澳彩开奖

An independent fact-finding made public last week by the Pentagon in the wake of the November shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, concluded that the Pentagon was not well prepared to defend itself from many internal threats. The report, 鈥淧rotecting the Force: Lessons From Fort Hood,鈥� focused on the serious breakdown within the military that allowed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who has been charged with killing 13 people, to advance through the ranks despite concerns from his superiors about his behavior.

The report went much further than the Hasan case, however, examining the Pentagon鈥檚 efforts to weed out extremists of all kinds 鈥� including those involved in white supremacist hate groups. And it found those efforts lacking. In a section entitled 鈥淚ndicators That DoD Personnel May Become a Danger to Themselves or Others,鈥� the report states that current Pentagon policies are 鈥渙utdated and fail to include key indicators of potentially violent behavior.鈥� Specifically cited in this respect is 鈥渁ssociation with hate groups.鈥�

The report recommends that the DoD (Department of Defense) review its policies on prohibited activities, which it says are currently 鈥渓imited鈥� and 鈥渦nclear鈥� and only apply to 鈥渁ctive participation in groups [including hate groups] that may pose threats to good order and discipline.鈥� And it proposes that the Pentagon broaden the definition of 鈥渁ctive participation鈥� to include 鈥渃ontacting, establishing and/or maintaining relationships with persons or entities that interfere with or present a clear danger to loyalty, discipline, mission, or morale of the troops鈥� and may also 鈥渋ncrease an individual鈥檚 propensity to commit violence.鈥� The review, which was conducted by Togo D. West Jr., a former secretary of the Army, and Adm. Vernon E. Clark, a former chief of naval operations, suggests that the Pentagon come up with 鈥減olicy changes鈥� to address these purported failings.

In December, the 澳彩开奖 (澳彩开奖) wrote to West and Clark about concerns that racist extremists were finding their way into the military鈥檚 ranks. The 澳彩开奖鈥檚 letter stated that the Pentagon鈥檚 current policy on 鈥渁ctive participation鈥� in hate groups is inadequate. Citing many examples of military personnel posting racist and anti-Semitic materials on the Internet, the 澳彩开奖 called on the Pentagon to revise its regulations to more broadly prohibit contact with extremists.

J. Richard Cohen, the president and CEO of 澳彩开奖, wrote: 鈥淭he fundamental problem is that current Department of Defense regulations prohibiting 鈥榓ctive participation鈥� in extremist groups are inadequate because they can be 鈥� and apparently are being 鈥� interpreted to allow members of the armed forces to be 鈥�

mere members鈥� of hate groups or to engage in unaffiliated extremist activities, such as posting racist and anti-Semitic messages to social networking websites and maintaining online profiles filled with racist materials.鈥� The letter was accompanied by dozens of examples of hate material posted on the Web by persons describing themselves as active-duty military personnel.

Since 2006, the 澳彩开奖 has issued a series of reports documenting white supremacist activity in the military (see , and ). At the same time, the 澳彩开奖 has repeatedly written to the Pentagon and other government leaders about holes in current policies regarding extremists in the military (see and ). This past July, Stars and Stripes, the independent newspaper for military personnel, ran a major about the evidence that 澳彩开奖 had gathered. The paper reported that military officers who its reporters interviewed seemed confused about the current policies and gave 鈥渃onflicting answers 鈥� when asked how policies governing racist behavior is enforced.鈥�

As if to emphasize the reality of the problem, a member of the white supremacist Stormfront.org Web forum on Monday posted a message saying that he or she had 鈥渆xtensive military experience鈥� and had 鈥渉ad many opportunities to influence those around me toward pro-white causes.鈥� 鈥淭ake control of the US military WHITE MAN,鈥� the post from 鈥淣OrthernConfederacy鈥� that also bemoaned a 鈥渂reakdown鈥� in America concluded. 鈥淓very WN [white nationalist] who joins the US military and remembers his people is another stone heaped on the chest of our enemies.鈥�