Leo Shane III, deputy editor of the Military Times, warned CNBC that extremism in the US military ‘has been a problem for some time’, as concerns arise after a number of former and current military members took part in the uprising at the Capitol last month.
“We know that especially white nationalist groups, extremist groups like to recruit military people because of the skills they bring,” Shane said. “It’s desirable things if you have these crazy ideas to carry out a revolution … We’ve been seeing it for years on social media, and forging false information.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recommends a “stand down” by giving all units in the next 60 days military leaders a chance to talk to their troops about extremism in the ranks. Shane told The News with Shepard Smith that it would be important for senior military leaders in the next two months not only to discuss extremism with each other, but also to talk to the lower ranks.
“Are they going to come down to the individual units … where we hear from people … see signs of tattooing, see things on social media that indicate that people are connected to these violent groups, in some cases, there is even Nazi symbolism “Nazi flags or Nazi accessories showing the people, but are the commanders not seen all the time?” Says Shane.
The FBI has compiled a report warning of the infiltration of white nationalists into local law enforcement in 2006. A Department of Homeland Security and an FBI evaluation last year showed that racist terrorist groups show unparalleled activity in the modern era. Shane pointed out that the U.S. military has not yet conducted a very good survey to find out how many people were linked to extremism.
The Military Times has surveyed its readers over the past four years about extremism and found that a third of all active-duty troops and more than half of the members of minority services have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks. ‘
Shane told host Shepard Smith that the military believes the figure is a third high, but that they do not have the date to refute it anyway.
‘They have not looked at the numbers before, so these 60 days should be a chance for them to really judge it and get an idea of whether we are right or not, what we think we are or “is right and it’s a very small problem,” Shane said.