The FBI has spent more than a decade limiting official contact with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) over concerns about the group’s ties to Hamas, according to a Justice Department report reviewed by Fox News Digital.
The 2013 Office of Inspector General (OIG) report shows the FBI put a nationwide restriction in place in 2008 and repeatedly reminded field offices to follow it after evidence in a major terrorism-financing case linked CAIR leaders to Hamas, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization.
The resurfaced findings come as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations last week, and as lawmakers renew calls for federal action against Islamist networks operating throughout America.
According to the OIG, FBI headquarters issued a series of internal memoranda between August and December 2008 ordering all field offices to end non-investigative engagement with CAIR unless cleared through Washington. The directive, the report notes, stemmed in part from evidence introduced during the Holy Land Foundation trial connecting CAIR leadership to the Hamas support network.
The policy was a “significant deviation” from prior outreach practices, and some offices resisted the shift.
At least one Special Agent-in-Charge pushed back, telling staff his office would set its own CAIR policy unless headquarters provided more detail. Others sought exceptions for long-standing local relationships.
Despite the bureau-wide restrictions, the OIG found several violations between 2010 and 2012. In three of five reviewed incidents, field personnel did not follow the CAIR policy:
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The OIG identified several cases in which field offices violated the bureau-wide CAIR-contact ban. In Chicago, the Special Agent-in-Charge attended an event where a CAIR official spoke — an appearance the group later publicized. In New Haven, agents consulted directly with CAIR and even allowed CAIR officials to teach a cultural workshop, despite explicit warnings from FBI headquarters that such engagement would violate policy. And in Philadelphia, a CAIR representative was brought into an outreach session after staff followed guidance from the Office of Public Affairs rather than the bureau directives that barred that type of contact.
The OIG concluded the FBI “did not conduct effective implementation or oversight” of its own CAIR-contact restrictions.
The internal FBI restrictions — still in effect as of 2013 — take on new significance following Abbott’s decision to classify CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations under Texas law, preventing them from owning property in the state.
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Abbott said the groups “have long made their goals clear” and accused them of supporting terrorism worldwide.
The OIG findings also align with a sweeping new report from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) warning of a coordinated, decades-long effort by Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations to infiltrate American institutions.
ISGAP is urging federal lawmakers to follow Texas’ lead.
CAIR has repeatedly rejected any claim of wrongdoing, saying earlier this week it “opposes all forms of terrorism” and accuses critics of relying on “guilt by association.”
The OIG recommended the FBI improve training and enforcement around the CAIR restrictions, and ensure that field offices comply with headquarters’ directives moving forward.
CAIR, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said that it “and the FBI have communicated with each other to address matters such as hate crimes against the American Muslim community, threats to our civil rights organization, and crime prevention.”
The group added that during President Trump’s first term, “it was our CAIR Georgia chapter that repeatedly warned the FBI about a potential threat to President Trump and other Americans. After the FBI later arrested a troubled individual accused of plotting an attack on the White House, senior FBI agents met with and explicitly thanked CAIR for saving lives.”
CAIR said it remains “willing to communicate with the FBI to address public safety matters,” but that the two organizations “do not engage in photo-ops or community events with each other.”
The group noted that it has “been critical of some of the Bureau’s tactics” and “sometimes face[s] off in court,” pointing to its “9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against abuses of the FBI’s watchlist.”
The FBI and ISGAP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
