January 20, 2021 3:20 a.m.

On Monday, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden announced that the Department of Defense will heed the call from he and his colleagues, and investigate and address white supremacy and extremist ideology in the ranks of the military. A release said that follows the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol. The release said several of the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol have been identified as active duty servicemembers, reservists, retirees and veterans.

In a letter to Department of Defense Acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, Wyden and 13 other Democratic senators said, “The issue of white supremacy and extremist ideology within the ranks of our military is not new, but the attack on the Capitol makes it clear this alarming trend must be immediately addressed”. The letter said the spread of white supremacist ideology is dangerous for the military and “…threatens to rupture civil-military safeguards that our democracy requires”.

Wyden said a 2020 poll from readers of the Military Times found that approximately one-third of all active-duty respondents said they saw “signs of white supremacist or racist ideology in the ranks”. Wyden claims that research shows that right-wing extremists deliberately target servicemembers and veterans to capitalize on their specialized experience.

A copy of the senator’s letter is posted here: https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2021.01.14%20Letter%20to%20DoD%20IG%20-%20Extremism%20in%20Military.pdf