Documents: DHS Labels Pro-Life Mom a ‘Radicalization Suspect’ in Domestic Terrorism Training Plan

An alleged U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) domestic terrorism training plan portrays a middle-aged pro-life mother as a “radicalization suspect,” documents released this week by American First Legal show.

America First Legal obtained what appears to be a video production training plan from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The document has an internal memo from the Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) dated January 29,2021, which is just eight days after Joe Biden was sworn in as president.

The memo includes a “Choose Your Own Adventure” game-like memo for individuals to make “real-life decisions” based on “radicalization” scenarios with different fictitious characters. One of the fictitious “radicalization suspects” is “Ann,” who is described as a “middle-aged pro-life advocate.”

“This is Ann, a resident of Elkville in rural America,” the alleged program outline states. “Ann has always been religious but since the death of her mother, she’s become increasingly devout. She’s a regular in the small-town community, active in several church groups. While she has always been protective of her four kids, she has become increasingly more concerned about the welfare of other children including the unborn.”

The alleged program outline directs participants to choose from three “bystander roles” that guide them through “difficult choices that approximate real-life decisions at the end of each scene.” Bystanders in the “Ann” scenario are a bakery employee, a hairdresser, or a preacher, the document shows.

In one scenario, Ann’s hairdresser hears Ann “bring up pro-life arguments…ranting” and sees her watching videos of “violent protests on her phone.” The hairdresser is then given three options: research the pro-life groups Ann was talking about, talk to a coworker about her, or call the sheriff on her “to ask him about when you should be concerned about radicalization.”

The document includes several other fictitious characters including  “Courtney,” a “budding conspiracy theorist”  and “Pete,” the “Anti-gov/authority Abusive Parent/Stepdad.”

“…DHS also directs viewers to reflect on what more they could have done to ‘make the situation better,'” wrote Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online. Benz previously served as deputy assistant secretary for International Communications and Information Technology at the U.S. Department of State. 

Another document allegedly obtained in the FOIA request shows the DHS planned a “Family First” photoshoot to “show every day people doing every day tasks…to emphasize that domestic terrorism can happen to anyone, but that anyone can also help prevent it.” The alleged planning documents show the DHS wanted to cast “diverse race, gender, cultural individuals that align to the same distribution of the United State based on the breakdown of the most recent Census.”

“This is essentially a state-funded instruction video for creating a modern Stasi class where citizens are encouraged to report on one another – even when no laws have been broken,” Benz added. “…DHS’s ‘radicalization suspects’ in the video screenplays are not violent terrorists or extremists. They are typical everyday Americans with typical everyday American opinions.”

American First Legal says the documents “further reveal that the government is using taxpayer dollars to expand its capabilities to deem innocent people as ‘extremists’ or ‘domestic terrorists.”

“The Department of Homeland Security’s transformation into a domestic intelligence organization and a Stasi-like Deep State internal security apparatus is alarming,” American First Legal Senior Counselor and Director of Investigations Reed Rubinstein said in a statement.

“It is a very long way from ‘see something, say something’ regarding an unattended suitcase at the airport to profiling patriotic and politically conservative Americans as abusive parents and domestic terrorists because they oppose abortion on demand and voted for former President Trump. The agency is out of control,” Rubinstein continued. 

News of the alleged training plan comes a little more than a year after Education Secretary Miguel Cardona allegedly solicited the letter from National School Boards Association (NSBA) officials to President Joe Biden that targeted parents voicing concerns about education issues as potential “domestic terrorists” and after federal law enforcement officers allegedly raided the home of pro-life activist and Catholic father of seven Mark Houck.

Federal agencies notably rushed to protect access to abortion and abortion facilities following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, although FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in November 2022 that approximately 70 percent of abortion-related threats of violence in the United States since the Dobbs decision have been against pro-life groups. 

A DHS spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the documents via email after the original publication of the story on Friday but told Breitbart News the training plan was never fully produced or used.

“The documents referenced in the blog post were not produced for or by anyone working for the Biden-Harris Administration,” a DHS spokesperson said. “They were created by a contractor during the previous Administration exploring options for a training product that was not further produced, approved, or used by DHS. DHS did not renew the contract with that contractor.”

Breitbart News asked for further clarification surrounding the date of the training document but has not heard back.

This story has been updated with a response from the DHS.