Adam L. Silverman, PhD*
In the comments to my most recent Sharia Law is Not Closer to America than It Appears post, DanM brought Spencer Ackerman's** recent reporting on some really factually inaccurate training materials pertaining to Islam that were, apparently, used at the FBI. After looking through the training slide decks, I have got to say they are a mess!*** And that we need to bring the links to the reporting out of the comments and up where everyone can see it. The apparent good news, which Spencer reports in his article and links to, is that Senators Lieberman and Collins seem to take these problems seriously and have made it clear they intend to fix it if the relevant agencies do not do so themselves. But the poor quality information that Spencer has reported is being provided to Federal law enforcement, perhaps explains some of the confounding and very public terrorism prosecutions we have been witness too over the past decade as reported on by Petra Bartosiewicz at Harpers.
* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College and/or the US Army.
** Full disclosure: I once wrote a guest post for Spencer Ackerman.
*** As someone who has briefed, lectured, and presented on Islam, Islamic theology and dogma, and the connections between Islam and a variety of types of political violence and conflict to a number of different US Army elements, I can honestly say that these are some of the worst materials on the subject I have ever seen.