(BrightPress.org) – A yearly report from the Pentagon claims that they found 78 members of the military interested in overthrowing the U.S. government while a further 44 are suspected of associations with terrorism.
The Defense Department’s inspector general’s report claims there were a total of 183 instances of “extremism” across all military branches. Those were further subdivided into terrorism and revolutionary sentiments; individuals who were in favor of using violence or targeting particular groups of people were also flagged in the report.
The data suggests there’s still a minor problem with extremists in the military, with over 1.3 million active duty service men and women 183 individuals break down to a rate of just 0.014%, or said another way, that’s 14 potential extremists for every 100,000 soldiers.
The number is down from 270 alleged extremists in 2021, the first year the Pentagon started making the analysis. Last year, they flagged 146 individuals. The slight increase this year suggests whatever they’ve been doing has had no impact.
The Pentagon relied on reports from colleagues and family members to find the individuals and then interviewed them to determine the veracity of the complaints. The most complaints were made against Army men, 130 soldiers. The Air Force had 29 complaints, whereas the Navy and Marines had only 10 each. The Space Force also had 4 complaints.
The IG also looked into allegations of criminal gang associations after 58 allegations were made for FY2023.
Sixty-eight cases out of the total of 183 were investigated and cleared, or otherwise deemed unsubstantiated.
Democrats have used the specter of “alt-right extremism” repeatedly to create an environment of fear and distrust while actual incidents of right-wing extremism are rare. They highlight cases of mentally ill individuals like Brandon Russell. He wanted to attack the electrical grid in Baltimore. Russell is a former National Guardsman, he was busted in 2018 for possession of explosive devices.
President Joe Biden has repeatedly used the talking point to deflect from his disastrous policies, like wokeness in the military leading to a drop in recruitment and morale across all branches.
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