Homeland Security Withdraws 'Extremism' Report

DHS Secretary Napolitano tells lawmakers that the offensive report has been pulled from the DHS website and is no longer available.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ACLJ) - I want to report some very encouraging news as the Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that it has pulled the troubling "extremism" report that said "rightwing extremism" may include groups of veterans and those opposed to abortion.

As you recall, this report labeled these groups as "extremists"- a report that prompted the ACLJ to demand a retraction. I also sent a letter directly to Secretary Janet Napolitano demanding that the report be pulled. You can read that letter here.

Now, there's a report this morning in the Washington Times where DHS Secretary Napolitano tells lawmakers that the offensive report has been pulled from the DHS website and is no longer available. She told lawmakers that the report is in the process of being "replaced or redone in a much more useful and much more precise fashion."

Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee: "The wheels came off the wagon because the vetting process was not followed. The report is no longer out there," she said. "An employee sent it out without authorization."

Here's what else Napolitano told members of Congress:

"Some things in my initial days have gone very well at the department, some things have not. And that was probably the worst thing. It was not authorized to be distributed.

"It had not even completed its vetting process within the department. It has been taken off of the intel Web sites and the lexicon that went along with it was similarly withdrawn.

"Neither were authorized products, and we have now put in place processes. And it turned out there were really no procedures to govern what went out and what didn't before, and now there are."

In the words of Napolitano: "I do not want to see a replication of that." Neither do we.

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The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C. This article is used with permission.