Former DHS Analyst Daryl Johnson on How He Was Silenced for Warning of Far-Right Militants in U.S.

[KansDem]

Source: Democracy Now!

While many were shocked by the massacre at the Sikh temple, our guest, Daryl Johnson, had warned years ago that such an attack was imminent. While working as a senior analyst in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2009, Johnson authored a report warning about the increasing dangers of violent right-wing extremism in the United States, sparking a political firestorm in the process. Under pressure from Republican lawmakers and popular talk show hosts, DHS ultimately repudiated Johnson’s paper. Johnson drew his conclusion on his 15 years of experience studying domestic terrorist groups — particularly white supremacists and neo-Nazis. "Leading up to this report … we received numerous accolades from law enforcement [and] intelligence officials, talking about the great work we were doing in the fight against domestic terrorism," Johnson says. "And then in lieu of the political backlash, the Department not only decided to stop all of our work, but they also disbanded the unit, reassigned us to other areas within the office, and then made life increasingly difficult for us." Johnson, now the owner of a private consultancy firm, has authored a new book, "Right Wing Resurgence: How a Domestic Terrorist Threat is Being Ignored."



Read more: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/9/former_dhs_analyst_daryl_johnson_on

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I listened to this report this morning and was appalled that Janet Napolitano caved under pressure from Republicans and right-wing radio talkers to squelch this report!

[benld74]

1. They beat their fists upon the posts and still insist they see no ghosts,,,,

None In Oklahoma CIty
None in Waco, Texas
None in Wisconsin
none anywhere,,,,,,,
Wait a minute

perhaps if the term right wing was taken off the report???,,,

[Berlum]

8. If you ditch "right-wing" you could add "Republican instigated"

same shit

[Enrique]

2. congrats, right wingers

you won!

Not only on tracking extremists, but on gun control. Victory is yours, massacres on a regular basis!

[aquamarina]

3. I remember this from a couple years ago.

and could not believe how Napolitano caved like a house of cards. It is pathetic in this country that we can't talk like adults about real issues. For the last 11 years we have been told to be afraid of everything and everyone who looked "different." But faced with real issues that we should be concerned about like the meltdown at Fukishima or the very real threat of homegrown terrorist groups we are told that everything is fine, that there's nothing to see here so just move along. Effing pathetic, And it's dished out from both parties.

[Blue_Tires]

27. +1

[alfredo]

4. The right sees violence as protected speech.

[KG]

5. coz good ol' white amercuns could never be terrists

[SoapBox]

6. and notice how old Janet is MIA!

Thanks for nothing Janet.

[louis-t]

7. Anyone see a pattern?

Warned about 9/11, bushies go on vacation, tell terrorism experts to shut up.
Instead of going after bin Laden, bushies shut down CIA group in charge of getting him.
Have republicans been right about anything?

[lunatica]

28. Yes. There's a definite pattern to selectively suppress intelligence

It's the first thing I thought about when I read the OP.

I think it's a political ploy to fool us into thinking we're much more secure and safe than we are so we will continue to elect them.

The NRA pays them to squelch any news that might cause them to sell one less gun.

[Doctor_J]

9. As I have said numerous times,

We are going to have to deal with Hate Radio in order to get our country back. They are above the law. No one can touch them. Everyone in the US is afraid of Limpballs and all of the others - even law enforcement officials. It is going to eventually be up to us to take care of them. Until we do, this will continue to worsen. We are basically in a situation much like Rwanda in the 90's, living under constant threat of right-wing violence, with Hate Radio inciting 24/7 throughout the country, and no one doing anything about it, and no balancing voices to either expose the truth or rally the opposition. This isn't going to get any better until we make it better

[Doremus]

11. +1000

[JDPriestly]

12. But the Occupiers in LA get arrested for writing in chalk on the sidewalk.

How absurd.

[Evasporque]

10. IN other words...RW Neo-Nazis reach to the highest levels in our society...

It is not JUST the grunts we see pictures of....

[nanabugg]

20. They hide behind the gated communities of the 1% but they finance domestic terror. nt

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

13. Ask your government why were the peace groups watched,

spied on, infiltrated and beat back, since at least the fifties.
Same with the civil rights movement and Occupy
But not the right-wing extremists.

I think it has more to do with the MIC, multinational corporations and big oil running, what they perceive to be their world and they don't see a threat coming from neo-Nazis, but from groups that would demand cuts to our bloated military budget and impose environmental regulations on them.

We can;t have this conversation about right wing militant groups without asking why all the surveillance on peace groups, the two are interconnected.

[Doctor_J]

14. Because no one is afraid of retribution for that

They pick on Dems, liberals, peaceniks, etc. because they can.

[Patiod]

22. Excellent post - thanks

The government needs to worry more about right wing hate groups and less about environmental groups, because murdering large groups of people is way more important than fucking up a construction site (although, as you point out, fucking up the construction site is a way bigger deal to multi-nationals).

[KansDem]

15. Transcript...

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/9/former_dhs_analyst_daryl_johnson_on#transcript

--excerpt--

AMY GOODMAN: I’m looking at a quick piece from Wired which says, “Since Johnson released his ill-fated report, the Wichita, Kansas, abortion doctor, George Teller, was assassinated. A security guard was killed when a gunman with neo-Nazi ties went on a shooting spree at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, the FBI arrested members of a Florida neo-Nazi outfit tied to drug dealing and motorcycle gangs, a man was charged with attempting to detonate a weapon of mass destruction at a Spokane, Washington, march commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and several mosques around the country have been vandalized or attacked, including a Missouri mosque that burned to the ground on Monday, which had been attacked before. Were you surprised by the attack on the Sikh temple and all that has taken place since?

DARYL JOHNSON: Unfortunately, Amy, I was not shocked. In fact, I was sitting in my living room with my wife and immediately when I saw the news coverage, I turned to her and said that this was likely a hate motivated crime against Sikhs perpetrated by a white supremacist who may have had military background.

AMY GOODMAN: It is interesting also that President Obama spoke yesterday in Denver with Sandra Fluke who introduced him, the Georgetown University law student who was speaking out for contraception and was targeted by Rush Limbaugh and others, and was talking about women’s health and women’s rights in this country. The neo-Nazi movement, along with the anti-choice movement, do you see links? I’m talking about the extremist wing.

DARYL JOHNSON: There’s definitely links between white supremacists and the anti-abortion issue. That is one of the causes that they rally around and use as a recruitment tool to bring people into the movement. I wouldn’t necessarily say it is strictly neo-Nazi. It could be, also, the Christian Identity Movement, it could be skinheads, it could the Ku Klux Klan.

I never thought about a link between neo-Nazi types and anti-abortion issues.

[yardwork]

24. Nazis and other authoritarians are always against women's rights.

The Nazis promoted a right-wing ideal of women subservient to men. Keeping women in their place, "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen," is a common goal among authoritarians, including religious fundamentalists and white supremacists.

Neo-Nazis would be appalled to admit that their goals are exactly the same as those of fundamentalist Muslims like Osama bin Laden and extremist fundamentalist Hasidic Jews like the cult in Brooklyn. It's the same attitudes, the same desire to have a few powerful men control everybody else, across the board.

[radhika]

16. Classic Right Wing bullying tactics; classic Democratic capitulation...

I still don't think they (the Dems) have grown a sufficient pair to deal with the 'Baggers and their billionaires.

[AntiFascist]

17. There is a great fear of these domestic terror groups from the Left...

that's why the Anthrax letters were so effective, even if they weren't overtly caused by neo-Nazis.

[Doctor_J]

18. You should wath the entire program from 8 Aug

We're being terrorized from within

[nanabugg]

19. I heard that too. Sickening how the talkshow savages can control our officials.

A government that is afraid to govern is no government at all.

[Kennah]

21. Eerily similar to FBI SA John O'Neill "The Man Who Knew"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/

[leveymg]

26. That is exactly what I was thinking. O'Neill got in the way of a CIA-DIA operation, so he

was removed shortly before 9/11. Died in the WTC, where he had been given the job of chief of security just a few weeks before. He knew what was coming, and so did others.

I think we've learned little or nothing from Oklahoma City and 9/11, other than to create another dangerous layer of expensive secret bureaucracy covering over some real evil in this country.

[BlueToTheBone]

23. I was appalled when I watched her do it. That was during the

acquiescent period of the administration. Rahm the Potty Mouth was not a staunch advocate for justice.

[nanabugg]

25. I hope this story gets more exposure on the cabal shows like MSNBC. It's important

to not let this information get lost in the election drama.

[wordpix]

29. "election drama" - some enterprising reporter should ask what Rmoney-Ryan thinks about RW hate-

mongers slaughtering people in a temple and other places.

Ii would be more than interesting to hear R-R squirm and contort to defend the NRA & RW white supremacy voters on one hand while spouting anti-hate crime message on the other so as not to antagonize Jewish, black and Hispanic potential R voters.
R-R are among the best contortionists in the pol business.