The Washington Times is reporting that a Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamic extremism who lost his position on the military’s Joint Staff will move to a new position within the Office of the Secretary of Defense: According to the report:
Defense officials say Stephen Coughlin, the Joint Chiefs of Staff counterterrorism analyst who was pressured out of his contractor job after a run-in with an aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, will be moving to a new position within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A Joint Staff spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Coughlin’s employment after March 1, despite a report by Rep. Sue Myrick, North Carolina Republican, that Mr. Coughlin will stay on at another job. One official said he will move on to a position within the Special Operations Command office at the Pentagon, where he will continue to work on issues related to countering the ideology of Islamist extremism.
An earlier post had reported that Mr. Coughlin came under fire from Hesham Islam, an aide to Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England’s, after a memorandum he wrote identified several U.S. groups that are being courted by Mr. Islam’s community outreach program as front organizations for the Muslim Brotherhood. The latest report cited an unidentified official who said the Joint Staff section leader who fired Mr. Coughlin indicated that he did not support the decision and that “England’s office was involved” in the firing. The report also cited a a Pentagon spokesmen said that contrary to Internet reports which accused him of falsifying his background, Hesham Islam is not leaving his job.