CNN
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An inner US Military survey illustrates the challenges the army is dealing with to combat extremism within the ranks even after the Pentagon made it a prime precedence initially of the Biden administration.
The interior survey, carried out final 12 months and obtained by the Undertaking on Authorities Oversight via a Freedom of Data Act (FOIA) request, discovered that almost half of the respondents incorrectly recognized the right way to report extremist habits. In the meantime, a 3rd of those that responded weren’t positive the right way to report such habits.
As well as, one in 5 didn’t understand that donating cash to a company that advocated the prevalence of a racial group is banned. Maybe extra worryingly, one in ten didn’t establish utilizing pressure, violence or illegal means to deprive people of their rights as prohibited.
The survey was carried out as a part of an audit into how Military leaders have been incorporating extremism consciousness and prevention into day-to-day operations. It was carried out by the US Military Audit Company and accomplished in June 2023, but it surely was not made public.
Combatting extremism within the army was a prime precedence for Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin early within the Biden administration. One in every of Austin’s first orders was to order a standdown throughout the army to deal with extremism and extremist habits. The Pentagon additionally established the Countering ExtremismWorking Group, which made a collection of suggestions on the finish of 2021 on how the army ought to deal with the difficulty of extremism.
The survey discovered that Military leaders had integrated extremism consciousness and prevention into their command local weather, however it mentioned the method nonetheless must be improved. A part of the problem was that the Military didn’t clearly outline extremist habits or exercise, the survey mentioned.
As a part of the hassle to fight extremism within the ranks, the Protection Division put out a extra particular definition of what constituted extremist behavior and exercise in December 2021. The replace got here within the type of a Division of Protection instruction. However the Military had two separate rules about extremist exercise, which the survey mentioned have been “unclear and outdated.”
“Inconsistent definitions brought on personnel we interviewed and surveyed to be uncertain of what was and wasn’t extremist habits,” the survey discovered.
However the Pentagon’s extremism effort was quietly deserted because it got here beneath rising Republican assaults, as CNN has previously reported. As of Might 2023, solely one of many six suggestions from the Countering Extremism Working Group had been applied, the Pentagon mentioned.
In line with a November report from the Protection Division inspector common, the overwhelming majority of allegations of extremist exercise within the earlier fiscal 12 months got here from the Military. Of 183 formal allegations of extremist exercise, 130 got here from the Military.
The survey beneficial utilizing the up to date Protection Division definition of extremism all through Military coverage, a suggestion which the report mentioned the Military is implementing. The survey additionally beneficial offering higher entry to supplies on extremism consciousness and prevention.