How Domestic Terrorists Received Their U.S. Military Training

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Something worrisome has changed in the U.S. armed forces. The evidence of these changes has been out in the open for decades but received little attention until insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Among the chaos of rioters juiced up by the incendiary rhetoric at President Trump’s rally that day, video footage shows bands of highly coordinated participants, equipped and dressed for combat, moving single file through the crowds in a deliberate, military-style insertion into the U.S. Capitol building. Who were these guys?

AP photo - https://apnews.com/article/ex-military-cops-us-capitol-riot-a1cb17201dfddc98291edead5badc257

Now we know. “Of the nearly 380 individuals federally charged in connection with the [January 6th] riot, at least 44 are current or former members of the U.S. armed forces,” reported the Washington Post recently. That number represents about 12% of those criminally arrested so far. Almost all were retired military.

Details are still emerging as the FBI continues apace in perhaps the largest, most important investigation in its history. We already know a number of these ex-military are members of white nationalist extremist groups that participated in the insurrection. The idea that so many former members of the armed services can turn their training and experience against the country they served is disturbing, but it shouldn’t be surprising.

The military has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy pertaining to extremism if individuals can perform satisfactorily, without making their extremist opinion overt… they are likely to be able to complete their contract. - U.S. Department of Defense report, 2005

Prior to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the all-volunteer army was able to recruit a sustainable number of well-qualified men and women to meet our military needs around the world. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars changed all that. By 2005 the stress placed on the U.S. military was becoming critical. In his 2012 book, Irregular Army, Matt Kennard wrote:

Around this time a retired army officer named Andrew F. Krepinevich, writing under a Pentagon contract released a shocking report which was scathing about the U.S. Military being able to maintain its troop levels in Iraq without breaking the military or losing the war. His diagnosis was simple: The U.S. armed forces were “confronted with a protracted deployment against irregular forces waging insurgencies,” but the ground forces required to provide stability and security in Afghanistan and Iraq “clearly exceeded those available for the mission. - Matt Kennard, 2012

The Pentagon employed multiple strategies in an effort to maintain troop levels. These included increasing retention by tolerating bad conduct among the troops that would usually result in disciplinary discharges. It increased the budget for recruitment including signing bonuses. It called up reservists and national guard troops for combat deployment, lengthening deployments, and shortened the time between deployments. The Pentagon also expanded its use of private mercenary companies, such as Blackwater, to provide logistical and security services for the war efforts. When recruitment targets still could not be met, and the military was approaching the breaking point, bringing back the draft was considered but rejected by Congress. That left the lowering of recruitment standards as the only way to meet its recruitment need.

Under Donald Rumsfeld’s watch, the Pentagon allowed, “… the dismantling of the whole regulatory structure for enlistment and retention,” as Kennard put it in his book. Some of the lowered recruitment standards were accomplished by explicit changes in policy, such as dropping the high school diploma requirement, rules on IQ levels or physical conditions, etc. Less palatable changes were made sub rosa, in plausibly deniable practices. These included loosening enlistment criteria on criminals, racist extremists, gang members, and those with questionable moral character or mental health. Some of the worst atrocities in the Afghan and Iraq wars were committed by soldiers who would not have met recruiting standards prior to these changes.

For over a decade the “don’t ask, don’t tell” practice relating to racial extremists and fringe elements in society has allowed neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and morally corrupt individuals to receive the best military training on the planet. The pressure to recruit and retain these soldiers, even when their extremist opinions spill into the open, has been great. There is some evidence that extremist organizations have taken advantage of these lower standards to gain military training, but most of these recruits have a natural affinity for military service.

In any event, a disturbing proportion of active and retired military personnel are or have become, radicalized anti-government extremists with skilled military training. Their presence and engagement in the assault on Congress and our democracy on January 6th represent a new level of domestic terrorist threats that must be confronted. With the winding down of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan recently and the Pentagon’s renewed look at extremism in the ranks, reestablishing more robust standards for recruitment and retention of our troops must be given a high priority.