(Press Release) Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation, today released the following statement on a recently released Department of Defense study that shows the Biden administration’s claims of extremism in the military were unfounded.
“Last week the Pentagon released a study, which was completed over a year and a half ago, on “Prohibited Extremist Activities in the U.S. Department of Defense.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin commissioned this study, which cost the taxpayer $900,000.00, during his first two months on the job, as part of a broader effort to combat “right-wing extremism in the ranks.”
The study draws on social science databases of extremist behavior, Department of Defense disciplinary records, and interviews with military leadership and “junior enlisted, junior officer, mid/senior noncommissioned officers, senior officers, and DOD civilians.”
Every data source tells the same story: there is “no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate to the number of violent extremists in the United States as a whole” or that right-wing extremism constitutes a disproportionate share of whatever “extremism” problem may exist in the military.
These conclusions are a serious indictment of Austin’s entire effort.
Yet the damage has been done.
As the report itself acknowledges, anecdotal accounts of military participation of events like January 6 “magnify the actions of a few and provide little information on the overall scope of the problem.”
Austin’s actions—to include a 60-day stand down to address extremism in the ranks and the creation of a “Countering Extremist Activity Within the Department of Defense Working Group” (CEAWG) chaired by a man who called all Trump voters extremists—have created the false impression with the public that the military has an extremism problem, thereby politicizing the Pentagon, undermining trust in the military and exacerbating the recruitment crisis with an already skeptical cohort of young Americans.
Austin’s actions may have also undermined cohesion within the armed forces.
As one minority service member told the Institute for Defense Analyses, which conducted the study for DOD, “It seems like we are trying to create a divide with this issue.”
In order to stop the politicization of DOD, solve the recruiting crisis, and save the All-Volunteer Force, DoD leaders must recommit to excellence in warfighting.
As Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 1 Warfighting states very clearly—the military has two basic functions
‘…waging war and preparing for war. Any military activities that do not contribute to the conduct of a present war are justifiable only if they contribute to preparedness for a possible future one.’
A Message From the Secretary of Defense on Extremism (DVIDS, 19 FEB 21)
5 FEB 21 DOD MEMO: Stand-Down to Address Extremism in the Ranks (pdf)
Extremism Stand-Down Day briefing at Fort Meade (DVIDS, 23 MAR 21):
Leave a Comment