What the Pentagon Has, Hasn't and Could Do to Stop Veterans and Troops from Joining Extremist Groups

Against All Enemies: By Charlie Sadoff, Ken Harbaugh, Sebastian Junger, and Dan Barkhuff.

A documentary feature film that explores the critical role of military veterans in domestic violent extremist groups.

Executive produced by MeidasTouch

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What the Pentagon Has, Hasn't and Could Do to Stop Veterans and Troops from Joining Extremist Groups

For years, military officials had been dismissing calls for greater action against efforts by groups to radicalize either those in uniform or who had recently jettisoned their camis despite examples like the Klu Klux Klan operating, sometimes openly, on military bases. A constant drumbeat of arrests of individuals harboring extremist ideals has lingered for years, with many experts pointing to Army veteran Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing as the forefather of a troubling community.

Experts worry that the current environment of political violence is increasing the risk. In 2020, members of a group that included two Marines and styled itself as a "modern day SS" were arrested on allegations that they were plotting to destroy the power grid in the northwest U.S. In February, in a completely unrelated case, a former Guardsman and self-identified Nazi was also arrested for plotting to destroy an electrical substation -- this time in Maryland.

The attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 created a new sense of urgency, a willingness to talk about the problem, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's stand-down order marked a move by military leadership to get its arms around the extremism problem.

But the military and its transition programs have largely failed to provide what experts say is necessary to steer troops and veterans away from extremist causes and groups, which have been growing in power and persuasion in the U.S., a multi-year investigation by Military.com found. Instead, the briefings on extremism took on a familiar and largely inconsequential pattern, as recounted in interviews with 14 active-duty troops serving in the Army who attended separate stand-downs worldwide.

Experts argue there are ways to help make service members and veterans less susceptible to radicalization, and those who have deradicalized describe moments that helped counter the lure of extremist groups.

"It seems that a lot of people get involved in radicalization because they don't feel listened to," Arno Michaelis, a former Nazi who has worked to help many leave the extremist world behind, said in an interview.

Michaelis pointed in particular to opportunities in which those who hold a grievance are forced to confront the humanity of the group they've demonized.

"When they are listened to -- and especially when they're listened to by someone that they claim as an enemy because of their skin color, their religion or their sexuality or whatever -- it becomes all the more powerful, because then it completely defies the narrative of 'us versus them.'"

But the stand-down, haphazardly organized with commands largely left to themselves, typically didn't transmit that information, or really anything else that would help prevent radicalization, to troops.

"Well what does extremism even mean? To some people, patriotism is extremism," one Army officer recalled a lieutenant asking at a briefing.

This story is the third and final installment in a series on the rise of extremism and its effect on troops and veterans. Part 1 looked at how extremist groups are targeting and radicalizing those who have served their country in uniform. Part 2 tackled the threat radicalized troops pose.

One Day of Diversion from Extremism

The stories from troops who were present for the extremism stand-down paint a grim picture of what has been the Pentagon's largest and most visible effort to tamp down extremism within the ranks in recent history.

A defense official who worked on anti-extremism efforts told Military.com that the cursory efforts like the troop-led discussions instead of a more robust, formalized approach were a conscious choice -- a strategic decision not to use precious time and funding on a problem that leadership considers minor.

MORE HERE:

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/01/what-pentagon-has-hasnt-and-could-do-stop-veterans-and-troops-joining-extremist-groups.html