Foster mother had 5 abuse complaints

By Garrett Therolf

March 18, 2010

The South Los Angeles foster mother under investigation in the fatal beating of a 2-year-old child had been the subject of five previous child-abuse complaints, including one substantiated allegation that she had severely neglected her own biological child in 2002, confidential records show.

Kiana Barker's troubled history, coming in the wake of disclosures about her live-in boyfriend's criminal record, has raised questions about how she could have been approved last year as a foster parent by child-welfare authorities. Under state rules, both adults should have been disqualified from caring for or living with foster children.

Barker's home was supposed to have been a refuge for Viola Vanclief, born in 2007 to a schizophrenic mother who proved dangerously neglectful when off her medications. Instead, confidential child-welfare records reviewed by The Times show, Viola was moved from one high-risk home to another.

After Viola's March 4 death, Barker told investigators that the toddler had been trapped in a bed frame and that she accidentally struck the child with a hammer while trying to free her, according to coroner's records. Viola had multiple bruises on her body, the records say. The death was deemed a homicide caused by blunt-force trauma.

Barker and James Julian were arrested on suspicion of murder, then released after prosecutors sent the case back to the police and coroner for further investigation.

Neither Barker nor Julian could be reached for comment.

Two weeks after Viola's death, child-welfare officials still are unable to say why Barker's past had not ruled her out as a foster parent.

"I'm still in the information-gathering phase," said Trish Ploehn, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services director. "I'm still pulling the state regs to determine who was responsible to assess the history and who was responsible to follow up following the subsequent hotline calls. It's a complicated and complex analysis."

Jeff Hiratsuka, head of the state Community Care Licensing Division, which is responsible for licensing foster parents, was unable to explain why the 2002 substantiated-neglect probe did not lead his workers to disqualify Barker when she applied in 2005 for a child-care license and in 2009 for foster-care certification.

Hiratsuka said it was unclear whether Barker's history had not been reported to the state database by county workers, or if it had been reported and overlooked by his staff.

"We need to gather more information," said Lizelda Lopez, a spokeswoman for the state agency.

Reached Wednesday, Viola's sister, 23-year-old Sonja Vanclief of Columbus, Ohio, said the family regretted that Viola had ever been taken away from her mother, Olivia. "These people should go and do whatever time," she said, referring to Barker and Julian. "Viola was a baby and she was defenseless, and they were supposed to protect her."

As for the county, "they are sloppy," said Sonja Vanclief, who was herself placed in foster care as a child.

Viola first came to the attention of Ploehn's department shortly after her birth when child-welfare investigators determined that her schizophrenic mother was not taking her medication, according to the records. Viola was briefly removed from the biological mother's care and then, as is common practice, reunified with her as the county tried to help the woman care for her infant.

But seven months later, the investigators determined that the mother was still not taking her medication, was using cocaine and had violently attacked another person. The county initiated court proceedings to terminate the mother's parental rights, the records show.

The infant was later placed with Barker, 30, who has two children of her own. It is unclear whether county social workers at that time were aware of the five previous complaints against Barker.

The records show, however, that county Children and Family Services investigators substantiated the severe neglect charge in 2002 -- a finding that should have placed Barker on the California attorney general's database consulted by employers and regulators to vet foster parents and other child-care providers.

Details of the 2002 case and others were not contained in the records reviewed by The Times.

Over subsequent years, callers continued to report abuse or neglect by Barker but social workers were unable to substantiate the complaints, the records show. In 2005, someone accused Barker of emotionally abusing a child and investigators deemed the allegation unfounded. In July 2008, a caller alleged neglect of two foster children -- a charge deemed inconclusive. One month later, Barker was accused of general neglect and sexual abuse of foster children. Investigators determined the neglect charge to be inconclusive and the sexual-abuse charge unfounded. Three months later, investigators concluded another complaint of sexual abuse of a foster child was unfounded.

Under state rules, the inconclusive cases should have been entered into the state database and might have precluded a state license.

In addition, the records show, Barker's boyfriend went undetected in Barker's home over the course of the couple's three-year relationship. Julian, who is known as "Big Bird," is also under investigation in Viola's death, and was convicted in 1992 of armed robbery -- a fact that should have disqualified him from living in a home certified for foster care.

When Barker applied to become a foster parent, state regulators apparently did not discover his presence -- despite the three 2008 child-abuse investigations that should have documented everyone living in the home, the records show.

The foster care agency that Barker worked for, United Care Inc., also had a record of problems. The agency, which contracts with the county and oversees 88 homes with 216 foster children, repeatedly has been cited in recent years after caregivers choked, hit and whipped their charges with a belt. In 2007, a foster child under the agency's care drowned while swimming unsupervised in a pool.

Viola's death comes as Ploehn's department is facing scrutiny in the deaths of more than 30 children who passed through the county's child-welfare system over the last two years. All but two cases have involved children killed while in the custody of their own parents.

A series of reforms has been initiated by Ploehn and the county Board of Supervisors, but Viola's death indicates that communication among key personnel remains a serious problem.

It also shows that the L.A. County system sometimes affords abused children no good alternatives.

"The options are few and they are not well-researched or investigated, and we are not getting the right people to care for these children," said Jorja Leap, a child-welfare expert at UCLA. "My 16-year-old daughter was subjected to more scrutiny to obtain her driver's license than this woman underwent to become a foster parent."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-child-death18-2010mar18,0,7109149,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mexico border city relives nightmare of violence

By Ken Ellingwood

March 18, 2010

Reporting from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

Residents of this scruffy border town thought they had seen the worst of the violence five years ago, when rival drug gangs staged wild gunfights in the streets and a new police chief was slain just hours after being sworn in.

The warfare gave way to an uneasy calm after one of the warring groups took de facto control. The number of deaths here ebbed, even as violence soared out of control in other border cities, such as Ciudad Juarez, about 500 miles to the northwest.

Now, like a recurring nightmare, dread again hangs over Nuevo Laredo amid a new bloody feud that has ignited widespread fear of a return to the earlier carnage.

Dozens of people have been killed along the border in recent weeks in clashes between northeastern Mexico's most powerful gangs: the Gulf cartel and onetime allies known as the Zetas. Both are based here in Tamaulipas -- a pistol-shaped state that hugs the Texas border and Gulf of Mexico.

Adding to the potential for skyrocketing violence, the Gulf cartel has reportedly reached out for help against the Zetas by enlisting the heavily armed trafficking group headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, based in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

U.S. officials say they have yet to confirm the alliance, but take the reports seriously. Such an alignment would reshuffle Mexico's drug underworld and could produce prolonged and bitter warfare here.

"You'd hate to have that, where Sinaloa does reinforce Gulf or Gulf is able to sustain itself in a way that this conflict between them just keeps going on and on and escalating," said a senior U.S. law enforcement official in Mexico City.

If so, Tamaulipas would be the latest battle zone along the U.S.-Mexico border. In Ciudad Juarez, a turf war between the Sinaloa group and a locally based cartel has left more than 4,000 people dead since early 2008. Last weekend, gunmen in Juarez killed two U.S. citizens -- a consular employee and her husband -- and a Mexican man married to another staff member at the U.S. Consulate there.

Here in Tamaulipas, friction between the Gulf group and the ultra-violent Zetas, which once served as its armed wing, erupted into open fighting after a Zeta leader, Victor Perez Mendoza, was slain in the border city of Reynosa in January, apparently by a member of the Gulf group.

Violent jousting may also have been stoked by the closed-door sentencing of the former leader of the Gulf cartel, Osiel Cardenas. Cardenas was sentenced on drug and money-laundering convictions Feb. 24 in a U.S. federal court in Houston to 25 years in prison, a surprisingly light sentence that has led many people to conclude that he gave authorities information about his former colleagues.

In recent weeks, a broad triangle along the Texas border from Nuevo Laredo east to the Gulf of Mexico and south into neighboring Nuevo Leon state has seen hours-long shootouts, grenade attacks on police stations and cases of gunmen commandeering cars from motorists to use as roadblocks against foes.

Residents in the area of Matamoros and Reynosa, near the Gulf of Mexico, have reported convoys carrying armed men and emblazoned with the letters "CDG," the Spanish initials of the Gulf cartel. Banners promising to extinguish the Zetas were signed by the "Cartels of Mexico United Against the Zetas."

Officials and some analysts said the feud has the potential to draw in even more Mexican trafficking groups, such as La Familia in the western state of Michoacan.

Amid a spate of shootings in late February, the U.S. Consulate in the northern industrial hub of Monterrey warned Americans to avoid traveling to Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa. It has since advised against traveling the main highways between Monterrey and those two cities.

In addition, the Texas Department of Public Safety has advised college students not to venture into Mexican border cities over spring break.

In Nuevo Laredo, a major crossing for cargo trucks, the clashes have revived frightening memories of the rampant killing that erupted when the Sinaloa group made a push for control. During the worst of the mayhem in 2005, gangs traded automatic weapons fire in the streets in broad daylight.

The conflict turned Tamaulipas into a forerunner of the extreme violence that has raked many spots around Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched his government's war against cartels in December 2006. More than 18,000 people have since died in the drug-fueled slaughter.

The relative calm in Tamaulipas since 2005 was attributed by residents to an agreement that left it under the control of the Gulf cartel and its Zeta allies, who have used extortion and kidnapped businessmen and muzzled local reporters through threats.

Now, Nuevo Laredo is on edge again, a feeling expressed in lowered voices, sentences that trail off and vague, fear-laced references to "they" and "them."

"It is very easy to scare people who have lived for years under threat from el narco ," said Gustavo Rodriguez Vega, the Roman Catholic bishop in Nuevo Laredo. "If someone says, 'They're coming,' it scares everyone."

Residents say their plight is made worse by a lack of reliable information. Local news organizations, which for years have censored themselves for fear of angering drug bosses, are not reporting on the recent violence, including shootouts that were widely witnessed.

"We can't publish anything," said one newspaper executive.

In Reynosa, about 125 miles to the southeast, two Mexico City-based journalists were seized and beaten two weeks ago. At least five other border-area journalists are missing, their colleagues say, and a radio reporter died under suspicious circumstances. Authorities said he succumbed to a diabetic coma, but colleagues say he was kidnapped and tortured, according to Reporters Without Borders, a press advocacy group.

Tamaulipas residents have been barraged by terrifying rumors -- many of them unfounded -- delivered via e-mail, text message, Twitter and Facebook.

Parents across Nuevo Laredo raced to take their children out of school in late February after word went out of an impending gun battle, a rumor that proved untrue. A separate report, also false, said the city's mayor, Ramon Garza, had been assassinated.

Garza, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which dominates the state, blamed the cascade of untruths on an effort by organized crime or political opponents "to destabilize and generate mistrust in the public" during an election year. "This was manufactured," he said in an interview.

The Tamaulipas state government has added a breaking-news feature to its website, listing incidents that are officially confirmed. But many residents distrust what they see as spin control. They swap tips by e-mail and watch anonymously posted YouTube videos showing the aftermaths of recent shootouts: charred, bullet-riddled cars abandoned next to carpets of spent bullet casings.

"Rumor, that's how everyone is getting information," said a Nuevo Laredo restaurant owner, gazing over a room of empty tables at lunch hour. He said customers have stopped coming amid the recent violence.

Nearby, machine gun-toting soldiers stood guard on the roof of a funeral home where the bodies of four gunmen were said to be stored. The troops appeared to be guarding against a possible raid by hit men to seize comrades' bodies.

Some analysts say the latest clashes in northern Mexico may yet amount to a relatively brief jostling for position in the aftermath of the Cardenas sentencing.

Alberto Islas, a Mexico City-based security expert, compared the feuding to a corporate boardroom tussle. He predicted that the Gulf cartel and the Zetas would soon make amends and get back to the lucrative business of smuggling drugs to a hungry U.S. market.

"Like businessmen, they are negotiating," Islas said. "Here they kill people. That's the difference."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-mexico-border18-2010mar18,0,3947240,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Online postings warn of another Va. Tech attack

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech is urging calm as e-mails and Internet postings originating in Italy threaten another attack on campus.

Though police do not believe the threats are credible, President Charles Steger said in an e-mail to faculty and students Wednesday that classes will be held Thursday with additional security on campus.

Authorities investigated similar threats earlier this month and in October and believe the new posts are from the same person.

Virginia Tech was the scene of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history in April 2007. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people on campus, then committed suicide.

Virginia State Police and the FBI are assisting in the investigation.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35924909/ns/us_news/print/1/displaymode/1098/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3:32 PM PDT, March 17, 2010

The decomposing bodies of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and his pilot are discovered wrapped in plastic bags at a ranch about 60 miles from the Guadalajara streets where they were kidnapped by the cartel controlling drug trafficking in central Mexico. The agent's corpse bears traces of the drugs a doctor administered to keep him alive during some 30 hours of interrogation, as his torturers crushed his jaw, ribs and windpipe, and drilled a hole into his skull. "We are in a war and cannot accept that Enrique Camarena died in vain," the U.S. ambassador says.

That was 25 years ago. Last weekend, a U.S. consular official, her husband and the husband of another consulate employee were fatally shot after attending a children's birthday party in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called the killings "brutal, unconscionable and unforgivable." This was another crime in a different city controlled by a different cartel. But it is all part of the same war of attrition that has been underway for more than a quarter of a century. What progress do the United States and Mexico have to show for it? Drug consumption in the U.S. has continued unabated, and the violence has only increased.

In the first 2 1/2 months of this year, nearly 500 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez's drug violence, many of them bystanders to the battles among competing drug gangs and between cartels and government troops. That's in addition to the more than 2,600 killings there last year -- not across the globe in Baghdad or Kabul, but in a city on our border. The violence has driven out a quarter of Juarez's residents in the last two years.

We don't yet know whether consulate official Lesley Enriquez or her companions were personally targeted or if perhaps traffickers wanted to send a generic message to U.S. and Mexican officials. The Aztecs gang, lowly foot soldiers for the Juarez cartel, is suspected in the slayings.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of troops to Juarez in recent years, but since the killing of 15 youths at a teenager's birthday party in January set off a wave of protests by parents, he has visited the city three times and promised an infusion of money for social programs -- a kind of counterinsurgency program designed to draw unemployed toughs and gunmen away from the cartels. We hope this broader approach will have more success. The U.S. government must continue to work with Calderon not only to fight the traffickers, but to create jobs, strengthen government institutions and professionalize a legal system sadly overburdened by the need to bring the killers of Enriquez and so many others to justice.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-ed-mexico18-2010mar18,0,2276729,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Wall Street Journal

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Than 40 Detroit Schools to Close in June

DETROIT—Doors are expected to shut on more than a quarter of Detroit's 172 public schools in June as the district fights through steadily declining enrollment and a budget deficit of more than $219 million, an emergency financial manager said Wednesday.

Three aging, traditional and underpopulated high schools would be among the 44 proposed closures. Another six schools are to be closed in June 2011, followed by seven more a year later, emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said Wednesday. This summer's closings also include a support building.

The proposed closures are part of a $1 billion, five-year plan to shrink a struggling school district while improving education, test scores and student safety in a city whose population has declined with each decade. The 2010 U.S. Census is expected to show that fewer than 900,000 people now live in Detroit.

District data show full-time, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment has decreased from about 164,500 in 2002-03 to 87,700 for the current school year. Enrollment is projected to dip to 56,500 in 2014-15.

Fewer than half the classroom seats in dozens of buildings are filled.

"This creates a leaner, smarter DPS by taking into account citywide demographic trends," Mr. Bobb said. "We're still going to grow the district. We're going to do it realistically."

Other cities face similar woes. The Kansas City, Mo., school district announced plans last week to shut down nearly half its schools by the start of classes in the fall.

Mr. Bobb already had ordered 29 Detroit schools closed before the start of classes last fall. The district closed 35 buildings about three years ago.

Several community meetings to get input from parents will be held before final decisions on the schools' fates are made in late April.

Many of the buildings eventually will be demolished, while others may be sold. The plan also calls for renovations to some to accommodate newer programs and more students.

Some new and renovated schools will house grade levels from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. Others will educate students starting in pre-kindergarten through high school. But new building configurations will ensure younger students don't encounter older students, Mr. Bobb said.

Several collegiate-style campuses containing separate buildings for various grade levels also will be created.

Thousands of students will be forced to transfer to open schools, and that's expected to anger parents. But Mr. Bobb said he hoped to convince them that the closures, along with a recently released five-year plan that calls for more rigorous academics, were best for the district.

The facilities plan will be implemented in two phases. The first is funded by a voter-approved bond sale of $500.5 million. The second calls for voter approval on a second $500 million bond sale "`assuming citizens take an active role in a new bond measure in the future,'' Mr. Bobb said.

It's not known if Bobb will be around for the start of the plan's second phase. He was appointed by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm last March to straighten out the district's finances. His contract ends in March 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704743404575127733339563538.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5#printMode

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

E-Verify: Truth in Numbers

• 93.8 percent of workers screened by E-Verify were authorized for employment—and the system instantly and accurately confirmed more than 99 percent of these eligible workers.
  
  
• The remaining 6.2 percent were not eligible for employment. Out of this estimated 6.2 percent, approximately half were told they are work authorized when they were not—just 3.3 percent of the overall population screened by E-Verify.
  
  
• To be clear, this means that only an estimated 3.3 percent of all workers screened by E-Verify were incorrectly told they were work authorized.
  

United States and Finland Sign Agreement to Prevent and Combat Crime

Release Date: March 17, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute today joined Finnish Interior Minister Anne Holmlund to sign a Preventing and Combating Crime (PCC) Agreement—allowing for the enhanced exchange of biometric and biographic data to bolster counterterrorism and law enforcement efforts in both the United States and Finland while protecting individual privacy.

“Today's agreement symbolizes our joint resolve to combat terrorism and transnational crime and gives us important new tools to fight those common threats,” said Attorney General Holder. “This agreement is a powerful reaffirmation that we will meet these challenges shoulder-to-shoulder.”

“Close collaboration with our international partners is critical to ensuring the safety and security of the American people,” said Deputy Secretary Lute. “This agreement between the United States and Finland strengthens our mutual efforts to combat terrorism, share vital law enforcement information, and facilitate lawful travel and trade between our nations.”

Under the agreement, investigators from the United States and Finland will use new procedures to better identify known terrorists and criminals during investigations and other law enforcement activities. The agreement outlines processes for sharing vital information to help ensure the protection of citizens and help prevent threats to public security.

To date, the United States has strengthened ties with 13 international partners by signing similar agreements to prevent and combat crime with Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy and nine recent entrants to the Visa Waiver Program. These agreements—negotiated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State—help to prevent individuals who commit crimes in one signatory country from continuing illicit acts in another and reaffirm the United States' commitment to the reciprocal partnerships that advance the safety and security of the United States and its allies.

Last week, DHS also announced the designation of Greece as a member of VWP—strengthening passenger information sharing and ensuring strict security standards while streamlining travel for Greek citizens visiting the United States. Finland is already a VWP member, and today's agreement further strengthens its compliance with the program's high security standards.

Today's agreement builds on DHS' emphasis on collaborative international action to prevent terrorists from boarding commercial aircraft. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano recently returned from meetings with top officials from the Asia/Pacific region and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Tokyo—the third in a series of major international meetings intended to build consensus on enhancing global aviation security.

Following the meetings in Tokyo, Secretary Napolitano signed a joint declaration on a way forward to strengthen the international civil aviation system through enhanced information collection and sharing, cooperation on technological development, and modernized aviation security standards with Australia, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Secretary Napolitano also signed similar joint declarations to strengthen the international civil aviation system with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama on Feb. 17, and with the European Union on Jan. 21.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1268857871775.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Remarks at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center

Release Date: March 17, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Glynco, Ga.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today visited the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Ga., to observe a demonstration of a flying-while-armed training for law enforcement and deliver remarks about FLETC's role in training law enforcement agents and officers from dozens of federal, state, local and tribal agencies in order to help keep Americans and their communities safe and secure.

During her remarks, Secretary Napolitano discussed the diverse training FLETC provides to law enforcement professionals throughout the world—using advanced technology, real-life simulations, research and instruction to provide the latest tools and skills to guard against terrorism and other threats, secure U.S. borders, protect the traveling public and build more ready and resilient communities.

She highlighted the tactical flying-while-armed program—a simulation that has provided more than 25,000 law enforcement officers and agents with the training to detect, deter and defeat potential terrorist acts aboard aircraft since 2004.

Secretary Napolitano also discussed her visit to Tokyo last week—the third in a series of major international meetings intended to build consensus on enhancing global aviation security—where she met with top officials from the Asia/Pacific region and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to discuss ways to bolster global aviation security.

Following the meetings in Tokyo, Secretary Napolitano signed a joint declaration on a way forward to strengthen the international civil aviation system through enhanced information collection and sharing, cooperation on technological development, and modernized aviation security standards with Australia, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Secretary Napolitano also signed similar joint declarations to strengthen the international civil aviation system with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama on Feb. 17, and with the European Union on Jan. 21.

FLETC serves 88 federal agencies—including the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Protective Service, the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and five other DHS agencies—as well as many state, local, tribal, and international partners. FLETC headquarters in Glynco trains tens of thousands of students, including 67,000 in fiscal year 2009, who participate in consolidated training programs to better protect our nation and critical infrastructure.

For more information, visit www.fletc.gov .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1268852039365.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Working with Communities to Disrupt Terror Plots"

Release Date: March 17, 2010

Cannon House Office Building
(Remarks as Prepared)

Chairwoman Harman, Ranking Member McCaul, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today as the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) for the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At your request, my testimony will be about DHS's engagement with diverse ethnic and religious communities, focusing on my office's activities and giving particular attention to our outreach and communication with American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, Somali, and South Asian communities. Other offices within DHS—the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Transportation Security Administration, the Office of Policy, and others—have not only participated in CRCL's engagement activities but also run their own events with these communities. But CRCL's program in this area is the most extensive, and my testimony will emphasize CRCL's activities.

Congress established my position, reporting directly to the Secretary, to, among other things, “assist the Secretary, directorates, and offices of the Department to develop, implement, and periodically review Department policies and procedures to ensure that the protection of civil rights and civil liberties is appropriately incorporated into Department programs and activities,” and to “review and assess information concerning abuses of civil rights, civil liberties, and profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, or religion, by employees and officials of the Department.” 6 U.S.C. § 345(a). Both of these functions are improved by—even depend upon—our engagement with diverse communities.

Our engagement efforts involve encouraging all Americans to take an active role in their government, and ensuring that the government is responsive to and protects the rights of all Americans. I want to be clear that engaging communities – soliciting their views, explaining our policies, and seeking to address any complaints or grievances they may have – is a basic part of good and responsible government. Although our activities do contribute to the Department's mission of countering violent extremism; the linkage is indirect Although we can and should collaborate with community leaders to address this shared problem, “countering violent extremism” is neither the principal reason we engage these communities nor the lens through which we view this engagement. The Department continues to evaluate what other activities it can engage in to counter violent extremism, and my office plays a key role in that ongoing policy discussion. I would also like to note that my office has no operational role in disrupting terror plots, and our engagement activities do not involve source development or intelligence collection.

Since starting in my position at DHS on Jan, 25, 2010, I have led a roundtable bringing together American Muslim, Arab, Sikh, Somali, and South Asian leaders from around the country with officials from DHS and the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), for a very enlightening discussion about the threat posed to those communities by terrorist attempts to recruit their members. The next day the Secretary's Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) hosted a session, in which I participated, with the same leaders about building a rapid response information network to communicate with the community partners in the event of an attack.

Secretary Napolitano joined us for an hour-long question-and-answer session and lent her public support to ongoing dialogue involving the Department's senior leadership. I also led the DHS delegation to a bi-monthly national roundtable involving American Arab, Muslim, Sikh and South Asian leaders sponsored by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and chaired local roundtables in Chicago and Detroit involving community leaders and numerous federal agencies. In addition, I put together a session for Transportation Security Administration officials and Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders to discuss Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanning machines and religious physical modesty prescriptions. I will also participate in what is known as the Transatlantic Initiative, a bi-national exchange involving British and American Pakistani and Muslim communities and their governments; my office is the U.S. interagency lead on this initiative.

Gatherings like these provide an excellent opportunity for government officials and their agencies to learn about the concerns of diverse communities. The community leaders we engage with likewise learn useful information—for example, our Chicago meeting included presentations on the privacy protections included as part of TSA's use of AIT scanners and on CBP's “Trusted Traveler” program, which facilitates expedited international travel for preapproved, low risk travelers through dedicated lanes and kiosks.

This kind of work is strongly supported by the Administration, including DHS leadership. Secretary Napolitano has established open and responsive government as a top priority for DHS, and these efforts align closely with that priority. As she explained in 2009, in written testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, “It is important to note that such engagement with the many key groups with which CRCL holds dialogues—such as Arab and Somali American communities, as well as Muslim and Sikh leaders—is important in and of itself as a matter of civil rights protection and smart, effective law enforcement. But by helping communities more fully engage with their government, DHS is also preempting alienation and creating buy-in to the broader shared responsibility of homeland security.”

Our engagement efforts build crucial channels of communication, both educating us about the concerns of communities affected by DHS activities and giving those communities reliable information about policies and procedures. They build trust by facilitating resolution of legitimate grievances; they reinforce a sense of shared American identity and community; and they demonstrate the collective ownership of the homeland security project. I thank you for the opportunity to share with you our extensive work in this area.

The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) carries out four key functions to integrate civil rights and civil liberties into Department activities:

• Advising Department leadership, personnel, and partners about civil rights and civil liberties issues, ensuring respect for civil rights and civil liberties in policy decisions and implementation of those decisions.
  
  
• Communicating with individuals and communities whose civil rights and civil liberties may be affected by Department activities, informing them about policies and avenues of redress, and promoting appropriate attention within the Department to their experiences and concerns.
  
  
• Investigating and resolving civil rights and civil liberties complaints filed by the public.
  
  
• Leading the Department's equal employment opportunity programs and promoting personnel diversity and merit system principles.
  

CRCL devotes substantial effort to engage a variety of diverse ethnic and religious communities. The work we do with American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities is part and parcel of a much broader effort to ensure that all communities in this country are, and feel, active participants in the homeland security effort. An example is our engagement efforts related to DHS immigration and border security policies. We hold quarterly meetings with a broadbased non-governmental organization (NGO) coalition of national civil rights and immigrant rights organizations; have established an inter-agency Immigrant Worker Roundtable to bring together DHS components, other federal agencies, and NGOs; and facilitate an immigration Incident Coordination Call, which provides immigrant community leaders with vital information about CBP and ICE enforcement posture during emergencies. In the past it has been used only to prevent loss of life by encouraging immigrant communities to evacuate dangerous areas during hurricanes by alleviating undue fear of enforcement. We also participate in engagement activities of other DHS components; over the past several months, for example, my staff served as the designated facilitators for extended stakeholder meetings about CBP's Southwest Border activities. We carry out the same types of efforts in non-immigration areas as well; for example participated in a workshop last week for faith-based and community groups involved in disaster response and recovery.

Engagement Activities with American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian Communities . CRCL is far from the only DHS office that conducts outreach efforts involving Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities. To provide just a few examples, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has held Naturalization Information Sessions in these communities, and has published its guide “Welcome to the United States” in fourteen languages, including Arabic, Urdu, and Somali; officials from the Office of Policy and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs have met repeatedly with members of these communities as well.

But CRCL is the Office within DHS that conducts the most extensive outreach efforts involving the many Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities across the nation. We structure these engagement efforts with several types of regular events or programs: community leader roundtables; youth roundtables; a rapid response communication network; and promotion of a prestigious law enforcement internship for Arabic-speaking college students and graduates.

CRCL's activities serve as a model for constructive engagement between these communities and government, and we strive to facilitate and build capacity for further local engagement. Several other DHS components, as well as states, regional fusion centers, and local governments already also conduct outreach and engagement with these communities—we have learned from each other's experiences and want to encourage these efforts where they are not already occurring.

Of course, as with all outreach efforts, the government must be careful to choose constructive leaders to partner with, and, by the same token, community members are careful to meet with government officials who they believe will be reliable partners responsive to legitimate concerns.

Roundtables : First, over the past four years, CRCL has established regular roundtable meetings for community and government leaders in eight regions across the country: Detroit, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Columbus (Ohio), and Washington, D.C. In addition, CRCL has developed relationships with Somali American leaders in San Diego, Seattle, and Lewiston (Maine), and includes them in the regular roundtables where possible and in bi-monthly community conference calls. These locations have diverse Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and Somali communities, and we have nurtured broad community participation.

These roundtable events include not just our office, but also DHS components relevant to the issues placed on the agenda by our community partners, most often U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Government participation also includes U.S. Attorneys' Offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), state and local law enforcement, and other federal and local officials.

The roundtables cover a range of homeland security, civil rights, and other areas. With the assistance of our federal and local government partners, sessions have canvassed (in no particular order): rules governing remittances to foreign relatives; immigration and naturalization policies; access to information about basic government services in different languages; roles and responsibilities of law enforcement; detention of national security suspects; how government can work with communities to promote civic engagement; services for newly-arrived refugees; crime prevention; how communities can work with government to counter violent extremism; protection of civil rights in employment, voting, housing, and other areas; prosecution of hate crimes; and border searches.

The meetings provide opportunities for community leaders to learn about significant government policies, as well as to raise specific issues of concern in a format that emphasizes accountability for answers—the government participants will be back again the following quarter. For our engagement efforts to be sustainable, it is important that the grievances of these communities be heard by policy decision makers, so we collect inquiries and issues from the communities and keep senior leadership apprised of the impact of DHS policy and operations. In addition, at the Secretary's request, two DHS Assistant Secretaries have personally attended a number of recent roundtables, and they will attend others in the future.

Youth roundtables : Young leaders and youth organizations offer different perspectives than older community leaders. For this reason, CRCL has hosted four “Roundtables on Security and Liberty” in Washington, D.C.; Houston; and Los Angeles to connect with 150 young leaders ages 18-25 from American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities. These events offer opportunities for youth to share their thoughts with senior DHS leadership and for government officials to learn from a population whose perspectives are invaluable to homeland security efforts.

Incident Community Coordination Team : Government contact with Muslim, Arab, Sikh, Somali and South Asian community leaders in the hours and days after an incident can be extraordinarily helpful, because community leaders can calm tensions, share information with their communities, and perhaps assist law enforcement. Accordingly, my office has established the Incident Community Coordination Team (ICCT). This conference call mechanism connects federal officials with key leaders in the event of a situation in which contact would be productive. DHS participant components and offices include TSA, ICE, CBP, USCIS, the Office of Public Affairs, and the Office of Intelligence & Analysis. We are joined by the White House Office of Public Engagement, the DOJ Civil Rights Division, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and the Department of State, among others. Community participants include representatives of national organizations, community leaders from key cities, and religious and cultural scholars.

Our ICCT has been used seven times since we established it in 2006, and has been an effective device in several ways:

• It allows participating agencies to get community leaders the information they need in the aftermath of an incident. The information shared—which is not classified or restricted—is valuable because of its reliability and timeliness.
  
  
• It gives community leaders a channel to speak to federal officials in a timely and effective way. They can share reactions to governmental policies or enforcement actions, and provide information about hate crimes that should be investigated, about the mood of communities in the aftermath of a homeland security incident and, possibly, about how the government might improve its effectiveness in investigating the incident.
  
  
• It facilitates development of a common understanding about the messages that government and community leaders will send to these communities, the country, and the world.

Most recently, the ICCT was convened after the Fort Hood incident in November 2009, and after the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines flight #253 in December 2009. Representatives from DHS, the White House, DOJ's Civil Rights Division, NCTC, Department of Defense, Department of State, and the FBI provided briefings to community leaders, giving them information they could share with their communities. Community leaders had an opportunity to ask questions and share reactions to the events.

National Security Internship Program : In 2007, in partnership with the FBI, my office established the National Security Internship Program to bring Arabic-speaking college students to Washington D.C. to intern for a summer at DHS or the FBI, and concurrently improve their Arabic language skills at the George Washington University. Successful interns are encouraged to apply for permanent jobs at DHS or the FBI. This program brings people with both language and cultural skills to government's policy, law enforcement, and intelligence offices. This internship program is an important part of the partnership between government and the Arab American and Muslim American communities.

There are millions of American Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, and South Asians, living in thousands of towns and cities across the nation. By necessity, governmental engagement with these communities will have to be local.

CRCL conducts training for law enforcement personnel on cultural competency relating to American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities, Islam, and some Sikh religious practices. This kind of training is a precondition for honest communication and trust between officers and the communities they serve and protect. Topics include: misconceptions and stereotypes of Arab and Muslim cultures; diversity within Arab and Muslim communities; effective policing without the use of ethnic or racial profiling; and a best practices approach to community interaction and outreach. Much of this training is provided live, usually on-site, to federal, state, and local law enforcement officials around the country. But we have also produced a training DVD that includes insights from four national and international experts—an Assistant United States Attorney who is Muslim; a member of the National Security Council who is Muslim; an internationally renowned scholar of Islamic studies; and a civil rights attorney who advocates on issues of concern to Arab-American and Muslim-American communities.

It is worth noting, in addition, that it is our community partners—reliably informed by engagement activities about government policy and practices, and consistently empowered by those same engagement activities to highlight for policymakers their experiences, concerns, and grievances and to obtain reasonable responses—who bear the responsibility to counter radical ideologies that subvert their values and may pave a path for their young people towards violence. Radical beliefs, after all, are protected by the Constitution. Our proper sphere of concern and intervention is violence, not radicalism.

I have a number of plans to augment my office's existing engagement efforts in American Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian communities. Over the next year, we plan to add cities for our regularly scheduled roundtables. Conceptually, I have three strategic initiatives:

1. Frequent issue-specific engagement efforts . Issue-specific engagement brings community leaders to the table who have particular contributions to make on specific topics. Our first issue-specific event is focused on AIT scanning technology and religious modesty prescriptions.
   
   
2. Promoting local engagement efforts . As discussed in the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review released last month, the DHS vision for homeland security is a homeland that is safe, secure and resilient against terrorism and other hazards, and where American interests, aspirations, and way of life can thrive. The American way of life prominently includes our cherished civil rights and civil liberties. Even so, our Department—and the federal government as a whole—cannot possibly do all that needs to be done in this area of endeavor. States and local governments are beginning to become active in this area, and some are doing terrific work. We must promote more local efforts, by modeling constructive engagement; providing in-person and scalable training and training materials; coordinating community-oriented activities; and promulgating best practices. We need to ensure that our state, local, and tribal partners have the knowledge, methods, skills, and resources to productively engage their communities.
   
   
3. Youth engagement efforts . Regardless of faith, race, ethnicity, national origin, or gender, young people communicate differently than older generations; they have vastly more exposure to social media tools and real-time online information and communication. And because it is youth who are at the frontlines when it comes to terrorist recruitment, they are perhaps the most vital audience for a message of inclusion, esteem, and fair treatment. It is our job as a Department to welcome young people in American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities to join our nation's collective security efforts; we must empower them to be connected rather than alienated. We need to demonstrate to our youth that we value their opinions and welcome their ideas, and we need to use a variety of communications techniques to convey that message.

Frequent, responsive, and thoughtful engagement with diverse communities is an imperative of effective government. Such engagement gathers and shares information, builds trust, informs policy, and enables prompt response to legitimate grievances and needs; it is the right of Americans as the sovereign source of governmental authority. Engagement with American Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian communities is one instantiation of that imperative, and a crucial method of reinforcing the fundamental tenet that we are fellow citizens facing a common threat.

Thank you, again, for the opportunity to testify today. I welcome your questions.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/testimony/testimony_1268838948734.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INTERNET CRIME
Complaints on the Rise

03/17/10

During 2009, did you receive an e-mail that claimed to be from the FBI and asked for money or personal information?

If you did, you're not alone—e-mail scams that misused the Bureau's name represented the highest percentage (16.6) of complaint types submitted last year to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), according to its latest annual report.

All told, IC3 received 336,655 complaints during 2009, a hefty 22.3 percent increase from 2008.

In addition to the fake FBI e-mails, rounding out the top five complaint categories were: 

• Non-delivered merchandise and or non-payment , in which either a seller didn't ship a promised item or a buyer didn't pay for an item (11.9 percent);
  
  
• Advance fee fraud , when a victim was asked to give money upfront, often for goods or services that never materialized (9.8 percent);
  
  
• Identity theft , when someone either stole or tried to steal a person's identity or some kind of identity information (8.2 percent); and
  
  
• Overpayment fraud , when a “buyer” sent a victim who was selling something a legitimate-looking check or money order (that turned out to be counterfeit) for an amount greater than the price of an item being sold, and then asked the seller to deposit the payment, deduct the actual sale price, and return the difference (7.3 percent).

Some of the more popular e-mail scams during 2009 (and scams to watch out for during 2010) included:

• A new spin on the “hit-man” scam , in which individuals received an e-mail from an "assassin" who claimed he was going to kill them, but who said they would be spared if they sent money because someone in his organization knew a member of their family and pled for their lives. 
  
  
• Spam or pop-ups offering free astrological readings , but only after birthdates and birthplaces were provided. Victims were then enticed into purchasing a full-fledged reading with the promise they would find out something favorable was about to happen. Of course, they never received the reading.
  
  
• Economic stimulus scams , where victims received a recorded phone message directing them to websites where they could apply for government stimulus money after first entering personal information and paying a small fee. Needless to say, no stimulus money was received.
  
  
• Fake pop-up ads for anti-virus software that warned of the existence of computer viruses but actually downloaded malicious code when clicked.

For more information on Internet crime, read the full report .

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/mar10/ic3_031710.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congressional Testimony

Brett Hovington
Chief, Community Relations Unit, Office of Public Affairs
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Statement Before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment

March 17, 2010

Good afternoon Chairwoman Harman, Ranking Member McCaul, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. I am happy to join with my colleagues here from the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office.

As chief of the Community Relations Unit of the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the FBI's community outreach and engagement efforts, particularly our efforts to build trust and open a constructive dialogue with American Arab, Muslim, Sikh, Somali, and South Asian communities, to name but a few.

The primary purpose of the FBI's Community Outreach Program is simple: to enhance public trust and confidence in the FBI by fostering the FBI's relationship within various communities. The Community Outreach Program supports the FBI's mission by educating members of the public on how they can help protect themselves and their communities. Our engagement efforts are designed to build trust in communities that can assist in opening doors, facilitating the overall mission of the FBI in keeping communities and the homeland safe. If the public understands the FBI's mission and views the FBI as cooperative and trustworthy, they are more likely to report a crime, return a telephone call or respond positively to being approached by an FBI special agent.

I have traveled to Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and many parts of the United States studying the various engagement strategies of law enforcement agencies. One common thread is the need to have better dialogue not just with communities, but specifically with youth. Recent situations involving young people leaving the United States to travel abroad and engage in criminal and nefarious activities is one of the concerns facing the United States today. Though violent radicalization is a growing concern, the overwhelming majority of Muslim-Americans we encounter are loyal, law-abiding citizens.

If we want to stop future generations of youth from choosing the wrong path and fighting against our country instead of for it, we must commit to increasing our field-based scientific research on the violent radicalization of youth. The only way we can effectively address this issue is to fully understand it. Sociologists, political scientists, and psychologists can all help us explore conflict between leaders, community members and youth.

As a special agent, I can attest that an individual's understanding and perception of the FBI can make everything we do easier or harder. As we see more instances of individuals in the United States being radicalized to commit violent acts, our efforts to build understanding and trust becomes more critical than ever.

Outreach at the National Level

The FBI engages national and local organizations in the United States that have public positions against terrorism and violent radicalization to further a positive image of law enforcement. The FBI has established contacts with a variety of national-level Arab-American and Muslim organizations. FBI Director Mueller meets with leaders of these groups and has found these interactions to be mutually beneficial. We look to these organizations to assist us in communicating with their members and constituents. For example, to provide an understanding of the FBI's investigative parameters prior to implementation of the new Attorney General's Guidelines for Domestic Operations, we offered these organizations briefings and attempted to address concerns raised by the groups. Out intent was to provide them with information to place the FBI's efforts in context when issues arose publicly.

Outreach Efforts at the Local Level

Each of our 56 field offices has a Community Outreach Program coordinated by a professional community outreach specialist or special agent community outreach coordinator. Our Community Outreach Program has several elements: building relationships with community leaders; reaching out to youth and the broader community; and partnering with various community organizations and other law enforcement outreach efforts. As we do at the national level, field offices identify and develop relationships with community leaders and other individuals who have influence in their communities and may be helpful conduits of information to the community at large.

These leaders make up a network of contacts the field office can reach out to on short notice to deliver a message to their community in the event there is a threat or operational activity impacting that community. This network of contacts is also helpful when the FBI needs public assistance to support an ongoing investigation, to address concerns about FBI activities reported in the news media, or to provide additional details on information released by the FBI, such as crime statistics. For example:

• In Detroit, the executive management, including the special agent in charge, attends regular meetings in the Muslim communities. They also have individuals from the Muslim community who participate in the Multi-Cultural Advisory Councils, FBI Citizens' Academies and the FBI Teen Academy.
  
  
• In the fall of 2009, the assistant director of the New York office met with 40 Muslim community leaders to address the issues and concerns of the community following operational activities in the investigation of Najibullah Zazi. This kind of dialogue has become part of our set operations plan.
  

Field offices use various initiatives to develop and maintain their liaison with community leaders and groups. Thirty-eight of our field offices have established Community Engagement Councils or Multi-Cultural Advisory Councils that consult with field office leadership on areas of interest or concern in the community.

Another key initiative is the Citizens' Academy. This effort is an eight to 10-week program that brings together community leaders to learn about the FBI's mission, jurisdiction, policies and general operations. All field offices conduct at least one Citizens' Academy per year, while some may conduct multiple sessions. A strong effort is made to attract a diversity of members that represent the surrounding communities to these classes.

After a member of the Turkish-American community graduated from the Knoxville office's Citizens' Academy in 2009, the partnership blossomed, and now the Turkish community will be hosting a session of this year's Citizens' Academy. They will also be participating during the next Youth Academy, which will include students from 25 different high schools.

Another program used to foster relationships within various communities is the Community Relations Executive Seminar Training, or CREST. While not as in-depth as Citizen Academies, this program provides a vehicle to reach out to communities where trust in the government or the FBI in particular needs to be enhanced. Topics addressed in a CREST session vary according to the interests of the group, discussing such areas as civil rights, hate crimes or terrorism.

The effectiveness of the CREST program is that it is often the starting point for bridging the gaps of trust that may exist between the FBI and a given community. In the context of countering violent radicalization, a key step is to develop relationships within the community based on trust and to do so under non-stressful circumstances rather than in the aftermath of an incident. CREST is a first step in that building process.

In addition to the Citizens' Academy and CREST programs, many field offices have held town-hall style meetings to help foster dialogue with the broader community. Some examples of the communities the FBI has engaged in this way are:

• The Atlanta office held a town hall meeting for the Muslim community at the Hamza Center in Alpharetta, Georgia.
  
  
• The Buffalo office partnered with the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York to host a town hall meeting with the special agent in charge and an assistant U.S. attorney present.
  
  
• The New Haven office held town hall meetings with the Pakistani-American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC).
  
  
• The San Antonio office participated in an open forum for a group of refugees from Somalia, Tanzania, and Iran, expressing encouragement to those in attendance that local/federal agencies were available to assist with any concerns or issues.
  

FBI field offices also partner with community outreach programs run by state and local law enforcement agencies. Since 2006, the Dallas FBI office and Arlington Police have held joint quarterly meetings with leaders of the Muslim community in Tarrant County. The meetings are a collaborative effort of the FBI and Arlington Police to engage the Muslim community leadership.

Both the Citizens' Academy and CREST graduates—along with our local law enforcement partners—are the foundation of a community support network that works as a force multiplier for us. By working through this local foundation, we are able to model a more traditional community policing effort to combat violent radicalization and terrorism.

Specialized Community Outreach Team (SCOT)

In November 2008, the Community Relations Unit established a Specialized Community Outreach Team. The team, comprised of special agents, analysts, community outreach specialists, and personnel with language or other specialized skills, assists field offices with establishing new contacts in key communities. The pilot program focused on establishing contacts in the Somali-American communities of Denver, Columbus, Minneapolis, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. These cities were selected because they were identified as the largest Somali-American communities in the United States. The intent of this new engagement strategy is to use the best practices in community outreach and tailor them to assist in efforts to engage communities that are particularly insular or where barriers of fear or suspicion of law enforcement exist. In the pilot program field offices were helped to develop relationships with organizations and individuals in the Somali community who are well positioned to fill outreach gaps and assist in developing a more positive dialogue with the community.

Outreach to Youth

The FBI continues to adapt our established youth programs to help us reach new groups of young people, particularly in Muslim communities. Field offices sponsor teen academies which are designed to introduce youth to the FBI. We also have the Adopt-a-School/Junior Special Agent program, which is designed to introduce youth to the FBI and to encourage good citizenship. Here are just a few examples:

• As a part of the FBI Adopt-a-School Program, the Phoenix office hosted a Jr. Special Agent Program at the Arizona Cultural Academy, an Islamic private school. A series of topics presented for the youth were: making good decisions, peer pressure, Internet safety, violence prevention, self-esteem, and teasing and rumors.
  
  
• The New York office participated in a Pakistani youth group event held by the Council of People's Organization (COPO) in Brooklyn.
  
  
• Agents from the San Antonio office delivered an Internet safety presentation to 300 middle school students at a predominately Turkish-run school, Harmony Science Academy.
  
  
• Agents from the Atlanta office participated in career day at Dar-Un-Noor School, which is also a part of the Al Farooq Masijid, the largest mosque in Atlanta, Georgia.
  

Recognizing Our Partners

Our community partners have become a bridge to many who viewed the FBI with either contempt or fear. They now come through the doors of the FBI and feel free to share their views on sensitive issues. We commend our friends for their efforts, and we commend the leaders of minority and ethnic communities who have also become friends with the FBI and who are building similar relationships for their communities.

While we realize we are going to have disagreements with these same communities, we are talking. Sparking that dialogue is essential. The leadership of the American Muslim community is working vigorously on many levels to emphasize that American Muslims are Americans. The opportunity to cooperate with the FBI and other authorities can ensure the safety and security of communities and the United States.

One way we can formally recognize the FBI's partners across the country is through the Director's Community Leadership Award. In 2009, four recipients of this award were Muslim leaders. 2008 Muslim Recipients included: Yahya Hendi, Bilal Eksili, Dafer Mohammed Dakhil, and Mohammed Moinuddin. This year's recipients include five Muslim leaders, including: Dr. Saeed Fahia, Josefina Salma Ahmed, Bilah A. Khaleeq, and Mohamed Abdul-Azeez. The fifth recipient, Nawar Shora from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, provided training to community outreach personnel from all 56 field offices at our annual training conference last year. This year's recipients will be coming to FBI Headquarters this week to be formally recognized by FBI Director Robert Mueller for their outstanding contributions to public safety.

Conclusion

In my remarks I hope I conveyed to the committee the FBI's strategy to engage communities, counter violent radicalization, as well as the methods we use. The process requires building trust within the community, followed by creating strong and open partnerships. Achieving these elements we can then seek to positively influence change in the community and alter the path towards violent radicalization.

http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress10/hovington031710.htm

.