Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States

Last updated

The White House released the United States' first strategy to address "ideologically inspired" violence in August 2011. [1] Entitled Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States (National Strategy for Empowering Local Partners), the eight-page document outlines "how the Federal Government will support and help empower American communities and their local partners in their grassroots efforts to prevent violent extremism." [2] The strategy was followed in December 2011 by a more detailed Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States. The National Strategy for Empowering Local Partners and the strategic implementation plan (SIP) resulted from the identification of violent extremism and terrorism inspired by "al-Qaeda and its affiliates and adherents" as the "preeminent security threats" to the United States by the 2010 National Security Strategy and the 2011 National Strategy for Counterterrorism. [1] Regardless of the priorization of the threat from al-Qaeda's ideology, both the strategy and SIP are geared towards all types of extremism without focus on a particular ideology. [1] [2]

Contents

Development

The National Strategy for Empowering Local Partners, commonly referred to as the countering violent extremism (CVE) strategy, was over a year in the making and is the first such effort by the United States government. [3] The National Security Staff (NSS) led the process of formulating the CVE strategy and implementation plan with an Interagency Policy Committee (IPC) on countering and preventing violent extremism in the U.S. established "to consider roles and responsibilities, potential activities, guiding principles, and how best to coordinate and synchronize [...] efforts". [1] The IPC, along with sub-committees, drafted the CVE strategy which was approved by various government departments and agencies and signed by President Barack Obama. [1] The development of the strategy involved multiple departments and agencies:

For the SIP, the NSS tasked NCTC "with coordinating the first comprehensive baseline of activities across the United States Government related to countering and preventing violent extremism in the United States". [1] These activities are outlined in the SIP as "current activities and efforts" and were used to identify gaps and guide future efforts. [1] Then Deputy National Security Council Advisor Denis McDonough, quoted in NPR, stated, "This strategy is not so much about how we're changing than having us lay down what we've been doing on a key issue. [3]

Countering violent extremism (CVE) strategy

The strategy defines violent extremists as "individuals who support or commit ideologically-motivated violence to further political goals". [2] As the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of expression, the CVE plan is targeted towards people who take the step into violence or those who recruit or encourage others to violent action. [2] By not focusing on a particular ideology, especially Islamic extremism, government officials hope "to skirt the problem of scapegoating or Islamophobia with what they call a 'more holistic approach.'" [3] The stated goal of the CVE strategy "is to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from inspiring, radicalizing, financing, or recruiting individuals or groups in the United States to commit acts of violence." [2]

As radicalization is an individual process occurring in local communities, the federal government wants to equip people, groups, and institutions at the state and city levels with the tools and resilience to counter violent extremism. [2] Local partners "can more readily identify problems as they emerge and customize responses so that they are appropriate and effective". [2]

The CVE strategy takes a "three-pronged approach that includes community engagement, better training, and counternarratives that make a case for why violent extremism is a dead end." [3] The focus of the strategy is to build counter radicalization efforts into existing programs and structures, "while creating capacity to fill gaps" as needed. [2] Towards this end, the strategy lists three models that might be leveraged for countering violent extremism: the Comprehensive Gang Model, Building Communities of Trust Initiative, and the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. [3]

The United Kingdom has a longer history of addressing violent extremism than the U.S. and has an established strategy called PREVENT that served as an example for the United States. [3] The PREVENT initiative is led by the law enforcement community and has been criticized for the possible conflict of interest of the same group being mandated to perform both community outreach and gather intelligence. [3] The U.S. decided to place community leaders on the front line to avoid this pitfall. [3] But a report by the Congressional Research Service questions if the U.S. government can avoid the conflict of officials mandated in various ways to prevent or prosecute crimes also being tasked with community outreach. [4]

The strategy has drawn praise from American-Muslim organizations. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee approved the broad approach of the strategy, stating "extremism is not isolated to a single ideology or religion." [5] On a similar note, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised the CVE plan as "objective and holistic." [6]

Strategic implementation plan (SIP)

The Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States or SIP "provides a blueprint for how we [the U.S. government] will build community resilience against violent extremism." [1] The plan "is not exhaustive, but it provides a better idea of what the [Obama] administration has in mind." [7] A central concern of the implementation plan is to ensure compliance with the rule of law, particularly First Amendment rights. [1]

The plan "envisions a fusion of local partners--school, community boards and leaders--with both local and federal law enforcement and other agencies" with some government partners involved that are new to national security, such as the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. [7] Quintan Wiktorowicz, a senior director of the National Security Council, observed the "challenge is going to be trying to put the violent extremism initiatives into existing programs." [7]

The activities outlined in the plan "will be accomplished through existing funding and by prioritizing within the resources available to relevant departments and agencies." [1] There are not specific metrics to gauge the success of the CVE strategy, "departments and agencies will be responsible for assessing their specific activities in pursuit of SIP objectives." [1]

The SIP designates leaders and partners for specific objectives, but there is not one agency, department, or person leading the overall effort to counter violent extremism. A Congressional Research Service report suggests that Congress may want to consider legislation to designate a CVE lead. [4]

Objectives

The SIP details three broad objectives and sub-objectives with the current activities and efforts that are occurring to meet these goals. To match the current activities, future efforts are listed to fill any gaps present in ongoing work.

The first objective of the SIP is "enhancing federal engagement with and support to local communities that may be targeted by violent extremists." [1] With this broad goal are two sub-objectives:

The second objective is to build "government and law enforcement expertise for preventing violent extremism." [1] The sub-objectives of the second aim:

Finally, the third objective is to counter "violent extremist propaganda while promoting our ideals" [1] with the following sub-objectives:

Criticism

As this is the first such strategy developed by the United States, there are questions and concerns from non-government organizations (NGOs), members of Congress, and the public.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee opposes CVE, and raised concerns over targeting particular communities, how the guidelines will be implemented and what oversight will be used. [5]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) worries about the potential for government censorship based on the CVE strategy's proposal for countering violent extremism propaganda. [4]

Representative Peter T. King (R-NY) voiced concerns that the language of the CVE strategy "suggests some equivalency of threats between al-Qaeda and domestic extremists and also with the politically correct inference that legitimate criticism of certain radical organizations or elements of the Muslim-American community should be avoided." [8]

Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) appreciate the CVE strategy and the SIP as an important aspect of homeland defense, but have many concerns. [9] The senators are "disappointed by the Administration's refusal to identify violent Islamist extremism as our enemy", and further state "to understand this threat and counter it, we must not shy away from making a sharp distinction between the peaceful religion followed by millions of law-abiding Americans and a twisted corruption of that religion used to justify violence." [10] Further, they question the oversight and leadership of the SIP, the timeframe for achieving the objectives, the resources necessary to meet the strategy's goals, and the measures of successes. [10]

Frank Gaffney, Jr. from the Center for Security Policy views countering violent extremism as a "euphemism" that is used "in lieu of phrases that actually describe the nature of the principal enemy we face at the moment"--Islamic extremism. [11] Using violent extremism creates a problem because it excludes non-violent ideological threats that are a threat to the American system. [11] Also, by not focusing on a particular ideology, the implementation of the CVE strategy cannot concentrate on the current threat to U.S. national security and divides scarce resources. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

Terrorism and mass attacks in Canada includes acts of terrorism, as well as mass shootings, vehicle-ramming attacks, mass stabbings, and other such acts committed in Canada that people may associate with terroristic tactics but have not been classified as terrorism by the Canadian legal system.

Radicalization is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly radical views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radicalization. Radicalization can result in both violent and nonviolent action – academic literature focuses on radicalization into violent extremism (RVE) or radicalisation leading to acts of terrorism. Multiple separate pathways can promote the process of radicalization, which can be independent but are usually mutually reinforcing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for Strategic Dialogue</span> Think tank

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld and headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) is one of the five United Nations Research and Training Institutes. The institute was founded in 1968 to assist the international community in formulating and implementing improved policies in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. Its work currently focuses on Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, that is centred on promoting peaceful, just and inclusive societies, free from crime and violence.

CONTEST is the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism strategy, first developed by Sir David Omand and the Home Office in early 2003 as the immediate response to 9/11, and a revised version was made public in 2006. Further revisions were published on 24 March 2009, 11 July 2011 and June 2018. An Annual Report on the implementation of CONTEST was released in March 2010 and in April 2014. The aim of the strategy is "to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence." The success of this strategy is not linked to total elimination of the terrorist threat, but to reducing the threat sufficiently to allow the citizens a normal life free from fear.

Dr. Edit Schlaffer, is a social scientist and the founder of Women Without Borders, based in Vienna, Austria. Her international efforts focus on grassroots, community-based female diplomacy, namely empowering women as agents of change and a critical driving force in stabilizing an insecure world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Center on Cooperative Security</span> International non-profit organization

The Global Center on Cooperative Security is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit research and policy institute based in New York, Washington D.C., London, Brussels, and Nairobi. The Global Center works to improve multilateral security cooperation through policy research and issue-area projects throughout the world.

Islamic extremism in the United States comprises all forms of Islamic extremism occurring within the United States. Islamic extremism is an adherence to fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Islamic extremism became a prioritized national security concern of the U.S. government and a focus of many subsidiary security and law enforcement entities. Initially, the focus of concern was on foreign Islamic terrorist organizations, particularly al-Qaeda, but in the course of the years since the September 11 terror attacks, the focus has shifted more towards Islamic extremist radicalized individuals and jihadist networks within the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations</span> U.S. State Department division

The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) is a bureau of the United States Department of State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Against Violent Extremism</span>

Against Violent Extremism (AVE) is a global network of former extremists, survivors of violence and interested individuals from the public and private sectors - working together to counter all forms of violent extremism. A partnership between London’s Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Google Ideas and the Gen Next Foundation. AVE's stated aim is to offer a platform for communication, collaboration and a means for activists to find resources and funding for projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violent extremism</span> Extremism perpetrated through violent means

Violent extremism is a form of extremism that condones and enacts violence with ideological or deliberate intent, such as religious or political violence. Violent extremist views often conflate with religious and political violence, and can manifest in connection with a range of issues, including politics, religion, and gender relations.

The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) is an independent think-and-do tank providing multidisciplinary policy advice and practical support focused on prevention, the rule of law and current and emerging threats three important parts of effective counter-terrorism work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter Extremism Project</span> Nonprofit NGO that combats extremist groups

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a non-profit non-governmental organization that combats extremist groups "by pressuring financial support networks, countering the narrative of extremists and their online recruitment, and advocating for strong laws, policies and regulations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic terrorism</span> Terrorism committed in a country by its own natives or nationals, without support from abroad

Domestic terrorism or homegrown terrorism is a form of terrorism in which victims "within a country are targeted by a perpetrator with the same citizenship" as the victims. There are various different definitions of terrorism, with no universal agreement about it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Counter Terrorism Agency</span> Indonesian government department

The National Counter Terrorism Agency is an Indonesian non-ministerial government department that works to prevent terrorism. BNPT is headed by a chief, who is responsible to the President. When it was first launched, the leader of BNPT held the ranking of a civil servant but the Presidential Regulation in 2012 elevated the post of BNPT Chief to the ministerial level.

The U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security was adopted when President Barack Obama signed an executive order on December 19, 2011, 11 years after the United Nations Security Council adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. It specified initiatives and activities that will empower and enlist women and girls in efforts to achieve international peace and security. The U.S. NAP was formally revised in June 2016. On June 11, 2019, the White House released the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, which superseded the National Action Plan.

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) was a US government program established under the Obama administration to counter all violent ideologies held by groups or individuals in the US by engaging communities in the counterterrorism effort and by education programs or counter-messaging. The program worked with community groups such as local governments, police departments, universities, and non-profits. It recruited community leaders, teachers, social workers, and public health providers to help the government in identifying people "at risk" of becoming violent extremists.

Online youth radicalization is the action in which a young individual or a group of people come to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that reject, or undermine the status quo or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of a state, which they may or may not reside in. Online youth radicalization can be both violent or non-violent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonviolent extremism</span>

Nonviolent extremism is the expression of extremist ideas through nonviolent means, without the use of terrorism or political violence. It can be contrasted with violent extremism. Nonviolent extremism manifests from the same ideologies as violent extremism, including right wing extremism, left wing extremism, and religious extremism. Much of the study of nonviolent extremism focuses on its potential to produce or incite violent extremism.

Local Youth Corner Cameroon (LOYOC) is a Cameroonian non-governmental organization founded in 2002 to react on the increase in the socio-political and economic challenges facing young people. LOYOC focuses on youth empowerment in the domain of peacebuilding, healthy living, preventing and countering violent extremism.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States" (PDF). whitehouse.gov . December 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-04– via National Archives.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States" (PDF). whitehouse.gov . August 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-04– via National Archives.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Temple-Raston, Dina (2011-08-03). "White House Unveils Counter-Extremism Plan". NPR. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  4. 1 2 3 Bjelopera, Jerome (2011-11-15). "American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  5. 1 2 "Obama Administration Outlines Extremism Strategy". American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. 2011-08-04. Archived from the original on 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
  6. ↑ "CAIR Backs President's Plan to Fight Violent Extremism". Council on American-Islamic Relations. 2011-08-04. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  7. 1 2 3 Temple-Raston, Dina (2011-12-08). "Officials Detail Plans to Fight Homegrown Terrorism". NPR. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  8. ↑ "King Statement on Obama Administration Violent Extremism Strategy". House Committee on Homeland Security. 2011-08-03. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  9. ↑ "Lieberman, Collins React to Administration Strategy to Countering Violent Extremism". Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 2011-08-03. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  10. 1 2 "Lieberman, Collins React to Administration's Countering Violent Extremism Strategic Implementation Plan". Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  11. 1 2 3 Gaffney, Frank (2011-10-31). "The enemy is inside the wire". Center for Security Policy. Archived from the original on 2011-11-03. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.