As part of a new strategy for combating radical Islam “violent extremism” President Obama is launching a new strategy: “community based prevention of violent ideologies.”

The 18-page plan, to be announced on Wednesday, marks the first time in five years that the Obama administration has updated its policy for preventing the spread of violent groups. Authorities blamed radical and violent ideologies as the motives for attacks in the last year in Charleston, South Carolina; San Bernardino, California; Orlando, Florida; New York and New Jersey.

A self-styled white supremacist is accused of shooting dead nine black people inside a historic African-American church in Charleston and the other shootings and bombs were inspired by Islamist militants.

That’s some high-quality H2O-carrying by Reuters.

NINE DEAD BLACK PEOPLE KILLED BY A WHITE SUPREMACIST and some “other” shootings and bombings committed by radical Islamists that may have killed some people, but we’re not really sure how many or what they looked like. The details are still unclear.  

The White House appears to be catering to the concerns of terrorism linked groups like CAIR.

Civil liberties groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have criticized the current model as one that sows distrust in Muslim communities in the United States. Federal prosecutors, who are charged with conducting terrorism investigations, also lead prevention efforts.

You know what really sows distrust? Terrorism. Just saying.

Prosecutors would still have a role in prevention efforts under the new policy, including arranging after-school programs, but they would not be allowed to use those settings for intelligence gathering.

Nothing prevents terrorist attacks quite like placing arbitrary limitations on intelligence gathering.

Under the new guidelines, “local intervention teams” made up of mental health professionals, faith-based groups, educators and community leaders will assess the needs of individuals who may be showing signs of converting to a violent ideology.

It will be like an Afterschool Special where that one cool teacher keeps it real, “You’re looking a little extremist lately, champ. What’s up with all the suicide vests? Let’s play some catch in the park and talk about it.”

Local law enforcement officers may also be part of the team, but not federal prosecutors.

“We determined that efforts to build intervention teams are less likely to succeed if they are driven by the federal government,” said Brette Steele, acting deputy director of the U.S. government’s Countering Violent Extremism Task Force, suggesting that the teams should instead be community-led.

While the federal government under Obama’s leadership is quick to demonize and micromanage local law enforcement in order to appease one constituency, they’re pulling back to appease another. In both cases they don’t seem to be taking the ultimate goal seriously. Why do you suppose they never worry about sowing distrust with law abiding Americans?