Leo Shane III, deputy editor of the Military Times, warned CNBC that extremism in the US armed forces “has been a problem for some time”, as concerns escalate after several ex-military and current Army members participated in the insurrection in the last month capitol.
“We know that especially white nationalist groups, extremist groups like to recruit military personnel because of the skills they bring,” said Shane. “These are desirable things if you have these crazy ideas of making a revolution … We have seen for years that they are directed to social networks, fed with false information.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a “withdrawal” of all units within 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 top military leaders in the next two months not only to discuss extremism among them, but also to speak to the lower echelons.
“They will go down to individual units … where we are listening to people … seeing signs of tattoos, seeing things posted on social networks that indicate that people are affiliated with these violent groups, in some cases, there is even Nazi symbolism, flags Nazis or Nazi paraphernalia that people are showing, but that’s not seen by commanders all the time? “said Shane.
The FBI produced a report that warned of white nationalists infiltrating local law enforcement in 2006. A Department of Homeland Security and an FBI assessment from last year showed that racist terrorist groups are exhibiting activities unparalleled in the modern era. Shane pointed out that the United States military has done “no really good research so far to find out how many people were affiliated” with extremism.
The Military Times surveyed its readers over the past four years about extremism and found that “a third of all active troops and more than half of minority service members claim to have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological racism within the ranks. “
Shane told host Shepard Smith that the military thinks the number of a third is high, however, they don’t have the date to refute it in any way.
“They haven’t looked at the numbers before, so these 60 days should be a chance for them to really assess and get a sense of whether we are right or not, what we think we are, or whether they are or not” is right and it is a problem very small, “said Shane.