Homeland security chief defends agency risk report

[April 16, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday a report warning that military veterans could be prone to joining right wing extremism was a routine assessment giving a "situational awareness" of potential threats.

Napolitano defended the internal agency intelligence report against a crescendo of criticism during a series of interviews on network news shows as she toured the troubled U.S.-Mexican border.

Asked about the report's assertion that some U.S. military veterans could be seen as potential converts to right wing extremism during a time of a down economy, Napolitano said the report was a routine form of guidance for state and local police and that it is a set of assertions, "not accusations."

"These are intelligence assessments. They are for situational awareness for law enforcement, indeed as the VFW said yesterday, this is an assessment not an accusation," she said. "I really want to stress to the veterans out there watching this today, that report did not, and we do not mean to suggest that veterans as a whole are at risk of becoming violent extremists."

"I really want to stress to the veterans out there that this report did not and we did not mean to suggest that veterans as a whole are at risk of becoming violent extremists."

House Minority Leader John Boehner assailed Napolitano's department for the report and called on the agency to apologize to veterans. "To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable," Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday.

Asked about that, Napolitano said, "He wants to make some political hay."

"It's an assessment of a situation where you have a down economy, other factors that go on that historically have given rise to violence. ...," the secretary said. "This is an assessment of things just to be wary of, not to infringe on constitutional rights certainly not to malign our veterans."

Napolitano suggested that critics have taken the report's findings out of context and that there has been a lot of political spinning "out there in Washington, D.C. land."

"These are routine reports," she said, "one was begun months ago, in fact, in preparation before this new administration took office."

Napolitano appeared in interviews Thursday on CBS's "The Early Show," ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show, CNN and MSNBC.

[Associated Press]

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