Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a “withdrawal” of the entire Force for the next 60 days to give military leaders a chance to address extremism in the ranks – after the Pentagon was surprised to find that veterans and active duty members were among the involved in US Capitol invasion in January.
Under suspension, service members would have a break from their regular activities, so “every service, every command and every unit can take the time to have those necessary discussions with the men and women of the force,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.
The 60-day period would allow commanders to schedule events based on the pace of their operations, but it is not entirely clear what the withdrawal will be.
The January 6 events were “a wake-up call” for the Pentagon and Austin, the nation’s first black defense secretary, Kirby said, adding that the Capitol unrest “certainly had an electrical effect here in the Department of Defense in terms of the notion that anyone on active duty – let alone in the veteran community – but on active duty can be involved. ”
Austin issued the withdrawal order at a meeting with all secretaries and chiefs of service on Wednesday morning. Military leaders said the lack of a concrete definition for extremism often makes it difficult to eradicate among enlisted men. According to Kirby, they also mentioned that there is no uniform policy on policing service members’ accounts on social media, since there are First Amendment issues to consider. Both problems are likely to be discussed during the suspension to help advance solutions.
This guideline follows another memo from Austin last month that ordered senior leaders to report to him on the issue of sexual assault. They are facing a deadline on Friday to provide a summary of the preventive and accountability measures they took last year.