Office of the Press Secretary

September 12, 2012

I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.

 I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.

On a personal note, Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States. Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi. As Ambassador in Tripoli, he has supported Libya’s transition to democracy. His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice. I am profoundly grateful for his service to my Administration, and deeply saddened by this loss.

The brave Americans we lost represent the extraordinary service and sacrifices that our civilians make every day around the globe. As we stand united with their families, let us now redouble our own efforts to carry their work forward.

The Loudon County Sheriff’s Office and FBI WFO gave the first presentation, talking at length about youths’ online behavior, their tendency to be technologically savvier than their parents, and the pernicious threats they are vulnerable to online. The Deputy Sheriff and FBI Special Agent discussed ways children innocuously encounter unsavory material or are pursued by predators.

The FBI noted nearly two out of five missing children cases are connected to the Internet. Both the Deputy Sheriff and FBI Special Agent gave parents tips for discussing these issues with their children and steps to address their online activity at home, such as keeping tabs on all Internet-capable devices, using parental control software, and keeping the family computer in a visible spot in the house.

Tying into theme of online threats, NCTC and DHS CRCL spoke about another threat faced online: terrorist recruitment and radicalization.  DHS CRCL spoke about its efforts to connect with communities through roundtables and address potential civil rights and civil liberties complaints logged with the government by citizens. NCTC discussed the new domestic strategy to prevent violent extremism by using a grass-roots approach, empowering communities and local partners to help address and prevent the threat. This included a discussion on how the strategy breaks into three parts: (1) community outreach and support; (2) increased training and information-sharing; and (3) countering the terrorist narrative while upholding our national values.

To conclude the event, Muflehun spoke about the importance of parents being aware about the online threats their children face and how they have a duty to speak honestly about the threat of radicalization to be able to confront it. Muflehun’s presentation focused on how youth can potentially fall into a path toward radicalization, one that progressively distorts an understanding of their religion. To help at-risk youth the community must understand the threat and step in early to provide the needed spiritual and social safety nets, to encourage youth to turn to trusted adults for questions or concerns, as opposed to merely searching for online answers . The presentation provided the congregation with a religious perspective for how to counter the terrorist ideology.

Please contact info@muflehun.org if you would like to schedule a similar event for your community.

Full image gallery can be seen here.

This interactive session with 13-18 year old attendees was aimed at helping youth differentiate between extremist ideologies and mainstream religious teaching through Q/A and dialogue.

Please contact info@muflehun.org if you would like to schedule a similar event for your community.

Other panelists included Gerald Gahima, Former Deputy Chief Justice to the Rwanda Supreme Court and David Peck, with 30 years of law enforcement experience. The panel was part of the “Counter Terrorism: Domestic and International” track of GovSec 2012 and moderated by Colonel (ret’d) Bob Peck of Partners International Foundation.

The new training is aimed at law enforcement officers, educators, and community leaders to dispel the misperceptions around American Muslims and to effectively engage with them.  It has already been presented to 100 US Attorneys around the country.

Please contact info@muflehun.org if you would like to schedule a training for your local law enforcement officers or government officials.

The conversation with Director Mueller centered on material used by the agency that depicts falsehoods and negative connotations of the Muslim American community. The use of the material was first uncovered by Wired Magazine in an article published on September 14, 2011. Director Mueller informed the participants that the FBI took the review of the training material very seriously, and he pursued the matter with urgency to ensure that this does not occur again in the future.

Humera Khan, Executive Director at Muflehun, stated, “We appreciate Director Mueller and the FBI’s commitment to addressing the serious issue of discriminatory training materials. The new touchstone guidelines to shape future trainings are welcome and will help in rebuilding trust with the American Muslim community.”

The Director also informed participants that to date, nearly all related FBI training materials, including more than 160,000 pages of documents, were reviewed by subject matter experts multiple times. Consequently more than 700 documents and 300 presentations of material have been deemed unusable by the Bureau and pulled from the training curriculum. Material was pulled from the curriculum if even one component was deemed to 1) include factual errors, 2) be in poor taste, 3) be stereotypical, or 4) lack precision.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to share with Director Mueller other matters of concern to community members. Issues related to privacy, including the surveillance of mosques, were discussed. It was clear to all meeting participants that the issue of trust between community members and the FBI needs to be taken seriously by all of our nation’s decision-makers. It was also evident that the Bureau must strengthen its efforts to build trust. The Director has testified before Congress about the invaluable contribution that the Muslim community makes to our nation’s security, noting a recent bomb plot in Tampa, FL that was foiled thanks to a joint effort by the FBI and the local Muslim community.

The changes proposed by the FBI to the training modules are a welcomed first step in ensuring that such a mistake does not occur again in the future. The group asked the FBI Director to issue a formal statement on this matter acknowledging the negative impact of these training materials on the Muslim community. Representatives from the community and interfaith organizations also stressed the importance of transparency by the Bureau in dealing with these matters, and suggested that a committee of community leaders and experts be assembled to review training material issued by the FBI. Meeting participants requested that the training process be open and transparent moving forward and requested future meetings with Director Mueller to continue the conversation.

The presentations on internet predators were organized into three segments: Child Exploitation, Community Resilience & Protecting Against Extremism. The Child Exploitation segment was conducted by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI Washington Field Office Child Exploitation Taskforce. The Community Resilience briefing was presented by the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the National Counter Terrorism Center. The Protecting Against Extremism segment was conducted by Muflehun.

This was the pilot event for the series that will be replicated at mosques and community centers around the country. Please contact info@muflehun.org if you would like to schedule a similar event for your community.

Comments from attendees:

• “Excellent and informed session, it was an open eye for myself. Thanks a lot”
• “Very good information. Very important and helpful”
• “I hope that there will be a presentation for the youth on Fridays during youth programs on both issues: Internet + extremism”
• “Thank you for doing this”
• “Thank you for the service. It is a great presentation”
• “I have great appreciation for such presentations.”
• “I would love to see more presentations.”

Full image gallery can be seen here.