(PatrioticPost.com)- The Defense Department has been urged to stop its initiatives to thwart and combat extremism inside the ranks by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
According to the report that accompanied the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act, the committee believes that spending additional time and resources to combat exceptionally rare instances of extremism in the military is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds and should be discontinued by the Department of Defense.
Press coverage of the language was lacking in the past. Even while it is not legally enforceable in the Pentagon, it seems to indicate that Congress opposes attempts to dispel extremist narratives among the armed forces. The scores of persons accused of ransacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were either past or current service members — or roughly 17 percent of those charged — was a major driving force for the Defense Department endeavor.
The committee approved including that portion of the report by the thinnest of margins: 14-12, despite the Senate report wording implying that the committee favors stopping counter-extremism training and analysis.
Every Republican committee supported the measure, while every Democrat opposed it. Maine, The vote in favor of the phrase by independent senator Angus King swayed the scales in favor of the GOP.
When informed of the Senate phrasing, some military veterans and other professionals who research extremism among veterans and servicemembers expressed shock.
Suppose the men and women in our incredibly diverse and all-volunteer military feel that the Department of Defense doesn’t have their backs regarding white supremacy, support for jihadism, misogynist extremism, or anti-LGBT+ extremism. What is the impact on morale, good order and discipline, and ultimately combat effectiveness? Army veteran and START director Bill Braniff made the statement through email. START is a national consortium studying terrorism and responses to terrorism at the University of Maryland.
Who will put forth their right hand to enlist in that army? And if the military is not in charge of policing anti-government radicalism inside the ranks, what does that mean for civilian control of the military?
