(CNN) - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano continued to defend her agency's recent report warning of right-wing extremist groups, saying the U.S. has active intelligence suggesting such groups are actively targeting disgruntled veterans.
"The report is not saying veterans are extremists, far from it," she told CNN's John King Sunday on State of The Union. "What it is saying is returning veterans are targets of right wing extremist groups that are trying to recruit those to commit violent acts within the country. We want to do all we can to prevent that."
The agency's report, "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," was published last week and said right-wing extremist groups may be using the recession and the election of the nation's first African-American president to recruit members.
Prepared in conjunction with the FBI, the report was distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement officials. Mainstream media picked up the story after it was reported by conservative bloggers.
In the interview with CNN, Napolitano did not name particular groups the report was referencing, but said "Some of them indeed want to do what happened in Oklahoma city, that is commit violent acts within the homeland."
The Homeland Security Secretary also expressed regret that in "the politicization of everything that happens in Washington, DC," some have taken offence to the report.
"But when you read the report, what it was saying is that, look, we have a threat of terrorism within our own shores and one of the groups being targeted to see if they will be aligned with that are some of our veterans," she said.
Napolitano also said the report's language is "is consistent with other reports that have been issued before."
They were issued before Obama was president and they are being issued now and meant to give people what is called situational awareness and they are certainly not intended to give offense, far from it."