King to Convene Third Set of "Muslim Radicalization" Hearings

The Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold another hearing on Muslim radicalization.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., plans the third in a series of controversial hearings for July 27. It will focus on the Somalia-based al-Shabaab terrorist organization and its recruiting tactics in the U.S.

"In Minnesota, Ohio, and other states, dozens of young Muslim males have been recruited, radicalized, and then taken from their communities for overseas terrorist training by al-Shabaab," King said in a statement. "This coordinated and ongoing recruitment and radicalization of young Muslim men in the U.S. is a serious and growing threat to our homeland security and simply cannot be ignored."

King has been widely criticized by Muslim groups and some Democratic members of the Homeland Security Committee for holding hearings that focus strictly on Muslim radicalization rather than all types of radicalization.

But King's upcoming hearing isn't the first one that has focused on al-Shabaab.

In March of 2009 when Somalian terror recruitment first came on the congressional radar, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, headed by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, held a hearing titled Violent Islmaist Extremism: Al-Shabaab Recruitment in America.