In wake of Jan. 6, US military struggles to curb extremism
As the Pentagon was reeling from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot one year ago – with current or former members of the U.S. armed forces ultimately accounting for 1 in 10 of those charged in the attack – military officials began putting together a plan to battle extremism in the ranks.
They decided the first order of business should be to define some terms for their troops.
Long before the storming of the Capitol, the Department of Defense prohibited “active advocacy” of “supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes.”
But it turns out that service members may have been unsure what, exactly, “active participation” or even “extremist activities” meant, senior defense officials said. It’s a claim that contains some measure of wishful thinking, critics countered, as if a simple restating of the rules could set errant troops straight.
Still, officials averred, the stunning events of Jan. 6 “demonstrated a need to clarify” matters.
The Pentagon’s new plan, released
