{"id":1546072,"date":"2024-03-10T17:03:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-10T17:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=463224"},"modified":"2024-03-10T17:03:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-10T17:03:03","slug":"dhs-using-hamas-to-expand-its-reach-on-college-campuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/03\/10\/dhs-using-hamas-to-expand-its-reach-on-college-campuses\/","title":{"rendered":"DHS Using Hamas to Expand Its Reach on College Campuses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of<\/span> Homeland Security is stepping up its efforts to penetrate college campuses under the guise of fighting \u201cforeign malign influence,\u201d according to documents and memos obtained by The Intercept. The push comes at the same time that the DHS is quietly undertaking an effort to influence university curricula in an attempt to fight what it calls disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, the department\u2019s Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council, or HSAPC, sent a report<\/a> to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas outlining a plan to combat college campus unrest stemming from Hamas\u2019s October 7 attack on Israel. DHS has used this advisory body \u2014 a sympathetic cohort of academics, consultants, and contractors \u2014 to gain support for homeland security objectives and recruit on college campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of the recommendations offered in the December 11 report, the Council writes that DHS should \u201cInstruct [its internal office for state and local law enforcement] to work externally with the [International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators] and [National Association of School Resource Officers] to ask Congress to address laws prohibiting DHS from providing certain resources, such as training and information, to private universities and schools. Current limitations serve as a barrier to yielding maximum optimum results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal scholars interviewed by The Intercept are uncertain what specific laws the advisory panel is referring to. The DHS maintains multiple outreach efforts and cooperation programs with public and private universities, particularly with regard to foreign students, and it shares information, even sensitive law enforcement information, with campus police forces. Cooperation with regard to speech and political leanings of students and faculty, nevertheless, is far murkier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The DHS-funded HSAPC originated in 2012 to bring together higher education and K-12 administrators, local law enforcement officials, and private sector CEOs to open a dialogue between the new department and the American education system. The Council meets on a quarterly basis, with additional meetings scheduled at the discretion of the DHS secretary. The current chair is Elisa Beard, CEO of Teach for America. Other council members<\/a> include Alberto M. Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District; Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University; Michael H. Schill, president of Northwestern University; Suzanne Walsh, president of Bennett College; and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its December report, the Council recommends that DHS \u201cImmediately address gaps and disconnects in information sharing and clarify DHS resources available to campuses, recognizing the volatile, escalating, and sometimes urgent campus conditions during this Middle East conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DHS\u2019s focus on campus protests has President Joe Biden\u2019s blessing, according to the White House. At the end of October, administration officials said they were taking action to combat antisemitism on college campuses, assigning dozens<\/a> of \u201ccybersecurity and protective security experts at DHS to engage with schools.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the White House’s efforts, the Council recommended that Mayorkas \u201cimmediately designate an individual to serve as Campus Safety Coordinator and grant them sufficient authority to lead DHS efforts to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.\u201d That appointment has not yet occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council\u2019s December report says that expansion of homeland security’s effort will \u201cBuild a trusting environment that encourages reporting of antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents, threats, and violence.\u201d Through a \u201cpartnership approach\u201d promoting collaboration with \u201cfederal agencies, campus administrators, law enforcement, and Fusion Centers,\u201d the Council says it hopes that DHS will \u201cestablish this culture in lockstep with school officials in communities.\u201d While the Council\u2019s report highlights the critical importance of protecting free speech on campus, it also notes that \u201cMany community members do not understand that free speech comes with limitations, such as threats to physical safety, as well as time, place, and manner restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The recent DHS push for greater impact on campuses wouldn\u2019t be the first time the post-9\/11 agency has taken action as a result of anti-war protests. In 2006, an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit revealed that DHS<\/a> was monitoring anti-war student groups at multiple California college and feeding that information to the Department of Defense. According to documents the ACLU obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the intelligence collected on student groups was intended \u201cto alert commanders and staff to potential terrorist activity or apprise them of other force protection issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayorkas wrote<\/a> on November 14 last year that a DHS academic partnership will develop solutions to thwart not only foreign government theft of national security funded and related research on college campuses but also to actively combat the introduction of \u201cideas and perspectives\u201d by foreign governments that the government deems opposing U.S. interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cColleges and universities may also be seen as a forum to promote the malign actors’ ideologies or to suppress opposing worldviews,\u201d Mayorkas said, adding that \u201cDHS reporting has illuminated the evolving risk of foreign malign influence in higher education institutions.\u201d He says that foreign governments and nonstate actors such as nongovernmental organizations are engaged in \u201cfunding research and academic programs, both overt and undisclosed, that promote their own favorable views or outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three tasks assigned by Mayorkas are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n