Islamist sympathizing advisor finally gets the boot from DHS

In 2010, the Obama administration appointed Mohamed Elibiary to DHS’ Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). It reappointed him in 2013 with the upgraded title of senior fellow.

Last week, however, DHS let Elibiary go. Given Elibiary’s record, I would like to think that his sacking was over-determined. But given the Obama administration’s affinity for Elibiary’s bizarre views about Islamic radicals, we’re probably lucky that Elibiary won’t be staying on.

The Washington Free Beacon identifies two possible reasons why Elibiary had to go. The first is his record of sympathetic comments about radical Islamists.

Elibiary has said on twitter that America is “an Islamic country with an Islamically compliant constitution.” He has also opined that the Muslim Brotherhood poses no threat to the United States.

The rise of ISIS also seems not have bothered Elibiary. In his view, the “return” of a Muslim caliphate was “inevitable.” This comment drew praise from affiliates of ISIS.

It was enough to make one wag wonder whose homeland Elibiary wants to secure.

Are Elibiary’s views antithetical to the Obama administration’s? Maybe. But Elibiary’s loss of his perch on the Homeland Security Advisory Council seems to have more to do with allegations that he was involved in inappropriate disclosure of sensitive law enforcement documents.

The essence of these allegations is that Elibiary improperly accessed classified documents from a secure site and may have attempted to pass them to reporters. The DHS maintains that it investigated the allegations against Elibiary and found no wrongdoing.

However, Judicial Watch says that the response by DHS to a request for documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act indicates that a proper investigation into Elibiary’s actions never took place. Judicial Watch requested documents pertaining to DHS’s alleged investigation. DHS responded that no such documents were found.

It seems likely that DHS cut Elibiary loose in the hope that members of Congress who have been pressing it about the alleged investigation will move on.

The apparent lack of an investigation by DHS into Elibiary’s alleged security breach remains interesting even with Elibiary gone. But the big question is how a guy with such obvious sympathy for Islamic radicals could hold down a position on DHS’ Homeland Security Advisory Council for all these years.

The answer, I think, is that his views are not antithetical to those of the Obama administration. Obama himself has been quite sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, which he seems to consider the wave of the future in the Middle East. And he was untroubled by the expansion of ISIS (the “jayvee”) until very recently.

I guess we should be grateful that Team Obama didn’t place Jeremiah Wright on the HSAC.

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