WASHINGTON — Civil-liberties officials at the Homeland Security Department did not agree with some of the language in a controversial report on right-wing extremists, but the agency issued the report anyway.
The intelligence assessment issued to law enforcement last week said some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence. That prompted angry reactions from some lawmakers and veterans groups.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the report was issued before officials resolved problems raised by the agency’s civil-rights division. Kudwa would not specify what language raised the concerns.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the report yesterday, but said the definition of right-wing extremism that was included in a footnote should be changed.
In the report, right-wing extremism was defined as hate-motivated groups and movements, such as hatred of certain religions, racial or ethnic groups.
“It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” the report said.
“If there’s one part of that report I would rewrite, in the word-smithing, Washington-ese that goes on after the fact, it would be that footnote,” Napolitano told Fox News.
The same definition was included in the agency’s March 26 draft report on domestic extremism. Both reports were marked “For Official Use Only.”
The report on right-wing extremists cites the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by military veteran Timothy McVeigh as one instance of a veteran becoming a domestic terrorist.
Several lawmakers, the American Legion and Vets for Freedom took offense to the intelligence review. The Veterans of Foreign Wars defended it as an assessment, not an accusation.
The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Michigan’s Pete Hoekstra, has asked the director of national intelligence’s ombudsman to investigate the report for “unsubstantiated conclusions and political bias.”
The senior Democrat of the House committee with oversight of the department, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), said, “This report appears to have blurred the line between violent belief, which is constitutionally protected, and violent action, which is not.”