The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was not yet sure how to deal with the problem of extremism in its ranks and announced a pause in all military personnel to allow soldiers and commanders a chance to focus on the issue.
Lloyd Austin, the first black defense secretary who recently took over the Pentagon, ordered each branch of the armed forces to withdraw at some point during the next 60 days to discuss the threat posed by white supremacy and similar extremism, the Pentagon press said. Secretary John Kirby.
The January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, when a pro-Trump crowd stormed the building and attacked the police, was “an alert” for the Department of Defense, Kirby said. Current and former military members participated in the siege, and the Pentagon is under scrutiny over how it examines recruits and tracks extremism within its ranks.
Austin delivered the order at a meeting of the leaders of each military service on Wednesday, which included Joint Chiefs President General Mark Milley and Vice President General John Hyten, according to Kirby.
“There was no one in the room who didn’t agree that there was a problem,” he said.
The order was designed to allow military leaders to make it clear that white supremacy and other extremist ideologies have no place in the armed forces and to listen to soldiers about how they see the problem, Kirby said.
Although the Pentagon has studied the issue over the years and issued guidelines, the department still does not have a complete understanding of the problem, he said.
“We don’t know how we will be able to do this in a meaningful, productive and tangible way and that is why he had this meeting today and that is why he certainly ordered this suspension,” said Kirby.
He added: “There may be cultural issues that we have to deal with here.”
In the United States Armed Forces, “layoffs” are designed to focus the full force’s attention on a serious problem or issue that requires each unit and station to pause its daily activities to discuss the problem.
The military previously announced suspension orders to resolve other problems plaguing the force and to raise awareness among the ranks about suicide, sexual assault and racism. Commanders can decide when to schedule the discussion over the 60-day period defined by the secretary of defense.
The Pentagon has yet to provide data describing the scale of the problem, and neither the Department of Defense nor the FBI has released information about approximately how many military personnel have been disciplined by extremist liaisons in recent years or how many potential recruits show affinity for extremist groups.
Lawmakers at a House hearing a year ago expressed great concern about the problem and urged the Pentagon to take more decisive action and gather more data to resolve the problem.
Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier of California recently asked President Joe Biden in a letter to issue an executive order to ensure that security clearances for federal officials, and military troops in particular, include a review of social media posts for any ties to similar violent extremist white supremacists.
Speier, a member of the House’s Armed Services Committee, wrote that it was “inexcusable” that authorities would not examine social media accounts when granting security clearances to military recruits or other federal officials “despite the collection and reporting of other intrusive private data, as well as financial and behavioral health information. “