The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has created a tag for threats against teachers and school administrators and is tracking such investigations on a national level.
An FBI whistleblower provided an email dated Oct. 20 to House Republicans sent on behalf of the counter-terrorism division and the criminal division. The email referenced Attorney General Merrick Garland's Oct. 4 directive to the FBI to ramp up its involvement in school board threats, and notified agents of a new tag, 'EDUOFFICIALS,' to assign to any threats against school administrators, board members, staff or teachers to determine the scope of the problem on a national level and to provide a 'comprehensive analysis of the threat picture.'
'This disclosure provides specific evidence that federal law enforcement operationalized counterterrorism tools at the behest of a left-wing special interest group against concerned parents,' House Republicans claimed in a letter to Garland.
The email directed agents to analyze the motivation behind the criminal activity and to identify whether there were potential federal violations that could be investigated and charged.
The email referenced Attorney General Merrick Garland's Oct. 4 directive to the FBI to ramp up its involvement in school board threats, and notified agents of a new tag, 'EDUOFFICIALS,' to assign to any threats against school administrators, board members, staff or teachers
Republicans say the FBI has inserted itself into what would usually be a local issue due to its political nature, in an effort to 'silence' parents who disagree with schools' progressive policies. Such an argument was made by Republican Glenn Youngkin, who emerged victorious in Virginia's race for governor.
Garland in early October set up a task force comprised of the FBI, the national security division, the criminal division, the civil rights division and others to tackle threats against school staff. Republicans said that Garland's inclusion of the national security division proved that he was targeting parents as 'domestic terrorists.'
Garland testified on Oct. 21 that the Justice Department and its components were not using counterterrorism tactics to target 'concerned parents at school board meetings.'
Garland testified that he could not 'imagine any circumstance in which the Patriot Act would be used in circumstances of parents complaining about their children, nor ... a circumstance where they would be labeled as domestic terrorists.'
Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said that new evidence shows Garland's testimony was 'incomplete and requires additional explanation,' or that Garland may have 'willfully misled the committee about the nature and extend of the department's use of federal
