Obama's security chief takes on "right-wing" flap

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. domestic security chief Janet Napolitano sought Thursday to clear up a flap over her office's warning that some military veterans risk joining right-wing extremist groups.

Napolitano's Department of Homeland Security drew criticism from Republicans for saying in a report last week that military veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be recruitment targets for the rightwing.

The report said those veterans having trouble finding jobs or settling back into civilian society could in particular be targeted for recruiting.

Some Republicans reacted with outrage when the report leaked this week. John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, called it "offensive and unacceptable" to suggest that some veterans defending the country are "potential terrorists."

Napolitano said on NBC's "Today" show that the report was an assessment, not an accusation.

"And I really do want to stress to the veterans out there watching this today, that report did not, and we do not mean to suggest that veterans as a whole are at risk of becoming violent extremists," she said.

Napolitano, a Democrat who was governor of Arizona before joining the Obama administration, accused Boehner of trying to make "political hay" from the report.

"This is an assessment of things just to be wary of, not to infringe on constitutional rights, certainly not to malign our veterans," she said.

The report's overarching detail was that right-wing extremists are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of America's first black president, Barack Obama.

Pete Hegseth, chairman of Vets for Freedom, a group for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, was sharply critical of the report, saying it did not appear to be based on any statistics of research.

"Instead the report blindly reinforces the Hollywood stereotype of the 'disgruntled' and 'out of control' Iraq or Afghanistan veteran. The administration should know that soldiers in the movies do not represent the men and women that have sworn to defend their country," he said.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Jane Sutton)