Washington
\nThe Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a United States (US) government programme designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters.
\nThe programme, \u201cCountering Violent Extremism,\u201d or CVE, will be changed to \u201cCountering Islamic Extremism\u201d or \u201cCountering Radical Islamic Extremism,\u201d the sources said, and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States.
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\nSuch a change would reflect Trump\u2019s election campaign rhetoric and criticism of former US President Barack Obama for being weak in the fight against the militant Islamic State (IS) group and for refusing to use the phrase \u201cradical Islam\u201d in describing it. IS has claimed responsibility for attacks on civilians in several countries.
\nThe CVE program aims to deter groups or potential lone attackers through community partnerships and educational programmes or counter-messaging campaigns in cooperation with companies such as Google and Facebook.
\nSome proponents of the programme fear that rebranding it could make it more difficult for the government to work with Muslims already hesitant to trust the new administration, particularly after Trump issued an executive order last Friday temporarily blocking travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
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\nStill, the CVE program, which focuses on US residents and is separate from a military effort to fight extremism online, has been criticised even by some supporters as ineffective.
\nA source who has worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the programme said Trump transition team members first met with a CVE task force in December 2016, and floated the idea of changing the name and focus.
\nIn a meeting last Thursday attended by senior staff for DHS Secretary John Kelly, government employees were asked to defend why they chose certain community organisations as recipients of CVE programme grants, said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
\nAlthough CVE funding has been appropriated by Congress and the grant recipients were notified in the final days of the Obama administration, the money still may not go out the door, the source said, adding that Kelly is reviewing the matter.
\nThe department declined comment.
\nThe White House did not respond to a request for comment.
\nSome Republicans in Congress have long assailed the programme as politically correct and ineffective, asserting that singling out and using the term \u201cradical Islam\u201d as the trigger for many violent attacks would help focus deterrence efforts.
\nOthers counter that branding the problem as \u201cradical Islam\u201d would only serve to alienate more than three million Americans who practice Islam peacefully.
\nMany community groups, meanwhile, had already been cautious about the programme, partly over concerns that it could double as a surveillance tool for law enforcement.
\nHoda Hawa, director of policy for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said she was told last week by people within DHS that there was a push to refocus the CVE effort from tackling all violent ideology to only Islamist extremism.
\n\u201cThat is concerning for us because they are targeting a faith group and casting it under a net of suspicion,\u201d she said.
\nAnother source familiar with the matter was told last week by a DHS official that a name change would take place.
\nThree other sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said such plans had been discussed but were unable to attest whether they had been finalised.
\nThe Obama administration sought to foster relationships with community groups to engage them in the counterterrorism effort.
\nIn 2016, Congress appropriated $10 million in grants for CVE efforts and DHS awarded the first round of grants on Jan 13, a week before Trump was inaugurated.
\nAmong those approved were local governments, city police departments, universities and non-profit organisations.
\nAllah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage and fortitude to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss with equanimity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a United States (US) government programme designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters. The programme, \u201cCountering Violent Extremism,\u201d or CVE, will be changed to \u201cCountering Islamic Extremism\u201d or \u201cCountering Radical Islamic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n