Biden’s national intelligence is worried that using terms that link terrorism and extremist ideologies to Islam can hurt Muslims in America and hence such language should be avoided.
In a two-part series posted on March 19 and 21, The Daily Wire summarized the contents of a newsletter titled “The Dive” from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FIA) request. With author names redacted, this newsletter was sent to the entire intelligence community, specifically instructing their personnel not to use language that relates Islam to extremism or terrorism. The ODNI newsletter article wrote:
“This article is about one of our goals: disentangling Islam from words and phrases used to discuss terrorism and extremist violence.”
The article goes on to mention quite a few words and phrases that the intelligence community is not supposed to use because they could be hurtful to Muslim-Americans:
“Some of the problematic phrases include, but are not limited to: ‘Salafi-Jihadist,’ ‘Jihadist,’ ‘Islamic-Extremist,’ ‘Sunni/Shia-Extremism,’ and ‘Radical Islamists.’” The story also included a clip of Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire interviewing reporter Spencer Lindquist who authored the series on ODNI’s Muslim-centered instructions on language to the intel community. Lindquist also mentioned other words – like ‘blacklist” and “cakewalk” – which the ODNI newsletter specifies as problematic because they don’t serve the DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) policy of the Biden administration.
The leftist media outlets did not report on the newsletter contents or the concerns it has raised among conservatives, like Indiana’s Republican Congressman Jim Banks, who called such a policy “a gift to our adversaries.” Reporting on the ODNI newsletter in question, TFPP Wire wrote:
Critics argue that these initiatives, promoted by far-left activists and their allies in the Biden administration, are fundamentally undermining the country’s national security operations.
The ODNI’s instructions on avoiding the use of terms describing radical or extremist ideologies and actions by Muslims are a reminder of a similar policy the Obama-Biden administration adopted in their 8 years of government. Philip Haney, a former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) testified in 2016 that his agency during the Obama-Biden administration adopted a policy of turning a blind eye to immigration of Muslims with links to radical Islamic organizations.
In his book See Something Say Nothing (2016), Haney detailed how the DHS turned on him and accused of him of Islamophobia when he pointed out the entry of certain Muslims into the United States who Haney’s research showed having links to radical Islamic ideologies.
Philip Haney was shot to death in February 2020 in a rural area of Amador County, California. The local police asked the FBI to assist in their investigation of his death. After 2 years, during which time mainstream media observed a complete blackout on the story, Haney’s death was ruled suicide. Critics of the federal government agencies called the official ruling a cover-up while mainstream media like the Associated Press called such suspicion “right-wing conspiracy theories.”
