Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes on right-wing extremism in the military and orders all commanding officers and supervisors to issue a one-day withdrawal order to address extremism in the ranks.
In a memo on Friday, Austin gave military leaders 60 days to discuss “the importance of our oath of office; a description of unacceptable behavior; and Procedures for Reporting Suspected or Actual Extremist Behavior, ”in response to reports that some of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were active duty members and military veterans.
HOUSE, SENATE APPROVES CIVIL RELEASE FOR NOMINEE LLOYD AUSTIN OF BIDEN’S DEFENSE SECRETARY
“We will not tolerate actions that go against the fundamental principles of the oath we share, including those related to extremist or dissident ideologies,” said the Austin-signed memo. “Service members, DoD civilian personnel and everyone who supports our mission deserve an environment free from discrimination, hatred and harassment.”
The termination order was first announced by the Pentagon on Wednesday, when Austin noted that while the number of individual service personnel involved in the attack was “small,” they were “not as small as anyone would like,” the Department of Defense reported. Defence. .
The department has not released information on how many active members of the military are believed to have been present at the January 6 riot, but Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a press conference on Wednesday, “Whatever it is, it is. .. not an insignificant problem and must be addressed. “
The defense secretary said this order is only the first in a broader strategy to better understand the extent of extremism in the military and to develop “sustainable ways to eliminate the undermining effects of extremist ideology and behavior on the workforce.”
Kirby said fighting extremism is a “thorny problem” that the military has fought in the past.
A 2019 Military Times poll found that 36 percent of active duty pollsters had personally witnessed “evidence of white supremacy and racist ideologies in the military” – a figure up from 22 percent of pollsters in 2018.
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Austin is the first black Secretary of Defense and is expected to take the lead in what the Pentagon has said should be a leadership approach.
“We owe it to the oath we all have taken and the trust the American people have in our institution,” he wrote in the memo.