The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) has asked for public comments regarding privacy and civil liberties issues concerning the government’s efforts to counter domestic terrorism. On April 25, 2022, Defending Rights & Dissent submitted public comments calling attention specifically to the FBI’s  counterterrorism efforts’ implications for First Amendment-Protected Activities. 

Specifically, Defending Rights & Dissents called attention to

• How the loose standards for FBI domestic terrorism investigations enable First Amendment abuses
• How the FBI’s persistent extremist movements framework lays the groundwork for treating speech as terrorism
• How the use of radicalization theory and the FBI’s “preventive” approach opens the door for political policing
  
• The clear evidence of political bias in the initiation of investigations.