Report Assesses MPAC’s Counter-Terror Commitment

Marilyn Stern, a Masters candidate at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, has written an extensive report of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) recent counter-terrorism paper, “Building Bridges to Strengthen America.” Her critiques of and response to the MPAC can be found here.

From the abstract:

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is a U.S. Islamic advocacy organization that aims to inform decision makers and shape public opinion. MPAC’s political influence upon U.S. government agencies has given MPAC access to the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, FBI and the Treasury Department, as well as members of Congress. Recently, MPAC addressed law enforcement representatives at a counterterrorism conference in Southern California on “Muslim American Perspective on Radicalization.” Although MPAC professes support for U.S. counterterrorism initiatives, it has a consistent history of putting law enforcement on the defensive by claiming civil rights violations in the Muslim community. MPAC’s critique of law enforcement initiatives, as well as its defense of Islamist organizations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, should motivate decision makers to examine MPAC’s objectives with a greater degree of scrutiny.

In April 2010, MPAC released a policy paper, Building Bridges to Strengthen America: Forging an Effective Counterterrorism Enterprise between Muslim Americans & Law Enforcement, which recommended that law enforcement emphasize community-oriented policing (COPS) methods when dealing with the American Muslim community. COPS is an effective policing method when it applies to the entire community, but it impairs policing efforts when one group like MPAC seeks exclusive treatment.

MPAC’s report, Building Bridges, sets its sights on local and federal law enforcement, which is the front line of U.S. national security. Contrary to the report’s title, claiming that its recommendations will strengthen America, MPAC’s superficial endorsement of methods to address radicalization, in fact, weakens American law enforcement and intelligence operations and furthers the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood global strategy to undermine the West.

See Stern’s full report here.
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