New internal documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), recently released by America First Legal (AFL), are stoking concerns about government targeting of conservative Americans, according to a press release.
The documents were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and disclose program details from the Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP).
An internal memo, dated January 29, 2021, outlines a program that appears to profile certain political views.
The memo describes a “Choose Your Own Adventure” style game, where individuals make “real-life decisions” based on “radicalization” scenarios.
This game features characters like “Ann,” a “middle-aged pro-life advocate,” and “Courtney,” a “budding conspiracy theorist.”
Notably, there’s also “Pete,” the “Anti-gov/authority Abusive Parent/Stepdad.”
Reed D. Rubinstein, America First Legal Senior Counselor and Director of Investigations, expressed deep concern over the DHS’s tactics, stating, “The Department of Homeland Security’s transformation into a domestic intelligence organization and a Stasi-like Deep State internal security apparatus is alarming.”
He continued, “It is a very long way from ‘see something, say something’ regarding an unattended suitcase at the airport to profiling patriotic and politically conservative Americans as abusive parents and domestic terrorists because they oppose abortion on demand and voted for former President Trump. The agency is out of control.”
AFL also released documents revealing a proposed “Family First” photoshoot planned by the DHS, intended to “show every day people doing everyday tasks… to emphasize that domestic terrorism can happen to anyone, but that anyone can also help prevent it.”
The photoshoot planning documents stated that they aimed to feature diverse race, gender, and cultural individuals to match the distribution of the United States based on the most recent Census.
The AFL asserts that these documents reveal government overreach and misuse of taxpayer dollars to expand its capabilities to label innocent people as “extremists” or “domestic terrorists.”
Rubinstein’s statement underscores this concern, directly calling out the DHS for what he perceives as an alarming transformation into a “domestic intelligence organization.”
These recent revelations have set the stage for a heated debate about the role of the DHS and its methods for preventing domestic terrorism.