi "philanthropic'' foundations. 

This will require policy synchronization among the State Department, the Department of 

Defense. and the National Security Council-and a great deal of persistence. Given the 

sensitivity of this issue, private requests arc advisable first; if private requests are inetiectivc or 

ignored (as they have been since 9/Jl ), appropriate public pressure should follow. 

Domestically, within the U.S., the Muslim partners of Homeland Security that we would choose 

to talk to would be the ones who are countering dawa activism, not the ones who are promoting 

it. We would reject organizations such as ISNA. CAIR, etc. as intermediaries or partners. The 

United Kingdom made such a policy change in 2011 6 

We would protect the platform of ideas. We would not in any way accommodate sentiments 

about criticism of Islam being an expression of hatred or "lslamophobia." We would prioritize 

the protection of the rights of women, tackling "honor'' violence, child marriage, and FGM. 

These practices to oppress women in the name of religion usually tend to benefit the dawa 

activists, the lslamists 7 

Baran, Zeyno. 2008. "The Muslim Vol. 6. P. 95-

122. Washington. D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

Merley, Steven. 2009. "The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States". Research Monographs on the Muslim World 

Series 2, Paper 3, April. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the 

Muslim World. 

2 
132 

We would support groups like the Muslim Reform Movement tinancially and in other ways and 

encourage them to reach out to Muslim youth and to educate them on the disadvantages of the 

political aspects of Islam, to explain they are being targeted as a group because of their age, their 

background. Young Muslims are being targeted by the agents ofdawa for radicalization. We 

would also educate and inform their parents and the rest of the community, insisting that the 

work of countering extremism is not an attack on their religion. but it is a result of priorities 

established because of what radicallslamists take out of their religion8 That is a task for civil 

society, but Homeland Security and its affiliated agencies can certainly choose who their 

"partners" arc in this regard. We encourage them to work with Muslim ref(mners, notlslamists. 

2. What can the United States do better, at the federal level, to make sure that we are 

funding good ideas that have proven to be successful? 

Our current policies have not been successful. In April 2017, former Homeland Security 

Secretary John Kelly noted that '·the FBI currently has open terrorism investigations in all 50 

states, and since 2013, there have been 37 ISIS-linked plots to attack the US."9 

E!Tcctively funding good ideas requires changing the premises and guiding assumptions of our 

current policies. The more we can neutralize dawa efforts by Islamists, the more successful we 

will be. Civil society has a role to play in this regard, but the government has to name the 

problem specifically and change some of the tlawed premises on which it has relied since 9/ll. 

One of the best way of funding good ideas is to find individuals who were radicalized and came 

out of the radicalization process and now are fighting it; these are individuals who really know 

what they are doing. Another is to fund Muslim individuals and organizations that directly 

acknowledge and confront the issue of lslamist extremism instead of engaging in apologetics and 

denial. 

We should resuscitate some of the strategies that were used when we were fighting communism; 

cultural diplomacy; broadcast media; online engagement; and support critical thinking on Islam 

by dissidents who ask open-ended questions. The lslamists arc fighting the war of ideas with a 

powerful infrastructure. If we do not act, they will continue to gain ground. 

Other countries arc experimenting with worthwhile ideas. In 2011, the British government made 

it clear that "non-violent extremists'' would no longer be government partners in the battle 

against radical Islam. The Norvvegian government is instructing immigrants on how to treat 

8 Steinberg, Guido and Jan-Peter 20 I 0. ''lslamist Groups and Movements" in Islam in the World Today ed. 

Werner Endc and Udo Steinbach. Ithaca: University Press. P 682-696. 9 Cohen, Zachary. 2017. "DHS Chief: Terror risk as 

(1-4- !3 

3 
133 

women respectfully 10; and the Australian government plans to introduce a values test for 

immigrants 11 . All of these solutions are anathema to Islamists, but they arc effective strategies. 

3. How can we best engage the private sector to work with government entities to 

make sure we're allocating our resources to the best of our ability? 

Some private sector companies arc themselves very reluctant to engage with this material 

because they are providers of goods or services to Muslim communities, and they are careful not 

to be seen to be offending them. 

When it comes to the big tech communities, the way that we can partner with them is for them to 

provide their platforms to citizens-Muslims and non-Muslims--who are countering the ideas of 

sharia, jihad, and the political aspects of Islam. Critical thinking and the ability to ask openended, logical questions is the Achilles· heel oflslamists. 

Some of the plots that have been foiled came to our attention through social media and the 

internet. It is sometimes said that if a person watches ISIS propaganda, that person becomes 

converted to the ISIS agenda, but that is not really the case. The person was already "converted" 

by the dawa infi·astructure-by the time a person is looking with fascination at these videos, he 

or she has already been ideologically converted. 

4. Are there programs you think arc working well that should be scaled up, and if so, 

which ones are they? 

The guiding assumptions of current U.S. policy arc so inaccurate that we cannot recommend 

scaling up cuJTent programs. Current programs such as DIIS's "CVE"' program need to be 

totally, fundamentally overhauled to reflect accurate premises rather than wishful thinking. They 

should empower real reformers working to counter-act lsiamist dawa efforts. 

Travel Ban 

The President issued an executive order in January that bars the entry of citizens of seven 

Muslim majority countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya. Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) for 90 days. It 

was immediately contested in court, as was the revised version in March, which the President 

himself referred to as "watered down." 

5. What impact docs the President's language during the campaign saying we should 

bar all Muslims from coming to the United States, coupled with the Executive 

Order, have on the government's relationships with American-Muslim 

communities? 

Reuters. 2017. New 'Australian values' test planned for citizenship. <http:l/www.rcuters.comlarticleius-australiaimmigration-idUSKBN I7M07Q> 

4 
134 

The organized Islamist groups seized upon the President's words to reinforce the victim narrative 

that the U.S. is hostile to all Muslims. We have also spoken, however, with pious Muslims who 

understand that they have a responsibility in separating themselves from radicals who arc 

promoting this victim narrative. Donald Trump's words as a candidate and President were 

condemned by Republicans and Democrats, by liberals and conservatives. They were 

condemned in the media, by Hollywood. on campuses. 

It is very important to point out, over and over again, the overwhelming support f(lr Muslims in 

general as good people, and the opposition the President has faced from impartial courts. We 

must do everything not to feed the victim narrative. 

At the same time. we have to carry on talking as explicitly as possible about those aspects of 

Islam that make some Americans wary of Muslims. It is not a question of either/or. It is a 

question of doing both. 

6. Do you think these policy changes have an effect on terrorist groups' ability to 

radicalize and recruit'? 

The travel ban policy does not tell us anything about the process of radicalization, which is the 

process of da11>a. The travel ban is presented as a security measure regarding people coming from 

countries that have inadequate means of vetting travelers. What is more important, and what so 

far the Trump administration has failed to present, is the "extreme vetting'' programs that they 

promised. That is more important when it comes to the ability to radicalize and recruit by 

lslamists. 

7. Do you think the United States government should ban books that have 

objectionable content? 

No. Books should not be banned or hidden. But people who disseminate Islamist ideology do 

need to be monitored, and their linancial support from abroad should be carefully scrutinized 

and. wherever possible, cut off. Various books, wcbsites and social media users are also violating 

"terms of service" contracts by providers, including Google, Amazon, Go Daddy and others, by 

posting hateful calls for violence, and we must work with U.S. companies to ensure that they 

stem the llow of violent propaganda. The Islamic Society of Boston and the infrastructure of 

Islamism in the U.S. merit far greater scrutiny than they have so far received. 12 

a. If so, how would you craft such an initiative and who would make the 

determinations about what content is acceptable and what is not? 

Merley, Steven. 2009. "The States". Research Monographs on the Muslim World 

Series 2. Paper 3. April. Washington. D.C.: Hudson Institute Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the 

Muslim World. 

5 
135 

Houses of Worship and Religious Schools 

8. Question to Ayaan Hirsi Ali: In your prepared testimony, you referenced mosques and 

prayer halls that European authorities have searched and/or closed because of extremist 

preaching and connections with radicalism. Do you think the United States is effectively working 

to root out extremism occurring in houses of worship and related centers? If not. what more 

should the federal government be doing? 

Question to Asra Nomani: In your prepared testimony, you stated 'We must abandon political 

correctness ... We must monitor mosques for radical prcachings.' How would you structure such a 

monitoring program while ensuring that First Amendment rights are protected') 

We do not think the U.S. government is working effectively to root out extremism. The reason is 

because institutions. Mosques. schools, etc. promoting Islamist extremism are still operational. 

What can be done 0 

1) Curtail foreign funding: for example, funding from Saudi Arabia. Qatar, Kuwaiti semigovernmental institutions, charitable foundations (NGOs) and individuals. 

2) Name and shame institutions guilty of extremism as hurting the national interest. It all 

takes us back to question l. If you camouf1agc the language and refuse to discuss Islam's 

political dimension, if you deny that lslamists use dawa to infiltrate soft targets (Muslim 

communities) to change their hearts and minds, then you will not be able to counter their 

efforts effectively. 

The Department of Homeland Security should also be far more discerning in who its civil society 

"partners·· arc. 

9. Do you think there are instances when the United States government should 

intervene if preachers or materials available in the facility advocate positions that 

some deem objectionable and if tbose positions were carried out would violate U.S. 

law'! 

If such institutions have tax-exempt privileges or receive public grants of any kind, any such 

government privileges should be revoked. Foreign tinancing of such institutions should be 

curtailed. and no visas, permanent residency or citizenship should be issued to people who are 

committed to such an ideology. 

The students, the people who congregate at institutions run by Islamists, should be targeted for 

critical thinking by agents of civil society. And investigations should be opened into these 

entities to sec who they are connected with. Think about the recent case in Canada. which was 

linked to financing militants in Pakistan, 13 or the Holy Land Foundation trial in the United 

11 Bell. Stewart and Sean July 19, 2017. "Government revokes group's charity status, audit cites possible 

funding of Pakistani militants. Glohal News.< http:/lglobalncws.ca/ncws/3606224/govemment-revokcs-groupscharity-status-audit-cites-pakistani-militants/> 

6 
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States. 14 We should be extremely persistent in documenting. mapping and analyzing the 

ideological/inks accompanying violence, instead of limiting ourselves only to mapping violence. 

We recommend that the Congress explore the argument that the First Amendment does not 

protect speech that advocates for acts of violence. Briefly, two cases illustrate that point: 

1. United States v. White: Criminal solicitation of an act of violence is not protected by the 

First Amendment, even if no specific person is solicited, and even if no person acts on the 

solicitation. 

2. Rice v. Paladin Enterprises: The First Amendment does not protect publications 

designed to provide instructions on how to commit acts of violence. 

We highlight these legal precedents because of their imp01iance in combating current threats to 

violence against women and others in the United States. A book we discussed in our 

congressional testimony, Woman in the Shade oflslam by Abdul Rahman Al-Shena, gives stepby-step instruction on the appropriate steps for a husband to beat his wife. It can be purchased on 

Amazon.com. 

Also, an imam at the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia-a mosque receiving 

50 I ( c )3 benefits--recently encouraged his listeners to seek female genital mutilation for their 

daughters. 

Congress should the question of whether these types of books and speeches, advocating violence, 

are not protected by the First Amendment. Sadly, the acceptance of these ideas is becoming more 

prevalent in the United States, as seen by increasing rates of FGM. One recent study conducted 

by the GAO shows that that FGM has seen a dramatic rise in the United States over the past 

twenty years. The GAO estimates that 513,000 women and girls in the United States were at risk 

of or had been subjected to FGM in 2012, a threefold increase from the GAO's 1990 estimate. 

This is an alarming trend that we trust Congress wants to reverse. Given that U.S. comis have 

clearly recognized that the First Amendment does not protect speech that advocates for violence, 

we would ask Senators to take a serious look at what steps Congress can take to shut down these 

types of advocacy for violence against women and others. 

a. If so, what should be the threshold for initiating such government action and how 

should the government tailor and implement a response to ensure First 

Amendment protections while also working to eliminate extremism? 

For us, the threshold is: as soon as militant Islamist ideology comes to the government's 

attention. it must be stopped. The government should not passively wait for a plot to be in 

motion. 

The government should map this ideological infrastructure, know that these entities target 

vulnerable Muslim communities in the U.S. (young people, prison inmates, marginalized 

!--1 Vidino, Lorenzo. 2010. The New Afuslim Brotherhood in the West. New York: Columbia University Press. 

7 
137 

African-American communities) with this message, and those communities should be targeted 

with a different message (by agents of civil society) so that at least the targeted individuals will 

have the opportunity to say, "I've heard both sides of the story." 

The government's role is to encourage and support the civil activism. It is not our proposal lor 

civil servants to change the hearts and minds of students, but civil society activists can be 

supported in other ways: through recognition of their work. privileges such as 501(c)3 status. and 

where possible public grants to support their work. CVE grants can be re-directed to Muslim 

reformers and to organizations that support Muslim dissidents and provide an alternative to the 

path o!Tered by Islamists for young Muslims or prison inmates who are weighing their options. 

By not engaging, by not mapping every facet of this infrastructure, we cede all the ground to 

lslamist ideology. 

Sharia Law 

Over the years, there have been stories purporting that sharia law was established or soon would 

be established in U.S. towns and cities. 

10. Is the United States at risk of sharia law being established either nationwide or in 

individual communities? 

Sharia is a moral and legal umbrella that, in Islam, covers all aspects of human life and 

interaction. 15 The pans of shari a that pertain to family law (marriage, custody, inheritance) are 

already well established in the U.S. and in other liberal societies such as the U.K. through the 

mediation system. 16 The proponents oL for example, sharia family law, market it as an innocent 

religious practice where all individuals concerned are taking part voluntarily. But in !act, it is not 

as benign as it appears outwardly. Young women can be pressured into marriage; their property 

and assets, and child custody, in cases of divorce, are compromised. 17 The same applies to 

inheritance law. The physical disciplining of wives by their husbands and the inequity of two 

women's testimony being equal to one man's testimony are also covered under sharia tamily 

law. 18 

1982 ( 1964). An Introduction to Islamic law. Oxford 

"Muslim women left to 'shop' for an imam when 

Zee, Machteld. 2016. Choosing Sharia? lvfulticulturalism, islamic Fundamentalism and Shari a Councils. The 

Hague: Eleven Publishing. 

Elham. 2016. Women and Shari'a L,rw. Nn1' York· l.R Tauris. 

Zec 2016, supra. 

2016. supra. 

AI-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib. Reliance Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. Trans!. Nuh Ha 

Mim Keller. Beltsville: Amana. (Shafi'l 

Abiad. Nisrine. 2008. Sharia, Muslim States Human Rights Treatv Obligations: .4 Comparative 

8 
138 

Right now, except for anecdotal evidence, we do not have a proper accounting of what is going 

on in the United States. Two excellent studies in the United Kingdom, documenting the harm 

done to women's rights by sharia panels have been carried out by Machteld Zee and Elham 

Manea. 19 We need such a study tor the U.S. to adequately answer this question. 

Counter Threat Finan.£ing 

The United States has made significant progress over the last decade in going after organizations 

that are funneling money to fund terrorism. 

I 1. What more do you think the United States should be doing that it is not already to 

stop the flow of money to terrorist organizations'! 

There are indeed explicit terrorist organizations such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram, but 

there is also the web of Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut Tahrir, Deobandi, and Jamaat Islamiyalinked organizations. Since 9/11, the U.S. government has tried to stop the money t1ow to terror 

groups (the Treasury Department has done a great deal in this regard) but not the flow of funds to 

dawa groups and that is where we should focus our efforts in order to win the war and provide 

better options to a generation of young Muslims who are targeted by lslamists. We need much 

more inter-agency cooperation in mapping how foreign funds affect U.S. institutions 

domestically so that we can curb the t1ow of dawa to America that radicalizes. 

Studv. London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law.[Chapter I: The Interrelationship between 

Islamic Law and Human Rights, p. I -58J. 

An-Na'im, Abdullahi. 1996. '

1

Chapter 7: Shari'a and Basic Human Rights Concerns'' in Toward an Islamic 

Reformation. P. 16 I- I 8 I. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 19 Zec 2016, supra. Manea 2016. supra note 16. 

9 
139 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Asra Q. Nomani 

From Senator Heidi Heitkamp 

Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, 

and Techniques of Violent Extremism 

June 14,2017 

I. What is the proper role for state and local law enforcement as it pertains to countering 

violent extremism, especially in rural communities, such as many in North Dakota, where 

access to federal resources is likely limited'? 

The proper role for the Federal and the state government is to provide the most accurate language 

to the public, to law enforcement, and to all relevant government agencies, including state and 

local agencies. The phrase ''violent extremism" is misleading. It leaves out so much that no one 

really knows that is being countered here. Moreover, lslamist groups cannot be relied upon to 

counter extremism: they themselves perpetuate it, something the then British Prime Minister 

David Cameron publicly recognized in 2011 20 

Islam is a set of ideas: it is part religion, part a blueprint for a political philosophy21 Our 

constitution protects the religious aspects of !slam, as long as those aspects are not a tool to cause 

harm to others. A good example is: a religious father may wish on rei igious grounds to marry his 

daughter otT at the age of nine. It goes without saying that that is not the kind of religious 

practice that is protected by the Constitution. 

Islam as a political doctrine contains edicts that are much more problematic and in direct 

violation of the United States constitution, laws. values. and customs.22 Concepts such as jihad or 

holy war, sharia, a theocratic moral and legal system, commanding right and forbidding wrong, 

blasphemy laws, the death penalty for homosexuals and those who leave Islam, the subjugation 

of women, and the intolerance towards Judaism, Christianity and other religions should be 

explicitly named in the language that the Federal government uses to make clear that that is the 

extremism that we are countering. 

20 Westrop, Samuel. 2017. ·'Countering Islamist Extremism the Right Way." National Revie1v February 2L < 

11ltp 

21 Busse, Heribcrl. 20 I 0. "The World of Islam: a Brief Historical Wcmer 

Ende and Udo Steinbach. 2010. Ithaca: Come! I Universitv Press. 

Crone, Patricia. !996. "The rise of Islam in the World'' in. The Cambric~e;e !llu,vtrated HLvtorJ' (~lthe Islamic YVorld 

ed. francis Robinson. Press. P. 2-31. 22 An-Na'im. Abdu!lahi. 1996. and Basic Human Rights Concerns'' in Toward an Islamic 

Refhnnation. P. 16 I -181. Syracuse: University Press. 

Abiad, Nisrine. 2008, Sharia, Aiu,vlim and International Human 

London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law. 

Law and Human Rights, p. 1-58]. 

10 
140 

This extremism or these basic concepts of Islam as a political doctrine can be propagated in 

violent and in non-violent ways. The Federal government ought to spell out to the state and local 

governments how to counter that within the framework of the law. The Muslim partners that 

state and local law enforcement agencies should talk to are the ones who are countering dawa 

activism. not the ones who are promoting it. 

We would reject organizations such as ISNA, CAIR and similar groups linked to lslamism as an 

ideology. 23 We would also consult with experts who are knowledgeable and critical of Islamist 

ideology. to clarify to state and local enforcement oflicials where the ideological problem lies. 

The Dutch Intelligence Agency AIVD has produced excellent reports that could be shared with 

local and State law enforcement in the United States: the AIVD's insights on lslamist ideology 

are not confined to the Dutch context?4 

2. What arc some good strategies to help state and local law enforcement officials overcome 

the mistrust that many Muslim communities feel toward law enforcement'? 

first, to overcome mistrust fi'om Muslim communities, it is important to make it very clear to 

Muslims that the U.S. government distinguishes between Muslims as individuals, as believers, as 

citizens, as permanent residents. as individual human beings with minds of their own. with rights 

and with duties. and Islam as a set of ideas (Islam is part religion and part politics). 

\!ext, the U,S. government should make it very clear to Muslims where the boundaries lie on 

what is acceptable and protected by the Constitution and what is not. Right now, the boundaries 

are not clear to them, and that creates the mistrust. 

What the government should not do is to encourage the victim narrative that many Muslims are 

accustomed to hearing from Islamist activists: the idea that Islam is under siege, that they are the 

victims of"Islamophobia," that everything is stacked against them by design, that America is 

innately hateful. 

This victim narrative is the cause of the mistrust that Muslims feel and it is not because of the 

way they are treated in America; it is the stories they are told about alleged American intolerance 

that fuel the mistrust. Accommodating this victim narrative is dangerous because it encourages 

violence; people feel they need to do "something" in order to defend themselves and their 

communities. Accommodating this victim narrative can also encourage apathy, with some people 

Steven. 2009. '"The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States". Research Monographs on the Muslim 

2, Paper 3, ApriL Washington. D.C: Hudson Institute Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of 

the Muslim World. < 

11 
141 

believing that there is nothing they can do about their alleged victimization, so they withdraw 

into a shell, culturally cocooning themselves and their children2 ' The victim narrative is also a 

recruiting tool for the lslamists who seck to turn young people toward violence or the support of 

violence. 

3. Reducing the threat and incidence of radicalization is clearly an important goal of any 

program focused on countering violent extremism. What are some ways that countering 

violent extremism programs- at the federal, state and local levels- can work to reduce the 

threat of radicalization? 

In this question, what is referred to as "incidence of radicalization'' is in actual fact dawa. In 

theory, dawa is the call to Islam and consists of communication or proselytization. Jn practice, 

dawa by Jslamist groups constitutes a process of radical ideological indoctrination, often under 

the cover of humanitarian relief work that is connected to jihad. Dawa activities carried out by 

lslamists target the individual, the family, the educational system, the workplace, the broader 

economy, society as a whole. and the political system26 

Dawa as practiced by Islamists employs a wide range of mechanisms to advance the goal of 

imposing Islamic law (sharia) on society. This includes proselytization, but extends beyond 

that27 In Western countries, dawa aims both to convert non-Muslims to political Islam and to 

bring about more extreme views among existing Muslims. The ultimate goal of daH'a is to 

destroy the political institutions of a free society and replace them with strict sharia. Islamists 

rely on both violent and nonviolent means to achieve their objectives. 

From 9111 until now, the dominant Western response to political ]slam has been to focus only on 

''terror" and "violent extremism." This approach has failed. In focusing only on acts of violence, 

we have ignored the ideology that justifies, promotes, celebrates, and encourages those acts. By 

not fighting a war of ideas against political Islam (or "Islamism") as an ideology and against 

those who spread that ideology, we have made a grave error.28 

What should be done about dawa? First, we need a paradigm shill in U.S. policy that recognizes 

15 Top Sunni cleric Yusufa!-Qaradawi has urged lslamists in the West "'to have your small society within the larger 

society'' and "your own 'Muslim ghetto .. ,. 

Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. 2000 I 1990]. PrhJritics r?lfhe Islamic Afovement in the Coming Phase. Swansea: Awakening 

Publications. 

2

(' Haque, Amber (Ed.) 1999. A1uslims and !slami:aNon in l'lorth America: Problems and Prospects. Beltsville: 

Amana Publications. Al-Qarada\vi, Yusuf 2000 [1990]. Priorities oft he Islamic Movement in the Coming Fhase. 

Swansea: Awakening Publications. 

Vidino. Lorenzo. 2010. "Dawa" and "The Unprecedented Opportunity of Unrestricted Dawa," in The New Muslim 

Brotherhood in the West. P. 20-27 and p. 69-95. Rosen, Ehud. 2008. "The Muslim Brotherhood's Concept of 

Education" in Current Trends in Islamist Ideology (7) ed. I-Ii lie! Fradkin. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

WiedL Nina. 2009, ''Dawa and the lslamist Revival in the West." Current Trend..v in Islamist Ideology 

D.C.: Hudson Institute. P. 120-150. 

'political correctness' and 

12 
142 

that violent jihad is intertwined with the ideological infrastructure of lslamist dcnva?9 In the old 

paradigm, we neglected the importance of ideology. Even the name of the famous CVE program 

focused on violent extremism, rather than its ideological precursor. 

In the new paradigm, we should continue to seek the destruction of groups like the Islamic State 

and ai-Qaeda, but we should also develop a suitable strategy to combat dawa. It is the job of 

Congress to find the right balance in the face of this specitic threat between our rights and 

ti·ecdoms and a policy package that is ctTective in combating the threat. Protection of the 

religious rights of the members of the Muslim minority who are not engaged in Islamist dawa 

should be an integral part of that package. 

ln this war, Congress should give the president the tools he needs to identify and dismantle the 

infrastructure of dawa in the United States: the network of radical Islamist centers, associations, 

and mosques that perpetuate political Islam in its most radical form, even if they themselves do 

not perpetrate the violence that they so often preach. 

Four steps are urgent: 

l. The administration should systematically map the infrastructure of subversive dawa 

activities around the world, in particular the connections of the global infrastructure to the 

United States: funds, individuals, institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and 

governmental support. 

2. As a condition of U.S. friendship, the administration should require foreign governments 

as well as Islamic NGOs to stop supporting and financing subversive lslamist activities in 

the United States. Of particular interest here are Qatari, Kuwaiti, and Saudi 

"philanthropic" foundations. Foreign funding of subversive dawa activities in the U.S. 

should be curtailed as much as possible. 

3. fn reaching out to the Muslim American community, the administration should ally itself 

with genuine Muslim moderates and reformers, not with ''nonviolent" Islamists. 

4. Congress should carefi.tlly weigh the balance between civil liberties and that which is 

required to dismantle networks of dawa. 

4. What are the most effective tools, tactics and techniques available for community leadersboth those iu law enforcement and those outside- to combat violent extremism'! 

Language is important: you have to know what it is that you are countering, and be very explicit 

about it. Next, you have to select the community leaders that you trust with this work. The 

Shay, Shaul. 2008. ''Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development of radical Islam" in 

Somalia het}Jieen Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 15-36. 

AIVD. 2004. From Dawa to Jihad The Hague: Dutch Ministry of the Interior. Available at< 

13 
143 

government should not partner with those with an agenda to lslamizc, or those who are organized 

to engage in dawa. Similarly, the government should not partner with the apologists, or with 

those who are ignorant and just engaged in virtue-signaling. Instead, the government should 

partner with individuals who are very serious about the political aspects of Islam, who 

understand its effects and who are countering it. Those are the people with whom you engage. 

The u.S. government has made a series of blunders since 9/11 in this regard, often choosing to 

partner with Islamists instead of genuine moderates and reformers. 30 The first step to improving 

the situation is to be aware of what the problem is. 

'

0 See Vidino, LorenLo, 2010. The New Aluslim Brotherhood in the 1Yest. New York: Columbia University Press. 

[''Chapter 7: United States''.] 

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Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali 

From Senator Steve Daines 

Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, and 

Techniques of Violent Extremism 

June 14,2017 

Thank you for testifying. The ideology of radicaL violent Islamic extremism is challenging topic. 

and it takes moral and political, and at times physical, courage to speak up. We must remain 

vigilant about the growing threat of Islamic extremism and work to extinguish the proselytization 

of violence and prevent future tragedies. 

This includes addressing the financial component of extremist activities. A senior commander of 

the Tali ban told the BBC last week "opium is our economic necessity, but we hate it as much as 

you do.'' 

Western socic:ty has an insatiable demand for drugs. In fact this is a top concern for Montanans. 

Last week I held a telephone townhall with about 28,000 households. 95% said the availability of 

methamphetamines must be addressed. I know this isn't fueled by opium from Afghanistan, but 

it's a similar challenge our demand for one illicit good is fueling another illicit- and deadlyactivity. 

Ms. Hirsi Ali, in your testimony, you mentioned Congress needs to give the president tools to 

dismantle the infrastructure of da'wah. Regarding their funding infrastructure, what tools should 

Congress explore? 

Answer: 

Dear Senator Daines, I understand your concerns and those of Montanans in this regard. In terms 

of the funding of Islamist organizations around the world, money flows to them Ji·om: 

• foreign governments; 

charitable foundations; 

individual believing Muslims; 

• and sometimes, from criminal activities, including drug trafficking. kidnapping for 

ransom, prostitution and human trafficking31 

As you mentioned, the Taliban's connection to the poppy trade is weJJ-known. A 2009 report 

found that "Taliban commanders on the village level have expanded their activities related to 

''The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has created tinancial assessments of the Islamic State, Boko Haram, 

AI Shabaab, AI Qacda's branch in Syria, and AI in the Arabian Peninsula, that detail the sources of their 

funding.< 

15 
145 

drugs from collecting extortion and charging protection fees to running heroin refineries and 

engaging in kidnapping and other smuggling schemes."32 Recent reports indicate this harmful 

trend shows no signs of abating. 33 In December 2016, General John Nicholson, the commander 

of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. "said the opium trade provides about 60 percent of 

the funding for the Taliban insurgency.''34 

But the Taliban is not the only Islamist group to benefit from drug tratiicking. In 2016, the U.S. 

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced "that it uncovered major international 

criminal activity by Shi'ite Islamist group Hezbollah, in which it used funds from drug 

traflicking operations to purchase weapons and fund its other activities.·· 35 

The connection between Hezbollah and drugs is structural, and acting Deputy Drug 

Administrator Jack Riley recently stated: ''These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes 

utilized by the Business Affairs Component provide a revenue and weapons stream for an 

international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the world."36 

Robert Rotberg, founding director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict at Harvard University's 

Kennedy School, has analyzed the connection between Jslamist groups and drug trafficking in 

Africa. ISIS- and al-Qaida linked groups in Africa, such as Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb 

(AQIM), Boko Haram, and AI-Shabaab, all derive benefits from the drug trade, Rotbcrg 

concluded in 2016: "ISIS- and al-Qaida-linked groups in Africa prosper by trafficking drugs 

across the Sahara ... certainly, drug profiteering is an oppm1unistic pursuit that drives terror 

activities. "

37 

the Talihan. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace. 

get their money.'' Deutsche Welle,<'"''' ::• .. :'''"-'·'·"'''"-''·'--'"'":-

"Bountiful Afghan Opium Harvest Yielfs Pro!1ts for the Taliban." May 4. 

The l'o./ew Vork Timl!s. 

"The little-understood connection between Islamic teJTor and 

16. < 

16 
146 

A number of Islamist groups also engage in human tral1icking, blackmail and extortion38 

Although the connection between violent Islamist groups such as the Tali ban and illicit activities 

is clear, is there also such a link between illicit activities and dawa organizations? Here, one 

faces the difficulty that the "violent" jihad activities oflslamist groups are not always neatly 

separated from radical indoctrination (dawa) activities. These activities are often intertwined or 

entangled 39 For example, the Saudi Haramain Foundation (closed in 2004 due to terror 

connections), built at least I ,300 Mosques, sponsored 3,000 preachers and produced 20 million 

religious pamphlets. In the case of the Haramain Foundation, the links to terror were so clear the 

entire Foundation was shut down in 2004, at least ot11cially.4° For the Haramain foundation, 

contributing to militantjihad was as much a part ofthcir core identity as contributing to dau-·a 

cfTcnis. 

In the United States, when one observes the strength of Brotherhood-linked groups, and the 

militancy preached at centers such as the Islamic Society of Boston, one has to take ideology 

seriously: dawa as practiced by lslamist groups is not only a foreign problem41 

Part of the problem is the murky financing of dawa organizations around the world. Many 

Islamic charitable foundations use zakut (mandatory charity) funds to mix humanitarian outreach 

with ideological indoctrination, laying the ground for future intolerance, misogyny, and jihad, 

even if no violence is used in the short term. When informal funding mechanisms are included, 

the zakat funds available could reach "hundreds of billions of dollars" worldwide each year42 If 

a small share of that contributes to ideological militancy, one can see the scale of the problem is 

significant. 

Funding of dmm organizations also involves hawala (remittance) networks. According to a 

World Bank estimate, "about $300 billion have been transferred around the world in the past two 

decades using hawala networks.'' 43 Relying on little to no paperwork, hawala networks have 

'

8 See the reports from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies on 

N Shay, Shaul. 2008. '"Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad'" and "The Development of radical Islam" in 

Somalia hetween Jihad and Restorathm. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 15-36. 

U.S. Department of the Treasury. 2004. "U.S.-Based Branch of AI Haramain Foundation Linked to Terror 

Treasury Designates U.S. Branch, I>ircctor'\ 

the Council on American-lslarnic Relations (CAIR)." < 

http:' \\'\\ w.g!obalmbwatch.com.\vp-comentluploads/ 2013/04/20080 127 ___ cxtrcmism, nnd .. _cair.pdf> 

Merley, Steven. 2009. "The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States". Research Monographs on the Muslim World 

Series 2, Paper 3, April. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the 

Muslim World. 

Baran, Zeyno. 2008. "The Muslim Brotherhood's U.S. Network." Current Trend< in Islamist Ideology Vol. 6. P. 95-

122. Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute. 

"Stirk, Chloe. 2015. An Act of Faith: Humanitarian 

17 
147 

often been used by terrorists.44 The U.S. Treasury Department is aware of the importance of the 

Hawala system but since 9111 has focused its attention on linanciallinks to terrorists, not on 

links to those who engage in dmm. 15 

Ideally, the U.S. Treasury Department would collaborate with other agencies to systematically 

track the financing, not only of those Jslamists who engage in violence, but also of those 

Jslamists who justify violence in the name of Islam and the imposition of sharia through dawa. 

The two-militant jihad and ideological dawa efforts-arc linked. both in practice and in the 

ideology of Islamists themselvcs 46 

Our past efforts to dismantle this infrastructure have not been sufficient. Robert Looney. a 

Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School, warned in 2006: 

increasing effectiveness against money laundering through commercial banks is likely to result 

in increased use of charities as a conduit to terrorist groups ... there is no reason to suppose 

that this action in the United States has reduced the actual amount of funds reaching terrorist 

groups from Islamic charities in the Middle East. .. The vast quantities of money flowing into 

Islamic charities, together with the large number of these organizations with links to terrorist 

organizations suggest that this is a long-term problcm.47 

Dr. Shaul Shay, who served for many years in military intelligence in the Israeli Defense Forces 

and is currently Director of Research, Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS). Interdisciplinary 

Center (!DC). Herzliya, Israel, has analyzed the connection between dawa and jihad in the Horn 

of Africa. In 2008. he wrote: 

The violent (terrorist) jihad is accompanied and backed by the economic Jihad, which on 

the one hand serves to tinance and aid the infrastructures and the terror perpetrators, and 

on the other hand constitutes a parallel arena of contention against the enemies of Islam 

with the focus on the West. Over the years, AI Qaida has built an extensive economic 

infrastructure that serves as a sort of 'shadow economy·. It acts alongside and within the 

official economic system in countries around the world. Most of the organization's 

budget is designated tor the funding of local terror organizations in order to expand the 

alignment of the global Jihad; part of it is used as payment for host countries such as 

Sudan and Afghanistan, and the rest is spent on the terror attacks. 

The economic infrastructure that serves as AI Qaida's foundation includes a complex and 

extensive network of entities. the majority of which are 'legitimate'. These include 

corporations, charities, Islamic banks, religious and educational institutions, and 

contributing private organizations. Thus, part of the movement's revenue comes from 

sources and means connected to the Dawa, both from sources controlled by the Islamic 

4

'

1 Acharya, Arabinda. 2009. Targeting Terrorist Financing· international cooperation and neH' regimes. New York: 

Routledge. P. 76. 45 U.S. Department of the Treasury. "Hawala and alternative remittance systems."< 

18 
148 

state and via those controlled by Islamic associations and institutions. The transfer of 

funds to the organization is achieved through sophisticated camoullage and laundering 

operations as well as through legitimate businesses. This method of using businesses as a 

cover for transferring funding to the movement was made possible by the basic capital 

infrastructure that Bin Laden possessed as well as his access to busincss.48 

U.S. authorities tend to focus on dismantling the financing mechanisms of the most explicitly 

violent aspects oflslamist activities. while leaving the ideological drivers alone. Analyst Evan 

Kohlmann warned in 2006 that "agile front groups are notoriously difficult to clean out or shut 

down. It is a challenge that has largely defied past eJTorts aimed at addressing it, including the 

much-lauded 'central collecting agencies' supposedly established by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf 

neighbors." 49 

Confronted with this set of challenges, what can be done? 

First, what is needed is to create a precise map of the funds currently flowing to dawa 

organizations (both abroad and within the U.S.) as well as the funds flowingfi'am them. The 

money trail is always the easiest to follow and illuminates the linkages that exist. The only organ 

that can carry out such a comprehensive investigation and mapping effort is the U.S. 

government. The Senate can demand such an investigation, and if such an investigation is to be 

done legally and thoroughly it has to be carried out by the U.S. government, with a focus on 

defending U.S. national security and dismantling the ideological intrastructure that supports 

radical Islam and its militancy. Such an investigation cannot be carried out by some type of 

private agency. 

Any solution to the problem of the financing of the dawa infrastructure in America begins with 

such a comprehensive mapping effort. It will require inter-agency cooperation between the U.S. 

Treasury Department (an effective agency but almost entirely focused on dismantling the 

financing of terror, not the ideology supporting the terror), the Department of Homeland 

Security, the DEA, the FBI. and for foreign funds the CIA and the intelligence agencies of 

friendly foreign powers that share our interest in dismantling the financial infrastructure of the 

radical dawa. 

In 2015, the RAND Corporation concluded that the foreign financing of Islamic institutions in 

the Netherlands was mufti-faceted, involving numerous actors, hoth State-linked actors and nongovernmental organizations50 Matters are not different for the foreign financing of the dawa 

infrastructure the United States. 5

1 Until we know with precision which organizations arc funding 

Shaul. 2008. "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development of radical Islam" in 

between Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 26. 

2006. "The role of Islamic charities in intemational terrorist recmitment and financing." Df!S 

Conen,hal(en. Denmark: Danish Institute for International Studies. < 

Foreignfinaru.:ing qf Islamic Institutions in the Netherlands: a study 

cmnm'ehemive ana~vsr:Y. 

Washington, D.C.: Freedom 

19 
149 

the dissemination of radical Islamist ideology and the ideology justifying militantjihad, we will 

continue to be surprised by the resilience of lslamist ideology in the world, and in the United 

States. 

Second, as a condition of US friendship, the administration should require foreign governments 

as well as Islamic NGOs to stop supporting and financing subversive lslamist activities in the 

United States. Of particular interest here are Qatari. Kuwaiti, and Saudi "philanthropic" 

foundations 52 This will require policy synchronization among the State Department, the 

Department of Defense, and the National Security Council-and a great deal of persistence. 

Given the sensitivity of this issue, private requests are advisable first; if private requests are 

ineffective or ignored (as they have been since 9111 ), appropriate public pressure from the U.S. 

government must follow. 

If a country or NGO cannot show verifiable progress in curbing its support for subversive dawa 

activities in the United States, the administration should punish that country or NGO in concrete 

terms, for example by trade sanctions or cuts in aid payments. 

Since 9/11, the U.S. government has been so focused on terror that it has been reluctant to push 

countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait on the matter of ideology, as though it were 

less pressing. 

For more detailed information on the financial infrastructure, I recommend these sources: 

Aeharya, Arabinda. 2009. Targeting Terrorist Financing: inlernalional cooperation and new 

regimes. New York: Routledge. 

Barber, Steve. 2011. "The 'new economy ofteiTor': the financing oflslamist terrorism." Global 

Security Studies 2 (I). 

Dettmer, Jamie. June 24, 2015. "Two-faced: Qatar's foundation for hypocrisy.''< 

25, 20!3. "Uncharilable Or!;an!Za!Jons: lslamist Groups Arc 

Pretending It's Aid Work," Policy, < 

20 
150 

http://V>.ww.thedailybcast.com/gatars-foundation-for-hvpocrisv> 

Ehrenfeld, Rachel. 2011 (2003). Funding evil: how terrorism isfinanced and how to stop it. New 

Rochelle: MultiEducator. Inc. 

Gartenstein-Ross, Daveed and Aaron Zelin. February 25, 2013. "Uncharitable Organizations: 

lslamist Groups Are Bankrolling Terror Groups Across the Middle East and Pretending It's Aid 

Work,'' Foreign Policy, < http://foreignpolicv.com/20 13/02/25/uncharitable-organizations/ > 

Hom·ens. Krapels et al. 2009. Foreign .financing of Islamic Institutions in the Netherlands. 

RAND Europe. 

Kohlmann. Evan. The role oflslamic charities in international terrorist recruitment and 

financing, Working Paper No. 2006/7, Danish Institute for International Studies, available at: 

https://wwVI .eli is.clklfilcs/meclia/clocuments/publications/cliis20wp202006-7. web.pclf 

Looney. Robert. "The mirage of terrorist financing: the case oflslamic Charities." Strategic 

Insights Vol. V (Issue 3), March 2006. 

Rotbcrg, Robert. 2016. ''The little-understood connection between Islamic terror and drug 

profits." The Conversation. February 16. < http://theconversation.com/thc-little-unclerstooclconnection-between-islamic-tcrror-ancl-clrug-profits-53602> 

Shay, Shaul. 2008. "Dawa and its role in promoting global jihad" and "The Development of 

radical Islam'' in Somalia he/ween Jihad and Restoration. London: Transaction Publishers. P. 

15-36. 

Solomon, Hussein. 2015. "Charities, terrorist funding, and indoctrination" in Tenorism and 

Counter-Terrorism in Africa: Fighting Insurgency from AI Shabaab, Ansar Dine and Boko 

Haram. New York: Pal grave Macmillan. 

21 
151 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to Dr. John Lenczowski 

From Senator Steve Daines 

Ideology and Terror: Understanding the Tools, Tactics, and 

Techniques of Violent Extremism 

June 14, 2017 

Thank you for testifying. The ideology of radical, violent Islamic extremism is challenging topic, 

and it takes moral and political, and at times physical, courage to speak up. We must remain 

vigilant about the growing threat oflslamic extremism and work to extinguish the proselytization 

of violence and prevent future tragedies. 

This includes addressing the financial component of extremist activities. i\ senior commander of 

the Tali ban told the BBC last week "opium is our economic necessity, but we hate it as much as 

you do." 

Western society has an insatiable demand for drugs. In fact this is a lop concern tor Montanans. 

Last week I held a telephone townhall with about 28,000 households, 95% said the availability of 

methamphetamines must be addressed. I know this isn't fueled by opium from Afghanistan, but 

it's a similar challenge- our demand for one illicit good is fueling another illicit and deadly 

activity. 

Dr. Lenczowski, in your testimony you mentioned incremental goals that included de-funding 

Jihadist ideology. How do you see this being accomplished? 

Answer: 

I am grateful for the Senator's question about de-funding terrorist ideology. This is a dimension 

to the terrorism threat that, on its own, cannot solve the fundamental problem of terrorism or 

Jihadism in all its dimensions. We, and our allies, have made major progress in this theater of 

the war against Islamist terrorism over the past decade and a half. However, there are so many 

ways by which Jihadist organizations secure their funds that, even if we were able to choke off 

important sources of finance, funds would still be able to circumvent the various barriers we 

have erected and will continue to erect. In spite oftbe plethora of modern methods of finance, 

terrorism finance bas succeeded in eluding scrutiny by emphasizing traditional, old-fashioned 

methods of money laundering and transfer. 

It should be noted that speci fie ftmding terrorist ideology is but a subset of the larger terrorism 

finance issue. Because of the fungibility of funds, it is practically impossible to prevent funds 

from reaching the ideological progenitors of Jihad. Then there are other difficulties. Recently 

two American imams were beard in the mosques promoting violence against Jews. These imams 

are the beneficiaries of normal charitable donations from members of their congregations- and 

probably also from foreign sources such as Saudi Arabia. The question arises, then, as to what 

kind of speech is permitted in mosques or, for that matter, in the public square. Can the mosques 
152 

in question be subject to losing their tax-exempt status? This involves legal and Constitutional 

issues which other experts should address. 

The larger issue of terrorism finance involves identification of, intelligence collection on, and 

action taken toward, the various sources of funds. These include: 

o Charities that have been used as fronts for terrorism finance. Sometimes 

charitable goods or funds destined for vulnerable populations have been diverted 

by terrorists for their use. On other occasions charities have been subject to 

extortion by terrorists. We must require enhanced reporting by international 

charities operating in terrorism-prone areas. 

o U.S.-based charities that have funneled monies to terrorists should be investigated 

and denied their tax-exempt status. 

o Many such charities have received their funding from Saudi Arabia and, to a 

lesser extent, from other Gulf states. The Saudis have built hundreds of mosques 

in the U.S. and, as the price for this effort, have staffed them with Wahhabi 

imams, who have been among the most radical. We should consider exploring 

ways to restrict Saudi and other foreign funding for new as well as existing 

mosques and to implement a policy of diplomatic reciprocity. This means 

insisting that, if Saudi monies are to be spent in the U.S. to promote their version 

oflslam. the U.S.- and U.S. citizens should be permitted to fund and construct 

churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia. 

o International trade-based money laundering has been a traditional method of 

terrorism finance which is very hard to detect, as specific terrorism money 

laundering operations arc hidden amidst a huge volume of legitimate commerce, 

as well as traditional organized criminal activities. 

o Much terrorist funding comes from commerce in gems, such as tanzanite in East 

Africa and lapis lazuli in Afghanistan. The tracking of this trade in gems must be 

a precursor to impeding this commerce as a source of terrorist financing. 

o Similarly, the sale of opium and opium-derived drugs is another source of 

terrorism financing. In this case, it has been the policy of the U.S. not only to 

attempt to eradicate opiwn poppy fields but to encourage poppy farmers to switch 

to fruit orchards which can actually be more lucrative. The main problem is that 

fruit trees must mature for several years before a harvest is possible and this has 

been a disincentive for many farmers to make the switch. 

o Another common source of funding is ransom for kidnap victims. This is a 

practice conducted by terrorist groups based in Pakistan, whose government has 

been so duplicitous in its counter-terrorism diplomacy with the U.S. that sanctions 

against that country's government should be seriously considered. It strains 

credulity that the Pakistani government has not been supporting various violent 

lslamist groups within its won borders. 

o A major source of terrorism funding has come from the practice of "hawala," 

which is an informal banking and money transfer system involving trusted 

contacts in various countries. Hawala operations are often hard --but not 

impossible -- to detect and disrupt. 
153 

o Pre-paid credit cards have been used for terrorism finance purposes. Monitoring 

the use of these cards is a necessary part of the larger puzzle. 

o Fraudulent bank accounts and other mechanisms facilitate the laundering of 

money that ultimately makes its way to Jihadist organizations. Better monitoring 

of these accounts and related methods is necessary to restrict the flow of funds. 

o Sometimes, banks have issued loans to terrorist organizations. Cooperation with 

banks is necessary to ensure that they do not issue such loans to terrorists or 

permit them to open fraudulent accounts .. 

o Various money-service businesses other than banks arc involved in suspected 

terrorist money transfers. These should be subject to increased monitoring and 

financial reporting. 

o Terrorism-supporting states should be denied the use of the international banking 

system- specifically the SWIFT system of inter-bank money transfers. 

o A major source of terrorism finance is old-fashioned cash courier operations 

across borders. Such activity must be monitored but it should be recognized 

that doing so thoroughly is extremely difficult. 

In general, there are other methods that can be used to counter terrorism finance: 

o The freezing of terrorists' assets. 

o Sanctions on those who provide funds or other material assistance to the terrorists 

or j ihadists. 

o Implementation of the Financial Action Task Force standards- and assisting 

other nations in this implementation. These actions address: various laws and 

regulations that should be adopted (particularly reporting requirements by banks, 

securities brokers, lavvyers, accountants, etc.), the various agencies that must be 

involved (intelligence, law enforcement, regulatory, etc.); and training in 

investigation techniques, regulatory compliance, and prosecutorial skill in money 

laundering cases. 

o There are other official actions that can be, and have been, taken to identify 

terrorist organizations and cooperate with foreign governments to stop or prevent 

financing of them. A useful, albeit slightly dated, review can be found at: 

https:/ /2001-2009 .state. gov/e/eeb/rls/rm/2003/?9144.htm 

o There are covert, cyber and other methods to disrupt organizations and individuals 

involved in terrorism finance. The specific methods must be identified by 

appropriate experts. 

o Finally, much of what can be achieved in this field must come from cooperation 

with foreign governments in efforts to identify, prevent, and punish terrorism 

finance. This is frequently difficult in countries whose governments often play 

duplicitous roles when it comes to addressing terrorism issues: on the one hand 

declaring a willingness to cooperate; and on the other hand secretly funding 

terrorist organizations for their own strategic reasons. Here, the behavior of the 

Pakistani government comes prominently to mind. 

In the final analysis, funds will inevitably find their way from those with the will to send them to 

those with the will to receive them and usc them for Jihadist purposes. The key strategic 
154 

challenge is to deprive all concerned of that will. This ultimately brings us back to the ideology 

that motivates that will and why it is necessary to discredit that ideology, de-legitimize it, 

anathematize it, isolate its progenitors, and support those who reject it and have a positive 

alternative. 
155 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to the llonorable Michael E. Leiter 

I; rom St·nator Steve D>lincs 

ldeulogy and Terror: llndcrstanding the Tools. nctlu, and 

Techniques uf\'lolent Extremism 

.June 14.2017 

Tliauk you fllr wstii;,iug. Th~ idetllogy ofmtlit:aL vi,,l..:nt lslJmic- ~xlrcmism is ehalknging tllpii:. 

and it takes monll ami plllitKal. and at tim~s physicaL t:oll!aJ!.~ t<l spc<tk up. We must remain 

l'igilant ilh<ltll tftc t,:rowing thr.:at oC [sJaruic I!Xltclllisltl il!ld wmk [0 "xtinguish tJl" l'll'tlsdytiza1ilJ£l 

oC vinlL•ncc illld prev.:nt fultlrl! tmgctlks. 

Tlti;. indudt·s addn·~.sing the tinar1cial .::utllpuncm of 1!.\trembt ~1dil'ilicc'i. A senim nlmmamler of 

the TabhantuiJ the BBC lu~t week ·"opium is om c<=<ltlllmit: tll'Ccssity. but we hate it as mut:h as 

you do." 

Wcstem SlK·iety h~1" illl insatiable d~mand for Jrug£. In iact this~~ a 1<.1p nmA:~m rm tvhmwnans. 

Last wc~k I hdu a tdcphonc townlw.!l with about 2KOOO households. 95"·i, said the ~~·,til~hi!ity llf 

!llcthamphelanlin~s lllltsl h~ addressed. [know this isn't lhdcJ by opium ii'mu Afgh~nisran. but 

it's a ~imilar chall!:n~e our demand !(none illicit guutl is fudinH «rll)thc! illicit anJ t.katlly 

aeti\ity. 

lvlr. Lt•ikr. what nlll be done to reduce I he global demand for opium and th~rdore the 

rc~ources at tlw dispus11l ufthese tert'ilrlsl organizaticlta and prullllJ::!llldtt mathincs'! 

Tu hegin, [must >ll't'ss that I d,l rmt ~nnsidt·r mysdf un the <:un~lllc-halknges uf ilkgal drugs. to 

indmk lhc·ir pro<.luuion. <.listriburitHl. impmtationlu the Umtetl Stale>. anJ uumestic Jlstrihulion 

anu usagt'. Although [have prc·1·iuu.sly b-een an Assi;.tant L'nitcJ .Staks Anom.:y liu· the Eastem 

Disuit:r ofVnginia "hnc [ pws<:cukcl u varid~· ufnarcori<·s-1·dakd otlenscs.lldl th~ 

Dep~rlm~nt of Justit-e in 2005 anJ thus my JlUKutk,; ~n!i.tn:emcrll c:~.pcricm:c m~ smd)' llUHlt~ 

date. As the Dirc~·tor IJftltc :\larinnai Countcrtenmism Cmtcr. my an:as llf l'ocus indtRkd th.: 

ill~g.al intematitmal untg tru<.l~ in >Hilll' respects \<'.g .• rh~ !'ARC al Qaitia anu rdaleJ 

orguni.mtions' im·olvctHtl11 in the upium rrat.ll: in A(yhanistan. an<.l al Qaida in the lslamit' 

lvbghrch's (AQHv!) imulvemenl in !MI'Wtin lranicking in the Sahd) but these rcsptl!lslhilltics 

di1l rwt cm·cr ir1 any rn.caningtul way t:.s. Jmg ttsc ur whatlumkH•t<H!tllll he nmcnt dmlkngcs 

or opiate anJ opillid usc in thl' U.S. In shm1. although I have ml\:cent :ears looked at opiUm 

~- d.:mand t<Hthc n·su!ting drugs has not heen in my b~1iilwick. 

Tu the ..:>.lent lenorisl urganiLatiorl, an: invulve<.l in the drug traJe ~loh<tlly ···<llid I hdicn• til is is 

olien 1.:-;~ the case than is p{lpulmly hl'li~·veu Jny demand tin dmgs t:cl1ainly pm>·iucs the 

krrmist <ll)!.~liiLatilms with valuable financial!c$(Jtllcc$. For e.Xalllflk the Fi\RC hmg bcndikd 

tremcnuously fmm the Columbian nll'~l trade. [n adtlitiun and a:; h~s been well-rcl'mkll. ~1 

2 
156 

Qaiua relat~tl mganiLatlons. the ll~qqanis. ami the Talihan have garnc·r.:u signilh:ant fulancial 

gain fwm poppy cultivation in Afghar1istan. PclhC~ps cuntrihulit•t,; c~v~n nmrt: w our enemies' in 

Arghanistan. th.c illegal drug traue h<ts let! to enomHHI> curruplion i,;sues. whkh have in rum 

.!ll~atl~· umlen.:U! "guntl g(tl·erunh:ut'' dl<m.,. Hnts pro1·iding greater llfl[lllrtunity for t\nr 

auvcrsarics to gain [lllptilar supp(1!1. 

RcnlgmLing the value Mm1c knmisl nt~t;anilali<m~ have ..:rtjll)iCd 11•Jm the dn.tg Irati.: a>ld in no 

way questioni1ig the atmllutd~· massi1·c unmcstic n>st of drug almse .. it is my believe that in 

must cm.es (1\ itll FARC heing a signilicant cxcl."ptitii!J involvcnH:m in I he dtug trade has rHlt been 

cerHml to the success ur litilun.• or t.:rroris1 organizations. In most e<JSes. knori.>t organizalilms 

havt• cilt•cr f(,uml alt~matin: criminal soun:~s of inct>tnc (e.g kidml[lping, CXtoJiilml. l~atll·d 

mme hca-.ily ()rl fumlraising. ur simply Jcuw:~u their nccu li•r extensive financial resutll't'~s. This 

is notltl argue~ that reuucing th..:ir acc·css tn the ttarwtin trade is unimjHlllant. rather it is rncrdy 

lu rwk I hat cumharting their access tll illegal urug ma1kd> is a rdathdy small cnl\JW in (Hll 

quiver. 
157 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Record 

Submitted to the Honorable Michael Leiter 

From Senator Jon Tester 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Hearing: "Ideology and Terror: 

Understanding the Tools, Tactics, and Techniques of Violent Extremism" 

June 14,2017 

1) What unique role do you see for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would 

best counter tbe recruitment and proliferation of violent extremists in the United States? 

The federal government's reach is extremely limited outside of most large urban centers and this 

is most true in especially rural communities-to include significant swaths of Montana. As a 

result in my view DHS must play a supporting role to state and local officials who are (by 

definition) vastly more engaged with local communities. 

DHS can thus, in my view, serve three principal roles, some of which should be done in close 

conjunction with other federal agencies such as the FBI and to a lesser extent NCTC: intelligence 

on those at risk, subject matter expertise and materials to support state and locals' engagement, 

providing key grant funding to develop CVE programs within and that support local 

communities. On the first, the federal government can provide invaluable guidance to local 

officials on current radicalization threats and potentially more targeted guidance based on 

sensitive intelligence collection (both HUMlNT and SIGINT). On this point, I think DHS 

should not be in the lead but instead should be in support of the principal federal terrorism 

investigative agency: the FBI. 

On the second, the DHS should provide background information on causes of radicalization, risk 

factors, lessons learned, and specific materials that might be used by state and local officials. Of 

significant importance, DHS should ensure that its non-law enforcement elements are deeply 

involved in these programs, most especially those like Citizenship and Immigration Services and 

refugee resettlement offices. 

On the third, DHS should also be looked to, where necessary, with supporting funds for this 

national priority. All DHS funding programs should also be coordinated with DOJ's Office of 

Justice Programs, which will in some cases overlap with DHS CVE priorities. DHS funding of 

programs should focus both on experimental local efforts as well as NGO programs that may in 

tum support a variety of local CVE programs. 

2) How should this role differ from other federal law enforcement entities such as the FBI? 

As noted above, DHS should-with respect to CVE-focus not on the investigative aspects of 

terrorism but instead on the preventative aspect and ensuring that local communities have the 

resources they need to implement such programs. The FBI, as the principal law enforcement 
158 

agency for terrorism, will have some role in CVE programs and local FBI officials must be 

central players in any cohesive federal CVE strategy, but as an enforcement agency CVE 

programs should not be led by FBI officials. Similarly, although DHS has key law enforcement 

agencies such as ICE and CBP, their enforcement roles are more limited than the Bureau's and in 

my view these agencies should also not play a central role in preventing violent extremism. By 

contrast and as noted in my answer to your first question, non law enforcement organizations in 

DHS must play a central role in CVE. 

3) In your opinion, what role should state and local law enforcement play in the countering 

violent extremism (CVE) effort? What is the best avenue we have at our disposal to help 

these state and local police forces in their CVE efforts? 

As noted in my response to your first question, state and local officials-to include state and 

local law enforcement-are the most central players when it comes to CVE. State and local 

officials must be provided with key federal support, but with this support, state and local officials 

must then target these generic resources to their local populations. Importantly, outreach should 

be accomplished not just through law enforcement, which is often more adversarial than desired, 

but through a variety of public health and education organization. 

The lessons of Community Policing that have been well-honed over the past twenty-plus years 

are critical to successful police engagement and they have generally proven as effective with 

Muslim communities as they have with the other diverse communities present in the United 

States. By far the most important step in this process is education of state and local law 

enforcement about Muslim traditions, radicalization, and the diversity of Muslim communities 

(e.g, religion traditions, ethnic and national differences). Central to this education must be the 

addressing of common misnomers concerning Muslims, the scale of radicalization, and the 

rejection of ill-conceived stereotypes. In my view, the Los Angeles and Minneapolis Police 

Departments have been exemplary in their efforts on this front. 

With education in place, state and local law enforcement must engage this faith community as it 

has with others-as a partner. Having dedicated officers with specialized expertise has also 

proven effective. In communities with sufficiently large Muslim communities, engagement may 

include targeted recruitment efforts to ensure that police forces have Muslim representation. 

Law enforcement should also ensure they have sufficient knowledge of non-law enforcement 

programs so that engagement can help solve discrete community challenges to develop 

partnerships into ongoing and fruitful discussions. 

Some additional paths to effective CVE by law enforcement (but requiring non-law enforcement 

participation include): 

• A strong partnership with the local Muslim community. Any alienation of the Muslim 

community-fundamentally establishing an "us versus them" mindset will not only likely lead 

to more violent extremism but also less effective law enforcement efforts to combat terrorism. 
159 

Thus, first and foremost, community leaders must begin the conversation with local Muslim 

communities about shared values and shared threats and, in conjunction with these local 

communities, create locally-tailored programs to combat violent extremism. 

• Take advantage of the high quality research that is produced by federal agencies (e.g., the 

Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and NCTC) and think tanks that can help local 

officials and NGOs understand the basics ofislam, radicalization, and terrorist threats. 

Officials should of course select materials with care as there are, regrettably, a plethora of lessthan-credible writers on the topic of radicalization who-whether intentionally or not-fail to 

reflect accurately aspects of radicalization and the terrorism threat. In my view, think tanks 

such as The Aspen Institute, RAND, CSIS, Brookings, CFR, and others all offer highly 

credible materials and insights. 

• Engage other community leaders who have successfully (or otherwise) combated violent 

extremism. There are numerous examples of such successes, but as I have already noted 

outstanding programs in Minneapolis and Los Angeles have found significant success despite 

facing large challenges. 

• For larger departments or State organizations, Engage technology companies who are actively 

engaged in combatting violent extremism online for resources specifically related to the online 

threat. Of note, organizations like Alphabet's (formerly Google) Jigsaw have worked 

extensively with global community organizations to help a variety of communities to both 

understand radicalization and combat it online. 

• Rely most heavily on those specific, local programs that have previously helped address other 

social ills in the locality successfully. Radicalization, although not exactly like other complex 

social phenomena, is-at its core-about alienation, anger, and only its last stages violence. 

Communities must understand the specifics of radicalization and Islam, but as a general matter 

if there are community programs that have addressed other challenges, those programs are at 

least good starting points once they are effectively extended into Muslim communities. 

4) In your view, how does the President's Fiscal Year 2018 Budget proposal affect CVE 

efforts at home and abroad? Please cite specific examples. 

The President's FY2018 Budget does significant damage to domestic and international CVE 

efforts. Similar to the Obama Administration but even more so, domestic grant programs at DHS 

arc tiny compared to the scale of our country and the need of state and local officials to grow the 

expertise that is required to address this threat. DHS grant programs on CVE are, as I understand 

it, just over $1OM-an amount that cannot be viewed as a serious commitment to preventing 

radicalization before it occurs. 

Similarly, the drastic cuts to the State Department budget reflect include a gutting of key 

programs that train foreign service officers and public affairs officers on Muslim engagement 
160 

and CVE programs. Even more broadly, the immense cuts contemplated for USAID-a central 

organization for US overseas engagement-would further diminish the US's ability to engage 

key communities globally using non-military means. And of note, the affected State Department 

and USAID budgets are to begin with tiny as compared to that of the Pentagon. In effect, the 

President's budget would almost completely militarize the US's face to much of the Muslim 

world and deeply reinforce the view that we are at war with the Muslim world rather than their 

partner in combatting violent extremism. 

5) Do you believe the CVE grant program at DHS is a worthwhile idea? Please provide your 

thoughts about how such a program should function. 

As noted in my answers to your Questions 1, 2, and 3 I believe that DHS has a central role to 

play in CVE and thus its grant program should continue. DHS should not be in the business of 

running counterterrorism investigations, nor should it seek to have myriad DHS officers 

nationally engaging local communities. Rather, it should help provide a baseline of national 

knowledge, develop innovative programs, and enable state and local communities. The DHS 

CVE grant program is absolutely essential to accomplishing this core mission and in my view the 

program should be increased. Executive and Legislative officials must of course ensure that 

these grants are effective and well-administered, but there is no doubt in my mind that any 

shrinking of the current plan will doom our national CVE plan. And a failure to grow the grant 

program to meaningful national levels will doom us to continuing middling results. 
161 

Post-Hearing Questions for the Rt·curd 

Submitted to The Honorable l\lichad E. Ll"iter 

Fmm Scm1tor Uddi Heitkamp 

"ldl'olujly and Terrell': lJndustanding I he Tools, Tactic~. and Tcclmi(}UU of VioiJ:nl 

·r:ltremhm" 

June 14. 2017 

I. \Vhar is th-:: jH'OJN.·r wk ftH' stat-: amllt)Cctl hlw ~nli:.rccm~m as it pwt<litls Ill c<lUlltt•rmg 

viuknt ~xlremism. cspeci~lly innnalctmlmunirie~. ~u~h as m<~ny in Nmtli Dakota. where 

acc~ss to federalleSmlrcc~ is likdy limited'' 

As ymtt·orredly note. the kderal g<»crmnciH's rcad-1 is cxrr..:mely limited oubide ofumst larg;: 

urbanccnkrs and this is most true in especially rumlcmmnuniti<:s. !3ceau'c cuutttt•ring vioknt 

e:\lremislnllfte!lletjtlires duse-t:onmtunity uno.krstandint\ and imulveJlit•nt. stah: a!ld lfH.:al 

otliciah not just !aw ent<ncement must he prnvit.kcl the l<>uls w pm~uc this> ita[ mi"iun 1\ith 

only lnl!ito:d ii.•<kral im o!wmcn1. 

In my \ iew >l~tt· amllo~<tl otliciah shtm!d h..: the principc~ls "engag~rs" nf lhc>Se at lisk. In turn. 

stale andlucal ufiicials should ltK>k to the federal govenllll<·nt for t\V(lj'lin;:ipal JSj"l'ds <Jf 

supp<>rt: imdligelKC on thus\.! at Iisk and sub.iet·t matter expertise <1!1d mclterials 1n SUjlJ'Ilrt .sl'!lc 

and h>cals" eng3gement On rh.: iiro>t. the !eclcr<ll go,ermnenl can rtm·itk in>ulu~bk guidarKe \t) 

]n;:a] uil!nal:, Ull l"Utt'l'!ll nldica!ll.a!iOn thre,ltS ill\tl p(>[CilllJii)"" ll\Of>.: lcllt\Ckti guidan;:~ bJSed Oll 

'cl1sl1ivt• ink!l!geHcc uJ1kclliJl1 (l><>lh HU:\UKT and S!Gil\"Tt. On the second. lhl' li:-tlcral 

govertnuent should provid;: hc>d,grmmd ir:I"Dnnatimt tm caus..:s ot.JadicaliLatwn.lisk l~KtorS. 

lcs:>on' learned. ~nd specilic ltlclkrials that might he u:>ed by stall.! ancll<Kalurticiak Antl<Jf 

cmrri:..:. the fcdl.'ral gov~rnrnent should abll h~ look..:d 10. where n..:ce~sary. \\ ith ,;upplming tunds 

I(H thi:. natitmal pri\1l ity. 

\Vith this 'llPI'orl. slate cllld hlt·"l "tilt:ial~ mustlhe11 ~pply these rd~tivdy gcneli<' r~sourtc;: 1<> 

theillucal putlulatinns. Ouu~ach '>lllluld he act\lll"lf>lish.:d not .iu'l thmugh law ~nii.m:emerH, 

whKh [, uikn mmc ath-t•tsarialthan tksm:d, hut lhmugh '' I'Jric:t~ uf pub he health anti edm:;Hif>n 

\JI}!."1nii-a1ilHL \VhL·r~ pn:-~slhh.\ div~!S1on JirogrttHls Htlght hL~ lk\\:lupcU nnKh a!i \Vt..: hav~ 

suecc>sfully tlorlt' mille L'<111kxl ot" dntgs and crilllin,d gangs. Cmmty and stJic <lt11cials 'hmrld 

ab-o pro'ritle OV(;r;;tn:lung guilla.nL·~ to pn.n·1~..k· nwn: srH:cific gui.Janct.: on wh"1t p-ru1;.rarns htP;t..: or 

ha\<: rml been dlcdlVL' in ilk~ ·Co.mmtunitics. 

\Vlmt ar"l.' some wmJ stmlcgics hl help ~tate and ln;:all••w clll(He..:men1 onlciab uvt•rc<Jmc 

the mistrust that many 'vluslim cummmlitit·s fed towmd Ia\\' wfnrt·cnwnL' 
162 

The k"'m' uf Community 1\JJicing thatlw.ve he~n wdl-honcti tf\·cr th~ l'Nisl lwenty-plu,; years 

are tTili<:al1D sm:n·ssti.d pt}!i<:e cngat,;t:mcnt aml they have generally prnvcn as dTe<:tiv~ with 

l;·]uslnn nlnllHUtliti~Cs as they have with th~ utl<l'r thvcn:c <:tmil11Litlitic•s pre""nt in the Unil~tl 

States. By ra1 th..: llkllsl impunanl step inlhi' pmcess is etlu;:a1ion llf '!<He amllo..:alli!\1 

L'llfHI'L"ement almull\·!uslim uaclitions. n:ttliealilalion, anti the Jil·t•rsity ofY,!uslim commtmitic> 

kg. religion l11luitions. dhnic ami nalinnal tlitrcretlt't's). Ccnlriilln this educaLion must he the 

<H.Itit·o:ssing nf nmmwn mbntHBCr> t·oncermng ~·luslims. the scale uf rauicalizatiun. and the 

J<:jeclwn of ill-t:on<:t'iveti ,,1ercotypt•>. !umy 1 iew, the 1_,,, An.~d-:s ,IfiLl Mint1c<1polis Po lit·~ 

Dt.'j1al'ltl1~11ls have be~n exemplary in lhc•iJ d'furts un this fmnl. 

\Vitl1 eJun1tion iu place, st~11c :mJ lo-:allil\\ enforcement must engage this f~ith cmmmmity as it 

has With other,; as a partner. ll<l'•ing JetlKateJ otlin:r,; with spt'c·iali.r.cJ exp·cr1ise has alsu 

proven dfel'live. In ({HJI!nunitic·s 1vith suJlicicnrly b1gc Jl·lushm~.:ommuuitles. enga~emerumay 

induJ" targell'J re<:ruirmenl ctt(Jrts to elt>UI'l' that pull<:<' fmt·e:, h~ve Muslim rt.'pr-:scnlatiun. 

Law cnfllrc·cmeru shouiJ als<> t•nsure they hm e suffLeicul krmwleJ.~e uf nun·l~w enfmt·emc•nt 

pm,gnnns so 1ha.r t•ngagetllclll ean lwlp Slllve disc ret.: rotll!llllllily clmlku,y.c~ to lkVdllp 

parlrrcr>.hips imu ongoing and fnutful uisc·ussit>ns. 

Finally, iLmtl 11hen law enlitn:ement Lilies takie adion aJ,tainst m~mbc·rs ofth~ Mw>lim 

Cmmnumty H<•r MIY ~.·riminJl uiren>e 1. hlw cnt(n.:t·m~nt must be 1eaLly l<l t;ully explain· us it 

nonnally would lht· rcasm1ing hehinJ it~ itctiNH. 

:<. Rcdut'ing th~ thrt·at ~nJ int'iucllt·~ of radicali;.ation j,; dearly arl ililptH't:.lnt gn.al <•t <Jny 

prog~<nn !iH:l!Sietl m1 cotm1t·ring <·intent ~xtremism. What ar~ som~ ways that t.:omlleril1J; 

vinknt ~~ln'n1ism pnlgnllll.< at the l~deral. state anJ local J.:vds <:<Ill wmk 1u reduce 

till' rln~at of raJit·uliz<!lion'' 

[ Jo no1 bdicve there hu1·e y<:t het·n large :>.:ale feLlt<tul prng.rams rhat have aUen>ptcti tu reJm:e 

I he thn:ar ofraJit:alizalJOJ1 and lhu' llloking for sun e.n/id ii:tlnal pmgranb" u hilllf a l(MI's 

erranJ. There are, howe,·er. sume pwmising. ii:Jeml programs that I bdieve may pwJw:e 

nwaningful bcnctils. In partinlldr. the D!IS-spm1sclreJ Peer In Peec C!hllleng.ing Extremism 

pwg~<utl wilh variuus acclJ~mic inslituli<llls is .a f>tmni.>ing. gmumlup l'Oumcring extNmism 

pmg~<Hlt that min·ors malty uther irmm·illi\l: ami su<:eessful sm·ial servic-e progr~ms. In aJJitinn. 

[ hdil'\t' Dl IS. FBI. anti 1\'CTC-sponsllrcJ ctlucatiunul l"<Jra nmtluctcLI 11 ilh local olliciills 1t> 

cdut:Uit• those <:<lmmumtics llll thc mtlicali/.atiun dmlkngcs (\\'Jilt it SJH.'i:ial. focus tm t>nline 

1adi.:alit.atiun) have pnlnded irllpmlatlt l<mrlllational aspn·Js \ulhc CVE dmlkllg.c. 

On thc loc:rl kveL I tld~r the mawlity nfmy answt·r w yom Questiuns I a11J 4. 

4. \Vhat arc: the must d!i:ctiH• tm.Jb. tucti<:S ami techniques il\ ailahk fm wmmunity k'aders 

both ttmse in law cnf{m:enlent ~mti those uutsiuc tn ;:omhal vwlent extremism'' 
163 

Æ 

Tlu: mo~t dl(!cti\e "tun!'" is a stwng partncr~hip \Vilh the locallvlu~hm nm1muniry. Any 

ali.:rr;uiun nfthc :\ius lim cummunil~· · fumJum,utally estahli$hing an "u~ ''rsus them·· min1hct 

will till[ only likdy kad ltl mor\! \ itlkill extremism hut also l..:;s L'!Te.:liv~ l~w enforcement 

dl<:n1s tu nnnlmt t-cnurism. Thus. !irst aml furcrl!llsl. community kmlers must h.: gin th~ 

cunvcn.<Hintl with lt>cal Muslim cummmlilics ahout sharctl vulul:'s am! sharctl tln.:ats and. in 

conjunction \\ith these ltlC<LlL·(mlmunities. ncate luc:llly-railorcl.IIH'ugrams to eomh.m violent 

~\tr~lrtistn . 

.SecnnJ. communities should take advantage of the high (juality research that is produced by 

tdt•ral a~cncies (c.g .. the Dq;artnH:rll of] lumclaml Security. FBI. ami ~C[C') and 11iirlk t;Ulks 

that .:an help lt>L"lll nfliL·ial!; ami :--JCJOs un.Jcrstam.l !he basics or Islam. raclitalit.atiun. anclll:rrurisl 

tlm:;11s. Of!icials sh<llllu t>f cmm>c s.:kct materials with care as there an:, regrettahl>·· aplcthma 

ofless-1han-uediblc \\'tilers unthL•lupic ofradicali.tation whtl \\hethL'l intcntitlrlally l)t rll>l 

tcLiltu relkct a.:t·ttm1dy <tSj'<:t:ts l)fradic;rliJ:;IIitltland the h:nurismlhr,·at. In my l'icw. think 

1anb sud1 a' Tht· Asj"H.'rl ln.,1itutc. RAI\"D. CS!S, Bwokill]:!>. CFR. amltHhers all ofli:r hi]:!hly 

<:rnlihk matcriab anti msigh1s. 

ThirJ. eo1111tlllrllties shouiJ enga.gL" uther CUI!IIIIUnity lea!.lers who ha1e suen·ssful!y (m 

other\\ isc) .:omhatcd ;iulcnt cxu.:mism. Tl1ere arc l1Ultll'rtllls l'Xi.!mplcs uf such 5ucccsscs. hut I 

Wtlllld particul;rrly nolc outstandin~ pm~run!s in Minneapolis and Los Ang.dcs fl>r their multil~a:etetl and highly llll<lrlc..:tl pi'UJ:!!'ams that have t<nmd signilk,mt ~lH:l·c·ss Je~pite tin:ing large 

cltallen!::!.t..'!'. 

Ftlllrth. ctHumuniti~s shuuld atlellljll to cn.t;age kdtntllogy c1mtp:.mie~ who i.l!e adive1y engaged 

illl:Otllballin,tt I iflklll eX[l~llll»tll Online f(n l\!Stmrc·cs spc·ciJicalJy rdakJ [O I he tmline [lJrcaL Of 

noll:. organu.atiuns like Alphabe(s (fimncrly Gtll>~kJ.hg;;aw h~vc wmkcd exrcn.sivdy \\ith 

glt>hal cunmlunily nrganizdtions to hdp a variL'1~ uf n>m!mmitie.> 10 bnth LmJust<md 

rJuicalil.atiun anJ comhat it nnlinc. 

Fin h. C(>r!lllLunities should rdy m<Js£ hca\'ily un those spccil]e. local prog1ams !hat have 

prcvitmsly hl'lpcJ acltlrcs;; nH1e1 social ills m thc lm:ali!y suct'essfully. Rauiealizatiun. ahhoogh 

"''1.:~uctly like uther i."lltnpkx snn'il pht:IWmcna. is at its core almtll ;rliL:Ilali<l!l. anger. anJ 

,mly its last stages \inlcnce. Com1mmities must umlcrsrand the 'Pe(i1ic~ ol"radicaliLation anJ 

ls!am. but as a gcneralm;lller if the1e are l'Ol111Huru1~· pwg.rarns that ha,~ addres..>~d ulhct 

<:halh:ngcs, tlhl>c pm~rt1111> ~Irt• u1 k<1sl g.nuu starling points HrH:L' they a1e effecti' d)· ~.\kndcJ 

intu :'vtuslim nHmllttruli~,;.