Napolitano Defends Including Right to Life Advocates in Terrorism Report

Last week we learned about a briefing sent to law enforcement authorities across the country by the Department of Homeland Security alerting them to the possible rise in right-wing extremism and violence due to economic pressures and the election of a black president.

Among those cited in the briefing were individuals who are committed to a single issue like abortion.

The briefing caused a firestorm of criticism. Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, was forced to do a media blitz to attempt to explain the briefing. When pressed, she said the briefing should not have included the reference to people who are interested in single issues like abortion.

But now Napolitano has reversed her initial position backtracking from the briefing. This past Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” Napolitano claimed that right-to-life groups have a “history” of political extremism. She said that, although “people have different points of view about abortion” and that the Obama administration values free speech rights, some pro-life advocates cause her agency concern.

Napolitano would not give any concrete examples of right-to-life organizations that caused her agency to include them the briefing, claiming the total number of organizations overall on all domestic issues were “far too numerous to mention.”

Reaction from right-to-life organizations was swift and to the point. Perhaps Jay Sekulow, head of the American Center for Law and Justice summed it up best when he said the characterization of right-to-life people in the briefing “is not only offensive to millions of Americans who hold constitutionally-protected views opposing abortion – but also raises serious concerns about the political agenda of an agency with a mandate to protect American.”

He’s right. . . we should be deeply concerned.

Sue Armacost