King Announces Witnesses for Second Radicalization Hearing on Wednesday
June 13, 2011
Witnesses will testify this Wednesday at second hearing on radicalization of the Muslim-American community
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, announced the names of the witnesses he will call to testify this Wednesday at the second in a series of hearings on radicalization of the Muslim-American community.
The hearing, entitled “The Threat of Muslim-American Radicalization in U.S. Prisons,” will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 15th, in 311 Cannon House Office Building.
The witnesses King will call at the hearing are:
Patrick Dunleavy
• Dunleavy is Retired Deputy Inspector, Criminal Intelligence Unit, New York Department of Correctional Services. Inspector Dunleavy has investigated terrorist recruitment in New York State prisons, and is author of the soon-to-be-published book, The Fertile Soil of Jihad: Prison’s Terrorism Connection.
Kevin Smith
• Smith is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California, and prosecuted the Kevin James/JIS case, a prison radicalization case involving one of the most serious domestic terror plots since 9/11.
• ***Note on Kevin James case: James formed Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), or Assembly of Authentic Islam, while serving time at California’s New Folsom State Prison. James recruited fellow prisoner Levar Washington, an ex-gang member paroled in late 2004. Washington successfully executed “Blueprint 2005,” James's terror plan to radicalize and recruit new JIS operatives with clean criminal records in a local mosque. They had a long target list that included Los Angeles International Airport and a Jewish children's camp near Malibu, but settled on striking a U.S. military recruiting station on the 9/11 anniversary and a Jewish temple. James’ plan was thwarted in 2005. James, Washington and two other defendants pleaded guilty to the charge of seditious conspiracy to levy war against the United States. James is serving a 16-year prison term. Washington is serving a 22-year prison term. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said at sentencing that, “Mr. James was the architect and mastermind of a very serious, very troubling offense.”
Deputy Chief Michael Downing
• Chief Downing is Commanding Officer, Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau, Los Angeles Police Department. In this capacity, Chief Downing leads one of the Nation’s premier counter-terror units.