Fair's journalistic sources have been questioned for their credibility[16] and she has been accused of having a conflict of interest due to her past work with U.S. government think tanks, as well as the
CIA.
[10] In 2011 and 2012, she received funding from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad to conduct a survey on public opinion concerning militancy. However, Fair states most of the grants went to a survey firm and that it had no influence on her research.[10] Pakistani media analysts have dismissed Fair's views as hawkish rhetoric, riddled with factual inaccuracies, lack of objectivity, and being selectively biased.[16][17][18][19] She has also been rebuked for comments on social media perceived as provocative, such as suggesting burning down Pakistan's embassy in Afghanistan or asking India to "squash Pakistan militarily, diplomatically, politically and economically." She has been accused of double standards, partisanship towards India, and has been criticized for her contacts with dissident leaders from Balochistan, a link which they claim "raises serious questions if her interest in Pakistan is merely academic."[18]
Personal controversies
In January 2017, Fair was involved in a Twitter dispute with Asra Q. Nomani. In response to Nomani's tweet that as a Muslim, she voted for President Trump, Fair tweeted that she had "written [Nomani] off as a human being" and that Nomani had "pimped herself out to all media outlets." Nomani responded by filing a complaint with Georgetown University, Fair's employer, alleging discrimination and harassment.[20]
In May 2017, Fair began an altercation with white nationalist Richard B. Spencer at a gym in Alexandria, Virginia. While the two were working out, Fair approached Spencer and accused him of being a Nazi, along with a number of other accusations, leading a third gym patron to intervene on behalf of him. This incident resulted in Spencer's membership being terminated by the manager of the gym.[21]
In January 2018, Fair was involved in an incident at Frankfurt Airport. When her bag was flagged for possibly containing explosives, it was searched and German Federal Police instructed Fair that she would have to dispose of a liquid deodorant or transfer it to her checked bag. German police stated that Fair was uncooperative, as she accused them of sexism, of being Nazis and thugs, and directed expletives at them. Fair was charged with slander under Germany's defamation law. She subsequently published an article on HuffPost partially rejecting the police account of the incident.[22]
In the midst of the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination hearings in September 2018, Fair, referring to Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeted that they were "entitled white men justifying a serial rapists' arrogated entitlement" and that they "deserve miserable deaths while feminists laugh as they take their last gasps." She made additional comments expressing support for post-mortem castration and corpse desecration.[23] At least one student expressed the fear that Fair's comments would cause students, who hold opposing views, to feel threatened. Georgetown University responded by saying that her expressions did not violate the university's policies.[24]