A study funded by the Pentagon has been criticized for depending on outdated information to assert that extremism is not a significant issue within the U.S. military, as highlighted by a recent analysis. Additionally, it has been reported that incoming President Trump plans to issue an executive order that would remove thousands of transgender service members from the military. In unrelated news, body camera footage reveals that residents in Columbus, OH, confronted neo-Nazi groups when they attempted to hold a rally there.

This is the week’s extremism update from YSL News.

Outdated Data in Pentagon’s Extremism Report

In recent years, YSL News has investigated the Pentagon’s strategies for addressing extremism within the military. Following the January 6 Capitol riots in 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin initiated a campaign to eliminate extremists from the armed forces, but as reported by YSL News, this initiative struggled to make significant progress in the subsequent years.

A central component of the anti-extremism initiative was a report commissioned by Austin, designed to evaluate the severity of extremism in the military. This report, released nearly a year ago, provided very limited new insights and determined that extremism in the military was extremely rare.

However, a new analysis from the Associated Press has found that this report used outdated data, which downplayed the gravity of extremism in the military.

• Where some Congressional Republicans and conservative commentators labeled the emphasis on extremism as a “witch hunt” and a “false narrative,” the AP revealed that the study titled “Prohibited Extremist Activities in the U.S. Department of Defense,” conducted by the Institute for Defense Analyses, was based on outdated data, presented misleading analyses, and disregarded evidence contradicting its conclusions.
• According to the AP, the report’s authors did not utilize updated data that was available to them and instead relied on outdated arrest statistics from January 6, which were more than two years old by the time the report was published.
• After the Pentagon’s report came out last year, YSL News made multiple requests for interviews with the Institute for Defense Analyses, but the agency declined every request. Neither the institute nor the Pentagon has responded to a Freedom of Information Act request made almost a year ago.
• The AP analysis concluded that the report substantially underestimated the number of military personnel and veterans who were arrested for their involvement in the January 6 incident, thus presenting a misleading depiction of the increasing extremism issue.
• Pete Hegseth, whom Trump has nominated as Defense Secretary, was removed from a National Guard role during President Joe Biden’s inauguration due to concerns about his potential extremist affiliations.

Trump to Reinstate Ban on Transgender Military Service

• The proposed executive order would essentially bar transgender individuals from military service and mandate the medical discharge of many transgender personnel currently serving.
• According to The Times, this decision would also prevent transgender individuals from joining the military, which comes at a time when various branches of the U.S. armed forces are struggling to meet their recruitment goals.
• The Trump campaign has countered The Times’ report, which relied on unnamed sources. “These anonymous sources are speculating and are not accurately informed,” stated Karoline Leavitt, spokesman for the Trump-Vance transition. “No decisions on this matter have been made. Any official policy should come directly from President Trump or his authorized representatives.”
• Previously, in 2019, Trump implemented a ban on transgender military service, a policy that was promptly overturned by Biden and subject to several lawsuits.

Neo-Nazi Encounter in Ohio Involving Pepper Spray

This week, YSL News Network’s The Columbus Dispatch shared new insights into a brief march conducted by a small faction of neo-Nazis in Columbus two weeks ago. Body camera footage from the police shows these individuals, who were waving swastika flags and chanting racist slogans, being confronted by locals who insisted they take off their masks.

• One police officer remarked that the men were “covered in” pepper spray, according to the Dispatch.
• These neo-Nazis, dressed in black and red attire and carrying black flags with red swastikas, told officers they were retreating from their demonstration due to being attacked. Later, while sitting in the back of a rented U-Haul, they expressed feeling persecuted for their beliefs and requested the police to allow them to lower their hands, as they were losing circulation.
• No charges were filed against them, despite one person carrying a knife and another having a firearm, because they were not deemed the aggressors in an altercation that erupted, the Dispatch reported.

Statistic of the Week: 12,711

This figure represents the population of Jackson County, Tennessee, located northeast of Nashville, where a Christian Nationalist group aims to establish a community grounded in their extremist ideologies, as uncovered by a recent investigation from NewsChannel Five in Nashville.

The investigation revealed: “After reviewing extensive podcasts and examining numerous social media posts over three months, it appears that their beliefs align closely with those promoted by neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups who demonstrated in Nashville over the past year, albeit they mask their controversial ideas with intellectual jargon and label it as Christian.”