The name “Shared Responsibility Committees” — SRCs for short — sounds like something straight out of a George Orwell novel. It’s actually what the FBI is calling its new initiative aimed at combating radicalization in the Muslim community.
On face value, the program seems airtight. Hypothetically, an SRC would allow community leaders to identify future radicals before they take the headfirst dive into full-blown violent extremism. Early identification would then give social workers and others the opportunity to intervene in the lives of susceptible young people. However, among civil rights advocates, the SRC program has raised alarms.
As quoted in The Intercept, Abed Ayoub, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s legal director, says:
“[SRCs] are expanding the informant program under the guise of an intervention program, which it is not.”
Critics fear that SRCs compound distrust of institutional figures, such as mental health professionals and teachers, who are crucial to the viability of the program. Further alienation, when it comes to fighting violent extremism, is the last thing you want.
A similar program has existed in the United Kingdom for some time. Called “Channel,” the Home Office initiative targets “people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.”
Though technically Channel encompasses people “of any faith, ethnicity or background,” critics — like NYU’s Arun Kundnani — say the program isolates the U.K.’s Muslim minority. If anything, Kundani maintains that Channel fosters the separation that encourages radicalization and extremism.
By entangling integral community members in the intelligence-gathering apparatus, possible radicals are left with only one option: to further compound their extremist ideology.
‘Don’t Be A Puppet’
The proposed SRCs are only one facet of the FBI’s revamped and recalibrated campaign against extremism. Recently, the Bureau released “Don’t Be A Puppet,” a website which attempts to educate students on radicalization through the magic of video games. The entire thing is clunky and sophomoric.
At the top of the screen, instructions read:
“Go through the five numbered sections in order. Free the puppet in each section and make all of the boxes turn white. Then you will earn an FBI certificate.”
An FBI certificate? What an incentive!
It’s always awkward when government agencies try to get hip to the internet; nonetheless, the website provides an interesting look into the marketing war being waged between terrorists and the authorities.
That war inevitably spills over into Muslim communities. Striking the correct balance between security and civil rights isn’t easy, but at least bad point-and-click video games don’t further restrict already heavily curtailed liberties. SRCs, on the other hand, might be another story.
SRCs haven’t been fully implemented, but they have the potential to fundamentally transform how the FBI fights terrorism. Whether that change is for good or for worse, we’ll soon find out.
Until then, sit back with a copy of 1984 and admire how on-point the dead bastard turned out to be.
Featured image courtesy of Jonas Bengtsson/Flickr under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
