CLASS: Anti-Muslim Bigots/Islamophobes
OVERVIEW:
The Understanding the Threat organization was founded by John Guandolo and claims to provide “threat-focused strategic and operational consultation, training, and education for federal, state, and local leadership and agencies in government, the private sector, and for private citizens” against the “Global Islamic Movement”. The organization believes that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the American government and seeks to conquer the U.S. and its people.
HISTORY:
In 2014, the Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy withdrew accreditation from a Guandolo training put on the Culpepper County Sheriff’s Office. And in 2015, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office pulled out of a counter-terrorism seminar featuring Guandolo. That same year, the Denver Police Department dispatched a local detective to a UTT event in Colorado to identify any of its officers in attendance, presumably for re-training.
Last year, the National Sheriff’s Association rescinded its support of Guandolo after he was involved in a physical altercation with a Minnesota sheriff at the group’s annual conference in Reno, Nevada. The altercation, which later led to a restraining order against Guandolo, stemmed from him accusing Sheriff Richard Stanek of working “with jihadis in the community.” The charges against Guandolo have since been dropped.
Guandolo touts his FBI background to lend credibility to his training courses, which are offered to law enforcement and civilians alike. Often omitted, however, is the controversial manner in which he departed the federal law enforcement agency. In 2008, Guandolo resigned from the Bureau in disgrace after a number of ethical breaches and bizarre conduct, including admitting to having affairs with female FBI agents and a confidential source he was assigned to protect during the corruption case of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA); he also solicited that witness for a $75,000 donation for an anti-terrorism group.
After his departure from the FBI, Guandolo founded UTT and turned to a full-time career as an anti-Muslim fearmonger. During an event in 2011, he claimed U.S. mosques were fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood, and that Muslim houses of worship in general, “do not have a First Amendment right to do anything.”
Guandolo made headlines in March of 2018 for religiously profiling an unsuspecting Southwest Airlines employee on social media. The inflammatory post caused such an uproar that the airline was forced to respond, calling the now-deleted tweet “cruel and inappropriate.” He later doubled down on his post during a recent episode of UTT’s radio show. As it turns out, this was not the first time Guandolo has posted pictures of unsuspecting airline employees and accused them of being “jihadis.”
Board of Directors: John Guandolo
Staff: John R. Bennett, Peggy Mast, Stephanie Ameiss
Funders: Grassroots Funding
Address: 2825 Oak Lawn Ave #190772, Dallas, Texas
Website: https://www.understandingthethreat.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnderstandingtheThreat/
Twitter:https://twitter.com/UTT_USA
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXY4la … YS6XI6M6xA
Contact:info@understandingthethreat.com