| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
FBI Chief Not Invited To WH Summit On Countering Violent Extremism
President Barack Obama addressed the conference on Wednesday, saying that people should not be profiled simply because of their religious beliefs.
F. Peter Brown / Western Journalism
The White House did not invite FBI director James B. Comey to its summit on countering violent extremism. Comey is the most senior American official charged with preventing terrorist attacks.
Mr. Comey’s counterpart, Aleksandr V. Bortnikov–the director of the Russian Federal Security Service, the post-Soviet K.G.B–attended the meeting, though.
The White House claims it did not invite the FBI director because the summit is not focused on law enforcement.
One Obama administration official said that “while the F.B.I. works tirelessly to keep the country safe, this conference was not centered on federal law enforcement.”
He then went on to say that the administration’s efforts to counter violent extremism “are premised on the notion that local officials and communities can be an effective bulwark against violent extremism, and most of the participants — spanning community leaders, local, law enforcement, private sector innovators, and others — reflected this bottom-up approach.”
Despite the FBI director not being invited, Attorney General Eric Holder attended along with several FBI officials who participated in panels.
Read more at WJ:
Figures. Why would you want investigators at your very own crime scene?