Excerpt:
More than two dozen civil liberties and human rights groups on Friday pressed the White House to make sure anti-terrorism efforts don't infringe on people's ability to freely practice their religion in peace.
Especially given the "current climate of scapegoating and anti-Muslim bigotry," the groups wrote, the Obama administration should be sure to implement policies making it difficult for a future president to use current policies to monitor Muslims.
"It is all too easy to imagine a subsequent administration seizing on CVE [countering violent extremism] programs that are now in development as vehicles for systematic and large-scale profiling, patrolling and surveillance of American Muslim and communities presumed to be Muslim," the 27 organizations wrote in the letter to White House counterterrorism adviser Jen Easterly.