House panel to debate banning extremism in military
WASHINGTON — House Democrats want the new National Defense Authorization Act to make plain that armed services personnel and recruits are not allowed to advocate or take part in extremist activities or belong to extremist groups.
But the debate over what extremism means and how such a prohibition would be enforced is expected to be fierce — starting at Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee markup of the fiscal 2022 bill.
Maryland Democrat Anthony G. Brown plans to file an amendment at the markup that would make explicit a military commander’s authority to bar or expel people who espouse or act on extremist beliefs or are members of such groups. The amendment also says that the military can use social media posts as evidence of extremist views that could lead to so-called separation from service.
“An individual who engages in extremist activities or is a member of an extremist organization may not serve as a member of the armed forces,” states a draft of the amendment.
Brown would leave it to the secretary of Defense to define extremist activities. A Pentagon Countering Extremism Working Group is reportedly already at work on that question.
Brown told CQ Roll Call in a statement that he recognizes that extremists form a tiny fraction of the U.S. military, but he believes it is a growing peril.
“Racism, white supremacy, antisemitism, discrimination, and other extremist beliefs are not in line with the values of our armed services and have no place in our ranks,” Brown said.
Brown’s amendment would set up a Pentagon Office of Countering Extremism to track reports of such behavior across the Defense Department’s uniformed and civilian ranks. The office would share data on the problem with other federal agencies and would produce an annual report to Congress. The amendment would empower the military services to train personnel and recruiters in identifying and avoiding extremism.
The amendment is a response to recent data indicating that extremists — ranging from white supremacists to criminal gangs — represent a small but seemingly growing and increasingly dangerous portion of the U.S. military. The fact that some 20% of the rioters in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol reportedly had ties to the military has catalyzed these concerns.
But Republicans have regularly pushed back against most attempts to crush extremism in the ranks and are expected to do so again. The GOP critics generally say Democrats are exaggerating the extent of the problem. Republicans say they are concerned too that what constitutes extremist activity is not clearly defined. And they worry that servicemembers’ privacy and their rights to due process could be threatened.
Brown’s extremism amendment is not the only NDAA proposal that will stir a racially charged, partisan debate.
One of the highest-temperature debates could come when Republicans offer one or more amendments seeking to restrict the Pentagon from teaching so-called critical race theory, an academic approach to reexamining how racial bias is encoded in social institutions.
Brown, a retired Army aviator and judge advocate general, believes U.S. military commanders already have inherent authority to ban extremism to the degree that it is, by its nature, a threat to military order and discipline. His measure is intended to clarify the terms of that authority, aides said.
The amendment does not create a new crime in the Uniform Code of Military Justice but would alter the law to explicitly authorize commanders to root out — be it in recruits or those currently serving — anyone who advocates hatred based on bigotry or puts it into violent practice.
The measure would not mandate monitoring of social media but would authorize the services to use an online post advocating supremacist views as cause for discharge.
Brown also argues that nothing in the bill would shortchange due process protections for servicemembers.
Even beyond the attack on the Capitol, troubling signs have appeared recently of a small but festering problem in the ranks.
The director of national intelligence said in March that violent extremists pose “a heightened threat to the homeland.”
Moreover, the Army Criminal Investigation Command, in a report last year, found a 66% increase in gang or domestic extremist activity from the previous year, Brown said.
A 2019 survey found more than one third of all active-duty servicemembers had witnessed instances of white nationalism or ideologically driven racism in their units.