Secretary of Defense orders all military to pause and review handling of extremism in ranks
President-elect
Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Defense Retired Army Gen. Lloyd
Austin answers questions during his confirmation before the Senate Armed
Services Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol
Hill on January 19, 2021 in Washington, DC.
(CNN)Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered a staggered pause of operations across the entire US military so commanders can have "needed discussions" with service members about the issue of extremism over the next 60 days, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby announced on Wednesday.
Austin
hopes the pause, known as a stand down, will accomplish two things --
he wants leaders of each branch to be able to communicate their
expectations of how their troops should behave, and leaders to "gain
insight" from members on the "scope of the problem from their view,"
Kirby said.
The
issue of extremism in the military has been at the forefront since the
January 6 riot at the US Capitol. At least 22 people either formerly or
currently associated with the military were charged in connection with
the riot, according to CNN's latest analysis.
While
Austin gave a 60-day timeframe for the stand down, Kirby said he
expects the secretary will take "additional action" sooner than that to
tackle the issue of extremism. Kirby said these discussions are meant to
help inform Austin's "decision-making going forward."
"I
suspect that that will certainly inform his future decision-making and
the policies that he might want the services to start to implement and
to enact," Kirby said during an off-camera briefing.
Austin
met with all of the service secretaries and service chiefs, including
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, earlier on
Wednesday to discuss the issue.
The
Department of Defense has not provided extensive data on how many
service members over the past few years have exhibited extremist
behavior, instead pointing to data provided by the FBI in 2020, where,
out of 143 notifications of investigations of military members referred
to the Department, 68 of those were related to domestic extremism. They
have not provided data on cases or incidents related to extremism in the
military beyond that.
US Capitol attack a 'wake-up call' for Defense Department
Kirby
acknowledged the Department of Defense does not have a full handle on
the scope of the problem within the military, referring to the riots as a
"wake-up call" for the department.
"The
events on January 6, which were extreme in and of themselves, in which
there were members, sadly, of the active duty force, participating and
espousing these radical beliefs, and I think that, I know that the
events of January 6 served as a wake-up call for this department," Kirby
said. "It certainly served as such for the secretary."
While the Pentagon ordered a review of domestic extremism within the ranks prior to the Capitol attack, Austin has already made clear to senior military leaders that more must be done.
In
December, the Pentagon's personnel and readiness director was ordered
to conduct a review of domestic extremism in the military. That ongoing
review that is due at the end of March will come up with milestones "to
be completed by mid-summer," Kirby said last week.
"The
secretary is not going to stop that work, he wants them to keep doing
that, but in the meantime, he's also as I said, he's also meeting with
Chairman Milley and he's going to be talking with military leaders going
forward about what they think the scope of the problem is," he said at
the time.
At
the same time, domestic extremism in the military falls within the
scope of what House Democrats are examining as part of their
investigations into the Capitol attack, a congressional aide and senior
House official involved with the effort told CNN.
As
part of those investigations, relevant House committees are looking
into whether any current US government employees or security clearance
holders were involved in the insurrection, both sources said.
But
the senior House official involved with congressional investigations
into the January 6 attack agreed the US government must first determine
just how bad the problem is before steps can be taken to address it.
"There's
a lot to be learned about domestic extremism in the military, and the
US Government has not put the kind of analytical rigor and bodies on
this target that it has on other issues, like Islamic extremism after
9/11," the official told CNN.
A priority for Austin
Former
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who served under former President
Barack Obama from 2011-2013, saw parallels in how Austin is responding
to domestic terrorist threats after the riot to how the country
responded to foreign terrorist threats after 9/11.
"I
think that similar to what happened on 9/11 and the threat from foreign
terrorists became real as a result of that attack, the threat from
domestic terrorism has certainly become very real as a result of what
happened on January 6, and clearly how the military works with law
enforcement to be able to deal with domestic terrorism is going to be a
priority for the secretary," Panetta told CNN.
And
there may be momentum for change as the involvement of military members
and veterans in the events surrounding January 6 offers an opportunity
for the Department of Defense to push the message of change throughout
the ranks, extremism experts say.
"The
issue of extremists -- both white supremacists and anti-government
extremists like the militia movement -- in the military is certainly a
real problem and a perennial one. For that reason, it needs to be
addressed, because the past few decades have illustrated that it will
not go away on its own," Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow with the
Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, told CNN.
"We
should be realistic about the extent of the problem, of course. We are
talking about a small number of extremists here -- but as they can in
general society, extremists in the military can cause harm
disproportionate to their numbers," he said.
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