Countering Violent Extremism
The Countering Violent Extremism Task Force (CVE) refers to a specific United States government public-private partnership partnership program started for the purpose of expanding US federal counter-terror activity into civilian life. The program was founded during the Obama administration and is often seen as a progression of the "War on Terror" as defined by the Bush administration.[1]
The program has been criticized for targeting innocent citizens for mass surveillance, including astroturfing, spying, and infiltrating marginalized communities. CVE has also been criticized for creating unnecessary divisiveness, as well as for using specious criteria[2][better source needed] to justify their initiatives.
Current status and activities
The American CVE program still operates in the USA, but according to George Washington University, receives relatively little funding and has issues with staff numbers.[3] Today, CVE still operates in the USA through a medium-sized network of small, near-defunct organizations co-staffed by former NYPD employee Mitchell Silber, including ICSVE and a now-defunct organization called Light Upon Light.
Silber famously co-authored a 2007 NYPD report called Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat. This report was removed from the NYPD's website after a lawsuit.[4] The report, which Silber co-prepared, identified habits such as growing a beard and wearing Islamic clothing as signs of "radicalization".[5]
The CVE program in general was more or less rejected by South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities in the United States, some of whom were subject to CVE-related spying.
Lawsuits
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed at least one lawsuit against the DHS over their CVE program.[6]
Successors
Most self-described CVE organizations nowadays appear to be outside the United States, and include a large network which consists of RAN, Moonshot CVE, and many others. It is unknown the degree to which any of these organization still have any formal connection to Obama's initial program, but all United States ones mentioned have recently received federal government grants.[citation needed]
TVTP and CP3
A similar program to CVE was founded during the Trump administration within the DHS and was called TVTP. Biden replaced this program with a similar DHS program called the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3). Both TVTP and CP3 have been criticized for the same reasons CVE is/was.[7]
References
- ↑ https://www.aclu.org/documents/problems-violent-extremism-and-violence-prevention-programs
- ↑ https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/why-countering-violent-extremism-programs-are-bad-policy
- ↑ https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/CVE%20in%20America.pdf
- ↑ https://www.rand.org/blog/2016/01/a-symbolic-purging-of-the-nypd-radicalization-report.html
- ↑ Dandia, Asad. "When "Jewish Security" Means Muslim Surveillance". Jewish Currents. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ↑ https://www.aclu.org/cases/aclu-v-department-homeland-security-foia-lawsuit-seeking-records-countering-violent-extremism
- ↑ https://www.aclu.org/documents/problems-violent-extremism-and-violence-prevention-programs