Lights, Camera, Executive Action

January 28, 2021

 — THIS WEEK IN DC —

House of Reps formally deliver Articles of Impeachment, citing insurrection, to Senate; Janet Yellen sworn in as first woman as Secretary of Treasury. She was also the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve; Senate leaders strike deal to delay Trump’s impeachment trial; Tony Blinken sworn in as S.O.S.; Bipartisan Senate duo crafts censure resolution that seeks to bar Trump from office; Pentagon to include climate risk in war games; CDC reports 16 states have used less than half of their distributed vaccine doses; Pentagon halts Trump appointments to advisory boards; Pelosi warns that not only is there a threat outside the Capitol, but also internally from other lawmakers  

 

 In This Issue 

  • First of Its Kind: Biden’s Whole-of-Government Executive Order to Advance Racial Equity
  • Tackling Domestic Violent Extremism: The Path Forward for the Biden Administration
  • Saima Mohsin to be 1st Muslim US attorney next month
  • The risks of ignoring domestic terrorists are huge, ex CIA director says

 


 

 Featured 

Photographer: Ken Cedeno/CNP/Bloomberg

 

First of Its Kind: Biden’s Whole-of-Government Executive Order to Advance Racial Equity

By: Prema Rahman, MPAC's Human Security Program Manager

Amongst the tidal wave of executive actions President Biden signed on his first day in office, one in particular is historic in nature: the Executive Order (EO) On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (aka the Racial Equity EO). Through this EO, Biden directs the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC), headed by Susan Rice, to coordinate and advance racial equity throughout the federal government. In line with the order’s general intent, in Section 10 of the directive, Biden also revokes Trump’s controversial Executive Order 13950, which prohibited federal diversity and inclusion training. This marks the first time a president has enacted a sweeping measure to directly redress racial inequity and discrimination across every agency in the federal government, and it makes clear that racial justice will be a priority in the Biden presidency.

Read the full article

 


Image credit - Anokarina via Flickr

 

Tackling Domestic Violent Extremism: The Path Forward for the Biden Administration

By: M Baqir Mohie El-Deen, MPAC Policy Program Manager

While many have only recently been awakened to the Domestic Violent Extremist (DVE) threat to our nation following the attack on Capitol Hill, numerous comprehensive studies and reports have been conducted by various organizations around the nation for years now, all concluding that America is in danger from domestic violent extremists. Back in 2014, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism found that domestic, anti-government radicals were considered the most serious threat. Research from the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University came to a similar conclusion. A year later, University of Massachusetts Lowell scholar, John Horgan, told the New York Times that “there’s an acceptance now [among experts] of the idea that the threat from Muslim political violence in the United States has been overblown. And there’s a belief that the threat of right-wing, anti-government violence has been underestimated.” MPAC’s 2019 white paper on White Supremacy, hailed by Rep. Adam Schiff as a must-read by every legislator, gave the same warning. 

Read the full article

 

 

 Good to Know 

 

 

—THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Jan 25, 2011 - Egyptian Revolution of 2011 begins with a series of street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, labor strikes and violent clashes; Jan 25, 1981 - 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived back in US; Jan 27, 1976 - Morocco-Algeria battles in West Sahara; Jan 28, 1933 The name "Pakistan" is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali and gradually accepted by Muslims in the Indian sub-continent; Jan 28, 2013 - Iran’s Pishgam rocket successfully completes a return trip of sending a monkey into space; Jan 28, 1099 - 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria; Jan 29, 2017 - Attack on mosque in Quebec kills 6 and injures 17, shooter is French-Canadian student

Jan 25, 1961 - 1st live, nationally televised presidential news conference with JFK; Jan 25, 1890 - National Afro-American League founded in Chicago by Timothy Thomas Fortune, one of earliest civil rights organizations in America; Jan 25, 1877 - Congress establishes the Electoral Commission to determine the disputed presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden; Jan 26, 2005 - Condoleeza Rice is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, the first African American woman to hold the post; Jan 27, 1825 - US Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day OK), clearing the way for the forced relocation "Trail of Tears"; Jan 27, 2017 - Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel to the US for 7 mostly Muslim countries and suspending admission for refugees; Jan 28, 1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, 7 crew members killed; Jan 28, 1915 - US President Woodrow Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates

 

 

 

 

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