1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,400 JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, the Pentagon announced new initiatives and a new working group 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,120 to counter extremism in the ranks. 3 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,960 As Nick Schifrin reports, the military admits there's a problem, 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,920 but advocates say it hasn't taken the necessary steps to tackle it. 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,440 MAN: This is going to be the stand-down training for extremism. 6 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:22,000 NICK SCHIFRIN: From a Marine Corps base in California to an Air Force base in Texas. 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,000 MAN: Our purpose is to address a concern that has likely been around for decades, 8 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,840 and has either been dormant or simply ignored. 9 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,080 NICK SCHIFRIN: The military's two million active-duty and reserve men and women were 10 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:39,080 all recently ordered to pause their day jobs and stand down to admit they had a problem. 11 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:44,120 MAN: Never has this been more important than now, as we face potential threats from within. 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,040 LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: Hello, everyone. I'm Lloyd Austin. 13 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:48,960 NICK SCHIFRIN: In February, Defense Secretary 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,480 Lloyd Austin required every unit to discuss extremism in the ranks. 15 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,000 LLOYD AUSTIN: Views and conduct that run counter to everything 16 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,560 that we believe in, and which can actually tear at the fabric of who we are as an institution. 17 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,720 NICK SCHIFRIN: The stand-down was sparked by the January 6 insurrection. 18 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:11,200 But the military's problems run deeper than the 19 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,200 15 percent or so of insurrectionists who were current or former military. 20 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:16,320 CAPT. GEOFFREY EASTERLING (RET.), U.S. Army: The reaction that you 21 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:19,440 get just when you tell somebody you're a Black West Pointer, they're like -- one, 22 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,440 they're like flabbergasted, like, how did you make it? 23 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,040 NICK SCHIFRIN: Former Captain Geoffrey Easterling was a West Point graduate and 24 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:30,040 Army field artillery officer who deployed to Afghanistan. He left the military in 2019. 25 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:35,360 Easterling remembers confronting a fellow officer wearing a patch for the Three Percenters, 26 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,720 the far right militia group whose members were among the insurrectionists. 27 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,680 CAPT. GEOFFREY EASTERLING: I was like: "That seems to be like an extremist group." 28 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,200 And he's like: "Oh, that's just what people say, but it's not extremism." 29 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,920 If I had a Black Panther anything, there'd be a lot of questions, 30 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,920 if not some outright fix yourself. But name your favorite white Oath Keeper-type 31 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,840 organization don't get policed, or at least they didn't when I was in the military. 32 00:01:57,840 --> 00:01:58,640 RICHARD BROOKSHIRE, Executive Director, Black Veterans Project: You're going to 33 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,640 the military for an opportunity to grow. These microaggressions can tear at you. They're like 34 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:10,200 psychological whippings. And they're really meant to pacify you, to kind of put you in your place. 35 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,040 NICK SCHIFRIN: Richard Brookshire is a former Army sergeant and combat medic. 36 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:16,640 RICHARD BROOKSHIRE: Hello, I'm Specialist Brookshire with the 37 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,600 218 Infantry deployed to Northern Afghanistan. 38 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,280 NICK SCHIFRIN: He says the military never welcomed him as a Black gay man, 39 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:28,280 and he calls the racism, homophobia, and sexism he says he witnessed stepping-stones to extremism. 40 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,800 RICHARD BROOKSHIRE: There's building blocks to get to extremism, right? And, certainly, 41 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,720 if you become -- if you're xenophobic, if you're -- if you hold racist proclivities, 42 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:41,720 if you are a fascist, and you're kind of building toward actually activating around those issues. 43 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,840 You know, by way of January 6, I wasn't surprised at all. When I served, 44 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,840 conspiracy theories were rife, right? It's this open -- this openness and this kind of is 45 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:01,000 tolerance that I think is most damning on the military's part. 46 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:05,760 NICK SCHIFRIN: Last month, the Pentagon made public a 2020 report that admitted: 47 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,840 "White supremacy and white nationalism pose a threat to the good order and discipline 48 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,840 within the military and individuals with extremist affiliations and military experience 49 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,760 are a concern to U.S. national security." 50 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,600 But it also concluded: "We believe we have been effective at screening 51 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,360 for individuals who possess or advocate extremist ideologies." 52 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,360 LECIA BROOKS, Chief of Staff, Southern Poverty Law Center: We're happy to see that the Pentagon 53 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,840 agrees that there's a problem, but we completely disagree that they're doing anything about it. 54 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,080 NICK SCHIFRIN: Lecia Brooks is the chief of staff for the Southern Poverty Law Center. 55 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:40,800 Her father joined the military shortly after it was desegregated and deployed to Korea. 56 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,800 LECIA BROOKS: In joining the military, he wanted something other than the experience that he had 57 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,880 as a Black man growing up in Mississippi. 58 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,520 NICK SCHIFRIN: The military is proud of the history it's 59 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,160 tried to provide Black enlisted service members. 60 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,560 But it hasn't always lived up to promised opportunities. And the SPLC has been 61 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:03,200 calling out extremists in the ranks for decades. In 1986, a letter to Secretary 62 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:08,200 of Defense Caspar Weinberger said active-duty troops were rallying with the Ku Klux Klan. 63 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:10,960 The SPLC has sent letters warning of white supremacy 64 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,840 in the military about every five years since. 65 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,840 LECIA BROOKS: The military seems to respond when something horrific happens. 66 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:23,400 They feign interest, and then do not implement the recommendations that we offer. 67 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:27,200 NICK SCHIFRIN: The military admits it doesn't even know the scope of 68 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:32,080 the problem. It has no centralized system for monitoring extremism-related incidents. 69 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,960 And advocates argue recruits aren't screened well enough and regulations are inconsistent. 70 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,960 LECIA BROOKS: We should know how many people have been separated from military service 71 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,160 based on their extremist activity. We don't know. There's also 72 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:51,160 inconsistencies among command in terms of taking this problem seriously, 73 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:57,720 and just buying into the romanticized notion that all is equal in the military. 74 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,520 NICK SCHIFRIN: Right now, the military doesn't prohibit service members from 75 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:08,520 belonging to extremist organizations, so long as they don't conduct prohibited activities. 76 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:13,520 When Brookshire was deployed to Germany, he was stationed on a former Nazi base 77 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:18,520 and noticed his fellow soldiers' fascination with Nazi culture. After he separated, he realized a 78 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,840 veteran who'd killed a Black man hoping to start a race war had been in his brigade. 79 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:27,680 RICHARD BROOKSHIRE: It kind of brought home the point that these things these -- these things 80 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,840 weren't just being made up in my mind. There were people being radicalized right alongside me. 81 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:35,920 NICK SCHIFRIN: This stand-down was held at a chapel on Fort Lee, 82 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,160 named for the Confederacy's top general. 83 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,600 CAPT. GEOFFREY EASTERLING: It starts at the top. If a post is named after an extremist, 84 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,280 Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, Fort Lee, 85 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:52,120 it kind of sets the tone that a radical with the right morals can still be honored. 86 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:54,160 WOMAN: Against all enemies... 87 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:55,360 MAN: ... foreign and domestic. 88 00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:00,000 NICK SCHIFRIN: The Pentagon says the stand-down has focused on the morals of its mandatory oath. 89 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,120 MAN: That I will support... 90 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:01,760 MAN: ... and defend... 91 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:03,520 MAN: ... the Constitution of the United States... 92 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:04,640 MAN: ... against all enemies... 93 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:05,840 WOMAN: ... foreign and domestic. 94 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:07,840 JOHN KIRBY, Pentagon Press Secretary: the number ought to be zero, 95 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,840 given the fact that you take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, 96 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:15,760 that you make a promise to the American people about what you stand for. 97 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,320 But even though the number is small, it can have a corrosive, outsized effect. 98 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,760 NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby unveiled new steps, 99 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,360 including a new military-wide definition of extremism, 100 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,440 standardizing extremism screening among recruits, and training service 101 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,600 members as they leave the military on extremist groups that recruit veterans. 102 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,560 JOHN KIRBY: More needs to be done to educate and inform 103 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:44,360 transitioning members about who and what are waiting for them on the other side. 104 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:51,160 We have evidence that some extremist groups are actively recruiting 105 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:54,560 active-duty members as they get ready to transition, because 106 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,160 they value their leadership capability, their organizational skills, their weapons training. 107 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,080 NICK SCHIFRIN: Richard Brookshire's organization, the Black Veterans Project, 108 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,800 uses advocacy and storytelling with famous veterans to organize and support 109 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:11,120 Black veterans. And he fights what he calls systemic bias and exclusivity. 110 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,600 Geoffrey Easterling believes solutions should also focus on veterans who don't 111 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,680 feel supported when they leave the military. 112 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,200 CAPT. GEOFFREY EASTERLING: How could you feel so rudderless and so unheard 113 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,240 in a society that you helped create, you helped defend? How are we ensuring that 114 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:31,240 they have the tools and resources to have community, financial stability, and family 115 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,000 stability for the rest of their lives, so they're less likely to buy into conspiracy, insurgency, 116 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,800 NICK SCHIFRIN: And ensuring that all who've served are less likely to buy 117 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,440 into extremism's building blocks won't be accomplished in a single stand-down. 118 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:51,080 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.