The AP investigation also found that while the DOD says it considers racism and extremism within the military to be a "security concern," it does not have funding that specifically supports efforts to address extremism. The military describes active participation as "publicly demonstrating or rallying, fundraising, recruiting and training members," as well as organizing or leading organizations.Įxperts interviewed by the AP say there's also ongoing concern over the military commander's ability to enact a wide range of administrative and disciplinary actions - including administrative separation or appropriate criminal action - against military personnel who engage in prohibited activities.Ĭommanders essentially have total discretion to determine how to address situations as they arise, which experts say has created non-uniform, scattershot enforcement, with some commanders establishing a no-tolerance approach and others employing weak enforcement of the rules. The regulations, like the previous ones, only prohibit "active participation," in such groups, a murky policy that civil rights organizations have raised concerns about for years. The new Pentagon rules do not outright ban service members from being members of extremist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, Oath Keepers, or other right-wing and white nationalist groups. The new National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by President Biden on Monday directs the Secretary of Defense to make a recommendation to Congress within 180 days if a new statute is needed to address violent extremism, but does not address hate crimes or racial disparities in military law. "For example, an assault on a person, regardless of the reason for the assault, would still be categorized as an assault…regardless of what motivated the crime." "While it's possible hate crimes have occurred, our investigations are not titled as such," the NCIS said in an email. The DOD also updated its screening of recruits and is looking at how to prepare troops who are retiring from being targeted by extremist organizations.Īs a result, investigative agencies such as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service or Army Criminal Investigative Division also don't have a specific hate crime category, which impacts how they investigate cases. Last week, in response to the order the military issued new rules to deal with extremism that included social media usage policy updates where liking and reposting white nationalist and extremist content could result in disciplinary action. Capitol in a melee that sent lawmakers scrambling for safety, left one person fatally shot by Capitol Police and caused millions of dollars in damages to the building largely seen as the symbol of American democracy.Īustin's order, which also came as America as a whole was grappling with how to address systemic racism, was the latest in a series of decades-long efforts by the military to purge its ranks of extremists and white supremacists. The stand-down came in response to the participation and the subsequent arrests of several veterans and at least one active duty service member, who along with thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6, stormed the U.S. In February, with the images of the violent insurrection in Washington still fresh in the minds of Americans, newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took the unprecedented step of signing a memo directing commanding officers across the military to institute a one-day stand-down to address extremism within the nation's armed forces.
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