White Supremacism in the U.S. Military, Explained
Description
The United States military is one of the most ethnically diverse and integrated institutions in the nation, and has long promoted racial equality. Yet in a string of cases in recent years, Americans bent on racist extremism have been current or former members of the armed forces.
The arrest of a Coast Guard lieutenant whom federal prosecutors accused last week of stockpiling weapons and planning to start a race war raised the question of whether the military, for all its efforts to fight discrimination, has a continuing problem with white supremacists in the ranks.
Here is a look at the issue and how the military has addressed it:
A Persistent Problem
Watchdog groups that monitor domestic extremist activity were quick to cite the allegations against the Coast Guard officer, Lt. Christopher Hasson, as a fresh cause for concern, one of a number in recent years involving people with military backgrounds. They have warned that the armed forces can be a training and recruiting ground for hate groups.
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“If you look at the list of domestic terrorism attacks, you will find a lot of veterans,” said Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The department told Congress in a 2018 letter that, out of 1.3 million serving members of the military, only 18 had been disciplined or discharged for extremist activity over the past five years.
Experts say, though, that because extremists generally try to keep their activities in the shadows, the official discipline figures probably understate the scale of the problem.
In and Out of the Service
In a number of cases, white supremacists have served in the military and then turned to deadly violence afterward. Examples include Wade Page, who opened fire at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012, and Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. More recently, a half-dozen current and former service members were linked in 2017 to the Atomwaffen Division, a violent white supremacist group.
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