What has CAIR done regarding this issue?

                                                                                          

Firstly, what exactly is the issue? Well, there have been reports of the FBI using anti-Muslim training materials in counterterrorism training session. FBI trainers are teaching their agents that terrorism is related to Islam and Muslims. When this whole operation was uncovered, CAIR, challenged the FBI on the use of anti-Muslim training. They joined a coalition of civil rights and Muslim advocacy groups at a press conference outside FBIheadquarters in Washington, D.C., to express concerns about persistent reports that agents are trained to view mainstream American Muslims with suspicion and to view the faith of Islam itself as the source of terrorism and extremism. The coalition news conference was scheduled following new revelations that the FBI apparently continues to employ an analyst who tells counterterrorism and security personnel "to go after Islam itself" and to "undermine the validity of key Islamic scriptures and key Muslim leaders."

That same FBI analyst recently told FBI agents that mainstream American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers, that the Prophet Mohammed was a "cult leader," and that Islamic charitable giving is a "funding mechanism for combat."

CAIR then sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller calling for "swift action" to reform the agency's use of anti-Muslim instructors and Islamophobic materials during counterterrorism training.

In its letter to Director Mueller, CAIR wrote in part:

“We are concerned by persistent reports of FBI personnel receiving biased training about Muslims and Islam. We believe that just as good training results in good investigations, biased training will inevitably result in biased investigations.

“Last year, in partnership with nine organizations and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, we contacted you about a Joint Terrorism Taskforce (JTTF) training in Tidewater, Va., which featured notorious Islamophobe Robert Spencer. In a letter responding to our detailed concerns demonstrating Spencer’s connection to hate groups, FBI Special Agent in Charge Alex Turner said, ‘[Spencer] was invited because of his reputation as a best-selling author.’

“We were encouraged by a Washington Post article last December reporting that your agency has declined to use ‘self-described experts whose extremist views are considered inaccurate and harmful.’

“However, in July 2011, it came to light that a training used within the department asserted that Islam ‘transforms [a] country’s culture into 7th-century Arabian ways.’

“Today, an article by Spencer Ackerman again demonstrates recent Islamophobic training being offered to your personnel, in this case by an individual employed by the agency as an intelligence analyst. Before being employed by the FBI, Mr. William Gawthrop, the analyst in question, had asserted his belief that ‘Muhammad’s mindset is a source for terrorism.’

“CAIR believes it is reasonable to question how a person with such a hostile view of an entire world religion could be placed in a position of responsibility that enables him to spread those views to other agents.

“We request that you take swift action to prohibit the use of biased trainers and training materials in the education of your agents. We believe that objective and factual information will produce agents who can protect our nation. Biased training not only results in wasted resources, but reflects badly on the agency as a whole.”