Scott Bates, who served in the Department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush, takes aim at the premise of Rep. Peter King's Muslim HUAC hearings:
I will not speculate on Chairman King's motives. The threat from terrorism is real. There should be hearings that examine the evolving threat and continually further our understanding of the phenomenon. As someone who has worked on both homeland and hometown security I can tell you one thing: alienating and targeting the part of the community that you are trying to protect is counterproductive to security goals, and the hearings as proposed only serve as a distraction from examining the real problems we face.
There is a remarkable level of consensus among experts in counterterrorism that the relationship between American Muslims and the authorities is one of the most important lines of defense against terrorism and radicalization, and that scapegoating the Muslim community jeopardizes that relationship. Acting as al-Qaeda's de-facto public relations firm by suggesting they have broad popular support when the opposite is true is also counterproductive.
For the past two years, Republicans have lacked a leader with the influence of Bush who could counter the narratives of civilizational conflict that are currently in vogue on the right. There is no one of remotely similar status saying that Islam is not the enemy, while plenty of conservative rock stars and even party "intellectuals" have embraced the "clash of civilizations" narrative. So what you're left with is a conservative audience that believes that the U.S. is at war with more than a billion people across the world the same way it was once fighting a Cold War against communism, and is therefore mystified as to why treating them all as the enemy would be a bad idea.
