Ted Cruz's latest addition to his national security advisory team is an extreme anti-Muslim activist

Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan administration Pentagon official and an outspoken anti-Muslim activist, is set to be one of the newest members of the Cruz campaign's national security advisory team, Bloomberg reports. Gaffney, who first met Sen. Ted Cruz back in 2012 when he says he advised the Texas senator about introducing "legislation to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization," has been labeled "one of the nation's leading Islamophobes" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Gaffney has claimed that members of the Muslim Brotherhood have infiltrated the Obama administration, specifically citing Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and he was banned from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2010 after he accused CPAC officials of "infiltrating the organization on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood," Talking Points Memo reports. He reappeared at CPAC this year to lead a panel called "Countering the Global Jihad."
Cruz's new advisory team members will also include other members of Gaffney's Center for Security Policy as well as conservatives who disagree with Gaffney's stance on confronting radical Islam, including former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and former Reagan official Michael Ledeen. Cruz is expected to announce his team's latest additions on Thursday.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Spending is what card issuers are hoping you will do'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
A potential railway megamerger raises monopoly questions
The Explainer Union-Pacific and Norfolk Southern would create the country's largest railway operator
-
Trump executive order targets homeless
Speed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election
-
Trump administration releases MLK files
Speed Read Newly released documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not hold any new revelations, King historians said
-
Japan's prime minister feels pressure after election losses
Speed Read Shigeru Ishiba has vowed to remain in office
-
President diagnosed with 'chronic venous insufficiency'
Speed Read The vein disorder has given Trump swollen ankles and visible bruising on his hands
-
'Bawdy' Trump letter supercharges Epstein scandal
Speed Read The Wall Street Journal published details of Trump's alleged birthday letter to Epstein