Charity and Security Network report: How the Work of Charities Can Counter Terror

The Charity and Security Network presents How the Work of Charities Can Counter Terror and How U.S. Laws Get in the Way. A December 2009 report based a panel disccsuion event held on March 20, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The report features nonprofit leaders from the U.S., Colombia, Palestinian states and Philippines explain how ill-advised counterterrorism measures diminish the critical work of humanitarian and development groups and exacerbate some of the root causes of terror, such as poverty, religious persecution, and exclusion from the political process.

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Another Example of Dissent Being Equated With Terrorism

A question on a Department of Defense (DoD) training exam states that the exercise of First Amendment rights in the U.S. is an "example of low level terrorism". New DoD employees are being trained to select "Protests" as the answer to a question about identifying an act of terror. This is one of several examples of when dissent and protest is being equated with terrorism. Civil liberty advocates, like the ACLU, and political activists, are outraged at these "deeply disturbing" assertions.

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USAID Seeks Comments on Expanding PVS to Contractors

On Friday May 26 USAID published a notice in the Federal Register seeking comments on implementation of its problematic Partner Vetting System for acquisition awards. Comments are due August 25th. The notice notes that the final rule for NGOs has been delayed and that USAID "has not yet made a final decision on whether to implement PVS."

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