Militia recruiting
Militia membership for servicemembers is a grayer area than that of clearly known hate groups. In some cases military rules against espousing racialism can trump the constitutional right of assembly.
Haverstick declined to talk broadly about whether joining a militia would violate anti-extremism policy.
“There are a lot of organizations that use the word militia to define them, so I cannot speak to all of them,” he wrote in an email.
Heavily armed militias have engaged in standoffs with federal officials, turned up as self-appointed armed guards at military recruiting centers and patrolled the streets in Ferguson, Mo., and Charlottesville.
“They’re attracted to that movement and they fit into that movement,” Johnson said. “I’d say half to three-quarters of militia members have ties to the military. They’re also a counterintelligence threat, in my opinion.”
Some militias espouse white supremacist ideology or operate alongside such groups, while others avoid public racial stances. The largest militia group is Oath Keepers, formed in 2009 by a former paratrooper and Yale graduate, which openly recruits active-duty military and veterans, police and medics.
The group, which claims tens of thousands of members, is “one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the U.S. today,” stated the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has also detailed clashes with neo-Nazis who criticize Oath Keepers for lacking racism.
“While it claims only to be defending the Constitution, the entire organization is based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans.”
Oath Keepers, which posts on its website a variety of military unit insignias and patches of members, did not respond to a request for comment.
Oath Keepers declare that they will not obey unconstitutional orders “such as orders to disarm the American people, to conduct warrantless searches, or to detain Americans as ‘enemy combatants’ in violation of their ancient right to jury trial.”
Right-wing extremist activity usually falls during Republican administrations, Johnson said.
“But in this administration, it isn’t the case. Ideas I saw on Stormfront and other white supremacist websites 10 or 15 years ago — building a wall, mass deportations, banning Muslims — that’s policy now,” he said. “I feel it’s emboldened these extremists.”
DoD forbids extremist group participation, tattoos, tweets
Servicemembers can be disciplined or discharged for actively advocating for or participating in “supremacist, extremist or criminal gang ideology or causes.”
Groups that advocate “illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, ethnicity or national origin” are forbidden to military troops. So are groups that advocate “the use of force, violence or criminal activity or otherwise advance efforts to deprive individuals of their civil rights.”
Active participation includes fundraising, demonstrating, rallying, recruiting, training, organizing or leading members; distributing material, including posting online; and having tattoos associated with such gangs or organizations, according to Lt. Col. Paul Haverstick, a Defense Department spokesman.
Penalties are up to commanders and can include reprimand, loss of security clearance or discharge from the service. Servicemembers do not have the same free-speech rights as civilians do, military courts have ruled.
“(A) lower standard for dangerous speech unprotected by the First Amendment pertains in the military context,” the military’s highest court ruled in 2008, “where dangerous speech is that speech that interferes with or prevents the orderly accomplishment of the mission or presents a clear danger to loyalty, discipline, mission or morale of the troops.”
Navy Reserve intelligence officer Lt. j.g. John Michael Posobiec, who goes by “Jack,” recently had his security clearance suspended over such issues.
Posobiec promulgated debunked conspiracy theories on social media, including that Democrats ran a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor and that former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered. In June, he posted video of himself rushing a stage presentation of “Julius Caesar” and shouting that theatergoers were “Nazis like Joseph Goebbels.”
He told NBC News that he wasn’t told why his clearance was suspended but suspects it was because he had become “more outspoken on Twitter.”
This article was written by Nancy Montgomery originally appeared on www.Stripes.com
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