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Military's response to extremism, studied

Recent attack plotters served in armed forces

By: Will Carless
USA Today

..... Two recent attacks - one in New Orleans that killed 14 people and another in Las Vargas in which a man blew up his vehicle and took his own life - were both carried out by men with military backgrounds.
..... The New Orleans attacker, who also injured at least 35 people when he drove a truck into a New Year's Eve party on Bourbon Street, was an Army veteran who served from 2006 to 2015, including a tour in Afghanistan. He was shot and killed during a gunfight with police. The Las Vegas bomber was an active-duty green Beret.
..... Both left messages indicating political motives.
..... The attacks shine new light on the U.S. military's long-discussed problem of extremist activity in the ranks and among veterans. Recent data has shown that having a military background is the "single strongest predictor" of violent extremism in America, according to researchers at the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism, and Responses to Terrorism.
..... The Pentagon has stalled in it efforts to defuse extremism and has made almost no progress on goals to better serve veterans transitioning into civilian life that could help insulate them form the influence of extremist groups.
..... Despite growing concerns about the connection between military service and terrorist activity, experts now worry any planned reforms will completely collapse under President-elect Donald Trump. Trump has long scorned the every notion of domestic extremism, dismissing it as overblown or invented. And Pete Hegseth, the man Trump has tapped to lead the Pentagon, has been vocally critical of efforts to stamp out extremism in the military.
..... "In the 1990s, we were only finding a handful among all the extremist cases where the individual had some kind of nexus to the U.S. military, and now, per year we're fining 40 or 50 cases of individuals getting involved in criminal events that are clearly motivated by their extremist beliefs,: said Michael Jensen, the principal investigator at START studying the connection between the military and terrorism.
..... Jensen sees little hope for the stalled reforms, introduced in 2021, that a USA Today investigation in 2023 showed had largely fallen apart.
..... "I can't see it being a very realistic outcome hat it's all of a sudden going to do a 180 and become a top concern and be the number 1 priority moving forward," he said. "The question is, does it lose even more steam? does it completely end? Is it a reversal of policy? I think that;s where the question lies."
..... Though an attorney, Hegseth declined to comment for this story. A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request few comment.

Problem appears to be growing

..... A new report from START published last month [12/2024] further examines the connection between the military and extremist activity, concluding that the problem appears to be growing.
..... The report noted that approximately 15% of the people charged with commuting crimes at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, had connections to the military, and the report also says that "from 1990 through 2023, 730 individuals with U.S. military backgrounds committed criminal acts that were motivated by their political, economic, social, or religious goals."
..... Experts say extremist activity by active-duty military personnel or veterans nevertheless remains extremely rare, especially given the vast number of Americans who serve.
..... "There is data to suggest that the number of people who are extremists in the military is very low compared to the number of everyone who has served," said Katherine Keneally, head of threat analysis and prevention at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. "the majority of veterans and service members are serving their country for very good reason."
..... What makes the issue of extremists with military backgrounds so concerning, however, is that they are far more likely to commit acts of mass violence and kill people in attacks at a higher rate than people with no military experience, Jensen said.
..... The worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, for example, the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which killed 168 people, was committed by an Army veteran.
..... These factors make it important to focus on extremism in the military, Jensen and other experts said. But recent efforts to enact reforms that would help identify extremists before they enlist and during their service, and that would help educate veterans about the dangers of extremist groups, have largely fallen by the wayside.

Anti-extremism effort sputters

..... In the weeks after the attack on the U.S. Capitol four years ago, as suspects were rounded up from aorta the country and charged with crimes, it spoon became clear just how many had served, or were still serving, in the U.S. military.
..... In direct response, in April 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin launched as effort to identify and stamp out extremism in the ranks. Four initial "immediate actions" were followed by an extensive analysis of he problem and report laid out detailed recommendations to identify, investigat4e, punish or help service members who had become radicalized.
..... Two years later, an exclusive USA Today investigation found that only tow of 20 proposed recommendations have been carried out.
..... Bishop Garrison, who led the Pentagon working group that made the more than 20 extremism-related recommendations for the armed forces in 2021, told USA today the reforms are even more important today than they were four years ago.
..... "It is important for the department to take a close look at reforms and address them," Garrison said. "A large part of this is ensuring hat service members, whether active duty or transitioning to civilian life, feel comfortable coming forward to their leadership and communities and asking for help."
..... Garrison, Jensen and others not4ed that there has been some progress on this front.
..... In late 2023, the Pentagon finally released a study it had commissioned to examine the extent of the extremism problem among the troops. But an analysis by the Associat4ed Press late last year [2024] found the study had relied on old and flawed data to make it conclusions.

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