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<\/p>\nWASHINGTON \u2014 The Pentagon is intensifying efforts to identify and combat white supremacy and other far-right extremism in its ranks as federal investigators seek to determine how many military personnel and veterans joined the violent assault on the Capitol.<\/p>\n
In the days since a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, senior leaders of the 2.1 million active-duty and reserve troops have been grappling with fears that former or current service members will be found among the horde.<\/p>\n
The F.B.I. investigation into the Capitol siege, still in its very early stages, has identified at least three suspects with military links out of the more than 100 people who have been taken into federal custody or the larger number still under investigation. They are a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel from Texas, an Army officer from North Carolina and an Army reservist from New Jersey. A fourth person with military service was shot and killed in the assault.<\/p>\n
The military\u2019s examination of its ranks marks a new urgency for the Pentagon, which has a history of downplaying the rise of white nationalism and right-wing activism, even as Germany and other countries are finding a deep strain embedded in their armed forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are not representative our country\u2019s military,\u201d Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview. He said most active-duty troops and veterans \u201ccontinue to serve honorably and uphold their oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more than a week now, General Milley has listened to analysts, read reports and viewed videos of the riots. \u201cThere was some indication that an unknown number of veterans associated with the insurrection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
General Milley said he saw rioters carrying military flags. At the rally and later at the Capitol breach, rioters were seen with Marine Corps flags, Army patches and Special Forces insignia.<\/p>\n
Federal officials are vetting thousands of National Guard troops arriving to help secure the inauguration. Of the 21,500 Guard personnel who had arrived in Washington by Monday, any who will be near President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will receive additional background checks, a standard procedure to counter insider threats that was also taken before President Trump\u2019s inauguration in 2017.<\/p>\n
Defense Department officials say they are looking into stepping up the monitoring of social media postings from service members, in much the way companies do with their employees.<\/p>\n
Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed trying to climb through a door in the Capitol, was an Air Force veteran with a robust social media presence. Federal agents say that Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, another protester at the Capitol, is a neo-Nazi and white supremacist; he also is an Army reservist who works \u2014 with secret clearance \u2014 at a naval weapons station.<\/p>\n
Capt. Emily Rainey, an Army officer who told The Associated Press that she had transported 100 people to Washington for the Trump rally, is being investigated by the Army for any connection to the riots, according to a military official. Captain Rainey had resigned from her post last year but was not set to leave until this spring.<\/p>\n
General Milley said he saw reports that \u201cpeople were showing their C.A.C. cards,\u201d a reference to the identification cards used to enter military installations and the Pentagon.<\/p>\n
Last Tuesday, General Milley and the rest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent an extraordinary letter to all military personnel, reminding them that Mr. Biden would soon be their commander in chief and that they were duty bound to defend the Constitution.<\/p>\n
The Defense Department inspector general announced an investigation last week into the effectiveness of Pentagon policies and procedures that prohibited service members from advocacy of or participation in supremacist or extremist groups.<\/p>\n
The reckoning at the Pentagon comes as retired Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III is poised to become the nation\u2019s first Black defense secretary, an ascension that, depending on how General Austin decides to proceed, could either sharpen or blur the American military\u2019s decades-long battles with racial inequality and white supremacy.<\/p>\n
In his 41-year career in the Army before retiring as a four-star general in 2016, General Austin witnessed firsthand both the possibilities and the limitations of how the military deals with race. As an Army officer, he has told of how he had to confront troops with Nazi insignia at Fort Bragg, N.C., and of countless meetings when he was the only person of color in the room. Now, if he is confirmed as defense secretary, he will have to decide if he will confront the far-right politics that have heightened during four years under Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis needs to be rooted out of our military,\u201d Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and an Iraq war veteran, said in an interview last week. General Austin, she said, \u201cwill be in a unique position to head up that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
General Austin\u2019s confirmation hearings begin on Tuesday, and lawmakers will most likely press him on how he plans to tackle extremism in the ranks.<\/p>\n
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Pentagon officials have known for some time that they have a problem. The Defense Department routinely brags that the American military is a microcosm of American society \u2014 but officials now acknowledge that if a segment of American society holds white supremacist views, that means there will be a similar segment of the military that does, too.<\/p>\n
Last year, the F.B.I. notified the Defense Department that it had opened criminal investigations involving 143 current or former service members. Of those, 68 were related to domestic extremism cases, according to a senior Pentagon official. The \u201cvast majority\u201d involved retired military personnel, many with unfavorable discharge records, the official said.<\/p>\n
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Joseph R. Biden Jr. will become president of the United States at noon on Jan. 20 in a scaled-back inauguration ceremony. While key elements will remain traditional, many events will be downsized and \u201creimagined\u201d\u00a0to better adapt the celebration to a nation battling the coronavirus. Mr. Biden will be sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on the Capitol\u2019s West Front\u00a0sometime before noon. The new president is then expected give his inaugural address and conduct a review of military troops, as is tradition. But instead of a traditional parade before cheering spectators\u00a0along Pennsylvania Avenue as the new president, vice president and their families make their way to the White House over a mile away, there will be an official escort\u00a0with representatives from every branch of the military for one city block.<\/p>\n
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President Trump announced Friday that he would not attend Mr. Biden\u2019s inauguration. Mr. Biden called that decision \u201cone of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. Still, it is a major break with tradition for a president to skip the ceremonial heart of the country\u2019s democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.<\/p>\n
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George W. Bush, has confirmed he would travel to Washington\u00a0for Inauguration Day, along with Laura Bush, the former first lady. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are also expected to attend, along with former first ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton. This year, tickets are not available\u00a0to members of the public. Planners are urging people to\u00a0stay home\u00a0and participate in virtual inaugural events to prevent large crowds that could easily spread the coronavirus. Events will be live streamed\u00a0by the Presidential Inaugural Committee and by The New York Times.<\/p>\n
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The 20th Amendment to the Constitution requires that the term of each elected president and vice president begin at noon Jan. 20\u00a0of the year after the election. Every president has taken the oath of office, and they cannot assume their positions without doing so. Symbolically, it marks the peaceful transfer of power from the current president to the next. Inauguration Day will be all the more important this year, as Mr. Biden ascends to the presidency at a time when political division has threatened the nation\u2019s democratic institutions\u00a0and his predecessor has gone to extreme lengths to stay in power.<\/p>\n
The majority of the domestic extremism cases involved antigovernment or anti-authority motivations, including attacks on government facilities and authorities, the official said. One-quarter of the cases were associated with white nationalism. A small number were associated with antifascist or anti-abortion motivations.<\/p>\n
The acting secretary of defense, Christopher C. Miller, directed Pentagon officials last month to toughen policies and regulations banning extremist activities among troops, and update the Uniform Code of Military Justice to specifically address extremist threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe in the Department of Defense are doing everything we can to eliminate extremism,\u201d Garry Reid, the Pentagon\u2019s director for defense intelligence, told reporters last week. Mr. Reid, however, was unable to outline specifics and declined to address any aspect of active duty members\u2019 participation at the Capitol.<\/p>\n
Rising concerns about right-wing activism in the armed forces are not concentrated only in the United States. In Germany, security services counted more than 1,400 cases of suspected far-right extremism among soldiers, police officers and intelligence agents in the three years ending in March, according to a government report released in the fall.<\/p>\n
The United States military, unlike police departments and other law enforcement groups, has the ability to use extremist beliefs to disqualify those seeking to join. But, critics note, it has repeatedly failed to broadly apply those mandates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military has unique abilities to set boundaries on conduct that other parts of government don\u2019t have,\u201d said Katrina Mulligan, the managing director of national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. \u201cBut they have been unevenly applied.\u201d<\/p>\n
Military officials and independent specialists say General Austin will face a daunting challenge. Pentagon officials concede that despite the checks in place, white supremacist and other far-right groups actively recruit service members or have their own members try to join the military to learn skills and expertise, which also lends legitimacy to their cause.<\/p>\n
All military personnel, including those in the National Guard, undergo extensive background investigations and physical examinations including assessments of tattoos. Troops are continuously monitored for indications that they are involved in extremist activity and receive training to identify others around them who could be \u201cinsider threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
But critics say the military\u2019s leadership has often failed to hold violators accountable consistently.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrent regulations have penalties that are largely left up to commanders, often at the unit level,\u201d Heidi Beirich, a co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told a House hearing last February. \u201cThere appears to be no process to track people expelled for ties to white supremacists\u2019 groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, there are many internal cultural issues within the military \u2014 from the recruitment process to training and beyond \u2014 that may take years to unravel.<\/p>\n
The recently approved National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2021, which sets annual Pentagon policy and spending priorities, contained measures meant to help the department address the issue, including a new position in the Defense Department inspector general\u2019s office: a deputy inspector general for diversity and inclusion and supremacist, extremism and criminal gang activity. Congress also charged the inspector general with establishing a \u201cmechanism to track and report\u201d extremist or gang activity in the military.<\/p>\n