Rollback of DOD anti-extremism efforts coming in 2025, experts predict

Following the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the place about 15% of the rioters had been veterans or service members, the Pentagon launched an effort to root out extremism from the ranks and stop anybody with a bent towards political violence from becoming a member of the navy.

After the previous 4 years, specialists in extremism prevention deemed these efforts incremental at finest and perfunctory at worst. Political opposition “very a lot slowed issues down,” mentioned Kate Bitz, a senior organizer on the Western States Middle, and lawmakers from each events protested there was an excessive amount of “grey space” in new anti-extremism insurance policies.

However even the piecemeal progress since 2021 is greater than could be anticipated out of Pentagon management in 2025, mentioned Bitz, in addition to leaders from the International Undertaking Towards Hate and Extremism and Human Rights First.

President Donald Trump’s administration will “take the navy again to the times when extremism in its entirety was ignored,” mentioned Wendy By way of, co-founder of the International Undertaking Towards Hate and Extremism.

Efforts to dismantle methods that observe and report situations of extremism within the navy could possibly be led by Pete Hegseth, a staunch opponent of range, fairness and inclusion insurance policies — and Trump’s decide for Protection Secretary. Hegseth has in contrast the Pentagon’s extremism insurance policies to a “purge” and a “sham.” Hegseth mentioned he intends to fireplace “woke” navy leaders, a plan that By way of believes will create an surroundings of mistrust contained in the Pentagon.

His opposition to the Pentagon’s extremism-prevention efforts is partly private. The Related Press reported {that a} fellow service member flagged Hegseth, an Military Nationwide Guard veteran, as an “insider menace” as a result of considered one of his tattoos was related to the white supremacist motion.

“Sooner or later relating to the DOD’s strategy, there’s each chance that extremist components won’t simply be ignored, however to some extent embraced,” Witz mentioned. “These are teams that deliberately try to recruit veterans who convey navy abilities into bigoted actions. And lots of white nationalist and anti-democracy teams additionally advocate that members enter the navy with a purpose to acquire these type of abilities. So, I suppose that’s a somewhat bleak image.”

The Protection Division Workplace of Inspector Basic reported in 2023 that the Pentagon investigated 183 allegations of extremist exercise amongst service members that 12 months, together with 78 instances of troops advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. authorities. The watchdog prefaced the report by flagging that the companies weren’t monitoring and reporting knowledge precisely, which meant these numbers didn’t embrace all instances.

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This summer season, the companies took steps to standardize the system for the way it experiences instances of extremism to the IG’s workplace. Hanah Stiverson, the affiliate director of democracy safety at Human Rights First, worries that funding to that system will probably be lower.

“Clear knowledge and implementation of anti-extremism efforts is crucial for nationwide safety,” Stiverson mentioned.

Earlier than Trump takes workplace subsequent month, Congress is already poised to defund not less than a number of the Pentagon’s extremism-prevention initiatives. The Home and Senate permitted the annual navy spending package deal this month, which features a measure to ban leaders from spending any of the $895 billion going to the navy on the Countering Extremism Working Group. President Joe Biden signed the measure into regulation Monday.

The Countering Extremism Working Group was fashioned after Jan. 6, 2021, and it provided dozens of suggestions to the Pentagon for tips on how to handle extremism within the ranks. By way of thinks it’s probably the suggestions won’t be carried out.

“There’s no query that the 2024 NDAA contributes to the undermining of the concept extremism within the navy must be appropriately addressed,” By way of mentioned.

This story was produced in partnership with Army Veterans in Journalism. Please ship tricks to MVJ-Ideas@militarytimes.com.