California: A pilot Obama administration program to prevent radicalisation from taking root is creating suspicion that it's a plot to profile American Muslims.
Local law enforcement officials have been doing such outreach for years. But now that federal officials are putting their stamp on it, some Muslims and others fear it is profiling disguised as prevention and worry it could compromise civil liberties and religious freedoms.
The effort divides Muslim leaders who, on one side, argue that more must be done to fight extremism in their community and that this program is a historic opportunity for input.
Others fear the program, which could be rolled out nationwide after being tested in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Boston, is just another veiled way for law enforcement to target their community.
Skeptics remember the New York Police Department's surveillance of Muslims, uncovered by The Associated Press in an investigation in 2011, and an FBI informant's description of how he was taught to ingratiate himself to the Southern California religious community in the mid-2000s to secretly gather contact information and record conversations.
The US government announced the Countering Violent Extremism program last fall, billing it as a community-driven initiative to tackle terrorism and militant recruitment by preventing radicalisation from taking root.
President Barack Obama later said Muslims need to fight a misconception that groups like the Islamic State speak for them, even as senior administration officials insisted they were not focusing exclusively on that particular threat.
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