There have been nearly 300 allegations of extremism against military members from the beginning of the year through the month of August, according to a new Department of Defense inspector general report.
The military branches reported a total of 294 allegations, which led to 281 investigations and inquiries, and 83 resulted in referrals to civilian law enforcement agencies, according to the report, which was released Thursday.
MAJORITY BELIEVE CHINA IS US’S BIGGEST THREAT, WHILE CONFIDENCE IN MILITARY HAS PLUMMETED: POLL
The Air Force reported the bulk of the incidents, 137, while the Department of the Army accounted for 81 and the Navy the remaining 76.
The inspector general’s report broke down the alleged extremist behavior into several categories: racially motivated violent extremism, anti-government, domestic violence extremism participation, violating service standards, criminal gang activity, trespassing at the Capitol, and contempt toward a public figure.
Roughly 40% of the incidents involving Army troops fit into the racially motivated category while a similar percentage were labeled in the anti-government grouping. The remaining incidents involving Army members were said to be of criminal gang activity.
The Department of the Navy’s extremism cases were similarly split between racial motivation and anti-government extremism.
Comparatively, an overwhelming percentage, roughly 75%, of the Air Force’s airmen with ties to extremism fit into the domestic violence extremism category. Ten of the Air Force’s cases fit into the “trespassing at the U.S. Capitol,” a likely reference to the events on Jan. 6, 2021, when former President Donald Trump supporters who were angry about the election results tried to stop Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Among the cases in the Army, 18 of them resulted in unspecified punishments, while less than a third of the cases in the Air Force resulted in action, most of which were administrative in nature. An overwhelming majority of the cases within the Navy resulted in the sailor being referred to command for appropriate action.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Department of Defense was required to standardize its policies for allegations of extremism as a part of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin established the Defense Department’s Countering Extremism Working Group in April to oversee the implementation of the order. The group, headed by Bishop Garrison, has yet to release its findings, which were originally expected to be shared back in July.
