Pete Hoekstra

Contact: Greg VanWoerkom 202-225-4401

Hoekstra Asks the Director of National Intelligence to Investigate DHS Report

Lunch with the troops

Washington, Apr 16, 2009 - U.S. Rep Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, asked the DNI Ombudsman to investigate the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis report on “rightwing extremism” for evidence of unsubstantiated conclusions and political bias.

“This report has significant analytic shortcomings and does not deserve to be called an intelligence product,” Hoekstra said. “Our nation’s veterans and hardworking families that may be facing tough times should not be viewed as a threat and neither should citizens who oppose out-of-control federal spending and tax hikes.”

The House Intelligence Committee is responsible for authorizing funding for DHS Intelligence and Analysis and conducting oversight of the office. Hoekstra sent his letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and copied Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. The DNI Ombudsman’s office is responsible for reviewing concerns about the quality and potential politicization of intelligence analysis.

Hoekstra was dismayed by the report’s sweeping generalizations about returning combat veterans and the suggestion that they would be susceptible to joining violent extremist groups. Hoekstra, who has sponsored a Constitutional Amendment to protect the rights of parents to raise their children, was also disappointed by the report’s assertion without substantiation that unemployed parents may foster “rightwing extremist” beliefs in their children.

“Beyond apologizing for its obviously offensive references, the administration needs to get to the bottom of how and why a report like this was written, and put standards in place to keep it from happening again,” Hoekstra said.

See Hoekstra's letter to Napolitano by clicking here.