Leo Shane III, deputy editor of the Military Times, warned CNBC that U.S. military extremism “has been a problem for quite some time,” as concerns grow after several former and current military personnel were involved. in the insurrection at the Capitol month.
“We know that especially white nationalist groups, extremist groups like to recruit military people for the skills they bring,” Shane said. “These are desirable things if you have these crazy ideas of making a revolution … For years we’ve seen how they’re targeted on social media, fed with false information.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered a “stop” of all units in the next 60 days to give military leaders a chance to talk to their troops about extremism in the ranks. Shane told “The News with Shepard Smith” that it will be important for senior military leaders over the next two months not only to discuss extremism among themselves, but also to talk to the lower ranks.
“They’re going to get to individual units … where we hear people … seeing tattoo signs, seeing things posted on social media that indicate people are affiliated with these violent groups, in some cases there are even Nazi symbolism, Nazi flags or Nazi paraphernalia that people show, but don’t commanders see that all the time? ”Shane said.
The FBI produced a report warning of the infiltration of white nationalists into local law enforcement in 2006. A Department of Homeland Security and an FBI assessment last year showed that racist terrorist groups show an activity unprecedented in the modern era. Shane noted that the U.S. military has not done “really good polls so far to find out how many people have joined” extremism.
The Military Times has surveyed its readers over the past four years about extremism and found that “one-third of all active-duty troops and more than half of minority service members say they have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism. or ideological racism within the ranks “.
Shane told host Shepard Smith that the military believes the third is high, but they don’t have the date to refute it in any way.
“They haven’t seen the numbers before, so these 60 days should be an opportunity to really appreciate it and have an idea of whether we’re right or not, what we think we’re right about or whether they’re right or not I’m right and it’s a very small problem, ”Shane said.