Whistleblower reports show counter-terrorism measures by FBI against outspoken parents

by mcardinal

Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News 

 

 

A whistleblower report was revealed by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee yesterday that shows the Federal Bureau of Investigation has tasked federal agents with using counter-terrorism methods to monitor the harassment of teachers, school board members, and other public school staff.

The letter reveals that the FBI is doing this in direct response to an early October directive from the Biden administration in which Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a “partnership among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement to address threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff.”

Garland’s memo also stated that “a series of measures designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel” would be enacted in response to a letter from the National School Boards Association where they claimed that parental opposition to school mandates and woke ideology “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

The NSBA has since disavowed that letter, saying that they “regret and apologize” for its content:

To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue. However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. …we deeply value not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety.”

However, the Biden administration isn’t backing away from their plan to keep a watchful eye on the parents, something that doesn’t sit well with House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) who called for Garland to give an answer to the documents outlining the FBI’s plan to treat parents like possible terrorists: 

The email… referenced your October 4 directive to the FBI to address school board threats and notified FBI personnel about a new ‘threat tag; created by the Counterterrorism and Criminal Divisions. The email directed FBI personnel to apply this new threat tag to all ‘investigations and assessments of threats specifically directed against school board administrations, board members, teachers, and staff.'”

As Jordan’s letter continues, “The email articulated the purpose as ‘scop[ing] this threat on a national level and provid[ing] an opportunity for comprehensive analysis of the threat picture for effective engagement with law enforcement partners at all levels.'”

Jordan called Garland’s testimony that he gave before the committee on Oct. 21 into question as a result of the whistleblower’s email, saying Garland “willfully misled” the committee by saying he wouldn’t consider parents complaining at school board meetings as domestic terrorists.

The FBI has responded to the document leak in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, saying that applying a “threat tag” to an individual doesn’t necessarily mean there will be an investigation opened on that person. They went on to claim that they have never been in the business of investigating parents who speak out.” 

Nicole Neily, the founder of the grassroots nonprofit Parents Defending Education weighed in on the whistleblower’s disclosures saying it “prove[s] that the FBI was, in fact, using counterterrorism tools to investigate concerned parents who have attended school board meetings – which directly contradicts Attorney General Merrick Garland’s sworn congressional testimony.”

“The American people deserve a full accounting of exactly who was involved, and when – so that egregious overreach like this may be prevented in the future,” Neily added.

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