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Pentagon Has Investigated Dozens of Extremism Cases Within Its Ranks
Vice ^ | 12.05.2023 | Matthew Gault

Posted on 12/05/2023 8:53:25 AM PST by Dr. Marten

A new Department of Defense reports says dozens of soldiers were suspected of advocating or supporting the overthrow of the U.S. government.

The Pentagon has investigated 183 instances of extremism in military ranks, according to a new report, including 78 cases of troops “advocating for, engaging in, or supporting the overthrow of the U.S. Government or seeking to alter the form of the Government by unconstitutional or other unlawful means.”

The U.S. military has a well-documented extremism problem. People with extreme political ideologies, including white supremacists, have long used the military as a place to recruit and train new talent. A lot of neo-Nazis have turned out to be former Marines. In 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered a 60-day pause across all branches so they could take time to address the problem. 

 

Now, we have a better understanding of how bad the problem is thanks to a new report from the DoD Inspector General, called the “Annual Report to Congress Pursuant to FY 2021 NDAA, Section 544.” It’s an opaque name for a serious topic. Section 554 of the Pentagon’s 2021 budget required it to keep Congress informed on how well it’s handling some of the Pentagon’s problem areas: sexual assault, diversity and inclusion, and responses to “supremacist, extremist, and criminal gang activity of a member of the Armed Forces.”

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The report noted 183 different instances of the Pentagon investigating people over extremism across all branches. This included 14 Army investigations into “advocating or engaging in unlawful force or violence to achieve goals that are political, religious, discriminatory, or ideological in nature” and 43 Army investigations into “advocating, engaging in, or supporting terrorism within the United States or abroad.”

The problem of extremism in the military is pernicious and, to the troops, obvious. A 2020 Military Times poll survey of 1,630 active duty subscribers found that a third of them had witnessed signs of white nationalism or racism among their fellow troops. The list of pending criminal cases involving extremists with military backgrounds is long

The IG report helps put concrete numbers to what’s going on in the ranks, but there are problems preventing officials from getting a handle on the entire scope of the problem. “The Department of the Army stated that several independent databases collect information on Army prohibited activities once an investigation is launched, making it impossible to track the number of total Army annual allegations of prohibited activities when a formal investigation was not started,” the report said.

The Air Force said it had too many offices keeping track of “prohibited behavior” and that coordinating all the offices made it hard to file a single report. The Department of the Navy, which also oversees the Marines, told investigators that the data collection process was “time consuming and created confusion because policy issues and policy writing are occurring at the same time. Finally, the Navy stated that, despite efforts to de-identify and mitigate risk, the reporting process could compromise individuals’ private interest, which may lead to negative personal or professional consequences.”

 

Recruitment across most branches of the American military is down. The reasons why are complex, but a historically laissez-faire attitude towards the endemic issues of sexual assault and extremist members are a factor. Especially at a time when the military is branching out and attempting to recruit more women.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: military; subversion
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To: Dr. Marten

Somehow they ignore threats by Muslim personnel against their fellow servicemen.


21 posted on 12/05/2023 10:38:37 AM PST by Thud
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To: Responsibility2nd
Sexual assaults are way higher than 20 years ago. I wonder who is doing the assaulting? Not a lot of info out there but I have a Idea that there is a demographic out there committing most of the crimes and that the Military would prefer to remain stick their heads in the sand about it.
22 posted on 12/05/2023 10:43:18 AM PST by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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To: cuz1961

Did they stop doing blanket parties at West Point? Instead of socks filled with bars of soap, they should have used socks filled with rolls of quarters.

Because if there was ever a scumbag deserving of a blanket party, it was that POS right there.

That guy actually went out into the field and was in command of men, I am told, before his past caught up with him.


23 posted on 12/05/2023 10:51:13 AM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
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To: Jim W N

Pentagon brass consider MAGA believers to be subversive. They have been purging Trump followers for a while now.


24 posted on 12/05/2023 10:54:14 AM PST by elpadre
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To: Dr. Marten

White guys are tired of all the racial and gender preferences which result in lesser quality of sameness. The gender benders and antiChristian values of the Army have caused the reduction in qualified able-bodied white men not joining.
DoD just needs a mandatory draft for the racial gender population in the US... so by my count we need to give women their own tanks, infantry platoons, etc.


25 posted on 12/05/2023 11:09:09 AM PST by Jumper
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To: Dr. Marten
"alter the form of the Government by unconstitutional or other unlawful means.”

Only the demonrats are allowed to do that..!

26 posted on 12/05/2023 11:14:08 AM PST by unread (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the REPUBLIC..!)
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To: elpadre

True American Patriots are “extremists”. This is Obama ALL THE WAY!! Obama needs to go!!!


27 posted on 12/05/2023 11:37:28 AM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: Dr. Marten

So, 78 people “liked” Trump tweets?


28 posted on 12/05/2023 11:41:56 AM PST by mykroar ("It's Not the Nature of the Evidence; It's the Seriousness of the Charge." - El Rushbo)
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To: Dr. Marten

Of course they had to specifically mention “White supremacy.” The military is full of America hating trannies and muslims. How many “White supremacists” shot up Fort Hood. OH THAT’S RIGHT. It was Nidal Hasan, “soldier of allah” who did that.


29 posted on 12/05/2023 11:50:32 AM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eye)
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