October 25, 2016

Rashad Hussain

U.S. Department of Justice

National Security Division

George Selim

The Countering Violent Extremism (“CVE”) Task Force

Director of the Office for Community Partnerships

Department of Homeland Security

Dear both:

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), KARAMAH: Muslim Women

Lawyers For Human Rights, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Sikh Coalition

request an in person meeting with the Department of Justice (“DoJ”) & FBI to discuss the federal

government’s Countering Violent Extremism (“CVE”) programs. While we welcome the recent

decision to suspend the Shared Responsibility Committees (“SRCs”), we remained concerned

that these committees will still be used, either in name or practice, to profile Muslim, Arab, Sikh,

and South Asian Communities.

The SRCs are an FBI intervention program that sought to deputize community leaders to assist

individuals who the FBI believes are “at risk” of becoming violent extremists. Even if law

enforcement is entirely removed from these committees, we remain concerned that intervention

programs like SRCs will continue and will implicate civil liberty concerns and chill

constitutional rights. Moreover, we are also concerned that mental health professionals, lawyers,

and other advocates will be pressured by law enforcement to share confidential information,

much of which is protected from disclosure by various privileges protected under the law. We

seek your assurance that these committees, ad hoc or otherwise, have been abandoned entirely.

In addition to SRCs, we’re also concerned about other government led pre-crime intervention

programming. While we have heard confirmation that there will continue to be government led

interventions, we have not received details of what these interventions are, what they hope to

achieve, or government involvement in local intervention related meetings. We remain

concerned that these programs will be spearheaded by local and state law enforcement, which are

subject to little oversight and violate various civil rights as well.

The aforementioned groups are committed to ensuring that civil rights and civil liberties

protections are implemented in all federal government programs. We respectfully request the

DoJ and FBI to provide the following additional insight and context:

First, we request an in-person meeting with the DoJ and FBI detailing and clarifying all

government led, supported and facilitated CVE programming. Second, we request a written

statement clarifying whether the SRC program was ever implemented and if so, when and where,

and if applicable, the date of suspension and termination. Third, we request information

regarding all CVE programming led, supported or facilitated by state and local law enforcement

of which the DoJ, FBI, and other federal agencies are aware.

The undersigned organizations are committed to working with federal, state and local officials to

uphold civil rights while protecting national security. We thank you for your time and look

forward to your response.

Sincerely,

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), KARAMAH: Muslim Women

Lawyers For Human Rights, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Sikh Coalition