One of the speakers at ACT! for America’s conference this year will be Ryan Mauro. Mauro serves as a “National Security Analyst” at the Clarion Project, a group best known for their fear-mongering anti-Muslim film series.
Mauro is featured on various right-wing new outlets including Fox News, where he remains one of its go-to “experts” on terrorism. Mauro’s Fox appearances usually involve him advancing anti-Muslim falsehoods. For example, Mauro has claimed so-called “Muslim patrols” that enforce Shariah law have taken root in the U.S. In a previous interview, he claimed there is an ongoing effort by Muslims in the U.S. to “create enclaves where they can begin gradually implementing Shariah law.”
To that end, he also joined the hysteria following the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, claiming that Muslims are beginning to establish alleged Muslim-only “no-go” zones in the U.S. Of course, this myth was debunked. Repeatedly.
Mauro has also been known for stirring fear about Muslim communities across the U.S. including Islamberg, a hamlet of mostly African American Muslims in New York state that was the recent intended target of failed far-right Tennessee politician Robert Doggart. Prior to Doggart’s plot, Mauro appeared on Fox to claim the FBI considered Islamberg to be a threat and that he had video footage of Islamberg residents “engaging in guerrilla warfare training.”
When he pleaded guilty to the plot, Doggart said his he was justified because the residents were planning their own terrorist attack.
Mauro’s organization the Clarion Project is known for producing and distributing various Islamophobic films. One of which, was the 2005 film “Obsession,” which has been widely criticized for comparing Islam to Nazism and stirring up fear that Muslims are gearing up for world conquest.
The film also garnered national attention after it was mysteriously distributed to 28 million voters in 14 swing states during the 2008 presidential election in an effort to convince them to vote for John McCain.