In June 2012, five Republican lawmakers (most prominently, Michele Bachmann) sent letters to the inspectors general at the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense, and State, asking that they investigate government “policies and activities that appear to be the result of influence operations conducted by individuals and organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood”—the ideological wellspring from which such terrorist outfits as al Qaeda and Hamas first emerged.[1] One letter, for instance, noted that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s closest aide, her deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin, “has three family members … connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.” (In fact, Abedin herself spent 12 years working for for the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, a Saudi-based Islamic think tank whose agenda was—and remains to this day, as journalist Andrew C. McCarthy explains—“to grow an unassimilated, aggressive population of Islamic supremacists who will gradually but dramatically alter the character of the West.” For details about this agenda, click here.)



While Bachmann was widely criticized and ridiculed for daring to suggest that Muslim Brotherhood elements had infiltrated the U.S. government, corroboration of her allegations came, in December 2012, from an unlikely quarter: Egypt’s Rose El-Youssef magazine, which asserted that six highly-placed Muslim Brotherhood infiltrators within the Obama administration had transformed the United States “from a position hostile to Islamic groups and organizations in the world to the largest and most important supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.” (A translation of the article is available from the Investigative Project here.)



According to the Investigative Project, “the six named people include: Arif Alikhan, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for policy development; Mohammed Elibiary, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council; Rashad Hussain, the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference; Salam al-Marayati, co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC); Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA); and Eboo Patel, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships. These represent many of the individuals and groups about whom Bachmann had raised concerns.



This section of Discover The Networks profiles these and other Islamists who have influenced, or have been appointed to positions within, the Obama administration. Also included in this section are a number of Islamists who have not officially been connected to the Obama administration, but who have had a significant influence on Obama's thinking over the course of his life.



Moreover, this section contains a link to a profile of the Barack H. Obama Foundation (BHOF), which was established in 2008 by Abon'go Malik Obama, President Obama's half-brother, a Kenyan-born Muslim with twelve wives. Abon'go Malik Obama is:

the overseer of the Muslim Brotherhood’s international investments;

the executive secretary of the Sudan-based Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO), an organization primarily focused on expanding Wahhabist Islam on the African subcontinent; and

closely associated with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, a jihadist tyrant responsible for the deaths of more than three million people, all in the name of Jihad and war against Christians.

* Abedin, Huma: Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

* Abunimah, Ali: Vice president of the Arab American Action Network

* Al-Hibri, Azizah: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

* Al-Mansour, Khalid Abdullah Tariq: Patron of Obama during 1980s

* Al-Marayati, Salam: Representative of the U.S. government at the annual Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference

* Alikhan, Areef: Department of Homeland Security

* Arab American Action Network: Received money from Woods Fund when Obama was board member of Woods Fund

* Barack H. Obama Foundation: Headed by President Obama's half-brother, who oversees the Muslim Brotherhood's international investments

* Asbahi, Mazen: National Coordinator for Muslim American Affairs (during 2008 presidential campaign)

* Elibiary, Mohamed: Homeland Security Advisory Council

* Husaini, Minha: National Coordinator for Muslim American Affairs (during 2008 presidential campaign)

* Hussain, Rashad: Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference

* Khalidi, Rashid: Professor of Middle East Studies at Columbia University

* Magid, Mohamed: Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Countering Violent Extremism Working Group

* Mattson, Ingrid: Invited by Obama advisor to work on the White House Council on Women and Girls

* Mogahed, Dalia: Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

* Obama, Abon'go Malik: the older half-brother of Barack Obama

* Patel, Eboo: Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

* Said, Edward: Professor and Arab activist who was keynote speaker at 1998 fundraiser attended by Obama

* Shora, Kareem: Homeland Security Advisory Council

* Shora, Nawar: Senior Advisor to the Civil Rights and Liberties Office of the Transportation Security Administration





NOTE:

[1] To view copies of these letters, see the RESOURCES column on the right side of this page.