John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, gave the keynote address at the Brennan Center's symposium Intelligence Collection and Law Enforcement: New Roles, New Challenges.
Radicalization is complex. Yet a thinly-sourced, reductionist view of how people become terrorists has gained unwarranted legitimacy in some counterterrorism circles. Only by analyzing what we know about radicalization and the government’s response to it can we be sure that these reactions are grounded in fact rather than stereotypes and truly advance our efforts to combat terrorism.
With the departure of Glenn Fine as Inspector General, senior officials at the FBI and DOJ, members of Congress, and the American people must take a more active role in demanding accountability and transparancy.
The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations tip the scales too far in favor of relatively unchecked government power, allowing the FBI to sweep too much information about too many innocent people into the government’s view. In so doing, they pose significant threats to Americans’ civil liberties and risk undermining the very counterterrorism efforts they are meant to further.
