Screen grab of Thin Blue Line “Radicalization Locator Map”
Anti-Muslim grassroots organization ACT! for America sent an October 24 email to supporters announcing the launch of the Thin Blue Line Project (TBLP). In the email, ACT! founder and president Brigitte Gabriel lauded the project as “one that could change the course of anti-terrorism strategies and tactics!” While assisting law enforcement in combating extremism is certainly admirable, the Thin Blue Line Project falls incredibly short in providing any substantive information. Instead, ACT’s latest project is nothing more than another asset for anti-Muslim activists to perpetuate the conspiracy theories fueling their bigotry – further encouraging the profiling and surveillance of Muslim communities by law enforcement.
ACT! presents the TBLP as a weapon against a “suffocating political correctness” that has led to the removal of anti-Muslim bias in law enforcement training materials and criticism of “training” sessions led by noted anti-Muslim activists such as Frank Gaffney and TBLP co-creator John Guandolo. TBLP goes much further than simply providing access to the information from these now-ostracized training materials. The project goes so far as to provide the home addresses of prominent Muslim advocacy groups’ leaders with the “radicalization locator map” feature.
As a program intended solely for law enforcement officials, it is extraordinarily unnecessary to provide such personal information. Were any of the individuals listed on the map legitimate threats to national security, law enforcement officials would surely already have access to information like their home addresses. The personal risks to those identified by TBLP would certainly be heightened should some ACT supporters not in law enforcement become privy to such information.
Even more troubling is that ACT! is seemingly aware of individuals outside of law enforcement gaining access to TBLP – including the personal information of those identified on the radicalization locator map. In a November 1 radio interview with Tennessee-based ACT! activist Cathy Hinners, ACT!’s executive director Guy Rodgers noted that some TBLP accounts do not belong to law enforcement officers. Rather than working to ensure that civilians do not get access to such private information, Rodgers simply advised TBLP users to not disclose too much information about law enforcement tactics and operations on the project’s message boards as there could be “moles” reading.
While ACT! may hail TBLP as a tremendous resource, it is nothing more than another tool self-designed by anti-Muslim activists, lending credence to their conspiracy theories of “stealth jihad” and the so-called “Islamization of America.” By disclosing the personal information of Muslim organization leaders – and admitting that those outside of law enforcement may have access – ACT! has made it clear that it does not place Muslims’ individual rights at the same level as that of other Americans.
Or, as TBLP’s John Guandolo once claimed, “[t]hey do not have a First Amendment right to do anything.”
Brigitte Gabriel concluded her email announcing the launch of TBLP with: “I guarantee you – this project is NOT politically correct!!!” What Gabriel did not note was that, with the project, ACT! also willingly putting the safety and privacy of Muslim organizations and leaders at risk. Such brazen disregard for the individual rights of Americans – regardless of their ethnicity or religion – is irresponsible and should be challenged.