Air Force Tech. Sgt. Cory Reeves lost a stripe for allegedly distributing white supremacist propaganda while stationed at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado in 2019. He remained in the military.
Officials from the Pentagon and the individual services told House Armed Services Committee members on Tuesday how differing and unclear policies, training, and enforcement, and the blurry distinction between “active participation” and “membership” in an extremist group, have allowed avowed white supremacists to remain in the armed forces. The witnesses appeared at a personnel subcommittee hearing entitled “Alarming Incidents of White Supremacy in the Military — How to Stop It?”
“Mere membership is not prohibited,” Robert Grabosky, deputy director of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, testified. The bar for removal is “active participation,” but it is up to each command to decide on disciplinary action once an investigation is complete.
Former Master Sgt. Reeves received a letter of reprimand and lost a stripe, but testimony yesterday confirmed he currently serves in the Air Force.
Anti-extremist groups who testified warned that the number of white supremacists in the nation’s armed services is growing and that failed policies are putting national security at risk.
“Our military leadership may not realize the full extent of it,” Anti-Defamation League researcher Mark Pitcavage testified, noting updates to policies and better vetting is needed to root out the threat. “Extremism constantly evolves.”
Heidi Beirich of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism said the military lacks data collection and resources, such as a tattoo database, that can help identify members of hate groups before they join the military and receive training and access to weapons.
Lecia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center called the trend, which includes recruitment of military veterans by hate groups, “a clear and present danger.”
Several of the anti-extremist researchers who testified cited the case of Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Hasson, who was recently sentenced to 13 years by a federal court related to a plot to commit domestic terrorism and “exact retribution on minorities and those he considered traitors.”
Pitcavage described how extremists in the military have planned terrorist acts, engaged in murders and hate crimes, stolen weapons and military equipment, and provided information to other extremists.
“The U.S. is experiencing a surge in white supremacy propelled by the rise of the alt-right, which has brought many young, newly radicalized white males into the movement,” he said.
There have been 25 investigations of extremism across all services over a five-year period, Beirich testified. “Those numbers are ridiculously low,” she told members of Congress. “There’s no transparency and no data.”
At Tuesday’s testimony, the Army said it opened seven criminal investigations in 2019, compared to an average of 2.4 per year between 2014 and 2018. The Air Force said it opened eight investigations last year, with only one resulting in administrative action.
Part of the reason for the low number of investigations is because the clearest signs are overlooked, witnesses said. Social media research is not part of vetting, and questionnaires, known as climate surveys, do not ask the right questions, defense officials said.
In addition to being active on open Facebook and Instagram accounts, avowed white supremacists participate in online chats to promote their ideology. The work of anti-fascist researchers has identified and outed some current and former members of the military, reporting the cases to their service for investigation.
For those service members who are less overt about their beliefs, the services must learn the new iconography, slang, and symbols of racism, said Ed Beck, who served in the Marines from 2002 to 2006. “It’s no longer just tattoos. The military has to catch up.”
The issue has been addressed by others outside the halls of Congress.
When Beck joined the Marine Corps, it was the first time the upstate New Yorker was exposed to men and women of diverse cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Some of his fellow Marines embraced the diversity. Others, he said, turned to sometimes concealed white supremacist beliefs.
“I started to catch a glimpse of that kind of racist extremism,” said Beck, who heard racist language and knew of service members who participated in chat groups that shared white supremacist ideologies. Beck now helps connect active-duty servicemen to the proper channels, such as tip lines, to report potentially dangerous activities.
A Military Times survey released Feb. 6 found that 36% of all active-duty troops and 53% of minority service members have personally witnessed white nationalism or ideologically driven racism. The survey polled 1,630 active-duty subscribers in the fall of 2019 and revealed an alarming uptick over the 2018 survey.
Those surveyed say they believe white supremacy is more of a national security threat than Islamic extremism or immigration.
