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Austin has ordered military leaders at all levels to set aside time to talk with their units about extremism, racism and discrimination in the ranks. Still, the concerns underscore the pitfalls that confront the military as it moves through its 60-day “stand-down” period. “This stand down has nothing to do with political beliefs or religion and everything to do with extremist ideology that runs counter to our oath to the Constitution and our core values.” They are citizens as well as soldiers,” he said. “We take seriously our obligations to encourage service members to participate in the electoral process. In a statement to The Washington Times, Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby pushed back hard on the idea that a service member’s faith or politics could lead to charges of extremism.
Dunlap Jr., now the executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University.įew believe the Pentagon would ever intentionally single out Catholics. “Impermissible behavior left unaddressed erodes unit trust and cohesion and places military lethality and effectiveness at risk.“I still find definition of extremism in its underlying instruction ambiguous enough to remain concerned that, for example, Catholics and other pro-life advocates who equate abortion, as Pope Francis does, to the ‘murder of children’ could be branded as ‘extremists’ even if they are adamantly opposed to violence or other illegal activities,” said retired Air Force Maj. “We are all accountable for the culture, good order and discipline, and safety of our units,” the Air Force slideshow said. The Air Force has said it will look into claims of extremist behavior that arise from the standdown discussions.
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How each unit handles that conversation is up to its leaders, whether it lasts a full day or an hour.
#Pentagon root out extremism ranks how to#
3 that units had 60 days to pause regular operations for a discussion of how to identify and address concerning or potentially dangerous activity.
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Some online, pushing back on what they see as an attempt to crack down on conservative viewpoints and white members of the military, criticized the Air Force’s slides for failing to explicitly discuss left-wing militant groups as part of the extremism spectrum. “We can all fall victim to the process of becoming extreme in our thinking or belief systems.” “No one is immune from being lured into the world of extremism,” the Air Force said. It similarly notes the complications of disciplining military personnel wearing uniforms at demonstrations or a civilian employee who advertises an after-hours talk by a known hate group leader.
The service also directed commanders to consider the First Amendment rights of civilians and contractors in those situations, as well as the “adverse impact on the work of the agency” when deciding how to react. The individual was “convicted at a summary court-martial for failing to obey an order and false official statement,” according to the slideshow.įor example, if a Space Force guardian tweets, “The people arrested at the Capitol Building should be let go by the gov’t or other groups may act,” a commander could write them up for improper use of a government computer and ask OSI to investigate, the Air Force slideshow said. The subject in the example left the military after forfeiting two-thirds of their pay, a demotion of two ranks and 28 days of confinement. ProPublica reported in 2018 on Pistolis’s involvement in the far-right rally and with the neo-Nazi groups Atomwaffen Division and Traditionalist Workers Party. Steven Carrillo, an airman with alleged ties to the far-right, anti-government “boogaloo movement” who was charged with murder and attempted murder last summer.Īnother describes the case of Vasillios Pistolis, a Marine who attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., and posted online that he “cracked 3 skulls open with virtually no damage to myself,” according to the slides. Cory Reeves, who was demoted and discharged from the Air Force in 2020 over active participation in the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, as well as that of Air Force Staff Sgt. Other examples appear to be based on widely publicized cases, including that of former Technical Sgt. “Civilian employee SUBJECT made statements declaring he was a member of ‘Proud Boys,’” a group classified by the FBI as extremist with ties to white nationalism, an Air Force slide said.
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