![]() If you think of how we’ve dealt with COVID…we’ve learned together and stumbled together and have improved together. “And we’ve been pretty good at doing that. “The services are working together with OSD so that we have a consistent approach here,” he said. Gilday said the problem needs to be directly addressed now, but also cautioned that the services need some time to shape their approach for the long haul. PENTAGON EFFORTS ROOT OUT EXTREMISM RANKS HOW TO“He was very clear that he wants commands to take the necessary time” to figure out how to handle it. 28 that the FBI opened 143 investigations into troops and veterans in 2020, 68 of those for domestic extremism.Īustin met with the Joint Chiefs on Wednesday to give them direction on how to move out on the issue. “It had an electric effect here in the Department of Defense.” In 2020, the FBI opened 143 investigations into troops and veterans, 68 of those for domestic extremism Kirby said, adding, “even though the numbers might be small, they may not be as small as we would like them to be, or we believe them to be,“ Kirby said.īut the storming of the Capitol has changed the equation inside the Pentagon from seeing extremism as something to be dealt with, to something that has to be confronted head-on. And so these extremist groups will look to fill that gap.”Īnnouncing Austin’s 60-day stand down across the force on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said plans for addressing the issue were in the early stages, and a lot of discretion was being left to commanders in how they’ll address the issue. There’s a certain esprit de corps, and now there’s going to be a gap. It can be a tough time for some as they leave the tight-knit military community and might look for ways to recreate that in the civilian world, the CNO told me: “They’ll find them as they’re leaving a close cadre that they’ve belonged to, whether it’s been just for a four-year hitch, or whether it’s been 20 or three decades. Service members can be particularly vulnerable when it comes to retire or separate from the military. Using social media as a recruiting and propaganda platform, hate groups and cults like QAnon have been able to organize and plan, often using encrypted messaging platforms to come together. The issue of neo-Nazi, far-right and other racist hate groups working and recruiting inside the military has increasingly alarmed the Pentagon, backed by a Military Times poll last year in which one in three active-duty service members who responded reporting they have “personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks in recent months,” an increase from the previous year’s survey.Īmong them were a retired Air Force officer who played a leading role in breaching the Senate floor, a Navy vet and a conspiracy-minded retired Air Force vet who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer while trying to break into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. “We absolutely have to understand those within our ranks that are involved in those organized activities, as well as take further actions to stem the accession of people that belong to those kinds of groups,” he told Breaking Defense in his first comments on Austin’s new marching orders, which include a 60-day stand-down to discuss the issue across the services. WASHINGTON: Following Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s order to military leaders to identify and confront hate groups operating within the ranks, the Navy’s top admiral says he’s focused on not only rooting out extremists, but finding ways to keep them from joining in the first place. Mike Gilday (R) with Sailors aboard the USS Colorado ![]()
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