In addition to state surveillance and citizen surveillance, Muslim Americans are participating in self-surveillance. While some of this is a response to the surveillance they encounter, the state has also encouraged this practice. In 2014, President Obama unveiled a new program by the Department of Homeland Security called Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The DHS website outlines the scope of the program, which includes understanding violent extremism, supporting communities that might be vulnerable to extremist ideologies, helping these communities to resist recruitment, and assisting local law enforcement in their efforts to prevent another terrorist attack in the United States. This program encourages Muslim Americans to surveil members of their own communities who may appear suspicious and report them to the government. … According to Germain, who is now a fellow for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, right-wing antigovernment groups commit the majority of politically motivated violent acts in the United States, not Muslims: "Focusing almost exclusively on Muslims, he added, 'reinforces the false perception that extremist violence is primarily a Muslim problem when the facts show that is not true'" (Bender 2015).

XREF: Contradicts the premise of the CVE program's Muslim-focused framing. SEED: Could anchor a piece on how surveillance policies target the minority while the actual threat comes from elsewhere.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 62