Washington, DC | www.adc.org | April 29, 2016 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is deeply troubled by additional revelations about the FBI’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)/Shared Responsibility Committee’s (SRC) program. The revelations were exposed in an article published by the Intercept yesterday. Included in the article is a letter from the FBI which aims to recruit community members to participate in the controversial program. ADC has expressed concerns about the SRC’s, and continues to advocate against the program.
Click here to read the article in the Intercept
Unfortunately, the information in the article reaffirms our analysis of the SRC program as a tool to further prosecutions and delegate surveillance to community members. The letter states that SRC members are expected to share information with the FBI and/or other designated government entities, that the information can be used in an underlying investigation and prosecution case, and that SRC members can be subpoenaed.
Alarmingly, the letter provides that information obtained from SRC program can also be shared with foreign government agencies. This plan for the SRC program has never been shared with community organizations, including ADC. The sharing of information about Arab and Muslim Americans with foreign governments adds to the layers of concern raised about the government’s CVE Program.
ADC encourages all community members to be on the look out for these types of so called outreach programs. Although we do not oppose community engagement with law enforcement, community members should be informed of all the details and legal implications before consenting to participate in any of these government programs. Please contact ADC Legal at 202-244-2990 or legal@adc.org and know your rights before agreeing to participate in the SRCs or any other such government program.