Biden Ordered to Shut Down Controversial DHS ‘Intel Experts’ Committee
Litigation against the Department of Homeland Security’s “Intelligence Experts Group” was dropped last week when President Joe Biden agreed to follow a court order disbanding the group and forfeiting its records.
The lawsuit was brought by America First Legal (AFL) and Richard Grenell, a former Trump official who served as Director of National Intelligence in 2020.
“The Biden Admin will dissolve & disband its unlawful DHS Intelligence Experts Group stacked with deep state partisans like James Clapper and John Brennan following our lawsuit with @RichardGrenell,” proclaimed AFL on Friday.
As part of the court order, the Intelligence Group must dissolve within 30 days and hand over all internal documents and records to AFL within 15 days.
In addition to James Clapper and John Brennan (two former Obama officials who led the Russia collusion investigation against Trump in 2016), the partisan panel included several “Letter of 51” officials (former senior intelligence officers who joined Clapper and Brennan in claiming the now-infamous Hunter Biden laptop story was likely part of a Russian disinformation campaign despite the fact that the FBI had validated its authenticity).
The Intelligence Group was formed in 2023 by now-disgraced DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas as a way to control the flow of information (and silence conservative voices) under the guise of “national security,” thus decreasing the chances of a Trump victory in the 2024 election.
A group of Republican Senators including Rick Scott (FL), Ron Johnson (WI), and Rand Paul (KY) wrote immediately to the DHS to remove certain individuals from the group who were known to have promoted disinformation. AFL pursued litigation against the group when Mayorkas refused their request.
According to AFL President Stephen Miller, the Intelligence Group would have been used to “promote censored, unethical spying and gross civil rights invasions of political enemies.”
In legal terms, the group’s partisan imbalance made it inconsistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (a law designed to prevent the formation of advisory panels that lack objectivity). As detailed in the lawsuit, roughly 98% of the panel’s political contributions went to Democrats vs. a mere 1% to Republicans.
And as noted by Grenell, Mayorkas’s immediate surrender to the court order suggests he knew the Intelligence Group was breaking the law.
America First Legal (AFL) is a pro-Democracy organization led by senior members of the Trump Administration including Stephen Miller, Gene Hamilton, Reed Rubinstein, and Daniel Epstein. Its mission is to preserve and protect Americans’ Constitutional rights and defend the nation against the “radical Left’s anti-jobs, anti-freedom, anti-faith, anti-borders, anti-police, and anti-American crusade.”
This is the second time the Biden Administration has been forced to disband a group that was in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. In 2022, the Department of Education agreed to dissolve its “Parents Council” after a lawsuit brought by AFL and members of “Parents Defending Education” and “Fight for Schools and Families.”
Sources:
Judge Disbands Biden’s DHS Intelligence Group Led by ‘Hoaxers’
DHS Shuts Down Partisan ‘Intelligence Experts’ Panel after Lawsuit from Conservative Legal Group
ding ding ding —– you win, Biden did a stupid.
Problem is: what do you do?
The group was chartered as a diverse group of known experts to “provide advice and perspectives on intelligence and national security efforts to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Office of Counterterrorism Coordinator to support DHS’ vital work to protect our country.” Hmm, that sounds good. They added: “The Experts Group will provide DHS with a wide range of views and perspectives, with a membership that includes former senior intelligence officials, journalists, and prominent human rights and civil liberties advocates.” Well, that sounds like a good idea. But could they take over? Give us bad thoughts? Weaponize something? “The Experts Group will meet four times annually and leverage the expertise of each member to provide input on I&A’s most complex problems and challenges, including terrorism, fentanyl, transborder issues, and emerging technology.” Oh my God, they are targeting Trump…..
I’m pretty sure getting together quarterly to share ideas ain’t gonna be a coup, much less even change much except to put ideas on the table. But that’s where it ends and therein lies the rub. How can anyone do anything in a bipartisan fashion and why does every single blessed piece of government require equal members from all represented voting constituencies? And if you do that, why does the minority (in the government power elite) always just say no to everything IF you invite them to join? Bipartisan Senate Immigration bill written by both sides —- FUCK THAT. Republican House bill unanimously voted down by House Dems — that’s the ticket!! I mean it is really hard to get anything done if we continue to put party in front of The Constitution and protecting our nation. And if we do get some moderates to join, then they are hassled, harassed and have their careers ruined for helping. Can you say LIz? Mitt? Adam? Let’s put MTGreene on committee and see how much we get done…..
That said, the group is disbanded without committing a crime or admission of guilt and those bringing suit are happy to drop it, claim victory, ask for money, and move on. And nothing will be done.
Thanks to conservatives, America’s new flag is “Please tread on me, not gonna do anything to prevent it.”
While this was not the answer, it should be disbanded, the question is now what are you going to do for expert opinion on these issues. What is your plan? Or do you think it’s just not an issue? Besides Wampler’s desire to kill anyone he deems “dangerous,” does anyone have a clue how to move forward out of this morass before the Russians and Chinese having us shooting each other over a broken window at a 711 in a protest……. We’re being played folks. We need to figure this out.