The Biden administration’s “Homeland Intelligence Experts Group” had planned an influence operation to have mothers and teachers inform on dissident parents and students suspected of “domestic extremism.” The panel was created in September of last year and included intelligence figures such as John Brennan and James Clapper. However, conservative non-profit America First Legal (AFL) alleged that the group was biased and violated laws governing advisory committees. The DHS agreed to disband the group and provide AFL with internal records as part of a settlement in May, leading to the disclosure of the group’s activities.
Internal documents from a September 2023 meeting of the Brennan-Clapper group revealed discussions on ways for the DHS to collect intelligence on Americans across the country and get into local communities discreetly. Members noted how Americans may be hesitant to report on each other, with concerns about how people could safely report on their neighbors. One proposed solution was to reclassify political dissent as a “public health” issue to encourage reporting of suspicious behavior. The group also discussed the potential involvement of corporate America in intelligence gathering efforts on their employees.
The alarming plans discussed by the group serve as echoes of tactics used by East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, which relied on informants to report on dissidents to the socialist regime. Former acting director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration, Ric Grenell, criticized the Biden administration’s strategy to monitor and intimidate dissenting views. Grenell partnered with AFL in the lawsuit against DHS and expressed shock over the intolerance and paranoia outlined in the documents obtained through the lawsuit. The revelations are part of a series entitled “Deep State Diaries” by AFL, promising further disclosures from the disbanded group’s archives.
The discussion within the group included ways to encourage mothers and teachers to report concerning behavior in a manner that appeared non-threatening. This included potentially involving local communities in intelligence gathering efforts and classifying dissent as a public health issue to justify reporting to the federal government. The meeting notes also mentioned increased support for these initiatives following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, in a concerning parallel with the historical practices of totalitarian regimes of the past.
The group’s plans and discussions on intelligence collection have raised alarms about potential violations of civil liberties and privacy rights. The suggestion to turn to corporate America for intelligence on employees adds another layer of concern about private sector involvement in government surveillance activities. The comparison to the East German Stasi highlights the danger of creating a society where individuals are encouraged to spy on each other for political or ideological reasons. The revelations from the disbanded group’s records shed light on the inner workings of a shadowy organization within the DHS and the potential threats it posed to civil liberties.
The documents obtained from the internal records of the disbanded group provide insights into the ambitions and strategies of the DHS’s shadowy organization. The plan to use mothers, teachers, and corporate America as informants to report on dissenting views reflects an alarming trend towards increased surveillance and monitoring of Americans under the guise of national security. The involvement of intelligence figures like Brennan and Clapper in this group raises questions about potential biases and partisan influences in the collection of intelligence. The revelations from the documents obtained by AFL shed light on a disturbing aspect of the current administration’s approach to national security and intelligence gathering efforts.
