A federal government watchdog said Thursday that there is no way to know if President Obama’s “Countering Violent Extremism” program has made the U.S. any safer, six years after it was launched.
The multi-agency initiative began in 2011, and sought to reduce threats from groups with extreme political views, as well as radical Islamist groups like the Islamic State. The effort was intended to provide resources to communities that might be the targets of violent extremists, and also tried to identify people “who may have started down a road to violent extremism.”
But a new report from the Government Accountability Office said there was no way to “determine if the United States is better off today than it was in 2011.”
“This is because no cohesive strategy with measurable outcomes has been established to guide the multi-agency CVE effort,” it said.
The report said that without any plan to measure outcomes, “partner agencies have been left to develop and take their own individual actions without a clear understanding of whether and to what extent their actions will reduce violent extremism in the United States.”
In September of 2016, a representative with the Department of Homeland Security told Congress there essentially was no strategic plan for the overall efforts, which were backed by $10 million dollars.
The Obama administration promoted it as a major part of its plan to protect people from violent actions in the United States. But just two months ago, the Trump administration indicated it sought to revamp the program to focus solely on Islamist extremism, according to Reuters.
