Task force redefined 'extremism' to target conservatives
Navy Seaman Russell Brown prepares to lower the American flag aboard the USS Mount Whitney in Gaeta, Italy, July, 20, 2020.
A task force organized by the Biden administration to combat "extremism" has redefined the term broadly, critics warn, opening the door for the military to kick out members who visit counter-jihad websites or "like" a pro-life Facebook post.
Daniel Greenfield explained in a column for FrontPage Magazine that new rules to root out extremism in the military ranks have been created by the Countering Extremist Activity Working Group headed by Bishop Garrison, an Iraq war veteran and senior adviser to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The task force redefined "extremism activities" to include "advocating widespread unlawful discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, or sexual orientation."
It gives military leaders, Greenfield wrote, "wide latitude for targeting conservatives while exempting black nationalists like Garrison."
Garrison, he noted, is a supporter of black supremacists such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and of extremist agendas like the 1619 Project.
Greenfield asked: "Would Christians who oppose gay marriage fall afoul of this policy? Is anyone who donates to a church that advocates against gay marriage now deemed an 'active participant' in 'extremism'?"
It's clear, he wrote, that counterterrorism researchers warning about the national security threat of Islamization would be punished.
That would include supporting or interacting with Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch.
The new definition of extremism, citing "discrimination" against "gender identity," also presumably would punish people who oppose the forcing of teenage girls to shower with men.
The purge goes even further, Greenfield wrote, punishing anyone who engages "in electronic and cyber activities regarding extremist activities, or groups that support extremist activities – including posting, liking, sharing, re-tweeting, or otherwise distributing content."
Apparently, a service member who "likes" a Facebook post from a conservative group could be regarded an "active participant" in "extremist activities."
The Garrison definition of extremism also includes advocating for discrimination based on "sex (including pregnancy)."
That could mean silencing military critics of pregnant women serving in combat roles. But it could be used to suppress pro-life views and church membership.
Members of the military who personally opposes abortion, or donate to a pro-life group or a traditional church could be regarded as an "active participant" in "extremism."
Greenfield noted that Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has argued
that the new definition of extremism "preserves a service member's right of expression to the extent possible."
That statement, Greenfield commented, "is as un-American as it gets."
"There will almost certainly be legal battles over this, but it will be on Congress and the next administration to make it clear to future military leaders that they must rescind or at least dramatically revise Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 1325.06 if they want to lead," he said.
"If conservatives don’t firmly demand and hold presidential and congressional candidates accountable for undoing this, the radicals will take over the military the way that they control academia, the media, and the corporate spheres," Greenfield warned.
He charged the Biden administration "is engaging in the most dangerous and pervasive discrimination imaginable."
"New leaders must commit to a merit-based military free of discriminatory 'equity' measures and political purges that is built from the ground up to fight and to win for America," he concluded.
"Or else we will have lost the military and the war."
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