{"id":4633,"date":"2010-07-27T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T04:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/?p=4633"},"modified":"2010-07-30T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T13:54:12","slug":"center-for-security-policy-letter-to-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/?p=4633","title":{"rendered":"Center for Security Policy letter to FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Download PDF version of the letter)<\/a><\/p>\n

July 27, 2010<\/p>\n

Special Agent Alex Turner
\nFBI Norfolk \u2013 Tidewater Joint Terrorism Task Force
\n150 Corporate Blvd
\nNorfolk, VA 23502<\/p>\n

Dear Agent Turner:
\nI write to alert you to a possible violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in which FBI Norfolk and the Tidewater Joint Terrorism Task Force (TJTTF) were apparently the targets of a foreign influence operation. It is our assessment that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was operating as an unregistered foreign agent when, in a July 24 press release, they called upon the FBI and TJTTF to \u201cexplain\u201d why Robert Spencer \u2013 whom they described as \u201ca leader of an anti-Islam hate group\u201d \u2013 was invited to offer training to state and federal law enforcement officers. Spencer, a respected author, blogger, Islam expert and co-founder of Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA) stated in a blog post that he “gave two two-hour seminars on the belief-system of Islamic jihadists to the Tidewater Joint Terrorism Task Force.\u201d We believe that CAIR\u2019s attempt to interfere with the training operations of FBI Norfolk and the TJTTF meets the definition of a political influence operation under the terms of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).<\/p>\n

FARA is a disclosure statute that requires entities acting in the United States as agents of foreign principals in a political capacity to register and to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship.<\/p>\n

Specifically, FARA \u00a7 611 (o) states that foreign agents who engage in any activity to \u201cinfluence any agency or official of the Government of the United States or any section of the public within the United States\u201d must register as a foreign agent and report such activity to the Department of Justice. At the CAIRObservatory.org website (http:\/\/www.cairobservatory.org), we provide documentation showing CAIR has met and coordinated with representatives of foreign principals on more than 30 occasions and engaged in over 70 political influence operations on their behalf. CAIR has failed to report these influence operations.<\/p>\n

In addition, FARA \u00a7 612 (a) (5) requires that a foreign agent report \u201cthe nature and amount of contributions, income, money, or thing of value\u201d that they receive from foreign principals. At the CAIRObservatory.org website we provide documentation showing that CAIR has received more than $6.6 million in cash and loans and more than $50 million in pledges from foreign principals based in Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. CAIR has failed to report these payments.<\/p>\n

FARA \u00a7 618 (a) also states that any foreign agent who willfully violates any provision of the law may be \u201cpunished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.\u201d Complete information on these and other aspects of the FARA code can be found at the Department of Justice website (http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/criminal\/fara\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It is our opinion that the evidence showing that CAIR should register as a foreign agent is conclusive. Hundreds of Americans including elected officials, community groups, corporations and private citizens have been \u2013 and continue to be \u2013 targeted by CAIR. CAIR continues to deny these facts, but as John Adams famously wrote: \u201cFacts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact is that CAIR has a long history of trouble with the law. CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation, the largest terrorism finance trial in America\u2019s history. CAIR is being sued by Muslim, African-American and Hispanic families for defrauding them instead of giving them promised legal help. Four CAIR leaders have been convicted of felonies including terrorism. Only 1% of CAIR\u2019s latest reported revenues actually came from Muslim-American membership dues. And according to the February 2, 2010 edition of the news website Politico.com, \u201cA grand jury that subpoenaed documents relating to the Council on American-Islamic Relations is investigating possible violations of federal laws barring financial transactions with terrorist groups and countries subject to U.S. sanctions, according to a new court filing.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have concluded on the basis of this evidence that CAIR\u2019s influence operations appear to be designed to intimidate all Americans, including Muslim Americans, in ways that endanger the First Amendment and national security. CAIR attempts to silence anyone opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood\u2019s insinuation of Shariah \u2013 the totalitarian doctrine of authoritative Islamic law \u2013 into the United States, with a relentless program of accusations of bias, racism and \u201cIslamophobia.\u201d We urge you to join us in opposing these political influence operations funded by foreign principals.<\/p>\n

The interests of the American people can be served only if CAIR follows the law, registers as a foreign agent with the FARA office, and reports all political and public propaganda initiatives. We ask you to request that the FARA Unit investigate CAIR\u2019s attempted influence operation to interfere with the training operations of FBI Norfolk and the TJTTF. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) is located in the National Security Division (NSD) of the Department of Justice (1400 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20005).<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
\nPresident & CEO<\/p>\n

Attachments:
\nCAIR July 24, 2010 Press Release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Download PDF version of the letter) July 27, 2010 Special Agent Alex Turner FBI Norfolk \u2013 Tidewater Joint Terrorism Task Force 150 Corporate Blvd Norfolk, VA 23502 Dear Agent Turner: I write to alert you to a possible violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in which FBI Norfolk and the Tidewater Joint Terrorism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,224,125,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-115","category-cair-observatory-actions","category-federal-agencies","category-law-enforcement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cairunmasked.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}