AP finds that a Pentagon-funded study on extremism in the military relied on old data
A photo illustration highlighting a Pentagon-funded study that used old data to conclude incorrectly that extremism is not a problem in the military.
By MICHELLE R. SMITH and JASON DEAREN
Updated 2:13 PM EST, November 26, 2024
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, sat in front of a screen with the headline: “Study Disproves Military Extremism Problem.”
It was Jan. 4 of this year and Hegseth told a Fox News audience the new study proved that the number of military service members and veterans involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection did not indicate a wider problem in the armed forces. The Pentagon-funded report to which Hegseth referred said there was no evidence the number of violent extremists in the military was “disproportionate to extremists in the general population.”
“They knew this was a sham,” Hegseth said, referring to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other military leaders. “Then they do the study, which confirms what we all know.”
Hegseth, who was working for Fox News at the time and had no involvement in the report, wasn’t alone. The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page highlighted the same report as evidence that extremists in military communities were “phantoms” created by a “false media narrative.” The X account for Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee posted that the study showed the focus on extremism in the military was a “witch hunt.”
https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-military-extremism-jan-6-pete-hegseth-ea43535cd37abded5a0ed6aaba514115
