A federal lawsuit has been filed to force the FBI to disclose details of its contacts with Muslim-American groups that pressed the agency to purge counter-terror training materials they deemed offensive to Muslims.
Judicial Watch, a non-partisan government watchdog, wants the agency to reveal documents related to a Feb. 8, 2012, meeting between FBI Director Robert Mueller and representatives of several Muslim-American organizations.
| ‘Our concern is that we have these advocates for terrorists controlling how law enforcement approaches the problem of Islamic terrorism. — Tom Fitton’ |
Among those attending was the head of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 2007 terrorism financing trial.
The lawsuit, announced Monday, also seeks to force the disclosure of materials removed from the FBI training curriculum, the criteria used to judge whether materials were inappropriate, and communications about the issue involving the White House, the Attorney General’s Office, several Islamic groups and any foreign governments.
“Our concern is that we have these advocates for terrorists controlling how law enforcement approaches the problem of Islamic terrorism,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.
“Our concern is how it is that organizations that are subjects of terrorist-related investigations could have high-level meetings with administration officials,” he said.
The FBI began overhauling its training program for counter-terror field agents after media reports last September that some presentations were deemed offensive or inaccurate, including one that asserted devout Muslims are more likely to commit acts of terror.
Under pressure from a variety of Islamic-American groups, the bureau began a review that resulted in about 876 training documents being removed because they were considered inappropriate or inaccurate.
During the review, FBI and Justice Department officials held a series of meetings with Muslim representatives, including the head of ISNA. The February meeting with Mueller was attended by ISNA’s president, Imam Mohamed Magid.
Court documents related to the 2007 trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development identified ISNA as having ties to the terror groups Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. No one from ISNA was charged with any crime.
The FBI has refused to release documents that were stripped from the training curriculum, or to identify the outside experts who set guidelines for making the determination of what was inappropriate. Judicial Watch sought the documents through a Freedom of Information of Act request filed in March. The Washington Examiner also filed a FOIA request for those records.
FBI officials could not be reached Monday for comment.
Mueller told a congressional committee in May that his meeting with ISNA and other Islamic groups to discuss the training issue was part of the bureau’s regular community outreach efforts.
Mark Flatten is a reporter for The Washington Examiner’s special reporting team.
