WHEN IDEOLOGY TRUMPS LAW ENFORCEMENT…. Newsweek had an item the other day that I found a little startling.
In February, the Missouri Information Analysis Center, one of several “fusion” centers created after 9/11 to share intelligence among local, state and federal agencies, issued a “strategic report” warning about a resurgence of the “modern militia movement.” Last week, on the same day that white supremacist James von Brunn allegedly killed a guard at Washington’s Holocaust Memorial Museum, Missouri’s police chief informed legislators that the fusion center had suspended production of such reports. Why? Outcry from conservative activists, who felt they were being tarred too. […]
They may talk about it less in public now, but law-enforcement and intel officials tell NEWSWEEK they’re quietly scrutinizing threats from the far right just as carefully as those from Islamic extremists.
So, let me get this straight. Law enforcement officials decided, on purpose, to stop preparing reports on potentially dangerous radicals, because conservative activists said scrutiny of extremists made them feel put upon? Conservative activists whine about all kinds of things; shouldn’t law enforcement officials ignore them and focus on real threats?
Thankfully, it appears their fear has subsided, and officials are back to taking these extremists seriously again. Given recent events, that’s a relief. As awful as the tragedies in Kansas and D.C. were, if law-enforcement and intel officials are back to “scrutinizing threats from the far right” without undue fears of conservative criticism, that’s a good thing.
