Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered that the entire U.S. military be “surrendered” over the next 60 days to address commanders of “extremism” in its ranks.
The news of the military outage came in an announcement from The Pentagon on Wednesday, with press secretary John Kirby describing the move to reporters as similar to views that units should take to address the security issues.
Austin issued the order following a meeting with Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, as well as civic leaders and chiefs of staff.
The group also discussed last month’s Capitol riots, Kirby said, noting at the shocking scene that veterans and active duty members were on duty. They left the meeting still unsure about how to fully address the issue.
According to Kirby, the riot was a wake-up call for the entire department.
The press secretary quoted Austin as calling extremism in the ranks a leadership issue.
‘It should be a leadership issue down to the lowest levels, small unit leadership up to him. So if you see it as a leadership issue, there might be potential solutions to make us see better, ‘Kirby said, referring to his boss’ comments during the meeting.
Each assignment will be expected to complete the turnaround over the next 60 days, which will give commanders and service members some time to figure out how they can work on the matter.
During his confirmation hearings, Austin promised that he would “get rid of our ranks of racists and extremists”, although he refused to give details on how he intended to carry it out.
“We also owe our people a work environment without discrimination, hatred and harassment. If it is confirmed, I will fight hard to eliminate sexual assault, free our ranks from racists and extremists and create a climate where everyone has the opportunity and willingness to serve this country with dignity, ‘the then-nominee said remarks prepared before the Senate last month.
‘The job of the Department of Defense is to protect America from our enemies. But we can not do that if some of the enemies are within our own ranks, ‘he continued.
The defense secretary told military leaders during his meeting on Wednesday that the numbers may be small, but that it ‘is not an insignificant problem’.
“No matter what it is, it’s … not an insignificant problem and it needs to be addressed,” Kirby told reporters.
Yet he remarks during his press cry: ‘The vast majority of men and women who serve in uniform and in the military do so with honor, integrity and character and do not endorse the kind of beliefs that lead to the kind of behavior that can be so harmful to good order and discipline and is in fact criminal. ”