Now They’re All Card-Carrying Members of the ACLU

Conservative blogger hysteria over the DHS report that warns local police departments about right-wing extremist groups and individuals continues unabated. John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, is demanding that Janet Napolitano apologize to veterans because the report said that veterans are potentially vulnerable to recruitment by right-wing extremists, and the national commander of the American Legion wrote Napolitano a letter in protest. Of course, it only makes  sense that veterans as a group would be vulnerable to recruitment by extremists, since extremists will always try to recruit psychologically vulnerable people, and who is more psychologically vulnerable as a group than combat veterans trying to readjust to civilian society while dealing, in many cases, with mental health issues such as PTSD and depression?

As the Washington Times, which broke the story about the DHS report, points out in the last paragraph of the second screen of a follow-up article, the DHS published a similar report about left-wing extremists in January — with no protests or even note taken by conservative bloggers or members of Congress then.

The assessment is not the first Homeland Security product to examine threats based on political extremism. In January, the department sent law enforcement officials an assessment of cyberterrorism threats from such left-leaning sources as environmental, animal rights and anarchist groups.

Napolitano responded to the uproar today:

The primary mission of this department is to prevent terrorist attacks on our nation. The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States. I was briefed on the general topic, which is one that struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution.

Let me be very clear: we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States. We don’t have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence.

We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not – nor will we ever – monitor ideology or political beliefs. We take seriously our responsibility to protect the civil rights and liberties of the American people, including subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal and external sources.

I am aware of the letter from American Legion National Commander Rehbein, and my staff has already contacted him to set up a meeting next week once I return from travel. I will tell him face-to-face that we honor veterans at DHS and employ thousands across the department, up to and including the Deputy Secretary.

As the department responsible for protecting the homeland, DHS will continue to work with its state and local partners to prevent and protect against the potential threat to the United States associated with any rise in violent extremist activity.

Sanity sometimes comes from the unlikeliest places — in this case from Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs, and AJ Strata at Strata-Sphere. The latter compares enraged conservatives to a lynch mob, and Charles writes:

The hyperventilating continues, and now the Department of Homeland Security has been forced to respond to the flood of distorted stories.

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