{"id":76419,"date":"2024-12-26T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/12\/26\/rollback-of-dod-anti-extremism-efforts-coming-in-2025-experts-predict\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:37:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:37:45","slug":"rollback-of-dod-anti-extremism-efforts-coming-in-2025-experts-predict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2024\/12\/26\/rollback-of-dod-anti-extremism-efforts-coming-in-2025-experts-predict\/","title":{"rendered":"Rollback of DOD anti-extremism efforts coming in 2025, experts predict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, where about 15% of the rioters were veterans or service members<\/a>, the Pentagon launched an effort to root out extremism from the ranks and prevent anyone with a bent toward political violence from joining the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the past four years, experts in extremism prevention deemed those efforts incremental at best and perfunctory at worst<\/a>. Political opposition \u201cvery much slowed things down,\u201d said Kate Bitz, a senior organizer at the Western States Center, and lawmakers from both parties protested there was too much \u201cgray area\u201d in new anti-extremism policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even the piecemeal progress since 2021 is more than can be expected out of Pentagon leadership in 2025, said Bitz, as well as leaders from the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and Human Rights First.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration will \u201ctake the military back to the days when extremism in its entirety was ignored,\u201d said Wendy Via, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\t